4th Birthday!

Mckenna is 4!!! 4 years old! So crazy! We moved to our house 2 days before her birthday. Yeah, things were crazy. But I didn't want her to get jipped on her birthday just because we moved. So, enter craziness!

Thanks to my sister, Tara, her little birthday party a success! Thanks T!

Good times were had by all!

She requested a Dress Up party, which was perfect because that's exactly what her present was... a trunk full of dress up clothes. She was in heaven! This girl is a little princess, loves dressing up, high heals, necklaces, the works.

We had a few special friends over. Each was requested to wear dress up clothes. We decorated hats and made candy necklaces.

And what's a post without a picture or two or Brielle... Wherever you find food, especially candy, you will find Brielle.

You can just see her trying to figure out how to sneak some candy without anyone noticing.

Mckenna, we love you!! You are such a sweet girl. You have the most tender heart ever. You hate being in trouble or having someone disappointed in you. You are a sweet friend. You make friends everywhere you go.  You love learning! You are a smart little thing! You know so much and pick up on so many things.  You are definitely a princess, you don't like to get dirty. If your clothes get dirty or wet, you have to change right then.  You change your clothes at least 3 times per day.  You have 5 tutu skirts, and you just rotate wearing them each day. You have tons of cute jeans in your drawer, but as you informed me "Mom, did you know that I don't like jeans? I just like skirts and princess dresses."  You hate getting your hair done, but you always have some kind of bow or headband in your hair, whether it matches or not.  You love pink! You love going to church and can't go without bringing your scripture bag.  I often find you "reading" your scriptures in your bedroom, just flipping through the pages. You truly are a sweet girl, sent straight from heaven, to remind us who we need to be.  You often say, "Mom, Heavenly Father and Jesus told me _______" (that I don't have to make my bed, that I can eat lots of candy, that I can wear my red and white dress to church AGAIN, etc). You love playing with (and teasing) Brielle. You are a great sister to her. Whenever you go to preschool, Brielle walks around asking "Where Nenna go?" We are so grateful we get to have you in our family! We love you!

Let the Work Begin

So we closed on the house and had about 2 weeks until we had to be out of our apartment. So, we decided to use that two weeks to paint as much as we could before we moved in. Boy, was it a wild 2 weeks! Every night when Devin got home from work, we would hurry and eat, then head straight to the house.  We would then paint as much as we could with the girls around. When it was time for bed, we put them to bed in the house.  Devin and I would stay up and paint until 10, 11, 12... however long it took to meet our goal for the day. Then we would pack those poor girls up into the cold car and take them back to the apartment to their beds. It was pretty crazy. But we got a lot of work done. Sweet Mckenna was helping us paint and apparently got so tired she couldn't make it up the stairs.

Complete with mask, tights, and all.

But she loved helping! She's quite the painter.

and so is Devin.

First House!!

As promised, here are some pictures of the house. Sadly, I somehow totally spaced getting a picture of the front of the house... don't know how that happened!

Here's the enclosed porch (the plan is to build a hanging swing bench thing).  We keep our mini trampoline out there.  The girls love to jump on it in the winter.

Front door

Front room as you walk in the front door. Yes, we have big plans to update this room and take the wallpaper down. It's the first thing on our long to do list.

And do something with this fireplace... any suggestions? :) We haven't quite figured what we are going to do with that yet. But I do love the long mantle!

Master Bedroom- we plan to paint the trim and ceiling white (it's cream now) and paint the walls a lighter color.

Master closet- love the shelves that it came with!  There's a tie rack on the wall that is Devin's favorite part of the house. :)

Master Bathroom- We were planning on painting it, but the color is growing on me. And I think we are getting tired of painting. :)

Family Room

Kitchen that opens up into the family room. The kitchen is my favorite part of the house. It's huge! The cabinets are all new. The big ones on the bottom all have pull out drawers.  The fridge and gas stove came with the house.  Their is also a pantry. Tons of space.

... and now upstairs ...

Upstairs bathroom, complete with a claw-foot tub. We plan to paint this room, make new curtains, and custom doors to cover the shelves.

Bedroom

The girls room. We plan to paint this turquoise blue with one pink wall. And paint the baseboards white.

Take the lovely vinyl quote off the wall.

And paint the door white.

This is the side of the house. The driveway goes along the side and wraps around the back of the house to the two car garage.

Most of the houses in Baker are pretty old and run down. (We don't even have a Walmart, but we have at least 4 hardware stores haha)  But we thought this one had character and great potential. Now let the work begin! :) 

Fall Fun

We had so much family come to help us move into our house. It was so great! We couldn't have done it without them! Honestly!

Mckenna loves our two huge trees in the front yard. I see many days ahead spent outside playing in the piles and piles of leaves.

Moving...Again

Yes, you read that right. We are moving.... again. But, this time it will be a bit more permanent.  After looking at every single house that was an option in this little town of Baker City, we found one we like! So, we are packing up once again. 

These girls sure know how to make moving boxes fun!