Monday, October 13, 2014

April and May

Emory's bag and we got it there before her birthday!! 
Happy 8th birthday Em

Feeding the fish at the Bonneville fish hatchery.

More fish feeding and question answering from the Japanese tourists. Because somehow Tessa had all of the answers. 

Herman the sturgeon.

Cake by Kiah

The other cake by Kiah. She made them for mother's day.

Monday, May 19, 2014

Chicago style pizza in chicago.

YUM!!


School. 

Nauvoo Temple

The close up.

Dan and I were there. I wish we could have stayed longer but the job was calling so off we went after one very quick fast forward day. I hope we can go back and spend more time. 

Fort McHenry...

First view of the fort and the flag.

Some of the cannons on one of the points. 

The inside gates of the fort. 

A British cannon ball from the battle at Fort McHenry.

Officer quarters.

The barracks. Imagine sleeping 3 or 4 to one bunk.

Cannons at the front of the fort.

It was a wet and cold day at Fort McHenry but it was an amazing day. We learned a lot and had a great time. 

more of the middle...

We stopped in Baltimore for yet another job but Kiah didn't mind at all. 

Can you tell Kiah was excited. We didn't see Duff but we did see Ann Marie. Good morning for Kiah and we were all happy that she shared this moment with us. It is amazing how small the shop is. You always imagine a grand space from the TV show but its really just a small space. 

This one is for you Brother Davis.

Nobody had a problem with the very yummy cake in a jar. We split it between the six of us and it was good.  Off to Fort McHenry next. 

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

The Middle of the story...

Every story has a beginning, middle and an end. The beginning of this story was Dan taking a new job in Oregon and then moving out there last September. That came with all of its own challenges for sure. I became a full time single mom, Dan became a bachelor again and the girls learned how to Face Time and Skype like pros. It also meant that the girls and I were on full time house prepping for the beginning of the middle of the story, The Sell.

Dan came home for Christmas and we finalized our plans to get the house on the market in January. We had the realtor come back and take a look and asses what the next step was, he gave us is suggestions and we were off and running. We list the house in early January and and then we waited for something to happen. It didn't take long for us to get a bite. In the course of four days we had a showing, an offer, negotiations and an accepted offer. This of course started the waterfall of everything else that comes with selling a house in MA. The regulations of Massachusetts is something I won't miss, it is truly nuts. Then came the extensions and crazy packing and last minute fixes and trying to schedule Dan's arrival. We finally made it to the closing and it went off without a hitch and in the stroke of a signature we were homeless with everything we owned in a truck and the car and we were on our way. The goodbyes were the hardest. It's hard to leave friends who have become your family. The ones  you have spent time with, walk through fire with, laughed until milk shoots our your nose with, raised kids with, served with and lived life with. We will be back to visit, often.

Now we are traveling across the country. But instead of taking the direct route we have decided to take the zigzag, Dan is working (so why did he take paid time off?), let's stay in the eastern time zone forever, route. I can honestly say I am so tired of living in hotels and out of the car. We have been able to see a couple of cool things on the way and we are looking forward to seeing more.



Vermont rest stop. The only dog they will ever have. 

Vermont ski gondola

Best store ever!!

This only a very small part of the candy section.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

The house

I feel like I have rebuilt this house in the last year or so. I have worked non-stop and I've had a TON of help. I can't possibly write out everything that we/I have done so here are the pictures. I am confident I don't have the before shots but you can look at the after shots.

living room carpet

family room carpet

living room looking toward hall after the new carpet went in

new work counter in basement and cupboard 

office/schoolroom

bathroom back splash

new roof

painting with the elders quorum 

And now that it is almost all done, we leave it behind and start over. Good thing I wrote down all of those color choices. Here's to new adventures.