Perspective

Today the contractors should have finished putting the new carpet in our old house. Anne took some pictures for us and it all seems very backwards. Here are the before and after shots.

Before the refrigerator flooded the entire first floor.After the flood, lots of phone calls with insurance people, and several contractors later. I'm sure with the new carpet it looks lovely, but it's just different. It makes me sad to remember all the hard work that went into painting those rooms not to mention all the friends who helped do touch-up paint and clean carpets and cupboards just before we moved out. I have to keep reminding myself that it's not our house anymore and maybe the plain white walls will help sell it quickly.

It's been a hassle to deal with all of this, but then I see all these shots of the thousands in Haiti who have lost what little they had to start with. It really puts into perspective my trials - how minimal they are compared to so many. Because I have been given much I too must give . . .

Beagle Mama

Shortly after finding out we'd be moving, Matt and I decided we needed to ship off the beagles asap. With Matt commuting back and forth between Seattle and me trying to fix up the house we decided it would be too hard with two beagles. Especially because most of the fixing up that needed to be done was originally caused by the hounds and would likely get undone quickly if they stuck around.

Matt's sister Mindy generously agreed to take them for over 2 months while we got our house in shape and made the move to Washington. She already had Dozer's parents, Peanut and Charlie, so Mindy knew what she was getting herself into with beagles. But 4 beagles?? With every phone call Mindy assured us that things with the beagle pack were going fine, but I still think she's a saint. And Lance too for going along with the craziness and allowing the newly remodeled kitchen to become a hound hotel.

Kaya made sure that Daisy and Dozer felt right at home. I don't think Danny has given the beagles half as much love in his lifetime as Kaya gave them the two months they stayed with her. Perhaps he was traumatized by his first Halloween costume or something.
After our Christmas and New Year's festivities, the beagles made their way across the mountains to their new home here in Washington. Thank you G-Pops, Mindy, and Kaya for driving them out!
Daisy and Dozer have had fun exploring the larger, woodsy yard. Daisy has managed to dig under the fence 5 or 6 times to chase squirrels, so we've had to invest in an in-ground electric fence. Yes. Really. They've also had a great time getting reaquainted with Kaylee, who has recently started splashing in their dog water and trying to eat their food.

On the Move

Hooray for finally feeling settled. The last 4 months have been a whirlwind and its wonderful to finally feel some sense of normalcy in our lives again. Here are a few highlights of our family being on the move . . .
This was an AWESOME first house. The For Sale sign is still there . . . any buyers? It is actually off the market at the moment due to some unexpected fridge malfunction and flooding. 4 inches of standing water! Hopefully now when it is advertised with new carpet and paint throughout the first floor it will sell very quickly. It is absolutely shocking to see how much stuff you actually own when it is piled up in boxes. We thought we'd done a good job thinning down . . . but WOW! This picture was taken early in the packing process - by the time the packers were done the whole house was full of boxes.
Danny and Brenna were pretty excited about the moving truck on Moving Day 1. There were a few complications that delayed the actual truck loading and stretched out the process longer than we anticipated. In the end all our furniture arrived unscathed though and the company gave us $500 back for the headaches they caused.

Our new house is GREAT! The neighbors are friendly, the woods are beautiful, and the location couldn't be better. We are in walking distance to a community center and library, about 5 minutes to the temple, and nearly everything else within a 10 minute drive. Matt has the shortest commute he's had in 5 years and we are loving it. My only complaints - the nearest Wal-Mart is now a staggering 20 minute drive away (probably better for the wallet) and no Chic-Fil-A. I'll try to take some interior pictures of the house soon.

Since Kaylee got RSV right before the move, we decided to ship her in the truck. Luckily she arrived all smiles.
Actually, the kids and I ended up flying to Seattle while my dad drove our car up solo. THANKS DAD!

Although the unpacking has been quite a chore, Danny has found lots of ways to entertain himself with all the boxes and paper. Thanks to Mom Couch for coming to help with all the unpacking. We are LOVING Seattle!
The whole process of moving seemed to really inspire 6-month-old Kaylee who is really on the move herself.

More posts to come soon!

To Infinity and Beyond

This year Danny was thrilled to be Buzz Light Year for Halloween. His cousin Jaxon let him use his old costume and it fit perfectly! We had a festive dinner with Billings and all the kids looked fantastic.Eli Bear, Fall Fairy Brenna, Buzz, Asian Princess Leah, and Alex the Samurai. Danny's friend Elena was also visiting from Austin. She made a pretty cute giraffe, even if she didn't score too much candy. More importantly than candy, her parents did recover a missing engagement ring during their visit. HOORAY!
We met up with some other friends while we were trick or treating. Hunter, one of Danny's best buddies, was also Buzz. The two had so much fun chasing each other and blasting each other. One little person missed out on almost all the Halloween festivities because she was too tired. Though I knew Kaylee was too little to care, I got an idea in my head for her costume months ago. My friend Terri helped me put it together when moving had me too busy. And then, Kaylee wore it all of 20 minutes - 15 at the ward trunk or treat before she got too tired and then 5 more for these pictures. But, thanks anyway Terri. I think Kaylee makes the cutest Toy Story alien ever!


And on a totally unrelated note . . . I hate this phase Danny is in where he either refuses to smile or he says "Cheese" and gets this wacky grimace grin. Why can't he just show off his normal cute smile!?

3 years and 3 months

I decided to take a break from packing, painting, and decluttering to catch up on a little blogging. A couple weeks ago we celebrated Danny's 3rd birthday with a rocket birthday party at the park. The kids had fun building and painting their own rockets (with some help from moms).
Danny's lunch request was his dad's chicken wings. YUM!
We hunted for moon rocks (candy wrapped in foil), had a real rocket launch (and lost the rocket), broke open a rocket pinata, and ate rocket cake.



We had a family party on his actual birthday with presents and a treasure hunt provided by Leah. We love our busy 3 year old. It is so fun to watch him learning his letters, starting to draw pictures, helping around the house, negotiating punishments, and making jokes.

Kaylee hit her 3 month mark a few weeks ago too. She's starting to play with toys and really notice everything around her. She likes being upright in her exersaucer, the bumbo, or the bjorn. And her smile just keeps getting bigger and bigger!

Here she is with Aunt Lisa.
At the zoo with dad.
At the pumpkin patch with Danny and our friend Hailey. In her Bumbo chair with a toy.
And looking pretty on Sunday.
Sure love these two! They are growing up TOO FAST! But it's so much fun. Time to get back to packing.

Moving to Seattle

I'm supposed to be in bed right now, but I've been taking a stroll down memory lane, reading through four years of blog posts and watching my family grow and change. It's been an incredible journey.

And, a new stage in our journey is about to begin. I'm writing this post from a hotel room in Seattle, where my company is transferring us. Carrie and I are excited to move back to the West but we are also going to miss all of our friends in Houston.

So many firsts happened for us in Houston. My first "real" job. The first time I met Carrie and found out what it was like to really be in love. The births of both our first little boy and our first little girl. Our first home and our first dog. Evacuating for our first hurricane and hunkering down for our second. We will always have some amazing memories of our time in Texas.

We look forward to making some great new memories in Seattle! We are both intimidated by everything we are trying to get done in the next month to get ready to move - it will be quite an adventure. We hope our friends will come and visit us when we get settled.

The cost of good memories

Danny got some real spoiling during fair week. On the second day he ran up to G-Pops and said, "Hi G-Pops! Can we go buy stuff now?" Grandpa had already treated him to ice cream, a wagon ride full of cousins, carnival rides, and a new toy sword. Danny caught on a little too quickly.

It never ceases to amaze me how expensive EVERYTHING is at any sort of carnival or fair though. Once you enter the gates everything seems to cost at least twice as much as it should. For example, when else would you pay $3 for a slice of homemade bread with butter and jam? Most of the carnival rides cost between 3 and 5 tickets. Each ticket costs $1. So, for a 1 minute ferris wheel ride you're shelling out $4. Ridiculous, right? Sometimes an outrageous expense is worth it for the memory and experience though. Here is our memory.

Grandma Hong decided to take her grandkids on a few rides at the fair one morning. We chose the ferris wheel. The man said Danny was too short though, and he ended up in tears (Danny, not the man) while his cousins rode. Grandma let Danny choose the next ride. He'd had his eye on the pirate ship fun house all week. Interestingly, this ride had the same height restrictions, but Danny must have grown an inch between rides because they let him enter. Grandma handed over the highly overpriced tickets, led the crew in, and then the crew quickly led themselves right back out. "Too scary!" they shrieked. The tickets had already been purchased and handed over, so there was no other option but to force the kids through the scary pirate ship so they could have a good time. Mindy held Kaya by the hand and Grandma took Danny and the foursome made it through the "fun" house while Olivia and Lacy waited outside.

After that we decided to take a break from fair rides and explore some other venues. The kids had SO much fun. There were no tears of sadness or fear. Just smiles and fun.

Tractor rides. Free.Playing in the beans. Free.
Digging in the beans. Free. Playing in the hay. Free.
Walking around with family at the fair. Priceless.

Maybe next year we'll just head straight for the beans. Thanks again for a fantastic 09 fair G-Pops and Granny! What is the most outrageous thing you've spent money on to create an amazing memory?