Swimming - Part 1

This summer is going to be full of swimming experiences. Here are some pictures of the kiddos attempting to cool down.

Welcome Summer (Hike)

The first day of summer break wasn't too hot (or so I thought), so I wanted to do an activity with the kids. We opted to go on a hike in Usery Park. It was really more of a walk around a small mountain. We didn't get an early start as I would have liked, so it was hot. The kids were troopers and walked through the desert with minimal complaints. We did get to see some small animals (and bugs) and the flowering cacti. It was a fun way to start the summer, followed by a dip in the pool.

Last Day of School

Another school year has ended. It was sad to see the end of it, mostly because the kids had good years and enjoyed their teachers. (Lindsey's teachers were good once we changed her out of her science teacher during the 4th quarter.) I was glad for it to end, because that meant the end of crazy school back and forth driving.

The kids' teachers got gift card bouquets.

Lindsey in the morning of the last day at Taylor Jr.

Spencer with his 5th grade teacher, Ms. Brown

Kaylen with her teacher, Mr. Shaffer, and her speech teacher, Mrs. Meador from Johnson Elementary

Logan with his 2nd grade teacher, Ms. Allen

Kaylen outside of her classroom

Our last day of school tradition is to go out for a treat. Since we have moved, we have found a Water n' Ice with a huge selection of Thrifty ice cream (an old-time favorite), shaved ice, soft-serve ice cream, and lots of candy. This year we went there.

Backyard Fun - Part 4

Here are some more pictures from another day in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. Today the project was setting up a new sandbox, which has become a favorite activity at Grandma's house.

HB Lindsey the Teenager

Lindsey is an official teenager. We celebrated Lindsey's 13th birthday. It fell on a Sunday, so we went out to dinner on Saturday. Also, on Saturday, she went to a friend's house so that allowed me to display her birthday present - I decorated her room. Her room is the only one in the house that is decorated. She wanted a zebra room, but I opted for one I knew she'd like - a Paris-inspired room. Before we moved in, she chose a bright pink, almost neon pink paint color for her walls. It turned out pretty bright, but fortunately we were able to put up wainscotting to minimize the brightness. It was fun decorating her room, as was seeing her reaction.

On Sunday, Lindsey chose the meals that she wanted. I misheard her, I guess, and fixed breakfast burritos. (She wanted breakfast sandwiches.) For dinner, she wanted corned beef. Her sweet dad gave her a plate of corned beef fat with a candle on top. It was a fun day to celebrate with her.

13 Things I Love About Lindsey

• she is creative and always coming up with things to make. Her latest creation are hair bows/flowers.
• she likes to bake and like to try new recipes. Her favorite recipe now is black bean salsa from Amy.
• she looks so cute when she gets ready for church with her hair done and her accessories.
• she is good to play with the cousins and keep them entertained, especially with giving them makeovers.
• she is helpful to Kaylen with cleaning her bedroom.
• she likes to read. She is reading Charly by Jack Weyland now.
• she makes me laugh, especially when we talk about "exercise."
• she tries new things. I like how she was adventurous and tried pilates at young women's conference.
• she can work on things independently, like Personal Progress.
• she now writes her own sacrament meeting talks and does well when speaking them.
• she is a good pianist. I like how she's learned Jon Schmidt's "Waterfall" song.
• she is cute with painting her toenails, adding stripes and plaids.
• she is a good swimmer and helps Kaylen and Colton in the pool.

Garden Update

The garden is growing! It's fun to go outside and walk around, looking at all that's growing. It's cool to see the kids get excited about a new blossom they see, or the startings of a new squash. The raspberries don't last long on the bushes.

Good-bye House

The Hampton "big house" all started with me being bored and intrigued one day. I had the thought, "what if we add a second level to our house?" So, I sat down with paper and started sketching. Our then-current house was a decent size, but there were aspects that just weren't functional for our family, mainly the family room/living room/kitchen areas. I ended up making house plans for a remodel, adding a second level, and re-arranging the ground level. I showed it to Eric, and we tweaked it a bit. We were quite interested in the prosepect of the new house, and thus it all began. A long story short, we "remodeled" our house. It ended up being quite more than our architect and engineer were aware of. We had to re-do the foundation, and we figured that while doing so, let's rip it all up, and add a basement. So our 2400 square foot house became a 6000 square foot house. It was our baby, all completed within 6 months from the time demo began. Eric made daily trips to the building site. I made daily choices about the interior. We tailored everything about the house to our wants, needs, and likes. It was our dream house.

We never imagined that less than three years from completion, that we would be moved out. It came as quite a hard decision to make to move. We had put our heart and soul into the house, but it was time to move on for our family. Thus, a new adventure began. This post is about the memories I have of the Hampton house and building it.

Kaylen's bedroom

I fell in love with the wainscotting and yellow paint.

The master bathroom - two sinks, a walk-in shower, and jacuzzi tub

The size was so much better than our previous 4' x 8' bathroom with one sink and no bathtub. We loved having the separate areas and not having to share sinks and cabinets.

Our movie room and game room

This was Eric's area. It was decorated Ohio State-style, with a red and gray walls. We had a football mural painted to go along with the other football decor. The game room became a popular place for big sports games. We had some parties where we watched the games on the big screen (that was on the gray wall). The air hockey and pool tables were enjoyed by many people.

My kitchen

Double oven, huge island, many cabinets. I love it! We got lots of compliments about the lights above the island - they were pretty cool. I loved the clear cabinet doors; it allowed for display of plates that I've collected when I've traveled. It was a pain getting all the cabinets right, though.

The backyard

This pine tree had been there since Eric was a kid. The kids enjoyed playing outside on the trampoline and artificial grass. It was good to get away from the psycho neighbor.

The library

This was a perfect room to kick back and relax in. My dad and I built the shelves, before we moved in, and before the power was turned on, 100 degree+ heat.

My workroom

I had designed the cabinet layout in here. There was a place for everything.

The front door

I had to have this door. Eric questioned spending the money on the door and sidelights, but allowed me to get them. They were beautiful.

The staircase

I picked out every aspect of the railing. We had difficulty getting the wood stained, it took about 3 months to actually get it how I wanted it.

The wood floor

I got samples of the wood floor, but still wasn't sure about color. So, when I drove to Utah, I visited the flooring store in Cedar City and picked out the color (taking the tile and carpet samples with me).



The house is still ours, but after having someone else live in it, I'm not sure I want to go back - it just won't be the same. I'm glad I'll have the memories of building it and the good times we had as a family there.

Backyard Fun - Part 4

Our new schedule (with all the back and forth between our old neighborhood and new house) allows us extra time to spend at my parents' house. The kids' favorite activity there is playing in the backyard. There are Little Tikes toys, a swing, and a new favorite - bricks. These are just some pictures I took while we were there. Kaylen and Caleb (her cousin) busily lined up bricks that morning.