Emily's 5th Birthday

Emily's birthday was Saturday. She got to celebrate at school on Friday and wear a special birthday hat all day. Saturday morning she got breakfast in bed (French toast), which she requested. Later in the day, we went to a place called Harley Farms in Pescadero, about 40 miles from here. (Check out their website at http://www.harleyfarms.com/) It's between Santa Cruz and Half Moon Bay. It's a goat farm and they have about 160 goats that they keep and they make fresh goat cheese and some other products. It was really fun to take a tour and see how the farm works and see the goats. We saw the whole process from milking the goats (which we all got to try, including me!), and the kitchen where the cheese rounds are actually made and decorated with pretty edible flowers that they grow there. The kids had a lot of fun and we learned a lot about goats and self-sustaining farms.

Andrew feeding a goat

Hannah and Andrew "kidding" around!

Emily making a new friend

The kids milking the goats

Then of course there was ice cream and presents later in the day! Hooray! Happy birthday, Emily!!!

Progress.....

So here's the latest on the house. They seem to be a little ahead of schedule still, despite the HOT weather this week that caused the workers to have to quit early each day. The roof is sheeted and the windows should be installed in the next few weeks. We need to make our fireplace selection this week. Not the greatest pictures, but the best we could get with all the "stuff" in the way. Oh, and if it is possible to be in love with a garage, I am already in love with ours. It is beautiful, if I do say so myself! Okay, so it's not a 3-car-garage or anything but hey, this is California. Most people don't even have room to park one car in their garage. We'll have room for two and tons of storage space, too, because of the shape and design of it. LOVE IT! And below, we also have a picture of Jim, the one making it all happen! He's the contractor and so far things have gone smoothly. I guess I have him to thank for the beautiful garage floor that he is pretty much paying for (see my "bomb or tornado" post in July for the story on that!). Thanks Jim!

First day of preschool

Here is Andrew on his first day of preschool last week before we left home. He goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and he loves it - mostly because of the Thomas trains there that he thinks are his (notice the new backpack he picked out). When the other kids are crying because their moms are dropping them off, he has his back to me and is already playing with trains on the floor and doesn't even say goodbye! When I pick him up, he's playing with trains and doesn't want to leave!

First Day of School

Yesterday was the first day of school for Hannah and Emily. We found out their teachers on Wednesday afternoon. Emily got Hannah's old kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Redke, whom we really liked, and Hannah got Ms. Wight, whom we heard lots of great things about. She also had a lot of her friends in her class so she was thrilled! Here are pictures of them on the first day.

Here is Emily looking a little anxious right before she went into class and then a picture of her hugging Andrew after we picked her up (he really misses the girls and keeps asking where they are):

Favorite quotes of the day:

When I picked Emily up, I asked her if she had missed me. She said, "I didn't miss you because I didn't think about you because I was having so much fun!"

When I picked Hannah up (2 1/2 hours later), I asked her how she liked her teacher. She said she loved her because "she gave us an apple and a gummy worm"! What else do you need???

The walls go up

We've seen a lot of progress on the house in the last week or so. These are pictures of the materials that were used for the garage floor. The kids had fun climbing on the mounds of gravel, etc.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

(This garage floor isn't going ANYWHERE! Earthquake? Bring it on!)

Some inside views:

Standing in the kitchen looking towards the garage (desk area, 1/2 bath, laundry room, etc. will be in between)

Part of the great room.......... (picture taken from kitchen)

Kitchen & dining area (taken from the great room)

TODAY....................

We've chosen the front door. The windows are being ordered this week. Now I have to decide on the fireplace next and we have to decide soon how we want the front and back porches to look. The concrete will be poured soon and the whole roof framed. These things won't have to be decided for a while, but any expertise or input on paint colors, backsplashes, kitchen cupboard configuration, favorite appliances, etc., would be appreciated!

Baby Ellie

This is amazing. So my brother, Brent, and his wife, Rebecca, have not been able to have children. They have been trying to adopt for a little while now. On July 12th, they got a phone call from a private adoption agency that there was a girl in San Antonio (Amanda) who had just had a baby girl and wanted them to adopt her. They hopped on a plane that day and went down. To make a very long story short, Amanda was ready to give up the baby and knew it was the best thing to do, but her boyfriend had second thoughts and decided not to sign the paperwork, so they went home without a baby. The next week, they got a call saying that Amanda had bought a plane ticket (seems that the boyfriend had changed his mind once they got the baby home!) and she was going to fly to Utah and give them the baby. Then Amanda's parents threatened her that they would disown her and never let her see her other two children (who they have custody of and are raising) if she gave up the baby. For some warped reason, they thought keeping the baby was the only way she was going to learn responsibility. So, for the second time in a little over a week, Brent and Rebecca had been jerked around with this whole thing.


Well, yesterday around noon, I got a phone call from Brent who said that Amanda had just come out with the baby the day before and she (Amanda) was on a plane home (don't know what changed the parents' minds but I don't care!). So now they have a new little baby girl named Ellie (short for Elliana which means "God has heard our prayers") and we are all SO happy for them! Here are the pictures and I'm sure there will be more to come!


Brent, Rebecca, Amanda & Ellie

Brent, Rebecca & Ellie

Rebecca & Ellie

Framed!

So here's the latest update on our house. A lot has happened in the last two weeks.

Front view:

Top view:

From the back:

Standing in the living room:

We are moving along (ahead of schedule right now). Hopefully the front door and windows will be ordered next week. Shear walls go up next. More to come later..............

Summer Vacation

Wow! We just got back from our vacation to Utah on Monday night and we had a great time - saw lots of friends and family, celebrated birthdays, took lots of pictures, etc., etc. Here is a run-down:

First we stopped in Twin Falls and went through the Open House for the new temple there. Loved it! Small, but beautiful!

Then we took the kids over to Shoshone Falls before we left town. This picture was taken before Hannah lost one of her flip-flops over the side!

The next days we celebrated Hannah's 7th birthday in Logan at Grandma and Grandpa Parents' house. She got to go swimming with her cousins and go get a pedicure with Mom and Grandma. Not to mention the presents (including a new pair of flip-flops)!

Andrew also enjoyed the swimming.

After about 3 days at Grandma's, we headed down to SLC. We went to Hogle Zoo. My favorite part was the giraffes and the kids loved the elephants, white crocodile, apes, snakes, etc. The little train ride was also a big hit, especially with Andrew.

We got to catch up with our awesome friends, the Weavers, and we introduced them to DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) on the Wii which I got for an early b-day present while we were out there. They're hooked now. (Keep practicing, Tami. Someday, you might be able to beat your kids!) :)

Then it was on to Park City / Heber (some place up there) where Ruel's mom and dad had rented a big cabin for all of us in celebration of their 40th anniversary. Everyone was there except Kevin and Melissa and their family, since Melissa had a baby the day before the reunion. (Pics of the baby to follow!) Andrew and Michael had fun playing trains together.

We all went to Jordanelle and had wave runners to play with there. Emily especially loved them and wanted to drive them with no help! She did great!

We celebrated Hannah's, Lauryn's, and Logan's b-days together with one cake and a lot of candles and took a group family picture as well (the best we could get!).

After the reunion, we spent some time with Kevin, Melissa, Taylor, Brooklyn, and the new baby, Dylan. We have a picture of all the girls (except Dylan) together on the stairs and a blackmail picture of Andrew dressed up and dancing with Brooklyn. There are a few cute ones of Hannah and Emily holding Dylan, too.

We got more pics with aunts, uncles, and cousins, too. Unfortunately, we didn't get any with Uncle Brent and Aunt Rebecca, but we had a great time at their house. Here's Andrew with Aunt Kari, the girls with cousin Caleb, and Andrew with Uncle Larry. Whew! That's it!!!!