The Second Half of March!

You'll be shocked to hear that the second half of March was also busy!  Real plot twist there, I know!  And it wasn't all fun, I'm afraid.  Like when I opened the curtains in Bentley's room and realized we had a real problem:

Nope, I'm not going to make this any bigger for you.  Just know: those are bugs.  And there are too many of them to ignore.

After some research, we learned that we have carpet beetles.  I think they were attracted to Scooter's feathers and the fact that our deck lights were plugged in through that window, so it was never shut super tight so it was easy for them to get in.  Anyway, since that picture we have pulled all the furniture away and cleaned so much and had the house treated by a professional.  I think they're all gone now.  But it was so gross and upsetting.  The only thing that could ever convince me to live in somewhere freezing like Siberia would be if you could convince me I would be done dealing with insects.  {Shudder, tremble}

Anyway, that was a thing I really didn't have time to deal with, but what can you do?

In happier news, our ward youth spent an evening doing yard work at the Sellers' house.  I don't really do yard work, so I always feel useless at stuff like this, but I LOVED seeing all the kids pitch in and get so much done.  They were awesome.  It warmed my heart.

The teenage boys are usually pretty excited for a chance on the rider mower!  This was less fun when Bentley realized he'd lost phone and we were wandering all around it searching for it!  Fortunately Craig's phone locator found it pretty quickly! 😅

Colton and Gideon had fun playing with Cole!

Right after this, our tenants moved out of our townhouse and we basically did everything wrong trying to find a new tenant.  I'm recording it here so hopefully I won't make the same mistakes again in the future.  As soon as we knew they were leaving, Craig listed it on Zillow.  This didn't work well because suddenly I was being inundated with requests to see it, but our tenants were still there, so I couldn't show it yet.  So I was just putting everyone off.  I finally agreed to let people see it as soon as they'd left, but that was also a mistake, because I hadn't had time to deep clean it yet.  I mean-- they'd left it in really good shape, but there's always a certain amount of grime that builds up (and honestly, they were so desperate for a home since theirs had burned down, that I'm not sure I'd really cleaned it properly when they moved in!).  So people came to see it, but it just felt kind of dingy, so no one wanted it, go figure.  It didn't help that there were a bunch of brand new townhouses listed for the same price, and while I think ours has some great perks that really increase its value (large bedrooms, a lovely green space behind it, pets being allowed), when it feels dirty it really can't compete with brand new!

I did finally find some time to go and begin really cleaning it.  So much time spent vacuuming, mopping, and wiping everything down with rags.  But it's amazing what a little elbow grease can do for a place and all that work really made a huge difference.  And then Craig put in even more work painting the upstairs bathroom, fixing some track doors that weren't closing properly, mulching around the front yard, and painting the deck.  All that made a huge difference, too!

But by the time we'd done a lot of that stuff, it was like we'd lost all momentum on the place.  Oh-- part of that also might have been because we left town for a week in the middle of it all, too!  Yes, we decided to actually go somewhere for spring break!  We decided this and spent money on it all before we knew that this would be an issue and that we'd have the worst timing in the world.  But what could we do?

So yes, everything was a mess.  I spent a ton of time while we were on vacation fielding inquiries only for all of those people to find a place before I could get back and show them ours.  (And in case you were wondering, our vacation will get its own post!)

The good news, even if it should be in an April post, is that we did finally find a new renter and I think they'll be really great.  So that was THE biggest relief.  I'm not someone who tends to be super anxious, but I actually had one day where I felt sick all day and I think it was actually because I was so stressed out about this.  It was a ride.  Not a particularly fun one.

But there was a TON of other fun stuff also going on at the same time.  We had a ward game night all planned.  I only got to stop by for a few minutes before I had to dash off to a different church building to watch a production of The Taming of the Shrew put on by the homeschoolers in our stake (which included four or five kids from our ward, and I like to support our YW in their extracurricular activities whenever I can).  I have to admit, I was kind of nervous about what I was getting myself into with this, but they did a really great job.  It was 80's themed and they made it all really funny.  Perfect!  But I was still sad to miss our ward game night, especially when I saw how the Gaskins had decked themselves out for it:

I don't think any amount of money would convince Craig to dress like that!  😂

And then, later that same night, Rachael and Ian and their four kids all arrived for a visit!  (And yes, I'd spent that day cleaning our house rather than the townhouse in preparation for their arrival!)

As always, I worked super hard convincing London that I was her favorite aunt.  Look at the fun we're having!

How cute is London?

Ian went with Craig to the townhouse to get a little work done on it, while Rachael and I just enjoyed hanging out.  And then that evening we put her kids to bed, left Bentley in charge, and the grown ups went out for Indian food at Kanak and then saw a very late showing of Dune 2, which was awesome.  But getting up for church the next morning was brutal!  Still-- I sure enjoy getting some grown up time when we aren't constantly being interrupted.  And it was fun to have an excuse to see the movie since I really wanted to see it in theaters!

Church was good, even if we were tired.  It was fun sending my kids to primary with their cousins! 

I'm always very impressed with Rachael's commitment to getting everyone matching for church.  I think I would have a nervous breakdown if I'd tried such a feat...!

The next morning Rachael's kids hugged their cousins good-bye as they were leaving for school.

Bentley with Harrison, Nolan, and Clayton

We sure appreciated their willingness to drive all the way here to visit us!  

The next weekend, Colton and Camille got invited to hang out their friends' farm, which meant I got these cute pictures:

Lambs!!!

Man, this makes me wish we had a farm!

I think on the same day that they were at the farm, we were getting our house all cleaned up so I could host a game night for the youth in our ward while Craig took the deacons to the temple.  The deacons had invited anyone who wanted to join them along, so there are a few teachers and one priest mixed into this picture!

The rest of the youth were all at my house and they seemed to have a good time!  There was a lot of air hockey and at least one nerf war.  And I enjoyed hanging out with the two Megan H'ses in our ward (Megan Huff and Megan Hunsaker), so it was a win all around!

At some point, Kendra had her indoor drumline community showcase and we had so many people come to support her, it made me so happy!!!  Here you can see Grandma and Grandpa, and members of the Rawlins, Huff, Creasy, Anderson-Groves, Wiggins, and Hernandez family!  How great is that?

And then finally on Saturday our ward had an Easter egg hunt for the primary kids

we spent the entire time shopping and packing because tomorrow was Easter Sunday and right after we'd found our Easter baskets and gone to church, and taken a ward picture for reasons that aren't worth explaining here...  After all of that 

the Smith clan was piling into our van and driving to...  Orlando!!!  

It was spring break, baby!!!