Like a Rolling Stone

Like all good things, September is coming to an end.
Here are some of our September "good things":

I wish I could blow this picture up to life-size because....wow, that was a pretty sky.

Grace's Activity Days Mad Scientist party date with Grandpa.

MORE FOOTBALL!! I have to tell you, I am shocked by how much I am loving this experience. Noble's team is not only amazingly good (They have won every game except one, even though most of their games have been against teams a division up from theirs.), but we lucked out with OUTSTANDING coaches, and really cool kids. They are having some amazing experiences together. Sometime have me tell you about their game from this weekend. I almost cried.

This is where we found Abner sacked out one afternoon. I don't blame him. I'm telling you, that memory foam bathmat is a temptation for anyone looking for a place to take a nap. 

My canning efforts have been pathetic this year (as has been my garden). But I did manage to do about 14 quarts of peaches and make a few bottles of peach syrup this month. Peachy Cream o' Wheat. Mmmmm.

AND ->>>> THe BIG DAY ARRIVED AT LAST!  The long-awaited rock moving. It will forever live in Melton Family lore.
Here are  my dad and Mike poised to move some rocks.

But, mostly we all watched while this man and his machine did the delicate work of  maneuvering the boulders into place. (Thank you SO MUCH, Sean!)

A look from above at our new retaining wall as it took shape. We totally ripped up the back lawn (and left a mark on the neighbor's lawn as well, where we drove the cat through to get into our backyard). But , as I told Mike, it was "necessary destruction" (and Mike told me that would make a great name for a rocker band).
Now, the next step... We just need to recruit some help to move some more dirt, reroute some sprinklers, and grade an access in the back yard. Because Mike never wants to have to drive heavy machinery (or, his truck) through the neighbor's yard again.

More later. 

Adios, September 2012!

Growing a baby and other things that are keeping me busy busy

This morning.

As I caught sight of myself in the bathroom mirror off the kitchen, I decided I don't have many pictures of this pregnancy. Coming up on 7 months.

A few weeks ago I was having anxiety about putting together this Relief Society anniversary celebration at church. I have NEVER organized anything like this. But I felt pretty good about it when it all came together - thanks to the help of many. I didn't take a lot of photos, but here is one of the tables.

The 3rd annual NPA 5K fundraiser is coming right up - and preparations are in full swing. I've been working on that too. I have been putting together the silent auction blog site, working out all the race and finish line logistics and timing issues with Elevated Racing  . (Thanks again Hoffmans for hooking us up there!) I'm excited about this year's event. If you want to run for a good cause, let me know before April 21, and we'll get a you a registration. It should be cool. 

And....I've been printing t-shirts for my Etsy shop - hoping to get that up soon. This has been fun, but it always seems like I'm trying to do the tricky parts in the middle of after-school bedlam. Which is a little stressful. I've messed up more than a couple of shirts. Stay tuned. We've had lots of requests for Noble's "Nachrool Resors" shirts over the years (a few are up for auction at the 5K), and they will finally be available to the world - with more awesome stuff to come.

 

The weather seems to have finally turned a corner, and I've had Mike till up our future garden area. I am SO excited to get back in the garden after a year's sabbatical. We'll see what our soil can do here. I'm a little unsure about pulling it off myself this season - being too slow and large to move much dirt or put in lots of hours out there. But I am thankful to be healthy enough to give it a go. We'll see what I can do. I love the garden so much. Especially after a long winter. I'll take pictures.

I think that covers most of the high points. Have a great week!

The House AGAIN (if you're sick of hearing about it I'll understand)

I know it might be boring to hear about the house again. (It's wearing a little bit thin for me too.) Believe it or not, there are other things happening in our lives. But, here are a few more photos taken today while we were there with the flooring guy getting measurements. Mike took about a million pictures, playing it safe since this story surfaced in the news. We're most likely looking at the 19th for our close dates.

Looking down the long narrow back yard.

We couldn't figure this out at all... is it a landing strip?  Actually, the word on the street is that there's a high pressure aquaduct behind that fence. That's not dangerous, right?

Why is it that EVERY house we looked at had the obligatory Disney Princess bedroom? I have girls and I still don't understand. It will soon be a thing of the past...along with that very PINK carpet.

Double shower heads just wasn't enough... (the third is for...?)

The view from the shower...(Go ahead, we've been laughing too.  It IS humorous that the best view, the one with the temple, is from the bathroom.)

Basement family room.They went nuts with that mustardy color. EVERYTHING in the basement is painted that color. Except...

the horrible home theater room painted in vampire red and black.

Stair well to the basement.

The rameumptom (i.e. the deck to no where) - missing about 2 feet of railing, with a cement slab 15 feet below. Death trap. Top of the priority list of fixes.

Here's a better picture of the house from the street.

The House Unveiled

OK. For those who've asked (and those who haven't), here are some quick snaps I took of the house while we were there this afternoon. Not the greatest quality (I was being bombarded with excited questions from the kids: "Mom!!!! Mom!!!!! Mom!!!!").

This picture taken from the driveway - not the best angle.

One of the giant boulder walls in the yard...Noble's dream.

Looking into the great room from the kitchen

The Kitchen

Sorry I didn't take more photos (like I said I was kind of preoccupied). But this will give you an idea. Some specs: 3376 sq. feet, 5 beds (one will be used as a library/office), 3 1/2 baths (one is totally shoddy - will need work), 0.4 acres (large, beautifully landscaped, but kind of a strange lot configuration), 3 car garage (which will be nice since there's no shed for tools & stuff), basement family room, basement kitchen (which was totally stripped by the previous owners) & a weird home theater room that I want to take a sledge hammer to. So - there you go. A quick summary of the house.

You Never Count Your Money When You're Sittin' At The Table...

In the past several weeks we've had an education in the high stakes world of buying/selling in real estate. More than once I've felt like I was in a poker game calling out my opponent's bluff, making my own blind bets. Tomorrow we will find out if our biggest gamble will pay off. The bidding ends tonight on the house that sits at the top of our list. We just had our realtor up our bid... because we're not the cool customers we wish we were. The process of bidding on foreclosed properties is harrowing. We have no idea what the other bids are - or even if there ARE other bids. So, there's a possibility we're just bidding against ourselves, ratcheting up the stakes for no reason.

It's a big psychological game.

I'm not so good at psychological games. If you put me on Survivor Island, I'd walk off (or swim, as the case may be) before anyone had a chance to vote me off. 

LSAT news (and dino toes)

Sad / tired Sully at bath time.

I love these socks (and leggings too) that I bought for Sully last year. I still giggle when I see him walking around in them.

News from this weekend:

While Mike was gone taking the LSAT most of the day Saturday we:

mowed the lawn...

... and started apple picking. We also cleaned the house for yet another showing. (I can't wait to either sell the house or take it OFF the market!)

(Here's proof that our boys DO actually tolerate BYU - they're both known to wear BYU t-shirts regularly.)

The LSAT news may come as a surprise to those of you who hadn't heard that Mike has been seriously considering law school. It came as a surprise to me a month ago when he brought it up again (I thought that idea had been dropped) - this didn't leave him much time to study. But true to form, Mike dove in unintimidated. We won't know until mid-October about his score. The amazing part is I have felt so much peace about the whole thing, especially this week running up to the LSAT...and that just doesn't make sense. But I have to believe that at least making the effort is the right thing for him right now.