Visiting the Units

My parents have been in Mansfield, TX for nearly 20 years. We moved there in 1991 when I was a freshman in high school. They finally moved away and headed back to Utah where they were both born and raised. Actually they were both from Brigham City, but the point is is that they are finally back in Utah. They sold their house in Texas after two or three 'near sales', only to have the people back out at the last minute. They bought the land for their new place a few years ago and last fall, started building their "dream home". They custom designed it. My parents/family have moved around NUMEROUS times and so they've known what works in a house and what they like/don't like. So, when they were designing this house, they knew exactly what they wanted. For example, the kitchen. It has never been big enough to hold everyone when we all come home for Christmas. We've had many Christmas dinners out in the garage, just so we can all eat together. It was quite fun, though. So, they have a huge kitchen with a big, long island where all the grandkids can get up to the counter and decorate cookies or make gingerbread houses. They also had a special room built over the garage for the grandkids to stay that they call "the dorm room". It's a fun room. Granted, there are only 6 beds in there and they do have 14 (and still counting) grandkids. But, it's big enough that the rest can sleep on the floor.

After our vacation in Idaho we drove down to Wellsville (Logan) where their house is so that we could finally see the house and hang out with the grandparents. They just moved in at the beginning of July, so they had only been in the house for a few weeks before we got there, but they had a lot of stuff already unpacked and we felt very at home. So, I was there for two weeks with the girls, but Garrett had to fly back to Oregon to work for most of the time, but came back July 23 to hang out for a couple of days before we drove back to Oregon.

I just realized that I didn't take any pictures of the outside of their house the whole time I was there; or very many pictures at all for that matter...I guess I was too busy having fun! :) But, my dad took these pictures before they moved in...their house was part of the Parade of Homes there and so they decorated the whole house for the home show...this is what a few of the rooms looked like:

The outside...looking at the front door.

The Kitchen
My mom's sewing room...possibly the best room in the house!!
My mom's sewing room looking in from the doorway.
The dorm room...looking towards the hallway.
One side of the dorm room...

and the other side.
When we got there, my girls were so excited to run up to this room and pick which color bed they were going to sleep in. It's such a fun room!

My mom and I are a lot alike...we both love to sew and quilt and do "crafty" things. So, pretty much the whole time we were there we SHOPPED. Not for clothes, but for material and quilt patterns. It was a ton of fun. Well, it would've been 100 X funner, had my kids not been there with us. That sounds really mean of me. They were REALLY GOOD the first day, but they got sick of those fabric stores REAL FAST I tell you. They are just kids after all! So, I came away with like 10 more projects to work on...that I really am excited about making. We tried to start one while I was there, but with all the shopping, we didn't get very far. We worked on a few sewing projects that Maggie and I brought with us; I helped mom download itunes and I started loading her many, many cds onto her computer so that she can start using her new ipod. We even went out to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Costa Vida. Ever since they closed the one in Hillsboro, I've been really sad and missing that sweet pork like crazy. I was so excited when my mom told me that there was one in Logan--Yay! My car broke down over the weekend, so we were stranded at home from Friday till Monday. None of my parents' cars had enough room to fit all of us at once, so if we went anywhere we took my suburban. We had fun hanging out at home though. My dad was out of town a lot for work, and when he was home, he was busy with projects around the house. He's finishing the whole basement by himself, so he had a lot of work to do...still does...that's a big project.

My dad painting the storage room in the basement

The girls in their special chairs--Bella loved these!

She loves to smile for pictures and even says something resembling "Cheese"
The girls living it up in the dorm room

Watching "Dreamer" with grandpa
Lydia bought these sunglasses at the Dollar Store while we were there and I
thought she looked quite cute in them.

It was so fun being there and being able to relax and spend time with my mom and dad. I definitely plan on going back every summer since they are so close now!