The Remodel Begins

We are in the middle of our project - you can see the first couple of phases. We hope to get the cabinets done today and then we are on hold for a few days waiting for the quartz countertops to be cut. After that, a couple of days while they do the tile and then we can begin moving back in. We are getting excited! But for now, we are living out of our kitchen in the family room and boxes in the bathroom;-)

Finally have a working Camera

We haven't had a camera for a while but today Dan fixed it. As a result I'm posting but I don't have any pictures of us here even though we've been here almost 3 weeks (can you believe it?) So I'm reminiscing (Sp?) instead. I'll post pictures of our land and what we've been up to, etc. soon.
THIS IS WHAT WE Are NOT MISSING:

I have never been more excited to post something on Craig's List before. we are so excited to get rid of these couches, slipcovers or not, but we'll throw them in there for free. And you name the price.:)

Swinging with grandpa more often.

And the wide open spaces. I LOVE THAT, AND I'vE BEEN MISSING IT!!!

Flip side of the coin,

This is what we have been MISSING ALOT!!!

the RIO GRANDE BIOPARK AND ZOO, the sprinklers were always a huge hit.

And FRIENDS, we are really missing our friends. Sorry Addilee about the hair pulling, you're probably not missing us but I love that face.:)

Brookie's has had many emotional moments thinking about Camella.

And Emma misses Abbey, Natalie, and CAsey. She has notes and letters and all kinds of accessories to mail to them if she only had a mother who could get it together to find the nearest post office, (I have nothing better to do).

We miss the Corralles Library so much. We love that place.

Notice Janey in the background about to pull all the books off the shelf.

We love this place. Looking at these pictures makes me want to cry.

the goats by the library were so fun. sometimes i have to admit we spent more time with them than we did in the library, which is hard to do.

we loved those goats. we had names for them all and we had their personalities all figured out.

they liked the dead leaves more than the green and they would only eat certain flowers. very particular goats.

Another thing we are missing is misquito free NM. my kids are not immuned to misquito bites yet so their bug bites have been swelling like crazy. it's amazing. Brookie's legs have gotten huge once or twice. they don't even BUG me, but the first week we were here, my kids thought the misquitos were going to eat them alive. they have started to disappear because the river levels are going down now.

More Drama about our MOVE:

Emma got a cat for her birthday and it was fine for one day. then it started having diarhea all over the place and I banned her to the mud room. today we took her to the vet and i guess she has some disease. just great!! dan and i've cleaned up enough cat STUFF to last us a life time and I'm surprised that i got through it without throwing up. i thought about it a couple of times. Anyway the Humane Society gets to keep the cat I think after the vet is through with her. I'm not sure I have it in me to take her back.

Brookie broke her nose on our tiled jetted tub. it was wet and she slipped and fell on her face. NICE, huh?

Will (and Brookie and Emma sometimes) have decided that the only place they can fall asleep is of course in Mom and Dad's bed. So we're all getting LOTS of sleep. Too much transition, everyone is just a little in need of some stability. it's coming soon.

Janey's doing great. I'm not sure she realized anything happened.

Dan loves his job. I love this house and my land and I can't wait to post pictures of the sunset we've been watching every night.

That's it. Hope everyone is doing GREAT!!

Can't wait to see pictures of your new house, Carson and Deanna.

More Morocco

Dressed up Berber style in a jewelry stall

I was alright with the monkey, it was the guy with the snake that I wasn't OK with. I HATE and have a completely irrational fear of snakes. I spent the entire time in Djemaa el Fna making sure I knew where all the snakes were (and staying as far away as possible from them). Our last morning there I got distracted by the monkeys and of course....snake man snuck up on me (rookie mistake) BTW I love that he is wearing a modern leather jacket under his traditional djellaba (it's absolutely Marrakech)

snake charmers in the square, cobras and pythons and rattlers, oh my!

Joined a band of Gnaoua musicians for a song or two...they were surprised I could (sort of) play the Krakeb (symbols)...thanks to an amazing experience in Essaouira

I could post a million pics of Morocco, it was a beautiful place and I feel so lucky to have been there and had such a great experience.

Finally...internet!

Getting some henna 'tattoos' and letting them dry in the sun

Cactus silk drying in the sun after being dyed in the dyers' souk in Marrakesh

Music stall in the souks

Riding camels through the dunes and on the beach in Essaouira, here's our 'guide' hehe

this is the cistern in the old fort in El Jadida

We are finally online in our new apartment in Madrid. Here's a few pictures (I took about 3000) of my trip...these are all from Morocco

HGTV arrives at our house!

Not really - but I wish they were in charge of our projects! We are refinishing the cabinets and redoing the counter tops and sinks in the kitchen and all four bathrooms. I have learned a lot about quartz, tile, sinks and faucets. It is a little scary trying to figure out what looks good - not just for me but for a potential buyer some time in the future! Here is what I am thinking - Chocolate cabinets with a Craftsman look (color on the left on doors on the right), "Buttermilk" Ceasar stone counters, creamy crackle tiles (4x4 squares) with a line of 3 rows of the glass tiles. We are thinking about getting daring in the downstairs powder room and having a vessel sink. The one "non neutral" item! Weigh in a let me know what you think. Would you buy a house that looked like this?

(I will post before and after pictures when it is done. The goal was to have it all done when the kids come home in August, but the countertop may be back ordered until the end of August:()

Heaven - or the Oregon Coast!

From our hotel balcony (The hotel was a recommendation from Sunni and Alan!) we could see Yaquina head. It reminded us of our time there with all of our children and their families! It was a little windy - especially on Cape Foulweather - but we loved the view of Haceata Head. We remember freezing there with Erin and Janice and their family on a day when it was 104 in Eugene! We ate clam chowder and the yummy onion rings at the "original" Mo's in Newport. Lots of memories there too!

Paint the Town

Gavin's High Priest's group took the lead when our ward particpated in this community event. We fixed up the home of a ward member. Over 200 hours were spent by 50+ members of the ward. It was hard for the members too let us serve them, but it was a real blessing to the ward as we worked together.

(Us hard at work with before and after pictures.)