Merry Christmas!!

Well, this move has thrown me all off helter-skelter,

so in case I didn't get your Christmas card mailed out,
here you go!! Love you all!!

Family Photos 2010

I was so excited for our family pictures this year. We have friends who just happen to be photographers and let me trade babysitting for a fabulous photo session on the beach. They take such beautiful pictures and I had always wanted to do this shoot, so I was thrilled! 

Thanks to Bonilla Photography for the awesome photos!!

http://bonillaphotography.com/

Dandelion Wishes

I am a HUGE sucker for dandelion blowing pictures. 

Combined with my little girl was irresistible to me.

May all your dandelion wishes come true!

October

Wow. October was seriously the craziest month I've ever had. We sold our house, and had to pack up everything and move in with David's parents until our new house could get through the short sale process. Why they call it a short sale is beyond me, since it is the longest and most complicated way to sell a house. Probably because they're selling it short of the money owed on the loan. Good deal for us, but a long and frustrating process. We were supposed to be able to stay in our old house and rent it back from our friend who bought it from us. The short sale on our new house was just taking too long though, and she had found someone to rent her other house and needed to move in to ours. We had a week and a half to get out. On top of that, I had a major craft boutique I was sewing for the same weekend. 

Needless to say, we took a week vacation from school and just let Jeremy play and entertain Kelsey while we tackled the insanity. 

David took this extremely attractive shot of me in my pajamas sewing like a madwoman. That's pretty much what I looked like all month.

The kids had fun as we packed and they were so good and found ways to entertain themselves in the different stages of packing. Kelsey was a little traumatized to have her bed disappear one day though.

We had a lot of simple meals. LOL

In between packing and sewing we had soccer. Jeremy was excited to get to be the goalie, but the ball stayed down at the other end of the field, so he was disappointed. We told him he did a great job, and he looked at us like we were crazy and said, but the ball never came to me! Oh well, he looked cute.

Kelsey wanted to pick every single yellow dandelion on the field and put them in her hair. That's my girl!

We celebrated Daddy's birthday and Jeremy helped him blow out all the candles.

I was super excited to be there when one of my YW opened her mission call to Boise ID!! She's gonna be great!!

I was so relieved when the boutique was here and I could stop sewing.

There were lots of lookers and touchers, but not a lot of buyers. Oh well, I've got 2 more holiday boutiques coming up in December and my inventory is well stocked!

That weekend we finished moving into my in-laws house and spent the next week watching our newest niece while her parents went to Cancun. 

Jeremy was sweet and read to her.

Kelsey shared her dolly. It was fun, but I am certain now my baby days are behind me!! Babies are a lot of work!!

The Friday before Halloween, we went to our ward Halloween party. Kelsey had fun dancing on stage with her friends.

Jeremy was so excited to win a prize for his costume!

On Halloween we had Ghoulish Blood and Guts for dinner...

with Skeleton Bones...wahahaha...

and gave out candy to the trick-or-treaters.

It was super spooky fun!!

I hope your October was more fun than crazy!!

Giveaway!!

The Cute Cupcakesters over at Cute Cupcakes All The Time are hosting a giveaway for me!! Hop on over there and enter to win $20 to my Etsy shop!!

http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com/2010/10/giveaway-polka-dots-on-parade.html

WE'RE MOVING!!!

Okay, so several months ago my friend Brandy, who is a realtor, told me she was interested in buying our house. She'd told me that before but we weren't really interested. Well this time we started thinking about it. I really didn't think we could afford to buy anything else because I was stuck on the idea of having a big yard like we do now. Well as I looked around at all the happy condo people, I started thinking. How could they possibly be happy? They have no yard. And then I started thinking, but they don't have to take care of it. The husbands don't have to do yardwork, and the wives don't have to nag the husbands to do it. If any of you have seen our house it is a jungle to behold. More plants than any 5 yards need, and such a variety that we have no idea how to care for them. On top of that our house is 50 years old, and in need of some serious TLC. Well, David was more than happy to give up yardwork, so we started looking around! It turns out that when you don't have all that land to pay for, you can get a pretty nice condo! We told Brandy we would accept her offer and the adventure began!! The way to get the best deal is short sales and repos. Once we started looking, people told me all their horror stories of how long it took to get into one of these great deals. I was undeterred!! These people were wimps! They just didn't know how to stick it out! Famous last words. I have a tendency to think I'm stronger than I am. I used to mock the people who got epidurals, until I had a 20 hour labor and an emergency c-section. LOL So anyway, these people weren't kidding. It's been quite a ride with many bumps along the way. Changing short sale programs and procedures, endless documents to sign, delays upon delays, and annoying realtors (not ours.) But our house is sold now, and we are hoping to have a condo to move into sooner rather than later. We are fortunate to have family to live with temporarily in the interim. We have 1 1/2 weeks left before we need to vacate our house and I was lying in bed awake last night feeling melancholy at the thought of leaving our beloved home. We bought this home together the year we got married, brought our babies home from the hospital here, and celebrated many happy occasions. I'm excited for our new adventure though! It will be fun to try out condo life, to watch someone else mow the grass, and to be surrounded by pools and playgrounds in a community planned just for families. I wish I could savor these last days in our house but I am surrounded by things to pack and endless little things to sew for the CUW boutique I'm involved in next weekend. Wish me luck!!

Adventures in September

September was full of fun and excitement!

 We enjoyed our Knotts Soak City passes for the last time before they closed.

 Jeremy went on all the big rides!

 We had plenty of free cupcakes!

 And it's always more fun with friends!

 We played with our newest cousin and shared pacis. Awwww...

 We had fun with Grandpa.

 Went to the park.

 Started soccer season.

Jeremy has become a better soccer player this year and is enjoying it.

This sassy girl...

...learned to JUMP!! And she loves it!

We had to tent our house for termites. This involved extensive packing of food and anything that might go in our mouths. What a pain!!! We also had to be out of the house for 48 hours. Luckily David had a business trip to San Diego scheduled in a very family-friendly hotel the same week. What a blessing!! I decided to call it our "termite vacation!"

While we were on vacation we celebrated my BIL's birthday with donut cake! My sister took our tradition and made it her own with red velvet cupcakes on top. Oh heaven.

Kelsey had her own fun breaking my glasses in two, so it was off to the eye doctor on vacation for new glasses! Oh well, it was time to go to the eye doctor anyway. Crazy girl.

 The eye doctor had a carousel right outside. This made a couple of children VERY happy. :) 

 Our hotel had a nice pool and jacuzzi.
I preferred the warm water.

 David preferred the cold.
And the kids took turns going back and forth.

 My sister and I took the kids to see my Grandfather. 

Oh, and our hotel just happened to be down the street from the outlet mall. Oh my gosh!!
Nothing makes me happier than a good deal!

Last, but certainly not least, PIE MONTH started early!!!

Hooray!!!