Oh Summer, wherefore hast thou gone?

Summer has come to an end. Luckily, we sent it off with the BANG!

We caught and released a toad.

We went to the e-quarium.

We went to the build site and saw all of the awesome happenings. Like walls, and doors, and trim!

We walked up our staircase without the panic inducing fear that one of our kids might fall to their death.

We played creepy house stalker and took pictures out of the car window while the guys were still laboring to put up our siding.

We woke up WAY too early and left for an adventure.

We fell asleep on wave runners and then finished the snooze off in the stroller

We bounced around on tubes.

We played on fun toys!

We ate lunch.

We learned that men driving boats are super attractive.

We tried new things.

We survived boat rides of death.

We got lifejacket wedgies.

And, we went swimming! Farewell dear summer, you shall be missed. Let's bring on the fall, sweaters, cider, and dropping this cute face off at preschool three days a week. Can I get a what what?!

Todd even got to go on a backpacking trip with the bros this weekend. I believe they called it a Man-cation. I will leave the bottom of the post for him to come add some pictures of his trip.

Oh, my abs.

Ahoy Team! Good things always happening 'round this town. Here is a quick update, because I know first hand how satisfying it is to read about others people's lives. Yeah, I Facebook stalk you guys too. Flattered?

House update: Things are moving along! First, electricity. Todd was super manly and wired extra stuff. It was awesome to see him all cool, like a dude that does house things and fixes crap.

This was taken the same night. We have columns on our porch and framing is totally complete!

Second, insulation.

Love my boys, and sassy model Autumn!






Third, drywall.  That is right, folks. As of our visit tonight, we have walls throughout the house and the scaffolding is up so they can start spraying up stucco. Can't wait to see what color my home will me. I picked the color off of a two inch swatch. MY WHOLE HOUSE IS GOING TO BE A GREEN I'VE NEVER SEEN ON A REAL HOME. AAAAGHHGHAHGAHGHAHEGI. Virtual panic attack over. It will be fine.

Future Vanna White? They have to be looking for a replacement soon, right? I mean, Botox can only get you so far... Eventually she will be forced into retirement. (Vanna, not Autumn)

It is amazing to watch the process, but it is also freaking me out realizing I am going to have to decorate all of this space. I would probably be more excited if Todd just gave me that look that means, "Spend whatever it takes, Darling. I want you to be happy."

I've never seen that look. I have however, dreamed about it, and it is beautiful. I think it looks like this:

Oh wait, no that isn't it.

 That is his "I'm tired of hearing you talk about house decorating crap. Maybe if I pretend I'm sleeping, she'll stop talking about it." 

I don't even have a picture that might closely resemble what the "Spend anything" face looks like.

Here are some pictures of an adventure up American Fork Canyon last weekend. It was wonderful. My kids are freaking adorable. PS, Nutella S'mores are da BOMB! dot com

 

 

Cords, ducts, and hoses (oh and WAY too many pictures)

You thought that title was about our house, didn't you.

Don't worry.

I wanted you to think it was.

Actually it kind of is. It is also some stuff Max has stuck his fingers in, pulled on, or tried to eat this week. My baby is a monster. A fun monster. Is that possible? I'm exhausted just typing a small portion of the crap he does.

He just looks like he is thinking up all sorts of trouble. Devious.

 There is a tub in the kid's bathroom. It was so dusty/dirty/messy in there. So, of course, we put our kids right in for a picture. Because we are good parents.

We have house!

***House update: I'm sure most of you saw the picture that went up on The Facebook last week, but if not, you can see it here. Framing is complete! We have house!

I honestly don't know what to expect for the next phase of the process. Electrical cords, plumbing, windows and doors, I guess? They have poured the front porch slab, which is cool, and all of our windows are stacked in the garage. I am just glad it is not me responsible for the building of things. I would be the guy walking around with a hammer and hitting things occasionally to look busy.

*** Us update: Todd and I are on a lifestyle improvement binge. We have been waking up before our kids for the first time ever (it sucks) and working out (which really sucks) and eating healthy (which is literally the worst thing ever). I'm just telling you this so that if we see you around, you will be a peach and remember to tell us how skinny we are and how much you hate us for being so tiny. Mmmmmmmmmmk?

*** Kid update: Autumn is loving the summer and dying to get to Disneyland this September. She has already picked out her room in our new house and almost screamed with excitement when she walked through the entire framed house for the first time. She also asked me if I was pregnant yesterday, because I "looked just a tiny bit fat" She didn't get the memo to say nice things to me. Max is a hilarious, energetic, and totally busy little monster. He loves playing with cords, eating anything left of the floor, and splashing in the special blue toilet water if we forget to leave the seats down. He clapped his hands for the first time today, but he has been really good at slapping people in the face for months, so at least we knew he could do it he just didn't want to.

Just another update. Because I can.

Yeah, that is the moon through the window. Cool, eh?

 I think Autumn is a little bit excited about moving.

 Stairs to nowhere. Just kidding, they are stairs to upstairs. Hopefully they will be finished tomorrow and we can actually walk around up there. It is entirely framed upstairs. Woooooooooooooo!

 Basement, plus flash. Seriously love the candid shot. 

 Autumn was not posing for one more stinking picture. She refused to come stand by us for the "shadow picture" So she is covering her face and yelling.

Um... More walls?

There will probably be way too many posts in the next few weeks. The house changes every day. She is going up right before our eyes! I'm actually getting a little teary, I mean, you blink and before you know it she has a second story. Oh, our kids are good too, I guess.

 It looks like we are getting an extra window on the front of our house that was not pictured in the artist rendering. Either that, or there is a hole in the front of our house.

This is the picture from the McArthur Homes site. Kind of. Acutally, I took the real picture they had and saved it in Paint. Then I got all 6th grade computer class up on it and changed the colors to what I imagine the house will look like.

WALLS! WALLS! WALLS!

So many things happening in the last ten days. We drove by last week and there was all of our lumber for framing sitting scattered about the foundation.

 The back yard was stacked with different color coded piles of plywood. Paint by numbers, maybe?

 We're in our garage! Please note the amazing proportions of my child bearing hips. It takes something special to push out my 95% head sized babies without creating cone-heads. Todd chose a good mother for his cranially gifted offspring.

 I have a boy baby! Todd won't suffer his entire life buried in nail polish and dress-up clothes.

 Then BAM!!! Walls! These pictures were taken last night. Amazing what can happen in two days! We stopped by on Thursday night and there was the subfloor all laid out. Then come Friday, we had walls all around. It is like a miracle. (without the angels, heavenly visitations, etc.) But still, like a miracle.