I have switched over to a new blogsite so I wanted to give you a link to it as I will be retiring this blog. I am only able to add 10 email addresses on the other one so you will not be getting emails like this to let you know I posted. If you add me to your favorites list you will be able to check us out. I have a favorites folder just for my friends blogs so I can quickly jump from one site to the next to see how everyone is doing. If you really like us you could add us to your toolbar:-) Or even your home page ( grandparents...:-). The new site is called the Sniktaws. See you over there!
Click HERE to see the new blog or go to www.sniktaws.blogspot.com
Love,
Katie |
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Oct. 3, 2008 Staying Connected
I have a friend who recently moved away from her friends and family and has inspired me with how faithfully she keeps up her blog so nobody has to miss out one her children growing. So I have been thinking for a few months that I would like to do the same for our parents who love their grandchildren but don't get to see them all the time. So I have been working this evening on organizing our family pictures (yes I have a very classic case of being a photographer but totally disorganized when it comes to our own family pictures!) and setting up my computer so it will be easy to blog about our life. My goal is to make a couple of entries a week so check back often to see what we are up to!
Here is a little sampling of our last week or so.
A Wedding
Rosie, Cameron and their dear friends Alivia and Sara held a wedding in our back yard last week. The girls made Cameron wait while Rosie dolled them up. Cameron was dressed in his best pirate outfit. I was the photographer as Alivia and Cameron got hitched. Very cute:-)
Rosie is taking after her mother:-)
Grandpa Loy's 70th Birthday
Josh's Dad turned 70 this last week so we went to Chico to celebrate with him. Josh played golf with him and Matt for a little guy time. It was Matt's first time out and Joshua was just telling me today how hard he laughed at Matt (or with Matt:-) as he would swing with all he had to only have it go just a few feet or miss it completely!
We had dinner at Burger Hut, a local Chico favorite! It was really cool because the Chico air show was going on and we had great seats to see the planes. Cameron was in heaven with all the different kinds of planes going over. My parent's were able to join us as well as Matt and Erin.
Deborah threw a party for Loy that included a lot of family that we haven't seen in a while and the "in-laws", my parent's and my sister-in-laws parents. I think that it is a rare thing to have an event where the cousins (Rosie, Cameron, Skylar, and Henry) have all their grandparents there. I feel very blessed to have the friends and connections in Chico where that is a reality and normal for us.
Joshua and Matt had a great gift idea and we got his mom and older brother on board. We are sending Loy and Deborah to Washington DC at the end of the month. It has been a dream of Loy's and it was so fun to see his face when he received hi his gift. Happy Birthday Grandpa Loy!
Sutter's Fort
I have a dear friend Christy here in Reno and we are partner's in crime!! We are always hatching up new ideas and plans and often take our children on field trips together. This year they added baby number 3 to their household so going out with the 5 kids has taken on a whole new level and set of organizational skills! We headed to Sacramento today to pick up my kids which have been staying at the Grandparent's this week. Thank you so much!
We stopped at Ikea for lunch and Christy and I browsed through the store together. We left the children in the playplace instead of taking them with us, which is something I never do. I figured there was safety in numbers and the store was unusually empty so it worked out much better than chasing 5 kids through Ikea. Think of all the places they could hide!!! We didn't buy much but it is always fun to get ideas.
After Ikea we headed over to Sutter's Fort for a field trip. Rosie is reading about the Gold Rush in her schooling right now so it was a perfect way to make the time period come alive. The kids enjoyed looking in all the rooms and seeing how they lived.
After a few potty stops, nursing stops and general chaos we got back on the road just in time to hit Sacramento traffic. Oh well that is what patience is for right? We had movies for the kids so at least that kept the noise level down enough for Christy and I to be able to talk on the way home. Thanks Christy for going with me |
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Feb. 28, 2008 The kitchen is done!!
We are 99% done with the kitchen. It turned out really nice. We are very happy that we spent the extra time and money to totally redo it. I have so much more storage now and the layout seemed to give a lot more counter space. I enjoy cooking in there now. Here are a few pictures.
The cabinets are up. These cabinets are 39" instead of the standard 30". It is amazing how much more storage we gained.
Josh's Dad Loy came over for a weekend and helped hang the cabinets.
Daddy's Little Helper
Josh is hanging the beadboard that we used for the backsplash.
We layed out the tile on a diagonal. Joshua was up until 3 in the morning laying it. It had some many cuts and it was a pretty tricky layout but it turned out so beautiful.
We started to paint the beadboard green but it was this really light minty green. I have the worst time picking out greens and always mess it up. I was trying to follow Josh's advice of going lighter this time but it looked like mint ice cream! I went back to the store and got a different shade and it turned out just like I wanted. We painted all of the beadboard green.
Here is the finished kitchen! We bought wooden countertops from Ikea. The whole room is so pretty and cheerful. We are very happy with our new kitchen.
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Jan. 24, 2008 Our new kitchen Jan. 24, 2008 Kitchen Remodel
We recently found out that we did not get the job in Chico so we have begun a full kitchen remodel since we may be living here for awhile. The plan was to do just a few things like new flooring and countertops but then we decided to do it all. Joshua has done 100% of the work with the exception of my dad coming over to do the wiring and plumbing.
The plan is to close the old door way off that made it so you have to walk around the corner into the dining room. We opened up the wall that we put the pass through in earlier this year. That is the new door way. By doing this the kitchen became very long and narrow but there is nothing that could be done about that. The measurements of the kitchen are 18' by 7.5'. Why they couldn't make it a few feet wider is beyond me. Very ackward space to deal with. So the new plan has the kitchen sink moved under a new window at one end of the kitchen. The window was 2'x3' and is now 4'x3'. From that the cabinets will wrap around our very long wall and the stove and fridge will be there along with the pantry. On the opposite wall we replace the old door that was extremely drafty with a new glass door. We will be adding a small buffet/china cabinet but it will only be 13" deep since our kitchen is so narrow.
We picked out the tile for the counters tonight and are undecided on what to do for the floors yet. It will either be tile or vinyl. For the backsplash I will have a 6" tile then bead board that will go under the cabinets and then all over the wall were the sink is. We discovered that our current fan lights will not work, which I will dearly miss come the middle of summer, and we will be replacing those with something else. The colors will be white cabinets, tan/gold tile, sage/olive green bead board and yellow walls like the rest of the house. Hopefully it will look good together. Our cabinets are from IKEA and have a modern country feel to them.
So here are a few before and middle pictures
This is the door way that we close off. It will now be my new pantry. We opened up the wall behind the fridge because that is where the dining room is.
My sink will be where the dishwasher is. There are old hookups for the washing machine there and I think they dried their clothes outside on the clothes line. That little window is the one that we replaced with a bigger one.
This is Josh working on the window. He did both this and the door in about 20 degrees and with snow on the ground.
Our new door. Isn't it pretty? Plus you can kind of see the new entrance to the kitchen from the dining room.
What would we do with out my dad, the man who can do anything!
There were 3 layers of flooring including some gold sparkly stuff!
My new window and sink location.
The uppers have been removed and Josh is prepping the walls for bead board. The cabinets on the left side are about like they will be. The cabinet on the right side is too deep and will be about 13" instead of the normal 24". It will be our new coffee bar as well as my "china cabinet" above.
That is all that I have for now. Joshua is tearing through this project given that we started about 2nd week of January and we will be hanging cabinets next week and putting on counters. I will have more pictures soon. |
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Well we are almost done with September and it has been a busy month for us. We started the month by going to DL Bliss at Lake Tahoe with some of our childhood D.O.C. friends and camping. It is always fun to catch up with old friends and now many of them are new parents so it is a treat to love on the babies. We had a great time and are looking forward to next year!
I have had two weddings this month and have one more to go. I think that I am finally in the swing of things and am real looking forward to a "quiet" fall as I have been so busy. I will have done 15 weddings this year and it was a great learning experience. I have decided to do a few less next year so I can enjoy more of the summer with my kids. I have already booked two weddings for next year but I am trying to be selective on what weekends I book. My goal is 8-10 weddings next summer.
Rosie started 4th grade this fall. School is going well and we are excited about learning about American History this year. I learn just as much as she does! It is taking about 3 hours a day this year so it will take a little more of my time. Cameron is doing "school" too so that makes our mornings interesting. Sometimes he really wants to sit with us but most of the time he drags his school stuff (crayons, coloring books, etc.) out and then goes off and plays. I am thankful that I have 2 more years before we really have to start school with him.
Last week my girlfriend Chirsty and I went to Chico with our kids so I could show her my hometown. We stayed a night at both my parents and Josh's parents. I dragged her all over town and we went to the park, downtown, and just walked around a lot as I pointed different places out. Every time I go home my desire to be at home deepens and my heart aches to be there. We have been praying that God will make that happen soon. Christy is a dear, dear friend of mine and I loved showing her where we are from. She is my dearest Reno friend and I am so blessed to have her in my life.
We just got home today from a weekend at Lake Almanor with Christy and her husband Jeremy and kids. We had fun staying in this rustic little cabin on the lake. The kids love playing in the forest. We tried to get the kids in bed early so we could play Cash Flow and Settlers of Catan. That is not an easy feat with four children in the same bed but we managed to do it as early as 7:30 on Saturday night! It rained this weekend so we had a cozy fire and listened to the rain on the tin roof. Our kids spend so much time together and they love playing with each other. Alivia is 4 and Sara is 2. We took our dog, Daisy, and she had a great time running wild with their dog and just having her freedom to run around. She never goes far so we are able to just let her loose and she has a great time!
Well that is a sampling of our month so far. We have a 12 day trip coming up next week to Chico and then to Patrick's Point on the Ocean for camping with Josh's family. I have never been camping with them in my 9 years as a part of their family so it will be a new family experience!
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Sep. 4, 2007 A few more Summer pictures
Here are a few more pictures I pulled from our summer. They all seem to have a water theme. We love our boat! We went to the Delta with my parents for a few days for my birthday. They brought their sailboat up from the Bay and we brought our ski boat down. We were able to stay on their boat and ski as much as we wanted to. We had a lot of fun!
 My parents sailboat.
 My parents with the kids on the Delta.
 Cameron tried waterskiing but we weren't very successful this summer. Maybe next summer!
 We went for a week to "vacation" in Chico. We took our boat and skied Lake Oroville. One of the places we took the kids to was to Upper Bidwell Park and we played in the creek catching polywogs. 
We camped at Lake Tahoe with a bunch of our childhood friends. Another picture of us at Lake Tahoe!
Best picture of the summer. We were home in Chico for the 4th of July. Joshua's parents were having a party at their house for the 4th with church friends and they were doing a baptism in the pool. Many of our dear friends and family were there so we decided to have Rosie baptized. She has been asking for awhile to do this so we were all very excited for her. She declared her love for Jesus and her decision to follow him very clearly to the group at the pool and her Daddy and Grandpa baptized her. It was so neat to have our extended church family with us for this special moment. The neat thing was that Rosie was baptized in the same pool that both Joshua and I were baptized in on the same day when we were teens. God is so awesome!! |
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We started school today. Rosie is really excited about starting her school work and today went really well. I wanted to share a few pictures from our summer.
Rosie turned 8!
Rosie learned to wakeboard this summer. We went from screaming and crying in June to her eagerly jumping in the water at 6 in the morning to go wakeboarding. She is doing an awesome job.
Cameron and Rosie on the tube. Cameron actually learned how to swim pretty well this summer but is not yet water safe. He still loves to go out in the tube and even flipped out the last time he was on it.
A Day in Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe
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Sep. 4, 2007 Life with a Boy
My little Cameron has proven himself to be 100% all boy. He is full of energy, loves the dirt, loves to wrestle, LOVES cars (and knows their names!), and has brought me a mouse in the house! Yep, I said a mouse in the house. Apparently, Purity, our cat caught a mouse and was enjoying her catch on the front porch when CJ found it. He scared the cat away and caught the terrified mouse. He brought it in the house downstairs to where I was sitting at the computer talking to Rose. He said " Hey mom look!" I turned around and screamed. There in his little hands held tightly to his chest was a mouse!
We put it in a box and watched it for few minutes and then I had to convince him that we needed to let it go in the backyard where the cat couldn't get it. He was sure that it had parents in the front yard and needed to go back to his mommy and daddy. I tried to convince him that a mouse with a 5 inch tail has no parents around but he still didn't understand. We let it go in the neighbors back yard and Cameron was crying because he was sure there were parents somewhere. I hope that the little guy lived as he was quite terrified when we let him go. That is actually the 2nd mouse that has been caught but the first one that has made it in the house!
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Jun. 25, 2007 We FINALLY got a boat!
Here is a new picture of our new addition to our family. After years of talking about getting a boat we decided that this was the year to do it. It is a wakeboard boat and Joshua has outfitted us all with new boards and gear. We have had it for just a few weeks but we are taking it out at every possibilty. There is a small lake about 20 minutes from us that is great for wake boarding. We are having a great time taking our friends out with us for a few hours of fun in the sun. We have tried Rosie on a board and got her up but she isn't up to really trying it yet. Cameron went out with Daddy!
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Apr. 6, 2007 The Stairwell
In our home we have a 1,000 sq. ft. upstairs and 700 sq. ft. downstairs in a basement. When we moved in there was a locking basement door on the stairwell to the basement. We have a small family room, an office area, a bedroom, and a tiny bathroom downstairs. We also have a large unfinished laundryroom/storage room. It was kind of creepy to have a locking door on the basement and so that was removed right away. All of the furniture in our house has move rooms several times as we try and find the best arrangement for our things. I begged Joshua to please remove the wall on the stairwell and open up the downstairs to the upstairs. There was also this funny wall the extended past the basement door upstairs and created the wall that you had to walk around to go to the bedrooms and kitchen. It also made our dining room and living room tiny!!
It was another of those projects that was started on a whim and with no plan. One afternoon in the early part of December Josh was looking for something to do so down came the wall. It took us a few months to complete the project but I think that it turned out beautiful. We now get so much more light in our basement and the downstairs and upstairs feel connected. We also painted the dark brown paneling in the basement and that really lightened things up. We no longer call it the cave!
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Apr. 6, 2007 Our New Bathroom
We moved in to our house in August and started the bathroom in September. The old bathroom was disgusting!!. The tub was black and the shower doors were so grungy and dirty. I bleached the bathroom several time but it never felt clean. We had one little vanity for storage and one plug on the light above the sink. Anytime I wanted to dry my hair I had to stand on the toilet to plug my hairdryer in. One evening Joshua was trying to get the dirt out of the track on the shower doors when he decided it was time. He removed the shower doors and chucked them outside the back door in the rain and mud.
It took us about two months to remodel. We were down to the studs and everything now is brand new. Joshua did all the work himself and my dad helped replumb the house for the new bath and kitchen. We had a few downpours in the basement before the new copper piping decided to hold and not leak anymore. You should have seen us running to turn everything off as water was spraying everywhere in the basement!! The previous bathroom was 5x7 ft. For the new bathroom we removed a hall closet and added the hallway and closet area to the new bath. That is now were the vanity sits. Joshua's Dad made a beautful linen cabinet and we now have plenty of storage. Our new bathroom is very comfortable and Joshua did an awesome job!
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Apr. 2, 2007 Welcome to the Watkins Family Blog
Dear Friends and Family,
I have been slaving away on this project all day while Joshua completed the hole in the wall in the kitchen. After I have posted two entries with pictures I found that I could add all of your emails and it would notify you when we had posted something new. That is a neat feature except for that I wrote my two entries before I made that discovery so if I want all of you to see my hard work (and Joshua's) I would have to write another entry. I hope that you enjoy this little look into our lives.
Love,
The Watkins Family
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We recently repainted the house and since most of you live out of state and can't pop over to see it here it is. The first picture is when we bought it last summer and the second picture was taken a few weeks ago. We still have a lot to do on the front but the paint made a drastic change!
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Apr. 2, 2007 Our mini kitchen makeover
Joshua has just completed another project on our house and everyone wants pictures! I thought that maybe starting a blog would be easier for everyone to keep up with us and our latest news. I am going to attempt to upload a few of our house pictures and our latest projects. We keep saying we are done for a little while and then on a whim will start another project. That is what happened yesterday with the wall.
We had some friends over for lunch and Joshua was cooking in the kitchen. Our kitchen is seperated from our dining room and you miss out on all the conversation if you are cooking. So after lunch Josh decided to put a hole in the wall with the help of his friend Mike. Within 24 hours he had everything ripped out, rewired, and new trim and paint in place. It looks beautiful and our house feels to much bigger!
Enjoy!
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