Starting a new adventure...

A little over a year ago Justin and I decided it was time for us to start looking for houses to no avail. Justin and I looked at seemed over 100 house's and not having many in our price range. We were starting to get discouraged, thinking that we would never find a home. Then we started hearing about a self help housing program ran by the government to help families like ours get into a home. This program essentially takes 6 to 8 families at a time and you all build your houses together. Than once your house is completed than you all move in at the same time. This program takes anywhere from 6 to 9 months to complete your home.
So we got the numbers from my new sister in law (Thanks Kate) and started the process in May. We filled out all the paperwork and turned in everything that they needed. Then waited and waited...and we did not hear anything. Thinking that we didn't get in Justin and I felt deflated. Then three days ago we got a call saying we were accepted and that we would be getting a letter in the mail to how much we were approved for and what the next step would be. Lets just say we were pretty excited. Then the next day we got a totally unexpected call saying that we needed to be at the county building to look at lots and plans then next day around 4 pm. Justin and I were surprised thinking it would take longer. We went to our meeting and we met all the families in our group. There are 7 families. All seemed really nice which makes me really excited. We then looked at several plans, There were a lot of three or 2 bedroom homes that we could have built but most of them were kind of a weird lay out. We really liked one in particular that was a four bedroom home. Here is a picture of our house plan. I took it with my camera so you will probably have a hard time seeing what it will look like.

The house is all one level and has four bedrooms, two bathrooms,  kitchen nook, living room, dinning room, 2 car garage, a foyer when walking in the front door. I really liked that all four bedrooms were in the same general area of the house and I also liked that garage is close to the kitchen for bring in groceries. Some of the other plans had the garage on the other end of the house from the kitchen and I didn't like that.  

 After picking the plan it was time to look at Lots. We had a choice of two different lots and I really liked lot number 73.  Here is a picture of our lot that we picked out. The lot backs a field that has horses and sheep in it. I am sure that Leah will love that.

After we picked out lots then we went through the paperwork and learned the rules of the building project etc....All the information was scary and exciting at the same time. Sometimes you think why are  going to do this to ourselves. We have to put in 30 hours a week. Yikes...So if anyone wants to come help once we get started we can have up to two volunteers at a time on site. We would welcome any help that we can get. I will take a actually picture of the lot once I get some time to go up and take one for all you to see!

Happy 4th of July

Of course you cant have the forth of July with out a good old Vernal Parade. This year it started and there was no fly over...every year we look for the jets that fly over main street and the parade started and no jets...finally after a while they did fly over but it was not close to the ground and they didn't come back it was really disappointing..Oh well...Here is the picture of the band...

 Here is a picture of the drill team....they are really good.

 Here is a picture of the war veterans...

Here is Garrett.

Here is Kayla...in her dress. We hope she wins...

Here is Leah...It was pretty hot today and we were regretting not bringing any water...That is usually my mom's job but she was out of town...man we sure missed her today.

Here is one of the oldest fire trucks. They also had a few fire fighters walking behind it...it was pretty neat to see everyone cheer for them as they are fighting all the fires near Vernal.

This next picture is of the float for the mortuary here in town...

So after this float went by then came the oil trucks...and they kept coming and coming and coming and coming....Okay so Vernal parades are usually 35 to 45 minutes long and today the parade lasted 2 and a half hours...I am not kidding. Justin and I finally left before the parade was even over...It was really annoying to have to look at advertisements and nothing was even decorated...Plus with all of them honking the horns my kids were done. Keyan really didn't like it. So not fun..

Later that day Justin and I took the kids swimming and then to Ashley's house for dinner. It was really good. Thanks Ashley. We also went to the park for the annual fireworks of course I forgot my camera for the rest of the day so I don't have any more pictures...I wish I would have taken some at the fire works but I didn't...only regrets...oh well. We did have fun. Happy 4th to all...we sure had a day full of fun.

Yum Chocolate!

When it was time for snack Leah decided that she wanted to eat a pudding. I was feeding Keyan and was not paying much attention to Leah or what she was doing. When I looked up this is what I found...it must have been good...YUM Chocolate.

It sure looked good Leah...YUM!

Happy Birthday Justin

Happy 33rd Birthday Justin....when asking Justin what he wanted for his birthday he said red velvet cake and ice cream. When I asked what he wanted for presents he said clothes and a fishing licence...He really has been dieing to go fishing. That is all he has taked about for weeks. So I was not all supprised to hear him say that he wanted the fishing licence. Leading up to his birthday I took the kids shopping for birthday supplies...Leah had told me that she was going to help me make his cake...So we were looking at all the cake mixes and Leah told me that we had to buy the presents and candles. So we did...his cake was nothing fancy but it sure tasted good. So for Justin's birthday We invited family over for dinner. Those that made it thank you...Jusitn had school that night so we had to eat later than we usually do but it all worked out. We decided to sit outside and eat and do cake and ice cream...it was great we had sweet and sour meatballs and berry salad...it was sure good. Here are some fun pictures of the party.  

 Here is Justin's Bon Fire...cake to many candles.

 Justin blowing out candles...

That night we had to take a picture of the sun going down...the sun was actually blood red but it would not show up on my camera. It was due to all the fires going on. 

Well your birthday was a success...I hope it was a great one Justin...We sure had fun.

Happy Birthday Justin

Arches National Park

This summer Justin and I decided that instead of going to Montana we would head down to the Arches National Park and go camping with Justin's family. We camped at Devils Garden Camp ground. It is the only camp site that is actually in the park so we were excited. We arrived on Thursday around 3pm and Justin's parents were already there. We visited before picking a spot for our tent. So that night Justin and I decided to roast hot dogs and marshmallows for dinner. We did have fun sitting around talking and visited with Justin's siblings that trickled in as the night went on. Here are some pictures of us roasting marshmallow and hot dogs.  

 That night it was actually not the best night. Keyan and Leah both woke up screaming and we were having a hard time getting Leah to calm down. Justin finally took Leah on a walk outside the tent at 3am and it worked she came back and climbed in bed with us and promptly fell asleep. So having Leah in bed with us I was up bright and early at 5:30 and was able to watch the sun come up. It was sure beautiful. I had to take some pictures.

 Here is our tent...I had to take this picture of our tent sitting at our camp site...even at 6 in the morning it was pretty hot with out any shade.

 Here is a picture of Justin...early early morning with out sleep.

 After getting ready we headed off to go hiking...but first this is a picture of our campsite...arches all over the place.

 The first placed we hiked to was called Landscape arch. This picture was taken only after hiking for maybe an hour. It was so hot..we actually did not make it all the way to the arch. Leah was crying and Keyan was tired from our long night so Justin and I took some pictures of the arch from a distance and carried the kids out..

  When we got back to our car it was 106 no wonder the kids where hot tired and sleepy. So we ended up driving around looking at different rocks formations while the kids took a nap in the car. here are a few favorites.

When we got back to our tent we realized that our rain flap had come off. Then we realized that the wind had blown sand and covered all of our sleeping bags and blankets. It really was a mess trying to shake everything out. I do have to say that..that night it was like sleeping with dirt all over everything. Later that day we decided to drive down to Moab to get more ice for our coolers becasue it was so hot that all the ice had melted. While there we got ice cream and had a fun time just sitting in our air conditioned car...it was nice...

 That night the rest of the family arrived and we had a family dinner all together...Well sort off. Dinner actually did not get done until 8pm so we all ate watermelon rolls and junk food because we were so hungry waiting for the food...and eventually the food was ready but the kids were not anymore..oh well it really was great...thanks Jessie and Leif for cooking it. That night was also not the best night for Leah...while playing with cousins she fell into a cactus and we had to take tweezers to get all the thorns out...She as not happy...I felt so bad for her...not fun.

The next morning we all went hiking together as a family we went to an area called the windows and got to see many arches. It really was a good hike because when you got to the arch it was shady and it had a breeze..Some parts were more windy then others but it make the hike bearable.

 Leah with her cousins and Justin's parents.

 Here is Leah...She was so cute and really loved wearing her dora hat she picked out before we left town to go on our trip.

 Here are my cute guys.

 Can I say that i dont know why Leah can not smile anymore...she used to give me the cutest smiles and now all of the sudden she does not know how to anymore...i he she grows out of it.

Here are some other cute pictures taken at the windows of us hiking.

We sure had fun hanging out with family.