Our Move to Charleston

The content of this post is the real reason I have not blogged for 3 months. Renovating an old house and moving takes a lot of time and energy - especially for a pregnant lady.

We just moved in July out here to Grandpa McEntire's farm in Charleston (the southwest corner of Heber Valley). Although the past few months have been busy making this change - we are settling in and enjoying our new adventure.

We spent most of our free-time during the month of June driving up here and working on this home. I wish we would have taken pictures before we started working, so you would have an idea of the transformation we made to this 100 year old home. But we were eager to get started and didn't think about pulling out the camera at the time.

Here is how some of us slept our first night in our home - camped out amidst all the moving boxes: the real moving miracle was that we made it to church the next morning at 9:00. I unpacked random boxes that morning to find our shoes and church clothes.

Here is the day we actually moved. It was a great help to have Suz and her kids around - she stayed at our house the week before the move - (even though just the thought of moving gave her anxiety because she moved 4 times in a year.) She helped me pack up the house and helped with our big yard sale. Also, I think my kids were distracted having their cousins around to play with- so they were not upset at all seeing all of their stuff taken out of the house. My mom was also great and came over and cleaned for hours and helped at the yard sale, too.

LaMar helping to load the moving trunk - Where did all this junk come from?

This picture is Caroline helping to entertain the kids while Suz and I did last minute packing and ordering the guys around. (Thanks for your help Caroline.)

Paul painting the kitchen doors: He worked really hard drove up here about every other day before we moved in to paint, work on the floors, clean up the yard, and take care of the garden and chickens. (you can check out Cathy's cute chicken video if you want). So, I guess the fact that we are now moved in is somewhat of a relief. We are not driving back and forth so much. We still have lots of projects we want to do, but at least the interior is pretty much done and livable.

Here I am in early June planting our garden. It is now producing zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Unfortunately, the cucumber plants didn't make it and we'll have to see about the potato plants come fall:

Here I am working on painting Abigail's room. It turned out cute - I should add a picture of it now that it is furnished and decorated. Thanks to Pete for having the idea of painting the floors and ripping out the carpet that smelled like cat pee.

Here is Pete and Paul clearing some junk out of the old milking house - or what we call the "Cat House" - Pete has been a great help with our projects - Thanks so much!

Bear Lake

We spent a few days last month in Bear Lake with Suz and her kids. It was a nice relaxing break to sit in a chair for hours under an umbrella and watch the kids have fun. Overall, everyone got along really nicely and they entertained each-other for hours.

Paul joined us on Saturday and the kids were glad to have him:

Abby and Julianna:

Alexandra and Andrew:

Tilly and Anthony - they are the cutest cousin pair and best friends. They play so cute together.

Austin and Timothy - these two were "hot and cold" with each-other - but I guess that is normal for 2 year olds.

Lake Powell

Although there were many reasons to not go, including being 8 mo pregnant and moving the next week, we decided to accept an invitation to go to Lake Powell with Cheryl and her family and some other family We just couldn't refuse such a generous offer to go to one of our favorite, and most beautiful places on Earth.

Here is Paul taking some of the teenagers out for twilight wake-boarding:

Abby and some cousins enjoying a fire and smores.

Andrew on the waterslide:

Girl cousins playing Mermaids.

Here is a really funny, embarrassing picture of me jumping off the rocks at 8 months pregnant. Suz loved the picture and wanted me to post it as my new profile picture on Facebook - I don't think I'll go that far - but those of you who happen to read this blog can enjoy my awkwardness:

The banana - we borrowed this from some friends of Cheryl's and it really saved the day. The kids all loved it and the fights over tubing turns came to an end when we started using this toy.

Mom & Dad's 50th Anniversary and Reunion

The whole family: 100+ people at the Joseph Smith Building:

Fun at the Park with cousins:

Another fun party at Oma & Opa's house:

The kids loved the dance party/reception - Andrew especially loved the photo booth.

Blog update - its about time!

We have been so busy this summer, I have had no time to update my blog. But, I guess since a new baby is coming soon, and school starting and birthdays and a baptism coming up soon... I better catch up before all that begins.

Here are a few pictures from this spring that are cute and sum up the end of the school year:

Austin's 2nd birthday

He actually chose this theme himself - he loves superman and has been able to hum the superman theme since about 16 months old. He loves for Daddy to fly him around and he puts his hands up in the air.

We all love Superman!

Andrew played the cat in the play "the Little Red Hen:" It was so cute!

Andrew gets a little annoyed with me because I repeat his solo all the time

(because of my ever-growing midsection)

"I feel too fat, said Ned the Cat... I just feel too fat."

Abby's spring dance recital - here is her cute tap outfit:

Abigail as "Mrs. Hannigan:"

Andrew's 6th Birthday: He wanted a BYU party - that was sure easy - we already had tons of decorations!

Our new little Puppy - Pepper

While in St. George, Paul bought me a puppy Shih-tzu. This was totally spontaneous. They were a good price, but he mostly got it because he could tell I was really jealous when Pete brought one back to the house for Cathy. Check out her post for more on that story and some really cute pictures of Pepper's brother, Rhino.

Pepper is such a cute puppy with a really sweet personality. I can already tell that she is a smart dog because she has hardly had any accidents and just mostly likes to pee outside. She loves Kaya and the two of them are getting along great - they are such a funny looking pair. Pepper cried the first two nights she was home. Then the next night, I let her out of her crate and she slept by Kaya and did not cry at all the whole night. Kaya is so happy, too and treating Pepper like the puppy she never had. The kids love her and are really enjoying having a puppy.

With now 2 dogs in and out of the house, we had to move the chicks (which are now getting huge) to the garage until we make them a coop outside. We also couldn't really stand their smell much longer.

Mothers' Day in St George

We had a fun little escape last weekend to St. George. Cathy and Pete and their kids came along. We went on a couple of fun hikes at Snow Canyon (hopefully Cathy will post some of those pics since I forgot my camera that day), went swimming a lot, ate great food, The Dads took the kids to a movie, and we did some garage sale-ing. One of our best finds were the pool chairs pictured here for just a $1 each. I was almost not going to buy them because they looked so junky and dirty on someone's driveway - but they were a hit! It is funny how junky things can look at yard sales. Oh yes, and we spontaneously bought a new puppy for Mothers' Day. (next post)