where to begin?

Where to begin....it's been a long, short, rough, and blessed few months to say the least. 

After selling the majority of our stuff and putting the rest of it in storage, back in june, the boys and I flew down to California so Joe could finish up school and meet us there so he could work for my Dad. We flew down early because I was pregnant and I wanted to get down there before I started getting sick. The plan was for Joe to work but as my pregnancy progressed it was best that he stayed and took care of me and the boys. It was a good thing that we were by family to help us out. I was at the doctor at least once a week and in the hospital about four times for multiple days. NOT FUN TIMES AT ALL!!! And to make it even better I miscarried and it was all for nothing. So my summer was spent in the hospital and doctor's offices. The boys absolutely loved it down there. There was always something to do and Grandma always found something to buy them. Joe did take them camping with my family, to the train museum and to the aquarium. And just before Joe left and I was feeling better we went to the beach.

this picture really explains their relationship

Joe went up to Washington in mid-august to find us a house. He was there two days and really didn't find anything. I was on craigslist and found a house and gave Joe a call. He said he just drove by the house and wrote the number down. I told him to call on it now because it was a really good price. So he called and the guy just happened to be on his lunch break so Joe went in and saw it. It was just what we were looking for so we made an offer the next day. Everyone thought I was crazy to have Joe buy a house and me not see it. I thought it was exciting and Joe knew that he had to live with me and the house for a while so I think he knew what he was doing. I flew up with the boys a month later and thought that we'd be in the house the next day but closing took a lot longer then we thought. So we were in a hotel for a week. Don't get me wrong I love hotels, just not hotels with two little boys with no toys and lots of time!!!

So we finally got in our place and here it is...
I didn't want to cross the street so this is what you get. 

We've pretty much have been busy painting because I can't live with pink walls!

(Dining room before)

And adding "stuff", as Joe calls it. Yes, I painted my door black, inside and out! I love it!!!!!

(After)

And Joe is doing an excellent job being my handy man!

I was sick and tired of the cheap faucets in rentals and decided that I was going to finally get something functional!!!

The first few things that I worked on getting done was the dinning room and the kitchen is actually still in progress. The two place I spend most of my time.
Even before we moved in I went and got this shelf thinger. it was on clearance and I talked them down 50 more bucks!!! The black door (I was on a black door kick) is the door to the garage so this is where we walk in the majority of the time. I hate piles of stuff so I wanted it to be as organized as I could get it and this is what I came up with. 

Now that winter is almost here I think that we'll be putting updates on the house on hold. The boy's play room is purple and I'm not sure if I can wait until spring to do that though.

 

riding his motorcycle

I was packing stuff in the garage when Travis came over to me with his bike and told me he wanted to ride his motorcycle. I figured he was just pretending and said, "yeah, go ahead." He responded by saying, "no mom take these off and make a motorcycle!" He had pointed to the wheels. I figured if he wanted to try it out I would let him. So I we got the tool bag out and took them off. He got on the bike and tried to just take off. He soon found out that it wasn't that easy. I took him to the side walk and held the seat and he was off!!!! I couldn't believe it!!! He had problems turing but I was suprised that he kept on trying and trying. When Joe got home we went outside and showed him Travis' new trick.  He was so proud!!! Mostly because he wasn't a sissy about falling off. The funniest thing was Travis' giggle while he was ridding. He got so excited that he couldn't help it....enjoy!

bloggin' 8 tag

Thank you Shauna for thinking of us:) We have definetely been "up to a lot of things lately"

8 things I look forward to  

1-living in one place for more then 9 months

2-having all my "important stuff" as joe calls it packed up and ready to go

3-getting a hair cut and pedicure 

4-having a land line so I can talk to my sister and not worry about going over my minutes

5-sitting back and relaxing in the cool California sun all summer long!!!!!

6-not living next to college kids

7-not renting!!!

8-having a pepsi after I finish this

8 things I wish I could do

1-wiggle my nose and have things be all cleaned up (Mary Poppins)

2-enjoy reading

3-finish school (college)

4-have a child with out throwing up at all for the entire nine months!! (that's all I ask)

5-have dinner ready and on the table at a decent hour...every night

7-teach my children to be reverent in church, yes we are having issues with that

8-not worry about the next few months

8 people I tag (if ya want to)

1-"Danimal" and Katie (Joe misses his buddy)

2-Brittany and Brian

3-Travis and Amy (we need to move closer to you guys)

4- and whoever else feels the need to

As you have probably figured out we are moving...again!! :( These are the first of many many boxes to be packed. I'm not that excited about this move. We love it here but with all the  $$$$ cuts the school district had to lay off 8 high school teachers. Joe was the very last one they hired so he was the first one to go. We kinda saw it coming, so he interviewed in Tri-cities washington and we just found out that he got it. He'll be teaching chemistry, physics, algebra and maybe spanish. He is excited to finally teach some science. It's a small school and it's actually the school he graduated from, one of his teachers interviewed him. We're just glad things are working out. Since we loved being in California last summer, and my mom isn't sick of us yet, we thought we'd go down there and Joe will work for my Dad again. So we are packing everything up and putting it in storage in washington then driving down to California. Lots and lots of driving, I'm trying to talk myself into flying with the boys and Joe driving... we'll see what happens.   

Do you ever have one of those moments that you just look at your kid and are just so grateful that he's yours! Tyler cracks me up. He is talking like crazy these days! Joe got the boys ready for bed tonight and Tyler came into my room holding the Buzz Lightyear costume, he help it up and said, "Buzz, Buzz, pleeeeease, please!" Who could say no to that. So I took his pajamas off and put on Buzz. He was walking around in it and we even had to go to the church to pick up a book and he had it on there too. He finally realized that it was pretty tough to go up the stairs with it on so he told me he was done with it. 

 

Camping?????

Let me just start off by saying that I'm not a camping or "roughing it" type of girl. I hate dirt, unless there's grass on it, I hate numerous amounts of trees in one place, I hate the smell of campfires and the only place that I like to sleep is my bed. Joe knows this and he has known this since we've been married and that is why we haven't been camping. Well, next weekend is that father son camp out for our ward and Joe will be out of town for it. So I told him that he should just take the boys and go this weekend. He kept on bugging me and bugging me to go with them until finally I decided that it couldn't be that bad and decided I would go. So we surprised him and left right after work on friday. 
Travis and Tyler were so excited!!!!! The first thing they did when we got there was set-up the tent. This was probably the only thing they helped with during the trip. 
I hate tents so I blew-up the air mattress and was going to sleep on it in the car with Tyler...so I thouhgt. It ended up being way cold so we all slept in there. Yeah, I won't be doing that again. 
Yes, that is a smile on my face, probably the only one that whole time. Poor Tyler's hands kept getting too cold, and he didn't understand how to stop it from happening or how to make it feel better, so he spent a lot of time with me (not much change there). Luckily, his crying made the whiners next to us move to another campsite, so we had lots of room to run around.
That night for dinner Travis roasted a hot dog and Tyler pretty much only had pickles and Oreos.
After a cold, cramped, and smelly (campfire) night we woke up and I decided that we should go home. Joe decided that we should go see the waterfalls. "Just one and it's not that far of a hike," he said. I should've known better when he used the word hike. So we packed up the car and drove to the falls. I didn't know it was going to be cold so I didn't pack pants for Tyler but I figured it wasn't going to be that long of a "hike" so his pajamas were fine.

In this picture just imagine a trickle of pee running down his leg then Travis in a proud voice yelling, "look mom I went pee!!!!" We are still working on him telling us before hand when he needs to go.

Joe picked up these clovers and started to eat them. He finally talked me into trying one and they tasted like sour green apples!!! The boys loved their "salad" as they called it. 

So 1 hour later and 2 1/2 miles walked (Tyler being carried most of the way) I told Joe that this trip counts for the next two summers!! Let me just also say that this hike wasn't just straight walking, it was either up hill or down. I don't think I'll do it again at least not with two kids.

   
After all that complaining I do have to say that we had a fun time and I love spending time with my boys especially here in Oregon.

Joe's words:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was a horrible trip..... doesn't that make you think of the plates of Laman compared to the plates of Nephi? Feel free to edumecate yourself with the link. It's great And so was the trip. We had such a good time, and we laughed and smiled the whole weekend - almost. We are so fortunate to have the coolest girl in the world in our family of boys.

busy times

Holy cow it's been a busy three weeks! First it was Joe's spring break then it was grandma meg's spring break and last week it was grandma meri's spring break. 

For our Spring break Joe and I had some great plans to take the kids and go up to Portland for a few days. We were very excited!!! But it all came crashing down when the school district decided that all the teachers should take a pay cut because of budget issues. So we just stayed at home and hung out. That weekend we went to Washington to pick up Joe's niece and nephew to come and spend the week with us (it was their spring break). It was lost of fun to have them here with us.  

Then my mom, my sister and her two girls came up to spend their spring break with us. We stayed in Salem because they have better shopping then our little old town. Pretty much our week was... shop, get lost, eat, play, shop, get lost, eat, go swimmin', and then a little sleep. 

This was a funny picture...at the hotel they gave us chocolate cookies and Tyler put it down on the chair because it was falling apart and then continued to eat it.
We went to the Portland zoo and Travis' favorite thing was the zoo train, he is still talking about it.
We also went to the tulip festival and rode this train thinger they had. It was really bumpy and Travis screamed the whole time. I was the lucky one that got to ride with Tyler and he loved it!

They had these water pumps and then they had rain gutters that you can put rubber ducks in to have races. Travis got really into it...tongue and all.

After everyone went home we dyed eggs. Tyler tried to put all his eggs in one bowl and he decided that using his hands was easier then the dipper. 
Our church is at 11:30 and yes we were late so a picture by the car is all we got. After a long week of staying up late the boys didn't wake up until 10 and they are my alarm clock. It was Tyler's first day in nursery!!!!! He did great and I did also.
The Easter bunny didn't come to our house until late afternoon. 
I though that I put the easter stuff up high enough...I found out that I was wrong on monday morning.