7.12.2011 Baby Makenna and Brinley's Birthday and Grandpa's Bday!

Well this might be about 8 months late.. I started this post but didn't finish until now.. so here we go!

My sister Robin and her family along with my parents for cupcakes

Makenna Jo Duthrie

My mom, twinner Leslie and me with Kenna

Chillin during the summer evening

Grandma B and Brinley playing play dough

Oh sweet Brinners!

Tile Mania

Vinyl flooring before...

After tearing up this lovely vinyl our house was so stinky! It smelt a little better after the rock board was screwed down and thankfully it was gone completely after two days.

Rock board in place

Starting to lay the tile down.. which went late into the night.

And finished!! Mike and I grouted it Saturday night, which proved to be another late one.

We love the diagonal lines.

All this was possible thanks to our neighbor Darin Harris and Mike for putting in tons of hours! We still need to bring back in the appliances and finish the trim, but are so excited for the new flooring! Stay tuned for future posts of new counter tops and back splashes as we slowly work on remodeling our kitchen!

Africa and Montana Adventures

It is that time again.. Mike is in Africa! He is visiting Uganda, Tanzania and this year Kenya. Our friends Taylor and Mandy Mackay are currently living in Kenya and he will be able to spend some time with them during his trip. It has been two weeks now since he has been gone and about 1 1/2 weeks until he gets back. He will be scoping out Paris on his way back home as well to find suitable places for us to visit in the future. :) It has been a little crazy this year in Uganda with protests and riots going on, but the teams have been safe and able to continue on with their projects.

Brinley and I took a trip to Montana to visit my parents while Mike has been away. It was so much fun and great to be able to spend time with them. It went by so quickly and we miss them!

We stopped by Rosauers for some yummy donuts! I think they make the best maple bars I have ever had!

When visiting Libby, MT, a trip to the Kootenai Falls and swinging bring is practically mandatory! My brother Richard came to see us as well during our trip.

The Kootenai River is in the background and it was super high..not flooding stages yet though. The wind was blowing like crazy during our little hike.. I even witnessed a tree falling over! That was a bit scary.. thankfully we survived.

Brinley loved my parents' cat, Chucky. She wasn't a huge fan of Richard's dog though.. she screamed every time he got too close and no one was able to pick her up. The visit was splendid and we wish we could do it more often.

Our Happenings

I have been a slacker, and there are so many things to blog about so this is just going to be a jumble of things that have been going on.

Brinley holding Andrew Heath. She loves babies!.. just one of the many times she has held him. I think she will love having a baby sister.

Success! I finally managed to make a delicious batch of dinner rolls! My first attempt at this recipe was not quite as good because I over-activated the yeast and they smelt like alcohol. However, the amazing recipe I used can be found at ourbestbites.com!

Brinley and I had a wonderful visit with our friends Lindsey, Josh and Porter Nardone at Zupas! Miss you guys! Also, I was able to catch up with my old roommate Kaela Wheeler with her little guy, Bennett, on a walk on the Provo River trail. BUT I forgot my camera.. again. So good to catch up with you Kaela!

Mike's mom and sister came to visit us as well! It was so fun to be able to hang out with them even for a short while..hopefully Alanna won't cry every time Brinley comes near her next time we get together! haha

Brinley sandwich! She loves it when we give her the "smooshie face."

Way back in February, Brinley and I went to the Hogle Zoo on free day with our neighbors, the Harris's. She loved the animals and running around in the different exhibits. Right behind her is her friend, Haydon, who is just 2 weeks younger than her.

And the Peanut is......

A GIRL!!

I found this dress on target.com and I think it is super cute.. it just may have to be the first one I buy for her! You know what is funny?! We have her nickname already picked out - little duck - but no decisions for her actual name. Any name suggestions are welcome :)

Heavenly Flooring

Out with the old, in with the new - we got new carpets on the main level of our house last Friday!! WOOHOO! Soo nice! It was quite the process of moving all of our stuff into our kitchen and carport, but it was worth it! Here are some pictures of the process and the before and after.

DISASTER AREA!! aka our kitchen

I watched the show "Clean House" the other day while I was at the gym and people actually live with their house in this much disarray!! Crazy!

Camping out in the living room.. you may notice the ice cream cake next to Mike.. we treated ourselves after a night's worth of hard work!! :)

Aaah! So comfy!!

See that beautiful texture and color! I am a big fan of the blend of auburn, gold, brown, tan and green threads which you can't really see in this picture, but it is really nice!

What do I love, love, love about our new carpet??? Visible vacuum lines!!

I don't mind the white fireplace as much with our new carpets either!

Hallway

I love this picture because Brinley is smiling and waving at the camera.. which is the first time she has done that!

All in all super pleased with our decision to get new carpets. Only one downfall has occurred from the change - some of our doors are a wee bit too long for the thicker carpet. However, we will just use a table saw to trim the doors on the bottom so they can open and close easier.

Grandpa Brumbaugh Visit

My dad came to visit for a week and we had a great time! We all wished that Grandma B could have been here too! We were able to get a lot accomplished during his visit including the bathroom from the previous post and do a bunch of other cool things too. We miss him already! Thanks for coming!!

Brinley loved story time with Grandpa!

GAME TIME! My brother John and his friend Andrew drove down from Logan just to watch the BYU vs SDSU game. We prepped for the game by downing a couple of pizzas and playing some Kinect bowling. It was an awesome game to watch..even a couple of rows from the top. :)

We drove up to Pocatello, ID to watch my brother Richard throw the shot for U of Montana. But beforehand we met up with John and Liz in Logan to take John and Jenny with us. Sam took this picture of his parents, so I am posting it for him. :)

Yogurt time!

Sweet Jenny! She and Brinley love playing together. I wish I had gotten a picture of when they were hugging each other it was adorable. Jenny even called Brinley her new best friend after playing with her for about a half an hour.. making friends apparently is a lot easier when you are younger! haha

Sam was striking some funny poses! Brin sure loved their car.

Cousin Jenny wandered around the arena, but stopped for a picture. Brinley hadn't seen uncle Richard in quite a while and she was afraid of him at first. Grandpa tried passing Brin off to him but she ended up crying and getting upset with Grandpa too! haha Anyways, toward the end of the night she actually went to him and played with him.

Richard receiving a little prep talk

Richard throwing the shot a phenomenal distance! His personal best of 51'6" with a 16 lb shot.. I can only beat that distance on the Kinect. haha

Brinley helping Grandpa with the yarn.. well she wasn't very helpful but she did like to play with it! My dad managed to whip out 4 hot pads in just a couple of days while staying with us! We are definitely reaping the benefits of his hard work. :)