Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Inside our House

I was talking to a friend yesterday and she told me to post some pictures. I wanted to wait until I had curtains up and things looking nicer. I decided just to pull the blankets that are on the windows right now and give you a little tour.

When you walk through the front door you come to our living room. Notice the really cool green couch. We just bought it off of Craigslist and got a sweet deal. It's never been used before, just for staging. Love Craigslist!

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Here's a view from the other side.

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Right next to the living room is the kitchen.

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It's pretty small and needs some work like new flooring, cupboards and counter tops. There's this awkward empty space across from the refrigerator that we hope to fill with a counter top and cupboards.

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Lots of fun improvements for this room in the future.

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Then, you go down the hallway.

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On the right is the kid's bathroom.

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On the left is our office. If it looks packed, it is. I think in the next year or so, I will be going through any teaching things I have kept over the past few years and if I haven't used them, I'm going to donate them to teachers. Ben will be happy.

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Then, you will see our laundry area. I'm not too fond of this area, but I think it beats having it in the garage where alot of washer and dryers are usually kept out here. This area is also in need of improvement. Ben already made me a couple of shelves with his new table saw. We need some more shelves and a door on the hole in the wall that I think is supposed to be the closet.

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Right across from the laundry is CJ and Zoey's room. CJ loves it because she practically has her own room right now. She is in need of space from everyone right now. She's going through the "Everyone bugs me and I'm emotional" stage. Isn't that supposed to happen in a couple of years, not right now?

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Next to their room is Mia and Xander's. They sure do have lots of adventures together. They both have great imaginations. I'm glad Ben suggested this set up. I wasn't ready to do it quite yet, but it has been really great. I'm excited to paint and decorate their room, I just don't know what is the best color to do with a boy/girl room (Andy? Suggestions?)

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Across from their room is mine and Ben's (is that proper grammer Russ?). It has a bathroom with just a shower in it and a closet! Every single place we have lived in, Ben and I never have a proper closet. Most of them are the size of a coat closet. We could change in our closet if we wanted to. It's pretty deep.

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So there you have it! We are excited to have Ben's parents and brother and sister who are coming to visit after Christmas. My brother also mentioned that he might come visit me next year. I'm so excited! Who knew all I needed was a house to get my siblings to come visit? Yay!

Ben's family, get ready for some adventures. I thought we could split up your visit as follows:

"Just like Joe and Andy" Day-We will paint wood things as creative as we can, while the boys do handy things around the house.

"Just like Russ and Betsy" Day-We will TP neighbors houses and put up signs on people's garages. Maybe we will climb up some poles and end up in the emergency room.

"Just like Hannah and Kendall" Day-We will go on a hike maybe around Mt. Diablo and/explore the park nearby and run up grassy hills.

"Just like Sarah and Scott" Day-We will go shopping around town and get the very best "after Christmas" deals.

"Just like Abby/Caleb" Day-We will find the cutest shoes in town and get ice cream at every shop we come across.

Sound like a plan? I thought so.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Merry Christmas!

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Just in case I missed anyone through email and Facebook, this ones for you!

In effort to save money, not trees, I won't be sending Christmas Cards this year. But know this, you are all worth more than the 74 cents (44 cents postage, 30 cents for the card) I would have paid to send it. Who can put a price on friendship?

Sing to "Let it Snow"

Oh the weather outside is raining
But really, who is complaining?
And in Concord there is no snow
Grass to mow! Grass to mow! Grass to mow!

It doesn’t get better than this year
And we’ve bought a house, let’s cheer
The kids are turned way up high
OH MY! OH MY! OH MY!

We discovered new places in Cali
How we loved Tilden Park and Monterey
We also went to Lake Chabot
And let’s not forget Half Moon Bay.

The littlest one, our Zoey
Born the fourth of July no jokey
Our four kids we love, don’t you know?
It shows! It shows! It shows!




We’ve had a wonderful year! Here are some highlights:

Ben receiving an Emmy for the student film he produced while at BYU.
Zoey being born a week late on the fourth of July at 10 1bs. 11 oz.
Family visiting
Disneyland with BYU friends
Discovering places in California
Mia starting Kindergarten
Xander being potty trained
CJ being in 5th grade at her 5th school
Valerie destroying/losing 2 cell phones
(I know exciting, but that's all I could think of)

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas

Love,
The Porters


P.S. After writing this, I woke up to snow. Just a little. Probably enough to make 1 snow ball, but snow nonetheless. I guess it snows in Concord. Should've done my homework.