Another Year Bites The Dust

... and another one down, and another one down. Another year bites the dust!

Gotcha singing it now, huh?

We have been partying here tonight! We had hamburgers for dinner and have been playing Mario and doing hair all night.

Now for the frustrating news. I took Carter into the doctor today. He's had a bad cold, but along with that a high fever, diarrhea and totally lethargic for days. But to complicate things, the diarrhea has been going on for a while, and a few weeks ago he had blood in his diaper.

So the PA we saw was so frustrating. After telling him Carter's history, he told me that it sounded like nothing was wrong with Carter and that it is normal for toddlers to have diarrhea. I argued with him! I am not normally a person to do that, but it really shocked me that he would say it was normal!

He then told me (after not backing down) that we could do some tests to rule out that there was anything wrong with him: an ultrasound, after that a biopsy of some kind and then a colonoscopy.

He pulled up the test results from the beginning of this year when they took his blood and tested it for allergies. All of those tests had come back negative by the way, even though he had not been on gluten when they tested him which he has to be for the test to work properly.

This PA kept going on and on about how this is totally normal and how he is not allergic to any food AT ALL.

You know, I'm totally open to the possibility of Carter not being allergic to any food, but then at least try to help me figure out why he has had diarrhea for a year!!

I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm pretty sure I am totally done with that office.

Eve

Let's talk about snow

We have so much snow!! It is ridiculous! And the funny thing is that in Twin Falls, which is 45 minutes away and in the same valley, they have no snow. It has been snowing there but it hasn't stuck. Weird, right?

The roads have been horrid for days, even though the roads have been plowed. The snow has been blowing back onto the roads after it is plowed off. Yesterday they closed the highway to Fairfield because it was just too treacherous.

And every day it snows more. I love it!! Except we would be up a creek without a paddle if the snow were to cause the power to go out. I hope that doesn't happen.

Yesterday I decided it would be the perfect day to go deliver christmas goodies. Ha. Ha. I was gone for four hours and only delivered 1/3rd of what I needed to because it took forever to drive anywhere and I kept getting stuck. At this point, I think I'll just forget about it.

This is a picture Logan took as we were driving the jeep to the post office on Monday. It was really slick that day and I could not drive straight. As I was sliding down the street sideways in town, a man stopped me, pointing excitedly at my back tire. He freaked me out! I stopped the jeep in the middle of the street, he freaked me out so bad. But anyway, he came over to tell me that my back tire was spinning...    crickets

Well DUH!!!

I WAS IN FOUR WHEEL DRIVE!

Some people's children.

I was very unhappy that I had stopped and lost my momentum going down the road just so he could tell me that.

Samantha As Goldilocks

Samantha had her Christmas concert yesterday. Her grade did an operetta of The Three Bears, and Samantha has been ridiculously excited for this for weeks because she was chosen to be Goldilocks. Yes. I know what you all must be thinking, because Trevor and I were thinking it too.

How in the world is she going to be able to stand up in front of all those people without bursting into tears or freaking out in some way or other?

She handled it pretty well. I'm not saying she didn't freak out, because she totally did in her own way. But besides the pushing part where she almost knocked a kid down, I'd say she mostly kept it together! Lol!

Two In One

Two mice caught in one night inside my house.

That. Is. Just. Plain. Disgusting.

A mouse chewed a hole through the kick plate in the kitchen cabinets. That is how they got in.

I am thoroughly grossed out.

What is my problem with mice?

They love me!

They follow me everywhere.

Strike that. Three mice.

A third just caught while I was typing this.

Ack! Help me!!

I feel so violated!

Trevor is tracking the third one as I cower and scream from the bed in the bedroom watching him from afar.

The funny thing is that the second mouse trap went off as trevor was tracking what we thought was the second but turned out to be the third. Make sense?

Ick.

I bet we catch even more today since they had all night to congregate in my house.

Heaven help me.

Nice/Mean

How to tell if it's a nice or a mean cat:

Easy. Look at the color of the cat's nose.

Pink= nice

Black= mean

Tried and true method.

Lol.

Did I tell you we adopted another cat?

The mice were taking over the garage.

So we brought home our new cat Mr. Pickles. Also known as Sully.

Sully J. Pickles.  

I don't know what the J stands for.

Trevor gave him the middle name.

He's orange. He's weird. He's got personality for sure.

And his nose is pink.

BRAVE

Oh guys... what have I done? I was so so sick of my hair. All my layers had grown out and even though I have trimmed my hair myself, it was just yucky to me because it was all one length and I have super THICK hair!!!

And then I started watching hair cutting tutorials on Youtube.

You know where this is going, right?

So then I mustered up some courage.

Took a deep breath.

And chopped.

Ack!

I did a bad job!

Hahaha!

I could cry, but laughing seems like a better idea! Like the time I painted the couch and it turned crunchy, so then I sanded it trying to make it soft again... hahaha! Funny stuff!

Well at least I can only do better next time.

Yes. I will try again!

Maybe in a few years, after this grows out again.

Hahaha!

The walls came crashing down

So the walls didn't really come crashing down, but it sure made a good title. I thought I'd put some updated photos here for you.

We are starting to pull the floor up now that the walls are mostly down. We tried pulling the floor up on Saturday, but it ended up being a disaster as all the boards we pulled up splintered into a thousand pieces. We went back on Monday and everything went much much better. We went at the floor from a different side of the room, and the boards started coming out with a much better outcome.

I think this means I get to have a hardwood living room!!! Yay!!

Once the floor is out, we will lay a subfloor (or whatever we are calling it) down and then the studs for the new walls can go in. Yay!! Huge stuff is happening!

After the studs for the walls go up, we can have the new electrical panel installed and start wiring the house!!! Double yay!!!

Then the plumbing panel can go in!!! And all the plumbing pipe can get run where it needs to go!!!

This list could really go on and on. It sounds like an easy deal when you lay it all out like that, but it's really quite a lot of work and will be a while before we accomplish half that stuff.

House update

It has been a while since I updated on the house. We basically took the past two weekends off since we were doing family things out of town, but we have been working at nights still. Yesterday we got a lot done as well. We got a lot of the walls out, and found a huge patch of mold... yuck.

I can't wait to be done with the demo, but I think it's going to be done soon. Let's see what pictures I have to post:

Finding Alyson

I was having this conversation with someone about how after having each baby, they have to find themselves again. I completely agree. But it's not just about trying to get your body back or try not to go crazy from lack of sleep, but I think this applies spiritually too.

I feel like after having a baby I am on this spiritual high. I have been so close to the spirit in preparing to have the baby, and then in having the baby as well. In the hospital the veil is so thin. Everyone gathers to welcome the baby on this earthly journey. I love that feeling. I love having heaven so near, and even for the first few weeks I can feel it still lingering. But eventually it wears off. Now I feel it is time to bring my spiritual self back. I slacked off these past few weeks and I feel oddly like a big deflated balloon. My balloon needs to be pumped up.

Hmm. Just some things to think about.

The Concert Goes On...

I finally got the full concert video to upload. Now you can watch it and feel just like you were there! Lol. I realize it can be boring, so skip ahead. The kindergarteners were probably the most boring part, but only because they didn't know their song very well, and also they didn't sing loud enough. 

Fourth Grade

On Tuesday we went to the charter school for a concert for the kindergarten and fourth graders. There was one other grade there too, I think 5th or 6th, but I'm not sure. Conveniently my kids concerts fell on the same day. They can't hold a concert for every grade on the same night because we would not all fit. As it was, I'm sure there were some code violations made. It was packed.

At the charter school they take their music very seriously. When most other schools require their kids go buy recorders and learn how to play, our charter school requires all fourth graders learn how to play a string instrument. They provide each child with an instrument and have lessons multiple times a week. I admit I've been skeptical about how they would sound, but wow! These kids did so awesome! I'm a believer!!

This first video is the fourth grade warming up. I will try to upload the video of them playing real songs later today.

New post

Recent photos

a conversation with Logan

Logan: Can I have another sandwich?

Me: No. You eat too much bread. Don't you get constipated?

Logan: No.

Pauses...

Logan: What's constipation?

Me: explaining what constipation is

Logan: oh. Is that where your poop scrapes your bum when it comes out? And it hurts?

Me: Yes.

Logan: Oh that happens to me all the time. I don't mind it. So can I have another sandwich?

Me: No! Have a piece of fruit!

Baby was up all night coughing and gagging and puking.

Finally at 9am he has fallen asleep.

We are all sick.

And yesterday, Carter was lethargic and had diarrhea at least 5 different times. I wish I knew what he ate to cause it. He has been walking like a cowboy who was on a horse too long because the diarrhea burned his bum so bad. Poor guy.

This morning Trevor took Logan to town to work on the house. I get to stay home and sleep. Maybe.

Good News

Trevor fixed my washer. I repeat, TREVOR FIXED MY WASHER!!!

I have been doing laundry like a crazy person. Loads are no longer taking all day and the washer is no longer stopping mid cycle!!!

Also, Will just slept through the night.

Things are looking up people!

help

Some of you know that for the past two months I've been in a losing battle with my washing machine. It really started when our well died. I think that sediment clogged filters or something, but I have no idea. I don't know how to fix my washer, and it has gotten worse and worse. It's so bad now, that I'm lucky if I get one load of laundry done every day. That's if I babysit the washer and start it each time it stops mid cycle. There are many days that I'm not able to get any laundry done since we are working at the house, and so I have just gotten more and more behind each day.

Please, help me. Do you know how to fix a washer? What should I do? I am feeling hopeless and I just want to beat it up. I've thought about going to the laundromat, but that would just be a fix for now and a big waste of money that we don't have. UGH.

HELP!

Sometimes You REALLY Feel Like Giving Up

Today, all the kids were out of school. After Trevor went to work, we got ready and went to work at the house in town. Today was painting day.

Yesterday, in preparation,  I drove to Twin Falls and purchased paper, tape, trim paint, door paint, and anything else we may need.

When we got to the house, I grabbed the 5 gallon bucket of donated house paint (long story. Thanks B & J!) and started Logan with the task of stirring while I taped and papered windows. Four windows taped later, I went to check on Logan. Looking in the bucket, something was wrong. The paint was not the right color. Weird. Why was the paint blue instead of brown? I took the stir stick and stirred making sure to SCRAPE the bottom of the bucket as I stirred over and over hoping to change the color back to brown.

What was going on here?

I made a quick phone call, and was assured it was the right color.
 
Confused, I went back to papering and taping the windows. We finished the windows just after noon and decided to get lunchables at the grocery store for lunch. Just before we left, I threw some paint up on the wall hoping it would dry brown.

Lol!

We got back from lunch and the color had not changed.

This. Was. Weird.

I looked at pictures of a house painted the same color we were supposedly painting ours, and it was not even close to the right color! The house in the picture was a nice toasty brown, and nowhere close to blue.

Agh!

I didn't know what to do, but decided to go forward. Meanwhile, Logan had prepared the paint pot and set everything up. We were ready to roll!

Then the phone rang. It was the paint donor. She remembered that the paint had been tampered with in the form of her sons dumping old cans of leftover paint into the bucket (I believe it was blue, green and red paint). Lol!

NOW IT MADE SENSE!

The only sad part about this revelation was that it meant that today was not a painting day. Also, tomorrow is not a painting day either. In fact, we won't be painting until Spring now. It's a hard pill to swallow. My hopes were really high.

But more important than paint, we need a bathroom and walls, electricity and also plumbing.

*sigh*

It's okay. Trevor thinks I get obsessive about stuff like this. Maybe I do. But all that time I spent killing myself working so hard at the end of this pregnancy, I was working towards this goal I made for myself. My goal was to get the outside of the house finished. And my treat for finishing the stucco was that I got to paint the house. When I was 10 months pregnant and hauling heavy cement (stucco) up and down the ladder, telling myself I could do this when I wanted to quit, it was the picture I had in my mind of getting to paint the house and make it pretty.

Oh well. Tonight I mourn.

Moving on tomorrow.

Sometimes You Feel Like Giving Up

My amazing dad found a paint pot at a garage sale.

Tonight I decided to try to figure out how it works/make sure everything is there...

...so I can paint tomorrow.

This was me:

"HUH?" as my eyes glaze over from having absolutely no clue what I'm looking at.

As we go along this journey of fixing up this house, I'm finding that the things I don't know how to do or don't want to do, Trevor steps in and takes care of. And vice versa.

Then there are the things that neither one of us know how to do, and we are just stubborn enough to figure them out.

My enthusiasm hasn't faded one ounce and in fact, if anything, it has grown.

I can't wait to see this house finished

Even if that doesn't happen for a few years, it's still exciting!

And to say we did it ourselves! How cool is that?!?

By the way, Trevor promised me (after laughing at me for telling him I had decided to paint the house with a paint brush since I couldn't figure out the pot) that he would set it up in the morning and get it ready to go.

Lol!

He's a very handy man.

Charging on

Today, despite being cold, we finished the final window and a little touch up with stucco.

NO

MORE

STUCCO!!!!!

Then the primer went up!!!!

All but one window and a few teenie touch up spots are ready for paint!!!

Real paint!!!

It's a momentous day!!

p.s. the house is really really cold. We need to figure something out asap.

Sleepy

Hello and Goodbye

I didn't get to write about this last week, and it deserves a post.

Our last and most beloved cat Roy passed away last week.

He didn't show up on Friday morning when I called him for breakfast. I called him a few more times, and then went looking for him. As I was calling for him and walking around the house, I heard a faint meow calling back to me. I kept calling and he kept meowing. I found him hiding under the spare Jeep hood. I lifted it up and grabbed him by the nape of the neck, all ready to scold him. That's when I noticed he was injured. I immediately started freaking out and crying and hyperventilating.

Luckily Sami was home that day, because she got everything ready for me while I was a total wreck trying to decide what to do with Roy. We ended up putting him in a box and driving to town to the vet clinic there.

At the vet clinic we tearfully left Roy in their hands and went to the house to get to work. Later we got a call that Roy had a broken leg, and probably a fractured back.

There was nothing they could do.

I asked them if we could wait just a little bit to put him down so that my kids could say goodbye.

We picked Logan and Phoebe up from school at the normal time and explained what had happened. Everyone was in tears. We went to the vet clinic and they left us in a room alone with Roy.

Roy was so sweet and meowed  softly as we pet him and cried and smooched all over him. It was really hard. Then we went back to the waiting room while Trevor stayed with Roy and the doctor. It was about 10 minutes. We could hear Roy meowing the whole time... I guess he was saying goodbye. I loved that cat so much.

Dang. I'm crying again.

So anyway, Trevor came out of the room holding Roy's body in a black garbage bag. So wrong. Why didn't they have a box.

He took me back to the town house to work, and took the kids back home to bury him. I asked Phoebe to put some kitty treats in his grave for me.

When they got back about an hour later, the kids told me that they put Roy's toy mouse in the grave, and a mouse that he had killed earlier that morning. They also put kitty treats and I think a few other things, but I can't remember. They buried him next to Puppy.

Agh, tears again.

We loved Roy. We loved Puppy. I don't think my heart can handle another animal for a while.

The vet said it looked like Roy had been attacked by a dog. The neighbor has recently aquired a huge dog who has been venturing into our yard from across the field a lot. Makes me feel angry for sure.

Unexpected Baby

Well, I did it. I had a baby on my own. No induction, no intervention. And what a surprise it was.

Yesterday morning I woke up with mild contractions. No biggie.

Got Samantha ready and on the bus.

Then Trevor woke up the other kids. That's when I realized these babies weren't stopping no matter what.

But I was in denial since they were short and even though they were starting to hurt, I didn't want to have a baby anyway, so I knew they would go away.

It wasn't until I started to shake that I knew things were real. We finished getting the kids ready for school and I packed a bag for myself. Meanwhile Trevor packed a bag for the kids and decided it was a good time to wash dishes!!

At that point I knew we needed to hurry ("Trevor!! What are you doing? We need to go!!")

So the kids got on the bus, and we jumped in the car. We dropped Carter off at a friends house, and drove to the hospital.

The drive is about 30ish minutes. Do you know that it's not fun having contractions in a car? I don't remember much of the drive, but apparently Trevor was speeding and sped past an officer and waved at him.

He's cheeky.

We got to the hospital and after stopping for numerous contractions, made it to a room. (Trevor was quizzing the nurse on the walk to a room about how good she was at delivering babies)

The nurse started freaking out when she found out my medical history (fast labors, low platelets, hemorrhage, fifth baby) and called what seemed like everyone in the hospital to come. She also called my midwife.

I had a few contractions in bed and felt that awful pressure feeling. My midwife had promised me I wouldn't have to labor this time with my water intact. I started begging for them to break my water.

My midwife showed up just then and hey, she remembered, and broke my water. Then she got in my face "alyson. There is poop in your fluid. Let's get this baby out"

So one and a half pushes and baby Will was born... 17 minutes after we arrived at the hospital. Haha.

Everything turned out okay with the meconium, and he passed all the tests. Thank heavens. So glad to be done. I hate labor. I hate being in that much pain. I hate not having pain meds.

Three Thirty AM

Hey everyone,

It's 3:30 am and I'm wide awake.

Why?

Because my whole body hurts so much that I can't sleep.

Why?

I'll give you one hint...

My dad left earlier this evening.

Yeah, you guessed it. Another round of pushing hard through the weekend and killing ourselves on the house.

A very unusual feeling for me, my RIGHT shoulder is throbbing with pain.

I  am so sick of saying the word stucco.

Who knew we'd have so much to do?

My dad and I pushed through and did the second coat of stucco on the last three windows on Friday, and then today I did the final coat by myself on the rest of the house.

What were the men doing you ask?

Oh just up on the roof taking down the chimney.

No biggie.

What a big day for projects.

We all worked our tails off.

Trevor was exhausted when we got home tonight.

I'm sure my dad is probably sleeping well right now too.

Thanks Dad!!

We would be nowhere close to the progress we've made without your help!!

And guess what?

Monday is the final dumb stucco day.

I get to put the final coat on the last three windows, and then the house is sealed!!!

And then I never have to say that word again.

Stucco.

No time for paint

Last night I dreamt of stucco ALL. NIGHT. LONG. Do you know what a nightmare it was? Horrible.

But since it was literally all my brain could think about, I woke up at 5:30 and Googled the forecast as far out as I could get it. The weather is changing rapidly, and weather has everything to do with stucco and paint.

It's not looking good.

We had hoped to be able to finish with enough time for paint, but even after the final coat of stucco is up, you have to wait a week for paint. Urgh!

The problem is, we have two sets of stucco going right now. One is scheduled to be finished Friday, and the other is set to be finished Tuesday. That is just when the final coat will be applied. Then we wait a week. By that time the weather will be solidly in a freezing pattern at night. Isn't that too cold for paint? Or does it just have to be a certain daytime temp?

Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure paint is just a certain daytime temp. Whew!

Now, would anyone like to jaunt up here for a painting party? It will be in November, and just a daytime party. I think we can get it done in one day.

Progress

This weekend we have been finishing up the last corner of windows.

Last night we finished installing the last three windows, and then today we trimmed them up and put up felt paper and wire mesh. Then I mixed up a batch of stucco and slapped it on top of everything. Yep. I am now to the point where I am slapping things up instead of nicely putting them up.

Just kidding there.

But man am I tired. My hands and arms and wrists ache. And you know what else? My legs hurt. Weird huh?

Trevor crawled up on the roof to patch up the water leak around the chimney, and found that a side of the chimney had colapsed since the last time he was up there last week. Oh brother. Anyone want to come help tear down a chimney? It involves throwing bricks off the roof. I hear it's therapeutic.

So Maybe...

I was told by many people I have a bad attitude about Mr. Inspector, so I am going to try very hard to think nice thoughts about him. Plus he came yesterday and inspected our work and didn't make us change anything. That was a nice thing, I guess. I'm still trying to think nice thoughts about the extra money he is making us pay in permits. I'm sure he will grow on me. Maybe.

In other news, I stopped working at the house for the past few days in order to get Halloween costumes done. My children decided they wanted to go with a group theme this year. They are all going to be circus performers. Logan is the Ringmaster. I made his jacket yesterday (red satin with gold trim accents and tails). I figured it would be good to get the hardest project out of the way. I just need to make him a top hat and bow tie. Then I made a pair of wooden stilts thinking that Phoebe would be the stilt walker, but it turns out that Phoebe is afraid of heights, so Samantha will be the stilt walker. Phoebe will be the tight rope walker/trapeze artist. Plus, funny story, I made the costume for the trapeze lady while she was at school, and it didn't fit Samantha. This was before we found out that Phoebe is afraid of heights. So everything worked out! The too small for Sami costume fits Phoebe perfectly and now I don't need to make a new one! Yay! Today my finishing projects will be stilt walker pants, and a world's strongest man costume for Carter. How fun!

In any event, sewing stops this afternoon, and it's back to working at the house tonight.

The past week I've been having some major swelling in my legs and feet. I honestly don't want to do anything but lay in bed with my feet up.

Sigh.

I can't take a break though. Got to finish up the house! I will try to remember to take pictures tonight.

He shall be known as Inspector Ruins My Plans

Today brought elephantitis of my ankles and legs and feet. Weird. It was a frustrating day for me because my dang body is really holding me back. It was hot out and we were trying to get more stucco on the house, but I just felt breathless and dizzy. Not a good combo when you are up on a ladder.

We worked through it though and managed to trim up a window, take out and reinstall a window, and still do the stucco we had planned.

You know what is heavy work? Holding a huge cement trowel in one hand, and a board thingy in the other (the thing you scoop the cement onto before you scoop it up with the trowel). It is heeeeaaavy! Especially while standing on a ladder.

So anyway, it really was a light day despite all we did. Because of the dumb inspector dude who stopped by yesterday, we changed a lot of plans. That's why we took a window out today, to fix the header which we thought he might have a hissy  fit about, and then we reinstalled it and the trim around it, and the stucco too. What a pain this guy is.

And all I could think about as we were talking about this inspector guy was Danny Kaye in The Inspector General movie and how he didn't know what he was inspecting, he just kind of made it up as he went and tried to sound official. Also, all the songs from that movie were playing over and over all day in my head.

Turns out this guy would be in our ward too, so the evil looks I've been planning on giving him when he comes back are just going to have to be kept to myself.

As soon as they are "inspected", we will be able to finish stucco on the last two areas of windows. It's looking like a house again...kind of. Then we will throw some paint on everything, and get back to the inside business. The house will be tan with white trim and I'm thinking I better paint the doors too which look like they are still in primer. I'm thinking a dark grey door. Maybe almost black.

I hope the weather holds just a bit longer.

A "back in the day" pic as per request

Inspector Smeckter

Today was a hard day. It was just...I don't know, I'm so exhausted! We worked our tails off and it feels like we didn't accomplish much. Still, we got another window in, and three small windows framed, and four windows sealed up and ready for stucco, and we took some old bunk bed rails which are meant to keep you from falling out of bed that my dad picked up, and ripped them down and primed them for window trim. It seems like a longish list when I type it all out!

Here's the kicker though; the gooding building inspector stopped by. He told us we have to have a permit to be changing the windows out. So we went and picked up a permit which really made me frustrated.  Why should we have to pay 55 bucks to replace windows which are already expensive? Dumb.

Enough complaining. I'm going to bed now.

spinning heads

Ya'all, life is going so fast. It's just that we don't really get down time right now and that's weird. Our poor kids are being neglected, I'll admit it. We are just trying to keep our heads out of the water, you know, to keep from drowning.

Someone asked me what we will do with the step outside the door we took out. We will rent a jackhammer and get rid of it. We have a few other concrete items to get rid of while we are at it.

I cannot wait to get this outside business sealed up so we can get back to the inside of the house. I'm particularly excited to get into the kitchen. I have some pretty cool plans for that.

Stucco

Today Trevor came home with an exciting story. He said he talked with someone who told him about how the left hand side of our house was a beauty parlor back in the day. Now the door and large window make sense! But what doesn't make sense is who in their right mind would have stepped foot in that yucky house to get their hair done. People have low standards.

In home news, we put another window in tonight. We are going to work on getting the rest of the house ready for more stucco the rest of the week. We've got to get this stucco done before the weather gets too cold for it. I am now a stucco expert you know...

This is after one coat of stucco. Two more to go.

Too Tired to Sleep

I'm tired. Tired.

We got home at about 9:30 this evening, and ate dinner and went to bed. This is no exaggeration.  We are all tired.

My most amazing and talented dad has been driving up on the weekends to help us fix this house. I am simply amazed at how much we accomplish when he is here. He does the work of 20 of me. Okay, maybe more like 30. We have worked ourselves ragged this week though trying to seal up the outside of this house. I am amazed that Trevor and my dad were able to take out every window that needed to come out. That was a lot of windows!! Let me count... 8 windows? I think. Yes, I think it was 8 that I wanted out.

It may seem like a lot, but we are redoing the floor plan on this junker, and it had a lot of tiny, ridiculous windows.

Tonight we tried our hands at stucco. What an experience. Moral of tonight's stucco episode? Don't mix too much! On the bright side, we have a new step on the outside of our garage. Get it? We mixed too much, so the excess got poured into a sidewalk!

So anyway, it's late and I was asleep, but then I was brutally awakened by acid reflux which choked me pretty good and shook me up enough that now I can't sleep. That's why you shouldn't eat and then go to sleep. Duh. Bad choice.

Sounds Like

This morning as I took Samantha out to the bus, Roy was in the front yard stalking a mouse. As I heard the now familiar sound of the mouse squealing for its life, I thought "I bet not many people have heard that before."

So thanks to Roy, I am now going to share the sound that sends shivers down my spine. I hate mice. I will never forget this sound.

Around the House

We've been working a lot at the house. I wish I could say we have a room done,  but I know that would be super naive of me. This project has only just begun,  and we are trying to seal everything up before winter comes.

Disclaimer: These pictures are all out of date now, but I will catch you all up in my next post. 

Trevor took out this set of steps, and then checked out the plumbing underneath the room. Above is a bathroom.

This is the plumbing he found under the stairs in the crawl space. That's a large crack running through the pipe and he stuck his screw driver in a hole to show the size of the problem.

This is another problem we found in the outside walls. This is approximately 1" insulation. We had not planned on taking off the drywall. Looks like we will be now.

Last week's progress. View from the living room looking into a bedroom on the left, and a bathroom on the right.

Gigantic spider on the garage

Inside the bedroom looking into where the bathroom will be on the right, and a small closet on the left. Window to come out this week.

There used to be a door here going into that bedroom which was totally ridiculous. The door is gone now.

New house

So I told you all we got a house. It's a 100% mess right now. I'm already failing in the documentation area. Here's a video I took right after I knocked out the bathroom wall and put the mirror on the floor. Trevor and logan were taking out kitchen cabinets, and sami and phoebe were playing outside.
P.s. I have been sick for a few weeks and pretty much lost my voice at this point.

Uncle!

What is it you are supposed to cry when you can't handle any more?  At first I thought it was MOMMY! But I think it's actually UNCLE! I think mommy is more appropriate. 

Want a health update on me? I continue to not feel well. I am anemic on top of the platelet issue. I have a baby growing inside me that is 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule as well as a higher amount of amniotic fluid. This whole thing is just plain weird. I just aquired a nasty cold, which I always get hit with colds super hard, so that's fun.

Sigh.

We have just bought a house people. A house!
This is kind of terrifying. The house is gross and needs a lot of work. We are going to start work this weekend. I will update about that soon.

I have been taking on a lot of photo jobs to try to supplement the house. You have to know that I'm taking on more than I normally do when I'm not pregnant. Photo season always wears me out and I get sick from it, so it's no surprise that I'm feeling the effects of this season terribly right now. On top of the stress of photos, add the house and scouts and I'm at my max. Ugh. Staying in bed today.

FALL

Here's what's annoying about Fall. I just locked the cat in the garage.

Know why?

Yeah. Mice. They are coming in. I hate them.

Frogs too.

Yes. Frogs in the house. Frogs in the garage.

I scream when I find them.

Unpleasantness.

Also, gnats right now. Oh my. We have a constant swarm. We sleep with one lone lamp on to attract them to the light and kill them dead! I should take a photo of our current pile of dead gnats. It's pretty cool.

I'm trying to see how big the pile gets before I get sick of it and clean it up.

Back to School

Tomorrow, school starts for Logan and Phoebe. Phoebe seems a bit worried but I'm sure she will love it! Tonight I took the kids outside for their back to school photos. Now I don't have to feel bad about not buying those dorky school photos. 

p.s. Please don't print or save these photos. If you want a copy, just ask. I'd be happy to oblige. 

Can you spot what logan is carrying?

If you guessed a headless mouse hanging between two sticks, you would be correct!!!

Oh me oh my

Tomorrow marks the first day of school for Samantha. I was laying in bed trying to decide on what time to wake up and whether or not I am ready for school to start again, and realized that I only bought new shoes this year. No new clothes (except for phoebe since she needed uniforms) but besides that, everyone only got shoes. I'm kind of taking a chance on whether or not their clothes fit still, but my kids have worn their clothes all summer and looked fine. Why should I buy them clothes when they have perfectly good clothes? I figure if there is something they need or grow out of, then I will take care of the need at that time. Why waste money?

Still... I can't help but feel a little nervous about this decision. I'm sure it will be fine... right? Plus, I do feel just a smidge guilty about them not having a new outfit for the first day of school. Does it matter that much?

Airplanes, hammocks and houses

Logan and I made this airplane last week out of wood scraps. We looked at a photo and just kind of made it up from there. Logan is becoming quite the builder. We also made a baby hammock. I don't have a photo of that one, but both are newborn photo props and both are totally adorable! Logan has some mad building skills!

We also toured some houses here in Gooding and decided that we love this El cheapo wall treatment.

Life has been flying by, and I've found a renewed excitement and love for photography. I'm telling you, it's all about the camera. It can be super frustrating to have a beautiful shot that has horrible resolution (it's grainy or pixelated). You know how when you really want to learn how to do something and you just can't figure it out and it just never seems to go how it should no matter how many times you try? That's how I've felt about my photography for the last 8 years. I've stunk. But lately it's like everything has finally come together and I have reached the level I've been trying all these years for. Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying I think I'm a rockstar, I'm just saying I'm comfortable with where I'm at.

Speaking of photography, you know what I think is funny? I have found that fellow camera people (photographers) don't like other camera people. As if we can't all be friends and help each other, because you know, we are each others competition. Like, I can't like a fellow camera person's work, because that would mean I think they are better than me! This is not how I feel, but I think this is just plain silly and I see it happen all the time. I would gladly go help out on another photographers shoot for free any time. I wish I had someone I could call to come help me too. I'm not going to judge another's work, just like I don't want mine critiqued. We all see the world differently and there is no right or wrong to that. My goal in life is to have a group of amazing camera people friends. We will all cheer each other on and help out in a pinch and hey, we could even share gear. It would be awesome!

I'll be working on that. ASAP