breakfast.

After the kids went to school yesterday Gracie, Mike and I sat on our deck and had breakfast.   I have to say it's amazing.  We LOVE it!  It also helps that it's the ONLY room in the house that is not a chaotic mess of boxes (and boxes that have been unpacked by 7 year old girls looking for the toys that they've been missing for a month...) and things thrown all over the place.  It's our refuge from our house when we can't take the boxes any longer.

We are loving living here.  I'm hoping to post pictures of our house (before we moved into it...because trust me, you don't want to see it right now...) so that you can see the finished product.

Thanks Matt!  We love our house!

home. LIFE.

By the seat of our pants.

**totally not sure why these pictures look pixelated...anyone know?  they look great on my computer but not when I upload them, I'm doing the exact same thing with them as usual...hmmm....**

We knew we were going to see Mount Rushmore. That was the plan. The Badlands…not in the plan. Staying at Mount Rushmore for most of the day…not in the plan. Getting out of Gillette around 11:30am…not in the plan.

So today pretty much 95% of our day did not go according to plan. We were mostly just spontaneous about the whole day. Once we realized the plan was pretty well shot we just kept doing whatever we wanted. We ate in Keystone at the DQ after being in awe over Mount Rushmore.

If you haven’t been to Mount Rushmore it will amaze you. When we saw it I was completely taken with the enormity of the project, how people carved those faces, and who it was that came up with and executed the idea. I couldn’t figure out how they knew where to start carving and creating in that mountainside. Curiosity got the better of us and we had to go to the artist’s studio that was almost 250 stairs away. We had heard that there was a presentation at 3:30 but knew that we wouldn’t be around by the time that happened; we just wanted to see the space. Well…we looked around and asked questions and looked at books about the artist and Mount Rushmore…until the presentation at 3:30. We still hadn’t eaten any lunch and we stayed.

Miriam got to be the helper when the park ranger talked about how they decided to start the carving. Ninety five percent of the work was done with dynamite. The other 5% was all carving and chiseling and jack hammering. The workers were suspended from the top over the face of the mountain. The amazing thing was that not one of the people that worked on the sculpture was killed. It was very inspiring to hear how the artist came up with the idea and the bravery and skill of the 400 people who worked on the project.

After getting on the road we were about to pass the Badlands…and at the last second we took the road out to the National Park. The Badlands are amazing…all of these places are! On one side the land is just rolling along and then out of nowhere and for seemingly no reason all of these hills and valleys and canyons are just there. There is grass just waving in the wind (that’s beautiful, too…the way the grass blows like it’s waves in the ocean…I love it.) and then there are these crazy Badlands. Mike and Emmett freaked all of us girls out by walking out on this precipice with a drop on three sides. I couldn’t watch. I had to walk away while Miriam yelled for them to come back. (I remember first realizing I was afraid of heights when I was pregnant with Emmett. Mike went out on this ledge at the Grand Canyon. I remember telling him, “Don’t you make me a widow with this baby on the way! Get away from that edge right now. You are totally freaking me out!”….is that a mom thing….to start worrying like that?)

The Badlands were freezing with that wind blowing. It’s the middle of July and Gracie was wrapped up in a blanket!

**The picture of Gracie laughing is because she couldn’t stop laughing after I totally biffed it on a stair and fell all over the place but kept my camera up in the air to make sure that it didn’t get hurt. I got hurt and I’ve got a couple of bruises on my bahookie (Emma’s word) to prove it. I couldn’t stop laughing either. I’m terrible about laughing when I fall or anyone else falls. It just keeps replaying in my head and it makes me laugh every time I think about it. Falling is so funny. Once I walked into a window at the college I was going to and shattered the whole thing (that’s a story for another time) …I still laugh every time I think about it.

Anyway. It was a great day of unplanned stuff.

spontaneous. LIFE.

it's really here.  we're really gone.

On Wednesday....this is what our house looked like.  The kids were helping clean off all of our furniture before it was loaded, eating strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast, Emmett was playing with friends for the last time, the movers were loading up the truck, friends were stopping by to see us and giving us sweet gifts for our road trip, and very kind neighbors came and helped us clean our house. Thank you. Thank you!
We said some difficult goodbyes and as we waved to our dear neighbors there were tears all around.  As much as we're looking forward to South Carolina and the adventure that it holds for us we are torn over the sadness we feel to leave our friends, happy memories, and a house that became a sweet home.   The place that we brought Gracie home from the hospital, where Miriam and Emma lost their first tooth, Emmett found out he was accepted into the PAL program, where I refinished the cupboards of our kitchen, the kids rode their bikes down our roads and to the Sinclair for treats with great freedom and safety, where our neighbors were watchful and protective,  the russian olive trees sweet smell blew through our windows it's wonderful fragrance, Gracie learned to ride her bike without training wheels, and so many more tender moments of love and graciousness, 4th of July parties, and dinners with friends....
We will forever love our little home in Hooper.  It holds so much love and cherished memories.  We will miss you little house and we will miss all of the dear friends who helped us to make beautiful memories there....

good. LIFE.

if you're wondering.

If you don't understand how she can see the connection between two completely unrelated things.  Or if you wonder how he can watch a football game for 4 hours and not get bored...you have to check out this clip.

Is he reading our mail, or what?  Boxes of nothing.  Balls of wire.  It's a miracle we get together.

funny. LIFE.

Announcement!

By Thursday I'll be announcing the winner of the where-am-I-moving-to-contest!!  I'll also be posting the house we've chosen and the exact location of where we'll be living!  Stay tuned!

exciting. LIFE.