Redd Haven Rising II

The second floor is all framed. With the exception of the front and back wall of the middle section. They are waiting for the trusses to arrive before they frame those. In this picture you can see the trusses in the foreground. They put up the front door and bay window and put up the garage walls. They will start putting up the roof today. Yea!
We finally chose our brick and rock. We chose Brandywine brick, it is kind of a reddish brown. We really like it. The name "Brandywine" reminds us of the Shire. Perfect for the LOTR fans in our home- which is really everyone capable of an opinion. The rock is Champagne Ledgestone. These things were harder to pick out that I thought possible. There are so many choices. We looked at hundreds of different brick and rock samples and drove around looking at houses all over Kentucky and Idaho Falls. Glad that is decided.
After a week delay- they should be starting on the roof today. Exciting!

Melting My Heart

A couple days ago we watched some family videos. We had a great time reminiscing. I let a couple of comments slip about how I don't like how my teeth look on the video. They look really elongated and that bugs me. Anyway, my sweet Seth turns to me and says, "Mom, I don't know why you say that? I think you are so beautiful." If that doesn't melt a mother's heart- I don't know what would. Every mom needs a "Seth" compliment. Hope you get yours this weekend. Thank you Seth. I love you!Seth in Edinburgh, Scotland- November 2007

Family Fun!

Scattergories.
Dodgeball on the tramp. Along with all the neighborhood. And various other girls who think Brig is cute.
Chewing on toes.

Love this quote I came across- "God can educate our desires."- Joseph F. Smith
At times it seems impossible to do all that I want to do and learn all that I want to know. When I read this- it rang true- clear to my soul. Love it!
What do you want to learn?

Redd Haven Rising

In order to continue in the great tradition of naming ones abode. We have decided to name our future home- Redd Haven. Here is a little update.
Here is our lot. This is our hole. We started digging on August first.
Alas it was two more weeks until they started putting in the footings. It took a lot longer than we would have liked for the bank to finalize the financing.
After another week and a half for the foundation to cure- they began the framing. One week of framing later- they have the basement framed out and the ceiling on. Yesterday they started framing the main floor.
It probably goes without saying how exciting it is to see something that you have planned, worked on and dreamed about for years becoming a reality. We are trying to decide on the facade right now. There are so many options, its a little crazy. We know what we want- but figuring out the exact colors is a little daunting. I keep reminding our builder that it is his responsibility to make sure that we don't choose something that looks stupid. You drive around and see so many houses that look strange and you ask yourself- "What were they thinking?" I'd like to avoid that if possible. :) More updates to come......

Soccer Season

Yowzers! Soccer season is in full swing and we are up to our eyeballs in it, and loving it- I should add! Talk about a quinky dink, all three of our boys randomly received the number 7 on their soccer jerseys this year. They are pretty stoked about that- after all- David Beckham is number 7. We have practices Monday and Tuesday nights. Brig has practice and Katry has games on Wednesday nights. Thursday- Seth has games, Katry has practice and Friday- Brig has games. Then on Saturday, Brig, Katry and Kaleb all have games. Practices or games start at 5:30 or 6 and continue until 7 or 7:30pm. Man it is rough trying to fit in a decent dinner. Add to that mix- scouts, Activity girls, and mutual, and we have a very full week.
Brigham is coaching Seth's team and assistant coaching Brig's middle school team. He is in heaven, and the boys love having him there. Kaleb scored two goals in his first game. Brig had a hat trick. Katry had a goal and an assist and Seth had an assist. Seth also had a lot of beautiful shots that were either too high or caught. He has a nice kick. It's fun to watch them all play.
Katry's last Wednesday night game was freezing. It was cold- but the wind was the real kicker. Luckily it was at the same park as the ward cookout. We went and loaded up on food at the half time. Its rough trying to keep an active baby covered up in the wind.

Look Ma! No Training Wheels!

Out of the clear blue sky on a lovely fall morning, our little Kaleb decided he was finished with training wheels. Our neighbors have a bike just like his minus the training wheels. He hopped on it, asked Seth to hold it steady while he got situated and then took off. Then Seth taught him how to start without his help and Kaleb picked it up with one try. He is zipping all over the place now. It is so fun to watch his excitement over mastering the bike.
Of course, it hasn't been completely void of boo boo's. But he has earned these gems, not just riding his bike, but trying to pop wheelies and jump over the curb, just like his older siblings. You can't see it, but the other side of his chin is scraped up too, and so are his elbows.
Yah- it feels good to learn a new skill........sometimes it hurts a little too!

Boys!

This cute boy knocked on our door this morning collecting fast offerings for the first time. He was ready to go two hours in advance. He LOVES being 12! This cute boy started playing soccer this year. He LOVES to wear his soccer uniform all the time. As you can see it is hard to get him to remove it all. This cute boy LOVES to make things. One day this week we spent a good chunk of a school day doing things from his scout book. On another day he made about eight different towers out of Jenga blocks. We've got the pictures to prove it.
These cute boys are so much fun! I LOVE to love them.

Laboring on Labor Day

This is our neighborhood pool house, where we are building our home. We laboured through a bit of water polo and worked hard at enjoying the cool, refreshing water.

We did our best to find at least a little work for our little chittlens. We don't want it to be said that we didn't mold their characters with a bit of labor. They each mowed some lawn and did their inside chores. We re-arranged some in the garage and the storage room, and thats about all the labour our little hearts could stand. We headed out to the sand dunes near our home. The kids had a lovely time sliding down the hills, terrorizing beetles, burying each other and distance jumping.


Wow- were they a mess at the end. Exhibit A- the tub. Love digging the sand out of their ears.

Temporary Quarters

I was just looking through my pictures today and realized that I need to post these pictures of our temporary living arrangements. We moved into this home on July 21st. It has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. We love the neighborhood. It is in a cul de sac, and the kids have great friends right next door. The best part about it is the back yard. It is big and has great grass. If you know us- you know we love grass. It harkens back to our grass farming days in El Paso. Strange to live in a place where it is virtually effortless.
Brig just said today. I can't believe we have only lived here a month- it seems like much longer than that. We like this happy little house- but we like even more watching our home being built. :)