Painting the Exterior

Like I've said before, we LOVE our house!

 

 I am sort of wondering if EVERYONE feels that way about their first house.

 

 I hope so.

Ours by no means is anything more than average. 

 

But Wes and I are pretty average folk and we like it that way. 

Out of all the things that most people say after buying a new house that has always stuck with me, is how they didn't realize how much work goes into owning a home.  We weren't born under a lucky star and we will join the rest of the home owners in the sinking boat and say,

 

"We didn't realize how much work goes into owning a home."

 

Thankfully we both love projects, keeping busy and work...well that last one not so much.

  

Our loving home came to us gift wrapped in a hideously faded pea soup green paint. 

Seriously, so bad.

 

When we moved in, there was a lot we wanted to do.  But we had to prioritize and Wes said that out of all the projects he wanted to do, the painting was really at the top of his list.

 

So while waiting for good weather we did some other, cheaper projects.

 

When it was finally time to paint, we noticed a great deal at Lowes for paint but it was ending on the day we would be able to buy the paint.

 

New home owners, picking exterior paint you'll have to live with FOREVER in one day (okay I know, really only 5-7 years).  Talk about pressure.

 

We went safe cuz we are the play it safe kind of people. 

 

We picked Blue Twilight for the siding and Honeymilk for the trim.

 

But before we painted, we prepped. 

 I. Hate. Prep. Work. 

 Seriously. 

And there was so much.  First Wes pressure washed (paint flying everywhere, it was actually kind of fun to see how messy he was after each session with the pressure washer).  Then I caulked the front of the house where there were nail holes and Wes did additional caulking of siding that was just in really bad shape.

  So time consuming. 

 

It makes me a little nuts just thinking about it.

 

Finally it was time to paint.

 

I started June 3rd.   

 

 

 

I got about this far with a ladder when our neighbor, a member of our church, leaned over the fence and said, "You look ambitious.  I have scaffolding if you want to use it."

 

"Um, yes please!"

 

I kind of wonder if I looked pretty silly, pregnant up on the tippy top of the ladder painting while watching kiddos in the backyard.

 

 

After about a week and a half it looked like this:

 

 

Then about three and a half weeks later.

Wes used the scaffolding, it was too high for me.

 I only painted to the bottom of the windows on the second level.

 

Then maybe a month and a half later we were left with this.



 All sides complete except the second level of one.  Then it got really hot and we were kind of over it for a week or so and only did a little here and there.

 

 

This Saturday July 27th, about 25 gallons of paint later, Wes got up early and finished.

 

Then he packed up the scaffolding and gave it back to our neighbors.  It was so nice to have it out of our yard!

 

And then the angels rejoiced in the heavens or at least Wes and I did. 

 

We aren't sure what we are going to do the rest of the summer with this project behind us.

 

But I'm sure we will find something.

 

Here is the before and after pictures.

 Hello lovely! 

 

So much good came from this project. 

 

But the thing I will probably remember the most is when Novalee was outside with me while I was working and said in an admiring tone, "You are really a hard worker mom!" 

 

To me that made it all worth it. 

24 Weeks

I'm 24 weeks pregnant today with Hyrum.  I'm not going to sugar coat this, it feels like I've been pregnant FOREVER.  But perhaps it's because for the four years Wes and I have been married which equals 48 months I've been pregnant for 23.5 of them.  It also might be because I'm getting older and a tad bit of it might be because I'm pretty sure I'm ready to be done with this phase of my life (the childbearing phase) and I look forward to just simply child rearing. 

Even with all the above complaining I really am excited for Hyrum.  I look forward to meeting the little guy and seeing what little baby Crockett boys look like.  I look forward to having a greater balance in the number of boys vs. girls there are in the family and a greater balance in the laundry.  (We currently do one load of darks, one load of whites and one load of pinks.)  And of course, little boy sneakers.  They are so cute! 

I wanted to add some pictures to compare pregnancy belly's.  I have a goal to not gain as much weight with this little guy as I have in previous pregnancies, particularly not to gain as much weight as I did when I was pregnant with Jared.  60+lbs I think was my end weight gain with Jared.  That was, well if I had one word for it, unhealthy.  And no, I don't have a picture of it, it was bad. 

Here I am at 13 weeks with Sadie, Kinsley and 12 1/2 weeks with Hyrum.

 

 

 

 

 

24 weeks with Sadie, Kinsley and Hyrum.

 

I'm a little nervous I'm going to fail at not gaining a ton of weight...it might be because as I am writing this I am finishing up a box of junior mint candies...or because I look the biggest in the above last three pictures with Hyrum.  Time will tell. 

 

 

Regardless, HOORAY for being over halfway there!!!

My current theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDK9QqIzhwk

Kinsley's Birthday

Kinsley turned one on May 25th. 

 

Here she is with Mommy on her actual birthday.

 

Daddy got her new shoes.

Sleeping picture because they are so cute sleeping. 

 

We decided to wait and have her birthday celebration the following week when Wes' family was in town. 

 

Prepare yourself for picture overload.

Baby with Mommy

 

 Eating dinner.

 

What Kinsley wanted to do with her presents.

 She.

 Was.

 Spoiled.

 Rotten.

 

Kinsley loved her cake!

 Sadie loved it too.

Why are babies with cake all over them so fun?

 She was such a mess!

 

If I remember right, Sadie had a sugar rush briefly and then she crashed, on the floor.

The next morning I gave Kinsley some more cake for breakfast.  Honestly it was the only way to justify eating some myself.  :)

 

And I put her hair up for the first time in pigtails. 

She's getting so big!  We love her personality.  She has a very penetrating stare that she uses often.  I can't tell if she is observing us so she can learn from us or if she is wondering how she got sent to such a crazy family.  She already knows how to throw tantrums (which we don't love but when you have two big sisters I guess it's only natural).  She is fearless about so many things and such a scaredy cat when it comes to other things.  Out of all our kids she has had the worst and longest bout with stranger danger.  She loves to giggle and play with her big sisters.  She loves it when Jared gives her any attention at all.  And best of all, Mommy is still her favorite!

 

Love you Sugar Booger! 

I know, we need a better nickname but it's kind of stuck.

No pun intended...

Wes' Fishing Trip at Trillium Lake

At the end of May, Wes got to go fishing with some of the men from our church.  They went up to Trillium Lake near Mt. Hood.

 The guy that headed it up said it was an annual fishing trip he does every year.  But since then I've come to the conclusion that he might have more than one or two or twenty annual fishing trips he makes each year. 

Hopefully someday Wes will be lucky enough to have a wife (me, of course, only maybe at some point I will be more willing to share him) that lets him go more than once a year too.  :)

Wes' parents came into town that weekend so Wes' dad Dave could go with them.

Thankfully I think they actually had a good day of fishing.

 

I think Dave caught the most.

I just found this picture of one of Wes's fish.  I'm not sure that can even count as a fish...maybe a minnow...

But I would call that a fish!

 

Caught on a olive woolly bugger fly. 20 inches!

 

Here is another one he caught, 19 inches!

 

I sort of love this picture!

 

I'm glad they had fun out there. 

Wes brought home these two trout.

  We pan fried one and baked the other. 

 Baked was the way to go. 

Gender of Baby Number Five

Scroll Down to Find Out If Number Five is a Girl or a Boy

 

 Jared

 

 



 Novalee

 

 

Sadie

 

 

Kinsley

 

 Hyrum!

 

 

Yay! 

 

We are so excited about getting to add another boy to our family!

 

Seriously, EXCITED!!!

 

Baseball Season is Over!

Finally baseball has ended!  I can't say I'm too sad that it is over.

Before the first practice, the league called parents to let them know that our team didn't have a coach so Wes volunteered.

So twice a week for about three months we all went to either a practice or a game.  I got to be in charge of chasing after two little girls and watching over Novalee.  While Wes was in charge of a team of 11 six to eight year old boys.  I'm not sure which job was harder.  Some nights I would have gladly taken Wes' spot on the field.  Maybe next year. ;)

Their last game was held at Pacific University on the Softball field so the kids got to experience what playing on a real field was like.  They even had their names announced over the loud speakers when they came up to bat.  I think all the kids really enjoyed it.

I only have pictures of this game because I finally gave up trying to get a picture of Jared up to bat because every time I was right there with the camera, he was posing for me instead of watching the ball...silly boy.  :)

 That's one good lookin coach. 

 

  Pre game warm ups.

 This is usually what the line up on the bench looked like...chaos. :)

 I love this picture of Jared. 

Of course Wes picked the Arizona Diamondbacks as his baseball team's name.

 

They did both machine pit and kid pitch.

 

 Third baseman.

 On first after a hit.

 

After the game Wes rounded all the kids and gave them the end of the season speech.

 And then the best part...TROPHIES!!!

 Jared is proudly displaying his trophy. 

 

 Novalee is proudly displaying her sass.

 



 

Overall it was a really good season for everyone.  I think it was good for the girls to come to each game and cheer on Jared.  I think Wes learned a lot about coaching and is kicking around the idea of doing it again next year.  But I can't say for sure that he is ready to make that commitment now. :)

And Jared. 

 It was amazing to see the difference one year made in sports.  The year before he didn't seem that interested in it.  He was more the daisy picker in the outfield.  This year he was all about working with his team.  He became a great hitter.  I think he only struck out a few times the whole season.  He has a good arm, catches well, gets the idea of the game.  It was really fun just to watch him get so involved in it.  And of course it was great to hear him say to us after the games things like, "I did pretty good, huh?"  or "Did you see me catch that ball?"  

 

We sort of love him. :)