We are HOME!

We have lived in our new house for about a month now. It has taken a LOT of hard work, but it is really feeling like home! Here are some shots of the house after we have painted, bought furniture, landscaped and decorated it! (To see the before shots, click here.)

The exterior view. It may not look a whole lot different than it did in the before photo, but Adam has worked like a horse on the yard! He chopped several large branches off the front tree to open things up, laid sod and grass seed, pulled out the nasty juniper bushes, and fixed the sprinkler system with the help of a neighbor. What a guy!

Ty's room. In our apartment, our second bedroom was Ty's room, the office, food storage, and a catch-all for everything else. It is great he has his very OWN space now.

There isn't much in McKay's room since all the toys and books currently reside with Ty. It mainly consists of a bed and rocking chair. I'm sure it will get filled up soon enough!

We bought new bedding for the master bedroom, which I love!

Looking down on the living room from the staircase

The dining room. My friend, Kim, and I painted the red accent wall. It was scary, but I am happy with the way it turned out!

This is my favorite space in the house. I painted the alcove to match the wall in the dining room, and I made the curtains and pillows.

My favorite feature is the storage space beside the fireplace. As you can see in the before picture, it was just an open hole. Adam built in some shelving, and we filled it with toy baskets for the kiddos. Then I made curtains that match the rest of the room to cover it and give it a more "finished" look. I love having the storage without the clutter!

Of course, there is still work to be done and probably will be forever! But all things considered, we are happy with the way everything has turned out. It has been great to have more space to live in!

Mac in the Mirror

McKay is five months old tomorrow, and he is about as great a baby as there ever was! He has been rolling like a barrel for about a month now. A few days ago I left him on our bedroom floor, and when I came back a few minutes later, he had rolled directly in front of this mirror and was smiling and talking to himself. You might have to turn up the volume to hear him. He has a tiny little voice!

Another fairly recent development is the addition of his two front bottom teeth. Ty got his when he was 4 1/2 months which I thought was early, but Mac's started popping through when he was just 3 1/2 months. That was not my favorite, as I'm sure you can imagine!

We also tried giving McKay some rice cereal recently. Let's just say he didn't take to it quite the way Ty did. You can click here to watch that awesome video.

Quite the contrast, huh? Anyway, we love this happy baby! He really is a dream!

Ashleigh's Wedding

We were able to go to Utah again in August for my little sister's wedding. I drove out with the boys so that I could be there longer, and then Adam flew in later. I was a little nervous about driving with the boys, but they were PHENOMENAL. Seriously. McKay slept nearly the whole trip, and Ty didn't make a peep the entire time, thanks in large part to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and our portable DVD player.

It was a fun week. We definitely loved spending time with our families, and Ty got more treats in a week then he gets in a month at home!

Ashleigh made a beautiful bride!

My family at the Manti Temple. My older brother, Josh, and his family moved to Virginia a couple weeks before the wedding, and we sure missed them there!

I thought this was a super-fun picture of Ash and the bridesmaids!

Our little fam at the reception

Ty ran around like crazy and basically wreaked havoc everywhere he went!

And Mac was pretty chill, just like usual.

Grandma and Grandpa Marchant made it down to the reception, too.

This little girl used to be my best buddy when I was in high school and she was about 2. Her family lived next door to mine and she would always sneak out of her house and walk into ours. I would often find her hanging out in my room when I got home! It was SO fun to see her again!

Potty training...

...is the pits! I decided it was time to teach Ty to use the potty, mostly because I was sick of changing and BUYING two sets of diapers. Yesterday morning I took him to the store and let him choose out a potty chair and new undies. I decided to put him on the toilet every 20 minutes or so, because I have several friends who said that was the best way to do it. He really tried hard, but nothing happened! Not in the toilet anyway. After a semi-frustrating evening with absolutely no success, we decided to put him in a diaper and start fresh this morning.

When he had his first accident today, he came upstairs to where I was getting ready for the day saying, "Oh man, oh man, oh man!" I decided to try a different approach. I gave him massive amounts of liquid (water, juice, lemonade) and then had him sit on the potty all morning. I brought in a huge stack of books (and a chair for me to sit on) and we spent the morning reading and singing songs. Still nothing. Eventually, he said "All done. Get down." And though he still hadn't gone, I didn't want to force him to stay there longer than he wanted to. So, he climbed off, we got his undies back on, and then the torrent came. AHHH! He cried and cried and kept saying "Mater got wet!" (He was wearing Cars undies.) I changed him, and then went back to the every-20-minutes schedule. FIVE accidents later, he has yet to go in the toilet.

HELP! What do I do? Do I just keep at it, because it takes time, or take a step back and try again in a couple more months? Any tips would be so appreciated at this point!

The only good news is that all of his accidents have happened on the hardwood floor--SO much easier to clean up than carpet!!