Bridger's Arrow of Light

This summer, Bridger has worked really hard to earn his Weblos and Arrow of Light.  When we first moved into our new ward, Bridger told me that he wanted to earn his Arrow of Light.  I thought that was impossible because he wasn't even close to his Weblos.  But we printed off all of the requirements.  Bridger worked the whole summer and earned his Weblos.  He wasn't quite done with all of the Arrow of Light requirements but the leader said he had until the end of his birthday month.  Bridger was so determined and passes off everything.  At the pack meeting in September, they awarded Bridger his Arrow of Light.  Matt got to paint him like an Indian in battle and then Bridger turned around and painted one color on us.  I'm so proud of Bridger for working so hard.  I'm also very grateful for his wonderful scout leader, Courtney Z.  From the minute we moved in, she's been so great to reach out to Bridger and help him in any way.  We're so proud of Bridger.

It was a special night because Thomas earned his Arrow of Light too.  He's been such a great friend to Bridger.

I went to take a picture of Thomas and Bridger and Tanner jumped in the picture.  He wants to do everything that Bridger does.

Happy Squirrel

Tanner made this darling squirrel hat in preschool.  He was so happy wearing it.  He wore it to the grocery store after school.  When we got home, I had to get a picture of him wearing it.  He wanted do a silly face picture and then a happy picture.  He can be such a happy guy!  He's loving preschool!  

Annual Soccer Game

For Dad's and Marilyn's birthday, we gave them tickets to the Real Soccer Game.  We love this tradition!!  We were trying to remember how long we've been doing this.  We think probably 5-6 years.  This was the first time that it rained on us.  It didn't just rain, it poured on us!!!  Luckily the temperature was in the 40's so we stayed pretty warm.  Mom's been fighting off a nasty cold, so the idea of sitting in the rain was not appealing. (She was feeling real lousy).  Marilyn wasn't excited about the rain either so she went home with home.  Mom and Marilyn met everyone for dinner but left after dinner.  (We gave dad a ride home).  We met at Crown Burger before the game for a tasty dinner.  Mylissa was sick too so she didn't come but the rest of her family came.  The C's came too (even Hazel).  Everyone brought a poncho.  We stopped at Walmart and picked up some extra ones.  We brought blankets with us to keep us warm.  Marilyn gave me her coat as an extra layer and I was so grateful for it.  The ponchos were way big on the kids but it was better than nothing at all.  

Lilly poked some holes in her poncho so she was soaking wet by half time.  Shantelle was trying to wrestle with Hazel under her poncho and then deal with Lilly.  So at half time, the C's went home.  I was impressed that they lasted that long.  Dad was a trooper with the rain.  Luckily the game was really exciting.  It ended up being 0-3, with Real winning.

It poured the entire night!!!!  Luckily the temperature didn't drop until later that night.  When the C's left, Rob, Maddie, Chase and Dad left their seats and came over and sat by us for the last half.  Even thought it was raining, we still had a fun time together.  

MW retreat

Matt had a UANA retreat in Midway and families were invited.  It the weekend right after we started moving into our house.  I was not excited about going because I just wanted to stay home and unpack.  But we ended up having a great time.  It was nice to take a break from the house chaos. The kids loved swimming. It was 30 degrees outside but their outdoor pool was still opened.  So Bridger took the challenge and swam in the outdoor pool.  He swam two laps and then ran to the indoor hot tub.

The UANA paid for the hotel and dinner that night and lunch the next day for all of us.  We enjoyed our family time.  Especially the swimming time! Tanner is getting very brave in the water and loves to jump in.  Thank goodness for those chest life jackets.

After dinner when we were walking back to our room, we walked past this frog statue.  Tanner sat down and said "take a picture of me!"  It cracked me up!

Moving In!!!!

We had our first "final inspection" on Monday, September 11th.  We knew we wouldn't pass because the plumbing wasn't finished and our outside railing was delayed.  The inspector said he would be back on Wednesday, 13th.  The inspector showed up and our plumbing was still not done.  He was really bugged at first because he said "I've given him two days to complete these things."  Chris call our plumber and he said he was on his way.  Luckily our inspector was a really nice guy because he said that he would wait for the plumber.  He said that as long as he could see that the plumber was going to finish the list, he would be able to pass him off.  The plumber eventually showed up and started on the list of things he needed to do to complete the inspection.  (He's been our least favorite person in the whole process.  It seems like everything he's done, he's done it wrong or incomplete.  We almost feel like he's sabotaged our house! He drilled the faucet hole wrong in the master tub so now there's a space in the tub that we need to get fixed.  Almost every faucet has leaked under the sink.  Two things have flooded that we're stuck with.  I could go on and on.  We got to the point that we're hiring another plumber to come in to fix all the things that he did wrong.)  The railing showed up Tuesday and then they installed it early Wednesday morning.  There was a miscommunication and a railing wasn't made for the lower stairs in the backyard.  Luckily our inspector just looked out at the deck from inside and assumed all the railings were done.  Otherwise we wouldn't have passed.  But luckily the stars aligned and we passed.  The inspector passed us and gave us a permit to occupy!!!  I frantically started cleaning the house (wiping out cupboards and vacuuming).  Every time I drove to the new house, I filled up the van and took a load over to the new house.  Mom, Dad, and Marilyn came up on Friday and helped clean.  Ardell and Charlene came up multiple times to help us out.  On Saturday afternoon we moved most of the rental house.  The W's came up and cleared out the rental house within a couple of hours.  I was so embarrassed because I was not prepared for this move.  But Chase told us he was sleeping in the new house even if it was all by himself.  We couldn't have done it without their help.  Matt also called Corbin and Porter.  They were so sweet to come over and help move the heavy stuff.  We borrowed a big trailer fro Layne which made it so much easier to move everything.  The next week, we went over a couple of different times and wrapped up the rental.  By Thursday we had everything all cleared out and clean.  It was such a relief to be done with the rental. I will always be grateful that we had that place to live in for a few months.  I think we would have killed each other if we were in the camper.

We couldn't find the screws to our master bed set so we put our king size bed in the middle of our family room.  (There were too many big pieces all over our bedroom).  So we had our bed in the family room for a couple of days.  We finally gave up on finding the screws and moved our bed back to our room and moved the furniture pieces to the side.  A couple of weeks later we found the screws in a box right next to the bed.  We were so happy to find them!

We're so happy to finally be in our house!  Even though there are boxes everywhere, we're so happy to be in our dream home.  It's so nice to not make decisions about the house and just focus on the boys and unpacking.  My favorite thing about being in our home is having a dishwasher!!! I'm almost cheerful when I do the dishes.

A couple of weeks after we got settled in, Mom and Dad came up and helped unpack.  We've unpacked most of the rental stuff but we still have 75% of our stuff packed away in the garage.  So Dad started to whittle away at the pile.  We were able to get some much done.  We unpacked about half of the boxes from the garage.  Mom was wonderful to entertain Tanner so I could focus on unpacking with Dad.

About a month after we've been in our house, Matt and I attacked the rest of the boxes in the garage.  Matt was sick of parking his truck outside so we made space for his truck in the garage.  I was feeling good about unpacking but now we have boxes all over the place again.  We keep saying that we have a lifetime to unpack but the chaos is getting to me!!!

Finished Project!

The upstairs family room is one of my favorite rooms in the house.  The windows are my absolute favorite!  Our view is beautiful.  We put the TV on the right hand side of the built ins.  Eventually I'll figure out what to put on the shelves.  I was a little worried about the tile around the upstairs fireplace but I love how it turned out.  It's nice to add some subtle color.

The master bathroom turned out incredible.  I love the white quartz I chose for the countertop.  The tile and accent tile look elegant.  My favorite thing in the shower are the niche area and my big window!

I love how Tanner's bathroom turned out!  It's my favorite tile in the whole house.  The teal/turquoise accent tile around the shower is my favorite.  I was drawn to it the first time I saw it.  The floor is my favorite tile in the house. But I'm glad that I only put it in this bathroom because it's hard to keep clean.  It shows dirt and water marks really easily.  But I still love it in this bathroom.  We had enough leftover on our slabs to use Monte Cristo in all the bathrooms except the master bathroom and  the boy's downstairs bathroom.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  The colors are stunning in the granite.  I love the square sinks that we put in all of the bathrooms.  

I love my laundry room.  The blue paint is the exact color I was looking for.  I love the soft blue with the white cupboards.  One of the best things about our house is the dog shower.  It turned out really big.  But it's so convenient to bathe Sophie and clean off miscellaneous things.  

The basement kitchenette turned out so nice!  We're glad that we have the option of having a full kitchen downstairs.  I love how the "wood" tile turned out.  It's the perfect variation of color.  We put Monte Cristo granite in the kitchenette.  The "veins" in the granite are beautiful along the bar.

I love how the built in's turned out.  The basement has so much storage!  I copied Tiff's idea and did  cupboards mixed with open shelves.  The white cupboards make everything so bright.  I love the tile around the fireplaces.  I love the big windows even in the basement.  Because we did a dugout basement, there's so much light.  It doesn't even feel like you're in the basement.

Chase and Tanner's bathroom turned out so well.  It's very masculine but I really like the accent tile and I'll be able to put any color with it.