Christmas

What an amazing Christmas. We moved into our house only 2 days before Christmas and were able to get the tree up and decorated, the stockings were hung, and the elf even found us at our new home. We are loving it. It feels like home. WE. ARE. HOME.

I will post pictures soon. I promise. I just want to get the wall pictures hung....

Santa came and brought the kids oodles of toys and other junk that we won't remember in a month. But, it was fun nonetheless. Garrett was soooo excited and kept running to the window looking for Santa or "Bah" as he called him. The kid is pretty smart and knew exactly what was happening. He had sat on Santa's lap a few days earlier so he knew that toys were on the way. When Gracie woke up in the morning, she got Jake and they went to wake Garrett up. He was so happy that Santa had come he was shaking. I have never seen this reaction from a baby in my life. Talk about the good stuff. Anyway, the highlight were the Glitter balls that the kids got. When Gracie sat on Santa's lap, the only thing she asked for was a glitter ball and she did mention that she had a list.... but that seemed secondary to the ever facinating GLITTER BALL.... you know the ones full of water and glitter. They actually are pretty entertaining.

We had an equally amazing New Years... the big night consisted of a house full of good friends and family for food, games, fireworks, and noise. The kids ran wild and we gambled with the ladies coming away as winners. Woo Hoo for 2010!

HOUSE. IS. DONE.

now I can make it a home.....

Update

Garrett has been talking like crazy for about the past two weeks. I was getting worried because he didn't say anything but mom and dad for the longest time... but now, he repeats everything we say. He Calls Gracie Doo Doo and he says shoes, juice, bear, ball, no, baby, ba ba, car, tractor, more, mama (grandma) and Bob (Grandpa). I am sure there are a lot more words that I don't understand quite yet. ha ha! Garrett was asking for juice the other night and I was too lazy to get out of bed so I told him to go ask grandpa for some juice. He ran out of my room and yelled "BOB, Juice" It was the funniest thing... I didn't even know he knew my dad's name. His hair is finally growing and will become a full mullett shortly. Sooo Excited about that. I tried to cut it around his ears and in the back with no success. Oh well.

Gracie is wonderful and is behaving well for Santa Clause. There is still the occasional melt down but that is expected. She is only five... at least that's what I keep telling myself. She is writing and coloring all the time. She made her Christmas list and just needs help with the spelling. She is learning a ton in school and loves it. She was sick yesterday and cried because I wouldn't let her go to school. What an over achiever.

Jake is sooo busy building our new house. He is gone almost every night doing something. We are hoping to be in on the 23rd of December... just days before Christmas. I pray that we can pull it off. The house is coming along and I am loving it. Painting starts this week and I think stucco goes up Friday.... YAY! I have been choosing colors like crazy and although overwhelming... I still love it. I hope it all comes together. I tend to go with simple choices so hopefully it will all flow.. I did not choose any chandeliers for this house. Only can lights and ceiling fans. Did I say Simple or what?

I am doing well. I just had surgery last week and I feel good. LOVING my kids and my wonderful parents for helping out so much. I am soooo grateful for my full life and all the amazing people I love.

House Update

These pictures were taken last week but now we have windows and doors, the rough electrical is finished and we have our 4-way inspection today. The tubs are installed and the porch is poured... YAY! we are getting closer every day! More pictures to come soon.

Making Progress

Foundation....

We have a foundation.... Basement, concrete walls... whatever you want to call it is fine with me! I am a happy girl and I love seeing the progress of our NEW HOME!

Oh Holy HOLE!

We have finally broken ground for the new Home! We dug on September 5, 2009. What an adventure. Kory, our brother in law, is an awesome excavator and hooked us up with his Skillz and a full day of HARD Work! Thank you Kory! We are super excited. This is the start of our new life and we are never moving AGAIN! No, Seriously.. Never!

OH HAPPY DAY.. Oh happy Hole!

And the verdict is.....

We are going to build.... AGAIN!


I am so excited this week. We found a lot and closed on Monday. The lot is in South Jordan in the best neighborhood ever. We are going to be on Thomas View Circle.... crazy! The land used to be Jake's Great Grandpa's farmland and then his great uncles land. It was developed a few years ago and the lots were selling at $240K. Now that the market turned, we were able to buy one at an affordable price and it was not a short sale.

I think I might be more excited that the house hunt is over. I DO NOT like dealing with short sale properties. We had put two offers in on two different short sale homes and waited and waited and still heard nothing. Also, one of the homes we had put an offer in on was diminishing by the week. The previous owners were "stealing" all of the fixtures, including lights, plumbing fixtures, garage door openers, appliances, etc. What a nightmare.

Anyways, our search is over and I am extatic... the only sad part is that we don't know when we will be able to start building. Oh well, good things come to those who wait. :)

House, I will miss you!

Moving day is coming near... I am sad to move but super excited for the unknown. We are still not sure where we are going to end up. We'll be staying with my parents until we decide either to build again or buy something existing. The thought of building again is wonderful because we can get exactly what we want in the location we want to be. But, there are amazing deals on homes that are already built with yards and fences and finished basements.

This is a short farewell to my amazing home. We built this home and moved in March 17, 2008. Jake and I designed every last inch of it. It truly is the perfect place but moving on is what we do. I do hope we can stay put once Gracie gets into school. Who knows though.