The Yard

Dun, dun, dun!!! Well we'll probably be getting some yard this year. And the reason why I say some is because we have a little over 2 acres and we can't do all of that this year. We'll probably add on a little every year. So it will be nice to have a yard, but living out in the country has other disadvantages!

Rattlesnakes. And no, I'm not joking. There is a TON of sagebrush out here, we live right by a firing range (also an Army base), neighbors are a good distance away, and there are a lot of critters (a polite way of saying it) around here. That equals snakes, and not just any snakes - rattlesnakes! I can deal with snakes, I don't mind them, but hello - these are poisonous snakes.

I was looking forward to this summer, but not now. I've been having nightmares about the kids getting bitten, or myself and not being that close to a hospital and the list goes on and on. I'm really getting anxious about it. It's scary. Really scary! We've been looking online at ways to reduce the population, but it still doesn't relieve my fears. We'll probably be getting a couple of cats and probably 2 dogs. The cats to kill the mice and anything else around to take away the food source and the dogs to warn us about the snakes. At least you can hear a rattlesnake, but you can't hear a baby rattlesnake - they don't have their rattles yet - so they are the most dangerous!

Our neighbors keep saying that it's all about teaching your children and awareness about snakes, and yes, it is that. But I have an almost 4 year old and a 14-month old. Yes, I can explain basic stuff to Josh about snakes and to not turn over rocks - but I'm still scared to death, because little kids can't fully comprehend how dangerous these snakes really are. I don't know, maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. But I just think it's going to be difficult.

Getting Organized

Ok, so last night our desk arrived from FedEx! Oh, thank the good lord. We've been needing one since we moved in, and now it's finally here. So last night Brad put it together and it looks great. Today, I got everything in the "office" organized - filing papers in the filing cabinet, organizing bills, putting things in the desk, and unpacking three more boxes that had office stuff in them. Wahoo! It feels good to have that accomplished.

Now Brad has a few things on his list: hanging pictures in our bedroom, the kids' pictures in the hallway, a coat rack and anything else I can give him to do. It's just going to take some time to fill this place up and get it how we want it. The next big ticket items (since we already got the TV and desk) are a couch for the bonus room, a mudroom bench (so we can sit down while putting on shoes) and a small kitchen table for the nook area. Hopefully we'll be able to find those items and they won't be too expensive. Once we get those items, I'll be feeling a lot better! And then it will just be getting stuff to decorate this place. We have a few things, but definitely not enough. One step at a time, I keep trying to tell myself that - but it's not working. I just want to have everything done now - and yes, I know I'm a 3 year old.

More Random Happenings

Let's see, where do I begin? Well Brad worked all night last night, so it was the first time that I've been in the house at night by myself. It would have been a little scary, had it not been for the NyQuil that I took earlier since I've been feeling a little under the weather. And boy oh boy, wouldn't you know it, the kids woke up - Josh twice and Maddie once. I swear they sense when I'm having to deal with them by myself at night!

We ended up heading to Target this morning to look for more decorative stuff. Found some stuff, but didn't buy any of it. I did buy a few more rugs for the kitchen and entry way. One was pretty big and they had the tag marked at $9.98, which was odd to me since the smaller ones that I was buying were $19.99. So I just happened to see a employee and inquired about it. And he told me that since it was listed at that price, they would have to honor it. It was regularly priced $39.99, and I got it for 10 bucks! Sweet. We also tried to look at computer desks at a different store, but haven't found any that we like. We'll just have to keep on looking, and hopefully we'll find something soon. I'm tired of seeing boxes and piles and piles of papers! I want to get organized. We also got a new TV which Brad and his cousin's husband mounted above the fireplace. It will be nice once we can actually watch it, but it's up.

My sister was supposed to come up today, but she ended up not. So I'm a little disappointed with her and wish that she would have come up, but oh well. Hopefully she'll make it up here soon. Other than it trying to snow up here, there's not much else to report. Oh, wait, yes there is. Maddie is teething again. I had noticed that she was getting another tooth on top and bottom in the front. But she started to cry when we were out and she was in her stroller, so I got a really good look in her mouth, and she's getting a molar on the bottom. And then after her bath, I just wanted to see how many more she was getting, and found another molar on top that's about to come through. And all of these teeth are on the same side of her mouth - poor little thing! So once these four come through, she'll have 8 total. Oh, I hate teething.

Newest Pictures of the House

Ok, so here are some updated pictures of the house, with the new paint and all. We still have a TON of decorating to do, but at least we can move around and know where things are. I have a plan for the master bedroom, so I'll have to post more pictures when I get that done. Hopefully we'll be getting new bedroom furniture.

Master Bedroom

Bonus Room

Bonus Room

Kitchen Nook

Hall Bath

Josh's Bedroom

Kitchen

Another view of the kitchen

Another view of the nook

Maddie's Bedroom

Misc Pictures

Here are some pictures of the kids from the past month or so. I think they are backwards in order, but oh well.

Maddie loved playing on the boxes.

DQ treat night. One of the last nights at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Maddie and daddy.

My little munchkin getting into trouble at Grandma's house.

Maddie playing on Grandma's chair.

Love this picture of Josh.

Maddie playing outside, looking mischievous.

Eating cupcakes at Grandma's house, oh Grandma!

2.18.09

Well Josh started school today. He had a blast and I got good reports all around from his teacher. We were late though and I was also late picking him up. I hate it when I do that. I don’t ever want to be late picking him up again, so I will make it a point to find out exactly how long it takes me to get there! I just have to keep in mind that we do live out in the country now – and everything else is “in town”. It feels so weird to say that, but it’s true. To go in town, takes at least 15 minutes, just to get there, and another 15-20 to get back. So we’ll just have to leave earlier in the morning, which isn’t a problem with my early birds! We got the newspaper set up today, so I’m excited to read that. I know, little things.

Brad’s mom came up this morning and then she’ll come back after visiting her dad and stay for dinner – so that’s good. Tomorrow we’ll probably do a little grocery shopping, and that’s all I have planned for this week. Brad will be home on Saturday, but will probably work on Sunday – but I think my sister might come up, so that’s good. We definitely need to buy more furniture and more decorating stuff for this house! The house in Utah was about this size – a little smaller, but the basement wasn’t finished – so it wasn’t livable space. Here, we have plenty of room, but not enough furniture to fill it! We need to buy a computer desk, another TV, a couch for the bonus room, and lots and lots of decorating stuff! So if anyone has any ideas after seeing the pictures – I could use a little help in the decorating department!

2.16.09

Well it’s pretty lonely out here. Now, it will definitely be better once we get internet and TV!! But we are pretty isolated out here. Right now I don’t really have any contact with the outside world, so I’m pretty lonely – which just means that I need to get out there and meet other people. I know of a couple of places where I can take the kids to, and I guess the next step would be to join a MOMs club. Hopefully I’ll meet some people through Josh’s school, and Brad does have a few cousins out here that have kids close to our childrens’ ages, so that’s good. There just aren’t too many young couples out here. Most of the people that live out here are older and retired. Not too much to do around here now, so it’s been pretty boring. But hopefully things will get better by Wednesday – that’s when Josh starts school and hopefully when our phone and internet get hooked up. Plus, Brad’s mom will stop by for a visit.

2.15.09

Well today we got more of the rooms organized. Brad’s mom and I got both bathrooms organized, our closet organized, the laundry room put together, she mopped the floor, and I ran to Target to grab a few more things that we needed. Brad and his dad tried to work on the phone line (again, don’t ask), got all of the cabinet locks on, put in light bulbs that were burnt out, and got more of the garage organized. Now I can almost park the Tahoe inside! After 3 months of parking it outside, it will be nice to have it in the garage. We got so much done yesterday that Brad’s parents are leaving today, and his mom won’t need to stay longer. I’m sitting by myself right now while Maddie sleeps, because everyone else is gone. Brad had to pick up his car at his parents’ house, so my boys won’t be home until late tonight! On the way up here, Brad’s dad drove the motorhome, Brad drove his dad’s truck pulling the trailer and I drove our car – so Brad had to make another trip to his parents’ house and back, but hopefully this will be the last time for a while. Until we just want to go down to visit. At least we’re only an hour and fifteen minutes away, compared to nine hours! So I don’t have any TV (DirecTV can’t come until the 23rd, the 23rd!!! Do they not know that we need TV ASAP! I have a 3 year old, people!), no internet because Qwest couldn’t hook us up, and no phone (except my cell phone). Hopefully we can get internet by Wednesday. But no TV for another week is going to be hard. Well that’s all for today.

Finally!!!

Well we finally have Internet up and running! It felt like an eternity! But we have it, it works, and now I can finally catch up on email, blogging, and posting pictures. YES! Can't you tell that I'm excited? So I've been writing posts on Microsoft Word, so I'll just copy and paste those onto here. It's going to be a really long post, so please bear with me. Nevermind, I'm just going to post these each separately, it will probably be easier that way.


Valentine's Day:

Today we moved the rest of our stuff into the house. We loaded up the beds, dressers, toys, and a lot of little miscellaneous stuff! But it’s done. And we couldn’t have done it without the help of Brad’s parents and my mom. Brad’s parents brought their RV up so that they would have a place to sleep, and so that Brad’s mom could stay a little longer if we needed her to. My mom followed me up here and got to work with washing dishes, arranging more of the kitchen, playing with the kids, and just organizing stuff. We got most of the stuff out of the garage and into the house. The beds were the first thing that Brad and his dad put together. We didn’t want to be putting beds together at 9pm! The boys spent the rest of the time bringing in boxes, unloading the boxes, moving the heavy stuff into the rooms that it needed to be in and fixing the light switch – please don’t ask, it was only an hour process.

I did some more grocery shopping, which only took 2 hours. One, because I got lost and two, we’re living out in the country now. Gone are the days of just driving to a store that is just 5 minutes away to grab a few forgotten items. They do have a few small grocery stores in town, but to get to an Albertsons – it’s a good 15-20 minute drive. So I left at 5 and didn’t get home until 7, with dinner in hand. It has been quite a long day, but with much accomplished. Oh, and Happy Valentine’s Day everyone. Now I’m ready for bed, but it’s so stinkin’ quiet!

"I Very Sick"

Well I was going to post this picture anyways because I thought it was cute. I had been on the computer checking email and getting sucked into Facebook once again and Josh kept running in and out of the computer room. Earlier I had set him up with a movie and some apple juice, and a snack. The next thing I know he's put all of his mini Ritz crackers into the button spots for this glider chair. Hard to tell what those orange things are, I know, but that's what they are. And I just thought it was cute that he had put those there, so I decided to take a picture - which he more than willingly posed for, as you can see.

Again, the next thing I knew he was jumping up and down (again, not unusual) and his mouth is completely full. He just crammed all of those crackers into his mouth and is starting to gag. Holy crap! Panic sets in for a second, but then I tell him to spit them all into my hands. Gross, but what else can I do? I thought he was ok, because there was a reasonable amount in his mouth - but no. He starts gagging again and then it happened - he threw up. All over the floor, which I'm cleaning at this moment, his hands, my hands, his shirt. And I felt so bad for him, and probably even worse because it kind of made me chuckle. He says to me - "I very sick, mom, I very sick. I need go to doctor. I need my mesin (medicine)." Just the look on his face and the very sad way he said this broke my heart but made me laugh all at the same time. He is fine now, drinking his apple juice and back to his normal self.

Sidebar - completely off the subject - I just looked at my little birthday counter for Maddie and it says that she is 1 year, 1 week, and 1 day old - kinda cool.