We are moving to Oregon!

This week has been a rollercoaster. Seth received job offers from all 3 locations he interviewed with last week. The offers from Newport, OR and Portland, OR were both great offers and our top 2 locations, so we spent the week researching the areas, pondering, praying and going back and forth between the two. Finally, we were able to come to a decision and yesterday we accepted the offer from...

Portland! 

We feel so blessed to have had options and to have this opportunity to go out on this little adventure for our family. We know that we are going where we are supposed to be and that we have had divine guidance in making this decision. It is still scary to pack up our lives and leave behind everything (and more importantly everyone) we know, but we are excited to see what Portland has in store for us!

We are especially excited to find a house with plenty of room for guests to come and stay with us...so get ready to come and visit!

A Trip to The Beach

With Seth's schedule and the ever-closer approach of the end of school, a new job,

a move (possibly somewhere far away), and all of the changes that will come with it,

VACATION

is just something that isn't really in the cards right now.

So, every time daddy has a day off, we try to pack it full of fun adventures.

We do a pretty good job of making the most of our time together as a family,

and of course I always take the pictures to prove it

...as if we were on vacation and these things may be once in a life time...

even though we could go back today...or tomorrow...or any day!

And I am good about posting them on the Project 365 blog...

because that is just about all I have been able to keep up with...

but usually 1 picture of my 20 favorites is just not enough to share these experiences.

(Not to mention that this blog is looking like a whole lotta black and white,

and my goal for this year is to bring color into my life.

I have been aquiring colorful furniture, colorful, flowers, colorful clothes for everyone in the family, colorful accessories, so I am going to get back to colorful blog, too!)

Last week we headed to the "beach" (the Great Salt Lake).

We tried to go early, but we didn't get there until the sun was already high

...not really great for pictures...

but the sky was blue and the beach was gorgeous and three little people and their favorite daddy

LOVED playing in the water.

And I loved it too...but from a different perspective.

I loved watching the exploration, the excitement, the fun and the love through my lens,

and I wanted to bottle it up and squeeze those moments close to my heart.

I got a little teary as I watched them play...because I love these 4 more than anything else!

these sandy toes are about the sweetest thing ever!

she was in heaven...she hasn't been to the beach since she could walk and play and enjoy and she loved it!

and these pointed tippy toes and lifted skirt make my heart so happy!

-LOVE-

Celebrations

Holidays are insanely crazy for everyone, and when you add kids to the mix...oh boy! So, we are lucky to have the most accomodating family ever! Because they are always willing to be flexible, we get to celebrate Christmas with everyone on different days and it makes for some serious fun!

We went to the annual Gregory Christmas Party (which was expanded to a church gym this year for the first time) and the kids had a blast smacking the piniata...and hiding on the stage to eat all their loot.

The Sunday before Christmas we celebrated with Grandma Becky and Fam...

I think it is every kid's dream to be surrounded by presents waiting to be opened!

We had some fun times giving/opening presents and the kids were spoiled...of course!

The girls were color coordinated with their packages...unplanned, but totally cute!

Morgan got a Leapster and once it had batteries he was off in lala land playing his game!

Chloe got this darling chest filled with dress-ups and she didn't waste any time trying on the dresses and accessorizing!

She even disappeared into the land of pretend for a while while the big people opened gifts...and then came back up and said...

"Everyone. Now we are going to sing Cinderella songs."

And then she proceeded to lead us all in song...with her magic wand, of course!

It was a great time! Thanks to all!

We had planned to do our traditional Snowshoe trip on Christmas Eve morning, but Morgan woke up throwing up, so we decided to stay home and rest instead.

He was doing much better by later in the day, so we visited the Tate clan and then it was off to Grandpa Mark's. Since my dad is getting remarried next week, it was our first Christmas Eve together with his fiance and her family. We had a turkey dinner, the kids got out all the toys at her house and we opened gifts. Chloe got a barbie and Morgan got hot wheels...and they were so excited that they ripped the packages open and played with them right there on the spot!

We always go sledding with the Tates on Boxing Day, and with everyone's travel schedules, we ended up doing our Christmas celebration and gift exchange that day as well. It was so fun to combine them and extend the Christmas fun an extra day that I hope it becomes a new tradition. I didn't take the nice camera with me, so you'll have to forgive the lack of pictures and picture quality.

The kids definitely know who to go to when they want someone's undivided attention...

Grandma Denese pulled the 3 babies born this year in the sled and had the older girls holding each hand.

The present that Seth is so excited about is a Flight of the Conchords DVD from his youngest sister...he was REALLY excited!

So Much to Tell...

Christmas really has felt a little like a tornado this year...it came and went in a whirlwind and left the evidence in its wake! I feel like we actually slowed it down a bit this year and enjoyed every minute, though. So...I am currently moving 2 GB worth of pictures from my camera to my computer from Christmas Week and then I will find some great ones to share with you.

But, lest you think I am slacking off on my blogging, I just want you to know that yesterday was the first day we have been home for more than an hour when we weren't hosting a party or preparing food and that was only because Morgan was throwing up all morning. It was a lovely day of relaxing and playing with toys and watching new movies and getting all of the presents out of their packaging and trying to figure out how in the world to get rid of 5 garbage bags full of recycling beyond what will fit in our bin. We were really looking forward to today being similar only without the sick part...so we spent the morning playing games and rearranging rooms to find places for toys.

In fact, that's how we found mold growing in between our lovesac and wall. We proceeded to rip out said wall, remove all interior wall that had touched mold, cut out carpet that had mold, reframe and sheetrock wall, and mud wall. Thankfully Grandma Becky came to the rescue to take the kids to lunch because it was a really long day for everyone! When you are 4 and your bedroom becomes off-limits because your mom and dad are frantically ripping out your wall, you tend to think the world might be ending.

Anyway...we now have a new mold-free wall that will be ready for more mud and paint on Thursday, Seth's next day off. Also on the agenda for Thursday...patch in carpet piece...and while we are at it, maybe we should patch in a piece where Morgan decided to practice drawing rainbows on the carpet with "washable" markers. Yippee! Sound like a fun New Years Eve to anyone else...feel free to join us! hehe.

So, today I am grateful for a handy husband...for being pretty handy myself...for a shop vac...for KSL.com (where I got rid of affected lovesac that I cut a giant hole in and removed a bunch of stuffing from)...bleach...power tools...and a one-day room makeover! Amazing how much different Morgan's room looks without a lovesac in it!

All in all, it has actually been a pretty awesome day! I love the feeling that accompanies accomplishing something and doing it right. In fact, it struck me that this little project is a lot like life. Stuff happens that is crappy and seemingly insurmountable and we have a choice: we can sit down and cry about it and feel downhearted and picked on, or we can grab the hand of the people we love the most, assure each other that we can do it, make a plan and get to work.

White Trash

Saturday was the long awaited day...the Summit County Demolition Derby. We (including the 3 kiddos) dressed up in our white trash outfits, got a bucket of KFC and headed up to Coalville, UT where we had a white trash tailgate picnic. We met up with our fellow derby-goer friends and headed up to our seats. The derby did not dissapoint...there was flying mud, serious mullets to observe, cars on fire, rodeo queens with fringe and sparkly cowboy hats riding around in pickup trucks, yummy snow cones, a horrid rendition of the national anthem, bobcat "zambones", and trucker hats being tossed into the crowds.

Sadly, we unintentionally fit the bill of "white trash family" better than anticipated. Chloe fell through the bleachers (we were about 6 rows up), Seth manuvered through the bleachers to get her, Morgan thought the crashing cars were hillarious, and Brynn cried the.whole.time. We would have enjoyed the derby, had we actually been able to watch it. Next year we are leaving the girls home...Morgan can come, but the girls are banished!

After Chloe fell through the bleachers, we decided to downsize our "load" and took the camera and such back to the car, but here are some glimpses into this year's white trash event.


When we pulled onto our street close to midnight, we were greeted by the most white trash moment of the day...a truck halfway in a trench from the road construction project. I especially enjoyed overhearing a grown man say, "Mom, I really couldn't see the hole...my headlights shine above the tops of the road barricades and there was nothing lighting the hole." If you live by me and have seen said hole...you should be laughing at this point. I'm not quite sure how you can miss a 3.5 foot deep hole the length of half a city block and surrounded by barricades and cation tape...

It seems to me

that if you get a coupon in the mail for discounted admission to the tulip festival through May 31 that if you were to go to said festival on May 26 it would still be going on, right?

Nope...not a single tulip in the place...and when I asked this seemingly obvious question they looked at me like I was the crazy one! Apparently the festival ended on May 5, but the coupon for the festival is good until the 31st...go figure! :)

Regardless...good times were had by all...who needs tulips anyway?