the boys in their new yard

Here are some fun pictures of the boys in their new yard. This was our first day fixing up the place the way we want it before going on vacation to Arizona- June 22, 2007. Above they are playing Power Rangers on their mini-basketball court. Previous owners had put in the slab of cement. It's shaded nicely by trees. No, we aren't cutting those down.

our first accomplishment

I took out the old shelves,

painted and with Greg's help

put in new shelves.

It is the easy to clean kind!

The brown bar in the middle

will have to be cut out eventually

but since the pantry is double doors

we can't do that quite yet- it'll look funny.

The whole kitchen was refaced but

has original shelving. Yes, on the

to-do list... next year!

back to school

I don't know how to make my blogs in chronological order. If anyone knows pass on that knowledge to me. Thanks.)

First day of school. On our front porch. Our boys with neighbor friend, Aiden.
At the bus stop, the corner of our street, luckily not far from our front door.
Me and my school boys!
Getting on the big, yellow bus that is packed with children- three to a seat- and no bus monitor, only the driver! How scarey is that! I pray every day that they make the trip to and from school safe. So far so good. They are all liking school, but it has taken about a month to get used to the new routine and make new friends. I'm so proud of them! Payton is in full day with his brothers. He is certainly a big kid now! Okay, so what do I do with my time?? Anyone who knows me doesn't have to ask that question. I'm a workaholic mom and proud of it!

Hard Work- and Big Thanks!

Grandpa Gams doing a great job cutting down trees that surrounded the house. Grandma Gams keeping Payton out of trouble.
southwest corner

Bob cutting down a tree on northwest corner.

Another big thank you goes to Greg's folks for all their help in fixing up our new home. The list includes: yard work, tearing down wallpaper and painting, plumbing to stop a leak in main bathroom that dripped into the basement, and so much more. Your hard work has not only helped us begin managing life in our new home but relieved us of emotional burden. It is easier to get a big job done when more hands are helping! THANKS, you are wonderful!

The guys took over 10 loads like this to the dump (on two different occations- the first time we got our new ward involved). Thanks to everyone who helped. Every bit counts! The perimeter of our home is all cleared of trees and bushes! We have a few stumps to remove still but this will sure help alleviate problems.

Gray was also a support working in the yard. He knew how to have some fun too! (see him in the tree below)

(All trees near the house have been cut down. Don't worry, we have several more on our property- lots of shade.)


Here is a picture of me painting one of the boys room which used to be purple with flowers. Anita (Grandma Gams) helped alot in this room. She took down the wallpaper while I was vacationing in AZ. Later she helped me paint it. Thanks again! The teal/ torquise room is cool!

This is a picture of me with a couple of dear friends that came to visit our new home in late July. Ginger and Christy, I miss you already. Good luck in your new homes far away- Japan and Utah!!! Good thing I still have Erin to keep me company once in a while; and Heather our new, friendly neighbor who is full of knowledge on do-it-yourself projects.

new castle

I can't believe it! After 2 hours I finally am able to work on my blog. Crazy! Since google got their hands on this I have been lost. I finally figured it out and hopefully will not have any more trouble posting new pictures and journal entries.


It is now August 11, 2007. We have been in our new home for over a month; with a couple of vacations to break up the overwhelming mess of being a new and first time home-owner. It has been a rough road but we are glad to be moving forward eventhough there are bumps along the way.

To start off I will say the boys are so ready for school. We are customed to starting the beginning of August and this new district starts at the end of August. Just too long of a summer. Another good reason we split up this time with vacations to Arizona and New York.


We discovered a local park and got out for fun, for a change. Every morning we have been busy checking off a list of to-do's starting with yard work.



We moved into a home that had a finished basement that looked nice but smelled musty. After getting two opinions from water-proofing companies we learned that eventually we will need a water mitigation system to take care of the water that sits in the cinder-block walls our basement is made of. For now we will fix our sump pump and radon mitigation systems and make sure we air out the basement as much as possible. We already bought one dehumidifier and two air purifiers.

My brother came to help out and has done so much good work for us! He was amazing! Thanks Al. He not only did yard work with us, but fixed up electrical things in the house. He added ceiling fans into master bedroom, den, kitchen, and one child's room- the bigger yellow room which doesn't have the bunkbeds because I was afraid of putting a ceiling fan in there when crazy boys will just end of swinging from it. Also, the living room, basement green room, den, master bedroom and childrens yellow room he added recessed lighting. It is amazing all the work he did. We owe him big time! He also helped us learn more about our homes electrially wiring- weird. Thanks a million! (I just reviewed my pictures and didn't see any still shots with Al working on the fans and lights. I will take a couple pictures of his finished projects to add later.)

(I'll have to work on my other computer to add more pictures of Al helping us. You may notice Ryan Anderton next to Greg in the background and Natalie's leg behind Al.)

Living life of making dinner calls me away now. I hope I can return without spending two hours just logging into this and adding information. Wish me luck.