Going Once, Going Twice... SOLD!*

This morning I got a phone call that Suzette's family had been planning to go camping today, but since the weather was yucky they decided to come help me pack and clean up the garage.  What a miracle!  With the 5 of them, my mom, and my girls, we got the garage looking incredible in just a couple very busy hours.  Then Grandma celebrated by getting us lunch which we brought back and ate picnic-style in the garage.  Who can EAT on their garage floor?!  I felt almost guilty parking the car in there later today.

Then this afternoon we attended the closing on our new home.  With all the usual hubbub just prior to closing it felt like another miracle that it went so smoothly.  They served us fresh cookies, cold water / soda, and we sat in a very fancy room to sign our names roughly 1,083,294 times.  Everything was exactly as we expected with no nasty surprises.

 

And ta-da!!!  We came home with a big packet of paperwork.  We don't get the keys to our new home until 48 hours after funding.  There is a possibility that funding will occur tomorrow, but it may not be until Monday.  So at least by Wednesday we should get the keys and get to make our first official Trip Home.

*This title reflects artistic license as no auctions took place in the purchase of the home.  ;)

Sisterly Love

I'd like to point two things out that we can learn from this picture:

1: Lift up those around you.  Help others reach their goals / needs / potential by lifting them above yourself.  By putting ourselves lower we can lift others above us.  And how much does that truly exalt us in the end run?  Worth a moment on the grocery store floor?  Definitely.

2: As others lift you up, make it easy on them.  Notice how Lizzie took off her boots before stepping on Kate's back?  She didn't want to make it any harder on Kate than necessary.  While you can be grateful for the help of others, do what is in your power to ease their burden as well.  Recognize the efforts of someone on your behalf.

(I took this picture this evening using my camera phone at the grocery store.  Lizzie was thirsty and I simply couldn't pick her up to reach the drinking fountain.)

Goals, update 6

 Any new notes I've added this month are bold.  

Completed goals are red.

1- Sew at least one new item of clothing for me.

2- Make living room curtains (hopefully for our own home) -- Moving in 2 weeks!!!  Then we can start thinking about things like curtains.
 
3- Go one mile (run/walk) in 12 minutes or less --  All my energy is going to packing right now.  We'll see how alive I am after I'm done with this.

4- Clean out and sort jewelry boxes

5- Catch up one year of scrapbooks -- I'll get back to this after the move.
 
6- Read the entire Book of Mormon -- In the process
 
7- Get a new family picture taken
 
8- Clean out my bedroom closet -- This is what I'm working on starting tomorrow!  I'll also be packing up whatever I can't/won't be wearing immediately.
 
9- Sort my craft type items (including sewing) -- This is pretty well done!  I guess it's halfway there and the other half will be as I move it into its new place.

10- Make a new temple dress (does not fulfill goal #1) --  I found a mostly made temple dress in my sewing things. And guess what?  I still like it!  It might even still fit okay!  I'll have to just finish it up.
 
11- Be involved in at least one PTA project at the elementary school -- I am getting signed up to help with something, but I've also helped chaperone a field trip for each girl this last month.  They loved it.  And so did I.
 
12- Get last year's blog book printed and bound --  On hold.
 
13- Make some nice hair pretties for MY daughters --  On hold.
 
14- Read some classic literature
   
15- Plant something and keep it alive -- My miniature roses are so pretty!  They're still doing really well and have grown TONS.
 
16- Improve dysphonia to be able to sing again with less pain -- Still in progress.
 
17- Learn two new hymns on the piano --
 
18- Plan and enjoy a family vacation (even if it has to be in Utah County)
 
19- Back up all digital photos on new DVDs (or other storage device) and store safely -- ongoing
 
20- Participate in fruit and vegetable co-op when possible and learn new ways to enjoy produce -- We're working on this.  Done it a few times and hopefully will do better once life gets settled again.
 
21- Create a 7 generation pedigree chart

22- Finish quilts for the girls' beds

23- Take a class through the community programs
 
24- Follow FlyLady principles to get/keep the house in a happy state.  -- FlyLady doesn't have a specific plan for packing up a whole house, but I think I've been doing pretty well actually.
 
25- Read a book by a church leader -- Only about 50 pages left.  Yeah, I've been slow on the finishing part, but I didn't want to forget to pay attention.
 
26- Spend $1,000 to improve financial outlook (pay off debt faster, put in savings, etc.) -- We did it!  Finally buying a home is absolutely wonderful.
 
27- Look at the stars more -- I can't wait for warm summer nights!
 
28- Clean the Sharpie "artwork" off the playroom walls  Ha ha!!!!  DONE!!!

29- Update our family's emergency preparedness -- Oops.  Still need to finish this up.

30- Learn to use the lenses and settings on my camera -- Baby steps here too.
 
31- Return and report progress on my goals

Picture Day

 Some new pictures I took of my girls at or near the Mt. Timpanogos Temple last weekend.  I spent the whole day cutting, trimming, and curling their hair.  (Mt. Timpanogos Temple is where Michael and I were married over a decade ago!)

In packing news: This last week the toys got all packed up!  The play room has been boxed up.  Well, about 1/3 of it.  The rest has found new homes (mostly worn out ones in the garbage).  I am too tired to take a picture of it, but it mostly looks like a room with a bunch of paint patches on the walls and boxes stacked around.  A little more progress.  Phew!

Memory Space Low

I love taking pictures.  Don't think anyone here would doubt that.  However, I often get somewhere and realize I don't have my nice camera.  I guess the pictures / video on my cell phone are better than nothing, but so often I never even get them off the phone.  As I was running out of space on my phone (heaven forbid I'd be forced to delete significant applications like "Solitaire"!) I finally went through all these forgotten moments.  And here we have a catch up of low quality evidence of high quality memories.

 Kate at Ukulele Club.  She's in the middle of the front row with her pink ukulele.

Lizzie at Jump Club (jumproping).  She's the shortie in the middle there.

Walking between two cars Sabrina was watching her feet and ran her forehead into a side-view mirror!  Quite the painful goose-egg, poor girl.

Kate at the dentist office.  She's got the "elephant nose" on (it's the laughing gas) and she and Sabrina are watching "The Emperor's New Groove" while they wait for her novacaine to kick in the rest of the way before having her pulpotomy done (root canal on a baby tooth).

Springville Museum of Art field trip with the 1st grade.  Lizzie's in the front here of the group I was chaperoning.  The large portrait they're standing in front of is a part of the All-State High School Exhibit.  It's done in colored pencil by my cousin Kristen Brunson and earned the Education Director's Award!

As we continued through the museum we also found these two paintings by Lee Greene Richards, my great-great uncle!

At the end we walked through the sculpture garden.  This was a favorite perch for all the kids.

Now for some old video clips:

Grandpa Southern reading to a whole scad of grandkids 1/2010

Lizzie (in the purple shirt) in her kindergarten production at the end of that school year. 5/2010

1st grade (Lizzie) production of "The Little Engine That Could" in choral recitation.  Lizzie is one of the narrators at the top.  No, you really can't see her, but I promise she's there! 2/2010

The next few are little videos of Kate playing with ukulele club. 3/2011

This first one I recorded particularly for the girls' cousin Eliza Jane:

Finally, here's a clip of Lizzie learning Double Dutch at Jump Club. 3/2011

Aside from cleaning out the storage on my cell phone, I've also done tons of work in the family room this last week.  Here's the picture (taken by Lizzie) of our progress:

That was a BIG job!  Book shelves, craft things, tv stuff, computer stuff... phew!!!

Packing, week 1

Packing has begun!

I sat down with my calendar last week and sketched in a 6 week plan (since I had 6 weeks until Moving Day) to have our house ready to go.  Last week was a short week, but it was dedicated to packing and cleaning the girls' rooms upstairs.  Their bedroom is almost entirely ready to go.  The walls have been washed, nail holes filled, etc.  I have a short list on a post-it stuck to the door of what is left to do in that room (including pulling out the bunks to wash the walls and vacuum the floor behind/under them, replacing the smoke alarm batteries... a handful of things like that).  The other room upstairs is about halfway done.  It's a pretty light-weight room, but I didn't manage to get as far done as I was hoping.

The girls are VERY excited about the move.  Lizzie spent all of last week asking if we could please just move TODAY.  Since "today" wasn't an option, I handed over a few boxes, and eventually some rags, and put them to work.  They love helping.  Though yes, it is less helpful to me in the big picture.  Some of these boxes are going to be exciting to open up.  I let each of them label one of their boxes.

 

The labels on the boxes indicate which room they will end up in and whether it goes upstairs or downstairs so our moving monkeys (aka helpful family) can easily chuck stuff in the right rooms without needing to stop for directions.

This week's Herculean task is the Family Room (including my desktop computer and all my craft / sewing things!).   I have several boxes done already, but I'm also really looking forward to some help that has been offered this week.

Our main goal, in organizing the packing so carefully, is to keep me as healthy as possible during this crazy time.  Stress makes me sick.  More stress makes me more sick.  And this is stressful!  So I'm working very hard to keep things as simplified and under-control as possible.  I am actually starting this undertaking with over two weeks of a severe viral infection going on.  I saw the doctor near the beginning to rule out strep.  I saw the doctor again today and was given hefty antibiotics to battle a secondary sinus infection.  I can't wait for them to kick in so I can sleep and breathe again!

Breaking News!

Today we signed contracts agreeing to buy a house!  We've been working in earnest to buy a home for a few months now.  There have been ups and downs and lots of patience required (which is a rare commodity in this household!).  After dealing with a ridiculous bank agent for 3 months in an attempt to take a short-sale home off their hands we were pretty done with short sales.  Then we got to see three homes, all of which we liked, none of which were short-sales!
We were able to come to a concensus with the sellers of this home and are thrilled.  It is a beautiful home here in Springville.  It is up toward the canyon in a lovely part of town, yet still in the same school boundaries we're in right now (due to a funky boundary).  There are many things we like about the house, but here are a few highlights:

 

Ah, NOT COOKIE CUTTER!!!!  I have never cared for neighborhoods where every house looks the same.  This home is unique, and has some really nice architectural features (it even has a cupola with a weather vane!  Find *that* in a Salisbury subdivision ;))

 The yard is nicely landscaped.  We nicknamed this home the "water house" because there is a fountain in the side yard, this water feature in the back yard, and in their personal items they have an indoor waterfall thingy too.  I can't wait to sit on the patio on a summer evening with a friendly water burble nearby.

 The family room is very important to us.  We like to have enough space for my craft stuff, the tv stuff, and the computer stuff all in the same room.  We like to be in the same place doing things.  My craft table goes by the fireplace.  That way Michael can do that crazy frigid-basement thing he likes and I can turn on the gas fireplace to not become a Tilly-cicle.

 Purty, i'nt it?  Look at the LIGHT!  This house makes such wonderful use of natural light with windows and openness.  I just like it.  A lot.

 This is one problem with the house.  Only one bedroom looks like *this*, and ALL the girls want *this* room.  Who wouldn't?!  It has the most beautiful murals on the walls and even the clouds on the ceiling.  See that little yellow door on the right side of the room?  Well lookie at the secret playroom hidden under the eaves --

it's small, but adorable.

Anybody who knows me knows how important this room is to me.  Look at the size of this tub!  And you'll notice again what a light room it is.  The only draw back is that there's no "poop-room".  I wish the toilet had its own little closet.  But that's okay.  I can deal with that ;)

The closing date is set for April 18th.  We're going to miss the neighborhood here so much!  We've loved where we're living, but it is beyond time for us to have our own house.  Now I just need to find boxes and put our life in them.  That's not my favorite part.