7 years ago today...

I asked for Kacy's hand in marriage... SHE SAID YES! I've never been happier! I won't post the story again, but you can find it in the blog archives under last May.

The last 5 months have been among the hardest of my life. Being away for 2 weeks or longer at a time have really taken their toll on me. I absolutely cannot wait for her and the kids to get to Texas so we can be a family! Hopefully only 5 or 6 more weeks.

I love you Kacy! My life has been blessed in countless ways since you came into it!

Can't wait to have a last big date night in a few weeks. An early anniversary celebration!

This is the picture I used to propose to her, the note says Will You Marry Me (we still have it packed up somewhere), so for more on the proposal story you can go here.
http://jasonandkacy.blogspot.com/2009/05/6-years-ago-today.html

Blog Break Over

Okay so I have been such a slacker with my blog the last year. I am working on playing catch up. I am backdating everything though so it is in the right order. Be patient while I get it up to date. There has been so much going on with our lives. We are currently building a home in Texas and we just sold our house in Lehi. It was only listed since The end of December and when we listed we priced higher then expected to give us time to find a place or build in Texas. Of course as soon as I dropped the price it sold in 5 days. Unfortunately our times did not match up so I am going to be living at my Mom's house til school is out and the new house in Texas is done. I will update more on this as i get more up to date on everything else. It will fill you all in on why we are moving and such. So far I am only as far as May. LOL

Day Two of framing

Here are the photos from Day 2 of framing. I am still amazed at how fast they can do the framing

This is a view of the back of the house

This is the view from the front

Day 1 of Framing

They started framing today and it is amazing how fast the framing can go up. It is also amazing to see it take shape.

This is the side of the house where Kyson and Dawson's room will be

This is the full view of the house

The left sid of the house is whree the guest bedroom, Kennidee's bedroom and Master will be

Just another shot of the left side.

Check out my Slab

So we finally were able to get our foundation. They finally got enough dry weather to lay the slab. I am so excited and can't wait for more progress on the house! Due to the weather they were going to have after the foundation was poured they had to cover it with tarps and stuff. But we are glad to have it done.




All covered up to keep it safe and dry

Picking things out for the house

So our house has been super delayed due to the wicked winter they have had in Lubbock. Our house by this point should have been as far as framing and partially or fully bricked. Well that didn't happen. I was so bummed. I flew down to Texas with Kori to pick out everything. When I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. We had to choose carpet, paint, cabinet stain, tile, grout, plumbing fixtures, appliances, light fixtures and pretty much everything. I had one day to do so. Amazingly enough we got everything picked out and we didn't even argue about any of it. Building a house doesn't cause too many fights apparently. Maybe building while we are seperated by 1100 miles is the way to go. I am retarded and did not take any pictures of anything we chose except the brick. But I did take some random pictures of other things. While we were there our footings got poured so I did get those pictures as well.

This was at Ferguson's where we chose out our fixtures, tubs, appliances and all that exciting stuff.

Kori trying out one of the toilets. LOL

Who seriously names their restaurant this??? I mean seriously. We thought it was so funny we had to take a picture in front of the sign. I am sure some won't get as big of a kick from it as I will. That is just my maturity shining through.

This is a house with the brick I chose. I love it!

This is our new neighborhood. This is next to our house looking down the street.

This is across the street from us and down that side of the street. It seems like it is a very quiet nice neighborhood.

And finally something exciting to post. Our lot is no longer just dirt. Our footings are in and now hopefully the weather can cooperate so they can pour our foundation and get the ball really moving.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Today I had parent teacher conferences for the kids. First was my appt with Mrs. Harris for Dawson. I don't usually worry about him cause he is always the ideal student. So when I get in there and meet with her of course she has nothing but awesome things to say about Dawson. He was tested in his reading as high as they are allowed to test them for 2nd grade and passed with flying colors. His accuracy has gone up to 100% and he read as fast as most adults. His Comprehension is as high as they rank as well. So in that area is his the highest in his class. He is always telling me that he needs to do better at math. I think he does wonderful and always ask him why but never get an answer. Well Mrs. Harris says he is doing awesome. I told her that he was concerned about it and she said that is because there is one girl in his class that her Dad is a Mathmatician and she is doing better then everyone in the class. So not only is he smart but he is very competitive. She said that she wishes he wasn't moving and could stay in her class forever. She said he is always on task and is such a respectful little boy. She always has them set goals for themselves and his goal was to get better at Math and to keep all four legs of his chair on the ground. I loved hearing such wonderful things about him. I left and couldn't have been any prouder of my little man.

Next we were off to Mrs. VanLangen for Kennidee. I was really nervous about going to see her teacher. Kennidee is definitely a different type of student then Dawson is. When she comes home from school and I ask what she had learned I typically get the answer of "I don't know" or "I can't remember" followed by "so and so said I looked really cute today and they liked my hair or clothes." Oh My goodness!!! What does a mother do??? So we got in there and her Mrs. VanLangen told me that Kennidee is right where she should be at for her reading and math stuff. She said that Kennidee is a great student and she has never had any problems with her. She said that she pays attention and is always on task and that she is a great student to have in class. I left feeling such a relief. I was on cloud 9 the rest of the night knowing that my kids are doing so well in school.

Being a parent you realize more things. The one thing I am learning more and more is the importance of education. I want my children to enjoy school and have it not be a struggle. I want them to know that Mom and Dad are here to help them with anything that they don't understand so that they can always enjoy it and excel! I am so proud of Kennidee and Dawson and am so grateful to have them as my children!

The Big Move

So in December Jason took a job in Lubbock Texas. He had served his mission there and we never thought we would ever be moving there but the opportunity was too good to pass up. So Jason and I flew out to Texas on December 28th to look at houses again and meet with builders. After about a week of deciding we ended up choosing our builder Randall Fuller (Royal Construction/Robert Wood). We had an idea of the house that we wanted so we sent Randall our ideas of plans with the changes that we wanted made and we settled on our lot. Now we are just waiting for our plans to come back from the architect as well as for the weather to clear up so they can start out new home.


Here is where our new home will sit



Here is the first draft of our plans. Still a few changes need to be made but you get the idea. I am so excited to be building a home that I can actually choose the colors and everything I want. It will be so much fun.

Yes it's true... we're moving

So the blog has still been very neglected, we promise to catch up on it at some point!

But for those who don't know.... we are moving to Lubbock TX. I (Jason) have accepted an amazing offer with Cash Register Services. I will be the Director of Core Business Systems and Accounting.

I start on January 5th, working 2 weeks in Lubbock then home for a week.

Kacy and the kids will be moving down in June once school is out.

So stay tuned of exciting updates as we hopefully start building a home and prepare to move to Texas!

In the mean time, if you are not our friends on facebook, you can see more current updates of what we're up to on there. Find us at jasonpbyu@gmail.com or kacy215@gmail.com

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Ya'all Come back now ya hear!!!

Okay so most of you know that for the last 5 years Jason has been traveling for work. His position was a software consultant for Digital Gateway and his job was to train and do conversions for their clients who purchased the E-automate software that Digital Gateway designed. Well there have been several times in the five years where customers have wanted Jason to come and work for them. A few years ago we actually had flown down to Arizona to check out a possible job offer. We never felt good about working there and decided that it was not for us.
In July of last year Jason had flown out to Lubbock for 10 days to do some training for a company out there and then in October they had him out again. Well during that time I received a text message from Jason's phone that said "This is Brad, are you ready to move to Texas?" I just kind of laughed and called Jason and apparently he and Brad had been discussing a possible job opportunity. I just told Jason to tell Brad to make it worth our while. Well I didn't think much of it after that and then a few weeks later we were scheduling flights out to Lubbock to check things out. Brad had picked us up at the airport and gave us a car to use. They put us up in a hotel for a few days. The night we got there we went to dinner with Brad and his wife and one of the other owners with his wife as well. While we were there the kids and I were introduced to all the employees of CRS and met with a realtor and were looking at properties. It was crazy and I was nervous as heck about this. The day we were getting ready to leave we had taken the kids to a park and while we were sitting there I just knew this was what we were suppose to do. I knew that for one reason or another the Lord wanted us in Texas. So after returning back to Utah an offer came in and then the fun of counter offering and accepting began. Within a week or so it was final. After lots of prayers and negotiating we made the decision that this was what we were suppose to do. Now for the fun of finding a house and making the big move

Blog vacation apparently

To those who are wondering what has happened to our blog... Kacy has been very busy with photography and editing her pictures, she's also had some amazing projects going on at the house... she painted a red accent wall in our bedroom, and then with the help of our brother in law Shea, she has tiled the bathroom and put in a new toilet. I'm very impressed! So we'll get back to blogging once things slow down. Dawson is in Baseball right now, then Soccer then Flag Football... and there's a game called Farm Town which is taking up lots of time for many people right now! LOL.

At some point we will update the blog with stuff from Taylor Swift and Hawaii and the projects. Plus Kennidee has turned 5 and Kyson has turned 2. Crazy how time flies!

In the mean time, I just want Kacy to know how much I love her! Next month we celebrate our 6 year anniversary. I have something very cool planned for the weekend of August 21/22!

I love you more and more with each day, week, month and year Kacy!

Lehi Days and Dance performance

The big tradition around her is the Lehi City Days. It runs all week and there are different activities all week. One of the big ones I love is the baby contest. I love to show off my kids even if they are grumpy butts that won't even look at the judges. I told Kori to come up and bring Tatum cause she is full of personality and I knew she would win. Well as expected she did! Kyson would not even make eye contact so I did not expect him to win. But it is still a lot of fun.

Kyson after the contest. Isn't he handsome


Cute little Tatum. Of course that sweet face and crazy personality would win! Way to go Tatum


The next fun part of the week is the parade. The kids always look forward to the parade. They get lots of candy and of course there are always great floats but the best part is by far the Marshmellow guns that Mom takes every year. We did however get in trouble with them this year and were told we had to put them away.

Tatum on the Float in Fridays Parade. She was so tired. It was a very long day for her

Kyson watching the parade and waving

Kennidee and Gracey on the Ward float

Dawson on the back of the float

Kennidee coming to sit with us after the float was done

The last thing they do with the Lehi Round up Days is they have a big wahoo at the park on Saturday. They do performances, Crafts, Food, Crafts and all sorts of fun things for the kids to do. This year Kenidee got to perform with Showcase USA. It was so fun watching her out there even though it was super hot!

So much fun. I love living in Lehi. It is getting pretty big but still has that small town feel.

Congrats to Niki and Paul on their beautiful little girl!

While we were in Hawaii on June 16 my Best friend Niki gave birth to her beautiful baby Girl Lydia Anne Sparks. She is such a beautiful little girl. Niki has two little boys and definitely needed a princess in her family. I can say she was well worth the wait. Congrats Niki and Paul on the beautiful little girl. I was lucky enough to take her first pictures. What a doll she is!

Surprise for Our Princess

So Jason and I decided that we were going to surprise Kennidee with tickets to her favorite singer of all time. TAYLOR SWIFT! She absolutely loves her. She knows most of her songs word for word. When we heard the tickets were going on sale we could not pass up this chance. However we did not tell her. So the day of the concert we headed up to The Energy Solutions Center for the "Big Surprise" When we got there the big bus with Taylor Swift on the side was there and we stood her next to it to take pictures and then told her it was time to go home. She was just like "Okay." She had no clue what to even expect for her big surprise. So finally we gave her the ticket and walked in the Concert. She was so stinking excited when she realized what was going on. She had so much fun. She was dancing and singing with the songs. I love being a parent and putting a smile on my children's faces. Yeah going to concerts are a little extreme when she is not even quite 5 but she will remember this concert forever. Kori and her girls also came with us. After the concert we went around back to get autographs when she came out but unfortunately we were unable to get them. We did get a picture with one of her dancers and she did wave from her bus as she exited the property. Besides the surprise for Kennidee it was one of the best concerts I have ever been too. Taylor is a great performer and worth every penny that we spent on tickets!
Kennidee and her Golden Tickets

Kennidee with Shyanne and Sierra

Jason, Kennidee and I

Kennidee and one of the dancers for Taylor Swift


Kennidee enjoying the concert

Taylor waving from her bus

Kennidee Preschool Graduation

Kennidee had her preschool graduation. I can't believe my baby is going to start Kindergarten in the fall. They definitely grow up way too fast. Her preschool did a super cute little program for us. I just loved watching her. She is so shy and it is definitely out of her element. But she did great. Mrs. Jensen was such a great teacher and I think I am just as sad to leave her as Kennidee was.







Kennidee and Mrs. Jensen

Kennidee and Mrs. Lancaster

Kennidee and Mommy

Kennidee and Grandma Lourenco

Kennidee with Mom and Dad with Kyson

Daddy and his little princess