House pics

Here is our little living room right off the front entrance all Christmasy!  We love the fireplace in this room!

Our Christmas tree all lit up shining out the front window

Here is my favorite room in the house!

This is the view of the kitchen from the stairs

Big fan of this huge pantry!

Rylynn's pink room!!!

Carter's little room.  Love the window seat!

Toy room walk-in closet with window seat

Toy room (not the best picture)

Family Room (we're still working on this room)

Love this upstairs laundry room!

Master bedroom (this room has been obviously neglected).  I love the vaulted ceilings in this room!

Backyard patio and grill

Backyard continued

So here's the updated pics of the house.  We are still in boxes and haven't really started decorating much, but it is so fun to be in our house.  We love the neighborhood too!  Our cul-de-sac has tons of kids and literally every other house on the street is LDS.  We'll post more pics as we get settled in.

Latest Lines

So we are still in boxes up to our ears, but we are making progress.  We LOVE our house!!!!!  Many pictures to come.  We also had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends, again, pictures to come.  I just had to record the latest funny lines from the kids before I forgot.

Last night Rylynn and Carter went with Daddy to a little Holiday festival for the town while Beckett and I were at enrichment.  When I got home Garrett told me that they had a great time but after a while the kids got really cold (it was all outside) and wanted to go home.  So on the way back to the car Rylynn says to Daddy:

"I"m so cold!  I want to go home and have a nice, soothing, warm bath!"

Then today we were having after school snacks and the kids were pretending their granola bars were different things.  I guessed from the sounds they were making that they were airplanes, (my mistake) so I said,

"Eat your airplanes you goofballs."  Rylynn quickly corrected me by saying, "this isn't an airplane Mommy, this is a butterfly and flower!"  Then Carter chimed in with, "Mine is a gum!!  I'm gonna shoot you!"

Hmm apparently gum is a dangerous weapon these days:)

Pre-K Fieldtrips

I just realized that I never documented Rylynn's first fieldtrip from last month.  We went to a farm and fed a bunch of animals and got to pet them and even take a ride on a pony.  I love that siblings are invited to all the fieldtrips.  Carter is one happy boy when it comes to Rylynn's preschool fieldtrips.

Carter was a big fan of the llama!

The sheep and goats were really friendly with the kids.

This big goat was crazy and kept leaning over the fence to get food.  I kept thinking he was going to bite one of the kids heads!  I also worried about it strangling itself.  You would think it had never eaten in it's entire life!

Carter loved these little chickens and kept chasing them around.

Rylynn found another bunny friend to snuggle.

Carter found another llama and tried to climb on this one's back for a ride.

The kids were loving the pigme goats which made Garrett very happy since it is one of his dreams to someday have land and have pigme goats on our land.  Someday you should ask him why he wants this particular pet, there's a great story that goes along with it!

This chicken sits on people's heads.  Carter was loving it!  Rylynn was too scared to try.

Rylynn and her good friend Isabella brushing the pony while they waited for their turn to ride.

Loving the pony rides!

Fieldtrips Part 2

This week we got to go on Rylynn's second fieldtrip.  This time we got to go to the fire station!  Carter and Rylynn were both so excited about this trip!

The kids got to see where the Firemen sleep and where they eat and where they hang out when they aren't working, but their favorite part was when they got to see the truck up close!

They especially loved sitting in the truck!

They got to sit in the driver seat and the back seats where the firemen put on all their gear while they're driving to the fire.

I love this picture because you can see how mesmerized Carter was with the firemen.  They were definitely his heroes at the end of the day.  He kept telling me, "Mama, when I grow up, I want to be a fireman!"

Checkin' out every inch of the fire truck.

Rylynn's class with the firemen.  They loved it when the fireman came out in all of his gear.

And this little guy came along in the stroller.  He is such a happy little guy.

And look at who decided he likes binkies.  Sometimes:)  He is getting much better and when he is tired and wants to nurse when we are out somewhere I can almost always give him a binky now and he will fall asleep.  I have to say it is very nice.

NEW MOON

I didn't take any pictures this time around cause I didn't have all my Shaker Heights girls with me, but I went last night to the premiere of NEW MOON with a good friend here.  We were dying at how good it was!!  Seriously, weigh in girls.  How good was it?  Soooooooooo much better than Twilight.  I can't wait to go see it again as soon as I can!

The Details

Okay so I have a minute to breath so on with the girl version:)  So we have been looking for a house ever since we moved here, but our situation kept changing so we were never quite sure whether we were going to be able to buy a house, rent, or do a lease to own option.  The day that Garrett and I decided to just go for it with the firm, I felt very strongly that everything would work out just as miraculously with the housing situation as it did with the job situation.  So I never worried that it wouldn't work out, but I was very anxious to know what that actually meant.

Once we knew Garrett was going to be self-employed, we spoke with some private bankers and learned that it would be 18 months-2 years before we could get a home loan.  This was actually a relief to us in some ways because the law firm was a big enough undertaking for us so adding on buying our first house would have been major stress for me.  So we decided to look for a good rental option or if we found something we absolutely loved, we would do a lease-to-own option.  So we went through about a million (at least it seemed like it) rentals and none of them really felt right.  Finally I called the realtor who had shown us houses when we first moved here and asked her if this one particular house that we loved might be a possibility for a lease.  She said she would talk to the owners since the house had been on the market since April, and she thought the chances were pretty good, especially since we told her we would be willing to sign a two year lease.  So it looked like that was going to go through and I was feeling so good about it.  So during the waiting time we went to a party on Halloween night and Garrett's cousin's husband told us about a friend he had who might be wanting to rent his house due to some tragic circumstances in his family.  At this point I really just thought the other house was going to work out for sure, so I didn't really even consider it.

Fast forward a couple days and then we hear back from the realtor that the owners were all ready to lease to us and then at the last minute some people came in with an offer on their house!!  What are the chances after 7 months of being on the market?!!  So I was totally bummed and thought all was lost.  At this point we had to give our notice to our apt in order to get out by the end of the month when our lease runs out.  So I was especially depressed since the only thing I wanted for Christmas was to be in a house with our little family.

So last monday night Garrett's cousin's husband Geoff called us to tell us that the same friend had for sure decided to rent his house and that he really wanted a family to rent it.  He told us the guy would be calling us that night.  I was not wanting to get my hopes up yet again because I was so discouraged.  So Garrett talked to the guy and every time I came to see if Garrett was done talking to him he would smile at me and give me a thumbs up.  So that was encouraging.  After he got off the phone I was dying to know the details.  It was better than I even hoped for.  When he told me the neighborhood it was in I was shocked because it is brand new and so nice.  So then he told me that it has 6 BEDROOMS!!  with 5 all on the same floor.  That was huge for us when we were looking at houses cause all the houses with 3 or more bedrooms had at least one of the bedrooms in the basement and our kids are just too small to be downstairs from us right now.  So anyway it also had a fenced backyard and was on a cul-de-sac.  All the things we would LOVE!  So we hopped in the car and drove by the house and freaked out.  We were so excited.  We could hardly wait till the next evening when we got to go take a look at it.  I seriously woke up at 6 am just thinking about it.  So the next night we took the tour and it was just beautiful.  So amazing.  But the most amazing part of it was that the guy who owned the house was just so excited about a young family moving in and kept reassuring us that he understood that we were young and just starting out and that he would make sure we worked something out that we could afford. Then on top of that he said he would leave his awesome grill and patio furniture and dining room table and a bunch of other stuff that we need and can't afford to buy right now!

So within a week I went from no hope to the most amazing house we have seen in the six months that we have been looking falling into our laps.  Not to mention we got to sign a year lease (drawn up by Liberty Lake's new lawyer) with the option to buy the house at the end of the year so we don't have to throw away all our rent money.  We are just completely amazed.  It seems like I just have to exhaust all my efforts and get to the point where I say, "I give up and have no clue".  Then the Lord steps in and shows me what he has in mind and it is ALWAYS a million times better than what I could have done.  So for the first time in our 8 years of marriage, we will have our own house.  No sharing walls or ceilings or stairways!  (Not that I am complaining about sharing our house with the Poyfairs cause we love them:) but it is a big milestone for us.

So these are the things that we are most excited for:
Garrett: Having a lawn to mow (even though I know it will get old eventually). Having a toy room so we can keep some areas of the house free of toys.  Having an attached garage. Having a happy wife! (Happy wife = happy life!)
Rachel: Having a garage attached to my house so I can pull my car in and not have to worry about hauling groceries and kids up tons of stairs while leaving my car wide open to the world.  Also having a fenced backyard so I can let my kids go outside and play anytime and not worry about them getting run over or kidnapped.  Also an amazing kitchen with all new appliances.  Also central vac.  Also an extra freezer in the garage.  Basically everything!
Rylynn: My pink room!!!
Carter: A toy room!
Beckett: agooooo!

So much to say, so little time

This is where we get to move in two weeks!!!!

We get to have our own cute front porch!  This has all happened so fast in the last week.  It is truly miraculous how it has all come about.  We are just so excited!  Carter keeps saying, "we are going to have a toy room!!"  I will have to give all the details when I have more time because I feel like everything is going a million miles per hour right now.  But to sum it all up, we have been so blessed and the Lord is so aware of our needs.  The firm is doing so well, even better than we hoped for this first month.  We are just amazed.

And then there is this adorable boy!  He is so much fun.  His little personality is shining through more and more everyday.

He is such a little giggler and smiler.  We just love little Beckett boy!  Videos of him giggling are on their way!

And then there's this boy.  Carter is growing out of his naps so everyday he is falling asleep in a new random place at a new random time.  He definitely still needs them, but he fights then if he takes one he stays up so late!  I did NOT love this stage with Rylynn, but we'll survive.  He is also in the stage of never wearing clothes.  As soon as we walk in the door from anywhere he immediately strips down to his diaper.  Why do all my kids go through this in the middle of winter?!

Speaking of Rylynn.  I just had to laugh and take this picture the other day because she was explaining to me how she was organizing all her dolly's outfits according to categories, i.e. this pile is for the hats, this pile is for the gloves, etc.  She is a clone of me!!  She said to me, "Mom I just love organizing!"  There are so many things that she does that remind me so much of me.  She has a great little memory too which she also inherited from me.  I am really not trying to brag, I just think it is amazing to see characteristics so small as these passed from generation to generation.  New pictures of the office to come soon too!

Happy Halloween

This year Rylynn decided to be a fairy, or as she would tell people, she was Tinkerbell, even though her costume was all pink and was in no way Tinkerbell.  I was not going to spend the twenty dollars just to get a green fairy costume with Tinkerbell's face on it.  Luckily she didn't seem to mind.  I told Garrett before we went trick or treating that I'm pretty sure she has worn that tutu for every halloween since she was born.  Maybe next year we will splurge and get her a different costume:)  She had a great time at her preschool Halloween party.  I made cupcakes for the class which she loved helping me make.  They decorated trick or treating bags that were so cute!  They also played lots of games.  She got lots of candy and fun things and told us all about it when she got home.

Carter has been telling us for months that he wants to be a "gary, gary ghost!"  That means scary scary ghost.  Then he follows that up with, "I'm gonna gare you!  Booo!"  So I tried to find a ghost costume, but no one makes those so finally I bought a pillow case and just cut it up.  It worked out great!  He loved his costume!

So on Halloween day, we tried so hard to get Carter to take a nap (he is in the growing out of naps phase) since we knew he would be staying up late that night, but he refused.  So as usual when he refuses to take a nap, he just falls asleep where ever he happens to be around 5pm.

I was getting Rylynn ready and came into my room to find this.  Seriously how uncomfortable does that look?  At least he was already dressed, but I still had to do his face makeup.  So I laid him on the floor and managed to get it all done while he was sound asleep!

Then we were off to our friend's house, the Jensens for some soup, cider, and trick or treating!

We had a great time with friends and they live in a great neighborhood so the trick or treating was lots of fun.  Garrett's cousin Stacey and her family were there too and a couple of other people from the ward.  I stayed behind with our little sleeping cub where it was warm and ate lots of yummy food.

The kids got lots of candy and then came back to the house and ate it all night long!  They had a great time with the Jensen's toys too.  They got to play with their friends and eat as much candy as they wanted, I'm pretty sure it was the best night of Carter's life!

Carter on Reverence

Last night before family prayer, I was lecturing Carter and Rylynn on being reverent during the prayer.  Then we said the prayer and they did a very good job.  After we said amen, Carter says to me
"Mama, I only opened one eye, but not two!"  He was dead serious and so proud of himself.  We all laughed so hard.