Work in Process

Our new house is a work in process. We have lots to do, and not enough time to do it in, so it seems. Steve has been finishing off an unfinished room on the other side of the house, so we can utilize that as renting space this winter. It has taken a bit of work including installing a roof window, taping, mudding, sanding, and priming. We are getting there, but still have closet building to finish up. Hopefully it will all be done soon.

The yard is also in need of some help. Steve has been busy removing ivy from off the stone wall, so that he and our brother-in-law can build a fence to help keep the kids contained. Our road isn't busy, but it would be nice to have some place I could let Jared play without worrying that he is standing in the middle of the road.

I took some before shots of the place to show what the yard looked like before our renovations. Although it is a lot of work, it is nice to have a place to call our own and that we can make all the decisions on.

Steve is standing on the rock wall we are trying to clear off so we can build a little fence on top of it. And yes, we will be removing that old metal pipe.

Here is a shot from up on the street. There is a fence that is being "eaten" by the large tree that we will remove to open up more space for the kids. Hopefully these projects will happen sometime soon!

Sick, Sick, Sick

Well, I don't know about the rest of the world, but at our house we have all come down with the first cold of the season. Mom and Jared got hit the hardest and spent a week ago Sunday inside all day long. It helped a bit, but Mom just can't seem to stay down when she should so it has lingered on and on. Luckily we all seem to be doing much better, and other than a bit of lingering stuffiness, we are all feeling fine.

The Box Girl

After unpacking box after box, we had plenty lying around. Elizabeth took advantage and used them to play in. She decided that it was fun to sit inside one to watch her favorite cartoons. Here she is all scrunched up inside her little box.

Chocolate Pies

Aunt Heidi sent home with Steven & Elizabeth some mini graham cracker pie crusts and some chocolate pudding mix to make some mini chocolate pies. Elizabeth was very excited to help make them, and loved that they were small and cute. After dinner they let Jared dig into a mini pie. He loved scooping out all the pudding, but wasn't too excited about the cookie crust. Thanks Heidi for the fun pie making supplies!

You need two hands for this pie!

Mmm.. delicious!

Adventures of the Toilet Paper Boy

Jared has found the toilet paper. In our old house, he never seemed to do much with it. But ever since we have moved in, he has become fascinated with the toilet paper roll. A few rolls have been almost completely sacrificed as part of his new found past-time. Steve snapped a few shots of him trying to carry around his loads of paper.

First Day of School

Well, the day after we moved in, Elizabeth started school. Here are some pictures of her outside our house that her dad took.

Here is our smiling little school girl!

Here she is showing off the new backpack she got. Mom was mean and wouldn't let her get a princess, pony, Dora, Barbie, etc backpack like the other kids!

Here she is standing on one of the pedestal things at the bottom of our front steps.

She was VERY nervous to start school and we have had our share of tearful goodbyes. However, she absolutely LOVES school and gets excited about all the new fun things she is doing there. She has received moon pies from the moon, met a dog ("Mom, it just a man dressed in a dog costume") name chief, and learned lots of fun songs which she loves singing to me.

She is also meeting some new fun friends. There are three girls from the ward that all started school with her, and then she has met some other girls that are in her class. She also tells us that she seems to play chase the boys a lot at recess, so she has gotten to know a bunch of them as well. We can't believe she has already started that. We thought we still had a few more years!

Congratulations Elizabeth on starting school and entering this fun new chapter in your life!

Moving In

As many of you have guessed, I am not much of a picture taker, so I have nothing to share as far as pictures. But we successfully moved in on Monday September 1st! We had a friendly helping hand from the Elders Quorum and Young Men in our new ward. That was unexpected but definitely appreciated. A big thanks to my brothers, Dad, brother in law, Steve's dad and our friend Scott for their help loading the trailer and getting the odds & ends. And a really HUGE thanks to Eric for letting us use his trailer & truck so we didn't have to pay U-Haul a bunch of money! We are glad he trusted us with his stuff while he was busy that day!

The rain held off while the guys from our ward helped with the first trailer load, but poured down on the guys while they loaded it up the second time. It successfully soaked our TV, toaster oven and microwave. Luckily they all started working just fine the next day after they had some time to dry out. I wasn't looking forward to replacing all three!

Of course I can't forget to thank my mom for all her help cleaning and helping me decide how to organize my kitchen. She spent a huge part of her day helping me line cupboards after I wiped them out and then helping me unload boxes of dishes and the like into the kitchen cabinets.

We spent the rest of that first week getting situated, and as happens with most moves, are still getting situated and re-arranging every day. We have most of the unpacked boxes in hiding, oh I mean stored in the basement, which helps us feel like our house isn't so chaotic.

Thanks again for all those who helped us with our big move!