The Hubby's work had a company picnic in July and they planned Olympic teams and games. We were on Team Red and Twinkle Toes participated in the marble roll. You have to roll the marble across a table and it had to stop on a strip of two-sided sticky tape at the other side. Apparently she was very good at it.
I got to embarass myself by smashing my face in a mound of whipped cream to find a piece of gum which I had to chew up and then first one to blow a bubble won. I didn't win :(
Daddy and Sweet Boy won the apple stacking contest. Figures...we love apples! Other games included sucking a Skittle with a straw and placing it onto another straw, eating crackers and whistling, and I can't remember the rest. He works with a great group of people though and they treat their employees so well.
Cousin Kaylee and other cousins, Aunt Amy, Grandpa, Lana, Uncle Grant and Kiley came for a visit this weekend. We had a houseful. It was fun!
Cousin Gabe
Sadie and Caleb
All dressed up for church
We went four wheeling out in the country with someone from our ward! Fun!
We all wore goggles, even Grace.
Grace's new thing is she loves to try on everyone elses shoes......and then she giggles.
We're all moved into our new house.....here's the front room walking into the house, which is my office.
the adjoining (to the front room) living room
formal dining room with doors to the side yard
dining room again
Downstairs this is the playroom, I donated my sewing table to the kids, got some chairs from Goodwill and now all markers, crayons etc. are banned from my formal dining table. They have their own space now! I put some carpet remnants down over the hardwood and they can splatter paint to their hearts content.
I call this the sleeping room because basically that is all they do in here. All the kids are in one room so we kept this just to beds and a dresser/closet, no toys. So far it is working just fine. Sweet Boy has gotten used to having to hear other people breath in the same room as himself and Twinkle Toes does talk in her sleep, but it is working. We put Grace down first and once she is asleep the other two go down.
Twinkle Toe's bed, I hung the full-length curtains over the colums as the basement really doesn't have much by way of windows.
Caleb's corner/queen size bed he is like a pea in a big pod. The Hubby thinks he got the nicest bed in the house - it's memory foam and the basement sleeps cool.
So finally, I'm back! I didn't know it was going to take more than 2 weeks to get internet up and going and to just get a phone. Things just move at a slower pace in La Grande I guess. That is what I am finding out. We are all settled in and things are starting to feel a little more normal. At first, I seemed to be all out of sorts in our new place. We have met some wonderful people here and the ward is very welcoming, which makes the transition so much easier. The Hubby is two blocks from work so he walks the 2 minutes to get there, walks home for lunch, is home by 5:30......what a change from a 30-minute commute to Bend. We are loving that. He has parked his car and it hasn't moved. We are two blocks from Twinkle Toes' school, 3 blocks from a Family History Center, one block from other LDS families, 2 blocks from the movie theater/downtown and a few blocks from a giant park by the River. I rode my bike to the Farmer's Market and got a flat of blueberries, and yes, I toted them home in my backpack. Like I said, things are moving at a slower pace. One thing I've noticed is that people are outside a lot here, walking, sitting on their porch, and very neighborly. We have already had several encounters with nice neighbors.
Despite our living in a 2-bedroom house, we have way more room than our other house. This houe has 3 bathrooms, 2 upstairs, and 1 downstairs and a huge pantry/storage room downstairs. I'm excited to can this fall and fill it up. The part I am loving the most is the playroom. It's downstairs so I can send the kids down there and it's so quiet upstairs....they love having their own space and enjoy playing there. Although I love the downstairs I don't enjoying trekking up and down them as much all day. I have been so good and trekking our wet laundry upstairs and outside to hang on the line only to trek it back down. Like I said, things are moving at a slower pace (we do have a dryer, this is just by choice). We decided this house didn't warrant having a TV so we are trying out no TV. We donated ours to the downstairs playroom for the kids to watch movies. I admit, I miss it but I am giving this a shot. We get a lot more done I guess.
We have a whole fence line of rasberries so I have done 2 batches of freezer jam and frozen a lot. I am probably going to do another batch of jam today. The kids are having fun helping me pick them although Grace does saunter over there a lot and she pulls whatever she finds off and eats it. We have found her eating rasberry plus stem a few times and some aren't ripe. One day after getting home from church I couldn't find her only to go outside and she had hidden herself in the rasberry patch getting a little snack.
Twinkle Toes is at a Summer Fun Camp this week. They went to the movie theater yesterday, the rock climbing gym today, slip-n-slide tomorrow, and swimming the next day. Another week and I suppose we will be registering for school. We still haven't closed on the house in Redmond, but hopefully in the next few weeks it will all be done. That chapter will close and another begin.
Right before the move, we found out we lost the baby. It was sad. A hard thing, but I realized shortly after I had to be at peace with it because there was nothing more to do. I birthed at home and we got to bury the baby ourselves, despite the doctor trying to dissuade us to have a D&C instead. I really didn't want to do that and I think the whole process allowed me time to heal.
Kids Shower
Kids Bathroom
My pickles and other canning 
The Downstairs pantry/storage room
The Hubby's bathroom
My (messy) bathroom
Our bedroom
