July/August  Farewell Summer

Summer  has come and passed and the Grange family is still ticking.  Whew!  Here’s my best effort at summing up the past couple of months.

MOVING
First and foremost, moving has been a huge part of our family’s life.  First we had buyers, then we didn’t, then we did, but they wanted us to do all kinds of silly things to the house for them, then they had to extend the contract a couple of times because they couldn’t close by the deadline, etc.., etc…  What a crazy learning experience this has all been!  One of my favorite “fixes” that ate up our time during the selling process was this fireplace.  We had to cap off the fireplace after one of the inspections because the log insert is like a bazillion years old and not very efficient.  It works fine, but doesn’t operate as well as modern gas fireplaces.  Essentially, it’s the difference between driving a corolla hybrid and a hummer.  Our buyers knew this and agreed to replace the insert later on down the road so it could be turned on again.  However, they felt that the fireplace was unsafe and wanted us to install a protective screen around it.  Those are hard to come by since ours is such a unique fireplace.  Tyler had a brilliant idea of using garden fencing and here’s the final product of a garden fence to protect people from a non-operating fireplace:

Between showings, walk-throughs, appraisals, assessments, inspections, and various other shenanigans, the whole thing became exhausting and we are so glad to finally be in only one house again.  We moved in at the end of August and recorded on the WT house 2 weeks later.  I’ll save the updates on the new house/area for next month’s post, since we weren’t really settled until September.  Thank you to all the wonderful people who helped us move!  You are all angels.  We’ll never forget how wonderful people have been to us through this whole process.

OUR BABY
Oh how we love our sweet baby!  July and August were fun months because Aleah learned how to get around… and I mean really get around.  She is always moving, always getting into something, always learning, and always making us laugh.  Throughout the entire month of July, she amazed us with her crawling skills.  Then, once August hit, she floored us even more by walking.  WALKING!  Our baby is walking, running, jumping (well, trying to jump), face-planting, dancing, you name it.  She has been a little trooper too.  I have fallen even more in love with her little personality as she has progressed through all this.  She is not afraid to try anything!  I love the fact that when she falls, she doesn’t even think about getting discouraged; she gets right back up and tries again.  She is such a happy, determined little thing.

We finally got to take Aleah camping and I am telling you, that girl thought she was in heaven.  She had such a blast getting dirty, chasing uncle Jake’s ducks, hiking, riding on the bikes/ATV, and sleeping in the tent.  I knew she would enjoy herself but I had no idea that it would be that big of a hit.  Hooray!  I have an outdoorsy girl!  I cannot even tell you how pleased as punch I was about that!  I only wish we could have taken her more.  This summer has been filled to the brim with house stuff so we’ve had very few opportunities to take her out.  After our camping trip to Wyoming, I’m more determined than ever to camp often as a family.

                                                

OUR ANNIVERSARY
Tyler and I celebrated our 5^th anniversary this August.  We had several kind people offer to babysit Aleah and give us a night out but we didn’t want to give up an evening with her.  We honestly love being together as a family as much as we can so instead we ordered Chinese, bought a red box DVD, and spent the night enjoying one another’s company.  It really was the perfect way to celebrate an imperfect marriage between imperfect people, that has worked out perfectly for five whole years.  J I know that’s a lot of perfects for one sentence, but I thought it conveyed the idea well.  If I had to sum up what this past year of marriage has taught me with one word, it would be this: humility.  I’ve learned that no one is perfect; we all have quirks, flaws, weaknesses, etc…  But we also have gifts and strengths.  One of the greatest discoveries I’ve made of late is that I know nothing.  I’m a total rookie in regards to so many different aspects of life.  But I’m learning that when I team up with my rookie husband and we honestly work at working together, amazing things can happen.

Just like every other month this year, June came and went faster than we could say shaz-am!  Here are some of the notable happenings we were able to experience this past month:

Happy Birthday Tyler!
Tyler turned 27 this month and did not appreciate any of my reminders that he is now officially in his late twenties (in contrast to last year when are points of view were completely opposite- go figure).  I guess denial is the first sign that it has become a reality. 

This year’s birthday seemed a little down-played since his present was actually purchased several months ago.  Tyler got season tickets to the RSL games this year for his birthday and while he has enjoyed them, it’s a little weird not presenting some sort of a wrapped gift on the big day.  Making things seem further unbirthdayish, we spent the day at his friend Ty’s wedding and did not get home until late in the evening, just in time for Tyler’s soccer game.  Ugh.  We decided to compromise by making Tyler a birthday cake to eat after the game.  It was a very tasty cake, and thankfully, once combined with the birthday dinners on both sides of our family, and a delicious Chilli’s dinner for the two of us, it ended up making for a very yummy 27^th bday celebration. 

Daddy’s Day
We were able to celebrate Tyler’s first Father’s Day!  Aleah gave daddy some awesome Ed Hardy jeans, new socks, and this hilarious tie that comes equipped with a squeaky toy and a rattle sewn inside.  Haha!  Love it!

Aleah and I are so thankful for Tyler and all that he does for us!  Tyler loves being a Daddy and Aleah has him wrapped around her little finger!  He is so sweet with her.  In fact, a darling lady in our ward told me that she loves watching Tyler hold Aleah because,  “you can just tell,” she says, “he just loves her.”  Aw.  Best of all, not only does he love being a daddy, he is good at it.  Ty is so patient and gentle with Aleah and is always such a big help.  We love him so much!

Additionally, Tyler and I are so thankful for the dads in our lives.  Both of our fathers help and support us every single day.  We can’t even put into words how grateful we are for all that they do for us.  We are so incredibly blessed to have them in our lives!

The Grange Homefront

I’m afraid to say that I used the wrong terminology in last month’s post.  Instead of saying “we sold our house” I should have noted that our house was “under contract” which is in fact a huge difference.  I work in the housing industry and am well aware of the different definitions so I can offer no explanation (aka excuse) for my slip of the tongue other than the fact that I am in a huge hurry when I write these and am extremely sleep-deprived J

That being said, we did not sell our house.  Furthermore, it is no longer under contract.  I’ll spare you all the wonderful details, and leave it with this: the buyers are silly and ended up cancelling the contract.  Boo!  This means that we’re officially homeowners to the second power and have just recently put our house back on the market.  We are so happy that we saved precious funds for this scenario and that everything will be okay.  However, it’s still disheartening to make double mortgage payments so feel free to pray that we will find some awesome buyers to move into this great home.  I want so badly for a cute, young family or newlywed couple to move in and to be a part of this incredible ward.  We just need to find them!  Aaaah!  So stressful!  Remind me to never move again, okay?  Okay.

Miss Aleah

Aleah took her first ride on a motorcycle and a bicycle this month.  It was so much fun and she completely loved it!  Tyler and I are looking forward to the day that we can take her hiking and camping once all this house madness dies down.  I’m absolutely convinced that she would love it just as much as Tyler and I would.

This little girl’s development has been through the roof this month!  It seems like she learned to crawl and then the floodgates opened.  She literally learns something new every day!  After she learned how to crawl, she also learned how to work her toys (which buttons to push, etc…), started dancing, babbling, climbing, clapping, waving, and understanding words.  She now says da-da and mama along with all sorts of similar sounds (la la, na na, and so forth).  She knows what “no” and “hi” and “come here” means.  This has been the BEST part of the month for Tyler and I by far.  It is so much fun to watch her take everything in and learn every day.

I’ve been doing some learning of my own this month; particularly in the genre of house-cleaning.  It seems like keeping the house clean gets harder as Aleah gets older.  Taking things apart and emptying drawers, boxes, and cupboards are some of her favorite pastimes.  What usually ends up happening is while I’m cleaning a mess, she is making a new one.   Oftentimes, it’s so fun to watch her delight in making messes, that I just soak in the moment and watch her.  Then I have two messes to clean instead of one.  But it is just so worth it.  She is amused by everything and is such a happy baby!

Aleah loves to stay active and always wants to be a part of what everyone is doing.  What a sweetheart!

And with that, I’ll sign off until next month.  Talk to y’all again soon!