Christmas 2012

This holiday season was "different" for us.  In some ways good and in some ways not as good.  Because of a family wedding 3 days after Christmas, we ended up staying home this year instead of going to Oregon.  It is nice to stay home and not have to pack up presents and drive far, but we were all alone for the first time EVER, since we've been married.  ALONE!  This may not seem like a big deal to most, but we are used to our holidays involving family and more family.  So Christmas eve, we ate our array of food, then we put together some goodie baskets and made some deliveries.  This supposed to be fun event was overshadowed by grumpy, fighting kids.  I felt like I was on an episode of "the middle" (If you haven't seen this show you MUST watch) We came back home and had a little talent show/program, the kids opened up one gift and were off to bed.  We used to do jammies for our one gift, but the boys refuse to wear pajamas..they prefer the underwear only kind of sleeping.  So the boys got a new board game and the girls got pajamas.

Our Charlie brown Christmas tree. Mark my words, this is the LAST year that i will be cheap, cutting down our own tree in the forest to save $20.  I am ready for a big, full, beautiful tree.

Malia playing dress-up with claire.  The hair is...interesting, but she's so cute it doesn't matter

Christmas morning, we woke up at 6:30 and opened stockings.  Had a breakfast of monkey bread and fruit, then opened the rest of our presents.  I do love Christmas morning at home, we took our time and had a great morning.  The hardest part of the day was having Christmas dinner alone.  Let me tell you, between making a smorgasborg of food for Christmas eve, and then making the whole Christmas dinner and making treats for goodie baskets. I was exhausted.  Doing Christmas alone is a lot of work.  The highlight of the day was the afternoon, when Brent and I pretended we had forgotten one present.  They opened up the Wii that they thought they would never get.  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing the wii. :) The only thing that would have made this holiday better is if we had been able to share it with some family~

The next day was Brent's birthday.  Having a birthday the day after Christmas is hard.  This birthday happened to take the cake as the lamest birthday in history, of ALL time, the lamest. Even Brent will admit this!  He did get his breakfast in bed, but that's where the fun ended.  We were getting ready to leave for Utah at 4:30 the next morning.  We literally spent the whole day cleaning the house, getting the car ready and packed, and running a few errands.  We had hoped to at least go out for dinner, but we were so busy getting ready and so exhausted that we didn't have time.  We had Christmas day leftovers and no cake.  He's a good sport, but I promise next year we will make up for this lame birthday and have the best birthday EVER.

We left for Utah at 5:00 the next morning.  I was so worried about this trip and how Dallin would do.  Brent had everything "figured out" and had the kids strategically placed with activities, etc.  Um..didn't work.  He had Dallin in the very back seat between two kids and me in the front seat.  Needless to say, the seating arrangements changed quickly. It's the thought that counts hon. The trip was great, weather was mostly good and Dallin was great.  We drove with Brent's brother Logan, so on one leg of the trip we switched some kids around.  I think that helped the trip go by faster.  We arrived in Utah on the 27th and stayed with my sister in Orem.  She was a great hostess.  She fed us well and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins, logan and Lexi.

Andrew and Jenna were married the next day in the Oquirrh Mt temple.  It was freezing, but sunny and they looked very happy.  

This also happened to be Malia and I's birthday.  I love sharing my birthday with Malia.  I think it was a little hard for her because it didn't really feel like a birthday.  We had opened our presents before we left, so we didn't have to travel with them.  But the good news is that we were surrounded by our family all day and that was fun.  We had a fun luncheon at a church in South Jordan.  We of course had to perform in a talent show.  I always complain about this, I hate performing in front of people.  BUT, it did make the luncheon fun and I am glad we do it.  (although it would be nice if everyone but me performed)

We finished up the day with a reception...by the time we got home that night we were exhausted. But it was a great day.  We are excited to have Jenna in the family.

The rest of the time we were there we, went to the BYU bookstore and out to burger surpreme, the kids went to see "the guardian", went to temple square to see the lights, I was able to visit with an old friend, Tracey Christensen, and we were able to walk through the model home that my sister and her husband are hoping to build. It was so great to spend time with Deyce and Garrick.  They are amazing people. 

Temple square was so beautiful.  We got there just a few minutes before the lights turned on.  As we were posing for a picture, everything lit up.  The kids thought that was pretty cool.  It was FREEZING, but well worth the trip.

                                             

Dallin all bundled up at temple square.  This kid is an amazing baby.  Although he's a little slower than all the other kids.  He's 5 1/2 months and still doesn't roll over.  He's the chunkiest thing you've ever seen and I love him!

                                              

 New years eve day, we drove to Eden, UT to stay the night with some family before we headed home.

A picture of Eden, UT.  It was so beautiful driving away from there...it made me want to move there.  I'm sure there are plenty of jobs in Eden.  Start lookin ' honey

Dallin

I was trying to post this on my Christmas post...but whatever, it's taking to much brain power to figure it out.  Here's Dallin, completely immobile, except for his tongue.

Summer 2012...late posting

I've been meaning to do this for quite some time, but have just not had the chance to get to it. I am finally doing it! In August my work sponsored a group of 12 runners to participate in a race called the Spokane to Sandpoint relay. The relay starts at the top of Mount Spokane and goes to a town called Sandpoint 185 miles away. The 12 runners are divided into 2 vehicles and each runner runs 3 legs. The race takes about 28 hours to complete. It was a very hot day that day so some of our runners really struggled. Luckily I was the first runner and started around 9am and my other two legs were either in the evening or early morning. I really enjoyed the race and was glad I finished!

Back in early September was our annual ABH (All Brother Hike). This is our 12th year in a row doing it! Unfortunately only 4 of the 7 brothers could go on it (Birch, Me, Logan and Kelly). This year was we decided to to a 3 day bike trip instead of hiking. We spent the summer preparing for what would be about a 220 bike trip. Before this trip, I'd mostly been a casual rider, so to get ready I had to invest in a few things. First I had to get a decent bike. I purchased a Schwinn bike online after doing a lot of research. It is a good bike and served me well. Nothing too fancy. I also had to invest in clipless pedals. I'd never worn them before, I'd always used toe clips in the past, but I found that I really liked riding with the clipless pedals. I especially liked that I didn't lose the circulation to my feet like when I used toe clips.

We decided to do our trip in Banff national park area (Canada). We rode a loop called the golden triangle. We drove up to Canada on a Wednesday evening and had started our trek Thursday morning. Our first day of riding was definitely our hardest. We went about 78 miles and ascended over 4,250 feet in elevation! That was a ruff first day. The next two days were about 77 and 68 miles. I was very pleased to say that I felt really good on the trip. I did not get too sore and had plenty of energy (thanks Cytomax). At the end of our trip we went to the Radium Hot Springs pool and soaked. It was a great trip.

Welcome to the world Dallin!

Dallin Curtis Ditto joined us on August 2nd and 6:30 on the dot. He weighed in at 7lbs 14 oz and was 19 1/2" long. (The rest of this is mostly for my "journal." So I can remember details later. Feel free to tune out and just look at the cute pics. :)

This pregnancy was a pretty easy one. I craved fresh pineapple and anything tomato/basil/mozzarella. I did a lot of walking up until the last month. I did have some lower back pain halfway through that was pretty painful. I started seeing a chiropractor and the pain was gone after about a month and never came back. (Thanks Dr.Ficklin!) The only other problem was my blood pressure. With all of my pregnancies my blood pressure became an issue in the last month. It was up and down at the end of this pregnancy. I had one really high reading (right around the time we found out our renters skipped town) and the dr went into full on "caution" mode. The last month was full of weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests. I personally thought they were being a little over cautious, but I just went along with is all. At my 38 week appt, my blood pressure was actually fine, but somehow I managed to talk the doctor into inducing me early, by reminding him of my blood pressure. :) He called the hospital and got me in that very evening.

Brent had a softball game that night, and since I knew nothing would be happening anytime soon, I volunteered to go to the hospital solo and he would come after his game. Let me tell you, that felt weird. I had never even been inside the hospital so I was walking around with my duffel bag, my huge body pillow and my huge tummy, trying to figure out where I was going. I was quick to tell the nurses that yes my husband would be joining me soon. Around 8pm the nurse gave me a drug that would start softening my cervix. I was nowhere close to being ready for this baby when I went in...I was dilated to MAYBE a 2. The drug started some mild contractions, but nothing to painful. I was able to get an epidural at 2am...before any real pain hit. It was bliss. After the epidural I slept, and slept. They gave me pitossin to start labor at 4 in the morning. The doctor came in and broke my water at 5:30 am, I was only dilated to a 4 at this point. From 5:30 until 6:30 am I went from a 4 to a 10 and was ready to deliver. two good pushes and Dallin joined us. He has been a DREAM baby.

Cousins Campout- July 2012

If you read my last post, you would understand that it's been a pretty lame summer for my kids.  Besides Sunriver, they have spent the past few weekends being farmed out to relatives so we could work on our house in Oregon (not that our relatives are lame!) On top of that my blood pressure has been high (hmmm, wonder why?) and i've been told to rest, rest, rest.  Which is hard to do with 4 kids that want to go out and do stuff everyday.  This first picture I just had to include...i'm not sure what they were doing, I just love how imaginative kids are.

So Friday night we invited all of the cousins over for a campout/sleepover.  We started the night with squirt gun fights and sprinklers under the trampoline.  Followed by a dinner or hot dogs, watermelon and chips.  Brent got out the go-kart and the kids took turns riding around the block.  He set up a projector at our campsite and the kids stayed up way too late roasting s'mores and watching The Incredibles. Half of them slept in the tent and half of them came inside to sleep.  The kids had a great time and i think we started a new tradition!

Our rental Nightmare...July 2012

When we moved two years ago we signed a lease to own agreement with a family.  They put down some money, with the intention to buy in two years.  Their were a few red flags that came up, but we were desperate and we justified those red flags.  They raved about how clean they were, how they regularly shampooed the carpets and cleaned.  They moved in and were on time every month with there payments.  So I stopped worrying.  The renter would occasionally post pics on facebook so I felt okay about the house, I didn't see any obvious damage or have any major concerns.  We did "drive-by's" every time we were in Oregon, but never did a walk-through.  Until the weekend before Sunriver.  Our renters were separating and it was looking like they were not going to buy or even continue to rent, so we decided to stop by and see what would need to be fixed up before we rented or put the house up for sale.  Now...have you ever seen one of those episodes of Hoarders, where you shudder and how dirty and cluttered a house can be and you think, who lives like this?  I felt like we had walked into an episode of that show.  My heart literally dropped as I walked around.  And when I walked outside..I thought maybe I would just throw up right then and there. The yard was a disaster.  Boards rotting out on the deck, garbage everywhere, no upkeep of the yard, screen doors and windows ripped by the dog, carpet torn and stained, extensive water damage on floor in kitchen, water damage behind backsplash, dog had chewed banister on stairs, smelled like dog pee, horrible paint job upstairs...it was overwhelming.
We wrote up a list of what they needed to fix and headed to Sunriver.  When we got home from Sunriver I got a text from a neighbor asking if our renters had moved out.  There had been a moving van in the driveway all weekend.  "not that I know of" I said.  She texted me back three days later to say she had done some investigating and found out that the renters had packed up and left, they left the keys with a neighbor and told them that we were aware of the situation and would be in contact with them.  (we were not aware and we had no contact information for this neighbor and they had no contact information for us)  Thank goodness for our neighbor who let us know.  We packed up our stuff and headed to Oregon that weekend.  We worked our tails off and planned to come back the following weekend.  During the week my mom and Dad came up to help out around the house.  Honestly, we could not have finished without the help of my family. I don't even know how I did what I did at 36/37 weeks pregnant.  We worked 13-14 hour days with no breaks.  I came back with a case of carpal tunnel (i'm sure from gripping a paint brush for so long) and a case of tendonitis in my foot that seems to have flared up pretty badly.  We worked SO hard and managed to get 99% of the house finished.  I am posting some before and after pics.  The before pics don't even begin to show the reality of how bad it was. 1st.  The backyard/deck before and after.  We pressure washed, sanded and repainted the deck, replaced rotting boards, cut down dying curly willow in back, weeded, trimmed and laid barkdust...

After: ah....as good as we could get it in two weekends.

The stove top before.  I assumed that we would have to purchase a whole new stovetop.  Seriously people, it's called a brillo pad...use it!

after, between my mom, my sister and myself we probably spent 2-3 hours just scrubbing this.  I am still on a search for new knobs...

The living room carpet before.  This picture doesn't really do it justice...the nastiness of it all

 

After, new carpet throughout house (except master)

Carpet up stairs was stained and had large burn mark, supposedly from a curling iron.  I know that I often curl my hair while standing on the stairs.

Before picture of the back yard.  They had all sorts of contraptions put up, I guess to keep the dog in the yard (although it's fully fenced)  ugh...our poor neighbors

Another before picture of the yard.  SOOOOOO sad

 

 after, we did the best we could, and it's Oregon so the grass should be easy to replant.  I guess they had put a swimming pool in the middle of the yard and left it there all winter.  Not the best idea....

 

An after picture of the kitchen.  Blinds were all closed, so it's dark, but it's clean. We learned some very important lessons about being landlords.  DO WALK-THROUGHS regularly!!  On a postive note, we have some friends in our Keizer ward who are planning on renting for a month or two and then purchasing the home.  They are moving in the end of August.  They are replacing the master bdrm carpet, and doing the yard work for us this month.  It's all a long story, but we feel like this is such an amazing blessing, how it all came about and how it's all working out.  So now we are back home, i'm trying to rest and recover from the craziest month of July EVER!   

Claire learns to ride a bike