Logan turns 3!

Today is Logan's 3rd Birthday!  Our 'baby' is really three years old?  We decided to let Logan call the shots today. Lucky for us we got a TON of new snow over the last couple of days so we started the day off by all heading the backyard for some fun.  We decided to build a snow fort....we didn't quite finish it the way we originally envisioned it to be - it was taking forever.  Jen may have made it to big to start with....

Jen's dad helping shovel some snow for the fort...

 Jen's mom helping build too...

Logan decided after a while it was time to just eat the snow....

Then Zach wanted to try some...

Now Logan, Zach and Jen...

So we decided to call our snow fort good as it was.  The boys loved having the slide into the fort.  We couldn't decide if we should play in the fort or just eat the fort!

We were out in the snow for a few hours, then headed back in for showers (yes, we were cold by the end of the fort building!).  Next stop on our agenda was lunch at 'Planet Play'.

Jen's mom got suckered into feeding the boys ice cream....those boys sure do have grandma wrapped around the their fingers!

Logan enjoying some of the rides, slides and arcade games!

Once we had enough food and games at 'Planet Play' we decided to take Jen's parents over to see the new Scheel's store.  The boys had fun posing with the stuffed skunks - these pictures make me laugh so much!

Late afternoon - we tried to get the boys to take a quick rest/nap...the best we got was them settled down for a movie.  Logan decided he wanted Del Taco for dinner - he is a sucker for their 50 cent soft tacos!

After dinner it was time for birthday presents!  Normally when it comes time for someone to open presents in our house it turns into a big fight because both Zach and Logan want to open presents - even if it is not their birthday.  Zach sat next to grandpa Twogood and let Logan open all his presents by himself...he didn't complain ones!  Here was Logan's stash!

Then Logan did the sweetest thing, he brought one of his presents over to Zach and asked him to open it!  That made Zach very happy and us adults very proud!

Then came time for the ultimate gift....Logan got his first two wheel bike (with training wheels)!  He can now cruise the neighborhood like his brother Zach!

Logan requested a 'dog' cake for his birthday....so this is what Jen made - Logan LOVED it!

Make a wish Logan!

Our little man - three years old.  Logan has been our child that keeps us on our feet.  He is quick and determined.  He loves to help out in any way possible - from cleaning to doing projects with tools.  He is a sharer - naturally.  He will give everything he has away to others and he doesn't mind.  If you fall and get a 'boo boo', Logan is the first to run up to you and give you a hug and kiss it to make it better.  We love you Logan!!

Grandma Simmons

We learned today that Dustin's Grandma Simmons has passed away.  She was 94 years old and her body had just finally had enough.  We were grateful that we were able to stop and visit her this past summer when we did our road trip to Montana.  We know she is in a better place and she was well taken care of the last year of her life while living in a assisted living facility in Idaho Falls.  

We will see you again Mildred!

Christmas - Santa CAME!

Santa stopped at our house!!!

Santa brought Zach a giant black remote control HUMMER!

Santa brought Logan a train table!

Santa brought stockings for Dustin and Jen!

The boys even left cookies and milk for Santa...looks like he eat it all!!

The kids were super excited when they woke up.  It is hard to take pictures of them opening everything when it is mass chaos! Here are a FEW pictures...

It was great to just hang out as a family and enjoy our day.  We made a big Christmas dinner and played with all our new gifts.  But we now have the dilemma of where we put all these new gifts....all our storage locations are currently out of commission from the flooding a few days ago.

The day after - it's Jen's BIRTHDAY!

We survived last night, but realized just how loud all those blowers and de-humidifiers were.  You couldn't even watch TV on the main level because you couldn't hear it.  We were basically confined to the master bedroom.  The disaster recovery team came back and cut a bunch of holes in the walls in the basement to start drying the insides of the walls and ceiling now.  We were informed the blowers and de-humidifers had to stay on for a MINIMUM of THREE DAYS!  Yes - we were to have a loud house until Christmas Eve.

Jen's parents caught wind of what was going on and booked us two nights at the Marriott hotel just down from our house near Thanksgiving Point.  We figured - heck why not...they have an indoor pool...and it was Jen's BIRTHDAY!    Once the kids found out where we were headed...they were bouncing off the walls.  It was all Zach would talk about - we were going to a hotel and going swimming in the pool.

Zach packed his own bag....clothes, toys, books...you name it - he had it!

The kids enjoying the indoor pool!  We invited our neighbors to join us for some swimming!

Afterwards we all went back to our room and had some yummy birthday cheesecake - red velvet!

The Flood...

The title of the blog post says it all.  Let me tell you a bit about what lead up to it.  It is the Friday before  the long Christmas 'weekend'.  Management at work informed everyone to leave work at 1pm today (yippee!)....so we did!  We picked the kids up from daycare and headed home.  At home we were doing some toy clean out (since Christmas was literally just a few days away...we needed to make room for the new toys).  We started re-arranging the furniture in the boys room - yup, Zach and Logan now share a room!  Jen decided it was stupid we had Zach's bed mattress just lying on the floor and suggested we run to the mattress store and buy a frame.  Zach's bed has been on the floor with no frame for about two years now...but for some reason it just NOW clicked to pay the $30 for the frame so we could store stuff under his bed!  So...we pack up the kids and head into town, buy what we need, and go back home and put it all together.  Then Dustin headed down to the basement to get Logan's dresser and this is what we saw....

There was water pouring out of the smoke detector and the air vent in Logan's room.  That wasn't all....water trapped in the ceiling plastic and running down the walls onto the floor in the storage room.  That still isn't all...water coming out of the ceiling, running down the inside of the walls into the floor in the main entertainment room downstairs.

We found the source...the main floor bathroom.  The boys must have clogged it and made it overflow right before we left the house to go and buy that bed frame.  What do you do??

Dustin put tubs out to catch the water...Jen called the insurance company.  Jen also had to call the babysitter and cancel for the evening.

The insurance company sent out a disaster recovery team (took them about 3 hours to get to the house).  The recovery company had this fancy tool they would stick in the carpet to detect moisture.  We originally thought that the water from the toilet just went down the floor air vent and traveled to the basement - we were wrong.  It also traveled under through the surrounding walls.  The carpet pad in the boys closet, the hall closet and the hallway. The water traveled under the first few boards of the hardwood floor.  In the basement basically all of Logan's room and half of the main entertainment room and the entry way to one of the guest bedrooms - they all had to have the carpet pads ripped out and the baseboards removed.

They also placed air blowers and de-humidifiers throughout the whole house...both main level and basement.

This would be the bathroom where it all started.....yes...that is the toilet....

So once the disaster recovery team finished up (about midnight), we dragged the kids bed mattresses into our room and we all slept in the master bedroom tonight.  The boys room was torn apart and had very loud air blowers going on.