We are officially RENTERS! We closed on the house today at 2 PM and are going to rent the place back until November sometime. It is such a weight lifted off our shoulders, we couldn't help but jump for joy. I only wish I'd had the stupid camera on the action setting to capture the moment a little clearer oh, and that we hadn't gone out for a big dinner prior to all the jumping.
Just a few more months!
At the pools around here they have "adult swim," where all the kids have to get out of the pool and only adults are allowed in the water. I don't get the big deal about needing the kids out of the pool, but it gives the kids time for a quick rest, so that's good. Here Morgan and Payton are making their own shade.
It was the first really sunny day this week. Yesterday we had some real thunderstorms and the power was out for about 4 hours in the evening. I couldn't do any of my housework, so I had to sit on my butt and read a book, how torturous- just kidding.
There are 4 water slides. It's nothing spectacular, but for $5 a head, you can't beat it.
Here the girls are pretending to walk. I don't' know what that's about.
Here they are actually walking, spot the differences? They aren't such good actresses.
Here's what Austin did for 2 hours and probably 50 whole minutes of the 3 hours we were there. He doesn't care for swimming, only getting in for a minute or two once he's really, really hot.
I don't get it, but whatever. Everyone had a pretty good time, though I prefer my neighbor's pool personally, much less hubbub. I am slowly realizing how convenient cell phone cameras really are.
Here's Payton and her Papa (my father) back in July 2003. Can't you just see how much she loves her Papa. I am sure she's quite excited that we will get to see him much more often once we move to Nebraska. It's hard to believe these photos were taken 6 years ago.
This photo cracks me up! The kids were playing in the back yard sprinkler. Payton had said she wanted to look like her Papa and I humored her with an eyeliner mustache.
Once again, we saw some horses on the beach, taking in some sun and sand. There is talk of transplanting these horses somewhere else. I cannot imagine this beautiful place without these horses. Not to mention that they seem to be thriving here anyway.
The kids walked the beach trying to find shells.
How I will miss this place.
Little Miss Payton, growing up faster than we'd like.
Gregg and Payton racing.
Time to bury Gregg!
Gregg had the kids place these buckets around him because he was afraid someone wouldn't see his head popping out of the sand, and run him over.
They did a really good job, huh?!
Later, Gregg buried the kids together in that same huge hole. He said that Austin was tickling Payton under the sand.
We had a good section of the beach to ourselves.
Gregg, Payton and I all got quite the sunburns, we are feeling the pain today. For some reason, Austin neither tans, nor burns.
On our way off the beach, Payton got to drive the truck on the beach. If you look closely, you can see her there in the window. 
Outside Front Before - Note the ugly brown shutters and door.
Outside Back Before
Formal Front and Formal Dining Before - Pretty wallpaper huh?! And ALL the walls in the house were YELLOW!
Kitchen Before - Also had really pretty wallpaper and nasty appliances.
Eat in Kitchen Before - More pretty wallpaper.
Now, I'm not going through every room, since we don't have before photos of all of them, but here are a few of the same rooms now, April 2009.
Formal Front Room.
Outside Back - Note the add-on second story bay window, that was for the two person jetted tub.
Eat in Kitchen area
Kitchen View - New appliances were a must just a few days after we moved in. And I stained all of the cabinets while Gregg was on deployment. I think it looks significantly better.
Outside Front - Much more cheery and clean. I sure am going to miss this place. We put a lot of blood sweat and tears into our home. It's really the only home the kids have known since they were so small when we moved here. I have spent some of the happiest times of my life here in this house. There are so many memories tied to this house. The thought of leaving here, never to return really makes me sad.
I thought I'd share a few of our 4th photos with everyone. Since it was our last here I took a few pics. We skipped the fireworks at our house this year and just made our way to Mt. Trashmore instead.
I grabbed this photo from the Internet. This is what the side of Mt. Trashmore looks like from the interstate. The whole idea of making a park out of a landfill (actually the trash is mounded up rather than dug into the ground) is one of the strangest things I have ever heard of to this day. People come here often, not so much us, but other people, for fishing (there is a lake behind it) and kite flying. When they outlawed sledding down the hill in the winter it lost it's only allure to me, apparently I'm drawn to dangerous activities only. 
Here's our little setup. We got there early so we'd have a good spot. Within an hour of this photo being taken, there was only standing room around us, it was insane. Mt. Trashmore is in the center of the city, backing up to a residential area. We parked in this residential area, hoping that it wouldn't be as crazy as on the other side of the lake (behind Mt. Trashmore). We were wrong.
Here's the side of Mt. Trashmore. This was also taken at least an hour prior to the show starting.
I thought this photo was kind of eerie. I had to set my camera to capture the fireworks, and while playing with it, waiting for the show to start, I got a few interesting pictures, this being one of them.
I hope everyone had a really nice Fourth of July.
