ONLINE HOUSEWARMING!!

Welcome to our online housewarming. Since many of you can't come in person, we are bringing it to you. The only thing that prolonged this as long as it has was my procrastination in downloading pictures. But come have a look around!

This is the patio that Brian and I put in - stone pavers - I love it!
This is the square foot garden - the bare one you see is the newest addition. The other ones were so easy to maintain I built another one. The netting backs it up. There are 80 squares.
Note the Zuchinni is growing vertically - this is about 1 1/2 months ago.
This is the kids bathroom - I have since added white candlesticks but you get the basic idea.
This is our bathroom/closet - I love having it - it makes me feel like I live in a hotel.
We decided to still have the computer in our room - every place we lived we have done it. I guess old habits die hard...that and it looked better in here.
A more long range view of the room.
This is the view from the kitchen into the living room. Its nice and open - the way I like living rooms.
This is the island/thing that looks into the kitchen, dining room, and entryway.
Here is our kitchen - I love the cherry cabinets. Its the favorite color of cabinets we have ever had. I have since added other decor on the bar part - but thats the basic.
So, since we don't have a dining room table and wouldn't use it that much if we HAD one, we did a music room/library in the dining room. It makes everything seem so much more open. I will be adding more ikea components to the bookshelf - and upper area...someday...
Here is the entryway - I love the ikea bench by the door that rolls open and can hold about 50 pairs of shoes - lOVE IT!
Here is a view by the piano facing the living room and kitchen.

The kids were asleep while I took these, so I didn't get their rooms, I will post them later. I LOVE the way the color of paint for Brooke and Kylie's room turned out. And I found some great sports decor for Ty's room at Hobby Lobby at 90% off - I LOVE those sales.

And that concludes the tour. To fully appreciate - think of everything being stark white. Thanks to Brian's dad for painting, and to Brian for the many house projects you have helped me do (and for everyone that helped me unpack)! Took awhile for me to post - but I hope you liked how it turned out.

POOR KYLIANNE!!!

Our cute Kylianne has been in a pickle lately. She has not been able to gain weight or really grow much. Now that she is walking people think she must be like 8 months…rather than the 14 months that she is.

So what to do? The pediatrician’s advice? Put OIL and BUTTER on everything. The other problem? Constant diarrhea. What was the pediatrician’s solution – the brat diet: banana, applesauce, toast, and…whatever the r is (brain freeze).

No improvement. The girl has been BELOW “THE CHART” , like -10 or so for awhile. Her height is a decent 20%.

So, luckily we have the BEST doctor ever – that is super knowledgable about nutrition, and does allergy/sensitivity testing and TREATMENT (NAET).

So we had her tested – I was the surrogate tester. (so far) She is allergic to Milk/Dairy, Wheat, Gluten, Yeast, Vinegar, Cold, Candida, and something called “Mylocin” or something like that. That one is the corker. The other ones – no PROBLEM, since I went through all that with tyler.

The Mylocin one means that she can’t have any RAW fruits or veggies (which she loves), nothing from a can, even if I canned it (tomato sauce, beans) and nothing that was frozen (veggies, fruits, meats). So FOR NOW, until we get her treated for that, Cooking is going to be CREATIVE. I will essentially have to cook things special for her (2 separate meals 3 times a day). I usually cook her veggies and then give her egg, at this point, and rice, rice cakes, and rice crackers.

Also, since she can’t have anything “cold” because of her allergy (which I just read about in the Chicago trib in January), she has to drink everything warm, and her food needs to be room temp or warm. She is also on lactobacillus (all strains) and bifodobacterium (all strains) probiotics.

The goal? Solid stools with less frequency (now they are 4 to 5 times/day – not at ALL solid)

So, while all that seems a little overwhelming for the time being, I am SOOOOO glad to know what is going one. And if she has results with NAET like her Brother TYLER (was on 7 meds for asthma, now needs NO MEDS and RARELY has any problems.)

I really really thank everyday that my cousin Angelle told me about NAET!!! Thanks Angelle!

JULY WAS BLISSFUL!!

The one really really great thing about having a husband who is a teacher is the month of JULY!!

Even though I hardly ever see him, it feels like during the school year because of
*doing a 2nd Master's degree
*Bowling Coach
*(now) Elder's Quorum Presidency (church thing for those who are wondering...)
*working 2nd Job at T.R.
*Never ending staff and coaching meetings
*Me working on his "off" nights

So this month I feel like the we, the fam, had him all to ourselves, for ONCE!! It was Lovely!
So how did we choose to take advantage of this rarity?

*We went frisbee disc golfing about 2 or 3 times every week during the evening
*We watched Harry Potter, twice
*We went to Chinatown, Greektown, and the Cheesecake Factory in Downtown Chicago on
National Cheesecake Day (all cheesecakes 1/2 off!)
*We hung out with Brian's siblings who came to Chicago to visit - Mike and Corin and fam, and
Beth and Shawn and family
*We went to Navy Pier
*We went blueberry picking at Michigan City, IN (30 lbs this year at $1.50 /lb)
*We went to the beach MANY times
*We had TWO of our traditional "TEXAS ROADHOUSE STYLE FAMILY BBQs" and made THE
recipe of TO DIE FOR ribs
*We went to Brian's Grandma's funeral (she was an impressive 96!)
*We went miniature golfing - which I unfortunately BOMBED
*We spend many late nights playing Carcassone (like settler's of Catan). We realized playing too
many nights in a row is bad for our marriage
*We checked out movies from the library - ( "Out of Africa "to me seemed like the better version of "Australia", and I can't believe how different Meryl Streep looked!)
*We went to the neighborhood pool several times with the kids
*We went to IKEA as a family (ya gotta have ONE of those a year, I tell you!)
*We welcomed my youngest sister Sarah to stay with us for a few weeks, home from BYU-I.

So, July is gone, but MAN did I enjoy it. It felt like a party everyday.

What will August bring? My younger sister SUSIE is coming home from her NY NY-SOUTH
mission. We are on pins and needles!! GO SUSIE!

Now I see all the back to school sales, and I have to adjust my mind BACK to reality!!!!

9 YEARS OF...

So, these past 9 years have been AWESOME being married to Brian. He TRULY is the BEST most THOUGHTFUL husband...and Dad. He was so cute this morning. He let me sleep in and he got up with the kids. And when I woke up he walked into our room with a BIG GRIN on his face.

I should have suspected something, but sometimes he just does stuff like that, so I didn't think anything of it. After he GRINNED at me without blinking for about 60 seconds (I was doing some exercises on the ground) then he finally said, "I have somehthing for you..."

I was just expecting a card (handwritten), so I was SHOCKED when he gave me 15 ROSES. They were all red, and of course, beautiful, and TOTALLY UNEXPECTED.

Then he paused and said, "That's not all." He then gave me some of my favorite chocolate - 85% dark "Green and Black" chocolate (its VERY creamy!)

Then he paused again and said, "That's not all." He then gave me a VERY sweet card - he just gets better and better at them each year - I almost started crying.

Then he paused again and said, "That's not all." (STILL GRINNING) and he gives me the dvd of "Sense and Sensibility." which I had remarked to him like 7 months ago that I would really like to own that one. I have ALL the other Jane Austin movies - but not that one. And he remembered that little comment 7 months ago.

WHAT A MAN!! NINE years of marriage to him has DONE ME GOOD!!

How does it feel to lose 5 teeth in two weeks?

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Well, I have to hand it to her, Brooke has had quite the two weeks with losing her FIVE teeth. She REALLY did not want us NEAR her mouth. She would inform us that we could pull her 5 loose teeth "TOMORROW."

Well, of course, her whole mouth of lose teeth made her two front teeth cross over each other and look REALLY odd. The teeth would all bleed on a regular basis.

So, I pulled four of them when she thought I was going to give her hugs for a bump she got...and as MEAN as it sounds....

As I went to give her hugs better, since she was crying ANYWAY, and since she was not expecting it.... I took those opportunities to tug them. IS THAT TRULY DECEITFUL????

Then we clapped for her and made her try to feel really good about what just happened. It worked, especially when we got out the container for the tooth fairy. Luckily we had enough quarters laying around for FIVE teeth. She gets six quarters per tooth. I am sure that is REALLY cheap as far as tooth fairies are concerned...but she doesn't mind.

AND NOW??? We LOVE THE TOOTHLESS GRIN!!

I decided to do it = a SFG garden!

I admit, I haven’t done a REAL blog post in awhile. So I made myself sit down and post…with PICTURES even. So, here is one of the MANY and seemingly never ending project we have undertaken. Before Tami moved she came over and helped me build my first Square Foot Garden.

I have been literally SO excited to do a square foot garden ever since I read “The All New Square foot Gardening Book” which our garden group in the ward I moved away from were discussing. After reading the book I was so convinced that it was the WAY to go – no tilling, no weeding, big yield in small spaces, growing vertically, no bugs, rotation all built into it…SO I gave it a GO.

I felt like an Amazon women as I drilled into the 2 X 6 wood frames with deck screws (doesn’t take much does it?!) I put the frames on top of my grass, nailed on the weed cloth, and filled it with compost, vermiculite, perlite and peat moss. And then I spray painted electrical conduit and put that over rebar to create the vertical frames. Here it is:

My first grids I did were made of aluminum blinds and fell apart right away. So I bit the bullet and made wooden grids - I am really glad I did! Much more sturdy.

I will say, compared to previous gardening I have done I have been bored because there is literally almost nothing to do after the initial assembling and planting. Just some major pruning to the tomatoes to make them grow up the netting, and some tying of the zucchini plants to stakes to make them grow up netting.

I also made a garbage can compost bin to which I drilled about 120 holes. I put newspaper and kitchen scraps and roll the garbage can once a day (I am sure my neighbors think I am crazy) and whallah! I have compost in 5 weeks. Do I sound like a total gardening nerd?

Has anyone else tried this? Have you heard about it? What are your experiences with it?

LLAAA!!! (sung with vibrato) NEW MOON TRAILER!!

Hello people - I am REALLY living up my adolesence here, but here is the trailer link on Stephenie Meyer's website to the New Moon Trailer.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=58185785

It looks REALLY good.

Check out the eyes this time on the vampires - much more enhanced don't you think?

Rosalie looks MUCH better too.

What are your thoughts?!?!?!?

Kylie is 1! How did that happen?

The first month she was born seemed like it was pleasantly long. Now, all of a sudden she is ONE!!

I am a little wistful, but of course happy she is thriving. In Korea, they don't even have a baby shower til the baby is one because the mortality rate is so high. So the first birthday is a HUGE deal. As it should be.

Some cutities (yes I made that word up) about Kylie:

*She giggles and giggles with Tyler and Brooke, especially when its time to go to sleep at night.

*She can sign - and does so VERY proficiently - the words "all done" "milk" "yes" "bye, hi" "so big" "i love you"

*She can say "all done" "bye" "tyler" "button" "airplane" "grandma" "grandpa" "chicken(that was a new one today)" "car" "ball" "mama" "dada" "boouh(Brooke)" "no"

*She is an intensly fast crawler and a proficient stander, and does not see any reason to make any steps, since she can crawl at 10 mph.

*She sleeps 12 hours in a row at night - bless her soul!

*Kylie is only a bully to one person - her 10 1/2 mo. cousin Kaiya, who she insists on taking all of her possessions (toys, pacifier, etc).

*Kylie has a VERY TOOTHY grin. Probably more teeth at this age than my other kids had.

*She is ticklish in every muscle on her body, including her little buns, her back, her facial cheeks, right below her shoulders, her arms, her jaw, her feet, her legs - all over, her tummy.

*She does NOT care for sweet things, not even fruit that much. She LOVES veggies. One time Grandma Wayne gave her cake. She took a bite and looked very dissapointed. Then she reached for her carrot stick. She LOVE tomatoes, beans, lettuce (I know - I am surprised at that one), cucumbers, zucchini - literally EVERY vegetable. Meats she like just ok. Bananas - she prefers the peel to the fruit. Orange - she also prefers the peel to the fruit (which Ironically DO have the most Vit. C)

*Her favorite toy right now is a pirate ship.

*She loves to eat rocks out of our large living room plant pot.

*She reminds me of a faithful puppy, always innocently and obediently following me around without question and without whining, just faithfully and cheerfully. ..unless I change rooms more than 10 times in 1 minute, then she gets irritated.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our little girl and feel SOOO lucky to have her in our family!

Brookes first day at her NEW school

Brooke was so excited to go to "Mrs. G's" class.

The wrong bus ended up picking her up ONE hour early, so she sat in the office and COLORED for 45 minutes. To her it was all part of the plan. She loved every minute of it and whipped through 18 pictures - most of them horses, of course.

The office called me to let me know of the error and commented to me that she is the most happy and cheerful girl they have ever met.

She LOVED her teacher, which is not surprising. She usually idolizes all her teachers and thinks they are the most brilliant and interesting and beautiful people on the earth.

Brian asked her tonite who her best friends so far are in her class.

She gave a very candid and (for me) kind of a heart wrenching reply:

"I don't have any of those... I will have to make some tomorrow."

TRICKS on getting GOOD DEALS...

So, since we had absolutely NO appliances in our house we had to REALLY be smart about getting our appliances. And, last minute, the free washer and dryer we had lined up FELL THROUGH.

So after LOTS of work I learned a few tricks along the way.

The house actually DID come with a black oven range, but Brian and I both really wanted Stainless Steel appliances. I didn't know if that would work out because I was only budgeting $900 on a fridge, $200 on an over the range microwave, and $100 (after selling the black one on craigs list) on a oven range.

SO pretty tight. I also did TONS of research about IF Stainless Steel WAS the way to go - I read complaint after complaint that FINGERPRINTS are a big problem.

Well, after taking several trips to HOME DEPOT I found a SS steel fridge, oven and microwave that were all pretty good deals and were CLEAN STEEL by GE - which apparently totally cuts down on the fingerprint thing.

METHOD

*I wrote down the model numbers of all three things.

*I did reviews online - retrevo.com - to see how they rated. They rate them by model #.

*I also typed the model # into google to see who was listing it and for how much

*In my case BEST BUY had the fridge and stove on sale for $150 off. I printed out the sale.

*I brought in the Best Buy sale printouts to HOME DEPOT. They MATCH and take off and additional 10%, which brought BOTH my fridge and oven to exactly my budget.

*I had BEST BUY POINTS which I redeemed into $110 in gift certificates for the microwave. I found it on bestbuy.com and printed it out. They don't carry it in the store, but because I had the model number and the sale print out, they ordered it in the store for me - NO ADDITIONAL charge. AND I only ended up paying $98 because of my gift card points.

TOTALLY ON BUDGET. SAVINGS: $550

BUT, we found out today NO washer and dryer.

*I went on Craigs List this morning and replied to about 10 different W & D postings. I called and left messages.

*I scrolled to the bottom and looked at the bottom ones first. Those people are probably more in a hurry to sell because they listing has been there for a week already.

*I offered either $50 or $100 below what they posted for.

*I heard answers back within 30 minutes, asked the appropriate questions, and we got a 2 year old washer and dryer for $375.

ANY amount on the washer and dryer was OVER BUDGET because we were told we could have these ones for free, but not BAD compared to paying over $900 for new.
SAVINGS: $600

We have our black oven on craigs list now.

*I typed in the model number and found out what everyone was selling the model for (BRAND NEW) and posted it for $30 less. That will pay for the new oven.

And THATS the RECESSION way to buy appliances!!

WE DID IT - PHEW!!!

So - short post, but WE CLOSED (after another 4 excructiating hours in the title office with one problem surfacing after another!)

BUT - WE ARE IN! We started painting. Brian's dad is a MASTER PAINTER and he would cut the walls in, while I would cover the walls. We BUSTED IT OUT!!

We got everything painted except the bathrooms.

AND, today everything was moved in. Boxes everywhere. Chaos everywhere. Dust everywhere. Strangers everywhere.

BUT ALSO the exciting unknown - everywhere, possibilities everywhere, new people everywhere, EVEN a different culture (its STILL Chicago - but different parts of Chicago are different culturally)

We won't actually SLEEP in the house until Tuesday night - too FUMEY, too DUSTY...AND I could not get Brooke signed up for school yet, so she has 3 more Days at her old school.

Still I am in Denial, and I get sad if I THINK too much (about what I am leaving behind).

FRENZIED DAY - THE HOUSE CLOSING SAGA CONTINUES....

The KHH (builder) rep was MAD, My attorney was CALM but MAD, my realtor was CALM AND COLLECTED, my lender was AT HER WITS END.

So, the only way to get around WELLS FARGO's mistake on DROPPING the BALL for our house closing, was to suggest a CRAZY SOLUTION....or our closing would be in TWO WEEKS!!

So, what WAS the solution? Find someone that had 33K lying around for the past 30 days in an account and have them "give us" that amount, to which we would return to them immediately with our "rejected" down payment. IS THAT NOT INSANE?

OTHERWISE we go to a "FULL DOCUMENTATION" loan which takes TWO WEEKS.

So I made 97 calls today. I thought at first we would be closing FRIDAY. Then I thought we would be moving in 1 WEEK at one point today, then I thought we were closing TOMORROW. So to change dates with all involved....

I called each of the utility companies THREE TIMES today (15 calls) to change start dates every time I called (I think they know me by voice now),
I talked with my lender girl 24 times today,
the ATTORNEY 3 times,
I talked to Uhaul THREE TIMES to change dates,
I called BROOKE'S SCHOOL to change last day,
I called my PARENTS 3 times,
my REALTOR 5 times,
the GARAGE DOOR guy 2 times,
the APPLIANCE people,
My sister 3 times, the new WARD people....

My mother in law is BRILLIANT. She suggested that they take out a "home equity loan" of 33K for 3 days essentially, that we would repay with the TRUE downpayment money. The bank accepted. So THEY were at the bank for 1 hour - BLESS THEIR SOULS!!!!

Kimball Hill our builder, was LIVID with Wells Fargo. The manager for KH was called WELLS FARGO VICE PRES and many HIGH UP people and I can just IMAGINE what words were exchanged. Wells Fargo has screwed them over TOO many times. We are the LAST CLOSING for them EVER (they went bankrupt 6 months ago) - and for OUR closing to be delayed is VERY COSTLY to Kimball Hill.

Also - I must have faxed about 60 documents today to our lender - in about 5 trips as they kept asking for MORE STUFF.

So - CROSS YOUR FINGERS - lets hope they don't want me to fax over DENTAL RECORDS, GENEOLOGY BACK TO ADAM, REPORT CARDS from Kindergarten, Immunization records, or Passport information?!?!??!?!??!

NIGHTMARE HOUSE CLOSING - WHAT THE HECK?!?!?

So, today WAS the big exciting day to close on our house. I was so nervous (I know that seems like a weird emotion per se..) that I could barely eat. I was a ball of energy.

So we get there at 3 PM, and get the word that our Lender - I might add a MAJOR BANK - did not wire the money on time and it was past the magical time of 3:30 and nothing more could be wired.

Well, a hassle, but no big deal. We just wouldn't be able to get in tonite. We would have to fax some stuff, meet someone tomorrow, and get the keys after the wired money was taken care of. So we did what we could - sign ALL the papers.

It took 2 hours.

I called our lender girl as I drove away if she knew what happened. She had told me everything was ALL GOOD TO GO, and yet here we were, our downpayment in hand, and the bank did not WIRE THE MONEY. I asked in my message if she could help speed things along for the next day.

So I get a voice message as I was picking up my kids from the babysitters - THERE IS A BIG PROBLEM.

Because we did NET anything on the house we sold in November, THERE IS A BIG PROBLEM. The COMPUTER shows that we are 13 K short because we didn't net that on the house, EVEN THOUGH we had the entire down payment in hand.

We are no longer a "straight to close" loan - we are now a "need tons of documentation" close. So we find this out, a 7 PM TONITE, instead of BEFORE or AT THE TABLE at closing. Or better yet - DURING THE 7 MONTHS WE HAVE BEEN WORKING WITH OUR LENDER, or THE 5 1/2 months ago that we actually SOLD our house!

That this was even a TERM in the contract was never conveyed to us. No one VERIFIED that we actually did or did NOT net that. And to ambiguously think that we DID net that amount is a little preposterous. We were told that EVERYTHING WAS GOOD TO GO - BUT NO.

I asked her what the bottom line was - she said she didn't guarentee we would close tomorrow.

*This may not SEEM like a big deal, but when we have
*MOVING TRUCKS,
*HELPERS IN TWO CITIES TO MOVE ON SAT.,
* APPLIANCES BEING DELIVERED on Thursday,
*A GARAGE DOOR PERSON COMING in 2 days,
*People coming to help PAINT tomorrow,
*People coming to INSTALL appliances on Thursday,
*Brian getting SUB PLANS for the next THREE days all ready,
*SITTERS for the next FIVE days (not easy to get all those ducks in a row - let me tell you!), *UTILITIES being turned on tomorrow

... I mean we really planned ahead to make everything work.

So I am TOTALLY emotionally exhausted and drained of ALL energy.

I just keep telling myself - it will work out!!!

Moving Day approaches....

Am I ready? We won't have a fridge, oven, microwave, washer OR dryer in our new place. All the walls are STARK white (can we say revisiting student housing wall whiteness nightmares) and the lawn is currently all dirt. The clothes closets all need shelving units in them. There is not even a pegboard in the garage to hand up a rake.

Am I ready to take this on? Do I have the energy? Do I have the stamina? Do I have the ability to remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day? Do I have the patience to deal with my kids surrounded, ONCE AGAIN, by totally and utter chaos????

Do I have the heart to throw out our couches that got invaded by mice? The couches that I love?

Will we have money to put in air conditioning for the summer?

Will we have money, someday, to buy ourselves a place to sit our behinds in our living room?

Should we invest in some camping chairs for our living room?

How am I going to organize the kitchen? Do I really lack an intuition for kitchen organizing?

Can I bear to look in box after box and see the never-ending randomness that is inside them?

CAN I DO IT????? I must take a deep breathe, and just TRY to convince myself I can do it!!

BABY SIGN LANGUAGE

So, I have to say, BABY SIGN LANGUAGE is very exciting. Its actually ASL (American Sign Language) using the most important words for babies.

I have done it with all 3 of my kids, and it is a LIFESAVER.

So far Kylianne has signed the soonest. She started signing "All Done" at 10 1/2 months.

This has been the BEST tool, because she can tell me if she is grunting because she wants "MORE" (she still hasn't done this one yet) or if she is "ALL DONE" from eating.

And last night, to my exploding heart's delight, she put her hand up to my I-love-you-signed hand and signed back "I Love you" (not perfect form of course) back at me as she said,

"Luh-buh!"

For being just shy of 11 months, is close enough for ME to understand what she means.

Brooke's first sign came at 13 months and is was "MORE" and shortly thereafter it was "PLEASE."

Tyler signed "PLEASE" about that same age.

Kylie's other developments, for anyone that cares, is she has 8 TEETH NOW! I think that is the biggest mouthful of teeth at that age of all my kids.

AND she does not take after her mom, who was bald until she was 2, she has got some great CRAZY BABY EINSTEIN hair that is only tamed in pig-tails.

Has anyone else had good exeriences with Baby Signing? Which signs did your kids do first? Do you continue to use signing with your kids in church or anything?

HILARIOUS TWILIGHT ONE MINUTE SPOOF - ESPECIALLY THE PART WITH ALICE PITCHING!!

I LAUGHED SO HARD AT THIS. Brian and I both love it when "Alice" says

"ITS TIME!" And then pitches the baseball - so horribly - and so hilariously!!!!!

I am just going to put the link because this video part is giving me a hard time -but it is so worth the FOUR MINUTES. You will be laughing to yourself all day!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goix7jFXD9Q

NEW MOON MADNESS?????

SO, maybe I am regressing back to my teenage years, but I have become an somewhat AVID follower of TWILGHT'S sequel movie - NEW MOON- and their website.

http://www.newmoonmovie.org/

I like checking out what they filmed that day, casting developments, and so forth.

Here are the new movie posters - FUN!!

Me and THE GIRLS here have a plan in place already for November to see NEW MOON at the local

IMAX THEATER.

OH YEAH!!!

Which poster do you NEW MOON fans like better?