Well, it's FINALLY done. We have now moved all our stuff to the new house and turned in the keys to the old house. It was a lot of work. I didn't realize just how much stuff we (OK, I probably should say "I" because a lot of it is mine; craft stuff, fabric, etc) have. It seemed never ending. But it's done and I am SO happy to be done. At least with the moving stuff to the new house part. Of course, the next phase is unpacking boxes. But the heavy lifting is finished. Whew. But in the plus column, I did find a few things that I thought I had lost. Turns out they were just "misplaced." LOL  ;) 

We spent the weekend mostly just relaxing and enjoying the new house. I am LOVING the ceiling fans here! And the backyard that is landscaped, not just a huge sandbox. Oh, and an actual clothesline. We usually just hang clothes we don't want to put in the dryer over chairs and the barstools which just clutters things up. Now we can hang them up on the line. In fact, I've already used it.

So, I promised some pics and I have some to share here. First the backyard.

You may have spotted a dog or two in the picture. They are not ours. We're just keeping them temporarily for one of Hubby's coworkers who is also in the midst of moving.While they are waiting to move into their new house, they were living in a trailer with a 3 year old and the 2 dogs. Since we had an unoccupied dog run Hubby offered to house them here for a few weeks. The building is part shed/part doghouse.

Next we have some Asian pear trees.


































And at the far top/left of the picture you can just make out the roof of another shed on the other side of the fence which is filled with camping gear and stuff.

Then we've got the chicken coop.

Those are grape vines growing on it. And in the foreground, squash and pumpkin plants mixed in with tomatillo plants.

This is the main garden area behind the morning-glory-covered-fence. And those are apple trees along the fence line.

And a look inside the fenced garden...

More squash, eggplant, green beans, and cherry tomatoes. Oh, and raspberries. These are red raspberries.

In the corner, more raspberries. These are yellow raspberries. Yum! And you can also see a small part of the lawn.

And the patio with bench and firepit. That's it for the outside. On the inside we've still got boxes to unpack and we haven't gotten everything arranged yet. The layout of the new house is different than the old one so we're still trying to figure out to arrange everything. But I've got a pantry in the kitchen...

The old house had an electric stove which I absolutely hated. Now I have a gas stove again! So happy!

 And ceiling fans. Huge fan of the fans! LOL

Also, the walls here are painted in colors other than 50 shades of white. The living/dining/kitchen areas are a tan color and a green. One kids' bedroom is green and the other is a pale blush color. Very slightly pinkish. The master bedroom is blue, which I like, but our bedding is purple so they don't really go together. Our new landlords have said we can paint whatever colors we want but it might be time for new bedding, anyway. ;)

So, there you have a look at the new casa. I have been working on some more scrapping so I will probably post some pages here soon. In fact, I may just upload some right now...

TBT #3

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday! Today I've got one of my {little} Big R. This is at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon back in 2008. Just chillin'. (Notice my sister's blanket? Animaniacs. It's a double throwback!) Love that smile! I might be a bit biased but I think he's adorable! :)

Throwback Thursday #2 August 21, 2014

Welcome to another Throwback Thursday. I'm calling this the Moving Edition. So, as you know, we're in the process of moving. Today I have photos from the last time we moved, nearly 7 years ago in 2007. Here's my little helper painting the walls...

 

Or more accurately, herself! Not sure if she got more paint on the walls or herself. Yes, she was still in her I-Don't-Want-To-Wear-Clothes Stage. But by the look of things here that was probably for the best!

Well, I just wanted to make the official announcement regarding the Big News I mentioned before. Some of you know already know or at least knew that there was the possibility of it happening.  So, the news is we are moving! Not far, though. Actually, just across the street! Basically our neighbors bought a new home and were looking for renters for their first home. They offered us rent that was less than our current rent and the "new" house is just nicer since it has a landscaped backyard (including fruit trees, raised garden beds, grass, fire pit, and sheds), a pantry in the kitchen, ceiling fans, and more. We are actually in the process of moving our stuff over so it's pretty crazy around here. And I'm exhausted. And sore. And sweaty. TMI? I'll have to take some pics to share. Once we get somewhat settled. Or at least get all our stuff over there.

Anyway, school started today. I did manage a couple of photos but I don't know exactly where I put my camera after doing so (my brain is completely scrambled at the moment) so I'll put them up sometime when I find it. Big R is a 7th grader now (!!!) and MoMo is 5th (!!!). What!?

So, that's all for now. I've got a few more things to do tonight and then bedtime (finally). And back at it tomorrow... why do I have so much stuff?

Throwback Thursday #1 August 14, 2014

You probably have seen the Throwback Thursday posts online. (also tagged #TBT) I've seen Throwback Thursday posts and sort of in the back of my mind thought that it would be fun to do some but just never really got motivated to actually do it. But we were looking through some old photos the other day, trying to find some specific photos from 2007. In the search I rediscovered lots of older photos that I haven't seen in quite a long time. (the perils of digital photos: stored in the depths of a computer or on dusty old disks and never printed) I got completely sidetracked in my search, looking at all these photos of my much younger and smaller kids and laughing and reminiscing (but did eventually find the photos we had originally set out to find). And that has really inspired me to post some TBT photos of my own. At the end of July my mom hosted Grandma Camp and fortunately all the grandkids were able to be there, at least at one point or another. But my sisters and I had gotten to talking about that time when we all showed up at Mom and Dad's with nearly identical hairstyles and glasses. LOL Well, in addition to the photos I also found a cache of older scrapbook pages I've made and found one featuring this very photo...

 

 None of us had any idea that the others had the same hair or glasses. And I really don't know why I'm not smiling. ???

So, this is my very first TBT post. I hope to make it a weekly thing. But please don't hold it against me if I don't. Anyway, I hope you like it.

Hey everyone. It's been a while. We've obviously been enjoying summer vacation, living life, and making memories even though I haven't shared. I've got some photos and stories to share but I haven't gotten around to writing them up and posting them. I don't know when that might be since we've got a Major Event about to happen next week and school starts back up next week, too. I'm totally stressed! But maybe (hopefully) in a couple weeks things will have calmed down and I'll be able to compose some posts regarding our recent events. 

Anyway, I just wanted to share some layouts I've done in the last 2 or 3 months. Quite a few of them, actually. I've kind of been saving them up. Some were scrapped with older photos and others with recent photos. Well, okay, I suppose that's all for now. Enjoy!

Hello again! So, I've got quite a few photos to share today. Last weekend was Hubby's birthday. He got some $$$ for his birthday and this is what he picked out...

Then MoMo helped to make the cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting of course! Except I saw Almond Joy flavored frosting at the store and put that in the middle. Personally, I'm not a fan of coconut but everyone else liked it!

Mostly we just spent the day relaxing at the house. MoMo and Peanut Butter had an interesting way to hang out.

Doesn't look very comfortable. LOL It took 3 to light all those candles. Just kidding! We actually didn't have enough candles to do one for every year so we used candles to form the number. (41)

This weekend (Memorial Day weekend) we went to Nevada's oldest permanent settlement, Genoa. (pronounced jen-OH-uh, named after Genoa, Italy) But when it was founded in 1851, Genoa was actually not in Nevada but Utah Territory. Nevada as a state or territory didn't exist yet. Nevada became a territory 10 years later in 1861and then a state 3 years after that in 1864. Anyway, today Genoa has a number of antique shops, Nevada's oldest "Thirst Parlor" (bar/saloon), a few other shops that sell jewelry, souvenirs and the like, and Mormon Station State Historic Park. We had fun browsing the shops, had lunch (and ice cream) and generally just explored. Unfortunately, we mostly neglected to take pictures. But I'm going to go ahead and say that Hubby was the one who actually had possession of the camera so it could be considered his fault. ;)

Then yesterday we decided to go to the lake. We just made a day trip of it, didn't camp overnight. Hubby tried a little fishing (no luck and no fish), the kids floated and splashed in the water, dug their own graves, and I mostly relaxed in the shade with my trusty Kindle. (really! They started digging holes the approximate size of their bodies, occasionally lying in them to see if they were the right size yet. They actually told me that they were digging their own graves, though they were quite shallow as far as graves go, and Big R even wrote an epitaph in the sand. Perhaps they were in a macabre mood from the incident that I will tell you about a bit later.)

Look at his face! What a goofball! Anyhow, we all had a really great time and headed home as the sun was going down, a bit sunburned and sandy but happy.

Ok, so yesterday before we headed to the lake we had a sad event. One of our chickens died. :( I went out to fill the feeders and found her in the duck house. We buried her and MoMo decorated the grave with rocks and even put a headstone on it. I think that's why the kids were digging graves at the lake. They had graves on their minds.

MoMo still wants to add Miss Blossom's name to the headstone. I found some photos of Miss Blossom as a wee chick. She's the black and white one here.

Well, I think that about covers it. Hope you are having a great weekend!