Fat Lips & Water fun

Life has been going well here in Provo. Lylli is still reading Harry Potter. She's on book four and loving it. She had to take a break for a couple weeks because we were so busy, but she read the other three in two weeks. Layla is being social and made several new friends at church today. And Seryn is trying to keep up with her sisters.
Today was our first day in our new ward. We are in the Grandview 8th ward. It is strange being in a new area with new people. Everyone seems so different, but maybe we're the ones who are different. But people seem nice. The girls will get to participate in another primary program on the 25th. Our last Sunday in Casper, they did the one in our ward and will get to do one here too! We also will get to go Trunk or Treating, and they have a ward temple night once a month too, which will be neat. Everything seems to be within 2 miles of our house (except Walmart, which is 3.7 miles.) The temple is just up the street a few blocks! We are beginning to enjoy it here, though we don't know many people yet. Shane is still looking for a job and has a few leads, so we hope he'll have something soon.
So per my sister's request, here's a picture of the outside of our house. It's a twin home and we only own the one side (for now.) The otherside is going into foreclosure and Shane would really like to buy it and rent it out. We'll see.

Here's a picture of Layla's fat lip. She was playing outside one day and biffed it! Her lip was pretty fat for a couple days.

The first two days we were in Provo, it rained. (It snowed in SLC, so I'm grateful for the rain.) Every day since it has been 55 - 65 degrees. It's been so nice!
Here's Seryn in the rain. She's finally starting to get over her fear of the rain. However, there was no thunder and as long as she had an umbrella, she was just fine. She even took off her shoes and socks!

Lylli and Layla were taking turns playing under the eave of the house where the water was dripping!

They had so much fun!

All in all, we're doing well. The unpacking is nearly done and I will probably begin painting this week! We'll see how that goes.

*Lylli is sitting next to me editing as I type and volunteering various information (such as the title.)

Update and Our New House

Today is the first day I have forced myself NOT to unpack and straighten the house. I have SO much stuff! The girls are really enjoying having a new house and having their things again! I have been VERY tired. The best time to get things done is after the kids go to sleep, so I've been staying up too late! Shane has been in Casper because he still works there and it's been hard to have him gone. But the Blevins girls have come over a couple times to help. That has been very nice! Thanks girls! I have enjoyed the company and help!

Lylli started school on Friday and really liked it. I really like the programs they have there. Her teacher has an honor roll program for kids who need more projects to do. They are pretty detailed and advanced projects she can chose to do, so that will be nice! They also have a GT program at the school. The way that works is that she will attend class with her class and then they'll just pull her out a couple hours a week (or so) for the GT program. They also have a program where they speak English in the morning and French in the afternoon. They just started that this year and they started with the 1st grade, so Lylli won't be able to do that, but that will be an option for Layla. I haven't decided about that yet, but it's neat that the school has so many options.

Layla has already made good friends with the little girls across the street and the girls have been playing everyday. It's nice for them to have friends to play with!

Seryn has been enjoying going through boxes! It's like Christmas finding all sorts of things!

I thought that everyone may want to see some pictures of the house. Of course, pictures never do the house justice, so I guess you will just have to come to Provo to get a first hand look yourself! We LOVE company.

For our house warming presents, the girls and I got Halloween shirts! They loved them.

Now keep in mind, I'm planning to paint everything, so I'll be posting before and after pictures later. And I don't have pictures of everything but this may give you a little idea.

Lylli's room. She got to chose if she wanted her own room or have the smaller room by herself. She chose her own room and loves it!

She also got to get a new bed. She originally wanted a bed/desk. The bed on top and the desk underneath. But it was too expensive and she already had a neat desk. But I like this and I think she likes it now too.
Layla and Seryn's room. Layla loves being on the top bunk and Seryn loves being a big girl with a big bed and being on the bottom!

This is the family room upstairs.

This is the other side of the family room where Shane has his TV. That was the first thing he set up!

The downstairs bathroom.

My dining room which is directly opposite of the kitchen. It's nice to have a place that will fit my table!

And of course, my kitchen. I thought it would be smaller than my last kitchen but I have enough space for everything.

This is the living room as seen from the loft upstairs. That's kind of fun!

And the living room from the front door. Do you like the boxes?

Over all, we are enjoying our new home! Thanks for all your love and support!

Bones, Ballet, Bed...B, B, B

I've been bad about updating this summer, but we really have been staying busy and having a good time. Just usually I forget my camera or forget to blog!
A couple weeks ago, Lylli had a field trip to Thermopolis to visit the Dinosaur Museum. Since Shane and I have never been either, the entire family went. We had a good time, but most of my pictures didn't turn out very well.
Lylli's favorite was the Supersaurus.

Seryn and Layla at the dig site. The kids were all excited and thought we would get to dig, but we were just looking at the fossils in the ground. Sorry kids!

Shane's mom got the girls some ballet pajamas. They are shirts, pants, and little tu-tu's. (Okay, don't laugh. I have no idea how to spell it, but you know what I'm talking about.) To say the girls love them would be putting it mildly. They have been wearing the tu-tu's around the house all day and all night, with or without the rest of the ensemble.

So, my mom was showing them different moves ballerinas perform. She's standing off to the side and wouldn't let me get a picture of her. But the girls mimicked her as well as they could!

And here, Lylli's doing a bridge, Layla's trying, and no one knows what Seryn is doing! They're so cute sometimes!

Mountian Climbers

Last weekend the Elder's Quorum had an activity. They went mountain bike riding and then had a dutch oven cook-off. We weren't able to stay for dinner but we had plenty of fun while Shane was off riding!

Toilet Paper in Your Hair!

Saturday night, we put toilet paper in Layla's hair after her bath!


Of course, on Sunday morning, it was quite curly! She looked like Shirley Temple and is just adorable. When someone told her she probably didn't know who Shirley Temple was, she said yes, she did. And if Shirley could go to the temple, so could Layla.


And, yesterday was the first day of school!

I can't believe Lylli is already in 2nd grade! Though she wasn't ready for summer to be over, she enjoyed seeing her friends!

And Lylli said that yesterday was the very BEST first day of school. EVER!

Layla keeps asking when she gets to go to school, but she doesn't start until after Labor Day. But, I told her she could wear her new school clothes when Lylli went to school.

Seryn is wearing her new shirt, but had been up sick all night the night before and didn't feel well, so she wanted to wear a sweater too. Still, she can't give up a chance for a picture!

Nothin's in Cement ... yet

I don't know why I can't blog regularly right now. I just feel so disoriented, I guess. But I thought you might be interested to see where we are right now in our lives.

We sold our house in June and have been living with my parents while we await a job option in northern Idaho. However, a couple weeks ago, we decided we really need to go to Provo so Shane can pursue a doctorate degree in marriage and family counseling down at BYU. So, we will probably be moving there. We are currently waiting to see if he can get a job as a counselor down there, but he may have to get licensed before many of them will look at him. If that's the case, we may move down there and put his mechanic skills to work. He can't apply for the program until December and it will start next fall. So, we have a lot of waiting to do. But we are eager to follow a new path and see what the Lord has in store for us.

In the meantime, I have been frantically looking for replacements for my positions at the preschool and also for my father-in-law. We have been keeping plenty busy, helping my parents put in a back porch and I have been involved with a couple blog tours for a few of my author friends and am putting together my own blog tour for the end of September. It's a lot of work, but I hope it will pay off in the end. (A blog tour is where I send my book to people and they read and review it - and sometimes add an interview of me - and then on their assigned day, they post their review of my book on their blog.) I've also been busy working on getting another book polished up to send off! So pray for that to go well!

All in all, we've had a busy but enjoyable summer but we are eager for school to start up again! Here are some pictures of the cement project.

Denver Zoo

Last weekend we were in Denver for one of Shane's friend's weddings. It was fun to see everyone, but like a dork, I left my camera in the hotel. So no wedding pictures. But we went to the zoo while we were there, so, we have zoo pictures!

This is the one picture the girls weren't acting like they should be in the zoo! Aren't they cute? Seryn is such a wild sleeper that we actually had to put her on the floor so Lylli and Layla could sleep!

This is Seryn, Lylli, Ella, and Layla in front of the zebras. The zebras were Seryn's favorite!!! (She did not trust the elephants!)

And, of course, they thought the peacock was lots of fun! (Ella, Layla, and Seryn)

Seryn thought the seal was pretty fun to watch swim.

For lunch, Shane bought the biggest hot dog I've ever seen! It even had sauerkraut. (YUCK!) But he loved it!

And Seryn thought her dad was so funny, she tried to imitate him! Funny kid!