The New House

Well, we finally made it into our new house.  It was our fifth offer in this area and I am so glad that we didn't get any of the other houses because this one just fits us perfectly and I am absolutely thrilled with it.  I get excited every day just walking through it.  Our family saying is that it is not too big and it is not too small, it's just right.

This home is almost the same as our Provo home.  We have 3 beds, 2 1/2 baths, living room, family room, kitchen, laundry and garage.  The square footage is 1725 and the lot is like a third  of an acre, all fenced and a lot of fun landscaping.  

This view is from the dining room looking into the living room and out to the front yard.  In this room I love the huge windows and the window seat.  At night I turn the piano light on and enjoy the ambiance.  

This view is from the living room into the dining room.  Here I really like the built in bookcase and the space it provides for all our office supplies (since we have no office now.)

This is the view into the kitchen from the dining room.  We have a lot of counter space and tons of cabinets.  The backsplash here is the only project we had to do.  I like how it turned out.  Also, all of the appliances are nicer than I would have ever purchased for myself.  That makes it fancy for me.

This is the hall bath upstairs.  I love that it has two sinks (dubbed the boys' sink and girls' sink.)  Also, not pictured is a skylight that brings in the natural light.  This is one of my favorite rooms.

I am not including the bedrooms yet.  They are not done.

At the foot of the stairs is this laundry room complete with utility sink and toilet.  It has some great cabinet space and plenty of room for the laundry baskets.

This is the downstairs family room.  I love the pellet stove (which we use any time we are down there.)  Also, the windows bring in a lot of light.  

Richard wanted a picture of the "view."  Well, today the view includes fog.  Behind it are a bunch of trees.  The deck this picture was taken from is great.  It spans the entire back of the house and wraps around to the front.  It is a lot of fun.

The neighborhood is right next to the community college which is fun because we have access to a track, swimming pool, tennis courts, etc.  Also, we have a shared 3 acre parcel that is river front property where we can dock a boat or go to swim and play with the kids.  We can't wait for the summer!!

I never dreamed I would live in a split entry again but here I am and I absolutely love it.  Who knew!!!

Our Christmas Story

We had one crazy Christmas week this year.  It all started with our traditional Christmas eve Santa pizza.  This year we were joined by our cousins the Brigantis.  Christmas day we opened presents and I made the traditional turkey dinner.  It was so yummy.  I was surprised that everything turned out, even the stuffing.  I am more confident now for future holiday events.  

Things started getting a little crazy the day after Christmas when our house was swallowed by dozens of boxes.  By Saturday we had the moving van packed but no keys to the new house (it's a long story.)  So we ate on the floor, slept on the floor and sat on the floor for the weekend until Monday at 3:00 p.m. when we could get our keys.  

We slept well in our new house that night...on beds!!

Merry Christmas to All

Sunday we all participated in the Christmas program at church.  Richard gave a talk, the kids sang two songs with the primary and I played the flute in a group with two violinists and a pianist.  It was all very enjoyable.  

We love you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Projects

Yesterday was our first great Christmas vacation day.  We did projects and watched movies.  Richard worked on a 550 piece puzzle with the kids (they helped in 5 minute spurts throughout the day.)  It was our second daughter's wish and he did it to please her.  That is some serious commitment and patience if you asked me.  When it was done they glued it so she could hang it up in our new house.  

I did two projects that I have wanted to do for a long time.  The first was staining our table that I sanded down five years ago.  I never could decide how I wanted to do it.  Well, I just decided to go with a cherry stain and I love how it looks.  The kids keep commenting on how it looks like a new table.  

The second project was painting some dressers I got a year ago.  The two pictured here are for the girls' room which I am trying to furnish with white or light stained wood.  It was crazy doing my first painting project here in Oregon.  It is so humid that things took three times longer to dry.  In the picture I can see that the top of one dresser is still not dry and it has been 12 hours.  Crazy wet!!  

Six Years Old

Our third child turns six tomorrow.  We had a party for her last week that was a lot of fun.  Her request was to have a rainbow pony party.  We had a lot of fun making a pinata with rainbows on it, a game, and a super cake with skittles on top.  She had nine little friends come over and it was so fun to see her enjoying herself with all of her new friends.    

Christmas is Coming

We have enjoyed some really fun Christmas events this month.  First, our ward Christmas party.  We really packed in the fun for that event.  It was a big dinner, followed by a fabulous nativity production put on by the primary and then Santa came.  It was a lot of fun for everyone and very well organized.  The greatest thing is that I was not involved in planning or carrying out any of the details.  It has been a long time since I have been able to relax at an activity like that.

There was an adults only party the following week with amazing appetizers and a white elephant gift exchange that was out of control funny.  I died laughing at presents like a

 stuffed blowfish, a leg lamp (a miniature of the one from the Christmas Story,) a deer head with antlers and all (the elders ended up taking it home for a tie rack,) and many other silly things.  I ended up with some tiger slippers and a feather sticker for my car.  Good times.

The kids also had their piano recital this month.  They did really well.  Our third child played Jingle Bells (with chords and all), her older siblings played duets with me, Joy to the World and O Come, O Come Emmanuel.  Richard missed the whole thing because the littlest were pills and decided to make noise.  Next time we will get a babysitter.

We are now looking forward to Christmas and having our dad home for two whole weeks.  We plan on partying hard!

The Pasta Master

Most of you have probably not had the chance to taste Richard's amazing pasta.  On occasion he will don an apron and come in the kitchen to work his magic.  Last Sunday was one of those days and his pasta was amazing.  He has all of these little techniques that he teaches me as he goes.  I usually don't adopt them into my own cooking because I am more about efficiency than taste (as sad as it is to admit.)

When we were first married my favorite thing that he would make was this soup that was a lot like what he would eat in Romania on his mission.  To die for!  You eat it with sour cream on top.  Some day my life may slow down enough to saute the mushrooms on low, but for now, I'll let Richard be the Pasta Master.