Sunday, May 15, 2016

New House and Easter



Jacob's week was filled with lows and highs.

He asked a girl to prom in a big way at school. He had me buy her flowers during school (this was all last minute) and during their class party he sang karaoke and changed the words to a song and asked her just as a bell was ringing. The class went wild, she said yes and all was well. 

Until that night when she called to cancel. She said she had concert tickets the day of prom :(

Jacob was bummed but he said he was OK because he had at least made his goal of asking someone. 

The hard thing was Jacob was invited to be part of the prom fashion show which is a Friday evening event where people pay to get in and is a big deal. He was practicing and part of this fashion show for the last couple weeks and at this point it doesn't look like he'll be going to prom. 

Most people don't know that is isn't going with the girl he asked. His video is all over social media and he keeps getting pats on the back for it. The teacher in his class shed a tear when he asked her...so he definitely doesn't know the date is off. The whole thing made my mom heart hurt and I'll be glad when prom is over. 


The good thing was later that week we celebrated Jacob. He was awarded his Eagle one of the days...




We didn't get a lot of good pictures but we are proud of him and the highlight for him was getting this cool pocket knife from one of his leaders. He promises it to every boy that gets his eagle and Jacob was happy to get his. 



Later that week we went to the cheer banquet night. Since Jacob is a senior I got to put together a fun board of pictures of Jacob. 

When he saw some of the ones when he was younger he said 

"Aaaawww I was so cute!"



Jacob has had of of fun with Kevin the last couple of years. Kevin was too busy with football to mascot but he was still glad to have him around. 





During the banquet Jacob didn't sit where he was supposed to but hung out with the cheerleaders...typical Jacob.



Jacob getting his award with the other mascots for the year.






After a rough start to the week Jacob was king for the rest of it :)





During all this we got the keys to our new house!

Before we moved in we were having some of the carpet replaced and the house painted and preparing to move!! 




So you realize you have too much junk when you have to box it up and move it!! 

I got rid of stuff continuously throughout the process and still there was too much. 






We were able to jam a lot of things in closets and hidden spaces and now it all had to be dealt with! The good thing was it was like going down memory lane going through all the kids school stuff and old pictures. I realized that we came to this house when Jacob was in preschool and Taylor was going into second grade so I had all their school memories to box up and reminisce about. 



Moving day came and we were oh so grateful for all the family and friends that came and helped. Jacob had friends from high school and Taylor had some of his college friends come. 



Taylor's friend brought his truck and trailer and the boys managed bringing over 3 loads completely on their own. I was grateful for their willingness and muscles when some of the older guys were getting tired they kept going all day. 



All the other men were loading the uhaul...You would think it was a giant tetris game for them. 




Everything made it over to the new house. 
Nothing got broken but there was a few scrapes and gouges. We were so grateful for the help we could care less. 

We also had friends that helped us with the refrigerator line that was leaking, hooking up the washer and dryer and making sure the gas line didn't lead and carrying tons of boxes up stairs. Every box that was carried by someone else was one less that I had to carry!! I was super grateful for my friend Mary Ann who came over the week before the big move day and helped me move the entire kitchen and most of our closets. That was a hugs job! I was so grateful that it was done before the actual move day. 



This is Taylor's new view from his room. I'll have to take more pictures later when the house is more put together. 



When we got the keys to the house we were left with a few things that we weren't expecting. There was some broken down furniture left and this falling apart shed looking thingy that was taking up a big part of the patio. 

I was lamenting that we would have to dismantle it and take it to the dump and a friend suggested that I put it on craigs list for free. I did and the next weekend someone came over and spent 3 hours dismantling it and happily taking it away. Sweet!





While we were moving Ashley was up in a cabin with the young women having a fun overnighter. 

Since she wouldn't be much help moving boxes I encouraged her to go. 



They had a lot of fun and got to do sledding again.



All of them hanging out together.







I'm sure Ashley had a lot more fun that we did that weekend. 





About 3 weeks after the move we hosted Easter which was our first family event at our new house. 





Dinner was El Poyo Loco because we were too busy to cook  but it all worked out fine and it was nice to have enough seating for everyone. 



The trampoline even made it from our other house because we knew that the little kids would like it during our family events. 





Of course the highlight of the gathering was the egg hunt. Ashley and Jacob said they didn't want to participate but they gathered eggs in their shirts anyway...


It was fun to watch the littler kids all excited. There were plenty of eggs for all the kids. 





Cheri tried to give her girls little teeny containers that only held 4 or 5 eggs on purpose...Oh No, aunt Christine gave them big bags so they could get lots of eggs. Ha ha. That's what family is for to spoil the kids.  






The kids checking out their stash.




It was a fun way to break in the house and be able to enjoy family at the same time. 





Steve is a good master of ceremonies. He is always leading us in presentations, thoughts and games. Our family classics are "Mafia" and "Signs"  


My family got introduced to the loud, fun family games. I was happy to see especially Jared and Scott enjoying themselves. 


I know that drive is a long one for Angela and Robert so we were glad to have them there. 






The girls feeding Boston candy...they are learning how to spoil the kids young, ha ha. 



Ashley with Jenae and Jolene







It was a fun first family event and I'm grateful to a good husband who works together with me to pull things like this off. 

We make a good team. Thanks honey. 




After the party these sparkly shoes got left here along with other things. 

New house and we are already starting a lost and found...




Vegas trip and Jeff's awards night

In February we went on a short trip to Vegas with the Oleson family. We had planned it when we got a call from Hilton Grand Vacations wanting us to come out and see their property. You basically get a really cheap stay, free dinner and a show for hearing their time share speal. Joel and Virginia were able to book a trip on the same weekend and we make a little vacation out of it. Jacob had a couple of days off school but Taylor didn't so he had to stay behind. 



Since we aren't gamblers or drinkers our Vegas entertainment options are pretty tame. One of the nights we went to the mall. Jared liked the lego store since he works at Legoland.



Ashley liked the store that had the massage chairs...


We all liked that store. Everyone found their favorite and relaxed.




The next day the Olesons had to listen to their time share pitch and we had a free morning so we went out to Red Rock to do some hiking. The only time we like going out there is in the winter because the summer is too hot. 





The kids like hiking out there but as a mom I'm a freak. I'm always worried about them falling off a cliff and they are fearless. 








Jacob and Ashley thought Jeff and I were pretty lame for not letting them continue hiking without us (we wanted them within site so they didn't fall off a cliff without us seeing)




Us as lame parents




Ashley exploring



Jacob king of the mountain. 





When we got back they were happy to go to the pool. 


Dean was really happy!!




The next day Jeff and I heard our time share presentation while the Oleson's waited for us and then we all went out for our free dinner. It was a good dinner but it was crowded! Going on Valentine's Day weekend probably didn't help. 






We ended up going to the Variety Show which we have seen before and liked. Our seats were close enough to worry about the performers falling in our lap. Joel actually got called up on stage to be part of the show and got some free tickets to a show in the future because of it. 



The kids enjoyed the show too. 



After the show we wandered around town looking for a place to get ice cream. We didn't find ice cream but we found the most interesting shaved ice place. It was shaved ice but it was flavored with topping. Ashley is eating a chocolate one. 





The next weekend we stayed for a night in Palm Springs to attend Jeff's yearly awards dinner. 

We were there with the Gunnell's who works with Jeff in his office too and we brought our kids. 





The Kline's are a couple we meet up with every year at these events and have loved catching up with them every year. 





Jeff was #1 in his office this year. He has been in the business for 20 years and it is a nice way to celebrate by being on top this year. He gave a speech and got a big award for it.




The kids were so impressed. 







They were actually very supportive and were glad to be there to celebrate with their dad. 






Way to go Jeff!!