Brian's Side

Brian told me the other day that if I wanted to get comments on our blog I should write about him (he is right our blog gets way more comments when it is about him). I decided to blog about Brian's side of the room which is always a disaster. This is what it looks like today. My favorite parts are: the top of his dresser is covered in receipts and other papers (most of which just need to be put in the trash), there are a couple of coolers that have not been put away since hunting (mid September),and if you look closely there is a box of stuff from the move that he hasn't unpacked.

Those of you who are thinking that I am a slacker by not at least taking care of the laundry I understand. After four years of doing Brian's laundry wrong he asked me not to do it for him anymore, so he is now in charge of his own clothes.

By the way here is what my side of the room looks like.



If any of you would to see more of B's skills they are displayed rather nicely in his car. YIKES!

The House

Some of you have been asking to see pictures of our new house. I have been trying to get everything all set before I post them, but that will probably never happen. So with my limited ability to decorate and whatnot here are a couple of pictures.

This is from the kitchen looking into the living room before we took down the two walls.


Same area as above without the walls.


Close up of fireplace and living room area.


Looking back into the kitchen from the hallway.


Office, which is just off to the left of the living room.


Master bedroom taken from the master sink area.


Master bath, the walk in-ish closet is on the right (sorry no close-up pics it is kinda messy right now) the potty and tub are on the left.

Master tub and pot.

This is the porch that comes off of the master bedroom. Our backyard goes back to the brown vinyl fence. Hopefully the dirt will be covered in pasture grass come Spring.

Upstairs potty. Blue tile on the sink and tub rough to work with!

Brielle's room/laundry room.


Big room in the basement it will be our family room/game room.


On the left is the basement bathroom to the right is our t.v. den. I am still seriously struggling with the paint job in the t.v. room. I will get it right one of these days.


Not pictured because they were a disaster and I had no energy to clean them up:
1. Tanner's room
2. The guest room
3. Storage area

Hopefully this makes sense and feeds your curiosity.

Joy School and The Little Vacuum

This last month Tanner started Joy School. He really loves it. It is fun to see him learn and play with the other kids in his "class".


He was so excited about his Spider Man backpack that he greeted everyone at school with his back to them. Then he started moving at them like a skunk ready to attack saying "Look at my Spider Man backpack. Did you see my new backpack? Look! Look! Look!" It only took about a week to wear off.


Brielle has mastered the army crawl and will soon advance to full on out of control crawling (right now she occasionally gets on all fours and rocks). She doesn't play with toys anymore she just moves around with her little finger and thumb testing and working the floor until she finds something wonderful to put in her mouth. I am ALWAYS vacuuming and sweeping our main floor and she still manages to find something.


I am still working on getting the house together. Between the kids, hunting season, new animals and lots of sicknesses I just have gotten it all there yet. Hopefully soon!

Spoiled

My boys have really been spoiled this month.
Exhibit A Brian's mountain truck

Exhibit B Lucky our "free" horse

Exhibit C Bingo the "free" puppy...


Wish me luck everyone!

Still Alive

Things have been really busy for us. Our new house has some tomato plants that are out of control. So I made this

out of these bad boys.

Then three days later I tackled these guys.

Tanner is loving our new backyard. This is a picture of him catching grasshoppers to feed to his toads. He does this for hours some days. We both love it.


Other updates:
B: Just entered the horse business. He has been pretty busy taking care of Lucky.
K: Ran my 1/2 marathon last Saturday. I felt pretty good about it especially considering I had the flu and only at 3 meals total the previous week.

We are slowly getting our house set up hopefully I will have some pics to post of it really soon.

If Only

I wish this is what my kids were doing right now, instead of being grumpy/crazy kids.



I am trying to get things ready at the house for paint, if only my two little ones would cooperate. Oh well I guess there is always dishes to do and boxes to pack. Brielle is cutting teeth, so a little nap on her part would really be great!

Rite of Passage

I think I read somewhere that collecting bugs, snakes, frogs, and toads is a rite of passage for boyhood. (I think I also heard that every boy needs a dog too.) Anyway we went to Grandpa Sorensen's for the day and came back with these three.





Three toads + a butterfly net to catch bugs with = a very happy little boy.

Great Basin National Park

We went to Great Basin National Park at the end of June (yes I am REALLY behind). Here are some pictures I managed to take

Tanner's outfit this day cracks me up. You can't go wrong with shorts and cowboy boots. For some reason he insists on fixing his hat like this.

The Glacier at the end of our hike

Hiking up to the Glacier if I remember right it is about a 5 mile round trip hike. This picture was taken by some other hikers who definitely thought we were crazy.

My little chubbies getting warmed up in dad's sleeping bag

B always had plenty of help.

Tan Man's Birthday

Okay so Tanner's birthday was well over 20 days ago...this month has really flown by for me. I can't believe my baby boy is already three. He has such a personality and keeps us on our toes! We are so glad to have him in our family.


Tanner used his new hammer to crush the cookies we used to make our homemade cookies and cream ice cream. Apparently he sampled one in the process.




B gets 98% of the credit for this cake it was his idea and mostly his creation in case any of you are worried he is getting all "Martha" on us he used his tough man pose for this picture

If you are not up to classifying all of your different trout this cake is nothing less than a cutthroat trout a very important detail to all the boys in my house



My baby girl spending time with Grandma Olsen

Thanks everyone for the great party!

Family Update

Brielle:She is bursting at the seams. She weighed over 14 pounds at her 4 month appointment. She has all the dimples, rolls, and elastic bands you could hope for. She is still sleeping like a champ has started to eat cereal. She laps the first couple of spoon fulls off the spoon like a puppy dog. If I ever leave her to herself for too long she simply inserts the thumb and takes a little snooze until I get to her.




This is her getting ready for some grub.





I was in the middle of getting her dressed after the tub and Tanner needed something. By the time I got back this is how I found her.




Enjoying the fishing trip










Passed out in the swing





Tanner: He is loving this nice weather. He loves to ride his tricycle down to daddy's office and begs me to "pitch him" (pitch balls to him so he can hit some grand slams). He is really excited to get a dog and has already named it Bingo.










Tanner in his new fishing hat, he also loves his new baseball hat. Holding hands with his cousin at the zoo. They were so cute to keep track of each other.


B: Fishing is the name of the game for him. Did you know that you HAVE to go fishing once a week and you HAVE to start the fishing as soon as the ice starts to melt off of the lake? He is anxiously awaiting the maiden voyage of the Mother Ducker (the boat he is borrowing from his brother for the summer).


In this picture he is sporting his lucky fishing outfit. HOT!






K: I have been trying to get my buns back in shape. I am hoping to run a half marathon in the fall. I have also been working on my pitching skills and answering the questions "Why mommy", and "What does _____ do" about 5,000 times a day. By about 5:00 in the evening "Just Because" is how I usually answer. That is promptly followed by "But Why Mommy" I am trying save up the rest of my energy for our next move...which will hopefully be this summer.

Thumbs, Run, and Mud!

If I don't feed Brielle right away or get her up from her nap as soon as she is awake, I usually find her in this position...I hope it doesn't last.




On Saturday, two of my sisters and I ran a 10k. We all did well. I averaged an 8 minute mile pace, much faster than I expected at this point in the game. It feels good to be getting back to normal.

Rain or shine Brian and Nathan were determined to hit some mountain trails with their four wheelers. As we entered the canyon it started to rain. The girls stayed in the vehicles with the babies while the guys set up camp. Fortunately Brian's mom sent us with these garbage bags...the perfect rain gear.



Sara and I watched the dudes at work, first they got the kids in their rain gear, then made a blazing fire, then climbed the trees and hung up a tarp for some shelter. We ate lunch and relaxed by the fire without getting wet. After lunch, the rain and snow stopped and the boys went out four wheeling. We ended up with mud everywhere! In the end we were all tired, muddy and happy for the good times.