Girls Camp 2013

What an amazing experience. Honestly the whole experience...Before, After and During...was truly life changing and taught me so very much. But alas I'm back home and I'm Trying to adjust to life at home...without a timeline...with out having to get things done ASAP...I'm re-learning how to  function in this new home and it not be complete chaos...and not be in a hurry. I can't wait to share all the amazing camp experiences with you soon.

Here we go again....

Yes, what is the giddy smile for you ask....

It's official. We are expecting baby #5...

We brought out the sparklers, had the cousins all over for a swimming party...

My darling friend made this cake for us to find out what exactly it was....You see we've never found out the gender before the baby is actually born. But this time around, I've had my fair share of "Oh, I wonder if it's a girl..." "Or, It's a boy...again!" So after three boys in a row I decided I needed to really be connected with the baby, whether it's a boy or a girl. So I caved and gave in to finding out the gender! (Even though I had my suspicions of what it already was...)

One excited big brother to find out what we are having.

Our little baby sucking it's thumb....(Caleb LOVED that he shared this in common with the new baby!)

Well, after much deliberation we teared into the cake...to find it GREEN....not sure what that meant I called my friend to confirm it was a BOY! Honestly, it was hilarious. We thought she was playing a bigger joke on us. But no, it took a yellow cake mix plus two jars of food coloring and it came out green. She figured we'd get it since it was a blue shade and nothing close to pink....We all laughed in hysterics....Either way it made for some fun moments.

Alayna trying to put on her best happy face that she gets, yet again ANOTHER brother! Four brothers...crazy.

More sparklers!

And probably the happiest little big brother ever! So with all of Caleb's excitement we are thrilled and over whelmed with the idea of having four boys. I knew in so many ways it was a boy, and personally I couldn't be more pleased. Boys are great. They are full of energy, but man alive they are awesome. Thankfully Alayna has great Aunts and Cousins and me of course to help her in life with out a sister! Now it's just the dilemma of coming up with yet again another baby name! Any suggestions!!! We will be welcoming this little buddy in the fall. 

House...

Entry

Entry - door...This will be either replaced at some point or painted. But until then enjoy the oak door with a pretty glass decoration! :)

Office....

Other side of office...

Main family room wall...love the shutters!

Kitchen

Dining room - my drapes just arrived for the sliding door. I can't wait to hang them up!!!

Backyard...now it has green grass! And our FENCE is finished!!! YEAH

Guest bathroom...painted and cute.

Master done.

The kdis love the backyard. It really so so nice having it right off the kitchen.

Swimming in the hot summer sun!

More Updates...

Ben's favorite activity...we need to get our swing set over to the new house! He loves this!!

Girls camp is in the full planning stages. My once cleaned new office is covered every inch with packing for camp! Next week and it's over....I have mixed emotions. I LOVE this calling. But man alive this year, it all came together with so many other events.

First kid mess of the new house...dried onions...Yum.

cute chubby crunchy little feet.

A small mess in progress...

First night in the new house...and Jake had a Unusual Pet we had to create...seriously, it was a miracle I pulled this off!

The before picture of the family wall...I'm searching for the new picture of the new wall...stay tuned. It's so darling!

We went to bear lake for three days for a family reunion. The kids were smiling from ear to ear!

 

As soon as we got home from bear lake it was off to the annual Riverton 4th of July parade.

Cute Ben in a hat.

The tradition of attending the Hot Air Balloon Festival...Only to wake up at 5am and find out the balloons were canceled. Yes, we drove all the way to Provo...oh, well we made a FUN day out of it anyways.

Our little ballerina

her final performance...So much fun!

We loved it!

The Herriman Parade...Jared loves to do these parades for the good ole company!

Papi loves the grandkids....

Our Jake graduated from Kindergarten

We celebrated by getting snow cones!

Crazy Life...

As anyone knows moving is crazy enough...but let's just say we had the craziness of moving and pretty much gutting this new home....to say it needed some work was an understatment! (Correction...in my opinion it needed some work!) So before we closed on the home I had our old home all boxed up and packed away...I wanted to be ahead of schedule so that once we signed I could move forward and start the dirty work on the new palace.

I had some amazing helpers every single day! They all SAVED me!!!!!!

Here are a few before and after photos...Here is the main family room wall.

Empty stairs...yeah, NO MORE GROSS carpet!!!

 

Office picture...I don't have the finished photo yet...it's becoming darling each and every day! I'll post this one soon.

No more weeds!

 

Good bye brown trim...HELLO white...You are so beautiful!

Spraying the trim was a mess, and a messy job. A huge thank you to my Aunt and Uncle with the talent and skills to help us do this BIG HUGE MESSY job!

The other main wall in the family room is really tall...the builder had put in plant shelves...honestly they were too high and such a odd design that it would only drive me crazy...so we had them removed! Oh, it look so much better!!!

Then down came the ugly stone around the arch on that wall...so much better. Pictures to come soon.

White doors.

White Masterbedroom

White closets.

The view from the dining room to the main room...it was a MESS. Oh, I am so glad this mess and filth is OVER!

Pre- moving day, garage.

The kids favorite job...water the plants.

And Jake being a great big brother and moving Ben around...and keeping him happy while we flutter about being too busy!
I'll go around and take some updated photos today....What a crazy whirlwind this month has been. It actually hasn't even been one month yet. But from where we started and where we are now, it's AMAZING the transformations that have taken place. It feel soooooo good to be some-what settled. We love it here. The funny thing I've learned through all of this is that life just keeps moving on. The regular responsiblities of life don't go away just because of the extra mess...laundry, kids, breakfast, lunch, dinner, meals, homework, ballet, church callings, etc. It's been quite the juggling act. But I can see a small glimmer of fresh air coming soon. Jared and I are so humbled by the level of help we have recieved it's been amazing. So thank you one and all for all your HELP!!!! Because we sure have needed it! THANK YOU!!