arent camera phones grand?

ive decided that i love love love camera phones. this morning i tried to take a picture of the baby with mine and the memory was full. so i uploaded a few pics to make room for more. that got me thinking..i always upload them..but i never go back and look at the pics ive uploaded. so i did. and there are some really great pictures.. not all the best quality but good memories just the same. ive decided to share. they are obviously in no particular order... just the ones that i liked the most..or the most random..of the 255 i found.

hanging out with the cardwells

last night, for the first time in months, team cardwell came over and we hung out for no reason..just to hang out -- and it was great. i guess they kindof came to see the floors.. but they could have just seen them in pics, right? see, some how, even though ava & korb are only 9 weeks apart, kelly and i managed to spend a combined 29 weeks on maternity leave!!! and thru most of that time we hung out on average 4 or 5 days a week. it was really cool..we only live a few minutes apart so it was also really convenient too. over the last few months, life has really gotten in the way of just hanging out, with everyone i guess, and i miss it. i am thankful for good friends..and daylight savings time..and warm weather..and healthy babies who can play together..and chick-fil-a.

finally!

it has been a little while since my last post... but for good reason. our house, and therefore life, has been in a complete state of disarray for SO long. remember the amazing gift that has been keeping us out of our home? new floors down stairs. all the carpet, tile and yukky vinyl flooring was taken out and the concrete resurfaced..cleaned..scored..and stained. it was a project that was supposed to take a week...that week has turned in to almost a month. so, last thursday my husband decided to reclaim our house and just finish it himself. a lot of the work had already been done..even the pattern was already cut..but i assure you that all the hard stuff was left for the end. on thursday night, while i went about our normal routine of dinner and putting the kids to bed, kyle spent hours scraping the last of the mortar off the floor in the front hall where the tile had been and on his hands and knees scrubbing (and scraping) the glue off the floor in the half bath. on friday after work he did the same in the kitchen and the pantry. late night on friday Brye and Aaron came over to lend a hand. though it was very had work, i think they enjoyed hanging out. they definitely had a good laugh over using the buffer for the first time. saturday was more of the same. retaping (my only contribution).. mopping.. drying ..remopping..redrying.. finally at 9pm we were ready to STAIN!!!! on sunday kyle handpainted a few areas, sealed and added the gloss, and it is beautiful!!! we put all the furniture back on sunday evening (thanks again to aaron and brye). on monday kyle stayed home from work to help me clean, you cannot imagine the dust! and finally today, well, it feels good to be home! we cannot wait for everyone to see. it looks great. theres still work to do - like baseboards.. but now that the 'pain' is over...i can honestly say it is truly the best gift.

in progress..

before

after

before..

after

before..

after

vacation!!!

we had an awesome time on our vacation!!! it was so nice.. in the 60s everyday. not the greatest ski conditions, which did not make kyle happy, but i wasnt planning to ski and i dont like to be cold! im not even really sure how they talked me into going to the mountains... i just heard the words vacation and trip and did not ask questions. everyone did have a great time. it was wonderful to spend time with my parents. when i lived on the east coast we would plan trips together but now that we see each other often...we kind of take it for granted.
we left on tuesday. we drove to my mom and dads that evening and stayed the night. on wednesday we piled into the tahoe and drove to red river. we stayed at a lodge called the ponderosa. the boys drove to angelfire to ski on thursday. mom, korb and i did not shower or leave the room until 230. thats not true..we did go to the hot tub! it was great to be lazy.. we even had dinner at 'home' when kyle and dad got back and crashed early. on friday dad decided to live the lazy life with us and kyle stayed in red river to ski... we were all much more rested on friday evening so we ventured out to dinner. we had an awesome meal at a little steak house. i wish i had taken a picture of kyles steak...it was like an entire cow. i will not say if he finished it or not... after dinner we did a little tourist shopping and then nana and papa did a little babysitting so that we could check out the night life. saturday we made our way home by way of Cracker Barrell... thanks kp. he claims to hate cracker barrell...but i will tell you that he did finish his meal there. why is it that vacation always turns out to be mostly about eating???

Korb did a lot of sleeping cuddled with W.P. Rattles.ARE WE THERE YET??
Daddy..I thought we were going to see mountains?
Scratch offs...
FINALLY WE ARRIVE!!
PAPA.. it was such a long trip.
Korb did that..note to self - babies have sharp nails

Papa... please play with me!
DADDY..please play with me.

Korbs first snow experience.

Korb loved the new backpack.

saturday evening we picked kennedy up.. she spent spring break in california with her father. she had a great time but we missed her so much. after church on sunday we took both of the kids to the park in childress. we had so much fun.. korb actually fell asleep..not sure how much fun he had. he seemed to enjoy him self until he passed out. one of the pics below is from easter 2005..my how our family has changed. kennedy was so little!

EASTER 2005