It's a good thing...

...I really love my 2 year old.

The past two weeks William:

Shattered my favorite bracelet

Picked the touch up paint off of the walls, twice.

poured red candle wax all over our nice table cloth. It is ruined.

Threw about 800 screaming tantrums that resulted in time out.

Snuck out of the bathtub and sat on the counter completely naked while eating the tops off of 21 muffins I made for breakfast. All while I was washing Sam's hair.

Threw his cup at Sam and made him cry...at least 10 times a day.

Poured and entire container of ranch dressing out onto his plate of chicken nuggets. I guess he was trying to be self-sufficient.

Picked the roses off of the rose bushes and shredded them all over the yard, 10 minutes before a showing of our house.

Fed the guinea pigs candy...which can kill them. Luckily, they are used to William and have stomachs of steel.

Poured an entire bowl of cereal on his head.

Poured an entire bowl of cereal on the floor.

Dumped his applesauce on the counter, and then slapped it all over with his hands while laughing hysterically.

Drew all over the piano keys with a pen.

Spit juice all over the walls, "because it was funny?"

cut my $35 headphones into three pieces.

Shattered Sam's Lego creation he spent hours working on.

Pulled up a bunch of the neighbors flowers.

Wakes up at the crack of dawn ready to roll.

Threw 5 loads worth of folded clean laundry down the stairs.

And believe it or not, I do watch him. He just finds the tiny bits of time I am occupied with one of the other three, and goes for it.  He is also not doing most these things out of anger or to be bad, which makes it hard to discipline him. He is just extremely curious and fun loving.

Good thing he can give great hugs and kisses, makes me laugh and smile every day,  and loves to snuggle. Oh, what to do with this giant 2 year old of mine.

Heber Happenings

These past few weeks have been pretty nuts, but also pretty exciting.  Home showings, soccer, dance, teaching piano lessons, school, homework, work, church callings, keeping the house spotless at all times, and finding time to have fun, has kept me on my toes.  At times it has been rough, but it has also been fun too. Ups and downs....life.

We have had our home on the market for exactly 16 days now. A lot has happened since then.

In all of our previous moves, we have felt a strong command from the Lord to do so. Because of this feeling of being commanded,  I have always known that things would work out and that the Lord would open the way. And he has done so each time.  It was never really a question of if the Lord would help, it was more of keeping the faith and going forward as he directed us and opened the way.

This move is different. We have not felt like we are commanded to go, rather, we have thought and prayed a lot about the place where we would like to plant our roots, settle and stay put. We have chosen to go to Heber, because we feel, after our research, that it fits us and our lifestyle the best. Our spirits connect there in a way that makes it feel like home.  The only other place I have felt this was Colorado Springs. But once we were told to move from there, that feeling left.

I have been searching for that feeling ever since we moved from Colorado to Utah. We are happy where we live right now, and we have been very blessed, but some part of me has never really been able to call this home.  When we visited Heber a year ago, for the Dirty Dash, I felt that feeling, but didn't act on it. Lately, as we have become serious about moving there, the feeling has grown. The last time we went there, I knew it would be home. My spirit knew it. It is a great feeling.

 So, we have chosen to move. We felt commanded to live in Utah, and we are here in Utah. We have chosen to go to Heber though. Because of this, I have wondered if the Lord would help us with this move, like in the other moves where he commanded us to go.  I have worried about praying for help, or about things falling through without the Lords help.

Oh, was I wrong.

The Lord has been with us. We have had some miracles pave our way to Heber that only the Lord could provide. And I realized something important. 
If my own children decided to do something good, that they feel will make then happier, grow more and blossom, would I try to help them? Absolutely!  So, why wouldn't the Lord help us.

A little over a week go, we had a lot picked out and a house plan picked out. We were just waiting for our home to sell before we began anything in Heber.  We went to Heber on Saturday to look at the lot and to just be there again.  We discovered that the lot has a huge nasty canal going through it along with two 7ft by 7ft drainage pipes! Boo!  Not good at all.  We also had to pick three different house plans because the people kept giving us the wrong info, and leading us astray.  The plan we finally picked was pretty cool, but compared to the others I had looked at, it wasn't the "wow" house I had hoped for. We were leaving Heber extremely discouraged that day. I was really sad.

Then, as we were headed out, Ben mentioned a neighborhood that we had glanced at once before. We decided to go there.  A few minutes in that neighborhood, and I knew that was the place. I knew it was home. And I was almost giddy.  We also found out that the builders can build the home I originally wanted so badly, but that was way too expensive, for a price that is now in our price range!!!  Yes, my "wow" house.  The lot we found is better, there is more land around us, and feeling there is so peaceful and serene.  So, we switched builders, switched lots, and found things to be even better than originally planned. Definitely the hand of the Lord.

Yesterday, we learned that the lot we want to build on had an offer put on it. The offer was contingent on the people selling the home they were in. We decided to also put on offer on the same lot, contingent on our home selling. It was a very scary feeling to think we could lose the lot.  As we pulled into the Kinkos parking lot to fax the offer over, we got the phone call.

Someone put in an offer for our home! A good solid offer. One we have accepted.
The timing was not a coincidence.

We were able to change the offer for the lot, and say that our home was now under contract. We faxed it over that very evening. We are hoping that they will give us the lot over the other people that haven't sold their home yet. We should find out tomorrow.   Another blessing.

If all goes through, we have less than three weeks to be out! We close on this home Oct. 12th.  So, we are now looking for a rental around here to live in, while we build in Heber.  We want to let the kids stay in the same school and ward, until our home is done in Heber. We feel it will be the best way to ease them into the move.

So, here we are. Awaiting some important phone calls, and praying for the best. I am grateful for the hand of the Lord in my life, and I am grateful for places like Heber, Utah.

4 months!

Luke turned 4 months yesterday! We celebrated by getting his first official photo shoot done. I LOVE the pictures, and can't wait to pick them up next week. He did great and loved it. He smiled, squirmed and wiggled the whole time.

 

Luke stats:
13 pounds
Happy baby
Had his first ear infection last week....so sad
Loves to laugh and be played with
He is starting to try to sit up on his own
He babbles a lot, and it is so cute.
He loves his siblings, especially Sam.
He rolls over.
He plays with toys and reaches for things...especially earrings.
He loves to crinkle paper.
He is such a sweet baby. He has a very sweet and precious spirit that comes from him. It is addicting.

Going For It

Over the weekend, we continued to crunch numbers, talk to our realtor, look at model homes, look at house plans, talk with our contacts in Heber, and so on.

We found a house plan that we are very excited to build, and call our own.  We also decided that we are going to try to sell our home now. Our house went on the market this morning.

We never did get a solid answer on if they can hold the lot for us or not, we just decided to sell now and see what happens anyway. We realized that it will be about the same either way.

We really, really like the lot we found in Heber. It is in a cul-del-sac, and it has plenty of room for our house and for our kids to run and play. It is in a very cool neighborhood as well.

The more it sinks in, the more I can feel that Heber just fits us. There are so many things about it that we love and have been looking for in a place to settle and raise our family.  To me, it is like finding our Colorado Springs in Utah. It feels so open, free, and serene.  I feel like we will be in the place (the state) where the Lord asked us to be, and also in a place where we feel our spirits can connect and our family will be happy. It is the Lords will combining with ours. And that feels good.

We are trying to be pretty relaxed while selling our home. We would love to sell it now, but if it doesn't sell, we will just wait until spring and try again. We aren't in a rush, but we are excited to get things going.

If our home does sell soon, we will rent in our current neighborhood, or very close by, in order to let the kids finish out the school year, and their sports, here in Herriman.  That way they can finish things out here while the home is being built in Heber. Once the home is done, we will move to Heber.

I am very excited to start planning our home, picking things out, and customizing it. It is a lot of work, and has been already, but it is really exciting and fun too.

So here we go. Wish us luck!