It's Done!!!!

That's right - my painting project is finally done. I have painted all the rooms in the house (except the laundry room, and I don't plan on painting it). We moved here almost 6 months ago, and it's taken me that long, but it's done! No more brown wood panelling or tacky-printed wallpaper. I really like how the rooms with the wood panelling turned out, and I'm not so sure about the rooms with wallpaper. I just painted over the wallpaper, and I think it would have looked better had I taken the time to remove the wallpaper. But...it's better than it was, and for now it's good enough:) I also got a little redundant with the colors, because I wanted to use up gallons that we had and not have to buy as much paint. But overall I'm very pleased with it. And I'm very happy not to be painting anything else for a long time!!!

Parker's blue room

Ellie's purple room

Our bedroom

The kitchen

The living room

Other end of the living room

The dining room (also the homeschool room)

Kids' bathroom

Our bathroom

Rainy Days:)

Fall is absolutely my favorite season! I love the cooler weather because I get to wear sweaters. I love the smells, both outside and in (fall inspires me to bake quite a bit, and when I'm not baking I usually have a "fall-ish" candle burning). I love the beautiful colors, and although nothing can beat the beauty of central Washington in the fall, I'm really seeing a lot of beauty here, too. I think the colors come on the trees a little later here, and they are now becoming very pretty! I love knowing that Christmas is just around the corner, and starting on Christmas crafts. I love being cozy inside and drinking coffee, hot cocoa, tea, or carmel apple cider. I think I could go on and on, I just LOVE fall:)

We have a maple tree in our yard that is turning a beautiful red!

Now that we live on the west side of the mountains, we are experiencing the wetter side of life! I am happy to have a winter with less snow, and hopefully we won't get too sick of the rain! Right now I'm enjoying it. I grew up with weather similar to what we have now, and it's kind of nice to be back in the rain. As crazy as it sounds, I really missed it when we lived on the east side and didn't get very much rain. Ellie and Parker really enjoy playing in the rain and stomping in puddles! Ellie is the only one in the family with a rain coat and umbrella, though, so we may need to purchase a few more for the rest of us.

Ellie and Parker LOVE playing outside in the rain!

Yay! I painted our living room a couple weeks ago! I really think it looks a lot nicer now. It makes me excited to paint another room, but it took 17 hours to finish the living room, with prepping the walls, priming, and painting, so I'm going to rest a little more before beginning the next room! I've been waiting to put up pictures until I paint each room, so once a room is painted and has the pictures on the walls, it feels so much more like home:)

Doesn't the paint lighten up the room?

I am so thankful for the blessings in my life. I pray that you are counting your blessings, too. They are there, we sometimes just need to take the time to see them:)

Our New Home

Our new house

For those of you who haven't given up hope of me ever posting again, I sincerely apologize for my lengthy absence! I knew that it had been quite some time since my last post, but as I signed in I saw that it has been over two months! Inexcusable, I know. We moved into our new house almost a month ago, and before that we were madly packing and trying to do everything in our old town "one last time" before we moved. I fully intended to blog every step of the way, and well, that just didn't happen. But now I have a new goal. I plan on blogging once a week, on Tuesdays. I may end up blogging more than that, but I will wholeheartedly try to blog at least that often. For now, here are some pictures of our new home. We are not in love with the wood paneling and have plans to repaint each of the rooms, but that will take time. In painting Ellie's room, I was "absent" from my kids for almost two straight days. That is about as much as any of us can handle, so I'm taking it a room at a time, and plan on doing one room a month. So, as I get each room done I will post new pictures. There are other projects we'd like to do as well, but right now Jared is working 12-14 hour days, so any house projects are on hold. Blessings on you today, and please feel free to check back in - I promise to be more consistent in blogging than I have been:)

Ellie's room

Parker's room

Kids' bathroom Our bedroom
Our bathroom (there is a bathtub out of view)
Kitchen Dining room
1/2 of living room

Other 1/2 of living room

A beautiful place

As I was taking a walk yesterday evening, I was really struck by how beautiful my surroundings are. I mean, I always knew they were, but last night I was in awe, and I realized just how much I'm going to miss this place. We are moving in just over 5 weeks, and I've been very excited for the new adventure. I've had some advice to make sure I enjoy the time that I'm here, as it will pass all too quickly. And I've really tried to do that. But it wasn't until last night, in the cool mountain air, all alone, surrounded by the beauty of God's creation, that it really sank in. I'm leaving. These walks will be my last here, for a long time. Yes, I'm sure we'll come back and visit from time to time, but I need to take advantage of every moment here. We have so many memories here. We were married here, in the meadow. I experienced both of my pregnancies here. I have made many wonderful friends here. We have family here. I have walked and jogged hundreds of miles here. Since becoming a family, this is the only place we've ever known. Am I still excited for our new adventures? Yes, very much. Will I cherish every moment here even more than I have in the past? Definitely! I am so thankful for the time that God has allowed us to be here. And in these last 5 weeks I want to make many more happy memories!

Our house (the bottom half, anyway)

Our front yard

My garden

The basketball court across the road from our house, where we often play

Looking toward camp, from our house