Merry Christmas!

The Office Wall

Did a little demo and rebuild this weekend.... It almost looks like a wall again. Check out the photos
Now for my "favorite" part... spackle. Stay tuned.

Family Slideshow on KiDoubleD

Put together a slide show for the website. http://www.kidoubled.com
Some good stuff in there. Check it out

Fall in Collinsville

Michael and I took the dog on the "loop" and took a few pics today to show you how fall is shaping up in Collinsville.

Halo-w3en

We had our friends over last Saturday for Halo 3 in the living room. Guitar Hero in the bedroom and DS in the Dining room. Gold stars for Chris and Scott for bringing their Xbox profiles with them!

Jonas has a new toy!

"Thank you for my bunny Auntie Beege! I take it everywhere I go in the house. I squeak it nice and early in the mornings to wake up Dad!"

640lbs plus water!

As you know, our home is over 150 years old. Over time, as the ground shifts, so does the house. The previous owners had a few lollies installed to level it out. They missed a spot...

So, before we replace the office wall, we wanted to level a spot beneath the staircase.

Step One: Dig a big hole!
Our basement still has the original earth floor. It was incredibly rocky soil.

Step Two: Build a 2' x 5' x 6" concrete platform.
We used 8 - 80lb bags of concrete. Mike did all the heavy lifting and I did the mixing!

Voila! We have a concrete pad! Next weekend we can mount our new beam with lollies and lift the house!

New Pics online

I've uploaded some more pictures to my Picasa Web album... Thought you might want to see them.

What's old is new again

The blog has been reborn, but now it's fun for the whole family...

Hot Summer Days

Today we took the puppy out to a nice private spot on the Farmington River. This was the first time Jonas had been in water deeper than his knees! It was so cute. The spot was very private. We got a tip from our neighbor Laura and we owe her a big fat thank you for that one!

We almost missed the turn off for a skinny dirt road that pulls you up to a grassy area to park. Then there's a little steep path down to the water. When you get down to the water, there are lots of big rocks to hop around and lay out on. And some nice gradual slopes to ease into the chilly water. Jonas took his first steps out, not too deep, then he looked at us looking at him! He didn't know what to do, so he just started drinking it! So we got in and splashed around a bit and that got him all excited. He liked running back and forth in the shallow parts. Playing King of the Mountain on the big rocks! A lot of kayakers floated by and gave him a bunch of "What a cute dog!" compliments! He just stood straight (the German Shephard in him I guess) and watched them like a hawk. He was just waiting for one to get close enough to jump on! That never happened! He is curious about the deep parts. He fell off one side of a rock into a deep part and scrambled with his claws to scale the rock back up to the top! It was very impressive! And when he got up, you could tell he had a lot more courage about the deep water. Like, "That wasn't sooo bad. I lived!" So much fun and so refreshing!

Las Vegas

Welcome to Las Vegas, Nevada! I hope you like it! Cuz it's where Mike and I are getting married.


Mike and I took a trip about a month ago for my birthday! I know, he totally loves me! We went to Las Vegas to meet up with our friends Brian and Kaileen Galhouse! While we were there, we were able to see lots of wedding chapels!


So, who thinks we should get married by ELVIS????

Meet Jonas!

Jonas Quinn Bradbury Kidd is our one year old German Shepherd / Great Dane puppy dog! We brought him home from the Humane Society to live with us in January 2007. It is still hard to believe that someone could give him up...He is the best dog ever! He is still maturing out of his puppy phase, but we still get to tell him that he is a Good Boy many many times a day! He loves rawhide, pig ears, cookies, Mommy....and Daddy!
He is a wonderful snuggle puppy. Even though he is enormous, 70 lbs and still going, he thinks he is a tiny baby! He is very affectionate. He gives lots of kisses and will lean against you to get attention.

He is named for a character in his Mommy's favorite Sci Fi series, Stargate SG-1. He shares some common traits with his namesake. Mainly his sweet demeanor and his big goofy smile!

He loves his friends at Canine Clubhouse. He goes there 3 times a week to run, jump and play with his buddies. Jonas has tons and tons of energy. Very hyper for a large breed dog. He gets to run to his hearts content when he goes to CC! Then when he comes home, he is toast! Just a big sleepy puppy. Mommy and Daddy LOVE Canine Clubhouse!