The first shall be the last.

4th grade - last year in elementary school

6th grade - last year in intermediate school

8th grade - last year in middle school

8th grade - are you sensing a theme here?

Extreme Home Makeover: Franklin Edition

Four and a half months ago I briefly alluded to a little damage that had happened to the side of our house.  It has been a long and unnecessarily complicated process at times, involving insurance adjusters, seeing if there was a match to our dusty mint green 30+ year old aluminum siding (there wasn't - shocker), contractors who talk a big talk but don't always show up when they say they will, going back and forth about whether or not we needed to find an electrician to take care of our above-ground wiring (we didn't), choosing a color only to find out that it wasn't in stock but being secretly glad because we were having second thoughts about what we picked and so were able to choose the color we really like, arguing with the contractor about replacing the front door which he said was not in the contract (but neither were the windows, and he did those...), and realizing how time-consuming it is to paint all the trim around that newly-replaced door...but...after all this--

This shows the lovely green color that once enshrouded our house.  They have begun to tear the siding down on the east side where the damage was.

At this point, most of the siding is down and you can see the mess that was all over the lawn.  They did do a pretty good job of cleaning up, just couple of nails left.

Here you can see that the new windows are in but the new trim is not up yet.  They have put the insulation up at this point as well.  On the porch and the garage they put it right over the old cedar siding.

Here the new windows are trimmed out.  I love that new front window!

The new siding is up on the front and sides of the house and half way up the front of the garage.  There is that nice little trailer to the left that they parked on our lawn for a while.

...we ended up with a home that looks completely different and brand-spankin' new!

The back of the house.

We reused our black shutters.  Since they are on the north side of the house and don't ever see the sun, they were still in nice shape.

The light fixture on the garage

Our new red door!!  Glenn really wanted a red door, and I am so happy with the color.  I found this little table and chair set at Old Time Pottery and spray painted it black.  I would like to get a plant or something for it.  Still debating about putting a hole in the siding there for holiday decor...we'll see how I feel around Christmas time.

The finished product!

Our house was the only two-story green house in our little stretch of road, and so we always told people to look for "the big green house across the street from the church." It was kind of nice to stand out...but I never wanted to stand out by being an outdated 70's minty green.  But now, we are the only classic gray/black/white/pop of red house, so we can still say "we're the big gray house across the street from the church."  That's more like it.

When the storm damage hit, and the siding was stripped off, I was pretty upset.  I had big plans for getting the basement finished this summer.  I thought all was lost.  (Dramatic, I know.)  But when we calmed down, and realized that insurance was going to cover the siding, it only made sense to replace the windows as well.  Goodness knows they needed it--they probably would have been ripped out by the next huge storm anyways.  Looking back, I can see how that storm turned out to be a blessing to us.  I thought I'd be living in the Jolly Green Giant forever.

And as far as the basement goes, there's always next summer.  Except that now our landscaping is looking pretty shoddy next to that crisp, clean house...

There's no place like home.

When I got tickets from Groupon for the African Safari Wildlife Park, I didn't realize how familiar the place would feel. Wild creatures in my face begging for food? Yeah, that's about right. That's a typical day around here.

The kids, especially Brooke and Andrew, loved it. Andrew couldn't stop cracking up. Brooke got to meet her favorite animal, the giraffe, up close. Emma and Leah watched from the back, while I hid behind the wheel with my window firmly rolled up. Not thrilled to have a huge hairy buffalo breathe in my face or get schmutzed by an ankole. (Ankole? You know, those large African cattle with long, thick horns? Yeah, those.)

They also had free pony and camel rides.  Andrew was the only one to give it a try.  And, the highlight I am sure for all of us, was the pig races.  Some guy who takes his job a little too seriously was the announcer, and there were 4 pigs, including Dale Swinehart Jr. and Mario Spamdretti, who took a couple laps around a little pen.  It was a strangely fascinating event.

And it was a good thing that the tickets were so cheap, because even though the kids had fun, they were done with everything in about an hour and a half.  So we grabbed some Subway and drove north until we found a beach.  The kids enjoyed the grub and tossing rocks into the lake.  The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, it was a breezy, cool day--just perfect for being in the fresh air. 

My little wild ones

A fun chance to let the animals roam free before they are caged up in their classrooms...

Christmas in July

The last two weeks of July were like a gift that kept on giving.  I can't believe how much we packed in to 15 days.  Here are the highlights...

Palmyra/Letchworth State Park/Niagara Falls:

• Hill Cumorah Pageant
• Meeting friends from the ward at the historic sites
• The anti-Mormon protestor who shouted on a bullhorn up until the start of the pageant and right after it ended
• Being in the Sacred Grove
• Andrew's head getting closed in the car window
• Convincing the kids to eat at a "Greek" restaurant (the only thing Greek about it was its name)
• Sweaty hikes to see the awesome falls at Letchworth
• The worst hotel room ever known to man in Niagara
• Staking out a great viewing spot for the fireworks over the Falls at night
• The fun Maid of the Mist boat ride that nearly ruined my camera
• Glenn, Andrew, and Brooke getting soaked at the Crow's Nest
• The long, hot walk to an amazing pizza place

Swim Championships:

• Thousands of kids packed onto a small pool deck
• Sitting up in the spectator seats while trying very hard not to melt (remember, heat rises...)
• The storm that blew through and cooled everything off so that I could wait outside for the next event
• Emma and Leah putting in great races to finish off the season

Girl's Camp

• Becca's amazing braiding skills
• The Siamese Triplets (+ Alisha)
• Hiking at Nelson Kennedy Ledges, one of my most favorite places ever
• BUG BITES!!!
• Games in the field
• Canoeing
• Tipping the canoe, getting soaking wet, and not able to dry off for the next 24 hours
• Glenn coming up for the day, going canoeing with us, and deciding to stay for testimony meeting
• RAIN!!!
• Emma's, Leah's, and Becca's sleeping bags getting soaked and being taken to a laundromat to be dried
• More rain!
• Scrambling to get tents taken down Friday morning before even more rain came through
• Losing a tarp on the freeway on the ride home

Glenn's birthday (can you guess how old he is???)

Brooke's play, "This Just In..."

• landing the role of the mayor's wife in "Here On Who" (the number that the theater camp kids performed)
• getting a speaking part as a roving reporter
• AND performing in "Never Fully Dressed," "Lonely Goatherd," and "Go, Go, Go, Joseph"
• Emma and I working concessions and helping backstage
• Warm-ups with Harold
• Sound/mike problems
• "Jump in, jump out" backstage during intermission
• Long rehearsals during tech week
• Flowers from friends who came to watch
• Cast party at Buffalo Wild Wings and seeing Brooke have such a great time with her new friends

You can hear me exclaim as exhaustion I fight,

We sure had a great time, but to July--GOOD NIGHT!