A New Adventure

Hi! It's been almost a year and a half since I've blogged (and about three years since everyone else I know has; apparently it's not a thing anymore). But we're moving into a new (to us) home here in Tennessee in about a week and planning to do a lot of projects, so I thought it would be fun to document them.

Even if no one else but me reads this (besides my sister-in-law who already said she would - Hi Carisa!), I think it will be fun to be able to look back and see how much work we put into our house! I may blog about other things here and there too. We'll see.

So, without further ado, here is our new house! (Interior pics are down below, too)

We've been so blessed in so many ways with our move from Utah to Tennessee. Everything has fallen into place in such a perfect way that we know, without a doubt, that this is where we're supposed to be. Heavenly Father's hand has been so evident in our lives lately that I can't start talking about any of this without acknowledging Him for everything.

So, some background on this house:
It's a 30 year old house that's had one owner since it was built - a really sweet older couple who are now moving in with their daughter. They've done great with keeping the house up mechanically, and replaced a lot of things like the roof, windows, HVAC, etc, which is great because the house is in wonderful shape.

Aesthetically, on the other hand, the house looks like what it is - a grandma and grandpa's house. So there is a lot to do to make it our own and bring it up to date. Which, I'm not gonna lie, we're kind of really excited about. We haven't had a house for the last three years, and even before that, our only other home was one that was pretty new when we bought it, so we haven't had many chances to get on board the House DIY train, even though Mike is super handy at fixing and building stuff.

We're moving in about a week, and have already spent countless hours wandering Home Depot, pouring over how-to articles, and agonizing over paint chips (I think we have over 50 of them floating around the apartment at last count).

So, here are some "before" pictures. These are the pictures from the MLS listing. We're excited to get in there and get this party started! Stay tuned for more updates soon - I plan to post at least weekly, especially in the beginning.

Living Room

With a wood burning fireplace - yay!

Other side of living room with stairs up to an unfinished attic.

Kitchen. Obviously.

Laundry room.

Kitchen again.

Dining Room. And wallpaper.

Hall bath. And more wallpaper.

Master Bedroom

Master Bath

2nd Bedroom

3rd Bedroom

Back of house.

Backyard! We've got about 3/4 of an acre, which is awesome!

Picture Update!

Here's what we've been up to the last couple of months! And not really in order, because my computer didn't feel like it, apparently.

My parents came to visit us for Christmas. On one day, they took the kids to the Curiosity Museum.

Christmas morning! I don't know if you can see it, but the clock shows 7:24 am. We held out longer than last year, because Rachel always decides that Christmas is a good day to sleep in. :)

This is how Rachel walks around 90% of the time, on her tip-toes. She has calves of steel.

Christmas morning.

I love this picture because it shows the after opening part of Christmas morning - reading instruction books and putting stuff together.

Later we went over to Mike's parents.

Reed and Aunt Tiffany.

Christmas dinner!

Reed's my little helper in the kitchen. Rachel's never too interested in helping me in the kitchen, but Reed LOVES to!

Licking the beaters is a bonus.

Halloween wig, Rachel thought it was awesome.

Halloween costumes (told you these weren't in order!)

Just Daddy being cute reading to the kids.

And Mommy and Reed being silly.

Figuring out how to put a Lego spaceship together.

Rachel wrapping her present to Reed.

She did it all by herself!

The kids LOVED having Meme and Pepe here.

Especially wrestling with Meme.

Leaving milk and cookies for Santa.

Mike and I started doing puzzles and we're hooked!

Just sittin' on the counter eating ice cream.

Books 2014

I know it's been a while since I posted. I've been down with the flu and am finally feeling better. A "Christmas and other stuff" post with new pictures is coming soon, but in the meantime, I'm going to do my list of books I read this year. Last year I didn't do one because I simply didn't read hardly anything new. I did a bit better this year, though I'm sure my list is not nearly as long as some other people I know (Gary, Kiersten, Cindy, I'm looking at you). I read 29 books this year, which is pretty good for me, especially since I mainly read fairly large non-fiction titles.

Here we go. I usually group this by month, but I don't have enough to see the point of breaking them up that much, so I'll just do one big list. Comments, if any, following titles. 

The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millenium by Robert Lacey

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond

    -One of my favorites of the year. Kind of a thick, intimidating book, but it was really good.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

    -Love, love, loved this book. Highly recommend to anyone. I actually read Seabiscuit just because I wanted to read something else she'd written, but Unbroken was, in my opinion, far better. 

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

    -This was really good too. I'm not an introvert, but I know of lot of them, of course. Great insight.

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austin

Switch by Chip Heath

   -Another one I recommend. It's about making changes.

Austenland by Shannon Hale

    -This was probably my quickest, lightest read. I loved it- it was like reading candy. I watched the movie too, which was completely terrible. 

Eve and the Choice Made in Eden by Beverly Campbell

    -Good too

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why by Amanda Ripley

    -This book was fantastic and really well done. Might be my winner for the book I would recommend the most from what I read this year. It's the one I keep thinking about even months later. 

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 You Should Have Learned But Probably Didn't

    -Loved the concept of this book, but didn't like the book itself, sadly. 

The Child Whisperer by Carol Tuttle

    -Really disliked this book. Really.

What Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine by Danielle Ofry

I Will Lead You Along: The Life of Henry B. Eyring by Robert Eaton

    -Great, and not just because it's a "church book". 

Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal by Mary Roch

    -Fascinating. And hilarious. 

The Gift of Fear: Survival Signals That Protect Us From Violence by Gavin de Becker

    -A little difficult (emotionally) to read, because of the examples given, but very very good insights and tips. 

Hardwiring Happiness: The Practical Science of Reshaping Your Brain - And Your Life by Rick Hanson

Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson

Seabiscuit: An American Legend

Divergent

Insurgent

Allegiant

Four         by Veronica Roth

    -I really liked Divergent and Four. The other two I read just because I felt like I had to finish it out. 

Why We Make Mistakes: How We Look Without Seeing, Forget Things in Seconds, And Are All Pretty Sure We Are Way Above Average by Joseph Hallinan

    -Wins record for longest book title that I read this year. Pretty good book though.

The Dirt on Clean: An Unsanitized History by Katherine Ashenburg

Flour Power: A Guide to Modern Home Grain Milling by Marleeta Basey 

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things by Charles Panati

What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions

    -Loved it. 

It's "Poonkin" Time

We're so excited it's fall! We've been having lots of fun watching the leaves change, breaking out our sweaters and boots, and getting ready for Halloween. Rachel loves pumpkins, and I love the way she says "pumpkin", it kind of sounds like "poonkin". Mike and I giggle every time we hear her say it and refuse to correct her. She also loves anything pumpkin flavored (as evidenced by her choosing pumpkin soft-serve last time we went to an ice cream shop). I'm not a fan of pumpkin flavored anything, but we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies a couple days ago and Rachel was over the moon about them.We're also into full swing with school now. Rachel is in first grade and Reed's in preschool and they're both loving it.

I pulled some pictures off of Mike's phone, so a couple of these are from earlier in the summer. These first couple are from when we went to a Real Salt Lake (soccer) game in August. It was HOT, but fun!

Rachel was pretending to be a ninja turtle. She made her own staff. 

Reed on the monkey bars. 

A trip to Wheeler Farm to see all the animals. I think this was just me and Reed because Rachel was in school. 

We have to go to Cornbelly's every fall - we love it! The "corn pit" is a Rachel and Reed favorite. 

Holding hands on the cow train. They did this all on their own. So cute. 

We visited Mike's grandparents a couple of Sundays ago, so here's Reed showing a toy to his great grandpa. 

Mike's work did a raffle, and the prize was getting to throw pies, water balloon, and silly string at the managers. The kids and I came to watch and they let Reed and Rachel have a go too. When I first asked Reed "Do you want to throw a pie at Daddy?", he said, "Why?" with a worried look on his face. But he soon got into the spirit. 

 This was on Reed's first day of preschool back in September. He's growing so fast!

This is Reed's "Lord Business" (from The Lego Movie). He had these legos set up like this for months and would get SO upset when they fell over. We rebuilt Lord Business soooo many times...

Finger painting. I really should have a picture of Reed doing this, because he is so into "crafts" right now. Every day he asks to do a craft, which usually includes finger painting and cutting little bits of paper and gluing them onto other pieces of paper. 

We got a bunk bed for the kids' room, and they love it!

I'm going to brag on Rachel for a minute. This girl loves reading and is doing so well with it. She's already reading at a second grade level, and reads all the time. I'm amazed at how good of a reader she is.

She also recently asked me to teach her how to type, which I wasn't sure was age-appropriate for a six year old, but her fingers are super long and can reach the keys almost as good as an adult, so we went for it. She plays typing games on the computer, and whenever she enters in a book on her school reading tracker website, she always (of her own accord) puts her fingers in the correct position to type in the book title. Love this smart girl of mine. :)

I also want to give a quick shout-out to Lynne. Hi! Just want to let you know that I read all of your comments and love the updates. I'm glad you get to see pictures and news of Reed and we're so thankful for you and your family!