Storage Project Complete!

In our old house we had a lot of "stuff" in our attic. Moving into this house, getting the attic ready for all of that stuff was one of my top priorities. Thanks to my dad and Brandon, we now have this.A ladder that folds down in our closet. Brandon really wanted to upgrade to the fold down ladder in this house, and I can tell I'm going to love it too.

After two trips collecting scrap wood from the houses under construction (and yes we got permission), and a couple hours of work tonight, we now have all of this in storage. We only did about 1/4 of the available space up there. So far we have 29 bins up there! We're thinking this should be plenty, but if not we will expand. I love organized storage!!!

You may be wondering what is in all those bins. We have Christmas decor, fall decor, all of the boys old clothes, all of Grace's old clothes, and my maternity clothes. I'm sure that is just the info you wanted.

Camping and Baseball

Okay, these are backwards but I'm too lazy to switch them. We finally took the kids camping with the tent we bought 2 years ago. Granted it was only 20 minutes from our house, but we slept in the tent, in the woods, so we're counting it. We locked Grace in the tent with the boys while we took everything down. Much easier and less messy since she scoots around on her bum to get everywhere.

Our camp stove was leaking and no good for this trip, but luckily we were planning on hot dogs for dinner and the boys were beyond thrilled to get to roast them on sticks.

The boys so excited the tent was up. We didn't even do anything that exciting but they kept saying "this is our first time camping," "this is our first time making smores while camping," or some other thing it was the first time we had done...while camping.

We wandered around the campground, and this was Grace within 5 minutes of the start of our walk.

I think this was Sunday afternoon. I just thought it was cute she fell asleep with a cell phone in hand. She loves to press the buttons and watch them light up and beep, so we gave her an old one.

Last week our builder took anyone in our neighborhood who wanted to go to a baseball game. We of course took him up on the free entertainment.

Ready for the pitch. He actually understood a little of what was going on which was fun.

Grace looking super cute in the track suit Brandon knew she had to have.

Grace is 1!!!

It's hard to believe it has already been a year since we had out sweet baby girl.

It's also hard to believe she went from looking like this....

to this. This was at the end of her actual birthday. You can tell she is getting a little tired and punchy.

A few minutes later this was her. Almost asleep to rest up for her party the next day.

We had 5 of her local grandparents/great-grandparents over, who we of course didn't take any pictures of. This was her first gift of the day from Graham, Bryce, and Camille. She shows off some awesome dancing skills while this thing plays.

Another big hit. She loves all things noisy, and her music set is just that. She prefers to have one in each hand so she can be extra noisy.

I love the tutu!

Poor birthday girl. She really didn't want to wear the birthday hat the boys picked out for her.

Then the cake just pushed her over the top. She managed to get an elbow in it while she tried to get out of the chair. It's been a fun year with our Gracie girl and we can't imagine life without her!

New Pictures

While Bryce and Camille were in town we had Camille take some photos of the kids. We think they turned out awesome! I love how Grace is making sure she is in front in this one. A sure sign of things to come....our little center of attention.

The boys are so cute with her. They are going to be so excited when she finally decides to walk.

So cute!

Classic Grace with her tongue hanging out.

Kyle in his current favorite outfit. He actually picked it all out by himself online and then had us order it.

Soooo big!

Evan and his missing tooth. I wish we had given him a haircut, but still cute with his shaggy hair. I can't believe he is starting school in 2 weeks.

He picked this pose out. I think he wanted to show off his muscles.

The House

We moved!!! We actually got to move in 4 days earlier than we thought we were going to which made it a little crazy, but we are in. We had everything unpacked in 2.5 days or so, except the master because we were waiting on closets. I am crazy when it comes to unpacking and I need it done quick. So, here are the pictures (most of which were taken by Evan).The backyard. Much flatter and easier for the kids to play in.

Future home of our garden.

Pictures on the landing, just to prove that not all of our walls are big and blank.

The family room. The computer is the thing in the back right corner. It looks big and empty now, but tomorrow that is going to change though...I will post an update once I get it done.

The entry to the boys' room, complete with some of the projects (maybe 1%) they have done since we moved in. Apparently the new house has brought out their craftiness.

More of the boys' room. There is an extra room so they don't have to share, but they wanted too. The other side of the room has their bunk beds.

The kitchen. This is a shot from over the island. As a side note, the knobs on the cabinets weren't installed when we moved in. While unpacking we found them under the sink and the boys installed all the lower ones while Brandon and I did the top. They are professionals now if anybody needs help.

The dining room. We need a new table and chairs, but for now this is working just fine. It is so nice to have room to walk all the way around the table without bumping into things.

The boys enjoying dessert on the porch.

Grace's room

More of her room. It is so much bigger than the old house which is great. She loves being in there and playing with all of her toys.

The kids bathroom

Just beyond the kids' sinks

The toy room. This is where the kids spend most of their time.

Laundry room, not too exciting except that these are our fabulous new washer and dryer

Master bath

Master bedroom. This must be before we unpacked this room because there are at least some lamps up now. We still have our work cut out for us decorating, but we are making progress. It took us 7 years to decorate the last one how we wanted, so I figure we have plenty of time.

Future Cougars

You can't tell, but Graham has a BYU shirt on too. My kids are loving having Graham here and had to dress up like him today.

Other happenings

I spy with my little eye, something that is blue.

Upon closer inspection we discovered this. He had been yelling at us about how he was starving, a normal bedtime stalling tactic for him, but then he stopped. I guess we know why now.

We got carpet!!!! The house is really starting to look like we could move into it soon. We happened to show up just as he was getting ready to install the carpet in our front room so we stayed to watch. The boys were mesmerized by the process and have been acting it out for people since then.

Just my cute big girl. I love how she wiggles her way down into the corner of the crib.

Grace and Leo have become pretty good buddies. She loves to pet him, and is usually good about not pulling out his hair. He takes it like a champ and keeps going to sit by her, so he must not mind.