Where's David Bromstad when I need him?

Before I get to reason behind the title for my post, I have to share this cute story:
Blake's brother is now in our ward (well, soon to be ex-ward) and he has a little boy J. who is 3. J. and Brooke have a love/hate relationship. Either they are playing great together or both screaming at each other over a toy. J. is the nephew from the 4th of July who said "I hate that baby" regarding Brooke. Anway, I guess during nursery Brooke and J. both went for the same toy and J. got there first. Brooke started to cry and J. said "It's okay, you can ride on back." So Brooke hopped on and they both went for a ride! So cute!

Okay, now the reason for my title. During this whole process of redoing the inside of our house, Blake and I have gotten along amazingly well. I'm not sure if we could survive building a house from the ground up together, but so far this has been great. We have similar tastes when it comes to most things and with Blake's background of working construction he's been inside a lot of high end homes and knows what looks good and I (mostly) trust his opinion on things. The house has now been entirely painted from top to bottom-each and every single room. Including the soccer room which was freshly painted yesterday and is now a room fit for a princess (pictures to come). But aside from Brooke's room, which is pink, the rest of the house is a taupe color. It's good and neutral but I'll admit a little bland and boring. I don't think of myself as a taupe person. I feel I am bright and energetic, but am scared to death of painting my house a crazy shade of something I'll regret. That's why I need him:
I love "Color Splash" on HGTV and think he is a genius. I wish so badly he could come to my house and help me pick colors and carpet:

I think we're going with the biggest square you see. It's a cream, brown blend and looks really pretty, but again neutral. I keep telling myself it's going to be about the accessories. Bright, funky pops of color to help break up all the neutral. And who knows, maybe in a couple of years when I trust myself a little more I'll feel daring enough to paint my walls some outrageous color. But realistically, I think taupe might be as daring as I get.

Honey Do's

It's been another crazy week. Since we don't live in the city limits, it takes more than just one quick call to get our utilities turned on. I've had to call:

water & sewer co.

garbage co. (this was the most annoying. There are quite a few private garbage co.'s in this town. I had to make 3 different calls before I found the one who provided us with our black garbage cans)

electric co.

gas co.

each seperately in order to make sure we get continued service. I know it's not that big of a deal, but when you are still relatively new to this town and the phone book you are using is absolutely no help at all and people act like I should just know this stuff--I started to get a wee ticked off.

Besides utilities, here are the other things on our honey do list this week:

*Pull out carpet--Check!

Who knew it was so dirty under your carpet?!

*Pry up staples left behind from carpet that are embedded into the floors--Check! That task was terrible. I hope none of you ever have to sit hunched over with a pair of plyers yanking 100s of industrial strength staples from the floor & scraping up bits of carpet glue. But it's done!

*Get rest of the house panted--should be done by tonight! Blake has a contractor friend who is going to lend us his professional paint equipment (i.e. a sprayer) & that is what Blake is doing as we speak. Cross your fingers we can get it all done in one day!

*Order Carpet--the goal is to have it ordered by next week. We've already been waiting a week for the person to come measure our house so we know how much to order. If he doesn't come soon I might lose it. I am a very punctual person, so if someone says they will be there on a certain day that's what I expect.

*Install new doors on the all the closets and bed/bath rooms. We've got them ordered, just waiting for them to arrive.

*Move in!!

I would consider what we are doing to be a pretty minor renovation. We're not moving walls or changing the kitchen cabinets. But it is still a lot more time/work/energy that I thought it would be. I can definitely appreciate those of you who have survived a bigger reno that this!

And on a Brooke note, my friend Marilyn made her this super cute crayon roll and Brooke loves it!

Brooke is really starting to enjoy coloring and doing little crafts. This crayon roll is perfect for the diaper bag and coloring at church or while we are working on the house. And speaking of crafts, here are a few other things Brooke has brought home with her from the sitter's house:

I love Brooke's little scribbles on the paper cup and bunny. I am trying to resist the urge to be a pack rat and hold onto every little thing, so taking pictures of it will have to do.

And finally, it's been a while since I've shared a Brooke video. I was attempting to get her to show off some of her new words and animal sounds.She is usually pretty good with sounds, but of course the camera was on so it was a no go. Also the guy next door was mowing his lawn and Brooke was convinced it was Blake over there and kept saying "da-da?" Oh life with an almost 2 year old is never boring, that's for sure!

Where's My Easy Button?

Oh yeah, that's right. It doesn't exist.
And for the record, I think my mind has been around the middle school mentallity (or the inmate mentally from Blake...which is pretty much the same thing) and I almost changed this post title...hopefully your mind didn't immediately go to the gutter when you saw the title :)

Anywho...we've been homeowner's for approximately 72 hours and already it's crazy. Brooke was sick throwing up Thursday, we closed on the house Friday afternoon, we stayed up late Friday night taking down wall paper in one of the bedrooms (thankfully the only place with wallpaper...what a chore!) and then mid-painting Saturday Blake and I both stopped in mid-paint roll and got sick (thanks Brooke!) and spent the rest of the weekend trying to rest while Brooke ran around the house, wondering why we weren't in the mood to play. It was only a 24-hr bug so by Sunday night we were ready for another week. Here's some pictures of our work in progress
When we went to the house on Friday and opened the door it was awesome to see it empty. Finally it felt like it belonged to us. The previous owners left us this cute note and sparkling cider to celebrate.
I forgot to take a "before" picture but here is the fruit of our labors: the wallpaper is gone!

Saturday, before the sickness kicked in, we tackled the dining room. Goodbye red wall!!Next project on the list: the soccer room is going to undergo a pink transformation:
Brooke has been a really good sport about all of this. She's been watching movies in the living room:
And following Blake all over the house. She thinks the sound of his drill is funny & when she hears it she takes that as her calling card to run and find him.
She's been so good, in fact, that when the people down the street were having a yard sale, I couldn't resist buying this toy for Brooke. She loves it & it was fun for Blake and I to see her playing the backyard of our new home.
And speaking of Brooke. She is now the big 2-1 (months that is) old. It seems like she has turned into a little girl, full of personality, over night. She now sits at the table like a big girl

Here, she's getting a lick of jam off an empty plate
She can even get her own stool out and brush her teeth. Which is actually more of a curse than a blessing. Now she can use her stool to get into all sorts of mischief.

One night I tied her blankie around her shoulders like a cape and everytime it came undone Brooke would get upset until I retied it.
Well, it's 8:30, Brooke is in bed and after I do the dishes there is a bowl of icecream and an episode of the OC calling my name (Did you know that Jasper and Rosalie from Twilight both had roles on this show? Just thought you should know)

Always an Adventure

Sunday after church, Blake and I decided to go on a drive up on the mountain. We heard the salmon run was going on and wanted to see it. We left our house around 1 and didn't come home until 6. We spent a little more time that anticipated, but a little adventure never hurt anyone. We had a great time being together as a family (something that is a little more precious to us this time of year as our schedules are crazy) and enjoying the beautiful scenery.

Our first stop was the river, where apparently no one told the salmon it was time for them to head upstream. Oh well. Of course Brooke wanted to stop and play in the water so we did.

She loved finding rocks to throw in. Then got a little more brave and came up to us saying "shoes? shoes?" Meaning she wanted us to take her shoes off. Now, I know my daughter and I knew she wasn't going to like the feeling of pebbles and the wet sand of the river. But I also knew she would bug us to death saying "shoes?" over and over so I gave in and took them off so she could wade in the water. This was Brooke's reaction to having her shoes off. Was I right or was I right?

By that time we were ready to call it quits. But on our way home we saw a sign for Spirit Lake. Blake and I had both heard good things about this place, but had never been. The sign didn't say how far it was and we decided to chance it and go have a look for ourselves. Several times on our very long drive out to the lake we asked "Should we turn around? Is there even a lake out here?" But when we arrived it well worth the drive. It was gorgeous; this lake tucked away in this forest. There are even cabins you can rent. I think we will definitely be coming back here next summer for a stay.

30 Days Hath September

I love September. It's like my 4th favorite month (my first being October, then Dec. then Feb... I know, could I get any weirder?) I just love how it feels natural to be back in school in September & the weather is starting to cool off a little, Halloween candy is starting to appear on the shelves. Not to mention that in a little over a week we'll be closing on our house. September is just a good month. I also found out today that our school is going to do a Biggest Loser competition. I'm excited for that. I'm hoping it will be just the right amount of motivation to keep me from eating ice-cream and watching seasons 2-4 of "The OC" after Brooke goes to bed.

I don't have any pictures, but here's what we've been up to lately:

Blake: He got the official "All Clear" from the doctor that he's completely recovered from his shoulder surgery. So how does he celebrate? By volunteering to act as the "disgruntled inmate" who has to be ripped from his cell by 5 officers while putting up a good fight. It was all for the sake of a training session, and I know Blake loved every minute of it.

Courtney: My sweet little angel students are starting to show their true colors. The girls seem especially bad this year. Lots of eye-rolling and "Like seriously, we have to like READ in this class?" Oh brother! I hope this isn't an all year battle.

Brooke: She has figured out how to get food out of the cupboards and runs around with a package of Oreos and saying "eat? eat?" I then take the cookies away and try to coax some string cheese or yogurt into her while she screams in protest. She can also say "oh shoot" which sometimes comes out sounding like something else entirely & it's all Blake and I can do not to laugh. And along with her blanky, has added a book about Curly the Pig to the list of things she MUST take to bed with her. Sometimes it doesn't end up in bed with her, but as soon as she sees in in the morning she has a death-grip on it. She's also added "I see you" "Come on" "What's that" and her sitter's name to the list of words she can say. I love her little voice. I also tried to get a picture of Brooke holding the craft she made today (well, technically I'm sure the sitter is the one who actually made it, but who's asking?), but like most toddlers, Brooke was on the go and would not hold still. I think that accounts for my lack of pictures with this post in general. Maybe next time.

When she's good, she's great

...But when she's not, you better run for cover!! I think the terrible 2's have come early to our house and it's time to take some lessons from Super Nanny and implement a "naughty chair" or someting. I think I have been in denial up to this point and kept using the excuse "well, she's still a baby and she doesn't know any better." But we've gotten to the point where I know she knows better than to grab my glasses off my face or to throw a fit when I take away something that is dangerous (like a knife out of the dishwasher) and then try to bite or hit me. Saying "no" or "stop" doesn't even begin to phase her. But she tells us no all the time. Brooke has decided that she is a big girl now and doesn't need to hold my hand as we walk down the stairs. She doesn't want me to hold the book and read to her. She has to hold the book and read it in her baby language. She also doesn't need me to break her food into little pieces for her anymore; she wants to do it. She also wants to hold a fistfull of food at all times. I am constantly telling her "eat that or we'll throw it away" and she'll hurriedly put in her mouth, only to find that an hour later I am wondering why she isn't using her left hand and realize she is still holding onto that food!

But like I said, she when she's good, it's great. Brooke loves to help me unload the dishwasher, sweep, dust, and throw things in the trash (besides her food of course). I made scrambled eggs the other day and as I was whisking, Brooke got a bowl out and the feather duster and was doing her own "whisking" right next to me. She has also had a vocabulary and toothing explosion. Almost all of her teeth are in or in the process of coming in right now (I will be so happy when we are done with teething!) and she has added tons of words and can repeat back to us most simple words and phrases (not that she uses them all the time). But it's been fun to listen to her gibberish turn into words we can actually understand. Most of it is still gibberish, but every once in a while there will be a word like "hot" or something mixed in.

Things with Brooke's new sitter are going really well. I couldn't have found a more loving, organized, happy person to take care of Brooke while I'm away. I love the social interaction Brooke is getting too. I picked Brooke up earlier this week and when I walked in Brooke and 4 other little girls were sitting around the kitchen table eating a snack. They were all jabbering away and giggling together. It makes me happy to know that Brooke has some little friends to play with.

Finally, I finished Mockingjay! I loved it and want to know what you all thought of it too.

Home 2.0

We only were in our first home for a year and a half before a new job took us to a new town and the opportunity to house-sit for Blake’s parents, but we learned A LOT in that short amount of time of first-time home ownership. Consequently, we were more reserved and cautious going into the home-search process the second time around. No longer were we eager to find just “a house” that was better than our 600 sq. ft. cinderblock married student housing apartment that had no AC, noisy neighbors, and a mini oven. Because it really wasn’t hard to find something better than that! Although we loved our first house and the friends we made as a result of it, and we wouldn’t trade the lessons learned, we realized we may have jumped into our first home a little quickly. We didn’t want to make that same mistake again. So we took our time. A long time. Our realtor laughs with us and says that we are her longest clients. We’ve been looking at houses for over a year and half. She has been patient, gives just the right amount of opinion and is above all: honest! She totally saved us a few times from making a big mistake by revealing information about a house that a realtor just in it for the money probably would have kept to themselves.

During this year and a half process of looking, we would think we’d found “the one” and then there’d always be “the catch”. Some things were just us being picky: like no master bathroom (which is a big deal to me) but others were serious problems like the sewer line not being properly attached to the house resulting in the basement flooding with sewage. And as much as we thought this house was “the one”, we had to say goodbye. It seemed time after time we were left disappointed and feeling discouraged. Would we ever find a house?

It just goes to show that the Lord is really involved in all aspects of our lives. We had our hearts set on a short-sale property that we thought was perfect for us. There were a couple things that weren’t quite right, but we figured we just needed to put in an offer anyway. Months went by with no word. But we weren’t worried. We had time and were certain this house was it. However, only a few weeks ago Blake and I both felt like we needed to looking at other houses again (we had stopped looking once we placed this offer). Our realtor took us to a new listing that seemed too good to be true! We fell in love with it, placed an offer and after a few negotiations we are under contract!! In the meantime, we found out our offer on the short-sale property didn’t go through. Good thing we didn’t put all our eggs in one basket, eh?

A few of you have asked for some details on the house. We only have these pics since the current owners still live there. I'll post interior pics once we get settled in

Look at those trees! They are along our fenceline and provide complete privacy from our neighbors and completely shade the backyard in the afternoon. I think we may trim them though. I am little worried that they are SO tall.

It is a tri-level home, meaning you walk in and there is a formal living room, kitchen, and dining room on the main floor. A few steps from the main level upstairs are 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. A few steps from the main level downstairs is a 4th bedroom, a family room, laundry room, and fireplace. We have a few projects we need to work on. First being painting. Right now the kitchen is red and there is a soccer mural painted on one of the bedrooms—not really my taste. Second, we are going to replace the carpet throughout. The carpet was last updated 10 years ago, so it’s worn and time to replace it. Other than that, it’s perfect! We love the neighborhood, the mature landscaping, and the fact that it is in a good part of town where people buy houses to settle down and raise their families. This house was definitely worth the wait! And we'll be moving in just in time for Blake's parents to return from their mission.