We're in!

We are finally in our house! It was only a few days before Christmas but at least we made it before Christmas. We don't have the internet at our house or I would have put some pictures with this post. I love my house so much! I am so excited to finally be in a place of our own that we will hopefully be in forever. Once we figure how to get the internet without a phone line I'll definatly get some pics posted.

Rylie's reading

I knew Rylie was doing really good in school but I had no idea she was learning to read until last night. She never has homework in kindergarten, but last night she had some. We sat down to do it and in her backpack she had this little book. Usually if I ask her to do something that has to do with learning or see if she can read something she always tells me no. So I asked her to read this book expecting her to tell me no or not be able to and she read it perfectly. It was only one of those I am Sam books but I was so surprised she was learning to read this soon. I thought here in Idaho they didn't start reading until 1st grade. She is just so shy that I always thought it would hinder her learning and she would always be a little behind until she came out of her shell. (She refuses to speak to her teacher.) Needless to say I am so proud of her. She is always surprising me and I should give her more credit than I do.

Quiz

I admit that I really liked the Twilight series but I am not one of those people who is obsessed with it. I found this quiz on my friends blog and decided to try it to see who I am. I pretty much figured I would be an Esme before I even took the quiz. I wanted Porter to take the quiz but he is anti anything that has to do with Twilight. I still might trick him into answering to see who he is.
Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

Sewing Stockings

I am not a seamstress or anything close to it. I've sewn pillowcases and blankets but they don't require a lot of skill to make. I've sewn one dress for Rylie when she was 1. I thought it turned out pretty good it was dark purple satin with cap sleeves and a cute little sash and bow. She wore it to church once and someone asked me if it was homemade. You don't usually ask someone if something is homemade unless it really looks homemade. Needless to say, it must have looked like crap or she wouldn't have asked if I had made it. So I gave up sewing because I don't have a talent for it or the time to practice for it to become a talent. However, I have been searching for cute stockings ever since Porter and I have been married and haven't found a single one that I have liked that was in my price range. My sister had some really cute stockings that she made herself so I decided to give sewing a second chance and try to make some for my family. She gave me the pattern and I went to the fabric store and found so many cute fabrics. I don't know why I didn't think of this years ago. It wasn't as hard as I thought but I am my own worst critic so I'm not sure that they turned out as cute as my sisters but at least I tried. I experimented on Porter's and my stockings first, and now that I know how to make a basic one I think I can have a lot more fun making the girls stockings. I still have to sew my name on my stocking, which I have found is one of the hardest parts of making the stocking. I doubt I'll have all the stockings done before Christmas but hopefully by next Christmas they will all be done.

More house pics

The girls decided that they wanted a pink bedroom but I didn't want the whole bedroom pink. Their whole bedroom was pink in our house on the island and it was such an eyesore. I have the hardest time picking the right pink color. It always ends up more fluorescent than I want. The pink this time was really bright but the painter glazed it with brown and I think it turned out pretty good. The girls room is based around the quilts I got them, so their room will have pinks and brown and blue in it.

This is just a portion of the master shower. It's still not finished but I really like the tile.

This is our carpet, it actually is darker than it looks in the picture. Our mantle isn't done and the baseboard still has to go up but this is basically what our living room will look like.

Here is a really dark picture of our cabinets all done. I guess I forgot to turn on the lights when I took this. The hardware has been put on since this picture and the counter tops still have to be put on. I love my cabinets especially after living in places that hardly had any cabinet space. These ones are really functional and I have so much space.

This is our hallway, the banister I think is getting done this weekend. You can kind of see the glazing on the walls in this picture. Most things are getting done this weekend. The plumbers will be here Monday and our appliances will be delivered next Saturday. I can only hope that we will be able to move in the week before Christmas.

Almost Finished!

Our house is almost finished. Hopefully if all goes well we will be in our house in a couple of weeks. I haven't got a good picture of the front of our house because there is always a truck or trailor or something parked in the driveway or right in front of the house. Today the carpet is going in. The tile still isn't done but all there is left to do is a little bit in our shower and the grout. The cabinet guys should be finishing up tomorrow along with the electrician. Then we should just have the countertops and the plumbing and a few odds and ends. Actually a lot of odds and ends but hopefully we will be in before Christmas. I'm pretty sure my in-laws can't wait to get their house back to themselves. I know I can't wait to have all my own stuff back again. The painter just finished glazing the walls today and I love it. I was so afraid that all the stuff I picked out wouldn't go together but I was rather surprised to see that so far it does. I'm definatly not one of those girls who is good at the home decorating stuff. I'm not crafty or good at color schemes or anything like that. I just picked out stuff that I liked and hoped that it went together. It's a good thing that this is our last house and I never have to do that stuff again.

California

One week ago my mom and dad, my girls and me went to visit my sister in Hanford, California. It was fun except for the all the driving we had to do. The girls did pretty good for the most part. We logged in over a couple thousand miles with only a few meltdowns. I usually get pretty carsick, but I didn't do too bad especially for being squished in between two car seats. My big body definatly wasn't made for that kind of traveling. The girls were pretty excited to see their cousins and they had a fun time while we were there.

While we were there we mostly just hung out and visited but we did go to the Sequoia National Park. That was fun to see but I did expect the trees to be a lot bigger. They still were plenty big but I just imagined different. The girls enjoyed it but were more impressed that they might see a bear than with the trees. Rylie was obsessed with finding a bear. When we stopped for a picnic that's all she talked about. The trees have a different bark on them that kind of looks like it has fur and Rylie told her cousin Lannah that it was bear hair. Then Rylie said "Lannah, I have some bad news, there is a bear in the bushes." She also went around saying "I think I smell a bear." The park was a lot of fun but Rylie and the other kids were definatly more entertaining. The kids outside of the Visitors Center.
Rylie and Brynlie in front of one of the big trees.

Happy Birthday!

Today is Porter's 33rd birthday. I know it probably won't be much of a birthday because he has to work and then work on the house tomorrow, so he won't be doing anything fun. I just wanted to tell him Happy Birthday and that I love him so much!

First Snow

Once the girls saw that it had snowed they were both so excited. I had to go get their boots, gloves, and coats out of storage. I thought we would be in our house by now so I didn't bother to keep any of their winter stuff out. So after an hour of digging through boxes I found their stuff and then they just had to get out and play in the snow. Rylie made this little snowman all by herself. She rolled out the balls and all I had to do was stack them. She also decorated it all by herself. I like the snow sometimes but I hope it melts and doesn't come back until we are in our house because I would hate to move everything in the snow. The girls love it though. Rylie cried when she saw that it had melted in town because she thought it had melted up the canyon too, unfortunately it didn't.

Happy Halloween

This year for Halloween was a busy one. Brynlie was so excited to be a bumble bee that she asked to wear it everyday. Then on Halloween when she finally got to wear it she was mad and didn't want to wear it. Which is why she looks so grumpy in the first picture. After we went and picked Rylie up from school and she saw that Rylie was wearing her Princess Fiona costume, then she started to cheer up.


We took the girls to Logan and took them to a couple of grocery stores that have the kids go around to all the departments to get candy. They got quite a bit of candy just from that. Then we went to a few other places to run errands and they got stuff at all of those stores too.
After Logan we went to my parents house to have pizza and to take the kids around the neighborhood for some old fashioned trick or treating. Their cousin Jared was there and they were pretty excited about that. My dad got a webcam and the kids got to talk and see Lannah and Maelee in California. It was kind of weird not having everyone here for Halloween. The kids had so much fun going around the neighborhood trick or treating. Rylie and Jared were so excited that they were running from house to house and poor Brynlie was trying her hardest to catch up to them. Rylie would go up to the house and ring the doorbell and then Brynlie would get up there and ring it over and over until they answered the door. She has an obsession with ringing doorbells. We had to remind her at every house after that to not ring the doorbell. After about a block and a half Brynlie said to me "This is fun, I love twick or tweating!" We kept going until Rylie's bag broke and she had a meltdown. That was when we decided it was time to stop. After we left my parents we stopped off to see Grandma June and then we went up to Cub River to go to our wards' Trunk or Treat. The kids got so much candy and other things I couldn't believe it. I've definatly have had to limit their candy intake. Porter and I haven't minded taking some of it off their hands. So, it was a very good Halloween and the girls were pretty good for the most part minus a few meltdowns.

Lost Teeth

Rylie has lost two teeth in the last week. She has three missing in all. The first one was knocked loose and the Dentist eventually had to pull it, but the other two fell out on their own. I thought she was too young to lose her teeth but then I got looking at my Kindergarten pictures and I was missing my two front teeth at that age. When she lost this last front tooth she cried because she thought she would never be able to eat again. I think she looks very cute with her missing teeth. She has this little lisp when she talks, but you can't laugh or tell her she talks cute or she gets really mad.

The House

Our house is now known to me as 'the' house. It is taking so long to get finished. The whole thing is getting so frustrating. It is so hard to find sub contractors who have a reasonable price and who will do the work when they say they will do it. I guess that is just me being too optimistic. It doesn't seem to bother Porter as much as it does me. He probably expects it but I think if someone says they are going to do something a certain day they should do it. Obviously not in the construction business. Porter and I are both so thankful that Porter's brother Jordan has been doing so much for us. Without him I really don't know where we would be. Anyway, now we need to get into our house by the first part of November because interest rates are going up. They are almost 7% now. We got locked in at a lower rate but that will expire the first part of November. We can buy an extension of time with that same interest rate but it's alot of money for only ten days at a time. There is still so much to do and not enough time. Right now we're in the middle of mudding the sheetrock. That should hopefully be done and the texture done by the end of next week. So, here are a couple of pictures of our house as of today. The rock guy and the siding guy should hopefully be starting within the next week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Steeler Girls

Rylie and Brynlie are always so proud to wear their Steeler shirts that their Daddy got them. Porter has no boys to pass on his hobbies to, but the girls are more than happy to do whatever he does. The other day Rylie was mad at me so she said "I'm going to go watch football with Daddy!" Like that is really going to hurt my feelings. I know the girls don't really have an interest in football, but as long as it makes Porter happy they're happy.

Computer Bug

Brynlie is such a computer bug. Her newest thing is youtube. She loves to watch Weird Al music videos,(compliments of my dear, sweet husband). These pictures are of her watching the "Like a surgeon" music video. She sings and does the movements right along with Weird Al. Except for typing the words she can navigate pretty good around the internet. It's so funny watching her move around the mouse and find games to play and pictures to color and videos to watch. She's only 2 1/2 and knows more than I did in the 5th grade!

Cousins

Saturday my family had a barbeque at my parents house. It was kind of a farwell party for my sister Cindy and her family. They will be moving to California the first of October. We are all sad that they are leaving. My girls and her girls have become quite good friends. We decided to have all the grandkids get together for pictures. It was next to impossible to get all of them to smile or look at the camera at the same time. These are some of the best shots that I got. Maybe my sisters had better luck on their cameras. These kids sure are a cute bunch, its too bad they aren't going to be able to grow up together. We are all going to miss you, Cindy! Good luck in California!

Time?!

I honestly don't know how people can blog everyday. I want to keep my blog updated but I get so many interruptions while I'm trying to type. I get pulling, yelling, whining, buttons pushed, someone needs a drink, someones hungry, someone needs to go potty. Since we moved my kids insist they need company when they use the restroom. They say they are too "scared" to go by themselves. Anyway, I tend to get distracted a lot! While typing this I've had four interruptions. Brynlie keeps bothering me about the kitties, I've had 2 phone calls, and the Relief Society presidency showed up. Blogging takes a lot of time. I guess I should do it late at night but by the end of the day I am really exhausted. My kids keep me busy, especially up here because there are limitless things to play with. Gotta go, Brynlie needs a drink.

Our House

We are building a new home up Cub River Canyon. We are very excited to finally have a new home. We are still currently building it, well actually Porter is not me. I try to help when I can but that is not very often. I usually just try to keep the girls out of his way. The girls are big daddy's girls so they have to be wherever Porter is. There is actually more done than the picture shows I just haven't taken any new pictures. The shingles are now on the house, the windows are in, all the concrete is done, and the house is wrapped and ready for siding. I'll post a new picture as soon as I take one.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My First Blog

This is my very first blog. I figured I would try it since everyone I know has a blog. I'm still trying to figure out this whole thing. I still don't have any pictures on this blog because I'm not using my own computer. I'm just using whatever one is available. We're building a house and until we get in it and I can get my own computer back there probably won't be any pictures for a while. Things are coming along pretty well on our house, so I hope we will be in it by November.

The Galloways

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