Kate's 18 Month Photos

As tradition holds, I take the kids to get their photos taken for age 6 months, 1 year, 18 months, and then ever year mark, thereafter.

Kathryn is already 1 1/2 years old!

She loves her puppy.

 

In the world of baby and children photography, oversize flower bonnets are in fashion.  So Kate got to be AHM Photography's model.  Look at those blue eyes!

A few with her lobster Halloween costume, just for fun!

Goodbye, Dear House

5 years ago this November we bought our 1st home. We have made many amazing friends, added one more miracle baby to complete our family, and have made wonderful memories that made me tear up as I closed the door to our cottage for the last time. We couldn't have asked for better neighbors and church wards during this time in our lives. Even though we're only moving 10 minutes away, It feels like we are leaving family. But...on to new adventures! Off to a bedroom for every child, a park across the street, grandparents close by, a backyard twice as big, new memories and traditions to start. And old ones to look back on fondly.

Outtakes.

And so we never forget our beautiful little cottage, here are the realtor pictures (which means this is the cleanest our house has ever looked). ;-)

 

 

Our kitchen may be tiny, but we have many fond memories cooking and eating and squeezing people in for dinners here.

The previous owners turned the entire basement into a master suite.  Our house had no family room, but at least us parents had a pretty nice setup! 

 

I spent a lot of time down here, with this view when I was bedridden, so sick, and hooked up to IVs during Kathryn's pregnancy.  Although the months of sickness were bitter, the sweet that is our Baby Kate will make me miss this room.

This was hard to give up.

 

Call me crazy, but I thought these colors were so psychedelically fun that I never changed them!

First Baby Lydia's Nursery, then Baby Kathryn's.  This is quite possibly my favorite room in the house because of the wainscoting we had installed when we first moved in, the painting, and the decorating.

This was the old master bedroom (before the basement was remodeled) so it is a huge, fun bed/playroom for Tyler and then Lydia too.  Tyson built first Tyler's bed, then turned it into a bunkbed right before Lydia moved in when Kathryn was born.

Good bath time memories with all 3 of my babies here.

 

I spent so many hours rocking on this swing, watching the kids play below in the yard and in the sandbox.

 The berry garden.  Mmmm....!  Raspberries gifted by my Grandma West when we moved in (I spent many summers picking raspberries at her home in Ogden) and delicious blackberries too!

We have had many birthday parties in the backyard and BBQs and gathering with friends and family here.

I'm trying to remember now why we wanted to move...

Halloween Fun

It's difficult to volunteer for afternoon Kindergarten when we have a baby that naps during that time.  But I make it a goal to do at least one class party or field trip so I can get to know the friends and classmates that my older children talk about.  Choosing the Kindergarten Halloween party is a no-brainer.  They are SO cute!

Ready to go trick or treating on Halloween evening, we have a Lobster, Queen Elsa, and Jek 14 (Lego Star Wars).

Surprise (To Us Too!), We're Moving!

We love our home.  

It's our 1st home and we have been happy here for 5 years.  We love our ward at church and our neighbors on every single side.  But adding a 3rd baby to our family, with two older children who are fine sharing a room, but don't let each other fall asleep until way too late at night, plus my growing business that has taken over the garage, we need something larger than our cute cottage.

We are HGTV fans and Parade of Homes fans and have been looking at houses for sale, for fun, for a few years now.  When Tyson's mom posted a house for sale in her neighborhood, we went to look at it for fun, but not imagining it would be right for us.  But then we saw this and started imagining all the possibilities:

Click to watch on Youtube. 

If we finished the basement right away, there would be a bedroom for all of us.  Half of the garage could be used for my business (plus an office in the house) and we'd actually be able to park the van inside the garage too!  We would have a family room to play in and counter space in the kitchen and room for dinner parties.  The backyard was huge, the kids would be super close to grandparents, and a park is right across the street.

We couldn't believe we were jumping so quickly, but we made an offer and it was accepted. We put our home up for sale and it sold on Day 2.  We ran into a snag with this home when it appraised lower than the Sellers were hoping and they started to withdraw compromises (no repairs, no warranty, closing cost resistance, not even cleaning their carpet) to try to recoup the money they were hoping to get.  We totally understood the disappointment on their side, but it would not be wise on our side to buy a home for more than it's value or we'd be in big financial trouble in future if we decided to sell.  When they said they were taking all of the appliances out of the home too, we decided maybe this was not the home for us after all.  However we had sold our home so we needed to find something quick!  And we did.  A humongous house (and yard) in Kaysville.  I loved it!  But it was at the very top our top budget and not quite situated inside a neighborhood as much as we would have liked.  

We prayed a lot.  

The original home owners came back, willing to work things out.  We made a pros and cons list.  In the end, grandparent and park proximity won.  We heard it was a great neighborhood with lots of kids for our children to play with and a great ward.  So we made the leap, signed the papers, and bought us a new house!

Here are some more photos in case the video doesn't work.

Of course we will be doing some remolding to fit our family's taste, but that will be in a later post.