Our favorite past time.

Hunter and Maddie both love to take Emily for a ride in the baby doll stroller. Emily doesn't seem to mind it too much.
Oftentimes during her rides we can hear her laughing uncontrolably.

Rub a Dub Dub...

Emily is almost 7 months old. She's getting so big. It's fun to see her discovering the little world around her.
Look at all that hair. She loves the water. Taking a bath is a sure way to put a hold on the crankiness she's been having lately.

Emily had her 6 mo. check up yesterday. She weighs 17.5 lbs. She's been a little cranky lately and I've been wondering if she's starting to cut teeth. Dr. Green confirmed my suspisions. Her gums are swollen meaning her teeth will probably make an appearance soon.

Our Kitchen

This is our new kitchen. These pictures do not give it justice.

Kids rooms

The girls room. Done in flowers and butterfly's with Strawberry Shortcake. Madelyn loves her new room and wants to show it off to everyone who comes over. The room looked much bigger until we put a full bed and crib in it along with my hope chest I was given when I was 16. At the moment it is holding breakables and being used as a shelf of Emily's toys.

Hunter's room. He loves the tall dinosaur on his wall. He also likes to show it off to whomever will follow him. Soon we will have Jody back over to draw two more dinosaurs on this wall. Hunter wants a dinosaur that has a pokee thing on his forehead. Then I'm thinking to have a baby dinosaur coming out of an egg. We are also wanting to replace Hunter's toddler bed with a twin. We are in the process of buying a new queen bed for ourselves. I'm contemplating letting Hunter have our current queen size bed. Seeing how little room the girls have in there bedroom I don't know if we will do this. For the past 3 days we've been here it seems the kids gravitate to Hunter's room as there is much more floor space to play on.

Hunter's 4th Birthday

Hunter wanted a dinoaur birthday cake. So a dinosaur birthday cake he got. I must say pictures do not give this cake justice. It was the funnest, cutest 3D birthday cake I've made so far. Maddie is already asking for a butterfly and flower cake for her birthday in 2 months. We had a few of Hunter's little friends and their family over for cake and ice cream. He was so very excited. His whole face lit up when everyone started singing "Happy Birthday".
He absolutely loved opening all his presents.
Hunter got to choose the ice cream to go with his cake. While the kids ate and the moms visited all the dads were watching the basketball game.
Mom and Dad gave 3 gifts, 3 friends gave gifts and of course each Grandama and Grandpa gave him a gift. This kid scored. He didn't get this much at Christmas. Overall Hunter had a wonderful 4th birthday. He's already asking when his next birthday is. He wants to have it at the park (his party was planned at the park this year but due to the wind we moved it inside). He wants to have water balloons and a spiderman cake. Sounds fun. Happy Birthday big boy!

Easter

For Easter we were living at Lance and Tosha's. Hunter got up that morning and found his basket. He went running to the backdoor and let us all know the Easter Bunny forgot to hide eggs in the backyard. Being the day beofre was an extremely long day of working at our house he was right. The Easter Bunny did forget. The Easter Bunny was forgiven however when we got home from church to find the Easter Bunny had returned to hide the eggs. Maddie wearing her "Super Girl" cape that Grandma made for her.
Hunter couldn't wait to find the easter eggs. He's still wearing his new suit.
And away they go....
The Easter Bunny did a very good job this year. He brought each a coloring book with new crayons, and a game to share. Perfect activities to do at someone elses home on a Sunday.

Our first night

Quite a bit was accomplished today. Our kitchen sink and dishwasher is now working. Kory also put the vent on the dryer which I can now use. We moved all the extra flooring under the house. All the bathroom boxes our unpacked and put away. Last but not least tonight I am blogging on my own working, connected computer. YEAH!! Our den is set up. I think the best part is my kitchen table is cleaned off. I couldn't tell you the last time I could see the top of it. Still can't see my countertops but it's a start.

Tonight Kory is in Safford and it's just the kids and I all alone in our new house. It seems kinda strange being by myself. I wasn't planning on staying tonight but our propane is being delivered in the morning about 8. I'm so tired of having to wake the kids up to be to the house by a certain time. Maddie generally doesn't wake up until 8. If I wake her up she can be such a BEAR all day. I decided being home alone tommorrow I need to have happy children so here we are spending our first night at our new house.

The kids are all in bed and I'm ready to post pictures but I just realized I left my connector from the camera to the computer at our friends which means no pictures. Maybe tommorrow.

Unpacking

We are still not living in our house but living with a friend. Our heat pump was suppose to be installed this past monday. The worker came out and said to pour a cement pad "about 4x4". That is was Kory did and it ended up being 4 inches to small. So monday he repoured the pad much to Hunter's delight (he wants to do more cement everyday). The installers said they'd be back either wed. or thur. Hopefully it will be TODAY. The county inspected the plumbing for our propane tank and it actually passed. Not that I was worried it was done wrong. It's just that nothing on this house has passed the first time. Kory says the contractor must of really annoyed the inspectors as everything has failed for an absurd reason. Like our back porch light was too bright. It was against county regulations. (Being we didn't have power to see exactly how bright it would have been and it was a 60w light bulb I don't think it would have been that bright.) I am hoping Kory can finish what ever needs to be done so I can call for our propane company to come turn our stove on. Once we have heat and stove I think we will move in. I'm hoping Kory can finish everything today as he is leaving for Safford today for a few days. It would be great to start living there. After the heat pump and stove all I will need is a working kitchen sink and dishwasher.

So we've started to un pack. Yesterday the girls room got completely finished. Beds our made, pictures our hung and window covering is on. It looks pretty cute. In Hunter's room everything is unpacked. His bed is made and everything is organized. I'm still looking for a twin bed for him (get him out of his toddler bed) and then I can look for a cute comfortor that will match his room. We have 2 more dinosaurs to paint on his wall and then I can start to hang his pictures.
I feel like we made good progress yesterday. Today I am working on the office and bathrooms.
It's been a little dificult trying to find places to put things that would normally be put in a garage. Forinstance a wheelbarrel, shovels and hoes, bags of cement, oil and filters for our vehicles. As for now they will be placed in a corner in our office until we get a little storage shed built.

If I get our computer set up I can post pictures of our newly decorated rooms and Hunter's birthday that took place on monday. It's hard to believe I have a 4 year old.

We are approved

So after jumpimg a few more hurdles we are once again approved. I guess all that sress was worth it as our morgage payment is $100 less than what it would have been.

We moved this past Sat. into a friends house who is currently out of town until Sunday. Our water was turned on last week. When the water line was being backfilled the backhoe ran over the pipe and broke it. The water line is now fixed and running smoothly. The kids and I had to be at the house most of the day yesterday waiting for different workers to come by. It was so nice not having to go to Fry's for our potty breaks.

The electricty was turned on Monday but something was wrong with it. If the bedroom lights were on and I flipped the hall light on the other lights would either turn off or dim really low. This morning the electrician came and was able to fix the loose wire. We can now use our electricity. YEAH!!!

This morning the whole was dug for our propane tank. We hope to be able to use our stove the beginning of next week.

Monday the heat pump will be installed and then we will have a heater to use. In the morning and the evenings it is very cold inside the house. We open all doors and windows to get some warmth in there. It doesn't take to long to get the house at a comfortable temp. I'm definitely thankful for all the little things we use everyday.

Hopefully this weekend we can finish moving all of our stuff in and then maybe Monday night can be our first night in our new house.

Still no word....

Wed. morning the underwriter informed our lender that she could not overlook the lack of the 2 year employment. Our lender asked why she couldn't do that when she gave us a list to do to be approved and we did everything she had asked. She said she'd look over it all again and get back to him yesterday afternoon. No surprise here that we still haven't heard from her. Maybe tommorrow??????

We couldn't move in this weekend anyways. We finally got the green tag today meaning we can finally have our electricity turned on. The power company however hasn't received the clearance papers. When they do the power can be turned on the next buisness day. If the company gets the papers tommorrow we could pay an extra $150 to have same day power service. Being we still don't know about our loan I figure it's not worth getting the power turned on. Besides I can think of a lot of other things I could use the $150 for.

No word...

Our lender told us that generally we would hear back from the underwriter in 24 hours. 24hours was up yesterday about noon. (I'm not watching the clock ha ha ha.) I called our lender at 4:30 last night. He still hadn't heard but he did e-mail the underwriter before he left his office. So hopefully TODAY we will hear back.

Could it be faith...

This afternoon I was informed our lender has found a bank in Ohio who may overlook our less then 2 years employment. Yippee. We won't hear back until Tuesday. If all goes well we can still close the first week in April. So everybody say a little prayer that we will only be homeless for a week instead of 2 months.

When you think things can't get much worse.....

We took a little trip to Utah to see family and had a wonderful time. We were suppose to be moving TODAY so Kory and I came home wed. evening and left the kids in Hurricane with their grandparents. After we moved my parents would bring the kiddos to us probably next weekend.

We had stopped for gas in Flagstaff when we got the call. The bank will not allow us to move into the house until we close. (This is normal routine but we were told we could go ahead and move in regardless of the closing date.) Due to our idiotic contractor who has taken 12 months we were scheduled to close the end of March but is now the 1 st week in April (cross our fingers it's that soon). We have to be out of our duplex March 31st leaving us 7 days without a home. We don't know where are litttle family or our things are going to go.

It was at this point Kory and I thought with all the problems during the past 12 months it can't get much worse. But oh how it can.

Yesterday morning as I started to pack I got a phone call from our lender. He informed me that we were no longer approved for our loan (would have been nice if we would have mentioned this 2 weeks ago or maybe a month ago when in his words everything was coming along nicely.) We have been approved for 9 months. With the economy the way it is banks and lenders have changed some rules and regulations. A stated income loan use to require proof of employment for 1 full year with the current employee. Now the majority of loans want proof of 2 full years. Our company was established on June 1st 2005. This makes us 2 months shy of 2 full years.
So far he can't find a lender with a realistic rate.He did find someone but our rate would be over 9% and $2000 a month. I told him NO WAY!!! He would like us to work out something so that we don't close until June 1st. This now makes us homeless for over 2 months. We are not quite sure what we are going to do. Kory keeps saying we just need to have faith that everything will work out. I hope he's right.

Girl's Bedroom In The Making

This is Madelyn and Emily's room before anything was done.


It's not quite done but getting closer. Maddie saw it this morning she said,"my room is soooo buutiful".

Working on the Kitchen

This was the kitchen before.
Taking a lunch break. The kids thought is was the funnest to sit in our new pantry shelf to eat lunch.
This is the almost finished product. The appliances and countertops need to be placed and the 2 spice rack doors where left at the shop. The counter tops come in on tuesday so sometime soon our kitchen will be complete.I love just looking at it. This will be our biggest and most beautiful kitchen we have ever had.
The wood is Walnut. When Kory brought home a sample of what he had already ordered I wasn't too impressed. I didn't tell him but I thought it was too dark and just ugly. The cabinets are still dark but they have so much color. I'm definitely impressed.

Working on the house.

We finally got a call back from our carpet installers. We are on the schedule for Wed. morning at 8:30. This house has been taking so long and now it seems to be going so fast. I love it. We are so close to being done.

This is our den. It's completely done. Yeah !!!! Meaning the touch-up paint, baseboard, flooring and outlet covers are finished. All thats left is a good sweeping. Someone said, "You are 1/9th of the way done." Being we have 9 rooms I guess he was right. I have a friend that is coming over and drawing pictures on the walls. What you see is going to be around the window and closet. On top of the door is a big flower in the middle of a vine. Everything was drawn today and tommorrow we will paint (the vines green, flowers and butterflies pink and red). Hopefully we will get it all painted. It shouldn't take to long but having 4 children to watch (keeping them out of the paint and out of the way of the men) we'll see how long it takes. I hope to be able to post picts of the newly painted murals tommorrow. Wish us luck!!

Packing !

So the packing has begun. Packing with 3 small children at home has been quite the experience. They want to help so much. We are going to make a trip to Utah for a few days to install a job for Kory's parents. Being the trailor will be empty Kory hopes to move when we get back. This will have us moving Thursday March 22. This is in 14 days but we will be gone about 5 of these days. I'm feeling just a little STRESSED!!

I'm hoping to take each day at a time. The touch up painting should be completed today. Kory is going to have our employees come help at the house tommorrow. The goal is to have the rest of the flooring, baseboards and kitchen cabinets installed by moday so that carpet can be layed on Tuesday.(Then I can post our before and after picts.) New Beginnings will be over on Sunday. YIPEE!!! I'll have a few days to pack the house up. We'll head for Utah for a much needed break and then move the day after we get home leaving me a whole week to get our duplex clean.We can then start to enjoy living in our very own house. YEAH!!! I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Something not right.

Sunday morning Kory and I had an appt. with the Stake Presidency. I felt a little rushed as I was trying to get everything together (diaper bag, church bag, my lesson materials and the kids dressed with hair and teeth brushed) not knowing if we'd have time to come home before our church meetings started. I was the first one dressed and ready to go but I felt a little "off" but I couldn't pin point what it was. We went to our appt. had a little time left over so we went home for 20 min. and headed for church. I was still feeling "off". I didn't feel prepared to teach my lesson so I kept thinking my lesson was the cause of me not feeling right.

After church we had been invited to a friends for dinner and a game. We went home changed our clothes, baked the rolls and left once again. I really felt different, I didn't feel sick but just different, something wasn't right. When we got to our friends my right foot was aching so I kicked my shoes off. At 8:30 my friend picked up my shoes and asked "Tina are these your shoes?" Glancing at them I replied "Looks like mine." She started to laugh and said "Seriously these are yours, you were wearing 2 different pairs of shoes." I was mortified. It's hard to believe that almost the entire day I was wearing 2 different shoes and didn't realize it and the fact that NOBODY else noticed or they just didn't say anything.

It's no wonder before church I felt like I was going to loose a shoe while wearing nylons and after church my right foot felt so tight now wearing socks. It's obvious why I felt "off" the entire day.

30 Day Notice

Friday morning I took our rent check along with a 30 day notice letter. We have until March 31 to be in our new house. This project has been going on for so long it's hard to believe in 27 days I will be turning over our keys to our duplex. Kory and I have been married for 5 years and in that time have moved 7 times. This move will be move #8. We have never lived anywhere for more then a year until we got into this duplex. We had sufficient bedrooms, bathrooms, a garage and a fenced back yard. What else besides our own house could we have asked for? We will have been living in our duplex 2 years this April. Our duplex has become our home. I think I'm going to miss it a little. I guess I'll get over it. As much as I hate moving I am excited for this move. We plan to live in this house for many many years to come.

Sleeping Beauty

This is what I stumbled upon yesterday afternoon about 3:30. She must have been quite tired to fall asleep on the hard kitchen floor.