One Last FHE

After the pumpkin patch we headed over to my parents house to help my mom with the last few things to load into the truck.  The house was suppose to close the next day after already being post-poned from the September 28, the the 3rd, then the 10th, and now to the 14th.  They are waiting for the money to be wired in and then they close.  It's bitter sweet to me.  I'm happy for my parents to have less to take care of and to be completely debt free! I just wish we could still visit and enjoy my parents property.  It will be so sad to not have my kids growing up running around in the woods and exploring the grounds like I did as a kid.  Rowan won't even have any memories of the place.  Family get togethers will be different too since the kids can't just ride bikes out front by themselves safely but we will all move forward and make the best of everything.

Panoramas of the house and the front of the house

The Garage/Workroom

Barn

Mom and Dad's new house has a lot of work that needs to be done on it.  I hope the Lord has a wonderful plan in store for them since he wanted them to get a two story house that needs a TON of work.  I do LOVE the fact that I can walk to their new house.  The kids are excited to be taking bike rides to their house.  I am too.  It will be so nice to have them close by.  I plan on stopping by often to visit.  It will be nice to have them in more a part of my kids lives and they will have more time to do that too since they won't be trying to tend to 5 acres of land.

I wanted to do one last FHE at the house to build one last memory for my kids.  We use to play kickball for FHE with my family growing up and I wanted to do that with my kids too. Kevin brought a soccer with him so he and the kids played.

I took pics and walked around the house taking pics and crying.  I didn't realize how emotional it would make me. I'm really going to miss that place.  My mom locked up the house on accident and my heart broke thinking I wouldn't be able to get back inside.  Thankfully she forgot the back door so I was able to get back in.  I was so relieved since I hadn't taken pics inside.  It's hard thinking they won't be here and I won't be back in the rooms I grew up in and share with my kids what I use to do (sitting on the windowsills, sleeping on them, parties we had in the basement, dancing on the fire place hearth, playing up in the attic, playing in the barns loft, roller skating in the garage, ice skating for the first time in the field on the ice, panning for gold in the stream, driving the tractor around with a wagon on the back pretending to be pioneers, planting the Christmas tree farm, getting stuck in a tree and needing a brother to come help me get down, getting soaked while walking down the driveway from school, getting proposed to in my room, Kaila's first birthday in the backyard, and so much more).

Inside the House

Hooks for coats in the side room which we use as our food storage room growing up.

The "middle room" that we used as a second family room.  Our piano was in that corner for years with a TV on the top. Greg and Sher used that room as their living room and school room while they lived there with them too.  It was a great set up fro the house with two rooms downstairs and the middle room for them to use for their family.

The downstairs bedroom looking out the front of the house.  Greg built this room after coming back from college/mission and not having a room.  It amazes me that he built it all himself.  I can remember the framing going up even.  As a kid I loved to tell my friends that it use to be a garage and that my brother built that room.  If they didn't believe me then I would show them the closet and inside I would show them the garden faucet in there.  

Inside of the front door walking upstairs

Family Room.  When we first got the house the month after I turned 6 we got 

pizza and took it over to our new house and ate pizza in the family room.

Outside

  Our (Rebecca and Sarah's) Christmas Swing

Dad built it for us when we were kids.  Rebecca used it almost every 

nights she got older listening to music and swinging the end of the day away.

My mom had the most beautiful flowers there! As a kid she had us come sit by her and taught us how to weed correctly.  I'm so glad we got to learn many lessons from living here.

Grew up with the smell of the lilac bush coming through the door and windows.  

Every time I smell that bush in public it takes me right back to home as a child.

One of the three trees right by the Garage that Rebecca and I use to 

play under and around.  Love those wonderful trees! 

Right Side of the Field leading to the back forrest

Inside the fenced area (right side of forest). Where Rebeccan and I panned for gold, made houses out of blackberry vines, "camped"