The Wonder/Basement Years

This month marks the 3rd anniversary of our move to the basement of Aunt Kathleen's house. We moved in the weekend I graduated with my bachelor's and Aaron graduated with his master's. I can't believe we've been here that long. Time has flown by. When we moved in, Annie looked like this and Scotty wasn't even a thought.

We have loved living here. Heather and Jason and Emma and Ben are the greatest neighbors of all time. Our kids love playing together, and we've loved the convenience of a babysitting swap. We love having a yard, and H & J graciously let our kids play with all of their toys. Heather's always sharing yummy treats with us, and she's always good for a real chat. I could go on and on. The benefits of living under the Lewises are innumerable.
Aunt Kathleen is also a great landlord. She always asks what she can do to make us more comfortable. Around Christmas time, Heather concocted a plan for a basement remodel and Aunt Kathleen agreed to it. We turned our storage area behind the faux wall into a little bedroom for Annie. It was the best Christmas present ever! Here's what it looks like from the outside of the new room.

And from the inside of the new room.

Heather called the handyman and supervised everything. Then she painted Annie's room (including the ceiling!) and laid some carpet herself. And Aunt Kathleen paid for it all. We also got the "faucet of the future..."

And had the handyman move things around in the laundry room so we could access the storage area under the stairs. These were some major improvements, and we have been so happy about them. Obviously, we're excited for Aaron to graduate and for our family to be able to move on to a job, but we are so glad we've had these wonderful basement years!

My Brother & the United States Navy

About 3 weeks ago, we headed up to Salt Lake City's Military Entrance Processing Station to see Andrew be sworn in to the Navy. We arrived at 8:30 and then waited around for a while in true government fashion. While we were waiting we chatted with Andrew and my parents. Annie was entertained by Andrew's friend Mindy and cartoons on a big screen TV. And thanks to Annie's dollar store princesses, Andrew was able to get in touch with his sensitive side before facing the rigors of boot camp.

We followed the recruits back to a small room where they held the ceremony. We were the only family there. Other recruits had come from farther away, so their families couldn't come. One very young-looking recruit asked one of the workers to take pictures for his mom. She was a very energetic picture-taker, and she kept referring to him as "baby boy." He was a loyal son to suffer through that.

Here's Andrew during the actual swearing in.

It was short and sweet. Then we got the crazy lady to take pictures of our family. She did a good job.

We're proud of Andrew. Joining the Armed Forces is a truly brave thing to do. I'm so grateful for people who are willing to do so. Andrew is surviving boot camp so far and got put in charge of singing the cadence. He'll be great at that.