Extreme Makeover Home Edition

So when we moved into this little house, we did an extreme home makeover. It looks really nice on the inside (we still have major projects to tackle in the yard, but we're slowly getting there). I'm constantly in the mood for changing things and redecorating a little here and there, and will be painting our bathroom a new color tomorrow. I re-purposed a few things around our house for some cute organization in the bathroom and have a few more ideas I want to do in there, just simple and inexpensive, but nice ways to freshen things up a little bit. I, of course, also will be tackling the painting of Jackson's room this week. What is interesting about all this, is that at church this morning we started a new series entitled "Extreme Makeover Home Edition: Extreme Faith for Extreme Families". Our pastor discussed how anxious we are to remodel our homes, redecorate, relandscape, etc. with our homes and our physical spaces. Many of us are also anxious to "remodel" our physical selves as well, but the point he was making was how often do we remodel our faith and what our lives say about us spiritually? How often do we check the foundations our families are built on and make sure we are passing down a legacy of faith to our children? Our pastor mentioned Timothy and his mother and grandmother, and how Timothy's faith started with his grandmother and was passed on through his mother. This was a great wake-up call for me as we have a two-and-a-half-year-old and a baby on the way. Joshua's family was blessed because he chose for his family to serve the Lord. Jake and I talked and said we just want to make sure that we are daily passing down things that will be a legacy of faith for our family, not just leave it up to chance or take that kind of gamble on it. We believe that if we teach it to our kids and live it in our home and have our family built on a godly foundation, our kids will "know the ways they should go". It doesn't mean there won't be times of rebellion or trials or spiritual wandering, but at least we can say we passed on a legacy of faith instead of unfaith (if that's a word). I was also convicted about the time I spend planning, designing, shopping around, tackling projects, etc. for our physical home, but do I spend equal or more time tackling our spiritual needs? Hmmmm....I'm anxious to see what the rest of this series brings and I pray that our family will prioritize as needed and simplify where needed so that our lives speak of what is truly important--not a large or fancy home, not the most toys or activities, but what is truly going to produce in our family the kind of character that is of the Lord.

Arizona--July 5th-11th

Jake's sister, Christy, and her family moved to the Phoenix area right after this last Thanksgiving. Jake's mom lives in Alaska and usually comes down here once a year to visit Christy's family and us. But since Christy's family moved to Phoenix, Karen decided to go there to visit instead and see if we could come down there while she was there. So, Monday after Jake got off work, we packed up the car and headed to Arizona! We had decided to leave and drive mostly through the night so Jackson would sleep and we would have more time with Jake's family. We put Jackson in his p.j.'s and left at about 9:00 p.m.


We had a great and easy drive down (Jackson was an awesome traveler) and arrived in Maricopa (south of Phoenix) where Brent and Christy live around noon the next day. It was great to see everyone! Isaak and Sophia (Jackson's cousins) and Jackson all reconnected right away and went off to play as if they were the best of friends. Christy and Brent have a gorgeous home with a great pool, which we took full advantage of:

We had a lot of fun outings while we were there, but relaxed a lot too, which was nice. One night we went to a Rainforest Cafe, which was especially fun for the kids (and Jake and his mom had never been to one before either).


We also spent a morning shopping at Arizona Mills (a huge outlet mall) and found a few good deals. Later that day we went to Big Surf, a waterpark. It was really fun. The bigger the slide, the better for Jackson. We started off in the toddler area with small slides and really shallow water, then Christy found a larger kids area with bigger slides that Jackson could do. They were pretty big and they didn't allow adults to go down with the kids, so one of us would take Jackson up to the top and the other would stay below to catch him. I couldn't get any pictures of those slides because the pool area was too big to have easy access to my camera. After awhile, we wanted to go back to the little toddler area because Jake and Isaak and Christy wanted to go down adult rides and that didn't leave me a partner to help with Jackson. He threw a big temper tantrum and kept saying he wanted to go on the bigger slides, but once we got him involved on the little ones again, he was happy and had a blast.

One night Jake's mom wanted him to take her to a casino about five miles from where Brent and Christy live. Jake had been doing awesome with directions and driving in the city and getting us everywhere we wanted to go. No one else really wanted to go to the casino, so we got the kids to bed and Christy and I were hanging out, assuming Jake and his mom were having a good time over at the casino (exactly five miles away--it was on the main highway we had been using the entire time we were there). About an hour and a half into our conversation, Christy got a phone call from Karen saying they were lost and had been lost the entire time! Somehow, with it being dark and all, Jake had taken a wrong turn and they were clear out in the desert. He was trying to use his GPS, and it was saying he was going the right way, so they had kept driving, but after an hour and a half of seeing nothing but desert, Jake wisely decided the GPS was wrong in this case. Well, somehow, they got turned around and headed back into town and then found the casino with no problems, but Christy and I were a little worried! Anyway, I guess Jake lost his twenty bucks within an hour, but they still had a good time.

Another night we all went out to a great place for chicken wings. That was where Jake heard the breaking news that his favorite basketball player, LeBron James, would be signing on with the Miami Heat. I guess we should have headed back over to the Mills for a new selection of hats and other sports memorabilia so Jake can ditch his Cavaliers stuff and support James in Miami, but we didn't. ;0)

We had lots of good visiting and Jackson had lots of good playing. When we were getting ready to leave on Saturday morning, we had the car all packed up and Jackson had said goodbye to everyone, and he reached out his hand to hold Sophie's and said, in the sweetest little voice ever, "Sophie come with us?". It broke our hearts. It was so sweet and he already misses her and Isaak.

On our (LONG) journey back we went to the Grand Canyon--another first for Jake, and of course Jackson. It was amazing! I think Jackson was more interested in collecting rocks along the trails we walked on than the actual sites of the Canyon.

The trip back was extremely long...1. We stopped at the Grand Canyon, 2. We had to stop at every little place along the way because I was swelling (which, in two pregnancies, I never did swell at all until this trip), 3. Jackson needed to wiggle a lot, 4. We took the Utah way home, and not only that but we took the LONG Utah way home...and let me tell ya, we were all three extremely glad to see our little home!

But we did have a great time and are grateful for Brent and Christy's wonderful hospitality and for putting up with a constant stream of guests for most of July. Also, it was so nice to see Jake's mom (who we won't see again until December). And, of course, it was wonderful for Jackson to get to play with his cousins! Also, thanks to Jake's supervisor and friend, Gail, who traded us vehicles for the trip! We both drive gas guzzlers (Jake has a truck and I have an SUV), and Gail was kind enough to offer us her little car that gets excellent gas mileage. The trip cost us about a third in gas money as it would have if we had driven one of our vehicles. We were so grateful for that (plus it was much easier to drive in the city with a small car). So, that was our summer road trip!

Independence Day--Day 2

So, to continue on with our Fourth of July festivities, on Sunday we had 2 barbecues to attend! My mom decided to have one at her house after church and the Webbs had their annual camp-out at CSI before the fireworks. Unfortunately, Jake had to work for part of the day. He never usually works Sundays, but since he was taking a whole week off for our vacation, he told his friend, who was taking all Jake's shifts, that he would work for him on the holiday. So Jake worked until about 4 p.m., then joined us. We had a great time at my Mom's barbecue:

Uncle Rex, Grandpa Miller, Dad, Uncle Carl, and Derek


Aunt Carol, Mom, Grandma Jones

Jackson and Aunt Kathy swinging

My two cute grandma's checking out the birds in my mom's yard

After enjoying wonderful food (including homemade ice cream and my favorite strawberry shortcake roll-up dessert I make) and our great family, Jake came and got us and we headed in to CSI for the Webb family barbecue. Rick provided a wonderful bbq and we had fun playing frisbee and catch while we waited for the fireworks.

Nice throw--but Hannah's behind you!

Fireworks Time!

Thanks Webb family for the wonderful evening and traditions!

Independence Day--Day 1

So this year we get to spend two days celebrating the Fourth of July! I'm trying to get caught up on blogging before we go on our vacation and I end up even MORE behind, so here is Day 1 of our Independence Day celebration (and we'll see if I get around to posting Day 2 tomorrow before we have to leave!).

We skipped out on the Community Pancake Breakfast this morning (even though it is like right across the street from our house!) due to high winds and FREEZING temperatures! By the time we were ready to head to the parade, though, it had warmed up enough we felt like actually going out. So, we headed to Buhl for the parade, and it was just the normal Buhl parade in all its glory (haha!). But Jackson sure enjoys it, especially the tractors! When we got there we decided Jackson needed his own camping chair, since normally we are pushing him in the stroller or pulling him in the wagon at these kinds of events, and now he's sort of outgrown the need for all that. So Jake took him down to the store while we waited for the parade and got him a new chair, which Jackson would NOT let anyone help carry on the way back. We got to sit with Jake's parents (Grandma and Grandpa Webb) and Jackson had a great time.

Jackson also found some new friends to play with while waiting for the parade to begin and just made himself at home!

Then he was lucky enough to get some handy binoculars from Grandpa Webb for watching (and Jackson just LOVES binoculars, and is constantly trying to get into ones he's not supposed to!):

And our festivities will continue tomorrow with church, a bbq at Mom's at noon, then the Webb Family tradition of hanging out at CSI, playing frisbee and catch, chillin, and eating yummy food before the fireworks! It should be fun!

Boating: June 25th

Well, we finally got to go boating this summer! It seems like here in Idaho, summer has been a LONG time coming (and actually, it's still hit and miss depending on the day), but we had a fantastic boating day on Friday, June 25th. My grandparents wanted to go fishing in the morning, so my cousin, Megan, and her boyfriend, Vaughan, decided to go with them. Then Jackson and I, along with my mom and Uncle Jerry and Aunt Patti joined them for boating at noon. The weather was sunny and warm and we had a great time (even though I didn't get to wakeboard--or tube much either, due to the little girl growing inside me :0) ). Jackson had a blast

playing in the sand,

riding in the boat--and nodding off on the way out to the bay :0),

splashing and swimming ("like a fish, Mommy!"),

and taking his FIRST tube ride (with Mommy and Megan--and I guess Baby Sister too, technically--yes, our side of the tube was definitely more weighted down!)

It was a super-fun day and I was so proud of Jackson for riding the tube! He loved it! I can't wait til the next outing!

Father's Day 2010

Father's Day was pretty low-key and relaxing this year, but really nice. The extra-nice part about it was that we got to spend time with each of our dad's as well as our own little family! My mom decided to have a Father's Day barbecue and invite Jake's parents as well as her side of the family and us. That turned out to be perfect so we could ALL be together. We were so thankful to be able to spend a nice afternoon with the dad's we love SO MUCH!

We also got to enjoy the summer's first HOMEMADE ICE CREAM and Jackson was really loving that:




Later, after the bbq, we had a really nice rainstorm and Jackson found a place where the water ran off the patio roof and created a HUGE puddle, so we changed him into his irrigating boots and let him splash and play in the puddle. He ended up soaked all over, of course, so we had to send his clothes to Nana's dryer while we snuggled in a towel. It was a really relaxing and fun afternoon! Thanks, Mom, for hosting, and thanks to all the wonderful dad's for being worthy of celebration and honor! We love you all.