Family pictures!

A friend of mine took family pictures for us before we left California.  She did a great job eh?  

 I was hoping for oranges on the trees, but they picked them just a little while before we took pictures.  Oh, well, the orange groves are still pretty.

Home sweet home

Welcome to the grand tour of our new residence.  This is our living room/kitchen.  I'm not especially fond of the fact that anybody who comes to the door can see my messy kitchen, but oh well. 

New flooring and granite counter tops in the kitchen.  The teal wallpaper at the top doesn't really go, but oh well.  Kitchen window still needs some work.

View from kitchen.  We have just about every color of wood that there is in our kitchen and living room.  Once again, oh well.

view from the front door. New carpet.

Included in this picture is the digital piano that Steve got for a graduation present.  Kiera can already play twinkle twinkle.

New sink  toilet and granite countertops in our puke green bathroom

Kiera and Lydia's room.  Someday we'll buy a bed for Kiera...

Playroom downstairs. and a an attached small dark bedroom.  New carpet to come later.

Master bedroom.  Love our new fans in every bedroom

the stairs down to the playroom.  Considering painting the panneling to lighten it up.

Forgot to take a picutre of the front of the house.  Our landlord recently pulled up our sidewalk and pulled out a huge row of bushes so we've got some gravel for a path to our door and we've got big holes where bushes were.  Oh, and we have ZERO trees (like our last house).  All of the other houses on our street have HUGE trees.  I'm so jelous!

Overall, a very good house and a great place to  live.  Steve did a great job finding it. 

Independence day traditions

I've said it before:  I'm big into holiday traditions.  So here are some of our Independence day traditions:

#1  Flag raising ceremony.  Good reminder about why we celebrate.

 Of course we must wear our patriotic attire.
#2 Breakfast at the church. (doesn't ever ward have a breakfast?)

This year came with outdoor activities.  I was glad I caught this cute moment on camera.

Home made root beer.  Ok, our's wasn't that good (Lydia loved it), but it was FUN to make it

White-chocolate dipped frozen banana (with Heath and sprinkles).  Fun to make and eat.

BBQ hottie

Burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob.  Our little All-American meal

Not pictured:  Sparklers, and the city fireworks. Both a hit.  Oh, and new this year:  chasing fireflies.  

Best July 4th in a long time.  What a great day.

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