One Year Anniversary....

I try to avoid thinking about our 1+ year of construction. I took so many pictures as we went along so we could document it all. We'll probably make a book one day, but right now looking at the pictures brings up so many stressful feelings. Jared and I react the same way when we see the photos, we shake our head and roll our eyes. Here are a few....

THE BEGINNING.....
The two big pine trees we had out front had to come down, also five trees along the north side of our driveway, plus our driveway and carport. Sadly, some trees we wanted to keep got knocked down by various trucks. This part was exciting! We thought at the time that we would be done by Christmas.....ah, yeah right. Part wishful thinking, part inexperience.

This part was SCARY! Jared's brother Todd, and his maintenance guy, Jack, took out our porch. We made all the kids get out of the house. I was sure something was going to go wrong and the walls would fall in. I didn't trust that Todd or Jack knew what they were doing, and I didn't trust our old house! I went inside through the back door for something (can't remember what) just as they were taking the cement steps out. It made the loudest, most awful cracking noise, I thought my roof was about to fall in! I ran out fast.... I will never forget that sound.

That's Mallory's little head poking out, looking at what was going on. We lived with that ramp for quite a while. It was sure fun lugging groceries in. I'm surprised none of us ever fell off, especially when it would get wet or frost over. The foundation took a while to put in. While they were getting ready to pour we had to climb in & out a window for a couple days, the one that's in our dining room now. After that Jim (Jared's uncle who did the remodel) made a ramp down from the front door to the dirt, then another ramp from the dirt up over the foundation wall, then back down to the grass until they got the sub-floor in. The sub-floor was done by Halloween of 2007, then Jim left until after the new year. Anytime it snowed, we had to shovel it. We had no sidewalks or driveway to shovel, so I guess it was kind of a trade off. How many people can say they shoveled their bedroom?

Little did I know that we wouldn't be done until Halloween of 2008. I've been thinking a lot about it, now that we have been HOME for a year. I will never, ever want to move or remodel again.....heck, I don't ever want to even paint my walls!

Ashton turns 8!

Ashton's birthday was Sept. 12th, a Saturday! I love it when birthdays fall on the weekend, makes things so much easier. He opened his presents early and played with them all day. He got one Indiana Jones lego that took me a few hours to put together, but I love it. Besides Kelsey & Emma's soccer game, we were home all day. Grandma Hibbert came over with gifts and a cake, and Papa Brent took him to Target to pick out whatever he wanted (that's how he got the $90 Indiana Jones lego that I put together!). Jared told him dinner was his choice, whatever he wanted him to make. Jared is an excellent cook, so I was surprised that the chicken he wanted was one that I make. But since I was busy building Legos, Jared made dinner (as always) and it was yummy. Very easy, just season salt & flour in a bag, throw chicken in it & shake it around. The kids love it! His baptism will be after conference weekend, so I'll let everyone know the date when we do!

I was surprised by Mallory's excitement with every gift, she was enjoying it as much as Ashton....go figure

He wanted GI Joe's, and he got them. This one is 'Snake Eyes', one of his favorite good guys.

I love Mallory's face here....why is she so excited? I'm glad that she was happy for her brother and not crying that she didn't have any gifts.

Birthday cake from Grandma Hibbert

Conner & Mallory start school

We are back with the fabulous Teacher Pat! All my kids have gone to her, and she is the best! Mallory will go every Tuesday and Thursday morning, and Conner will go Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoon. I was SO ready for them to start! They really need the break from each other. This is Conner's 2nd year, so he was excited. I wasn't sure how Mallory would be. We talked about it a lot, got new clothes, backpack, etc. But she loves it and they are still learning that they each have a different day that it is their turn for school.....they both want to be the one to go everyday.Conner ready for his first day! He started on Wednesday Sept. 9th.

Mallory on her first day, Tuesday Sept. 8th
I think she could fit easily inside her backpack, she's so small.

This was yesterday, Thursday the 10th, and Mallory's second day. She looked so cute I had to take another picture! I think it's hilarious how she turns her foot like that....where do they pick something like that up? If you look closely at her toenails we painted them blue to match her outfit. She's so stinkin' cute! (and she knows it!)

Pigs at the trough

Jared is always cooking! He made cookies on Labor Day & he always offers the bowl to the kids after. He's such a good husband and father! I would have just put it in the sink & filled it up with water to soak & ruined all the fun. But aren't Daddy's more fun anyway?

Conner is 5!

Conner was very excited for his birthday! We decided to let him open his gifts first thing in the morning so the big kids could join in before they left for school, and I was hoping he would be occupied with his new toys for the rest of the day. It worked! He had a great birthday, and at his soccer game that night his team sang to him, which he loved.

Grandma Hibbert always comes with goodies for birthdays! Conner and Mallory enjoyed it very much! I was surprised he shared so nicely with her.

I think his favorite gift was his puzzles. He got a couple from us and a box of 8 different Disney puzzles from Grandma, they kept us occupied over the holiday weekend! He also got a race track from Papa Brent & Grandma Denise, he loved that one too.

A 6th grader, 4th grader & 2nd grader

Kelsey, Emma & Ashton went back to school on August 26th. I thought it was very weird to start on a Wednesday, but oh well. They were very excited! Jared & I had tickets to the Depeche Mode concert the night before, luckily Denise came to take care of the kids and make sure they showered and were in bed at a decent time. Although, putting them to bed didn't mean they fell asleep quickly. It took them quite a while to relax and go to sleep. But they had no problem getting up and were ready with plenty of time to spare. The nice father that Jared is, even though we went to bed at 2AM, he got up and made the kids waffles from scratch. I have to say that the concert was worth the lack of sleep....it was very good!



Ashton and Conner had their first soccer game of the season Wednesday night also! It was tricky to try and watch two games at once, but it worked out. Jared has pics on his camera, so once I have access to those I'll post them.

Playing in the Sprinklers

When my kids have the choice of sprinklers or the pool, it will always be the pool. But I was busy last week, and this day was hot & breezy, so to get the kids out doing something fun I had Jared turn on the sprinklers. They loved it!