A sweet homecoming

The Sunday after Girls camp I was feeling funky. I don't know if it was the camp food, or being worn out, but I was not feeling well. Add to that BYC and a fireside, and by the end of the night I was done! I drove home tired, grumpy, and ready to just crawl in bed and shut out the world.

When I got home I found this note hanging on the door. 

(the bottom says- PS we cleaned up the room for you. We hope it makes "fel" better.)

Then I walked downstairs to find this fort made from all of our empty moving boxes with a whole bunch of hoodlums hiding inside. :) My family is the best and they did make me feel much better.

Another thing to add to my white-trashness

Occasionally we box-surf...on the grass...in the middle of summer...'cause we coo' like dat.

 OH, look at that baby!! 

You may think that, since we are moving, I let them use some boxes and nice stuff like that, but no. These boxes were found near (not in, I'm not that bad) the dumpsters. And yes, they slid clear down the hill. I thought they were quite ingenious for coming up with it. :)

And it fits in with all the other white trash stuff we've done to keep ourselves entertained. I should keep a list-
Walmart bag kite flying
Marshmallow men houses
Walmart bags as bibs
dumpster diving (multiple times)
And now box surfing
booyah

Girls Camp

Girls camp was last week. I only got to go up for the last few days, but I loved it. These are my girls! I love them! :) We had fun making bracelets, playing in water, chasing off scary, man-eating raccoons, rocking our skit, in which 1/3 of us (including me) talked in an accent just for the fun of it, and lots more. It was a great week with some of the best young women I've ever known :) 

Davenport

We're moving. Did you know? We originally came out to go to Palmer Chiropractic school, but after...a few different things...decided to change gears, and decided on PA (Physician's assistant) school. We are ridiculously excited, and feel really, really good about it. Unfortunately to get into a good PA school you have to go to a good undergraduate school, and our lovely Davenport only has a private school that costs...way too much money. So we are moving three hours away to Ames, Iowa, to attend the Iowa State University.  We are excited. We are sad. And mostly we are trying not to think about it too much. Too sad to be leaving out friends and D-port family. 

When we moved in, two years ago, I told my Mom I would post pictures of where we were living. I never did. My house was always too messy, or I was just lazy and didn't do it, but now that we are moving I realize just how much I want those pictures and my house will probably never be "picture perfect."

So please forgive the messes and piles and toys and junk. We are moving but, for now, we do live here. 

5229 Ripley Street

The computer/craft room

Mine and Tony's room

The kitchen

Living room (picture taken from the stairs)

Downstairs (door to the laundry room to the left)

The kids' room (yes that is Fox taking a nap in his bed...I couldn't wait, okay.)

 Our "fenced area"

The back door

It's been a good little house.

Things to remember

-We arrived to the surprise that only the kitchen and bathroom had light fixtures, we had to buy lamps for every other room in the house. 

-I loved waking up earlier than everybody else and sitting on the front steps to watch the squirrels and birds.

-There is no yard. The front is on a busy street and nothing in the back (except the "grass area" that is across the parking lot and between other houses) so Fox got to play a lot in the "fenced area." 

-So many windows and light in this house! I love it!

-We bought many window clings and put them on our sliding glass door so that the kids could tell which house was ours. They all look the same from the back. :)

-Laundry is a killer. Up and down two flights of stairs for each load.

-I love that the bedrooms are upstairs. It was so easy to keep the main level clean for when guest came over and then slowly work on the bedrooms through out the week.   

-One bathroom has carpet...bad plan.

-We have exactly three squares of counter space. We learned to be creative while making dinner! Like putting a cutting board on the sink.

-The dumpsters are a gold mine for furniture. We have collected a couch, wooden rocking horse, and beautiful bed frame from the dumpsters...

-At one time we had 5 members living on the same block as us. Their are only two of us left. Soon to be one :(

-We love the ward and people here. More than anything else that is what has made us so happy to live here.