November 2019

We moved into our house the first weekend of November and felt so blessed to have so many friends and family help us.  Moving is a lot of work!  And it felt good to finally be in our new home.

The following Monday the kids started school at River Rock Elementary!  They were excited and didn't seem scared or too nervous and I was so grateful for that!

 Graham wanted a picture too :)  When I picked the kids up from school on their first day they all loved it!  They came home with names and numbers of new friends and said everyone was so welcoming!  I was most worried our move would negatively affect the kids but they were champs and didn't seem phased about it.

 When we first moved in we did a few projects to help our new house feel like home. One of those things was replace every single light bulb in the house.  When we came the light bulbs were all 5000k meaning they were bright and made everything look bluish - and more industrial than a "homey" feel.  So Nate replaced every bulb with 3000k so they are warmer but not too "yellow-y." This picture doesn't do justice and doesn't show exactly how blue the lights made our kitchen. The light bulbs helped our house look so much more inviting.

 Graham and I spent a lot of our time unpacking and organizing while the other kids were at school.  When he found two play wooden spoons he came up to me and said, "Look mom, two spanking spoons!" Sadly he doesn't even know their true name.  And we don't spank often at all but we have spanked before so sadly he must have remembered us doing that. Not a good parenting moment.

 After a few weeks of driving to and from South Weber to get Aiden to his play practices and dress rehearsals, he finally had his performances.  He did awesome and we loved getting to watch him perform!  Grandma and Grandpa came with me to watch his Friday production.  On Saturday, Nate and all of the kids, along with Paige, came to watch him perform.  His friend Kai and his whole family came to support him too.  He really enjoyed being in the play - mainly because it meant spending a lot of time with his friend Max. I asked him if he'd ever be in a play again and he said probably not but we will see if he changes his mind!

 We had fun setting up our new house.  Since the space was different than our old house, we had to buy some different furniture.  Graham got a new bed from IKEA.  It took Nate a long time to put it together (because it was from IKEA!) but after a few hours it was complete and it looked great!

We ordered a new table and chairs as well. I love the modern industrial farmhouse look and so we found a table and chairs that fit with the style I like.  

 

We also hired a man to install some recessed lights in our living room.  It's a really big room and there was only one light in the entire room so it was always dark.  It looks so much better now!  The whole experience of hiring this guy to install lights was awkward though...really awkward! He didn't have great communication skills and we didn't realize he would be cutting holes in our ceiling. And then not repairing that.  So we called him while he was at our house and Nate was at work and Nate tried to cancel the project but the guy still said he had to pay him for it.  So it was really uncomfortable.  He eventually convinced Nate to still do it but it was awkward having him in our house knowing that we wanted to cancel.  And then he tried to charge us more than we he originally quoted us! So Nate had to call him again and they had to agree on a new price.   Next time I'll make sure Nate is around when we have a random worker in our house.

 My mom came to a "grandparent day" at the kids' new school.  It's so nice living closer to our parents so they are able to do stuff like this now!

 There are a ton of girls that live around us they all love to come play with Brennan.  A few of them are sporty like him so it's great!  Brennan hasn't ever really played with girls but he gets along with these girls great and they are over all the time. I snuck a picture of him surrounded by a bunch of them :)

 I met some of my South Weber book club friends up in Salt Lake one day for brunch.  It was fun to see them again and catch up!

 I was trying to figure out what to do with this big space and so I cut out wrapping paper one day in the shape of frames to see how it would look.  And then I didn't get the frames up for a couple weeks so our house looked like this a good party of the month:

 Finally got the frames up...but still no pictures.  :)

 Brennan tried on his snow gear one day and I think he's grown a bit! Look at those floods!

One night the boys went and put on matching orange outfits...knowing full well I'd not be a fan.

 Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! We did our annual bowling outing and had so much fun!  We need to go bowling more often because a few of us needed some practice :)

 We had TWO Thanksgiving dinners this year.  One on Thursday with the Tadjes and one on Friday with the Curtis'. So two dinners meant making LOTS of food for the weekend.  Nate helped out a ton with the mashed potatoes (and made sure there was plenty of butter in them!)

 We loved spending time with cousins!

 Steve and Rayane hosted us on Friday and after an incredible meal the kids had fun decorating little gingerbread houses...and playing with Becca's hair.

 It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and I felt so blessed to have such a wonderful family (on both sides.) It was a wonderful weekend!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we set up our tree and decorated our new house for Christmas.  I am so excited to celebrate our first Christmas in our new home!