Family Dinner

Lots of cousins! Big cousins W and Em and little cousins M and B

I got a refresher in baby holding with sweet little L and M was surprisingly NOT jealous! She thought L was adorable!!

Grandpa Bob with his three great grand daughters!

goodbye house!

We packed up on Friday, cleaned Saturday morning and left for Denver to visit family! We're here safe and leaving for Utah tomorrow! It's been so wonderful to relax today, visit family and and meet family!!

Pretty Easter Girl

Finally, I had time to upload pictures!

It's a...

healthy baby!

And it's another girl!!!!! We're so excited! She looks fabulous! She looks like her sister did, but actually her ultrasound was clean as a whistle (M's raised a bunch of flags that made us worry for months for nothing! she's perfect!) We're so happy to have a healthy, sweet girl that's going to join us in twenty weeks!!

A few days of crazy!

Well, the big truck is here, the last day of work has come and gone, the husband arrives in less than two hours (hooray!) and no, the house is so NOT ready for tomorrow! So, why am I blogging? To tell you that I will probably be in cognito for a few days while we pack up, move and drive across the country! However, before that, we have to have the ultrasound, finish up the last minute packing, clean, load the truck, clean some more, have another rental showing and hopefully sleep somewhere in there too!! Wish us luck! (and yes, there will hopefully be news at some point, but it may not be posted in a timely fashion!)

Do YOU know how long your driveway is???

So I have a 28' trailer being delivered this evening. We get to fill up half of it with our things and hope and pray that it all fits!!! I totally spaced calling the city to make sure it was okay if it was put in the street if our driveway was too long. The city said, no way, the street's too narrow and there's snow coming tonight! The plows have to get through! I panicked and ran outside with my tape measure (which I should have done in the first place). Happily, my driveway is 45' long and will soon be graced with a big huge trailer in it! Fun for me! I hope I remember to move my car out of the garage first though! :)

Only 1 Day Left!!!!

He is coming to get me tomorrow night!!! I can finally let go and let him take charge for a while and I can't wait! I'm so tired. I'm tired of making decisions. He gets to make all the decisions as of Friday morning! That sounds so wonderful!

Our prospective renter chose the "other house"

I've reposted it on Craigslist and hopefully we'll get more great responses. I've also followed up with the two other families who had seemed so interested to see if they really were! And I'm trying not to cry since I'm supposed to pack up my house this week and now have no one to move in!

Princess White

Grandma Jan took M to Build-a-Bear yesterday morning. I tagged along with my sister-in-law (the expert who has done this before) and it was so fun! I have to admit, I have never been that interested but it really is cute and now I want one too they're so cute! (although, mine would be an elephant in a fairy costume, in case you wanted to know)
M dressed was a little overwhelmed by the bright noisy store that was so crowded but she did well. She picked out her bear, helped stuff her, picked out a princess outfit for her and helped us dress her. When we asked for her name, she said, Princess White. So cute.
She didn't want much to do with it until we were in another store and she was a little less deer-in-headlights and then she had a blast and hasn't let her out of her sight since!!

Cross your fingers and PRAY!!

Well, all five rental showings have showed up (we were warned that lot would flake out on us).  I'd be comfortable with three of the groups living in my house, but the other two didn't seem that interested or to be a good fit.  One has applied!! She wants it next week but she is deciding between our house and another. Everything is checking out, so I told her today that I'd do whatever she needs to entice her to choose us!!!  She wants her son to see in on Sunday though. So, in the meantime, I'm trying to be patient and  faithful!! 

On Wednesday, I did order a truck that will come and sit in our driveway this next week while we load it, then someone else will drive it across the country for us.  Isn't that nice?? It was cheaper than u-haul and we loved the whole, we don't have to drive an awkward truck part! We have friends and church friends coming over on Monday to pack and we'll see how far we've gotten by then.  So tomorrow I have to go get more boxes and run a bunch of errands and continue packing! It's real!  I can't wait for it all to be done too!!!

8 days!!!!!!

When it rains, it pours!  It had to rain at some point, right??? 

We re-listed the house to rent on craigslist.  We tried to put a price that was very well within the range for a twin home like ours.  

7 hours later, I had four people that wanted to see it. 

24 hours later, I have five appointments and have had 12 inquiries about it! 

Who knows, maybe I'll be packing up my entire house next week rather than packing for a "really long trip"! AUGH!!! 

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!

10 days!!!!!!!!!

We are in the process of re-listing our house.  Hopefully we'll get it up before I leave.  I'm also posting it on Craig's List for rent.  I got two inquiries less than an hour after I posted it! woo hoo!!! We swear it's a good house, it just needs good occupants now!!!

He's coming to get me!!!!!

My hubby is coming back in 11 days!!!! Do you think he looks excited? (he's the one on the right)

My last day of work is the 27th.  He flies in that night.  The next morning we have the ultrasound for our little one.  The next morning we leave!  Whew!  We will be leaving the house showing ready so we get to come back (hopefully soon) to get our stuff as well.  

My foray into single motherhood is almost over! I'm so glad. I'm so not patient enough to do this alone.  I'm so looking forward to seeing someone else in the bed!

Where has Miss M been?

I haven't downloaded pictures from our recent trip to Utah so I have been neglecting to put up cute pics of my cute girl for a while. So without further adieu...

Whatever Grace (my sister) and Cheryl (her room mate) wanted to do, M wanted to do!  
If they were sitting with pillows, Miss M HAD to sit with a pillow too!

I love photoshop!

So I know I changed my layout on TUESDAY, but I had way too much fun in photoshop this morning and couldn't resist!!!!

a little spring

well, it turned out a bit more drab than I had intended but at least Valentine's Day is over now!

a little solace

I have been really struggling this weekend with so much going on.  Our realtor quit the day before we were going to fire him, M and I have had horrible colds, there's a lot of stress at work right now, the house won't sell, it's STILL cold outside, packing, organizing and cleaning and doing all of it alone, and heaven forbid I have an uneventful and uncomplicated pregnancy!

I opened my scriptures tonight and was blessed with a little reminder.

"Be patient in afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days." -Doctrine and Covenants 24:8

I was humbled with the reminder that the Lord was comforting Joseph Smith, whose trials were surely greater than mine, but that my prayers for a little peace and reassurance that we'll be taken care of will still be answered.

Do you really MEAN to ask that question??

It's really strange how people react when I tell them that I'm moving.  The classic and oft repeated scenario happened last week at Home Depot.

HD light guy: what are you getting new lights for?

me: fixing up our house to help it sell

HD light guy: where are you moving?

me: Utah

HDLG: oh, how do you feel about that?

me: (thinking, why, I feel fine about it, since you're really asking how I feel about Mormons?) great! I have family there and went to college there.

HDLG: oh, good.  let me show you the lights over here.

It's like they're testing the waters as to whether they can say, wow, how do you feel about living with all those Mormons?

Then today was another classic, at work. I was introducing myself to an OT (occupational therapist) who I hadn't worked with before and updating one of my OT friends on my current life.

me: It's my last Saturday. I'm moving at the end of the month.

OT I don't know: where are you moving?

me: my husband got transferred to Utah.

OT IDK: Have you studied up on Mormons?

me: I AM Mormon, so yes, all my life!

OTIDK: oh! I have traveled a lot in southern Utah. It's beautiful down there.  It seems like it's its own world though, doesn't it?  They have their own set of rules.  You have to get a permit for everything! rambling and back pedaling on and on....

In my head I was wondering what permits had to do with Mormons. I don't mean to make people uncomfortable, just be honest that yes, I don't mind moving there and yes, I have studied about the Mormons, it's called seminary, institute, church, etc!

People are funny!

What you May not Know about ME!

Seven things you may not know about me:

1-Ten years ago... I was in my senior year of high school. I was actually in the hospital in the middle of one of the scariest ordeals of my life! I kept getting sick and we didn't know why. I just realized that was exactly ten years ago! Wow! Ten years makes such a difference!

2-Five years ago... I was dating my first boyfriend (who yes, became my husband-I was lucky and only had to do it once!), in my second semester of grad school at the U of M, and working at Talbots. I was in a school internship and going crazy. It was not a good fit, I was working there twice as much as I was supposed to and they were actually using me as maternity leave coverage. Yeah, I got pulled out of that internship as soon as my advisor found out!

3- 5 things on my "to do" list: Tomorrow I plan to 1) Make some changes to our house that will hopefully help my sanity (I will explain later) 2) Go to Target 3) Do laundry 4) Fold laundry (a miracle to happen in the same day!) 5) Finish the patch in my wall.

4-Things I would buy if I were given a million dollars: I would make all the changes and pour all the money realtors seem to think we have into the house that they want us to so that it will finally sell!!!! Then I would buy a house in Utah for our family and go live in it!!! Of course with cute new maternity clothes and a really great retirement fund in hand!

5-Also, you may not know...I was a total flake in high school and would give up on classes rather than admit I was having trouble and then fail them.

6-Now I'll back track a little on my previous "thing". I turned into the ultimate over-achiever, extra-curricular guru in college. I freaked out when I got an A-, was in tons of activities, and was even president of the Asian American Student Council. For those readers who don't know me personally, no, I'm not Asian!!!

7-Yesterday I... took M to a play group birthday party, finally got groceries, watched my wonderful friend Trisha's son, went to Home Depot to get new outlets for the kitchen and a light fixture for the bedroom fan, picked up dinner, had another wonderful friend, Ali and her family over for dinner so her wonderful husband could attach said light fixture, outlets and fix the hole in my landing wall so my house will hopefully sell soon!!!

16 weeks

The view from sixteen weeks is pretty good!  I am no longer sick, my clothes don't fit, I actually am thinking I'm feeling the baby (although not entirely sure), and the baby is the size of an avocado according to babycenter.com.  

I am going to have my ultrasound on the very last day I'm here, hoping that W will be in town to accompany me and be a part of this.  So, everyone else will read it on the blog or email because I won't be able to share the results at work or church! I'll be done and on the road!

M is very sweet and likes to hug and kiss my tummy and say hello to the baby.  Of course she only remembers there's a baby in my tummy when I'm sitting on the toilet and my tummy's actually exposed but we won't get into the logistics of her kissing my belly while I'm sitting on the pot. Nice visual, eh? :)

I'm glad I'm getting my energy back though because the next few weeks are going to be CRAZY!!!!

living room updates

I came home from the last day of painting to a new living room!  I love it!!!

I had bought a new curtain rod and curtains and she hung them for me and then rearranged the room! I love how when you come up the stairs you see the room now, not just the back of the couch!
I still haven't figured out what to do with the chest but for now, in front of the window works!

kitchen updates

I am THRILLED with how the painting turned out!  Everything looks so fresh, and the backsplash in the kitchen looks fantastic!  I think it lightens the cupboards and I think it automatically updated the whole kitchen.  And the new appliances should help as well!!

I'm back!!!

I tried to post while I was gone but the internet was a bit spotty (I'm going to have to fix that when I'm actually living there or I'll go nuts!!!!)

I took M's brand new kitchen from Gma Jan as a checked bag (still in the box!) to Utah!  It worked great!  She had a new toy where there weren't many, it made the trip special for her and she was excited to "play Hazel kitchen" for two days until we had time to open it up! (and yes, Hazel, you are expected for a play date as soon as you can make it out here!)