Home Sweet Home.

--Finally have internet!  Big huge post warning!--

We’re in! We closed on Friday, November 9, but our superintendent still had some last minute things to finish up, and we wanted to paint the family room and kitchen.  So we finally made the big move on Wednesday, November 14. 

And then, we painted….In our house, Safety comes first. 

Yes, that would be a paint can they are using to balance the ladder.  I was scared for Ryan’s life, and I’m not going to lie, terrified that the paint was going to explode all over my new house.

Then, we moved. And my new house got messy anyway.  (but a messy that’s way better than a paint explosion)

Our first night in our houseThe boys got to sleep in their bunk bed for the first time.  They can’t seem to agree on who gets what bunk, so they decided to switch off every night.

Setting up our TV, one of our speakers was making a funny rattling sound, Ace tipped it over and out came Ty’s hoarding stash of toys that he apparently had been shoving inside one by one before the move.I was so happy when they finally got rid of the giant mound of dirt in our backyard.  Everyday we came back from looking at our house, the boys were filthy.  And then, about 4 days after we moved in, they brought new dirt right next door.  Perfect.  Just Perfect.Easton had his new first day of school.  Originally, we had planned on me driving him up to Lehi until our house was done, but when we moved to Orem, they hadn’t even started on our house yet, and didn’t even have a start/finish date for us; we weren’t sure how long we would end up being there…so we decided to have him go to Hillcrest until we moved.  I talked to him about the fact he would get to go to a new school soon a lot, and he was excited. 

He was so excited…right up until we walked inside his new school.  Suddenly he became this shy, quiet kid.  He looked terrified.  The principal introduced himself to Easton, and took us on a tour of the school.  Easton didn’t say a word the whole time (which is unheard of for him).  I felt so terrible. 

Then we walked into his classroom, and all of his classmates knew he was coming.  They came running to greet him, and tell him where his backpack goes, and where his new desk is.  He immediately looked a little better, still quiet, but better. 

He has made some new friends that love to play soccer, and his favorite thing about this new school is that the second recess is longer than it was at his old school…because, really, what else matters?

Our new ward has been so nice and welcoming.  The only problem I’ve got is that church starts at 8:30am.  Anyone who knows us, knows this is a problem.  We have yet to be on time to church.  My kids are so tired they don’t want to eat breakfast before church, so we’ve ended up having brunch after church.  Look how tired we all look!

Here is a little progression of our house starting from the beginning:August 24, 2012: Day 1 started digging.

On the inside:

But we aren’t done…up that staircase is a “bonus room” that, to save a little money, we got unfinished…That is going to be the kids’ playroom and we are trying to get it done for Christmas…

Right now, it looks like this…

Ace and his brothers and my brother did the electrical work.  Poor Jesse was the only one small enough to climb through this itty bitty hole to run the electrical wires…Tortured by the insulation.

Ace framed in a closet.  And…that whole in the wall… (which was made after poor Jesse climbed through the itty bitty hole…sorry Jess)He framed that too.  It’s a surprise for the boys.  In the model home of our floor plan, they had this little cave room, and every time we went to the model (a lot) the boys went straight to this room.  They loved it.  They were so excited when we said we were buying the house, but mostly excited about the “kid room”. We asked the home builder how much extra it was to add it and they told us it was a $4000 upgrade because they had to change the structure of the home.

Nope.  Sorry boys.  Not Happening.

We had to brake the news to them that even though our house would look the same,  it wasn’t going to have the “kid room”.

But then during the framing, Ace thought there would be enough space to do it himself.  And that is just what he did….after a bit of coaxing from me. (apparently framing and dry-walling a small, slanted room is not so fun.)

The boys haven’t seen it and don’t know it’s coming.  We are hoping to surprise them on Christmas… if we can get it done (I say “we” mostly meaning Ace, with me mostly cheering him on from the sidelines…and handing him a hammer every now and then)

We are so, so, so happy to finally be in our house!  And I want to say a big HUGE Thank you to everyone who has helped us the last couple of weeks…

Ryan, Brad, James, Raylene, and Larry for helping with basically everything: painting, framing, cleaning,  moving etc…Jesse, Johnny, Nate, and Steven all helped move us in. Mandy, and Cindy and Natalie and my mom all helped with watching my kids.  Thank you to Rebecca and Lauren and Mandy letting their husbands be away on so many nights and Saturdays.  And everyone one else who has helped us!  Seriously.  Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!