Where to Begin?

Oh where, oh WHERE to begin? Again, I have fallen in the 'so much to say, it's easier to never start' trap.

Welp, gotta start somewhere. :)

We are official residents of Centerfield, UT- basically an extension of Gunnison. We are slowly getting used to the VERY small-town life. People here have been great. In about one week we received corn and tomatoes from one family, peaches and corn from another, and squash and zuchinni from a third. We even had our first dinner guests a week or so ago for Sunday dinner. They are a young couple with a boy Christian's age and a 3 month old girl. It was good times.

Patrick is doing so well with teaching!! With the old director leaving, a few kids didn't sign up for band b/c they were iffy on what the new director would be like- but he's had a few come begging to let them be back in band b/c they heard he was so great. How's that for a compliment? :)

Our boys LOVE their new house. I think it's b/c they actually have SPACE to PLAY. They are amazing playmates- and crack Patrick and I up daily.

There is a church kiddy-corner to our house with a huge lawn that we visit often to kick a ball and run around. (Our lawn is just dirt...for now) There is also a nice little park about 1.5 blocks away that we go to when Daddy comes home from work.

One of my most favorite things out here is the stars. Our bedroom window has had an incredible view of the big dipper the last few weeks. Its pretty great to be able to 'sleep under the stars' inside in a comfy and warm bed.

Somehow I lost several pictures in the process of downloading them on the compy...which is pretty depressing. Maybe they'll turn up somewhere.




A sweet lady in our ward came over and showed me how to bottle chicken. I think we'll try it out tonight...I'll let you people know how it goes... :) It sure smelled good.

Our new friends invited us to the park- (the ones we had over for dinner) And there was a huge Lab/Golden Retriever which Christian LOVED. One day... :)


Life is Good. We'll Keep you posted with updates and pictures.

We are blessed. :)

Oh BOY.....

It's a GIRL!!!!!!





(We JUST got our internet hooked up about 3.4 minutes ago, so prepare for blog post overload...)



2 weeks ago my dear brother took me and the boys to my ultrasound. After forever, the doc finally announced we are the lucky recipients of a beautiful baby girl!!

Super excited. But no, I wasn't 'hoping' for a girl at all.

We're working on getting the nursery all set up. SO EXCITED.

My sweet neighbor brought over our first little girl outfits to get us started before we moved. Thanks, amy!!


Christian is realllly excited about his baby sister. :) So are we. :)

ANNOUNCING.....

For Our Dear Readers' Information:

We Would Like to Announce the New Headquarters of the Summerhays Family, Inc.






Gunnison, UT. Pop. 2,500.

AWESOME.

Our Story:

Tuesday Patrick drove the 1 hr 45 min to interview at Gunnison Valley High School. He did a terrific job, but there were also SIX OTHER INTERVIEWEES.

SIX!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. SCHOOL STARTS IN TWO WEEKS, and its a BOONIE-TOWN, and there were SIX OTHER PEOPLE VYING FOR THIS JOB?????? What is WRONG with these people?? Why Don't they have jobs? What is wrong with them?

(oh, right, we were number 7......)


ANYWAYS. He gets home about 5:30 pm. At 7 pm the phone rings. 7:10 he hangs up and informs me by standing silent with open arms and a big smile, and "wanna go to Gunnison?"

Of course I cheer, run, jump in his arms, and he spins me. Just like the movies. :) Except I start bawling. (well, maybe that IS just like the movies..)

7:15 we give a prayer of Gratitude and request confirmation about our acceptance... No bad feelings ensue, so...
7:20 he calls and officially accepts the position.

7:30pm. Patrick and I call our families.

This is Tuesday the 11th. New teacher training starts Wednesday the 12th. Thankfully, he's not expected to attend. His first teacher day is Wednesday the 19th. ONE WEEK. Students start the 24th. 1.5 WEEKS.

good grief.

Needless to say, our lives are now a complete whirlwind. We have now 5 days to find housing for at least Patrick while we look for housing for all of us. Tomorrow we head out there to: 1) Meet with the assistant superintendent who needs to give p. the low down. 2) Introduce me (per request) to the principal of the high school (and get a set of keys to the school). 3) Have Patrick check out his inventory and see what he has to work with. 4) Look for housing.

Annnnnnd....amidst all this, my dear sister and her 3 kids, my mom, dad, and little brother are all arriving between Tomorrow night and Tuesday. And we have to suddenly book it. :(

But Mostly:

WE ARE SO GRATEFUL. AND SO EXCITED. And i have finally stopped crying. :)

So! We're only 2 hours away from our UT friends. Come visit us!! I hear there's an amazing pizza place and candy store in Manti, which is only about 19 min from Gunnison.


Gunnison, UT. The New Rockingest Place on Earth.


Heck Yes.

Handsome Devil

(okay, off topic, but i just uploaded these pictures, and they were uploaded in like 1.2 seconds. I LOVE GOOD INTERNET!!! At our house it take at LEAST 10 min. per picture... but the internet is free...so no complaints...)

ANYWAYS.

Okay. Channing is ridiculously good looking. Seriously people.

We've been dog-sitting for my brother and SIL, ( a job I personally LOVE) and having a blast here. Christian and channing love having SPACE to play and run, and doggies to chase and pet. I love the amazing kitchen and delicious foods. All of us love the sweet tv, and esp. getting to play rock-band every night. N&M- we love and miss you, but feel free to keep going on vacations! :P

Ill post a few pictures of our activities soon, but for now, the CUTEST 1 year old EVER.






Told you so.

perks of this life

I find myself so often just thinking of the 'days ahead', our 'glorious future'. You know, the days when i can PAINT MY HOUSE, or not wonder where food enough for the week is going to come from, or not stress about finding sitters for our kids while P & I are in classes. Or staying up super late trying to study for a ridiculously extensive essay final. Or ...well, yeah. etc. (and yes, I know every stage has its struggles, etc, etc-)

I so often find myself looking ahead to the days of a 'real job' and moving on to the next step of life, that i struggle to see the perks of 'this life'.

Last night I realized a big one.

We attend a BYU married student ward (our church congregation), and we love it. Last week a gal in our ward called and asked if she and her husband could babysit for us Wednesday (last night), as they had a free night. Totally made my week. This awesome couple came over and thoroughly entertained our kids all evening while Patrick and I were able to catch a delicious dinner (thanks to Magleby's 1979 celebration) and a fabulous show (thanks to Timpview HS Band giving us movie tickets). We came home and the boys were sleeping peacefully. What fantastic sitters.

This made me recollect all the wonderful couples (and even singles) who have so readily watched our kids for us throughout the years. (wow. YEARS?? sick. I feel old. :P)

Never again will we live in an area full of childless, young couples who are happy to babysit weekends, weeknights, for free- b/c they can do it together, as a service to a friend, to get good karma for their future babysitting-needing days, or as practice for their future kiddos.

So here's a shout-out to all those who have watched our kids and given us a much needed break from the stresses of life. Here's to those who eagerly offer to watch our crazies and either call and insist or happily agree when we get up the courage to ask. Thank you for your kindness, your bravery, your amazing parenting skills. (seriously. you people put our kids to sleep better than we can.) Thank you for being Free! Not to mention better sitters than anyone we could pay. :)


Yes. This is something we will truly miss. You good people and the ample number of dates we are able to have because of you.

Thank you!!!

(I have a feeling we'll be preaching to our children the needed service of babysitting, esp. when they get to college. We'll tell them how their parents would not have survived school, and they may not have survived infant/toddlerhood with out nice, fellow-schooling babysitters. We may even threaten to not let them come home for Christmas unless they have sufficiently fulfilled their babysitting quotas for the semester. Who knows. But some how we will pass on the good of you people!)(and by we, I mean me. Patrick is clearly the nicer parent.) :)

Overheard at our house

A few funny things from life with 2 boys...

#1
Warning: the Following may be very inappropriate and completely unsuitable to post publicly on a family-oriented blog:

Background: We are trying to potty-train Christian.
Setting: He's wearing his new big-boy underwear (little briefs. and no, there is NOTHING cuter than a little boy bum in tiny seasame street briefs. I'll have to photo document later.)

He's using his underwear's 'pocket' to store his 'food for his picnic' (all pretend. well, the ''pocket' is real...)

He later offers his daddy a carrot.

C: Daddy, you want to eat a carrot?
P: Oh, yes! Thank you for that carrot! That's a yummy carrot.
C: Daddy, do you want a pee pee?
P: A what?
C: A pee pee, daddy!
P, still unsure of what he's hearing...: What are you saying?
C: A pee pee! Do you want some pee pees?

....

...

P: Oh! You mean PEAS??
C: Yeah! pee pee!
P: The little green balls?
C: Yeah!
P: Those are PEAS, buddy. :)

haha. AWKWARD.
(and no, we don't even use that term..)

#2 Like Father, Like Son.

Background: Patrick is of the school of thought that all forms of wounds require neosporin, which is the Cure-all. (think windex and My Big Fat Greek Wedding)

Today, I started to randomly smell Desitin.

Christian came up to me covered in a clear slime, smelling very strongly of desitin. He proudly informs me he had an Owie on his knee and put 'sunscreen' on it.

Yes. Moments earlier, he had climbed on top of the changing table and emptied an ENTIRE, LARGE tube of A&D ointment (like clear desitin). All over his legs. All over his arms. All over the changing table. All over his hands. And yes, on his nose.

lovely.

#3. Channing today said "Walk" and...

"HEMAN!"


awesome.

Big Stuff. (though not quite Baby Big)

So. I've been wanting to do this for sometime and finally just got everything together.

I am opening my own 'shop'!

I'm pretty darn excited about it. I started making hoodie towels about 3 years ago. I made one for my SIL baby shower and some for my boys and a nephew. After numerous comments and compliments, I decided to open a shop and sell my towels. I also plan on selling other misc. crafts that I put together. Another SIL showed me how to make little girl hair bows (thanks, aly!), and I LOVE it! So fun! I just bought a bunch of ribbon and such for that today and want to start making those.

The picture quality on the site is not the greatest. Another SIL (man- these gals are coming in handy!) is going to take more 'professional' shots of my crafts, so hopefully people will get a better idea of how they really look. Personally, I think they all look much cuter in person. :)

The towels are thick, 100% cotton, quality towels. The hairbows are each attached to an alligator clip to be used directly in hair and also to clip on a headband.

I would love and appreciate it IMMENSELY if any of you spread the word and even linked to me on your blogs.

Also, as this project is in its infancy, please feel free to leave suggestions/comments on things you'd like to see, ways I could improve it, sentences of mine that just sound stupid, etc. I could use the help, people!!


Oh. Hello. The Shop: myredhotdesigns.blogspot.com. Please check it out and let me know your thoughts. (even if they aren't the nicest... but not super mean. I dont want any super-mean thoughts, people... :P)