Presenting, at long last...THE HOUSE

Before we start our photo tour, please let me express my deep gratitude to everyone who helped build out house and helped us move (both times). We are so blessed with love and support and relationships. We are so thankful to God for a happy, healthy family, and a safe and comfortable place to raise them.

Let's start where I start my day. It is hard to leave this dreamy room!

All of that stuff on my dresser belongs in a bathroom closet that is
waiting for its shelves. It's a tolerable mess.

Spacious closet, getting organized

Entrance to Master bath

Bad angle on Master Shower. It's sweet.
 

My tub

Also waiting for shelves and towel bars: the Master Vanity

My little Papa Bill shrine...
his bookshelf, the clock he gave us as a housewarming gift for our last house,
and the little wooden frog from Nigeria that he gave me after a break up, with the admonition:
"You've kissed enough frogs; time for a prince." That prince sleeps next to me every night.

The end of the upstairs hall with a glorious linen closet,
 a guest room to the left and Niles' room to the right.

Niles' Room- he is loving that train track,
and the little rocking chair belonged to Rich.

Guest room, serving as sewing room right now while I hem curtains.

We have two of the same bathroom, one upstairs, one down.
This is how it looks when you walk in. I love having closets in there!

This is the vanity area from the shower/tub.

Heidi's awesome room with furniture from Great-Grandma Adeline.

James' Room

The playroom between Heidi's and James' room. I love it so much! There will be some built-in bookcases on either side of the windows when we got finished with it, and a TV for movies and games mounted up on the left there.

This is the utility room. I think the copper pipes for the hot water baseboard heat are beautiful.

The laundry room is fantastic, complete with a laundry chute and a folding counter yet to be installed. We will also put in some linoleum and food storage shelves on the wall opposite the washer and dryer. Aside: I've noticed that if you're gonna "go green" and use all high efficiency appliances, you'd better be in no hurry to get your house work done. My typical wash load takes 58 bloody minutes, and so does the dishwasher. WHAT THE HECK? Other than that, they are lovely (I remain a fan of using tons of water and gettin' her done fast, don't tell Al Gore).

Addie's Room
(furniture from Great-Grandma Mae still waiting to be refinished in the garage)

Basement Family Room

Beautiful entertainment center built by my talented husband, waiting for a big new TV.

The office in the corner by the fireplace.

YAY! The Kitchen!

Cool things in this pic: Rich's Grandma Adeline's Cookie Jar from which he ate cookies on the way home from school for YEARS; Glass milk jugs (on top of cabinets) found at the ranch from when it was a dairy.

Happy cooking place

Mommy's Thinking Spot

From the bar
 (I want to paint those stools distressed black)

The dreamy fridge, which makes super cool ice shaped like tiny rounded pyramids

Something bad happened to my dream pantry.
Once we get all the food storage situated in the basement,
this will look a lot better. Also when I install the lock
so my little pantry rats don't sneak unhealthy snacks ;)

Here's what you see to the right of the front door upon entering.

Here's what you see  at the entrance to the house.

Rich hasn't finished my farm table yet, so we are using our tiny beat-up craft table in the dining room, but it works for now.

Someday 10 people will sit here comfortably, eating and making memories!

***
 

BUSY MUCH?

People, this building a house business is crazy. I am so grateful, but getting ready to move is pretty consuming for me and I hope to never do it again.
 

ANYHOOO...I squeezed in a little trip to Helena/Great Falls last week (Thursday 8/8-Friday 8/9) to see my sister Lisa (visiting from Phoenix) and her sons, and her teeny tiny grandson who is incubating at the hospital in Great Falls. It was my first trip to Great Falls and I liked it.

Kamrie (the mama), Lisa (the Grandma), and Cody (the dad)

Here is a picture of tiny Zecklin with his daddy's hand.
 For perspective, that little hand is the size of a quarter.

He looks so much like Cody (my nephew, his dad).

Here we are saying goodbye after lunch at Café Rio.
Me, Laura, Lisa
I had to hurry home for Heidi's play that night.

Silly Twins

I think we are laughing at Cody pretending to be a fashion photographer.

Kamrie, Cody, & Tyler

My silly nephews

Lisa & her family

***

[insert long drive here--I drove from 2-6 home from Great Falls]

Friday night, August 9th, the Yellowstone Gateway Museum opened a Park County Veterans exhibit. Rich's grandpas and his dad are featured in the exhibit.

Sorry about the flash! If you click on this, you can read about Rich's Dad,
our Grandpa Melin, in Vietnam.

 

***

 

Heidi attended a 2-week Young Actors Workshop at the Shane Center this summer. The workshop culminates in a play, and this year's production was "The Phantom Tollbooth."

I didn't get any good pictures because I don't know how to run my camera in the dark,
but Heidi played Side One  (1 of 12) of a dodecahedron.

You can see her there in the middle with her hands on her hips...

and with her hands in the air.

Our friend Caleb stole the show as Toc the Dog.
(yeah, he's 17 and 6'5" and all the kids LOVED him).
 

While I was at the play, my fireplace got finished! Thanks, Uncle Mikey!

***
Heidi had two more shows on Saturday, but first we went to a baby shower for Kim Triplett. She was a Mia Maid (15) when I moved here, and now she is a returned missionary (Brazil), a wife and mom. She's expecting a baby girl end of September/ early October, so it was really fun to buy presents!

Heidi holding Kim's niece Naomi

Kim had lots of help opening presents.

Nancy, Erin, Terin, Michaela, Jennifer

Pinky, Angie, Kimberly, Kim, Autumn (with Steph & Heidi in the foreground)



Kim's Grandma Anita and Shawna

***

What isn't in these pictures is our flooded basement at the rental. The water main sprung a leak and filled the basement with a foot of water. We don't use the basement, so we didn't notice until our water heater was out. We had no hot water Tuesday night, discovered the flood on Wednesday, and stayed with Rich's parents til Sunday, but didn't have hot water until Monday night (8/12). NICE. I am about a week behind on pictures, because our California Melins were in town all last week, so we did some fun cousin things, had a huge Melin Reunion on Saturday afternoon at the ranch,  as well as lots of work on the house. The upstairs is DONE, we got our certificate of occupancy on Friday, 8/16. Meanwhile, the taper just textured the basement walls and Rich took tomorrow off to paint them. After a couple of days painting, they will install the bathroom and laundry room and trim out the other rooms, then carpet comes on the 28th. Then all our stuff and finally US, on Labor Day weekend. I set up the kitchen on Saturday night...wooweee, that was FUN. More photos SOON!