Back to School Night

  Benjamin 3rd Grade

Benjamin switched schools because of our move.  He is still within the same district and the way our school district works is there is one primary school (K-1) and two elementary schools (2-5).  So he just switched to the other elementary school.  He knows a lot of the kids from K and 1st and his best friend from first grade will be at the same school.  He was a bit nervous, but I'm sure he will do so well.  He has two teachers who team teach.  They seem really nice, and we are hoping for another great year.

First Ponytail

Guess who?

finally got her top teeth to come in.  Poor girl has been miserable for weeks!

Matt and Lisa and family visit

My brother Matt and his family headed up our way.  The real purpose of the trip was for fishing but were able to connect for a few hours before they headed back to Portland for their flight.  We had a fun time and can't wait until next summer when the kids will get more time together.  Benjamin can't wait to build legos with Mason, and we sure wish Abbey were closer because she was an awesome big cousin to Emma and Jacob.  Thanks for stopping by!

A New House

I should be doing something productive.  The baby is asleep (finally after refusing to eat and only napping for 20 mins. the whole morning), the other three are at Grandma Joy's house on an adventure, there are two loads of laundry waiting to be done along with the four that I did yesterday and the day before, there are a million and a half boxes in the garage that are awaiting sorting and finding homes for the items inside, there is painting to be done, dishes to be put away, toys to be cleaned up, but here I sit.  Tired. Tired. Tired.

I haven't written much.  I know.  I feel like my life for the last few months has been in a constant state of limbo.  We've been on a huge rollercoaster with ups and downs and too many twists and turns to count.  The loopdy loops have thrown us for loopdy loops, and I finally feel like the ride can officially slow down and come to a stop now.

 To update those that we don't talk very often our house finally went under contract.  It was a Saturday morning when the call came for a showing.  I was doing my usual Saturday morning jobs and had finished vacuuming and thrown in a load of laundry.  The beds were made but the rest of the chores were waiting when we got the call.  "We are in the area can we be there in fifteen minutes to see the house?" said the realtor.  "Sure," I said and rushed to throw the breakfast dishes in the sink, wipe down the table, and get the rest of the clutter in semi-organized piles.  It was the first time the house wasn't "perfect" for a showing.  I had literally killed myself for every other showing because there is always that "what if this is the buyer" in the back of my head.  I was so apathetic because I had just told Stephen that morning let's pull the house off the market.  It was just too much stress.  Plus we had been through countless homes and none of them felt "right."  I always liked my house better and thought why would I move for something that I like less?

So within hours of that showing we were under contract.  Now a new problem.  We didn't have anywhere to go.  We had made an offer on the only home in the area that we liked once before.  They had rejected it because they wanted a full price offer, and we weren't willing to do it.  So with one last ditch attempt we threw out the best offer we had on the house again.  They countered, but we stood firm, and they finally accepted it.  We were now under contract on a new home.  This all happened at the end of May.

The next few months were filled with ups and downs of home inspections and back and forth with what needed to be fixed.  The house we were buying had drainage issues and landscaping issues in the back yard.  The owners had only lived in it a few months and got a job transfer and so they were going back to the builder to get things fixed.  It was a messy process to finally figure out who was going to correct the problems.  Then there were problems with when it would close and when we would have to be out, etc. etc. etc.  I could get into a lengthy essay all on the issues, but it is so not worth it to me to relive them to write them down.  I'm hoping my mind will become foggy about all of it and that it can officially block out all the stress.

So last week we officially sold the house and moved.  I really was holding my breath until the realtor said it was finally recorded with the county.  There were problems right up until the end, and I was convinced that our buyer was going to walk away. To summarize we have now officially sold a house and bought a new one.

The new house is a true blessing to us.  It is really funny how some blessings come even when we weren't really looking for them.  We had a certain criteria that we were looking for when we decided on moving.  We needed four bedrooms because of our family size, a three car garage because there aren't any basements here for storage, and a bigger yard (our former lot was so small- funny story is that every time my kids would visit cousins/relatives they would call their yards "parks" because of the size).  In thinking back it is amazing to us that we only wanted a little bit more than we already had to accommodate our new family size, but we received so much more.  I say that because neither Stephen nor I thought we would ever live in this house.  It really was a dream.  But if you already didn't know this I'm going to spell it out, I firmly believe that God talks to His children.  And all through this house buying process we received little guidance and promptings that kept putting things in our path to lead us to this house.  I could go into all the tiny stories, but the details are a bit too personal to share with the web as an audience.  It is sufficient to say that our home now provides us with all those things we were looking for and more.  On the day we were moving in I was even feeling a bit guilt about living in such a beautiful home.  So many of the cupboards in the kitchen are empty and there is space in closets that we have never had before (we used every possible bit of storage in the old house including under every bed and in every closet).  I had been feeling a little uneasy about it all when a quiet voice whispered to me "just be grateful."  So that is what I am focusing on, being grateful.  Extreme gratefulness for blessings received.  I know we will be happy living in this house just like we were in the other house.  I truly did love my other house as it was a home to us.  A home to me is a place of love, safety, prayer, forgiveness, and unity.  Even though we have now moved to a new house I know that we will make this our new home by continuing to work on loving on another, providing a place of safety, praying together, forgiving on another, as well as working on being unified, and the list will go on and on.  A new home.

Moving

 The blurry pictures of moving make me laugh as photographed by one of the children (Benjamin I think).  I am including them because the blurriness just adds to chaotic time that it really was!

 Goodbye Old House

Hello New House

We had a toast and celebration dinner the 2nd night we were in the house.  Cheers!

9 Months Old!

and couldn't be any cuter or chubbier either:)  

 I had to get a picture of her "Michelin Man" thighs.  So squishable and kissable.  Love it!

A Visit with my family

We stayed a few extra days in Utah to for my niece Hannah's baptism. 

The worst part was my mom's dog Oscar was really sick when we got there and had to be put to sleep.  I think this picture was one of the last time that he even lifted his head up.  

Poor little Oscar and poor Nana!

 We went to Salt Lake one day and did the Church History Museum.  

 One funny thing that happened was as we were walking across temple square from eating lunch at the Nauvoo Cafe we saw a group of missionaries.  I knew there was an elder from our home ward serving in Salt Lake and thought to look for him.  Guess who we ran into!

We celebrated Isaac's 3rd Birthday with a water slide that exhausted my kids after a few hours.  

Their cousins swam the entire day! 

 Sarah learned to climb stairs!  Uh-OH!

 There was a "camping trip" with Papa with s'mores on the fire pit and camping in the living room.

 And finally there was the baptism and luncheon. This is the only picture that I got on my camera.  I was being photographer on my sister's camera.  Hopefully I can get some pictures from her.