Landscaping in the front looks faboo.  I had nothing to do with it except to choose some of the plants and trees.  The courtyard there to the left will be getting a bit of wrought iron detail and a fountain. 

The Wes-Meister always has something in his mouth.  I am going to start trying to snap pictures of it more often.  This time it's a hair ribbon of the girls.  Wes felt bad for me and my washing machine saga so he decided to take a look at it and see what he could do.  He declared it a lemon and we are officially getting a new one.  Unfortunately the model we have is no longer being manufactured so we are getting a different one which of course won't match the dryer that we have.  Oh well...at least I will be able to keep my family from stinking.  But not for at least ANOTHER week. 

And there is the Rose...who can sleep anywhere.  What is not pictured is her lower half which was devoid of clothing of any kind.  Pretty funny. 

Brian is up in Panguitch Utah with his Dad and Tucker...bridge building.  I don't get to talk to him very often because they are so busy and last night he fell asleep before calling.  But I get the message that things are going well.   It's very physically demanding and extremely dirty work.  Last time we had to cut his socks off his feet when he got home because he had been walking in cement.  The lime from the cement wore holes in his feet that still haven't healed.  Hopefully he is taking better precautions this go around. 

I continue to stay the night at the Andersons with the kids and spend the days at the house letting workers in, answering questions, and keeping tabs on the progression of the house.  I think we will call for a final on Monday or Tuesday.  I am 99% sure the inspector will not pass us.  I know he has been taking notes of things throughout the building and is hoping to catch us on enough to stall the project enough to make us have to move everything out.  We have a guy working for us named Mac who has been through countless inspections like this with inspectors like this and knows a lot of what they try to nitpick on.  He is going the extra mile to try and catch those little things (including things we have already passed on) that the inspector just might give us grief about. 

Serra asked me this morning...Where will we be living tomorrow Mom?  My poor kids. 

Rosie said from the backseat this morning.  I am a woobot.  (I am a robot)  I know....totaly random, but funny. 

Washing Machine - still never done a load and if I have my way-never will.  Repair guy showed up today simply to tell me that Bosch forgot to send ALL the parts he needs to fix it.  At this point I am ready to beat somebody senseless.  Another week.  Do I have a choice?  Anybody know a lawyer?  There has to be a fix-it-in-a-timely-manner clause somewhere. 

Early on in the building of the house Brian challanged the inspector on the footings inspection.  Because Brian went over his head and got clearance for something, the inspector has made everything very difficult.  We finally passed the shower pan inspection.  However, when he came in he decided to write a violation because we had moved everything in.  Funny how the last time he was here and it was all here as well he didn't say anything.  Now that everything is put away he decided to write the violation and declare that he will not final the house until we move EVERYTHING out of the house.  Yeah right!  Like that is going to happen.  Luckily Brian kept a cool head and went to his supervisor and made a new deal.  The deal is that we complete all inspection items within 15 days and we don't have to move everything out.  In the meantime we are camping back at the Andersons.  When the inspector came back this morning to rewrite the violation to include the revision he stated that we had to have it all completed by next Tuesday.  Brian once again had to go to his supervisor to get things cleared up.  Serious power trip going on.  And Brian has challanged his power....I have a feeling this isn't even close to being over. 

I'm in a bit of a funk.  I've been gearing up for conference weekend for so long (in reality for a year) and now that the family has left I'm not quite sure what to do with myself.  Don't get me wrong...I have a million things that need to get done...just don't feel like doing any of it right now. 

We did indeed move on the 20th like we planned although we have as yet to get an occupancy permit.  It has become the saga of the shower.  Our master shower has to be completed before the inspector will final this house.  However, we can't get the pan to not leak.  What was supposed to be a few days job has turned into weeks with no end in sight.  In the mean time we moved in, unpacked, were trying to be good citizens by not officially moving in so we were spending the nights with Brian's family.  After a week of invading their house I decided to brave the consequences (which we have no idea what they might be)  and start actually living in the house without approval.  It was just too hard to run this family and maintain a schedule with Serra's school etc... while hopping from one place to the next.  Especially when the house it mostly complete.  Rosie was so confused about where home was and backslid with the potty training.  Weston wasn't sleeping well and cried all day.  I couldn't take it anymore.  So we are moved in and still completing projects day by day.  The bedrooms got closet shelves in last week, we got a front patio, the powder room is getting some wainscotting today.  We still have a lot of touchup painting to do since we fired the finish painters.  They were making a mess of everything and doing more harm than good.  We also have a washing machine, brand new, never done a load, that doesn't work.  We are having to deal with the warranty folk in the company and it has not been a real positive experience since they want to keep trying to fix it.  Although, when they try to fix one thing, another thing goes wrong.  We wish they would just replace it and scrap the lemon we ended up with.  But we have to play the game.  In the meantime I have to take all the laundry elsewhere...just think to yourselves how much in your own households that adds up to every week and multiply that by 2 or 3 as my husbands clothing is larger and dirtier than the average bears...and not to mention all the rags and towels used for construction cleaning that have been used.  It's been a good time. 

On a happier note...we were able to get the house to a state of cleanliness and livability in order to have family come for conference.   Mom and Dad Arnell and Julie and her kids.  We also had the locals, Jeff and Maren, and Amy Jo, Tucker and Jill (or Baby Dill as Rosie calls her).  It was a fantastic weekend.  Mom took care of the cinnamon rolls (cause she is the best at it), Maren took care of a meal, Brian even mopped the floors, and everyone else pitched in somewhere and made it a lot of fun.  There were a few trips to the park and of course Conference itself.  I think it was only better for Great Grandma Arnell who actually got to be there as a VIP.  I was able to pick out several things that I need to work on personally and as a family. 

Now back to reality and on toward Christmas. 

Serra gets ahold of my camera now and then.  She took about 50 pictures this time around...mostly of herself and Rosie.

She managed to get a few of Weston getting yet another haircut. 

AAAARGH!  Makes the face itchy.

Some house pix...The girls bathroom.

The girls room...and messy already.

Weston's bathroom.

Weston's room looking toward the closet. 

Weston's room from another angle.

Half of the master bathroom.  A work in progress but functional.  You can see the smaller of the master closets. 

The next few are of the master bedroom.  The fireplace is not trimmed out yet. 

Part of the kitchen...a nice closeup of the granite. 

The family room looking into the kitchen.  Weston screaming at the bottom of the picture because I put him down for a second. 

The family room. 

The new patio...landscaping begins today....and a fountain is coming in Friday. 

The entry way. 

Formal livingroom/dining room...none of the fireplaces are trimmed out yet.

Conference weekend.   The bigger of the master closets is a TV room for the kids.  The watched Disney movies while we watched the prophets.  We just hung Weston in the doorway and he was content to watch all that was going on around him.

Strange kids...hovered around the veggie platter for about an hour eating mostly cauliflower and carrots.  OK so there was ranch dip involved.

The kids spent a lot of time out on the back patio.  Weston watched from the window. 

Rosie discovered that the faucet for her tub also makes a great elephant nose. 

Weston looking sharp for church. 

Brian Declares:  Move Date - Saturday the 20th

Enough is enough.  We are moving next saturday.  Thursday and Friday will be MAJOR cleaning days.  I started the process yesterday.  The kids rooms are about 75%.  I actually set up Rosie's bed and she was very upset that we weren't taking it "home" with us.  Brian has been working on the decorative tile in the kitchen.  The painters are working on the finish work.  We expect the inside house jobs to be completed by Wednesday.  That is when I kick EVERYONE out.  Then workers will only be allowed in on my watch and they WILL wear blue smurf shoes.  Let the party begin.  Anyone who catches the cleaning bug is more than welcome to come and join in anytime this week. 

We attended our new ward last week.  It was really hard.  It's much smaller and doesn't have the same dynamic feel.  We both feel as though we were put in our last ward to get trained.  If you want to see how a ward is supposed to function then go to the Elkhorn Springs 1st ward in Las Vegas.  Again, we are going to be in a ward where we are "needed".  It seems that it has been shrinking and doesn't see new life very often.  Coincidence:  A neighbor family from Brian's days in Farmington is in the new ward.  We didn't get a chance to talk to them but will make efforts next week. 

The house is looking fantastic.  I must say our floor choice is AWESOME.  Tucker is finishing it up today.  Brian hired a guy to help with the finish work and he promises baseboards in by tomorrow.  I am so aggravated by some of the workers though.  Total inconsideration.  The guys that came in and trimmed the doors cut them right in the hallway...sawdust flying all over the new carpet...and then didn't even brush them off before hanging them.  There are piles of sawdust all over finished areas.  An outside entrance was only a few feet away, the weather is nice out...I just don't get it.  Actually I do...obviously they have never had to clean anything in their life.  I am only waiting on the painters to come in and do their finish work before I start a construction clean.  I expect that to be loads of fun. 

Weston is officially officially crawling.  He is the proverbial baby vacuum and every tiny thing on the floor goes into his mouth.  We are struggling with the girls to keep the little things..like barbie shoes...picked up so we don't get a choking baby.   He crawled behind his swing yesterday and pulled himself to a standing position on the bar.  He is 8 months today.  I have a bad feeling about his walking age.  Don't judge me if you see me pushing him down. 

We fully expected to be moved by now but as we are out of building money Brian is having to do the rest of the finish work himself.  He still has to make a living so his time is limited.  It's slow going but progress is being made.  The hold up now is the wood floor.  It is very time consuming work and after a week he is almost half way done.  He has had some help from Tucker and Jeff.  I feel like I'm in limbo since the current house is completely packed up including the kitchen.  It's an adventure coming up with meals every day with limited tools and no pantry items.  I can't clean the current house yet or I will have to do it again after we move and I don't want to do that.  The new house still has way too much saw dust flying to even consider trying to start a construction clean.  So we wait...and we drive 45 minutes each way to deliver and pick up Serra from her new school. 

Serra seems to like the first grade but has ended up in the health office 2x in the first week for VERY minor things.  I told her this has to stop.  She needs to be on her death bed before she goes there again.  (For her that means a head ache or stubbed toe.)  We need to toughen that one up.  I got phone calls both times, one being while I was sitting in a courtroom.  (more on that)  We have some interesting conversation on our long drives.  This one was with Brian.  She asked him what it meant to be blind.  A conversation about what that meant ensued.  He explained that some people are considered blind but can still see a little bit.  She then declared, "And then they can wear eye-tacks."  Brian said, "you mean, contacts?"  "No, eye-tacks."  I find it funny the way she interprets things.  Tonight she was asking me about the time when Jesus lived.  I told her it was a long time ago.  She said, "Like way back in the 70's?"  Yeah...something like that. 

Rosie is completely understandable most of the time now.  I find language development in children fascinating.  She imitates me a lot and I don't even realize that she is getting it from me.  Some times I say, "I don't THINK so."  She says it much cuter. "Not a TINK show."  She also knows her full name and when people ask her what it is she says, "O-pia."  This is suprising since we don't call her that.  She has been Rosie from the get go.  We tease her and say, "I thought your name was Rosie?"  She says, "NO! I O-pia Wose."  She is a delightful albeit loud child.  I think Grandpa Anderson wants to pull out what is left of his hair when we are over at their house.  The decibel of her screech is deafening.  She is learning though that the screech gets a lip flick and it is getting better. 

Weston is officially huge.  We are a month behind in his immunizations so we were in at 7 months recently.  He is 21.9 lbs and 28 inches long.  A well proportioned dude in the 90th percentile.  He is soooo sweet but has developed an opinion as of late.  He has been teething constantly since 5 months old and now has 6 choppers.  Because of the teething issue his sleeping patterns have taken a bad turn.  He wakes every few hours all night and I am very tired especially since I have to get up so early to get Serra off to school.    He is crawling although slowly.  He ends up all over the room in a slow motion.  I am looking forward to having him sleeping in a different room.  I think it will help him learn to sleep better if I am not right there.  I don't like to let him fuss because it wakes me up to where I can't go back to sleep.

Back to the court thing.  I was supoenaed to testify in a drunk driving case that I was witness to.  I had to make arrangements for the kids since it was in the middle of the afternoon and I had no idea how long it was going to take.  Because of that I also had to take Weston with me since he doesn't take a bottle.  I found the Regional Justice Center and that place is huge with probably 100 different court rooms going all at the same time for every thing you can imagine.  It looked like 10 to 20 cases every hour are seen in each of these rooms as well.  I had to sit in a courtroom with a bunch of riff raff while I waited to be called up.  There were some hefty fines and jail time handed out while I sat in that room.  When the lady's case was finally called, her lawyer got up and made excuses for her and asked for the cases (that's right she was in for more than one) to be postponed.  She wasn't even there.  I was getting madder by the minute.  The city attorney then came up to me,  the 2 other witnesses, and the 2 police officers from the scene, and explained that she decided to plead guilty in the case we were there for, so we were excused from further duty.  I was so irritated that she didn't plead guilty from the beginning so 5 separate people had to take a whole day because of her idiocy.  Not to mention the time we spent at the scene of her accident back in November.  Then they refused to validate my parking so I had to pay $4 for that not including the gas money to drive downtown.  I was VERY irritated.  Don't drink and drive.  On second thought...JUST DON"T DRINK!  Nothing but problems. 

We will attend our new ward tomorrow and get a feel for how that's going to be.  We figured that although we are not officially there yet we need to start going so we can get to know people. 

Work seems to be picking up a little for Brian.  Some opportunities are looking good in Southern Utah and he is bidding a few more casitas this week.  He thinks he will get both of them.  In the meantime we are hanging...just hanging. 

Maybe Serra needs a doll with hair. 

Back to July...a cookout @ Porcupine Dam

Not sure what Doug, Darci and Ethan are looking at...I know it wasn't firworks.

Uncle Rich, Wes, and Dad standing in for Serra who can't move as fast nowadays to sneak in pictures.  And one of Jeff's modeling shots.

The incredible expandable Serra.

I just thought these were funny.

Soooooo cute....I just want to eat him up.

These two shots look kind of funny together.  A two headed, chubby legged monster.

Weston loved the water.

Rosie...all business.

Great  Grandma Arnell hanging out with Weston in the shade.

Rosie in a sweet moment.  Weston obviously has sisters.

Oopsies...caught the boy in another private moment.  He seems to have a lot of these.

All Done!

Sweet potatoe mustache and if you look close you can see 4 of the six teeth. 

First day of 1st grade. 

Vegas cousins. 

Brian sits down and it just happens.  Wes gets wrapped up and binkied and it's the same phenomenon.

Here he goes. 

That's one cute boy....  I turned 35. 

Brian worked all day on the floor.  He is doing it himself to save us about $5000.  He is hurting from being on his knees all day.  OUCH!

So the hold up now is the HVAC dudes.  They put in the wrong AC units and promised to have them fixed by last Wednesday.  Still not fixed.  We can't start the hardwood floors until there is AC running.  In the meantime...girls shower will soon be complete and will be the only one complete by the time we move in.  Time and money...

UPDATE: Brian stayed on the job till 9:30 tonight with the AC guys and we now have cool air.....wood floor starts tomorrow! (Sat)

The driveway looks fantastic.  We chose a cobblestone look and I think it's grand!

The carpet looks great too.  It is a chocolate (or poo) brown color.  This photo washes the color out quite bit but you can see the texture really well.  All the bedrooms are carpeted. 

I found a screaming deal on mattresses.  Big Lots of all places...and Serta mattresses.  So everyone will have a place to sleep...when we move in.  I have had some help from fantastic friends.  I have the bathrooms to pack up and that's it.  The kitchen was finished yesterday and I am officially unable to cook until  M day. 

And to complicate things a bit, I have been subpoenaed as a witness to a drunk driving accident from last November.  I'm supposed to appear in court next Thursday.  Brian is supposed to be in Southern Utah that day.  I wonder who is going to pick Serra up from school.  Hmmmm.  The attorney I talked to indicated that there might be an delay and it will be rescheduled in a few weeks.  I hope. 

Powder Room - It's getting there.