New Floors!!

As stated in a post below, we decided to put wood flooring down. Our neighbors had put theirs down the month before, so they helped us out tremendously, having just finished their own floor.

Ben woke up early Saturday morning and began pulling up everything. Derek came over that afternoon to help and I left for work. I got home around 5 o'clock, and almost everything was ready to put floors down. We started laying that night. Around 11, we stopped.

The next day, Derek and Ben worked on the hard corners and grooves, while Tania and I laid out the hallway and the kitchen. We only left the small dining area undone that night, and on Monday morning, Ben finished it.

I am so glad that we got it done so quickly. I hate having a house under construction! The next day I dusted like crazy and I don't think the house has ever been this clean! The photos don't really do it justice, but the wood is a lighter color than the kitchen, but the grooves are dark, and it all blends very nicely.

All that is left is to do the trim pieces and then we'll pain the chairs and tables to match! We are also going to re-carpet the stairs and upstairs, it is still the original carpet from when the apartments were built. The greatest part of having wood floors is that it make cleaning up dog mess SOOO much easier. It's still annoying to clean up, but less so than it was with carpet!


Laying out the first pieces...
Kitchen in the dining room. Wasn't it just last year that the kitchen was in the living room? Will the madness never end?
Measuring to get it just right....



Finished!

Pierce and Stacy's cameo in our pictures! We are so glad they are back from Puerto Rico! We missed them so much!
Pierce again...
And again! Thanks for the awesome pose!

Well, we're off to New York for the week and couldn't be more excited. Big thanks to Jeremy and Rachel and Tania and Derek for watching our babies!

Ella Update

So, LeAnne's blog is now private, so I thought that I would update everyone as to what is going on with our Angel Fish. She started her first round of Chemo on Wednesday, but had to have a surgery first. The surgery put a stint in her chest that they can administer the chemo through because her veins are just too little. She also had a tube put into her ear because she is prone to ear infections and what could be worse that a 1 1/2 year old on chemo? A 1 1/2 year old on chemo with an ear infection.

The surgery was first, went very well, and then the chemo. Apparently the surgery cause our poor girl to throw up ALOT. The chemo, I am sure, did not help. When they got home, My Mom gave her a little dish set that she absolutley loved and played with all night. They also got some food in her and that improved her mood. The thing that really sucks is that they don't allow these little kids to eat before things like surgery, so they are starving, and that does not help.

But our little girl is doing well. She will survive this, and for that we are eternally grateful!

Thanks for all your help and your prayers!

Doggy Fun

Here is a video of the dogs playing. YES, the are playing. They just like to wrestle. :) We love them.

New York

Had a dream about walking through Central Park last night. Do you think I'm a little excited? Monday can't come soon enough!!

When I'll get pregnant

According to a quiz that a friend sent me on facebook, I will get pregnant on.....

October 3, 2011.*

So there you have it. It's completely out of my control.

(*this post was just for fun, please don't get all depressed and think that I am finding yet another reason to procrastinate child birth)

Today is the day

Our sweet Ella is going into Oncology today to find out what her course of treatment will be for her disease (LCH). We are praying that it is going to be swift and simple, and that life can get back to normal as soon as possible.

Ella is doing great, still the happy-go-lucky little spitfire that we all adore. It is difficult to remember that she is sick sometimes and has, as LeAnne says, A disease eating her from the inside out. Not the best phrase I know, but that's the way it is. I think the hardest thing is watching my sister. She is so strong and a wonderful mother, but you can tell that this is hard for her. Who wouldn't it be hard for. But, we are all confident that Ella will be just fine and we are so grateful for that reassurance.

We visited her in the hospital and she was so happy to see us, and NOT the nurses. Every time they came in to flush her IV or take her blood pressure, she was not pleased. But the cute part was that she would yell at them (in gibberish) when they would try and talk to LeAnne afterwards. It was adorable. We were so sad to leave but knew that she would not go to sleep with us in the room. She waved goodbye and we closed the door only to her her crying in protest. We both wanted to turn around and go back, but knew it was better to let them all sleep.

Mom and Dad are both in town right now, up in Logan with the boys. We were so lucky to spend time with them yesterday and sign Mom up for BYU Independent Study. Dad and I liked to tease her and say, Oh, our little girl is growing up. She didn't like that so much. But all in all, we are all so proud of Mom going back and getting her degree. We are all confident that she will do wonderful!

Since this blog is titled Ben and Megan Smith, I thought maybe I should say what is going on in our lives right now. (Go figure). So, we bought the flooring for the apartment, at a nice heafty price, but the cheapest I think that we would find for what we want to do. Ben is looking at buying a table saw and I am trying to be supportive in that purchase. He is officially a TD Ameritrade employee now, Woo Hoo, and we are talking about him going back to get his MBA in finance. Hopefully soon. I would not want him to put it off any longer. I am still looking for a job in some area of journalism and working at Red Robin in the meantime. It is kind of draining on me physically and on my soul. Waiting on people every day does not make me much of a charitable person at home. I often want to tell Ben to "get it yourself" because that is what I want to tell customers all the time. He remains a very understanding and wonderful husband.

Thanks for reading the blog, and please leave a comment!
Love to you all!

Kid at Heart

I'm so excited (insert evil laugh)

The Hunger Games

A BIG thank you to Pierce and Stacy who sent me this awesome book called The Hunger Games. It was amazing. I read it in two days, having to put it down to do things around the house and go to work. I normally make Ben go to sleep with out me when I am this into a book, but he's been having such a hard time sleeping, I just would put it down. But I would dream about it and it was great. You want a good read, READ THIS!

--Sequel comes out in September. Another series that I have to wait for. I like that I have something to look forward to!

DNA

Sometimes I wonder wonder what our kids are going to look like. Someone once said that Ella could never be mistaken for my child. I saw this picture and thought, well... that's not entirely true. Lets examine the hair color in our families...

My family, we have a mixture of brunette and blond
Ben's family, 3 blond siblings, one dark haired, and Ben, who is in between. Dad is red, and nephew is a carrot top. Humm...

Eyes on both sides range from me having the only brown eyes in the family, Green and very blue. Ben's family (as far as I know, are blue). Ben has the EXACT same color eyes as Ella. This brownish green color.

So look at the pictures below, and it'll show you that we both have the famous "Watkins mouth", similar noses and she has Ben's eye color.

So yes, my child could potentially look like that. Blond hair and all.

How weird would that be?

Future Daddy

Our Ella

Sometimes as I watch Ben play with little ones I just know how great a father he is going to be. I don't know why, but I love this picture (above). Although you can't see Ben's face, you can tell that he and Ella just adore each other and playing.

Dancing Queen

Fun with Sunglasses

Ella Bella

I will blog more about our crazy weekend a little later, but here is a brief update.

Friday was my birthday and I was at work when Mom called to tell me that the MRI on Ella was not good. She has LCH, a child-cancer. Needless to say, I left work, Ben met me at home, and we took off to Logan, birthday forgotten. Sad thing is, it was Jason (Ella's Dad's bday also) Not the news you want to hear as a father EVER, but especially on your birthday. Mom flew in that night and arrived at 11:30. LeAnne said it was good to have us there, just to hold Ella and give LeAnne a break. I can't imagine the stress that type of day has on a Mother.

Wednesday will be the big day, with hopefully more answers. Ella will have surgery to remove the bump behind her ear, hopefully all of it and biopsey it. Then we'll go from there. For now, here are a few pictures from our trip up this weekend.


Boys with the candy I brought up for them. They, and Ella, LOVED it.

Look at that football face. She's ready to face the Utes!

Loves with Mom

Playing with make-up.

What every Watkins woman needs after a long stressful day. Diet Pepsi.

Loves with Uncle Ben.

Who says boys only like Power Wheels? If I stopped for a second, even to turn around, she screamed at me!

Teaching Ella to say my name. She's going to be getting Grandma coaching for the next couple weeks, so I had to get my turn in.

Wicked

Guess what arrived today? Our WICKED tickets. Orchestra Level, Row J. Woo hoo. Apparently they were supposed to be given to me on my birthday. Ooops. When will Ben learn that even if it has his name on it, if it is delivered to the house when I am home. I will OPEN it! Duh!

I'm so excited!

Say No to Bleach

Ben and I have been thinking for some time that we need to replace the floors in our house. Ben talked for a long time about putting some hard wood down, and then our neighbors did it in their apartment. We liked it, but weren't sure if it was what we wanted to do after all.

Last week, the decision to do SOMETHING was made for us. As I was being a good little wife and doing laundry I heard a big crash. Our washer and dryer and in a closet in the hallway (perfect place for it right? Insert eye roll) and I walked out of the bedroom and froze in shock. On the spin cycle, the washer had shimmed the gallon bottle of bleach to fall and crash onto our green hallway carpet. It was EVERYWHERE.

I kind of just stood in shock. My friend Sian was there, and grabbed a towel and started soaking it up. I grabbed the carpet cleaner vac and started to suck it all up. I knew my efforts were in vain, and called Ben about a million times to help me think of something else I could do to help minimize the damage. He did not answer. (Now of course I thought 'What if I was being attacked and you didn't answer your phone? That would teach him' but of course I let it go)

So now the search is on for what we are doing on the floors. Hard Wood, a laminate hard wood, new carpet, tile or a laminate tile. My vote is for the laminate wood, or the real tile. However, I am looking for any experienced opinion on the choices.

Moral of the story: Bleach Sucks.

And before you ask, Yes, there was a lid on the bleach and yes, it was screwed on tight. The impact from the fall made it shoot off.

The spot on the carpet. Not to bad for a gallon of bleach being dumped on it

How we cover it up for the time being.