Its Been Awhile......

Thought I should update since it has been almost a year! We are still in Magna. WE have a new foster child, as of June last year. Her name is Natasha, she is 19 and we adore her! She is very much a teenager, but it gives us practice for upcoming years right???
Things are going well around here. Madelyn is in 2nd grade. Aidan is in Kindergarten. Isaac goes to Ms. Chris for pre school once a week and we are potty training sweet Claire, who is 2.
Ron is still working at Holiday Oil in Taylorsville and loving every waking hour that he is there!
We had a nice quiet Christmas with just our family. It was nice to let the kiddos stay in their jammies all day and not have to rush off somewhere!
Anyway - we are all alive and well and wishing you much health and happiness in 2012!!

It's a Long Story.............

And I am not going to type it all out, but after a very long few months, we will NOT be moving after all!! I am sad, and frustrated and discouraged, but I also know that everything happens for a reason. When we listed our house and had it under contract within a week, it felt right...it felt right last summer when I was praying about it....but the entire time we have been looking at house after house and putting in offer after offer, it hasn't felt right! I prayed about it and never felt any peace. We lost our original buyers and had more within a day or so and that felt better but even so not the peace I was looking for! Even still, I had hoped it was me being paranoid and that it would work out. Even when the appraisal came back $20000 lower than the listing price, I still hoped!! It wasn't until the day before we were supposed to close the 2nd time that it all fell apart and I was sad, but it wasn't a surprise!!
I know there is a bigger plan!! I have a hard time not knowing what it is! With that being said, one of my close friends found out this week that her husband has leukemia! My heart is breaking for them! And me moving is nothing compared to the trials they will have ahead of them! Me having to unpack my entire house is nothing compared to him being at Hunstman for at least a month!! Me having to swallow my pride and tell everyone we are no longer leaving, is NOTHING compared to having to tell everyone that your spouse has cancer! This has put things into perspective for me! Please pray for them! Pray that they and their four children will get thought this!!

Moving...........

Where do I start??? Last summer we talked about it, I prayed about it, we talked about it some more. I felt really strongly that after 11+ years in this house, our time here was done and we were supposed to move on. We talked to an agent who advised that we couldn't sell this place for enough to cover what we owe plus commissions, so we let it go! Fast forward to the end of the year.....we started looking at houses in Saratoga Springs......we talked to another agent who gave us some more options, plus home sales are starting to pick up and prices are headed up too!! We find a house that we love and decide to put an off in on it. The house had been on the market for over a year and was vacant! Ugggg......someone beat us to it, by about 24 hours and their offer was accepted. We kept looking and kept working at getting our house in order to list it!
We found another house....this one is perfect!!! It has been on the market since the beginning of December, so about 3 months now....it is a short sale! Home owners have accepted our offer....and now we wait for the bank......and wait.......and wait!! Our offer went into them on Feb. 12th.....we wait........
In the mean time, we get this house ready and list it!! It will take months to sell right??? It went onto the MLS on Feb 18th...and we cleaned for a showing, and cleaned, and cleaned...... how do you show the appearance of a clean house with five kids?? Oh yeah.... you don't!!! Since the 18th, we have had to leave the house for it to be shown six times!! That is a lot of cleaning!!! Last Thursday, the 24th, our agent called to let us know that an offer had come in....WHAT....less than a week....seriously??? We met with him on Friday and reviewed the offer. We countered it. The counter was presented to them on Saturday and they accepted the counter! They signed the paperwork on Saturday the 26th and we signed it on Monday the 28th.....HOLY COW.....under contract in about a week!!! Unheard of, especially in todays market!! So we are officially "Under Contract" for this house......and we are waiting.....................

Once every six or seven months.....

I think it has been since July since I last updated, so I thought this picture was appropriate!! I think about updating all the time....I just don't do it!! I admire those of you that update regularly...I am obviously not one of them!!!

So many fun things going on in our lives!! Madelyn is in 1st grade and turned 6 last August, Aidan is in preschool for the 3rd year and turned 5 the day after Xmas 2010, Issac was 3 in November and Claire turned 1 in November as well!! Ron had another BDay in December and I have one next week, Holly will be 15 in a few months too!!

We had some super GREAT family pictures taken last year in October that turned out GREAT!!


WE got through Christmas with a visit from my parents!! The kids had so much fun and loved having Nana and Papa here to celebrate with!! They made reindeer cupcakes with Nana and read with Papa!! So much fun!! We love the years that they come here for Christmas!! Hopefully some day other members of my family will venture this way too!!

Maddie is a Daisy Girl Scout this year and starts cookie sales tomorrow!! I think I am more excited about it then she is!! I signed up to be the troop Cookie Manager, so we will be living and breathing cookies through March!! It will be so fun!!

Ron is still working at Holiday Oil in Taylorsville. He has gone through their management training and we have high hopes for him being able to get his own store over the next year or so!! He loves it there and loves the people he is able to interact with each day!

This coming school year, both Madelyn and Aidan will be attending the new elementary school they are building in Magna!! We are watching the building process and progress with excitement!! We don't know what it will be named yet, but the idea of a new school is so fun!!

We are moving full speed ahead into 2011 with hopefully lots in store!! So far it has been a great year for us and we look forward to more!!

Up to.....

I finally added some pictures to the computer so I thought I would update here too!!!
Just a few of the things we have been up to!!


We are potty training!!! Sort of!!


My creative side decided to make a brief appearance and I made this!! A wreath out of balloons to be hung in celebration of Birthdays (or 1/2 birthdays) at our house!! And I am LOVING it!!!


Aidan celebrated his 1/2 birthday on June 26th with a party at Pirate Island!! This is my most favorite picture!!

We went up to the Uintas to take the kids fishing on the 2nd of July!! Much fun for the most part!! Neat to be able to see the fish swimming right by you in the lake...not so neat to not catch any!! :-)



I have the cutest Aunt Jimima Baby EVER!!! And I can't believe she is almost 8 months old!! Seriously where is the time going???



And you know you live with boys when you go outside to the screams of the girls and find the boys measuring a spider with a dog bone (the red, white and blue thing you see to the right of the spider) to see how big it was!! I hope I survive these boys of mine!!!

So I should....

There are alot of things I should be doing right now...Blogging and/or playing on FB are not any of them!!

This picture is of our family, as it is right now!! Holly, age 14, our foster child. Then Madelyn age 5, Aidan age 4, Isaac age 2, and Claire at about 4 months in this picture. I Love my family!! It wasn't long ago that we were not able to get pregnant and look at us now! Some people think I am crazy and maybe I am, but I love my husband and I love my kids. They are my world and I wouldn't be the person I am without them, all of them!



This was Easter. My parents came to town for Easter this year!! They both made a bunny cake with the kids, hid eggs, searched for eggs, etc!! I LOVE my parents for the both the parents that they are and for the grandparents they have become! I am so grateful they are an active part of my kids lives and my children wouldn't have it any other way! They love their Nana and Papa!!



This is my sweet baby girl! My last child! She is adorable and I can't get enough of her right now! I love that I am able to nurse her, still!! She turned 6 months old on Mother's Day! She means everything to me and I am enjoying her so much! At her 6 month appt. she weighed 14 pounds 13 1/2 ounces, 26% for weight....and then 74% for height!! Like Ron, I suppose ;-)



And this is Aidan....my momma's boy! And I love him!! Nuff' said!!

THE pile.....

So the pile of things to go to DI was driving me nuts, so I had Ron take it last week. I don't think I made it to 50, although I added a few more things to the now absent pile....by falling apart sewing machine and another pair of shoes. So thats two more things, but still short of my goal!! I am going to try and find the last few things this week and take them over by the weekend.....I may have not gotten 50 things out in April, but I did get some things out, and by my calculations, that is progress!!! And that makes me happy!!!

I do have so many of the kids clothes to go through, but it seems like every time I have the time to do it, it is when Claire is sleeping, and oh yeah..all those clothes I need to go through are in her room, so that isn't working so well for me...I will figure it out soon though, I hope!!

So what should the next goal/challenge be???