Wow!

The dust hasn't even settled yet but I have to say that my husband is truly amazing! We have been in our house for just 1 month and this is what he has already accomplished!! All that's left is the mantle which I think he has already designed in his head. I will take credit for the paint and childcare. . . . but really he did all the hard work. It looks amazing!

Lang's Christmas

Thankfully Becky made us plan in advance a date that we would all get together to celebrate Christmas. This time of year is so crazy and I can not even think straight this year so we made a date, it was set on the calander and after Makayla got out of school on Thursday we headed to Lebanon. We got there early enough for the kids to play, then we let the kids decorate cookies and exchange the gifts they had for eachother. We had a wonderful prime rib dinner and then headed off to Storybook Land to finish off the evening.

Storybook Land

Although it was only 20 degrees when we got there, we had promised the kids we were going to Storybook Land. It is held in Albany at the Fair Grounds and is in one of their buildings, but there is no heat in there so it was COLD. Despite the weather, we all had a good time.

I was not at all impressed with the Santa they had their this year! He looked like someone just slapped the outfit on him and stuck him in the chair!! I know this is a volunteer event but I am not even sure I should show Makayla these pictures until she is old enough to "know" the truth behind the red coat!

On the other hand, I was really impressed with Kaden! He went up and talked to Santa, he even told him he wanted cars and a train for Christmas. It was really cute, especially since last year he screamed.

Light the Fire

Last Thursday we got the inspection done on the fireplace, even though we didn't have the hearth and surrounding stone work done the inspector said we could light a fire as long as there was a non combustible area infront of it. So, Michael brought in some blocks and when he finally got a chance (which ended up being at 10PM) he lit the first fire in his fireplace. It was in the teens that night and was very nice to have a wood stove going.

Is it hot yet??

Never a dull moment

Well we have been in our house for 3 weeks now! We have so many things we would love to do with the house but with the cold "winter" weather in the air and the holidays approaching Michael and I were both really excited to get going on the fireplace. We already had one picked out and once we decided where it was going to go Michael got busy.

The fireplace is going on the 2nd level and I didn't want it to stick out into the room so Michael had a lot more work to do. . . . we are both happy now that we decided to frame it on the outside of the house, but it was really a lot of work for him to figure out how to reinforce this 600lb fireplace.

Kaden is always ready to help Daddy with his projects. It's time to knock out the wall!!
After the wall was cut out Michael had to do some "re-framing" inside the wall for support. Then! We are ready to put the fireplace into it's new home. Again family and friends came to our rescue when it came time to move this heavy thing. Nick, Aaron, Dad Porter and our friend Dean came over to help Michael. Don't worry, the insulation doesn't really go like that. >smile<>

The Most Amazing Family

We have the most amazing family anyone could ever ask for. I can't believe how blessed Michael the kids and I are to be surrounded by so much love. We recently purchased a house and as luck would have it we closed 1 day before we were heading out on vacation. We have an annual trip we take with a group of friends to Saline Valley so we were already committed to the trip. We knew that it would be a little difficult when we got back to find help during the weekdays to move, but that is what we chose to do. We came back from vacation on Saturday and we were going to move as much as we could on Sunday (Today) with the help of those who could after church. Well!! Much to my surprise while we were hanging out in the desert soaking up some sun and trying to relax our family (both sides included) had arranged to move us while we were gone. Michael had something to do with getting things going on this but I am pretty sure that our families just took this opportunity and ran with it. So, literally the afternoon we left members of the family were over at our "new" house cleaning it and others at the "old" house loading up stuff to bring over. Through the cold and rain by 1:30 the day after we had left they had all of our stuff out of storage and our "old" house already over to the new house. They spent the rest of the week cleaning and decorating here and there, setting up our rooms, putting the kitchen stuff away. . etc. They even had some friends to come help, our extended family really.

We had arranged for family to clean up the "new" house while we were gone, so. . . Michael and I had decided on the way home that we were going to stop by the "new" house to see if it was move in ready. Again, much to MY surprise, when we walked in the door a flash went off and lights turned on and there was my (our) family with big smiles on their faces and as I walked around I saw all of our stuff.

I seriously don't know if anyone has as awesome of a family as we do!

We love you all!!

Oh and don't worry, I will eventually find where you put everything. LOL

Saline 2009

Ok, we took way too many pictures!!! Guess that's what happens when you get a new camera and have too cute of kids! I am going to have to look through them and pick out my favorites before I upload too many. There are lots of pictures on my Facebook page.

We found a new site this year. It is called Blue Marble Bath. Someone (Wizard) actually hauled out an old bath tub and filled it with blue marbles!! It is quite a site out in the middle of nowhere. We had to check it out, the kids thought it was pretty cool. There are so many marbles that Michael never got to the bottom of the tub when he dug around. There are little yellow duckies "floating" in it too.

Getting Packed Up

The kids are doing their best to help us pack up to move, but seem to get distracted from time to time. . . . .