Considering...

Considering another go at this blog thing...
we shall see what comes of it.

Utah Trip

Final Farewell (for 3 years)

Last week we spent some time with my parents and siblings as one last hurrah before my parents head across the world to Preside over the China, Hong Kong Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. We spent 3 days in an amazing cabin above Heber, UT. All the grand kids played sun up to sun down and got along beautifully! We spent time at the zoo, fishing, going on "adventures," going out to eat, and going to a water-park. There didn't seem to be a single fight between any of them! All the adults did pretty well too!!! It was a great time with my awesome family. While it was an incredibly bittersweet moment to see my parents say goodbye to my children who will no longer be little when they return, it was such a great reminder or how important it is for all of us to live our lives the way the Lord wants us to and how blessed we will be because of it. I am now and will be eternally grateful for such wonderful parents who have always been the best example to me!

Update...

NY TRIP

We took a trip to visit J's family back in October. We had been lucky enough to get a hold of some tickets to go to the 9/11 memorial and decided we were going to take the kids. We had both been to the towers when they were standing, we had also been to ground zero not long after the attack and I was very excited to go again.

**I went to Pearl Harbor multiple times when I was living in Hawaii and I loved it. I loved how sacred that area was and how sobering it is to realize what a huge part of history it was. It is something that happened in the past. Something that changed the way life was before I was born. Something my grandparents remember and can talk about. They remember where they were and what they were doing. They remember hearing that 2402 people had died in that attack and what a blow it was to the Armed Forces and the American people in general. When you are there you cant help but wonder how a place so incredibly beautiful, a place that is still an active harbor, can also be the grave site of so many people. **

When we got off the subway we stopped to get some pizza at a place that used to look directly at the towers. This was a place that in the moments after the fall was covered in dust. I wondered if this store had messages written out of the dust on the windows. Did someone find this window and use it to send a message "Please find my dad. Help my brother. Please bring my son home." Like so many other windows that became a canvas for desperate messages.

In the middle of a rising business center, in the heart of one of the greatest cities in the world, sits the memorial. With construction sounds from all sides, security at the entrance, and no sound barrier from the usual sounds of the city I found myself lost in thought at how real this was. This was not history. This was part of my life. This would not be something my I would only read about in my history books or listen to grandparents talk about. This would be something I talked about. This is something I experienced. I know where I was and what I was doing. Like many, I watched the second plane hit and continued to watch the news coverage of all the attacks. I was 19 and I remember thinking "this cant be real?! This has to be some crazy accident. This cant happen."In my young age I was ignorant and naive to the politics and evil or the world. Nearly 3000 people died in the attacks. Innocent people who had no idea they had taken the front lines. Over 3000 children lost a parent. In the weeks that followed I remember crying and being so touched by the patriotism of so many people. The help extended, the cheers that rang out for all the volunteers and rescuers who were cleaning up. I remember how united we were as a nation how supportive we were of each other and even the government. As I stood on that sacred ground reading the names of those who were lost that day I turned to see my own children running and playing on the grass. They were laughing and smiling. They hadn't a care in the world. They were innocent and naive. As I walked along, realizing that so many people had literally become as dust of the earth, I watched my beautiful children and wondered what will be real to them. They had no idea what this ground was, what the fountains represent and what it all means. It was a contrast I will never forget. These innocent children smiling and laughing in a place made to replace the result of hatred.

Just like Pearl Harbor, we have a place that gives us a moment to stop while the world continues to go around us. It is a place to think about the past when everything around us points to the future. A place to reflect on our own lives before it to becomes a part of history.

FALL/WINTER

Thanksgiving was fun. We were able to have J's parents come out. The weather was awesome!! A few weeks later (the first week of December). We went up to Utah to go to my families Christmas party and to go to our Nieces baptism. It was fun to see J's family again at the baptism and then be with my family for the party. My mom always does an awesome job with games and gifts and everything but this year was different. They had an extra guessing game (like wheel of fortune) for us to guess the phrases. Well, it didn't take us more than about a half second to realize something was up and we started guessing all sorts of things...family vacation, something new, going on a mission, etc. It ended up being an announcement to tell us that my dad had been called to serve as a mission president! There were a lot of tears and a lot of questions! We were all very excited to hear the news. Unfortunately we were told that they wouldn't know the location until sometime before March 1st (waiting is torture for me)!

The kids loved Christmas and New Years. We all had a marvelous time.

It January I celebrated my 30Th birthday! It was a fun time with sleeping in, eating lots of good food and visits from friends. I couldn't have planned a better day (unless the same thing happened in Hawaii...)

In February I flew to AZ and spent a few days with one of my great friends and helped her prepare a little bit for her new baby. We enjoyed spending time together and making meals to get her ready to be a mother of three. The kid and J had a lot of fun at home without me. J made it like a vacation. They didn't seem to miss me too much.

We also got a call from my parents on a Friday night...saying they got an email from the church saying that they have sent the location information and it would be arriving Monday morning. After a long weekend of waiting we were finally able to set up a conference call with all my siblings and my parents announced that they due to circumstances that had come up, their language had been changed and they would be speaking Cantonese and serving as the President of the Hong Kong mission! We couldn't believe it...literally, we DIDN'T BELIEVE it! My dad served his mission in Hong Kong and he has been there multiple times, and he even took my mom with him once. They were excited! We all are! They will be leaving at the end of June.

March made me the mother of a 5 year old. T had a wonderful birthday and is excited to be 5. Its hard to believe its been 5 years since I became a momma to such a wonderful little boy! I'm one lucky girl!

March also brought sadness as I learned some dear friend had lost a wife and a friend. It broke my heart as I remembered a wonderful woman and how much my friends were suffering. She was an incredible. beautiful, strong, happy, sassy woman will be dearly missed.

And it brings us now to April. Me and the kids spend a few days alone with my parents before they get ready to go. Unfortunately both the kids and I ended up getting sick by the end of the week and we were unable to go to my moms family Easter party. Jason had flown in on Friday and then we woke up early on Saturday and ended up driving home with sick kids. It ended up being a good week for the kids for hanging out and cuddling with grandma.

J has transferred locations for work and is excited to be heading up a wound care practice for his company in the hospital setting. He is really looking forward to spending more time doing what he loves (gross).

We don't have too many super cool things to tell everyone but we are healthy, happy, and extraordinary! (plus I don't remember all the things that happened in the past 8 months...)

Next item of business is to add a picture of MJ and update the other ones!

6 years...

A few weeks ago J and I celebrated six years of marriage. I could have sworn it was 7, but I looked at the calendar and its only 6. Weird. We aren't celebratory people so we typically don't do much for holidays or events but I really wanted to go to the Josh Groban concert and I needed a way to justify the cost...

Anniversary.

It was a great concert. We had floor seats and we were about 40 (ish) yards from the stage but we were seriously within 10 feet of him when he was singing on his mini-middle of the floor-just him alone stage thing. We saw the sweat on his face. He is a great performer. Knowing we would be some of the younger kiddos there and the genre of music doesn't really induce screaming/jumping/mosh pit fun we weren't sure what to expect but he did a great job. It was fun and we really enjoyed our time out.

All in all six years was pretty darn good. Here's to another six or so. :)

Yup.

She is walking...officially. My baby MJ girl is full on walking. She still crawls faster, but she thinks she is all that when she is cruisin' around all upright and stuff. The problem with kids growing up is that they actually do it.

In other EXTREMELY exciting news...TJ was recently sick with a cold and for the FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE he didn't wake me up every hour or require me to sleep on the floor next to him. He took some meds before bed and took care of himself the rest of the time. This kind of growing up is not only acceptable, but encouraged.

So, there's this guy...

So, this guy...

He is great to have around the house...

He is on-time...

He is good with the kids...

He listens to me...

He is dependable...

He works hard...

He really makes me feel that making ME happy is what is most important to him...

I sleep better at night knowing he is watching out for me...

I don't think he is afraid of ANYTHING...

(...And other than J and T, he just might be the only guy I cant live without...)

Enter:Justin, bug guy.

I was talking with J the other night about the show Survivor. We were talking about what the contestants do for a shot at a million dollars. I mean, its a lot of money. The things I could do with a million dollars! Heck, the things I could do with 125 dollars! (which happens to be the amount of money KW was paid to eat a beetle the size of my little finger). But to be absolutely honest...I couldn't do it. Its not in the Bible or anything but I'm pretty sure after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden, Eve looked at Adam and said " You have GOT to be kidding me...Idon't remember a mention of bugs in this plan..."

I promised myself these: would not be a part of my life anymore. Once in Hawaii, one of my roommates grabbed a box of cereal and poured herself a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms and Roaches. Oh, you haven't heard of it? Yeah, its full of sugar and protein. Nothing like watching your cereal look back at you before making a clean getaway. As if that wasn't enough for my low bug tolerance later that night as I was laying in bed (in 86 degree weather, no AC in my house, and a sheet stuffed tightly around my body), I heard that disgusting noise of little legs crawling along the walls and the floor. I reach over and clicked on the lamp and right above me on the wall was a cockroach a good 4-5 inches long just waiting to attack me in my most vulnerable state. We made eye-contact, he smirked at me, I picked up a shoe, he ran. As he ran away I'm certain I heard him saying "I'll be back." Didn't sleep much the rest of that night-or that year. I began sleeping flat on my back with a shoe under my arm and a flashlight (left on) shining on the wall above my head. I assumed that since I rarely saw cockroaches during the day that they must be scared of the light. I danno..made sense in my head. I also heard that those particular bugs get eaten by gecko's. I chose the lesser of 2 evils and I recruited a couple of geckos to put in my room.

When we bought our house last year I told J that he had to find me a good quality bug guy. He asked around at work and found a co-worker who shares my animosity for such creatures and she told us about the company she used. She said "I called a bunch of people in the phone book and BULWARK was the only one who GUARANTEED against scorpions." (Um...Come again? Scorpions...add that one to the list.) I verified that with a scorpion guarantee also comes death to cockroaches, crickets, beetles, ants, etc.

Its not just the interior. I mean, its awesome that I can get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without a having to check the toilet seat first. Its wicked cool that I can leave dishes in my kitchen sink and there are NO bugs feasting on them when I wake up in the morning. Its flippin extraordinary that I can check on my kids and not find some nasty specimen CRAWLING ON MY KIDS FOREHEAD while he is sleeping (true story). But do you know how cool it is that as I walk down the street at night my house is the ONLY one that doesn't have crickets and cockroaches out on the prowl?!?

Before we put our sod in, we noticed we had ants all over the pre-determined sod area. Not just a few, but like a zillion and 3/4 of a billion. Justin noticed it and said "Hey, I saw you have ants back there, why don't I come back next week and bring my super awesome, powerful, die ants die spray and take a shot at it." Um...OKAY. He did...FOUR TIMES till those buggers were ERADICATED! Gone-done for-outa here. By the way, did I mention that EVERY FOLLOW-UP was FREE! I'm talking no charge, keep your pennies in your pocket, on the house, FREE.

Have I mentioned that in the (almost) year we have lived her I have only seen 2 spiders in my house, and 2 (dead) cockroaches in my garage. Boo to the YEAH.

So, call this a testimonial, an advertisement, a shout-out, or just plain old LOVE. But Justin, You had me at hello...You had me at hello.

For all you Vegas (and AZ, UT, GA, TX) area readers, if you are interested (and I know you are) check out:

http://www.bulwarkpestcontrol.com/lasvegaspestcontrol.php?gclid=CLnstaCPrKkCFQEQbAod_xGPKA

(Please leave a comment if you think this post deserves to WIN 1 year of free Bulwark Service and if you think that Justin deserves a raise... :) )

Long awaited pix of MJ

These were all taken within the past two weeks. Yes, she does look just like her Daddy and her brother. I recently had a friend say "So, what part of you did your kids get..."

Um....still waiting on that.

Here is my cute 1 year old!

My baby is One!

So much has happened in a year. We can't believe how fast it has gone, how difficult some of it has been, and how incredibly rewarding it has been as well! We have been incredibly blessed in the past year and it starts with the birth of "sissy-boo." As many may know she was our miracle. She continues to bless our lives every single day. My favorite thing to do is to leave her and T alone and watch them as the play, giggle, chase each other, and love on each other. The bond they have is unbelievable, undeniable, and unbreakable! They are best friends, but I am a close second.

MJ is a momma's girl. I cant do much without her hanging on my legs. If daddy is home and isn't giving her constant attention she will find me and hang on my legs whining till I pick her up. I try and tell myself to enjoy it? I guess its nice to know that there is at least 1 little person out there who prefers me to anyone else...

True to form, she wakes up at night quite often just like her brother. She is starting to sleep pretty consistently and some nights I'm only up with her once. (this is amazing people). J is great to help out but more often than not it's me who "gets" to put her back to sleep. Sometimes it's walking around the house talking to her, rocking her, or just singing to her. For whatever reason, our kids don't like sleep all that much and that wears on me big time. My children have definitely helped me develop a little bit more patience. Seeing my little baby girl when she is most vulnerable and needy I cant help but be grateful that I have her here, even if it is 3 in the morning!

We love this baby so much. She is *one* of the greatest things that has ever happened to us. She is calm, laid back, happy, and loving. She is a huge baby just like her brother. Last time I weighed her she was a whopping 26 pounds. Both she and her brother are dense humans. No rolls, not to much baby fat, but downright dense.

She loves water. I mean LOVES water. Drink it, play in it, get thrown in it, get it thrown on her, etc. She is a water baby! She even loves gasping for air after swallowing to much. The girl is crazy. She has learned how to tip herself forward while she is in her infant tube so she can dunk herself head first. Total drowning hazard.

She has bright blue eyes, crazy fluffy hair, a killer smile, and she loves to dance. If music is on, she just grooves...

She loves to wave and blow kisses. She gets shy sometimes and buries her head into my shoulder until she feels comfortable. She gets scared of big things very easily. Dogs, fish (yep), large weighted toys that bounce back when you hit them (found that out today). She wants to be held whenever she is nervous and she makes a very nervous grunting "ooohh-ing" noise.

MJ we love you so much. Thank you for being something light when its dark, something beautiful and calm in an ugly and scary time, and for being something extraordinary in an ordinary world...

I will post pictures sometime...yeah, Im not very good at that but Im really going to try.

So, there's this guy...

So, this guy...

He is great to have around the house...

He is on-time...

He is good with the kids...

He listens to me...

He is dependable...

He works hard...

He really makes me feel that making ME happy is what is most important to him...

I sleep better at night knowing he is watching out for me...

I don't think he is afraid of ANYTHING...

(...And other than J and T, he just might be the only guy I cant live without...)

Enter:Justin, bug guy.

I was talking with J the other night about the show Survivor. We were talking about what the contestants do for a shot at a million dollars. I mean, its a lot of money. The things I could do with a million dollars! Heck, the things I could do with 125 dollars! (which happens to be the amount of money KW was paid to eat a beetle the size of my little finger). But to be absolutely honest...I couldn't do it. Its not in the Bible or anything but I'm pretty sure after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden, Eve looked at Adam and said " You have GOT to be kidding me...I don't remember a mention of bugs in this plan..."

I promised myself these: would not be a part of my life anymore. Once in Hawaii, one of my roommates grabbed a box of cereal and poured herself a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms and Roaches. Oh, you haven't heard of it? Yeah, its full of sugar and protein. Nothing like watching your cereal look back at you before making a clean getaway. As if that wasn't enough for my low bug tolerance later that night as I was laying in bed (in 86 degree weather, no AC in my house, and a sheet stuffed tightly around my body), I heard that disgusting noise of little legs crawling along the walls and the floor. I reach over and clicked on the lamp and right above me on the wall was a cockroach a good 4-5 inches long just waiting to attack me in my most vulnerable state. We made eye-contact, he smirked at me, I picked up a shoe, he ran. As he ran away I'm certain I heard him saying "I'll be back." Didn't sleep much the rest of that night-or that year. I began sleeping flat on my back with a shoe under my arm and a flashlight (left on) shining on the wall above my head. I assumed that since I rarely saw cockroaches during the day that they must be scared of the light. I danno..made sense in my head. I also heard that those particular bugs get eaten by gecko's. I chose the lesser of 2 evils and I recruited a couple of geckos to put in my room.

When we bought our house last year I told J that he had to find me a good quality bug guy. He asked around at work and found a co-worker who shares my animosity for such creatures and she told us about the company she used. She said "I called a bunch of people in the phone book and BULWARK was the only one who GUARANTEED against scorpions." (Um...Come again? Scorpions...add that one to the list.) I verified that with a scorpion guarantee also comes death to cockroaches, crickets, beetles, ants, etc.

Its not just the interior. I mean, its awesome that I can get up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without a having to check the toilet seat first. Its wicked cool that I can leave dishes in my kitchen sink and there are NO bugs feasting on them when I wake up in the morning. Its flippin extraordinary that I can check on my kids and not find some nasty specimen CRAWLING ON MY KIDS FOREHEAD while he is sleeping (true story). But do you know how cool it is that as I walk down the street at night my house is the ONLY one that doesn't have crickets and cockroaches out on the prowl?!?

Before we put our sod in, we noticed we had ants all over the pre-determined sod area. Not just a few, but like a zillion and 3/4 of a billion. Justin noticed it and said "Hey, I saw you have ants back there, why don't I come back next week and bring my super awesome, powerful, die ants die spray and take a shot at it." Um...OKAY. He did...FOUR TIMES till those buggers were ERADICATED! Gone-done for-outa here. By the way, did I mention that EVERY FOLLOW-UP was FREE! I'm talking no charge, keep your pennies in your pocket, on the house, FREE.

Have I mentioned that in the (almost) year we have lived her I have only seen 2 spiders in my house, and 2 (dead) cockroaches in my garage. Boo to the YEAH.

So, call this a testimonial, an advertisement, a shout-out, or just plain old LOVE. But Justin, You had me at hello...You had me at hello.

For all you Vegas (and AZ, UT, GA, TX) area readers, if you are interested (and I know you are) check out:

http://www.bulwarkpestcontrol.com/lasvegaspestcontrol.php?gclid=CLnstaCPrKkCFQEQbAod_xGPKA

(Please leave a comment if you think this post deserves to WIN 1 year of free Bulwark Service and if you think that Justin deserves a raise... :) )

A few more pix of la Casa

Ahhh...My favorite room. My kitchen. It is a working kitchen so it is rarely clear of dishes and food. It looks okay in the pix. :)

1 more of the kitchen.

Downstairs bathroom/Guest bathroom. It isnt quite as blue as it looks. Its more of a "sea breeze" blue (thats what the can said).

The entry way from the landing. It looks a little weird. I love the tile-its one of my favorite features.

Entry way to stairs from front door. Living and dining are to the left and family room is through the large archway at the right of the stairs.

Living room area. I know the pictures aren't centered on the sofa. I am still playing with furniture placement. If only I had a piano then I would know where to put everything.

Dining area. We use this everyday. We always eat out meals as a family at the dining table.

Still to come is the master bed/bath, family room, and guest room. I will keep you on edge till the next post.

My 4th Anniversary.

Today was my 4th anniversary of becoming a mother. My sweet little TJ turned 4 and it was a big day for me. This was the first birthday he had that he wasn't my baby. This was the first time we had a big "all for TJ" party. It was the first birthday in a new house and a new place, and his first birthday without cousins and grandparents. :(

It was a good day though. He woke up happy, he was thrilled the whole day and he couldn't have been happier about us falling all over him. This afternoon he looked at his daddy and said "I sure do like it when its my birthday."

I love this little guy so much. He has changed my life. Because if him, I got something that I can never lose or have taken away from me. He made me a mom. 4 years ago he stole my heart (and every night of sleep since then).

Happy Birthday TJ! I love you so much. You are the funniest, sweetest, smartest and most handsome 4 year old I know!

The new digs

This is just the upstairs landing area. I just really like our wrap around banister and I am going to make that wall with a lot more family pictures.

I am still doing LOTS of work on this room. Its the Hockey and hobby room. Still have lots of hockey stuff to hang up and it needs furniture. We have a twin bed to use as a secondary guest room and we want to put a computer desk in here. For now its where I do all my sewing projects.

T's room (obviously) The blue wall isnt quite as bright as the pictures makes it seem. Still working on his decor as well. (Cant quite figure out what to do on the wall above his bed!)

Kids bathroom and my cute boy. There are frogs everywhere...cant really see them in the pic though.

This is MJ's room. I still have a lot of work to do in terms of decor... I thought about buying a black crib but opted out. Above her bed there are flowers and butterflies and the frames say "MJ" and ladybugs surrounding the frames. And...to draw your attention to the ADORABLE dust ruffle...yeah, I MADE THAT. (quickly becoming my favorite room in the house -other than the kitchen- and the room I am most proud of!)

This is our loft which we call our playroom. :) On the wall above the couch I am going to put lots of pix of my kids playing and on the wall above the hockey net I am going to put a large corkboard to display all of the beautiful artwork that is accumulating on my fridge. :)

So enjoy this post, it could be awhile before you get another one. I still have the whole downstairs to take pix of as well as the master bed/bath. Aren't you excited. If you dont want to wait for pictures you are WELCOME to come and stop in. :)

I need to update

I need to update the blog, and the layout. I just dont know how-I will figure it out somehow. Plus I dont know if I have any cute recent pictures of baby MJ--pictures where she looks like a girl and not a replica of her brother and father. Shes cute, dont get me wrong-she just needs a little more hair or something. This is a big week for me. My good friend is coming to Vegas for a photography conference and she will be taking pictures for me. Pix of my kids, pix of the fam, pix of it all. Not sure this has happened in YEARS. It will be fun to have new updated pix of us-add a little flavor to this drab blog. Im excited to have new pictures. The world deserves to see the beauty that is my children.

Resolution

Lets try not to stress out so much shall we? Done.

Our Christmas Card

We aren't Christmas Card people but if we were to do one, this is the year to do it I guess. It has been quite a year for us.

We started the year with J in his last semester at the University of Utah completing his Doctorate of Physical Therapy and having some interviews for jobs. He graduated in May and began working for Las Vegas Rehab (a Kindred Health facility) shortly there after. T and I stayed with my mom in Orem, UT until we welcomed MJ, the newest addition to our family in the middle of June. The first week of July the kids and I made the trip to Las Vegas. A few months later we were able to purchase our first home. We are so blessed to have such a beautiful home.

J is continuing to play hockey as well as ref. He enjoys his job and he is very good at it. He is pretty much the go-to guy for wounds in the rehab division.

T is quickly approaching 4 years old and he is getting way to smart for his own good. We are all very anxious and excited to get him in school! He adores his baby sister and has a deep love and concern for her. Every morning when he wakes up the first thing he does is run into her room.

MJ has now passed her 6 month mark and is learning and developing perfectly. She is getting all to close to wanting to crawl and she and her brother have such an incredible bond. She prefers him to everyone else and smiles for him in a way she wont smile for anyone else.

I am trying to keep up with two children. Its true what they say...it is more than double the work of one! But completely worth it.

We are excited to see what a new year brings!

We love all of our friends and family and the support we have received from everyone.

Merry Christmas!

DISNEYWORLD

Our trip to DisneyWorld was amazing! We had so much fun with J's family! We all flew in last Saturday and then spent Monday-Friday at DisneyWorld and then sadly we all left our different ways to go home on Saturday. Sunday was our nieces 7th birthday so we had a family party for her. Monday was my Father in Laws 60th birthday (the reason for the trip). We spent the day at Magic Kingdom. We had so much fun! T was beside himself with joy! MJ did very well considering most of her time was spent in a stroller! T went on all but 2 rides he was tall enough to go on! He did great on some...okay on others. Jason put it best when he said "Being tall enough to ride and old enough to enjoy are two very different things." Tuesday we spent at Animal Kingdom, Wednesday at Epcot (and more Magic Kingdom), Thursday at Hollywood Studios, and Friday at Magic Kingdom again. We were all spoiled absolutely rotten and it was an awesome family vacation.

The picture below is what prompted J's comment.
(I want to make it clear that this was the SECOND time T went on Splash Mountain. The first time he was all smiles and giggled most of the time. When we got off (SOAKED) he asked me if we could go again...so we did. The second time he didnt do so well. I think its because 1)we got stuck on the ride for an additional 15 minutes 2)he had me and Jason telling him "its okay, its just a small drop, you are okay, blah blah blah the whole time and 3)he inherited his mothers anxiety because the whole time he kept waiting anxiously for the "big drop."

our house...

Sadly I admit I still have no pictures. We are getting internet connected on MONDAY so no more of this silly phone internet stuff. Then pictures will be coming shortly. For now you get more details.

About a week before we found this house Jason asked our realtor (who happens to be his aunts best friend) if she has ever had clients that it took so long to find a house. She said no. Haha. It wasn't our fault either! We offered on 6 propertires-all of which were owner or bank owned. Not a single short sale. Well we just kept praying that we would find the house that was right for us in the place we needed to be. Randomly 1 day I got crazy and expanded our search 10,000 more dollars and found this house. I was drawn to it but we had decided what we would spend on a house and we didn't want to go over. We didn't want to spend more than we had to for what we needed. Plus the market here is craxy good for buyers. Well, I kept the house in my search just to track it. At this point it was only on the market 6 days...a few days later the price dropped 11,000 dollars. We couldn't believe it! We looked at it the same day and put in an offer. A few days later it was verbally accepted and we drew up a contract. Then the bank tells us we are in a "highest and best" situation. We said nope. If our offer was good enough the 1st time its good enough now. A week later [we thought we had lost it] they called and asked if we were still interested with our original offer...um...YES! (We later found out there was no other offers). Well, after that it took less than a month to close. Now we are here. Its a gorgeous home and we are so lucky to be here. Our realtor said in her decades of real estate she has never seen a "too good too be true" property like this one. So a few details. It is 2 stories. About 2900 sq feet. 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a loft upstairs and 1 bd, 1 bathroom, living\dining room, family room, laundry room and kitchen on the main floor. 2 car garage. An actual lot big enough to play in! (Vegas is not known for its yards) granite counters in a super pretty kitchen. We love love love it and we know this is where we should be. Our guest room is up and running so feel free to call!

Its true...

WE. HAVE. A. HOUSE.

Planning to close at the end of September. So far, so good.

Amazing house...Amazing price...and totally exciting for us.

PLUS. we have a guest room so its exciting for everyone else too. :) Look forward to pictures plus more frequent blog posts because at said house we will have internet. Truth be told I will no longer have to try and navigate blogs and such with a smart phone. Boo to the yeah.

adjusting

That is what we are doing...adjusting.
We are all adjusting to little girl-though we all love her, T most especially, its been an adjustment. We are still adjusting to the heat. Not much to do with a 3 yr old and newborn when its 110^ outside, and when you live in a small two bedroom apt with no english speaking neighbors, no yard, no playground and no ward members within walking distance.poor T hasn't really played with friends since we left salt lake in May...neither have I. Jason has the car at work so we stay here most everyday...which means we are still adjusting to not having internet except on our small cell phones, not having t.v. (which is really hard when T wakes up early or when I'm feeding baby girl or just when I wanna watch the darn news! We like it here...we are just...ADJUSTING...

We are hoping that we will get in to one of the homes we are negotiating on. Which means...neighbors, a yard, more space, more rooms, internet, t.v., and someday another car... but we are still working on the friends thing.
We miss our friends a whole darn lot.

But, we are adjusting...

A family of 4

A friend of mine once told me that when she had her second child she felt like they were a "real family." I now understand what she means! Having a second child makes me feel more complete and instantly more respectable as a mom (haha...true). We are so excited that our little miracle is here. I hate pregnancy and I had a hard time accepting the idea of having another child. I told J even on our way to the hospital that I wasn't ready and I really didn't know if I wanted to do this all over again! But when I looked at my perfect child everything changed.

This baby really is a miracle to us. She was wanted but never expected and she caused me much grief in the womb! Due to my doctor going out of town, trying to find a time for Jason to make it to her birth (because he has been out of town the past month), the fact that I "bake 'em fast", and that I have some TERRIBLE (and nasty) varicose and spider veins in my leg that cause problems my doctor scheduled an induction a few weeks before her actual due date (which ended up being dangerously close to when she would have come on her own!). We arrived at the hospital at 615 in the morning on the 17th. After all the paperwork we got to the room fully expecting to be able to start the pitocin before 7. Well, little miss MJ started causing some concern even before I had any drugs in me (essentially her heart-rate was everywhere it shouldn't be and she was distressed)! So we had to wait for my doctor to come and check me out and discuss the possibility of a C-section and give the go ahead to start the drugs. They started me at 745. My doctor broke my water immediately so he could attach some monitors to her and have fluids continuously flushing through the womb. I had to lay completely on my side the entire time and be on oxygen to get her more air-not comfy. When I was admitted I was at a 3. Two and a half hours later (at 1015) I was at a 4. It was frustrating that it seemed to go so slow! Well, 25 minutes later I was at a 10 and complete. My doc came in and I pushed ONCE and he even had to say "stop." She was born at 1040-less than 3 hours after they started me! (I went from a 4 to a 10 in less than 2 hours with T also and I pushed twice with him).

Someone asked me if I loved her. They asked me this because I had a hard time for the first few months with T. It took me a while to feel bonded to him and really feel like I loved him. This time, as much as I wanted to disassociated myself from the pregnancy,didn't accept it,and wasn't terribly excited about it-at the moment they put her on my chest I instantly loved her. It felt natural. I knew she belonged with us. She just fit.

We love her very much and we are so happy we finally have our little baby MJ. In her short hours of life we have already determined she looks just like her brother, she likes to sleep on her side, she is ALWAYS cold and has terrible circulation in her feet and hands (just like momma), and as terrible and humorous as it is...she is showing signs of having T's gag reflex (many of you know of this little problem...) I have my work cut out for me with these two!