I almost never check Facebook, but I just so happened to check a couple hours after Jared Payne messaged me asking if we were still in Gilbert. It had to have been fate. He lived in our ward in Farmington and his dad was our bishop. I guess technically there is even a relation there. Something about Travis's grandma and their grandma being cousins I think. Anyway, he is home from his mission and going to school at BYU-I, but was here in Mesa visiting some friends and wanted to see us. We were at Travis's parent's house, so he came there and chatted with us for a couple of hours. Jared is such a good kid! It was fun catching up and hearing all about his family.
We had to do a re-creation picture. The week we moved from Farmington, we were at his house and he gave the boys these shirts from the library where he worked. They wore them to bed for years!
Camilla organized a group of us from the ward to make dinner and serve it to the homeless out in Tempe. The Aris Foundation started this service every Tuesday. We made spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, fruit and brownies. Plus, I brought Otter Pops to hand out. This is the first service project we've participated in that I felt like my kids actually got to be really involved, and I loved it.
I wore Tanner in a sling on my front and Olive stood next to me the entire time, putting garlic bread on their plates as they went through the line. There were A LOT of people who came to eat. I don't think anyone counted but I would say over 50. They were friendly and polite. It would be hard to see the way they looked and not feel incredibly grateful for your own situation. It was very humbling.
Mr. Tanner learned how to wave!! It's the cutest thing! Every new thing he learns makes my heart burst!
Okay, well, there was that one time we bought a house.
Wow. I can't believe I don't have any other pictures to document it than this! To be brief, our landlords told us back in February they were going to raise the rent $250. Up until that point, when anyone asked me when we were going to move I just said I was too comfortable here and God was going to have to push me out if he wanted us out! Well, after the rent news was God pushing us out. Honestly, we had only meant to rent maybe a year anyway, but then it was just such a great situation (and throw in another child), that one year became three years. Sooo, we started looking online. Then, we really bit the bullet and met with a realtor, Bryan Adams. We spent ridiculous amounts of time on Zillow and Redfin. Every day we were searching. Bryan started showing us houses all over Mesa and Gilbert. The problem for me was I wanted this to be our FOREVER home. This one had to stick. I was tired of moving. Ideally, Mesa would have been great since it would be closer to Travis's office. Plus, we could get a custom home for a more reasonable amount of money. A basement, a pool, large yard etc. BUT, they were older. Anddd in Mesa, haha. Of course there will ALWAYS be a special place in my heart for Mesa. But it is so run down. Travis made an observation that whenever we were driving to Mesa to look at a home, the farther we got INTO Mesa, the more I would "shut down". We'd look at the house, drive away, and the farther we got AWAY from Mesa, I'd start to relax and open up again. It made me laugh, because even I didn't realize how right he was until he said it. Honestly, though, it was so true. I felt heavy and yucky anytime we looked at homes in Mesa. It was like having lead in my stomach and a pending sense of doom in my chest. Which sounds so dramatic, but it's just how I felt! And I truly fought against those feelings! I WANTED to fall in love with a home in Mesa. It's where I grew up! It's where our parents and my sisters live! But all the weeds, dilapidated houses, CheckCash marts and marijana or smoke shops had me pining for Gilbert. After several months of looking, I finally came to the conclusion that something had to give. If I wanted a one story with a basement and a pool (our highest priorities in a house), I was going to have to live in Mesa. If I wanted Gilbert, I was going to have to settle for a two story house and smaller yard.
I chose Gilbert.
I feel like it wasn't long after that decision that we walked into 4261 E. Morrison Ranch Parkway.
I remember walking through it and thinking it was so pretty and new and clean. Then, I had these little feelings. Like, future memories of us living there floating around me. It wasn't huge or overpowering, just gentle and wispy, like they were nudging me in the right direction. It felt GOOD being there. I said some positive things to Travis, but he didn't seem to be feeling what I was feeling. Our realtor had a couple of other houses to show us in the neighborhood so we went to look at them, but they didn't compare to the 4261. They were grimier or had shorter ceilings, funky floorplans, etc. Plus, they were much more money! Our realtor couldn't figure out why this house wasn't selling for $50,000 more than what they were asking. I wondered if there was a catch. Some hidden foundation issues of something. But more of a deterrent was Travis's lack of enthusiasm. I didn't want to push him, so we just told Bryan we'd think about it and left. That Sunday we went to the ward to see if any revelation was waiting for us in the chapel. ;) Strangely, the ward met in a building off of Lindsay and Houston because there wasn't enough room for them to meet in a building close by. They read like three new families into the ward that very Sunday and had two baby blessings so it was no wonder no one spoke to us or really even looked twice at us. We left after sacrament meeting no closer to an answer. I tried to figure out what Travis's hesitancy was. It was mostly the two story and yard thing, I think. He just sort of shrugged his shoulders and didn't know why, but he didn't love the house. Well, I didn't want to live in a house that my husband didn't love! But we had also frequently wondered out loud, after looking at great houses that didn't "do it" for us, what would finally make us sign papers?? Were we content to wait years for the "perfect" house to pop up? I felt like this could really be the house, so I tried to keep the discussion moving. We boiled it down to this. Either we make an offer on this house, or we prepare ourselves to pay $100,000+ more for a basement house in Gilbert. So we made an offer. I text our realtor and he said he thought his phone had just cracked with the news. From there, it was a whirlwind. We offered $10,000 less than they were asking, and they got another offer the same day but they took ours because our offer wasn't contingent on the sale of the house we were currently living in. We scheduled inspections, had to figure out loans and seemed to be signing different sets of papers every day. All of this happened in August and we closed on the house Sept. 6. I met Travis at the title company's office in Chandler that morning to sign the final papers and get the keys. That's when Tanner decided now would be a good time to have a diarrhea diaper that got EVERYWHERE. I had actually beaten Travis there and was in a room full of men when I realized the situation and had to quickly excuse myself. I had Tanner completely stripped down on the concrete outside the office complex when Travis walked up. And guess who didn't have a spare change of clothes?! So.embarrassing. Good thing it was still warm out! Tanner walked around like this for an hour while we went over legal documents and signed our lives away. He was a champ and didn't cause any problems. We chatted with Bryan and Jared (our mortgage broker) in the parking lot afterwards and he gave us the keys. So exciting!!!!
Next, started the packing! UGH. It's good to purge and donate or throw away, but I HATE packing!! Add a 15 month old to the mix and you have eye gouging fun going on! My sil, Karen, was so sweet to insist on coming over to take Olive and Tanner off my hands one afternoon. Then my mom saved my bacon for three weekends in a row! Absolutely, unequivocally could NOT have done this without her! I got SO much done during those times that she had Tanner and/or Olive. Not to mention having whole days without having to listen to any whining, crying, fighting or begging!!! Extraordinary!!!
I've come a long way in the non-hoarding department, but for some reason I was just so sad to throw the kids' artwork away! So... pictures.
The cactus is a favorite.
This Mother's Day present has hung on my bathroom wall for 5 years!
I also uncovered this card! Look at the animal (cat?) in the picture! And his shirt says "Want to know why I'm awesome?" And the pants say, "My mom". Haha, how cute is that?!
And I made progress in throwing away sentimental things.... exhibit A.... my wedding bouquet. I still kept the more full one that I used in pictures, but this was the smaller one that I carried around because it was lighter. So dusty.
A couple of weekends before we moved, Camilla had a big game night at her house. We played Guesstures, a trivia game,"Never Have I Ever" and mafia. I think we laughed the hardest during Guesstures though when Paige was petting me while I licked my hands and rubbed up against her leg pretending to be a cat so that Travis would guess, "Hello Kitty"! Then the real fun got started when both Rigby's bailed at 10pm and we decided to be grown-ups and teepee their house, haha! Seriously, piling into the back of Jeff's truck, giggling and planning our escape routes was the most fun I've had in a long time! But wait. BUT WAIT. After we did the deed (quite well, I might add), Travis sealed the deal by walking backward up to the doorbell camera and shaking his booty!! Bahahaha! We were DYING! Who is this guy, anyway?! I must be rubbing off on him. ;)
I also want to document the incredible decorations for our YW Evening in Excellence night! Cara works a little for a quilt shop so she had the place decked out. My fantasy is to make that cactus quilt! Gah, it's so cute!!! It was sad to leave YW right after I got comfortable and was starting to really know the girls.
Weston's best friend, Benson, got baptized! I paused the packing and moving so we could go to it. He's in our stake so we just walked across the street to attend!
I LOVED this idea and want to do it for Weston's baptism since we have no musical talent in our family. They just let all the kids go to the front to sing the special musical number.
Instead of renting a U-Haul, we took our time, and moved over three consecutive Saturdays. The boys helped a lot and it was nice being able to sort of piecemeal it. On the final weekend, though, Casey, Marcus, Brendan and Reddin came over to help Travis with the big stuff like beds, the couch and washer, plus all the remaining boxes. We got everything moved in on a Friday afternoon. My mom had Tanner and Camilla had Olive so I was driving to Camilla's house to pick her up when I lost it. I just bawled. Everything set in and I was suddenly, unbelievably sad that this phase of our life was over. 714 E. Hampton Ct. had been SO GOOD to us. A dream. We got to walk across the street every week for three years to go to church. The boys walked to the bus stop. Collin walked to Cub Scouts. Dairy Queen AND Bosa donuts were literally around the corner. We lived in a peaceful, gated neighborhood with friendly neighbors. Collin had Kate two doors down and Joshua two streets away. Olive had Posey and 8 other fun girls her age in the ward. Weston was probably the only one without a close friend he had to say goodbye to, but he still liked playing with Anderson Theurer and had Benson Hodges in the stake. I LOVED that we were smack dab in the middle of two shopping Meccas! Two Chick-fil-a's, In 'n' Outs and a Super Target, Costco, Sams Club and Wal-Marts within two miles. The Gilbert temple was three miles. Okay, I better stop. I'm starting to wonder what the heck I was thinking, moving away!!! Waaaaaa. I'm an idiot!!
Saturday morning I went back to the old house and cleaned with Camilla for several hours. Then, that was it. I met Becky on Monday to give her back the keys and garage door openers.
The week before we moved in, I was walking through the house and noticed the carpets were ABYSMAL!! How did I not notice that before?!! They were seriously so nasty I couldn't imagine moving in and having to use them. So very last second we met with a rep from Express Flooring and picked out new carpet. Holy bad words, carpet is EXPENSIVE!!! Like, buy a new car expensive. Granted, we picked out the top of the line carpet because what's the use in paying for cheap carpet when it wears out and looks terrible after a few years. But it was sort of a gut punch to think about spending that much on the stuff you walk on.
Some pictures of my mom saving my bacon!! She took them to the Mesa High Homecoming carnival and I guess they just melted it was soooo hot.
The Friday we moved, Marcie brought over a humongous dinner for us to eat! Travis was at the new house unloading, but us kids dug in immediately and it was so nice to have a yummy meal I didn't have to worry about! She is feeling so nauseous at the beginning of her pregnancy so I know it was a big sacrifice for her and I really appreciated it!
Olive was at Posey's house so we loaded up the car with the final odds and ends, took a picture and drove away. I cried all the way to Posey's house. It's so HARD leaving a house that you've made into a home. My heart was in pain.
We spent the rest of the night setting up beds and getting just enough done to be able to fall asleep in them. Saturday, like I already said, was spent cleaning the old house and setting up a few more things in the new one. That night, Shelley hosted a Favorite's Party with our Udall cousins that was so fun. I had no business leaving the utter chaos that was our new house, but I wasn't about to miss this! I didn't get to go to the last one because I had the flu. Leah was a party pooper and didn't come, but other than that it was a blast! Yummy food, fun gifts, lots of talking and laughing. I love that most of us live here and enjoy getting together. Cousins for life!
As I drove away sooo late at night I remember thinking this is when all the drunks are out. Turned out to be a foreshadowing thought. I was driving south on Val Vista road approaching Southern when a car came FLYING past me. There were no other cars out on the road and this guy had to be going at least 80mph, maybe faster. Well, then I get to the red light at Baseline and he's waiting there. After he had passed me, he got in my lane so I switched to the right lane and when the light turned green I started to go, but he stayed there. I watched him in rearview mirror until I couldn't see him anymore and he never moved... even though it was a green light. At this point I should have just gotten off the road, but I wasn't thinking. Well, half way to Guadalupe here he comes speeding past me again, so fast that I barely see his car. It freaked me out. Now, as I'm approaching Elliot I see glass all over the road and a car off the side that looks like it's been hit. Then I see the speeder car up ahead trying to drive away and I realized what had just happened!! He slammed into the back of a car and was trying to get away! I pulled out my phone to try and take a picture of his license plate but it was too blurry. So I pulled a U-turn at the light and circled back around to check on the people in the hit car. It was a guy and a girl and thankfully they looked OK. They said they were just driving when this car came up behind them so fast and slammed into the back of them, pushing them off the road. The guy said he saw the headlights in his rearview mirror but he appeared so fast he didn't have time to try and swerve before he hit them. Their back end was demolished. Air bags blown out. It looked bad. They were shaking and hugging each other and the girl was crying. I was really shaken up too knowing that could have easily been ME that had been hit. In fact, I have no idea why it wasn't me. That crazy car passed me twice but thankfully went around me. The cops showed up and luckily the guy's car was wreaked bad enough he couldn't get away. They said they suspected alcohol. I definitely said a prayer of thanks to Heavenly Father on the way home.
The next day we still went to our old ward because the Primary program is in a week and we wanted the kids to be able to be in it. We took a picture in front of our old and new houses for documentation! September 21 was our first night in our new house, but October 7 was our first day in our new ward, Elliot Groves.
My mom started making fruit salads to be a part of every Sunday dinner and they're not just any ol' fruit salads. They're yummy, big, fancy ones with all sorts of berries and expensive fruit I barely buy! I decided a picture needed to be taken!
Along that same vein, I am OBSESSED with acai bowls. I make one every day. Costco sells the frozen acai packets and I blend that with frozen raspberries and strawberries and spinach and add a couple drops of lime essential oil and top it with fresh fruit and the yummy granola that Genuine Fresche uses on their acai bowls! It's called Hemp Hearts from Nature's Path and you can find it almost anywhere! It's so yummy and makes my heart ridiculously happy.
As does this kid!! Look at him so bigger in a swing!!
Met Shelley and Marcie at Urban Jungle in Chandler for a morning playdate.
Peeking at him asleep, with those big, soft cheeks is almost more than I can handle!! Ahhhh!!! He is the cutest thing that every lived! This picture is a little out of order and do you know how I can tell?? Because the poor child slept in a pack n' play the first 16 months of his life!! A crib was just too big for our old toy room, so he slept in the toy room in a pack n' play. Bless his heart. He finally upgraded to a crib once we moved in to our new house. Olive really hoped to share a room with him in our new house so we tried it for a couple nights, but he woke her up in the morning. Poor girl will just have to suffer with her own room!
San Tan mall has a cool place called Ready, Set, Play that is fun for play dates. It's $10, which is kind of pricy, but there's no time limit!
I tried out this other place I forget the name of, but it's sort of like a mommy/kid gymnastics studio. The teacher leads a few exercises and activities, then it's free time to play. I loved it! Tanner loved it! But my checkbook hated it. How do you get off charging $130 a month for a one hour class, once a week that parents have to stay for?!! It's highway robbery! We just did a trial class, but once I heard the price I was like, "Mm-hmm, bu bye." Such a shame because I loved playing with him there. Usually he's just my errand buddy or I take him to the park or a play place and watch him play, but it was fun to have semi-structured activities to do TOGETHER. I'm just not the best "play with your kids" mom.
Olive and her second family went to see a movie in the park one night, put on by the town of Gilbert! She was ecstatic to tell me that she met "the real Moana!!!" I would have joined in, but the boys had soccer games at the same time. :(
Someone is thrilled to finally be big enough to wear her mama's old nighgown! True vintage '88 Snow White right here!
Primary Program 2018!
The theme this year was I am a Child of God.
The clincher song that had everyone in tears was "I'll Be What I Believe". They had the YM and YW come up and join in for just that song to sing The Armies of Helman part. Major chills. I loved being able to go in for the practices and hear them all work on it in the weeks prior since I was in YW.
Here are their parts.....
Collin: Scripture study, family prayer and family home evening can strengthen my family. One fun thing my family does during Easter time, is we sit down at a feast that resembles the Passover. We put a red cloth over the door to represent the lamb’s blood and we talk about how Pharaoh didn't let the Israelites go, so God sent 10 plagues to Egypt. My mom prepares the food just like they did back then, like bread without yeast. We have friends over to celebrate with us too. I love that tradition.
Weston: I will look for good friends, like my friend Benson at school, who help me live the gospel and I will treat my friends with kindness. I will share the gospel light.
Olive: I love my family because they hug and kiss me, and my mommy makes me yummy Malt-o-meal.
Their cheering section! I think it's so nice that my parents make an effort to come! This was with my mom's camera, but I should have also taken a picture with Aubrey... she came to support too! We love Auntie Aubs!
Posey, Olive and Layla with their cute braids!
Travis's parents were on a long cruise to Japan so we offered to host Sunday dinner when it would have normally been at their house. Marcus and Megan's family couldn't come, so it was a smaller group, which was nice. It was fun to show everyone our new place, even though it's far from being put together.
She normally sits in a car seat (disclaimer) but for some reason it must have been in Dad's car. I looked behind me while I was driving and just thought what a beautiful girl I have! I love this face so much. I'm so grateful for her softer, feminine side to pair up with me in this house of boys!
