Five and Fiesty!

This gal turned 5! I cannot believe my baby is 5. Next fall she'll start kindergarten and the next thing you know, she's off to college.

 

Okay, okay I may be over reacting but she's growing up too fast.

She still LOVES horses.

She could live off nutella and bread and pink milk.

Her sister is her best friend. You'll always find them doing something together and having fun. Anna has taught Abby how to use the computer and play all sorts of games. Abby loves that she's a "big kid" now! Luckily for me she still loves to snuggle with me whenever I ask!

 

 

Horses... 

Horses...

And more horses!

Abby's been talking about celebrating at Chuck-E Cheese for WEEKS! Which is funny because the only time we've been to The Cheese was when she was 3!

I of course had to thrown in a picture of me and my girlfriends. It was the last one I'd be able to take of all of use before I had the baby. I just love these ladies.

 The next day she of course carried her LaLaLoopsy around everywhere she went (thanks Sara).

Notice the robe? Horses.

Halloween Time

One of my favorite memories about Halloween and elementary is being able to dress up and parade in and out of classrooms, showing off my costume. I was sad when the schools Anna attended wouldn't allow the kids to dress up. This year Anna is enrolled at the same elementary I spent 7 years at, and thankfully they still allow the kids to dress up.

 

Let's just say Anna committed to the character of Zombie Bride 100%!!

 

Abby's preschool put on a Halloween parade also. Lots of princesses. Lots.

 

Of course she decided the horse costume would be best. Two years ago she picked out pretty much the same thing, only it was a cowgirl. This year it's all about rainbow horsey unicorns. Of course no rainbow horsey unicorn would be complete without a princess riding it. Thankfully a quick trip to the 2nd hand store for a cheap princess costume completed the costume. Whew!

 

 

Trick or Treating at Dad's work

If you know Chris, you know he LOVES Halloween. He loves decorating the house for it, he loves dressing up for it, and he loves getting his offices into it. This year we trick-or-treated at ERAC and the kids loved it. Everyone in the office was dressed up, they had a group from UP and Despicable Me. The girls thought it was awesome!

 

 

I came across the "zombie belly baby" on Pinterest (of course). I was going to just do the arms sticking out, but hey, I'm married to Chris. Go big or go home right? Most got a kick out of my costume. Some customer at the ERAC car sales office just looked at me in disgust. That's okay. She was wearing hideous Halloween pants so the stare back was mutual!

 

 

 

Gardner Village Witches

 

 

 

Lagoon Frightmares

 

 

Facing your fears...and a vacation post!

Over Labor Day we headed to Flaming Gorge with some friends for a nice relaxing weekend. The weather was perfect and the kids all got along (which right there makes it nice and relaxing!!)

 

We camped at Green's Lake by the Red Canyon Lodge. One night Chris rented a canoe and took the girls and our friend Pace out on the lake.

 

I should have known what was about to happen after taking this picture. I mean look at Bear. Look at her staring that canoe down. That lake was hers and she was going to tackle it.

 

 

Now take a close look at the picture below. Do you see the head of a yellow lab named Bear sticking out from the canoe? After the canoe left shore, I walked back to the RV with Bear to prep for dinner, I thought Bear was staying in the area...NOPE!

Suddenly I hear yelling "BEAR! BEAR!" I run (well in my case a fast paced waddle) down the trail to the lake and see Bear swimming out to the canoe. It's a nice sized private lake and for my 10 year old lab to be half way out swimming towards the canoe, scared me a bit. I was afraid she'd get tired and panic and well...you can see where my thoughts were going.

However, she surprised me and made it to the canoe where Chris and Pace pulled her in. Even the spectators at the dock were cheering her on. I guess a water dog will always be a water dog and even though Chris retired her for hunting, when she see's him out on a lake in a boat with ducks around...she still wants to be part of the action!

Chris taught the girls how to catch craw-dads. Who knew raw chicken tied to a string could be so entertaining? We caught a bucket full of the little guys, but only cooked up half and ended up setting the other half free. And no, I DID NOT eat one! Bleck!

 

 

We rented a raft and floated the Green River one day. The girls LOVED it. Me? Well let's just say I overcame a fear I've had for many years.

 

Many, many years ago Chris and I ran the river with some friends. It was early summer so the river was fast and high. Let's just say NO ONE was paying attention and we hit a nice sized rock when we went through a rapid. The side of the boat kept hitting into the big scary rock and the boat filled with water. It was scary. I was traumatized. Not only that but it started raining and got cold quickly. Since that experience I've only ran the river one other time. I've always been too nervous and scared to do again.

 

The Green isn't a big scary river. I think the rapids are cat 3 at most. BUT when you have a bunch of kids in a boat and no one is leading and taking charge, things like this happened. No one fell out of the boat, but it was still a scary experience for me.

 

So when Chris suggested floating the river I hesitated. But then I was quickly reminded that MY fears can influence the girls from experiencing life and I do not want them growing up fearful and scared all of something just because I had a bad experience once.

 

So knowing there were 3 other adults in the boat, all promising to keep ME safe, I decided to float the river with everyone.

 

Chris did a great job and leading and making sure we were all safe and on the same page when it came to tacking any rapids. Even Abby got into the rowing action!

As we went down the river I got more and more comfortable with how slow it actually is. There were a few rapids to maneuver through, but the kids screamed with excitement and we went through them. All in all I felt pretty safe and enjoyed the beautiful canyon and river. 

 

See? This silly selfie proves I had a good time!

 

And of course Chris got to fish, so you know he was happy! Chris usually runs the river once a year on his annual guys trip, but this year he was excited to take his girls down the river...and have the wife along for the ride!

 

 

 

Pace and Jan are the funniest couple. We've had a great summer camping and hanging with them.

 

  Of course I had to take a pic of me and Perk after the river. Successful day! Fear tackled!

 



Here's to another school year!

I love summer. I really do. But by the time the first of August rolls around, the kids are bored and I'm exhausted from hearing "we're bored!" And don't even get me started about the days being so hot.

When you're saving up to build a home, you can't exactly go out to Lagoon or the Zoo or the water parks daily. That stuff adds up (as does designing the interior of a home which will be a separate post)!

We did the best we could this summer. Being pregnant in the dead of summer kind of sucked. Okay it didn't "kind of" suck, it just plain sucked. It was too damn hot. Seriously, 97° to a regular person feels like 107° to a pregnant lady. But like I said, we did the best we could.

We did spend a lot of time inside since it was so hot outside this summer

 

When it did cool down a bit we went to the park and had lunch, played, and looked for ducks

 

 

We went with friends to the open house of the Ogden Temple

 

 

We ventured out to lunch and took funny pictures

 

 

We celebrated turning 8 with old friends

 

 

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium

 

But with that being said, it was bound to happen. The end of summer and the beginning of the new school year. Anna is once again in a new school. I feel bad that she's had to change so much, but we did not know Jackson was only going to be a year stance. Since we are living with my mom Anna is attending the same elementary I attended. I think she's adjusting well. I've promised her that once the house is built, that elementary will be her last until junior high. We shook on it.

 FIRST DAY OF 3rd GRADE

She wasn't too happy that I wanted to take a picture of her by her desk.

After this pic, she said "Okay mom, you can go now!"

 

 

Abby and Bear loved walking Anna to school the first week

 

Then the following week Abby started preschool ran by the same lady I went to back in the day

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL 

 

 

 

It's weird to have both girls in school...but that too will be another post!

How to build a house

Step 1. Find the home you want
Step 2. Move your family of 4 1/2 in with your mom
Step 3. Wait MONTHS and MONTHS for it to be built before you can move in

Seriously. That's what we're dealing with.

So to back it up you have to know that Chris and I loved Victor, ID. Well, "things" about Victor Idaho we loved. The small community, the safety (we never locked the house up unless we were out of town), the quiet, and of course the views. Waking up each morning to beautiful mountain views was the best. What I didn't love was feeling so far removed from everything. Yes, Idaho Falls was only an hour, but it's an hour I wasn't used to traveling to hit the mall, movies or anything specialty I needed. Had I grown up in a small town, it might not have bothered me, but growing up a city girl, it did.

When Chris received his promotion it brought us back to Utah and we started really talking about the place we want to settle down in. I really thought we'd end up back in Layton, maybe east Layton or even west Farmington. We could have easily kicked the renters out of our small Layton home we still own, but we've always talked about investment properties and since things are going quite well with the home, we didn't even think twice about that. Chris had plans of Heber, maybe Utah and Davis Counties, and then mentioned Mountain Green. I honestly wasn't too familiar with Mtn. Green having really never spent time there. We have friends who have a brother who built there and said how much he loved it and how everyone see's the area expanding due to growth.

One weekend before we moved back we drove through Utah county and immediately cancelled it out. We headed up into Heber, drove around what felt like ALL DAY and just never really fell in love with the area. You still have some great views, but for the house we wanted and with our budget, we just couldn't find something we both loved. It just felt crowded.

We drove the back canyon into Mountain Green and found a great builder in our budget and a great neighborhood with a new phase of lots. We picked up all the information from the sales guy, drove back to Idaho and started our research. The more we looked into it, the more we fell in love with the area. The following weekend we moved our stuff down into a storage unit and immediately drove over and put a deposit down on a sweet corner lot in Mountain Green.

I've had people question why we're moving "so far away". Seriously, it's not THAT far from our first East Layton home. It's 5 minutes up Weber Canyon. We've actually timed it and leaving our lot and making our way to my mom's house in Taylorsville takes about 35 minutes. That's about what it took from our west Layton home to my moms. South Weber and east Layton are minutes from the canyon and provide ALL the amenities I need. Chris's work commute will be a tad shorter than what he was driving from Victor to the Jackson Hole Airport. Plus he drives a company car so there is no worry about gas.

Chris and I have always dreamed about having a big home where we can raise a family. A home we can grow into and not grow out of. Chris works so damn hard that he deserves to have a home he loves, in an area he loves. Did I mention we're like 10 minutes from Snow Basin Ski Resort? BONUS!

We've picked out our floor plan and our interiors, and this week we sign off on our final designs and once the plans are drawn up for completion it will finally it will be submitted to Morgan County for a building permit. That's what will take the longest, waiting for the county approval (which if you ask me is dumb since the new phase of lots are already in an established neighborhood, designed for homes and already set with the engineer plans. What's to approve??)

According to our salesman, the permit will take about 3 to 3.5 months to receive, building time will be approx. 3 month... so that puts us into February/March move in date.

Um did someone forget to mention I'm having a baby in November??

Well as with all good things, we'll have to wait. Why rush for what we could have now, for what we really want later? Living at my mom's isn't ideal, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make to get our dream home in the end.

Plus think about 7 months ago. What were YOU doing 7 months ago? Right, seems like so long ago. These next few months will fly by and it will be so worth it.

People these days want instant gratification, but if Chris and I have learned anything it's to do it right and do it they way we want it. Short term pain for the long term gain.

We are super excited and cannot wait to be back into our own home. So here's to the next 7-8 months FLYING by and hoping we can survive it!!