The Rest of July

After the 4th, the rest of July is kind of a blur of craziness.  And now it’s August!  So, here we go trying to remember it all…

July 4-8th: Hastings family reunion in the Bay area.  We regrettably ended up skipping it because we were going to close sometime during the week.  Long story short…we didn’t close.  Angry is probably not adequate to describe how I felt.  But we made the most of the week getting started on some packing.

July 11th (Monday): We finally closed on our new home.  Hurray!

July 12th-15th (Tues – Friday): I spent the rest of the week at girls camp.  We had rainy, stormy weather the first 2 days, but ended the week with beautiful weather.  I slept like crap the entire week, but it was fun.

July 15th (Friday): I came “home” and half my belongings were here…

And half were here…

That was fun :)  We spent the weekend between houses…sleeping at one, showering at another.  Moving things into one and cleaning out the other.

July 16th (Saturday): I spent the day painting the rooms that HAD to be painted.  Jared was moving things and our kids were…hmm…

Here are a few before and afters…

The master.  Do you see that wall???  What is that?!

A little (or lot of) primer, paint found in the basement, and we are back to the original wall color…So much better, don’t you think?

This is Mia and Gavin’s room.  Yes, it would be fine if you wanted to do a boys sports themed room.  But I’m not.  Plus it was sooooo dark! (much darker than the picture makes it look.  I promise!)  Had to go.Now the top is “creamy white”.  And most important, it doesn’t feel like a cave in the room anymore.  Still a lot of work to do in this room, but it’s a start!

And this wall in a basement bedroom, which is now our guest room.  Red wall?  No thank you!  No after, but it’s back to the original wall color too.

That evening I went to dinner and to see Harry Potter with some friends (while Jared watched the kids, and finished the painting!)  It was a much needed break (and miracle I stayed awake for the movie.  though it was HP.  And as a side note, I loved it!)

July 18-21 (Monday-Thursday): We worked like crazy to get EVERYTHING out of the old house and get it CLEANED for our renters to be in by Friday.  To be honest, it was mostly Jared working like crazy, getting up at 6 am and going over before work, then going back after work till 9 or 10.  I really did try to help, and did what I could, but mostly just ended up getting frustrated with how LITTLE I could get done with 3 kids (who, by this point were sooo out of any sort of routine they were going crazy).  When it was all said and done, a friend of mine asked me if I was sad.  Sad?  What?!  That honestly hadn’t even crossed my mind.  I mean, I love my neighbors, and wish we were still in the same ward, but we only moved 1/2 mile away.  By that point, “sad” was not an emotion I was feeling.  Exhausted, worn out, and so happy just to be DONE with the place!!!

But later on Thursday evening as I pulled away for what really would (finally) be the last time, I did get a little teary-eyed.  Thanks friend…you know who you are!  We really did have a lot of wonderful memories in our first home.  We were there for 6 1/2 years, had 3 children, made wonderful friends, and had the best neighbors.  Late Thursday night I handed over the keys and that officially became “the rental”.  And the projects on the new home officially began…

The last week of July was spent unpacking, doing a little more painting, cleaning, fixing, more unpacking, and trying to remember that it’s still summer and our kids want to play.  And then you can just repeat the above sentence for the first week of August…

And if life isn’t crazy enough, Richards baby #4 will be arriving in February.  That means I’ve been in my first trimester through all this craziness!  Thankfully, I don’t get sick.  I can’t even imagine what the past month would have been like if I did.  But I do get really, REALLY tired.  Ridiculously tired.  With each of my past pregnancies I took a 1-2 hour nap almost EVERY day during my first trimester just to function.  I think I can count on 1 hand the number of naps I’ve taken this time.  It definitely takes its toll on me…and let’s not even talk about my motivation these days!  There are a lot of people who would have this house completely unpacked, decorated and ready to go by now.  Let’s just say, we are not even close! 

Ah well.  It’s been quite a month.  And I’m glad it’s over.  And so excited school starts THIS month.  And finally, FINALLY, with Mia headed to Kindergarten, that actually means something to me :)