It's that time again

With this being Diadora's first Halloween, we had to keep with tradition and stick her in a pumpkin! Daniel thinks I am crazy and mean. I think it's cute, when they cooperate. Since we are heading out of town this weekend and won't be back until right before Halloween we had to hurry and do it this week. Yesterday was a decent day (except for crazy wind!) so we ventured out to the nearby pumpkin patch.

Of course we got there a little later than we wanted to (our car battery decided to die so it had to be replaced!), the lighting was bad and the place was closing for the night. Dia was not a fan of the wind and I did actually feel bad for making her do this.

When we got there we only had about 10 minutes to take pictures and let the kids pick out their pumpkins. This was by far the lamest pumpkin patch trip we've ever done. No looking around, no corn maze or sling shot. We got in and got out. Oh well, next year.

 

So right when we got there I told Daniel just to put the pumpkin down close to where we parked so I could get started. The sun was shining right on her and she was not happy.

I got a couple decent ones...

then she started screaming. Sigh. I thought it was a failed mission!

We decided to let the kids get their pumpkins while I tried to calm Dia down.

Maybe she was mad because her hat was always in her face?

While Daniel was paying I tried to get a couple more shots of her. She lasted for about 30 seconds sitting on the ground. This was not going well for me!

After we got the kids back in the car, I convinced Daniel to get our huge pumpkin back out and try one more time. I don't know if we got her in there in a better position or the sun moved and wasn't bothering her anymore but I finally got some pictures! She must have liked how it tasted because she started sucking on it and we couldn't get her to stop and lift her head up! We even got her to smile for a brief second!

 

Since we were short on time I didn't get the chance to move around to different locations. When we did this with Addie it seemed like she cooperated better and we were able to get a lot more. But considering the circumstances, I'll take what I got!

 

Here are a few more:

And all 3:

My babes

I meant to include this on my last post but I forgot. So here it is. A little side by side comparison of our three kids at about 3 months old. I think Diadora looks a lot like Johnny. And I must say, I am so glad we invested in a nice camera. The pictures of the other kids with our old one are horrible!

 



3 Months

I have to say, we absolutely LOVE this little girl! She has had kind of a rough time these past few weeks, but she is still such a good baby! I think working out messes with my milk supply and that makes her really unhappy, but she is super smiley, talkative and calm. She falls asleep very easily if I just hold her and does really well with all of the noise that goes on over here! I hear Addie and Johnny tell her all the time that they love her too. How could you not love that little face?



 

Moving Day

Moving day finally arrived last Tuesday! Our plans to move in over the weekend fell apart when we realized the house was no where near ready. Plus, I was behind on packing. Daniel's brother and a few guys from the ward came to help us. Daniel started moving stuff over by himself around 1pm and didn't finish for the day until around 10. It was a long day! But they got 90% of our stuff moved and we are slowly trying to settle in to the new house.

 

One of the guys that helped has a trailer he uses for his 4 wheelers. They loaded that thing as full as they could!

We borrowed a truck from my uncle and one of the other guys had his truck, plus our van. We had all the vehicles packed! We always think we don't have too much stuff until you start pulling it all out. Holy cow. I even cleaned and threw away/donated a lot!

On moving day and a few days after there was a lot of movie watching going on.

 

And coloring. :)

Most of the stuff went out in the rec room so my living room was tolerable. I am still trying to decided where I want the furniture to go. I've moved everything around 3 or 4 times and can't get it where I like!

It was so late by the time we got the kids to bed Tuesday night that we just put them on their mattresses on the floor instead of finding and assembling their beds. They stayed there for a few nights and we finally got the beds put together last night! Addie and Dia will be sharing this room (that will eventually be Dia's) and Johnny and the toys will be in the other room (that will eventually be my craft room). Last night Johnny didn't want to sleep by himself so we kept his mattress on the floor in between his sister's beds.

I have to include Izzy. She made the move with us. I feel bad for her because she was super stressed out all day with strangers coming in and out of the house making lots of noise. It doesn't help that 2 months ago her sister ran away and never came back. Now she is in this new house all alone. We are trying to show her lots of extra love!

Here is where most of the stuff that we don't use every day went. All of my crafty stuff is in that bedroom. We are NOT looking forward to going in here to organize!

 

Everyday we empty more and more boxes. The kitchen, master and Dia's room are starting to look organized. We still have lots of work to do! I am really looking forward to finishing the work downstairs so we can start on the upstairs!

3 Years

Three years ago September, we moved across the street from where we were currently renting. A charming 4 bedroom, 2 bath house built in 1923. It was listed for sale so we were on a month to month contract. We didn't know if we were going to stay 3 months or a year. I was about 7 months pregnant with Johnny D so I was hoping we wouldn't have to move out before he was born! We didn't think we would end up staying there for 3 years!

 

We worked out an awesome deal with the landlord. The house needed lots of updating, painting, minor repairs. For every hour we Daniel spent working on the house, we would take $20 off the rent. The maximum rent we would pay was $1100 the minimum was $600. I don't think we paid more than $900 in the 3 years we were there. It was an awesome blessing for us financially. We were able to pay off a HUGE chunk of our debt and in that time we were able to afford a couple trips to Las Vegas, 1 to Disneyland and a trip to Utah.

 

Although the house has some major flaws that I will not miss (like the insta- hot water heater that sometimes decided to quit working in the middle of a shower!) I really grew to love it. If it had a backyard we probably would have just bought it ourselves! We put in a lot of time making it look nice (or at least nicer than it was!). Two of my babies were born there. It will forever hold a special place in my heart along with all of the memories associated with it. 

 

We are excited to be moving on to our very own place where we can fix and change whatever we want!