painting and making it our own

 soon after moving in, I got to work painting. I started with lily's room, then the master bedroom, then the patio set the previous owners left behind.

This is Lily's room before I made it over. (sorry it's blurry. I was trying to be sneaky and take a picture while the girl who owned the house was turned around.)

 This is Lily's room after I painted it.

I found a cute idea online to use a round mirror and paint a flower around it. This is my own take on that project. I like the 'hidden' sunburst.

 

Alyssa hanging out with me while I unpacked and loaded up the new kitchen

 Hanging out eating popsicles on our covered patio after church one day.

 The owners before us asked if we would like their old patio set. it wasn't in the greatest condition, but since we didn't have a set we said yes.

Before:

 during: (primed)

  After: painted

I stenciled the top to add some personality

I bought some cute cushions. It was a crazy process to finally get some at a reasonable price. These were my fourth choice. But they grew on me.

  and finally, the finished product. It only took 11 hours and three coats of paint. but I think it was well worth it.

Don't you love it?! I think it adds some brightness to a somewhat brown, gray and dark space.

Zoo and FIreworks

 I went to the zoo with Dan and Amber and their girls as well as Ben. We had a great time, but I didn't take many pictures.

 They weren't too excited to take a picture in the eagles nest.

 For the fourth of July, we didn't do much of anything. When I asked Lily how she wanted her hair done for the fourth of July she said "I want it like a firework!" So I did this...

 

I know, it's hideous right?!

 

When I finished, I asked her if I could please take it out and start over. She said she wanted to see it first and took off running to look at it in the mirror. She came back grinning from ear to ear touting that she had the "best firework hair ever!" Oh well at least SHE liked it.

 

The kids asked me if I would paint their faces so I agreed. Lily wanted a flag heart with "yellow."

 

Jake wanted a "mask" so I painted this:

 

He didn't like that it didn't cover both the top and bottom of his eyes, so I finished it up like this:

 

He liked it much better, but I didn't like it much. oh well. They let me paint their faces, so I shouldn't complain.

 We hung-out at home and then we decided to go to the firework show in North Salt Lake.  We parked up above where the fireworks are shot off. It was a little bit uncomfortable sitting on the sidewalk, but the kids loved it.

 Chilling before hand

 Lily kept saying "ooooh a SPARKLY one!" after each firework. and also said things like "It's SO magical!" The young couple sitting behind us were laughing at our kids and the things they were saying. We ate lots of candy and had a fun (albeit a little short) time.

Happy Fourth of July!

zoo fun

Randy's work provided a fun zoo day for our family. Northrop Grumman gave us vouchers for free food and snacks too. It was really fun for us. 

They had a "Sun Day" and the zoo was giving away free sunscreen and hats for the kids to wear. The kids loved them of course.

 The zoo has some Lego displays up right now as well. we enjoyed looking at their creative exhibits.

 Jake and Randy hanging out by the elephants.

 

Lunch time!

 

 After the zoo, we got some Slurpees and headed to my grandmother's house. Of course we always have a good time at grandma great's house!

I love fun family days.

Baseball

 The boys' baseball seasons weren't quite over when we moved out, so we decided to drive the 45 minutes and take them to their remaining games. Tyler was done in early June, but Jake's season ended near the end of June. I took some pictures of him and his team after the last game.

 Randy was the coach and he did a fantastic job.

 Jake and his good friend Toby. we were so glad to have him on our team with us this year!

Jacob wasn't too into baseball this year though. He complained and complained about going to games and there were a few games where he sat on the bench because Randy told him that if he didn't want to play then he could just sit on the bench and watch. Unfortunately, this reverse psychology didn't work so well. He was more than happy to sit and watch all his friends having fun playing. oh well. Randy had fun coaching and getting to know the boys. 

It was fun to go to the store and have random little boys shout out "Hey coach Randy!"

I'm not sure if we will play next year or not. I guess we will wait and see.

Moving Day!

We closed on our house in Bountiful on May 31st! For the next week I went and worked on painting some rooms and prepared the house for our move in. 

We actually moved half of our stuff to the new house on June 7th (our 11th wedding anniversary). Sounds like a great way to celebrate don't you think?

I was able to get the whole kitchen unpacked before we moved in everything else on Saturday the 8th. That was incredibly helpful for me. 

On Saturday we were lucky enough to have a primary activity scheduled in the morning. It was a drive in movie and all the kids were supposed to make their own cars to take. Ours turned out pretty cute. It came in handy to have so many boxes lying around the house for the kids to choose from.

So I dropped off the kids at the church and headed back to the house.

We were fortunate enough to have some ward members help us load the moving truck.  We had about 8 or ten people there helping us out. We had ordered a 26 foot truck but we were told when we went to pick up the truck that there was only a 20 foot truck available! they offered us a small trailer to go with the 20 foot truck, but we were pretty upset about it. We asked for a discount, but they refused, saying that a 20 foot truck costs more than a 26 foot truck so we were already getting a discount.

We loaded up the truck and trailer and soon realized that not everything was going to fit! 

I picked up the kids at the church at noon and bought pizza and drinks for everyone who had helped us at the house. After lunch, Randy took the truck/trailer and I took the kids in the van to Bountiful for the second half of the move.

When we arrived in Bountiful, my Dad was there waiting and soon after our arrival, a few men from our new ward showed up to assist us. I left the house after the van was unloaded and dropped the kids off at my moms. She and my sister Ali were awesome and offered to help me with the kids. My mom asked if I would like her to come over and help, but I told her when I had left that there was plenty of people already. 

When I got back to the new house, I noticed that the truck was empty but the garage was still full. Randy said to me that he and my dad were going to head back to Tooele to retrieve the rest of our stuff. He then dismissed all of our new found helpers. I found myself alone in the new house with a garage full of boxes that needed to go into the house. All the furniture was strewn haphazardly in each room. (I had wanted to help direct where I wanted things). I began to feel extremely overwhelmed and my foot was throbbing (did I mention I had a broken toe and strained ligaments and was wearing a boot?). I nearly burst into tears. I started working in the master bedroom. It took me nearly 15 minutes to move our dresser all by myself from one side of the room to the other. I knew I couldn't do it by myself, so I called my mom and asked her to come by and help. I also called my brother-in-law Spencer to help too. Spencer and my Mother showed up and they helped get some beds put together, but we were a silly sight. Me, with my booted foot, my mom with her hurt back and Spencer with his broken arm. We somehow managed even with our ailments to get five beds and a couch put together. I was so glad to have the help. 

Anyway, my Dad and Randy finally got the last of our stuff and brought it to Bountiful. My mom fed us dinner that night, and the kids were so so excited to sleep in their new rooms.

I was so  busy with everything that I really didn't take any photos but I got a few shots of everything we were unable to get into the truck the first round.

It would have been hilarious..if it hadn't happened to me!

I planned to make a little treat and card to give to all of my volleyball friends here in Tooele before we move. I made them all up last night. They turned out cute. I cut out volleyballs and put them on black paper to make them kinda look like little Oreos. Then on the back I wrote "This is for all the Oreos" (an inside joke with everyone at volleyball) and gave my information to everyone so we could keep in touch after the move. I was nervous for some reason to go to volleyball to say goodbye to everyone and give them this little parting gift.
Anyway, I got showered and ready, I got the kids ready and I put Alyssa down for her nap. I wanted to look extra cute, because let's face it, these girls see me all the time at my absolute worst. No makeup, old clothes and sweating profusely. So I take a lot of extra time picking out my outfit and I put on the only jeans that fit at the moment (I've gained like ten pounds in the last month with the stress of moving). I'm feeling like I'm looking pretty good and we are all set to go. I get Jake and Lily to put on their shoes, and I walk into the baby's room to wake her.
She is standing up when I open the door and I look at her and say "Honey, why didn't you take a nap?" I pick her up, put her on my hip and then lift her onto the changing table to put on her little shoes, when I notice she has poop, very runny poop I might add, on her left thigh. I sigh and and say "Oh no baby! Seriously?" I start wiping her down and notice she also has it on her foot and is trying to get her hands into her diaper. It is times like these when I wish I had four extra hands so I can hold her down and wipe her at the same time. Either that or trade places with someone NOT currently changing a nasty diaper. I finish wiping her down and finally get into the actual diaper changing.
 This is some serious liquid poop, let me tell you, I had to hold the diaper at an angle to keep it from sloshing out. After what seems like forever, I get her all cleaned up and in fresh clothes. I check out the crib and everything looks Poop free there. But I see a big "drop" of poop on the carpet."Huh," I think to myself, "That can't be right, how could she have poop all over but NOT in the crib?" Then it dawned on me that the poop must not have come out of the diaper till I picked her up! I swear on everything I own that this next part of the story took place in complete slow motion. I glance down at my body slowly. My jaw drops to the floor, as I see a waterfall stain of poop all down my shirt that cascaded down most of my left pant leg. I stared in horror. I slowly look back at Alyssa and then back down at my clothes. Back up again at Alyssa, I say "REALLY? Did you really just do this?" Frustrated to no end, I wipe my clothes with baby wipes. I take off my shirt and throw it into the hamper. I wipe my jeans (the only pair that fits I might add again) and think maybe if I wipe it enough, I can still wear them? I shake my head at the ridiculousness of the notion and take them off. OK, so I'm starting over with the whole cute outfit to wear to say goodbye to my volleyball friends.
I have one more pair of jeans with a rip in the crotch that I look at and consider. Looking through my drawers I realized I had already packed all my other jeans besides these two pair because the others don't really fit anyway.
I suck it up, and in, and I put on my crotch ripped pants as well as fresh shirt to wear. I'm not feeling so cute in my muffin top jeans and second choice shirt, but what options do I have? I was finally ready to leave the house. I think if I had seen this happen to someone else, it would have been absolutely hilarious to me! I would be bent over in side splitting laughter especially at the part where "she looked down in horror to find the poop all down herself!" Ahhahahahaha!

Too bad it happened to me. The life of a mommy I tell you!
-The treat went over well at volleyball. It was sad to say goodbye to all my friends.  I sure wish I hadn't hurt my foot the month before we leave! I would have liked to play right up until the day we moved.

Jake's Kindergarten Graduation

 Jacob graduated from Kindergarten on Friday May 17th. My mom told him she wouldn't be able to come (because of my little brother Ben's back surgery) and Jake was devastated! After learning how upset Jake was, my mom found a way to sneak out to Tooele at 9 in the morning! It was a wonderful surprise. Jake was so happy that she was there. 

Here is my mom holding matching Alyssa at the program. Those two tend to match more often than not. Kinda funny.

 Jake singing the Northlake Knight fight song. It is his favorite.

 My mom gave Jake a candy gram as a graduation gift. He thought this was amazing! All those candy bars just for him! He was in heaven.

Happy Graduation buddy! We are proud of you.