Christmas 2011

Christmas Morning 

Santa

We visited Santa in the same little house in Sugarhouse that I remember visiting when I was a child.  It was a nice little piece of nostalgia and fun to see the kids and their excitement for Christmas.  We went with my brother and his family.  I wish I had a picture of my adorable nephew but I don't....he was so cute with Santa.  I think all of my kids were still terrified of him at age 2.  They've come a long way!

House Progress

Not much work going on today at the house so I ran over and snapped a few pictures.

I think we are going to love this wrap around porch!

View from the the west.

Kitchen windows.

Boot wash.  

Jim doesn't think we will use this but I have can name a million times when 

this would've come in so handy.

Mudroom, pantry and powder room.  Not super exciting to anyone but me, really.

From kitchen/dining room looking east toward the side door and side porch.

Office/den

I'm having some storage areas built into the eaves of the house in the playroom.  Love built-ins.

This is the window that we almost took out on the landing.  I'm really glad we didn't.  Even though it faces the garage, it lets in a lot of nice light and breaks up the space.

This is the view from the landing.  It faces west and has the most beautiful view of the whole house, I think.  It was totally unplanned.  It's hard to see in this picture but we overlook a winding stream (really, it's a canal) surrounded by what looks like farmland which I think used to be farmland but now is just undeveloped land.  There is actually an equestrian center just beyond this area too.  We can sometimes hear the horses from our house in the summertime so I'm sure we will hear them even more in the new house.

That's all for now!

December 20, 2011

Looks like Murphy had a wild night last night.  He and Ken look like they are scared to death being chased by the Hulk.

I just happened to look out the window as these two were walking across the street to the neighbors house. They are usually at each other's throats or best buddies.  I wish the latter were the more common of the two, but it's not so I like to document it when I see it.

December So Far

It's been a busy month so far.  Between holiday stuff and house building stuff, I feel like I'm constantly treading water to keep up.  I keep reminding myself that all the things going on are GOOD things, so it's a GOOD stress.  But, still it's stress and I'm staying home today nursing a (probably stress induced) sore throat.  Here's a snippet of what's been going on so far.

Ward Christmas Party

Both of the girls had little dances they performed in.

Crew and his Primary buddies sang a song.

He sat with his friend Parker and watched the other performances.

They got a little silly.

A visit from Santa.  Crew told me he knew it was a "fake" Santa because his beard was fake and his shoes were hiking shoes covered up by black plastic.  Pretty observant this kid.

Gingerbread Cookie Making

Tree Decorating

Waking up to Murphy's adventures

Visit's from Nanny and Papa

House Progress

The roof is almost finished and the windows are in! Although, they made a few of them with grids when they weren't supposed to (which will be fixed soon), I am really excited about them. Especially the kitchen windows. The porch is also almost finished which has calmed my fears about the house looking like a big box. I will have to find time in between the 975 other things I need to do this week to go snap some pictures. For now, here's the view from my bedroom.

House Progress

The kids and I have been stuck inside all day and Jim is working so we decided to get some fresh (and very cold) air and walk over to the house.  I haven't seen it for a few days, there's been quite a bit of progress.

This is the living room and fireplace area.

East view of the living room area.

From the living room looking towards the front entry.

Basement

This is upstairs looking up.  The roof should be going on next week.

Looking down the hallway upstairs.

Paige was cold.

Here she is jump roping in what will be her bedroom

Play room and exercise room.

Here's Hailey jump roping in the play room.

This is the view from the exercise room...you can see our current house.

On the way back home.