the latest

for dancing, for running, for singing at the top of my lungs, for a mood boost... I just can't help myself.

Thanks Maria for the song suggestion. It's on repeat in my head and on my computer.

Pumpkin Patch

These two boys have been obsessed with pumpkins for the past month. They have loved watching for them in every store that we enter and as we drive they get so excited to see pumpkins on porches and they especially love seeing the big pumpkin patch that we drive past every time we head to the store. We decided it was about time to get our own pumpkins, so we headed out for a family night to Jaker's pumpkin patch.
I have to tell you that it was fabulous. They had a petting zoo... I think that was the highlight for the boys. They had sheep and miniature horses, a giant pig, a llama and a kangaroo.  Yes, you read that right, a kangaroo! The boys were completely head over heels with the animals and feeding them.

 

The boys were so excited about the hay-bale maze. Porter saw the older kids jumping the hay bales and he decided to join in.

 

 They had the gigantic corn pit. This is where the boys would grab handfuls of corn and run to feed the sheep. Porter eventually just laid down in it and made "corn-angels"

 It was getting pretty dark by the time that we figured we should probably find some pumpkins. We pulled the boys away from the giant corn pit and they started looking through the fields for their pumpkins.

 They were both successful, and carried their pumpkins back to the nice gentleman to purchase. Bridger, who is obsessed with "babies" of any kind, found a tiny baby pumpkin that he wanted so bad. He now likes to take with him everywhere.

 It was a successful evening.
 

 And if you're in the area, I highly recommend Jaker's... did I mention that everything (sans pumpkins) was free?

the house

It seems kind of silly posting this now because so many things have already changed about the house, but I feel weird trying to post newer things without ever posting pictures of our home... so without further adieu here it is... right after we moved in. (sorry about the poor quality of some of the photos... they are pretty much straight out of the camera)

 Our front door has now been sanded down and repainted... no worries, it's still red, but this is a fuschia/red, and we painted it a brick red... looked better with the bricks.

 The front entry/front room. Don't know what the weird balcony is for, or really what we're going to do with it. We think we might blast through the wall behind it (it's the master closet behind the balcony) and make a huge walk in, or maybe wall off the portion that has the railing and turn it into a reading nook... so many possibilities. Also, the paint on the lower half of the wall is no longer lavender, it's a beautiful gray. And the stairs are no longer the gross carpet, they have been replaced with oak stairs... so pretty.

 Another view of the weird balcony... still thinking of what to do here...

 Surprise! Our master bedroom wall. When we walked through (both initial and final) there was an enormous headboard that covered up the lower color. We thought the whole wall was the dark purple. Then when we moved in, we found out that wasn't true. This wall will be painted soon. I have the grayish-blue paint all ready to go... I think the lady who owned the house before liked purple.

 Our master bathroom. Large soaking tub...mmmm. Love it. The walls are kind of silvery... and they can stay like that for now.

 One of our master closets. I love the built-ins. All the closets (except for one in the office) have built-ins... the amount of storage in this house is incredible.

 Boys bathroom. Also purple. Also to be painted.

 Boys bedroom. It is painted. It's a darker gray-blue. It was the one request that Porter had of our new house. He wanted a blue bedroom and it was one of the first things that got painted in the house.

 The view from the boys bedroom is incredible. Both of the mountains, and of our backyard.

Upstairs hallway/linen closet... it's huge, and they left us a ton of paint.

Apparently New Orchid was their favorite... we have 3 paint cans of it... so if any of you love the lavendar look, let me know. I've got a gift for you.

The view from the balcony. You can see the purple walls a little better in this shot, and I love my plantation shutters on the front window.

View from the stairs to the kitchen.

 I thought the kitchen was a little small, but as it turns out, it has a really good flow for cooking. I've got some good ideas for this room in the future.

 Heading downstairs from the kitchen/dining room.... oh, and although I didn't show a picture of the dining room, I promise you, it used to be purple. These stairs have the carpet ripped off them now and I'm just waiting for Kyle to finish the oak treads for these stairs.

 The wood stove... part of what sold us on this house. I love the wood burning stove. It cuts down on gas bills like you can't believe and I love the idea of roasting marshmallows in my own basement!

Two windows that look out onto our back patio.

 3rd bathroom and our guest room/craft. I don't know why, but I didn't take pictures of the cool ceiling texture they did in the guest room. I'll take them some other time. After all, we're going to be here a while!

 View from the stove. Three walls of this room are brick.

 So much storage. This basement room is either going to be a playroom or storage room or a 5th bedroom if we need it. It also contains the only window that is below grade in the house. That door there is under the stairs and has a huge closet with built ins.

Same with these closets. built-ins galore.

 And the view from our side yard. I love how close we are to the moutains.
We have so many projects in the works, but I love our house. I love the yard, I love having a home of our own. We couldn't have asked for a nicer ward or neighbors.
We love it here.

getting used to the new normal...aka: why I haven't blogged

A new home, new job, new ward, new neighbors, new preschool, new schedule, new exercise routine.  All things that we adjusted to during the month of September.
Finally things got unpacked and we started getting to know all the wonderful people in our neighborhood and ward. I started getting used to my new job and settling into the routine of mommy/housewife/nurse in this new chapter in our lives. Kyle adjusted to applying for positions, interviewing for jobs and doing any and every home improvement idea that came our way. (Currently working on changing the carpet on the stairs to oak stairs).
The boys adjusted well to our new ward and their new classes (Porter has only been brought to me during Relief Society once while we've been here and it was only because he had told his teacher that he missed me). They both love their blue bedroom and both have learned to climb the enormous trees in our yard.
By the beginning of this month we were feeling pretty good about our nice little routine. It was a busy routine, but it was working well.
Then Kyle went for an interview. And it went really well. Really well. Not only was the job for a mechanical engineer, but it is exactly what Kyle had wanted to do with his degree and what he went to school for. He had the interview last Friday.  He was offered the job last Saturday. He accepted the job on Monday and he started on Tuesday.  Oh, and did I mention that his job is less than 10 minutes from our house? He can ride a bike to work during the warmer months... yeah, it's that close. Oh, and that means I get to cut back my hours at work! We couldn't be more excited about this job!
Now we have a new new normal and I think I'm going to adjust to this one faster than the last one. 
Blogging will become more frequent and photos will be appearing on the blog again soon. We've been up to a lot over the past month and I have a ton of photos to go through... I'll be back soon.