Meet The Garage

Since we have already told everyone within the sound of our voice that we have redone our garage, we thought we would send it out to all others who may not have heard this exciting news. When we bought our house we decided to paint every room and since finishing that we have had little to do. We had talked about cleaning up our garage for some time and finally one evening John just started to pull things off shelves and toss them. We had inherited several old paint cans and they had mixed with some of our newer paint cans. As we were weeding out the useless paint we discovered that we had 2 whole gallons of paint that we ended up not using in our house. Along with a mixture of several other paint samples my dad had mixed together we made the perfect garage paint. With this discovery we set out to redo everything. We took down the numerous shelves and dust collecting shelving units. We got rid of everything we did not need, and we cleared the walls of debris.

We then primed the walls. This was in itself a huge improvement because it had only been textured and it made the garage look dustier than it really was.

But the real improvement came when we put on the paint. It was beautiful. We didn't get a before picture, but we did get some during and after pictures. Once we finished painting, putting up usuable shelves and organizing what was left, John decided that a work bench would put just the right finish on our garage. So we bought the materials and John built it all himself! Cutting all the boards with a handsaw and everything! So now we have a nice work bench with a peg board, and John is so proud of his garage.

If you happen to come by, ask to take a look because he likes to show it off. Those who did not see it before, could not fully appreciate the beauty that it now is, but even without knowing the before, it is hard not to admit that it is quite nice now.

Baby shower!

Created by Jane with love! :-)

Last weekend John and I were in Oklahoma for Jenny's graduation and to see Paul and Molly and the twins and to have a baby shower! It was absolutely a great time! I can't believe I didn't get any pictures with Olivia and Aislee, or Molly :-( while I was there. It'll probably be a while before we see them again. Arizona is a long ways away! But here are some pictures of the baby shower. So many wonderful people helped! And Karen Sparks took lots of pictures, thank goodness!

We had probably the best taco salads for lunch at the shower! Thank you Mom Burkinshaw, sister Jessica, Aunt Julie and Beth Knudsen!

Aunt Sandy made this adorable cake! Thank you!!

Mom Burkinshaw made yummy oreo balls

Amy designed the table decorations!

And cousin Jessica made baklava, truffles and mini maranges! What a wonderful family I have! Thank you all so much!!!


This was the blanket my Grandma Ker crocheted for me! It's yellow, my favorite color. My grandparents also picked out the little toy! It will be nice to have something for Sam to know his great grandma by, and grandpa better be around for a lot longer! :-)

These were some baby booties my sister Danielle made a long time ago at girls camp. My mom was just pulling out all the criers that day, and all the cousins and aunts were teary! They will hold a special place in my heart!

Meet Diana

So a lot has happened since our last post! I've been so busy and then lazy that I haven't recorded anything that's happened. Well here it is.

Over a month ago a received an email from facebook saying that someone found my birth mother, and then gave me all her info and how to get a hold of her. I was obviously skeptical at first, but then found that this woman was really who she said she was. Her name is Diana. She is a wonderful woman, and guess what?! She lives in TX! About an hour and a half away from us. So my mom decided that she would fly in to meet her with me and it was wonderful. We spent close to 12 hours talking and sharing stories, pictures, music (Diana sings and has a CD out! I can get you the site to order it if you're interested). It was really a great day, and happened to be the Friday before Mother's Day. What a perfect time! Oh! And Diana is tall! We have tall genes in the family! There is hope for our children to be taller than us! Anyway, pictures speak louder than words. So here are a few.

Diana and me- I told you she was tall. She has done some modeling too! Isn't that awesome?!


The three of us on that Friday- May 8th

So yesterday I got the opportunity to meet Diana's other children- Josh, Jessica and Vincent. It's a little crazy to think I have 3 half blood siblings! They came up after church and we ate dinner, and talked and it was really great getting to know them. What great kids! Josh is going to college and playing football! We'll have to keep an eye on him this year. And Jessica is graduating on Friday from High School. I'm positive she's going to be the next American Idol. She has a great voice too! And Vincent is a highly energized 3rd grader who will make the best of his summer vacation I am sure! It was great to meet them! And here we are!

So the pictures aren't great of me, but everyone else looks good! :-)

This is a photo of me Diana had of when I was first born on a blanket she made. My mom had just given me that blanket before all of this. It was how I knew for sure she was the real deal! This is us holding the blanket. Did I mention she was tall? :-)

When she was here the first time we saw a photo of her that I felt look so much like me! I thought I would share that too.

I haven't been able to find a comparable photo of me, but when I do, I'll post it! It was just a me look!