Our house in Progress

Our house has coming along. We are still scheduled to move in around the end of November first of December. We are really excited and ready! I still have that unsettled feeling.  Kind of like we are on vacation and summer is still going but the kids are in school. I think it is because we kind of feel like we are living in a hotel, and not our home. We are doing fine and making the most of it, mainly by saving on rent each month and saving a down payment! The electrical is done, it is wrapped and ready for stucco, and the tar paper is on the roof waiting for tiles. Next week they are scheduled to insulate the inside!

The Chicken Mansion

So I don't need to say much about our chicken coop. I will post some pictures of the process of building it and you will see for yourselves that we have extremely spoiled chickens. Caleb and I enjoyed having a project to work on a little too much... and a little chicken coop and run turned into the a chicken villa. It all started when an animal came and killed two of our chickens at dusk one night. It made us realize that our temporary set up at my parents was not working. So we drew up plans for my "dream coop". After having a coop before I knew exactly what I wanted: tall enough to stand up in and clean, egg door, fully enclosed (so we would not have to close them in at night), and not an eyesore. So here is what we have come up with. Obviously we are not done. We are going to put a cute metal farm roof on it, trim and battens, then we are going to paint it. Anyway here are pics of the project in process. We built every wall separately and then bolted them together at the corners. That way we can unbolt them and move it a wall at a time to our new house. 

I have to admit it was a much bigger project than we thought, and a ton of work. 

We are pretty proud of ourselves and can't wait to do the finish work and make it look really cute!

Abigail's First day of Preschool

It was a sad sad day for me! My little Abigail went to preschool. I was super nervous and concerned because in the past she had some separation issues.  I was completely wrong...she was so excited! We went to the little orientation and was ready for me to just leave then. I had to explain that I don't leave this time but next time. Every morning she asks if she gets to go to school today, so is disappointed whenever it is not a school day. I think she has watched Joshua go to school, get homework, have activities, etc... and was just super excited to have something special for just her. She has a backpack that she wears every time, and insists that I pack her a lunch, even though she never eats lunch there.  

She is in the same class as her best friend and cousin Levi, and one of her best friends from church Ainsley. Abigail is hilarious, and a real firecracker. Levi is super mellow and easy going, goes with the flow. Ainsley is the funniest, feisty little girl I have ever seen! So I feel bad for poor gentle Levi with two strong willed, pushy girls as his best friends in his class. It is hilarious to peak threw the little window and watch all three of them dressed up and having a "tea party" with the play kitchen, or singing their little songs and dancing.  They all seem to have a wonderful time together, and I could not be happier that they got to be together.  Abigail loves every minute of it. 

 My little princess all dressed up with her purse and cell phone to run errands with mommy. I love this little girl!

Joshua's First day of School

 Joshua had his first day of first grade a few weeks ago.  I always get sad on the first day of school, it is just another reminder of how quickly they are growing up. Although, he was anything but sad! He was so happy and excited! He settled in very quickly, and LOVED having his best friend and cousin Ezra in his class. I was worried if it would work out... so far the teacher says they do great together. He also lucked out by getting his little buddy Brighten from Vermont in his class, it is amazing to reconnect in such a small town after all our adventures. Already Joshua has progressed a ton with his reading. He is obviously happy and works well with his teacher. She is super sweet and loving, and he is thriving under all her positive teaching habits.

Abigail was very sad and had a hard time that first week of school. She loves Joshua and despite my efforts gets very bored and upset when he is not around. 

 Joshua also started playing soccer! Despite being really confused about what he is supposed to be doing, he loves it! During a game he runs around smiling and flinging his arms and other body parts around. Then the ball will land at his feet and you can see him think "oh the ball, let me think what do I do with this...oh yeah kick it, oh man that kid stole it away." Pretty much that is what happens he gets the ball and losses it by the time he figures out what to do with it. But he is having fun and learning how to play on a team and with a team. Learning how to play soccer is a bonus.  

Joseph's Farewell and Utah trip

Caleb's youngest brother Joseph got called to serve in the Mexico Cancun mission! We were so happy to be able to make it to Utah for his farewell. We are so excited for him and proud of him. He gave an excellent farewell talk and will be a great missionary. 

We also got to spend a fun day with a lot of the family. This is some of Caleb's family that was able to make it to the farewell. 

We were able to spend a couple days visiting in Utah. We started the trip at 2am after Caleb got a shift at work. He is always hyped up after a shift so figured he ought to just get driving while he is awake. So he woke me up, loaded the kids in the car and got moving. It worked fine except for the kids waking up at 4:30 for some reason. I love this picture, Joshua passed out from pure exhaustion only two hours away from Grandma's house!   

We went on fun little hike above Alpine.  They had some really heavy rain and thunderstorms the night before which washed away a huge chunk of the trail. It was amazing to see how much dirt could be moved by water in one night. 

 The kids love their Grandma and Grandpa and Uncles! They have so much fun with them. 

Abigail loves Grandma's birdie Sasha. Unfortunately the birdie does not love her as much as she loves it.  I think the kids wore her out. 

We got to go to my Brother Billy's farm in Lehi one morning. The kids had a great time feeding the animal and Uncle Big Toe was kind enough to give Joshua "Harry's" Jaw bone to add to his collection.  He told him all about how Harry was his cow and he was really tasty.... Luckily Caleb's parents have a very nice taxidermist for a neighbor who professionally cleaned and bleached the jaw. Now we have a fur and skin free clean white jaw in Joshua's treasure chest. I swear that boy is going to burry us in "treasures" one day. 

 The trip was shorter than we would have liked but super fun. Seeing Joseph off and spending time with family was definitely worth the drive. We drove all night home so Joshua wouldn't miss his first day of school. The kids luckily slept straight threw al night. 

Summer Happenings

 We have had a really fun and busy summer. The things we did a lot were go to the coach, swim, ride bikes, and play with cousins. We miss Redlands, and especially have a real home, but having family around to entertain and distract us has been a huge help. Also having the beach so close has been wonderful. 

We moved our chickens with us from Redlands. With 13 chickens we get about ten eggs a day! That is more than we can eat. The kids decided to have an egg/lemonade/fruits from grandmas' yard sale. They sold a lot of stuff and made 30 bucks. They were so excited. They were kind of distracted sales people and missed a lot of cars, but did well despite that. 

We had a BBQ and marshmallow roast at Grandma and Grandpas with the cousins. The big boys told some "spooky" boy scout stories that Joshua took very seriously.  He says he cant wait to go to scouts like Elijah and Isaac and get special badges and learn to build fires and camp out with daddy. 

We are planning a fun family trip in celebration of finishing medical training and getting a real job! We are excited and had to get passports for the kids. Their pictures turned out so cute. 

Daddy made special flower bread with Grandma Bailey's awesome flower loaf pans. The kids always love helping daddy bake. Joshua was asking me questions on how to cook the other day and I said well I can start teaching you some things that you can do all on your own... like make pancakes or something. He said no I want daddy to teach me. I never take offense because I love that Caleb cooks and can whip up a great dinner on the fly whenever I ask him to.  

The kids did the special library reading program at the library. Every time they read a certain amount of books they got a coupon for something fun. One coupon was for a free book at a bookstore in Santa Barbara, and a free sunday at Ben and Jerrys. So we made a fun day of it and had a picnic at the court house, got some amazing free books, and ended the day with a Ben and Jerry's. Cant get better than that! 

We took a one day "staycation" to Morro Bay. It was really, really fun and would recommend it to any locals. We rented canoes and paddled all around the estuaries. Then we paddled out this giant sand spit made of giant sand dunes and a private beach covered in sand dollars. Then we paddled back to the dock and drove to Morro Rock, and then to Montana de Orro. Montana de Orro was amazing! It is an old cattle Ranch right on the coast that is now a preserve. It had amazing hikes and beaches. The kids loved it! It was a wonderful little get away for the day. 

Another beach day was to Jalama Beach. Caleb rode his bike out to the beach. We were supposed to meet him for a picnic lunch and beach day. The beach is gorgeous...but way out in the middle of no where off a little windy and hilly road. Caleb teamed up with a guy from Ireland who was visiting the valley and ended up helping him after he majorly crashed on his bike and broke his collar bone. It was an adventurous day at the beach. 

 These three got to have one more special cousin sleepover before summer officially ended. Abigail thinks she is the same age as them and wants to be with them constantly.  She says mommy I am big not little.