Excellent marketing!

Ourselves and neighbors woke up this morning to a whole tray full of a variety of plants delivered to our doorstep!
The note attached said it was a gift from a local gardening supply store, and included a coupon.
You bettah believe I'm headed there for our next yard supply haul....they gave me free stuff.
They speak my language.

First trip to Big R

My dad might be shocked to learn that today was my first time shopping at Big R, the huge yard-supply type store near them. He's been there approximately 17,988 times. But I just haven't had the need til now. And it's still not a NEED, of course. I just wanted more plants for the yard! We bought 5 begonias, 2 pumpkin starts, 3 tomato plants, and an organic cantaloupe. Let's hope I can keep them alive, or I just wasted $22! Though it would never be a total waste, because at least Brianna and I got to have a fun outing! She thinks everything garden related is ridiculously amazingly awesome. In her words, "plants are my LIFE!"  (though everything "is my LIFE" lately, thanks to the guy from Frozen's line, "Ice is my LIFE!")

Backyard picnics

= Summer!

Colored Rad

Found this off Brian's phone.
Do you know how fun it is to run a 5K while having packets of colored starch bombed at you?
Way fun.
Add the delight of a 6 year old (who occasionally needed a piggy back break)....way way fun.

Hey, who's that hot blond in the background?
 Why, that's my SISTAH! Go Meredoo!

Assembling my entry way table

I love having my Dad here to help me with projects like this!

And by "help me," I mean, "do it FOR me...."

Expo with Meredo

It's fun to live somewhere where my sister can text me in the morning and say, "Hey- wanna go to ... "
And I can go!
Cuz I LIVE here!
There's no airplane flight scheduled to take me home.
No long roadtrip journey ahead.
This isn't vacation... It's permanent!
So surreal.
And just for the record...yes, I'm totally happy about this.
But I was also quite content with how things were before.

It's alllll good.

So today's adventure: the Health and Wellness Expo at the fairgrounds! Super fun. Tons of vendors, lotsa freebies and samples.
Amazing how many people claim to have the cure for all the ailments in the world...and at "such a bargain price"!!  :)

It was a fun outing, and the kids now equate expos with trick or treating.

4 swingers in the backyard

Ever since I laid eyes on our house, THIS is what I've been most excited about. This is what's made all the long days and nights of unpacking and the emptying of our savings account totally worth it:
We have a seven acre park in our backyard. 7 ACRES. Complete with paved trails, dirt trails, tetherball, 2 full playgrounds, benches/tables, and a massive grass field featuring excellent sledding/rolling hills.
And we pay a whooping $18/mo to keep it privately owned and maintained by Winfield Park residents.
They do neighborhood BBQs, big screen movies, campouts, holiday parades....yeah, we struck backyard gold here.
Compare this with our Provo townhome, with an HOA fee of $172/month (not a typo), where all we got was a small crowded pool and cable tv we didn't need. Ugh. I'm praying everyday that thing sells fast. No luck so far.
Til then, we keep swingin!

Shelf liners

You know a blog post with a title like that has to be fascinating and of supreme importance, right?
Right. Well. It's a big deal in my little world of home management these days.
The minutia is the grandiose.
So...shelf liners. The point? Purpose? Not sure. Jus doin it cuz mama tol' me to.
Such.a.pain.!!
What's the secret to sizing it correctly?! Wish I knew. My edges look awful.
But it's ok. I know my mom will just re-do it for me eventually and make it look great :)

Who needs unpacking ...blech.

We're finding lots of things to distract ourselves from the colossal job of unpacking...playdates, park trips, and rainy day crafts like making crayons!
We found these tiki head molds...I think they're meant for candy, but work great to repurpose all those broken crayolas.

But I really really do need to get back to unpacking....

Improvising

Mom brought me over a beautiful salad. But I haven't unpacked our plates yet.....
A pot works just as well, right?

hairyscary

My hair is crazy long.
I need to do something about it.

Besides having Mere braid it so we can do Color Runs together.....

But I'm scared. I

Projects!

Oh, there are so many of them.
So very very many projects around here.
First things first: BEDS!
So glad we have dad to help with assembly!
New bunkbeds, coming right up.

Chaos

She is *drinking* applesauce out of a plastic cup because I haven't unpacked our bowls and spoons yet.
But hey, she's dressed! That only took 2 hours this morning to accomplish...
Can't wait til we are done living out of boxes :)  which, in my experience, takes a very long time...
Oh well, we are finally HOME!!
Saying it again cuz I love how that feels...
We are home!

Moving IN day!!!

So much more fun than moving OUT day... !

For the inlaws...

I'd love to re-do this with better pictures of a few of the kids.... but I feel like I always bug siblings and in-law siblings for pictures when I'm doing projects. So in an effort to bug them less, I just steal photos off their Facebook pages. And some people post better photos of their kids than others :)

20% down

The kids sitting patiently at the bank while I'm having the big fatty cashiers check printed! Off to the title co for CLOSING!!!!

Multitasking man

He manages to watch his recorded Spurs bball games while doing his 3-4 hrs of Medline homework each night after the kids go down. Swoon.

Somebody put her swimsuit on all by herself........

Brianna, the VIP

She had to bring some pictures of her to school for her VIP highlight, so we threw this together.

Charity & Papa

23

I updated mom's collage. I hadn't done that since the twins were babies. Mom framed this and put it by her kitchen sink because looking at their little faces makes her happy. I love creating presents like these!  Easy, fun, unique, treasured!

Jaguar Jam

Meadow Ridge Elementary sure knows how to put on a carnival!

 Jumper castles, obstacle course, face painting, games, prizes, jousting, balloon artist, firetruck, photobooth...the whole nine yards!

  It was a little challenging keeping track of them, as they ran in different directions, and I was +baby, -husband ......but I did a head count in the car on the way home and I didn't lose anyone! Score!


  It's also a little challenging going to events like this and having to explain why we don't purchase the crap food.
"I love you too much to put that junk in your body" is the line I used, and it worked well enough for now :)

Storytime

North Spokane Library puts on a good one!
I'm glad we get to have Brianna in afternoon kindergarten so she still gets to go with us on morning activities.
Just wish I didn't have to always interrupt Charity's morning nap when we wanna go anywhere.
But such is life with lotsa kiddos!

  It's fun taking my children to the exact same library I loved going to as a child :)
I have good memories of coming here with my mom and Meredith, leaving with stacks of books.

Now listen up...

Nonny is 'splaining the rules!
The pre-outing prep :)

5 little monkeys, iPading on the bed...

Barely 7am and the party is starting.

Matching jammies

Rhubarbing

Made strawberry rhubarb muffins this morning from Papa's rhubarb!