new house

lot 53.  our new home site.
(the spec home where all the following photos were taken, is just 5 properties to the right (or east...as the camera is pointed north).

driving to the new Gilbert temple from our house.

as you enter the home. 
stairs on the left with a nook.  stairs are three level.

 i'm standing at the top of the overlook....having come up the three lengths of stairs.  you can see the nook area

 conner is right below the stairs...in a storage area/hallway that curves to the left and ends a few feet later.

kitchen...with pendant lighting.

dining area with sliding glass doors to the back yard

looking from the dining area to the living room.  nice and large.

looking from the dining area into the hallway where the pantry is the first door on the right, the 5th bedroom is the first door on the left and the 3rd bath is the next door on the right.  The garage is the door straight ahead.

pantry heaven!

nice

and 

huge!

to the 5th bedroom entry

5th bedroom

5th bedroom closet

3rd bath

3rd bath

3rd bath and 3rd linen closet

3rd bath tub

side view of kitchen

front view of island and pendant lighting

back view of kitchen island

 dining area light

under stairs storage

turning the corner to the under stairs storage

end of the under stairs storage

coat closet at front entry...to the right when you come into the house.

front door closed and coat closet on the left

three small windows on your way up the stairs

windows on your way up.

at the first landing up the stairs...looking up at the loft.

the view from the first landing on the stairs at the overlook and master bedroom on the left and hallway to the 3 other rooms on the right.

looking down the stairs from first landing to the front door.

loft. huge.

master bedroom. out the window you can see the new gilbert temple. (our house will be only 5 houses west of this house...same vantage point just about.

looking from the master bedroom window to the hallway on the right and the master bath on the left

Gilbert Temple view outside the bedroom!  just under 2 miles away!

entry to master bath (we will have a door on ours)

an extra bedroom....cough...I mean...our CLOSET!!!!

yeah...i said closet!

yup.  think of all the stuff I need to fill it with! ;)

master bath vanity.

toilet room.

toilet

cade at overlook.  going to the other rooms on the left.

  turning the corner.  laundry room is on the left....hall to the other bedrooms is on the right.

laundry room

nice and big...but not huge.

kids bathroom

 hallway to bedrooms

bedroom 3

 bedroom 3 walk in closet

bedroom 2

  
bedroom 2 closet

linen closet 1 outside bedrooms

bedroom 1

bedroom 1 closet and outside you see the linen closet 1

looking outside the master bedroom window

attic door

 back yard

west side of house

east side of house with gate

garage service door (we will be getting this)

 our street.

1514 East Hummingbird Way
Gilber, AZ 85297

 garage 

garage.  in front of you is the entry to the house, to the right is the garage service door to the outside where the trash bins would be located.

the house from the outside...we are not getting this style of elevation....our colors have dark teal shutters, dark chocolate brown pop outs, and cool beige main color.

the garage on the right...you need to turn to get into it...will be quite an experience figuring out how to park our cars!

these are the model home photos that I took...I'll be pointing out what I like...some or most of these things are not going to be in our house, but i like the style of some of these things.

baseboards...square

square sink at kitchen....stainless steel.  looking to get this in the house...i think.

these cabinets are actually darker in person.

backsplash looked neat....but not getting it.

square sinks...planning to get these in all baths...but not the faucet$$$.

i liked the black accents.  want to incorporate black and grey into kaylee's yellow bedroom

 like this wood laminent flooring.  we're planning on doing this instead of tile.  finally!  I need to find some flooring that looks good with the cabinets I'd like to get.

kaylee hearts this room.

love the grey i this house

love this kitchen...dark cabinets with white counters.  i'd do round hardware...the long skinny hardware is too modern.

dual flush toilets....as mom would say: if you go wee wee, press the small button, if you go woo woo, press the big button. :)

like the colors.

love the wall color

dark blue with white trim.

pretty...and pretty expensive.

cute stripes.

love the setup in the loft....

kitchen pendant lighting.

like the headboard...want to make something tall...out of old distressed wood 

cool tile with linen print

blueish grey

the following photos were taken at a different build location...these houses were over 4,000 square feet...and mucho expensive...fun to walk through and loved the master bathroom...as I think you will too!

walk-in, sit down and take a load off shower.

the best bathroom ever!

this summer

Kaylee at Manhattan Beach, California.

first time in the ocean.  she loved it.

chores wonderful chores!

introducing job charts, allowance.....and consequences for not doing our jobs.

beautiful.

happy.

$1 a week.  any chore refused or undone, results in -5 moneys (aka 5 cents)  (IMO: much better to give them a certain amount, and take it away slowly, than to 'build' the amount up...due to constant questions "how much do I have?" or "how much more do I need to get __________?" or "How much more work until I've earned $$$$?"  it's simple and clean cut.

they are to help with trash duty, dishes (emptying the dishwasher), folding and putting away their own laundry, making their own beds, cleaning their rooms, homework, etc...and Saturday...oh Saturday!...opens up a whole list of possibilities of what mommy needs help on!!!!! :) 

they have been happily completing their own work.

Kaylee is working on earning for a doll...which she reminds me of at least once a day.  but I need to remind her not to talk about it.  so she talks about not talking about the doll she wants.  you know, but I shouldn't be talking about it either.

cade helps to fold my famous stash of white washcloths.

first day of school!!!!

two down!  one to go!!!!!!

so, this is 2 weeks late.  school started August 8th over here in the land of the permanent heat wave....thus started the exciting bike trip each morning and afternoon ending with sweat drenched clothes and drippy drop beaded mustaches.  ewwww.

Kaylee has Mrs. Guggisberg...a sweet wonderful teacher (had her last year...I'll explain below).  Mrs. Guggisberg (with a touch of an eastern accent) reminds me of my wonderful Aunt Louise (who taught for about 30 years in 1st grade and has a 'chi-town' accent).  Very calm understanding teacher that helped put my and David's worries at ease.  So excited to have her again!

Cade has Ms. Miles.  I have a friend whose son had her in Kindergarten and loved her.  She is a more seasoned teacher and I know Cade will really enjoy Kindergarten.  He's been coming home (two weeks now), after a long day at school, and biking all the way home (or scooting) with sweat dripping off him, with a SMILE!

he even loves doing his homework....for the most part. :)

Kaylee and Cade: the school goers.  (look close and you can see the beaded sweat mustaches)  that was one hot muggy day for school to start!  AND I carried conner to school on my shoulders.  nothing like cuddling up on a nice steamy morning!!!

ok, see Kaylee's shirt?  It's her THIRD year wearing it!  Yup.  That is the nice thing about having a kid who grows SLOW.  She still has Cade by about an inch, but that will soon be a losing race.  They both wear the same size clothes AND shoes.

saying goodbye to the last one home:

while at the store getting school supplies, a lady behind us asked Kaylee in an upbeat happy voice, "You getting ready for school!?  What grade are you going to be in!?"

Kaylee very enthusiastically replied:  "I'm going to be in first grade again!"

the sweet innocence and joy she has makes me jealous.

She's excited to be her teachers 'helper'.  She even got to choose where she was going to sit!

absolutely love conners little snuggle smile!

2 weeks down.

two weeks since school started.  the kids are loving school, teachers,and lunch.

i'm loving it too!  just need Conner to hurry and get to kindergarten...but 2 years until that point. 

conner had his first day of school today too....articulation class (right now the class size is 2....most they will take in the class is 4).  they meet once a week for 45 minutes.  BARELY got my grocery shopping done before it was too late.  this is gonna be rough!  missing my free time during the regular preschool from the past.

kaylee has a new loose tooth too!

best friends

Kaylee had such a wonderful summer!  She made a first best friend that kept her busy all day long...they were inseparable!  

Hadley and Kaylee both lost their two front teeth...and I was lucky enough to be asked by Hadley herself, to pull one for her!  (I've pulled a majority of Kaylee's teeth so far....)

we got to spend a whole week in Utah visiting our family after an action packed reunion in Colorado.  the kids enjoyed every minute.  I have so much to blog about...mostly in pictures....cuz that's how I roll.

what is so funny about this shot...it reminds me of how small Kaylee is.  She is actually older than her cousin Hadley.  (Of course, Hadley also has the 'tall' genes in her family)...but Kaylee is pretty small for her age.

why?

i'd really like to hear your answer.

conner is 3

(back on July 25th) for Conner's birthday, we had a road trip to Manhattan Beach, CA...and on the end of that long day....we celebrated 3 wonderful years with a sweet cake, made by Brian and Veronica.  It was fun!

conner has the best photo-worthy blowing face.

that is one SWEET cake!!!  thanks B and V!

already to dig in...wait...we need some photos first!!!

we had just a fun party with our 'cousins'....Lance, Spencer, Ivy and Jordan.

lullabye

i'm not sure how this Pet Shop mommy does it.

Three kids is a lot of work, let a lone a few dozen!!

super mommy.

Saturday will not come soon enough.

5 more sleeps

until we leave to see 'My Highness' (aka: Aunt Corin)

Colorado Reunion or Bust!!!

In other news:

David has had Bell's Palsy the past couple weeks.  Slowly is getting control back.  It's been an interesting ride for him.  Hoping to get back to normal for the upcoming Vacation.

(this is just the most interesting ailment of the past month...David had also thrown out his back as well as yours truly and I also was fortunate enough to enjoy a bit of vertigo for a couple days while David was laid up with his back.)  I tell ya, it was awesome.

still here

6:20 and i'm still here.

no rapture to report on.

guess we'll start getting ready for bed.

dang....and I forgot all of laundry needed to be done/saved for post 'rapture' Monday.

ok V. this is for you!

been so busy, haven't gotten a chance to look at the photos Veronica took during our 'photography class/week' together!  It was a blast and we both came away with more than we expected!

love this shot she got of Kaylee and Cade....they're posers for sure!  love how they're holding each others hands.  they can be darling, can't they!

kaylee is always sweet to pose for me!

so, while taking photos, Conner gets too curious and gets STUCK in the mud.  I go and pull out his tiny feet from the mud.  his nice new shoes are now muddy covered gooey messes.  that was quite a gross mess.

some pics of your's truly, taken by budding, manual mode using Veronica!!!!

me and the giant.

i'm usually not a fan of 'camera action shots' but these have a nice flare.....

love the green reflection going on in the lens.

i like the 'wind in my hair' although I don't have much to blow around, it's cool.....a little wisp.