Awaiting The Phone Call...

Yes, it is official. We are moving to Heber, Utah!

Ben and I have spent the last little while going up to Heber, checking things out, fasting, praying, and podering this move.


Why Heber, you may ask...

We do like where we live now. We feel like the location of our home right now has been great for our family. The neighborhood is nice. Herriman has treated us well.

BUT

We are ready for our last and final move. (that is planned by our own will and choice anyway)

We want to plant our roots and blossom in a place where we feel our family can blossom the best.  And stay put. We feel we have found that place.

Our style is more down home, open country, outdoorsy (is that even a word?), fun-loving, and a little more relaxed.  Ben and I both grew up that way and absolutely loved it and thrived in it.  We can tell that our kids will do great with that too.

Heber is a small town. 12,000 people. Add a few more with Midway right next door.
It is gorgeous!!!!
There are three lakes surrounding it, and we love waterskiing and playing in water.
The town is in the mountains . We enjoy hiking, camping, biking, and anything in the mountians.
Of course snow skiing is a bonus. There are three resorts right there.
The smaller community will allow us and our children to get to know people really well and have a good sense of friendship and close bonds. It will also provide a lot of opportunity in a lot of ways.
We also like how it feels more peaceful, serene and low key.

Heber is a small town, but it is not a podunk, uneducated, slow small town. It is actually the 5th fasted growing small town in the nation.  BUT, it can't get too big, which we are thrilled about.

People are pouring into there from Park City and other surrounding areas. This keeps it financially well off, and the education of the general population is right on target with everywhere else.

The main street is pretty run down, and the shopping there isn't great. At least they have a super Walmart and some really cute mom and pop businesses and resturants.  But 15 minutes away, is Park City. Great shopping, great food, and lots to do.  In our minds, this is awesome. Live in the peace and quiet, but take part in the fun and faster paced stuff if we decide to as well. Not to mention that Provo and Salt Lake are only a 40 minute drive away, in either direction.

With that said, here is what is going down now.

We found a great neighborhood/development that we really, really liked in Heber, and there are only a few lots left. The home we want to build can only be put on one of those lots. Luckily, it is the lot we liked most in the first place. It is on 1/2 acre and is at the end of a cul-de-sac.

We don't want to sell our home here until June if possible (for a tax credit thingy and a few reasons). But we have never heard of a builder holding a lot for 8 months either, so that may not happen.  We worry that the lot will sell fast, so if they can't hold it, we will do what we can to sell our home and get that lot.

Either way, we feel fine. We are happy here, and won't mind waiting a little while longer before we sell. We are also extremely excited to move to Heber, and I am very excited to build our home, so selling now would be kind of fun too.

Basically, we have asked if we can reserve that lot until June, and then start building.

If we can reserve the lot, then we will probably wait and put our house on the market in April or May.

If we can't reserve the lot, we will sell now, as in put our house in the market this weekend.

We are currentl waiting for the phone call today to know if we can reserve the lot or not. We will also be given the base price of the house plan for the home we are wanting to build. Kind of a big phone call. :)

Just in case, we have the house ready to go. We spent the week scrubbing, staging and fixing things up.  It feels great to have the house so clean and fixed up. It was a lot of work, but it feels good.


So now we wait for the phone to ring......

All I Want For Christhmas..

Ith my two front teeth...

Just Sayin'

The Joys of Boys (and one daughter who may or may not be guilty as well)

If there are 3 bites of cereal left in the box, don't put it back on the shelf...eat it.

A drop of milk is not enough for anyone, so don't put it back in the fridge.

Backpacks belong in the closet, not on the floor.

Walk 5 more feet to put your scooter away, otherwise, behind the car it gets run over.

"No" does not mean to ask 5 more times in different ways.

Your pants are not a washcloth for dirty fingers. Your hair isn't either.

He who wakes him...takes him!

If the toilet paper roll runs out....replace it. Some of us have to use it every time.

Mom finally sitting down is not a reminder that you are hungry, thirsty, need help, have to show her something right that second, or to start up a tantrum.

Aim for the toilet bowl. And I am not just talking about #1. Enough said.

Was that a booger on the wall?

Rotten apples from the tree do not belong on the trampoline, whether they are bombs or not.

No, Luke does not drink orange juice, and no, he does not like a full cup of it poured on his head.

Chocolate pudding is not a replica of poop to put on your fingers and chase your siblings with.

Rocks in the the dryer do not speed up the drying process.

It may look like it, but the house is not a giant jungle gym. Even if I do applaud your use of imagination and crazy dexterity.

The guinea pigs only eat fruit and vegies. Fruit snacks are not really fruit.

Marker does not come off walls, furniture, or Luke.

How about you make your weed, mud, bug and spider stew on the neighbors driveway next time.

Window and backboard and two totally different things.

Yes, you must wash your soccer socks after EVERY game. 

Only the truly brave will put their hands between the couch cushions to find something. Like maybe your hot dog from last week.

Did I miss the memo about the louder the burp the cooler you are?

Walmart is not the place for hide and seek. The "Seeker" can get really freaked out.  And yes, inside the toilet paper isle is a great place for a hideout, just don't jump out and almost scare an old man so badly that he farts dust next time.

Shoes are not just a fun decoration on the shoe rack, people actually do wear them.

Who the heck invented Legos. Somebody find them and kiss them for me please.  Same goes for the Mr. Clean magic eraser.

Santa is real. Zombies are not.  The Toothfairy is real. Vampires are not. The Easter Bunny is real. Blood sucking ants, with swords for legs,  the size of our house,  are not.  And yes, superman, batman, and spiderman are real. Dad is all three.


Just Sayin'.....

Oh yeah, and your momma loves you.

3 months!

Luke is three months!  A huge milestone to me when it comes to my babies. 

I always have to tell myself that I just need to make it to three months. (during those nights of waking up every hour and 1/2)  It is the point where I always start to feel more settled and a routine starts up about this time with my babies. It is also the age where SLEEP EXISTS again! Yeeeesssss!

 We made it!

Some fun facts about our sweet Luke Michael.

He is hovering around 11lbs., but that was about a month ago. I am guessing it is more like 12 now. So weird to have a smaller baby, after William.  My back and arms are so grateful.

He finally made it out of newborn clothes! He is a shorty, so the 0-3 month clothes have hung down to his knees until about a week ago.

He started laughing. His giggle will instantly make me happy. It is so cute.

He is very playful. He loves to be talked to, played with, looked in the eye, and tickled. If you catch his eye, he will instantly start wiggling his arms and legs all over and smiling, in hopes of playtime.

He is Sam's baby. Sam adores him, and the adoration is returned. Sam is the only one who can just glance and Luke, and Luke will burst into a huge smile. Sam hugs him all the time and is constantly telling me what Luke needs, when he smiles, when he smells, when he is too hot, too cold, when he is happy, ect. I love that Sam has taken on such a brotherly role.

Luke babbles a lot and blows bubbles.  He has really started chatting it up lately. It is extremely cute.

He takes after Sam in the ticklish department.  All you have to do is touch him, and he gets all squirmy and smiles really big.

His reflux is still pretty bad if we miss a dose of his meds. With the medicine though, he is doing well, aside from lots of spit up at times.

He continues to be a good natured, peaceful little guy. Perfect disposition for the fourth child...to me anyway.

I think I am addicted to my precious baby.

Love you Lukey Luke.

Too Good

Sometimes, something is so good, that words just don't do it justice.
We spent this past week in McCall, Idaho at a cabin, on a lake, with my family.
I guess the best word to describe it would be heaven.

There were so many things that made the whole trip amazing, but the best part was the way my spirit felt there.  I felt free, loved, happy, in tune with God and my family, and peaceful.

The beauty, the serenity, the constant companionship of those I love and who love me, and the stunning beauty of the surroundings all make me believe that it must be, at least a taste, of what heaven will be like.

The week went by too fast, and I didn't want to leave....ever. But life needs to be lived, so here I am, back in reality. It is a good life, a life Ben and I have created, and we are happy.  We just had such an amazing time, it was hard to let go.

I wasn't the only one who loved it. Mary and Sam went nuts for the beach. We would have to beg them to come inside to eat. They just swam and played and swam and played and swam and played. It was awesome to see them love something as much as we do. It made it even better.

 So...here is what we did, in my heaven, in a nutshell.

We waterskied, surfed, wakeboarded and tubed.


Mary's hero is Bethany, from Soul Surfer. When she discovered that she could surf with Kelsey, she grinned and grinned and grinned. It was her favorite thing.

Mary and Sam rode the tube together. It was so cute.

We rode in Bop's boat...a lot

William loved the boat rides. He asked for them all week.

 

We made a lot of bracelets and jewelry. It was so fun!

Our "craft" table.

 

 

We made bird feeders out of pinecones, oatmeal, crisco and bird seed.  The birds loved them.

 

 

 

 

We went to the fish hatchery

 

 

We made "rock monsters' and

"animals" out of the rocks collected from the fish hatchery.

 

We made buildings out of toothpicks and mini-marshmallows. Sam was amazing at this!

 

We launched waterballons with the slingshot and laughed our heads off when it hit someone (my brothers) on the beach.

 

Ben made slingshots for Mary and Sam, and they practiced lots and lots.

 

We went to ice cream alley...yummy!

 

We ate at the pancake house where you can get giant cinnamon rolls shaped like poop. They taste so yummy though!

 

We buried kids in the sand.

 

The cousins played.

 

We made ice cream in a bag.

 

The guys blew stuff up for a while.

 

My mom and I ran every day, and I finally hit my goal of 6 miles! We saw lots of deer, a fox and other cool mountain animals.

 

Ben went mountain biking a lot. He brought his go-pro and got lots of cool footage.

 

We chilled out in teddy bear chairs and watched cars about 500 times.

 

 

We went cliff jumping

 

 

We went to "treasure island" where blackbeard's map (which washed up on the beach in a bottle) took us on a treasure hunt to his treasure.

X marks the spot. The treasure was buried here.

the treasure

 

we found blackbeards hide-out

 

 

we found poor Davey Jones' skull

 

 

We colored a lot of pictures, for fun.

 

 

We had fun together.

And we miss it a lot already.

After leaving McCall, we spent the rest of the weekend at the Maynards. We had a great time visiting, hanging out, laughing and enjoying family. The kids had a lot of fun with their cousins.

We had such an awesome trip, and I am so grateful for family and the blessing it is. We missed my brother Ryan and his family so much this year, but they are doing better things right now. Like having a baby any day. :)  I am sure we will see them soon though.

So there you have it, my heaven.

Good Times.