The past few weeks have been a balancing act between getting the house set up, getting projects done, and actually doing summer things. The kids have been balancing hanging out with friends from the old neighborhood and school while getting to know the new neighborhood and finding kids to play with around here. It is a time of transition in every sense of the word.
I start my day off by washing a window. There are like 30 in this house (our old house had 8) and they are so gross they take me a good half hour to clean each.
The track is actually white. Who knew?
Bug dust.
It is quite satisfying to see the end result. Sarah's friend's mom even asked if we had the windows replaced along with everyone else. Sadly no, they still all need to be replaced ($$$!!).
The Monday after we moved in we started swimming lessons. I signed them up back in March before we had even listed our house for sale so I had no idea we would have been moving into a house right before. I'm just glad we weren't moving this week!
Remember that one day it rained? You know, that ONE time it rained since May? Yeah, that was awesome.
The kids went out afterward looking for puddles to ride their bikes through.
There are 15 doorknobs in this house and every single one of them was different. Different shapes and finishes.
I'm trying to understand why. Were they ever all the same and replaced with random ones over time? But why were so many replaced over the last 33 years? Justin has stopped trying to understand any of the choices of the previous owners but I can't help but wonder sometimes.
Ahhh, much better. It took me three days to replace all the knobs and strike plates because most of them needed to be chiseled and my hands kept going numb again but I did it!
Random selfie from Erica.
Sarah went to girls camp with our old ward a couple of weeks ago. We promised her when we put the house up for sale that she could still go to camp. Our new ward went the week we had swimming lessons so she couldn't have gone with them anyway even if she wanted to. They spent 2 nights at Koholowo up Payson Canyon. It was her first year at camp since last year's was cancelled. She had so much fun and was full of funny stories when she got home. And she was exhausted.
Here's how the living room looks from the top of stairs. Slow progress. We still don't have a couch.
Some rooms look less like we moved in and more like lived in.
I made lots of progress on the stairs. I painted the treads with floor paint from Sherwin Williams because they can tint their floor paint any color and I wanted it to match the rest of the house. I have 9 of these carpet runners from Costco to staple to the 3 flights of stairs. I only got this one set finished because the other two flights are in the pathway of the workers finishing the bathrooms. I'll add the runners once they're done hauling materials and tubs up and down. Worn out carpet on stairs makes me sad so this was the best solution as I can replace the runners when I want to, no biggie.
My parenting plan was for each child to do their own laundry once they turned 8. It worked great with Sarah. It didn't happen with Henry because he shared a room with Erica then James so I didn't make him go through the trouble of separating out his clothes in the hamper so I just did it. He's been in charge of folding and putting them away though. But now that everyone has their own room, Henry now has to do his own laundry. He's done it once and he was fine about it. He admitted he doesn't fold his clothes but just puts them in the right drawers. I'm fine with that as long has he hangs up his church clothes.
Surprisingly Erica asked to do her own laundry. This new washer and dryer are easy enough to use so why not. She is a little short and practically has to climb inside the washer to get her clothes out but she did it! Once. She's only done it once. We'll see how this goes.
James and Erica are into making faces with their food at dinner.
Sometimes they even eat it.
Fourth of July weekend!!
On Saturday we went to Logan to visit my brother and his family. Logan is always a good time because of my brother's shaved ice shacks around town. And they have a pool in their housing complex. You can win my kids over with those two things every time.
But first, we got lunch at Old Grist Mill. This is my favorite place to eat in Logan. There are other places I want to try but they are so cheap and delicious I just can't pass them up. I need to stay in Logan longer so I can have more meals there each trip.
In that same parking lot is one of their shacks so Matt and Lisa took us over there to get some red and blue snowcones for the kids. They took a picture of my kids for their
instagram page so they're like practically famous.
Justin got a raspberry mango snowcone. We pretty much just ask Lisa to make us a good one and they are always so good.
Mine was butterbeer. Butterscotch, cream, caramel, ice cream at the bottom. Guys, it was so good.
Then once we were full from our snowcones we took our Old Grist Mill sandwiches to a park and ate lunch. Then we went back to Matt and Lisa's and swam in their pool. It was a little crowded but if your kids make a large ruckus at one end, you get your own space pretty quickly.
Then we met my nephew and his wife at a different park for dinner. Peyton got a smoker for Christmas and that is a gift that blesses everyone. He even does catering on the side. He fed us smoked ribs and pork and potatoes and even bread pudding. The wind picked up which made for an exciting meal. If you didn't have your plate loaded with food or your cup half full, it would blow away. Of course the wind died down as soon as we were done eating. Afterward, we went back to Matt and Lisa's to play games and then we went to yet another park to watch Logan's fireworks.
We drove home from there are made it home at 12:30 am.
Sunday we went to Justin's parents' for Dallin's birthday dinner of chicken fried steak which was so good. (Why do I always remember all the food??) Then we went to my parents' house for smores with cousins.
Watching the neighbor's fireworks.
From our spot in the yard, we could see fireworks all around.
On Monday we went boating on Utah Lake. We thought it would be crowded but it wasn't and the water was so calm.
Who of my siblings remembers this house? I didn't know Mom still had it! Sarah helped my mom clean out and organize her toy closet and lo and behold there it was folded up in the back.
Third try's the charm in getting a bed for Erica. The first one came damaged. The second one she didn't like. Here's the third try that she actually liked! Her room is pretty much done although she has way too much
junk stuff. I've given her a pretty good sized box to fill up for $3 but it's half full and I don't think she cares enough to finish it off.
This buffet belonged to my grandparents and then my aunt had it. When she moved a couple of years ago she gave it to me but it's been in my parents' shed until I had a spot for it. Well I have a spot for it!
I hope to refinish it this fall. It looks fine from a distance but up close there are scratches and chips and paint splatter. My grandpa never liked the finish--it turned out too dark--so I don't feel bad about redoing it.
My next big(ish) project will be painting the front door. Together Justin and I will be tackling reattaching the kitchen cabinet doors and adding the handles. We also have some sprinkler heads to replace. Maybe we'll even buy a couch. We are also looking forward to taking Sarah and cousins to the temple to do baptisms, Friday food trucks and fireworks plus Pioneer Day (the best day of the summer!!!!)
