Family Pictures June 2010

We had pictures done at the amphitheater in American Fork. We had all come down with the stomach flu the night before they were scheduled - great timing, right? Well, I'd already had to reschedule twice, so I told everyone we were doing it, no matter what. We all felt pretty well when the time came, so we got them done - thank heavens!

Spring is here!

We are so glad spring is here! (Although yesterday it hailed and rained all day, but that's just spring in Utah). The kids have been so glad to get out and enjoy the sunshine and outside toys again. Easter was lot of fun, too.

Long Time Coming....

Well, it's obviously been awhile since I've posted. I'm not going to try to catch up on eveything that's happened, so I'm just going to post some pictures of the past six months and try to do better in the future!

Summer Fun

This post is a catch-all for all the fun things we've been doing this summer (besides getting a new baby and a new house, that is.) We spent a day at Bear Lake with my family. It was bit chilly, but everyone had a great time anyway. My sister was visiting with her daughter from Hawaii. (Why weren't we visiting her instead? Good question!) Anyway, we went to the Discovery Gateway with them and had a lot of fun. For Pioneer Day we went to the Days of '47 Parade with my family. It got pretty toasty towards the end, but it was fun anyway. Then we headed to Smithfield to have a campout in Grandma Jana and Grandpa Steve's backyard with Matt's family. Seeing as how all of the grandkids in Matt's family are under five, and most are under two, it was a great way to camp. We cooked hotdogs and marshmallows and played in the water the next day. It was great. We've made a lot of fun memories this summer - and it's not over yet!

New Arrival

Grant is now three weeks old, and I've finally gotten around to posting some pictures. He was born June 25 and weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. Addy and McKay have been great with him. They love to hold him and talk to him. He's been a really good baby. He doesn't cry much, and is sleeping up to four hours during the night (on a good night - we're working on that.) He is a great eater - at his two week check-up he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz! We're so glad to have him here and healthy.

We're in and (mostly) settled

I realize I haven't updated in a while, but with the move and all, this is the first chance I've had. We got moved into our new house on the 15th, thanks to the help of family and friends - especially our parents. Thanks so much! I don't know how people do it without family nearby. Addy and McKay had a great time with Grandma Jana for 4 days while Matt and I finished packing, closed on both houses, and got moved. It was so nice to have some time to set up their bedroom before they got there so they didn't feel so out of place. They have adjusted very well, and are having a great time with their new friends, our next door neighbors. The ward here is very nice and welcoming. Since the baby is coming so soon, I have been in a bit of a rush to get things settled and in place. I think I'm driving Matt crazy, asking him to help me get things up on the walls every spare minute he has, which aren't many, since he started this MBA classes again last week. Only 9 weeks to go and he'll be all done!!!! We can't wait. I have to say though, after the things we got done yesterday, like getting all the storage organized in our unfinished basement, I really feel like we have done a lot in a week, and we are good to go. Other than setting up the baby's room, we are done unpacking upstairs, and mostly done downstairs. Of course there are always things to be done with a new house and yard, but at least I feel like we have the essentials covered and can work on the rest little by little. Hopefully now I can relax a little before the baby comes, which is in one month and one day! (June 25). Not that I'm counting down or anything.

We found a house!

After hours and hours of looking through house after house, we finally find one that is about as perfect as we are going to find (for the right price, that is.) We are under contract to buy a house in Saratoga Springs. We are very excited to have found something that we can move right into after we move out of our current house. I really didn't want to have to move twice. We will close on both houses May 13, and we will probably be moving the 14th. The link below will take you to KSL.com and some pictures of the house we are buying. Now I've just got to start packing!
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=475&ad=6039483&cat=&lpid=&type=1&city=SARATOGA%20SPRINGS&zipcode=&sale=1&start=228000&end=230000&state=UT&sort=&keyword=

YEA!!!!

Our house went under contract today! We had three showings on Tuesday, and one of them came back to look again, then they made an offer on Wednesday, and accepted our counteroffer today. It happened so fast, and adds some stress about finding a house to buy, but we realize how blessed we are to have sold so quickly in this economy. Hopefully everything will work out and we will be able to move right from this house into a new one with no in-between time. Let the house hunting begin!

For Sale

Yes, we really finally did it. We put our house on the market to sell. We've been discussing it since last summer when Matt found out his job will be moving to Riverton this summer. I know we have told a lot of people we had decided to wait until after the baby came, and I'm sure lots of you think we are really flaky for changing our minds so much, but last week we just decided we felt good about doing it now, so we did it. If any of you know someone who is interested, please pass on the information! We are listed on KSL.com and on the MLS (#871668). There is also an online tour at http://www.realestateshows.com/show.php?id=384775 . We are listed with One Rate Real Estate, but if we have a buyer who doesn't have a realtor, we can opt out of our contract and do a for sale by owner and avoid realtor fees. We would love that! Anyway, we will see what happens in the next couple of months. If we don't sell by June we will take the house off the market until after the baby comes. I just have to have faith that whatever is supposed to happen will happen, and it will be for the best.

Fun weekend

We went to the Clearfield Aquatic Center on Saturday. Addy has been asking to go for months, and we finally got around to it. Both of the kids love the big twisty slide - McKay would want to go again as soon as he got done with a slide. Matt was a good sport about climbing the stairs over and over, since I couldn't go. It was a fun time. I feel like I need to get some fun things in with the kids before the baby comes, since I know how time consuming a new baby is. The kids also had a good time this weekend playing outside on their bikes and scooters. McKay got a "big kid" bike a few weeks ago, since he always wanted to ride Addy's bike, and he could ride it better that he could his tricycle (it is a badly designed tricycle.) Anyway, every time we are in the garage for any reason and he sees his bike, he wants to go for a ride. It's actually really nice that he can just hop on and away he goes - no more pushing him around. Now if the weather would just decide to stay nice so all the snow would melt (again), we would all be so happy. (I just realized I didn't actually get any pictures of McKay on his bike, just his scooter- oh well, you'll have to imagine.) The kids also had fun making chocolate chip cookies with Dad on Sunday. I wonder what the mystery ingredient was this time? (It turned out to be Stephens peppermint cocoa. Matt can't make anything without adding his own twist to the recipe. They actually were quite good.)

It's a boy!

Or rather, he's a boy! We just found out today that we are having a baby boy. We are very excited for McKay to have a little buddy. I thought Addy might be a little disappointed, but she was excited, too. It's pretty amazing the technology they have these days for seeing an unborn baby. We were able to see the chambers of his heart, his other internal organs, and the parts of his brain. It's very reassuring to see that everything is developing as it should be.

A four-year-old's perspective

The other night I was drving home with Addy and McKay, and Addy was looking out the window at the stars. She started a conversation with me that went something like this:
Addy: "How many stars are in the sky?"
Me: "More than anyone could ever count."
Addy: "What's the highest number you could count to?"
Me: "You could keep counting forever and ever. Numbers never end"
(Addy thinks for a minute)
Addy: "I'll bet it's 68."
A few minutes later....
Addy: "How many rocks are on the moon?"
Me: "Lots and lots."
Addy: "Like a million?"
Me: "Probably even more than that."
Addy: "I'll bet there are 25."
Me: "More than that."
Addy: "26?"
Me: "More than that."
Addy: "27?"
Me: (It's late and I'm tired) Yep, probably 27.
It's amazing what kids think about, and how you can almost see the gears working in their heads trying to figure things out. I just hope I can come up with the answers!

Double Trouble

Last week the kids both had coughs and fevers, but by the end of the week the fevers were gone and they seemed like they were both doing okay. Then Sunday night Addy woke up complaining that her ear hurt. Well, I took them both to the doctor yesterday, and they each had double ear infections. I felt so bad that I hadn't taken them in earlier - one of McKay's ears was really bad. Anyway, we got them both on antibiotics and they are doing great. I was thinking tonight that I have a lot to be grateful for in this situation, and I thought I should focus on that. Here they are:

1. For both kids having ear infections in both ears, they were really happy, and were still playing and acting pretty normal (that's why I didn't think they were sick :)

2. If ear infections are the worst I have to deal with concerning my kids' health, I am so lucky! (Knock on wood)

3. Both kids are great about taking their medicine. When McKay sees me getting it out, he comes up to me with his mouth open, going "AAAAAAAHHH". Addy likes to show me how big she is by taking it all by herself, and always reminds me to give it to them. Ten days of twice-a- day medicine would be a nightmare if they didn't like it. Force-feeding medicine is not my idea of fun.

4. I was able to get my kids into a pediatrician (not theirs, but at least one in the same office) the same day I called, which never happens. At least I didn't have to go to the Instacare (not my favorite place.)

Anyway, this is kind of a random post, but I decided I needed to focus on the positive and write down some of the small blessings I've had lately.

Addy's New Bed

Okay, so we have a pretty boring life, and I couldn't think of anything else to blog about, so this is the most exciting thing that's happened here in a while. We got a new bed with a trundle for Addy's room, because we want to move McKay into her room pretty soon. Matt picked it up yesterday and tonight we got it all out to put together and .... no instructions. I was pretty ticked about it, and tried to find them on the internet with no luck. I was ready to call the company and tell them what I thought (which I couldn't have done then anyway, because they were closed), but Matt, being the kind and optimistic person that he is, said we could figure it out. I never would have even known where to start, but Matt is very smart and figured it out. I was very impressed. We got it all put together in a decent amount of time, and only had to unscrew one thing! As were were getting the drawers out of the room where we had stashed them during assembly, what did we find stuck to one of them? Of course - the instructions. I have to say, though, it was pretty satisfying to look at them and see that we had put it all together right, even without them (thanks to Matt). Now we just have to get a stool for Addy so she can get on it by herself (it's pretty tall), and hopefully she won't roll off. At least when we have McKay in the trundle, if she rolls off, she'll just fall on him (just kidding).

Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. It was fun to see McKay get excited and sort of understand what was going on - or at least understand that there was something to be excited about. Addy was so excited she could hardly stand it, so that by itself made McKay excited. Addy had a Christmas dance concert the week before Christmas. She was a little worried about being too scared to go on stage, but when we got there she got excited about it and did a great job. Thanks to Grandpa Steve and Grandma Jana for being there.

We spent Christmas Eve through Dec. 27 with grandparents and cousins having a great time. Christmas Eve night turned out to be a long one for me, Matt and McKay, because McKay was up at least half the night with an ear infection, plus throwing up, but he felt better on Christmas day and was able to have a good time (thank goodness for children's ibuprofen!) The huge snow storm that hit Christmas day just added to the fun for the kids, being able to build a snow fort with Matt and Grandpa Steve, plus getting pulled on the sled.