Rule of new home ownership: Something must break.

People have told us countless times how wonderful it is that we were able to purchase a house that we lived in because we knew so much more about the house than buying something unknown. I can really see how this is true - but let me assure you, when the house you buy in 70 years old, you can't truly know everything about it and what you do know might scare the crap out of you because it's a list you have to fix that's a mile long! Alas, despite the huge list, we LOVE home ownership. It feel so amazing. But there must be some unspoken rule - when you buy a house, something must break.

In our case, our running water decided to take a hiatus. Now, as known by my previous blog post, I do very well with "roughing it" with camping and no running water.... but when you go camping, you're in the mentality of no running water. When your at home, you unconsciously use water all day. A quick wash of the hands, a cup of water for the kiddo, measuring water for cooking, etc. Things like flushing toilets and running the washing machine even. There is also a rule that follows Damon and me - If it's going to break, it's on a Sunday when things are closed. Of course, is there any other way?!

So first we dug up one hole.. 

Then another, but this one had concrete over it.... 

Thank you awesomely strong and sexy husband. I know it was Fathers Day, I know you had just came home from work and had hours more work to do, I know I couldn't help dig much because I'm trying not to further hurt myself in this pregnancy... but seriously, you rock. Thank you. 

As if the dirt & concrete wasn't enough in the way... 

Yes, those are roots from our walnut tree. 

At last, we got where we needed to be! 

This space takes our well water from 3 in pipe to 1 1/2 and 1 I believe. I forget. Basically, this is the space that we believed something got stuck inside the pipe.... And yes, it's in the goat pen so the goats had to full investigate the whole time!

OOOooo.... I didn't tell the great story of a week ago, some small boy in my home that is adorable and naturally curious but guilty in this case so shall remained unnamed (ha! our only boy. LOL).... I caught him placing his whole arm in the well pipe (3 inches around) and he was letting sticks and twigs go and watching them float out. ACK! I wasn't mad, I just explained that if something got stuck in the well that we would lose our water..... surprise surprise, 8 days later, we have no water. I asked him if he knew what happen and the sweetest smart kid said he thought something must have been stuck that didn't float. I asked him if he dropped rocks in the well and he stone faced said "no, but I think those wouldn't float". LOL 

We blew out the system and got to this point....

Running water that barely made it through... something was still stuck. 

I just happened to be at the park and someone from church was there. I was talking about my lack of water and venting. I guess I knew in the back of my mind that her husband was a plumber but I'm incredibly stubborn and usually will kill myself before asking for help.... But help arrived later Monday evening. 

He and Damon talked through options, a pipe was cut, shop vac, wire scraped around, and viola - WATER. Decreased flow still but way better. 

And as a side note, these man folk have some serious amount of TOOLS. Who knew life took so many tools?!

I hear it's on the agenda to completely replace the small pipe with a big new pipe in this section in about a week. 

We're never truly "without water" because our well is free flowing, needing no electricity or devices to give us water. We open a valve and it's pure, clean, wonderful water flowing for us to enjoy. It's just the part that was pressurized for home use that was cut off. Lots of buckets of water were carried..... 

In case you were wondering, during this experience, I had not just our 4 children but 3 extra kids to care for. That's 9 people to flush toilets for, to wash dishes for. I also had a lot of laundry that needed done! One kiddo was out of the essentials - underwear. So yes, I hauled water for washing machine usage too. I learned it takes 7 trips with a 5 gallon bucket to fill the washer with water and you need 7 more for the rinse cycle. Surprisingly, I accomplished 4 loads of laundry!! Each bucket weighs about 35-40 lbs. I don't want to total that up but let me tell you, I am so incredibly thankful that my body is strong enough to accomplish the hard things in life that might come up. There is so much I could be limited to and I'm not. Even pregnant, I had to be very careful with my steps and how I lifted that many buckets but I did it. I do feel a sense of gratitude and pride for this body of mine. It doesn't fail me <3

I'm also so humbled by the strength and intelligence of my husband and deeply grateful for the friend who came to help. 

I must say, that shower Tuesday morning with hot, running water... Amazing. 

Seriously, go hug your water heater and your facet. It's a treasure. 

Camping Season!

Camping season is on full-swing here and for once in the past several years, I'm not on call! This was an instant reason to load up and head to the mountains. My husband is flooded in work but that didn't stop us. Yes, entering my third trimester, I loaded my gear, kids and pregnant self into our suburban and headed to the mountains. I've determined that camping is not a once-in-awhile kind of activity. I can understand how people find it intimidating but when you use your gear often and know what you are doing, it's so easy. I'm so thankful to have cultivated some skills that allow me to pick up and go with the kids.

 I saw a saying recently that said something like "Children don't remember the best day of TV". It really inspired me. This has been a harder pregnancy on me. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I've had to slow way down and it's impacted my family in ways I don't love. Finally, I've felt better with more energy the last month. I've accomplished a reasonable amount around the house and felt like my days were numbered with this great feeling so I knew I needed to get out with the kids. 

I've camped often and I know the weekends are NUTS. So, if my husband can't go weekends or weekdays, why in the world would I go when it's crazy busy? We loaded our car Sunday evening and Monday morning and were at our campsite by 3 pm Monday. It was nearly silent. I saw less than a handful of campers for the first two days! 

Once we got all unpacked and "camp set up", we had to tackle how we were going to cook - OVER FIRE. Well, originally my intention was to load wood to take with me but somehow I forgot that detail and so we went on an adventure with nothing more than a tiny hatchet. Remind me next time to bring a full size ax and wood saw. 

Fear not, I kicked this adventures ass and found plenty of wood! 

Our camp site:

We tucked our tent in a private little shady area.

Yep, that's enough wood for us. 

This is a MUST-HAVE for camping with children. We were next to a very nice creek and it wasn't long before every piece of Lani's clothing I packed were on this line drying at one point. 

Another one of those "life-hacks" that is a complete sanity saver for me is the "kid-tent". Our main tent is a sleep and rest tent. If you need to read a book in peace away from your little siblings, go lay down. But by not allowing any toys in the main tent we keep it cleaner. We keep our sleeping bags, pillows, bags with clothes but that's basically it. 

Our adventures in camping included finding a tiny waterfall to play in, "climbing the mountains", swimming, reading, and so much free time. Here's a peak of what I remembered to capture :

Yep. TOTAL SUCCESS. 

We were blessed and had some great friends join us!! (Yes, there is another mom willing to load up without her husband and her little kids and come have a damn good time!!) We are already planning our next trip.... 

In about a week. 

I'm so thankful for Damon staying home and working tireless hours and through countless demands that affords me the luxury of taking trips with our children. It cannot be summed up into words how much this means to all of us. After 4 days, we all missed him!! We rushed down the mountain and when his truck hit the driveway, there was joy all around Thursday night! 

I hope everyone is enjoying their kids as much as I am this summer. Carry on folks <3

Waking up... in OUR home!!!

Those are our home ownership documents. WOOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! 

Surreal. That must be what this feeling is. I couldn't sleep last night thinking about all I wanted to accomplish now that the home is really mine. I cannot tell you how incredibly awesome this process has been. I've spent hours glued to the computer working on numbers, figures, writing letters of explanations to underwriting teams, you name it - I've had to deal with it these past couple months. All that work, all those prayers, everything is worth it. I feel the giddy need to paint a wall, tile a back splash, something!

Instead, I decided to marvel at my beautiful reasons for buying a home. 

These crazy girls. How did I blink and they got to be so big? At 6 & 8, they are going to conquer the world. By choice, they have snuggled together to share blankets (instead of clearing all those toys off their bed!). They each have plans to remodel the house. So far I've heard they want more windows, painted walls, and a horse. We'll see about all that. 

This little man is rarely still. This is a rare glimpse into him actually in one spot for more than 2 seconds! I am so thrilled to have the blessing of buying a home with room for him to roam a bit. To have dirt to dig in, animals to love, but mostly just space to be a boy. More than anyone, Declan craves the outdoors. He likes to build things, work with his hands and get dirty. 

This crazy bed hog crawled in our bed about 4 am. Why is there marker on her face? Who knows. But she is really really cute to wake up next to. I marvel at the fact that Lani will likely not know any other home in her childhood (at least as far as I am concerned!!) than this home. We moved into this home when she was just 2 months old. This is home. 

YESTERDAY, May 29th, 2014 - We became HOME OWNERS!!! 

But before we were officially owners, we decided this was our home. The moment we went under contract to purchase this dirt, we lit a fire under us! 

One of the blessings of buying an older home is the big trees! We have two huge walnut trees and one large pine tree. However, as a rental, these trees were neglected. The south side walnut tree was touching the house completely. It needed some TLC. So what does that mean? Of course it meant my darling husband needed a chainsaw, a ladder and this gorgeous little boy with loppers to help! It was very shocking at first to trim the tree back so much but it really was needed. I've been researching a few options for adding another shade tree to the front of the house to block the west afternoon and evening sun. We're spoiled with this walnut tree shading the morning and early afternoon sun, it's so big and beautiful. Being home owners means now having long term vision. Planting trees and expecting shade in years..... not tomorrow. Oh so exciting!

While this might not look like anything to the ordinary person, to us this looks like hope. We put down SERIOUS roots in the last month! You can see the mulch paths we're putting in the garden space, our new drip lines, our water supply lines, ahhh!!! What runs along this entire line is a row of raspberries. In a few years, this should be a beautiful bounty. 

Temporary gardening is brutal. It means that you get one grow season to make the soil great AND put it all back the next season when you are a renter. Anything you do you must be willing to un-do. Well, guess what? The ever-optimist inside of me refused to believe this home wasn't ours. This year we began our mulch paths. This is no tiny task. This is our beginning. While it doesn't look like much, we have big plans. Yes, when this was taken, our garden patch was over run with weeds. This is in part because I am pregnant and slower and in part because we have plants that weren't in the ground at all when this was taken. Each line in between the mulch rows has a new drip line. Still so much to do and a lot will NOT be undertaken this year as my September focus will be a new little one, not canning for the whole month :)

Our strawberry patch is happy!!

This is a rough map/sketch of our goals for our property. We firmly believe that nothing should stay that isn't considered useful or beautiful. Many of the things we are planning today will show in several years. We've been blessed by a few wonderful friends with house warming gifts of blackberries and raspberries. We're beginning our master plan NOW. Why wait? 

Can I just shout from the roof tops how grateful I am? There is no way this home would be ours without the hard work Damon has put in for years to build our dream business, my uncle Mike who believed in us completely, my many friends who listened to me worry & fret, prayed with me, our families who celebrated each step along the way with us, our Realtor Kelly Humphry, every single client A la Carte has and our lenders at Summit Funding Inc who were willing to build a case with us for our underwriting process. Without each and every person along the way, we wouldn't have made it. Most of all, I'm so honored to have known through this how marvelous the hand of God is. Each time we felt worried or discouraged, we were comforted and confirmed this was where we were meant to be. Indescribable. 

Weeds

My children grow like the weeds. I swear, I blink and they are accomplishing things they had never done before. Each day seems like a new stage of wonder and miracles. I'm enjoying time to just be a mom! I feel like our lives are stepping into a better rhythm lately.

There is tons of time to play in the dirt. Kalani doesn't care if she's fresh out of the bath, if there is mud anywhere, she will find it. In the absence of mud, ash from the fire pit is also acceptable. 

She is asserting herself as only a 2-year-old does. If you say anything like "you're cute", she immediately stops and tells your adamantly, "NO! I Lani 2". (She's Kalani and she's 2). It's really fun. 

Daunika decided having long hair was too much work. She's far too practical to be bothered with things like brushing her hair and taking time to un-tangle it. She had some requirements though, it needed to tuck behind her ears still because it bothers her in her face. This is what I came up with! 

Life is pretty consistent for this dear child. We have a schedule we both agree on for our school work, she is still enjoying girl scouts every other week (though if you ask her it should be weekly). Some of her summer goals include swimming at Eagle Island all the time and going to Girl Scout camp alone! 

Declan. Oh this photo sums up this kid so well. Last week, Damon and Declan went on a Father/Son camp-out. It was the highlight of his year. This kid idolizes everything about his Dad. It's so incredible to watch actually! This weekend we trimmed the walnut tree away from the house because it was touching it all over the place, that's just asking for damage. Declan watched the whole time - Dad, chain saws, ladders? What couldn't this kid enjoy? He asked to climb the ladder even and Damon helped him figure out how to check if it was safe. 

He is noise in motion. There is no stopping him, no slowing down. I hope this summer to buy him a new bike. I think he really is ready to join us side by side in bike rides. I love having a park close that we can ride our bikes to and enjoy. 

Aurora is coming into her own. She has decided to really enjoy learning about horses. She has a new horse puzzle and had it completed the first day she owned it! All of the books lately from the library have been about horses too! 

Reading has become something she is feeling so confident in. I'm so proud of her! She's content to just enjoy life. She is our kid that goes with the flow easier than everyone else. Her goals for the summer are to get her very own math work books (ones that match Daunikas) and to go swimming. She's also looking forward to fresh tomatoes from the garden.  

Daunika's new adventure has been all about Egyptians, pyramids, hieroglyphics, etc. This is a message she wrote to me. She has told me about new technology that uses x-rays to tell whats inside of mummy cases and really nifty facts about how the pyramids were build (including advancing in the shape based on how they evolved in their technique!)

Aurora has decided she loves all the BOB books. I'm not sure how to break it to her that we're on the last series.... Hopefully we find a new set that she loves as much! 

These two are inseparable. 

I'm enjoying gardening at a slower pace. We are SO thrilled to be purchasing a home. We've added fruit trees (two apple and a cherry so far), raspberry plants, mulch paths to help with weeding and row spacing. We're planning about 5 more fruit trees and several huge patches of black berries as a privacy fence that doubles as FOOD! 

I'm trying out some new recipes for soap too. This is what I cut this morning. It's still super soft, I hope it hardens into a nice bar that is super gentle and moisturizing in a few weeks. 

Hope to update more later - Life calls! 

We're still alive!

I cannot believe I've neglected my loved little family blog so long! I am so sorry world, I swear we are alive and well. So much is going on that I realized the other day that I have neglected picking up my camera and loving it. Whoops.

Here's a quick update on the crazy antics of our lives!

Can you believe it? A picture of my four kids looking AT the camera and smiling. Spring is here. Sunny and warm then rainy and cold! We are really enjoying bike rides to the park a couple times a week. Yes, at more than half way through my pregnancy, I am totally riding a bike pulling two children in a bike trailer. 

Woo hoo! Instead of feeling exhausted from it, it makes me feel empowered. This 6th pregnancy for me hasn't been the easiest. I am glad to be in the middle sweet spot to enjoy it. 

In March Aurora had "minor" surgery. It was a nightmare recovery for her but she was so incredibly brave. 

She had an upper lip tie that was cut. Typically, it's a small minor surgery. For us, Aurora's healing was longer and harder. I am glad we did it. She is much happier now with the ability to fully smile. Can the mom in me admit that I slightly miss her lisp? It was adorable but her full smile is priceless! She was so thrlled once she was all healed her next goal was to lose her first tooth. She did it! She ate so many apples and carrots and did it! 

Kalani's hair has suddenly grown so much! Isn't her morning hair hysterical?! Oh so funny. 

We have a new guy in the midst of our trio of lady goats...

I believe our kids named him Peter. He is so calm and peaceful. Much bigger now, this is him at 6 days old. Some years are easy years for kids coming, this wasn't one of those years. We lost two kids that arrived with this little man. Then the first 24 hours we had a heck of a time keeping him warm or getting him to eat at all. So glad he's perfect now :)

Life would be boring on my blog without towing vehicles right? 

Lookie!

Yes, that is our truck Roger on a trailer while Betty tows his huge load home. Now, that sounds simple right?  Ha........ 8:45pm I get a call from Damon who says "Rogers starter died, I need you to come get me"... On the way to save my husband, Aurora had the craziest bloody nose I've ever seen! While she laid down flat in the car, I ran into AutoZone for the starter. No biggie right? Well, I thought my husband meant he was going to change the starter there in the parking lot. Surprise! When I get there, he wants towed home. It should be noted I have NO problem driving trailers. I have serious issues with tow straps. I hate everything about towing with tow straps... Not to mention our tow strap is super short for two huge vehicles and isn't rated to pull 8,000 lbs. 

No biggie. It's almost 10 pm, our kids are tired but being fabulous. We call friends who have this great car trailer and they save our lives... We drive an hour to pick it up. We drive the hour back to the truck. Well, Damon spent hours literally hand winching (with come alongs) his 8,000 lb truck on the trailer all by himself. It was an event, trust me. We made it home by 2 am with a broken come along, bruises and fell into our beds exhausted! 

Story over right? No. We broke the damn trailer getting it OFF. 

Did I mention my tow rating is 6,000 lbs and the truck + trailer = over 10,000 lbs. 

Yep. My suburban is a bad ass. 

Since our last blog post, Declan had a birthday! This awesome little man decided to be different and have a carrot cake this year. He tells everyone he meets that he is four with enthusiasm. 

He loved the cake. Thank you Costco for helping me through exhaustion sometimes!

I'll have to update more later! Carry on lovely folks <3

Life goes on!

I cannot believe it is almost the end of February. Where has my year gone so far? January was a brutal month. Full of mourning and the emotional cliff that I fell off after all the dust settled. People assumed "Christmas" would be hard because my Mom and I were so close and she passed away just before a huge holiday... Ya know? Christmas was easy. It's the random Tuesday when the kids have been really clingy, I'm tired and just need a pep-talk that I've picked up the phone a few times, dialed and realized in horror that the phone would never be answered again. Those are hard moments I tell ya. I gave myself January to fall apart. I think after the planning, the details, the holiday, everything... I just needed those silent moments to finally and deeply cry it out. It's still hard, but better and better daily.

Life around here hasn't stopped much. We took a sabbatical from everything to give me time, but that certainly didn't mean my little people slowed down. While there is no home school co-op on Thursdays for us this term, no girl scout cookies we're selling, no _____ (fill in the blank with our usual crazy busy antics!) we have enjoyed the peaceful time to just bunker down and heal.

There have been peaceful supportive friendships holding us together... 

Lots of meals still to be made with tiny little peoples help!

Of course, it wouldn't be OUR life if we didn't enjoy towing cars.... No really, we towed two cars this month. In the absolutely awesome snow and ice fun, our little civic could not get up the tiny slope in our yard. ... Fear not, this is a photo of our Suburban pulling our civic through the ice to park :) When it snows, melts, then freezes, our gravel driveway literally becomes an ice skating rink. The kids love it! 

The second car was my brothers civic, it's currently waiting in my yard to be fixed and he has our civic. I absolutely love being the family that helps each other. Rafa helped Damon with our truck work recently, and around and around we go :) That's how it's suppose to be!

Daunika was absolutely crushed when she found out she needed glasses. For over a week, she worried that she would hate them and be the only kid in the world with glasses..... and then they arrived! She excitedly yelled "MOM! Did you know there are black lines on the carpet?!?!" Yes, yes I did. She is absolutely over the moon excited to be able to see clearly again. Last year at her eye exam, she needed no glasses but this year had a pretty significant change. There is certainly a learning curve, she found out fast she can't wrestle in them and jumping on the trampoline needs caution but overall, she loves that she can see again and I think she looks adorable!

We have enjoyed a good amount of snow this year so far and I love that we got out and really played in it. We walked to a nearby church gathering and people said "of course you walked, you walk everywhere in any weather". It was kind of funny, I guess we do!

Just five days after the above pictures were snapped, came serious rain. And with rain came mud and ice, lots of it! Of course we were out there in it. Here's Aurora stomping on walnuts for our chickens in the rain. 

We're on a serious mandala coloring page kick. The kids have spent hours hunting down their favorites and printing then coloring in all manner of ways. It's a peaceful activity and I love it. 

Declan has decided he's not cutting his hair anymore. I don't really care but it's just starting to hit his eyes and I wonder how long he'll actually last before he freaks out and runs to the bathroom with scissors himself. His head, not mine.

Damon's been really busy with work. It's fun to see his awesome brain work endless hours and be so amazing at what he does. 

I've had lots of babies welcomed in the new year as a busy doula. So far, more girls than boys this year.... Last year was a more boys than girls year! 

I expect to be pretty busy until June when I'll take some time off.... It is indeed true, the Huberty family is growing again. We were so blessed this week to hear a beautiful heartbeat. We're thrilled to welcome someone small into our home in September <3