Home Remodel

Here is just a little sample of what we've been doing since our vacation. We got home on Sunday night, closed on our house Monday morning and have been exhausted ever since! In the beginning Chloe was doing a great job of documenting our work. She went around taking all these pictures. This only shows a fraction of what we've been doing, but it's a good record.

And here's a little thing our realtor put together to share with ya'll: http://brandoncandinicholls.epropertymove.com/indexGo2.htm

I had a couple cute videos the girls did that I was trying to share here, but they're not playing properly.  I have wasted way too much time trying to figure out why they won't upload correctly to no avail, so I'm just going to post another link to this album that contains the two videos.  You can search for them. https://plus.google.com/photos/104575878071086913858/albums/5909470489357150001?authkey=CMLJ8Zy5lq_vUQ

Oregon and Washington

I thought I could cheat and just post our vacation photos on Google+, but I've received some feedback that that's not good enough. So, those who are not savvy enough to find me over there can now read about our family vacation to Oregon and Washington. We left July 13th and drove as far as Winnemucca. Our hotel was connected to a casino, as you may expect in Nevada. That was a new experience for our girls, who quickly developed a disdain for gambling. The next day we drove the other half of the way to Klamath Falls, Oregon. The first two days were dedicated to driving and giving the girls plenty of pool time. I thought I better get that in early, before I expected them to get out and see the world. Day 3 we finally made it up to Crater Lake. The girls got a book last year about National Parks and are now interested in seeing everyone. The lake was beautiful, and we enjoyed walking around it and watching a film at the visitor center.

Then we headed over to Eugene to spend the night. I loved our time in Oregon with lots of options for eating local, vegan food. I had originally planned to just drive up to Portland via the mountains, but then last minute I decided we needed to go see the coast. We drove over to Florence to see the beach, but we didn't stay long. It was so cold! 54° when we got there, plus wind. It didn't slow Sophie down from hunting for seashells, though.

Then we made it to Portland. Portland was beautiful and such an active community, seemed like a great place to live. I got some more vegan food. My cousin who used to live in Portland recommended this place to me called Hot Lips Pizza. Oh my -- HOT Lips is right! My lips were on fire, but it was very good.

Lark was visiting shortly before we left for our trip and had mentioned Multnomah Falls was one of her top destinations to visit. Then I got a thing in the mail from my insurance company listing the 7 best drives, which included the historic Columbia River Hwy to Multnomah, and then my sister-in-law who had just been in Oregon posted a picture of her family there, so I took that as a sign we needed to go. It was so packed when we got there we could not find a parking spot. Brandon finally decided to just drop us off, let us get a picture while he circled around again, and then we could go. Well, I think we made him go around twice, but just as we were headed back to meet him a spot opened up. He pulled in, and then he got to come see that Falls with us, and we were able to go hike up to the upper bridge.

After Portland we headed into Washington, right for Mount St Helens. We learned a little about the volcano, hiked around some, and then continued on our way.

We reserved a big chunk of our time in Seattle for Sophie to visit the American Girl store. Yes, I deserve the Mother of the Year Award. She is such a good shopper, though. She saves her money, and then puts a lot of thought into making the best purchase. At one point in the store she started having doubts about blowing all of her money, but then she calmly said, "No, I saved my money for this. It's OK to spend it." I have to admit, I think she gets that from her mom. And she was really great trying on the outfits. I had told her I wanted to buy her one of the matching outfits for girls, but the ones she tried on were not very modest. Both my girls are always so conscious of how their clothing fits. So, she decided against that and we just got her an "American Girl Seattle" T-shirt.

Since we planned something special for Sophie, I wanted to give Chloe equal time. She absolutely loves paddle boats, but they are so hard to find! I finally found a park in Seattle. Again, we had such a difficult time finding a parking spot, but once we did we had a great time. The weather was so nice, and it was relaxing to just sit out on the lake. She picked a great activity for the afternoon.

Our last day in Seattle we decided we didn't want to go back into the city, so we chose some activities much closer to our hotel. We found this little Bonsai garden that the girls soaked up. They were so inspired, and started making plans to grow their own. That reminds me: I need to get them some books! They went around and took pictures of each display, and made notes about them. It was very educational.

Our last stop was to a beach on Puget Sound. The locals seemed to enjoy it just fine, but the tourists were not such fans. The beach was covered in seaweed. The girls were not impressed. We decided to go hike some trails on the other side, and they were much happier there.

And that about sums it up. If you missed it, and want to see the whole story in pictures you can find them here: Oregon/Washington Photos

Cousins & Birthday

Brandon told them at work just to not plan on seeing him in July. This is a crazy, fun month for us. Tuesday we got some visitors! The Kangs stopped by on their way home from visiting Washington. It was fun to see them, and we got not one, but two trips to their hotel pool! I told Chloe I need credit for those. We are leaving on our own vacation soon, and I know she's not going to get to swim as much as she'd like. After swimming on Tuesday we went out for pizza. They came over the next morning to have breakfast with us, and then we went back to the pool one more time before they left.

Yesterday we celebrated Sophie's 11th birthday. She just keeps growing up on us. I normally don't allow my kids to have birthday parties two years in a row, but last year after I got her owl party all planned we remembered that she had requested a Lion House party. They used to only host parties for 8-11 year olds, so I knew we'd have to do it this year if she was going to get one. When I went to their website to book it, the age had changed to 8-10. I felt so bad, but I told her I'd call and see how strict they were with that rule. Turns out they didn't care, so she was in luck! They were even very accommodating with the menu. They had given us the choice of turkey or tuna for lunch, so I called and asked if there was any other option, and they were happy to change it. Funny thing was the lady I worked with didn't think veggie sandwiches would be hearty enough, she thought we needed to PB&J to give them something substantial. The PB&J wasn't that good, but that's ok; they were so kind to help us out.

First things first, though! A couple months ago Sophie and her friend were "bored," and as they sat around thinking of ideas they decided to make blankets to donate to Primary Children's Hospital. They went door to door around the neighborhood asking for donations. Then they split up the money they earned and each went and purchased fabric. Then they got together again and made these blankets -- ALL ON THEIR OWN! The only thing I did was drive them to the store to buy fabric. And then they waited until Sophie's birthday when we'd be taking them to Salt Lake to deliver them. See what amazing things kids will do if you let them get a little bored.

Just to side track for a minute (since I'm thinking about it)... I know parents who stress about trying hard to make their house the "fun" house so that their kids friends will want to hang out there. I know my house will never be the fun house, because that's just not who I am. But I have been amazed at how much my children and their friends play at our home. I really believe they don't need junk food, video games, TV, endless toys. Just give them a peaceful environment and they will want to be here. So now I'll get off my soapbox and show you these amazing girls at the hospital.

Then it was on to The Lion House. We waited out front for a while for the guests to all arrive. A couple were a little late, so we had to start without them, but we were so happy when they showed up!

Once the party started they kept moving us back and forth between rooms (I think to keep the children from getting antsy, but these kids didn't need that). Our host told lots of stories about Brigham Young's life and pioneer time period.

We played "Button Button" and "Hide the Thimble," they got to write on a slate, and have a taffy pull.

They served us a little lunch (our PB&J).

And then we went outside to open gifts. Sophie had to close her eyes while the person giving her a gift disguised their voice. Sophie had to guess who it was before she could open then gift. Some of the kids were pretty good at fooling her!

Chloe got to spend some time with her very best friend. You don't think she's happy about that, do you?

Then it was back inside for cake! They gave Sophie the option of chocolate or white cake. She was having a hard time choosing, so I told her if she picked chocolate I'd have some. If she picked white I would pass. She made sure I got some cake. The baker hid a gum ball somewhere in the cake and everyone had to search their piece for it. No one at the party got it :( but we got to take the rest home, and Sophie ended up with the piece with the gum ball.

My daughter has some amazing friends. She is very lucky to get to know each one of these guys. Two of them came up to me at the party and told me it was the funnest party they had been to. And the host commented on how well behaved they were. They are just a good batch.

Getting Through the 4th of July

I tried to do an update like a month ago, but other things have taken priority and it obviously never happened. Chloe made it to girl's camp and had the time of her life. The whole ward saw a different side of her, and it's been a very positive change for her. I was hoping she'd do a blog post of her own about it, but she hasn't even gotten the pictures off her camera yet! She's as bad as her mother :)

While Chloe was at camp I signed Sophie up for an art class. It was a good distraction during those mornings, and then we fit in lots of fun activities during the afternoons.

We drove ourselves crazy looking for a house. I thought we were doing good taking our time, looking at all our options, making sure we found just the right place. And then we got sick of looking. It felt like there were no good options. Everything sucked, or was under contract the day it was listed. That's when we put pressure on ourselves. After two failed attempts (one was an error on my part, the other on the sellers) we found something that fit our criteria: tiny house on a big lot, no stucco, no HOA. And it's only 2 miles from Brandon's office, and really close to the library! It needs a lot of work, but we're excited about all it's possibilities, and Brandon LOVES projects! Maybe his blog will get some action.

Once we got the house under contract we've been so busy with all the paperwork, screaming at loan processors, getting inspections done, and then the appraisal. Now that that's final, I think we can breathe for a bit. Chloe is packing her heart out. She is such a great help around here.

We even made time to go to Bloomington for the 4th. Not that our kids would let us miss it, but we went and stayed a couple extra days at my parents. Here is some of the fun we had:

Memorial Day

My husband had to go to San Francisco this week, so I took my kids to Idaho for Memorial Day. It was just a small family gathering, but those kind don't give me a headache! We left early enough that we got there in time to go to the cemetery (at least one). They had already visited the one in Paris, but we went with them to Bloomington Cemetery.

Ross got to put the flowers on the graves. Grams is very particular about who gets which flowers, so I hope we did it right.

This little guy was there, so that means I get to take lots of pictures of him. Babies don't care if they're getting their picture taken, they just keep on acting naturally, so maybe that's what I love about them.

Hanging out at my grandpa's grave.

Nigel and his momma. He sure had fun with this flower...

Which gave my girls the idea that they needed to go pick some.

Hooking up the buggy. This was my grandpa's wagon. My dad just refinished it so we can use it in the 4th of July parade.

After we rode it around. I hope we find some new horses for the parade. These horses need to get out more!

Chloe sure loves her cousins! Maybe we should nickname this kid Frank.

Sophie was also willing to get her picture taken with him... actually, she was excited if it meant she got to hold him.

Grandma taught the girls a new craft.

I got a family portrait! Nigel had a good grip on the piece of cantaloupe.

He wasn't letting his mom get much crocheting done.

Ross did a great job getting the lawn mowed. I took Nigel out with me to get a picture of him, and Nigel ended up on the mower as well.

The lake was so pretty as we drove into the valley that morning. On the way back I decided I would actually stop and get a picture. I still don't think this does it justice.