We have been busy!

We have had quite the busy past couple of weeks. We moved from our tiny 2 bedroom 1 bath to our 3 bedroom 2 bath, that is practically a brand new house. Once I am all moved in I will take some pictures and show it off, it's a great space and will do more than suit us for the next 2 years we will be living in Cheney.

the girls are loving there new surroundings and tell everyone who will listen that they have a new house.... Daphne doesn't smile very often for the camera, but since she is in her carseat she doesn't have a choice... so cute... the pony tail works for part of the day... until she takes it out, her hair is starting to get so long on top that it's almost necessary for her to have a little pony on top. We call her our fountain top....

We had a good day to where it wasn't snowing or raining and so I had the girls go play on our inclosed back porch with there trikes and bikes... while I got some things unpacked... they had fun.

Than the next day we woke up to this... I'm not quite sure if this will be our last snow for the season but I am really hoping so since this week the weather has been in the 50-high 60's... which feels hotter because we are higher...

Sami has been doing really well in preschool this year and is all registered for kindergarten to start in September. I am super excited for her, going to miss her help but she needs to be kept busy with how much she wants to learn. She is constantly wanting to do something with letters, and if it's not watching "Word World" or "Leap Frog" than she is writing letters, or playing with letters. She is getting pretty good I am so impressed, and proud! I've been told that a lot of kids don't learn how to write there letters let alone know there alphabet going into kindergarten... I am not surprised she is just a smart girl!

6 weeks pregnant... counting down... everyone says it's all in my belly... I wish that meant that it would leave my belly faster... but even a year from now I will still get asked if i am pregnant or not... loosing weight stinks and I am dreading what I will be left with after Ezra's debut... but of course am excited about it!

Easter Sunday... since we had just moved it wasn't a big to do, like I normally try and do it. I bought them new dresses, got them Easter bunny gifts, and we had an egg hunt. I just put up my decorations and they enjoyed removing the window clings a lot... I will just keep the decorations up until June... than we will move on...

Daphne never looks at the camera... Sami got Mermaid aka Ariel and Daphne got Belle... our other mermaid broke... so we had to replace her of course...

In our new house we have a 3rd bedroom which is my craft desk room, and Ezra's room.

That has been the last room except for a few random boxes and pictures to hang on the wall... we shoved everything we didn't know where to put in that room, and since I am eager to get crafting I have been digging out when I have the energy.

This last week I made his dust ruffle for his bed, and than finished the car seat cover... I am now working on some blankets and than I will move onto making cards... thank you cards, and than invites for Sami's birthday which will be here very fast after Ezra arrives.

Well I must end this entry Ezra is getting so large that the pressure on my blood veins for circulation doesn't last long with out my hands falling asleep... seriously what a pain... I have stopped rolling over in my sleep so I stay on my one side but i have to constantly make sure my arms aren't curled up but laid out straight so that they don't fall asleep what a Pain!

Hope everyone is enjoying there nice weather... I am definitely!

February and March...

Daphne, Daphne, Daphne... the most impatient little girl in the world. She can certainly be cute a lot of the time, but when she wants something there is no side tracking her, or making her wait a minute... she says, "Mommy Get Up" "Get Up Mommy" and annoys you until you do what she wants... she is certainly a piece of work...

When you let her color with markers and she does the right thing for awhile than she gets down and finds something to write on fast...

When she comes in my bedroom, and gets into my ear drops, looses the place in my book, gets into the stuff on the top of my dresser, and kicks, bites and pinches you until she gets her way...

She gets in trouble more and more these days... she is starting to make Sami look like an angel... I am trying to teach Sami that she needs to listen to me, and ignore what Daphne is doing, Daphne will get in trouble... and that I am the mommy... Sami is getting better at listening because she is almost 5, it's not anything she can get away with anymore... she is so curious all the time, even if she knows what you are doing she still asks. As I am putting tape on a box, "Mom what are you doing?" "The same thing I was doing a minute ago when you asked me, tapping up a box so I can pack it... " yes so much fun these young minds are...

We have had a crazy couple of weeks. I had my eye on a couple of apartments, owned by the same company... so I called them mid February and asked them hey can I look at that place and put a deposit down to secure it... well it's move in ready now, so call me back the 1st of March and we can work something out. So i waited and prayed and waited. First our income tax return took forever to get here, than when it finally did, that was a blessed day. I called them up February 29, hey can I look at that place tomorrow. Well call me tomorrow. So i call them march 1st and we go look at the apartment. The one I wanted was rented, and so I was left with it's twin 2 blocks away. $645 a month, $500 deposit, and pay $70 application fee, $35 each adult. Than It had a washer and dryer hook up etc. So... I go look at it...

Here we are enjoying our latest snow fall while we wait for the guy to show up so we can look at the place. When i talked to him that morning he told me if I paid a deposit and first months rent I could have it April 1. So Than he tells me he needs a Cashier's Check. So I forgot how those go and so I go to Safeway to obtain one, You have to have cash to pay for a cashier check... ok... so I jump in the car... drive the 20 min to Airway Heights to our closest bank and get 3 cashiers checks, one for each of the amounts... I turn around head back to town. Oh, did I mention I talked to him at 9, and was meeting him at 1. I was also heading to Kennewick the next morning and so I had to do my laundry that morning as well. So I went to the laundromat, put our 5 loads in to wash, went to Safeway and than realized that I had to go to the bank. I headed back to the laundromat put the laundry in the dryer, put all 5 loads in 2 dryers, set them for 72 minutes and left. When I got back into town, I hurried and went to pick up the laundry before meeting him at 1 only to realize I didn't push the start button on one of the dryers and so only had half my clothes ready. So I started it and went and met the guy.

The girls were super excited to wear there boots for a few days while it snowed off and on. It was warmer this day and so I let them play since they had been such good sports while I ran all those errands.

I was excited a nice big yard...

A front porch...

well so he came we looked at it and left. It would work. So than I picked up the laundry went home, and relaxed. Than we went to dinner that night and also faxed our applications in. I called the wife of the guy who is the actual manager and tell her that I faxed them in. I verified once again that we would be able to move in the last week or so. I had talked to the guy we were going to pro rate the last couple weeks and move in at our leisure. His wife disagreed... "we can't go 20 days with out someone paying rent, you'll have to pay the full month's rent" than I explained to her what her husband quoted me at and it was a no go. So we were a tad frantic... what do we do. We called our current landlord and asked him if we could stay past March, and he said sure... just a month to month lease. Not what I wanted to do, it's cramped but better than paying twice the amount of rent necessary. We pulled out of the other place told them we couldn't afford two months of rent at the same time... and that was that. I got our money back the next morning.

Daphne having fun Sunday night with a dry erase marker... it was great fun until we visited the doctor and she was very appalled... it's not permanent... and she is two.. what do you expect.

So the saga continues... over the weekend I relaxed and talked to my parents and just kinda didn't think about moving. Me and Dave had said that we were going to opt for a bigger place... which was more money but well worth it for the space and convinces. So Monday curiously I went into the real estate agency that manages the mobile home complex that friends of ours live at. They had taken out an old mobile home and put a newer one in it's place. It would be ready by April 1. She couldn't guarantee anything else would come up by August when we would have to most definitely move... so I talked to Dave and saw it this morning. Super cute place on the outside... needs lots of work on the inside but I have been in there other rentals and they are nicely done. So... hopefully by the end of March we will be moving in... at the latest the first week in April, which brings more drama... they are currently looking for tenants for our place and I have to make it presentable for people to come look at it, and if it's rented by the 31 we have to be out by the 1st and therefor we might be homeless for a week. We are leaving town the 30 and going to a Comic Convention in Seattle on Saturday the 31, but we have it all figured out, we just might be sleeping on someones floor for a couple days during the transition while our stuff camps out in there garage... so much fun! But I think of the big picture we will be in this place for 2 years or more... so get what I want, what makes me happy. That's what Dave says, he could care less, he just wants me to be happy, and I know I will be. Poor, but happy!

Moving In to 205 Lincoln!

Ok, so Saturday will make it a week that we have lived here and so I feel pretty accomplished there are still many things to be done but you will see what as I take you on a personal tour of my college apartment. I call it a college apartment because our rent is $525, and we have to hand wash our dishes, and we have no disposal and well it's just tiny! A whole closet size small than our last place. Literally an entire closet less!

The kitchen, this is the most used room by the adults so it is the most tidy.

The dinning area... still need to finish hanging stuff on the wall

A view of our front room

The piano... yes we still have it and it wasn't the problem moving in, the problem was our big green plaid couch!

My make shift seat for the girls. Our chalk board coffee table with the cushion from our couch on it, and my throw pillos and the bean bag as a pillow... it all works... and they seem to enjoy it most of the time, when it's not used as a slide! Until we sell the couch and the coffe table =( this is how it will be.

Ta Da! My craft closet. It is under the stairs that go up and so it's angled... I am not even close to being done getting this the way I want... I need shelves or something... in time.. hey i got at least 2 years!

What Dave refers to as wasted space... but I got creative I hate searching for my purse, or our jackets etc and so I just put a hanger on the wall since we don't have a coat closet. This is where I put stuff that needs a new home... it was stacked half way with boxes until this morning.

the bathroom... (with a window)

behind the bathroom door... currently storage space for all the cardboard boxes until I unpack my last one (hopefully soon) than they all go to recycle somewhere... this is where my stackable washer and dryer will go once I get some... which will be next week (cross my fingers...) it's cheaper than going to the one and only laundromat in town, which after washing a weeks worth of clothes It cost me $18 yeah the washer and dryer will pay for its self in no time!

So far pretty organized... the office area in our bedroom...

our dresser and closet. I didn't get a picture of the girls room, partly because Daphne was asleep and partly because it is not quite all there... there are still boxes in the top of there closet that I need to unload and organize etc. Our bedroom is bigger than our last... but the space was taken from the girls room... its pretty small... I am thinking creatively how to store in there room...

Ok... so what I fill my down time with... playing with my new IPHONE!!! Yes I know.. i complain because we are poor college students (well not right now actually we are just preparing for September when we will be.) well We priced the internet and the phone like we had in Kennewick and it was actually cheaper for us to just get college internet and buy new phones... this way we have cell phones and stay with in our budget... and besides they are rad! These are only 3G and they are normally $500 a piece we got both for $100 (Dave has one too)

My first page of apps

second

and so far just a third... it's rad... there are exercise apps, book apps... and calorie tracker apps and they are all free. I have a library of books... and so I can just fall asleep holding this instead of an actual book.. I know so lazy I have become. We even have the church ones downloaded... primary songs, the scriptures, and the church materials... But i told Dave I won't turn it on at church unless I am getting someones number because I think it's tacky... my scriptures and stuff will be with me... I get more out of it that way! We do read our nightly scriptures on here though because its in-between when we are playing or texting family or friends... it's a blast I tell you... I know how I lived with out it but in all honesty I don't want to again... they are the silver lining in my somewhat crappy circumstances!

Moving In to 205 Lincoln!

I took these sometime during our last week in Kennewick, I forget because we

went out to eat a lot!

Kitchen area

front room

my bedroom

girls room

March 28, Monday 2011

As most of you know... we moved to Cheney, WA. It’s a good 1 hour 50 min from good old Kennewick. That’s going 70-75mph and not stopping. It’s a quaint little town, where everyone knows everyone and good news is hard to find (least for us)!

These are the pictures I took Saturday after moving. That was a great day... Let me re-cap it for you.

Friday night I loaded my breakables (pictures frames) into the Suzuki and drove it over and parked it at my parents house. Since Dave would be driving the Uhaul and I would be driving the Van, it had to be left behind. We knew we would be back in town Tuesday to turn in our keys, do some cleaning, and so we would grab it than.

Saturday 6 am I got up and got dressed and got ready for the day... the dreaded but exciting moving day. We picked up the Uhaul at 7:30, I dropped the girls off at my moms right after that, and than grabbed cookies, doughnuts, and water for our movers. I headed back to the apartment as Dave was finishing taking the beds apart. I finished up some last minute things, and the men showed up at 9. An hour later, they were done, and the house was empty... We spent a half hour or so grabbing the food from the fridge and than grabbing some other last minute things.

I went and picked up the girls and we were on the road headed to Cheney. It was a fun cat and mouse game I played. I would speed up to 70 and than when I couldn’t see Dave anymore because he got stuck behind a semi or something I would slow down and he would catch up with me. Daphne slept and Sami watched Beauty and the Beast, and I drove and thought about my day... Daphne woke up before we stopped in Ritzville to gas up and eat some chicken nuggets at McD’s. Than we were back on the road. We drove 20 miles or so, took the Tyler/Cheney exit and drove the last 10 miles into Cheney to our house. We stopped got out and than I jumped back in the van and headed to the Real Estate Agency to grab the key and pay our rent. When I got back we went in and I showed it to Dave for the first time.

EQ movers from our new Cheney 2nd Ward showed up, which included our new friend brother Ayling, the bishop and his 3 sons, the EQ president and several others that I missed because I took the girls and escaped to the store. About 45 min later we returned and as I was pulling up I saw this...

I was very disappointed. But in reality there really isn’t room for it... (and I hate it, and it’s about 10 years old) we will be getting another love seat down the road for more seating but for now we have our new couch and so we are happy. I am going to sell the couch and the brand new Sure Fit cover for about $125 bucks.... least get what I paid for the cover out of it... and put that money towards something else to sit on.

It will take me some time especially with my little helpers to get this place in order but for now, we do what we can and try not to go crazy. Now I just gotta find a recycle place to take my cardboard boxes too.

Wish Me Luck in making this place a home for the time Dave attends EWU!

Packing and 60 degree weather!

It's been a whirlwind lately in our home...

I stack where I can stack and we live around it...

Saturday it was nice and Sami has been begging me to take her to the park and so I decided we would go. We hit up the store to grab picnic munchies and headed to the park...

Daphne kept trying to crawl off the end of the play area... she thinks she is invincible

My tall Sami... running off to the next fun thing

We got Capri Suns, oreos, cheese sticks, and pringles. I ate a chicken ceasar salad... and we shared a twix!

Daphne hate this step... most of the time she would get down and back over it on her knees

She was being a grump she didn't like the fact that I restricted her to the stairs she could climb and the little slide. But once she started going down it with her sister she enjoyed it!

She kept crawling through the tunnel and I caught her face but than she of course had to point at the camera! Silly girl!

I love my girls... they make the days rough sometimes (Sami) but it makes me less nervous about moving to a strange city because I have them. They will help me to fit in. Last night our home teacher came for one last time and he shared the message with us about taking the right perspective either glass half full or half empty. It was just the lesson I needed to hear. After being in the Primary Presidency for such a short time I have learned to be more outgoing and I know it has helped paved the way for it to be easier for me in our new ward. I hope there friendly I hope they are nice, and not insulting... I hope I make the best of it instead of mope around.

I know there is always going to be situations where I get my feelings hurt, you can't avoid those, those happen even when you think people are good enough friends they wouldn't do that. That's just how life goes. In my 30 years I have had my feelings hurt a lot, whether it be my marriage status (pre-marriage), who I dated, where we are living, how much money my husband makes, how much I weight, how cool I dress, if my kids are potty trained etc... most of that stuff I can't help. I love my life and someday I will have the good life but than I will still have my own challenges of not fitting in etc... but in the end... having close friends is nice, but it's not really what matters... what matters most is ME... and how I deal with things.

Wish me luck and please keep in touch with me!