Timber!

The tree out our kitchen window got damaged in the crazy snow and ice storm, in January. Our land lords wanted to remove it anyway so when it got damaged, we got permission from them to just take it down ourselves. I was very happy to get rid of that tree because I really hated it's tiny red leaves that were always all over everything. Luckily, Chris is really good at taking trees down so he came over and helped us. And we had fantastic weather that weekend.

Before we started taking it down. This was the damage from the storm.

 

 Broken branch on the roof

 A bunch of our privacy shrubs got damaged in the storm too

 Using straps to direct where the branches fall. We didn't want anything hitting the house.

 The branch that fell on the roof during the storm, was covering the sky light in the kitchen

 Quite a few branches are down already but there's still a long way to go

 Making progress

 I seriously didn't realize that the tree was that tall until Chris was on the roof cutting it down. That thing was huge!

 The branches from the tree took up the whole side yard

 Adios tree!

While we already had everything out, we decided to prune the rest of the trees in our yard, too

 Skyler was having a great time with his new lawn mower

 Such a cute boy!

 I like the trail of bubbles on the grass from his lawn mower

 A whole truck load of useable firewood

 While the guys were cutting down the tree, I was putting Dylan's birthday present from Grandma & Grandpa together. He now has his own trike.

 He thought it was pretty fun!

 The boys love playing outside!

 I love the silly faces he makes!

 Now to get everything all cleaned up

The next day, Rich managed to compact all of the branches down and got everything to fit in the truck and trailer so he only had to make one trip to get rid of it

When Rich left to get rid of all of the branches, Skyler and I went out back and started raking and sweeping up all of the sawdust and little twigs. He's such a good helper!

And Dylan had a great time playing with the toys on the porch. He's getting to be such a big boy!

Bob & Denise's Bathroom Remodel

 At the beginning of January, Chris, Christie & Rich began remodeling Bob & Denise's downstairs bathroom. Demolition day was lots of fun! Skyler even got in on the demolition action and was trying to help take down part of the wall...

 Using a hammer is fun!

 Christie was getting the shower all ready to be taken out

 Skyler is an excellent supervisor

 Ripping out the shower

 First chunk of the shower is out!

 Throwing everything outside

 Taking a swing at the stubborn shower

 It's finally out!

That used to be a shower

 Don't ask what Chris is pointing at

 Removing the linoleum floor

 A few days later, time to start tiling the floor...

 All tiled and grouted. Looks awesome Chris!

 New toilet and cabinet are in.

They still have to finish the shower, hang a mirror over the sink and put up the different fixtures but it already looks so much better!

Random January Pictures

Here are all of the random pictures that we took in January...

 

We got to attend Emma's baby blessing on New Year's Day. She is such a sweet and beautiful little girl! We're glad we got to be a part of her special day!

We got our new car a few days before Dylan turned 1 so, we figured we would turn him forward facing a few days early. This was his first ride in the new car and his first ride forward facing. He thought it was pretty cool.

 I had Rich & Chris move the elliptical machine into our living room and Skyler thought it was pretty cool that he could exercise and see his movie

 Working out with Mommy

 We got ready for church a few minutes early one Sunday and it was such a nice day, we decided to take a few pictures in our back yard

 Dylan is still having issues with spitting up so, we took him to the chiropractor to get adjusted to see if that would help him. He loved getting adjusted and his back popped a lot!

 Out at Grandma and Grandpa's house, Dylan got pretty good at climbing the stairs. Unfortunately, he was also good at falling down them, too. :-( Poor little guy!

 We were playing games with Brian & Denise one night and we had Dylan up in his high chair, next to us,  drinking his milk and he fell asleep. It was so cute!

 Sleepy boy!

 I took him out of his high chair and held him while he finished his milk and I thought it was so funny how he had milk running all down his face and he had his hand up on his forehead like he was just so exhausted. Must have been a long day for him!

 This kid absolutely LOVES his horse! He has so much fun riding it!

 Giving his horsey some love

 Practicing his newly learned walking skills

We were doing some last minute shopping the night before the boys' birthday party and we came out of Toys R Us to find a flat tire. The tire was so stuck on we had to have Brian come help us. He had to hit the tire with a sledge hammer to get it off. The tire somehow had a big slash on the back side of it so we had to buy 2 new tires. Not Cool!