Getting Close!!!

Oh Boy!! We went and walked through our house today (we've been renting it since we were so poor last year...) It was so nice to be in our house again. It was weird to see all of their stuff in it (and boy do they have a LOT of stuff!!) but I just imagined us being back there :) I can't wait.

There are some things that we'll have to work on --- kind of annoyed about:

1) The blinds on the front of the house got broken by one of their dogs and they "claim" it was like that when they got there --- NOT TRUE. Of course we don't have pictures and didn't do the whole "tell us what it wrong when you moved in" thing, so we can't really prove it. Oh well -- should only be like $50 to fix.

2) This is the weird one. Our front door has a regular handle with a lock plus a dead-bolt. The regular lock was taken out of the handle.... There is just a hole where the little lock should go. THAT they cannot possibly try to say is our fault. That, again, is just about $50 to fix. So if anyone has an extra door handle set laying around...

3) The yard... Not too bad at all, but the backyard will need to have some patchwork done - nothing we haven't had to do before. And there are lots of weeds - but we had to deal with that before too.

I'm really looking forward to getting in there and making it mine again. I took the whole first week of June off to get everything situated. Hopefully it only takes that long!! I have to make sure my office situation/set up will be ok. I'm sure it will, but still!

SO IF ANYONE WANTS TO VOLUNTEER THEIR TIME HELPING ME OUT SINCE I'LL BE NICE AND PREGNANT AND WON'T BE ABLE TO LUG BOXES UPSTAIRS.... Any and all offers will be accepted and greatly appreciated :)

Our only worry now is the fact that we have no food. We never even thought about stocking our shelves... You know, so we can live and feed our baby!! I started making a list of absolute essentials so again, if anyone has like big garbage bags or extra dish detergent they don't care about --- I'M DEAD SERIOUS. I gladly accept charity :) And if anyone knows anything about canning at the cannery out here - please let me know. I may end up having to do that!

In other news...

Chloe is learning her colors now. She knows purple, blue, yellow, orange, red, green, white, pink... I think that's all. Hey that covers all the rainbow colors so she's good! She can count to 4 and can fill in the blanks when you sing the alphabet. She's still incredibly shy around new people or people she doesn't see very often. She loves my mom, but it takes her a while to warm up to my dad - unless he gives her food :)

Shane has been really busy with carpet lately and we are so grateful. We have one credit card to pay off then we are out of (small) debt! Just the house and cars.... He had one day off this week and I let him buy a used bike. He's so excited. It was just too bad that every day since has been stormy so he can't ride. Hopefully he'll have time this weekend. He's considering running a half marathon in August with his sisters and I am encouraging him. I know he can. He used to bike literally 100 miles every Saturday when he lived in St George. That's how he lost about 75 pounds -- seriously.

Me --- just working and getting fat :( Yeah, yeah, I'm pregnant. Whatever. I have seen plenty of pregnant women who were just hiding beach balls under their shirts. No other fat :( Not me! I'm only 17 1/2 weeks but I feel HIM move quite a bit. I'm just tired and lazy. No sickness (thank goodness). I get winded really easily now though.

I can't think of anything else super interesting going on right now though. I'm just so glad we're going to be busy this summer so time should fly by and I can have this baby!!!

Anyway, I'll say it again later, but if anyone is able to help us move, we so so so so so would appreciate it. Very little furniture. Seriously - just our couch, table, Monster Sac, and crib. Everything else was left at the house. 90% of our stuff is in our storage unit just down from our house so we're going to get a trailer and just load up! But I really can't haul a lot of boxes. I tried recently and I started getting minor cramps after just moving like 5 heavy boxes so Shane will need help :( I'm just putting this out there though. We'll start moving on Tuesday, June 1. That evening most likely since I'll be there disinfecting everything all day long!!! But I'm so excited to do it and just be back in my house!!!! AHHHHH!!! Here is a post with pictures of it to remind you

I also took this video while we were driving around today. It's just so cute to watch her sing :)

Updates/The Fair!

Ugh - lots going on!! First, we went to the Clark County Fair and Rodeo this last weekend. It was nice and hot!!! Chloe had so much fun and we even got to go swimming at the Res(ervior). We ate too much, stayed up too late, and enjoyed it too much :)

Went up to Mormon Mesa and caught the sunset

Old friends catching up!! Everyone is growing up :(

And lastly.... the BIG news. My sister-in-law has a wonderful friend who offers to do ultrasounds for us! I was 16 weeks today and far enough to tell what I'm having! I was so not expecting this...But folks, it's a BOY!!!

Farewell old friends...

I got these shoes when I was in 8th grade... that was 10 1/2 years ago. I used them up until about 2 years ago for everything then I finally got new ones so these became yard shoes. Well... the time has come. They are just basically pieces of cloth.

I have great memories with these shoes. They took me through some great times. When I was in 10th grade, my friend wrote little messages on them in math class. The pen marks eventually wore off, but I will just never forget that. Good times.... but I have decided to move past that and get rid of these shoes. Time to make some new memories with my current "running" shoes.

Who really gets this attached to a pair of shoes...?

One More Thing....

I also just have to post about how excited I am. I really hope I'm not jinxing anything by saying this though!

If all goes as planned, we will be back in our house on June 1. I am so excited I could cry. I have so appreciated my in-laws for letting us live with them. There aren't words for how lucky we are to have had them put up with us. But I have to say, there is just nothing like having your own space. I have just been day-dreaming about being back home --- what we will do and everything. And it will be summer time so we can enjoy the backyard and warm summer nights. I can send Chloe outside to play while I am working right next to the back door and I can hang my clothes up to dry on the line (that we will put up) outside.

I hate getting so excited about this since we still have 2 months to go and who knows what shape our house will be in --- but I just can't help it. We have made so much progress with our finances over just the last couple of months! Shane selflessly sold his 4-wheeler and that gave us just the boost we needed. Now, all that is left is his credit card --- that should be paid off by August, if not before. We have been so lucky to have good work for the last two months too.

I really can't explain, but 2009 was a cursed year. Nothing good happened last year. It was terrible - absolutely awful. In just these first 3 months, 2010 is light years better than all of last year combined! We have made some poor decisions and we had to pay for them - literally. Everyone makes mistakes and we will make many more, but I am hoping that we have been given a second chance to be responsible, self-sufficient, completely independent adults.

I don't want to sound ungrateful for what my in-laws have done. I cannot even imagine the sacrifices they have made for us to live here - rent-free. I have really tried to do my part but still, there is nothing that can compensate for letting intruders into your home for a year --- intruders with 2 DOGS! Two dogs that poop a lot..... I can't imagine what kind of situation we would be in now if it weren't for their generosity and kindness. We would have lost our house though, that's for sure. I will spend the rest of my life trying to come up with a way to show my appreciation.

We are still super stressed about moving back into the house. We haven't even thought about the food we will have to buy when we're back there - just to get started!! We've been mooching off the parents all this time so we have nothing!! We will still have to make many sacrifices... So we watch our tv shows on Hulu rather than getting satellite again or we hang-dry all of our clothes rather than use the electricity on the dryer... All the little things add up. I am so looking forward to being the home-maker I always wanted to be and just being grown-ups again.

So you may see us asking for moving help in a couple of months because we need to get it done super-fast so I can get my office set up and working right away. :) Hopefully we can rent a small U-haul or something so we only have to make one trip.

OH -- AND WE REALLY NEED TO START LOOKING INTO SELLING OUR CAR AND GETTING SOMETHING BIGGER BECAUSE MY CAR DOES NOT FIT TWO CARSEATS. TRIED IT... DOESN'T WORK!!!! So if anyone needs a car..... :)

Chloe's 2nd Birthday!!!

I love Blogger..... If you want these events/pictures in chronological order, please start at the bottom of this post :)

Chloe is TWO!!!! Crazy.... Anyway, we went to the zoo on her birthday day. It was actually pretty pleasant in the morning and then at lunch time it got windy so we left (good thing we had already seen everything!!). She got her presents from Mommy and Daddy that day too. She got a new (old) doll. She has loved my Cabbage Patch kid that I got when I was a baby so I tried to find one just like it and guess what!!! eBay is amazing. The mold of the doll is exactly the same - she still thinks it is George, so mission accomplished! We also got her some earrings and the thing she asked for..... fish. Yes, folks - she wanted fishies! So we got her some but I think it turned into more of a present for Shane than Chloe. You should see him..... We went from having just a regular little fish bowl with two tiny 13 cent fish to a 5-gallon tank with a filter, two 28 cent fish and one of those sucker fish who eats the algae. ALL HIS DECISIONS.

Anyway, we had a party on Saturday. The sun was out and it wasn't too bad when the wind was blowing. It was a little chilly, but I was running all over the place so I didn't notice too much. We ate hamburgers, chips, and fruit salad. I was very happy that all the family/friends showed up that did so thank you for coming :) We went inside for cake and ice cream and Chloe actually attempted to blow out the candles herself. It was precious!

Then, for the completion of Chloe turning two, she had her dr. appointment. This is funny people.... She is 2'8" (10th percentile), 25 lbs 9 oz (40th percentile). So like her mommy, she is short and fat! Ok, she's not really fat but she is short and I LOVE IT!!!!! I want my girls to be short :)

Shane's friend got Chloe a big pink bunny because he thought to himself, "what would I want?".... It worked because she loves it!

Showing off her presents from Aunt Nell

She was really so excited to open everything. Really, she loved it all so much!

Blowing out the candles!!

Chloe and cousin Nick - who is just about 2 months older than her.

Everyone came!!!

This is how Chloe looks at her fish.

The baby elephant still looked like a baby!!! I was so excited that it was still small.

eating Corn dogs...

Heartbeats!!

Ok - so you kind of have to know what you're listening for and you have to turn the speakers up really loud, but after the dr. says something about hearing my heartbeat, you can hear the baby's. It was exciting. I was getting pretty anxious about it all so I am just relieved now :)

Playin!

Today, we went up to a birthday party for our niece, Halle. It was at Classic Skating in Draper and Chloe had so much fun! We got the "Sponge Bob" birthday room and there was a bubble machine that she could not get enough of. I don't know how or why, but don't the pictures of the bubbles look cool??

This is Chloe's scared face after I tried to have her ride in one of those little machines things that they have at grocery stores. She did not like it. She literally screamed after I turned it on... Oh well. That's 50 cents I won't have to waste again!

Shane and I spent $15 on arcade games... namely SkeeBall and Galaga. Shane is proud to report that he got a high score of 480,000 points on Galaga. I married a geek. Oh well. I spent about an hour, collectively on Skee Ball. There were a bunch of bounce houses(?) too that we eventually got Chloe in. We took her down the slides and she LOVED them! Good exercise for mom and dad too!

Photo Shoot!

Ok - so my friend, Amanda makes the cutest hair accessories (check out her blog!) and she so kindly asked if I would let Chloe model some for her. Of course I obliged :) I'm sorry, but my baby is just too cute. She did so well too - considering it was 50 degrees and I was changing her clothes right there outside. She even pretended to read a book - she was actually acting for the camera! Hopefully we'll have another nice weather day so we can get out and take her "2 year" pictures...

YIPPEE!!

In case you missed my FaceBook announcement, I am pregnant :) I know I should wait until I'm further along to tell people and blah blah, but I've known for a month and I've been to the doctor and just cannot hold it in any longer! I'm only 9 weeks along and am due September 27. And I just have to say, I am one of the lucky ones who does not get sick :) Were it not for the 4 pregnancy tests and dr's visit, and the lack of visit from "Aunt Flo" then I would have no idea that I am pregnant.

Anyway, I'm so excited. I have been ready for this since Chloe was about 6 months old. Yes, I want lots of babies. LOTS AND LOTS. I can think of nothing better than having a huge family for years of fun. I can't imagine having less than 4 kids --- and even that is a very small number for me. Unfortunately, I am not the only decision maker and having c-sections might make that decision for me.... I think I will keep doing that just due to the ease and comfort and everything. Be as judgmental as you want. It is what works for me and I feel like I handle it extremely well. We'll see though. I still haven't totally decided.

Anyway, I am so excited. It has been the hardest thing for me to hear about all of these people getting pregnant and having babies. I don't like the idea of my kids being so far apart. Yes - to me -- to ME (my own personal preference) is that 2 1/2 years is too far apart for kids to be. 2 years would be a max for the next one. I just look at how close my siblings were/are now and how I was kind of an only child for years. I want them to grow-up together.

Well, that's that folks. I won't be losing my 40 lbs by April. But hopefully I will manage this pregnancy better than the last and lose the weight fast after.... We shall see :) Because I know you all care SO much, I'll be sure to keep you updated after each dr. appt :)

Married to MacGyver and such...

I guess it's been almost a month-ish since my last post... SO I'll make stuff sound interesting for an update! 

One night, Shane ..... made the inside of the car stink.... so I rolled the window down and we had a battle of the window controls. ANYWAY, we ended up blowing a fuse! We were driving and all of the sudden, the panels went black - the car was still running but all of the interior lights were gone. Anyway, Shane thought that maybe by turning the car off then on that it might reset something. No such luck.... We were luckily less than a mile from home, but he got all MacGyver and started crawling under the dash (see below) to find the blown fuse. That is not easy for a 6'3" guy to do in a small car. The little book made it seem like there were literally about 10 possible fuses blown! (sometimes having a foreign car can complicate things) Anyway, I'm so glad that he is smart enough to know how to fix these things. I would be so lost.... He has been able to fix nearly every mechanical problem we have had with anything --- literally, anything. I always joke that I secretly married him because of his handy-ness and boy is that paying off!!! :) While he may not have done the college thing -- there is no substitute for the knowledge he has. I am so grateful for that. We have probably saved hundreds if not thousands because he just knows how to fix things (aside from the unmentionable vehicle which we recently off-loaded that NO ONE will EVER be able to fix!!!!!!). As we speak, he is fixing a light in our closet that has not worked in his life-time. *fingers crossed!*

Next is little Chloe... She has had such a rough couple of weeks. This is a picture of an owie she got after tripping and hitting the metal part of the couch. Thank goodness she didn't get a black eye!! No - it is not the owie on her cheek that she has had for months! She has the Bradford habit of picking and picking and picking!!!! It is finally slowly healing though!

NOW she has a cold. A mean-nasty cold. I don't know where she is getting these from because we do not leave the house and she had already had two colds this year. I bathe her, give her plenty of water, and a daily vitamin. Someone is just tracking something in! Anyway, here she is today, calm for a few minutes watching Toy Story while I worked. She was up until 2 last night, but Shane was nice enough to stay up with her while I went to bed. I hate seeing her so sad :( Her little nose is all red and chapped from the tissues and her cough is so awful. It is just a cold though -- plenty of phlegm! 

Lastly was Valentine's Day. I really wasn't even tuned in to the fact that it was Valentine's time at all. It came into my mind every once in a while, but I really don't care that much! Anyway, Shane came home from working on Friday and I was outside with the dogs. When I came in, these were sitting on my desk :) 

Aren't they just beautiful! While he doesn't get me flowers often, they are always so pretty. I was totally surprised. THEN, on Sunday, I came out from church and there was a balloon and chocolate sitting in the front seat of the car for me. He did well this year :)

P.S.>>>>>> My mother-in-law brought me a treat from Costco on Friday. 4 pounds of chewy goodness, just for me :) I had to take a break from eating any today. Does anyone want the chocolate, licorice, and cappuccino flavored ones?