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!

We Are All Used To This By Now…

We Moved!  Shocking, I know.

Here’s a little sum up…

My mom had an opportunity to move back into her old house in Orem.  This is where she has been wanting to live, and where she will be once we leave. 

Ace and I have decided to build a home in Lehi…Literally, the last place I thought we’d live in Utah,  (no offense Lehi people, but when I was growing up, Lehi was a little bit of a joke) but I guess is started to grow on us! 

I also didn’t think that we’d be building again.  But the builders are letting Ace do all of the exterior of the home, which will be saving us a lot of moola.  So we are building.

Problem is, they just started to dig.  They say it takes them 90 days from the time they dig to finish the house.  I am planning on 120 days, because I feel a little jinxed when it comes to things like that.  Plus, if it is shorter than 120 days, I will be pleasantly surprised.  So, because of timing, we had to move to Orem with my mom.  My poor, poor mother! 

And so, we put all of our things in storage and here we are, waiting for the day when we finally have our own house again! Here’s what they have done so far:Just a whole lot of dirt!

The Move, and Playing Catch Up

The move happened.  It was insane and exhausting.  Ty hasn't been sick all winter long, but apparently thought this was a good weekend to get an ear infection (his second one in his life by the way) and RSV. Yep. 

 

But we had a whole lot of help, and it is done. Yay.  

 Jesse and the friends after a long, long day.

(I didn't get a picture of Ace's family, but they were all a huge help.  Larry got us the truck, and Uncle Stan let us use his trailer.  Raylene spent hours cleaning the new house.  Larry, Ryan, Brad, and Stan all loaded and unloaded and loaded and unloaded all of our dang stuff.  They were all just awesome.  Thanks everyone)

And a very special thank you to my cousin, Ginay, who watching Easton for me all stinkin' day...which, I guarantee saved my life.  Thank you thank you thank you!

Here is a picture of the new place...who loves the blue accents??

Below, I've posted just a bunch of stuff that has happened over the last month or so that I never got a chance to post about.  I apologize for blog overload.

Flippety Floppety, Hippety Hoppety

We're moving. 

Again. 

Does that really shock anyone at this point?

Let me just start with a little background about the situation we are in right now and go from there.  It gets just a little complicated, so I urge you to not read this if you already have a headache today, it's sure to only get worse.  

Since our move from Vegas was quick and slightly unexpected, we have been staying with my mom until we figured out where we wanted to be and what we wanted to do.  But back up about three years ago, my mom moved into my Aunt and Uncle's home to keep the house open for their kids and take care of all other house things, because they were called to be Mission President in Ecuador.  

So, really, right now we are staying with my mom... in my Aunt and Uncle's house.  The mission will be coming to a close the beginning of July.  So my mom was also trying to decide where to go next.  She really wanted to move back to Orem where she was living before, but my sister, Lauren is going to be a Senior this coming year, and doesn't want to go to a new school now.  

Ace and I haven't been sure about where exactly we want to live, and not sure if we want to buy or rent....blah blah blah.  Realizing that we needed to do something, and that we wanted a good year or two to find the perfect house (so I never have to see another moving box again), and then realizing that my mom needed at least a year in Lehi for Lauren's senior year, we came up with our really odd/weird but genius plan to rent something together and split the cost.  Giving us all the chance to save up some money and make future home decisions with less of a rush.  

We are renting a house that divides the space so that it works for two families, so that we all don't go nuts.  It's going to be, my mom and Lauren on one floor and us on the other floor.  It definitely is some weird family dynamics going on, but we've had fun so far, so we're just changing it up a little.  I am so grateful to be close to family, and that we have found a way to help each other out.  I am really excited to go somewhere and start to feel settled.  The good news is most of our stuff is still boxed up.  The bad news, we have a whole lot of stuff.

Easton is really excited to move.  I guess it's really become a normal thing for him.  He talks about it a lot.  We had this conversation today:

Easton:  "Mommy, are we moving tomorrow?"

Me: "No. But we are moving soon. In a couple weeks.  Are you excited to move?"

Easton: "Yes! I am so 'essited' to move!  Can I pick my room?"

Me: "Yeah, you can."

Easton: "Ok good.  If there is a red room, I am going to pick that one."

Me: "Oh.  Is red your favorite color now?"

Easton: "No. My favorite color is still 'Ornange', but red is just a good color for a room."

Anyone painting your rooms...keep that in mind.

Unfortunately for Easton, there is no red room in this house...not sure how to tell him.

We're moving on March 5th.  It's gonna be fun! 

Barf.

The Move & Giving of Thanks

We have been here almost two weeks.  I still feel like I'm here on vacation, not actually living here for good.  I'm guessing it has to do with the fact that it was Thanksgiving-we would have been here anyway, and we are living where we normally just come to visit. It's Weird.  A good weird, but weird.

Just a few things about the move...

First, Ace got the job offer on that Friday and they asked him to start Monday.  So, Ace left Sunday night, and I stayed behind with the Kidlets to pack the house to be ready by the next Friday.  And well, it was a long week.  

Ty managed to find every single marker in the house and so very lovingly used the walls and floors as his canvas...

And then, Ty thought it was a good idea to climb the mountain of boxes over and over, until he got stuck...

And, during the move, we found Easton's Secret Stash...

This special treasure was under my china hutch.  Easton's favorite hiding spot (especially right after Halloween) was shockingly in the corner right next to my hutch....

I really wish I had taken a picture of his reaction to me asking him how it got there...just a look of true terror.

Ace worked his first week, then drove back down the next Friday with his dad and brother to do the move.  Saturday was the big day...we had some awesome guys from the ward help us load the truck (again). 

Easton got to ride in the moving truck with Ace, and hasn't stopped talking about it.

We arrived to snow, and lots of it.  Ty, being the Vegas baby that he is, calls the snow "bubbles" and there is no convincing him otherwise.

We have our stuff officially being stored in four different locations...

My mom's house

My in-law's garage

My in-law's spare bedroom

My brother-in-law's spare room

FUN for Everyone!

Ace is really enjoying his new job.  The environment is way, way, WAY better than his last job; he loves the people he is working with.

Thank you to everyone who helped us move... or dealing with our stuff (or us) in your house for the next little bit!! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Onto Thanksgiving Weekend...
We had our "Feast" as Easton calls it, with my family.  So great not to have to travel anywhere.

Good food.

Maybe too good.

Then, we headed over to the Casper's to celebrate Corbin's 4th birthday...

Cake and Presents

Can't go wrong with a pinata.  Just stand back a little.

Ty got himself a sucker.

Easton got up close and personal with baby Tessa.

Then we tried to get a shot of all the Grand-kids.  This is what we got:

  Now, every time we are all together we try this and every time the pictures all turn out just like this.  But my problem is with Papa Larry... Do we really have to try to get you to smile at the camera too?!! :)

A great weekend, and really, so so much to be thankful for.