Momma's little helper

Daddy took the brothers sledding, so Sabree helped mommy make cookies.  She tried to taste the baking soda, which wasn't so good, as you can see from the face expression.  When it came time to chocoloate chips she took her cup and filled it up, and I expected her to dump it into the dough, but instead she hid it behind her back to save for herself.  She is a funny little girl.

Answer to prayers

Four years ago Dave got a job in Washington and we were sure we had an answer to many prayers.  We put our house on the market and took a leap of faith and moved in to a little apartment while we waited for our home to sell.

A long 2 years later our home finally sold. There were times that we were pretty sure our prayers had been lost and that we had been forgotten.  Now as we look back over the last 4 years we can see how many prayers were answered in so many ways and by so many people.

We have been thinking for a while that we need more space.  We need a bigger house with more family areas and we would really like more land.  We have looked a little here and there, but decided to wait to look to hard until our house had been on the market for a while so we didn't get our hopes up while we waited for it to sell.

Dave put For Sale by Owner signs in the yard on Saturday night, and I posted stuff on the internet on Monday.  Wednesday morning we got a call that someone wanted to see our house.  We showed it that night, and Thursday morning we got a call that they were offering full price and wanted to close in 30 days!!!!!

So, Friday I spent the whole day with a realtor looking at about 14 homes.  That night I was exhausted and discouraged.  Saturday Dave and I went out in the morning with the realtor, then Dave went for early afternoon while I went to basketball games.  That night he was also exhausted and discouraged. We thought that there would be lots of options in our price range, and instead we found lots of yards we liked, and a few homes we liked, but no yards with homes we liked.  We had started to think we were going to have to settle and buy something that would suffice for a few years, then try again.

Sunday night Dave was surfing the internet for homes again, and came across one that had just been dropped $20,000 that day.  We emailed the realtor and Monday went out to look at it.

I had a top 3 things that were important to me - a living room, a large yard, and a family area big enough to entertain in.  Dave's top 3 were a 3 car garage, boat parking, and a garden tub.  This home had all 6 things...the first one we had looked at.  We spent an hour walking through the home.  It is brand new, full upgrades with granite slab counters, tile floors, covered patio, 1/2 acre, piano room, formal dining, upstairs family room, 4 bedroom, huge master bathroom with double sinks and garden tub, huge closets in every room.  The more we looked the more we loved.  This home had 2 offers in the last week that both fell through.  It feels so right for us.  We put an offer on this home that night, and it was accepted the next day.  We are hoping to close the last day of February, but the lender is saying that it is more likely to be the first of the first week in March.

It all feels so right.  It isn't what we expected, but we feel like it is perfect for us.  Thank the heavens unanswered prayers, slow answered prayers, and this time for quick answered prayers!

backyard view

ktichen

family room

upstairs family room

laundry room

kids bathroom

master closet

master bath

The day has finally arrived

In December, Braden came into my room early in the morning and asked the big question, "How many days until my birthday?"  We had a big discussion about how it was after Mom's birthday, Christmas, New Years, Auntie coming home, and then it would be closer to his birthday.  And so, all of those events have now come and gone and the day has finally arrived!!

BRADEN IS FIVE!!!!

He had a very fun day.  It started with a spider pancake.  He got to wear his "awesome new shirt with a hood" to preschool and he took spider cupcakes to share with his friends.  Then we went to lunch at Carl's Jr with 3 of his neighborhood friends.  He had a fun time playing with them and kept telling me on the way home that this was the best birthday ever.  Then we went house hunting for a few hours, found "the one", and came home to have his requested dinner of corn dogs and chips, opened his super duper awesome 4-wheeler, and ate his black widow cake.  

Braden is a special little boy and we are so grateful to have him in our family!

Go Seahawks!!

Since we live in a state with a NFL team, we decided it was time to pick a team and be true fans!  So, we had a superbowl party and invited 3 families over to help us root for the Seahawks.  Our silly boys decided to cheer for the Broncos, and poor kids were pretty sad when the Seahawks fans at our house kept rubbing it in their faces!

We at yummy Aunt Carol's tacos and had lots of treats and fun desserts.  It was a fun party, and hurray - Go Seahawks!

Broncos fans in orange, obviously a little bummed!

Seattle

For a New Year's surprise, we took our kids to Seattle.  Tanner has been really wanting to see the Space Needle, and since we were already half way there, we decided to spend a few days exploring the sites.  We explored the Locks, although the fish were not to be seen, but we saw big boats!  We could see the Space Needle from our hotel room which was awesome!  We spent a day at the Pacific Science Center where we saw cool things, explored fun things, saw a 3D movie and laser show, and just had a great time.  They boys also went to the top of the Space Needle while Mom and Sabree napped.  We rode the tram, celebrated our Anniversary as a family at Cheesecake Factory, and of course got rained on (Welcome to Seattle!).  It was a fun little family get away!

 

New Year's Eve 2013

For New Year's 2013 we rented a cabin at Ensign Ranch and invited a few other families - the Lewis', the Parker's, and the Perkins' - to join us.  The cabins were small and cozy, but we squished in and stayed warm.  The adults played games for a while and the kids watched movies in the loft.  We of course ate way too much junk food, and it was wonderful.

The next morning we got up and hiked around exploring the area. It was a crisp, beautiful morning.  I think a favorite for everyone was sliding rocks across the frozen pond and hearing the way they would zip and sing.