A much needed vacation

Right after Trents graduation, we headed out for a nice vacation in California. We were able to see quite a few friends and family that we haven't seen in awhile. I stopped by Madera and visited Gina who I grew up with and was able to see her brand new baby boy, Dawson. Then we headed to Grandmas for a night before heading out again.

Grandma's ranch

My brother Casey and his family, my parents, and my Aunt Pam and cousin Rachel all went down  to Disneyland for a few days. It was a little hectic with so many people, but we had such a great time. Trent and I were able to sneak in a few adult rides since we had extra helpers to watch the kids.


First things first, a dip in the pool and Jacuzzi to relax after 3 days of traveling

Bailey with her great aunt Pam and my cousin Rachel at the Lego store in Downtown Disney. We headed there the night we arrived to get the shopping done first!

 

 A lego Belle and the beast

Getting anxious to get in the park

 

 

The whole family (minus Rachel, Brooklyn and Bailey on the front seat) on the Small World boat

 

My cousin Jason, his wife Megan and son  Beckham joined us one evening since they live close and have yearly passes

 

Bailey (and her new princess bear) was exhausted after her first day

 

 

 

We started day 2 with the characters breakfast...complete with Mickey Mouse waffles

 

 And Nick wanted another chance to get the bad guys in the Buzz and woody ride

 

My cousin Rachel and I shooting away (yes look at her score compared to mine...sad)

 

 

Waiting  for mommy and daddy who were riding the Indiana Jones ride

 

 

Their toy story friends Woody and Jessie

 

 

My brother Casey, Rachel, Brooklyn and Isaiah

 

 

My mom and dad

 

Then on to California Adventures
Family photo with Sully

Brookie, Zaya, Nick and Bailey in Cars Land

 

We had so much fun at Disneyland and cant wait to go again. The kids had such a great time, they were also so tired by the time we left.

 

Back to Grandma's and of course a trip to the beach

 

We had a good time catching up with my cousin Brit

 

 

My Aunt Diane (dad's sister) , Dad, Uncle Craig (dad's brother)  and Grandma Davis

 

It was really nice to be able to visit with so many family members and be able to relax and have fun. California is still home to me and I love visiting every chance I get!

 

 

 

 

He's DONE!

Trent finally graduated! We are so excited and feel a huge relief.

He started school when we were first married and graduated from Institute of Technology in Computer Networking. After that he went to Fresno City College and got his AA and  transferred to Fresno State, just to transfer again to Boise State and graduating in Mechanical Engineering.

It has not been an easy road considering moving 5 times, working full time and having 2 kids along the way.The rewards have already been worth it though as he was hired from his summer internship last summer and has been working full time as a manufacturing engineer a full year now.

I am so proud of all his hard work and just so relieved to have a little time away from school for now.

It was Boise State's biggest graduating class with over 2200 graduates. Can you find Trent...hint ...he is wearing a blue shirt

Getting his "diploma"

Woohoo! He's done! I am one happy wife

 And two happy kids!!!!

And now on to our next adventure...DISNEYLAND!

A few house pictures

I guess it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Moving is HARD! We even moved close by, but packing and loading was only the beginning. Once we unloaded everything into our garage, I thought that we were almost done. Yeah right! We painted a LOT, and moved in the big stuff. Then unpacked endless boxes (still not quite done) and tried to organize. It is hard to organize when everything does not have a "home" as my mom would say. There has to be a place for everything, and our budget and resources are running low. BUT, we have managed to get quite a few things marked off our to do list and are well on our way to making our new house a home.

Here are a few before and afters....there is still clutter around ..uuhhmm the kitchen....that just haven't found their place yet, but we are working on it!


This is the kids bathroom. The lighting is off in the picture, but all the walls are a dark grey/purplish color

before

 

Here Bailey is helping to get rid of the dark cave

After

The kitchen and antlers of the previous owners

 

 

the after...mostly just new paint, I haven't quite decided how to decorate this space

 

 

Entry and kitchen from the family room

 

 

 

 

The dining room before ( love the deer head above the master doorway)

 

 

 

The dark green living room wall. I have nothing against dark green, but when the whole house was so dark, it had to go!

 

 

and the very plain after

(still deciding what to do with the huge wall, I may need some design advice from Trent's sister Kristy)

 

 

Entry nook before

 

and after

 

 

 

 

 

Nicks room is almost done and just needs a few more additions to make it perfect . We left the walls the same since only one wall was painted grey...but, I am thinking of painting a baseball on the wall (that I saw on Pinterest.)

 

And Baileys is bare...hers will be fun but a little more expensive, so we will wait until after Disneyland before we tackle that one...

 

 

 

The master, office and bonus rooms are the last of my priorities and may never get done.

 

It will be awhile before I finish all my to do list, but I feel like we have done quite a bit in just a month and love my new home!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad neighbors

 

ok maybe the title is a little exaggerated, but Alexander from the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...will completely understand what I'm feeling!

We have been so excited and living on cloud 9 since moving into our new home...until last night! I ran a few errands and come home to a note in our door to call the Star police. I called Trent first to make sure he wasn't in an accident or anything and he was fine.

So I call the police who said that we had a complaint from our neighbors that our dog was barking non stop. They said that he barks all night and day and that they have repeatedly talked to us about it and we did nothing about it....

OK, lets see. We have had Bentley for 18 months and not one complaint. We moved in the same subdivision where we lived before and know all our neighbors around us and no one has EVER said anything to us before. We did have a new couple move in the same time we did and they are next to us...but there is a lot between us. WE do not have any direct neighbors as we have two fields on both sides.

So as I hear the complaint from the officer I say...My dog sleeps in my room at night...and he DOES NOT BARK all night long .  I am home all day and he is in with us... BUT he does bark when people walk by....I know that he barks at other people and dogs.

They said that they have repeatedly told us to do something about it (flat out lie) I have never even met them and did not even know who they were.

So YES, I'm sure Bentley barks when we are doing errands and I'm sure it is annoying, but 2 out of their 3 complaints were just not true at all, and now the cops are called on us....REALLY!

So I'm really upset that the officer said that it is a misdemeanor for disturbing the peace and that the man said he would make a formal complaint against us if we didn't fix the problem...so luckily Trent walks in and we decided that we should just go talk to the new neighbors and apologize and see what's going on...

We walk over and they answer the door and are not polite. Trent apologizes for our dog and says that we will make sure he doesn't bark...and they continue to rail us as how our dog is making their life miserable and they cant get anything done because of his barking. I said that he is with me most the time and he sleeps inside.

She then said that she was upset because I was outside with a friend earlier in the day, and her 2 kids were playing with my 2 and the dog was barking and I didn't do anything about it....And this really made me ticked! I was outside with my kids and friends and Bentley was running around barking and playing and she was mad that I let him do that...that I didn't tell him to behave. I said that I let him bark when he plays because he is a DOG! Her and her husband said that they will do what they have to do and had nothing to do with us.

I said that if it bothered her so much, why didn't she just come over and say something to me instead of calling the cops... And I know that the 4 kids were way louder than the dog that was chasing them.

Needless to say, they were not kind or friendly in any way. I walked away in tears after our neighbors just laid into us and said that they don't care about being good neighbors or friends, they just don't want any noise coming from our house. I now am paranoid that everything we do will be watched and that I cant even let Bentley out in my backyard anymore, let alone my kids who run around and scream.

I have never had any neighbor so cold and rude...especially when they just moved in 2 weeks ago. Trent went out this morning and bought a shock collar and hopefully  that will remedy the situation.
They did say that they have had this problem at their last place and had to take care of the situation also...so they just seem like the type who complains anyways....but why do they have to be my neighbors?

Any stories or suggestions????

18 months later...

and they are BACK!

My parents arrived last night at about 7pm from Latvia. They had been up 21 hours straight, taken 3 flights and eventually made it in to Boise.


Nick Aaron and Bailey waiting patiently for Grandpa and Grandma to arrive

 

Here come the missionaries

 (doesn't my mom look like she's from Europe?)

 

Hugs for everyone...My dad and Matt

 

Grandma and the 2 Sunny's ( her friend and new grandbaby she never met)

 

 

Bailey giving Grandpa a big hug

 

My dad's friend Roger came with a big sign

 

A little overwhelmed

 

and happy!~

 

Matt's cute family

 

 

After the airport, we took them straight to the Stake Center to be released

by the Stake President and it was a special experience to be apart of.

 

 

 

Welcome Home!

 

Grandma playing with the kids

 

Matt's new hat!

 

 

We are so glad to have them back and be able to see them more often! We love you mom and dad!

 

 

(With all the hustle and bustle I did not get one picture with myself or Trent in it,

but hopefully Matt got some on his camera. )