October...one long marathon.

October was seriously insane. 

 I think it was my busiest month ever, but a good busy so I can't complain!  

(Hey, that was almost like a poem....it rhymed.) 

The first weekend in October was the St. George Marathon.  I had been somewhat training for it all summer.  It went better than expected and I was glad I did it, but even more glad to have it over with!  It was kind of a metaphor for the whole month-one long marathon from start to finish.  And just like in a marathon the last 6 miles seem longer and harder than the first 20....the last 6 days or so of the month were the most intense.  

I stole this pic off an email they sent me...it was that last brutal stretch when all I could think was "GET THIS OVER WITH".

October was the last month we spent in our house on Redonda.  I don't really miss the house, but I miss the sunsets and the views.  I can't believe how much Idaho changes from the beginning of October to November.  I think it was the most beautiful Octobers I have ever seen in Idaho.  I wish I could have slowed down a little to enjoy it more.  But, it was not really an option. 

We had lots of days with blue skies, and we were still wearing shorts.  (A trip to the new house to help the people that we bought it from pack.)

Check out this kids hair. 

It was so great to have the Garza's meet us in St George and cheer me on for the Marathon.  They are the best! 

Picture day at school...

 So sad, we never got her picture taken.  The line was so long and as you can see here, she was not cooperating so much. 

 My favorite tree at our old house...

This was my view everyday....

Ryan was really busy with work and made a couple trips to California.  This is not him... just pics from Engineering Sites that show up on my Photo Stream.  Ryan is not a picture taker...so these are the only kinds of pictures on his phone.  Awesome. 

Carly had baby #4.... welcome sweet baby Benson! (The hospital requires masks now.) Our cultural traditions require full head dress.  

I love this picture I had on my phone from his first few days home. 

I do miss a few things about my old house.  I loved the stairs. 

We had the lunar eclipse...

Okay, I also miss our old street.  It is seriously so close, but we just don't drive it a million times a day like we did.  I think it is the prettiest street in Idaho Falls.  And while I am at it, I miss our neighbors.  But less you worry, we have lots of wonderful new neighbors, and pretty new views. 

Carly and I did a mini photo session with Benson.  I am glad we did, because he has already grown so much!  Isn't he cute!?

I taught a class for our Annual Craft Night at Church.  

Got that crossed off my list.  

We served dinner to all the Primary Teachers at Church as part of our last Teacher Appreciation Dinner.  

We had good friends go to the temple and get sealed.  

We had Michael's Arrow of Light Ceremony.  

That means Michael is officially out of Cub Scouts and it was my last Pack Meeting that I helped with as part of the Primary.  (We were released this month.)

I co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend that was having a girl after five boys.  

(Her first is a girl, and her last...seven total! ) 

I was in charge of the Primary Program (along with the other awesome people I served with) and I am probably biased, but I thought its as the best program I have ever seen.  We have an amazing song leader and the songs were just spectacular.  The kids all did such a great job with their parts, having them all memorized.  It was like a farewell gift from the children to us as their leaders.  Like everything else this month...it was awesome, but I was glad to have it over with and done! 

(Please excuse my special needs child.  Sophie was not in the program...and she should not have been in this picture.)

Remember this pretty tree a few weeks earlier?  All the yellow leaves fell off by the end of the month.  It was the trees way of telling me goodbye. 

I did not remember moving being that much work!  

We had SO much help.  I feel so grateful for the insane amount of help we had from friends, neighbors, and family.  They babysat, brought food, loaned us cars and trailers, scrubbed, packed, and moved.  We could not have made it without the hours of service we received!  

Once everything was moved out, the house already seemed different.  It was no longer home.  Goodbye, house on Redonda.  Thanks for the good times.  

We made many trips to donate all the junk we have accumulated. (I love that feeling!  Goodbye, junk!)  The house we were moving into was already furnished so we have had to get rid of a lot from both houses.  We said goodbye to our table from the last ten years.  Right after we refinished it five years ago, Luke carved his name into it.  

Goodbye, Kitchen Table.  Thanks for the homework sessions, school projects, family fights, family laughs, and hundreds of meals and snacks.  Oh, and thanks for being the dog's favorite spot in the house.

We organized, sorted, packed, scrubbed and cleaned.  And then we dumped everything in our new house...and had to organize, scrub, sort, and clean again.  Just looking at this picture makes me depressed. I am so glad we are past those first crazy days.  We had a tangle of all the stuff the old owners had left, and trying to figure out where to put our new things...things have already greatly improved!  (I would like to tell you we are close to done...but this part of our life will be an ultra-marathon.)

Amidst all the chaos, Halloween fell smack in the middle of the move.  Since I am a room mom/helper, a week earlier another mom and I were responsible for gathering donations and getting a theme basket together for the School's Annual Fall Carnival.  Got through the Carnival (check) and   then it was on to Halloween Festivities.  I was in charge of Michael's 5th Grade Room Party.  The house had to be put on hold! 

Just finding costumes in the craziness of our house was a challenge.  It all came together though.  The best costume award went to our new house...it dressed up as a hoarder this Halloween.  

 Better pictures to come... but from right to left:

Army Guy (Luke)  Old Lady (Michael)  Gandolf (Gunnar)  Cowgirls (Sophie and Annie) 

Teen Dad (Joshua and Benson)  Nerd (James)  

Joshua really didn't dress up, so since he was holding baby Benson we told him he looked like a Teen Dad. 

The morning after Halloween...it was November and the Marathon Month was over.  We could finally take a breath.  

Our first weekend in the new house, we had a few moments of downtime.  

Like I said above, I have a feeling the next few months will be an ultra marathon.  Next week brings Thanksgiving, traveling, and then bam-December is here.  Oh, December, I wish you would wait for me.  I am not ready for all that you bring.  However, I will keep on running and try to enjoy the race along the way!

Our New House (in a few weeks)

A few people have asked for pictures of the house we are going to be moving into here at the end of the month.  We are SO excited about it.  It does have a lot of work, it was built in the 70s. But it has good bones, great location, and 3 1/2 acres to go along with it.  We are pretty happy about it.   I just took a few pictures the other day with my iPhone, but they give you the general idea.

If you are facing the house, over by the barn, this is our field and looking over to our neighbors to the right (or East).  Our neighbors have lots of horses, and a really well-kept home and barn.  That is always nice. 

If you stand in the field, and look South this is your view.  

This is our driveway, it leads all the way down to that road.  And it is all ours!  I think the kids will love riding their scooters and bikes on it. 

Tadaaaa!  This is our new house!  

 This big tree in the center of the circle, reminds me of Grandma and Grandpa Milligan's tree they used to have out front.  

This is the left side of the house.  The house straight ahead in back of us, belongs to some of our really good friends.  The shed type looking thing is actually part of the house, a sunroom area.  The field on the other side of the fence is partly ours and leads back to the street. 

Here is the field and another view of our driveway and that field on the right. 

Driveway and field to the left.  

Our neighbors with the horse property. 

This is our backyard, complete with Apple Trees...love that! The pasture behind the trees was used for horses.  We will have to figure out what we want to do with everything. I don't think we are adding horses to the mix anytime soon...we first have to get our monkeys under control.  

This is the back of the house. 

That horse pasture I was talking about behind the backyard. 

Walking around the back yard, you can see the barn up there.  

This was also used for horses, it needs a little work. 

I can't wait to paint the barn, and clean it all out.  

Well, that is our new home!  We are pleased as punch.  I never dreamed to have all that land, PLUS a house.  I think it will be so great for the kids.  I am so grateful to live in a place that you can still afford to have some property even if you are not a gazillionaire.  Sometimes I do envy city living. There are definite pluses to other lifestyles and locations.  However, I think this place will be perfect for all these hooligans to explore and roam and hopefully work too.  My kids will walk down our driveway just like this, to catch the bus.  

So, if you are wondering what happened to my 100 Days of blogging....well, it didn't happen.  But, I decided, it doesn't look like life is slowing down anytime soon here.  So, if I want to keep a record, I better learn to squeeze it in somewhere.  Now, I better get packin'!

PS How about that blue sky?  Almost 80F in October?  I will take it!

Pictures from the iPhone Make me Smile

Since I only have a minute I thought I would catch up on a few misc moments as caught on the iPhone this month.  A lot of them make me laugh as I look back through them.  

This is pretty telling of this month...usually on the first day of school I bake special cookies for when the kids come home.  This year, it was was treats at Maverick.  No time for baking cookies!  

The Elementary Crew got to hang out at the High School while I finished registering Joshua for his Sophomore Classes.  

The days are getting shorter, and as usual, I can't help myself snapping pictures during my favorite time of the day.  

I took Joshua's phone away one day for some minor infraction.  Sophie and I posed and reset all his screen savers to this. "I love my Mom" pictures!  Unfortunately, that feature doesn't have a passcode to lock it...he changed it right away upon getting his phone back.  I don't know why he would not want this as his screen saver. Sheesh, kids these days. 

My favorite tree at our house.  I told Ryan when we move to our new house we need to plant this one right away.  Then I discovered our new house has the same tree!  I had not noticed it before!  Yahoo!

Dear Judy, Thank you so much for giving Ryan Papa's old leather jacket from the 90s.  When paired with Ryan's favorite BYU sweats, it really makes for the perfect work attire for this hard working engineer.   

We all can't help snicker whenever we see Dad hard at work in his leather jacket.  Hey, it keeps him from getting the chills and that's all the matters...or so I have been told. 

Disclaimer:  I stole this off the internet.  My dear friends and I have been passing pregnancy pictures via text back in forth that we find on photography sites and whatnot.  I wonder if my kids will be sad I never got a belly snapshot when I was prego...especially with some teddybears.  Kidding.  These type of photos leave me feeling very confused.  

The flowers at the temple a couple weeks ago were just gorgeous!  I was in a huge hurry and literally snapped these running in my heals.  Still so beautiful!  

Some people can't wait to get home to test out the raspberries.  

We went to the Parade of Homes in Idaho Falls this weekend.  I don't feel super legit posting lot of pics since most you were not even supposed to take pictures.  However, most of these I am just showing because they make me laugh.  And some are really cool so I snuck a few in.  The pictures are all terrible lighting and quality.  

I love this screened in porch.  

We loved this medicine cabinet and I think I love Ryan showcasing it even more. 

This whole house was so classic and traditional...and so beautiful.  What girl would not love that great window seat to read a book on? 

Their theater room was the best theater room I have ever been in.  I wanted to get a picture so Ryan and Michael posed in a warm brotherly embrace. 

The pictures of Carly make me laugh the most.  Since she is due in less than a month...she especially appreciated the reclining chairs and I think she would have been happy to stay there for the remainder of the tour. 

Carly said the seats had warming and cooling features...sweet. 

We thought it was especially cool that they had a little stage up by the screen.  We figured if we were ever so lucky to have such a room, the kids could get up on the stage and perform for us.  Michael demonstrated the possibilities with a little jig. 

And then we found the workout room...aka "Heaven".  Carly said this massage chair was better than getting a real massage.

I really don't think she wanted to leave.  Ryan was trying to check out the brand of chair it was...as if we are going to be getting one any day now. 

A few more beauties from another house...

I will say this...there are a lot of happy little girls in some sweet bedrooms. 

More pictures of Carly, just because I think it is funny to harass people who are 9 months pregnant.  This is her trying to catch up with us fast-non-pregnant people. 

My favorite thing on the tour?  We have ALWAYS wanted to do this in the boys bathroom...and  we are not alone!  Someone else thinks it is a great idea and they actually did it. Nothing more fabulous to me!  

And we wanted to do this same thing...

Locker room/MTC style....one drain in the bathroom, spray the whole thing down.  What is not to like!!!???  With my four boys, I am all over this! It was so fun to see it actually done. 

And I leave you with....a laundry room.  

That is what my laundry room looks like, doesn't yours? 

Yesterday evening, I stopped by Jennifer's to chat with her and Heather while Abigail modeled her Homecoming dress for me.  Sooooooo cute! 

 For some reason on my phone there are several "church" pictures.  Here's Joshua and I during church in Bear Lake.  

Ryan said we were being inappropriate doing our nails in church. 

The next week Ryan snapped this at Stake Conference.  He said it was perfect cause he caught me giving him the "you are being inappropriate look".  I guess we are even.  

And finally, it is never inappropriate to snap 20 million pictures every evening because the sky is just so beautiful.  I am so grateful for beautiful sunrises and sunsets.  What a beautiful world we live in.  And guess what?  Even if you will never live in a home that looks anything like a "Parade of Homes" tour.  Sunsets are FO FREE.  That's right.  Heavenly Father blessed the rich and the poor equally with the sun in the sky and beautiful clouds.  Glad we don't have to pay because they would be worth a million bucks fo sure.