We had AUTUMN!!!!

 Leo and I went hiking in Wyoming while we were house hunting.  And we had AUTUMN for a whole afternoon!  It was so exciting!  Usually we may have a couple of days of autumn here in Houston during December, but it's not really the same as most of the trees are evergreen oaks.

 We had a picnic lunch at this lake, but we didn't stay and hike because Leo left his coat in the car at the airport in Houston, and it was cold!  As in, snow on the ground cold.

 So we headed back down from the 10000+ elevation we were at and hiked around for a little bit, and then we were going hike along the Platte, but it was all private property.

 We actually took at nap in our car and then headed back to Saratoga and walked along the Platte at a park there and saw the hot springs.  I can't wait to bring the kids in the middle of winter!

And it was a beautiful afternoon and I loved every minute as I talked Leo's ear off of all the decorating ideas I had for our house that we had just made an offer on.

Why I should never take selfies

 First off, I've been recovering chairs for a friend, with a longhorn hide.  She hates it, but her husband loves them!  And she thought chairs were a better option than a rug (which is what the hide was before, or hung on the wall like her husband wanted.)  This way she says she can at least push them under a table.  Hee. Hee. I am by no means a professional or even proficient reupholsterer, but I can manage these okay.  I've done 4 out of 8 so far.  I tell you what though, I was terrified of cutting into the hide, those things are not inexpensive and I was scared of ruining them!

 I was finally trying to take a picture with my new haircut to show you all, but this is why I shouldn't be allowed to ever take selfies.  I don't usually take selfies anyway, but felt a new haircut warranted one.  Anyway, I can't even manage to keep the top of my head in the photo.

 And then I added kids to the mix.  That was not helpful really.

 

 And then it all just went downhill from there.

 See Jubal's face? The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

 And then there's Lando.  Wow.

The end.

The Wilds of Wyoming

 Pictures of the house we bought in detail for Kayli and Andrea.  And so we have the "Before" pictures ready to go.  We've already planned our next 10 years of renovations. :)  The back area we'd keep as our study and add bookshelves to make it more library-ish. And hopefully a window someday.

We might keep no carpet here and put another table and have a kid craft area.  You can never have too much space for art, right? And Leo and I actually love those doors too.  Maybe some glaze on them to update them a bit, but still, they're staying. :)

 Ana's room.

 The sauna.  Soon to be Kami's sewing closet.

 The toy room/Kami's sewing room/Leo's workout room. It's big.  It will all fit. :)

 Food storage room!  Love buying from an LDS family!

 Garage.  The kids saw this and thought we got to keep the ranger.  Sorry kids.  But literally everyone in town has one, so they can make friends with anyone and catch a ride.

 Living Room.

 Dining room (in the back).

 I plan on keeping the cupboards.  I like them.  I'll just change the hardware and maybe give them a glaze coating.  Need to read up on that.

 So very, very pink.  It's A-MAZING.

 Elena and Isabel's room.

 Sebastian, Nicolas, and Jubal's room.

 The hallway linen closets.  Yay for closets!

 Master bedroom.

 Master bathroom.

 Front yard.

 Front of house.

 Backyard--the property goes to the electricity pole.

 That house is the only house behind us, after that it's just bluff and hiking trails!  Sigh of happiness right there.

The view from the rocks. You don't see it but there's also a shed off to the left that's ours.  And that's it.  SO exciting!!!  Seriously, I'm floating on air.  I feel so, so blessed. Everything worked out so perfectly, it's awe inspiring to me.  I just feel so loved and taken care of, because I couldn't have planned it better (Leo's job, his job paying for relocation AND the closing costs on our house, qualifying for a rural development loan so no down payment, finding the perfect house right in our price range--which yes, needs updating and a backyard, but if it had been updated we couldn't have afforded it, and it's in a super nice neighborhood, and Leo and I had a wonderful, fully paid for weekend getaway/house hunting trip--the first time we've been away by ourselves since having kids, and the house came on the market just two days before we got there, so in a very high demand market, our trip was perfectly timed for this house, and the house has TONS of light, and fits everything we needed and wanted--sewing room, study, room for food storage and exercise equipment, storage space in general, beautiful view, and it's so wonderfully sunny there.)