Our House in the Middle of Our Street

 

Our Home 2003-2012

I will always LOVE the look of my first "dreamhouse," with the classic red brick and my cute white picket fence theme going on :)

I don't want the kids (or myself, for that matter) to forget it, so here's the tour:





 I've heard people say your first home will always be special to you, and I must say I'm definitely sentimental about this place! It's truly the home I "grew up" in...

We were privileged to watch it grow from a hole in the ground to a beautiful home. We put years of blood, sweat and tears into it. This is where our family started. It's walls hold nine years of memories and will always hold a special place in our hearts!

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Not Quite Homeless

Moving Out:

June 2012 was a crazy month, filled with de-junking, sorting, packing, cleaning, a horrible slam-baby's-toe-in-door-end-up-w-stitches!!-mom-crying-Trae-screaming-Hunter-stepping-up-acting-way-too-old-being-ultra-mature-and-helpful-the-day-before-we-moved-out-experience (yeah I win "mother of the year" for sure- NOT), and ceiling-high piles of boxes. The older boys filled their early summer vacation days playing as much as they could, since we knew our time with our "circle friends" was short...

We officially "moved out" on Friday, June 22, 2012. Thanks to our many friends and family members' willingness to help, everything went smoothly. That night, the boys slept at grandma's (thanks mom!) while Brett and I camped out, then loaded up all the "extra" loose ends. On Saturday morning we moved into my parent's basement. We only brought some clothes and a few items we knew we would need. (Each boy got 7 play outfits, 3 church outfits, 2 swimsuits, and pajamas). We then brought them back up to the house and had our little family camp out together one last time in our home sweet home of almost 9 years.

The first few weeks of being “homeless” were kind of like being on vacation. The kids had a blast because they were at grandma’s, Brett and I were able to relax and catch up on some much needed rest, we enjoyed the July 4^th festivities, and were even able to get in some boating and water park fun. Then everyone got sick. A 3-week-long flu-passing-back-and-forth-extravaganza hit us (some more than once) and the harsh realization set in: Although our accommodations were amazing (um, over 1500 square feet to ourselves, our own beds, our own rooms, our own kitchenette downstairs and full use of mom's gourmet kitchen, not to mention built-in grandparents help) we couldn’t “go home” any time soon from this vacation… 

We packed the next few weeks full of Flaming Gorge, camping trips, and even made a few visits to the old neighborhood (it was fun to see everyone except for the tear fest when it came time to go- I thought the visits would help the boys feel more secure and be therapeutic to see our dear friends, but instead, the first two times they cried and cried! Sayings we heard a lot: "Why did you guys make us have to move!?" (Hunter), "I just wanna kick those people out of our house and move back there!" (Kye), "I wish we never had to move and go through this!" (Hunter) Pretty soon, August was nearly over!

Now it was time to make the move to Brett’s parent’s. So, Labor Day Weekend found us packing up and moving to our next stop. Why move twice, you ask? Well, simply put, they are located 20 minutes closer to Hunter's school- and believe me, after driving 15 minutes each way twice a day to take him to school, I was sooo thankful we were that much closer! Once again, accommodations were wonderful, but we spent the month of September counting down...

Finally, the house was finished and it was time to close. Anyone who's ever closed on a house knows the process can be a headache- but anyone who's closed on a house recently knows it's a joke! We could either laugh or cry at the excruciating process, so we decided to laugh- After all the hoops we had to jump through, after accounting for every cent- yeah, those deposits being made into our bank account every two weeks are called paychecks! Seriously?!? After stalking the appraiser, (even after paying 20% cash they were still soooo strict with the appraisal) after spending literally days and hours "reminding" and "nudging" the paperworkers to do their job, we FINALLY signed and the builder gave us the key!!

MOVING IN: to be continued...

1 Year Old

 I tried to do Trae’s 1 year pictures on my own and, needless to say, we had a bit of a struggle:

 When he fell on his face, I realized I should probably get some help next time…

Hopefully there will be some really cute pictures posted in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned J

Since this is Trae’s post, I need to write down some of his milestones so I won’t forget them.

·        Trae took his first steps at 10½ mos. but didn’t take off walk-ing until 12½ mos. (One of those “mind over matter” things.)  

·        First words (where he actually knew what he was saying): “Dadda,” “Mama,” & “Ball” Since before he could talk or walk, Trae has been quite the little baller- Anytime he sees a ball he can’t get to, ya better watch out!

·        Trae loves to grab my finger and pull me to whatever or wherever he wants to do or go. He has also figured out he can throw a huge fit to get whatever he wants. He is my earliest throw-yourself-down-on-the-ground-flailing-arms-kicking-feet-and-throwing-head-back-screaming-at-top-of-lungs-fit-throw-er! (You wouldn't know it with this charming smile...)



St. George Family Fun!

In May, we took a break from packing up the house, and headed down to St. George to visit Brett’s parents while they serve their mission. 

We had a great time

hiking Snow Canyon,

 

swimming,

playing ball,

and playing with baby lambs in a petting zoo on the way back!

As always, we ate well (enjoying Chuck-o-Rama's finest) and had a great time with the family! Can't wait to do it again!

One Little, Two Little, Three Little...

ELEVEN LITTLE KIDDOS!

we took another break from packing up the house when our friends invited the fam to their cabin!

 We had a blast playing games, watching movies, hiking, having a giant sleepover, and the guys even built this awesome teepee:

It’s so nice to have fun family friends where all the kids, AND the ladies, AND the hubbies all get along! We met all of these guys in the neighborhood and many of our “first home memories” involve them- which would make me incredibly sad about moving, except that time has shown we’ll stay in touch no matter what!   Thank goodness we’ll still have these life-long friends, even after we move!! I refuse to say goodbye guys ;)

Ch-ch-changes

Didn't I just barely post about Hunter's FIRST day of FIRST grade?

It sure feels that way. Well, here I am posting about his LAST day(s) of FIRST grade...

Hunters sweet teacher held a class talent show the last week of school:

Hunter showed off his mad sword-swingin skills:

He even did a little song and dance all for his dear old mom (or so she'd like to think):

Another fun part of his last week, was field day. Here he is with his teacher:

His best friend Cole:

And here we both are going down the giant slide:

LOL I challenged the principal to go down and he challenged me back. After that, all the helper moms were sliding like a bunch of hooligans ;)

On the very last day of school, we hosted a fire-pit party in the backyard. The kids had lots of fun celebrating:

And it later turned into a boys-only event:

That circle full of boys will be greatly missed!

Here's what Hunter told me about FIRST grade:
Me: "Tell me about your first grade teacher?"
Hunter: "She's the best teacher ever, umm and she always got mad at [boy in class]."
Me: "What's your favorite thing that happened to you in first grade?"
Hunter: "I got to go to PE a lot, I can't really remember everything."
Me: "Who were some of your first grade friends?"
Hunter: "Cole, Gage, Mason, Carter, Brock, Brinea, Rachel, Emily, Zoe, Matthew, Paris, it's still nice to say their names..."
Me: "Do you want me to write how Zoe had a crush on you?"
Hunter: "NOOO! I don't even want to remember that! Why did you remind me?"
Me: "What was your favorite thing to eat for school lunch?"
Hunter: "Potatoes. My favorite treat: a fortune cookie, it was awesome, I liked my fortune."
Me: "Is there anything else you'd like to say about first grade?"
Hunter: "I like reading."