That's our boy!

Such the proud mom! The kids' school had it's mini-Olympics today and Chad had previously qualified for the push-up competition. I went... and he WON (not because I went - but because he's awesome!)!!! Can you believe it! He did 50 push-ups... and might I add, correctly! All his gymnastics training finally paying off. He got a gold medal and everything! Not that he's not athletic or anything, he cartwheels everywhere that he goes... but still! Think there's an actual push-up event in the real Olympics? I'll keep him training for it!

Color me happy!

Random side note... Want to see a very happy girl? Install her shiny new red washer and dryer and she will jump for joy! Is it possible to be in love with some major appliances?

Here's the pics...

Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

The days are spinning away like crazy. We've officially slept in our house for a week and are loving it! It's so nice to have a place of our own again. Of course, it would be lovely to get rid of all the boxes, but one thing at a time. We got new living room furniture last week, and D's plasma TV was delivered on Saturday, so now it's just a matter of getting all the white walls painted! Yikes! The laundry room is pretty much done though! Good to have priorities!

We just finished making our gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. The kids (and D) had a great time, especially Haley, who kept trying to eat everything. Turned out great! Love buying those kits at Costco! Everything included, you just have the fun of the assembly!

Also, got all the Christmas cards in the mail today! So excited! I love sending and receiving Christmas cards! It's totally the highlight for me - know it's silly... but it's totally true! I love getting caught up on everyone and what's going on in their lives.

And wanted to mention the addition of Max II, our new cat. The day that we drove back up here from California with our cat, Max, he disappeared. He's been gone for about 5 weeks. So the other day D is looking on the internet at the Oregon Humane Society and sees a cat that totally looks like Max and is even named Maxwell. So, we went to the shelter, had a really hard time deciding that it wasn't him, but decided to bring him home anyway. He needed a new home, and we needed a new cat. He's very sweet and puts up with a lot, but he is a bit skittish and hides. So, as soon as I find him, I'll post his picture.

Here's some pics from tonight...

Also...

2 of our 3 PODS arrived! Yahoo! We had about 8 guys from church come and they emptied them in about 2 1/2 hours! All the furniture and outdoor stuff! Yippee! Now we are partially moved into our house. We got the family room organized, and after searching for a few hours we found all the screws for the beds, so we got most of the beds put together. Today the final POD comes with all the boxes with all the "stuff", so by this weekend, we should actually be moved into our house. YeeHaw!

It's SNOWING!!!

I can't believe it! I've never lived anywhere that snowed! Totally crazy! I was going outside to put something in the mail box and thought that I heard rain. Then I realized it was a softer sort of sound. I opened the door, and sure enough, it was SNOWING!!! For a girl from California, this is pretty amazing! I called D, and he didn't believe me! I would totally take a picture, but I can't find my camera and it's driving me CRAZY!!! Just believe me when I say IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE!!! Not enough to stick, but more than enough to amaze this California girl!!!

Oh DeEr...

So tonight we were in our house - now you gotta know that we don't live there yet. Our stuff arrives on Saturday, so we're just kind of hanging out there right now. I was there today with Chad and Haley painting the laundry room (in preparation for my shiny new RED washer and dryer that are coming tomorrow - I'm so excited!).

Anyways, back to the original story... so we're in our house, and our new friend, Susan Neff, comes over. I'm touring her of the house, and take her out onto the back patio to show her the backyard. Now our backyard really isn't that back, and it's got bushes going all around it, but no fence, and we look down and there's this deer right on our lawn, hanging out in our backyard. We were totally amazed. Now to some of you this might not seem like a big deal, but to us from LA, this is insane. You only see deers at the zoo, and we have one hanging out in our backyard. We called the kids to see the deer, and Haley is yelling "hi deer!" to the deer, and I swear, it's little tail was wagging in greeting to her. It stayed there for a while and just stared at us, and then just moseyed off into the direction of the little brook next to our house. Crazy! Welcome to the wild!

It's OURS!!!

It's over!!! The whole thing is done! The house in Los Angeles is SOLD!!!! and the house here is OURS!!! Now granted, our stuff won't be here for another week and a half, but it doesn't matter. We have our own place... and the kids love it! Especially Chad! He just wants to move in. We have power, and got our cable today, so I am a happy camper. Now all we need is some furniture. One thing at a time. We are happy!

Sign on the bottom line please

We signed all of our loan papers this morning. They gave us little postcards with a picture of our new house on the front, and "Derrick and Shannon Huckvale have moved. Their new address is..." on the back. I have yet to put the new address anywhere because I don't want to jinx anything. Everything on our end is going great; now if we could just get LA to cooperate.

The LA house was supposed to be tented for termites today, and the termite guys decided that they needed to get into the neighbor's yard (for some odd reason), and no one was home to give them permission, so they left a note and said they would be back tomorrow. They are supposed to close on Friday, but now I am being told it probably won't happen. If the tent goes on the house tomorrow, it will come off on Friday and then they will do the repairs. Being as Friday is Veteran's Day, they can't close on Friday, something nobody seemed to notice before. So, both houses should be closing on Monday. Yikes! They really are trying to kill me!

Someone's prayers are being answered...

Well, we found out on Thursday that the guy got approved for another loan - YIPPEE!!! So thanks to all for keeping us in their prayers. Keep it up! Tomorrow they are coming to make sure that we fixed everything on our inspection list, and then on Tuesday the house is being tented for termites and then on Friday, the house is no longer ours - at least that's the plan. Then on Monday, we get ownership of our new house - as long as all works out!

Other than that, on Thursday and Friday I was able to go to a scrapbooking convention (CKC-Seattle) in Seattle which was a lot of fun. I took a bunch of cool classes and bought some stuff - of course! It's always nice to get a little "me" time. It was weird eating dinner and sleeping in a hotel by myself though. Now it's just a matter of getting us moved (we get the house next week, but our stuff doesn't come until November 25th) and getting our Christmas cards out - I know it's early, but if I don't get them done now, who knows when I'll have another chance! Just addressing my envelopes so that they're ready to go in the mail come the beginning of December.

Last night, Chad was able to go to the Blazers basketball game with a neighbor, and believe it or not, as "anti-sports" as Chad is, he had a really good time. I think it's in part to all the free food and running around the court that they did.

Somebody really doesn't want us to move to Washington... or just sell this house!

So on Wednesday, a week before our escrow is to close and halfway in the middle of packing up all our moving trucks, our agent calls to tell us that the buyer's loan was pulled on him. Apparently he didn't disclose that he had just recently bought another property, but the loan people found out so they cancelled his loan. Now, we are all running around like chicken's with our heads cut off trying to figure out what to do. The escrow on our new house is supposed to close the week after next. Yikes! Apparently the guy has applied for a new loan and we should know on Monday what the answer is, but everyone here is telling me that it's not likely he will get approved. So, my wish is, for everyone to keep their fingers, toes and anything else crossed and to keep us in your prayers! We love you all!!!

California here we come!

So Derrick, Haley and I drove all day, into the night last night, and we finally made it at about 1:00 am. What a long day! Not too many stops - food and some gas - and it still took us about 15 1/2 hours, but we made it! We are currently at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tomorrow our PODS storage containers arrive, and some friends, to start packing us up. Today we are headed over to the house to take care of some of the repairs that need to be made and meet with a plumber. I'm headed to Memories (YEAH!) and to Costco to get some really good apples! Will check in more later!

What is "trunk or treating" you might ask?

Ok, so tonight our church had their Halloween party. There is always a chili cook-off, a costume contest, and then the favorite is the "trunk-or-treating". Trunk-or-treating is trick-or-treating thru the cars in the parking lot. All the adults open the trunks of their cars and sit in them, some even decorate and have creepy music, and then the kids run around the parking lot going from car to car, saying "trunk or treat". It's a lot of fun, and since you know everyone, you don't have to worry about the candy. The kids even got tooth paste! Could you guess that we have two dentists in our ward?

So, here's pics of the kids in their costumes. Haley, not feeling so hot, is a little grumpy Pooh Bear; Luke as a Clone Trooper, minus the helmet; Macy as Super Girl; and Chad as, of course, Anakin Skywalker. Notice the straigthened hair! Took me about an hour! See how long it is!

Dr. Susie is in the house...

Ok, so for some unknown rule, our children refuse to lose their teeth on their own. Luke recently lost his 7th tooth, the first one to come out on it's own. The other 6, pulled by the dentist. His new teeth like to grow in front of, or behind, the baby teeth, so therefore they don't push out the baby teeth. Chad, who is 10, has only lost about 8 teeth, and I would say about half of them were also pulled out by the dentist. Well Macy, who is now 6, and has yet to lose a tooth, is more curious about her wiggly teeth. So, she wiggled and wiggled her bottom two teeth, until last night, Nurse Susie yanked them out with a string. Gave me the heebie-jeebies a bit, but didn't bother her at all! And I love that I don't have the giant dentist bill to pull them out!

The Force is With Us...

So, there is a museum called OMSI here in Portland. Not sure what it stands for... Oregon Museum of something. But anyways, it has a Star Wars exhibit going on right now... so of course, we had to go. We went for family night on Monday with Bob and Susie's family and all had a great time. They had original costumes and props from the movies, and different things you could try, like hydro-driving, and a movie about Robotics, narrated by none other than C3-PO. It was pretty cool. Derrick and Chad were totally in their element!

Our new digs...

Ok, so I promised to be better about this, so here I go. Here's a picture of our new house. Not a great picture, but you can totally see how cute it is! And as mentioned earlier, we are totally excited about the unfinished basement!

Hi Debbie!

So, I was talking to my friend Debbie yesterday (love The WB... not sure about The CW!) and she was mad at me because I'm not being good about blogging very often. I told her that I just don't have anything much to write, but I guess that's not true.

First off, our house in LA is still in escrow. I know it sounds funny that I am saying "still", but I'm just so excited that it might actually get sold! And, not only that, but we are in escrow on a house up here in Camas as well. That, we are very excited about! It has 4 bedrooms, a separate family room and an unfinished basement. D is really excited about the basement... and I've already planned a scrapbooking area in it - so I am excited about that! I'm going for the inspection this afternoon, so I will try to post some pictures later.

The kids are still doing great and don't have school today, so they are excited about that. And, last random bit for the day, Haley is working on being potty trained. And although we totally had to talk her into it, she is getting pretty good about it.

Keep your fingers crossed...

Well, rumor has it that we went into escrow yesterday on our house so... keep your fingers crossed! Especially since we found a house up here that we want to make an offer on! Unfortunately, the kids will have to change to another school, within the same district, unless I want to drive them to and from school every day... which hey, I've already been doing that for like 9 years, but otherwise everything will stay the same. Church, scouts, etc., so that's all good. Just giving the escrow a few days and working on getting pre-approved for a loan, and then I think we're going to make an offer, so as I said before, KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!

Today I get to go and work in Macy's class for a few hours and I'm excited about that. I always enjoy being in the kids classes and seeing what their working on.

It's been a while...

Well, I haven't blogged in a really long time. Just trying to adjust to a new way of life. The house is still on the market - yikes!!! - which means that we are still living in Bob and Susie's basement. Not bad at all, just need our own space. Super duper thanks to Grandma Paula, Grandma Helen and Grandpa Fred for watching over our house and trying desperately to get it sold for us. I heard that it's getting painted and new carpet even! Crazy!

The kids have adjusted to their new school really well, and even enjoy taking the school bus! It's just always a guess on how early the school bus is going to get here. We almost missed it again this morning (we've missed it the past two days) because it comes early and leaves before it's even supposed to be here. Very frustrating! I think that I'm going to talk to the bus driver this afternoon and ask her what time she thinks she gets here so that we are down there.

Other than that, the boys have both started back up with scouts and are enjoying it. Macy is waiting for a Daisy troop to start up, and then she will be doing scouts as well (with me, I think, as one of her leaders!). Derrick is loving his new job, and Haley and I are just trying to keep our days busy and productive.

Anyone want a house?

Well, the first official day of escrow, the buyers backed out. The husband and wife were fighting, so they decided it wasn't the right time to buy a house. Oh well. They were driving me crazy anyway! The whole process was. Not so easy to sell a house! So, if anyone needs a house, please let me know!

We spent the day yesterday at a beach in Oregon. It was so cool. Cold weather, gloomy, overcast, but the kids had a great time digging in the sand for hours and Luke of course loved going in the ocean. And then we BBQ'd on the beach and had a bonfire, with s'mores and everything! - something you can't easily do in California. Such a neat concept! It was after 9 last night when we left the beach, and we were the first in our group to leave, but we had 2 hours to drive home!

Hucks (no longer) in the Hood

Well, we're gone! After two days of driving (YUCK!!!) we made it to Washington at about midnight last night. We had a good drive though. We stopped at the new Sacramento Temple for the open house - it was really nice and we really enjoy visiting as many temples as we can. We looked all over for our nephew, Elder Huckvale, but he wasn't there, and the one Sister that I spoke with didn't know who he was. Oh well. We weren't meant to see him.

Then, on Friday we kind of went out of the way and visited the Jelly Belly Factory. It was really cool and we got to tour the factory and find out how Jelly Belly's are made. Gave me a whole new appreciation for Jelly Bellys!

Now, we're just kicking it with Bob and Susie, trying to figure out how this new temporary life of ours is going to work out. All will be well. D starts his new job on Monday and he is excited to be back at work. Believe it or not, he really enjoys what he does. He gets to play all day and come away with something he's created at the same time. Can't beat that!

Going, going, gone...

Well, today's the day! The boxes are packed, and the cars are getting packed (and the kids are still sleeping!). Just a couple more hours and we'll be outta here. Headed to Sacramento to go to the new temple open house on our way to Washington. Bittersweet really. Very happy to be moving out of Los Angeles, but sad to leave our "home"... our family, friends, the life we know. I think that I am the only one having a hard time with it though. It really hit me last night when we drove out of Grandma and Grandpa's driveway for the "last" time. Sure, we'll be back to visit, but it won't be living 15 minutes away (at least we hope not!), "let's go to grandma and grandpa's to swim", just because we can.

Still not sure if house is sold or not, but kind of past it right now. Just want to leave here, get to Washington and sleep for about a month. Just sit on the couch and not move for as long as I can. Get a pedicure (I really need one!). Enjoy some nothingness. Won't last for long though. The kids have about 3 weeks before they start new schools, and I would really like to do some fun stuff and some exploring in our new area before then. The summer has been kind of stinky, except for our fun trip at the beginning, so I'd really like to make it up to them a bit. We'll see. We might just end up at Aunt Heidi's house painting her new kitchen! :O)

Sold???

The house may be sold! Not sure yet. Someone made an offer on it yesterday, and now we're going back and forth with counter offers. Their original offer wasn't very good, so it really bugged us. Well, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be.

Still packing. The Relief Society President and one of the other women (THANKS Sister Stoll and Sister Menoitti!) came over yesterday and packed up our kitchen for us. It was so nice... I really hate to pack breakable items!! They were here for about 3 hours and did an awesome job! Only problem was, we had almost no way to make dinner last night! Everything had to be microwaved! Oh well, that's my kind of cooking!!!

Today it's back to playdates for the kids and more packing for us. Only two more days. YIKES!

Animals in the Hood

First off, a plug for BARNYARD. Go see it! It's cute, and D worked on the movie. Check the credits - under Layout Artist - Lead Layout Artist. Very exciting! I LOVE to see his name in the credits. Always makes me tear up a bit!

Anyways, haven't written in a while. Just been busy. The countdown is on for the big move. House not sold yet, keep your fingers crossed, but we all leave next Thursday with just some supplies in the cars. D's new job starts the following Monday, so we're leaving the house in the realtors hands and staying with Bob and Susie in the meantime. I'm a little, ok maybe a lot, freaked out at this new adventure, but excited as well and ready to get out of L.A. We gave our farewell talks in church last week, so now there's nothing left to do. Today all the kids have playdates scheduled with their best friends, and then we're pretty much ready to go. YIKES!!! Derrick and I went to the Los Angeles Temple last night for one final time, and now it's just clearing up the final things, and saying good-bye.

Oh my goodness...

at our house on Saturday, it was 117 degrees!!! What's that about? We don't live in Las Vegas, Arizona or the middle of the desert for that matter, yet we're getting weather to compete with them. Crazy!

On a sadder note... I feel so bad because our dog, Baloo, bit our nephew, Dakota, on the face yesterday. I don't know why, and it really bothers me. We've had Baloo for 7 years, since he was a baby, and he's never bit anyone before. Other than eating flies (which I totally appreciate!), he's the nicest dog. Now I'm not sure what we're going to do!!! And poor Dakota! He finally got comfortable swimming, and now he has to stay out of the water for 5 days! Luckily, no stitches, but he did have to have his face glued back together! :O(

CRAZY!

Well, it really happened! Yesterday the "FOR SALE" sign went up in our front yard. I can hardly believe it! Now, it's just a matter of keeping our finders crossed that it is someone's dream house.

Other than that, we've been taking a bit of time off after working our butts off on Monday. We spent yesterday and today swimming at grandma & grandpa's house - well, I didn't today because I had to work, but everyone else did. Much more the way they would like to spend their summer!

What a pain!

Well, our home officially goes on the market this week. Wow! Totally crazy! Grandma Helen and I have been packing boxes all week - THANKS GRANDMA!!! - while D has been installing new electric garage doors, closet doors and lots of other random things that only he would think of. And lots of thanks to Amanda too for helping me to paint all the doors and door frames!!! Again, totally crazy!!

Just sitting in the house right now trying to cool off a bit after we pulled all the weeds in the backyard - in 100 degree weather! Gotta get it pretty though! My hands are killing me! Then D's off to Home Depot (which he hates!!) for some more white paint and some ground cover. All our trash bins are overflowing, and there's still lots to do... and throw away! Wish us luck! Love to all!

Home???

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!! This is one of my favorite holidays!! I love red, white and blue! I love the fireworks, the bbq and the ultimate pool party at Grandma and Grandpa Huckvale's house! I love our country and am so happy to be a part of it!

We finally made it home from all of our adventures (and what a great time we had! We loved seeing all the many friends and family all over the place - we love you all!)! We got home at about 11:00 last night, and now it's time to start packing - after the ultimate pool party today, of course! Derrick was offered the job in Portland, starting August 14th, so we have about 6 weeks to pack a house, sell a house, buy a new house and move to another state. Yikes! Lucky for us, Bob and Susie said we could stay with them for a while if we need to, but we have to at least know the area that we are planning on moving to so that the kids can start school come Labor Day. Wish us luck!

What a view...

This is the view from Bob & Susie's porch. Isn't it amazing? Right above Lacamas Lake.

House hunting...

Just spending our days in Washington/Oregon looking for a house. I hate house hunting! It's almost as bad as buying a new car!

Still away from home...

After a few fun days at Yellowstone National Park, we are now in Camas, Washington. We had a great time in Yellowstone, and really enjoyed all the natural beauty! It's amazing what God has created! And there were so many animals. Derrick kept saying we could go and see them all at the zoo, but it's not the same as seeing them in the open. We saw a bunch of elk, bisons, birds, part of a moose (he was hiding in some trees), and almost a bear. When we were eating lunch, this huge bison just came walking across the street, through all the cars, thinking nothing of it. Totally crazy!

Crazy driving all day yesterday has found us in Washington at Bob & Susie's house. We are here for a couple of days checking out the area and looking at houses (looks like we might actually be moving here - crazy!), then back home for us just in time for the 4th of July. Hopefully we won't kill each other before then. Having a great time just cruising the U.S.!

Still on the road...

Well, we survived Aspen Grove and are now, believe it or not, in Montana, heading to Yellowstone later today. Aunt Sherri and Uncle Curtis have a townhouse out here, so we decided to come play for a few days. Not sure how long we are staying, just having a grand ol' time driving aimlessly. Aspen Grove was great! We had a really good time with all of our cousins, and then headed to Salt Lake for a Dean Cousin Reunion which includes all of Derrick's extended family. That was a lot of fun too! It's always nice to see all the family. Now, depending on whether I have to work at Memories on Wednesday or not, we will still be heading to Oregon/Washington at the end of this week. Who knows? Just enjoying our time together.

Chad turned 10 on Saturday! I can't believe that we have a 10-year-old!!!! Crazy! Wow!... that makes us old. A 10-year-old going into 5th grade! He's such a good kid too!!! We love him so much! Happy Birthday our sweet baby boy! We love you!

Derrick and I also celebrated our 13-year anniversary yesterday. Didn't do anything exciting (there's not a whole lot in Big Sky, MT, if you're not skiing!), except search for moose around the neighborhood, but it doesn't stop the fact that we've been together for 13 years, are still crazy-in-love with each other, and have 4 wonderful kids, who only drive us crazy some of the time. I love you D! Thanks for the past 13 years... more than half-way to 25 as you told me!!!

Hittin' the road...

Well, we still don't know what the job situation is - sigh! it's driving me crazy - but we're hitting the road today for Utah. Off to a week in Aspen Grove, BYU's family summer camp. We go every couple of years, and it's always a lot of fun. Most of the Huckvale's will be there - except for Rick and Terri and their family - and we're celebrating Grandma and Grandpa's 50th wedding anniversary, so that's pretty exciting.

Then, we might head to Oregon/Washington or Texas for a few days as well. Don't know. Just cruising around America for a while. Might as well, huh? It's summer... and it's way too hot already to stay home!!!

Hucks outta the woods?

Well, D and I spent the weekend in Portland. He went for a job interview and the company flew me out there too... wasn't that nice of them? We had a great time with Bob and Susie and their family - those that are there, at least - and with Heidi and her kids. It's always so nice to see our family! We also really enjoyed it up there in Oregon and Washington. Yes, for those of you "rain-freaked" people, it was a bit rainy, but when we touched down in Burbank it was 99 degrees - I'll take the rain over that any day!

The kids spent the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa Huck. They had a great time - although Luke now knows my cell phone number and called almost every hour on the hour!!! Grandma took the boys and Haley to their school carnival on Saturday and Macy went to the Dodgers game with Grandpa. They all had a great time!

Haley's New Leg!

Today Haley got her cast off! YEAH!!! For those of you that don't know, she broke her leg on our trampoline about a month ago and had a cast put on that went from her toes all the way to her hip on her 2nd birthday. What a great present for her!!! But today, after deciding that she needed to swim yesterday with the cast on, the doctor decided it was time for it to come off. It's so nice to see her cute little leg again (and she was so happy to be able to take a bath in the bathtub - not the kitchen sink!). And, she's walking really good on it, except for the fact that she insists on walking on her tip toes!

(This is a pic of her with cast #2 on - the first one, which she wore out, was hot pink!)

Me with raccoon eyes.. and in the claustrophic machine!!!

Eyes 101

Well, as my first post to our family blog, I need to say that I finally went through with it!!! I had Lasik surgery today!!! Yippee!!! It was very scary to me, and although heavily sedated (thank you!) I still almost bolted at the last minute. Just a bit of that claustrophobic thing of having something right in your face! Now, I can (almost) see really well!!!