A Walk in the Woods

We have been knee deep in home improvement stuff for the last two months.  I really like to do it, mostly because I like the end result, and I like to be able to make new spaces, create new things.  Tyson could do without all the projects, but he's too unwilling to pay someone big bucks for something that he really has the skills to do (but would rather not use those skills).  So we have made a lot of changes to the house, but still have a lot more coming up.  Pictures soon to come when I actually finish some room or wrap up some project. 

We have a huge wall in the house that needs a huge something on.  After a little consult with an interior decorater, I know exactly what I want, but obtaining it is the trick since it involves my kids.  So we set out on a little walk up through the aspens to try to obtain the perfect picture.  I don't think any of them qualify for what I'm looking for, but there were some very cute pictures still.  Here's a few favorites of mine:

Plugging his ears because of the airplane overhead.  He is not a fan of loud noises.

Just playing around

Trying to reach the treetops.

The Circus

The circus came to town so the kids and I ventured to it with some friends while Tyson went on his man-trip.  I had never been to a circus before, and am not all that excited to go to one again.  This one was pretty ghetto, but Collin and Mackenzie enjoyed intermission when they were able to have a pony ride.

Our First Pet

The time finally came for us to take on a pet.  I have not been so fond of the idea.  Maybe because I grew up with an unnumberable amount of animals running and flying around my house making messes, or maybe because I already have my hands full with Collin and Mackenzie and don't want to take on any animal that constantly needs attention, help, food, etc. 

However, Tyson grew up raising rabbits, LOTS of rabbits, and has always wanted some as a pet.  I agreed that rabbits would be a tolerable pet as long as we had a house and Tyson took care of them.  Tyler, Tyson's brother, has been raising rabbits for the last couple of years and conveniently had two rabbits ready for a new home in Grand Junction. 

Mackenzie has begged for a rabbit (well actually five to be exact) for about a year since she's seen Tyler's rabbits, so she has been ecstatic to get one. We ended up with two girls (they better both be girls!) so that they each had one, but it doesn't really matter. It's not like they each get theirs out and play with it individually during the day. Instead, when they get out, they run for shelter from the kids behind any bush they can find. Mackenzie has figured out they aren't really like a dog or cat for a pet where they snuggle up to you and want to be pet all the time. Instead they kick and scratch, but they are super soft French Lops that are both pretty cute, and Olivia can be pretty tame at times if the kids aren't too crazy around her.

Mackenzie decided to name them after some cartoon characters that are actually pigs. Funny! I told her she should have named them Ruby and Louise (from Max and Ruby who are actual rabbits) but she's a die-hard Olivia fan.


 

Meet Olivia...

...and Hammy

Easter..a little late

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Easter.  It was a wonderful holiday with a lot of family around, as in 21 of the crazy Black family all came to stay at our house just five days after we moved in.  Tyson and I worked hard to get the boxes unpacked and everything put away (or hid away) so that we could enjoy the long holiday weekend with everyone, and somehow we pulled it off.

I had spent every waking moment unpacking and organizing the house right up until everyone showed up, so it became Tyson's sister, Natalie's job to organize the meals for everyone and the cooking (what a rotten host I am huh?).   She did an awesome job and made some very yummy food for us.  Thank you Natalie for all your talent and hard work!!!

Natalie in the kitchen whipping up some of her yummy fudge sauce!

We had to have an Easter egg hunt, but it was too cold to go out anywhere and too chaotic to get everyone organized to go, so we had it in our backyard.  Thanks once again to Natalie, there were prizes, candy, and money galore in the eggs!  The ladies stuffed the eggs and organized the prizes, then the men hid them all, and then the kids went crazy!  There's nothing like an Easter Egg Hunt with over 300 eggs for 11 grandkids to find. 

Mackenzie getting her basket ready to fill with eggs.

The egg-hunting crew.

Mackenzie got the idea quickly as soon as the door was opened and all the cousins went wild.

Collin on the other hand, was very slow to get the eggs.  He saw them and knew to get them, but didn't see any hurry in the matter.

On the hunt...

Notice no eggs nor basket, just some candy in each hand.  That's my boy!

The loot

Going through the loot

Easter happened to fall on my birthday this year, so I had to have a picture with my sweet family.

Home Sweet Home

Yay!  I finally convinced Tyson to take the plunge and buy a house here in Grand Junction.  It was no easy feat, that's for sure, but we are quite in love with our new house.

The Details:  4 bedrooms, 5 bath, 4800 sq ft, cherry hardwood floors, 2 fireplaces, theatre room, exercise room (now has become the kids toyroom), hottub, fountain/pond, basketball court for the subdivision (very important for Collin and his basketball obsession), and park for the subdivision (very important for Mackenzie and Mommy) and the best part is that it's our new place to call home.  I can't help but love it!

Here are some pictures of it before we moved in:

Rancher home with walk-out basement

View as you walk in the front door...Dining area/Living area

Faux painting everywhere...it is excessive.  Almost every single room and area of the home is covered in faux painting.  It is not my favorite and is one of the few and main things I want to change in the home.

Living/open area/view into kitchen/entry-way upstairs and stairway to downstairs

Living area upstairs:

Formal Dining Area/ButlerPantry:

 

Kitchen Area:

I love the kitchen (except the paint).  It has tons of cupboards and lots of extra room.  There is a very large walk-in pantry around the corner, plus a large butler pantry.  I have finally been able to unbox all my kitchen stuff that has been hid away for the past 6 years during all our moves.

Master Bedroom

All the bedrooms have french door access and the master has french doors that go out to the deck.

The problem!!!  On the day of closing, one hour prior to closing, we came to the home with our agent to do a quick walk-through.  To our surprise, we found that one of the vanities in the master bathroom had a leak underneath and was flooding out onto the floor.  It didn't look that extreme, but we certainly weren't headed to close.  The sellers came up to the house and an emergency flood team showed up, plumbers, and a million phone calls were made to deal with this problem.  I was in disbelief, not knowing if we were actually going to close.  We wondered how long the water had been on, if it had been running down the backside of the wall into the downstairs, etc.  It was a stressful 8 hours of sorting things out and getting ourselves covered on the legal real estate paperwork that we were not liable before we actually went to closing.  By the time we actually closed, this is all that was left of the vanity and they were already bringing on all the machinery to fix the problem.  Now 2 1/2 weeks later, it still looks like this but the cabinetry is being rebuilt and we should have it back to normal soon.

Master tub

One of the bathrooms...just waiting to be repainted.

The Ultimate Theatre Room!!!

Backyard:

This move didn't happen without some stress!  What move does, especially when we are involved?  On moving day, Tyson had to work part of the morning (we tried planning the move the week prior when he had tons of time off but the sellers couldn't get out in time) and so I went and picked up the U-Haul with the help of my neighbor.  I drove it to our rental and parked it until my family showed up to fill it up.  When they showed up, I went out to back it up to the garage and it was dead!  Completely dead!  You know how you always see those U-Hauls broken down on the side of the road...yep, that was me!  Luckily it was in our driveway, but after all the stress of coordinating the whole move and working my tail off for the entire week scrubbing both homes and packing, it was my last straw and I just started to cry as I kept trying to start the stupid truck and got nothing. 

My sister saw that I couldn't take it anymore and she went and found a neighbor home to help us jump the truck, since our jumper cables were conveniently sitting in Tyson's car at work.  Ugh!  The saving grace was right after we got it started and backed up to the house, Tyson showed up four hours early and we were ready to go.  I finally felt a huge relief and had never been so glad to see him home in such a long time!  The rest of the move went well...two of the largest U-Haul truckloads completely full, two 4-wheeler trailers full and 4 car trips.  I seriously don't know where and how we had all that stuff.  My family that came to help was amazing and they worked their tails off to get us moved all in one day!  Thank you to everyone!  My exhaustion with the chemo and all that was going on with the move was met on 'moving day' and I was so useless.  We couldn't have done it without all their help. 

Burning Up Time in Zions

A few weeks ago, we had hoped to close and move in to our new house, but the timing didn't work out with the sellers.  So with a bunch of time on our hands and me having a chemo treatment, we decided to go over to Tyson's moms and spend a few days keeping things low-key.  One day we took a trip down to Zions National Park and went on some very leisurely walks with the kids and the grandparents.  It was a perfect getaway.  

Collin and Mackenzie climbing around

Collin and Mackenzie with Grandma and Grandpa Baker

Playing at the river

Underneath Weeping Rock

Mackenzie's favorite part - drawing in the sand at the river bottom