The Speakmans have moved

July 31, 2018 we moved from our home in Kearns, UT.

Bob and I had bought the house Sept, 2004 not knowing how long we would be in this house.  We loved our house on Impressions Dr, but in April we decided it was time to move somewhere else.  Kearns, UT gets a bad rep for being run down and having gang problems.  It definitely has it's share of problems but I think every city in Utah probably does.  For us the market was right, we knew that we would most likely move in the next couple of years and everything just felt right for us to move now.

Our home on Impressions Drive had only been built for 2 years when we purchased it from it's previous owners.  Bob had wanted a rambler (I wanted a two-story) but when we found this home we knew it was for us.  Bob and I had only been married for about 1 1/2  years when we purchased the home.  We knew this was the perfect house for us and we hoped to have kids here.  It was right next to a park so of course we couldn't wait to have kids to take to the park!

Some things that we did to our home on Impressions Dr.
Took out all the carpet in the living room, dining room and hallway and replaced with Wood laminate flooring.
Replaced carpet in all the bedrooms
Painted every room of course.

• Zack's room was painted Blue, Grey and White with a BYU logo on the wall
• Gavin's room was painted Green, Yellow and Blue - one wall had each of the colors blocked on the wall
• Bob and my room was painted Grey with a hand painted design on the wall behind our bed.  
• Dining room/Kitchen was painted green.

We finally finished the 90% of the basement in November 2017. 

Rooms Finished in basement

• Added two rooms to the basement, one room had a barn door.  
• 2nd room had a walk in closet
• Two large closets in hallway
• Large family room with 2 more closets for storage.

The only thing we didn't finish was the bathroom.  

We had added a large deck with awning onto the back of the house.  

I feel that we had made some improvements on the home and didn't just "live" in the home.  We loved this home and hope the next family loves it just as much as we did. 

Below are pictures of the house in 2004 and a picture of when we moved as well as pictures of each of us in "our" rooms.  

Bob and I in our room with the wall that I hand painted.  It's not perfect but neither am I :).

Zack in his room. 

Gavin in his room. 

More to come on where we moved to.  

Christmas 2013

Post at the beginning of the year and one at the end... SAD!  Bad Jenn!

Oh well that's life.
Christmas this year was awesome!  I love this age with the kids.  They had so much fun and really got into the Holiday Spirit.

We have an elf on the shelf; December 1st Franko (our elf) appears with his book.  We read his book to remind us of the rules (can't touch the guy or he looses his magic) and to remember why he is here.  To tell the big guy if we've been bad or good.  He's a scout elf.  The kids also like to talk to him and tell him about their day and what they want for Christmas.  It's always fun to have Franko watching over us.  Some families get a little crazy by having a Mischievous elf but Franko isn't like those elves, he just moves each day to a new spot so the kids can find him and watches over our family. 

Gavin up until this year has been pretty scared of Santa.  He kind of has issues with strangers and doesn't like them to get too close to him.  Really ask the Dentist or the Doctor who neither of them has done a proper exam on him because all he does is SCREAM!  So I was a little shocked to see Gavin hop right up on Santa's lap and actually talk to him.  Of course as you can see from the pictures below he still isn't quite sure how he feels about it.  This is Gavin nervously smiling.

By the third Santa he was actually pretty okay with it.  Zack on the other hand has never had a problem with Santa! He loves strangers... LOL  not sure if that's a good thing.  Sometimes Zack with go talk to the adults (with kids) at the park and then tell me they aren't strangers because he asked them their name.  Such a funny boy.

Christmas morning was so much fun.  I purposely stayed in bed because I love listening to how excited Zack got when he saw the presents.  It's so much fun.  And I want them to learn that the stocking gifts they can open before Mom and Dad get up but the presents under the tree are to be opened as a family.  Also we take turns opening presents.  Everyone gets the respect and excitement of being watched open their presents.  Zack got excited for everyone's presents.  It was so cute.  He just has such genuine excitement for everyone.  Gavin was pretty excited too.  But was excited just to open the presents... ANY presents.  At one point he was trying to open my presents I told him it was my turn and the little turd said, "I'm going to buy a new mom."  When we told him that wasn't nice he ran off crying.  It was sad, and after a little talk he was as good as new.  This was the first time that Gavin really got into Christmas, so it was fun to see him so excited about opening presents.  It was almost sad when we were all done.

After we opened our presents we had breakfast, played with the toys, got ready for the day and went to my Grandparents house.  We usually do buffet style (no sit down dinner) that way no one feels like they have to be there at a specific time and there isn't any stress about what time dinner is.  Just easy-peasy.  After we open Christmas presents.  We have a mini party for Christopher.  Poor brother has to share his birthday with everyone!  We ended the day by visiting Bob's parent's, played UNO, then headed home.

It really was a wonderful day.  As I said before this age was so much fun with the kids.  Buying presents for them wasn't too hard because they like everything.  (trust me every commercial that came on they were like I want that, I want that...) 

And now some pictures...

Christmas Pajamas.  We get to open them Christmas Eve.

I love the next few pictures because this is totally how I remember Christmas as a child.  We would throw all the paper down the stairs.  After presents we would play in the boxes and paper, then clean it up.  It made me happy that the boys did the same thing at my Grandma's!

Merry Christmas from the Speakman Family.  We hope you have a very Happy New Year!

SuperBowel = Super Fun

My family is amazing when it comes to parties.  We've always gone way out and always have more then enough food.  This year for Superbowl was no exception.  49er's -v- Ravens.  It was going to be a good rival. 

Here's the story.  I've been a Dallas Cowboy fan since High School (jumped on the bandwagon when they were winning SuperBowls).  They aren't the best team in the league now a days, but they were the only team I've every claimed as my own.  Anyways when Bob and I got married he found out I was a Cowboys fan.  He couldn't accept that being that he HATES the Cowboys so he told me to choose a new team... LOL.  I love purple and I went to Weber State (purple & white) so I asked which teams were Purple.  My two options: Baltimore Ravens & Minnesota Vikings.  So I chose the Ravens.  So they have been my unofficial favorite team (still Cowboys are my #1 team).  Through the years Bob has realized that I do like the Cowboys and he's accepted it, he's even bought me a Jersey and my own Cowboys cup.  But still I've always cheered for the Ravens.  So yeah for them being in the SuperBowl this year!  Only problem Bob's team is and has been the San Fransisco 49er's.  They have been his team since.... Forever!  So this year we have a official SuperBowl rival!

My family came over.  We had good food and a lot of fun.  Pretty much everyone was cheering for the 49er's so my sister and I were the only Raven fans this year.  Guess who won!  Yup the Ravens.  But it was a good game.  Ravens ran up the score quite a bit the first half.  During the second half the Ravens started strong.  Then the power went out in the Stadium for about 1/2 hour.  The 49ers came back and really pushed hard.  It was a good second half.  But in the end Raven's won.  Luckily my hubby is a good sport and wasn't too upset that MY team won.  Only sad part, it was so noisy in the house we couldn't hear the commercials.  Guess I'll have find them online and watch them.  My favorite was the Budweiser Clydesdale horse commercial.  It really got us teary eyed. 

And now for the pictures:

Yummy food for the Superbowl.  I even made little pennants for each team.  They were fun.  But more of a hit for the kids then for the adults.  Oh well.  They made cute decorations.

  

 
 

I made the little kids a 49er's Tshirt.  For my niece I added a little bit of pink to the sleeves to make a little more girly.

 

My cute little family.  First Superbowl I've actually had a Tshirt to match the team that is playing.

Catching up

It's been a while since I have been on my blog, I almost forgot that it existed.  Shame on me!  This blog has been such a great way for me to keep in contact with family plus document my kids lives.  My mom even printed all the pages of our journey to first time parenthood and gave it to us for Christmas (best gift!).  Since having Gavin and starting working full time I've totally neglected this blog.  Do you hear a resolution coming on.... nope.  I hate resolutions.  But I will try to update more often just in case anyone stops by.  And for journaling purpose. 

So what is going on?

Zack has started preschool (last August).  And will be starting Kindergarten this Fall.  He is so ready and excited.  Every day that he has preschool he comes home and tells me what he has learned.  He loved practicing his letter and identifying letters.  Zack is as active as he always has been.  He is starting to make up games which is really funny.  Last night it was Dash vs Dinosaur.  Zack would run really fast (Dash) and I had to be the Dinosaur stopping after him.  If I caught him then I became Dash and he was the Dinosaur.  It's pretty funny. 

Gavin is an amazing little 2 almost 3 year old.  He is very focused.  If you give him a book, puzzle or blocks he will sit there and just play with them.  He loves to read and every night I have to read 2-3 books to him.  And he loves to play with his toys.  Which is amazing because his big brother doesn't really have the attention span for quiet play.  Gavin loves to play with his action figures, it's so fun to stand in the doorway and watch him play.  He gets so involved that he wont even notice me.  Gavin is also active and loves to do things outdoors.  The park is his favorite.  Unfortunately with the horrible cold weather that we've been having Mom doesn't like to be outside much.  (4 degree weather and icky inversion).

Anyways that's all for now.  Just know that we are happy, healthy and  having a great time.  I'll try to post more later. 

A few pictures from our New Year Party

Don't worry it's just Apple Cider.  But this is my favorite picture.  LOL

TTFN

This Post is long, but the pictures are worth it!

So I've been on a blog Hiatus... Yes that is what we will call it.  We aren't going to call it, too lazy or too busy because I'm pretty sure I've used that excuse a few times on this blog.  We'll say I was taking time away from my blog to do other more important things.  Like lets see, working, raising two very rambunctious kids, and trying to do my church calling.  Yes that is what we will call it.

So what has our family been up to since March.  Lets see:
 

The Leprechaun hit our house.  He tried to play some tricks on us but we got the best of him because he forgot some of his loot and Zack and Gavin ended up with Gold Chocolate coins, A hat filled with candy,  and a shirt.  Later that day they went with Grandma Visser, Aunt Jolene, Aunt Jeanette, Aunt Deanna and Kairi to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

 
Zack’s Great Grandpa got some last minute Disney on Ice tickets so we went to that.  It was a lot of fun!  Zack was pretty excited to see Woody and Buzz on the ice.  He would have like to meet them in person though.
 

 

In April we celebrated Easter.   Zack and Gavin had a great time looking for Easter Eggs with Kiari at Great Grandma and Grandpa Peterson’s house.  

Zack started Tee ball with his friend Quinn.  We thought it was a tee ball league but ended up being coach pitch and only if the kids couldn’t hit the ball would they have to use the Tee.  Zack seemed to enjoy himself.  He loved hitting the ball but being in outfield wasn’t too much fun.  He ended up playing in the dirt more than he watched the game.  

And we got a Swing Set.  Thanks to our awesome Neighbors and good friends – The Powers – Zack and Gavin now are able to have fun in the backyard!

 

May was a slow month for us.  Zack and Gavin have been going with Grandma and Grandpa Speakman to the Library every Monday to do activities.  They have learned jokes, sing songs and make crafts. Each Monday is a new activity.  (sorry no pictures)

Daddy ripped out all the carpet in the living/dining room and hallway and replaced it with wood laminate, then replaced all the baseboards with 5” baseboards.  We painted the Dining Room/Kitchen a sage green and finally replaced the artwork with something new.  (Hello I’ve only had the previous artwork since before we got married, it was time to update)

 

We went to a splash pad in Deanna’s neighborhood and played for a bit.  Too bad it was a bit chilly but the kids had fun!

At the end of the month we took the boys to the new Mall that opened downtown.  The mall is City Creek.  It’s pretty cool.  The mall has a retractable roof so on cold days they close the roof so it’s a indoor mall.  On good weather days it’s open so it’s more of an outdoor mall… very cool concept.  They also have a creek running down the middle (hence the name).  Zack and Gavin loved the water.

 

 

June has already been a pretty buys month for our family.  Mommy, Zack and Gavin were in a parade with Aunt Jeanette and Tyler.  It was so much fun.  Gavin and Mommy pretty much rode in the back of a truck, but Zack walked quite a bit with Jeanette.  (sorry no pictures again, we were too busy throwing candy).  After that we went to see Uncle Russell compete at the Scottish festival.  It was really fun watching him.  Too bad the wind was so bad that day!  But I finally got a meat pie that my family has been raving about.  And I got some Cream Soda yummm!

 We went to Wheeler Farm and met some of the Relief Society people (of course we were late) but that was okay, Deanna met us there and we fed the ducks. Saw the pigs, goats and cows.  And we fed Hay to the horses.  It was a very nice afternoon. 

 

This month Zack started swim lessons.  It started really good.  He hoped right in the water listened to the teacher.  He was doing so good, I was a little hopeful that they would move him up to a more advanced class.  But then he started to cry. And the next lesson he cried.  And the next lesson he didn’t want to go, and so on and so on.  Not sure what I should do, force him? Let him quite? I just don’t know.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Aunt Jeanette took the boys to Seven Peaks and Trafalga with Tyler, Deanna, Kelly and Kairi. They had a great time!    

This past week we went to a Bee’s game with Deanna and her family and Aunt Jolene.  It was a ton of fun (and work).  Afterwards we watched fireworks.  Both kids LOVED them!  

And Mommy finally got to go a filming of Good Things Utah.  It’s so great to have the Young Women Beehives as an excuse to go to a live taping.  Of course it was fun for the girls too (I hope).

 

Well sorry for the post overload. If you made it all the way to the end congratulations.  We are doing well.  Definitely enjoying the Summer and hopefully Mommy will be able to blog a lot better in the future.  

Go ahead and comment, say hi.  Our family would love to hear from you.  And if you have a blog that isn't in the sidebar and would like some extra traffic let me know and I'd love to stop by and say Hi as well.