Today...

Today started out great! I got to go to a "Mommies, Muffins and Manicures" party in Macy's 1st grade class - in honor of Mother's Day! We got muffins - obviously! - the kids gave us manicures - let me tell you, my nails are very sparkly and pretty! - and there were lots of mommies! It was lots of fun!

Then, got the car washed (always good!), and came home with about 1/2 an hour to pick up the kids, to find out that the dog had been sick while I was gone. Spent the time giving the dog a bath in the front yard, cleaning his crate, cleaning the floor, and trying to get the smell out of the house. I leave him in the backyard in a fenced-in thing so his crate and him can dry out. The kids get home and we have to leave to drop Macy and Haley off at a friends' house, and take the Scouts to the Zoo. Zoo is fun, except we have about 25 Scouts, with 5 leaders and we keep losing them - a lot of the time on purpose. Not us losing them, but them leaving just to bug. So anyways, on the way home, in crazy traffic, one of the kids decides to throw up in the car. Lovely! Talk about a bodily-function day! (His mom cleaned it up... and she did an excellent job, I must say!) And then when I talk to D, he asks me where I left Cooper (the dog). I told him that I left him in the thing in the backyard, and he tells me that when he got home the dog was tied up on our front porch with a note to return the rope to the neighbor. Apparently, he got thru (let me say, "chewed thru"!) the crate in the backyard and spent most of the day at the neighbor's house, but then they had to go to baseball and didn't want us freaking out because we couldn't find him. I tell you, want to meet your neighbors?... get a dog whose an escape artist!

So, tomorrow has to be better... right?

Good and Bad...

I have been so bad at blogging! Blame it on the new baby - he keeps me pretty busy! That, and trying to remember that there are now 5 kids in the house! I keep trying to forget one of them - no one in particular, just one of them - but people are always reminding me that I've left someone behind. I would figure it out sooner or later!

So anyways, the good and bad of yesterday include...

Good - my friend, Caleb, called! I met Caleb in the 8th grade, when he was the new kid at school. We hit it off right away and became very good friends, but haven't talked in at least 10 years. I've tried to look him up a bunch of times and finally just took a chance and mailed a birth announcement to an address I found on the internet, and it ended up being right! Lucky me! And, the amazing thing is, him and his family are moving within the next few months, so I got really lucky. He sounded great - for everyone that knows Caleb, he's married and has a 2-year-old son named Jackson! - and we are going to get together to chat. He lives in Portland, where he's been for a very long time, and was amazed that we've moved up to the Northwest, so I am excited to see him.

Bad - Hello!!! They cancelled Gilmore Girls! Ever since I left The WB, it's totally gone downhill! First, joining with UPN to form The CW (Can I just say, that's a dumb name!), and now, cancelling Gilmore Girls! I just love that show! OK, so I think Luke and Lorelei are going to get together - they showed something on the trailer for next week - but what about Rory? What's going to happen to her? She turned down Logan's proposal and doesn't have a job... so now what? D told me that I wouldn't like Gilmore Girls anymore once it was cancelled, but I don't think he expected it to be cancelled now, when I still do like it.

So, those are my things for yesterday... now I'll do a post for today, a whole other story unto itself!

Random thoughts for Friday...

• I've already lost 21 pounds! Amazing! I'm even wearing some pre-pregnancy pants! So exciting! As long as they can go below the belly (belly is still pretty swollen), all is well! He, He, He!


• Grandma Paula and Uncle Billy are coming tomorrow! It's their first time here and we are very excited to see them! Hopefully Grandma Paula can make some sense out of all the bulbs that are growing all over our yard!


• We LOVE baby Reed! He is just so cute and so sweet! We are so happy to have his sweet spirit in our family! And the kids are loving him! Macy has turned into the best babysitter ever - and she's only 6. Not like we leave them alone or anything. But I can be in other parts of the house and leave him in her care and she is just all over him.


• Derrick is finishing painting the entryway - something I started when we first moved in. Our entryway is two stories high, so I painted as high as I could go and now he is finishing it. It's really nice to get some of the projects done around here. Now all we have left to paint are the kids' bedrooms, our bathroom, and the dining room - but we're really not too sure what room that is - it might become my scrapbook room/office. Then there's always finishing off the basement. I hope that will be our summer project.

Easter Surprise

Well, we're done! (Sorry we didn't post earlier - for some reason we couldn't get onto our blog space the whole time we were in the hospital.) We got an early Easter delivery of baby Reed (Derrick Reed Huckvale), who decided to beat the Easter Bunny for arrival. He showed up Easter morning at 8:28 am (still by C-Section, just unplanned), weighing in at a whopping 9 pounds, 8 ounces. Really don't know where I was hiding him! He's very sweet and has a head full of red hair - also don't know where that came from. All of our other kids have been bald! And his is like a dark reddish-auburn! Auburn? Don't they know we have blonde kids? We are loving him, trying to adjust to having a baby in the house again, and the kids are all over him!

Almost done...

3 more days to go... not like I'm counting or anything! The car seat is in the car, D has almost figured out the new camera, the Easter Bunny is kind of ready to come on Sunday, and Chad and Luke have taught Grandma how to bowl on the Wii (there is a championship going on right now!). Life is good at our house (especially once my feet are back to their normal size!). Now, if only we could pick out a name.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Other people do care...

So D went out yesterday and bought me a new camera - some high-falutin' Nikon that I now have to figure out how to use. I'm excited about it! I love cameras! But it's big, and has lots of buttons and knobs and stuff, and you have to actually look thru the view thingy to see what you're taking a picture of. It's an SLR camera (still not too sure what that means... even though D told me), so more to figure out, but I'm excited!

And yes, Ira, I did paint the bathroom (well, most of it!) blue yesterday - 9+ months pregnant! And it went ok. I've done a lot of painting while pregnant... if you consider that we moved into this very white house while I was already pregnant.... and I'm not such a fan of very white houses. Consider it my form of nesting! Doctor said it was ok as long as I was in well-ventilated areas. Thanks for the love Ira! Appreciate it!!! :O)

Some people just don't care...

So, as mentioned in a previous post, Haley broke my camera back in the beginning of March. I sent it to Canon, to get fixed, thinking that I was doing the right thing. It said it would take 7-10 business days and they would send it back all better. So, it's now been about a month, and they still have my camera. I just called them, and they were like, "oh, we had to order a part from overseas and we don't know when it will come in...". I'm like, "I'm having a baby next week, and now don't have a camera. Anything you can do for me?" They tell me that they can refund the money that I've already paid ($137.03) for my "fixed" camera, and then pay to get the next camera, an upgrade ($175) which really isn't a bad idea, except that they won't even mail it out to me for 3-5 business days. Do they not care that I'm having a baby in 5 days? Apparently not! I asked them if they could email me a voucher or something so that I could just go out and buy the upgraded camera, and they're like, "no, we don't have that capability". So now, I'm camera-less. I will have a camera... just not too sure where it's going to come from. Just wanted to vent a bit! Have to go and paint a bathroom now before my energy completely wears out! Grandma Helen is coming tomorrow and we are excited to see her!

Showered with love...

So, last night my sister-in-law, Susie, and a friend from church had a baby shower for me. I was really nervous about it for some reason. We've lived here for about 7 months, and my sister-in-law invited all these people I don't know really well. It was making me feel weird - like they were only invited so they would bring me presents. She kept saying they were all nice people and I should get to know them, and only those that wanted to come would come anyway so not to worry about it. Well, there turned out to be about 10 people there (including a college friend, Lori, who I haven't seen in about 10 years - Hi Lori!) - and I was perfect with that. They were all people that I knew and liked! Much more comfortable for me!

So anyways, I got lots of cute outfits and other stuff, which was really nice. I'm having a hard time with boy clothes too, because they're not pink, ruffly or have bows. After only having baby girls for the last nine years, baby boy clothes are an adjustment for me. My friends proved to me that there are cute baby boy clothes out there... I just have to keep an open mind about it!

The car seat went into the car the other day. Crazy! Trying to get Haley to adjust to sitting on the other side of the car. She doesn't seem to care, but it makes me a little sad.

One final note, wanted to say hi to my mom! Found out she reads my blog, so "hi, mom! Looking forward to seeing you in a few weeks!"

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

So, today is my birthday - 36! Gosh, I'm getting old... and having baby #5 in a week and a half! Crazy! I woke up this morning to the house decorated with streamers and balloons, and breakfast being made by wonderful D! Now, I just have to ignore the mess left from the whole thing because I refuse to clean on my birthday! Then, on to the doctor's office, and the hospital for some testing, then a scrapbook store, and now I'm just hanging with the kids. Tonight we are going to P.F. Changs - a FAV! - and I told the doctor that I was eating whatever I wanted to!!! Gotta enjoy it sometime! Have a super my birthday!

Ok, so I so wish that my camera was back from the camera doctor, because the more I look at Chad, the more I am sure that he is part Leprechaun! Between his crazy hair, the freckles going across his nose, and his strange sense of humor with all his funny accents (including a really good Irish one), he could totally be a Leprechaun! Just gotta get him to wear a whole lotta more green!

Happy St. Patty's Day! everyone

Top o' the morning to you all! We just finished eating our green eggs, green pancakes, grapes and bacon for breakfast. Everyone was a bit turned off by the eggs, but they tasted pretty darn good. This is what happens when you have a giant leprechaun living in your house. We also set our "leprechaun trap" last night and were very happy to find a huge pot of gold - reese's peanut butter cups, rolos and almond kisses - turned upside down in our trap this morning with a note stating that we would never catch the leprechaun but he would share some of his gold with us. It's always fun to have some magic in your house... and a WalMart that's open 24 hours a day nearby so that you can go out and buy some gold when you don't have any already at home! Have a super St. Patrick's Day! Remember some of the magic!

Scrapped to death!

So on Saturday, and part of Friday morning, I went to a huge Scrapbook show in Portland - CKC-Portland. It was a lot of fun! But, when I originally signed up, back in November, I think, I didn't realize that I would be in my 9th month of pregnancy and not such a happy camper. After being cooped up, sick, in the house all week, I was so excited to go and spend some "me" time taking some scrapbook classes and making fun projects. I lasted til about 3:00 on Saturday, with still 2 more classes to go. I pretty much crashed in one of their hallways, then waited for the remaining two classes to start, went in, got my kits, and then left. Got home about an hour early, and was so wiped out and grumpy, I just wanted to be left alone! And then on Sunday, we went to church and I spent the rest of the day pretty much in bed sooooo, soooo tired! Just wanted to vent a bit (again)! Back to normalcy today - cleaning, doing laundry, chasing after Haley and Cooper. Have a super day!

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Ok, so kill me now!

So, being in my 9th month of pregnancy, I'm already achy, uncomfortable and grouchy, but now add bronchitis to it, and I am one really unhappy camper! Sorry... just wanted to vent a bit. I hurt all over my back and hips, and now I am constantly holding my belly because I am coughing so much that I'm going to pop my overwhelming belly button and this baby is just going to come flying out! Somebody better be ready to catch him!

And poor little Haley isn't feeling so hot either, and Macy's been running a fever off and on. All the poor girls in our household are just having a rough time right now. If you're a girl, I'd stay away!

Oh, and random side note, Haley broke my camera last week so I had to send it to the Canon factory to get it fixed. Yikes! Lukie had a fun birthday dinner on Sunday with some family, and no pics to speak of! That's ok, we'll get some when we have his birthday party!

Scouting for fun?

First off, Happy March everyone! March is good. The year is already into swing a bit, hopefully the rain will be ending, or at least slowing down a bit, the flowers are starting to bloom - which I LOVE, Luke will be 9 on Sunday!!!, and I only have 5 weeks to go!!!

So, I spent my early afternoon at QFC which is an upperscale grocery store up here, sitting at a table selling girl scout cookies. Never done that before. I was there all by myself, because those silly Girl Scout people scheduled us to be there from 1-8pm, and the girls don't even get out of school until 3:30. So, now there are lots of girls there, hopefully, and they will sell more cookies - I sold about 30 boxes in 2 hours. Not too bad, but not great.

So then tonight we have the Blue & Gold Dinner for the Boy Scouts. It has a Hawaiian theme and they want us to dress up in Hawaiian gear, flip flops, the whole deal. A little hard when it's like 40 degrees outside and raining. Luke will be advancing to Bears, so that's exciting, and Chad will be getting a bunch of awards.

As far as Hawaii goes, we decided not to go. Darnit! Too pregnant! Funny thing is though, I had a scheduled C-Section on April 6th, the last day of our Spring Break, and then the Drs. office called the other day to say that the dr. decided to go out of town that week, so they are moving my C-Section to April 9th. How inconvenient for me! And I really don't like that date! Oh well! I tried to talk them out of it, but they were determined.

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To Hawaii or not...

Ok, so totally random. First, sorry I haven't blogged in a while, just been busy, crazy, tired, achy, very pregnant. Those are all of my excuses! Only about 6 weeks to go! Yee Haw! Not sure I want him out, but really want my body back!

Anyways, back to the point of this blog. D came home last night and said that he found a deal on the internet - Portland to Maui, only $150 each way per person!!! Only problem is, you have to travel before March 22, about 2 weeks before our C-Section. Well, I asked the doctor if I could go, and he said it would be ok, so we might be heading to Hawaii in the next few weeks. Probably not, but the thought is nice!

Hair today... gone tomorrow!

The side she didn't get.
After

So, while she was supposed to be taking a nap, Haley was really playing "beauty shop" with her own hair. She found some scissors and managed to cut off half of it (and leave it all over our bedroom floor!), before she was done. Needless to say, I was very upset when I saw her (she's never had her hair cut before - other than her bangs by grandma) and I cried. She told me that she would put the hair back on later. Yeah, if only it was that easy. So much for having her pictures taken next week.

How many names does one dog need?

So, after a week of pretty much being nameless, while actually, having a different name every day (Joshua - that was the name the pound gave him; Barley, Murphy, Copper, Colby, Riley... ) we finally settled on (DRUMROLL PLEASE...) Cooper!!! Much to Luke's annoyance (he really didn't like it!), D went to WalMart and had a name tag made, so now the dog is officially named Coooper. YeeHaw! Hopefully the baby won't have to wait a whole week to have a name!

Only 8 more weeks to go! Planned C-Section on Friday, April 6th!!!

Now, back to the dog, if only I could potty-train him. Haley was a lot easier. The dog loves to be outside, will take long walks, smell everything, but hardly ever goes potty outside. Then, once we get back inside, he pees on the floor. It's driving me crazy! So, if anyone has any great suggestions (besides getting rid of him - he really is cute!), please let me know!

OK, so call me crazy...

(I'm sure you already do...), but meet the newest member of our family! Yet to be named, we can't decide, but he is a 2 1/2 month-old Yellow Lab, who already weighs 30 pounds (he's bigger than Haley whose almost 3!) and is going to be huge. Other than that whole potty training thing (finally got Haley potty-trained! WhoHoo!!! Now just gotta figure out how to do it to a dog), he's great! He's sweet and clumsy and totally puppy and the kids love him. He came as a surprise to D, not necessarily one that he was happy about (he wanted a medium-sized dog, not a GIANT!), but we are all loving him and are happy to have him in our home.

Our dog Baloo, is happily living in LA with Uncle Billy and his dog, Kiki. Baloo is getting older, and was starting to have a rough time with the kids, so even though it broke our hearts, we knew that it was for the best, and Kiki loves her new friend, so it's worked out for all.

Almost made it...

Well, with only about 2 1/2 months of pregnancy left, it happened again. I am once again diabetic (gestational). Could be the fault of all the potato chips, coffee ice cream, and m&ms that I've been living on... g, ya think? Oh well. The benefit (if there is one) to being diabetic during pregnancy is that they put me on a diet which really controls what I eat. I will have to eat TONS of protein - and that's about it! - but at least in Haley's case, she was much smaller (7'7" compared to 9'3", 9'4" and 8'8")than the other kids when they were babies, and I only gained about half the weight (20 pounds compared to 40)... so gotta love that part! Hate the needle poking 3 times a day (and no SUGAR!!!), but as long as the baby and I stay healthy, that's all that matters!

YeeHaw!!!

They're finally going back to school!!! After having Monday off, then Tuesday, Wednesday AND Thursday were Snow Days... they go back TODAY!!! They're driving me crazy (only Macy really - she gets bored so easily and needs to be entertained. And for some reason, my suggestions to clean her room just don't cut it!)!!! Even then though, they have late start, which means school doesn't even begin until 11! So after a week of no school, the only day they'll go will only be for 4.5 hours! Crazy! I never had a snow day as a kid. Rumor has it though, that they will have to make up the days in the summer. Then we'll see who's laughing!

Again????

Ok, so I know you are probably getting pretty bugged with all my snow, and for that matter, I am almost done blogging about it, but, I needed to say, IT'S A SNOW DAY AGAIN!!! After all the snow yesterday, it's still not safe to drive all the buses and stuff to get the kids. I had a hard time with D going to work today, but he promised to call when he got there. So, I wanted to post some pictures of a funny thing to me - D shoveling the sidewalk so that he could get his car out!

SNOW DAY Part II

Ok, so after having last Thursday be a Snow Day, and then Friday have 2-hour late start so the buses could get to all the kids, and then holiday yesterday, we got another SNOW DAY today!!! Let me tell you, a bunch of happy kids in our house! The boys went up to Mt. Hood with their scout troop yesterday and spent the whole day sledding, and today, they did pretty much the same thing, in front of our house. Even D was called from work and told he had a SNOW DAY!!! Gotta love it!

SNOW DAY!!!

The creek next to our house.


School just got cancelled! The kids are ecstatic! This is what happens when a group of kids from California have school cancelled due to SNOW!!! They are headed to WalMart right now with D looking for some sleds. Hopefully, there's not a run on sleds. Probably is though. Yesterday, it was a bit cool, with some light snow flurries off and on, but then bright sunshine. We went to Scouts at 3:30, and by the time we got out at 4:30, the sky was black and it was snowing! I got pulled over by a cop on the way home (he didn't give me a ticket thankfully!), but while he was talking to me the kids got out and were playing in the snow on the sidewalk next to the car. Talk about support from them!

We live at the base of a hill, and after about an hour of this, our road got closed right past our house. When D got home, all these cars were parked in front of our house because people had to park their cars and walk home. Crazy!

I did it!

Ok, so it might not seem like much, but I was on my elliptical machine for 2 WHOLE MINUTES this morning!!! And then, totally out of breath. That's what happens when you've tried very hard not to move for the last couple of months. Made me feel good to do it though!

Talk about indulgences...

So no, I have yet to exercise... it's only day 1 after all, but after a long day of first going to the Washington DMV to get my official Washington license (oh my gosh... I have never not had a California license!), I then spent the entire day painting our bedroom. Yikes!!! Not so bad, and I'm getting to be a pretty good painter, but it sure does take me a lot longer than it takes D, and it makes my back hurt! Besides that, I can't move furniture very well, so I painted all but behind the bed, and then made D finish that up when he got home.

So anyways, back to the indulgent part... I just took like an hour and a half bubble bath! I watched a video about this lady I know and she said that she takes a bubble bath EVERY night - it helps her unwind from her day. Totally not my kind of thing, but we moved into this house with this big jetted tub and so far only the kids are getting any use out of it (Haley seriously took like 6 baths today! She would get out, without letting the water out, and then would come back like an hour later and get back in - all while I'm painting, so I could watch her)! So, I decided to try it out. I can totally lie in it, all the way flat, and then have to use my tip toes to prevent myself from going under. Crazy. Never had such a big tub before. So, I just sat there, reading a book, staring at all the Little People lined up on the end that Haley likes to play with. Let me tell you, tomorrow I'm headed to Target to get one of those bath pillow thingys and some good bubble bath, other than the kids' stuff!

Random thoughts...

I have not blogged in a while, and Derrick, who in no way is involved in my blogging, told me that I need to update more often. Where's he? He is more than welcome to update the blog. Anyone is for that matter! (He claims he doesn't know how to blog... but really, it's not hard at all!)

Anyways, done with the venting. The holidays were crazy, as I'm sure they were for everyone else. We stayed home, in our new house, which was really nice. We have two (gas) fireplaces in our house, but no chimneys, so the kids were concerned about how Santa would get in to leave presents. He didn't seem to have any problems! There were lots of presents when we woke up on Christmas morning. As I said, Santa has his ways! We spent Christmas Eve at my sister-in-law's, Heidi's, house, then had everyone over to our house for Christmas brunch, and then on to Bob and Susie's house for Christmas dinner. Let me tell you, a lot of eating was had by all!

We were also very fortunate to have Grandma Helen and Grandpa Fred here with us for the holidays which the kids loved. They really miss all their family from California that they are so used to seeing all the time! Grandma Paula is coming in April, and they are excited for that too!

So then, on to New Years. We had everyone over for games, snacks (!!!) and silly string at midnight. Again, we all had a great time and no resolutions were made!!! Always fun!

So now, it's just on to cleaning up from Christmas and adjusting to a new year. Adjusting to being pregnant - oh my gosh!!! Almost 7 months along, and we're going to have a baby in our house shortly! Crazy. Every time I think of it, it makes me a bit nervous. Right now we are desperately trying to potty train Haley, and she's really not very interested. (We really don't want to have two in diapers, but it looks like it might be that way, at least for a while.) If I leave her naked, she's great at going on the potty; but as soon as I put a diaper, pull-ups, or panties on her, she goes in those. All of the other kids were potty-trained at the YMCA, so we really don't know what we're doing!

Today I was asked to come up with a goal for the coming year. I signed up for this online scrapbooking class, and it's called "A Year in Review" (with Heidi Swapp - I love her! She's one of my favorite scrapbookers!). I have to come up with some sort of a goal (not a resolution), 5 reasons why I want to accomplish this goal, someone to help support me with my goal, and photos of me working on this goal. Really hard. Especially since I am always used to thinking of things for the kids, not myself. Part of me says that my goal should be to get Haley potty-trained. Another part of me says that I need to be better at exercising. Not losing weight - back to that 7 months pregnant thing - just exercising so I'm not always so sore at the end of the day. I think I might try to do that. I HATE to exercise! So today I got Kathy Smith's Pregnancy Workout DVD in the mail from Netflix, and tomorrow we are going to work on organizing the garage, so we are going to get my elliptical machine out of there and into our room. I'm hoping between the DVD and my machine, I might be able to accomplish 20-30 minutes of something every day. Also, because I am pregnant, I am CONSTANTLY eating!!! And really, I mean potato chips and ice cream. Seriously, anyone walks over with food, and I dig in. Doesn't really matter what it is, but the worse it is for me, the better!!! So again, not to lose weight (I haven't gained that much - not sure why!), but to try and balance out all the eating!!! And try not to have such a sore back at the end of the day. So, wish me luck!

That's about it for my random thoughts today. Will try and post some pics from the holidays, and be better about blogging more consistently.

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!