Sunday, July 28, 2013

4th of July--Tinney Flats, Diamond Fork Hot Springs & Maple Canyon

We planned a camping trip with the LaRiviere's since they would all be around for Stella's baptism.  As soon as we arrived at the campground Clive went right to the stream and proceeded to throw rocks in it for about an hour--right through dinner.
 
On the fourth a bunch of the Goodrich family came up for the day (Sam's family, Nate's family, Jordan & Lacey, Grandma & Grandpa).  Stella and Katie stayed at the campground.  We sat around and talked about books and movies and played horseshoes.  There are no pictures of all this relaxing because the camera went with the LaRiviere's.  They hiked 2 1/2 miles to (and fro) the Diamond Fork Hot Springs.  The day was hot and, it turns out, so were the hot Springs.  Only Fred got in.




 
The Goodrich's left to continue their 4th celebration at Sam's house.  The LaRiviere's had dutch oven and roasted marshmallows. 


 
 Everyone but Sam & Scott
 
On the 5th we packed up camp and headed south to Maple Canyon to do a little climbing. 


 
 
 Clive cried, "mom!" non-stop until I got done with my climb.
 
 He really wanted to climb but wasn't very good at it. 



 What would we do without Pepe?





We were lucky to have Pepe in our car on the ride home.  He insisted on stopping for ice cream.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Clive's Golden Birthday

Moving and having child #4 threw me into a funk.  I told myself that I would snap out of it when Clive turned two.  I never blogged about his birth.  I can't believe he is now two.
His birthday landed during a busy time.  Rather than put it off until I could plan better I decided to go ahead and "throw" a celebration a few hours before dinner. 
Dan bought a cake on his way home from work.
 
 
We sang.  Fred was being obnoxious.



 Clive "blew" out his candles.  The drool missed the cake.

 Rachel and her kids, Kate and her kids and Halle were there.


 He was good about getting all the paper off the present.  He thought that was the game and didn't know to look in the box.
 He loves bikes.
 We bought him a balance bike that is small enough for him.
 He is used to our old balance bike that he loved to walk because it was too tall to straddle.  So, at first, he just wanted to jump the bike. 
 It wasn't long before he was speeding along.  He is always saying, "watch the gate" then he'll take off.  (That is what is said at BMX races.)
 Leaning forward means he's going really fast.
 He LOVES his bike and wants to ride it all the time.  It was the most perfect gift we could have given him.
 With cousin Milo.
 
 

Sunday, November 20, 2011

A Dirty Dash Birthday Bash




A Loss

A Baby



July 2nd
8 pounds 11 ounces

A Camping Trip

A week before my due date. Right after my dr. stripped my membranes.

Excuses

Being pregnant. Moving. Having a baby. Building a house. Moving again. And moving again. These are things that have kicked my butt.
I plan on catching up on blogging but I am still overwhelmed by the amount of things I need to get done to feel settled. And baby Clive really likes to be held, which really limits the amount of things I accomplish in a day.
So I will ease back into blogging with some teaser posts.

Friday, June 03, 2011

Some News

i'm forcing myself to write this post. i am not forcing myself to use the shift key.


i have been bad at blogging. the number one reason is that i am pregnant--which equals lazy. the other reason is that we are moving and this takes up a lot of time and energy.


we always figured we would return to utah and dan got really anxious as the housing market continued to plummet with no sign of return in the near future. so we figured we would try to get out now. if we waited until the market improved (at least three years) then our kids would be older and have a harder time moving.


but we weren't too hopeful. we considered renting, buying a house in utah and then short-sale the one in idaho if it got too much for us. word got out and we immediately had three families that wanted to rent. all very good options. we couldn't decide.


so dan applied for some jobs. he got three offers. he has a talent for getting jobs. he decided to accept a job managing data for the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints (i just can't deny the shift key for that one). they have very good benefits. they also pay for closing costs and realtor fees. so we decided we would put it up for sale for three months tops.


getting a house ready to sale is no easy task. besides all the cleaning and packing we had stella's birthday, a yard sale, and three soccer games. oh, and i'm pregnant.


we had three showings on saturday and an offer on monday. we were really excited because the offer was more than the asking price. but then they negotiated the closing costs. then a self-proclaimed "nit-picky" inspector came up with a very long list of things wrong with our house. including a jet in the bathtub with low-pressure and a stove burner with a low flame. the buyers required us to fix only the most expensive things. (things that were wrong with the house when we bought it but were not pointed out to us.)


everyday for the past week someone has been coming to fix something and charge us money. i am so tired of it. i'm tired of thinking about it. i haven't been doing anything physical but thinking about all the money we are forking out for repairs and going to closing with mucho dinero--make that muchisimo dinero--wears me out. we just hope that the buyers don't back out when the appraisal comes back. our house value seems to drop $1000 a week.




so where are we going? we have spent many weekends in utah trying to figure it out. we looked all through utah county for a house and even a bit in the draper area but couldn't find anything. we finally decided to build. we spent a lot of time trying to decide on a lot.


just after we decided to move to utah county my sister rachel decided the same thing. i really wanted to coordinate our house shopping but she was busy when we were available. we decided on a lot in lehi, just north of utah lake and a mile away from my cousin natalie and friend sarah. but i didn't have much hope that rachel would be able to find a house nearby--there wasn't much available.


the week after we bought our lot rachel went shopping for a house. she checked out the cul-de-sac where our lot is and.....(this is the best part of the story) the house across the street had gone up for sale. and they bought it! ha! how awesome is that?!


more trips have been made to utah to figure out the house plans. we will be renting for the summer while the house is being built. we are renting a home from a family that will be gone for an internship and is leaving their house furnished. if our house isn't finished before the family returns we will just have to move into rachel's basement. party! (right, rachel?)


the last day of school is wednesday. we will leave that evening to go to dan's brother's nicely-timed-wedding in logan on thursday. then we will finally move into the rental on saturday.


see why i haven't blogged about all this? there is just too much going on. and don't forget--i am due to have a baby in july. one month after we move into the rental. one month before we move into the new house.


i was just thinking, could this move be any more hectic? yes, it could. remember that we only had to show our house for one day? i didn't have to try to keep the house clean for weeks. also, our house sold. not for as much as we owe but it still sold. and, i am thankful that the new job provides movers to pack up and haul away our stuff.


if this baby didn't move around so much i might forget that i'm pregnant. poor, neglected fourth child.




ok, done. documented.




pray for the sale to go through!


Thursday, June 02, 2011

Bunny Birthday

Once upon a time I threw Stella a party a week before moving. Well, this year the timing was even better. Her party landed on the day our house went on the market. I must be getting better at this party -throwing because I pulled it off rather easily.


She requested a bunny themed birthday--NOT an Easter theme--just bunnies.


I made bunny ear headbands with posterboard and craft paper and stamps.
These balloons were so cute. Except they were top heavy. My favorite was this red one that stood on the tips of his ears:

The kids decorated pails with paint markers...

Pinned the tail (cottonball) on the bunny...

Ate cupcakes (or licked the frosting off the cupcakes). The ears were made with craft paper and toothpicks...

Beaded candy necklaces and had bunny hopping races...

And a pinata...

And I did it all by myself. Except Chloe drew the bunny faces for me.

The party was a success. Fun was had by all.