Summer of Summers Part 3

One of the good things about being at my house was being there for the 24th of July!  Mapleton is my favorite place to be on the 24th.  Kason and Asher got to ride in the parade with Grandma and Grandpa who were with the ambulance as EMT's.  The plan was to pass out otter pops as they rode on the gurney, however I only saw Kason passing them out, Asher was eating one the whole time I saw him.

Then it was to the park for some fun!  They have bounce houses that the boys had a blast on.

Kellie and Emry

And bounce houses with water.  Half the fun of this was watching the boys try to get up the wet and slick steps and take out whoever was behind as they slipped down.

The helicopter ping pong ball drop.  If you get the winning ping pong ball number you win a bike.  I was really hoping we'd defy the odds this year, but no such luck.  I did however manage to lose Kason after this.  After trying to stay calm and not panic, I let my dad know I couldn't find him and we all began looking.  I finally found him wandering around awhile later and we had a little chat about staying still when you're lost.  In my defense, there were about a billion people there.  Later, Asher took a little break on the playground, we were watching him closely, along with the other 500 kids on the playground and then he was gone.  He was lucky enough to be taken to the lost and found and we got to have our name called over the speaker for the lost and found kid.  I didn't even hear it, luckily my mom did.  Mom fail #2.  It was all fun though and everyone had a blast and the day ended with some good fireworks.

Isaac was getting pretty sick of living at "our" house by himself so we decided to brave the tack strips and head up there to be together.  The kids and I made the drive on our own quite well actually (7.5 hours, thank you!) and even saw a bear cross the road by West Yellowstone.  I was the most excited.  

We lived in our kitchen and dining room.  Our couch was in the dining room, all our stuff was in the garage, and we had some tarps laid down with our mattresses on top. We laid cardboard and old rugs over all the tack strips and tried to go to as many parks as possible.  We only suffered one little puncture incident from the tack strips and it wasn't too bad!  I'm so mad I didn't get a picture of the no carpet era, but I guess things were a bit hectic. Emry had some episodes where every other night for 4 nights she would throw up every 15 min for 4 hours!  We finally found a dr and got her some antibiotics for bacterial sinusitis. And all was well!  When the carpet people called  to tell me it was going to be delayed yet another day, I almost started crying in Target.  Needless to say, they worked it out and got the job done in 2 days instead of 4!!!  Carpet has never felt so luxurious!

CARPET!!

And finally, rushing to move in! 

Summer of Summers Part 2

WE GOT A HOUSE! 

So, closing ended up being earlier than expected and after some last minute craziness with dates changing we headed down there from living in Fairfield to go close on our house! 

CR-A-ZY!

We had gone house hunting a few months earlier and found one.  It was a scary decision to buy instead of rent when we didn't know the area yet, not to mention the financial part of it! 

But, it's not a huge town and we had been looking online a ton, had a realtor, and had done as much research as we could.  I was not a fan of the house the first time we looked at it, but Isaac and his parents helped me see the potential (it also makes a huge difference when other people's messes aren't there anymore!)

We were down there for a total of 24 hours.  And the only pictures I got were of our "first homeowner's purchase" - a lawn mower.  Maybe those were the only pictures I got because the whole time we were there we were tearing up all the carpet in the whole house and picked out every. single. little. staple from the pad.  Saves money, but lots of work!  That was one of my main things with the house - it really needed new carpet.  I was told we could have it installed in 1 - 2 weeks, so we went ahead and tore up the old stuff now (more to come on that!)

I've always wanted a picture like this!

Then we went back up to Fairfield for a couple days, then down to my parents house to visit and wait for our carpet to be installed soon.

Bubbles!

We went to a super fun place called "Airborne", full of trampolines and foam pits.

Perfect Summer picture

...still no carpet and now we find out it could be many, many more weeks...

Swensen Family Reunion at Bear Lake

So fun! 

I love Bear Lake and think it spoiled me to other lakes.  It was sandy, it was warm for a lake and it was oh so blue!

These kids played and played hard

The 3 musketeers

I'm so mad I didn't take the camera out on the boat. But Emry took her first tube ride with Isaac.  Just picture a life vest pretty much immobilizing her and up so high on her face it was pushing her little cheeks up, but she was waving furiously at me the whole time.

We also made a trip up to an ice cave

...No carpet, Isaac needs to get to work.  We thought it would be installed by now, so he goes to live in our house with the tack strips sticking up everywhere and the boards on the floor.  We can't take the kids with those tack strips everywhere so I go back to my house with the kids.  Emry throws up 3 times in the 3 hour drive back home.  It was awesome.  Asher was sitting next to her yelling, "I don't like it, I don't like it!"

Summer of Summers - Part 1 of 759

What a Summer!

I don't even know where to begin.  I guess it's a good thing that our summer has been so packed with craziness and fun stuff that I am incredibly behind on my blog.  So, I'll jump right in and go through this chronologically as best I can.

For graduation, we had a shrimp boil with friends and family. Lots of fun and just what Isaac wanted.

2 days after graduation, we moved!!  To move during graduation may not have been the most ideal or best way to keep sanity, but we wanted to see Isaac's brother, Oli, before he left on a 2 year church mission.  Isaac's parents took the boys home with them and Oli stayed to help us load the truck.  We had to get a city permit to park our monstrous moving truck on the road and getting people to move their cars was stressful enough.  Can you find the baby in the picture?  I don't think I ever want to move again, there is just too much STUFF!  We are grateful Oli stayed to help and he and Isaac did a great job packing the truck.  It always comes down to just chucking stuff in at the last minute, regardless of preparation.  It was hard to say goodbye to our Oregon friends and I will always hold them in my heart and keep in touch!

So, as we were homeless, we stayed at Isaac's parent's house for awhile.  There is plenty of room to roam and explore and catching bugs/butterflies and turning the nets into swords, guns...etc was a favorite past time.  

The kids with Uncle Oli

This is completely out of order and random, but I have to stick it in.  Before we left, our friends threw a "Bill and Ted's excellent adventure" party.  Having never seen the movie, I had some catching up to do!  Everyone had to dress up as a favorite historical figure.  Here we have Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Franklin Jr. complete with stuffed vests and all.

Back to Montana...we went carp smashing.  Nothing like a huge, dumb fish smacking into your leg in murky water.

The boys got appropriately worn out.  It seems Kason is going to be a bed hog.  I will have to let his future wife know.

We went to Choteau, MT for the 4th of July parade.  I love the small town patriotic feel.  I didn't realize it, but Emry was sick in these pictures (a whole other post), but now I see it in her eyes.

As the flag goes by

I love this picture.  Emry got a little freaked out by the speedy little cars and grabbed on to her big brother.  She can stand up to them by hitting...biting..., but she really adores them and does everything they do - especially Asher

We lit off fireworks on our own.  Asher would get behind the smoke ball every single time and say "I'm camoflauged"

First firework reaction...

...a kiss from big brother...

...and she learned to cope.

There's a first part of our summer.  Now onto the HOUSE!

Graduation

We did it.

Graduation.

It really happened.

It was a good day, slightly surreal, emotional, busy, hot, sad to leave, proud, but mostly very happy.

It's funny, for five years of hard, hard work we'd looked forward to graduation.  Wished for it, hoped for it, worried for it, and now it's here.  

I don't really feel like the whole experience was over before we knew it, but I do feel like I can't believe it's done.

I think it's hard, for me at least, to be able to write what 5 years of work meant.  Graduation was a summation and celebration of those 5 years, so it was a good day. 

We've really come to love Eugene (I even didn't mind the rain this last winter), our church ward here, and especially our friends here.  It will be very different to not have them around and we will surely miss them, but we are very excited that Isaac has a job and we are looking forward to and excited for our new adventure! 

Good job, Isaac, on all your hard work!

This was the first weekend we moved to Eugene.  We are so different now - emotionally, mentally, family size, physically - I guess alot happens in 5 years!

Pomp and Circumstance

Isaac, a 7th year I don't know, Chris, and Harold

Being hooded by Glen.

Ben, Isaac, and Glen.  

We are so grateful to Ben and Glen (and Jason) for their friendship, advising, constructive criticism, and help!

Isaac and his mom

Ben, Isaac, Harold (Isaac's office mate), and Glen

We are grateful our families made the effort to come out!

It was hot

Yes!

It was also my birthday - pretty good present for Isaac to graduate with a Ph.D!

And last, but certainly not least.  I can't get the video of this to download, but here's a link to it:  Graduation Video   

Asher had a cute little moment during graduation.  I was taking pictures on the other side of the audience from the kids and my parents.  The announcer calls Isaac's name and there is quiet as the person walks up to the stage, the clapping comes afterwards.  But, in that silence as Isaac was walking up to the stage we hear, clear as a bell, Asher's little voice ringing out, "Go Daddyyyyyyyyy!!!!"t was just the cutest thing and brought a chuckle from the audience and got Isaac and I a little choked up.