So this is the latest update with us looking for a house to buy.
We now have everything in line to purchase a house, after waiting forever for everything to come together.
We started looking for houses everywhere! Our realtor, Tim was looking, we started looking on KSL for FSBO's, we just needed to find something fast and get out of this over priced apartment. Even if it meant to buy now and live in it for two years, then turn it into a rental and buy again.
I came across a house that looked pretty good. When I called on it and ask some questions about the house, it wasn't quite what we were looking for. It didn't have at least one garage. We were wanting at least one. So the man then asked us what we were looking for. Come to find out, this man does flips and currently was working on 12 houses, a few that he thought would fit us and were not on the market. So we met up with this guy, let's call him Jason, to look at another house he told us about. The house wasn't our favorite floor plan, but it could work. Jason saw our hesitation and told us that there was another house that he thought would work better for us. We followed him to the house and looked around. It was in the middle of being remodeled, so we had to look past that, just like our house in Colorado Springs. We did like the floor plan and everything about it! It was over 2300 sq ft, 6 bedrooms, 1 den, 3 bathrooms, a laundry room, a dinning area big enough to fit our kitchen table, a bigger backyard then the Midvale house we were attempting to buy (which is already sold now), it had a great big shed and one car garage. We were excited. There was one drawback. It was on a fairly busy street and across from a high school, Granger High. We then found out that the high school had one more year of school before it would be torn down and a park built in it's place! We couldn't pass it up.
The flip guy, Jason, helping us out, told us all the plans for the house. It was to be stuccoed along with the shed and garage, a whole new roof stripped down so there would be plenty of years ahead on it, new gutters and everything, new carpet and travertine tile in the kitchen and bathrooms, new cupboards, counter tops, appliances (not including a fridge or microwave), all new light fixtures, front door, windows, vanities in the bathrooms, new showers done with eco stone, 3 tone paint throughout the house, and...that may be it. Basically everything redone from top to bottom. The best part is the we can pick, (from what they have) our colors, carpet, counter tops and everything. This is exciting! It is well within our price and it is going to be finished in two weeks.
Tuesday night we met with Jason and signed papers, picked everything out and now we have a house that wasn't on the market and for a great price! We are very excited. There shouldn't be anything in our way this time.
We close on June 26th (Tuesday) This is good timing for us. We will pay one more month of rent, be moved in before I teach my summer cooking class and before our Family reunion...most importantly before the baby comes.
And I got a very short hair cut last night. Today I'm going to attempt to style it and make it look fantastic...or just good. We'll see how it all comes out. Stay tuned for pictures!
Thursday, May 24, 2012
5x7 Folded Card
Alphabet Blocks Father's Day Card
Mom. Dad. Kids. Christmas photo cards by Shutterfly.
View the entire collection of cards.
Can I just tell you how much I love Shutterfly! They are always doing promotions and free things as well as having cool stuff that you can make for presents. The latest is a FREE Father's day card. So now I have a cute card that I didn't have to spend 5 hours making at home, like last year. Now mind you it was the coolest card EVER! But it took FOREVER to make. Now this year Brian will be getting a card with pictures of him and the boys on it and I just assembled it online...cool.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
So many things have happened between now and my last post. I'm going to number them in order of what happened first. Here it goes!
1. This is the reason why I'm so far behind, I regretted writing this. We lost our house, here is the story. Our loan guy called us three days before closing and told us that our financing wasn't done...that they hadn't looked at it yet! This is insane! So we pushed the closing date back. Then he calls and tells us that we have to take care of a few things...YOU are now telling us this when we are about to close and you had all this time to tell us! Well the seller was patient with us and gave us a week and a half. SO we hurried to get it done. One was a letter that we needed. It is the only thing holding us up from buying the house. We called and called and tried to get it, still to this day (almost 30 days later) no letter in hand. The loan guy didn't help much, calling the seller himself and telling him that we couldn't get the loan, before he knew that it had been taken care of. (I'm still upset about that and all that our loan guy has done to ruin this for us.) So then our plan was to still get this letter and move on as soon as possible. Two weeks later the seller gets a hold of our realtor and tells him that if we could buy it, they'll work with us. Apparently the other buyer fell through. WOW! It was a miracle! We might get this house after all! A week and a half later, we still don't have the letter, so we gave up the house sadly, for good. To this day the letter still hasn't come. We are going to wait until the letter finally comes before we start looking for a new house again. Oh, and we have three new loan guys to look into instead of going with the one we currently have. Things are looking up!
2. Tyler had his Preschool reading celebration April 13th. It was neat to see the kids so excited about reading. When they called the student's name, a parent went up and got a candy bar, since they did all the reading and the child got a medal with a bag of fun stuff. Tyler was so proud (as we were) and wore that medal all day...until he left it at the park and it was taken within 15min. He cried that night, but we do have the pictures of him wearing it!
3. We came across the Utah Orienteering club this month (April). We gave it a try. There were three courses set up depending on your ability. We started with the beginners. They handed us a map with a compass on it that we were to use to navigate through the park to the different spots, where we punched our sheet to show we made it. We told the boys that it was a treasure hunt and that we would be using the map to find the treasure. Brian and Tyler took off and Caleb and I caught up after a few spots later. The boys had a great time taking turns punching the sheet. Tyler learned how to read a map and knew what direction to go next from the map. We had fun. However we didn't get a treasure at the end. It was a good thing that I brought some cookies, they became our yummy treasure. This club does this monthly at different sites. We hope to do more of them and graduate to actually using a compass on an upcoming adventure!
4. Caleb has been repeatedly taking off his diaper and trying to sit on the toilet. He's been telling me that he needs to go to the bathroom throughout the day. One morning we woke up early and we found him butt naked! I refused to potty train him because of everything happening and going to happen. However you can't ignore all of that when it happens daily. That night I found the training toilet and got out the underwear, pulled together the Easter candy and started the day with potty training. He has surprised us all! It took two days before he pooed in the toilet and does it every time now. It took about three days of him going pee in the toilet before he tells me every time when he needs to go and stayed dry ALL day! Over the past two and a half weeks, he has had 2-3 accidents where we have had to change his underwear during the day. I have to say that he is doing amazing! This was so much easier then training Tyler. I'd welcome this any day. We are so happy with Caleb.
5. This last one has been a bit of a shocker for, I would say us, but I think that it is really only me. With this pregnancy it seems to have been a lot like the others I have had. The doctor listening to the heart, seeing where the baby was located and how active it was thought it was a boy...I agreed with him. This whole time I was looking forward to having another boy. I LOVE boys! We would have a sports playing, home wrestling, mission going, priesthood holder family. I was excited. April 29th came and I had a thought pop into my head. I wonder if this is a girl. I remember being a little wild thing (well not at home since I had 5 older siblings and a younger one to compete with). I started to worry that I would have a little wild "me" to raise. I told Brian my thoughts and he was so kind and told me that it didn't matter. We would love her no matter what. The next day, we went in for my big ultra sound. We checked out the heart, the blood flow and everything that would or could go wrong that we have seen happen to us or a family member. No red flags yet, but it was still a little early for some to start showing up. SO for now the baby looks good and healthy. We'll be going in again for another one in a few months just to make sure. We did find out that it was in fact a GIRL! I teared up right then. I fears will now come true. I was so shocked. But you can't change this. Brian reassured me that I would be great and that we would love her no matter what. He is always right. I then thought back to all my prayers of thanking Heavenly Father for another baby and that we would be excited to have another baby in the family. She is meant to be with us. I just hope that she ends up mellowing out the boys instead of joining them. I get a little more excited everyday to know that I'll have a little girl to finally do her hair, dress her up, sew things for and teach to cook. I also look forward to teaching her why she is here and how she can get back to our Father in Heaven. Also a little girl who will love her Daddy. (Instead of two Mama's boys.)
1. This is the reason why I'm so far behind, I regretted writing this. We lost our house, here is the story. Our loan guy called us three days before closing and told us that our financing wasn't done...that they hadn't looked at it yet! This is insane! So we pushed the closing date back. Then he calls and tells us that we have to take care of a few things...YOU are now telling us this when we are about to close and you had all this time to tell us! Well the seller was patient with us and gave us a week and a half. SO we hurried to get it done. One was a letter that we needed. It is the only thing holding us up from buying the house. We called and called and tried to get it, still to this day (almost 30 days later) no letter in hand. The loan guy didn't help much, calling the seller himself and telling him that we couldn't get the loan, before he knew that it had been taken care of. (I'm still upset about that and all that our loan guy has done to ruin this for us.) So then our plan was to still get this letter and move on as soon as possible. Two weeks later the seller gets a hold of our realtor and tells him that if we could buy it, they'll work with us. Apparently the other buyer fell through. WOW! It was a miracle! We might get this house after all! A week and a half later, we still don't have the letter, so we gave up the house sadly, for good. To this day the letter still hasn't come. We are going to wait until the letter finally comes before we start looking for a new house again. Oh, and we have three new loan guys to look into instead of going with the one we currently have. Things are looking up!
2. Tyler had his Preschool reading celebration April 13th. It was neat to see the kids so excited about reading. When they called the student's name, a parent went up and got a candy bar, since they did all the reading and the child got a medal with a bag of fun stuff. Tyler was so proud (as we were) and wore that medal all day...until he left it at the park and it was taken within 15min. He cried that night, but we do have the pictures of him wearing it!
3. We came across the Utah Orienteering club this month (April). We gave it a try. There were three courses set up depending on your ability. We started with the beginners. They handed us a map with a compass on it that we were to use to navigate through the park to the different spots, where we punched our sheet to show we made it. We told the boys that it was a treasure hunt and that we would be using the map to find the treasure. Brian and Tyler took off and Caleb and I caught up after a few spots later. The boys had a great time taking turns punching the sheet. Tyler learned how to read a map and knew what direction to go next from the map. We had fun. However we didn't get a treasure at the end. It was a good thing that I brought some cookies, they became our yummy treasure. This club does this monthly at different sites. We hope to do more of them and graduate to actually using a compass on an upcoming adventure!
5. This last one has been a bit of a shocker for, I would say us, but I think that it is really only me. With this pregnancy it seems to have been a lot like the others I have had. The doctor listening to the heart, seeing where the baby was located and how active it was thought it was a boy...I agreed with him. This whole time I was looking forward to having another boy. I LOVE boys! We would have a sports playing, home wrestling, mission going, priesthood holder family. I was excited. April 29th came and I had a thought pop into my head. I wonder if this is a girl. I remember being a little wild thing (well not at home since I had 5 older siblings and a younger one to compete with). I started to worry that I would have a little wild "me" to raise. I told Brian my thoughts and he was so kind and told me that it didn't matter. We would love her no matter what. The next day, we went in for my big ultra sound. We checked out the heart, the blood flow and everything that would or could go wrong that we have seen happen to us or a family member. No red flags yet, but it was still a little early for some to start showing up. SO for now the baby looks good and healthy. We'll be going in again for another one in a few months just to make sure. We did find out that it was in fact a GIRL! I teared up right then. I fears will now come true. I was so shocked. But you can't change this. Brian reassured me that I would be great and that we would love her no matter what. He is always right. I then thought back to all my prayers of thanking Heavenly Father for another baby and that we would be excited to have another baby in the family. She is meant to be with us. I just hope that she ends up mellowing out the boys instead of joining them. I get a little more excited everyday to know that I'll have a little girl to finally do her hair, dress her up, sew things for and teach to cook. I also look forward to teaching her why she is here and how she can get back to our Father in Heaven. Also a little girl who will love her Daddy. (Instead of two Mama's boys.)
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Our New House
I've finally taken the time to sit and down load the pictures that we took of our new house. There are not many of them, but you can get a feel of what the house is like. We are scheduled to close Thursday (two days away), however we are currently waiting to hear if we'd be able to close from our underwriter, or if we'll have to postpone it for another week. We are all on edge and starting to live out of boxes. Don't worry I'm not that good at packing, there is still plenty left to pack. Happy Trails!
In these picture, we don't have a picture of the other bathroom, the two smaller rooms and the room into the front room. Like I said, just a little sampler of what we'll be moving into soon...very soon we hope.
In these picture, we don't have a picture of the other bathroom, the two smaller rooms and the room into the front room. Like I said, just a little sampler of what we'll be moving into soon...very soon we hope.
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| Close up on the granite counter tops and new appliances |
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| Kitchen |
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| This is a large bed room that has a door leading out to the patio |
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| The door leading outside from the great room |
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| This is the master bathroom with granite counter tops, it's a lot bigger then the picture |
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Master bedroom with a large walk-in closet |
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| This is the front patio |
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| This is the great room looking at the master bathroom on the left ans the laundry room to the right. |
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| Our very large garages with a very large paved driveway and a working water pump nest to the house. Between the garages we found that it attracts bugs, which Tyler is very excited for. |
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| This is off the great room showing the door to the garages on the left and the door leading outside on the right. |
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A House!
This has happened so quickly I still can't believe it myself. Last entry I mentioned that snicky snook that gave away our house to another buyer, that happened on Friday. So our faithful realtor set up houses for us to look at on Saturday. Come early Saturday morning, before 8am, I get a text from our Tim telling me that three new houses went on the market that day and he had set up showings for us. When I did wake up and we got ready, pulling our sick kids, even Brian out of bed, we went to look at houses once again. By the time we met up with Tim, there was a few cancellations, no biggy. We looked at one that we thought would work out if we didn't see anything else. (Right now we needed to be out with our rent already up $300 from before) The next houses, not so much. Tim talked us out of the next house because there was a lot of work that needed to be done on it. On to the last house, one of the new ones that went on the market that day. We walked in and loved it from the start. It was beautiful! Textured walls, everything well done with granite counter tops, a huge one floor layout with a front porch and a large driveway. It was great! We all looked at each other and immediately started everything to put a bid in ASAP! Tim called the other realtor and told him that we were putting in a bid and if there were any bids currently on it, no. He also mentioned something like, my poor clients can't get a break. So many houses have fell through. He knew the words to say. SO we quickly got everything together, wrote a check for the earnest money and paid full price. We were not going to let this one go. He drove it over. Later that day we got a call telling us that there were other bids, but if we raise our price to a certain amount that it would be ours. Of course! So we got together and signed the counter offer and took it over, WE MADE IT! The owner was so nice to give us a second chance before anyone else. I told you our realtor knew what he was saying/doing. The next day we find out that there were multiple offers and everyone was mad that the owner didn't do a best bid and take the best offer. What a blessing, we have a house!!! We are closing April 5th, ready to move in on the 6th. When we find the cord to transfer pictures from the camera to the computer, we'll post pictures. Until then, two more weeks!!!
Friday, March 9, 2012
A House and NOT a House
So today I was super excited and then fell to the couch and wanted to scream my head off.
The last blog I mentioned that we had put two offers in on two different houses. One house I still haven't seen and the other house was a very nice house a street away from the other house. We went to see this house Tuesday of this week. On Thursday we get a call saying that our offer has potential, however with other offers coming in and more showing yet that evening, we had to do something quick. They wanted a little more, or closer to their asking price. SO we did. Today Brian calls and tells me that they accepted All the paper work for our offer got set up, even our closing date. I was so excited, WE HAVE A HOUSE!!! Our Realtor had everything ready and was on his way to drop off the contract when he gets a call, 10 min. way from the office telling him that someone else came in with a better offer so we are out of luck. What horrible luck! After all that we went through with the owner and he just gets something better and throws us out the window. Of course I went and started calling everyone to tell them that we had a house and now I have to let everyone know again that someone doesn't have any ethics. So we are left with the house that I still can't get into see, with one week remaining, if we don't hear anything we are withdrawing our offer. Either we find a better house or we hear something from the bank and I can see it!
To top it off, since I'm venting, my husband and two boys are sick.
On the upside, today is the last day to get my birthday "buy one first, then get your birthday one FREE" smoothie at Orange Julius, which I'm going to make that happen! Now tell me why on your birthday do they make you buy a smoothie, why not give you a free little one?
Who's up for a smoothie!?!
The last blog I mentioned that we had put two offers in on two different houses. One house I still haven't seen and the other house was a very nice house a street away from the other house. We went to see this house Tuesday of this week. On Thursday we get a call saying that our offer has potential, however with other offers coming in and more showing yet that evening, we had to do something quick. They wanted a little more, or closer to their asking price. SO we did. Today Brian calls and tells me that they accepted All the paper work for our offer got set up, even our closing date. I was so excited, WE HAVE A HOUSE!!! Our Realtor had everything ready and was on his way to drop off the contract when he gets a call, 10 min. way from the office telling him that someone else came in with a better offer so we are out of luck. What horrible luck! After all that we went through with the owner and he just gets something better and throws us out the window. Of course I went and started calling everyone to tell them that we had a house and now I have to let everyone know again that someone doesn't have any ethics. So we are left with the house that I still can't get into see, with one week remaining, if we don't hear anything we are withdrawing our offer. Either we find a better house or we hear something from the bank and I can see it!
To top it off, since I'm venting, my husband and two boys are sick.
On the upside, today is the last day to get my birthday "buy one first, then get your birthday one FREE" smoothie at Orange Julius, which I'm going to make that happen! Now tell me why on your birthday do they make you buy a smoothie, why not give you a free little one?
Who's up for a smoothie!?!
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
February in March, What a month!
It sure was a nice try to do one blog entry a month. I look at it this way, I made two entries in January and I'm just doing February's a few days late...it's good thinking and could work only if I can do one more in March...which I probably will. Pray for me!
A few things have happened in February that have been a bit exciting.
1. Valentine's day - Brian surprised me by coming home for lunch, which he never does, and brought me chocolates and a dozen beautiful red roses. It was wonderful! Tyler was jealous, he wanted a red rose too. He thought they were for him because they were red and red was his favorite color. So I gave in and gave him one rose to put in a vase. He then sat in front of it while eating, took it where ever he went and even talked to it. We then were able to go out to dinner and a movie for a very nice date night.
2. We put an offer on a house that is short sale. We keep hearing different things and to this day we still haven't heard anything from the bank.
3. My birthday - We actually celebrated it the weekend before. Dinner and a movie once again, we are getting spoiled, thanks to Gary and Emmalee who watch our kids for us. (We return the favor for them too, don't worry.) It was just a normal day, but oh the expressions of love and wishes from everyone I know. It made me feel loved and thought of through my not so special day. Thanks everyone!
4. This actually happened March 1st but... I went to see the doctor and was amazed to see a little body with arms and legs kicking and waving around in me and the heart beating. Yes, we are expecting. I just finished my 1st trimester without any problems or sickness, thankfully. The due date is September 19th. We are all excited, especially Tyler. Starting about 6 months ago Tyler has asked and pleaded with me to have two more boys and a girl. He really wants more siblings. He must know something right? He has been great about his whole thing. Caleb I'm afraid will be the one to wish the baby back from where he came from. We'll have to work on him.
5. Another offer- This happened tonight. Our realtor called and told us that there was a MUST see house, so we went to see it. It was gorgeous. Yes, there will probably be a little work, but upgraded well. We decided to put an offer in here, it is currently vacant and it isn't a short sale. It has a few more things that we like. Compared to the other house... I still haven't seen it since the guy never will let us in to see it. Brian got to see it once, but with all the obstacles, I felt better with this one. We'll just have to see what happens next.
What a crazy month, but it has been a good one. We hope that March will bring even better news!!!
A few things have happened in February that have been a bit exciting.
1. Valentine's day - Brian surprised me by coming home for lunch, which he never does, and brought me chocolates and a dozen beautiful red roses. It was wonderful! Tyler was jealous, he wanted a red rose too. He thought they were for him because they were red and red was his favorite color. So I gave in and gave him one rose to put in a vase. He then sat in front of it while eating, took it where ever he went and even talked to it. We then were able to go out to dinner and a movie for a very nice date night.
2. We put an offer on a house that is short sale. We keep hearing different things and to this day we still haven't heard anything from the bank.
3. My birthday - We actually celebrated it the weekend before. Dinner and a movie once again, we are getting spoiled, thanks to Gary and Emmalee who watch our kids for us. (We return the favor for them too, don't worry.) It was just a normal day, but oh the expressions of love and wishes from everyone I know. It made me feel loved and thought of through my not so special day. Thanks everyone!
4. This actually happened March 1st but... I went to see the doctor and was amazed to see a little body with arms and legs kicking and waving around in me and the heart beating. Yes, we are expecting. I just finished my 1st trimester without any problems or sickness, thankfully. The due date is September 19th. We are all excited, especially Tyler. Starting about 6 months ago Tyler has asked and pleaded with me to have two more boys and a girl. He really wants more siblings. He must know something right? He has been great about his whole thing. Caleb I'm afraid will be the one to wish the baby back from where he came from. We'll have to work on him.
5. Another offer- This happened tonight. Our realtor called and told us that there was a MUST see house, so we went to see it. It was gorgeous. Yes, there will probably be a little work, but upgraded well. We decided to put an offer in here, it is currently vacant and it isn't a short sale. It has a few more things that we like. Compared to the other house... I still haven't seen it since the guy never will let us in to see it. Brian got to see it once, but with all the obstacles, I felt better with this one. We'll just have to see what happens next.
What a crazy month, but it has been a good one. We hope that March will bring even better news!!!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
January 2012
The last day of the month comes and to keep my goal of blogging alive, here it is.
We celebrated Brian's birthday this month. It was exciting for him, not so much for us though. In the wee hours of the morning, we made him breakfast, wished him a Happy Birthday, and he opened his cards and present. It was nice. Brian was then off to work for a half day. The other half he spent with friends on the mountain boarding. He loved his birthday!
One thing that I was able to do was make a cake for a friend's daughter this month. It was her 8th birthday so it needed to be a special cake. I made her a Belle cake from Beauty and the Beast. I learned a lot from that adventure. I have also created my own cream cheese fondant recipe that was told to me from experts that it couldn't be done. It isn't as easy to work with as regular fondant, but it tastes a whole lot better!
Another exciting thing is that we are now pre-qualified to buy a home. We just have to find one now.
The rest of the month has been filled with taking Tyler to school, shopping, cleaning and cooking. Just about the average thing I do.
We celebrated Brian's birthday this month. It was exciting for him, not so much for us though. In the wee hours of the morning, we made him breakfast, wished him a Happy Birthday, and he opened his cards and present. It was nice. Brian was then off to work for a half day. The other half he spent with friends on the mountain boarding. He loved his birthday!
One thing that I was able to do was make a cake for a friend's daughter this month. It was her 8th birthday so it needed to be a special cake. I made her a Belle cake from Beauty and the Beast. I learned a lot from that adventure. I have also created my own cream cheese fondant recipe that was told to me from experts that it couldn't be done. It isn't as easy to work with as regular fondant, but it tastes a whole lot better!
Another exciting thing is that we are now pre-qualified to buy a home. We just have to find one now.
The rest of the month has been filled with taking Tyler to school, shopping, cleaning and cooking. Just about the average thing I do.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
A New Year, A New Post
I've noticed that my last two posts were from different years so that means I have an average of one post a year.
So far this year I have done two things that I only did once last year, post a comment and wash my car. This year I would like to make my 2012 goals of those that I only do once or a few times. I already have two goals set! Here are some more goals that I want to do more of:
1. Wash my car once a quarter or more if needed.
2. Write a blog post once a month, summarizing that month, or more if needed.
3. Finish reading both (not just one) of the conference Ensigns before the next General Conference.
4. Share the gospel with someone.
5. My annual goal of reading a church book (other then the scriptures), and another book.
I know that I can do these things since I half did them the year before, this year I will just be improving. Good luck to everyone else with their goals for 2012!
So far this year I have done two things that I only did once last year, post a comment and wash my car. This year I would like to make my 2012 goals of those that I only do once or a few times. I already have two goals set! Here are some more goals that I want to do more of:
1. Wash my car once a quarter or more if needed.
2. Write a blog post once a month, summarizing that month, or more if needed.
3. Finish reading both (not just one) of the conference Ensigns before the next General Conference.
4. Share the gospel with someone.
5. My annual goal of reading a church book (other then the scriptures), and another book.
I know that I can do these things since I half did them the year before, this year I will just be improving. Good luck to everyone else with their goals for 2012!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Our Drive to Utah
How truly blessed we are. We have had a few miracles happen to us during the trip...well at least I did, Brian's trip was uneventful. We started our trip with a prayer. A prayer of safety, alertness, good drivers on the road and the kids to be happy and make the trip well. What an important pray that was. Everything was said for a purpose and reason.
We started out just fine until we hit Wyoming. There were snow storms. Nothing too bad. We then came to the twin sisters (two bad spots for storms). The drifting across the road ended up freezing, so there were icy spots. I crossed one just fine, but then the second one I lost control of the car, it slid across the lane and into the median while turning 180 degrees. Miracle one, we didn't hit anything and we sailed/slid to a stop. (I was screaming my head off while the kids just sat there calm. A few people stopped, but since nothing happened to the car, I was able to drive it back up to the road and waited for Brian to catch up to me. A highway patrolman came by and inspected my car...nothing but a tumble weed. I ended up losing a hub cap, but that's nothing compared to our safety. As I started to drive and hit speeds of 65-70mph the boys and I could feel the car shaking badly. The alignment was off, but nothing else, just the shaking. The patrolman did say that it got worse further ahead, so I was freaked out. Brian was so good. We followed behind him at slow speeds, 35-40mph. We safely made it to Evanston, a few miles from the Utah boarder. We heard that the weather was a lot better after the boarder, so I knew relief was going to come soon. We pulled into a gas station to fill up. I knew that sometime during the bad weather my windshield wiper fluid was frozen. Nothing but a noise was coming from it when I tried to clean my windshield. We ate dinner and got hot chocolate and quickly headed out to stay a head of the storm. As I pulled out of the station, I remembered how my windshield was dirty...well I told myself that right now it wasn't that bad and we will be hitting good weather soon. Also I was following Brian and he was already headed toward the Interstate, so I ignored the thought (prompting). As we started again a semi passed me and threw mud onto my windshield. I turned my wipers on and it smeared the mud. I started to pannick and wished that I would have listened to the prompting from the Lord. Too late. I prayed that my fluid would work even though I had been stupid not to listen. For a while now I had the heater on the windshield, hoping that it would defrost it, but not this time. I had to slow down. In the back I saw another semi truck coming. AHH now I was going to be in trouble. Woosh, he sprayed my car with melted ice. The wipers went on and it had cleared up my windshield...well, to where I could see again. That that was another blessing, despite my stupidity. I caught up to Brian. We had passed the boarder and yes, the weather was amazingly better with dry road (good, because my fluid was still frozen). We were able to speed up a little more. I also found out that when I attempted close to 70mph my car wouldn't shake. Another safety miracle. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to go slow, and knowing me, that doesn't describe me at all. So my car would shake/alignment out...until the dry roads where it was safe to go faster. As soon as I saw an exit for a gas station, I turned off to wash my windshield. Getting back on the road was thankfully event less until we arrived at Gary and Emmalee's home. Where we were excited to see one another. Needless to say, that night we repeatedly thanked Heavenly Father in many prayers for our safety and protection during the trip. We are here.
Thank you for your prayers offered that day while we were driving...the Lord sure was hearing them.
We started out just fine until we hit Wyoming. There were snow storms. Nothing too bad. We then came to the twin sisters (two bad spots for storms). The drifting across the road ended up freezing, so there were icy spots. I crossed one just fine, but then the second one I lost control of the car, it slid across the lane and into the median while turning 180 degrees. Miracle one, we didn't hit anything and we sailed/slid to a stop. (I was screaming my head off while the kids just sat there calm. A few people stopped, but since nothing happened to the car, I was able to drive it back up to the road and waited for Brian to catch up to me. A highway patrolman came by and inspected my car...nothing but a tumble weed. I ended up losing a hub cap, but that's nothing compared to our safety. As I started to drive and hit speeds of 65-70mph the boys and I could feel the car shaking badly. The alignment was off, but nothing else, just the shaking. The patrolman did say that it got worse further ahead, so I was freaked out. Brian was so good. We followed behind him at slow speeds, 35-40mph. We safely made it to Evanston, a few miles from the Utah boarder. We heard that the weather was a lot better after the boarder, so I knew relief was going to come soon. We pulled into a gas station to fill up. I knew that sometime during the bad weather my windshield wiper fluid was frozen. Nothing but a noise was coming from it when I tried to clean my windshield. We ate dinner and got hot chocolate and quickly headed out to stay a head of the storm. As I pulled out of the station, I remembered how my windshield was dirty...well I told myself that right now it wasn't that bad and we will be hitting good weather soon. Also I was following Brian and he was already headed toward the Interstate, so I ignored the thought (prompting). As we started again a semi passed me and threw mud onto my windshield. I turned my wipers on and it smeared the mud. I started to pannick and wished that I would have listened to the prompting from the Lord. Too late. I prayed that my fluid would work even though I had been stupid not to listen. For a while now I had the heater on the windshield, hoping that it would defrost it, but not this time. I had to slow down. In the back I saw another semi truck coming. AHH now I was going to be in trouble. Woosh, he sprayed my car with melted ice. The wipers went on and it had cleared up my windshield...well, to where I could see again. That that was another blessing, despite my stupidity. I caught up to Brian. We had passed the boarder and yes, the weather was amazingly better with dry road (good, because my fluid was still frozen). We were able to speed up a little more. I also found out that when I attempted close to 70mph my car wouldn't shake. Another safety miracle. Heavenly Father knew that I needed to go slow, and knowing me, that doesn't describe me at all. So my car would shake/alignment out...until the dry roads where it was safe to go faster. As soon as I saw an exit for a gas station, I turned off to wash my windshield. Getting back on the road was thankfully event less until we arrived at Gary and Emmalee's home. Where we were excited to see one another. Needless to say, that night we repeatedly thanked Heavenly Father in many prayers for our safety and protection during the trip. We are here.
Thank you for your prayers offered that day while we were driving...the Lord sure was hearing them.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Life with our Boys
The cell phone that Caleb got for his birthday is a hit...literally. I would have to say that Caleb is a noise maker. He has to be banging something or babbling (at church Sunday I felt like he was the peanut gallery "oohing and "oo-ing" and jabbering on). I also would have to say that Caleb is an aesthetic learner. I never seen him put things into his mouth (odd). But the moment he gets something in his hands he is banging it making some kind of sound with it. If he sees Tyler coloring with something he grabs it from him and tried to color as well. He imitates Tyler a lot and uses things for what they are. He is a smart kid. Almost a week ago he started clapping his hands. Almost two weeks ago he started to crawl. Now we is always insisting on standing up. He is always pulling himself up to stand and will hold himself up with one hand while picking up and then setting down an object...or banging something to make sound. Today I was surprised that while standing he let go to come to me. Don't be surprised if he is walking before Thanksgiving. He is bound and determined.
Tyler loves joy school. He comes home still working on things. Writing, coloring, cutting, gluing, creating things with all of our sticky notes and tape. It's fun to see him love to learn like that. He is picking up a lot...if he would listen to how to do it. He is also stubborn.
This Sunday we got caught (Brian's fault- he talked to the Bishop) and now we are both speaking this Sunday in our new ward, second week there.
Tyler and Caleb are sharing a room now at my parents home. Tyler likes it and I think Caleb does too. Caleb like to stand up in his crib and talk/squeal at Tyler. Tyler on the other hand is trying to tell Caleb to be quite and go to bed. I have to come in a few times to put Caleb back down in his crib to sleep. Tyler tells me that Caleb won't stop talking and go to sleep. It's quite humorous.
The boys are fun to see together. Tyler runs around the house yelling at Caleb to come to him. Crawl to him. They like to laugh together and spin together in a chair. Two boys are fun...but then at bed time challenging.
I told Tyler today that we would be going on an airplane to see Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kristy in Idaho. He told me that he didn't want to go on an airplane. I was shocked, he always wanted to go on one. Instead he asked if we could go in a helicopter. I told him to ask Grandma and Grandpa about that. Just kidding, I laughed and said that it was too expensive). But keep it in mind for the future. I think that is all the recent update. Love you all.
Tyler loves joy school. He comes home still working on things. Writing, coloring, cutting, gluing, creating things with all of our sticky notes and tape. It's fun to see him love to learn like that. He is picking up a lot...if he would listen to how to do it. He is also stubborn.
This Sunday we got caught (Brian's fault- he talked to the Bishop) and now we are both speaking this Sunday in our new ward, second week there.
Tyler and Caleb are sharing a room now at my parents home. Tyler likes it and I think Caleb does too. Caleb like to stand up in his crib and talk/squeal at Tyler. Tyler on the other hand is trying to tell Caleb to be quite and go to bed. I have to come in a few times to put Caleb back down in his crib to sleep. Tyler tells me that Caleb won't stop talking and go to sleep. It's quite humorous.
The boys are fun to see together. Tyler runs around the house yelling at Caleb to come to him. Crawl to him. They like to laugh together and spin together in a chair. Two boys are fun...but then at bed time challenging.
I told Tyler today that we would be going on an airplane to see Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Kristy in Idaho. He told me that he didn't want to go on an airplane. I was shocked, he always wanted to go on one. Instead he asked if we could go in a helicopter. I told him to ask Grandma and Grandpa about that. Just kidding, I laughed and said that it was too expensive). But keep it in mind for the future. I think that is all the recent update. Love you all.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Caleb's Birthday
For Caleb's birthday Emmalee was coming over to show us all baby Jade. So we all got together; David, Dixie, Abbie and Audrey.We all ate dinner together and when we were all there, we had cake and ice cream. We filmed the event, it was pretty funny. We sang to Caleb, turned out the lights and put a cake in front of him. He tried to touch the flame, then he tried to get the frosting, whipped cream frosting. I had made earlier mini cupcakes, regular cupcakes and with the rest of the batter a cake. I placed a frosted mini cupcake in front of him and he was just playing with it. I put it in his mouth and he enjoyed it. It seamed like he was picking off the frosting first and then, surprising us all, he picked it up and stuffed the whole thing in his mouth! We were all shocked. No gaging or anything. So I gave him another mini cupcake to see if he would do it again. yep, he took the frosting off with his fingers (and put it in his mouth) then once again he picked it up and stuffed it all in his mouth. We were all laughing. He wanted more, but we tried to refrain by opening cards and gifts. He was pretty excited to get a cell phone. It's a pretty nice one, meaning it talks and makes noises as well as almost drop proof. He played with it for a while. He got mad at me for taking it away from him just ot clean off his fingers. Caleb received some very nice gifts. He got a few shirts and pants, which is needed in this colder weather. Grandma's are so smart, not just for that, but giving Tyler a gift too. Tyler was asking where his present was. I mean why does Grandma and Grampa send Caleb something and not him. So he got an apple ahaped chalk board. He loved that as well. He sat right down and drew pictures. It hit the spot. Well, after presents we decided to do the cake thing one more time, We didn't have anymore mini's so it was a cake square, a little bigger than the mini. He did the samae thing, but since it was bigger, he would be chopping away at it while stuffing a little more at a time into his mouth until it was all in there. I can't believe my little boy hords food. So much for breaking things into small pieces, I'll just give it to him whole. Well, it was a site to see...maybe you will someday!
Moving Day
Wow! What a day. We woke up at my parents home, hurrying to eat and get back over to the house to finish packing and cleaning. When we left we had no plans for the kids or any help cleaning the house. We have been too busy to stop and think about all this. As we got there and was working on getting things done, of course it started to rain as we are trying to move things in the truck. I just hope that there wasn't any damage done, since we had nothing to cover our stuff with. Thanks to our neighbors, the Muffler's we had to take two seperate trips, one needed two people to unload and the other was to pick up the moving truck. She was so helpful to jump right in and watch the kids for us. THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
As time went on, we were able to make a phone call and get a babysitter for the kids during the evening time so that we could focus on moving and cleaning. With that phone call we got not only a babysitter, but someone to call for us and get help for cleaning. What a blessing it is to belong to a church who helps and watches over each other, THANKS Korrine! She was awesome, Korrine not only took the kids to watch, she took them to "Little Mr. Biggs" and they both had a time of their lives. It was really a great birthday present for Caleb, since we couldn't celebrate it that day, sad but true. Then Korrine also kept Tyler to spend the night with Zach. They had a great time. Caleb especially LOVED their dog. He would be crawling after him and cry when he went away.
People showed up to help move the boxes and furniture. WOW! There was a lot to move. It was dark when they pulled out to head to the storage unit. On top of that they all stayed to help unload, which put them arriving back at our house to get their cars about 9:45pm. They were amazing! THANKS TO: Bro. Narayan, Blad nad Peterson. I hope they enjoyed their pizza. (Thanks to the Hot N' Ready" $5 Little Caesar's pizza that just opened down the street).
We had three wonderful ladies that came to help clean, THANK YOU to Sister Johnson, Glade and Tippets, they were wonderful to help move out the furniture, clean the rooms and even help pack. Unfortunately other things started gettin gin the way of packing, so it wasn't quite done when they arrived. Sorry, I know it can be a little frustrating when that happens.
So after picking Caleb up and putting him down in a pack n' play, we worked our butts off. We finally drove away from our house at 3:13am. Leaving the house a lot better than when we moved in. We wish the new owners an enjoyable time at our little house.
Oh! Saturday Caleb finally put two and two together and he is now crawling. His favorite thing to do is open and close the doors and drawers. He will crawl to do those things, but not crawl over to me. Do I have a zit on my face?
The closing is set for 1pm at Empire Title Company. The new owners are going to do one last finaly walk-through this morning...hope it goes well! Cross your fingers.
As time went on, we were able to make a phone call and get a babysitter for the kids during the evening time so that we could focus on moving and cleaning. With that phone call we got not only a babysitter, but someone to call for us and get help for cleaning. What a blessing it is to belong to a church who helps and watches over each other, THANKS Korrine! She was awesome, Korrine not only took the kids to watch, she took them to "Little Mr. Biggs" and they both had a time of their lives. It was really a great birthday present for Caleb, since we couldn't celebrate it that day, sad but true. Then Korrine also kept Tyler to spend the night with Zach. They had a great time. Caleb especially LOVED their dog. He would be crawling after him and cry when he went away.
People showed up to help move the boxes and furniture. WOW! There was a lot to move. It was dark when they pulled out to head to the storage unit. On top of that they all stayed to help unload, which put them arriving back at our house to get their cars about 9:45pm. They were amazing! THANKS TO: Bro. Narayan, Blad nad Peterson. I hope they enjoyed their pizza. (Thanks to the Hot N' Ready" $5 Little Caesar's pizza that just opened down the street).
We had three wonderful ladies that came to help clean, THANK YOU to Sister Johnson, Glade and Tippets, they were wonderful to help move out the furniture, clean the rooms and even help pack. Unfortunately other things started gettin gin the way of packing, so it wasn't quite done when they arrived. Sorry, I know it can be a little frustrating when that happens.
So after picking Caleb up and putting him down in a pack n' play, we worked our butts off. We finally drove away from our house at 3:13am. Leaving the house a lot better than when we moved in. We wish the new owners an enjoyable time at our little house.
Oh! Saturday Caleb finally put two and two together and he is now crawling. His favorite thing to do is open and close the doors and drawers. He will crawl to do those things, but not crawl over to me. Do I have a zit on my face?
The closing is set for 1pm at Empire Title Company. The new owners are going to do one last finaly walk-through this morning...hope it goes well! Cross your fingers.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Once again to the doctor
I was happy to take Caleb, once again back to the doctor today since he still hadn't kicked the wheezing from 2 months ago. Nothing had helped thus far. We went in and ended up getting a nebulizer treatment. We also left with a nebulizer and two prescriptions to be given every 4 hours, even when sleeping. So for the next week I'll be walking around in my own sleepy world. Please say hi so it will shake me out of it into reality, thanks. We'll get a follow-up about this on Monday.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Our Family
Starting with our family is also a great way to start things off.
Brian is working nights for Time Warner Cable. We get to start the day off together as a family with breakfast, lunch and some fun activities in between. He then heads off to work about 2:30pm until midnight. He is currently serving as our ward mission leader and loves it.
Nickell is enjoying the boys. I am substituting 1-2 times a week at the local high school. I also just finished my two weeks (twice a week) of teaching a co-op joy school for Tyler. It was fun and rambunctious with four boys running around and one girl. It was definitely something to get used to from high school to three/four year olds. I even tried some of the picture books on the high school kids before I read them to the joy school kids. You know that secretly they enjoyed learning about "I Like Myself". On the side I have also been putting together a months worth of Pampered Chef recipes for a consultant. Every month she posts the recipes for the month and the shopping list. I am currently serving as the Primary secretary and one of the Relief Society emergency prep coordinators in our ward.
Tyler is enjoying joy school. It has sparked his creative side. Before he wasn't into coloring or doing anything of the sort, now he can sit and enjoy cutting, gluing, coloring and creating all kinds of thing. I was shocked after teaching Tyler how to hold and use scissors that he was cutting on the line, very straight! (The curves were a different story.) Between art projects he is running around playing sports in the backyard, cars and trains. He likes to cook with me...if it is a dessert. The other day he came up with dinner. I asked him what we could have with chili. He responded with potato and cheese, so we had chili cheese potatoes that night.
Caleb is our excited boy. He is about a 98% happy boy. Tyler is a big contributor to this too. Tyler can just walk by Caleb and Caleb will burst out in laughter. Caleb thinks that chasing Tyler is the greatest thing in the world. You probably will always see Caleb with a cell phone of some sort in his hand. If he doesn't have one and he sees one, Caleb will throw a fit until it's in his hand. He isn't crawling yet, but turns in circles on his bum. On his stomach he reaches out for things using his toes to go forward and his face in the ground (not using arms yet). So maybe this next month we will be seeing him on all fours. He will be turning 1 October 12th. The fun thing is to get him really excited, his whole body wiggles so much and strong that if he is in my arms, he is about to fly out. He squeals and flaps his arms along with it all. We don't think that he'll take the time to walk, it will be straight running. He is a very active boy. His favorite thing to say is "OOOh"
Our family is closing on our house October 13th and have decided to stay in the Springs a little longer. We took my parents up on their offer to stay in their house while they are on their mission for our church...the catch is they haven't even turned their papers in yet. They are planning on doing it in October. So we will be living with them for a few months before they leave to another wonderful place. We are not sure how much longer we will be staying there, probably not the whole 18months. We are looking forward to making it back to Utah.
Brian is working nights for Time Warner Cable. We get to start the day off together as a family with breakfast, lunch and some fun activities in between. He then heads off to work about 2:30pm until midnight. He is currently serving as our ward mission leader and loves it.
Nickell is enjoying the boys. I am substituting 1-2 times a week at the local high school. I also just finished my two weeks (twice a week) of teaching a co-op joy school for Tyler. It was fun and rambunctious with four boys running around and one girl. It was definitely something to get used to from high school to three/four year olds. I even tried some of the picture books on the high school kids before I read them to the joy school kids. You know that secretly they enjoyed learning about "I Like Myself". On the side I have also been putting together a months worth of Pampered Chef recipes for a consultant. Every month she posts the recipes for the month and the shopping list. I am currently serving as the Primary secretary and one of the Relief Society emergency prep coordinators in our ward.
Tyler is enjoying joy school. It has sparked his creative side. Before he wasn't into coloring or doing anything of the sort, now he can sit and enjoy cutting, gluing, coloring and creating all kinds of thing. I was shocked after teaching Tyler how to hold and use scissors that he was cutting on the line, very straight! (The curves were a different story.) Between art projects he is running around playing sports in the backyard, cars and trains. He likes to cook with me...if it is a dessert. The other day he came up with dinner. I asked him what we could have with chili. He responded with potato and cheese, so we had chili cheese potatoes that night.
Caleb is our excited boy. He is about a 98% happy boy. Tyler is a big contributor to this too. Tyler can just walk by Caleb and Caleb will burst out in laughter. Caleb thinks that chasing Tyler is the greatest thing in the world. You probably will always see Caleb with a cell phone of some sort in his hand. If he doesn't have one and he sees one, Caleb will throw a fit until it's in his hand. He isn't crawling yet, but turns in circles on his bum. On his stomach he reaches out for things using his toes to go forward and his face in the ground (not using arms yet). So maybe this next month we will be seeing him on all fours. He will be turning 1 October 12th. The fun thing is to get him really excited, his whole body wiggles so much and strong that if he is in my arms, he is about to fly out. He squeals and flaps his arms along with it all. We don't think that he'll take the time to walk, it will be straight running. He is a very active boy. His favorite thing to say is "OOOh"
Our family is closing on our house October 13th and have decided to stay in the Springs a little longer. We took my parents up on their offer to stay in their house while they are on their mission for our church...the catch is they haven't even turned their papers in yet. They are planning on doing it in October. So we will be living with them for a few months before they leave to another wonderful place. We are not sure how much longer we will be staying there, probably not the whole 18months. We are looking forward to making it back to Utah.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
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