May Happenings

Here's a little update from the month, I have more pictures on my camera, but don't want to download them right now (so you may never see them).

I spent my birthday* money on a window. Yes, it's totally worth it. Our laundry area was super dark, so I hired a window guy to come cut a hole in the wall and install a window. All the extra natural light is so awesome! (Thank you to my mom, mother-in-law, and Aunt Carroll for funding this project). But, as you can see, Plan A didn't work out (due to some electrical cords in the wall), so we centered the window, instead of putting it over the washer or dryer and having a larger space for a cabinet. The window looks great, but we still need to tape, texture, and paint the new drywall that we installed to cover up Plan A. When it's done, you'll get a picture.

David's parents came to visit last week. They were here a few days and we spent all day just enjoying having Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Laura with us. It was like Christmas for the kids. Rachel and I got sick and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I was grateful to have the extra help.

This was their first time meeting Rachel. We saw them 6 months ago before Thanksgiving and baby David was really shy around them the whole time. This time, he was much more outgoing and loved spending time with his "Papa" especially. 

This is a dress we got at a yard sale for Kathryn. She wants to wear a dress almost every day right now.

Rachel is 4 months old! She is very active now trying to roll over and reaching for toys. She's not content to sit and play in her swing anymore...though she does occasionally nap there still.

                                     

Her face lights up with a huge smile whenever she sees a familiar face (or anyone who gives her a big smile a little attention). She gets really excited whenever Mom comes around. She likes to coo and babble and "tell stories".

This weekend David starting working on our deck. It's rotted and decayed very badly in most areas. A while ago David actually fell through one of the boards. Today he and a friend ripped the whole thing out. We're only going to rebuild part of it, the section around the right side of the house where the door is. I'll keep you updated on that.

*I celebrated my 30th birthday this month, but let's not talk about that.

November in Photos

This is how he gets cozy when he is watching a little movie.

He pulls up his special chair and arranges his favorite blanket (aka "deet-deet") on his lap every time.

Sarah's fall festival picture. She is wearing all of her "cowboy girl" gear from Grandpa:

Wrangler shirt and jeans and pink boots that light up.

When we bought our house last year everything was set up for wheelchair access. There was a really nice ramp in the garage that made it easy to move in. But, it took up too much space. When the weather got cold, David decided that he was tired of scraping ice off his car every morning. So, he took out the ramp (it was no small task) and built two steps in it's place. Now, we can fit both vehicles in the garage!

Our first (and only-so far) snowfall of the year.

They rolled giant snowballs to make a snowman, but I wouldn't go outside to stack them.

In fact, I took all of these pictures from inside. 

Yeah, I'm wimpy about the cold like that.

We set up the tree the Monday before Thanksgiving because

Grandpa and Grandma Wiseman were here.

We had so much fun when Grandpa, Grandma, and Laura came to visit!

We even got a semi-decent family photo out of it. =)

David has some amazing concentration skills. 

He's doing some editing while little Davey uses dad for a chair.

When Grandpa Chuck came for Thanksgiving he showed up with a full mustache and goatee. Kathryn thought he was scary and didn't believe he was the same Grandpa that she played with at the lake this summer. Then he shaved it off--they enjoyed watching that--and she declared him to be her real Grandpa after all. 

Thanksgiving dinner (Grandpa with a goatee). He made some awesome potatoes, turkey, stuffing, and pie. I made a sweet potato casserole and attempted to make rolls again (failed). 

Sunday morning before church (sans goatee), right before he left. The kids and I all loved having family come visit for the holiday. It was so nice to have the extra help around the house. The kids enjoyed playing games with their grandparents and sharing their talents (they were constantly drawing pictures for them or singing songs they had learned).

Blog trivia: how many times did you spot Davey's blanket in various photos in this post?

A New House, a Forever Family, and a New PhD

Sorry for not posting any updates in the past two months. We've been extraordinarily busy. At the end of September we bought a house in Lewiston and starting moving in that day. Within 24 hours we had moved all our belongings to the new house and we set to work unpacking and remodeling all at once. Bad idea!

Sept 30 - Day 1 of moving - the kids loaded all their strollers & bikes

I spent my "free" evenings for three weeks repainting three bedrooms, the hallway and entry way (with multiple coats of paint - including the ceilings and closets). We've also had some new windows installed and changed up some doors in the family room. The largest project was installing laminate in the large bonus (play) room. It took a lot longer than we expected because we found some water damaged sub floor boards and mildew/mold when we ripped out the old carpet and baseboard.
Here are some before and after pictures:

The worst room was this neon green one--

Before

In Process...

Pinstripes under window in the green (baby) room

Joseph and Sarah's room - purple & brown to blue & light blue (sorry, I don't have a final photo)

Before

Almost After (the lower part is now a very light blue)

Here is the Bonus room / Play room -- I didn't get a true "before" picture with the old grayish-blue sculpted carpet before we ripped it out. Sorry!

Water stains...ewww! There used to be a hot tub there.

From another angle - we took out all those stained boards

Mold & Mildew

After - replaced old black sliding door

After (we had those exterior doors removed)

In late October our family drove down to St. George, Utah so we could be at Sterling and Emma's sealing. It was a long drive (1000 miles one way), but so worth it to see all of my family and be in the temple with them. The kids did really well considering the long drive -- thanks to my friend Cari and her portable DVD player.

All the ladies

All the gentlemen =)

During all this craziness of moving, remodeling and traveling 2000 miles David managed to finish writing his dissertation and submit it to his committee. On November 19th he presented his defense and passed with flying colors. Half of his committee members received low ranks though because they showed up nearly an hour late for the event. =) He spent a week in sunny Nashville finishing up all the last details before returning home, the triumphant new Doctor on Thanksgiving day.

Thankfully, I didn't have to be a single mom during that full week he was gone because my dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving. The weather turned sour the first day he was here -- snow started falling and hardly stopped for a week...what am I saying? It's still snowing here. We had recording-breaking low temps. Which means we spent most of his visit in the house washing mountains of dirty laundry, scrubbing floors, and preparing pies for the big dinner.

We tried to build a snowman, but no one had waterproof gloves or shoes.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with some of our new friends here and it was a pleasant evening with plenty of great food to go around. Grandpa Chuck left the next morning and it was back to the old grind around here. David is still just as busy as always, especially since it's publishing time for Hispania (he's the managing editor).

Over the River and Through the Woods...to Grandmother's House We Go!

We left on August 3rd for the long drive down to Redding, CA to visit David's parents and grandparents. Actually, it's only 700 miles, which is less than half the distance from Nashville to New Mexico, so I'm not complaining. We split the distance in half and spent the first night just south of Portland, OR. This was the first time that I had traveled through Oregon. It's a lovely state with wide rivers and densely wooded mountains on western side (we won't mention the eastern side, it wasn't quite so awe inspiring). What's with the gas station attendants who pump your gas?! The first time, it was charming, but after that, it was a bother to wait around for them.
For this trip, we changed up the seating arrangement in the van a bit. Sarah moved up to Kathryn's place, and Joseph moved over to Sarah's old corner. Kathryn occupies Joseph's former space. Sarah kept little David entertained the whole trip -- she enjoys making silly faces at him and talking to him non-stop. For the most part, David appreciates the entertainment. Joseph and Kathryn got along quite nicely in the backseat - they kept mostly to themselves and were relatively quiet.

Mt Hood River, along I-84 through Oregon

Before passing this dam, I thought the massive river was a lake - it was so wide and still.

It was easy to tell when we were getting close to Portland -- suddenly there were trees everywhere... 

and they kept getting thicker and taller.

And Sarah got sillier...

Day 2, new coloring books keep them entertained for varying amounts of time.

Sarah: 10 minutes, Kathryn: 20 minutes, Joseph: 2 hours

One more improvement to the seating arrangement: 

Move Sarah's chair toward the door. 

Now she can still entertain the baby, but can't poke him in the eye or pull his arm.

See Joseph and Kathryn hiding under their blankets?

Little David chewing on Sarah's stuffed dragon's tail - she learned very quickly not to hand him anything unless she wanted him to put it directly into his mouth. Mom and Dad learned to not give Sarah anything that shouldn't be in David's mouth.

Road trip sing-a-long, anyone? We sang a few rousing choruses of "Old MacDonald" and other 2 and 3-year-old favorites along the way. 

Getting close to Medford. Less trees and more brown.

Can anyone name that mountain in the southern skyline?

Still smiling after two days on the road??

We stopped to visit David's grandparents in Medford. Grandpa Asay is around 92 years old and still walking around on his own. He loved holding the baby.

(I caught him blinking - sorry Grandpa!)

Sarah is chatting away with a second cousin who called while we were visiting.

Eating lunch with Grandma Asay. She is 89 and she seemed to really enjoy chatting with David.

The last 2 hours driving down to Redding were the worst. I was sandwiched in the back between two car seats and a very cranky Kathryn. So, we took lots of pictures with the camera on my phone.

It's such a small space that I couldn't sit all the way back.

Story time with Grandpa Kent. I love all the kids' facial expressions, especially Kathryn's.

Check back soon for Part 2: Joseph's Birthday and the trek home