So Much Family Time

So many things to do with family close by!! Dad took me for a ride (a 4 hour ride...hello sun burn) in his favorite car. It is mine too, coincidentally. We drove the back way to Pocatello to watch Cooper and Cylie in their end of the year daycare program. Priceless.

I got to spend some time with this boy. He is a funny kid!! He reminds me SO much of Kevin at this age. The things they worry about, the speed at which they move, their tender hearts...they are brothers for sure!!

Who else could eat a corn dog bigger than your head!!

Then a couple days later I got to come back to Pocatello to see THIS GIRL!! She has a couple jobs for the summer and has been super busy. I have missed her. 

We celebrated this girls birthday. I can't believe Miss Cylie is 7 years old. Wasn't she born just last month??

Not even faking. She was awake one minute and telling me she was just going to close her eyes for a minute. Out cold!!

And of course our birthday celebration wouldn't be complete without a trip to Ross Park. The kids convinced Jim to get a slide pass and slide with them. 

Mr. Fearless here. He'll go anywhere!!

Miss Brook was all smiles coming down the slide.

I couldn't resist posting this pic of my Nellie dog. Usually if we point the camera or phone at her she shies away from it. Jim must have been really sneaky to get this shot. She's even smiling. She has become a pretty good dog. 

That is a quick recap of the last couple of weeks. I like having these kids so close. Now if only I could get mine here...life would be perfect!!

The Inside of the Front Door

This is the view from my desk. I sit  here to read my scriptures and to journal in the mornings. It's a nice view. A little bland, but nice.

Oh...that's better. I love this shade of pink. It's not quite bubble gum and it's not coral....It's a little in between (on my laptop it looks very bubble gum but it's so not!!). It is beautiful and it lifts my soul every time I look at it. 

I find myself looking over there a lot. When I walk by I pause just a second or two. Color is a wonderful thing.

A New, New Kitchen

Here is where we started (a pic we snapped on our second showing after our first two options had fallen through). A nice kitchen for sure. A lot of counter space...with lovely laminate counter tops. 

The ten year old vinyl floor was in OK shape. But Jim had a vision in his head of his dream house and this wasn't it. 

We had to buy a fridge and we were pretty sure we wanted black appliances. And we definitely wanted new flooring. 

We thought we wanted the tile that looked like wood. We found some we liked, but then I saw this wood sample. I fell in love with the warm tones and the feel of the wood over the tile. My feet have thanked me too. So  then this guy came over. After watching him work Jim was SO grateful that we had paid for the removal of the vinyl. I've never seen a guy work so hard.

Then the fun started. My house was in total chaos. If you know me at all, you know that I don't deal with that very well!!

 The floors were even better than we imagined.

I am so glad to be rid of the worn out carpet and the old vinyl floor. If you look closely you'll see the handles Jim and Doug installed. I LOVE them!!

One more project was the oven and dishwasher. New ones were ordered. It took a while to get the dishwasher figured out. The wiring was wrong, then the new one was defective. We washed dishes for 10 days!! It turned out fine, but it was a hassle for a minute. I still want the microwave over the stove. It would clear up some counter space for sure.

And finally here is the new (double) oven and dishwasher AND counter tops!! Quartz is our favorite counter top and we love this color. I love the under-mount sink especially. We bought the same faucet that we installed in our last house. This kitchen feels like me now. If I am honest, I'll tell you that painting the cupboards is in the back of my mind, but not right now.

The kitchen is big enough for multiple cooks and I now have seating for many guests....so come over for a visit. You know you want to!!!

Not a Birthday Post

Yesterday was my baby's birthday. I didn't do a birthday post. I started looking through pictures and it was too much. I bawled my eyes out. It was too much. So I called him and texted him and did an instagram post and sang to him on a snapchat. But going through pictures hurts my heart. So know that I love him and think he is the most amazing man ever. He is more than I ever hoped for.

So onto the real reason for this post. The other guest room. They all started the same...boring.

So I moved in the bed. Good first start. This was Jo's bed years ago. We moved it with us thinking we'd probably end up giving it to Good Will in a couple of weeks but I think it will stay. I used the same bedding as in the guest room in Nebraska.

And I hung the same pictures/frames on the wall. I love this wall. It makes me happy. I love the owls and the colors...and I really love the picture of Kevin and Jo hugging at Kevin's wedding. It squeezes my heart. I put my grandma's cedar chest in here too. She received it as a gift for her high school graduation. When she married my grandpa they used it in their house for storage but when their kids came along they used it to hide the Christmas gifts. My Mom loved this chest for that reason. She kept it in her room when it came to live in her house. I loved it. I would sit on it and look out my mom's window. We would talk about the things she kept in there. She would tell me stories of the people they belonged to, her grandparents, her parents...So when the chest came to live at my house I was thrilled.

See the purple tote? My first dress-up box for my grandkids! I have put all kinds of things in there. I am so excited for tons of grandbabies to come and find the treasures there.

All of the bedrooms in this house have walk-in closets. I am so glad because without a basement we have been lacking storage options. These closets are filled with all our "stuff". Why do we need so much stuff? Ugh. 

So there is another glimpse into my house. I get to fill my house with sisters and nieces and nephews this weekend. I am excited to share it with them. 

The Sentimental Room

This is how all of the rooms looked when we started. Beige and blah. 

But then this happens....The stuff gets unpacked. Things get hung on the wall. More de-junking takes place. 

Old things get found and reused. Some things get donated.  

 And things get prepped for visitors. Not that I am expecting a ton of guests. But a girl likes to be prepared. Did I mention I have THREE guest beds? Not to mention a ton of floor space for those under the age of 22!! Just sayin'...

 For obvious reasons, this is Jim's favorite guest room. He feels at home in here. Our room is woodsy too...but I put more of my stuff in there to balance it out. I have to live in there too you know.

 The things in here have great sentimental value. The yoke was my great-grandfather's.  My Mom made a giant macrame plant holder/room divider thing that hung off it. It was a thing to behold. I saved the yoke....not the rest of it. Kevin's first deer is represented here. My sister's mad art skills are too. Lots of photo albums and scrapbooks representing a million hours of my time are on the bookcase.  

So many old memories...just waiting to make some new ones. I'm sure we will have lovely memories made in this house. It is a good house. 

The First From Utah

This is my first post in a while. Moving is hard. It just is. I have learned a few things along the last 23 years that makes it a little easier for me, but let's face it....change is hard. I'm not really ready to discuss how much I miss this boy. Our everydays together were magical and I tear up just thinking about him. So not many people here know about him.

They haven't heard about my amazing children either. I don't like to cry in front of strangers so they don't know much about my kids.

I haven't told them about Abby or Theresa yet either. How do you tell strangers about people so dear to you that just thinking about them makes happy tears come streaming down. My first day at church I sat next to a gal (on the back row) and I'm pretty sure she thinks I'm crazy. She had her baby (about a year old) on her lap and was feeding her a bottle. This darling little thing grabbed onto my hand without a word and grasped it the entire time. It reminded me of when Michael would hold my hand and I just sat there with huge, hot tears splashing down my face. I'm am great at first impressions. Ugh. 

Well, enough whining about the hard parts. I really am trying to hold it together and most days I seem quite normal. I'll let you in on a secret....I'm all unpacked. The only boxes left have Jim's stuff in them and he gets to deal with it. 
This is the front room of my house, the formal living room if you will...and Nellie. She has been a trooper.

This is what it looked like for the first week we lived here. The boxes were driving me mad!!

So I got rid of them. I think this will be one of my favorite spots. It is sunny and peaceful. The pictures of the people I love are in this room. 

It is probably the most finished room in the house. That is why it is my favorite right now. I can feel calm in here. 

These pillows make me happy. They remind me to make the most of each day. And most importantly to be happy and trust God.

 Trust that He has a plan for me in all of this and trust His timing. It's hard to remember some days. It's hard to not be angry. But I am sorting through it and finding ways to cope. Pillows are good that way!!

 So there is your first glimpse of my life in Utah. I'm sure I will show you some more thrilling pillows and crazy dogs. But for now, know that I am sitting on my couch waiting for my family to call. 

Frozen

So...remember that time that I said I was going to write more...yeah. I do too. And I told you all about our trip to Belize? That was such a fun trip. But what I didn't tell you then was that we had been waiting for a job offer for 2 weeks already. If you know me at all you know that I have zero patience. It is a lesson God is constantly trying to help me learn.  Long story short (and about 15 "You'll have an offer next week"'s) we finally got the offer. But looking back I realize I put some things on hold while we were waiting. My writing being one of them. Michael and I have still had wonderful adventures. We have still enjoyed our Sunday dinners with all the kids. But mostly we have enjoyed the extra time. Which I think was the whole point. According to our Realtor, the housing market is skinny right now. Not enough houses in our price range for sale. The longest our floor plan has sat on the market is a month (and that was in November). The two that have been listed this calendar year have sold in a week or less. So now the weeks and months of  whining (and let's face it...I whine) seem silly. While I have loved living so close to all my kids (and that sweet baby grand) I could have just been more grateful for the extra time. But I get it now...so NO MORE WHINING! Ok...that being said...a few things needed done around the house. Like my craft room!! Mostly it is just a storage room for my supplies and the actual crafting takes place in the kitchen, but it looked like a mini hoarders episode just waiting to happen. I purged and boxed and removed 2 bookcases 2 rolling drawer thingies and the white desk. It looks bigger (the whole point of the purge) and much cleaner. 

As you can see, ready to sell. Now we are just waiting on paperwork to come from the relocation company to the Realtor so she can get us listed and then we will hang on to our hats for the next chapter.

I'm trying to be positive and have a good attitude. There are SO many things that are positive about this  move to the Layton area (most of the houses we like are in Syracuse). It is closer to my family. It is back in the mountains that Jim loves to hike and antler hunt in. My dad already has a hike planned for them!! I won't talk about the missing of the children. If I don't think about it now I might actually be able to do this. But in September K&A and that baby grand are moving to Rexburg. So much closer. I can almost handle that. Jo's plans are still undetermined, but her lease isn't up until January so she has a while to decide. Ultimately I know that this move will be better for us in the long run. But leaving the family I have here and the friends that I have come to love and rely on so much is painful. So there it is. I think I can start writing again. I can start moving forward again. The path is clear.