New Blog Address

So here it is! www.lifeaswerightit.blogspot.com. Go ahead and follow away friends. Eeek. This blog makes me nervous....a lot more out of my comfort zone....

This blog. IS A MESS. I plan to start a different blog---A whole new blog. Cleaner, more organized, and a little more interesting.... (Not that my daughter isn't interesting.....but you know, a little more than just her cuteness..) But until I know what I'm doing, this blog is my experiment spot. And I don't know what I am doing. If you have any youtube tutorials to help me out, or other online tutorials....send 'em my way!:) If not....just avoid this hot mess until I share my new blog "spot".

Random

Daddy's Girl




Picture on the right of Aleah, reminded me of a picture taken of me when I was probably around 18 months. When I went to find that picture I found the picture of Cade instead. She is his twin. Definitely resembles him more than me, if you ask me. I love it.

The other day..:

We discovered some water balloons. Lots of fun.

POP!

An early glimpse of what the TERRIBLE TWOS are going to look like for us...

Looked over to find that Aleah had found her snacks in the diaper bag, somehow got the lid off, and was in the middle of feeding herself and the dog. "Ah, don't do it!  .......Where is my camera?"

She thinks she's so funny!

I call this her "Stacy Stink Face"...Why Stacy? I don't know. Just go with it.

More digging in the diaper bag

That doggy dish was on the OTHER side of the gate. Just a little water to clean up.

Third Incident I deleted the pics off of my phone...A few pictures of her playing in a small pile of toilet paper that she found and took off the roll.

Silly girl! She keeps us on our toes! :)

And Cade's small birthday celebration... 

Aleah woke up (on her own, unlike previous times) just a bit after he walked in the door from working a couple of days in Utah...so all three of us celebrated with a small, store bought, (hey thanks Albertsons) piece of cake. If you can't tell, those candles are forming a twenty-six. ...But how could you not see that? ;)

Since my outstanding solo performance this night and celebrating Cade's birthday at Sunday Hansen family dinner, Aleah has become quite the fan of the "Happy Birthday" song. We sing it a lot now....happy birthday to Dad, to Aleah, to the dog, to... cousin Ryder (he'll be turning one next month, so his name isn't totally random, we're just getting ready). She loves it and will sometimes mimic the sound of the words back really sweet and soft which entertains us and keeps us repeating the song.

We are having more and more fun!

Three Years

Yesterday was our THIRD Anniversary! Three years, I can't believe it. How fast time flies by when you are having fun..this is becoming more and more true. We were suppose to close on our house yesterday, what a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary! Well....it didn't happen. So instead we dropped Aleah off at her grandparents and drowned ourselves in our sorrows with some delicious italian sodas at Carinos. Ok, it wasn't that sad!:) It was a pretty low key anniversary celebration...but it was good!

Three years later, I still feel like the luckiest girl in the world!!!!! And that is no exaggeration.

THEN-- 

And NOW--

This was suppose to be a really cheesy picture with moving boxes and all sorts of crazy going on behind us...but it looks like we were actually trying for a serious family pic. Hashtag: Selfies & AwkwardFamilyPhoto :)

 Before we left, Cade (looking under crib and around her room): "I can't find her binky..." 

Found it!

 A little fun on the Hansen's trampoline after our date

What happens when Dad bathes daughter. Cool hair girlfriend.

Moving

This is going to be a long post. I'm just not good at giving a condensed version of a story. I try. I do.
But anyways....

This is actually happening... We are moving. Things did work out with buying a house and it surprises me a little bit how quickly it did. Turns out in July, right about the same time we started thinking about looking at homes again, our home was just being put on the market. I can't remember why it all started but....it's interesting how it all played out and how one thing led to another.

A little more of our house hunting journey...

Basement--Something like this

March 2012, we looked at our first home. We weren't ready to buy a home and couldn't afford it then, but we still wanted to look at this particular home. House of Horrors. Our realtor was so cool about it, but I bet on the inside she was thinking we were insane for even taking her to that home. I am telling you though, the yard would have been AWESOME! ...(In our dreams) we were going to put a horse in the little corral to the right of the home, fix up the outside, and plant pretty flowers around the home....and play basketball in the cool little corner of the lot where there was a little court and hoop. It was cute! And the pictures weren't too bad on the internet of the inside. We quickly found out when we walked in, why this home was only about $90,000 for how much space there was. Pictures were deceiving... Holes everywhere, weak door frames, unfinished basement, like....how did anyone ever stay down there? The basement was so weird. It had two bedrooms of to the side that were just full of dirt & rocks still. Creepy, creepy basement. And the toilets.....that part my Mother-In-Law discovered.....oh, not good.
And that dream died quite right away, like after stepping into the first room, but for curiousity, we continued looking through, I guess.


From then we mostly just drove through neighborhoods and glanced at the houses from the outside...but they sold before we could take our realtor inside or we just didn't like them enough. Then in August of last year we found a home that we really liked...I wrote about that one before. Didn't get it. Blah, blah, sad day...over it now. Moved into our apartment....and thought about buying a home very little. Still in the back of our minds, but we just (or at least I) didn't ever feel like it was time to look or that we were being pushed in that direction.

In July though, for reasons I can't remember, we started thinking about homes again. And maybe, we thought, we should just check out our price range. We did kind of like some townhomes...(that also happened to be in our ward boundaries, which was a plus, since we like our ward..)
So we got pre-approved. Then we visited with an agent in one of those model townhomes and were pointed in the direction of a cute available townhome.  How can I make this story short?... Agent was not easy to reach the next day. Our realtor could not find the specific home that we had looked through (and liked pretty well) on any listings...but there was a different townhome available. So, we looked through the other townhome and there were a few things that I couldn't quite get over...smaller piece of grass outside of home and also it was right in front of a road, unlike the other that was facing a path, and then more grass and lots for other future townhomes (more grass for baby to crawl/walk). So we couldn't really pull the trigger fast enough and it was pending about the next day..

Townhome Kitchen

Our realtor didn't quite understand what I liked so much about those townhomes, she felt like we needed something else....a bigger yard being one of those things. I just loved looking at new pretty kitchens and these townhomes had that.

Anyways, she sent us over more homes to look through. Found one that we kind of liked.....neighborhood was alright, house was pretty good....but I wasn't so in love or confident in it that we had to put an offer in right away. We went on a trip to Utah for a few days and when we came back we thought maybe we wanted to take another look at it. We wanted to do a better little inspection on the home and get a real feel for it...but we both thought we would probably put an offer on it after we looked through it again. Our realitor was busy for a couple of days and when she was available and we were ready to go see the house she found out it was no longer available as of just hours earlier. Discouraged again. Tired of looking through so-so homes and not being completely confident in making a decision... I wasn't sure we even needed to keep looking, remember, we had about 8 months left on our apartment lease. Cade thought we did need to keep looking. So I drove through more neighborhoods and continued to search zillow. And then probably a few days later while Cade was at work I looked up a location that we hadn't really thought about in awhile. Found two homes that I liked....one was a short sale and the other was not. I liked the pictures of the short sale more but wanted to look through both homes. I thought though, the short sale was meant to be....short sales take time and we had time..I also had a number in the my head and I thought this would be a good number to offer for that home. We drove through the neighborhood and past the houses and liked what we saw....I think the next day we had our Realitor take us to see them.

Our entrance...this is all you get right now!

The first home we walked through is now, OUR HOME. (The "for sale" home). I LOVED it immediately and pretty much was sold. It was cute and warm and clean and "us". The pictures on zillow didn't do this house justice. I wanted it. And without really getting Cade's opinion I was blurting out talk of offers. (Don't worry though, he's all in and excited too..) The number I had for the short sale home now made a lot more sense for this home. We thought we would give the short sale a look still though. ..It wasn't good. Pictures were a lot better for that house than what it did look like really. And so we left that house confident in our decision for the first home and ready to put our offer in that evening. For the first time, I was pretty sure we were getting the house. And I also really loved this home, it felt like ours more than any others had. After all the houses on the internet and sad neighborhoods, I thought we would have to settle, but am so happy that I don't feel like we did. Cade will have a small commute to work...but we can handle that. We're so excited! Closing next week! Yay!
And thanks to our realtor for helping us through all of this. Meridian, Boise, Kuna & Nampa she followed us to! She was AWESOME!

Dog can't hide from her anywhere!

Unpacking-Cute...but not helpful:)

Ever had an encounter with someone that left you walking away feeling "small"...or maybe belittled is a better word.. I'm sure everyone has. I seem to have them quite often with older people. A completely unnecessary reaction is replaying in my head tonight. Let me share...
This isn't a huge issue, really it isn't...but I'm still bugged about it.

We live in an apartment complex. One with a pool. So, obviously, I don't need another persons pool to swim in..(that detail is important to this story.) Just across the street from our apartment complex are some older, less expensive, small, townhomes. They have a small community park behind them with a pool. 

This evening we took a little walk behind the townhomes. There isn't a great amount of walking options where we're at, unless you want to shop. So, we walked across the street and followed the path around this  community park with Aleah. We did a little walking practice with her and explored the environment around us. When I noticed that the community pool had an open gate, I took her over to the pool to kick a couple beach balls that were floating by the poolside. Cade stayed outside of the gate with the dog and I just picked Aleah up and swung her over the balls so that she could lightly kick them. A few times I quickly dipped her feet in the water. I was probably only there for a short minute.
And then here comes "Old Guy Ornery" (That's what I'll call him!) Walking from the other side of the pool, as he approached us he asked, somewhat decently, "Are you visiting someone here?"
My reply: "No, we're just taking a small walk"..
Ornery (With a little annoyance and sarcasm): "This isn't a public pool, you know." As he walked past.
Me again, "Oh, we aren't going to swim." (Obviously.)
And then he walked outside of the gate and looked at a Aleah and said something like, "Did you get a little wet?" Awkwardly decent again. And that was basically that, he left and we walked the other direction away from the pool. 

Not a big deal, right? But it was just unnecessary.
This seemed like just a small way that he needed to flex his muscles. For his own pride. Needed to show someone that he was big and in charge. Silly. When he saw that we were all fully dressed and with a dog, he should have used some common sense and not assumed the worst in our intentions.
We had no plans to swim there, we were just taking a walk and exploring things and places with our baby. PLEASE, relax. We are not disrespectful, rebellious, teenage punks. We are adults, and I think, pretty responsible...
So....can we all just make a little pledge right now?... To grow up gracefully. And not Ornery. To use common sense. And talk to each other (even those younger and "less smart" as us) a little more respectfully. To build up our communities by being friendlier. And maybe even assume the best in each other?
It would have been much better if this guy had just walked past us with a smile on his face and a little, "Hello...Nice night, isn't it?" kind of comment.
Anyways, a few thoughts. Not a big deal though. And goodnight.

Date Night

I decided that dating your spouse is kind of important. But, I'm not brave enough for asking a twelve year old to baby-sit for us yet. I'm just not. And plus, the cost... So I asked my sister if she wanted to do a little night swap two weeks a month. I'll take her kids one night and then sometime later in the month, she'll take Aleah. So with Kami's help and my Mother-In-Law, I think we can get two date nights a month and that is a great start! I think.
So Cade and I took our turn with Kami and Roger's boys Saturday night. It was a good time. Always is. But this time was especially chaotic and awesome. Haha. Somehow, I had got the impression that a little walk with all four kids in the Seamon's sit and stand stoller to get some ice cream down the road would be a great idea. Not a good idea, actually.

We loaded up all the kids and we went. Oh yeah, at seven p.m. it's STILL like 99 degrees outside. Come on! And that little walk was like a mile walk. So it was insane. But it's going to be worth it...ice cream! But the insanity progressed after making it to our destination.

Four kids under five is ridiculous. Oh a day in the life of Kami and Roger....because really, take away Aleah, and you still have pretty much the same chaos. I don't know how they do it. I especially don't know how Kami or Roger can go somewhere alone with all three boys.

So, we made it and found a spot. Sat the two babies down, already they are both antsy and impatient for.. some kind of one-on-one attention. Then we order, get the boys a few mini corn dogs and fries...and since I'm still dying of heat stroke, I order three cups of water and three chocolate ice cream cones (I don't really know why that many, I didn't want to think about it too much and do the math), and an oreo shake. The babies are still fussing for attention...and ice cream. So I'm focused on them. And then Riley (two and a half) spills his water everywhere. So, we grab a bunch of towels and clean it up, no big deal, it's just water. After Landon and Riley finish their corn dogs, they get ice cream. Landon wants a slurpee, so Cade takes him to get a slurpee.. Riley drops his ice cream.. I go and grab more napkins. Clean up mess. Cade comes back and I'm laughing at the chaos. Tell Cade that when Aleah turns two, we are shipping her out for a year. The age group I took care of when I worked at a daycare was this age and it is HARD. So as we're laughing about how messy Riley is, Landon (five) drops his slurpee. Like, I don't know how that happened. I think some force from the other side came and knocked it out of his hands, to be funny...because it was just too perfect in the situation. It wasn't funny. Ok it kind of was... Immediately Landon feels bad, "Sorry! Sorry!" And I'm not mad, I'm just blown away. We pick up more napkins and clean it up. Babies are pretty done here. We're done here. We clean up as well as we can and get out as quickly as we can. I think we were probably there for ten minutes. The walk was not worth it. We took a nice slow walk back, and just giggled about our little adventure. And decided that maybe we'll wait six years to have another child, when Aleah can hold a cup. Ha! It was fun. 

And when all was easier at the end of our walk....

Twenty-Three....eee....eee

Twenty-Two was a great age! I think it's very possible that I had the most growth this year than ever before. Becoming a Mom obviously definitely was my favorite part of this year. An age may never be so memorable as this one has been for me.
And whenever I hear Taylor Swifts "22" I think I am always going to have a few sweet flashbacks. I think the saddest part of turning 23 on Saturday is that I can no longer sing Taylor Swifts "22" and feel like it's my song. Yes, my song...even though this song is so completely far from the life I am living and the 22 that I know... In fact, I'm pretty sure Jay Leno's "63" version is closer to the life I live more than Taylors "22", (I have the dance moves to prove it...sadly).



But still, I like to pretend it's a song for me. And you know what, maybe it was a little bit for me, transitioning into Motherhood wasn't the easiest thing that I ever did. Turning up that song and with Aleah in my arms and dancing to it, brought a little bit of sanity. Maybe for a few reasons, but especially because it stopped Aleah's crying. This song many times was a life saver for me and her. I'm glad also to tell you she is not deaf and so far has no symptoms of shaken baby syndrome. Sweet memories.

But I'm excited to start a new year. I think twenty-three is going to be an ever better year for me. I'm ready for it!

House Hunting...ROUND 2

I don't know why we are currently visiting homes and browsing zillow again. We have 8 months left on our apartment lease. Of course, we can get out, just not as cheap as would be nice..but we can get out alright.

In September we got into an apartment and when the six month lease came up in March we still didn't feel like we were ready just yet to buy. We liked our apartments well enough, so we signed for a year. And now, in July, for whatever odd reason...we have home buying on our brains again. I'm not positive we are meant to be buying a house right now, but it's not a bad idea to do a little looking. As much though, as I would like a house, I really hate house hunting.
For us, it seems to be something a little like this....

What you always imagined it would be like to buy your first home..

So happy! And pretty.

It's a great time to buy! But we wait until we are ready...

Pay off some debt, get some things taken care of, and now, we are ready!

Let's do this.

 And then...find out prices have risen and continue to rise. Your price range isn't what it could have been ten months ago when you waited and got into an apartment instead of buying.

 Wait 8 more months for lease to be up...where will the home prices be then? Hm...

Looking is worth it...if it falls into place then great, if not, there is our answer...

  Oooh, this one looks alright...

Nooo..no, no..noo... 

I am not a fixer-upper. 

One day, maybe...today, I am not.

Or..
 For Heaven Sakes PEOPLE! Stop it.

And...

Why am I still looking through the pictures for this house..?!

And then there's the house that is pretty alright...great price, inside looks nice...

But the yard looks like this...

 Or you had to drive through this..

and pass that to get there.

 And then you find something you really do love and you really do want...fits your price range, great location, looks pretty... Seems like you were meant to be....but it doesn't turn out.
Investor buys it up or someone had more money and a better offer....or the agent you talked to in the model home doesn't call you back after you talked to them just two days ago.
It is a wild little process.

Ohhh, pretty kitchen. I want you.

But like I said, we are just going to see how things pan out the next 8 months. If something falls into place, then that is great, and if not, maybe we'll see the blessing in it down the road. I have to remind myself that Heavenly Father knows what is best for us. That there is a timing for everything and I have to trust in His plan for me and not my own. I was also reminded the other night after getting frustrated about the whole home buying process how blessed I really am. Humbling. I have so much more to be grateful for in life! I'll take all I have over a new pretty perfect little house, for sure!

Even with my better outlook though, I still had to share a little bit of what house hunting with the Hansen's has looked like. Hopefully someone else reading this was able to nod their head in a "I get this" kind of way.