Cute

A little taste of what I get to hang out with everyday:

A Fresh Start

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Another year has passed and another one is beginning, and I'm always excited to see what each new year brings.

We have had an exciting end to the year with the closing of our house. Hooray! What a great way to start a new year, in a new house! All of our worries and headaches are now gone and we can rest comfortably in our new place. We signed the papers and were handed our house keys on December 23.
Merry Christmas to us!

We are nearly all settled in now, just waiting on the blinds to get installed so we don't have to expose ourselves to our new neighbors. Nobody wants that!

We love the views

It has definitely been an interesting time getting this house, but well worth it. We love it. Thanks to all of you for your support during this process!

Before all of the house signing business, we were able to go visit Washington and the folks on both sides. We always love seeing grandmas and grandpas.

This is us picking out a tree for the McCains

Guess what? Hayden had her first haircut! She no longer has a mullet. Bitter sweet, truly bitter sweet:)

On Christmas morning, Carl packed up all the presents and our little trees and took them to the new house so we could open presents there. Santa even found our new house! It was so fun.

Hayden loves her baby!

We are so very blessed and I am so thankful for the family and friends in my life. We hope 2010 finds you in great health and spirit!

A Little Cuteness for Your Holiday

We are in Washington visiting the McCains at the moment and I thought I would share in some silliness that we have experienced since being here. Mainly in the form of Hayden.

Mom McCain has a pet guinea pig here and guess who L-O-V-E-S it? This girl!



A classic Christmas picture. Enlarge it to understand better:)

And to send you off smiling, here is Hayden eating a Popsicle. Listen closely. :)

Happy Holidays!

Out of Touch!

I realize how spoiled I have been. Since living in our new townhome, we don't have internet and it drives me crazy! So I came down to the library just so I can feel a part of this world again! :) If anyone is even wondering where I have been, that's where, without internet!

Our house is quickly getting built and should be done hopefully before Christmas. It's starting to look really good.

My brother and his wife had their first baby on Thursday. A little girl and she is so cute!

It's Christmas time, a time to remember the reason for the season and not get pouty because I don't have a Christmas tree. There are so many more important things to worry about than a darn tree. We can have one next year:)

Okay, times up at the library! Have a great week and Christmas holiday!

It's a Thanksgiving Miracle!

We received great news today.

Our house will resume being built on Friday!

They lifted the hold from our property and 3 of the 5 lots will be finished within a few weeks. We should be in our new house by Christmas, should everything go smoothly from here on out. It's our Thanksgiving Miracle! We are so truly blessed to have such amazing family and friends to help us through this.

Thank you ALL for your thoughts and prayers!

We love you and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


yes, it's true

Well, Here We Go

The whole house stuff is still exactly how it was a few weeks ago. We are still hoping and praying that the woman in charge of this mess can figure out what she is doing and let us move on with our lives.

In the mean time, Salisbury (our builder) is generous enough to let us crash in a townhome not far from here for the next few months until everything gets settled. We are grateful for this, because as of Dec. 1 we would be homeless if it weren't for them.

So guess what we get to do this week? That's right, pack up and move out.

This is the start of our moving process. I hate it. But it's something we have to do. I'm glad Hayden is in this picture. She makes it look better:)

This is how Hayden smiles when we say "smile"
I love it.

So once we are out of here, I'm not sure when will be the next time I can be on the computer since I'm not sure we will have internet. But we won't be all the way moved out until Monday, so we still have time. Good stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families. I love turkey day and all the good stuff that comes with it. Hope your holiday is a blessed one!

Breathe In.....Breathe Out

I'm trying really hard to stay positive and look at the big picture of things. But I'm not going to lie, it's kind of hard for me right now. Especially when I have a little one that is not feeling up to par and has been doing this for most of the day:

Poor girl.
She started getting sick with a fever yesterday afternoon and she just wasn't acting like her cute normal self, so we decided to take her in to the doctor last night. She doesn't have strep, and I think we ruled out appendicitis and H1N1, so we think it's just the basic flu. After a pretty good night sleep, she woke up, threw up once, and has been off and on with seeming to feel well, and then seeming to feel miserable. It's no fun to see your baby like this. Breaks my heart.

To make things worse, we found out the reason our house isn't being built. (For those who are out of the loop, our house and a few others have been sitting for 11 days without anything being done since the framing. Meanwhile, other houses all around us are going up in 25 days or less). Basically, our builders no longer own the property where our house is being built, due to a long story involving fraud, theft and murder.

Seriously.

Some woman, who had millions of dollars, went to jail for tax evasion. While in jail, her husband and his business partner took $42 million of her money and invested it in land and property when the market was high. Our lot happens to be on some of that land that our builders bought from that husband. Long story short, the husband was murdered on a bad business deal, his partner now owns that land, the woman got out of jail and thinks those guys actually stole her money and she wants it back, which means she wants the land, which means we would be out of a house! She has put down what is called a Lis Pendens, which I think means "lawsuit pending" and basically means our builders are not allowed to do ANYTHING until everything is figured out on her end.

There are much more details to add, but I don't understand it all, so I'll stop at that. Possibilities: The woman will wise up, drop everything and the builders will resume work and finish our house in 15 days (please oh please); OR our builders offer her other pieces of land in return for the ones they have already started on, which could take a while; or it's a lawsuit against her that will take months and months.

We just have to wait and see what pans out. It's hard, because it is completely out of our hands. We can bail out now, but we would lose the $4000 Utah grant, which we really need for a down payment. So right now, we have to wait and see what the next week holds with this woman. Happy Holidays, right? !!!!

So, with a little help from running endorphins, I think the best way to find a happy place right now is to think of everything I am grateful for. 'Tis the season.

1. I love my husband. He has only Hayden's and my best interest at heart. I love that he can be a softie over some things, but he can be super assertive when he has to be, and it has paid off.

2. I love my baby. She is such a funny girl and helps me to be a better person.

3. I love my supportive family, on both sides. They are always there to lend a helping hand or an ear to listen.

4. I love my friends. They are so willing to help in times like these. I really appreciate it.

5. Our Realtor, Jim Cannon, who is fighting for us to get this whole mess figured out.

6. Carl's job. It is a blessing to us. We are so fortunate.

7. Our home right now. It's nice and it keeps us warm during these cold, snowy days.

8. Ella, of course.

9. Warm, gooey brownies from sweet friends down the hall.

10. Having a gym so close that I can use anytime I want (between the hours of 5am and 10 pm)

11. Good people who will actually read this whole post, even though it's a beast.

There are so many things I can put, but I'm tired now of thinking about all of this. I need to go eat the rest of those brownies and find my happy place.

Good things will happen. I just need to stay positive. I know I really do have a good life.