I LOVE this picture!!! Isn't the background amazing??! My sister-in-law Ari took these pictures and she did an amazing job. She started her own photography business not too long ago and she is doing really well, she is very talented. You can check her stuff out at ariphotography.blogspot.com/ and her blog which is under my links "Arianne and Aaron Lewis" Just in case any of you in the area want to have awesome pictures like these!
In Fillmore (about a half hour from where we live) they have vintage trains that they do murder mystery dinners on, and during Christmas they do the North Pole express, where you take a train ride to pick up Santa at the "north pole." They give you cookies and chocolate milk and read you a Christmas story and give you a jingle bell. Then Santa walks through the train and hands out candy canes and you sing Christmas carols on the way back. We had tons of fun, Trevor was so excited to get to ride a choo choo train. He LOVED it! Grandma Cheney got him a choo choo whistle and he kept it close the whole time and would pick it up every minute or so and give it a good blow. We also bought him a mini plastic choo choo train (3/$1.00) and he played with it at our table on the train, Shaun made the train go around the table and Trevie grabbed his whistle as fast as he could and blew on it the whole time Shaun made the train go around the table. It was so cute. After the train ride was over (about an hour) we got off and they had a winter wonderland/shops/jumpies and a carousel. We're so glad that Grandma Cheney, and Great Grandma Nickie could come with us. It was our Christmas gift to them this year.
I LOVE the last picture. It completely captures how happy and excited Trevor was the entire night. Such a fun little boy.
Trevor has been doing some pretty cute things lately, and I don't want to forget, so I'm posting them, mostly for my records....But I thought others might enjoy to hear about it too:
1. The other day Trevie and I went to meet Shaun for lunch and while we were waiting for him we stayed in the car and listened to the radio. Alicia Key's song, "No One'' came on. I really like that song, and so I started singing the chorus part, where she says no one over and over again, with her really loud looking at Trevie. A few days later I noticed him saying, no one, no one, no one. He would just randomly say it through out the day. It took me a few times to get that he was trying to sing the song. So cute. He's still saying it, I love it.
2. We don't have cable TV, so we've been watching the Back to the Future trilogy, we got it for christmas last year, and just barely opened it. Trevor LOVED the last one, where he goes to the past, only because there is a Choo choo train in it almost the whole time. The last 15 mins is packed with great choo choo scenes. with horses and a "mommy" and "daddy" (doc and his girlfriend). When the move ended Trevor just started crying, like his feelings had been hurt. He was so sad the choo choo went bye bye. So we let him watch the last 15 mins again. The next day, and almost every day after that he says, "Choo, choo, a-dain" so I turn on the last 15 mins of back to the future 3. He loves it! He used to love his Dora Choo choo episode, but the real thing is much better I guess, he won't watch Dora anymore, only Back to the Future.
3. Lately, Trevor has been saying, "No body home" any time he opens an empty box, sippy cup, or sees that any thing is empty. I have no idea where he got that. But is adorable.
4. Trevor said his first prayer two days ago. He repeated me word for word, as clearly as I said the words. I was so precious. He also said the prayer in nursury today, and was the only kid to verbally identify Baby Jesus. Such a smarty.
5. Treovr has been referring to himself as Trevie a lot lately. If he wants to do something he'll say, Trevie do it, or Trevie and the thing he wants to do. Or if he wants something, He'll say, Trevie and the thing he wants. When we sit down to eat he says, Trevies Food and points to his plate, and then points to my plate and says Mommy's food.
6. We put our Christmas Tree up and it's mostly filled with ornaments that Shaun got as he grew up, one is a picture of him when he's about 6-8 years old. One morning trevor and I were relaxing on the couch and he was telling me waht all the ornaments were, snow man, car, choo choo, kitty cat, and then he pointed to the picture of Shaun and said, Trevie's Daddy.
7. As we were leaving the house the otherday, I grabbed my bag/purse and trevie says, "Trevie bag." and pointed to one of my bags I wasn't using. he wanted to a bag too. then he put it around his neck and said, Trevie drumb. It was a hobo bag and it really did look like it could have been a drum around his neck, then of course, mommy had to wear the drum. He's so funny.
8. Today in church after the bishop gave his testimony and Trevor heard him say Amen, trevie looks up and says OH! and folds his arms, then he looks at the pulpit and then looks at me and says, trevie! and then turns and runs to the pulpit. He thought it was his turn.
We went to San Diego over the Thanksgiving weekend to help my dad finish up some last minute projects on his house. My mom, Makenna, Trevor and I got to go to the wild animal park while we were there. We had a blast. Especially Trevor. He loved it! It was so fun to go with him, because now he knows all of his animals, so every time we saw an animal he would name it. So cute. The African Safari tour was my favorite, we got to see tons of animals. The best part was the baby rhinoceros! Trevor especially loves baby animals, and we got to see a bunch of baby elephants too. We took him into the petting zoo, and he loved it. I was really surprised. Trevor used to be terrified of animals up close, but he loved petting all of the animals. There were some big ones in there too. Trevor's favorite part of the whole day was riding the carousel. He HAD to ride the elephant. He was so happy, and I got the best shot ever of his cute smily face! He through a royal tantrum when the ride stopped, and thankfully they let us go on again, free. I kept warning him that we'd have to get off soon the second time we went around and he didn't cry too much after we got off. It's so awesome being so close to family now. Makenna is the best thing ever. She is Trevor's best friend ever, and mine too, because she does such a great job of keeping him entertained.
I am finally ready to tell the story about remodeling our house and selling it! I can't believe that we've been in California for almost a month already! We were extremely blessed throughout the entire process, and I know now more than I have even known before that miracles still happen in our modern world.
Miracle #1: Shaun remodeled our house in Sidney in about 2 1/2 months. We fully remodeled the house in that short amount of time. Our original plans were to remodel sections of the house over the course of a couple of years. So basically we flipped our Montana house. It has always been in our plans to flip a house someday. We hadn't planned on doing it so soon, and now that we have we are definitely waiting a LONG time before we do that again! It all sounds so simple and exciting at first but we discovered what a huge financial and mental burden it can be! I don't think I've experienced a more stressful time in my entire life...but I have to say it was all worth it.
Miracle #2: Our house sold 1 week after we moved to California!!! For our asking price!!! and our asking price was $10,000 more than what the Realtor suggested we list it at! Totally awesome, and amazing.
Miracle #3: We officially accepted the offer on Nov. 4th and Escrow officially closed on Nov. 21st. That's a 17 day escrow! Unheard of! It is such a blessing for us that we were able to close so quickly.
My dad and shaun were literally finishing up the house hours before we left, so we weren't able to get many pictures, thankfully our Realtor sent us a bunch of awesome ones! But they are small, so they won't blow up too big if you click on them.
In case you missed what our house looked like before, check out the pictures I posted of when we very first moved in.
click here:
Before Pictures
Below are 2 pictures of the upstairs bathroom that we created ourselves. We knocked down a few walls and put up a few more to create this master bath, it turned out nice and big and we are so sad we never got to use it! I came so close to having my dream of a two sink bathroom fulfilled. I guess I'll just have to wait a little longer.
below is the hallway that leads into the two bedrooms on the right wing of the house. In the before pictures this hallway has a closed blue door with bright red shag carpet.
One of the two bedrooms on right wing
Second bedroom
Master bedroom. We knocked down a wall to create this space. It used to be two very tiny rooms. We also created a nice sized walk in closet from the old hallway that lead straight to the toilet closet that used to be the bathroom upstairs. (see before pictures)
Stairwell. For me this was probably the most miraculous change. This stairwell used to be completely enclosed. Shaun crafted the banisters from scratch. He welded them together, they turned out completely amazing. I was so impressed. And he did it all in one day!
Dining room
Living room
Kitchen. Wow! It turned out amazing for hardly doing any upgrades!
Downstairs bathroom. You HAVE to see the before picture of this bathroom to truly appreciate what an amazing transformation it went through!
Now looking back on the entire experience it seems like it was all a dream. (or nightmare? haha) I am so lucky to have such a talented husband! He did an amazing job. He didn't get to remodel the house exactly the way he would have, we had to take a lot of shortcuts because of time, but it turned out better than amazing, and I am so proud of him for all of his hard work. Hopefully he feels rewarded. We are pretty sad that we didn't get to live in the remodel, not even for one night. But we are SO SO SO GRATEFUL to be back in California! Moving here and getting such a great job has been another miracle. We have been so abundantly blessed, it is overwhelming and we are so greatful.
Hope every one has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Love Jessy
I finally have a belly to show off! It seems like it took me longer to pop out with this pregnancy. Maybe I was just too busy to notice, but as soon as we got to CA I feel like I really popped out. We still do not know what the baby is, it is up in the air whether or not we will find out (shaun wants to, I don't), at this point I am thinking we're not going to.
My sister Lindsey was nominated as one of the Homecoming Princesses at her high school. I'm so glad we got to be here and watch the cheesy event. Isn't she totally gorgeous??? I LOVE her dress. She looked amazing in it. My mom and I were sitting in front of some ladies that were speaking spanish during the game and when Lindsey came out (she was last) all they said was, que bonita! que bonita! They were going crazy over her dress, it was so funny. She didn't get Homecoming Queen, but she was definitely the cutest/prettiest one out there.
Dad got to escort Lindsey out to the field, he looks so handsome.
Even though life is chaotic, we managed to celebrate Halloween. Trevor looked adorable in this clown costume. I actually wore it when I was about his age. And his birthday hat went perfect with it. I really had to wrestle him to get the outfit on him but once I got him in the car and to the trick-or-treating and festivities in downtown Carpinteria, he forgot all about wearing the costume. I managed to put a costume together for myself. I was a lady bug. Even Shaun was able to make it to see Trevie in his little outfit. So fun. Trevor's new best friend is Makenna "Nena" He LOVES his Nena. He constantly asks for her and never tires of playing with her. What a dream come true! A free babysitter who Trevor loves to be with. Living in Carpinteria is so wonderful.
We made it to California! Finally! It's so great to be back. Things are still crazy, and it's taking forever to move in! We don't have Internet at our house yet, so I will post more details later.
Trevor is at that wonderful stage where any owie can be fixed with a kiss from mommy. I love it! Yesterday it became extremely clear that only mommy's kisses are magical when Trevor hurt his fingers and Shaun tried to comfort him and give him a kiss but Trevor still came to me fussy, showing me his fingers and as soon as I kissed them he was happy and ready to play! I feel so special!
This is a typical site at the Allen's. The boys LOVE getting rides on the 4-wheeler, and Brett is the master at giving multiple children a ride at once.
Trevor with Anna and Bryan. He loves Anna and Bryan and can say both of their names extremely well. Right now every little girl Trevie sees is Anna. Even pictures of little girls. They were spinning each other in this chair, having tons of fun. We're sure going to miss Anna and Bryan.
They also love to take the cushions off these chairs at the Allen's and jump on them.
