AUGUST

 

It has been quite the equally eventful and uneventful August…

The first of August. Me and the gals get our nails done for Disneyworld. Such cute nail technicians. We loved them. The sweetest woman did my pedicure. I picked a way-too-sparkly color to surprise the girls with. GOOD time, really looking forward to our trip! 

Soph found the BEST monsters ever at Homegoods so we had to run over and get the purple guy. 

BEST zucchini from Tia Sophia. 

Shopping for Halloweenie…Homegoods to get monsters for the Barrett familia & Kirklands. 

Noelle whipped up some cinnamon rolls over the weekend before Florida plans…

Tia Sophia getting the girls all perfectly packed right before….

I took the picture in the airport parking lot two minutes before Michael Joe looked at his watch and said “your flight has been cancelled…” and for a brief moment I thought he was kidding…I think I even said it. Silly Storm Debby!!!

 

We took the girls to Ten Pin to have some fun instead later that day….LOOONG dia of excitement turned disappointment, then fun again. 

I am just not a crafty one. I thought this would be a fun project and make this game even more fun  and personal to play. Well I decided to paint a clear coat over them that make them STICK to each other making it hilarious and almost impossible to play as a jenga game now…Oh well! 

Shopping with my gals…looking for school chairs…no luck. 

This girl. Always experimenting. She froze these apples and when they dried enough she squeezed them with her hands into apple juice. Yum. 

August 12th. Sia gets braces!!! 

First salon haircuts for all 3 girlfriends. They were all excited and have ZERO regrets. They are not me. 

Michael Joe and me t-shirts. 

Lots of playing with Asher baby this month while Avo recovers from her knee surgery. He is so hilarious with his little talkings and hand/finger shaking “no no no” when he doesn’t want something. 

August 7th…we begin talking about the possibility of moving. Michael Joe does not have to be here anymore to keep the business alive. For the first time he had spoken those words aloud I actually considered that possibility. Such a strange and surprising moment for ME! He got giddy and started to say let’s think about places…California? Hollister? ( he’s often talked about moving here too), Monterey? Sonoma? 

None of them felt good. He mentioned that we could even be in Utah… “yep” I found myself saying… “it would have to be Utah.”  Of course I did not say “it’s happening!” I had to sit with it, digest it, wrap my mind and heart around the fact that I was able to EVEN begin to consider it. A place I had always told people (even my poor fellow missionaries who were raised there and loved it) that I would NEVER live. I had to slowly come to reconcile everything over the next week. I went to the temple solo on Thursday August 15th and had an overwhelming, unquestionable, clear answer that yes…it had to be Utah. To be honest the idea had already settled in by then I just needed an unequivocal confirmation. I got it. Full steam ahead…Michael contacted a realtor and he got 7 houses lined up for us to see August 22nd! 

Next dia we went to see Donny Osmond! Such a good time and amazing that my girls were so excited because they’d seen him before. Donny asked for songs to sing and Sia raised her hand and had a whole conversation with him. He asked how she knew who he was “ me and my family came to your show last year” hehehe. 

Sweetest Great Grammy visit. 

Getting ready for school!!!

Asked Grandpa if we could buy them from him. 

He said “no, just wear them well.” Yessir :)

This poor girl. 3 times to the dentist to get 5 teeth removed. Here we are at the LAST appointment and she didn’t want to get out of the car, I turned around to see where she was and saw this 😊

Even more sentimental about this cool sign, thinking of leaving it behind. I love it so much I finally pulled over to get a picture🐄

BYU walk on the 21st. We left the girls behind to scope out a new home. 

At Home store in Utah. Such a fun Halloween section! 

Ken was our realtor and he was awesome. Sweet and relaxed and just fun to hang out with almost ALL day…poor guy. Haha. This was house #1 in Orem. Nice little neighborhood but walking in it did not feel like a fit at all. Cool pool in the back. Not very spacious. Too stacked on top of itself for me. 

House #2 in Orem…on paper this one was PERFECT. Theater room, gym, beautiful framed doors (my favorite part), awesome laundry room, a laundry shoot, perfect homeschool room with 3 spaces for the girls (homeowners also had three girls!), built in Christmas lights, nice big garage, a pool with a rock slide…it was just NOT right though. Could not figure out why…just not it. 

House #3 The kitchen and cool windows above every door were the best features. Ivy on the outside was cool too. Odd layout. Pool and pickle ball court in the backyard…don’t really need those. We did not spend very much time in this one. 

House #4 we spent even less time in here. I warned Ken I may immediately regret putting this one on the list and I was right. A pink bathtub and a pink carpet in that bathroom. So very interesting. Could have had a cool Christmas tree in front though. Reminded me of a gingerbread house a bit. 

                                                   

House #5. The Osmond house is what we called it. We fell in love with the neighborhood before going inside. Quiet, gated, every home a different style, trees everywhere…just gorgeous and clean and calm. Michael Joe started to envision how we could change the exterior to project more haunted vibes…replace railings, darken it, add stained glass…

Then Ken showed up and we walked inside. Aawwhhhh…..space. It felt really good, open to the front and each room on the sides, a grand spiral staircase. Yep. This felt like it was it already. Straight back are windows from floor to ceiling with the most gorgeous view of mountains and trees. We got giddy just with the views. So exciting. I made a signing motion in the air and MJ laughed at me. An elevator, small and tight and they sent me down alone at first and we talked Michael into taking at least one ride in it. He says never again. Ha!! Space & views, yep this one feels right. Huge master, soaking tub… downstairs a huge gym room and office for MJ…even a guest room. The kitchen is not great but it will be a fun project! Hm….

House #6 We did fall in LOVE with this one a little! They had it DECKED out in Halloween decor, a HUGE Jack Skellington right in the living room. So much fun and I think because of this Michael was almost sold with this one. It was an extremely well built home, heavy beautiful front door & just the best materials used in every part of it…completely finished and solid. A theatre room with a stage! Only 4 bedrooms though, and small ones. The way I brought Michael down from the clouds was getting him to consider how much stuff he has acquired for his office in the last few years…there would just be no space for it. Such a a fun walk through though. I got some inspiration for decorating from these guys. 

House #7.  I called this one the “3.3 million dollar home” because that is what they wanted! I went in thinking it was just for fun but Michael really loved it. Cool wood floors but such heavy, dark wood and a strange layout because of add-ons. They did have a gym room but it was so hot and carpeted. My favorite part was the magical backyard…shady and right by a little creek. A no go, ultimately. 

Obvious which one we went with, I think. Osmond lane home here we come. We put in an offer ONE hour after we left Ken. 

Salt Lake airport, didn’t have the girls so we got a selfie with this guy (and that other guy behind me) instead 😂

Meanwhile…the girls just loving their lives living with Tia Sophia, Uncle Brett, Mason and Mack Murray! 😄

THIS MOON! Could not even capture how low, orange, massive and AMAZING it was. Could have just stared forever!

As if they had not already done enough Soph and Brett put up our arch when we got home 😍

LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Kitties

We did eat tacos. Ha. Not very creative this year. 

First dia! We are excited about the new programs! More work but more fun too, it seems! 

Lots of immediate purge projects for me. 

I also cleaned all of the big things we don’t think of…doors, walls, windows, blinds, cupboards and painted it all too this week…on my knees painting the baseboards. Thankfully I had Lucero this past week! Whew.

Noelle learning how to shade. This girl is always creating. 

Party in the bathroom. Brett refinished our tub for us. Showing our house soon! Getting pictures taken of it on Tuesday Sept 3rd. A sign went up outside the other day. Just surreal how quickly it has all gone. I have a long list of to-do’s … to purge, to clean, to re pack, to start packing, to plan, to map out, to shop for, to resist shopping for... Exciting and overwhelming all at once. 

Gwinny, taking a break;) 

Shopping after Lucero. Good ending to a crazy month.