And when life starts looking up....something breaks.

It always seems like when something goes good, something else breaks. We are so happy with Chris's new job and we are looking forward to our upcoming trip to Hawaii. So what breaks? The water heater of course. Thankfully it's in the garage. Unfortunately, water seeps everywhere. Thankfully we caught it pretty quick. Unfortunately, there still was water damage and repair that needed to be done. Thankfully, we have good insurance! In all, the experience wasn't that bad. And now our new water heater is good to go for a long time.

New water heater with wall cut-outs to dry all the wet areas.

The entire wall with the water heater had to be cut.

The water seeped to the inside the house. The closet just needed new base boards.

 

This is the inside front closet. The only place on that level of the house that had carpet. It was soaked and had to come up to dry. Fortunately, we had leftover tile and we had them replace it with the tile instead of carpet. Bonus.

I should have taken some after pictures, but all is put back together and looking great.

Cool Summer

Last summer, we knew our A/C unit was running on its last leg. It would run so loud next to the family room window that we would have to turn up the TV if we were watching something. This year we had our usual spring maintenance on the unit and found out that it was time to replace it. So after a second opinion, much deciding, frustration that the tax refund money was not going to buy me a new TV, gratitude that the tax refund money nearly paid all of the service....we have a new amazing A/C and heating unit. I've learned a lot, but mostly I'm glad to know I have 10 year parts and labor warranty and that my unit won't burn out on me in the middle of the summer!

Old and busted

New hotness

A Fresh Look

When we bought this house, one of the things that was really nice is that all the rooms were already painted.  And they weren't just painted, they were painted well, in most cases.  The Chapman's (previous owners) had 4 sons, so not all the color choices jived with the girls.  So before we even moved in, we painted the girls' bedroom pink.  The playroom next to their room had this green color on it, with one of the walls done in a faux finish (or whatever it's called that makes it look like linen paper).

Now that we've officially been here a year, we decided it was finally time to paint the playroom.  When we lived in Springville, we painted the Nursery a buttery-yellow color that I really liked.  The choice had come down between a couple, and Cassi liked the other one.  She says she likes me to give my opinion, and I did then, but when we moved I learned that she really never liked that color.  Anyways, so this time I tried to leave the final color choice to her.  I still gave my opinion, and fortunately, we BOTH picked the same color.

Before

After

The lighting isn't great, but we LOVE the new color.  It reminds me of a cloud-less sky.  Some day, I may get brave enough to add a 360-degree sandy beach-scape to it.

Our house

I finally have a picture to share of our new house. We still love it and we love being here. Oh, and I should add that the van is not mine. My parents got to visit for a few days, and that's my mom's van. We do realize though, that our time is soon coming to be van owners, just not today. I didn't add any pictures yet of the inside...it's still a work in progress! Most of the unpacking is done. I'm still working on the organization and decorating.

We are alive!! Warning....long post!

Wow. Time has gotten away from me. I know I haven't blogged in....forever. To my credit, I have just barely gotten settled enough to have my own computer ready. There is so much to say...so little time. I don't even know where to start, so much has happened. We officially did sell our UT home on July 14th. That was the first of not-so-smooth transitions. The movers came a day earlier than I expected. Then we ended up (while the movers where taking stuff out of my house) almost not selling the house. We had to put more money in because the buyers didn't have enough. Ugh. What else are you going to do on moving day? Just give in and walk away. Then we spent the remainder of that week in a hotel so Chris could finish the work week in Provo. Then Friday, July 18th we left UT and headed to my parent's house in Las Vegas. Chris left the next day to get to AZ so he could start working from home the following week. I spent the week with my family including my sister, who also came. We ended that week with my mom's birthday on July 25th. It was a really fun week. That's when the "fun" began. Now, I have to interject that we thought we were closing on our AZ home (the one that we wanted) on Aug. 1st. We found out on July 25th that the appraisal of the home came back $44K less than our asking price. Waaaayyy too low. Lower is better, but not that low. Both realtors felt that it was unfair and we asked for an appeal. As we were waiting for the new appraisal number to come back, we were unsure if we were going to have to start over or just wait this one out for....who knows how long. It ended up that the new appraisal came up $10k and the sellers came down $27K, then we compromised on the rest. We closed on our AZ home Aug 12th, after almost one month of being in storage. I have to admit, though, that the time went pleasantly. We were all ready to get into our home, but being with my family for a week and then living with the Partridge's made everything so easy. Well, after getting our home on Aug 12th, we had to wait until Aug 18th for the moving company to bring our things. This is when I lost it. I was going to rant on and on about the not-so-good experience I had with Global Moving and Storage, but it now seems not worth it. I thought I had done such a good job researching companies and getting one that was good and had high Better Business Bureau ratings and good comments. I just didn't feel I got the service I was told I was going to get. And in the end there were broken things that I specifically didn't want broken, boxes that were so mushed and cruched it was like they played soccer with them. So, all I have to say is never use that company. We are here now and settled and loving it! We love our house! The girls love playing with the cousins as much as they can get, and they love that it is still summer...and Katelyn hopes, it always will be. The girls have adjusted really well. We just so grateful we are finally here.

So, for the next bit of news about our family is that we are having another baby! I know, for some this is new news and for some this is old news. But we are so excited! We just found out this week that it is a BOY!! What? What do I do with a boy? I have all girls stuff. Everything is pink. I am getting really excited though. It's almost the excitement of a first baby because you need to buy everything new. Katelyn was with us in the ultrasound and her comment was, "But I though it was a girl, oh well, I guess it's a boy." She is so excited too. I'm going to have 2 little mommy helpers. The baby is due to come February 3rd...or, you know, whenever he feels like it!

Oh, there is so much more to say, but I'll stop for now and try to get some pictures together to show next time. I just couldn't wait any longer to post something!

Houses, houses, houses

I don't have any pictures to post today, but it's been a few weeks now, so I had better post something, right?!? We are moving forward with selling our Utah home and buying one down in Arizona. We went down last week to Arizona for our final push to find a house. We walked through seven houses, one that Cassi had been through before. We came down to three really good options, and decided on one to make an offer on. There were a lot of things going for this house.

1. The location is perfect. We will be in the same Jr. High and High School boundaries as Amy, and we're close enough to the Elementary School boundaries that we might be able to do a waiver.
2. The layout is very nice. It has 5 bedrooms, so there's one for me to work from home in, away from noise or commotion from the rest of the house. The girls can share a room downstairs, and have a playroom too. There's a separate family room and living room and dining room - all things I especially wanted as we looked for houses. The backyard is big enough, but not mammoth. Finally, it has a 3-car garage. I don't plan on getting a 3rd car for a long time (if ever!), so we will make good use of the extra storage space.
3. The house had a great feel. It's nice to find a house that has been taken care of, and this family has done that here. I enjoyed seeing the Family Proclamation displayed, as well as other family/church-centric decorations. We got to meet them a couple times as we saw the house during the week, and they just have to be good people.

We made an offer the day we decided on it, and it was accepted! I'm going to be careful about posting pictures of it after we've signed papers and have the keys in hand.

This past week has been busy packing here in UT. As we got ready for the drive back, Mom and Dad offered (and we accepted the offer) to let the girls stay in AZ with them this week until they come up to Utah for the 4th of July. We (and I really mean Cassi, since she's been home the most and has put in the most work on it) have packed a lot of boxes this week, as well as gotten really close to booking a company to move all this stuff down there. It looks like our house here will close somewhere around the 25th of July, and then we will close on our house in AZ around the 1st of August. It's been fun, and I get more excited each day to get down there and start our new adventure in the new house.

As far as progress, we have the inspection done, and soon will get the appraisal. Then we'll lock down the price. (If it appraises less than we offered, our realtor is going to work to get them to lower down to the appraisal.)

Well, it's late/early. Tonight (July 3rd) we get to bring the girls home. It's been really nice to have the extra freedom to pack and focus just on the house. but we're really excited to see them and have them back with us. It's amazing how you miss them when they're gone for just a few days. All the reports from Grandma and Grandpa are that they've been great, so we'll have to find some prize for them when they get home.

Vacation - Day 7 (June 6)

This morning we sent off our acceptance to sell our house! It seems a little surreal, but we're really excited. Now we have to make sure everything goes through, and decide on one to buy in Arizona! We'll always remember that we sold our house while we were in Hawaii.

Surf's up! Today was surfing day. Some of the kids had surfing lessons, but the younger ones came along to watch (and play Ring-Around-The-Rosies). We started the day at the Royal Hawaiian Surf Company. We got rash-guard shirts and shoes before walking over to where they keep the surf boards.


We carried our boards out to the beach for a quick lesson, then it was surfing time!





Tonight the menu was BBQ. The boys cooked up a whole bunch of burgers, hot dogs, bratwursts, and italian sausages. Most days it gets windy by dinner time, so we decided to eat a little earlier tonight. The trade off today was that it was hotter, and the sun was still high on the horizon. I let Katelyn use my sunglasses so she would eat her dinner.



The after-dinner activity included the white-envelope game at Grandma-ma's room. Everyone in my family loves this game, because it always means we get some money. Cassi and I came out great, with $100. Thanks, Grandma-ma!

Vacation - Day 6 (June 5)

Today's schedule: Horseback riding and free time. The horseback riding was for the boys (me, Ryan, Brett, and Dad) and Grandma-ma. They messed up the reservations yesterday and Grandma-ma couldn't go, so we welcomed her with us.


The ride was good, although I've learned that the Lahaina side of Maui stays pretty dry during the spring/summer, and the grass is more yellow. Maui's still one of the most beautiful places on the planet, but the view from our last trip (around a Christmas time) was a lot greener.


We rode along a trail near the West Maui Mountains and above where a lot of luxury homes are being built. They told us about one we could see that is Oprah's. Apparently, she has 5 houses on Maui (and others on other islands). The turn-around point of our trip was a snack at this "hale" (hut). We took a quick picture of the whole group, and then rode back to the stables.


It was a good ride, though I think most of us enjoyed the ride last time better. Cassi and the girls did some laundry and then went to the pool. I joined them after I got back and lunch.

We also progressed today in talks about our house. The family who offered counter-offered our counter-offer. We're going to sleep on our decision and send our response tomorrow morning. All-in-all, it's pretty exciting to be at this phase of selling our house. We really need to start getting more serious about deciding on one in Arizona now.

I took the girls and Bradley and Bryson up to our room for quiet time. The boys watched "Return to Neverland" for the first time, and Katelyn was thrilled to have them with her.

Vacation - Day 5 (June 4)

Today we just relaxed at the pool in the morning. At lunch time, I brought Megan up to the room while Katelyn and Cassi went to the beach for a little while. About halfway through her peanut butter open-faced sandwich, I saw she was starting to daze a little. I watched her another minute and saw her sway as her eyes were drooping and closing. She fell asleep sitting up! I didn't grab the camera because I didn't want her to fall off the stool, but it was a priceless moment.

** Housing update: We're waiting until tomorrow for our buyers to meet with the realtor and discuss the offer.

The highlight for the day was dinner. We went to a Luau at the Sheraton at Black Rock, just down the beach from The Whaler where we're at. After quiet time, Cassi and the girls went down to the shopping area and found a new hawaiian dress for Katelyn.


On the way over, we saw a cool rainbow.


We let the kids run around a little before finding our table.




During the evening, there were some really cool sunset shots.



The show at the luau was really fun. Katelyn said the dancing was awesome. I think my vote goes to the fire dancer. Katelyn and some cousins went up and did the hula on stage for a little while. I'll try to post some video from it. Katelyn picked this dancer as her favorite.