The house I grew up in...

My mom is getting ready to move out of the house that I grew up in.  I am very happy for her but feeling a little sad about seeing it go.  This house has been such a part of my life for 30 years.  So many memories have been flooding my mind these last few days that it has made it a little difficult to say goodbye.  My mom, she is ready to go.  This was made very clear to me by a statement she made the other day.  I asked her if she was sad to go because of the memories. She said, "Jen, it is only a house... it is a thing.  My memories are with me and I can take them anywhere I go." What more can I say except she is right.  I will always have my memories, but this - this is just a house and it is time for someone else to make their memories there.  My mom met the cute family who will be moving into this house next week.  A young couple with a small girl - I am sure it reminded her of when my dad and she moved in - I was only four. They were so excited, just like this young couple to finally be in their own home.  After she met with them, she said that she was ready  - that she felt the house would be in good hands.  I am not good at saying goodbye, but it is time.  Goodbye to my little house and my old neighborhood.. to the cute park down the street and to the ward I grew up in. It is time for us to go.  We are moving on to experience something new and are so excited to see what life brings us.

Ok - two not so good pictues...

So, the pictures aren't great, but you can definitely see that there is progress - YAY!!  We had our framing walk through last Thursday and we were told we are basically 60 days out - bummer!!  My mom was a bit down when we heard that because we thought for sure it would be the first of November, but we are getting there.  The picture at the bottom the south side of the house and you are looking at our eating nook - love the windows!!  Anyway, the roof has been completed since these pictures as well as all the insulation has been installed...so we are moving along.

Times are a changin...

At first I will apologize for not having any pictures... frankly things have been so crazy this summer that we haven't had time for much of anything fun.  Poor kids, poor hubby!!  We have worked all summer at getting my mom's house ready to sell as well as Andrew's mom's house.  After my dad passed away, we were worried that we wouldn't have time to get everything done and the house sold before the new one was ready.  Boy were we wrong.  We listed my mom's house on a Monday and it was sold by Wednesday.  That offer fell through, so we listed it again on a Monday and had it sold by Tuesday and that one also fell through.  Finally we were able to list the house on a Saturday and it was sold by Monday - and it looks like this one will stick - aghhhh!!!!  Anyway, after hours and hours of time spent at my mom's house it looked beautiful and we had no problem getting it sold.  I think we ended up with a total of 20 offers all above asking price - unheard of in this market.  We were thrilled and our success motivated Andrew's mom to sell her home which she had been talking about for years.  So after her house was on the market, it sold in less than a week and she is set to close here in a few days.  So now we are dreading the big move.  Poor Andrew (I think I said that earlier) but he will have 3 households to move  - two in the next two weeks.  But, you know what??? It's OK!  WE are excited about this new adventure in our lives and we are ready for this!!  I think...  Anyway, we are going to the house for our 4-way walk through on Thursday of next week and than I hear after that it flies!!  I will post pictures from the walk through so you can all be amazed at the progress we are making like I am. 

My Dad...

My dad died on Saturday, July 14 2012  - it was not horrible or awful but peaceful and dignified. It has been a struggle to come to terms with the fact that he is no longer here... I will miss him. It saddens me to think that he will not be here to watch his grand babies grow nor will he be here to see our new house or to experience with us all that life has to offer.  He is gone. I know this parting is only temporary but it is what is happening now and it is not easy.  I am so grateful I have the knowledge that I do that I will see him again.  That makes this part worth the pain - but like I said before it still is not easy.  To tell you a little about my dad - he was a very straight forward person who told it like it was.  When he didn't agree with something he told you, when you didn't agree with him he told you you should.  Some were offended by that, but that was dad.  When he was feeling good - he was one of the most kind hearted people I have ever met... he would give you the shirt off his back if he knew it would make a difference for you.  There were many a times he got Andrew and I out of a pinch because we had done something stupid (like lose car keys down the toilet - don't ask...).  We were always appreciative of his generosity, he has made us better people with his example. Dad never made a lot of money, it wasn't important to him.  I will admit, this was very frustrating at times and very opposite of my mom (not that my mom doesn't feel family is important  - but I am pretty sure you get what I am saying ; 0).  What was most important to dad was his family.  Christmas was always modest at our house, but he gave what he could and in my opinion that was enough.  This last year was rough.  His personality changed and at times he was hard to be around because he was in constant pain and he was exhausted. I felt for him but there was nothing that could be done.  One of the worst moments you can experience is being told that there is nothing else that can be done to help your loved one... that they are going to die.  My dad took that news with dignity and understanding and provided comfort to his family stating over and over that everything would be OK and that he was not afraid to die. He was a good man, he is a good man and I truly believe that he will be watching over us still. He is our guardian angel, and I look forward to the time when we can be together again. I love you dad,

Yes he's 10!

I officially have a 10 year old... wow, that makes me feel old!!  Last night we had a family party to celebrate Thomas' birthday.  He had so much fun... We all had so much fun!  I had a friend from work make him a most awesome Tank cake and I made him Spaghetti which was his dinner of choice.  After dinner we opened presents and than we took everyone to a trampoline park... what a cool place!  We jumped for an hour and I can definitely say that an hour was plenty long enough for me (I am a bit sore today). Trampoline jumping is by far the best work out I have ever had and you combine that with following around a very excited 2 year old who thinks she is one of the big kids and all I can say is  I'm tired!!  Anyway, after we got back we sang the loudest rendition of "Happy Birthday" we could sing and we ate the tasty cake.  After the grandma's left, Thomas and Andrew began playing with the new toys... i.e the air soft gun and the new fancy scooter with ramp.  At 10:30 I finally had to go outside and remind the boys that we still had to get up early and go to work and camp tomorrow so they begrudgingly put the new toys away.  I could see Andy drooling over the air soft gun and had to smile a little as I have already purchased one for him for Father's Day...  While putting Thomas to bed he thanked me many times for such a fun birthday.  What a sweet kid.  I am so proud of his accomplishments and am very happy he is a part of our family!

Times are a changin...

There it is... this is the hew house we will be building in Daybreak, Utah over the next several months.  Very excited to move out of my tiny little townhouses into something we can be in for a very long time.  Yay!!  Anyway, it will be 6 bedrooms, having a place for my parents if and when my dad is able to come home from the care center.  For him to be able to come home, my mom needed to have a place with no stairs and main level living - which this will definitely have.  It will also have pretty wood floors and a nice double oven  - which really were my only requirements...but the rest of the house will be really nice as well.  We decided to go for Daybreak, because we really liked the feel of the community out there.  Lots of activities and things to do which I feel is important, especially for my kids.  Anyway, I will keep you posted as things progress.  Right now, we are waiting for plans to get approved so that they can actually dig the hole.   Lots of fun, and really exciting!!

As for other news, my dad has been in and out of the hospital since his knee surgery in late January.  His  latest trip was due to a blood clot that went basically the entire length of his leg.  He was only there for a night because they were able to stabilize everything and send him back to the care center.  Poor guy, it seems to be one things after the other.  He is doing OK though, and things are stable for the time being.

Thomas and Kate finished school this last week - and all I can say is YAY!!!! This was a hard year with Thomas in fourth grade.  We had some significant issues with his ADHD and it created quite a stressful year.  However, he pulled through it and ended the year with a bang!  Kate did well this year and won the fastest addition award for finishing more levels in math than anyone else in her class.  We were very proud of this great accomplishment.  I am so excited for summer to be here - the kids love summer camp and when we come home, they are so exhausted that bedtime because a breeze for the next three months - love it!

What an experience...

Our little Ella had quite the experience this last week.  She fell at her babysitters and hit her head so hard that she fractured her skull as well as had a hematoma inside her head.  When we went to pick her up at the babysitter - she didn't see her fall but heard her and had thought she had only hit her mouth because Ella was holding the front of her face when she picked her up. She gave her some Tylenol and Ella was acting as crazy as usual - in a good mood and just having fun.  We took her home and she wasn't acting any different at home either.  The next morning when I went to get her out of bed, she kept pointing to her head and saying "owie" - Andrew felt her head and there was a giant squishy spot on her left side.  At that point panic set in and I told Andrew to get her to the ER - ASAP and I would meet him there when I dropped all the other kids off.  When he got her to the hospital they tried to do a CAT scan - you can imagine how fun that was for a 20month old - it took two tries and 4 different techs to finally get the job done.  When the results came back - they said we would need to go up to PCMC for observation because she had a bleed.  They wouldn't allow us to drive her, so Andrew and Ella got to take a fabulous ambulance ride up to the children's hospital.  Below is a picture of her strapped in her car seat on the gurney.  She was so mad because they had just put an IV in and she was pretty sick of being poked and prodded by everyone by the time we left the first ER. Anyway, we got up to Primary's and talked with a Neurosurgeon or two and they decided that they would keep her the night just to make sure everything was OK.  They said that it looked pretty good because she was so active and talkative but they just wanted to make sure.  Have you ever tried to keep a "supposed to be hurt but doesn't think she is hurt" baby still  and resting??  Yeah, she wasn't having any of it.  We took lots of walks around the halls and many trips to the playroom because she couldn't stand to be in the hospital room. She quickly one the hearts of the staff up there because she is just so darn cute!  She was talking and waving and laughing which is something I don't think the staff on the trauma floor see much of with their usual patients.  All in all - it was a scary experience but a good one.  We were treated so well and Ella was taken care of by some of the best doctors around.  We were able to have the kids come up on Saturday and spend the day with us while we waited to be discharged and they had so much fun in the big playroom.  We did go back yesterday for a follow-up and they said that the bleed spot is getting much smaller and that they expect her to make a full recovery - good news!! 

 Not happy camper heading up to primary children's hospital

She looked so darn cute in the hospital gown and pants - love that they make these things this size.  She was mad here because we had to come back to the room to meet with the doctors.

They had all sorts of toys we could "check out" at the nurses station - these little dolls were her favorite!

Her jail crib - this is her finally taking a nap after a very long day in Emergency.