Settled...Kind of....

It's been two weeks since we have moved in our home and we are at least to a point that I don't feel like boxes are a part of our everyday living anyways. Okay well we still have more boxes that will take a while to sort and get storage/shelving for but it's not gonna happen overnight. I'm wondering why a $10,000 furniture allowance is not included in buying a new home???

So the first few days we got in our home the Qwest man comes to turn on our phone line and none of the lines worked!!! And we have like a million phone jacks in the house but they could not figure out where the line had been cut!!! Fortunately my brother-in-law installs phone lines for a living. It took him a few nights to figure things out but he installed a new line from the garage to the crawl space to the toy room up to the family room. Phew!! It was so much work for him and it saved us about $400 in service work so we were very grateful!!! And no, I do not own a cell phone so I went 5 days no phone no internet. I mean the line worked outside and technically I could have plugged the phone to the side of the home if I needed to. Imagine how lame I would have looked!! Plus I really don't know many neighbors yet so they would have thought what a nut. We have a contract with Qwest that expires in February and I told KC that after that I really want a cell phone. Hopefully we can make that happen soon.

So that's my survival story of the year. What a trooper I am.

There is still much to be done. I want to basically re-paint everything as it's just not us and doesn't feel like home yet. I need to realize turning your house into a home does not happen overnight and I just need to take it one room at a time.

Our bedroom is so nice and roomy!!! We keep our babies in our room for a long time, usually six months with the exception of Kate. We kept her in over a year. She was spoiled. Let's hope this one is not that long!!! It's nice to think I wont be tripping over all the baby stuff in here. I like the accent wall in this room but not the border. I am not a fan of wall paper. Not sure what I will paint it but I hope some inspiration kicks in. I also want to buy an Armoire on KSL and re-fininsh it to put in here so I can store blankets and stuff.

I think the first room to be re-done will be Kate's and her sister's room. For pretty obvious reasons. I really loved the 2 tone brown paint in her old room but she wants pink and purple of course!!! I think I will do pink as the crib set is also pink. She is so girly. Notice she found her princess decals and applied them with the help of Preston. Not too bad although they ripped them in the process.

The boys bedroom is quite a bright shade of blue. Plus when they moved the posters they ripped off took off some paint. Carter really wants his room red. I may just try an off white color I want to paint the rest of the house in their room to see if I like it and then do a red accent wall to make Carter happy.

I love my kitchen!!! I have storage! I have a pantry! No more going to Costco and shoving everything downstairs or basically on the floor. The majority of the home is this yellow paint. I will probably paint an accent wall in the kitchen but not sure what yet. I would also like to put in new flooring as the linoleum in here is light and shows everything. I don't know what kind of flooring I want. I was not too impressed with our laminate we had in our old home. We went through two floors and I just don't think laminate is that durable.

We didn't waste any time filling the fridge with lovely artwork courtesy of the boys!!!

This is where the Christmas tree is going to go next week! Yea! I don't have to literally shove it in a corner in the basement anymore!!!

We have a garage!! I love it!! No more scraping our cars in the cold weather!!! You should see how cramped it is when KC fits his car in. They aren't kidding when they call it a 2 car garage. KC dreams of buying a Dodge Charger and now I'm like...don't you really want a Smart Car???

And here's the kicker...my washer and dryer are right next to each other!!!! I know... you're thinking duh. But in our old home the washer was clear under the stairs and the dryer was in the entryway to go under the stairs. So in order to put the clothes in the washer I had to crawl over the dryer to get to the front load washer and squeeze under the stairs. Very annoying when you do wash as much as I do. Plus when I am pregnant it is nearly impossible to fit my big body to get to the washer.Does that make sense? Probably not. But now I just go from washer to dryer just like that!!! I know, again what a trooper!!

I love the size of the back yard. Not too big. Not too small. I can't wait to put in a garden this spring. At least it better happen!! I have been wanting a garden for years. And look what mother nature dumped in our yard last night!!! Let it snow!!!

We are trying to settle in the neighborhood. Not easy to do when you have lived in your previous residence for nine years. Carter had the hardest time. He just broke out in tears his last day of his old school. It broke my heart!!! The new school is 3 times bigger and was a bit overwhelming at first for Carter but I think he is doing okay now. Preston had no problems as he wasn't in Kindergarten long. Plus this school he goes half days vs. all day so I think it's been better for him. We have gone to the new ward a few times and are adjusting to that as well.

I really am feeling blessed to be in this house. I am so grateful to my parents. They are so sweet and let my entire family stay with them for 2 weeks before we could move in. Five people is not easy to accommodate and they were so nice about it. Then even say they miss having us around!! Plus my dad helped us move in and injured his back in the process so I feel so bad. My parents are so nice and I don't know what I would do without them. They have helped us out so much and always support us. I don't know what we would do without my family. The lord has really blessed us this year.