It's Our House...

After months and months of watching and waiting and loan documents and more watching and more waiting and more loan documents, we finally got our keys today!  We are official home owners but it hasn't come without some hassle.  We were originally supposed to close on our house on Wednesday but our loan documents weren't quite ready yet.  After more waiting and waiting we got the call Thursday night to say that we can sign on Friday and couldn't get out keys until Monday.  Monday morning I called the mortgage company to find out if we were still on schedule....  It couldn't be that easy though and we had to sign one more paper before the cut off for the mortgage company to wire the funds.  After much struggles and poor timing James drove down (on his day off) to meet us to give our keys Monday night.  We are feeling very blessed to have a house and are getting it painted right now and are excited to finally sleep in our own beds again on Sunday!

Cuties

Theses cuties got all dressed up to go to our new ward on Sunday! They were really excited to meet their new church teachers. 

Singing In The Rain

We had an awesome rain storm the other night and it reminded of the movie, Singing In The Rain... Tim was in heaven as he danced with his mom and the girls in the warm rain.  Macy even got introduced to the running and jumping through the puddles that came in the gutters out in the cul-de-sac.  

House Updates: Week 15

We are so close it's exciting.  We did our final walk through this week and are set to close next week.  There were just a few minor changes for the superintendant to take care of and then we are set.  

The girls are getting really excited for their new room and to get Syd back on a good schedule.  The more we see it, the more we love it!

Lake Tahoe

Wednesday morning we left Yosemite National Park and drove the four hours into Truckee, CA to meet up with the rest of the Schmidt Crew.  Becca & Matt C. drove up with Nate & Elisabeth and Matt & Kelsey came up with their new little girl Reagan.  We all bunked in one huge cabin and had a blast.  Thursday morning the adults spent the morning at one of Jim's client's houses for breakfast and to use his private beach and many toys. These toys consisted of Jet Ski's, boats, a water trampoline, and paddle boards.  

Little Elena

Tim and his brothers.

All the big boys on the beach at Lake Tahoe

The girls.

Tim was trying not to be too obvious but they even had embroidered towels for us to use with Kamp Kern on them. 

 Kelsey enjoying the view with baby Reagan. 

Matt and Becca playing on the water trampoline with it's own slip and slide.  We all struggled going down the slip and slide but had a blast with all of us in the water. 

The jet skis were a lot of fun; although Tim was a bit too crazy for my taste.  The water wasn't as cold as we expected and the sun was beautiful. 

Later that afternoon, we took the kids and went down to Lake Donner to let the kids play in the lake.  The water was a bit colder but the kids didn't care. 

 They played in the sand and had a blast.

Friday we spent the day at Lake Tahoe at King's Beach.  

 Tim built a giant sea turtle out of sand and had to ward off the kiddos from the neighboring families to protect his creation. 

 Lake Tahoe was a pretty mix between forest and mountains. 

 The grandkids going for a ride on the paddle board with Captain Aidyn. 

We finished off the day with a hike down to Emerald Bay.  We walked with Macy and Lucy and Sydney and it took us quite a while to get down as we stopped to take pictures every 15 yards.  They kept finding pretty places and posing for us to take pictures. 

 Down in the Bay, there was a field of daisys that the girls ran in and picked.  It wasn't enough to just carry them though and they ended up stuffing them down their pants to hold them because they didn't have pockets. 

 Sitting on a rock at the top of Emerald Bay. 

Saturday morning we posed for a few pictures before taking off to support the boys during the Tough Mudder. 

 The whole Schmid crew without Sarah (who is serving her mission in Ventura California).  

 Grammy, Papa, and all the grand kids. It's interesting to note that the last seven grandkids born have all been girls and we are adding one more to the bunch. 

 The men with their nasty facial hair getting ready for tough mudder. 

 The original Schmidt Crew.

Yosemite

We broke up our trip into two parts and spent the first part of the week in Yosemite National Park with Mike & Jill's clan and Paul & Sheri's clan.  We stayed in a little town outside Yosemite and drove into the park each day. Yosemite is gorgeous and the girls had a blast getting to know their cousins even better. 

You can see half dome in the distance. 

Brodie, Aiden, Ava, Brody, Macy, and Syd hiding in a teepee made out of wood. 

Yosemite falls... We hiked up to the falls and the kids had a blast playing in the cool water down below. 

The Yosemite Gang

Most of the cousins.

Tim and Syd helping Syd play in the water. 

Brrrr.... It's a bit chilly in the water. 

Syd and Lucy.  Syd was stuck to Lucy like glue the whole trip. 

A good view of Half Dome from the nice Scenic Drive we took up the mountain. 

 We've struggled getting syd to sit still and smile for pictures lately. She loves to take them but doesn't like to be in them. 

 Tuesday morning we hiked up to see the big Redwood Trees.  This is the root base of one of the trees that had fallen over. 

 This tree's base had the roots far enough out of the ground that we could hike underneath the tree. 

 Papa kissing a tree. 

 Our cute little sydo.

 More pictures of half dome from the scenic viewpoint. 

 I love Syd's face here.  She loves her cousin Amelia. 

Papa and three of the girls. We call these three maluney.