Some things I like, some I hate

I wanted to do I quick list of some GREAT things about our new house, and some things I HATE LIKE: the rounded door as seen in this shot of the cupboard under the stairs. (Also the only wall in the house currently painted to our liking. We painted it a couple days ago.)

HATE: The kitchen. Not enough drawers, ugly cabinets and old white appliances. I spent an entire day cleaning the mold out of that fridge and still won't let anyone drink out of the water dispenser. (As a side LIKE, Ryan and I put in the microwave and a new RO system. I didn't trust the old one. They are awesome.)

LIKE: my piano has her own room


LIKE: the transom windows above a few of the doors. (This is my master door)



HATE: The ugly paint and unprofessional job. (This is also my master. How long do you think we can stand it before we redo? I am still trying to decide on the perfect shade.)

HATE: Other people boogers. I honestly found this on the wall upstairs and decided to thoroughly gross you out with more insight to my life.

So, what do you all think?

Brandon's First Day of School - THE WORST DAY EVER

So, I'm not a mom who is on the ball. I admit it. I forgot to take pics of the kids on their first day of school.

But here is the low-down.

Ainsley loved it. Brandon hated it. If anyone know Brandon, you know he has a tendency to be fairly negative. I think he gets it from his dad. He says the same about me. Anyways, every day is THE WORST DAY EVER. No joke, every day.

Unfortunately this was really pretty bad and it was all my fault.

First, we were in San Diego for meet the teacher night. Being a new school, I wasn't aware of the lunch schedule. I didn't know he ate at 10:15. Seriously. 10:15! So I didn't send him with a snack. By the time 3:05 came around, he was a total disaster.

Secondly, the night before school I was lecturing Megan (my sister) about how she HAD to go to the store and buy Jake some school supplies. She was under the impression they weren't necessary and the teachers should buy them themselves. She is too poor. I gave her a big speech about Jake needing to feel confident and not having supplies is embarassing, etc. She caved and went to Wal-Mart.

Brandon came home furious about having no school supplies. "I was so embarassed!" he whined. I had to raise my hand and tell the teacher I didn't have a pencil. Everyone stared at me. He was crying by now from hunger, too. The very same thing I said would happend to Jake happened to Brandon.

"Well, Brandon, I sent you with all the supplies in your backpack!" (I really did!) He forgot to open the pocket in the front. Oops!

Jingle Bells, Rat Man Smells

Here it is, folks. The picture you've all been waiting for. Foaming at the bit, I'm sure.
This is our new home.

Yesterday someone knocked on the door and Alexa ran to the window to see who it was.
"Jingle Bells is here, mama!" Jingle Bells? I was thinking maybe someone with a beard that looked like Santa. Nope.

It was Isabel, the landscaper. (Yes, HIS name is Isabel...same as our friend's daughter). His name is pronounced like EEEsabel. We wisely paid him $150 to clean up the yard. Being vacant for two years, it was in pretty bad shape. We had no idea there was an ugly little planting bed in the front yard (complete with plastic garden turtles and all!) until he pulled out the HUGE ugly grass-bush things from the front.

After Jingle Bells was paid, he said, "Now you wont have any more critters living in your yard." Critters?
Yep, he found a rat living in the bush. EWWWW!!!
"Don't worry, ma'am. I put it in our toilet and we will get rid of it for you."

Sadly, that didn't make me feel much better about the whole rat thing.

Cassidy/beach day again

We were happy to pick up my niece, Cassidy, and bring her back to AZ with us to visit her mom. On the drive to her house, we stopped at a bowling alley.I just wanted to show you all that Alexa won. And she was the only kid who didn't use the bumpers. Seriously. She did use the ramp, but so did the other kids! :)

We did another beach day before we hopped into the car for the long drive back.

I know she looks just like me, but I have to admit she is a pretty girl!

The four kids making a castle

She's awfully pretty, too!

And here's a shot of Ryan because I just noticed I didn't post one of him!!

Sea World

We also spent a fun day at Sea World.

Can you believe a bird pooped on our table while we were eating? (SO close to pooping on our food!)

And who would have guessed I would run into a friend there? I saw Katie (Lewis) Holmstead! I was so excited to spot her in the middle of the Shamu show. So I stalked her down. Can you tell she sat in the soak zone? Wow! I hadn't seen her in like 20 years!

Old Town, Aunt Sally, and Coronado

Tuesday my sister Sally came down to have fun with us. My Kids LOVE their Aunt Sally. She is now 30, but they think she is like 12. When she does anything they double check to make sure she is allowed. "Mom, can she go down there all by herself?" Yep. I think she can make it. We spent one day with her at Old Town and Coronado Island.

The yummy candy shop is always a treat. Jake came down on Vacation with us. This jaw breaker was messy, but lasted him the entire week.

Brandon was picked to dress like a soldier at the Mormon Battalion Center. That was a fun place to visit! The movie tour was so fun to watch. They panned for gold, and all sorts of fun things. I would highly recommend it!

Just proud of my photo work.

All of us together having fun!

Vacation Post from Oceanside Harbor

Oceanside Harbor is one of my favorite beaches. Maybe because there are bathrooms and showers. Maybe because there are life guards. But most likely because I am totally comfortable there. I know it well and went there nearly every day.

Tis is where we spent our entire Monday. It was totally overcast and freezing cold, but we had a blast.

It is always a BIG DEAL if Brandon goes in the water. He can be a chicken, but notice the toes are wet! We were all quite amazed!

He had no idea he grew this beard.

This cutie got cold really fast!

Ainsley spent the whole time boogie boarding. I don't know how she could stand it. And as a side note: We went to Costco that morning and picked up the boogie board.

Ainsley:What's this leash for?

Ryan: You attach it to your ankle so you don't lose the board.

ANKLE! hmmm. He obviously grew up in Utah. I set them straight.

House update!

Most of you know we moved in a little while ago. I thought I would write a little update on the process.

First of all, we were SO stressed about the double move. We had to get a storage unit and put in all of our furniture (except the piano went to my grandmas.) We were staying at her place for about 3 weeks while she was in Utah.

One day Ryan called me and said he wanted to place a complaint against Chase with the OCC. We had just been waiting SO LONG for that lein to be closed and wondered if it ever would. If you know Ryan, he wouldn't just write a letter. He got all of the account numbers, dates, facts. I would have just written an emotionally charged hate mail-type letter. Not Ryan. As he gathered all of his important information, he looked up the previous owners information on the internet with the assessor. No lein. hmmm. Owner before that. hmmm. Lein cleared June 24th! ARE YOU KIDDING??? He was furious. We called the title company, realtor, etc. Oops. Their response? Chases fault for not informing them. Really? Because I kind of thought your job was to research these things. So we finally moved in after an unecessary double move and lots of money down the toilet.

Then, two days after we moved and closed we went to the ward campout. The day after that we went to San Diego for a week. The day after that school started. And here we are! Whew! Finally moving in! I swear I will get some pictures up here soon. :)