It's been awhile. . . a LONG while!

Well, it's been just over a year since I last wrote.  We had some computer issues and I lost most my pictures from over the years.  Good thing I had posted so many good ones on the blog and on facebook!  I was able to recover the majority of the important ones, or have the others archived in a way that I didn't feel like bursting into tears because thousands of photos were gone!  We are now backed up better than before, so hopefully that won't be a problem again.  Anyways, further excuses aside, here is a run down of the year 2013!

JOSH GRADUATED!!!!

Kids are still cute!

I took Evan and Brayden with me to Iowa to find housing for us.  Josh got a job with Pioneer in Des Moines.  So it's a new chapter for us!

Of course they were excellent on the airplane.  They really enjoyed this trip, just the three of us!

See, it's a job offer!  about time!

We lived through one more Ithaca winter, but in preparing our house for sale, we redid the kitchen some.  Brayden loves to help me build stuff and work on stuff!

This is the picture of the flooring I put in.  Yes, I did that.

Another couple of helpers.  We had to wash and clean all the cabinets so I could refinish them as well.

Oh, and we can't forget a new countertop finish.  We used rustoleum for the countertop. . . I liked it, though I'm not sure I would want it forever.  Granite (we have now in our home in Iowa) is MUCH better!

The backsplash. . . learned so much doing that!

The finished update.  I think if I had to think about it again I may have gone with a darker bottom cabinets and lighter uppers, but overall it was a HUGE improvement!

Family picture we took on a whim. . .

And, more crazy cute kids!

Josh's Dad moved in with us for three months and then moved to Iowa with us.  He actually met a wonderful lady and got married December of 2013!  So happy for them both (see picture later).

 Had to post this picture of Josh dealing with bad sheet rock in the garage. . . didn't want buyers to worry about mold!  (it wasn't moldy, but had gotten water on it and was starting to not look so good, so we just stopped any issues with it before it started)

And of course we had to take one last trip to Niagara Falls!  LOVE THAT PLACE!

 And the Sacred Grove.  Such a special place!  We all love it there so much and will miss being able to go!

This is the playground close to our temporary housing.  It was nice to visit once in awhile.  I tried to keep the kids busy, because living on the second floor of an apartment building with kids who have never had to be quiet for neighbors before was a new experience i hope never to repeat.  Living in a townhome is at least not THAT bad! 

 See, apartment building!  It was nice for the month however!

Evan celebrated his 9th birthday while in temporary housing.  We had fun, anyway!

Isn't he just so handsome!

 Is pile of presents!

 His fun sorting hat cake!

 He is now being placed into a "house". . .

 And we went to Adventure land to celebrate!

 Love the tea cups!

After we got into our townhouse, we spent two crazy weeks cleaning and unpacking and then we headed to Idaho!

We went through northern Wyoming to visit some friends, and then went through Jackson Hole. . . these are the Tetons,  so beautiful!  

We visited for two weeks and we did go to the Zoo in Idaho Falls.

Cousin Fun!

Then we got home, and as luck would have it!  We got to bring our niece Raven out with us to Iowa.  So, we took her to the Iowa State Fair!  We love fairs!

 And, yes, my kids love tractors! (see, Andrew even wears cowboy boots!)

 It was fun having my niece here and can't wait for her to come back!

Once we found a place we could buy and live (we ended up buying a town home instead of a house. . . easier to rent out and we had two mortgages still at the time!), the kids started school and I got the babies into gymnastics class.  Brayden took it too and loved it!

We also finally had dental insurance and all the kids needed work!  Andrew needed the most, so we just took him in to the hospital to do it all at once.  He looks so cute in his little scrubs.  He wanted to keep them, but they wouldn't let him.  He did good and all his teeth got fixed.

Even though they are bigger, they still make dad carry them both at the same time!  Must be a twin thing! :)

Instead of Gymnastics, Evan did soccer.  He had fun.

Brayden turned 7 in 2013!

We surprised him with the circus!

and a Circus Cake!

He loved it. . . (ps, this was my first attempt at making animals myself from modeling chocolate. . . not bad, I think.  I just don't promise doing it all that often!)

Cute gymnastic kids in their costumes for halloween.

Our cute Halloween kids!  Andrew wanted to be Woody and Addison chose Jessie, so they all decided to stick with the theme!  SO CUTE!

 And they did a great job with their pumpkins!

 Halloween here is weird.  They do trick or treating on "beggars night", which translates into the 30th of October. . . some communities do the 31st, so it's now a split area of trick or treating. . . you really have to know where you are going and when they do their trick or treating.  We went with some friends since Josh was gone anyway.

Josh spent halloween in India.  The kids were all very excited to get him  back home.  It was his first trip over there as a Pioneer employee.

The babies, as I call them, got to celebrate their 4th birthday twice.  Once at home with Grandma and Grandpa Cobb. . .

 (Addison's cute dress from India)

And one time in Idaho right before Thanksgiving.  We hadn't been to Idaho for Thanksgiving for some years, so it was nice to go again.  Andrew was cute though, when we started the second birthday celebrations he asked me if he was turning 5 now!  Valid question! :)

Andrew had a Toy Story Cake.

Addison had a Tangled Cake.

I think they liked them!

Here is the picture of Grandpa and Grandma Cobb. . . this is their wedding announcement picture.  Aren't they cute!  Welcome to the family Debbie.

This is the cake I made for them. . .

They loved it!  I was glad to do it!

Ahhh Christmas!  We got a wonderful fake tree this year!  It's large and I love it!

And yes, we did get a cat.  Was that a smart idea. . . probably not.  He was a really cute kitten though, and I wish he would have stayed that way!!

I don't remember when this picture happened, but isn't she cute.  I know it was around Christmas time!  I must have worn her out!

New Years Eve!

At the Science Center!  They drop the balloons at 12 noon. . . it's great for the kids!  It was packed, but fun!

Well, I think I finally did it!  I updated through 2013!  I'm sure a bunch of cute and fun things were skipped, but I really wanted the record, so this is what I did!  Welcome back to the blog!

Now to catch up on 2014!