We Make A Start

We finally got into our new house yesterday.  With the able help of my sister, Mikayla, we immediately began ripping up carpet.  Pink and teal carpet.  Dirty, stinky, pink and teal carpet.  I was so happy to see it go.  I'm also so sore, especially my hands.  Before we move in we are going to paint, and by "we" I mean we, Kent and I.  The whole house.  We are also installing hardwood on the main floor, although the "we" there means someone else.  I'll write a check.  And we are getting new carpet.  There are lots of other things I want to do, in the kitchen, bathrooms, and the laundry room, but we'll get to those eventually, after we move in.

I wanted some "before" shots of the house, but as you can see, 

I sort of forgot until over half the carpet in this room was already ripped up.  

Love that teal!

Goes with everything.

This pink sculpted carpet is fantastic too.

Not only did we rip up the carpet, we have been removing the tack, the floorboards, and that awesome chair rail.  

This is the room after we'd torn everything out.  

I'm so excited to paint!

Any suggestions on colors?

I'm definitely going bold.

Here is all the carpet and padding.

Yeah!

Although I am sore, I have already found it tremendously satisfying to work hard and see the results.

Tomorrows task: vacuum and wash walls.

A Conversation

As a poop reward some time ago, Blythe got a bag of hair care products--a curling iron, a blow dryer, a little bottle of hair spray, a hair straightener.  I don't need to say all fake, do I?  Today she was in the mood to
"do" hair.  Grandma Sue came over and was made to sit on the ground and be coiffed.  Later I was made to sit on the stairs so Blythe could fix my hair.

As I was sitting, Blythe brushed and curled, sprayed and teased, and talked to me too.  She can certainly multi-task.  She said, "Mom, you need to get some princess shoes, a ring, a necklace, and some earrings so you will look like a fashion girl."

comb comb


"Put you head back now, Mom.  I need to reach your hair."

more combing as I tilted my head back


Then the best part.  "Mom, don't move your legs or your arms.  I don't want to hurt you with my instrument.  It could shock you."

What?!  My instrument?  Where does she get this stuff?

As a side note, my hair looks pretty good tonight.

A Family

For part of Brandt's homework last week, he was to draw a picture of his family and label each member.  Here is his drawing.  He drew heads with faces for each of us, but then he colored them in, in black.  Makes it a bit harder to identify the blobs as people.  He did the labeling by himself, though I had to help him spell Blythe.  He did mom and day by himself, and his own name too.  He made himself bigger than Blythe (of course), and put Dad on the grass.  He also included our car.  I love this picture and felt it needed to be saved.  He was also to render some act of service, and he helped me make dinner, specifically the cornbread.

And So . . .

The children love it when we tell them stories.  They are fairly demanding, wanting specific stories at specific times.  Here are a few current examples.

On the way to school, Kent must tell Brandt wizard stories, wherein Brandt is a very powerful wizard who helps others and saves the day with his skills (becoming invisible, flying, zapping bad guys).  As they walk out the door to school, Brandt will say, "And so . . . " expecting Kent to launch right in before they are even off the porch.

Blythe likes the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  Whenever I wear my bike ride t-shirts, she wants me to tell her the story.  Brandt likes this one too.  Both of them will say, "I'm the chopper man!" (the woodsman who saves Little Red).  Blythe can tell the story along with me, especially when we get to the "My, what big ears you have Granny," parts.  

Another favorite story for both children is when I inadvertently locked Brandt in the car when he was only 18 months old and we were in Las Vegas for World of Concrete.  It is a story full of excitement, fear, and a brave rescue by the paramedics above.  This story is so gripping they will sometimes ask me to tell them again, immediately after I finished.  

And so . . . if you are in need of some entertainment, come on over and we'll tell you a story.

Funny Children

The week before Mikayla got married, Kent and I took the children over to my parent's house to work in the yard.  We weeded, trimmed, and refinished the deck.  While we worked, the children ran around with their cousins, Crew, Griffin, and Ava.  When we were done for the day and cleaning up, we discovered that the children had been very busy too.

They had filled my mother's car, a Suburban, with coolers, containers, a ladder, a leaf blower, pots, even the coaster car.  The back, middle seat, and even the front passenger side were occupied.  They did all this on their own, hefting everything into the car, just the three boys.  They worked hard.  We adults just laughed and laughed.  They are funny little people.

Autumn Leaves

Two Mondays ago, for family home evening, we drove up the canyon to be Looky Lous and ogle the leaves.  I packed a picnic and we went to Big Springs Park.  It was beautiful, though a bit chilly.  We ate our sandwiches, had a short lesson, and then played duck duck goose and follow the leader.  Playing follow the leader with only four people is not a problem.  Playing duck duck goose, however, is more difficult.  Blythe had a hard time choosing someone to be the goose, and Brandt always wanted to be the one chosen.  The leaves were mostly past their prime, but it was fun to be out and up the canyon.

Playing duck duck goose.

Stake Service Day

On Labor Day, our stake had a service day.  Kent and Brandt went to work at our neighbor, Richard's house. Blythe and I joined many others to work at Rock Canyon, our local elementary school.  We hauled bark around the playground, picked up trash, weeded and swept.  We have a new young man in our ward who is friendly and funny and Blythe is rather taken with him.  She calls him her "cousin Abe."

This week, Blythe said she wanted Abe to "come over and play."  

We have invited him, and his family, to come and have crepes with us on Sunday evening.

Last of the Swimming

We will miss the sun and water.

Mawidge

My cute sister Mikayla got married yesterday.  It was a dreamy day.  Mikayla and her husband Guy (who has appeared regularly in the blog) looked so happy and seemed to have a great day.  She looked beautiful, he looked eager, and the whole of the day came off without a hitch.  I wish I had thirty or more photos to post, but I left my purse at home with my camera in it, and so I only have a few from the temple.  I will post more when Mikayla gets them back.

Outside the temple, the little boys are running around the fountain one direction, and the big boys are running the other.

Look at these cute boys in their matching sweaters. 

Kent and Jason Fuller, next door neighbor of my parents and Mikayla's friend from childhood.   

Coming out of the temple.  

They're kissing!

They did that a lot.

They are laughing.

Mikayla probably won't like me to post this one, but they look so happy.

At the temple after the wedding

and

At the house during the reception.

We look pretty good. 

We are missing Dad (really missing Dad) and Bryan and Missy.

Blythe has no shoes.  

She took them off somewhere and spent the rest of the evening running around in her stockings.

The girls: Ava, Blythe, Mikayla, Lyla, and Makenna

Our B is a beauty.

We look happy and cute.

In addition to being shoeless, I think Blythe's stockings are blue, not black.

What a handsome guy.

I'm glad I married him.

I include a picture of the cake because I made and decorated it.

The bottom tier is Styrofoam, but the other four layers are cake.

When Mikayla and Guy were making wedding plans, Mikayla said, "Katherine will make our cake."

Guy said, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

He was remembering the birthday cake I made for her last year. 

She assured him that all would be well and that the cake would be perfect.

She was right.

It was beautiful, tasty, and it didn't fall over or disintegrate at all.