Getaway

After a summer so far that has focused mostly on selling our house, and moving, our family is off for a few days to a wedding in Utah. The kids are very excited. I'm not sure if they are more excited about the trip, or the new rental van we got.

The Big Move

We are moved! There are still boxes to unpack and things to do, but we are officially out of our old home. Moving is never fun, but this move hasn't been too miserable. I think it helps that the kids really are a big help.



I have learned some very valuable lessons this week. I want to remember them, so I am writing down the examples from some awesome people. These people I mention are the kind of people that do not need accolades or attention. They have behaved in a Christlike way. I want to be like that.

• Tom's sister came Monday and Tuesday to pitch in. She worked hard packing, unpacking and cleaning. She jumped right in and scrubbed three bathrooms. She also fed us and kept us hydrated (with the help of Sonic and happy hour!) I am so grateful to all that she did. She is easy to be around. She is the kind of person that sees the good. Which is great, because we fooled her into thinking our kids are angels.


• After spending most of Tuesday scrubbing the kitchen and packing and unpacking, I came home exhausted. I still needed to finish wiping the oven and doing the last few dishes, cleaning the counter tops and mopping the floor. I intended to go back after dinner and finish the kitchen. Before I had the chance, Cindy and her husband, Jerry, knocked on the door with a box of dishes. She had gone back on her own and finished the kitchen! I was in tears over her thoughtfulness. She also provided hydration on Monday via Sonic's happy hour. If that is not enough, she helped pack several boxes with cute labels like "What's upon a time there was a box with remotes........" She is also very skilled with the vacuum.


• The Ashton's almost make me want to move more often. On Tuesday, Austin, Marinda and Eric knocked on our door bearing scones from heaven. Debie's famous buttermilk syrup and scones were a HUGE hit. Scott not only provided a giant trailer to help move the big furniture, he and Eric lifted and hauled and lugged a lot of heavy stuff. Scott also showed up with pizza for lunch. That wasn't the end of their goodness. Debie brought us a muy deliciouso dinner. When Maddy asked what was for dinner, I told her Sister Ashton was bringing it. She said, "Good, I'm tired of fast food." We are most grateful to this sweet family.

In our unloading Courtney came across a large garment bag. Her curiosity got the better of her and this was the result:

And this:
When I showed Tom the pictures, he wanted me to delete them immediately. Unfortunately, he already saw them and I couldn't take them out of his head. He is not ready for even the THOUGHT of his little girl in a white dress.

We are not homeless!

Tonight we sign papers to have this be our home for the next few months. Yay! I will finally be able to sleep. It won't be available until next Monday. (3 days before we close!) We are so glad we found something that doesn't require a year lease AND will let us keep our dog.

We will not be living in our ward boundaries, but rest assured eighth warders, you will not be getting a new bishop. The Stake President has approved our arrangement. (darn!)

What I should be doing:

• packing
• packing
• packing

What I am doing:

• blogging
• fighting a headache
• thinking about packing
• making my kids pack
• trying to find other distractions that keep me from feeling guilty for not packing.

It's great to be eight!

My baby girl turned eight on Saturday. I can't believe my youngest is that old! She brings a lot of joy and fun into our home. I love being her mom.

In our home, the kids can't do sleep-overs with friends until they are eight. We bent it a little by letting her best friend, Sara, spend the night on Friday. The girls had fun with their little camp party. They decorated foam crowns, sang camp songs and ate smore's. Tom set up the tent in the backyard. They watched a movie in the tent, but decided to come inside to sleep.

On Saturday morning, Kenna opened her brand new scriptures and bag her grandma gave her. She loved the dark green quad with matching case. (Thanks grandma!) She then opened the birthstone barbie from Maddy, the makeup and case from Cam, and the journal from Court. Tom then told her to go into the living room where she was shocked to see a new (gently used) pink bike!

Saturday night, no amount of begging would change Kenna's mind on her pick for dinner. She chose Chuck E. Cheeses. For years now, it is the destination of choice for her. She had a good time, and luckily, she is old enough not to cry over the tickets and prizes as has happened in the past. The Norr's spoiled her with presents and came with us to eat cardboard pizza. One day, I may miss Chuck. I'm not sure how much longer she will request him.

Maddy and Kenna helped decorate the cake. It's hard to see in the picture, the cakes are supposed to look like a pair of flip flops. They used M&M's and bottlecaps to decorate the sides, and the straps are licorice pieces.


My favorite part of this tornado of a weekend was her baptism Saturday afternoon. She was excited! It was a small, but wonderful group of people that came. Courtney gave the talk on baptism. She reminded Kenna of how she was as a baby and how she would help take care of her, and when she is baptized, it is like being born again. Cameron talked on the Holy Ghost. He made me face reality. He is ready to go on a mission in a few months. He showed two flashlights; one bright and one dim and compared that to the Holy Ghost. The bright when we are obedient and the dim when we aren't.

I watched her put her hands in her dads, and teared up when I realized this was the last time one of our children stepped into that water. We laughed when her toe popped up and she had to be dunked again. It truly was a beautiful day!

2:00 p.m. Saturday

This cute little girl will be turning eight on Saturday! She is lucky enough to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on her birthday. That is one of the few things I remember about my baptism. The stake baptism day happened to fall on my birthday. I always thought that was nice of the stake to do that for me;)

Goodbye...

WARNING: Long, journally post

Tonight, our house was poked and prodded to see if it would hold up for the future owners. In preparation, I scrubbed (again) and grabbed my camera before we messed it up again. I want to remember this house. It has been good to us.

In the laundry room, I painted this wall blue and added clouds to make it feel like I was outside putting my clothes on the line. The window treatment is a group of doilies hung on a clothesline.
A few years ago, I saw a system like this in a friends house. It has changed my laundry life! The kids sort their clothes even before they can read by looking at the pictures.
The family room, where we spend a lot of our time. When we put our house on the market, we were told to remove personal photos. I couldn't stand to take these pictures down. It wouldn't feel like home without them.

The kitchen, pretty bare I know. My fridge doesn't normally look that clean!
These window treatments were very easy to make and I love how they look.
When I look at this room, I think of the late nights painting. I know the wallpaper is dated now, it was one of the first things I did when we moved here. I really like the bead board Tom put up and the laminate floor we put in. We bought the chairs for this dining set on clearance. When we had saved enough to get the table, it was gone. I found this one at an unfinished furniture store and stained it to match.
This room is pretty new. We painted and re carpeted to get it ready to sell.
Courtney's room is my favorite room in the house. We were given this vanity. It was painted a deep green and didn't have a mirror. I painted it yellow and used a mirror that went with another dresser. The shelf is a very cheap unit that I stained with the yellow paint. We taped the walls for the fence and used a template for the rounded tops.

The inspiration for the room was this yellow quilt my grandma made for me as a graduation gift. It has a butterfly stitched in the middle. I was thrilled that Courtney loved it and wanted it in her room. Tom made the headboard to match the fence and we stained it yellow. This room is about 8 years old now, and Courtney is ready for a change. Her mom isn't.
The memory I have for Cam's room, is pulling an extreme room makeover on him while he was away at scout camp a few years ago. We gutted his room by taking down the stars and moon wallpaper, painted, reorganized, bought new bedding and surprised him. It was a lot of fun.
This is another room that we repainted to sell. It used to be a pale pink and purple that matched their bedding. This is Maddy's side and I love the shelf that holds all her wolf collections and Indian doll. Her pillowcase was given to her by a friend. The fabric is, of course, wolves.
Mckenna's side is much more girly, with the porcelain dolls on her shelf.
I fell in love with this bedding and thanks to my sister and the handy dandy gift card she gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago, I was able to get it.

Even though I am excited about the next chapter in our lives, I can't help but get nostalgic on what we are leaving behind. This is the only home most of our family has ever known. When they remember pillow fights, or being sent to their room, they will picture this house.

House news

As I was backing out of my driveway, taking Kenna to swimming lessons, I nearly ran into a real estate agent. This was a Monday morning! My house takes at least a full day to recuperate from the weekend craziness. Anyway, the agent wants to show the house and when I tell him no way can he see the house in the condition it is in, He tells me that they can overlook the mess. I wanted to die. I want to sell my house. I told him I needed an hour--(more like three, but I would take one) to get it show ready after I got home from the pool. I came home and instantly sent kids in different directions to clean. The kitchen was the biggest disaster. I was just wiping down the counter tops, when he called and said. "I know I said we wouldn't come for another half hour, and not to put any pressure on you, can we come now? We have no other houses to look at."

I was not liking this guy.

He showed up and I hadn't even touched my bedroom yet. I ran upstairs, and did a quick hide the mess game and left the house. I then called and complained to hubby about the inconsiderate agent.

Yes, they are the ones that made the offer.

Things are happening so fast that it is a bit overwhelming. After I looked at the paper I signed to accept the offer, In tiny print, was the closing date of.....

????????

wait for it........

__________________________________

July 24!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, that means our family has less than three weeks to find a place to rent that will let us rent month to month and will accept a big hairy dog! Tom is so confidant that everything will work out. I wish I was. This house thing has turned a normally positive thinking girl into a terrible, horrible, no good very bad pessimist. I really want to believe we will find a place, get moved, and start building in August, but my faith is not very strong right now. My hubby is so cheerful and positive and excited that it can get annoying at times. I'm doing my best to counter his excitement by being anxious, pouty and slightly panicked.

An accounting of the journeys in the wilderness of my family.

While Mckenna and I enjoyed the house to ourselves, the rest of our clan experienced the great outdoors.

Maddy couldn't wait for her first year at girl's camp. She had a great time and met some new friends. Courtney lived through the 4th year hike and had many testimony building experiences at camp. She did say she missed the boys.

All of the boys that went on the float trip came home from the float trip. That is always a good thing. Cameron and Tom, probably had the most exciting raft trip. The boat they were supposed to take down the river popped so they had to divide up the people on other boats. Cam and Tom went together on another boat. When it hit the first rapids, it hit a hole and flew up and over, dumping everyone in the river. Tom and Cam had to float through two more rapids before a kayaker pulled Tom out exhausted and pretty scared. Cam was able to get to the side. Tom said he thought he was going to drown. He took in a lot of water, and said he couldn't go any further when the kayaker pulled him out. They were a bit nervous to get back on the boat the next day. They got on the boat and had a great time. They both loved it, and are already planning more whitewater trips. BOYS!