Sadness

I know my first post on my blog after moving into our house should be all happy and full of joy, but my heart is quite sad at the moment.

Mostly for my little girl.

Tonight was Jordan's first Activity Days night with our new ward. When I told her she was going, her first question was if it was with "her" activity days. I told her it was with the new ward to which she replied "I don't want to go."

Of course we went, and when we walked in, it was quiet and all the girls just looked at her. I said "Hi, this is Jordan" and the leader just looked at me a bit confused. Well, I didn't find out until the end that she was the Mt. Vernon ward's leader.

I talked to a couple moms before they were done and met more sisters in the ward, so that was nice. When I got Jordan, she seemed to be talking to other girls, but then in the car, she told me she never wanted to go back and that she wanted to go to her old one.

I felt so sad.

Reality set in.

We aren't in Franconia Ward anymore. Even after going to church on Sunday, tonight in the car it just seemed to hit me like a ton of bricks, and I totally started crying. Jordan was crying, too. I'm crying right now. Pathetic, I know.

I felt so sad for her. I felt so sad for myself. I miss my friends, too.

It was the first time I wondered if I was selfish by (in my usual dramatic way) ripping my kids from the only thing they have ever known. The only ward they have ever gone to. The good thing is that the boys have TONS of boys in both of their classes, so they should be great. Jordan has 1 little girl in her class, and she isn't 8 yet, so she wasn't at activity days tonight. We need to have her over so Jordan can get to know her.

I know I'm probably being over dramatic, since it's been only 2 weeks, but I really love Franconia ward and miss it soo much already. I know we're in the same stake, but I feel so far away from so many people I love so much. It was pretty comforting knowing there was always someone I could call on within 5-10 minutes away if I needed something. We were there for 9 years and were pretty attached. It is really hard starting over again in a new ward. Gives me more respect for the military people I am friends with who have to do this every few years!!

So, I'm sad at the moment. I can't fall asleep, so I figured I would do a post about it to may be feel better.  When I'm over it, and can move on, I'll do a post about the many, many, many awesome things I love about out new house!!!

The newest memeber!

Jordan is the newest member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in our family!

Jordan's baptism was this past Saturday. We were so excited for her. She has been preparing for a while and was super excited. She was able to get baptised the same day as her best friend Lizzie and her friend Ryan who is in her primary class. The other night we went to the church to get her baptism outfit. Friday night she and daddy practiced how she would be baptised. Daddy was nervous he wouldn't remember the prayer since he hasn't baptised anyone since his mission, and he could remember the prayer in Spanish clear as a bell.

We were excited to have the baptism at our chapel and not have to drive to Mt. Vernon. We were also super excited that Auntie Marion and Auntie Karin came for the special day. They arrived on Saturday and were with me when I picked the kids up. They had Ella the dog as well, so the kids were excited.

So Saturday came and we were running a bit late, but everyone got changed in time for the program to start. We took a few pictures before hand as well.  I was a bit worried that there might be drama when Jordan saw Lizzie in her dress, because she cried when I told her Lizzie was wearing a dress, but she did very well. I think the excitement helped her. Plus the fact that the church provides little white "leotard" thing to wear under the jumpsuit. She loved that and asked for one for herself.

Jordan and daddy, as well as the other 4 kids and daddies were so brave-the hot water heater to the font was not functioning, so the water was freezing cold. I felt so bad for them all. But, I was super impressed with Jordan-she just walked right down into the water!!!! Darin said the prayer and baptised her perfectly. She did make a big gasp when she came out of the water-like when the pool is too cold. Then the sweet thing stood there freezing in her towel so she could watch her friends be baptised as well. Lizzie's feet came out of the water, so she had to be done twice, and Jonaton missed a word in the prayer and had to do Ryan twice as well. The witnesses were Bishop Stowers and Ken Cazier. 

A few shots from the day

Jordan and daddy

 Ahh, that face. How I love that face.

 

Jordan and one proud mama!

 Lizzie, Ryan and Jordan

Jordan and Lizzie with their best friend Karly Vallejo. She has been friends with the girls since kindergarten, and we were so excited that she came to see the girls get baptised. She is a great friend and we love her family!!


 Our family after the baptism. The boys did start the day with ties...

And our family with Aunties. And of course, Ella. She spent the time in the car, so was happy to be out. 

 We did more pictures when we got home.

Kisses for the big girl!!

 Jordan and mommy with Aunties.

 And one more of my sweet little girl.

Preschool Picassas-weeks 1 and 2

I have been teaching classes at the local Rec center and this session I was 

able to add a new class to my  list: Preschool Picassos.

It is an art class, this time for 2-3  year olds. I have taken this class with Jordan and Spencer, so was excited to be able to teach it. 

I decided to try to find a book to read each week to base my project on. 

Here is my first choice.

We did lots of painting and talking about colors. I have a good group of parents and kids, 8 total,  and they all seemed to really enjoy it.

Week 2 The Rainbow Fish

I love this book and thought it would be awesome to teach about sharing and to do a cute project.

The book I got an idea from.

directions

supplies all ready. I got sparkly foam and cut out fins shapes. It was nice since they had sticky backs the kids could just peel off and stick on.

Landon helping me make my example to show the class.

And my finished product. A bit childlike, but then again, I am teaching toddlers:) The class went well and the kiddos loved working on it.

tires and fairies

Arggg.....I love this new way to get pictures on my blog-it's so fast, but I hate the way you do the text. So forgive the big spaces and annoying layout.

Today's family outing was a total and complete rip off from a friend's blog. Well, I asked if we could copy, and she didn't mind. So thanks Sarah, for the awesome idea!

The pics are in opposite order of the day, but I'm not in the mood to fix them. So here we are at the second stop for the day. Ann Marie Sculpture Garden. (and I'm too lazy to put in the link as well-just google it and you'll find it:) I had wanted to go a couple weeks earlier, but things got in the way, so we finally made it. Problem was, there was a HUGE art festival going on, so it was packed. Plus it was rainy. Darin wasn't too thrilled, and even after I said we could leave, he said no. We hadn't driven over an hour to go home.

So it had a display of fairy houses I wanted Jordan to see. The kids all really loved it. I wanted to take longer and really look, but we had scheduled a time with Steve to go look at houses and had to go back by a certain time, which I thought was an hour later than it really was. So we had to hurry.

Anyhow, the kids really had fun seeing the houses. Some of them were pretty cool-extremely ornate.

Kids looking at some houses

 One of Jordan's favorites

 This was my favorite. The Safari fairy house

 more house and a funky sculpture I liked

Here we are at the actual first stop of the day. Calvert Cliffs State Park, in Maryland. It was about an hour and 20 minutes from our house. I thought it was a bit closer, but it wasn't too bad. I was worried it was going to rain the whole time, but it only sprinkled, then was fine. When the kids saw the park, they got out and went running.

The all the play stuff was made from recycled tires. It was great. There was lots of climbing, running, and swinging. Even Darin and I got in on the action.

We really loved this place. I was thinking that I wished I had packed a lunch. We for sure want to go back on a day that we can spend more time. There's also a really nice hike to the beach and there's a place where you can do some fossil hunting as well.

The tire swing was pretty fun, although Darin got a bit excited pushing us and I got a bit dizzy. So fun, though.

House update

Things are going along very well. We had the inspection of the house last Monday. It went well, generally speaking. There are a lot of little things that need to be done-like outlet covers, wires covered up, etc. The house is in great shape overall. Nothing structural to deal with. About the only major problem is the windows in the basement are not large enough to meet code for proper "egress" which means that a fireman needs to be able to get in the windows in full gear if there were a fire. Guess the kids won't be using those rooms as a bedroom for a while.

When we were there with the inspector, we inadvertently flipped a switch that had something do with the air conditioner, so it didn't work properly. The owner called and invited us to go over and she would teach us how to use the system. So after work Friday, Darin and Steve went over. The owner was super nice and explained the whole system to Darin. She said they interviewed a bunch of HVAC companies before  putting the system in and that it is probably over done, but it works well.

She also filled Darin in on all the neighbors. There is one with a 1 year old, a high schooler who is a great babysitter, a family with a kindergartner and first grader, the sellers agent who lives next door has an 8 year old girl, and the one last house has kids as well. I'm super excited that there will be so many kids close. It may make me rethink my idea to keep the kids at Rose Hill to the end of the year-I may want to do it half way through. I just have to figure out how it would work with preschool and Brownies.

He said that the owners were moving sooner than they they thought-they are moving next door to the grandma. Darin told her to not get upset over the inspection report, but she said there were a lot of things they were still meaning to do to the house but were moving sooner than they expected. So hopefully they will fix everything without a problem. The appraisal was done yesterday, so I am curious to see how that goes. We also are supposed to look up the washer and dryer we want and let them know, and they will look up one they want, and they would probably meet in the middle. I don't care if we get the exact same ones I have at home now. I just want them shortly after moving in.

Do, things are looking good!! I love looking at the pictures to try to figure out where we are going to put things. We will certainly need new furniture, but we can take our time and get our things put away and thing figure out what we need.

Darin hired movers for Nov. 3rd. I collected boxes from 2 people on craigslist yesterday. I can't believe it is actually getting closer. We have a month left, and two of those weeks Darin will be in Europe. I plan to pack and get lots of stuff upstairs from the basement to save time that the movers have to be here. The less time it takes them, the less we have to pay. They are coming a day the kids are in school, so we should be in the house by the time they get home from school, then it is just putting things away, but at least they will be able to play outside while I unpack!!!

A great day!

I just had to document a great day!!!  I had a list of things to do and have accomplished most of them. It helped that Landon didn't have school, so I didn't have to leave the house. While I was getting the kids motivated to get up, I was folding clothes and put some of them away.

Landon and I took our time to get ready, eat, and get out the door. We went to the bank first. I've had a check from Ms. Laura for like a month, so figured I better get it deposited. Landon is always thrilled to go since he gets a lollipop. Next we went  to Michaels. I wanted to find something for the project I'm doing with the kids tomorrow. I am going to read the book The Rainbow fish, then we are making fishies out of paper plates. I got glitter foam sheets and cut out fish fins.

Next we went to the school to have lunch with Jordan and Spencer. We stopped to get him a slushie, so he was thrilled. Everyone kept telling me that Landon looks just like Spencer. He resembles him for sure, but I can see differences. Spence was thrilled to have us there, but Landon was antsy. He kept putting his hands over his ears. I don't htink he likes a lot of noise and stimuli. He kept saying "I want to go home." HOpefully that isn't a problem for when he is in kindergarten

We then had lunch with Jordan. She is always happy to see us. I got her a chocolate milk, so she was happy. We left before her lunch was over since Landon had enough.

When we got home, I sat down to do my project for tomorrow. Landon was right at the table with me and made a few of his own fishies. I need to do stuff like that more often. I used to do way more with Jordan and Spence hwen they were littler.

Next up was to put a roast in the oven. I'm trying to go through all the food in the freezer and cook it all before our move. I don't want to have a ton of fridge and freezer stuff to move. I cooked a roast and it was pretty old, but I turned out excellent, if I do say so myself!!! I haven't made a meal that tasty in a long time, and Darin loved it. I always love it when he really loves the meals I make.

I got ahead of myself-before we actually had dinner, I took the kids to the library. The actually did really well. Landon is a bit too loud, but he didn't yell at the top of his lungs for me like he did last time-that's a whole other story. We got new books and tapes to listen to in the car. The  worst part about the library trip is when I am checking the books out. It takes a while and the boys get so antsy. They go outside and want to climb on the walls. I told them not to today, so they didn't.

When Darin got home, I had to sign a billion pieces of paper for the mortgage. My hand hurt by the end, and he said it was only half the packet!!! But I was pretty excited because we got an awesome interest rate-3.625% I think. We also went over the inspection report. There are mostly little piddly things that need to be done. We aren't going to ask for all of it, we don't want to make it seem like we are asking for too much and make them not want to fix anything, so we are asking for the most important things. We are having the appraisal of the house on Saturday, so I'm very curious to see how it comes out. Our buyers did their appraisal on the townhouse the other day, so I'm interested in that one as well.

I've been working on my blog book as well, but it is a horrible program. I'm doing it on blurb and I do not like it at all. I've been told of a couple other places that I am going to try next. I have to get it done and ordered by Oct. 5th so I don't lose out on my coupon! I'm over half done, so I want to get a bunch done tonight.

We have a "Panda" in the house!

Landon started preschool a couple weeks ago. He goes to Lee District Rec Center Preschool. It is his second year at this preschool. We really love it and are excited for one more year.

Landon is a "Panda" with Ms. Kelly and Ms. Lori. It was hard to convince him that he wasn't 

a dolphin anymore and that he didn't have Ms. Watson again. We LOVED his teacher last year, but

so far we love Ms. Kelly as well. 

Smiley boy on the first day.

 

and the backpack shot. 

A house story.

Once upon a time, there was a family who started the process to sell their house in about January of 2011. They loaded a POD, had the house painted, put in new carpet and tile, as well as new lighting fixtures. They got it all spiffed up and finally put a "for sale" sign up in the front yard.

Then they prayed and  waited and cleaned and prayed and  waited and cleaned and prayed and waited and cleaned and prayed and cleaned and waited and prayed some more. And there was plenty of moaning, groaning and complaining in there too.

Well, after 5 months of this passed, they had waited enough and are now...drum roll please........
Under contract!!!!

It is pretty awesome, really. Here is how it all has happened. The buyer saw the house on a Tuesday afternoon. Tuesday the 13th to be exact. I went to my friend Sharon's Tastefully Simple party, and received a call from a realtor who wanted to show the house. I left and flew home with Landon to clean up more-the house was in ok shape, but I wanted it to look even better. Well, only after I stopped to get the much cheaper gas:) So I cleaned up a lot and they can toward the latter end of the time slot they had given. I was very relieved for that. We saw them as we were leaving, so that is why I know which ones they were. Two men. Not sure the relationship, though. 

So a couple days later our realtor's assistant calls and tells us that we had a realtor who said an offer would be coming. I was, of course super excited. I waited and it came a couple days later. It came in on a Friday. We sent back a counter offer on Saturday, then we heard back on Sunday and ratified the contract that night. 

Needless to say, I was totally thrilled. 

In the mean time, that Saturday we went out house hunting with Steve again. We had a list of about 5 houses we wanted to see, just to make sure we really liked the one in Lorton-more on that later. So Janna watched the kids for us and off we went. Complete waste of time. The houses were all awful. I knew in my heart that I wanted the house in Lorton. So when we knew we had a contract on our house, we decided to go see it, plus one other one very close to it, on Monday night. The minute we pulled into the driveway and the kids got out and ran around the yard, I know it. I wanted this house. So we showed the kids the play area, and went inside to look more with Steve. 

But I already knew it-this was our home. I loved it and it felt so right to me. 

When we left, we set up a time to go to Steve's office on Tuesday to make an offer. It was nice, though because Steve had been in contact with the agent for a couple weeks and let them know there was a very high chance we would be making an offer. He got a bit of info on the people who live in the house, etc. We made an offer on Tuesday and finally heard back I think by Thursday. We hadn't signed the papers, and Steve called and told us they were going to make more revisions to it, so he and the other agent had more talks. I guess they originally marked the washer and dryer, but then the wife said that the father in law had given it to them, so they wanted to take it.

Oh yeah, in between all the stuff with getting the new house, we had the inspection on our town house. I cleaned for about 6 hours straight and prayed about every half hour that they wouldn't ask for crazy expensive things. Well it went extremely well, and they are only asking for very minute little things to be done to the house. Darin told me in the car on the way to a store, and I think I shed a few tears. We also passed the HOA inspection on the outside of the house.

Whew, Whew, and Whew again!!!!!

Back to the new house.....We went back and forth for a couple days, one of which our realtor could not get a hold of theirs. Finally he called the buyer directly, which he says he rarely does. He again got more information. They did not want to convey the patio furniture we wanted because, again, the father in law gave it to them for a gift so she did not want to offend them. I guess I can totally understand that.  But Steve reassured us they are still interested and that we would very soon have a contract.

Finally on Saturday, amist our million activities we had going on, I was driving Jordan to a birthday party and decided to check my cell phone. I had it on vibrate so it wouldn't ring during one of our many activities. There was a message from Steve, who had the paper work to sign..

Once again.....I think I may have shed some tears in the car.

Looking back, getting such good news in the car may not be the safest thing ever.....

So we have a contract on an amazing house that we really love. We will close on out townhouse on October 27th and the new house on Nov 1st. We will plan on moving in to the new house the weekend after we close. So just a little over a month away. 

I am just in awe at how the last couple of weeks have been. What I also must say is this:

Prayers are answered. 

The week our buyer looked at the house, Darin was in Denver and he would call me at night and tease me "did you sell the house yet?"  We had been having a lot of showings, so I began to pray that we "would have a contract by the weekend." We were official by Sunday night. I prayed that our inspection would go well and that they wouldn't ask for a new roof or a new furnace. Check. 

When we pray, we are heard. Things happen when the time is right.

So I am sitting here overwhelmed with gratitude and am so excited. In the end, Heavenly Father has prepared the way for us to have a wonderful new home for our family to grow in. If we had sold before this particular time, we wouldn't have found this amazing house that I love sooooo much.  All the months of work and stress will have been worth it once we move into our new home. 

 

Utah trip catch up: A day in Salt Lake City

When we were in Utah, the second Sunday we went to church, then into Salt Lake City. We knew the kids would enjoy the temple and the Visitor Center. And yes, they did for sure. 

Darin and the kids by the reflecting pool.

 I absolutely love being on Temple Square. It is so beautiful and serene. The kids really loved 

to explore as well. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Me and my sweet boy.

And the sweet princess.

Spencer and Landon loved the lions on the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Visiting the Tabernacle

The kids always love to see the Christus statue. It was nice, until Landon was running around when people were trying to listen and be quiet. I loved the shot on the right.

After we finished at the temple, we had a wonderful time at my friends house. I was soooo excited to see the Brewers. They are the senior couple from my mission that I had lived with in Ogden before I moved out and got my own place. I had lost touch with them for a few yeas so it was super fun to get back together with them. We had a nice dinner with them and a few others from the mission.

I love Joe and Carol soooo much. I was so thrilled to see them and for them to meet the boys. We haven't seen them since we visited when Jordan was 1 year old, so it was wonderful to visit. And they hadn't changed a bit. 


Me, Muriel Dampt Frank-one of my companions, Brent Frank-one of my district leaders, the Brewers and Francois Giraud-Carrier-on of my AP's. It was so fun to catch up!

Playdate with my buddy.

I decided that Landon and I needed something fun to do today! Especially since we 

had a realtor coming in the morning. So, since we have never been there, we head out to 

Oxen Hill Farm. Turned out to be an excellent choice!!

 Here's Landon climbing on a fence at the entrance of the farm. He loved seeing the cows. 

 More fun with the calves.

 Now we move on to the horses. 

These were some seriously huge horses!! The must have been the kind to work in the fields. I forget the names. Anyhow, their heads were huge. Landon and I both had fun petting them. the just stayed still and let us pet them .

Landon gradually got there attention by putting holding his hand through. Here is when he first walked over. 


Look at the size of that head


Then one got jealous! He was a bit further back and wasn't getting any attention. Landon was standing on the fence, then this horse walked over, pushed the other one away, and was nuzzling Lanny with his head. I was taking pics, then I had to grab Lan because the horse was pushing him up against the fence with his head. It was really amazing to watch-the horse then just stood there as if saying "my turn." He let us pet him for another 10 minutes or so, until we needed to go. I just couldn't believe it. That horse knew what he wanted!!

This is the pic I took right before I had to grab Landon off the fence:)


more petting pictures.



After we left the farm, we went to National Harbor. I wanted to try Elevation Burger, and we had lots of time to kill before we had to pick the kids up from school. I also wanted to go to the Peeps store and let Landon play on the "awakening" sculpture. Another great choice! We had lots of fun. Oh, and it was fun because we ran into a friend who used to be in our ward at both places so it was fun to catch up and let the boys play together a bit.

Lunch time. Our first stop was Elevation Burger. I had heard so much about it, that I wanted to try it. Landon was happy to have a shake, that's for sure. I ordered a burger for me, and a grilled cheese for him. He wasn't too thrilled with his, so unfortunately he had a shake some fries for his lunch.....My burger was good, but not anything to rave about. I wasn't too keen on the fries. They are fried in olive oil, and are really soggy. Although we did manage to eat most of them....



 And then a quick trip  to the peeps store. Yum. I had my eyes on chocolate covered ones! I got the kids some Halloween themed ones. (a little side story here is that when I picked the kids from school, I was out of the car asking where Jordan was and Spencer got into the bag and started eating mine!! Stinker. I managed to get a bit of one and salvaged the second one I got.

Landon first finding the statue.

Nore fun playing on the "giant", as we like to call him. We used to go to play on this when it was at Hains Point in DC. It was a much better location than here. There were dead fish that had washed on shore, and I couldn't keep Landon off the rocks and was certain he was going to fall into the Potomac River!! The other location had a playground, and was much more amenable to the needs of little kids. Ah well-it probably sees many more visitors than at the old place.

I have always loved this view of the hand. Very cool.