When we first moved into our house the kitchen was a dirty dingy white. Now Jared knows that I have a hard time making decisions sometimes as you will soon find out. I really had a difficult time figuring out what color I really wanted the kitchen to be.
We painted the main part of the house a warm yellow, so I thought okay lets carry that into the kitchen to help it flow better. I really thought it would be great. Well that lasted for about a month. My brother Greg came to visit on his way up to Utah, him and is five boys. Crazy man. He, who is blunt and just says things, said, " This is to much yellow for me!" So after he left I got to thinking he was right so I painted again.It was green and then I painted the wall to the left of the kitchen green too. I was happy with it for about two weeks. Then I told Jared I don't know why I am trying to go for a look that is really not me in any way. I know what color I like kitchens. I'm going to the store.


I am so much happier with the red. Its name is Ginseng Red. I really love it, its a mix between a brick orange and a deep red. I really love deep red and Jared really likes orange hues, so it was a good mix. I also painted the cabinets for the third time, to this chocolate brown. We took down the cabinet hanging over the stove and counter to open things up. I was getting a pain in my neck from looking under the cabinet while cooking and talking to company/kids. We will be tiling the counters eventually. We have quite a list of things are wanting to acquire/get done. We changed out the light fixture and love the new one. I am so glad that I ended up with this color. I would of loved to figured it out sooner, but no going back now. We are going to be putting crown molding on the cupboards, but that is also all the huge list. I really love my kitchen. I am especially loving it now as it is cooling off, you know getting to only 75-80 during the days now. Fall is here.

Living is fantastic. We went to the lake almost daily until school started. The kids would wake up and during breakfast want to know if we could go right after to swim. I put the kids in swimming lessons. Jordan wanted nothing to do with lessons though. I'll try next summer for sure. Alena is a great swimmer she is the first one in and the last one out. Saige has great strokes, she just gets so nervous to drown. I loved this picture of Jordan. He likes to run out to the lake and then come back to me over and over. Usually showing me another amazing seashell and adding it to the growing mound of other amazing sea shells.

This here is called a Horny Toad. We find them frequently. Not as much as lizards by any means. The kids love them. They are really pokey and can be really tinyy or big like this one. Which is the biggest that we have caught yet. Or that Jared has caught yet. I love watching him pounce on the creatures. It is so amusing.

Salt Lake Zoo

On our way down to New Mexico we stayed with Aunt Angela in Burley Idaho for a couple nights and then went to Aunt Lesli's in Salt Lake. We went to the Zoo. Angela drove up that morning so all the cousins could be there together. It is the first time I can remember being with my sisters and going somewhere besides a reunion. The kids had so much fun. I really enjoyed it too. It was a hot day though. When we got back to Lesli's house we went swimming her community pool. Besides the crazy wind that picked up it was a lot of fun. The kids were exhausted. As were the Mom's!!!

Since my mother has been in China she has been asking for pictures of the kids, house, etc. So this morning I thought I should update this regularly and post pictures. I know my girls would like looking at the blog. I've got three months to catch up on.

Saige turned eight right before we moved, but we weren't sure if Jared was going to be in Washington or New Mexico, so we did not schedule anything. So we waited until we moved down here and when Jared's parents could come. Saige was so great about her baptism. She really wanted to understand want the covenants being made meant to her life. She looked so cute too. This picture was after the baptism when we got home. She was baptized by her dad and confirmed by him too. Grandma and grandpa Johnson spoke at her baptism.

View From The Top

Things are great here, it is beautiful. The sky is very vibrant and active, and the view we have is amazing.

Here is our house on a hill!
So far the theme is that we have a lot to do, but we are enjoying working on this project. We removed all the flooring on the main floor because the carpet was pretty thoroughly destroyed by the previous occupants, and we' have ordered new flooring to put in ( which will be here soon). For now we are making due with the subfloor which, although it's not the softest, it is at least clean.
We''ve also painted almost the entire interior of the house. We had a good time choosing the colors and are making this placeshine like the top of the chrysler building. Our plan is to get the inside set before we move to the outside, but we have been doing a little bit of weeding outside.
Aside from the views of the house, I am also posting this picture of Ginger as we began the painting project. The window sill that she is painting white used to be white. Needless to say it looks much better with a fresh coat of paint everywhere. Stay tuned ! More pictures to come!

waiting game

Tomorrow is the day that I get the keys for our new house! I am so excited! When I get into the house I will put some pictures up, but for now here is a pictures of the local plant life. Enjoy!

New Mexico!

So I got into Truth or Consequences thursday night and I'm excited to be here. The funny thing is that one of the things I was excited to get away from all the rain of the pacific northwest. There has been so much rain this season! Anyway, I pulled in to T or C and not 2 minutes after I step out of the car the clouds overhead start dumping down rain. Isn't that ironic? It's like 10,000 spoons, when all you need is a knife. . . or something like that.
It turns out that we are in monsoon season here!
The difference is that here, even in monsoon season, the weather is warm and on that days that we do have rain it is still sunny for most of the day. The monsoon rain comes on quickly and in a torrent, but then moves on. It is actually really neat.
The picture here is nearby Diamond Peak ( at least I think it is) on a rainy day here.

Introduction

Ginger and I are beginning a new chapter of our life. We have relocated to a new state and are going to be away from family and friends who have been wonderful to us. We're starting this blog as an effort to keep our family and friends close and informed of life in New Mexico and what is happening for our family.
We Recently celebrated our 10 year anniversary, and are looking forward to what the next ten years has in store for us (hence the title of the blog). Thanks for following along!