School has begun!

I have been really busy the past month trying to get moved in and settled.  We are getting there and the to do list is shortening a little now.  It is only a mile long instead of 2 miles.  Everyone keeps asking for some pictures of the new house.  I don't feel like my house is officially ready for pictures yet, but I will go take some for all of you out there and post some soon if you will look past the no decorations.  For now here is a picture of Ali heading off to her first day of school on Wednesday.  She was very excited to start school and getting to ride the bus for the first time.  Grant loves to walk her to the bus stop and can't wait to ride his bike in the afternoon to pick her up from the bus.  He will even go down for a nap so when he wakes up he can ride his bike.

Home for the summer

So this past weekend we made the drive home to southeast Idaho.  My brother, Jake, came home from his mission from Paris, France.  It was so good to see him and see all of our family.  All my siblings were there the only ones missing were my oldest brother, Jaron's, family.  We got to hang out and visit and go boating one day which we all love doing.  Here are a few pictures that we remembered to take.  We also got to go to Lava Hot Springs one day with all of Danny's family.  I forgot my camera, but wanted to tell everyone how brave Ali was.  She went down all of the slides and then wanted to go off the 1st platform.  She went off of it 3 times and enjoyed it.  She's got more guts than me, I don't think I've ever gone off of it so good job Ali.

Some of the grandkids.

Sisters.

My sister, Tess and her 2 beautiful girls.  Brielle, the baby, LOVED her aunt Trisha.  

Lookin for strawberries.

The only picture I got of the returned missionary.

Playin in the relaxation station trying to keep cool.

Ali's favorite is the tube, but not crazy rides!

The kids loved swimming in the relaxation station.

Missing my kids

We left our kids in Pocatello with Grandpa and Grandma for a week and a half so that Daniel and I could come home and get moved into our new house.  Well, when we got home we found out that we are STILL waiting on our buyer's lending.  So, I'm sitting home alone with no kids and an empty house and missing my kids.  Here are a few recent pictures I just downloaded from my camera.  All but the last one were taken when we went on a little trip to Joseph, OR.  The last one was just a quick shot of Grant being silly.  

If you know Grant, this is one of his most favorite thing to do (next to playing baseball).

Grant's pipes

Grant LOVES to sing these days. He picks up songs from the radio and sings them over and over. Well I took this video Sunday morning before church. He was excited to go to nursery and started singing his nursery songs.


Grant is also quite the dancer. I know it was cruel to video him without pants on, but he just didn't want them on while he was dancing. He took them off and even put his flip flops back on to dance. And sadly enough this isn't the most embarrassing one for him just a sneak peak into our fun life with Grant. He keeps us laughing.


Ali had her piano recital on Monday. She did great! She played a very fun jazzy song and then an original song. Her teacher has all the kids write their own songs to perform. Ali enjoyed this and I was very impressed with what all of those kids came up with all on their own! I did remember the camera, but Daniel wouldn't take a video so all we got was one photograph, but isn't she cute. We were also very proud of her because her teacher handed out 3 special awards and Ali received one of the plaques for outstanding practice. Out of all her students she said Ali was one of the select few who truely always practiced and it really showed. Good Job Ali!

Grant's quilt

After a couple of purchases, I finally decided on bedding for Grant's bed. I thought I would post a picture so you could finally see the finished product. Now on to new projects or packing up a house (I should know in about a week).

Cement

Well, my new counter tops are done and I love them. We have been planning to redo my counter tops for a long time now, but they have been put off and put off. Then when we put our house on the market we thought maybe they never would get redone. The house wasn't selling and we decided that since everything had already been paid for we might as well go ahead and do it. So my dad poured us these beautiful cement counter tops and brought them up to us this weekend. We installed them and put in my new HUGE sink and my cool faucet. I love these faucets and bought this one last October. I'm even debating about buying the same one for my new house if we move because I love it so much. So I think my kitchen got a sexy new face lift and hopefully my house will sell in no time. I'm very grateful to my dad for all the time and hardwork he put into them, I think they are beautiful!

Here is a picture just shortly after we bought our house. My mom and dad have helped me so much with fixing up my entire house. They came and did my floors and paint (we have painted those walls a couple times) and helped me replace appliances and install hardware on the cabinets and now the countertops, sink, and faucet (and that is just what they did in the kitchen, the list goes on and on for the rest of the house). I think the only thing I did was paint the cabinets myself. I think everything is such an improvement, THANK YOU mom and dad!

BEFORE:

After:

Crafty

I have been reminded that I haven't ever put pictures up of Grant's bed all put together. The reason is because I haven't found the perfect comforter to put on it. No one wants pictures of a bed with only sheets on it, I thought. Well after much procrastination, here is his bed with no cute bedding. I guess those will have to come later after I find or make the perfect quilt.

Oh yeah, I made the little ladder stand too. It is suppose to go next to his bed as a little night stand, but there wasn't room because of the closet. Oh well.

I've also made a couple home decor crafts this week for a friends birthday and a baby shower and I just wanted to post a couple pictures of what I've made. My mom has asked what they look like and so I thought I could put them on here for her to see and so I could document it. It is always nice to have a picture of something you make and give away.