We Bought a House!

We finally closed on our house today!  Well, I think that we technically closed yesterday as I began signing yesterday, but we finished it all up this morning.  I would like to say it is over, but now we begin the renovation stage.  Yippee!

I thought it was about time that we posted some pictures of our new house now that it is official!

The front of the house.

Playing in the woods out back.  I think they will spend a lot of time out here.

Up in the loft.

The other half of the loft that is closed off and may possibly help keep sound in.  :)

One half of the new big boys room.

The other half of the new big boys room.  You get to use your imaginations.  :)

The future boys bathroom.  It is currently small and has a urinal.  We will have to wait and see what stays and what goes.  

Passthrough behind the bathroom that will become part of the bathroom. 

Another bedroom, possibly Hyrum's bedroom.  

Hyrum throwing his first fit in the house. 

Kitchen

Another kitchen shot.  The door goes out the back of the house onto a deck.

More kitchen.

Bathroom that will soon have the laundry in it as well.  

Part of the master bedroom.

We are standing in the shower for the new master bathroom.

 Most of the rooms are currently offices, so we will need to move things around a little and get rid of that lovely office carpet.

Future family room down in the basement.

Future garage.  It will only be a one car garage, but I will take what I can get.

Stairs to the basement.

Porch off of the kitchen.  Hopefully we will have lots of fun barbeques out here!

 Today I needed to pick up the new flooring for the house.  It was a lot heavier than I expected, so I had to scramble and find some help to get it unloaded, but we did it!  It only took me 6 hours to drive up to Davenport, pick up the Uhaul, get the wood, drive it back to Galesburg, and get it unloaded.  Did you know that a truck with almost 4 tons of flooring in it is difficult to drive?  Well, I know that now.  It was quite a stressful drive, but I made it!  I was grateful for some great friends who helped me get the wood and get it unloaded.  I can't wait to see it after it is installed!

So, now we have some great before pictures, and we will just have to wait for some work to get done to get some after pictures for you!  Hopefully it will be a smooth and exciting project!  

We also met one of our neighbors tonight while we were taking pictures.  The man who has been taking care of the yard including the hay stopped by to meet us.  They have three children 9, 11 and 12, so the boys are really excited to meet them and hopefully play together often!  People out in the country are really nice!  It will be fun getting to know our new neighbors and embarking on our newest adventure!

Fun with Family

We were blessed to have a fun little visit from James' sister Michelle and her family.  The arrived late Tuesday and had to leave first thing Thursday, but we made the most of our short time together.  First, I have to say how impressed I was with how well we got everyone to sleep comfortably in our little house.  Here are some pictures I took of the kids sleeping last night.  I may have turned the light on.  Hey, at least we know they were really sleeping well!  All of mine in one room and all of theirs in one room.

Four little Packards sleeping soundly in an itty bitty room.

Four not so little anymore Hutchings.  This one wasn't such a stretch.

For our one day together we went to Nauvoo and enjoyed a fabulous day together.  We started at the temple.  One of our surrogate grandmothers, Sis. Becker, came and took care of the kids, so we could have just some grown-up time at the temple.  It was great!  

And what is even more impressive is that she took those 8 children on an oxen ride and on a walk to the visitor's center all by herself.  She is amazing!  After we met back up we played on the wagon and had lunch.  We figured the kids wouldn't enjoy anything else until their bellies were full!

We then strolled around and enjoyed the blacksmith shop and walked down to the river where the Saints began their trek west.  Due to lots of heave rains recently the river was nice and high.  The kids had so much fun skipping rocks and seeing how wet they could get before we could stop them!

While walking next to the river we found lots of wildlife, and for anyone who knows these kids you will not be surprised that we literally had to drag them away from the animals to continue our journey.  

Turtles trying to find a dry place to rest.

Baby raccoons.  Wow!

 After our journey near the river it was time for some snacks and games.  So, we took the kids to the Pioneer Play area where they had fun playing games and dressing up.

The older kids really wanted to go make rope, so we did that while the little ones enjoyed more time playing.  They made rope a couple of times, so that each family could take one home.  They also enjoyed some fresh bread baked in an old fashioned fireplace oven, and much more!

Working together to make rope.

During this part of the adventure Hyrum decided that he had had enough and enjoyed an hour nap.  Pretty impressive for adventure time!

And what was Jackson up to this whole time?  He was pushing his stroller around.  I couldn't believe he was still standing by the end of the day!

While we thought our adventures were over, on our way home we were detoured because the flooding took a bridge out.  We remember driving over it on the way and the water was threatening to come onto the road.  Apparently, it was not an idle threat.  We were all grateful for GPS to help get us home!  

It was a great day and a relaxing evening together.  It was sad to say good-bye in the morning, but we know we will see each other again.  

Getting Fit

I have really struggled with getting back into shape after Hyrum was born, and while now may not seem like the best time to work on it I'm going to do it anyway.  The boys and I are going to start learning to play tennis which they are really excited about it.  Now if it would just stop raining long enough for the courts to dry off!

But in the meantime Hyrum and I are going for lots of walks!  He loves them and it helps me get out and moving, so it is a win-win.  The older boys will come with us on bikes and scooters sometimes which is great fun for the whole family!  It has been nice to get out in the fresh air and move around.  Now if only I can convince this baby fat of my to stay in the outdoors and quit following me around.  :)

Relaxing and Enjoying Life

Now that we are settled in our little house and just tying up some loose ends on the new house we are just relaxing and trying to have fun.  We took James to the airport in Chicago on Monday and thought we would make a day of it.  So, we went to the Museum of Science and Industry, one of our favorite museums.  We had fun even though there were several school groups joining us.  The lines were a little long, but they still got to do everything they wanted to.

Michael was trying to go as fast as he could on the mouse wheel!

The boys are getting ready to farm! 

Jacob was having fun posing for me.

Hyrum and I were having fun playing with a water bottle while the boys enjoyed some more exploration time. 

He let me pick up the water bottle several times and thought it was quite amusing!

I don't know where they learned to pose, but this just cracked me up!

 At home we have been having fun going for walks, playing outside, reading and just relaxing!  Today we went to an origami class and the boys had a blast!  They even let them take some origami paper home with them.  It was a great time!

I'm glad they didn't hyperventilate! 

Who knew origami could be so exciting!

Tomorrow we have another full day of fun and playing with lego club, soccer and birthday parties!  It will be busy but tons of fun!

7, 9, 11 (almost)

Today we are celebrating Jacob's birthday before James heads out to Costa Rica.  I am excited to have their ages in the simple 7, 9, 11 pattern.  Now maybe I can get them right!  Jacob chose all of his meals which included waffles, hot dogs, pizza and chips.  A nice healthy day of eating in our home!  And for desert he had a cinnamon role cake.  Mmmm . . . mmmm good!

Those are most definitely pecans on the top of that cake!

Somehow we all managed to coordinate his gifts, so it was the year of the wheels.  He got cars, a scooter and a new bike.  He is a pretty spoiled little boy!  Happy Birthday Jacob!

Jacob with his mouth full of yummy cinnamon roll cake!

Laundry Adventures

I knew that this new little house would bring some interesting adventures, and I was right.  The day after we moved James headed to Chicago for a two day training. Unfortunately for me, the laundry was not hooked up before he left.  So, I headed down to see what I could do with my limited abilities.  I found the dryer plug, but then searched and searched and could not find the washer plug.  I called our friend who owns the house and asked for any tips.  All I remember is 'extension cord' and 'plug in the light.'  For any of you who know me this had very little meaning, but I looked and looked and couldn't figure out what it meant.  Then, a small miracle occurred.  A member of our ward stopped by to drop off a paper, and I thought I would ask him if he could help.  He was kind enough to come look, and he of course found an extension cord and a plug in the light.  I then thought I would use this opportunity to see if he knew how to hook up the water and drain.  Now, let me just say that the setup here is definitely not the normal setup, so I was relieved when even he was unsure how it was meant to work.  But he played with it and found something that worked.  I was extra grateful for his help because it involved moving the washing machine which I guarantee I could have NEVER done.

The drain is an interesting story because he putting it in a tube and sent it down what looked like a drain.  Unfortunately, when I tried to use the washer the water came back up and the machine gave me an upset code, locked me out and wouldn't let me back in.  I had to unplug it and wait a day before it would let me in to get my clothes.  In the meantime I headed to the laundro-mat to get the clothes cleaned.  I had a repairman come to take a look to find that the machine is just fine but that the drainage setup wasn't working, so we found another tube and ran it to a drain the floor.  I'm not too worried about water on the floor since we are pretty sure that the shower leaks all over anyway.  But now it works!  It looks strange, but if it gets the job done, so be it.

The tall tube was attempt #1, but the second seems to be working much better!

The dryer, though, has to be over by the dryer plug, so I had to go and get some more baskets, so I could move the laundry from one to the other.  But the really interesting part about the dryer is the vent.  There was no way to vent out of the house, so my friend recommended that I take a knee high and tape it to the end of the vent.  All I need to do is empty it out every couple of weeks.  (If you have a gas dryer please do not try this.)  And voila!

Yes, that really is a knee high taped on.

So, that is our crazy setup, but it works and is much more convenient than the laundro-mat!