Coming up for air

After talking to my lovely sis-in-law, (who I miss), and reading my other sis-in-law's blog (who I also miss) about our great visit together, I am now fully committing myself to reviving this near-death blog, for all to enjoy.

We made the long, much anticipated move almost 2 months ago. I do NOT recommended moving during the holidays, by the way, unless you are a super organized person who finishes all Christmas shopping in August. I am not one of those people, so it was a little busy, to say the least. (I was the lone shopper at Target on the 23rd...it was surprisingly quiet.) Thanks to all of our wonderful family and friends, moving day was a smooth transition, and we collapsed into our beds that night with a lot of gratitude for people's generosity!

To tell my favorite moment of the day, I'll need to give a little back story....

For at least 2 months before the move, Kristina asked every time we came to the house(which was like everyday) "Is it done yet?" and I would reply every time, "No, it's not done yet," until the moment we pulled into the driveway to spend our first night here, and she asked, "Is it done yet?" to which I replied with a very enthusiastic, "YES!"

Her look was priceless.

Then she walked up to her room and peed all over the new carpet.
Good feeling's gone.
We think she was marking her territory.

The next three days were vomit, followed by a week of the runs, which all managed to fall on the brand new carpet, of course. A big Thank you to KIDS 'N PETS-the best invention. (And thank you, Shannon, for introducing me to it:)

Needless to say, we were broken in by the time Christmas rolled around. Which was good, because we had 25 of our most favorite people on earth here for Christmas Eve dinner, and it was so nice to relax and visit with everyone and not worry about what might get on the new carpet, because it had already seen everything.

Enough chit-chit. Here are a couple of pictures of the new house some of you have been asking to see:



This is the entryway. I'm so happy with how it turned out!



This is the empty family room, for now, and my fast attempt at decorating for Christmas.





The kitchen is still a work in progress. We have to finish the backsplash and paint the legs to the island-which Shawn and Dan built the day before Christmas Eve so we could have a place to put the food! I just ordered chairs so in a week we'll be able to sit around it and enjoy. It is a pleasure to cook in this space, let me tell ya!



Another view of the kitchen and dining area




We finally have a mud room which has been the greatest thing! Since we just have dirt for a yard right now, it is so nice to have a place that catches all the mess!

A few weeks after Christmas we got over a foot of snow!



The kids missed the entire week of school and we didn't leave the house once. It was nice to have somewhat of a forced vacation. A much needed breather!

We are enjoying our new surroundings so much. I get to look at this when I do dishes:

We are so happy and feel very blessed! I'll post some more soon about some of our comings and goings, and a visit from our family that was so fun-we will never forget it!

The house has paint:)

After many sleepless night, we finally decided on a paint color for the house. Seriously, stuff like this shouldn't make you lose sleep, but, sadly, it did, because I am not gifted in this area. And, when you're doing something like this, you have no one to blame but yourself if it turns out looking ugly. The pressure is ON people!

We were deciding between a really dusty gray/blue, and a more taupe gray. I had to face reality that we are not living on the New England coast, so we chose the gray that would fit the surroundings a little better. What do you think?







We are so excited for this to be over! I had high hopes for the summer, of spending every day in endless fun with the children, but we ended up spending quite a bit of time doing some work at the house(mixed in with a few trips to the lake, of course!)




We painted sealant on all the soffets to save us a little cash-Shawn always works with a smile on his face:) And he whistles.



The girls would pass the time plugged in or digging in the many dirt piles outside.




Well....I smiled, too, when we were all done!


We had three birthdays to celebrate, too. Rachel, the day before school was over, and Kate and I in July.



The cake is a dogbone...not one of my best, but a hit with the birthday girl.



Kate turned two! I can't believe how that girl is growing, but she is still my snuggle bug.





We (meaning me) somehow slipped in doing a little birthday shopping, so the girls wrapped up some toys we had in the far reachings of the toy box and Kate never knew the difference...



Someday, she may hold it against me, but for now, I'm still okay with her:)



Shawn was birthday cake chef for me, and made me a favorite.....



Very serious work. We've had that blue bowl since our wedding. It will never die.



When it finally got warm enough to play in the water, the girls took full advantage:
(By the way, the weather people measure summer by how many days there are over 80 degrees, and by the end of July we had 72 minutes of summer....yippee! Welcome to life in the Northwest!)












We also took a trip to SLC for a college reunion and were able to see our dear family, too! We met Baby Kohl, just days old...



So cute! As are all of our adorable nephews and nieces! We were so happy to see them and visit with grandparents, too!




We got to spend some time at Temple Square which is always a highlight for me. I marvel at the sacrifices people made to travel so far and build a temple. I feel so good there, it's hard to leave.



And, of course, our annual trip to Twin Lakes-always a highlight. And the weather was superb!






All of the cousins were playing with this crawdad-so brave!



They also went off a rope swing. I was surprised at Rachel's "no fear" attitude. You go girl!
She went a little lower to try it upside down:)







Brooke is ready for take-off!






I love you Katie-Boo!

The kids have started in their new school, and we are in the final stretch to get this house finished. This week, we'll be choosing tile, carpet, hardwood, and lights. My brain hurts. More updates to come, but for now, I'm going nighty-night!

house update, bird watching, and photo shoot

Just thought I'd post a few pics of the house. They have the inside framed and are now working on the roof. It's becoming more of a reality everyday. Very exciting:)







Umm....we didn't realize it would be so tall. Luckily the neighbors below us look out the opposite direction, otherwise we would feel even more guilty about destroying the lovely hillside they look at before. Anyhoo-it is what it is. Here is what will be the front entrance:



And the kitchen (with the back stairs). My dream come true:)



Here are some cuties we took home with us:



A photo shoot with Kate-I still have yet to learn how this camera works:








A robin decided to take a rest and let the girls get so close to it. You can't create moments like that.

Happy Spring.....

...or so says the calendar. We're all wrapped in blankets, drinking hot cocoa and staring at the rain coming down in buckets. But such is life here in the Great Northwest.

This blog posting thing is turning into a bi-annual event, so sorry to all of you around the country who wait with great anticipation for the next post. I shall be better. We have been busy with life and all of its excitement-building a new house has taken up most of our brain capacity, but I know a lot of you are interested in seeing some pics-so here is little sampling of what's going on...



First of all, this is what the property looked like last summer when we purchased it. It was very hard to picture putting a house there, but then it looked like this:




then this:



and now this:





As of this weekend, they had the basement framed and were beginning to lay the floor for the main floor. It's all very exciting and we can't wait for it to come together. Every Saturday we head up there to check the progress and the girls are calling it our "tradition". Heaven forbid we miss a Saturday, but we love to go and see what's been done. We buried a fruit snack in the corner of what will be the front porch-why? Just for the sheer thrill-or at least it was to Kristina. Maybe we'll get a fruit snack tree next summer, wouldn't that be a treat:). Just so you know-minimal trees lost their lives during the land clearing, but many a sticker bush and bunny have had to find new homes. We did burn 2 or 3 pretty good sized piles of debris-here is Rachel standing on the top of one:



Some other random pics of the kids playing:





And this one just because it's cute:



I love this guy....



We were married 12 years ago yesterday..wowza! Ne'r a cross word shared between us. Well, okay, maybe just a few...but I am the luckiest girl in the world!!!

Oh-and it was Brooke's birthday last week-she is seven! She had a tea party-very girly and very fun. They decorated hats and drank out of real tea cups and each girl took home her very own mini tea set in a little box.(Thanks Julie-for helping them look so cute!) I think I had more fun getting ready for it than the actual party.















Much love to all of you out there-I'll try not to stay away so long:)