...I could be living on Sandcastle!
Our realtor called us this morning, and things look good! We still have tons of stuff to do, but we should set to close September 12th, and now we pray that everything else falls into place! We have to make sure that the city employee grant is in place, and that everything works out with the financing and all those other details and expenses that come up along the way. So please pray with us!
I'm so excited!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
**Our** house
More on the house we found today....
I got a call today from our realtor (and to think I almost didn't answer the call because I was busy cleaning the kitchen!) and she said a new house just came up on the market that she thought we would like. I decided it would be a nice break from cleaning, so I went to look at it, even though Kyle was working (he eventually was able to make it, and the realtor and I went back to the house) and I hadn't fully recovered from my earlier freak out about buying a house.
Well, the first reasons I knew I would love the house were the street name (Sandcastle, if you didn't read the last blog) and the red front door. And then the door opens, and I immediately felt like I was home. The house is a foreclosure, but it's immaculate, unlike all the other foreclosed homes we've looked at. Seriously, the only thing we would need to do to move in is buy a fridge. Carpet is perfect, it has beautiful hard wood floors in the entry way, dining room and kitchen, and the whole house was just painted, so we don't have to worry about that. There are things we'd want to paint to get more color in (it's all beige-ish right now - looks great, but it's all the same), but it's also nice to know we wouldn't have to paint the entire house or cover up ridiculous paint colors. Lots of counter top and cabinet space in the kitchen, which is definitely lacking in this apartment (I have to make dinner on the kitchen table, as there is about a foot of counter space available to me). It's a 3 bed/2 bath, which is what we want, and the master bedroom is nice and big, with a nice big bathroom and walk in closet (love that!) Good sized back yard, with plenty of room for a dog or two and an eventual swing set. :) Oh, and it's less than 10 years old and feels like a new home. And it's in a great neighborhood.
So, we've decided we're okay giving up some of our fun stuff in order to buy this house. Yeah, it will be tight for awhile, but this house felt so much like home, and it was a place that we could see ourselves living in for a long time, not just 5 or 10 years, like we've felt with some of the other houses. Hands down, the best house we've looked at.
We were the first offer in, and we could know tomorrow if our offer is accepted. We offered the list price, and asked the seller (bank) to pay closing costs, which isn't out of the ordinary, so we don't see why we wouldn't get it, but you never know. So now we're praying that this is the right one and that we get good news tomorrow. And we're praying that all the financing comes through, that we're able to get the city employee grant forms all filled out, and that we'll be able to pay all the ridiculous costs that come along with buying a home. And I'd love for you to pray with us. And thanks to those who are! Whether it's this house or another, we'll have to have you over (at least those who live local!) to celebrate with us when we finally have the space to have people over.
Hopefully this one will be ours, and I'll be able to post pictures soon.
I got a call today from our realtor (and to think I almost didn't answer the call because I was busy cleaning the kitchen!) and she said a new house just came up on the market that she thought we would like. I decided it would be a nice break from cleaning, so I went to look at it, even though Kyle was working (he eventually was able to make it, and the realtor and I went back to the house) and I hadn't fully recovered from my earlier freak out about buying a house.
Well, the first reasons I knew I would love the house were the street name (Sandcastle, if you didn't read the last blog) and the red front door. And then the door opens, and I immediately felt like I was home. The house is a foreclosure, but it's immaculate, unlike all the other foreclosed homes we've looked at. Seriously, the only thing we would need to do to move in is buy a fridge. Carpet is perfect, it has beautiful hard wood floors in the entry way, dining room and kitchen, and the whole house was just painted, so we don't have to worry about that. There are things we'd want to paint to get more color in (it's all beige-ish right now - looks great, but it's all the same), but it's also nice to know we wouldn't have to paint the entire house or cover up ridiculous paint colors. Lots of counter top and cabinet space in the kitchen, which is definitely lacking in this apartment (I have to make dinner on the kitchen table, as there is about a foot of counter space available to me). It's a 3 bed/2 bath, which is what we want, and the master bedroom is nice and big, with a nice big bathroom and walk in closet (love that!) Good sized back yard, with plenty of room for a dog or two and an eventual swing set. :) Oh, and it's less than 10 years old and feels like a new home. And it's in a great neighborhood.
So, we've decided we're okay giving up some of our fun stuff in order to buy this house. Yeah, it will be tight for awhile, but this house felt so much like home, and it was a place that we could see ourselves living in for a long time, not just 5 or 10 years, like we've felt with some of the other houses. Hands down, the best house we've looked at.
We were the first offer in, and we could know tomorrow if our offer is accepted. We offered the list price, and asked the seller (bank) to pay closing costs, which isn't out of the ordinary, so we don't see why we wouldn't get it, but you never know. So now we're praying that this is the right one and that we get good news tomorrow. And we're praying that all the financing comes through, that we're able to get the city employee grant forms all filled out, and that we'll be able to pay all the ridiculous costs that come along with buying a home. And I'd love for you to pray with us. And thanks to those who are! Whether it's this house or another, we'll have to have you over (at least those who live local!) to celebrate with us when we finally have the space to have people over.
Hopefully this one will be ours, and I'll be able to post pictures soon.
We just found the perfect house!
Okay, I don't have time right now to explain everything, so I'll have to edit this later and gush on and on about this house, but I wanted to let you know now, just in case anyone checks, so that you can start praying we get this house! I know I just wrote about being afraid of giving up our 'fun money' and all that, but seriously, every worry went away when I walked in this house. I felt like I was home. And if someone else gets our home, I'll be very sad! We were the first offer, so that's good, and we offered what they were asking, so fingers crossed! It really is the absolute perfect house for us, and it has a red front door (something I have always loved and wanted in my house) and it's on a street called Sandcastle. How cool is that! I would love to live on a street named Sandcastle. So, pray, pray, pray we get this house. I'll seriously cry if we don't get it (but, then I'll be able to move on and find something else). I'll write more about it and all it's glorious perfection later tonight.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Unexpected blessing
When I started this blog I had no idea it would be such a blessing in my life. Not only do I get to keep in touch with friends I know in "real life," but I have also formed bonds with some amazing women online. While it sucks that most of the friends I've made through here are going through/have gone through the same struggle of wanting children, it's also so encouraging to have them to talk to. It's great to talk to Erica, who seems like my copy - trying to have kids, looking for houses to buy, and trying to lose weight. Because of our blogs, we're doing it together. Lisa's posts, especially her latest, help me keep my perspective and bring me peace through our infertility struggle. I love that I met Christy, who went through this, and now has two beautiful little girls. Her story brings me hope that the same can happen for us. And I so enjoy watching little Rylan's adventures on Leslie's blog, and can't wait to see the little man. Thank you ladies, so much, for walking with me and experiencing life with me, despite distance and having never met each other. And of course, I love the rest of you "real life" friends, too.
I had been doing really well lately. I've been excited about the possibility of buying a house, I've been at peace with where we've been at with the baby issues, and things were going well with trying to lose weight. And now, I'm freaking out about the possibility of buying a house, I broke down crying yesterday because I don't have a baby yet, and I can't lose another ounce, and in fact, I've gained back a pound! Hopefully this means 'that time of the month is coming' since it's now been almost two months since I went off the infertility meds.
So, let me explain the freak outs, and please pray for me and my sanity and decision making skills. For some unknown reason, after Thursday's book club (which was awesome), on the drive home I suddenly became worried about the possibility of buying a home. We know we can do it, the problem is that we would have to give up so much, and now I don't know if I'm ready to give it up. And I haven't even been able to talk much to Kyle about this, so I have no resolution on this. Right now since we have such a low housing cost, we're able to pay much more than the minimum on our credit card debt, and I really want to get it paid off. I hate that we had to live on credit for so long, before the PD job came around, and now I'm thankful that the debt is disappearing and that we don't use the credit cards anymore. If we buy a house, we'll have to cut our payments down much lower, possibly to the minimum. We're also able to go on dates whenever we want, we've been able to do fun things like San Diego and visits to my family and taking friends out to dinner, and we won't have that kind of discretionary income anymore. I hated how we had to live before Kyle got this job, and I enjoy having some flexibility with our finances, and now I don't want to give that up. Of course I want to own a home, and I really want to move out of this apartment, but it also means giving up a lot/all of our fun stuff, and going back to a really tight budget. I was okay with that at first, and now I'm not sure if I am. So, pray we make the right decision Another thing that's contributing to my fear is that we were planning on my BeautiControl business already being in full swing, so that would bring in money to pay off debt and have fun. However, I'm having one heck of a time getting this started. I've talked to people about hosting spas, and I either don't hear anything back, they can't do it, or they want to, but aren't available for another month. So I'm still in the same place I was a month ago, trying to find just a couple people to books spas so I can finally get started.
Please also pray for my emotional sanity. I had been doing really, really well. Since I didn't use the meds, I knew there was no chance this time, so there haven't been those highs and lows of hope and disappointment. But then yesterday I replied to Christy's email, which was the very encouraging story of how their two daughters joined their family, and that brought up all the emotions I haven't had to deal with this month. And I broke down and just sobbed because I want a family so badly. I'm doing a better today, thanks in part to Lisa's perspective adjustment blog, but this still sucks. And on a related note, I'm really tired of people asking me when we're going to have kids, or asking me (above screaming babies) "You sure you want kids." Well, no clue when we're going to have kids, and yes, of course I want children, otherwise I wouldn't be subjecting myself to constant doctor appointments and medications and tests and heartbreak each month it doesn't work. Sigh.... we're almost at a year now since we decided we wanted to start trying, and what a year it's been...
*** edit ***
Another wrench was just thrown into my housing dilemma, but it could potentially be a good one. We had looked at some townhomes in our area (that are incredibly nice and much cheaper than the other homes we've looked at), but were'nt able to buy there because you had to finance through one specific company, and they required 10% down, and we didn't have enough. I just got an email from the complex, and called, and they now have new financing options where we'd only have to put 3% down, and we have more than enough for that. Of course, there are HOA fees, so if that plus the mortgage payment is the same as buying a regular house, we're still in the same boat.
I had been doing really well lately. I've been excited about the possibility of buying a house, I've been at peace with where we've been at with the baby issues, and things were going well with trying to lose weight. And now, I'm freaking out about the possibility of buying a house, I broke down crying yesterday because I don't have a baby yet, and I can't lose another ounce, and in fact, I've gained back a pound! Hopefully this means 'that time of the month is coming' since it's now been almost two months since I went off the infertility meds.
So, let me explain the freak outs, and please pray for me and my sanity and decision making skills. For some unknown reason, after Thursday's book club (which was awesome), on the drive home I suddenly became worried about the possibility of buying a home. We know we can do it, the problem is that we would have to give up so much, and now I don't know if I'm ready to give it up. And I haven't even been able to talk much to Kyle about this, so I have no resolution on this. Right now since we have such a low housing cost, we're able to pay much more than the minimum on our credit card debt, and I really want to get it paid off. I hate that we had to live on credit for so long, before the PD job came around, and now I'm thankful that the debt is disappearing and that we don't use the credit cards anymore. If we buy a house, we'll have to cut our payments down much lower, possibly to the minimum. We're also able to go on dates whenever we want, we've been able to do fun things like San Diego and visits to my family and taking friends out to dinner, and we won't have that kind of discretionary income anymore. I hated how we had to live before Kyle got this job, and I enjoy having some flexibility with our finances, and now I don't want to give that up. Of course I want to own a home, and I really want to move out of this apartment, but it also means giving up a lot/all of our fun stuff, and going back to a really tight budget. I was okay with that at first, and now I'm not sure if I am. So, pray we make the right decision Another thing that's contributing to my fear is that we were planning on my BeautiControl business already being in full swing, so that would bring in money to pay off debt and have fun. However, I'm having one heck of a time getting this started. I've talked to people about hosting spas, and I either don't hear anything back, they can't do it, or they want to, but aren't available for another month. So I'm still in the same place I was a month ago, trying to find just a couple people to books spas so I can finally get started.
Please also pray for my emotional sanity. I had been doing really, really well. Since I didn't use the meds, I knew there was no chance this time, so there haven't been those highs and lows of hope and disappointment. But then yesterday I replied to Christy's email, which was the very encouraging story of how their two daughters joined their family, and that brought up all the emotions I haven't had to deal with this month. And I broke down and just sobbed because I want a family so badly. I'm doing a better today, thanks in part to Lisa's perspective adjustment blog, but this still sucks. And on a related note, I'm really tired of people asking me when we're going to have kids, or asking me (above screaming babies) "You sure you want kids." Well, no clue when we're going to have kids, and yes, of course I want children, otherwise I wouldn't be subjecting myself to constant doctor appointments and medications and tests and heartbreak each month it doesn't work. Sigh.... we're almost at a year now since we decided we wanted to start trying, and what a year it's been...
*** edit ***
Another wrench was just thrown into my housing dilemma, but it could potentially be a good one. We had looked at some townhomes in our area (that are incredibly nice and much cheaper than the other homes we've looked at), but were'nt able to buy there because you had to finance through one specific company, and they required 10% down, and we didn't have enough. I just got an email from the complex, and called, and they now have new financing options where we'd only have to put 3% down, and we have more than enough for that. Of course, there are HOA fees, so if that plus the mortgage payment is the same as buying a regular house, we're still in the same boat.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Book Club and plum jelly
I am so excited about book club after our first get together tonight! For those who aren't in the area or part of epic (too bad for you...), our coffee talk book club will be starting Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge. It's a book I've read before, and I am glad to be reading again with all these women. It will be nice to hear other opinions and critiques of the book, so I can learn more about myself as a woman and creation of God. Plus, I'm the youngest (or one of the youngest, at least) of those at dinner tonight, so it will be really great learning from women with more life experience, who will have insights into the book that I have never thought of. I would also love to read it with you! If you're interested, you can read along with all of us, and post your thoughts on the chapters either here or on Brandi's blog. There's also a reading schedule on her blog.
My mom is one of the coolest women I know. She's incredible, and I'm so glad I'm her daughter (even if I used to pretend I was adopted. If you've ever seen my mom, you know that there's no way I could claim that- we look EXACTLY alike). Anyway, my mom goes through all sorts of phases with things that she makes. We're both very creative people, but we both can't focus on one thing too long. So mom has gone through the soap making phase, the clay phase, the glass etching phase and the jelly making phase, among others. And when she gets bored of one, she picks up another one again. While in San Jose this past weekend, I helped my mom pick plums from the backyard plum tree (and start the jelly making process. Let me tell you... this plum tree is crazy! It absolutely erupted with plums this year, to the point that they had to prop up branches because they couldn't support the weight of the fruit. So, we picked plums, and more plums, and more plums, and there were still hundreds upon hundreds left on the tree.
Here's our haul...
My mom is one of the coolest women I know. She's incredible, and I'm so glad I'm her daughter (even if I used to pretend I was adopted. If you've ever seen my mom, you know that there's no way I could claim that- we look EXACTLY alike). Anyway, my mom goes through all sorts of phases with things that she makes. We're both very creative people, but we both can't focus on one thing too long. So mom has gone through the soap making phase, the clay phase, the glass etching phase and the jelly making phase, among others. And when she gets bored of one, she picks up another one again. While in San Jose this past weekend, I helped my mom pick plums from the backyard plum tree (and start the jelly making process. Let me tell you... this plum tree is crazy! It absolutely erupted with plums this year, to the point that they had to prop up branches because they couldn't support the weight of the fruit. So, we picked plums, and more plums, and more plums, and there were still hundreds upon hundreds left on the tree.
Here's our haul...
... and here is just one branch of the tree. After picking all those plums the tree still looks like this.
Oh, and if I can brag on myself for just a minute: I am a computer genius! Well, not actually, but I'm still pretty proud of myself. Like I posted a couple days ago, my parents gave us their old computer, and I've gotten everything set up on it and transferred over from both Kyle's old computer and the laptop all by myself. Now, that may not seem like too much, but if you knew how much technology hates me, you would be impressed too. :)
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Speaking my Love Language...
So I've been sitting on the computer for way too long now, checking all "my stuff" (email, other email, myspace, facebook, my calorie count site, blogger, responding to comments, checking all your new posts, etc...). While I'm being a lazy bum on the computer, my wonderful hubby is in the kitchen doing dishes! He just got up off the couch after watching a show, then went and starting working on the mess in the sink without being asked. What a wonderful man. And, as we discovered in Life Group, Acts of Service is my love language, so I am a happy, happy girl right now.
In other news, we didn't like either house we saw yesterday. The first one was okay. But we don't want to settle for just okay. It was a little small, but it had a nice kitchen and a nice garage (my # 1 priority and Kyle's # 1). However, it had a really nasty pool out back that we don't want to deal with. We didn't want to have to deal with paying a fortune to get it cleaned and repaired, then pay a fortune for upkeep.
House number two was really disappointing. Our realtor had never been to it, so she didn't know the condition it was in, or she wouldn't have even brought it up. It's too bad, too, because it was a really cool house. It was two stories, had a big garage and an RV parking type area, a covered patio out front, a huge living room area, a wet bar, an enormous master bedroom with a fireplace and a balcony... it would have been really nice. IF it didn't need a new roof, IF the exterior paint wasn't peeling completely off, IF it didn't have a nasty pool in back as well, IF it didn't smell horribly, IF it didn't have gross carpet, IF the linoleum wasn't brown and gold from the 70's (with the baby blue counter tops), and IF they weren't asking for over $200,000 when they would be lucky to get $50,000. So, really too bad, because if it had been in good shape, we so would have put an offer on it. The right house will show up eventually, I guess.
In other news, we didn't like either house we saw yesterday. The first one was okay. But we don't want to settle for just okay. It was a little small, but it had a nice kitchen and a nice garage (my # 1 priority and Kyle's # 1). However, it had a really nasty pool out back that we don't want to deal with. We didn't want to have to deal with paying a fortune to get it cleaned and repaired, then pay a fortune for upkeep.
House number two was really disappointing. Our realtor had never been to it, so she didn't know the condition it was in, or she wouldn't have even brought it up. It's too bad, too, because it was a really cool house. It was two stories, had a big garage and an RV parking type area, a covered patio out front, a huge living room area, a wet bar, an enormous master bedroom with a fireplace and a balcony... it would have been really nice. IF it didn't need a new roof, IF the exterior paint wasn't peeling completely off, IF it didn't have a nasty pool in back as well, IF it didn't smell horribly, IF it didn't have gross carpet, IF the linoleum wasn't brown and gold from the 70's (with the baby blue counter tops), and IF they weren't asking for over $200,000 when they would be lucky to get $50,000. So, really too bad, because if it had been in good shape, we so would have put an offer on it. The right house will show up eventually, I guess.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Finally back home
I feel like I've been running around all over the place lately! In reality, I have been, so it's no wonder I feel that way. First San Jose and Monterey, then home for a day, then San Diego, then home again for a couple days, then back to San Jose. Now I'm actually home for awhile, so I can get my life back in order! I only have a month left of summer vacation, so I need to get busy! My plan (we'll see how this actually works out...) is to spend the rest of this month working around the house. I need to clean out the house, get rid of junk, start packing up things we don't currently need to help us get ready to move, and transfer everything off the laptop to our new computer. Not really new, but my parents old one, and it's better than the laptop I got for high school grad that we're currently using. Then, come August, I'll start going down to my classroom again to get stuff set up and start working on laying out my lesson plans. Like I said. We'll see how much of this gets done.
In other news, we're going to go look at two more houses today. We're not really sure about either, but guess it doesn't hurt to look! One is a little smaller (1100 sf) and has a pool, which we don't really want to deal with, and the other is larger (1800) but potentially a fixer upper. We just don't know how much of a fixer upper. But we're going to go see them. Well, at least I am. Kyle was supposed to have a day off, but 2 of the other officers had court today, so we got a call at 6:30 this morning asking for Kyle to come in. If one of the officers gets finished with court and gets back to work, Kyle might be able to get home in time to look with me.
And lastly, I've been promising San Diego pictures, and now I'm finally home with some time to do it. I took almost 500 pictures there (the joys of digital!), but I'll spare you that (and save myself the upload time) and post a few from our day. Well, let's be honest, a few more than a few. But I'll try to limit myself!
We went down to visit Kyle's family, in addition to going to SeaWorld. We got to see Grandpa Jack and Grandma Sharon, and his Aunt Jenny and her husband Chris.
There's a great kids area that Taylor LOVED playing in. There are huge musical intruments to bang on, and a giant rope thing to climb up and tubes to play in. I followed Taylor and her daddy up to get some pictures of them. Taylor did great.
She also got to go on an elmo ride with daddy.
Then we all watched Elmo and his friends perform, which put a big smile on Taylor's face. And Grandad's.
We watched a bunch of shows there, including the dolphins and Shamu, both the day shows and the night shows. It's just incredible what those huge animals can do.
Ayla decided she didn't want her picture taken, and gave me the death stare.
We also got to see Clyde and Seamore, the sea lion show. It's such a laugh. What wasn't funny, though, was that while we were waiting for the show to start, thousands of bees swarmed above our head. Especially not good because my mother in law is allergic to bees, and doesn't carry an epi-pen like she should.
After the show, we found the source of the bees. There was a HUGE hive in a tree, and some genius decided it would be a good idea to poke it!
We then went to see a show for Taylor called Pet's Rule. It was really cute. They have dogs and cats (which just amazed me) and a pig doing all sorts of tricks. Jumping rope, a cat walking across a high wire, all kinds of cute, crazy things. After the show you get to meet some of the stars. Taylor loved that, and so did Kyle.
We also did some random things throughout the day, all centered, of course, around Taylor. She chased us around, she was thrown up in the air, and she got to pet "Eeyore" (the donkey they have near the Bud Clydesdales).
Last few pictures, I promise. My favorite show of the day was Cirque de la Mer. Absolutely AMAZING. The things these people can do is so incredible, and I can only imagine how much strength it takes to do these kinds of things.
All in all, an absolutely wonderful time with family. And I took way too many pictures (typical Diana...)
Now it's time to go look at houses!
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I hate diets; houses and babies; and Monterey pictures...
This is kinda a catch all blog. There's a lot to talk about!
First, I hate diets. And my husband's metabolism. I started counting calories two weeks ago to try to lose some weight. I lost 4 pounds, then went away to San Diego and gained two back, and now I've almost lost those 2 pounds (again). Earlier I had an afternoon snack of celery with a teeny bit of peanut butter (and raisens, girl scout style!), half a cucumber, and carrots. A whopping 130 calories. Didn't eat the broccoli though. It just didn't taste good.
First, I hate diets. And my husband's metabolism. I started counting calories two weeks ago to try to lose some weight. I lost 4 pounds, then went away to San Diego and gained two back, and now I've almost lost those 2 pounds (again). Earlier I had an afternoon snack of celery with a teeny bit of peanut butter (and raisens, girl scout style!), half a cucumber, and carrots. A whopping 130 calories. Didn't eat the broccoli though. It just didn't taste good.
As I was making this snack, my husband was sitting on the couch watching tv, and eating pringles.
And yet... he weighs less than I do! I want his metabolism.
As far as the house goes, unfortunately we didn't get it. Oh well... the next one perhaps! There had been another offer (the same as ours) placed a bit before ours, and that one was accepted. At least now most everything is in place for when we find the next one.
As far as babies go, no news to tell for now. Lisa had asked how things were going, so I figured I'd update you all. Since we decided to take a cycle off to get Kyle tested, I skipped the meds, which means that who knows when this cycle will end! It's day 38 now, and I'm just waiting until my next cycle comes along so I can do another round on the meds. If this lasts until day 45, though, which it has before, I'll have to go on a different medication to induce my period. So, now news for now, but hopefully before too long I'll be back on the fertility medication, and perhaps our third try will work!
Now, our San Jose/Monterey trip. Like he normally does when we're in San Jose, Kyle made bananas foster for all of us. I never get this at home, but he always makes it when we're at my parents. Kyle came along, and just by saying "bananas foster" ends up convincing my mom, who NEVER drinks, to go buy hard liquor. Rum, brandy, bananas, and fire!
Our last day with the family was at Monterey. They have some of the coolest things there.
The jellyfish are my favorite and they have so many types. I'll spare you the barrage of pictures, and just post a few.
They also have this really cool exhibit near the jellys. It's all sorts of beautiful blown glass creations.
It was a gorgeous day while we were there, but it was a little hazy because of all of the fires going on in CA.
This is Chase, and his mommy Amberlynn (my cousin's son and wife). It was the first time we'd been able to meet either of them, so it was pretty cool to hang out with them for a couple days.
Little Chasers just loved being at the aquarium. He wanted to play with all the fish!
These guys are one of the coolest creatures ever created. It's a leafy sea dragon!
After the aquarium we went over to a beach to play for a bit. Mostly the guys just tortured little crabs.
Here's Kyle and Andrew messing around with the poor little crabs while Amberlynn watches on.
I'll get some San Diego/SeaWorld pictures up soon, it's time to get dinner started!
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Exciting!
I was able to get my computer cleaned up a bit, and my super amazing computer genius brother in law got me an external hard drive so I've been able to move some pictures over to that. So my Monterey and San Diego pictures are on the computer, and I'll be posting some tomorrow, most likely.
However, while that's just absolutely thrilling, I know, that's not the exciting news. The exciting news is that..... We put an offer on a house today!!!! We looked at two more houses this morning, and decided we wanted to try to get the second one we looked at. So we ran all over the place today to get all sorts of forms filled out - the mortgage company, the city of Lemoore to fill out the employee housing grant (the reason we're able to buy a house!), the realtors, back to the mortgage company - and we placed our offer! We'll find out in a few days if our offer is accepted. Unfortunately, someone else placed an offer today as well, while we were meeting with the mortgage company our realtor called us and someone had just placed their offer. So, we'll see... We would love to get this house, though. It's a 3 bed 2 bath on a little cul de sac in the gated area of the Lemoore golf course, which is pretty dang cool. Both bathrooms have double sinks, tubs, and the master bath has an oversized tub and two shower heads :) There are a few things we'd like to change, but it's stuff we could deal with until we could afford to make changes. We'd need to replace the carpet eventually, but if we gave it a good cleaning we'd be able to put that off for a bit. It's in good condition, just stained. The living room flooring is just the concrete - but it was refinished and painted, so it looks okay, it's just kinda weird. Also, when you walk in the front door, there is a wall in front of you, which is fine, except that there are huge mirrors on the entire wall, which is just a little weird, so we'd take those off. Overall, though, we really liked the house, and we'd love to get it! I'll let you know in a few days if our offer was accepted or not! We know we'll end up in the right place, so we won't be heart broken if it falls through, but it would be really cool to get it.
Check back for pictures of our trips!
However, while that's just absolutely thrilling, I know, that's not the exciting news. The exciting news is that..... We put an offer on a house today!!!! We looked at two more houses this morning, and decided we wanted to try to get the second one we looked at. So we ran all over the place today to get all sorts of forms filled out - the mortgage company, the city of Lemoore to fill out the employee housing grant (the reason we're able to buy a house!), the realtors, back to the mortgage company - and we placed our offer! We'll find out in a few days if our offer is accepted. Unfortunately, someone else placed an offer today as well, while we were meeting with the mortgage company our realtor called us and someone had just placed their offer. So, we'll see... We would love to get this house, though. It's a 3 bed 2 bath on a little cul de sac in the gated area of the Lemoore golf course, which is pretty dang cool. Both bathrooms have double sinks, tubs, and the master bath has an oversized tub and two shower heads :) There are a few things we'd like to change, but it's stuff we could deal with until we could afford to make changes. We'd need to replace the carpet eventually, but if we gave it a good cleaning we'd be able to put that off for a bit. It's in good condition, just stained. The living room flooring is just the concrete - but it was refinished and painted, so it looks okay, it's just kinda weird. Also, when you walk in the front door, there is a wall in front of you, which is fine, except that there are huge mirrors on the entire wall, which is just a little weird, so we'd take those off. Overall, though, we really liked the house, and we'd love to get it! I'll let you know in a few days if our offer was accepted or not! We know we'll end up in the right place, so we won't be heart broken if it falls through, but it would be really cool to get it.
Check back for pictures of our trips!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Vacation!
It's been a crazy week for us! We went up to visit my parents in San Jose last Tuesday, came home Thursday night, Kyle worked Friday, we left for San Diego on Saturday, and we got back home tonight. It has been so much fun, though! Andrew and Amberlynn, my cousin and his wife, were out visiting my parents, along with their 8 month old son Chase, so we were able to spend time with them. It had been a few years since we saw Andrew, and we'd never met Amberlynn or Chase, so it was really nice to hang out with them. I also got to spend a little time with my friend Lauren, who I wrote about in the last blog. I'll be going back up to San Jose some time this week to spend more time with her and to go to Terry's memorial. It has been really amazing what has come from this, however (even though we would all rather still have Terry) - there's going to be a scholarship fund set up so that Lauren's brother can finish college, the media room at the school he taught at is supposed to be named after him, and the state assembly reconvened early last week in his memory. Anyway, back to the original point of the blog. On Thursday we (Kyle, my parents, Andrew, Amberlynn, Chase and I) drove over to Monterey and went to the Aquarium and then a beach. I've been there so many times, but it still amazes me. Plus, this time I was with a cute little baby, and he was lovin it! So it made it even more fun.
San Diego was also TONS of fun. We (this time it's me, Kyle, Lee, Leslie (dad and mom), Ryan, Sarah, Taylor and Ayla (brother, sister, and nieces)) went down and stayed with Leslie's dad and step mom, and also met up with her sister and brother in law. We all went to SeaWorld together yesterday, and spent ALL day there. I wore a pedometer, and we walked well over 8 miles. Good workout! Both the girls behaved so well. Taylor was a little trooper, and didn't get upset at all, even when she was up way past her bed time. She got new Shamu pajamas to wear at night, along with little Shamu slippers, so she was nice and cozy, even if she was still up too late. We saw every show we possibly could (Cirque de la Mer is AMAZING), and just over all had a great time.
All this to say..... I have 3 gigs worth of pictures from these two trips, and I can't get them on my computer to share with you yet! I've always been a picture fiend, and it's just getting worse now that I'm teaching myself more and more about photography, so our poor little laptop is full. Literally, it was completely full and yelling at me because it had no more storage space. I was able to clean it up a bit, but I still don't have room to upload all these pictures, so I can't share them with you until we get some sort of external storage device to move older pictures to. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of soon, because I really have some awesome pictures to share.
Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th!
San Diego was also TONS of fun. We (this time it's me, Kyle, Lee, Leslie (dad and mom), Ryan, Sarah, Taylor and Ayla (brother, sister, and nieces)) went down and stayed with Leslie's dad and step mom, and also met up with her sister and brother in law. We all went to SeaWorld together yesterday, and spent ALL day there. I wore a pedometer, and we walked well over 8 miles. Good workout! Both the girls behaved so well. Taylor was a little trooper, and didn't get upset at all, even when she was up way past her bed time. She got new Shamu pajamas to wear at night, along with little Shamu slippers, so she was nice and cozy, even if she was still up too late. We saw every show we possibly could (Cirque de la Mer is AMAZING), and just over all had a great time.
All this to say..... I have 3 gigs worth of pictures from these two trips, and I can't get them on my computer to share with you yet! I've always been a picture fiend, and it's just getting worse now that I'm teaching myself more and more about photography, so our poor little laptop is full. Literally, it was completely full and yelling at me because it had no more storage space. I was able to clean it up a bit, but I still don't have room to upload all these pictures, so I can't share them with you until we get some sort of external storage device to move older pictures to. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of soon, because I really have some awesome pictures to share.
Hope you all had a safe and happy 4th!
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