Here we GROW......

I grew up on a horse farm. Shoveled a lot of manure (all via a wheel barrow), groomed for endless hours, rode/exercised my horse nearly daily. Rode in Rodeos, opens shows, 4-H shows, and anything else I could that was horse related. I loved it and cherish those memories that were made during that time, but I never forgot that those memories we not cheap for my mom and dad and the work was endless. So as I have "grown" my own family over the years I made a little rule. NO animals until the kids were old enough to take full responsibility for caring for them (otherwise I knew it would end up as one more thing on my list...which I had no extra energy for). Last year was our oldest son's first year in 4-H and we loved every minute of it! He learned many life skills, and did a great job caring for his projects throughout the Spring and Summer. Now that we are all moved into the new house we have started to "grow" our family some more.....

Just a few days after moving in we heard little meows....we found these kittens in one of the window wells.....

This mama didn't waste anytime having her babies.....We think she had them only a day after moving.

Non-stop rain didn't stop us from picking up our 4-H pigs last week.

Here they are in all their pig glory....

This past Saturday,after much begging from our children, we got some chickens! 15 Meat Chickens and 10 Laying Red Pullets. We put them all in here to run around while we got their separate "housing" ready. Now I guess my Hubby is committed to building that Chicken Coop we've been talking about!

I think that's pretty rapid growth in a two week period....So while our list of "wanted animals" in not complete yet, I don't expect to keep growing at such a rapid pace. Only time will tell! The kids are having a blast and loving all the "new" friends they have to take care of.

The Big Move!

We used LOTS of boxes, and little helpers that looked like this...

Then made enough small trips that looked a bit like this.....

That the only things left in the house to moves where beds and a few other things...

(note my incredibly wonderful BIL...he now has his famous spot on "THE BLOG")

Julia enjoyed some playing with her beloved cousins in her new room........

My Hubby helping keep things organized in the storage room looked like this..

My mom, who put in countless amounts of hours helping us, unpacking Julia's room!

Boys, who instead of unpacking, are playing LEGO'S!

Throughout most of the move I looked like this...with a hat on (so I didn't have to do my hair!)

If your getting ready for a move in the near future here are a few hints I learned a long the way.

#1: PURGE, any and everything you possibly can while packing!

#2: I labeled boxes with what was in them and what room they went to.

#3: As we took loads over to the house each night I unpacked them. Two reasons for that, #1 I could them reuse the boxes & #2 it made unpacking seem less daunting.

#4: If I had things I was unsure about where they would go I had two misc. boxes that the stuff went into so I could go through them later and decide.

#5: I packed one room at a time, then moved to the next area.

I am not a pro by any stretch of the imagination. I do like things to be organized and these few steps made the whole process a little less overwhelming. Ohhhh ya! I also canceled school for TWO weeks, and protested against any and all home cooked meals. It was all about pre-made box, and thrown it in the oven kind of food. While I felt terribly guilty I did not get one complaint from anyone! It was a matter of sanity for myself...and it worked wonderfully for those two weeks.

Pre-moving "Girls only Spa Weekend!"

It was wonderful, no schedule, no cooking, no cleaning, and spoiled at the Spa (thanks mom!). Ohhhh the joy of an occasional break from reality! I LOVED IT! I thought I would just share with you a few bits of "eye candy" that I saw while window shopping at a few great stores...An Antique Store, Crate & Barrel, Restoration Hardware, and Pottery Barn. Hope these pictures get your decorating juices flowing like they do mine!

Most of these stores are not in my furniture budget, but they do inspire some looks I really like. Neutral pieces of furniture with pops of colors. Simple. Comfort. Lived in. My favorite stores was Restoration Hardware for sure.....everything in it was "old world" feeling....right up my alley!
What are some of your favorite stores to window shop in?

WOW!!! What A Whirlwind!

A FULL 18 days without blogging!! A whole two weeks of that without any internet! Believe or not I did survive......hahaha! So here is a little update on what we have done over the past 18 days.....lots of packing, then moving, and then unpacking. A tiny bit a decorating, shopping for a few essentials, window shopping for a couch or two, catching up on all the school we missed during our two weeks off, cleaning the new house after being here for a week and a half now. Now we are cleaning, painting, carpet cleaning, putting stuff in the dumpster at the old house, getting things in order to sell it.......gasping for air......ohhhh ya and soccer season started last week which means two nights a week for practice and one night a week for church.....and the other two nights for MORE WORKING......


Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, but I'd be crazy if I wasn't real about the fact that I feel a tiny bit overwhelmed right now!!! Which is why I won't be showing you an avalanche of new photos....or sharing all the details of our move, or our settling in....at least not yet. I am happy to report we are probably 95% unpacked and put away.....the other 5% can't be put away until we find magic hours in the day so that we can hang shelving, buy book shelves/cubbies, and have everything all neat and tidy how I'd like it. We will get there....it's a process (I have to keep reminding myself that!)

Since the move I have enjoyed doing my laundry! These two beauties have helped make laundry a FUN thing to do.....well maybe that is stretching it a bit...but it sure does get done a lot faster! I can put about what would equal 2 1/2 or 3 loads of laundry in my washer now than my old washer, oh ya!
I also have been loving my new steam mop (a house warming gift from my mom & dad)! My mom thought I could use with all the tile we have.......and ohhhhhh buddy it's my new favorite toy! How genius is all I can say!! Okay, so it doesn't take much to get me all giddy with excitement, but if you have followed my blog for any amount of time......you already know that!
So while things are mainly squared away inside the house, we are all in flurry with activities outside! We are suppose to be getting 4-H pigs this week, which I would be a little more excited about if they didn't stink sooooo bad! It's all in the name of the 4-H experience though, right? I got the chance to transplant some strawberries and rhubarb the weekend after we moved. I also brought a few of my favorite flowers from the old house as well.....although I am sure no one will even notice I there gone because of the VAST amount of flowers that remain...smile! I also planted some Colorado Blue Spruce trees this past weekend....eventually they will make a great wind/snow fence along part of the drive.

So I guess there are most of the reasons for my 3 week absence! So I can't promise you a time of when I will be sharing pictures......but I do thank many of you who have spent a few seconds commenting, calling, or stopping by to wish us well and share in our excitement. We are so excited and thank you for all the encouragement, and help many of you have provided in one way or another.

Well it's so long for now....until I can squeeze in some more time scheduled time to blog!

We finished up our last "project" this week.....

The beautiful old barn siding was our last project to tackle before the big move in....and we checked it off our list this past week. I originally thought I would run it vertically, but then because of several factors I went the other direction and ran it horizontally. Several advantages....less cutting...less waste, no top trim piece needed, the pieces are more secure to the wall, etc. I really am smitten with how the project turned out. The pictures don't really do it justice...plus I had really bad light (too much of it coming through the windows)....but you'll get a sneak peek anyway.

I'll try to get better pictures when we move in, but you can get the general idea....lots of fun!Well all this talk of the new house has been fun but this weekend I am off on a girls' weekend with my mom & sis...my mom's treat! Shopping, going to a spa....more shopping, hot tub relaxing, no cooking, no children, ohhhhhhhhhh my I can't hardly contain myself. Have a lovely weekend....I know I will!!!!!!!!!!!