I am no longer wise! I can't tell you how many times I've heard that one the past few weeks. Anyhow, I did get my stinkin' wisdom teeth removed. It did nothing for my saying of "I hate teeth"! I always tell people how I hate teeth. My girls both started teething at 4 months. Jadyn didn't get her first tooth until she was 9 months old - Kylie didn't get hers until she was 13 months old. Basically, teething for that long is a joke! Hence, why I hate teeth.
Well, this experience didn't disappoint. I had so many people tell me how they were sore for a couple of days & then up & going again after that. Erik made his mom take him to the mall right after he got his out & then he was eating Taco Bell that night! Therefore, I thought this would be a piece of cake. I mean - come on!! I had an emergency c-section & didn't take one pain pill afterwards! I'm tough!
Not so, not so. This kicked my tail & was extremely hard! I went in on Friday Sept. 16th to have all 4 removed. The top 2 were out & the bottom 2 were impacted. I remember sitting in the chair getting an IV & then being in a car & then being at home. My awesome sister Robin was my babysitter for the day. She waited while I was in surgery, drove me home, got me Jamba Juice & stayed with me all day. We had a lovely Twilight marathon day!
Robin said when I came out of the room she started to laugh seeing me draped over the nurses trying to walk - until the nurses gave her a dirty look. Once in the car I guess I started crying & moaning & kind of freaked Robin out. She didn't know what to do. I, however, don't remember any of it. Then, she asked me what I wanted to eat. I replied, "Jamba Juice". She couldn't understand my request for which smoothie I wanted so she asked me to write it down. I did so in surprisingly pretty stellar fashion. She saved the tag to show how neatly I wrote because it was pretty shocking in my condition. Next, I decided to text her my order as well. In case she didn't get it the first time? Or in case she lost me being a foot away from her? Not sure - pretty silly!
Once home it was nice to just sit & relax. As days went by I didn't exactly get better. It hurt! I had to take pain pills to subside the throbbing pain which disgusted me! I was so upset & miserable. I couldn't eat, it hurt to talk, I looked like a chipmunk, bruised, & my chin, bottom lip & teeth were still numb a week later. I talked like I had a fat lip. I finally called the Dr. & went in. He did a poke test on my chin where he basically stabbed a needle all over & asked me when I could feel it. Since I could feel it at a point that was a good sign. That meant he doesn't think I have nerve damage.
Apparently, because I waited so long to get them out one of my teeth had attached itself to my jawbone. Not fused, just attached. That meant that he had to dig out part of my jawbone to get the tooth out. YIKES! That explains why my teeth don't hurt but my entire jaw KILLS! The area was also close to a nerve, so the nerve got jarred enough to make the healing of the nerve take longer than normal.
It's now been over 2 weeks. I no longer live off of pain medicine & my cheeks have pretty much gone back to normal. I'm still numb, but the doctor said that could take months to heal. That's right - months! I still have a hard time eating. Part of that is the numbness because I can't feel what my teeth are doing. It's strange & annoying. Yet, my teeth are now out & it can only get better from here! I go back in a few weeks to see how the numbness is doing. Hopefully, all is well by then! Fun times, fun times!!
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, October 3, 2011
AUGUST 2011
Is it really October already?! WOW!
August brought us the beginning of school, but before school started Kylie got her cast off!! She was a little sad that she was getting it off right before school started because she now wasn't going to have proof that she spent most of the summer in a cast. Yet, she was ready to have it off - as was I! We were pretty lucky that she had to keep going back for different things so that she got a new cast on every couple of weeks. I can't imagine how people go all 6-8 weeks with one cast. They get so nasty! Now it's off - HALLELUJAH!
As for school - I can't believe we now have a 6th grader & that my baby is in 3rd grade. Time flies! Kylie was asked to be one of the flag kids this year & she was jumping up & down for awhile when the call came to ask her. At her school they pick a few kids to be over the raising & taking down of the flag everyday. She felt so privileged that they asked her. I love it because she's learning how to respect & handle the flag.
I need to get better at taking pictures & getting on the ball. (I know, I say that every time.) Only now I don't have a camera, so that's awesome! Mine decided to bust on me & I haven't gotten a new one yet. Hopefully before Halloween! ;)
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
SAN DIEGO
This summer we ended up treating our vacation a little differently. We had a trip planned to go to Utah as usual. I had a week off from work. However, the more we thought about it & the 3 days we would end up driving out of 7 & all the running around we had to do to visit everyone I started to get a little overwhelmed. We did some searching & found a great deal on a hotel in San Diego & just did it! It was only a couple of days, but well worth it!! Not to mention I had a couple of days to get things done & was able to save a couple of vacation days as well. Win, win all around. Except for all of the family we didn't get to visit. That was a bummer. I always love to go visit my Grandpa Carroll & I missed out on that this year. Hopefully, we can plan another trip in the fall.
Our hotel was the Hilton & we were on the 19th floor over looking the bay. Pretty sweet! The girls were out pretty quick both nights. Erik brought the cot & they took turns on the cot & bed. (Kylie digs her feet under people in her sleep, so she's not very fun to sleep with.) Part of our stay was a free breakfast. We just assumed it was the normal continental. Yet, we had to have vouchers & the value to each voucher was almost $25!! For breakfast! That's insane! We had a waiter serving us & our bill was $96 the first morning. We just had to pay the tip. It was a big breakfast buffet & Jay loved being served apple juice in a "champagne" glass as she called it. She thought she was fancy. Obviously, we don't get out much!
The first day we woke up & took Kylie to a follow up appt. on her wrist. As soon as that was done we were off! We were able to check in as soon as we got their & then decided to catch a ferry over to Coronado Island. We had a little bit of a jaunt to the ferry & then walked across the island to Coronado Beach. A lady at the hotel said it wasn't bad, but with kids & a short time span since it was already 5pm made it a little rough. We made it though & were able to spend about 30 min. at the beach. (We walked for about 40 min.) The girls loved playing in the waves with Erik & I was happy just being on the beach relaxing. At one pint they had dolphins swimming around them. Kylie was dying to swim with dolphins somewhere & she was able to for free. ;) They were playful that day jumping out of the water. It was awesome! Then, it was off to hurry back to catch our ferry.
The second day we headed to Sea World. Again, we totally lucked out finding a sweet deal on tickets! We walked by the Shamu show & they were filming a new video for the gift shops of the new show & wanted people to sign releases & sit in the splash zone. We did so, got our wrist bands & ended up being seated right in the front row. Needless to say, we walked away COMPLETELY SOAKED! I wish I would have worn board shorts & not denim shorts. Denim is very heavy to walk around in when they're wet. Lesson learned. At least it wasn't a cold day & we weren't freezing. We were able to hold some starfish. Erik's had only 4 "legs". I found one with 7. Pretty crazy! Jadyn wouldn't even touch them. Sea World is fun, but definitely not like Disneyland. Heehee
Our 3rd & last day :( we woke up, packed, checked out & drove over the bridge back to Coronado Island. The girls & Erik had a ball playing in the waves. At one point Erik had a seal swim right past him. He swam parallel with the beach for awhile slowly & a lifeguard truck was announcing to stay away from him because he could be sick & may get aggressive. Jadyn wanted to build a sand castle so badly & we were not well equipped for that. She made do with her hands & some sea shells. Next time, we'll know. As for Kylie - that bright blue cast cover was the best thing we ever could have bought. It was unsightly, but did it's job wonderfully! Nothing got in. My favorite part of the day was watching my girls walk back into the water hand in hand & then still holding hands as waves came & they would turn to face each other to jump them. So cute! I wish they were like that all of the time to each other.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. Going somewhere different, relaxing a little more, being at the beach & just being together as a family!
Our hotel was the Hilton & we were on the 19th floor over looking the bay. Pretty sweet! The girls were out pretty quick both nights. Erik brought the cot & they took turns on the cot & bed. (Kylie digs her feet under people in her sleep, so she's not very fun to sleep with.) Part of our stay was a free breakfast. We just assumed it was the normal continental. Yet, we had to have vouchers & the value to each voucher was almost $25!! For breakfast! That's insane! We had a waiter serving us & our bill was $96 the first morning. We just had to pay the tip. It was a big breakfast buffet & Jay loved being served apple juice in a "champagne" glass as she called it. She thought she was fancy. Obviously, we don't get out much!
The first day we woke up & took Kylie to a follow up appt. on her wrist. As soon as that was done we were off! We were able to check in as soon as we got their & then decided to catch a ferry over to Coronado Island. We had a little bit of a jaunt to the ferry & then walked across the island to Coronado Beach. A lady at the hotel said it wasn't bad, but with kids & a short time span since it was already 5pm made it a little rough. We made it though & were able to spend about 30 min. at the beach. (We walked for about 40 min.) The girls loved playing in the waves with Erik & I was happy just being on the beach relaxing. At one pint they had dolphins swimming around them. Kylie was dying to swim with dolphins somewhere & she was able to for free. ;) They were playful that day jumping out of the water. It was awesome! Then, it was off to hurry back to catch our ferry.
The second day we headed to Sea World. Again, we totally lucked out finding a sweet deal on tickets! We walked by the Shamu show & they were filming a new video for the gift shops of the new show & wanted people to sign releases & sit in the splash zone. We did so, got our wrist bands & ended up being seated right in the front row. Needless to say, we walked away COMPLETELY SOAKED! I wish I would have worn board shorts & not denim shorts. Denim is very heavy to walk around in when they're wet. Lesson learned. At least it wasn't a cold day & we weren't freezing. We were able to hold some starfish. Erik's had only 4 "legs". I found one with 7. Pretty crazy! Jadyn wouldn't even touch them. Sea World is fun, but definitely not like Disneyland. Heehee
Our 3rd & last day :( we woke up, packed, checked out & drove over the bridge back to Coronado Island. The girls & Erik had a ball playing in the waves. At one point Erik had a seal swim right past him. He swam parallel with the beach for awhile slowly & a lifeguard truck was announcing to stay away from him because he could be sick & may get aggressive. Jadyn wanted to build a sand castle so badly & we were not well equipped for that. She made do with her hands & some sea shells. Next time, we'll know. As for Kylie - that bright blue cast cover was the best thing we ever could have bought. It was unsightly, but did it's job wonderfully! Nothing got in. My favorite part of the day was watching my girls walk back into the water hand in hand & then still holding hands as waves came & they would turn to face each other to jump them. So cute! I wish they were like that all of the time to each other.
All in all, it was a lot of fun. Going somewhere different, relaxing a little more, being at the beach & just being together as a family!
Sunday, July 17, 2011
KYLIE HAS SURGERY
**WARNING** If you have a weak stomach I would not advise looking at the photos!!**
Kylie was playing at a friends house (along with Jadyn) on Tuesday June 14th. I text her to tell her to come home. I heard back nothing. So, I called her & got her voicemail. Waited a few minutes & still...nothing. A few minutes later her friend & Jadyn come busting through the door screaming that Kylie had been hurt. Jadyn was beside herself with crying. I took off running down the street. They had moved Kylie back into her friends house & she was really upset.
Apparently, she saw my missed text & call & took off out the door. Got on her scooter only to hit a crack in the sidewalk just right that sent her flying & landing on her wrist & arm. It got pretty swollen in the days to follow, but she wasn't overly in pain. No fever, no heat to the touch, nothing. Well, being the good parents we are we took her in finally on Friday, since the swelling hadn't gone down, night to my brother's office (who's a chiropractor) to get an x-ray before we took her in to the Dr. Saturday we heard back from my brother that she had a distal radius fracture. Nice! Did some research & called around on Monday & got her in to an orthopedic surgeon (apparently family dr's don't do casts anymore) on Tuesday morning June 21st. In fact, Erik took her (along with Jadyn) since I had to work & we just figured they would cast it.
Well, the Dr. informed Erik that she really needed to have surgery right away. Because of the way it was fractured it needed a pin in order to continue to have full mobility of her wrist & so that bone fragments didn't accidentally sever nerve endings or veins. Sounds lovely, eh?! So, surgery was scheduled for the next day - Wednesday June 22nd.
Taking your child in for surgery is nerve wracking!! I was a little bit of a mess! Especially when nurses are calling you for pre-admission info & asking your religion preference. They only ask that if there's something scary to think about. I know it's normal protocol, but when your kid's involved it's a whole different ball game! I don't know how mom's do it that have to go through major surgeries with their kids. I guess you just have to do what you have to do. YUCK!
We took her in & the ortho hospital she went to was wonderful! The nurses were all really nice & helpful. Her Dr. was great as well. We were truly blessed to be led to people who were so good. The scariest part was probably getting the i.v. in, but she was a trooper! She handled it way better than expected! When they put the meds in to start to put her out she got kind of silly pretty quick! It didn't take much for her. She kept asking us to come with her to the OR (which we couldn't obviously) while they were wheeling her away. She started asking again & then just started laughing mid-sentence.
Erik & I were then escorted to the waiting room. Erik went to go get some food really fast since we hadn't eaten. He brought me back a salad from Jack in The Box & I found a live ladybug in my salad!! Took a pic for proof! According to my mom that means good luck - I'll take it!! I couldn't get grossed out because I was about to pass out from starvation. Ew - yuck - I know!
After about an hour the surgery was all done & we were able to take her home! All in all, we were at the hospital for a total of about 3 hours. Not too bad!! We went home & she fell asleep for another couple of hours. Then, the fun began of having a cast, etc.
We sent her away still to Time To Blossom (more to come on that) in hopes that taking care of her cast would be ok. Not to mention someone helping her with her hair since that was a lost cause with your right arm out of commission.
The morning of July 1st we had scheduled a trip to San Diego. Kylie had a follow-up appt that morning before we left where they took her cast off & stitches out. The Dr told us he would remove the pin & we had no idea that it was sticking out of her arm. Kylie took one look & said, "Mom, I gotta lay down." I felt the same way! She got a new cast & picked red for this one & we were off on our trip!
This coming Tuesday she gets her pin removed & then her last cast that she will have to wear for a couple of weeks. She'll probably get it off the day before school starts. She's hoping for after so that she has proof that she really had a cast during the summer. ;) I'm glad it happened during summer, however, since writing & drums would have been extremely difficult!
Kylie was playing at a friends house (along with Jadyn) on Tuesday June 14th. I text her to tell her to come home. I heard back nothing. So, I called her & got her voicemail. Waited a few minutes & still...nothing. A few minutes later her friend & Jadyn come busting through the door screaming that Kylie had been hurt. Jadyn was beside herself with crying. I took off running down the street. They had moved Kylie back into her friends house & she was really upset.
Apparently, she saw my missed text & call & took off out the door. Got on her scooter only to hit a crack in the sidewalk just right that sent her flying & landing on her wrist & arm. It got pretty swollen in the days to follow, but she wasn't overly in pain. No fever, no heat to the touch, nothing. Well, being the good parents we are we took her in finally on Friday, since the swelling hadn't gone down, night to my brother's office (who's a chiropractor) to get an x-ray before we took her in to the Dr. Saturday we heard back from my brother that she had a distal radius fracture. Nice! Did some research & called around on Monday & got her in to an orthopedic surgeon (apparently family dr's don't do casts anymore) on Tuesday morning June 21st. In fact, Erik took her (along with Jadyn) since I had to work & we just figured they would cast it.
Well, the Dr. informed Erik that she really needed to have surgery right away. Because of the way it was fractured it needed a pin in order to continue to have full mobility of her wrist & so that bone fragments didn't accidentally sever nerve endings or veins. Sounds lovely, eh?! So, surgery was scheduled for the next day - Wednesday June 22nd.
Taking your child in for surgery is nerve wracking!! I was a little bit of a mess! Especially when nurses are calling you for pre-admission info & asking your religion preference. They only ask that if there's something scary to think about. I know it's normal protocol, but when your kid's involved it's a whole different ball game! I don't know how mom's do it that have to go through major surgeries with their kids. I guess you just have to do what you have to do. YUCK!
We took her in & the ortho hospital she went to was wonderful! The nurses were all really nice & helpful. Her Dr. was great as well. We were truly blessed to be led to people who were so good. The scariest part was probably getting the i.v. in, but she was a trooper! She handled it way better than expected! When they put the meds in to start to put her out she got kind of silly pretty quick! It didn't take much for her. She kept asking us to come with her to the OR (which we couldn't obviously) while they were wheeling her away. She started asking again & then just started laughing mid-sentence.
Erik & I were then escorted to the waiting room. Erik went to go get some food really fast since we hadn't eaten. He brought me back a salad from Jack in The Box & I found a live ladybug in my salad!! Took a pic for proof! According to my mom that means good luck - I'll take it!! I couldn't get grossed out because I was about to pass out from starvation. Ew - yuck - I know!
After about an hour the surgery was all done & we were able to take her home! All in all, we were at the hospital for a total of about 3 hours. Not too bad!! We went home & she fell asleep for another couple of hours. Then, the fun began of having a cast, etc.
We sent her away still to Time To Blossom (more to come on that) in hopes that taking care of her cast would be ok. Not to mention someone helping her with her hair since that was a lost cause with your right arm out of commission.
The morning of July 1st we had scheduled a trip to San Diego. Kylie had a follow-up appt that morning before we left where they took her cast off & stitches out. The Dr told us he would remove the pin & we had no idea that it was sticking out of her arm. Kylie took one look & said, "Mom, I gotta lay down." I felt the same way! She got a new cast & picked red for this one & we were off on our trip!
This coming Tuesday she gets her pin removed & then her last cast that she will have to wear for a couple of weeks. She'll probably get it off the day before school starts. She's hoping for after so that she has proof that she really had a cast during the summer. ;) I'm glad it happened during summer, however, since writing & drums would have been extremely difficult!
MOTHERS/FATHERS
This year for Mother's Day we had a party at our new home. It was a lot of fun & a little bitters sweet since it was our first one without Esther. We were missing quite of few others as well because they were too far away. :( Still fun though! We love our mothers!!
We had another party for Father's Day at our house as well. We actually had to speak in church that day, plus I taught in Relief Society. Busy, busy day!
What else can I say? We have the best Mom's & Dad's in our families! We love them all!!
We had another party for Father's Day at our house as well. We actually had to speak in church that day, plus I taught in Relief Society. Busy, busy day!
What else can I say? We have the best Mom's & Dad's in our families! We love them all!!
Saturday, July 2, 2011
MOVING
Here's the dreaded moving post. Dreaded because it's such a long story, but one that I need to jot down for our own personal history. When we moved back to Arizona in Dec. of 2005 it was right in the peak of ridiculous housing prices. We didn't think we would be able to buy anything. However, we kind of lucked out. My brother Michael needed to get out of his town home & was willing to give us a smoking deal. (Well, smoking deal for that time.) So, we took it. I wasn't overly thrilled because it wasn't a house, but it was what we could afford. It was also not in an area that we really wanted to be in & not the best area of town. However, we were lucky enough to buy something & even luckier that it worked out that we could redo a lot in the house. We worked for weeks before moving in on ripping out the carpet & placing laminate flooring throughout, repainting everything, getting all new appliances, etc. A lot of work, but totally worth it & actually pretty necessary with the condition it was in.
We were excited & loved how it turned out. We only planned to be in this home for a year & then hoped to move to an area where we really wanted to be. Then real estate took the big plunge & we were stuck! We quickly started to feel a little claustrophobic in this place, but made it work. Then, 5 years later, a plan raised that we felt we could get out. We did a lot of searching on what to do & had issues with the whole moral thing on what would be right for us without feeling like we were taking advantage of the system. We were starting to panic because we didn't want Kylie going to junior high where we were & she's getting close to that age.
Then, right before Thanksgiving, we had a slab leak. I didn't even know what that was until it happened. We thought our hot water heater broke & was leaking. We called in the professionals & quickly learned that we had a slab leak. In Jadyn's closet her wood flooring was mush! It was sloshy to walk on & warping fast. It was that point where we finally felt at peace with being completely done with our house! We had had it! We were sick of fixing toilets, garbage disposals, sinks, leaky roofs every time it rained, etc., etc., etc. It was just getting to be too much. It was bound to happen with an older home & we were tired of it.
We have a friend in our ward who is a realtor who was so kind & helped us a ton! We decided it was time for us to put our home on the market as a short sale. Within a few weeks we had an offer to the bank. At the advice of our realtor we hired a negotiator to work with the bank & that was the best decision we could have made! For us, it was completely worth it! A couple of months later (& a lot of back & forth) we had approval to move forward. YAHOO!! After a nerve wracking month of inspections & appraisals it was set to go & we were house hunting for a home to rent.
We found one & put in an application. A couple of days later we were told that they had chose another tenant. Darnet! We were looking again. The first home I wasn't thrilled about anyway, so I wasn't too sad. I told Erik I wanted a home that when I walked in I would automatically feel like - this is it! We found another home that when I saw the pictures online - I knew it was the home for us. We looked at it & again, I knew! We signed the lease on a Monday & were all prepared to move in that weekend. We turned in our deposit money, etc. Our home was scheduled to close on Friday & then we would be moving on Saturday. We scheduled it all!
Then, of course, the inevitable happens. Thursday night we get a call from our realtor that a fluke thing had happened. One he's never heard of before. Again, of course this would happen to us! The buyers on our home had gotten denied for their loan at the last minute on a weird technicality. Bizarre!! Yet, we didn't completely panic. Erik said he felt totally at peace that things would still work out. Either way, we were still moving since it was all scheduled already.
So, we packed up as scheduled on Saturday April 30th & moved to our new rental home. Our girls were not terribly happy about leaving what they were comfortable with. Especially Kylie, she doesn't handle change all that well. Yet, we were excited to see where this new adventure would take us.
It just so happened that a couple that was in the Easter Pageant with us lives just down the street. And the family that lived in the home we rented only moved a few houses down & have a daughter Kylie's age & a son Jadyn's age. They now have friends close by & love playing in the neighborhood! It's been a terrific blessing. They can go outside & play now, ride bikes, scooters, etc.! All the things we never let them do at our old place. Needless to say we love it!
As for our old place. Our realtor was amazing! He wasn't about to let the deal just die. He rushed our buyers into a lender that he knew & worked his magic. After a very nerve-wracking few weeks the new lenders approved the loan & we finally closed! We are so happy it's done & over with! I couldn't walk away without taking a few details pictures of the old place. (We all know I love the details!)
Since it was Michael's home there were still a lot of reminders of him around. In a way, it was hard for me to leave because it was his. At times I felt horrible that I was letting this go since we have so few things left of him. I just kept thinking, at least we have the best left behind - Elliot! Some of the things are not good reminders, but reminders none the less. We have:
**He loved the dog prints in the saltillo tile in the back bathroom. Why a tiler would thing it was ok to lay that tile & leave it is beyond me. ut, it ws pretty crazy!
**REDRUM scratched in the back of Kylie's door. Lucky for Kylie she was completely clueless! (Again, I said not all things were good.)
**The "stain glass" light on the staircase. Michael's wife at the time, Jill, (love you Jill) did a stain glass kit on this light. They left the light on for too long & it melted. Haha! Jill still gets a good laugh from it.
**The fan in the master bedroom was painted when we moved in. Michael thought it had a cool ambiance with it being painted a deep red. Luckily, it was just watercolors & it came off. Well, off the glass anyway. The blades still had a tint to them that we couldn't get completely off.
**I don't have a picture of the living room fan in this, but it was special to him. Apparently, he & Jill went to San Francisco. (CAn't remember if it was their honeymoon or just a trip.) They found the ceiling fan their & brought it home. Michael loved that fan!
**My favorite thing is the view outside of the master window. It's not spectacular, but it had a lamp near a tree in the back grass area. Michael told me that would be my favorite part about the house because it looks neat when you look outside & you see it lit. He said it's like looking at the lamp from Narnia.
Needless to say, leaving was a little hard. We loved our ward & especially our friends out that way. Yet, we needed to move for our families sake. I can't even begin to explain how much happier we are in our new home. For so many reasons! It's already made a world of difference for our girls. Plus, the Young Women in our ward got up to sing in sacrament & I counted 24 of them! 24!! I started crying. That's a lot better than 1 like our old ward. That's exactly what we wanted for our girls.
We were excited & loved how it turned out. We only planned to be in this home for a year & then hoped to move to an area where we really wanted to be. Then real estate took the big plunge & we were stuck! We quickly started to feel a little claustrophobic in this place, but made it work. Then, 5 years later, a plan raised that we felt we could get out. We did a lot of searching on what to do & had issues with the whole moral thing on what would be right for us without feeling like we were taking advantage of the system. We were starting to panic because we didn't want Kylie going to junior high where we were & she's getting close to that age.
Then, right before Thanksgiving, we had a slab leak. I didn't even know what that was until it happened. We thought our hot water heater broke & was leaking. We called in the professionals & quickly learned that we had a slab leak. In Jadyn's closet her wood flooring was mush! It was sloshy to walk on & warping fast. It was that point where we finally felt at peace with being completely done with our house! We had had it! We were sick of fixing toilets, garbage disposals, sinks, leaky roofs every time it rained, etc., etc., etc. It was just getting to be too much. It was bound to happen with an older home & we were tired of it.
We have a friend in our ward who is a realtor who was so kind & helped us a ton! We decided it was time for us to put our home on the market as a short sale. Within a few weeks we had an offer to the bank. At the advice of our realtor we hired a negotiator to work with the bank & that was the best decision we could have made! For us, it was completely worth it! A couple of months later (& a lot of back & forth) we had approval to move forward. YAHOO!! After a nerve wracking month of inspections & appraisals it was set to go & we were house hunting for a home to rent.
We found one & put in an application. A couple of days later we were told that they had chose another tenant. Darnet! We were looking again. The first home I wasn't thrilled about anyway, so I wasn't too sad. I told Erik I wanted a home that when I walked in I would automatically feel like - this is it! We found another home that when I saw the pictures online - I knew it was the home for us. We looked at it & again, I knew! We signed the lease on a Monday & were all prepared to move in that weekend. We turned in our deposit money, etc. Our home was scheduled to close on Friday & then we would be moving on Saturday. We scheduled it all!
Then, of course, the inevitable happens. Thursday night we get a call from our realtor that a fluke thing had happened. One he's never heard of before. Again, of course this would happen to us! The buyers on our home had gotten denied for their loan at the last minute on a weird technicality. Bizarre!! Yet, we didn't completely panic. Erik said he felt totally at peace that things would still work out. Either way, we were still moving since it was all scheduled already.
So, we packed up as scheduled on Saturday April 30th & moved to our new rental home. Our girls were not terribly happy about leaving what they were comfortable with. Especially Kylie, she doesn't handle change all that well. Yet, we were excited to see where this new adventure would take us.
It just so happened that a couple that was in the Easter Pageant with us lives just down the street. And the family that lived in the home we rented only moved a few houses down & have a daughter Kylie's age & a son Jadyn's age. They now have friends close by & love playing in the neighborhood! It's been a terrific blessing. They can go outside & play now, ride bikes, scooters, etc.! All the things we never let them do at our old place. Needless to say we love it!
As for our old place. Our realtor was amazing! He wasn't about to let the deal just die. He rushed our buyers into a lender that he knew & worked his magic. After a very nerve-wracking few weeks the new lenders approved the loan & we finally closed! We are so happy it's done & over with! I couldn't walk away without taking a few details pictures of the old place. (We all know I love the details!)
Since it was Michael's home there were still a lot of reminders of him around. In a way, it was hard for me to leave because it was his. At times I felt horrible that I was letting this go since we have so few things left of him. I just kept thinking, at least we have the best left behind - Elliot! Some of the things are not good reminders, but reminders none the less. We have:
**He loved the dog prints in the saltillo tile in the back bathroom. Why a tiler would thing it was ok to lay that tile & leave it is beyond me. ut, it ws pretty crazy!
**REDRUM scratched in the back of Kylie's door. Lucky for Kylie she was completely clueless! (Again, I said not all things were good.)
**The "stain glass" light on the staircase. Michael's wife at the time, Jill, (love you Jill) did a stain glass kit on this light. They left the light on for too long & it melted. Haha! Jill still gets a good laugh from it.
**The fan in the master bedroom was painted when we moved in. Michael thought it had a cool ambiance with it being painted a deep red. Luckily, it was just watercolors & it came off. Well, off the glass anyway. The blades still had a tint to them that we couldn't get completely off.
**I don't have a picture of the living room fan in this, but it was special to him. Apparently, he & Jill went to San Francisco. (CAn't remember if it was their honeymoon or just a trip.) They found the ceiling fan their & brought it home. Michael loved that fan!
**My favorite thing is the view outside of the master window. It's not spectacular, but it had a lamp near a tree in the back grass area. Michael told me that would be my favorite part about the house because it looks neat when you look outside & you see it lit. He said it's like looking at the lamp from Narnia.
Needless to say, leaving was a little hard. We loved our ward & especially our friends out that way. Yet, we needed to move for our families sake. I can't even begin to explain how much happier we are in our new home. For so many reasons! It's already made a world of difference for our girls. Plus, the Young Women in our ward got up to sing in sacrament & I counted 24 of them! 24!! I started crying. That's a lot better than 1 like our old ward. That's exactly what we wanted for our girls.
Friday, July 1, 2011
APRIL / MAY
In April Kylie had the opportunity to go on a special field trip with all the Student Council Officers since she was the secretary in the fall. They went to the Capital building & were able to meet a couple of house representatives. Pretty cool if you ask me! I've lived here my whole life (except for 6 years in Vegas) & have never been to the capital building. Apparently, they have a museum there that she said was really neat. They even got some special treatment & were able to sit at house members desks & take photos. Lucky kid! The picture on the top right is with Eddie Farnsworth on the left (He's actually over her school) & I don't know who on the right. ;) I tried to look it up & there's just too many of them to look through, so I gave up. Sorry, whoever you are!
May brought beautiful weather & the kids dying to have a "lemonade stand"! We love the neighborhood we're in & the girls have been lucky enough to make some good friends! This whole lemonade stand idea spun a little out of control. It turned into a sweet stand & they sold all kinds of treats & stuff. It was a lot of work for the parents, but the kids had fun. They even made about $46 the first time. Who knew?! Maybe I should quit my job & put my kids to work. ;) Now it's just too hot to do it. I'm sure when it starts cooling down they'll want to do it again. They even had a few copy cat stands pop up after the word spread on how much $$ they were making. Haha!
The last day in May brought a very special birthday to Jay! She turned 8. She wanted breakfast in bed, it's turned into a tradition with the girls, with just a good 'ol Slim-Fast shake to eat. Then, she opened up her gifts. My kids give the best reactions to gifts. We're not dramatic in anyway at our house! ;) She got to go to lunch that day at her favorite place - Barro's pizza. Mimi & Papa came along with John & Aunt Jewelry (Julie). For dinner we went to Cafe Rio - another on of her favorites. Dave & Wendy Paez came to town & stayed the night with us. It ws so fun to have them here for all the festivities! Jack, Alli & Eli also came to Cafe Rio. I, of course, didn't take any pictures. UGH! We love our Jay!
The next morning I realized I didn't take any photos & made the Paez's pose for a couple pictures before they took off. Wendy was not too happy about that since it was bright & early, but she was a good sport!
May brought beautiful weather & the kids dying to have a "lemonade stand"! We love the neighborhood we're in & the girls have been lucky enough to make some good friends! This whole lemonade stand idea spun a little out of control. It turned into a sweet stand & they sold all kinds of treats & stuff. It was a lot of work for the parents, but the kids had fun. They even made about $46 the first time. Who knew?! Maybe I should quit my job & put my kids to work. ;) Now it's just too hot to do it. I'm sure when it starts cooling down they'll want to do it again. They even had a few copy cat stands pop up after the word spread on how much $$ they were making. Haha!
The last day in May brought a very special birthday to Jay! She turned 8. She wanted breakfast in bed, it's turned into a tradition with the girls, with just a good 'ol Slim-Fast shake to eat. Then, she opened up her gifts. My kids give the best reactions to gifts. We're not dramatic in anyway at our house! ;) She got to go to lunch that day at her favorite place - Barro's pizza. Mimi & Papa came along with John & Aunt Jewelry (Julie). For dinner we went to Cafe Rio - another on of her favorites. Dave & Wendy Paez came to town & stayed the night with us. It ws so fun to have them here for all the festivities! Jack, Alli & Eli also came to Cafe Rio. I, of course, didn't take any pictures. UGH! We love our Jay!
The next morning I realized I didn't take any photos & made the Paez's pose for a couple pictures before they took off. Wendy was not too happy about that since it was bright & early, but she was a good sport!
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