Week #34: From Brown to White, Overnight

This Week...

...Jason's family was all together for the first time in about ten years. Todd and his new wife Erica were up for a visit. We were so excited to get to meet her and their baby Eva. We had a hard time getting everyone in the pictures, but eventually it worked out. Back Row: Travis Eugene (5), Lara Deanne (9), Kelvin Reid (3), Heidi Louise (6), Brett Adam (2), Shawnee Marie (4), Wade Howard (1) Front Row: Jason Miles (7), Janice Louise, Howard Lief, Todd Charles (8).

br: Peyton, Ethan, Benjamin, Claire, Grace, Emma, Addie, Warren fr: Lainey, Paul, Grandma, Eva, Grandpa, Quinn

Me with baby Eva. Such a cutie!

Emma and Addie having fun with Eva

...our friends left us a Good Morning surprise! Ryan and Amie and their kids, Tate, Miah, and Mallory, snuck over to our house at night an teepeed the front of our house. They even wrapped our van. What! That is the greatest trick ever! How are we going to top that?

...we sprayed my Mom's kitchen cupboards white. The prep work always takes the longest. I love the new zip wall that Jason uses to close off the area when we spray. It's minimal work to contain the area. Surprisingly, the smell wasn't too bad in the rest of the house. We kept the door open to vent house. We ate dinner in the family room and everyone stayed in there to play games. Taking down the plastic, tape, and paper is always the fun part because it reveals the finished product. They look amazing!












...we watched our friend's kids overnight. Penny, Henry, and Miles Hamilton came to play, and stay. Haha! We had a great time! We went to the park to play to get some fresh air and get out of the house. 
 

...we had out first bike ride of the summer. All it took was a trip to Walmart for new tubes to fix the bikes that were out of commission. We had a huge hurdle to cross in regards to Lainey and her attitude about riding a two-wheeler bike. Once we got past that, it was all fun and games! That is until she got scraped by the pedal. At first, she was so excited and proud of herself. The other kids were giving her high fives and being so helpful. Getting hurt almost did her in until she saw that I had an owie too.

...They staked our lot. Dirt will be moving on Monday! We settled on a corner lot that's about 15,000+ sq ft. We were reluctant to go with this one in the beginning because it was $3,000 more than the other lots, and we had to pay roughly $4,500 to put the sidewalk in all the way around. But when it came down to it, getting a flat lot is worth that little extra cost. The rest of the lots had hills for back yards or grade issues that would have cost us twice the cost of the sidewalk, or even more. We're now trying to figure out selections for cupboards and counters and carpet. We've had a great time with Kelly at Craftsman's. There's also a lot of debris on our lot. It's been vacant for so long that other builders dump their extra cement, dirt, grass, and rock on the lot. It'll be a lot of cleanup before we even get started.

They're working on connecting Madison Ave down to our new neighborhood. We like to cut through the dirt to go see our new lot. Sometimes we stash the scooters and bikes on our side and walk. Sometimes we carry the scooters through with us so we can ride them down the hill on the other side. We almost always have to stop at the vacant AHO house to race down the driveway several times. We're cool like that.






...Emma got some major road rash. They were racing down our driveway on their scooters. She went down low to coast out into the street and wobbled to her road rash defeat.


...we had the adult meeting of Stake Conference. Jason and I were both able to attend together this time around. What great messages were shared. We sat in the very front and had the privilege of making eye contact with the speakers. That was a treat! They sure looked at us a lot.

Week #33: Spraying on the Lawn

This Week...

...we sprayed my mom's cupboard doors on our back lawn. I'm so glad that Jason had the great idea to bring all the doors to our house to spray. We had a nice system and everything we needed right here instead of trying to haul all of what we needed out there and making do. Jason ultimately picked the white color, but as you can see, my mom loved it!

We went from brown to white in less than a day. It was as hot as ever outside as we worked, but we got it done.

Before shade: We had a huge fan that we were using to help carry the over spray out of the way. It doubled as our cooling system since it was so darn hot.

After shade: Our fan only cooling system didn't last long. We went and picked up a pop up tent to shade the area where Jason was spraying. It made it so much better. 

Look at this pretty finish!

This is my "oh no!" moment. The adhesive side of the sandpaper flipped on me while I was fine sanding. It jacked up Jason's nice finish. We would have been done but for this little mishap. Man!

...we went to Craftsman's to make interior selections for our new house. We took our friend Whitney Chapman with us to help with colors and style. She's a designer. We met Kelly and we got started. Sort of. Kelly is a talker. So Jason listened and Whitney and I got busy making selections. After two and a half hours, we were wiped out. We have to go back next week to finalize everything, but we survived.



...my Dahlias decided to bloom! I was so excited to see these come up. Dahlias sure are a large plant.

My Magnolia tree also bloomed. It's so beautiful! So glad we picked this one for the yard.

...we were out scootin' around. We took a walk down to our lot. They're starting the process to pave the connecting road from the development where we live and so it's a great shortcut for us. We just skirt around the rood closed signs. No big deal, right?

We stop at our favorite vacant house to ride race down the driveway several times.

Then we get up speed and coast down Atlanta Ave.

Once we hit dirt, we stash the scooters and go the rest of the way on foot. Or we carry the scooters with us so we can ride them down the hill on the other side. Today wasn't one of my gracious days. :)

We climb up and down the huge hill where the new houses will be built on top. And we fill our shoes with dirt.

We see the lot and then we turn around and go back. Lainey and Claire were my models.

It's a pretty good workout. By the time we're done, we're hot, sweaty, and ready for some water.

Week #32: Rava and Vaatu

This Week...

...we took a walk. We found a Praying Mantis. We love to turn off the T.V. and the Wii and get outside with our kids. 

...we finished the half fence around the basement stairwell in the backyard at my mom's house. It looks so cute now. Jason had a vision that I didn't see until it was just about done. It really adds a nice touch.

We caught these purple lovelies on the way over Vernita. They were so pretty blooming along the Columbia. 

...we brought some puppies home with us overnight. I totally caved. I'm not one for inside pets and not really fond of pets in my yard. However, we were at my mom's and would be returning the next day so the puppies wouldn't have to stay with us long. The kids had fun. I was glad to take the puppies back to Grandma's. :)

...we encountered tales from a church house chalkboard.

...we had a family home evening lesson on relating Avatar: The Legend of Korra to our lives. We really like these episodes. Rava, the spirit of light and peace and Vaatu, the spirit of darkness and chaos are eternally combined. Rava keeps Vaatu in check, until evil forces combine to release Vaatu. Vaatu gains more and more power until Rava is diminished to a wisp and almost eliminated. We related that as light increases, darkness diminishes. Or vice versa. Our actions daily determine the shift and balance of each in our own homes and families.

...Jason and I worked around the house. This was Jason's serious working attire. He took several doors off and repainted them. We had some major scuff marks on the bedroom doors. With the sprayer it went so fast and they dried nicely.

...Emma made these lemon tea cookies. They are so good! Lots of butter, but good! She wants to make them all the time now.

...we went to the river to play. Sister Haines has closed her pool. It's costing her too much money to keep it cleaned and maintained. She has closed it for the summer. We were pretty bummed, but we found some friends at the river. The Fieldings were there with their kayaks and more than happy to share. Our kids had a blast and Jason and I had a blast visiting.

After the water fun, we played at the park. We don't always stop at the toys because there are so many people there. And this day was no exception. We were only there a few minutes.

Week #31: The End Of The Season

This Week...

...Softball season ended. I loved playing ball with this group of ladies. We had a lot of fun and a really good team.

br:Alisa Parsons, Sierra Buhler, Amber Riner, Marie Mackay with Linkon, Sharae McShane, Jessie Brower and sons, Corriann Froughton and baby fr:Kacey Kisler, Grace, Me!

...we sprayed my mom's house. It's such a stark contrast, but it's actually back to the color the house use to be. 

...we played a game of a Rummikub. I don't mind playing this one over and over with the kids. Benjamin sure knows how to put his sets and runs together.

...we made bat faces before bed...in their fort. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

...we ate out at McDonald's and go to sit at the super cool table with lights.