Casa Melin II

Tuesday, June 11, we went out to the house after dinner and took these photos. Most of the action today and tomorrow is finishing the basement framing so it can be wired and plumbed. It's coming along!

We now have a roof and a chimney! We had a few hot days after the roof was done
and that made me happy cuz I'm sure the sun sealed it up good!

The garage side of the house. I am glad we put in a side door to the garage this time.

This is the great room as you come in from the front door.
You can see the staircase to the basement there on the left; the framed up corner behind it is the kitchen pantry and part of the master bedroom; The kitchen is in the back right, and there are three bathtubs sitting in it right now, woo-hoo!

The view from the front window...
a really nice older couple lives in that house and we already have plans to adopt them as grandparents.

Finally, here is my view from the kitchen sink window...
not too shabby, eh?

So there ya go...6-8 weeks and she's all ours. Yay.

More Weekend Photos

Here are a few Luau photos I missed on Sunday...

Carter & Ashley monkeyin' around on the clothesline

Poor Gavin, soaking wet!

Heidi with her squirt gun, probably running away from
 Brody, who had the hose on full blast!

Bikin' Brody
 

On Sunday evening, we had Mom & Dad Melin over for Luau leftovers and a birthday celebration for grandma. After dinner, we relaxed in the yard.

Addie & James on the hammock with Grandma & Grandpa
 on the porch steps, and Daddy and the other kids on the lawn.

My cute pre-mission in-laws

James, Addie, & Niles on the hammock

Summer bliss

Aloha!

Luau/ BYU-H Alumni Hangout
A new family moved into our ward in April and we soon learned they went to BYU-H, so we had to get together and share some of our favorite Hawaiian grinds on Saturday the 8th...it was a great summer kick-off.

Jason, Gavin, & James

Niles & Brody fighting over Ni's bike...it's hard to be two!

Kai, Carter, & Zach playing "volleyball"

Addie looks upset in this picture, but she was having fun.

The Yard--- Heidi, Naomi, Rich, Aaron, Matthew, Kim
(with Ashley & Hailey in the foreground)

As will happen on a hot June day, the kids broke out in a water fight.
Gavin, Kai, Brody, Heidi

After dinner Niles went around and finished off all the drinks.
I like the background of this picture- Carter & Kai having fun on the hammock
and Addie shooting a water gun)

Brody got cold & munched some strawberries.

 

We had such a fun time, we are so grateful to have great new additions to our ward family. Can't wait to do this again! If you're not in these pictures but would like to be, holla and let's plan another fun get-together and summer it up!

Niles Turns TWO!

Our miracle boy turned two on Sunday, May 19th. We had a dinner at Grandma's House with cake & presents, but we did the presents first because Daddy & Grandpa had to go to Stake Priesthood meeting.

I loathe Elmo with a fury as red-hot as his fur. I went to great lengths to keep Niles from getting sucked in--we only watched Classic Sesame Street for the longest time. Somehow he caught a modern episode and it was love at first sight, so we had an Elmo party. Niles got a furry Elmo from Aunt Laura when she was here the week before, and we got him a Lullaby Elmo that says "Nigh-Night." He also got cute clothes from Grandma Melin, a Mega-Blocks Dump truck & coloring book from his siblings, and his favorite of the night--a Leap Frog Birthday cake.

Niles has been obsessed with birthdays for quite a while, repeatedly watching home videos of birthdays past and making us put candles in his food so he can blow them out. We were glad to find a toy that pretty much just plays the birthday song and lets you blow out candles til your heart's content.

I have been so dramatically challenged and blessed by this boy since the day I knew he was coming. I forget sometimes what a gift he is and how much he has changed our family for the better (oh, sure, we've got more wrinkles and less hair and we're tired all the time...but it's all for a good cause!). Happy Birthday, Niles! We're excited to watch you grow another year.

MAY STUFF

I got my first case of Mom Spring Fever this year. I was so over school by May. But then all the activities and filed trips and graduations and final projects began and it felt a tiny bit like torture. I will not elaborate further because someone already wrote a great post that captures my feelings perfectly HERE.

Not Torture: Addie's final band concert. These kids have come a long way this year.
 Addie is so cute playing her flute. I'm really proud of her...

...as evidenced in this photo.

 

***

On the night before their big first grade picnic, James' teacher called and begged me to come help. I usually say no to afternoon things because hell hath no fury like Niles without a nap, but I caved (she will never do that again, I assure you. He was tantrum-tastic). I was glad I went, even with the screaming, because it's fun to be with James and it was a beautiful day.

James

Brother Hugs at the park

Niles

Ms. Linton's First Grade Class at Pompey's Playground

On the way back from the park picnic, we stopped at Rosedale Gardens nursery and they taught the kids about plants and let them pot a flower for their moms. It's a magical place!

we began laying out on our lawn on sunny afternoons, too

 

Heidi had a very belated friend birthday party on May 10th. Aunt Laura came from Helena to have a sleepover at the ranch and do nails with these crazy girls.

back: Querencia, Debbie
front: Addie, Hailey, Ember, Heidi, Marissa, Ashley

Pretty Piggies!

A Less-Silly shot of the girls. It was a fun night; I was glad to have my friend Kim with me to make it even "funner."

We had a good time with Aunt Laura! She stayed Friday and Saturday night, but we let her go home to her family to celebrate Mother's Day Sunday. Here's Niles saying goodbye.

Me and my beautiful kids on Mother's Day after church.

James loved my pretty flowers!

Friday May 17th The Postums stopped by on their way home from a fancy-schmancy police banquet in Billings where Uncle Matt received a life-saving award. It was really fun to see them!

James, Jake and Sam...silly cousins

Action shot! Emily about to smack Heidi with a rice bag. We had so much fun with cousins!

Later that night, we went to a zombie party at the Palmer's house celebrating our friend Mike's 40th Birthday. I didn't get a picture of the girls, but here's James in his zombie make up. It was pretty dang fun.

 

Another thing we celebrate in May is spring finally coming around, although we had 3 weeks of rain so it didn't FEEL very springy. However, there were a few gloriously warm, sunny days where I got to hang out my laundry and let my dishes dry on the window sill. I put out all the caps and stoppers to Niles' sippy cups and noticed that letting them dry in the sun killed all the little moldy spots that were so hard to clean. Magical! I thought--the sun is indeed the best cleanser. Then I immediately recognized an allegory to a favorite scripture in my mind (you can read the scripture HERE). The sun cleans things that seem un-cleanable, and The Son cleans things that seem un-cleanable ("though your sins...be red like crimson, they shall be as wool"). Yes. But you can take it a step further because the sun & The Son are the same (see first reference). Sitting in the sun with my lovies, watching our plants grow, making lots of invigorating vitamin D is a more holy experience since I had that thought.

 

"And he is in the sun, and the light of the sun, and the power thereof by which it was made...which giveth light to all things..."

--Happy Spring!--

Pondering Lives Well-Lived

April has been quite the whirlwind. I figured now that there are only 2 hours left of it I should write something. I just posted all of our spring break photos, and since then I haven't taken many pictures. There was a relative lull in the middle of the month, just busy, regular stuff. But then on April 23rd I learned that our old family friend from Tucson, Ann Lewis (formerly McClellan) passed away. We made arrangements to meet my mom down in Idaho for the funeral.

Here I am with Mitch McClellan, who was one of my best friends til I moved across town for middle school. I had a crush on him when we were 8, but then I had a growth spurt and grew about a foot taller than him and thought I'd have to marry someone else, lol. He is doing so great, living in Boise with a beautiful family. It was a pretty joyous reunion on an otherwise sad day.

 

Here are 8 of the 10 McClellan kids at their mom Ann's grave (Mitch is #8). They gave a beautiful funeral service for her that was one of the most fun, uplifting services I have ever been to--she must have been so pleased.
It was a nice, quick trip--I even got to see both of my parents, which is cool.
 

We got home Saturday night, then I sent Rich off to a two-day insurance conference in Great Falls Sunday afternoon. Once I got the kids to bed, I watched a Ken Burns biography of Frank Lloyd Wright on Netflix. It was surprisingly riveting and entertaining. I wish I knew more about architecture. I was so fascinated by the story and by his style and philosophy, and there seems to be something holy about this art form, like many others--so much more than drawings or engineering or construction.

Here's FLW nearing 90, at the peak of his career...petulant genius!

Here are a couple of quotes from the film that I loved. "For him, what an artist is, is a person who transforms nature by looking at nature, passing it through the soul, and in the expression of what the soul experiences in nature, something more natural than nature itself emerges, which is as close as we get to God." -William Cronon, historian.

AMEN! [to me, creativity is the manifestation of my divine nature, inherited from heavenly parents].

Read at Wright's funeral at Taliesin: "Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."-RW Emerson.

Wright's home and studio in Oak Park Illinois was so beautiful! I loved his idea of putting the fireplace in the center of the home, as the heart and soul and gathering place of the building.

So Richard is home safe, all my people are sound asleep (I'm typing to a chorus of snores). Life is good. Our underground construction got inspected today (water main, sewer, etc.) so we will be able to pour the basement floor in the next day or two and start framing. Our builder said he's excited for that because, "That's when your vision starts to take shape." Indeed! So happy May to you all. I hope to be back a little more frequently, but we'll see if life cooperates.

Early April 2013: Retrospect

On March 29th the kids were out of school and it was too cold to hang out outside for long, but we bought some balloons and let them go out by the park to celebrate Great-Grandpa Bill's 88th birthday.

James, Niles, Heidi, and Addie 3/29

3-2-1 Lift-off!
 

If you look close you can see 4 balloons floating north east (Niles' balloon is closest because he didn't want to let his go at first)

 

***

 

After Easter Baskets and Sacrament Meeting on Easter Sunday (March 31st), I hopped in the van with the kids and headed down to Utah for Spring Break. Our first stop that night was The Layton's in Tooele.

Niles and Addie, James, Owen, and Heidi at Laytons', 4/1

James, Jack, Jake, Heidi, and Sam;
On Tuesday, April 2 (Happy Birthday, Great Uncle Matt!) we met our Peterson & Postum cousins at Thanksgiving Point. We were happy to learn that our Museum of the Rockies memberships get us in to the fun stuff at TGP!

James on a pony at TGP

Niles imitating a goat at TGP with cousin Belle
 

***

Later that evening, we went to the Herriman Rec Center to swim at their awesome water park with our Postie cousins who just moved back from Australia (no pictures, sorry!). It was super fun! Wednesday we just had a bunch of playdates with cousins & got ready to drive to Las Vegas at 5am Thursday. The drive was perfect, the kids were great. We realized that we would gain an hour crossing the Nevada border, so we stopped and had a nice breakfast and played at the playplace in Beaver, Utah. Then we drove to the airport in LV and picked up Daddy (Rich) at noon and headed over to visit the Holm Family in Henderson.

 

We went to watch Haylee Holm play basketball at the church, and they needed another player, so Addie jumped right in and did a great job--her first time ever even trying to play! Kurt was the coach and they played two games--one win, one loss--and we went home and had soup and visited with Jessica & Zach and the whole family that night.

 

The next day (Friday, April 5th), Haylee and Eric went to school and Kurt and Zach went to work. Jessica and Debbie took us downtown to see the planes landing at the airport, then see fun things on the strip.

First stop: ride the tram to Bellagio and see the giant chocolate fountain and the gardens. Here is my biggest chocolate fan, James, in front of the fountain.

Here's our family at the gardens

walking past Paris, Las Vegas

Addie outside the M&M store

 

On the 4th floor of M&M World we found this M&M racecar

On the 2nd floor, we found the M&Ms!

Every M&M you can think of!

Hello Kitty with Heidi & Addie on the strip

Addie & Coke World

***

After a long hot day on the strip, we took a nap at Debbie's while she & Haylee took the girls shopping. Deb brought home a birthday cake and Kurt brought pizza and we had an early birthday party for Heidi.

Niles made a huge cupcake mess

Heidi with her dragon cake. She got a cute little pony from the Holms and an iPod Touch she has been earning from us. She cried!

Niles sneaking a taste

What James looked like Saturday morning at Holms'

Saturday Morning we packed up and said goodbye to our dear friends and hit the road just in time to listen to the beginning of conference on the radio. We drove to Herriman where Rich went to priesthood meeting with Mark & Marshall. Grandma Lyn was at my mom's house so we visited with her for a while, then slept over at the Posties' house that night and Sunday night.

Cousin Fun with Posties: Spencer, Gavin, Liam & Melanie laughing at Owen & James.

Laytons came over for dinner Sunday night; Here's James, Heidi, Niles, Owen, and Maeby on the deck.

Kristen, Melanie, Sam, Audrey, Will, Spencer, Addie, Liam, and me eating inside Sunday night.

***

 

We drove home early Monday morning in a rain & snow storm, but got home in time to watch them start the basement of our new house on Tuesday, April 9th.

Here's the ground all graded and the house outlined.

James & Heidi in the digger.

On April 11th, Addie's class had a Pasta Dinner fundraiser for the Trout unlimited/Watershed Warriors program at school. They dressed up like Italian waiters and served us a really nice dinner.