Crazy, Busy in the Guillen HOusehold

Lately we have been so busy its not even funny. I think in the end we will need a mini vacation from all this crazyness. Let me name a couple of the things we have been up to. First of all, work has been busier than ever (which is nice because my checks are bigger)but it would be nice to have a break of 1-2 minutes between my calls to at least catch my breath or to just have a drink of water. Second, Jorge has taken 4 classes in school and is busy with homework, hopefully he will be graduating at this time next year with his bachelors degree in business. Third, OUR BASEMENT!!! Am I aloud to scream!!! J/k it has been alot of work, it has taken all our free time, our precious weekends go by so fast because we are working in it all day. Yesterday we finally finished painting. Next week buy doors, molding, and more paint for those things. Hopefully saturday we will continue installing electrical outlets and switches so that we can hook up the lights. We need to finish some tile and put up the doors and moldings. We have an installation date of December 3rd for the carpet. So a few more weeks of crazyness and we should be done. The bathroom won't be finish just yet but it will be done in the next few months. Fourth, Braden and Kaylee are doing very good in school. Kaylee has reached her reading goal she is reading with an AR 7.0. She has done very good with school this last term. Braden is getting almost perfect scores in his tests. It amazes me because he started the year kind of slow and not knowing how to do things and now he works fast and knows what he is doing. He loves to do homework. My afternoons are busy with homework, dinner, reading and spending time with my family. It has really been some crazy months but I think we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.Kaylee started attending Activity Days and she absolutely loves it. Just this Friday they had Recognition Night and they did a Hotwheels race. She got to go with her dad and decorate a hotwheels car and race it. She got a certificate for Most Delightful. She was so excited for this activity. And last but not least, my calling!! I am the Relief Society Activities coordinator and have been for the last 4 months. It has been fun planning activities. The biggest activity that I have been planning has been the Christmas Dinner. In about 2 1/2 weeks we are having this dinner. I dream about it, I think of it all day, its constantly on my mind. I just hope and pray that everything turns out as planned and that we have a good number of sisters come. Once its over I can focus more in having christmas for my family. This year I am going to be one of those last minute shoppers. Can I say that I haven't even started christmas shopping? So wish me luck its going to be frustrating but at least I know what my kids want so I don't think it will be that bad.
This has been a little catch up with what we have been up to. Hope you enjoyed it!!

Syracuse Pumpkin Walk

We went on Friday evening to the Annual Syracuse PUmpkin Walk. This event is organized by our great city of Syracuse. There were tons of carved pumpkins displayed so everyone could see the masterpieces. This year there were booths and food and firepits surrounded by hay bails so people could sit and get warm. It was a great family activity. I love our city, it is so family oriented. I hope it stays like this for awhile. Its a great place to live.

Enchanted Woods

Yesterday we took the kids to the Treehouse Museum where every year they do "The Enchanted Woods". They recreat stories and the kids take a tour of the museum and meet different characters from children stories and legends. This year it was The Wizard of Oz. While they went through each station they would get candy and little things to put inside their treat bag. Kaylee and Braden really enjoyed it.

Our Basement

This is the shower in the bathroom.



This is the Family Room with the French Doors we added. I love how the room looks. It has more light.

For the last year and a half we have been working on our basement. We can finally say we are in the final stages. Last week contractors came to hang the drywall and today two guys came to start the mud and tape. Hopefully by next week it will be ready to seal and paint. We are getting excited for this big project to finalize.

Pumpkin Patch and Hay Ride 2011

On Friday we took the kids to J&J Nursery and Gardens for the Annual Hay Ride and Pumpkin Patch. They offer free ride and pumpkin with the donation of canned food for the Food Bank. It was a hot day and very sunny with blue skies. I thought it was perfect to take the kids after school on friday since they get out early. I think everyone had the same idea cause there was a big line when we got there and by the time we left they had about 4 tractors and trailers taking people to and from the patch. We each got a good size pumpkin. For Braden it was a big decision on which one to pick. We loved choosing our own pumpkin.

Kaylee's 8th Birthday

So kaylee had her birthday on the 2nd of September. We took the Frontrunner and went down to Downtown SLC to meet with Jorge. Then we took her to eat at The Garden on top of the Joseph Smith Building. No one was there so we had the place to ourselves and we enjoyed an early dinner with her. After we ate, our waitress gave kaylee a balloon and little paper to write down a wish and then they opened the roof so that kaylee could let go her balloon with her wish attached to it. Later we left and gave kaylee her birthday present. We went to the Gateway and got the kids some chocolate treats at the cute chocolate store and they have there. We also got some cookied from the cookie store at the gateway, they have the best cookies in town.

Kaylee's Baptism

Kaylee got baptised!! It happened on Saturday September 3,2011. She looked beautiful in her white dress. She was nervous and so was I. Everything turned out wonderful. The Program at the stake center was great and our wards primary president did such a good job with the little program our ward had after the baptisms. I was caught by surprise because they asked me to bear my testimony. It was a great opportunity to bear my testimony with all my family there and to tell kaylee specifically how much I love her and how proud I am for her baptism and to share my testimony directly to her. I felt the Holy Ghost so strongly that I was a mess crying everywhere. It was a special day for my family.

Kaylee's good friend Taylor also was baptised on that same day. They were able to sit together during the opening program. Then each ward had their own baptism and confirmation program.

After the baptism everyone came over our house to have a light luncheon. Everything turned out very good and we all had a great time together.