First Day of School 2011-2012

 

Here we are, another year…

Time is flying by, Lauren’s a Senior, Cole a Sophmore, Claire 8th grader, and Evan 6th grader.  Here’s hoping it’ll be a good one!

Claire Bear

Finding pictures of Claire for this post isn’t really too hard since she takes several HUNDRED pictures with friends ALL the time!  Claire’s had a fairly easy adjustment to living in Bountiful.  This is one of her new friends.  I never have any idea what is going on in most of her pictures.

 

She loves to put gobs of make-up on and take pictures.  Sad thing is, she’s really good at it.  Too much practice for a just barely 13 year old-don’t you think?  I’m sure the other moms say things like, “I can’t believe her mother lets her out of the house that way…”  Some days I have bigger battles to pursue and some days I don’t.  Claire is willing to take the chance!

 

 

She still  has a soft spot for her Shorty-puppy!

Apparently Shorty has some competition for her affections.  It’s been a tough year keeping the boys out of the house—literally, but I’m up for the job (like I said, I pick my battles).

 

 

But, underneath it all, she’s still our happy, smiling Claire, just with a little sass now! 

She went to dance camp at BYU this summer with her friend, LANI, from California.  They stayed in the dorms for 2 weeks and didn’t even talk to any boys (really?)  She had a wonderful time and learned how to blow dry her pointe shoes???

She bonded with cousins at family reunion time.  Millie might be trying to keep the sun out of her eyes or, she might be growling like a tiger?

 

She drove a boat at Red Fish Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She rode an ATV thing with Evan and Kirk and I in St. George.

She had many dance performances, and loved them all.  She’s the little one in the middle.

And bonded with Lauren on a trip to Arizona!

I don’t have any pictures with her and Cole.  We’ll have to work on that.

I think girls with older sisters are lucky.  They can leave all the serious growing up stuff to them to figure out and they can just hang back and enjoy the ride.  So, while Claire tries her best to ride off into the sunset…

We’ll be following close behind, to keep her “reigned” in!  We love you, Claire!

Update on Cole

I’m interrupting home décor posts for a little bit to update on the kids.  I’m beginning with my current favorite child, Cole.  Cole’s been having a great year.  This summer he’s done lots of fun things like:  horseback riding…

…river rafting with his scout group.

A little sight-seeing along the way.  He’s also worked with Grandpa up in Idaho and learned to drive the tractor.  No pictures of that-sorry.

He learned how to play Lacrosse this past school year and is currently LOVING football.  He gets to start high school for a second time in a few weeks.  He has made some good friends.  He’s a hard worker and has been so happy and helpful.  He’s got a fun sense of humor.  He just got his learner’s permit and is doing a good job with driving.  See why he’s my favorite right now?  School’s starting so that may not last, but we’re always hopeful!

Claire’s Room

 

Ever since Kirk quit his job at Sprint and I knew that selling the house was a high probability I went into “house staging mode.”  I didn’t tell the kids why I took down personal pictures or why they couldn’t paint their room some crazy color.  I just was preparing for what I knew was coming.  Two years later we are finally settled and permanent!  So when Claire wanted to paint her room purple, and I mean purple, how could I deny her?  First, she had to take down the wallpaper border, and that just about did her in.  Good thing she had Shorty close by to keep her company!

Here’s a sneak peak after 2 coats of purple.  She loves it and wants to move to window treatments now…oh boy, she might just be my daughter!

The curtain leads to her walk-in closet, which is huge!  She’s been bugging us to take down the door since we moved in.  Kirk wouldn’t let her, but I’m thinking we’ve got at least a year before he notices!

Michael and Kerstin

Kirk and I flew to Dallas last week for my brother’s wedding!  We were so excited!  This is the BEFORE picture.  This is MY family…we were sealed in May in the Mesa Temple FOREVER!!!

 

My parents have waited for this day for a long time.  They look happy here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren’t they a cute couple?  Below is my favorite shot: 

Here’s a close up of her bouquet which she MADE out of decorative paper.  Each flower is folded to make a flower.  It was incredible.  She made hundreds (?) of them as decorations at the reception.  I was very impressed with her craftiness.  She can definitely be a “Knab.”

Check out her cute shoes:

And, the best part are these two cuties:

Thayde and Cohl (like my Cole).  They are 7 years old and 9 years old.  My kids are excited to meet them.  They LOVE Michael and, I know, Michael loves them.  Here’s my fav pic. of all of them:

They make such a cute family!  We are so excited for Michael and are thrilled to welcome Kerstin, Thayde and Cohl to our family!

So, I didn’t have any pictures of Kirk and I, but I cropped one just to prove we were there!

FEET AND FLOORS

 

Evan and Claire got new shoes today and I thought I’d share the shoes along with the floors in our new home!  Creative, no?

Evan’s greatest joy in life is buying new shoes.  No joke, even when he was little.  Especially cleats!  Here’s the new cleats for football season modeled on our GREEN basement carpet (oh yes, forest green circ. 1993)

Then, Evan wanted an action shot.

And now, part of the basement…TA DA!

Sorry it is not a fancy picture.  This is definitely the “before.”  However, you will notice the beautiful built-ins with TONS of storage.  The kids have managed to come up with a make-shift sectional.  Their dream is to have Love Sacs down there.  I told them no love sacs in the basement, a bad idea, if you ask me. 

Do you Californians know what a love sac is?  Here’s a pic.  They are like trampolines here.  Everyone’s got one.

Problem is, this is also what can happen on a love sac,

I don’t think so, no lovin’ in our sacs!  Or, as my brother-in-law says, “no fornicating on the sac!” 

Okay, major sidetrack.  Now for Claire!

Claire’s new pointe shoes.  Do you know that pointe shoes are only suppose to be good for 15 hours of use?  What?  Someone should have filled me in on that before we started all this ballet business.  She is modeling them on our entry way tile, again, white ceramic with MAUVE marble diamonds.  And, here is the entry way,

Nothing’s on the walls because I’m DYING to paint them.  The paint is a taupey-pink.  I’m hoping that with a more neutral color on the walls I will be able to stand the tile for a little while until we can change them. 

Tomorrow, I’m going to share MY FAVORITE room in the house!

Hello Monterey Circle!

We are finally in our new home and it already feels like home!  Here’s the kids with our official sign. 

Here’s a picture of the whole house.

And, here’s me welcoming you inside!

…More to come, promise!