House update #2

The most recent shots.

 The materials for the foundation finally arrive.

 They begin to lay out the foundation. It's a treated wood foundation. Sounds crazy, but it's actually safe and has some nice advantages to a concrete one. I think they are still putting concrete down on the floor, though.

 Basement walls begin to appear.

 The outline.

Walls.

Two cute kids

 Playing airplane on Mommy's knees on Sunday morning.

 First ride in the swing with some pushes by big sister.

 And some slightly more gentle ones by Daddy.

 A proud shepherd in the ward nativity.

 Feigning sleep during early morning playtime.

Somebody found his toes.

A new adventure

After renting for the past 10+ years, we figured it'd be nice to get a house someday. Ironically, the bank was more willing to finance a construction loan sooner than a pre-existing home purchase.

                                     

So we bought a lot in a neighborhood. And we started looking at house plans online.

 None of them was quite right. We also thought about the homes we'd been in that we liked. And we piggybacked off those ideas and began designing our own. With his eye for detail and meticulousness (is that a word?), Michael really enjoyed this process. I weighed in on things as well but left the drawing to him.

 Here are some of my own drawing attempts for the kitchen, trying to make sure there would be enough space for the kitchen stuff I actually own and use. The kitchen design is still a work in progress.

 And then we met with a great draftsman, who turned those ideas into this.

 So the trees started to get knocked down.

 And a gravel driveway and culvert was added (culvert = drainpipe--you learn all sorts of cool words when you build a house).

 A really big hole began to be dug.

 A huge mountain of dirt appeared.

 Nifty machines that any three-year-old boy would love to watch were hard at work. (Who am I kidding? I would love to be out there and watch them, too.)

 I have been impressed by the intricacies of the process. Construction workers and contractors really have to know their stuff.

 The floor plan began to take shape. The incline over in the upper corner will be the steps to the future (unfinished) walk-out basement.

A view from the edge.

 Lots of gravel was piled in.

And a drain was put in.

And that's where we stand so far. I apologize if this is uninteresting/annoying to some of you folks--we wanted to document the experience and figured this was the best place. It will definitely be a learning experience . . . and we will have room for visitors, too.

ETA: Summer 2013.

Ro-BEAR

We call him Robbie, and Clara calls Ro-BEAR (like with a French accent). Both are pretty cute versions, but not nearly as cute as the real thing.

This little guy brings us so much joy. He is such a happy, sweet baby, and his smiles (and now laughter) absolutely melt my heart. We are so thankful he's part of our family.

An NYC oversight

Somehow in the midst of my blogging about our NYC trip, I failed to mention a highlight of the trip: Pizza School. I now revisit the memory for journaling purposes.

While my siblings discussed activities, restaurants, and other venues we wanted to see in New York, one of my brothers mentioned pizza school, a 4+-hour class you could attend here for $150 fee. During the course you'd learn how to make true Italian pizza and eat it, too.

Since we already have a favorite pizza recipe, grace a my sister-in-law, Emily, I didn't feel the need to go. However, upon arriving at our hotel, Michael and I decided at the last minute that he should attend with those of my siblings who were interested.

I'm glad he did, since I got to live vicariously through him and justify the purchase of a pizza stone back home.

 It was also fitting that he go since he has been in charge of our traditional Valentine's Day pizza for the past ten years. Here he is, back in 2009.

 They each got to make four pizzas and learned how ingredient quality is more important than quantity, that weighing your ingredients is the only way to go, and how to correctly make the dough itself. (And you don't have to throw it in the air.) He also learned that you turn your oven up as hot as it can go and that you must use a pizza stone if you want a good crispy crust.

One of Michael's choices was the "stinky cheese and truffle honey" dessert pizza. Apparently it was really good. (He brought some back to the hotel, but I was asleep when he returned and we didn't have any way to refrigerate it, so we tossed the rest.)

It really was a highlight of the trip. So if you go to NYC and want to shell out some dough, you can learn how to make it right, too.

Over the river and through the woods . . .

 . . . to great-grandma's and great-grandpa's house we go.

{This post is mostly for the Weilers and for posterity's sake.}

The day after Thanksgiving we drove up to Pennsylvania to see Michael's grandparents and extended family. The drive was lovely.

I wish I had gotten pictures of everyone with the kiddos, but here's a handful.

 Playing on the swings with second cousin, Brianna, daughter of Megan and Travis.

 Robbie with Great-Aunt Chris at her lovely home in Dillsburg.

 Robbie with Great-Grandpa Weiler!

The Weiler line continues.

 Clara with Great-Great Aunt (is that right?) Mickey--Clara absolutely loved her--and Great-Grandma Weiler, who gave Clara a precious bunny rabbit stuffed animal with two little baby bunnies. Clara was in heaven.

 Michael with Amel (sp?), a little wooden monk that his grandparents have had since his childhood.

 Robbie with second cousin Grayson and his parents, Ben and Jess.

 Clara with second cousin, Lily, and first cousin once removed, Sarah. Clara also loved Sarah and wanted to be with her most of the time.

After our busy day in PA, we drove down to D.C. and went to the night lights of the National Zoo and spent the night in a hotel. The lights were cool but the animal exhibits were disappointing--it was only 6pm but nearly all the animals were either asleep or closed off from view. Bummer.

But it sure was fun to stay in a hotel that night and go to the temple the following day.

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving, even if we didn't really get to relax, per se. But we are realizing that with kids, you don't really relax even when you are on "vacation." And that's okay. Guess we just need to plan a little getaway next year.

Thanksgiving and a birthday

We enjoyed a quiet Thanksgiving this year. In the morning, Hyrum babysat while we went on a walk.

 Then Michael organized a family olympics, which was way more fun with Hyrum being here to bring in a little competition. Some of the events included an egg carry, a 50-yard dash, long jump, tennis ball throw, bean bag toss, and wagon pull.

 It is a pity that they weren't filming when I totally biffed it during the wagon pull. I know I looked awesome.

Then we ate the spread I made. These homemade crescent rolls I am unashamedly displaying with gusto.

 Even though I brined the turkey, it still deserved just  a "meh."

 Michael's 34th birthday fell on Thanksgiving this year, so we celebrated by putting candles in the apple pie. He did get presents, of course, but he had to make do with turkey instead of meatloaf or steak.

I think this guy is pretty great.