House Hunting and more...

These past few weeks have been really interesting around our house. Basically, Larry and I finally decided that now is the time to really get ready to sell our house and upgrade to a bigger house with more space for our family. We've been thinking about doing it for the past year or more, but it finally feels right. We have already looked at two homes of people that are planning on selling in the near future. They both let us have a walk-through- and both are what we are looking for and in our price range. Maybe Larry and I are just easy to please- It is exciting to think about a home where our children will grow up, become teenagers, and then leave the nest for college and missions. (After that, I want to move into the country).
We've already begun fixing up our house to sell with painting and hiring a contractor to remodel our master bath. I think this is also the only time that I've been excited to deep clean. Of course, I get to sort through everything we own too (which I love to do- I LOVE throwing things away). Larry and I also moved some things around last week to make our living possible for the next few months- we set up Kara's crib in our office and moved the bookshelf and other things that were in that space to other locations. We put the boys bunkbeds back together and moved them to the other side of the room and put the bookcase in there for the boys to store their toys. I was AMAZED at how hard it was to find different places to store the items that got displaced! We really DO need more room. I also cut down my college textbooks to just three. And I think I own less than a dozen novels and church books now. I think it's really freeing to get rid of stuff.

Randomness

There has been a lot going on lately, so I thought I'd just share a few tidbits:

1. Larry and I got all motivated to paint our room after getting a new bedspread. After getting all the painting done- it appears that the paint color should have been called "Fry Sauce". It is a weird peachy-brown color. I guess we'll be painting again soon.

2. We had a contractor come out to see about fixing our bathroom and adding on to our house. I think we will fix the bathroom, but the add on probably won't make much sense. We're hoping to find a 5 bedroom home maybe this summer. We may even move just across the street- our neighbor took us on a walk-through of their house and they say they want a family with children to live there. I'm not sure they're ready to move, though...

3. Derek informed me that the kids and his teacher at school call him "the scientist".

4. Larry's work is getting VERY busy right now.

5. Miranda is all excited to start a 6 week basketball club with her friend next week.

6. I am back to the gym now that Kara is old enough to go to the childcare there. Yay!

7. We have been listening to books on tape with the kids at night. We recently heard, 'How to Eat Fried Worms', 'Frog and Toad', and we're now on 'Mr. Popper's Penguins'.

8. My mom and sister just recently came for a visit. We did lots of shopping, facials, and a trip to the Shanghai tunnels under Portland.

9. Spencer was in a Christmas program at his preschool. He did all the songs and actions just right. It was so cute.

10. Derek got a "real" camera after we returned his junky Clone War's one he got for his birthday. He likes to take pictures of everybody in our family.

11. Due to the snow storm, our recycling cart FINALLY got emptied this week! Four weeks of recycling materials accumulating around our house= one disgruntled mother!

12. Lindsey likes to eat raw carrots now. She begs me to open the frig so she can get the baby carrots out. The only other fruits of vegetables she likes are cooked potatoe chunks and cucumbers.

Blue eyes

Horray for my blue eyed baby. I really hope they stay blue- Go recessive genes!

Snow Days

Our Christmas break started a little early this year with the biggest snow storm in Oregon in 40 years! We didn't have normal church for two weeks, and the kids missed a week of school. It kept us trapped at home most of the time, then we eventually ventured out with chains on the van tires. Don't worry- we still got to do all of the holiday stuff! Luckily, we were pretty much done with shopping and gift giving to neighbors and friends.


I just had to include this picture of our little darling! She has really been smiling at us a lot recently. It is so fun to see her more engaged with the other kids. She does laugh every once-in-a-while, but it is a rarity.

Here is Larry helping the kids to build a snowman on one of the first days of the storm. Unfortunatly, Miranda and Derek had outgrown most of their snowgear, so only Spencer was really able to stay out long. Lindsey stayed out for a long time even though she was practically frozen. The Snowman eventually looked like Gaba the Hut.

Derek thought it was hilarious to pick up the sheets of ice laying on top of the snow after a night of freezing rain, and throw them to see them shatter.

I found Spencer munching and licking this large sheet of ice. Lindsey also enjoyed eating the snow. Since we don't have a sled, Larry made one out of our cement mixing box (a large, plastic rectangle box) with a hole drilled in it with a cord tied to it. He pulled the kids up and down the street in it. It is so weird that they don't have enough plows, so they don't bother to do the residential roads- so they ended up having huge trenches. It took about 2 days of above-freezing temperatures to finally melt all the slush and ice away. Now we're just back to our lovely Oregon rain.

Larry-the Ultimate Fan

If I had to describe Larry with one word, I think it would be LOYAL. Larry is the most loyal person- to his family, his team, and his friends. Larry wore his Blazer gear at Disneyworld in Florida last January on game days- now that is loyalty. In the picture below, we are at the big BYU/Washington game just a few days before Kara's birth. He got about 75 of his closest friends together and was in absolute heaven! He loves to be surrounded by friends and watch his Cougs. Maybe he went a little over the top with the BYU theme this year- borrowing a Cougar uniform and carrying Kara around in a football costume- but you can never go too far to prove your loyalty if you are Larry. He loves this kind of stuff.

At work, he was asked to head up a team of people in a pedometer competition. Where most teams had 6-8 people, Larry recruited around 35. They were the Texas Walking Rangers. After 6 weeks and many, many motivational emails, at the end of it all, he put together these Chuck Norris heads to give to each participant with some inspiring words on the back.

This fall, Larry was coaching again. He coached soccer for a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds, and really enjoyed it. He has promised to coach Miranda's team next year. He also co-coached waterpolo for Hillboro High School again. He is a gifted coach- maybe not very hard-nosed, but great at motivating people and making them feel great about themselves.We are SO glad that to have our Loyal Larry!

Happy 9th Anniversary to us!

We have had 9 wonderful years of marriage! We were so blissfully unaware of the changes and challenges and children awaiting us on that day. We have had our little ups and downs and put in a lot of hard work- but we are closer and know each other much better because of them. I realize now that I didn't know many of Larry's strengths when we got married- they have slowly emerged as the challenges of life, marriage, and children have stretched us both to become more. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father opened my eyes to see Larry as my future spouse!

And anyway, who could resist this studmuffin...

Kara Renee- the NEW baby

Kara is our new addition - born on September 10th. Spencer calls her "the new baby" because I guess he still considers Lindsey a baby. (Of course, Derek would have a mental breakdown if he heard anyone call Lindsey a baby because she is technically a toddler, as I have had to explain a zillion times- but I digress...). Anyway, Kara has been a very good baby in most respects. She is very pleasant and rarely cries- usually only when she is VERY hungry or VERY tired. She is great at soothing herself to sleep. Currently, she goes to bed around 11 pm and wakes up at 5:30 or 6 to eat, then back to sleep til 8 am or so. So, she's very managable.

Kara has big beautiful gray eyes, short dark hair, and the cutest smile. I'm afraid she inherited my "Sam Donaldson" eyebrows, but I think she'll live. She is also growing a ton- she's just over 3 months old and she's already fitting nicely into 6-9 month clothing. Kara has a really pleasant personality so far. She loves to look at the kids and smile, hoping they glance her way. She is quite enthralled with batting toys and looking at books. She has even started laughing, and it is adorable. One of her best traits is her ability to fall asleep amidst screaming children. I don't think she's too deeply asleep, but she gets her little naps in during the day and sleeps soundly at night. We sure love our Kara!