Getting Settled In

Since moving to a place with more land and away from people, the kids are THRILLED to have so many encounters with critters from lizards, to geese in our pond (and an occasional crane), fish and FROGS! 

But can you even IMAGINE Royce's excitement when he found a bunch of MINI FROGS?!?!? This is a MAJOR jackpot for this boy.

I like frogs. Frogs and turtles. They are the animals that are pretty kid-resilient, they are fun to play with and then usually end up escaping back to nature. So it all works out. At night there are TONS of frogs here. Kellyn named this one "Lemon"

She clearly loves it.

Iley takes the frog love to a WHOLE new level. She takes her new friend in the BATH with her. This one had the sticky fingers and would climb up the wall (probably to get away from her) and the girls were even MORE entertained.

You know when you go to the store and there are "Buy 1 Get 1 free" sales? Well we got one of THOSE with this house and didn't even KNOW it. 

APPARENTLY when you buy this house and barn, you get the FREE cat with it!

CHECK OUT THE CAT'S FACE!!!!!! BWHAHAHA. It doesn't like us but Everly doesn't take no for an answer.

The cat DOES have a name now though. It's "Kristoff". Iley named it after the male character on Frozen even though the cat we think is a female. Whatever. As long as it keeps catching and eating mice in the barn I don't care WHAT the name is.

Speaking of barn.....this is Kristoff's home.

But Brooks paid/incentivized/you-get-the-idea Bronson and Camden to paint it RED!!!!!

I am SOOOOOO soooooooo excited. I think red barns are the dreamiest things!

 The only problem is that Brooks paid them per hour.....and these two knew EXACTLY how to draw out those hours. But who cares. It looks so good. Here's a before and after.

But really, we have ALL really enjoyed getting back to nature more around here. 😊

 It's not my CHOSEN outfit for him, but for ONCE it's so nice to know IT DOESN'T MATTER! There's not a SOUL around here to see or find out! ha!

(The kids had to wait about 2 weeks after moving in to get in the pool because of a MAJOR chemical/acid unbalance that I had to keep dumping stuff in to fix. Buying a home "as is" has it's adventures which I won't go into all of them. #blockingoutmost )

We had a wading pool still in the box that we found unpacking and Bronson, Camden, Emerson and Royce decided it would make a really good fishing boat. 

I looked out the back window and saw Bronson exercising with his ladder on the ground. He would do it and then let Wynn try. I could seriously watch this scene for hours.

Camden turned 15 on August 2nd. He thinks he's sooooooo big now and ready to pass up his dad in height.

The above picture looks like Camden just passed up Brooks but as you can see below it's still dead even. #poofyhairadvantages

We love Camden!

I'll tell you another thing we love......these new beanbags I bought so we can all have a place to sit for once in the TV room. Every time Kellyn lays down in it for even a few minutes it's LIGHTS OUT!

With more land I guess we "need" more tools. It's a valid point, but when you send your husband to go find a lawnmower and he comes back like THIS, it makes you laugh.

You see Brooks can't STOMACH spending money. It makes him sick! So when he walked in wearing a "TORO" hat saying he didn't feel to well, I knew he had himself a new Toro lawnmower. And how NICE that they threw in a "free" hat for the purchase. 😉

Well then a week later Brooks comes home from running errands holding his belly with THIS new hat on.

Yep, you guessed it, a bunch of "Stihl" stuff. 😂 The salesperson probably thought as he walked out, "What a SUCKER, he took all three!"

 The backpack blower is powerful enough to take Royce on a MAJOR ride. It was hilarious seeing him sway while trying to blow off the driveway.

Brooks took over the job (with his "free" hat of course) and I snapped this picture of Iley running to the pond with her lifejacket on.....and nothing else. Again, we clearly feel free here.

 There were so many projects done at the beginning with carpet, painting, plumbing, water heater issues etc. But I'm just glad when my husband put handles on all my kitchen cupboards. I don't ask for much. 

Another move

Packing up a house and moving is stressful, exhausting and basically the worst thing ever. 

And YET here Brooks and I go moving to our 13th house since we've been married.

There are only THREE pluses of moving:

1) getting rid of and throwing away TONS of stuff

2) Boxes are fun

 and 3) apparently moving trucks are fun too.

Brooks, Camden and Emerson drove the moving truck out to South Carolina to close on the house, unload and then come BACK for another load and all the rest of us. BUT when you have this many people you don't fit in the usual drive-yourself moving truck and it was cheaper this way (albeit ridiculous)

Getting OUT of our Arkansas home and trying to clean it spotless while 8 kids lived there was a nightmare that I shouldn't even document because then it is forever seared in my brain. Then again it's probably always lingering there anyway in my nightmares.

When we DID finally load up to get in the van I felt a HUGE relief. I had all the 6 quietest kids with me in the van. Just kidding, I had all the girls.

We stopped in Birmingham, AL to spend the night and then pressed onto our new place the next morning.

Look how pretty this rest area is in South Carolina!!!!! #wetravelinswimsuits

Brooks and I didn't tell the kids anything about our house we got. In fact if ANYTHING Brooks talked it REALLY down. Let's just say he basically had Iris thinking all the kids were going to be sharing two rooms and our home was one story and the size of a semi-truck.

When I pulled into our long driveway Iris was literally screaming. Screaming "IT'S A MANSION!" (It's not! But compared to what she was expecting I guess it would appear that way.)

Iris drew a picture of it right after we got there.

 We had a scheduling issue and the carpet people/painters weren't done yet, so the home looked like this when we walked in.

Yet everyone still unloaded everything so we could take the truck back.

We decided to go spend the night in a hotel the first night and enjoy one more restful sleep before the unpacking craziness begins.

And while the van's wheel came off while I was driving back from church (and needed to be towed and couldn't use it forever) and Aleeya falling through the ceiling in the attic,

I STILL will NOT complain! (Well, I did murmur at our lack of mailbox and no wifi possibilities for a few seconds.......)

THIS VIEW overlooking the front of our house brings me SO much peace!

 I don't think I will ever tire of it.

 AND the kids are thrilled to be here (except Aleeya who sometimes cries for Arkansas)

These two!!!!!!

 THERE!!!! The mat is in place. We've officially moved here.

July 4th 2019

 AS usual July 4th around is me saying "This was always my favorite holiday growing up!" And then me talking about buying fireworks. Inevitably Brooks' usual phrase of "You mind as well be burning money because that's what lighting fireworks basically is." hahaha.

Yet, I always seem to win and buy fireworks.

 (and LO! Brooks is smiling holding his burning money)

 This was the first year the babies were up for them. Iley loved the sparklers.

 Until they burned her feet. (WHY DIDN'T I CHECK FOR SHOES!?)

Wynn just looks so cute holding her sparkler.

And since I can't insist on what the older kids wear anymore, I dressed the younger ones and myself in red/white/blue for church. 😂

All-Stars

Royce made the All-star team for his baseball league....and yet STILL hasn't mastered that "All-star smile"

And where the HECK was the wear-gray-pants memo???!?!?! Welp, it made him easier to spot!

 I'll tell you who the All-star selfie taker is.....EMERSON! (with Wynn)

 Which is ALSO the reason I don't see him ever getting a phone!

 Kellyn just has the best smile. For this reason, her frog-catching picture deserves to be on this All-star post!

 Emerson's Schwinn bike was stolen out of our driveway!!!! It was HORRIBLE since he rides it everyday. He rode it to school, to the gym, the movie theater, to Sonic and to the church (the essentials, ha!) He was devastated and started praying it would be returned or he would find it.

One day while Brooks was riding to work he found Emerson's bike parked in front of a clinic there! It was for SURE his bike because of some markings on it. Brooks quickly called me and Emerson and I drove down and picked it up. He was SO excited.

(Definitely more excited than the thief would be when he walks out and sees "his" mode of transportation gone!)

Fuzzy Butt Falls

Okay...... when I found out there was a waterfall named "Fuzzy Butt Falls" I told Brooks we are NOT leaving Arkansas until we go there!!!! (it just goes to show the importance of a name!)

Note: It got it's name from the guy who first documented it and took a picture in front of it mooning the camera. True story!

Ever wondered what it looked like?! Well wonder no longer! BEHOLD "FUZZY BUTT FALLS"!!!

Bronson kept threatening to throw Iris in so she wasn't too happy.

The first one in the water was ROYCE!

The first one actually IN the waterfall first was Emerson

Then Bronson seem to find everyone to throw in.....Camden being the hardest to get.

Back down by the river had more areas to play and the kids loved it.

My "bookends" 💗

We had a rock skipping contest and Camden WON!

The kids found this "slide" that I find awfully bumpy and not worth trying.

And yet, they all wanted to try it.

Everly was NOT a fan and did NOT like the turbo-wedgie

It really was such a gorgeous and peaceful place!

High Adventure 2019

Brooks, Camden and Bronson joined other young men from our stake on a high adventure trip in NEW MEXICO! (Please don't bring up the length of the drive to Brooks.....#soretopic)

The boys were under STRICT instructions to send me pictures. The first and only one I got from the first day was from Camden and his new friend he had with him for a bit I guess.... I'm not sure what to believe.

I told him what any respectable mom would tell him....to not come home if it's still with him.

I got a few pics of hiking and backpacking and some of landscapes. It's funny how they would send me pics not believing how dry everything was. I forgot they didn't grow up in Utah like me who regularly visited Arizona. They were amazed though.

 This picture was taken at the top of their highest hike. Not everyone made it and even Brooks said it was super challenging. It was SO hard that apparently the boys couldn't even SMILE at the top !

Also I have no idea why Brooks has two rags hanging from his pants. Maybe to wipe his hands?

Their favorite part they said was the white water rafting. Brooks was on a raft in front of them and saw this real time. These are professional pics I found on a website. 

So this is the boys' raft. Bronson in front right and Camden second back on the left going into the rapids.

 Then the looks on their faces change when the raft starts get get knocked around a little and they start to get worried.

Even looking at their faces now makes me laugh.

 I think it's about NOW that they realize they are dead. Camden can't even be SEEN!

 BRONSON'S FACE!!!!!!!!

Brooks said he was just dying laughing in his raft ahead of them.

When the boys got home I heard so many stories that I'm SO glad I didn't hear DURING the time. Like about boys feeling like they were going to die and fall off a cliff and kids getting lost. But that's all part of the fun....right? RIGHT?!?!?!