My new house numbers

Nephi always laughs at me because I've had an obsession with house numbers for years. I love them. I think it is a shame when they aren't treated as their own work of art. Call me nuts. I can't help it. When we bought this house I salivated over the possiblility of great house numbers. The old ones were small rusting numbers drilled in under the front light. Technically nothing wrong with them, I'm pretty sure they were serving their purpose well, but awful to me. So anyhow, here's my new numbers. Oversized - stainless steel - custom made beauties. I love them. Clean and modern. Because they're not under a light I put a spotlight in the ground pointing up at them at night. Very dramatic. At Christmas clearance sales I bought two more spotlights to point up at the two trees in front of the house and put them all on a timer. At night everything is lit up. I'm really happy with it. Mom, I know you'd like to see it but it wouldn't photograh well I'm sure. Enough about house numbers! :)

Christmas 2008

We had a GREAT Christmas this year. Nephi's brother, Jared, came from L.A. and spent 4 days with us. It was FUN! We cooked, baked, made candy, relaxed, watched movies, etc. The kids said over and over again that this was the best Christmas EVER! (Not that our other Christmases haven't been fun). The kids really bonded with Jared. It was so nice having him here. With being new in town we don't have close friends here yet so it was so good having family with us this Christmas. It really was our best Christmas ever.

But.....we still missed and thought of all you that we weren't with!

cutting out the gingerbread

The kids each had 3 cookies to decorate how they wanted. Jared let them pick out the colors for the frostings, we made them little decorating bags and they went to town. It was SO MUCH fun for everyone.

whoops, repeat picture.

In person they looked like something out of a Martha Stewart magazine.

Yes, I actually was there for all of this. A picture to prove it.


oh, so cute.....

Here we go....
starting with the stockings...

Laci trying to figure out if presents have her name on them.

Brigham checking out his Ironman

Brigham playing with his new Ironman and Batman.

quote of the day

Brigham: "Laci, what is the opposite of cracker? Is it chip or is it cheese?"
Laci: "Cheese."
Brigham: "Nope. It's chip."
Laci: "That's okay. Because I like chips."

Winter is here....

Our Christams Tree

In my haste to take a few pictures of mom's painting I snapped these pictures since the kids both wanted to be in a photo. nothing fancy.

Mom's new painting

Mom let me take one of her paintings. I thought it would look perfect on that wall and it does. It's on loan, but I don't think I'm giving it back anytime soon. I love it mom!

more photos from Thanksgiving in Mesquite

These are some pictures from our bonfire in the backyard. We were planning to go out in the hills and have a fire, but John was called into work so mom made a campfire in the backyard and we sat around and ate sandwiches! ha ha! The kids didn't know the difference. They had a good time.

Family History

Thanks to the Dec Ensign I learned about how I can do family history work at home. pg 74. Have you read it? It talks about the new program where anybody can download a new progam (FamilySearch Indexing) and you just upload a batch and you get to work. Basically it's data input. I started last night and I've done two batches. If I can figure it all out, anybody can. In the first batch I had to go through a scanned image of a census sheet from 1920 Illinois. Tonight I went through early 1900 New Hampshire births. Basically it's tedius work, but the spirit of Elijah is real. I truly feel good when I work on these. Except of course when I can't read handwriting. That can be a real challenge. Especially when you aren't familiar with some of the old fashioned names and towns you've never heard of. In my determination not to submit a bunch of crap to the church I googled until I found a good census listing from 1895 of the towns and cities in New Hapshire. Everytime I came across a town where the spelling wasn't obvious, I would just jump over to my town listing page and look until I could find a good match. That was awesome. If I hadn't done that, I would've been submitting some real unhelpful info. So that felt really good. I did send a couple projects back as soon as I looked at them because they were so faded it was impossible to deciper. I felt bad for those people. Hopefully they get found on other documents.
I'm grateful that I can finally be involved in family history. I've always felt bad/guilty that I've never done anything and I'm truly grateful to be a part of something so big. Maybe I can help make a difference for someone else.
I've always found it interesting that Heavenly Father has the power to get all the work done in no time flat and yet he gives all of us the opportunity to serve each other and no doubt form bonds (though we may not feel them yet in this lifetime)of love with others. I envy those people that have and are doing so much work for the dead that I can only imagine the wonderful bonds with people they will have when they get to the other side. That is sooo special.

On a side note: I think half of the 1895 New Hampshire population was named Henry Johnson. I have never seen so many Henry Johnsons in my life.

hello again...

Thanksgiving's over. We went to Mesquite and had a good time. I personally haven't been home for Thanksgiving since before Brigham was born. We had a good time. Grandma's 90th birtday party was on Saturday. How cool that we still have grandma at 90 years. I love her. I tell everyone that she was my second mother. We were very lucky to live next door to her and have her presence every single day. Pretty much everyone attended her party. It was a family reunion of sorts. I saw some cousins I haven't seen in years and that was really cool. Mom, uncle Don, and aunt Suzanne said a few nice words for grandma and we sang happy birthday. Very low key. The way we like it.

Tuesday

The tree guy has come and gone. I survived, correction: the house survived. Just as I planned I ran outside when I saw him go towards the other trees with his saw. I lamented my concerns to him about branches crashing down on the roof and/or knocking the satellite dish. We discussed it and he spent a lot of time planning how to go about it and I told him I would help. He took me up on it. He had me holding the rope pulling the BIG branches while he was up in the tree going at it with a chain saw. Trust me, we were a sight to be seen. When I wasn't holding the rope I had my face in my hands having panic attacks. But, to make a long story short-er, we took care of it, no damage, except a potted plant I should've moved. The trees I needed cut back are cut back. Success. The End. :)
When I came in from the backyard I realized that Brigham was talking to someone out front. A ward member had come to welcome us. As I walked out past our courtyard wall I greeted the guest then in the next second I looked around. Laci had brought out half of her wardrobe and many of her toys and they were laying across our front yard. Oh, also, there was a big cardboard box they had cut into a playhouse AND a ton of bubblewrap lying everywhere. My mouth dropped open as I looked at this woman and looked around our property. We looked like hillbilly's. I was horrified but because the horror was genuine I'm pretty sure she believed me when I begged her to know that our yard does not normally like this. While we stood there and talked I had to watch car after car and person after person go past our house staring our way, no doubt disgusted with the new trashy neighbors that just moved in. Anyhow, we had a good laugh about it and as soon as she left I picked it all up. It really was funny. Overall, I'm just grateful that the weather is so good that my kids are making playhouses outside. At 6pm tonight it was dark and they were still out front playing in their playhouse with flashlights. Unbelievable. Without jackets. I love Ogden.

Interesting....

My mortgage broker forwarded me this. She's a really nice lady and I must be on her contacts list. I definately will see if it works when we deal with coughs this winter. I wanted to blog it because I know many of my devoted fans (ha ha) may also benefit from it.


During a lecture on Essential Oils, they told us how the foot soles can absorb oils. Their example: Put garlic on your feet and within 20 minutes you can 'taste' it. Some of us have used Vicks Vapo rub for years for everything from chapped lips to sore toes and many body parts in between. But I've never heard of this. And don't laugh, it works 100% of the time, although the scientists who discovered it aren't sure why. To stop night time coughing in a child (or adult as we found out personally), put Vicks Vapo rub generously on the bottom of the feet at bedtime, then cover with socks. Even persistent, heavy, deep coughing will stop in about 5 minutes and stay stopped for many, many hours of relief. Works 100% of the time and is more effective in children than even very strong prescription cough medicines. In addition it is extremely soothing and comforting and they will sleep soundly. Just happened to tune in A.M. Radio and picked up this guy talking about why cough medicines in kids often do more harm than good, due to the chemical makeup of these strong drugs so, I listened. It was a surprise finding and found to be more effective than prescribed medicines for children at bedtime, in addition to have a soothing and calming effecton sick children who then went on to sleep soundly. My wife tried it on herself when she had a very deep constant and persistent cough a few weeks ago and it worked 100%! She said that it felt like a warm blanket had enveloped her, coughing stopped in a few minutes and believe me, this was a deep, (incredibly annoying!) every few seconds uncontrollable cough, and she slept cough-free for hours every night that she used it. If you have grandchildren, pass this on. If you end up sick, try it yourself and you will be absolutely amazed at how it works.DON'T SHUN THIS ONE.. TRY IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GET A BAD COLD.

Monday

The tree guy came today. He did alright. He didn't cut the tree down as far as I'd liked, but I didn't complain to him because I think the tree was a lot huger than he realized and I was nervous enough as it was. But the main bulk of it is gone. My rain gutter has a dent in it, but other than that we seem to have survived. He's coming back tomorrow to do a smaller tree that has branches leaning over the house. Okay, that one I'm nervous about. I will definately be out talking to him about that one. It's not major, major, (Remember that phrase Maggie?) but our satellite dish could possibly get hit and it would cost to have Dish network realign that. I'm not sure it's worth it. I'll have to see what he thinks and I'll probably hang around to assist a little.....More to come.....I'm sure you are waiting on pins and needles....

Laci started preschool. I got a lead from a lady at church and called the teacher last night. She said she had one opening left. Serendipity, right? (Is that the right way to use that word?) I took down the address and we decided to walk there since it sounded close. Turns out its around the corner from our house! You've got to be kidding (I thought to myself)! :) The teacher is AWESOME and she lives in a NICE house a 3-4 minute walk away. Halaleujah. Laci loved it. She made a new friend that she already wants to play with. Her name is Lexi.
Imagine: Laci and Lexi. How funny. So three days a week I am claiming some ALONE time again! I was planning on going to the gym but I'm going to put it off longer. I still cannot get over what a great running neighborhood I live in. I feel like I've rediscovered running. I've never seen such a hilly place. It's awesome. I have to say though....NOT so good for bike riding. Some spots are so steep it would be murder to let your kid ride down them and good luck riding up them. Impossible. However, great for those buns and thighs! yah, buns and thighs. (I've watched too much Sponge Bob)
It's been so mild here during the day. I only turn on the heat through the morning and evening hours. I'm finally enjoying the kind of sun that Kim in Idaho Falls has enjoyed for years because they're facing the right direction. I wore flip flops today and tomorrow it's going to be warmer. Yee haw!
Nephi and I registered our cars today. That was a small fortune. $300 total to register the cars. What a rip off. Why so much? In Idaho that same amount would've registered 5-6 cars. No kidding. I knew I'd moved to the big city when I went to the DMV. It reminded me of the old days of going to the DMV in Vegas. Very big, cold feeling, everything gray, security guards watching you. I'm glad I won't have to go there again for a long time hopefully. They have a renewal drive thru. Isn't that funny. Also, I guess you can just mail it in. I just love the idea of the drive thru though. Kind of like mom going through the flu shot drive thru. Genius.

A little taste of the show last night that I could find on YouTube

This is an actual clip from last nights show. You can see for yourself that Jon still can't dance. That's alright.

New Kids

I just got home from the New Kids concert. It's 12:30am. Whoo! It was fun. 3 1/2 hours of music. It started with Lady Gaga, then Natasha Beddingfield (spelled wrong), and then the New Kids. The concert was great. Definately a little cheesy at times, but I loved it because it was classic New Kids. They still dance like they used too. John is still a bad dancer. He was funny to watch. Nowadays he's highschool showchoir talent worthy, but I think he gets grandfathered in since he's a classic. :) I have to say, Donny was pretty hot. But Joey was GREAT. If you didn't look at the monitor and see his aging, you would think he was still a kid. Great showman. The last and only time I ever got to their concert was like 18 years ago (is that possible?) and Joey was sick. So it's the first time I've ever seen him. Holy cow. 18 years. You'd never know it's been that long. Not rusty at all, except Jon, who's always looked rusty.
Someone threw Donny an "I love Mormon Girls" shirt so he put it on. Pretty funny. Anyhow, had a great time. Danced the whole time as did my entire section. Fun fun fun.

tree trimming

We have a huge, looming tree we need cut down quite a bit in the backyard. I feared it would be very expensive so I worried about when I could get to it. When I was on craigslist I found an ad for tree trimming. I contacted the guy to come for an estimate and he came yesterday. He told me he'd cut the tree for $300. A really good price for major tree work. I was like, "How soon can you come?" So, I think he's coming Monday. After he left I looked over his flyer and thought, "Oh crap. What have I done?" "Does this guy really know what he's doing", as well as had a good nervous laugh over the rest of his skills. I told my neighbor about everything and he said, "Hey, if he gets your tree down for $300...Great!"
Do you suppose he trims trees wearing his Chips Patrol suit? :)
P.s. double click on the flyer to enlarge it.

New phone #

Okay, I have a phone now! So far so good. My new phone # is: 1-(801)-337-4223.

New Kids On The Block

So, as I was telling Kim in an e-mail, I was showing Brigham some "slammin" 90's dance moves and it made me nostalgic for the good old days. I remembered that the New Kids were coming to Salt Lake so I went looking for tickets. I ordered one and it just arrived Fed Ex today. I am especially pleased because I only paid a total of $65. (that included overnight shipping), and the face value of the ticket is $90. The show is actually sold out but I bought it from Stub Hub. Somebody probably thought they'd make a killing off these tickets and now they have to take a loss. I didn't know their original worth until I recieved it. I would not have paid $90 to go to the show. Sorry New Kids. You're not worth $90 bucks. But what a deal. It's in the lower bowl close to the stage so the seat should be great. I'm excited. I had decided to not go earlier, but in the end I couldn't resist. And, unlike my trip down to Utah for So You Think You Can Dance by myself, now my trip down to the e-center will be under 45 minutes I think. I'll bet I can still sing along to all of their old stuff. Woohoo! Should be fun!

NO PHONE

I knew it. I knew this phone thing was going to be a nightmare. Comcast came today and they couldn't install it either. I don't know why this has been so impossible. So, attempt #3: The comcast guy told me to get a vonage account. You buy the device that connects into your DSL and bingo, you supposedly get phone service. I activated the phone service and am paying for the package with unlimited long distance. So, I'll give you my new number when I hear with my own ears that I have a working line. They're overnighting the box. Of course after I ordered it I realized that I could have bought the box locally. Oh well, what's a days difference at this point.

After the yard work

This is how the property looked when we were done with yard work on Saturday. We cleaned out a lot of overgrowth, tore out some shrubs, pruned shrubs, raked leaves, etc. etc.

Since you've been here mom, I think you'll see the difference. It looks good doesn't it?

Settling in...

We've really been enjoying getting settled. It has been A LOT of work but it is fun when it feels more and more like our place. Pretty much everything is in. I don't know where everything is but it's all unpacked somewhere! On Saturday we spent almost the ENTIRE day doing yard work in the front of the home. I will try to take a picture tomorrow to show the "after" picture. We cut some stuff down, cleaned things out, etc. The landscape fits the contemporary style of the home now. We've enjoyed meeting our neighbors. Our next door neighbors are so wonderful. They have really made us feel welcome. I met the neighbor two doors down on Saturday and she announced to me on our first meeting that we were going to be workout partners! What?! That was funny. Oh well. I need a workout partner. She introduced Laci to a fluffy little poodle that was actually really friendly and CLEAN. She told Laci she can come over and play ball with it. Then she gave us a tour of her backyard which had a pool with diving board! There was a full on party area with bbq. She doesn't have children at home anymore so we are invited to swim at her home all summer. Man, do I know how to pick a neighborhood or what?
We went to church today. It was fine. It was church. What can I say. The bishop made no announcement for new members to meet in his office after church. That's what our old bishop did every week. So we left as soon as church was over. We didn't care. It was noon and we were hungry! Apparently this is one of those wards where they have to practically make up callings for people. I usually don't love those wards but whatever... maybe I'll get to be hymn book picker upper.
Tomorrow we're having some carpets cleaned, the tile shower steam cleaned. We need to get a checking account, etc. etc. etc.

Note: I have no phone until Nov 13th.

I have had a headache with my phone here. I had a dial tone yesterday and then not today. I'm fed up with Qwest and I'm swithching my phone to Comcast. It's nice to at least have options. Unfortunately my install isn't scheduled until Nov 13th! that is bad. On the upside, when it is installed, I will have unlimited long distance! That is very good. I hope they don't have trouble getting me hooked up. So, I can chat with people next Thursday afternoon hopefully. My new phone number will be 801-605-8013. We're moved in. We have lots of little things to do but we're living our lives. Brigham started school yesterday and is liking it. When life calms down a little I'll post more including pictures.

still waiting......

It is now Tuesday and I'm still waiting to move in. We closed last Thursday in Idaho Falls and closed in Ogden Friday. And we are still waiting. We were at a hotel all weekend and now we're at my cousin Shannan's home in Bountiful. We're having a good time here. My kids LOVE her kids and it's fun to visit with Shannan. It's just the kids and I. Nephi had to be back in Idaho Falls to work his final 3 days. He'll be here tomorrow. To make a long and tedious story short, it has been a circus dealing with the mortgage company. The credit/mortgage crisis has made it such a headache to get a mortgage right now. They are critical of everything. We really didn't have problems, they just can't seem to find paperwork so we've had to resend things more than once. ugh... However, the title company is standing by expecting funding any second and we should get the green light any time. All of our belongings are in the garage of the new home. So when we do get over there I'll be in an empty house with everything piled in the garage and no husband to help me move anything heavy. This should be interesting. It makes bumming at Shannan's house sound pretty good. But we need to ge a move on. I'm crossing my fingers and holding my cell phone. waiting.........

Exhausted.

Another big day. We have been loading a U-haul all day. Our buyer demanded proof that the trees along the property line were going to be trimmed, so I spent A LOT of energy and time getting that taken of. That was a circus not worth describing. Hours and $300. later we had a paid in full receipt that we could give to our buyer assuring her that the trees would be trimmed next week at no cost to her. Whatever... The final walk through was tonight. She actually brought her home inspector AGAIN (this is the third time people) to scrutinize every little thing we took care of from their list. Once we satisfied them that the house wouldn't burn or some other ridiculous thing they were actually nice to talk to. The buyer is a single mom and her child, a daughter. The daughter was so cute. I asked her which room was going to be hers and she said the blue room (Laci's). She seemed really excited and that made me feel good. Her mom said that she wants to sleep there tomorrow even though they won't have beds in yet. I'm glad that they truly like the house. It makes it easier to leave it to them, especially at the screamin' deal price they got on it. Gotta love this housing market.
So, I guess we're going to crash at Sunni's tomorrow (Nephi's sister) since we'll be lucky to close on Friday. On Friday we're planning for a final walk through, which by the way will be much friendlier and less critical than our buyers were. At the walk through we plan to subtly beg them to let us move in soon after we close instead of waiting a few days for the official funding (Funding takes longer these days). They seem like nice people. I think we've got a fighting chance. We'll be staying at the Fairfield Inn in Layton until we move in.
Okay, I'm going to fall asleep.

SOLD!

For over 3 months I dreamed of the day I would see a "SOLD" on my for sale sign. It's a good feeling.

Brigham had the last laugh

I planned for Brigham to go to school Monday through Wednesday this week. On Wednesday I was planning to go by the school and officially check him out. Well, he came home running home from school today so excited. He was waving around a book that his class made him today called "Brigham is so awesome because....". He dumped out his backpack that was full of school supplies and all kinds of things from his classroom. There was even a nice note from his teacher saying how much she'd enjoyed him. Wait a minute..... I asked Brigham "Did your teacher think today was your last day of school?" He sheepishly answered that he got mixed up and told them today was his last day. They had all kinds of celebration for him today from the sound of it. When I told him he still had one more day he started crying and I realized that yeah, that would be pretty lame to go back to school after they'd just had an entire day devoted to sending him off with a bang. I told him he could stay home on Wednesday. Pretty funny actually....

What a day....

Oh my goodness. This is quite a day. Jennifer, thanks for attempting to call me. Even if I were home I don't think I could've talked. I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.
Backing up.....A while back when I was at the SYTYCD show, I thought I lost my checkbook. I couldn't figure out how that happened, but my checkbook was definately missing. I had to put a stop payment of about 9 check numbers. Well, a week ago I found a checkbook in the back of a drawer and I thought, "Oh, hey! I didn't know I still had some checks in this book to use!" Brainless I know. So I wrote a check at the grocery store for 97.80 and guess what, a check to the title company for $2,000! I don't know how I figured it out, maybe this was one of those "inspired" moments but it suddenly just donned on me. As you can imagine, I went into complete panic. After freaking out and calling everyone involved I ended up wiring the 2,000 dollars to the title company and visiting the business office at the grocery store in person to apologize profusely and repaid them with a new check. I was lucky they didn't charge me a penalty fee. I did have to pay 25. to send the wire. Not bad for a big screw up really.
During all of this I had Brigham going to school, Laci going and coming to preschool, electricians taking care of the inspection report requirements, my loan officer needed an additional form downloaded, signed, scanned, and e-mailed back (which I've never tried to do before), my realtor calling........... And it's only 1:00pm!

BUT, I'm grateful everything is moving forward.... we are now scheduled to sign off on our current home next Wed afternoon and we'll close down there a day or two later. I'm exhausted!

Laci's quote of the day

Laci: "Mom, what are girls called in spanish?"
me: "Muchachas"
Laci: "Oh...what are boys called in spanish?"
me: "Muchachos"
Laci: "Oh....I see......Girls are muchachas and boys are nachos."

Our New Home

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to South Ogden. Since our home went under contract and they plan to close by the end of the month we HAD to hurry and get one under contract for ourselves. I have been "shopping" online for ages it feels like so I had a list narrowed down to a few. Most of them disappointed but after 3 visits to this home in one day we submitted an offer. After negotiations we came to a final agreement and it was done. It was crazy and exhausting. We love the home. I actually didn't love it on the first visit. I was luke warm I guess, but after looking at more homes, this home became more and more right. The style of it is so right up my alley. Contemporary with a lot of vintage charm. I think I was overwhelmed. so much to see in so little time. It's not perfect. There is a lot of tweaking for me to do. The landscape needs to have a little more modern feel, I want a modern tile backsplash in the kitchen, replace some of the lighting....modern house numbers...all in time.....
The backyard at first disappointed me but I have fallen in love with it. The kids had a blast running all through the terraced yard. There does seem to be just enough room in one area for our trampoline and that was a biggie with me. There's even a pond at the top for Koi fish. I'm pretty sure it will never see a Koi again. Too much work for me.
So if everything falls into place with both home sales then we'll be moving in about two weeks from now!!!! Knock on wood right?
I posted so many photos mostly for my mom who wants to see every nook and cranny so forgive me if you find it extremely overkill. I know it is.

the living room looking out towards the backyard. That's my realtor!

The front of the "court yard" . At least that's what I'm calling it...
This is the front "court yard". We'll be figuring out what to do with this.

this is the fireplace material

From across the street. To see it better, double click on the photo.
We are going to replace this driveway.
I LOVE the brick work

Sliding door from the master bedroom
The homeowner had a botany class and he had all these plants growing in buckets on his roof. I hope they don't leave those for us to dispose of. Oh well, if they do, I guess they're good buckets and good soil.

This view is taken from the sideyard looking towards the backyard.