Our House

Okay, so finally an update on our house. When we arrived in Ontario on Nov. 13th, we couldn't sign on our house like we had hoped. We had to stay in limbo for 2 more days until the final approval was given and we could go to the mortgage co. to sign. But, we finally signed!!!! While at the mortgage co, we got to meet the seller, a beautiful, generous, spirited elderly woman who, along with her husband, was a missionary in Africa for several years. She was delighted her house was being sold to a young, Christian family and Fin had nothing but HUGE smiles for her. She gave us a beautiful blessing in Swahili when she left that I wish I would have had her write down. We single-handedly destroyed an entire forest with all the paperwork we signed, but we were SO happy when it was all finally done. Our realtor, Jessica Greene, was awesome - she was so helpful through the whole process; if you're looking for a realtor in the Boise area, definately call her - she's with Coldwell Bankers Tomlison Group.

Us, signing the papers. If you look closely, you can see Fin smiling at the mortgage officer.




Almost done....


Fin's getting impatient....

SOLD!!! - the house is ours. We are the proud owners of a new house!

With our realtor, Jessica, after the signing

We're home - us in front of our new home

In front of our fireplace

My sisters and brothers-in-law (well, Heath is ALMOST our in-law) helped us unload the U-Haul and move all of our stuff in the following day. Then we went for a quick first grocery run.

Here's me making our first dinner in our new house - the stainless steel appliances are awesome

We've furnished our house with Craigslist furniture, but we did purchase a new, beautiful dining room set. Here's me and Fin with our new dining furniture. The beautiful flowers are a congratulations gift from our realtor

My boys, hanging out in our new living room

Fin likes his new house!


Aren't they handsome?!?

We're THERE

After arriving in Boise, our first stop was at Julia and Ben's house. Julia was taking care of our niece, Callia, that day and Callia REALLY wanted to see her cousin, Fin. So, we got there just before Callia and Gretchen's naptime, so they had a few minutes to see/play with Fin.

Julia, Gretchen, Me, Fin, and Callia

Callia holding Fin - she was so thrilled to see him again!

Gretchen found Fin interesting - she even poked him and patted his tummy like she does to the dogs...very funny!

Then, it was back in the U-Haul for the hour-long trip to Ontario, Oregon where we met up with Mom and Dad at our favorite family restaraunt...DAIRY QUEEN. It was so nice to be back home again. Unfortunately, we only got to spend the rest of the afternoon/evening together before my mom had to leave for California to go and be with her sister, my aunt Betty, who was having surgery to remove nodules from her lung.

The first evening there in Ontario, we were privelaged enough to see one of my best friends from childhood, Marissa, who happened to be visiting her parents in Ontario. Marissa and her husband, Scott, live in Colorado and I hadn't seen her in over 6 years - she has 5 children and I'd only met the oldest. So, I got to meet her entire family, including their newest, Avram, who is 3 weeks younger than Fin. It was so nice to be able to see them.

Me, Fin, Marissa, and Avram


We spent a nice, relaxing day with Poppy - I don't know who enjoyed it more - Poppy or Fin. Then, Dad had to leave the next day to attend a conference in Tennessee. So, we were ironically alone in my parents house after driving 3,000 miles to come home. Just bad timing. But that was okay - Dru and I had our hands full trying to close on our new house so we didn't have a lot of time for visiting, anyway.

Poppy and Fin


Fin, kickin' back on Nana and Poppy's futon...so happy to not be in the stinkin' U-Haul.




We also visited Aunt Chelsea at her office in downtown Boise.

Then we went to her house later that evening to play on the Wii with her new FIANCE (!), Heath. Yes, Chelsea is getting married next spring and we couldn't be happier - we all really like Heath and are excited to obtain another new member of the family.

Callia kicked all of our tail at Wii bowling...seriously, it was pathetic. She got like 170+ points and the rest of us barely broke 100. Have a piece of humble pie, huh?

The kiddos, resting with Aunt JuJu


It's so nice to be HOME again!!!!

The MOVE

Finally, after many goodbyes, too much packing, and a U-Haul stuffed from ceiling to floor, we hit the road on Tuesday, Nov. 11th. We all rode together in the U-Haul cab and towed our Rav4 SUV behind; we'd sold our other car in Maine so we only had one car to worry about. The cab of the truck was surprisingly comfortable and Fin's carseat fit in well.

We're off!




The first day, we made it to upstate New York where we stayed in one of the worst motels I have been in EVER. There were cobwebs and dead spiders in the corner, mildew all over the shower curtain, a bathtub that didn't drain, fingerprints on the sink, soap that crumbled apart when you tried to use it, and thin flat pillows. It was so late and we were so exhausted that we ended up staying instead of spending the extra energy to find another place, but I spent a majority of the night halfway on top of Dru, convinced I would wake up with bed bug bites (which, happily, I did not). Ugh.

Me and Fin in the nasty motel room


Fin, ready to hit the road again


Our family, commemerating the survival of the night in the gross motel

Fin was such a trooper - he was content and playful for a majority of the trip. I pumped while on the road thanks to the car adapter that powered my breast pump, so that minimized stops to feed Fin.

Our little trooper, fast asleep

The second day, we made it to Michigan where we stayed with Dru's brother's family. We were SO happy to not have to stay in a motel again. We ended up staying for a few days which was awesome; Dru's sister-in-law, Marietta, cooked mounds of delicious food and we had a great time just relaxing, chatting, and playing with Dru's nephews, Isaac and Jacob.

Dru's brother, Darris, and his wife, Marietta (Mars) with Fin

Fin liked Auntie Mars

While the boys were at school, Darris, Mars, Dru, Fin and I went on a walk to cute downtown Chelsea, Michigan. It was a beautiful day.

We couldn't find Fin's hat, so he borrowed one from his cousin - doesn't he look like Elmer Fudd with a pacifier?!?

Hanging out with Isaac and Jacob

Fin's cousins having fun with him

The Smedshammer boys - not too many of them in the U.S.!

Silly Smedshammers

That evening, they took us to Ann Arbor, MI. The boys enjoyed entertaining Fin on the car ride there.....

....and Fin enjoyed the attention

We hit the Borders there, where Fin had his supper

And then us bigger people had our supper at a yummy Mongolian BBQ

After a few blessed days of relaxation and fun, it was back on the road again. Fin slept hard while we hit state after state - we drove through Michigan, Indiana, and most of Iowa.

We slept at a very decent Super 8 in Iowa that night, and then....I'll bet you can guess....yup, back on the road. Fin didn't mind.

That day, Sunday the 17th, we made it through the rest of Iowa and all of Nebraska; we stayed at another nice Super 8 that night and the next day drove through ALL of Wyoming and a bit of Utah. We didn't do much sight-seeing; instead we entertained ourselves by counting the number of roadkill deer (morbid, huh?...hey, what else would YOU do in boring, flat Nebraska. BTW, we saw over 40 dead deer along the interstate...yikes). Towards the end of Monday, the 18th, we decided to stop and look at Devil's Slide in Utah before staying the night in Ogden.

Dru and Fin in front of Devil's Slide

Me with Fin in front of the slide -- Fin does not appear to be impressed

Finally, the next day, we crossed the state line into IDAHO! WAHOO!! Everybody started smiling.