September Update

I guess it's time to update our blog. I feel like our life is in limbo right now between waiting to move into our new house, and me working full time, so I guess I've put everything "extra" in my life on hold.

Here are the updates of the last month:

As we now head into month 4 of living at Ryan's parent's house we have seemed to adjust pretty well. Hailey has loved the fact that we live with Mimi and Poppy. She has a new adventure daily with her Grandpa. Although it would be much nicer to have our own home, and our own beds we sure appreciate their hospitality. It's been nice to save the house payment every month. The only thing I've really regretted since moving is putting my sewing machine in the Pack Rat. That was a bad idea!

As for our house, well....where do I start? Pretty much lot 49 (in picture) is no longer our lot. It's a long story as to what happened, but the short version is communication got lost between people and our hole didn't get dug deep enough (as you can see the foundations is sticking a mile high out of the ground). They were going to fix it by giving us 12 steps from our garage into our house instead of 3, cutting out our mud room, giving us a smaller kitchen, and making us walk through our laundry room to get into our house. So their idea of a "FIX" was more of a disaster than anything. So our only real option was to pick a new lot, and start completely over. Now we are looking at a move in date at the end of December. Oh well, what can you do? I'm sure there is a good reason this all happened, so we are just continuing to be patient. The only thing I'm really sad about is that I have to work full-time until our home is built, which means more time away from our kids.

Speaking of kids!!! We celebrated Hailey's 3rd birthday last month (holy cow! 3 already!). We were going to do a little birthday party with all of her little friends, but then decided it wouldn't be a good idea with all the chaos in our lives right now. So we just had a little family get together at Ryan's parents house. The only thing Hailey really wanted for her birthday was an Elmo birthday cake, which thanks to Wilton cake pans and her mom's determination to make her own cake no matter how it turned out, she got it! We were also really lucky to score a bike for her for $10 and a Barbie car for $30 that same day at a garage sale. Needless to say, Hailey was a spoiled little girl this year.

Almost 11 months old now, and still no hair, Hayden keeps getting bigger every day. He seriously is the best baby ever. He is almost crawling, but pretty much gets anywhere he wants to go. He keeps looking more and more like his daddy every day. We love this little guy, and are so happy to have him join our little family.

We have so much to be grateful for, and so many blessings in our life! We couldn't be happier!

Random pictures of the last month:

Lake Powell Fun!

So the last time Ryan and I went to Lake Powell was 4 years ago with NO KIDS. This time the trip was a little bit different. Okay....a whole lot different. My kids included there were a total of 7 kids (5 of which were ages 3 and under). I had a friend at work describe a trip like this as "houseboat hell". Imaging 4 little girls all doing this at the same time in a confined area:

Little Miss El

Our perfect little angel throwing a tantrum

At times it was a little overwhelming, but we survived! I know it's hard to believe, but through the crying and fighting we really had a great time. The one thing I learned on this trip is that family trips are no longer about Ryan and I, but they are about our darling kids, and making sure they have a good time. And boy they did...

Addie and Hailey's first time a the tube

Hayden loved to play in the mud, and eat it too!

Addie & Hailey Racing

Our chubby little man

Hailey caught a fish!

Yummy!

Best Friends (some of the time anyway)

Happy Boy

Having fun on the house boat

Playing on the beach

Even though our main focus was on the kids, Ryan and I still had a ton of fun too....

A really, really bad blowout that required a team effort!

Mommy & Hayden

Daddy & Hayden (yeah, they don't look anything alike)

Ry cruising in the boat

Tiff wakeboarding for the first time in 4 years!

4 Wakeboarders! Maron, Ryan, Nate & Jeremy

Ryan catching some mean air!

A BIG THANK YOU TO THE DEFRIES FAMILY!!! LAKE POWELL

WOULDN'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT THEM!

My Two Little Angels!

One thing I know I shouldn't hesitate to spend a little money on is pictures of my kids. They won't be little for long, plus the only professional pictures that I have of Hailey and Hayden was when Hayden was first born.

I got these pics taken at Sam's Club. They had a little photography studio set up there called Studio Max. I guess they come every year. I didn't expect to like them too much, but I think they turned out pretty cute.

The Fishing Trip

This last weekend was a blast! We went and spent time up at Soldier Creek on my parent's boat.













Grandpa bought Hailey her first fishing pole, and guess who got the first and the most fish??? Hailey! What a fun experience for her. She loved every minute.






















Little Hayden was such a good boy. I'm not quite sure he knew what to do with this new adventure in his life, but other than four of his top teeth coming in all at the same time he did really good. He had the most fun watching his big sister being silly.


Hailey absolutely did NOT want to wear her life jacket. It was too "ITCHY" for her. After a little while she got used to it. I think it might be a good time to invest in a better life jacket for Lake Powell.

Luckily Ryan was able to get off from to come and spend time with us the last couple of days. Hailey was thrilled when her best bud showed up!

Needless to say, we had a great time.

On To Our Next Adventure!

So we finally moved out and closed on our house. What a nightmare!!! I told Ryan I'm dying in our next house, because I am never moving again! Seriously. I know we've been married 7 years now, and have two kids, but where did all our stuff come from? Holy cow! Now I have to deal with unpacking half our stuff at Ryan's parent's house, only to pack it up again later. Oh well, at least it's for a good reason and I have a 3 month break before I have to do it again.

We went last week to the design center to pick out everything for our new house. The only problem we had was trying to figure out a color for the outside. We were completely set on green, but the lot next to us already chose that color. Our other options are yellow, tan or red. I'm thinking we will settle on red. Our house will be a combination of the two houses above. The green house is the design, and the red obviously is the color. They are set to start digging a whole in a couple of weeks if all goes as planned. Hooray!

Starting a New Chapter...

When our friends told us they were building a house about 10 minutes away from us we were really excited that they would be living closer. We took a drive to see exactly how close, and, well, what can I tell you... We fell in love with one of the model homes. When we found out the price we fell in love even more.

After much discussion, planning and praying we felt really strongly that building this house and moving out of our scary neighborhood is what we should be doing. I normally freak out about making such a big step, but I have felt great about everything.

So on Friday I listed our house on the MLS at around 2pm, had a call from a realtor by 5pm, and had an offer by midnight. We couldn't even believe it! So our house is now under contract. I didn't even stick a for sale sign in front of our house. It just all happened so fast. So if everything goes as planned (because it doesn't always) we will close the end of June. Our house won't be done until about October, so that means we will be moving in with Ryan's parents for the next few months. It should be an adventure for all of us.

The next 4 months or so are going to be so hard between two moves, not having all our stuff and feeling like we're inconveniencing my in-laws, but I know it will all be worth it. I'm just so excited to be able to sit in our front yard, and not have to worry as much about neighbor kids shouting out swear words. Oh, and did I mention there will be a park in the neighborhood? It will be a great place to raise our family, and it will finally feel like we can get settled in.

Long Lived Shelby....A Little Too Long.

I have had Shelby since I was eight. When we found her we guessed that she was around a year or two old, which would make her now almost 20.

About a year after Ryan and I were married, my Dad talked us in to taking her with us under the impression that she would only live a few more years. Well, it's been 6 and she was still going strong, or acting anyway. Unfortunately so was the smell in our room. As most old cats do, she started peeing in our bedroom. That's when enough was enough.

I had the carpets cleaned which meant the cat had to go. Ryan took her to go put her down. I didn't think I would have such a hard time with it, but I cried when he left. Hailey kept asking me why I was crying. I figured that she would eventually find out so I just told her that the kitty cat went to go live with Heavenly Father. She was upset for about a minute, and then asked if she could get a bunny rabbit. I wish I could forget about my problems that fast. :)

I didn't just put her down because she was peeing everywhere. She also was completely deaf, was going blind, had hardly any teeth and started pooping blood. I would rather do it now anyway then let her suffer.

I really loved that cat, and she was such a sweetheart, but I will NEVER own a cat again.