Posion Ivy

Beware of this nasty stuff!!!

We cleaned out our back yard (it was kind of over grown) and BRIAN GOT POISON IVY!!! He is so alergic that we have had to go to the doctors 3 times!!! He is on meds and has gotten shots... I didn't realize that the oils from it were so dangerous! I have cleaned, washed, and wiped down everything! I hope he gets better soon!

Habitat for Humanity

This past Saturday Brian and I had the chance to work on a habitat for humanity project. Our realtor is really involved in the community and sent us an email asking if we would like to come help out.. I think he figured Brian is a big guy and they could really use his man strength.

We read the list of items we needed to take... hammer, utility knife, screw driver, hard hat, gloves, tape measure, safety goggles, and a tool belt. Brian had ALL of the items for both of us except for one thing... no tool belts! We went to Lowe's and got tool belts. This shopping experience was pretty funny.... Brina picks up a couple of belts then decides he wants this rugged dark brown leather belt and he is done... (he looked way hot in it). Now, I am picking up every tool belt option holding them up to me, modeling them for Brian and asking lame questions like.. Does this look the cutest? Which one is the most feminine? (its a tool belt NO TOOL BELT IS FEMININE) Does this make you think of the tool time girl? Does this make you want to nail me? He thought I was funny, hey that's why we are married. He told me which one was the  "cutest" and I ended up getting the lightest color of suede that they had he said it was the best choice for me.

Once we had our belts we were ready to go...

Layered construction worker is clothes.. Check

Loaded tool belt... Check

Safety glasses...um sunglasses... Check

Big heavy boots.... Check

When we got there we went right to work. I was nailing and hammering for hours and wore my arms out. I guess at one point I was hammering a little too enthusiastically because I shook my hard hat off into the mud. I was really trying to be in the construction zone so I put my muddy hat back on and kept working... Brian was a machine and did about 10 times more work than me. He could hit the nails in with or or two hits and it took me about fifteen. I loved watching him hauling huge boards all by himself when it took 2 of the other guys to carry the same thing!

We had a great time made some friends and felt good about helping gout. We were able to complete the installation of all the roof trusses, hang OSB on the exterior walls of the home, install the OSB roof decking on both sides of the roof, and finished the day by securing the safety rails around roof. Not bad for a days work!

We were really tired at the end of the day but we can't wait to do it again. Hey, we might as well put our tool belts to good use!

I think I will stick to teaching!

Whitney's muddy boots!

Brian and Whitney

Brian ... note the tool belt!

The whole group! 

Team work!

Building walls!

Hammering!

Brian working hard!

Garage Improvements

Most of the people who read this are my teacher friends or my family so you all know how much teaching stuff can be acquired after a while. Well 7 years of teaching has made it so that I have quite a collection. Also, I am Gloria Hawley's daughter which means that I think every holiday is reason to go all out, decorate, and celebrate. Between holiday decorations and school boxes and moving our garage was being taken over. While I have been stocking up on holiday decor Brian stocks up on tools an man stuff. The combo was a little overwhelming. Brian decided he was going to fix the garage clutter problem and make it so we can park in it. He has been working to build shelves, well they are more like big lofts in the top of our garage, to store everything. He is so handy and I am so constructionally challenged! I am so proud of him and his shelves!!! They look great and hold a ton!

Snow

It snowed a few weeks ago (I have been meaning to post this for a while) and I was so excited to have a "snow day " at home with my lover boy!

It doesn't snow much in Charlotte so this tiny little bit of snow was a big deal I know it is nothing like what our friends and family up north got but we still had fun with it!

The snow made me miss Utah!

Big and Tuff Boys!

Since I wrote a blog about our fave girls I thought it is only fair to post a shout out to our fave boys. The Wolfgram boys; Parker, Hamilton, Tate, and Eli. These boys are great at doing "man things" with Brian. Trust me you don't want to know exactly what these "man things" are... They are sweet with Ellie and I am always impressed with how well they listen to their mom, she is good (I am always making mental notes on how my Aunt Linda parents). These boys helped us move into and clean our new house. They took a few breaks for Nerf arrow wars with Brian...By the way Brian just found his airsoft guns and is bringing them on our next visit to the Wolfgrams! So watch out! We love you guys!!!

Our Favorite Little Girls!!!!

Brian sister-in-law Shaunna (yes the very one that set us up... and made our happily ever after a reality) came to visit with her girls. Brian's brother Ben and his family live in Seattle but... sinceShaunna's family lives about 2 and a half hours away from us and the closest airport is in CHARLOTTE! This means any time they go to visit her family... which is kind of often (a girl has to see her family) we get to see them. Yet another reason why we love living here!

Anyway they were here for a few days this last week and we had a great time! Debbie and Dave came down, Glenn, Melanie, and Courtney also came over on Friday for dinner. It was so much fun to have everyone over. I love that we have enough space for so many visitors!

Brian and Cozette with Ellie.

Debbie and Dave

Addalyn and I making dinner! YUM!

We rode the train uptown. We went to the Discovery museum. We all LOVE LOVE LOVED the museum! I think Brian liked it more than the girls. he kept saying "come over here look at this!" We laied on a bed of nails... played with percussion... saw lost pirate treasure... created works of art... built towers... crushed a trash can... and so much more. We also had fun with infared (Okay Shaunna and I were the most intrigued by theinfared). We thought we were being sneaky as we tried to see the hottest parts on our bodies, you know, temperature wise...but mostly we were giggling like middle school kids.

Brian with the girls  getting ready to head to the train.

He is going to be one HOT dad!

Brian on the bed of nails!

The girls playing with air-streams.

Grandma Debbie and Addalyn!

Us and the girls at the museum.

This is Cozette's princess pose!

The girls fell in love with aunt Whitney's halfway unpacked closet.. it was Uncle Brian's idea! We played some serious dress up! Hey, in my day I was pretty much a dress-up queen! We made a huge mess... and did some serious accessorizing! Of course they are good at being fancy... HELLO... they were my flower girls! Next time they come it will be even more fun because the "dress up" selection will be organized!

This is my favorite pic.... SO chic!

We loved having everyone over and we can't wait to see them again!

Christmas 2009

Brian and I went and spent Christmas in Willimasburg with his mom and Step dad.  I used Dave's pictures because I didn't take many.. Yikes! It was my first Christmas away from my family so I was a little nervous about not being there for all of the Hawley festivities.  I missed and called them a ton for updates but I loved doing all of Brian's Family traditions and hearing about his Christmas memories.  I was lucky to spend  the holiday with  Brian of course and with Debbie and Dave I have grown to be way close with them and I am so thankful I am part of their family! 

We had a great time relaxing, eating, opening gifts and shopping. Brian's mom made all of his favorite holiday foods which I thought was super nice of her.  The Williams side of the family has a tradition that Christmas eve they all go out to dinner and watch a movie.  We went to the Center Street Grill and then saw Avitar 3D... we LOVED the movie it is very Fern Gullyish (Hey I liked Fern Gully too) we can't wait to go and watch another 3D movie  I am excited for Alice in Wonderland.

Debbie opening up a gift!

Us opening up gifts! Notice our cute Christmas P.J.'s

Ellie playing with her present from Grandma Debbie!

 Debbie and Dave feed animals in the woods behind there house so Ellie and Brian had a great time watching them. Okay Brian was watching them and Ellie was so excited about the Birds, Deer, and Squirrels that she was shaking,  squeaking, and bouncing up and down (look at her feet in the pic... she is mid bounce).  

The day after Christmas we went and met up with Brian's Dad, Bob his sisters, Jennie and Melissa. We had a good time and wish we could have spent more time with them.

We had a wonderful Christmas and can't believe it was the 3rd Christmas we have spent together! We hope you all had a great one too!