The New Digs

If you have not noticed there has been a recurring theme to my blogs over the last few months: things are crazy and life is flying by faster than I can keep up, hence my lack of consistent blogging over the last little while.  I am back on the horse though and while I have mentioned our move more times than I can count I have yet to blog about our new house.

When we found out my parent were moving to India, Jeremy and I were in a bit of a difficult position.  My parents were insistent that we could stay in the house and they would continue to make the payments until we finished school.  While this was the easiest choice in terms of not having to move, it really did not make sense for my parents.  Jeremy and I felt that we should move so that my parents could rent or sell their home, but we did not know where to go.  I started to look at apartments, but was not really excited about the prospect of moving into a tiny apartment.

Thankfully, another option presented itself.  I was at work one day when Julie McClellan, a woman from our ward, called and left me a message saying she wanted to talk to me about something.  When I called her back she told me that she and her husband, Gary, had been talking about what to do with their house while they went on their one year mission and she wondered if we might be interested in living there.  Gary really wanted family to live in the home and since we are distantly related (he and my dad share a great grandfather), it worked out for everyone.

Over the next months the McClellan's generosity was limitless as we worked out the details of moving the majority of their belongings into the basement and planning our move in.  We are so happy here and I don't know that I will ever be able to appropriately express my gratitude to the McClellans.  I just hope that it gives them some sense of peace to know they have left their home with someone who will love it and do their very best to care for it.

And now for the virtual tour (I promised Julie I would post pictures so she could see what it looked like with our things in it):

the kids bathroom

our bedroom

 our bathroom

Carrigan's room

the living room

the entry way

Merrick's room

 the family room

our amazing views

our spectacular garden and backyard

 Our pumpkin patch

As you can see we are VERY blessed to be here!

Winning and Growing

This may be a bit of a random post, but I feel like life is passing me by so quickly lately and with moving and everything else I feel like if I don't cram a bunch of things into every post I will never get caught up.  So just bare with me and enjoy all the pictures of my adorable kids.

Since I last talked about her, Carrigan had her 3 month birthday (the 4 month mark is actually closing in quickly).  She is getting so strong and can roll from her tummy to her back.  She probably would have been strong enough to do this long ago, but I have not really been able to test it because she REALLY hates tummy time.  On Sunday I decided she was just going to have to do it and sure enough she rolled right over.  I guess now that she is in charge tummy time will really never happen.

She is also really developing in her personality.  All it takes is smiling at her and she will be grinning from ear to ear and showing off her adorable dimples.  She has also become such a little laugher.  It seems like the more her personality develops the more she is just like a little people magnet.  Every where we go people are drawn to her.  Even her brother, who once the initial novelty wore off has not really asked to hold her very often, always wants to hold her now.  It makes me happy to see them being so cute together.

Merrick has also had some excitement in his life this last week.  He must have Jeremy's luck rather than mine, because he entered a drawing at the library to win passes to the aquarium and he won.  So thanks to our good luck charm, we now have a year long family pass to the Portland Aquarium.

We made our first visit this weekend and we practically had to pry Merrick away when it was time to go.  He loves learning about all kinds of animals and loved that he got to touch sting rays, star fish and sea anemones.  We spent a ridiculous amount of time waiting for him to touch a shark, but one never came close enough that he could reach...next time I guess.

And entirely unrelated to anything else, how cute does CC look in her new hat?

 

Kiddo Update Part 2: Merrick

I'm back baby!  After a short hiatus due to the move and tragically going without the internet for a while, I am making my triumphant return to blogging with my Merrick update (unfortunately the Carrigan update is now outdated, but that is besides the point).

Unfortunately this will not go down as Merrick's best summer ever.  This has been the summer of packing, the summer of sorting, the summer of moving, the summer of "play by yourself" or "here is the ipad", the summer of "holy crap I am never going to win the mother of the year award".  Despite all the craziness we have tried to work in a little fun for Merrick when we could.  Here are some of Merrick's summer time highlights.

Merrick's first experience with a balloon twister:
My dentist had a one year anniversary party for his location and they had a balloon twister.  Merrick was not sure what to ask for so we encouraged him to go big or go home and he decided on a shark.  He was very pleased to say the least.

Swim lessons:
We started Merrick in swim lesson this summer.  He started out being very tentative in the water but has since has taken on the rope swing, advanced classes and is now working on diving from his knees into the water.

Cousin visits:
Probably the biggest highlight of Merrick's summer was having his bestie cousin Kai visit.  Merrick and Kai are only 11 months apart and have been close since day one.  It has been difficult for him to live so far from Kai.  He definitely enjoyed him being here and getting to have sleep overs every night.

Slip n' Slide:
Colvin's birthday meant the annual return of the backyard slip n' slide.

Old Time Fair:
Our city has what they call "The Old Timey Fair".  While it was really nothing to write home about Merrick enjoyed riding the rides and winning a stuffed starfish.

The riverbeach:
This summer brought our first ever experience with the Willamette riverbeach.  While the water was a little cold Merrick enjoyed practicing his new swimming skills.

Primary talk:
Lastly, but certainly not least, our big boy Merrick gave his first talk in primary today.  He was really brave at first but got a little shy.  Fortunately Daddy was there and he made it through.  I recorded the talk but I am having a hard time uploading it here.  Maybe I can get it up in the next few days and if not you will just have to imagine how cute it was.

I guess all the activities of the summer were enough to wear Merrick out.