We're finally big kids now!

Yup! Today we got our keys to our first home!

It's been quite the experience, with lots of ups and downs, but we are so excited everything worked out!

We weren't even planning on looking until the end of this year. Our lease expires the end of July, but we hoped our landlord would let us go month to month after the leas expired and we could take our time looking for our home.

Yeah right. In OUR world.

When she said no, and that if we didn't sign another year lease, the owner was probably going to sell it, we decided to look hard for a month and see if we could find anything. If nothing came up, we would just sign the lease.

We were thrilled that the second home we looked at, we loved. It was still in our ward, in a young neighborhood where we already had several friends, and the lower end of our price-range. ALL pluses! So, we put in an offer the NEXT day. So glad we did, since there were several people wanting to put in offers if ours fell through. (phew! close one!)

The home is brand new, so anything that happens to it is our fault. :) I'm so excited to have a never-lived in home, that is PERFECTLY clean! Now...I wonder how long I can keep it that way....a month? a day? a few hours?!

Especially, with this for a backyard...




The only thing we don't love about the home, is the lot. We're on a corner, and due to visibility laws, we can only put a 6 ft fence TWENTY feet in from the sidewalk. That's basically our whole yard! We CAN, however, put a 4 ft fence 1 ft away from the sidewalk, so that's what we are going to do. Eventually.

As you can see, only the front half of the yard is finished, so we get to do the rest ourselves. We're actually pretty excited about this process. We envision a fire-pit area, I hope to have several fruit trees: peach, apple, and cherry, and some trees to help with the privacy along the 4ft fence. We'll post pictures as we make improvements. :)

One of the things we were looking for in a home, was a formal living room and then a separate family room. I didn't care to have a dining room, just an area in the kitchen that was large enough for a large table. This house met both of those wants.

And now, for a little tour!
The family room, looking down from the kitchen:


The kitchen/dining area, looking up from the family room:


The kitchen:


um...the house:

from the dining area, looking towards the front door:

These are the stairs leading up to the bedrooms. It's a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath home. All 4 bedrooms are upstairs, with the two full bathrooms. The master bedroom is off to the left of the stairwell, and the other three are to the right. Another half bath is located off of the family room, by the laundry room.



I'm not a huge fan of the wood trim, since my preference is white, but it's still beautiful, and I'll make it work! :)

Now...any ideas for wall colors? deco ideas? I'd love some advice!
I'm so excited to make it beautiful, but don't have a clue where to start!

We won't be "living" there for another week and a half, due to a wedding in Seattle this weekend, and Dan has to work next weekend. Our ward is awesome and is almost begging to help us move. (I think it's the fact that we are staying in the ward...) I'm sure I can't resist waiting that long, so I'll be moving little things all week.

We'll send out a mass e-mail with the new address, so if you don't get it, let us know!

Anyway, this has been our project now, and we are so grateful and excited to finally own our own home! Well...technically the bank owns it for the next 30 years...but that's just technicalities, right?!

I {heart} Menan, IDAHO

Even though I would not be the one pulling an all-nighter to drive, I convinced Dan to leave for Idaho on Friday night, after work. I was anxious to participate in Menan's 4th of July festivities.

Ever heard of Menan? Nope, I didn't think so. It's a small town...by Rigby. Never heard of Rigby? Okay, fine. It's about 15 minutes from Rexburg, ID.

Dan's Grandma lives there, along with two Aunt's and an Uncle. I've heard about the things that go on there on the 4th and had been dying to be a part of it. So, here's our day...in a nut shell...


The annual Clark family breakfast at Grandma's house, starting at 8AM. (We pulled in from our long drive just a few hours earlier, and were able to get in a quick cat nap). Breakfast consisted of Bacon, sausage, eggs, watermelon, fruit salad, orange juice, and THE best waffles I have ever had! (Ann, I've GOT to get that recipe! ...please?)

Grandma immediately wanted to hold her newest great-grand baby, and frankly, who could blame her? :)

Michael ate quickly so he could climb Grandma's apple trees.

After chatting for a few hours, it was time to head over to the Menan fair.

Grandma gave the kids $1 to spend. Michael was SO excited about his dollar, and kept telling everyone about it.

'Course, it didn't take long to spend it! There was a field lined with booths, some with crafts and other products, and lots with food.

But what I LOVED, was how many booths were set up with games just for the kids.

Michael spent his dollar on the ring toss.


On his final try, he won! He was mighty proud of his 2-liter of Raspberry Soda!

There were fish ponds, with quite impressive prizes! Chelsea snagged some sidewalk chalk, and Michael got a bubble blowing kit. PERFECT items for both of them! Man, I was LOVING this fair!


Our little cousin, Hallie, who is Chelsea's age, got to spend the afternoon with us. They were fast friends, and everyone got their face painted.

At 2:00, the parade started. It was hot and crowded, but luckily we had extended family with big trucks to reserve our spot!

Brinly had the best seat of all...and the only one in the shade!



I laughed when the opening "float" was a semi. I'd never seen a semi in a parade before. I was loving the parade already!




But then...I saw what was inside the big-rig.


CHOCOLATE MILK! They were passing out CHOCOLATE MILK! not just to a few people...but to EVERYBODY! It does NOT get better than that! I am sold. Menan has the best 4th of July celebration ever! at least, to me!

The parade did not dissapoint. They had the usual marching bands, fire trucks, grand marshalls, etc. and tons of candy being thrown out.

but unlike most parades, they had a line of antique and not-so-antique tractors...some 50 years old!



and a little on the creepy side...a horse-drawn hearse? very cool.



And lastly, after the parade was over, a jeep carrying a trailer of garbage cans drove slowly by so everyone could dump their trash in. GENIUS!

They had fireworks that night too, but we stayed at Grandma's since it was getting so late and our kids were pooped after all of the fun.

I LOVE THIS TOWN! I'm totally coming back next year!

Portland trip

When we moved from Portland a year ago, I didn't think it would take me so long to return!

But, when my friend Melinda, from Dental school (now living in Georgia and soon to move to GERMANY) and my friend Tami, also from Dental school (currently living in Arizona) said they were going to be visiting Portland the SAME week, I knew I had to make the 4 hour drive to join the party.

Dan wasn't able to get off work, but I decided to make a mini vacation out of our trip anyway. We drove down on Wed. morning, and went straight to one of our favorite spots...the Children's museum.

They had changed things around a bit since we had last been there, but the favorite spot was the digging pit. Some things never change...


Chelsea could have spent all day molding clay, or the other craft stations, but we only had about 2 hours to spend, so I pulled her away and we made it through the rest of the museum.

They even paused to take a special picture for Dad...

I loved catching Michael lovingly changing this baby's diaper. Too bad he's not quite old enough to change a real baby's diaper yet.


After the museum, we went straight to the park that was closest to where we used to live. We met up with one of Chelsea's best friends, Kayla, who was also our neighbor.

Then our good friends, the Monahan's brought us a yummy pizza for dinner and we had fun visiting with them. (I can't believe I didn't get a single picture of your family, Tasha! ARGH!) Thanks for the pizza! It was delish!

Later, we checked into our hotel and went swimming. We had lots of offers to stay at friend's houses, but my kids LOVE staying in hotels, and the swimming pool was an added bonus. It's great to have such awesome friends, willing to let us stay with them though! Maybe next time...

The next morning, we slept in, had a great big hot breakfast (another bonus of the hotel) then headed to the zoo.

While I was unloading the stroller, Chelsea found this patch of grass and wanted her picture taken in the "flowers". Isn't she beautiful?


About 10 minutes after walking in the zoo, Michael started whining about how tired his legs were...but we were able to see most of our favorite animals:

The elephant...


The polar bear... (this polar bear is so funny! He walks through one of the rock arches, over to the next arch, but goes in backwards, swinging his head back and forth. If you've ever been to the Portland zoo, you've probably seen this dance. It was great to see our old friend performing his regular routine for us!)




After the zoo, we headed back to another favorite park for a picnic with so many of our friends. It felt like we had never left, except all the kids were strangely bigger and older! It was so fun to visit and catch up, while the kids ran around with their old playmates, just like old times.

This is Brooke, another one of Chelsea's good friends. These two are the cutest together and look like they could have been sisters or at least cousins. We really miss Brooke!

This is my friend Faye. She played the piano in primary and we had lots of fun talks behind the piano.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the many friends that were there, but didn't really think about it 'till most of them had left. These are the few that remained at the end...including Tami and Melinda. It was so great to see you both...and thanks for coming out at the same time!

Thank you everyone for coming out to see me! Okay, for coming out to see Melinda and Tami...and the new baby. :) I miss you guys! Hopefully it won't take as long for the next visit!

Upcoming attraction...

If you want to see this cutie...



dressed in this beauty...


then come to Brinly's blessing, on August 2nd, 2009! :)
I know most (all) won't be able to make it, so we'll be sure to take oodles of pictures. It's times like these that I really wish we lived closer to family!

Dear sister,

Tami,
this is a cockroach.
Now you will know what Nathan is talking about. :)

Overheard at our house...

Setting: at the lunch table, trying to get Michael to finish his dinner...once again.

Mom: Hurry up and finish your soup, Michael. I'm going to start scooping up the ice-cream.

michael: Let me smell it [ice-cream] to see if it smells good. Then I will eat it.

1 month already?!?

It's scary, but I can almost see Brinly growing before my eyes. To me, she no longer looks like a newborn, but is getting that chubby baby look.

Why, WHY do they have to grow so stinking fast!?

I realized I only have one or two pictures with Brinly and I, so I had Dan take this picture so she will know she had a momma when she gets older. :)


Today wasn't her first day at church, but I'd missed getting her picture the last two weeks.

This dress is actually labeled for 9 months, but fit her just fine, minus the bloomers. THose would have drowned her.

Her usual look..."I'm sleepy"


She gets the worried look from her mom.

Practicing her kung-pow moves to try out on big-brother.


The beginnings of some seriously beautiful blue eyes! I can't wait to see them in their full glory! wait...I take that back...yes, I can wait...because it would require her to get older!

Her new bed! Isn't she so teensy-weensy and cute?!

We also managed to make it to one of the splash parks on a particularly hot day. I set out a blanket under one of the huge oak trees and worked on my project 365 as Brinly slept and Chels and Michael played.
inly slept





On Friday we went to our local baseball stadium to see our DUST DEVILS play. The kids were much more excited about the $1 hotdogs, drinks, and ice-cream sandwiches, than they were about the game. Check out them devouring those dogs!

We got to sit on the sunny side, but Dan was able to give Brinly some shade with his huge body. :)


She was perfectly happy snuggled up to daddy.


And a baseball game wouldn't be complete without giving the mascot a high-five.


Oh, and we won 8-3. The game was actually pretty fun. They kept having things like the "Beer Batter," where of the batter from the visiting team struck out, the audience would get beers for $2 for the next 10 minutes. Niiiicceee....