I love these kids!

Here's Bryn with her Pink Panther glasses...she loves them!
Here's Carson sleeping in the middle of the night. I thought it was so cute how he was using his stuffed animal as a pillow.

Our APARTMENT!

Here are some pictures of our cute new place....new place for now :) We've got about half of our stuff in storage and the other half at our apartment. Of the stuff we have here, I've only unpacked stuff that i for sure will be using. So, don't ask me for anything, because there is a good chance I won't know where it is!


And on a totally different note, here is my new favorite song (click on the top clip): http://www.shrekthemusical.com/videos.html
I don't know why I think it's so funny, but I do...maybe b/c my kids think it's hilarious too!

Really, you don't have to read this...

In the last week, we've moved to an apartment, cleaned up our old townhouse, closed on our old townhouse, and still continued our search for a new house...with no luck! It has been a really busy week, as well as an emotional one! I had no idea how emotional I would be leaving my house....i love that house! I was happy to see that a nice military guy was buying it from us. Our apartment is nice. We were a little shocked to see that the ENTIRE apartment is hardwood flooring! Not a stitch of carpet anywhere....we quickly bought a rug for the family room to give us SOMEWHERE to play tickle monster on! It's also really loud, and we're on the top floor, I can't imagine what the people below us our thinking...the flying toys must sound like elephants or something! The apartment is cute, but it's a little hard having half of my stuff in storage and the other half in boxes in the apartment. I have lots of things put away, but other stuff I have no idea where it is. Like my church shoes...i have no idea where they are right now, I guess I can't go to church tomorrow :) I definitely don't hate the apartment, I just hate the fact that I have no idea where we'll be in the next couple months and that I have to move TWICE...ugghhh! But we'll enjoy our time around our Maryland friends a little longer!

As far as the house hunt goes, it is sooo frustrating!! Really, you don't need to read this, I think I'm just doing blogtherapy right now. It is so competitive and it really discourages me. We've looked at all of the foreclosures that are in our price range and basically are just waiting for new things to come on the market. The foreclosures are such good deals (and what we can afford) that they are so competitive and are on and off the market in days. When a new one comes on the market, everyone goes to see it! We went and looked at a house yesterday and it had been on the market for one day. There were already about 8 business cards on the counter and while we were there for 1/2 hour four people came to see it!!! So, anyway, we are starting to feel a little desparate, but we're not sure if we should or not. We are in our apartment lease for 3 months, but I don't want to be too picky and lose out on something. So, this house we saw yesterday was nice, about a 7/10. It would look even nicer with new carpet and paint. But, the backyard is basically non existant, but there is a elementary school RIGHT next door and so our side yard would go into the school property and playground. The hard part is just the comparing it to other houses we bid on that we're WAY better. This one is a little cheaper though, but not a ton cheaper. There is also another nice house that is an hour away from Dan's work (the other houses we've been looking at are about 30-40mins). We have lots of friends that live out there, which would be awesome, but we haven't wanted to look that far out yet. But, the houses down there are cheaper and one was just lowered to $100k less than other stuff we've been looking at. So, what do you think....farther and cheaper??? Or closer to work? Backyard or no backyard?? What's important to you if you were buying a house??

Okay, if you actually read all this you're probably really bored by now. Hopefully we'll have a house soon so I can post about something different! I'll also post some pictures of our apartment soon.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I
LOVE
DAN!

the end.

And the saga continues!

On Wednesday our realtor called and said he was looking at a house that would be perfect for us and wanted one of us to jump in the car and go see it. I immediately jumped in the car and sat in traffic for nearly 2 hours to go see this one house. When i got there, I was NOT disappointed....it was PERFECT!!! This house was gorgeous and had everything we wanted!!! We wrote a good offer and sent it over that night. The next day we found out they had several offers and we were in the top two...yeah! Well, today we found out that they picked the other offer for a "little more money" and they could close faster. We can close as quickly as the bank can work, but maybe the other offer had cash or something. I don't know why we are always runner-up for these houses...it's killing me!!! So, we still haven't signed a lease for an apartment and we are moving out in THREE days!!! We'll sign it tomorrow and be moving on Monday...blah! I am SOOO bummed yet again and really wondering when I'm going to get a house! It hasn't been super long, but we've tried REALLY hard for a month and put FOUR offers on houses and haven't gotten any of them!!! So, there's the continuation to the saga, I'll continue it as it comes along....wish us luck!

On a happier note, we went out with 4 other couples to dinner tonight and then to a Stake Valentine's Dance. It was sooo much fun! We went to a Japanese Steak house and it was a blast! It was great company, good food, and fun times!

We're not going to be Homeless!!

I was getting worried for a minute there! We close on our house next friday and want to move on monday and have no place to go...well, until now. We are pretty much a go for an apartment near our house (it's official after they do the credit check, etc). So, we may not have found a house yet, but at least we won't be homeless. This process has been a pain in the butt! We got totally screwed by another apartment, so we went to this other one. It's not really a big deal, just got me all annoyed and had to go put the smack-down on that apartment complex before going to get this one. But, i think we're all good now. Now enter the emotions. Okay, I had NO idea how sad I would be to leave this house. I love this house! I keep thinking of how weird it will be to not be in my home. But, I'm still hopeful that our new house is just around the corner (although we do have a 3 month lease at our apartment, so we've got time). Okay, enough of the house saga, are you sick of it like I am???

Am I being too mean???

My last post was all about how proud I was of my cute Carson. Today, unfortunately, is the opposite. He decided he didn't want to go to preschool today for whatever reason. I really wanted him to go b/c he always has fun and I needed a break too. I gave him the choice to go or else he had to sit in his room until lunch time. He picked the sitting in his room and has been up there whining/crying on and off for the last hour. Not that i think preschool is "soooo important", I just don't want him to think he can just stay home from stuff and play instead, you know what I mean? So, am I being to mean? He is just soo whiny lately that it's driving me crazy!!! Don't get me wrong, he really is a very sweet boy, but I think with all the changes going on lately he is a little more sensitive lately. After all our house is a wreck with boxes and stuff everywhere, we've all been sick lately, and his parents are stressed b/c we have nowhere to live in a week! Maybe in a few months when we are living in a nice house we can look back at this and just smile. We really are blessed, just frustrated a bit during this transition. Okay, now back to cleaning up the house...adios!

Carson's First Primary Talk!

Carson gave his very first talk in Primary today. He wasn't nervous at all and he did a fabulous job. Of course I whispered everything in his ear, but he did a great job speaking loudly b/c there was no microphone! He did great saying the whole talk nice and loud and holding up the couple pictures we had. I must admit, I was a very proud mama!! He was so happy and proud of himself after giving the talk, it was so cute! I think I'm going to be one of "those" moms that is so stinkin' proud of everything my little man does, is that so wrong?

Keepin' the Faith!

I'm going to remain strong and keep the faith that we are going to find a house perfect for us!! Because we're still looking...we didn't get the house we bid on. That's the 3rd one we've lost. Buyer's market my butt!! Okay, it is a buyer's market b/c the prices are $100k less, but it's so competitive, we can't win! This last one we bid over $20k more than asking...oh well! I'm keeping the faith...we're going to get an awesome house and you'll all be invited to come visit!! Apartment look out here we come!

Packin' Up

Is this really happening? Are we really moving? Do we really not know where we're moving to? Yep, it's really happening! We will be out of our house as of the 20th of this month...that's not very long from now! I just realized that maybe I should start packing up the house. But, how do you pack your house up when you are using all the stuff? A lot of stuff is already packed up and in storage, so that's good. Now we just need a place to live. We may have put another offer in on a house, but I won't say that, as not to jinx it our anything :) If we get it, then we should only have a week or so of homelessness (look out Pugs...here we come!). If we don't get it, we'll be hanging out in an apartment for a while. We went and checked one out tonight and it will do. I think we decided that instead of finding an apartment right next to Dan's work in VA, we will just get one right by where we live now so Carson, Bryn, and I can stay around friends and go to our same ward until we officially move into a house. No use uprooting the kids from everything they know just yet, right? But, alas, maybe we won't need to be in an apartment...we'll see. Either way, we are moving...in just over two short weeks. This brings on so many emotions for me. I am soo excited for a new bigger house, a real house, with a backyard and everything! But, I am extremely sad to leave our little townhouse. I'm not usually sentimental, but I love this house. It has been the perfect little starter house for us. I brought home my two babies to this house...heck, I HAD one of my babies in this house! I have so many fun and happy memories here. But, I know it will only continue in the next house. I'm also excited to make new friends. Sometimes I like having to introduce myself and meet new people. But, I'm also extremely sad to leave my friends here. I'm glad we will only be an hour or so away, so we can visit sometimes, but it won't be the same. I'll miss meeting friends for walks, going to the park, late night chats after enrichment nights, sit-n-chat, etc. I have never been in a ward before where I have truly felt like I had tons of REAL friends. I love it here! So, anyway, sorry to get so sentimental here. But, the reality of things has hit and I am getting a little sad...and a little excited! We'll keep you posted...we may be living in a van down by the river!