The FUN Part of Moving

EMPTY BOXES!!

Uh-oh

Apparently Fred the Fish needed more food to eat . . . and Matty needed more supervision.
Hopefully Fred is smart and didn't eat himself to death. Poor Matty cried when I explained it wasn't good to give Fred so much. He's told Fred how sorry he is several times.

The fish bowl needed cleaning anyway.

Thankful Thursday

1. No downstairs neighbors. I've had to stop myself more than once as I went to tell Matty he was being too loud for downstairs. Now he can't bug anyone but us! And that's what Tylenol is for. :)

2. My mom. She has been with us off and on for over 2 weeks. She helped me clean the old apartment for 2 days, watched my kids, often put them to bed, helped clean and paint this house, started the massive weed pulling effort that needs to take place here, made sure the kids were fed, and a million other things. Couldn't have survived this move without her!!

3. Finished cleaning the old place. I'm SOOOO thankful for this. I was getting really sick of feeling like I still lived in two places, running back and forth all the time. Now all I have to do is turn in my keys tomorrow and I'll be done with it for good!

4. Seeing old friends. I went to a baby shower Tuesday evening for a friend who used to live in my apartment complex. There were many other old friends from that same complex there, and it was so great to see them all! I actually didn't get home until almost 11:30 PM! I've never had such a good time at a baby shower. :)

5. Subway. We wouldn't have had much dinner lately without them. ha ha

10 Lessons From Moving

A few bits of wisdom I've picked up over the course of this move:

1. Moving is a great weight loss program. Losing 5 lbs in 24 hours almost made up for the stress-induced weight gain of buying a home and packing.

2. No matter how many times the one-year-old goes down the stairs successfully, it does not guarantee eternal success at it. She fell from top to bottom earlier today. :( (She's fine.)

3. Jossy is not the only one in danger of falling down the stairs. I might have some bruises myself to prove it. I guess we know where her klutz gene comes from.

4. It doesn't matter how many square feet you have, the little ones will still follow you around and climb all over you.

5. MOVING STINKS! I don't want to do it again until I'm 80 and can get all my strapping young grandsons to pack and move my stuff into the nursing home for me. :)

6. Feeling does eventually come back to your feet after moving, but it takes a few days.

7. A 16-foot moving truck isn't as big as it sounds. And it really isn't big enough to move a two-bedroom apartment, despite what the woman behind the counter tells you.

8. Having a garage that opens into the kitchen is as awesome as I had hoped. Being able to take in groceries today while the sleeping kids waited in the car was a huge relief compared to trying to drag them and the groceries at the same time up a flight of apartment stairs.

9. Being able to shower in my own bathroom without stepping on a million kid bath toys is almost as cool as the garage into the kitchen thing.

10. There's no such thing as too many moving boxes, but having too few is a definite possibility. . .and not so fun.

A Peek Inside!

We've been working hard the last few days getting the rooms painted that we felt were necessary. I had to paint both kids' rooms plus the living room and kitchen spaces. I originally wasn't going to paint the kitchen at all. (I didn't love the color in there but didn't hate it.) But when I finally picked a color for the living room it didn't go with the current kitchen color, so I just painted the whole thing the living room color. Neither Dan nor I had much experience painting, but we've got it now!

So here's a little peek at before and afters!

Matty's room:
Was purple, now it's a light blue. I love being in his room. The color is just what I wanted.

Before

After

Jossy's room:

Was brown. Now it's a light green. It's a titch brighter than I expected it to be, but I think it'll grow on me, especially once I get her stuff in there and can accent it with a light purple.

Before

After

The living room:
It was a peachy tan color. Just not my thing. Dan and I both grew up in white-walled homes, so it was a big risk for us painting it a color other than something completely neutral. I didn't like the color we chose so much as it was going on, but it's definitely grown on me now that everything's done. Since I know someone's going to ask, it's Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware and is a pretty popular color. I tend to shy away from popular things, but I liked this color and figured I should get to have a color I like in my new home whether it's popular or not.

Before

During

After

Kitchen/Dining:
This was a lime/mint green color. Not the best, not the worst. It's now Silver Sage as well. I like having the rooms on the main floor match. This space took us all day today. I'm so glad it's done! It was a total beast.

Before

During

After
The small color change really helped tone down the kitchen.

We never could have gotten all this done without the help of my mom and other family. One sister has let my kids play at her house the last two days, and another sister came to help us paint the second half of today. My mom has been down here every day either helping us paint or watching the kids. I'm so thankful for the help they were able to give us!

Just two more pics for fun.

This is the view out our master bedroom window at night. (Pardon the lack of steady hands in a dark setting.)

And this is Jossy's favorite thing about the house:
She loves to bump her bum down those stairs, climb them and do it again. Notice the orange wall behind her? Yeah . . . not such a fan. We really wanted to get this hallway, the stairs, and that orange wall painted but it's not going to get done before we move in. Probably in the next few weeks though since we really don't like that space. We still have a ton of yard work to do but that, too, will have to wait until after we move. For the next few days the focus is on actually packing. Ugh!

Here and There

I've had a couple random pictures to share but haven't gotten around to it because I usually edit and resize them in Photoshop first. I don't have time for that right now, so you just get these in all their raw glory.

My little ballerina loves to sit on these chairs.

Jossy randomly goes to sit in Matty's lap.
She loves getting his attention. Poor Matty gets
picked on a LOT by her.

Chocolate chip cookies: the newest fashion statement
This girl is OBSESSED with brushing her teeth!
She'll throw a major fit if she's in the bathroom
and you don't hand her her toothbrush!

Things have been super busy and stressful around here. Closing Wednesday had it's hiccups, but we finally finished around 7 PM. Everything was finalized Friday. The seller's realtor still hasn't come to get the realtor's lock box off the front door, but we had the key and went and had the locks changed at Home Depot anyway. They took off the lock box and just gave it to us. We're hoping that realtor comes along eventually to claim it.

Thursday my mom and I cleaned the new house while my kids ran crazy around us throwing one tantrum after another for attention. Friday we finished cleaning and got started taping in order to paint a few rooms. Saturday we went to the new Harry Potter movie in the morning, then over to the house until 9 PM or so. Dan and I painted Matty's room while my dad got the locks changed, fixed needed repairs, and cleaned the carpet everywhere but the basement. My mom was in charge of the kids but she goes crazy not being able to help us, so at times she would help with something while the kids ran amuck again and made everything 10 times more difficult. Not a fun day!!

Tomorrow and Tuesday we're painting whatever we can get done. Wednesday we have a spider spray company coming in the morning (the spider's are horrible on the mountainside!) which is why we have to be done painting before then. The company said if we painted over the chemicals it would lessen its effectivness. Then we'll be packing Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday, and moving on Saturday. Busy busy busy week ahead!! Hoping we survive it! (And more importantly, hoping the kids do!)

Thankful Thursday

1. WE CLOSED ON OUR HOUSE YESTERDAY!!!

Thankful Thursday

It's super late and I've got a baby with a fever who will probably be up several times tonight (but what's new about that??) so I'd like to get to bed ASAP! Here's my quick list for the week:

1. Sparkly toes!! I went to Arianne's glitter toe party tonight and got my piddies all dolled up. It's nice to feel a little "girly" and less "mommy." :)
2. Nearing the closing line. We're still hoping to close next week on the house, but there are a few things holding us up. Hopefully it will all be done by this time next week and I'll be able to BREATH again!

3. Coupons. I love to get a good deal, though I'm nowhere near as good as some of you whose blogs I follow. Still, I try. Today I got 6 boxes of cereal at Albertson's for just over $6 total plus a free Redbox rental with the deal. Sweet! Now I just need space for all this cereal . . .

4. Dinner with friends. I got to get out TWICE this week with friends. That's unheard of for me! Besides the glitter toe party tonight, I got to go to Mimi's with some friends on Tuesday. It's been a while since I've gotten together with these girls, and I had a great time! We all met over 5 years ago on-line at an infertility website, and we're still good friends. :) There were 9 of us there, and many more we wished could've come!

(Totally stole this pic from your blog, Kristine. )

5. SYTYCD. Really enjoy watching So You Think You Can Dance. I got into it a few seasons back and love it!

The 3rd of July

The city my parents live in always does their 4th of July celebrations on the 3rd. I don't know why exactly, but it's always been like that. My parent's live on the same street as the golf course where the fireworks are shot off, so it makes it easy to just walk back to their house when things are over and get the kids right to bed as opposed to trying to maneuver through massive amounts of traffic. That benefit is pretty much what keeps us going every year. This year, however, they didn't get to bed until 11:30 because we let them stay up for some sparklers. You can bet they both conked out in 2 minutes flat!

My sister's family brought some friends of theirs and Matty quickly became attached to their kids. He had a blast playing with them while we waited.

Dan's sister Desiree also joined us this year.

Jossy laughed and jumped up and down for the first bit. Then she got bored and walked all over everyone. Matty sat with his new friends.
Back home for some sparklers

The next morning we went to the ward breakfast with my parents. 5 minutes before leaving for it we decided to let the kids walk in the children's parade, so we quickly decorated the stroller. Notice how enthused Jossy was to sit in it.

The Story Behind the House

And there is quite the story. Here's a bit of it for those who've asked for more details:

We've looked for a house for over 2 years now, taking breaks here and there for holiday seasons, to have a baby, etc. We found this one back in January the same day we went to the Auto Show. We had seen it and a few other houses in the morning, got a call from our agent while at the auto show letting us know there were other offers on it, immediately rushed my parents over to the house to see it, and decided to put in an offer that night. After a few days of reworking our offer, we learned that ours was the best. It's a short sale so we knew it was up to the seller's bank to approve at that point, but we were willing to hang in there while keeping our options open and looking at other homes. After a few months, we considered just dropping out of this one because it was such an emotional roller coaster, but something always kept us going. . . barely. We continued looking at other houses and even came close to putting in several offers, but each time we went to write an offer the house would already be under contract. Since January, every time the phone rang Matty would jump up and ask, "Is it the bank?! Did they say we can buy the house now??" How sad is that!?!

Over the 5 MONTHS it took to get the bank's okay we were told things like "We're really close to approval!" and "The bank said they'll be getting back to you no later than next Tuesday." It was a really frustrating time! I never blogged about any of it because I just didn't want the frustration seeping into one more part of my life, but some of you may have noticed how much my blogging slowed down since January. This mess is one reason why.

After a whole bunch of other issues, we finally got the approval and a signed contract mid June. The seller's don't even live in the state, so the house has been vacant for a while. That meant we had some issues getting the water and gas turned on for our inspection, since the seller's aren't willing to pay a dime for any of that. There are a few things that we'll have to fix with the house, but they're all pretty minor, just going to take some time and effort.

The house is near American Fork Canyon. It wasn't an area we originally wanted to look at and the yard is much smaller than we had hoped for, but we've since changed our minds about the neighborhood and are also looking forward to spending less time mowing the grass. :) I've been a little spoiled at my current location because pretty much any major store is within 5-10 minutes and now it will be more like 10-20, but that's still not bad.

The house has 5 bedrooms with 4 on the top floor and one in the basement. We'll be using the smallest bedroom upstairs for a playroom. (YAY!! A place for all these toys I keep tripping on!) I also love that it has the laundry room upstairs with the bedrooms. The basement bedroom will be used to store all my junk hobby supplies. There are 2 bathrooms upstairs and a half bath on the main floor. The basement is finished except for the bathroom. There's also cold storage down there. The lot size is only .13, but like I said we're okay with that. It's big enough for my kids to run around and play, and that's what matters. It comes with a big wood swing set, too. :)

We plan on closing in less than 2 weeks. Then we'll take a week or so to paint and fix stuff, then move and clean up the apartment in time to turn in the keys at the end of the month. It's going to be a busy couple of weeks! Last time we moved, Matty was just 6 months old. I'm not looking forward to packing boxes with 2 kids who think it's fun to UNpack things. Poor Grandma is going to be babysitting A LOT if I can help it!

I have a ton of pictures of the house that I've taken, but as I went through them I decided I'd rather show the inside AFTER I'm able to get in there to paint and make things how I want. So I guess you'll have to wait for those. But here's one of the backyard:


Thanks for all the congratulations and excitement for us. I'm excited but also really nervous about the change to home ownership and all that comes with it. Hopefully the transition isn't too bad. It will be soooooooo nice not to have neighbors above and below us anymore!!

Thankful Thursday

Stressful week!! But many things to be grateful for...

1. Thunder and laughter. I LOVE thunderstorms, and we had a good one yesterday. It was extra special because I got to witness Jossy's first real reaction to a storm. She laughed and laughed every time we heard thunder. It made me smile.

2. Elevators and laughter. Similar to number 1. When we went on our vacation, we were staying on the fourth floor. Every time we got in the elevator, Jossy would just stare at the doors waiting for them to open again. When they did she would throw her arms out in excited surprise and then laugh. If elevators didn't make me a little sick, I could've stayed there all day just to watch her reaction over and over. :)

3. Bethany D. Yep, you've totally made my thankful list this week. Thanks for being a great friend and letting me call you way too much with all my silly stresses. :)

4. Paying my last check for rent.

5. Only having a few weeks left to share this apartment with the ants that have taken over.

6. Having this to look forward to:
:)

Disclaimer

Okay, I guess I didn't realize that there would be a difference in pictures with the glow sticks between my DSLR and my regular digital. For the latter, my pictures look like this:

Not nearly as cool.

Maybe yours will turn out better than that, but I just had to point out that a DSLR does a better job. Sorry I didn't realize it sooner!

Glow Sticks and a Bathroom

Some consultant at Dan's work gave him a pack of 100 glow sticks for no reason, just for fun. We broke out a few when he got home tonight and had a good time with them and the kids taking pictures in the dark of the bathroom. They loved it, and to be honest we enjoyed ourselves, too!

This is with the flash on. . .

. . . and here it is off!

Dan and I entertained ourselves trying to make patterns while Matty was content to just fling his about as fast as he could.

So if you're in the market for some cheap entertainment, we recommend this one!