This year has been one big whirl wind!

So, so, SO much has happened, I can hardly believe it.  I feel very close to finally getting my "stuff" together and have been itching to get back to family blogging again.  I don't think I've ever been this far behind...

I'm going to get at it, mom!  Here it goes... get ready for picture overload :)

P.S. Check below for updates!  I'm keeping them in order by date.

Love Day

I'm kind of an emotional wreck these days. 

 I think it's just all the deadlines that have to be met with our house, the demands of children/family, and just life! 

 I have absolutely nothing to complain about, and I'm NOT complaining. 

I'm just simply stressed and emotional :)

 It will pass, and I'm growing and learning so many new things along the way. 

One in particular is to accept help, and how nice it is to be helped. 

 The love and strength I've (We've) received from others overwhelms me. 

 I feel very blessed and hope to be able to bless others throughout my life as so many have blessed me. 

This Valentines day was a bit chaotic. 

I definitely wasn't expecting a thing, and I was okay with that! 

My valentine was working away on our home, and I've been so grateful to him. 

But, he never ceases to amaze me. 

He came home late that night holding these beautiful flowers (He knows how much I love spring time), and all my favorite goodies with little notes taped on them with cute sayings about me attached. 

 I started bawling like a big baby! 

 I don't cry easily, but it really touched me that he would take the time to do all of that for me, even with all that's on his plate right now. 

He's a pretty special guy, and I adore him!

All the Children have been SO excited for their Valentine parties at school. 

 I could hardly get them to sleep the night before! 

Especially this little Princess of ours.

She was up at 6AM, ready to put on her pink outfit and load her backpack with all the goodies for her friends. 

As we were driving to school, I said, "Hm...you're not excited at all for the party today now are you!?" :) 

She replied with a pouty face, "No way, mom. I'm going to miss you too much!" 

"Yeah? Well, in that case, lets turn around so I can spend the whole day with you!" I said.  

She laughed, "Just kidding, mom! I love you a lot...but, this is just something I have to do."

 

Oh, yes. She's our giggle box! 

She really is too smart, sassy, and cute for her own good. 

 

She left this Valentines message to the family that morning on our whiteboard... 

It brought a big smile to my face!

 

XOXO

Movie Night With Him

Sport has been begging to watch "The Odd Life Of Timothy Green".

Apparently,  one of his buddies at school told him it was such a cool movie!

But, it wasn't a movie I thought our younger children would enjoy, so we watched Madagascar 3 for movie night instead.

Sport was pretty bummed.

We have kind of reached a frustrating stage for him.

He's interested in big boy movies, but mom doesn't think he's quite old enough yet, and his younger siblings just aren't interested.

Anyway, after our movie was over, and I had tucked the girls and baby T in bed,

I pulled Sport aside and asked him if he wanted to have a movie night with mom.

His face lit up and he whispered, "You can't joke with me like that, mom!  You're kidding, right?"

He was SO excited!

I grabbed some blankets and we cuddled up on the couch together and watched "The Odd Life Of Timothy Green".

It was a sweet movie, and I even saw Sport trying to hide a few tears :)

We had great night together!

I love my time with our boy.

He's growing up too fast.

Poor JP spent his night working on our house.

He has an amazing work ethic.

I don't know how he fits everything in that he does.

I'm in love with my boys!

She's All Ours

{Or will be...in 30 years}

 Now, don't go judging a book by it's cover!

Give her a chance.

She has a lot of love left in her :)

Kitchen, dining room, living room, family room, five bedroom, three bath, storage room, dry storage, patio, and a yard.
That's a lot more room then I'm use to!
Let me give you the grand tour:

View from the front door: Living room

Front entry & living room:

 Stairs up to bedrooms and down to family room/bedrooms...

Living room...

Kitchen...

Kitchen...

Stairs up to bedrooms/bathrooms...

Children's bath upstairs...

Girls room upstairs...

 

Boys room upstairs...

Master bedroom (fuzzy wall paper and all!  I've already pulled most of it down...not my taste)

Stairs back down to the living room/entry...

Looking down into the family room...

The soon-to-be office just off the family room...

(Yes, that bar is legit! It even came with bottles of beer.)

To the left is the laundry/bathroom and stairs leading to the basement...

Laundry room/bathroom...

Stairs leading down to the basement bedrooms, storage, and cold storage...

View from my kitchen window...

(I think I'll keep the curtains)

JP and Sport's treasure in the back yard!

The shed with the friendly indian...

The big tree where plans are already being made by the children for a tree-house (we shall see)...

And the pole is a basketball hoop just off of the court covered in leaves...

 The backyard with lots of fruit vines and pretty trees (or will be, I hope, come spring)...

 

Just a few of the 80 or so statues that fill our yard (Not including the gnomes.  I'm not even kidding when I say we've counted over 50 of them!)

The lions that guard the gate to "the secret garden" as the girls say...

(I can't wait to trim those rose vines this spring!)

How she came to be ours:

Back in May of 2012, the Mr. and I decided it was time to settle down and take advantage of the "great time to buy".

We've been keeping our eyes open for something to come along for years... but as time would pass, we would eventually tucker out with the whole house hunting thing.

Frankly, it's exhausting...and I hate it!

Anyway, last May we were on the hunt again, determined not to quit this time. 

We LOVE our neighbors, friends, ward, and school.

It was breaking my heart to even think about moving away (change isn't easy for me).

But, we branched out and were open to anything as long as it felt right.

In July, my dear friend Aubrey suggested we check out this house about two blocks from where we live now.

She didn't know all the details at the time, but knew it was up for grabs, it just had not been listed yet.

So, JP and I did a little drive by and thought better of it right away.

We knew this house.

It had been in litigation for years (the children were fighting over who would inherit the property), and JP had cleaned the yard many times with the Young Men of our church to keep the place up.

It just wasn't a good idea. 

We didn't even know how long it would take for the court to make a decision to sell the place. 

So, we moved on.

We came across so many cute homes, but nothing felt right to us. 

It was getting frustrating!

Finally, we decided to build. 

We found ourselves a nice piece of land out in Saratoga Springs.

A beautiful, newly developed town away from the city.

I had always wanted to get away from the noise, and this community had everything...IE:

A REALLY good school that my children had to get in on the lottery and DID, a brand new park, cute little neighborhood, and shopping centers just five miles away.

We were all about it!

After meeting with the builder, picking our lot, and signing the agreement, we went to work choosing our colors and woodwork.

Let me tell you right now, building is HARD.  And STRESSFUL!

At least, it was for me.

There are just way too many things to think about and work through, and there's never enough money to do what you really want to do!

At least, not for me. 

I was losing so much sleep. 

Stress was taking over my life. 

I spent so much time on my knees praying for inspiration and help, pleading with the Lord to stop us if this was the wrong decision, but to please help us if it was the right one. 

After a week of no sleep and hitting all kinds of walls, red flags started popping up everywhere. 

The builder wouldn't sign a paper saying he would renegotiate the price if the appraisal value was lower then what we were going to purchase the home for, which was just odd...given no other builder had that stipulation. 

So, we decided to take a drive around the neighborhood and talk to the neighbors.

Sure enough, the first person we talked to said that the appraisal of their home came in under what they purchased it for.

And then we met our next door neighbors who just happened to have the last name of PAYNE.  

What are the chances?  They didn't like that...and it may seem petty, but I was a little creeped out by them.  

I'm sure they are great people.

Then suddenly the price changed due to some building changes, which meant our mortgage payment would be slightly more then we had planned.

But, we just kept telling ourselves that we would regret it if we walked away from this.

This was what we had always wanted.

We were doing this! 

But, even our realtor was feeling a little uneasy about the whole thing and kept telling us to "just be aware" of this and that. 

After a very sleepless, exhausting, stressful two weeks, the Mr. and I whispered to each other one night that something just wasn't right about this.  

It just shouldn't be this hard or look this great, but feel this terrible.

We realized that we had slowly talked ourselves out of all the things we wanted in a home.

Such as, a big yard with big trees and mature fruit, an older home with character, a place where our kids could grow up with good memories, because we weren't mortgage poor and could put more into our children and their lives.  

This wasn't suppose to be about us.  

This was suppose to be about them.

We called our realtor and walked away.

That night, I finally had a peaceful nights sleep.

We hoped we wouldn't regret losing that perfect lot, but we didn't feel like we would.

A month later, Aubrey mentioned that house two blocks away from us...saying that there had been some new developments in the litigation battle.

I didn't really want to go look at it, but our bishop stopped by with the keys and suggested we do.

He told us that he felt it could be a good fit for our family and would love to have us for neighbors (he lives across the street from the house).

So, on a Sunday afternoon we walked the two blocks and took a look around. 

It smelled of old carpet and dusty curtains.

The children headed for the backyard and started climbing the big tree, while JP and I toured the inside. 

I was just shaking my head at all the work that needed to be done.

JP, on the other hand, was getting excited about all the "fun" projects he could do to fix the place up!

I let him dream and walked up the stairs to check out the master bedroom and bath.

When I reached the bedroom with the bright red carpet and fuzzy red wall paper, I laughed out loud! 

This place was a charmer in its day.

Then I looked out the master bedroom window and saw the gorgeous mountains, already turning bright colors for autumn, and a feeling came over me that I will never forget. 

It's that feeling that keeps me going as we run into renovation problems, a shortage of funds, and lack of time to get it all done. 

It was a feeling of peace, comfort, and a reassurance that this was home.

When JP walked in the room and stood next to me with that big grin on his face, I knew he had felt it too. 

I just looked at him and said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but this is it!" 

He nodded his head and said, "I know. I feel the same way."

Just then the children came barging in asking which bedroom was theirs!

We called the lawyers right away and put in an offer. 

The son battling for the rights to sell the place contacted us and wanted to practically give us the house once it was out of litigation.

We couldn't believe the steal of a deal! 

Months passed...and still we waited to hear that the battle over the house had ended between the siblings.

We weren't even sure if we could buy the place in the next year!

But, the spirit kept whispering to be patient and that we would be in our home by spring time.

So, we got to work.

Everyone thought we were crazy, but we had a key and permission from the family to start working on getting the place ready for appraisal.

The son had assured us that we were the only ones he wanted the home to go to. 

Of course, we got something in writing saying that he wouldn't sell the house to anyone else, just to be on the safe side.

After five months of waiting, the litigation finally ended!

We could get to work with our broker to get the house. 

Although we ran into all kinds of things during closing, it was as if the Lord was handing us the home. 

We would hit a wall and somehow come out on top.

Then, JP got the news that he was losing his job.

The company he was working for was closing it's doors.

We were beside ourselves.  

How could this happen? 

After all this time, should we walk away from the home, just before we sign the papers? 

We prayed for an answer and kept feeling we should keep moving forward.

So we did.

By all accounts, it didn't make sense!

JP's former boss is a GOOD man and dear friend. 

He kept JP employed long enough for him to put his application out there and close on the house. 

We went a few weeks without a paycheck, but it didn't take long for JP to land a new job.

Which is a huge blessing.
We have friends that are still looking, and I worry and pray for them.

We closed on our first house the end of January, the weekend before JP started his new job.

Our broker said he had only seen a handful of clients successfully close on a deal like this, where the owner walks away having willingly made little to nothing on the home, leaving the new owner with money to put into the home.

Since then, we have been busy, busy!

There's a lot to do, and we have to be moved out of this dear little hole in the ground apartment that we've called home for six years, by the end of the month.

We've made a lot of fond memories here! 

I'm so grateful to stay near the people we love so much. 

Our home may be old and in need of a lot of work, but every time I see her, I remember the miracles that led her to be ours, and I can't deny that I'm where the Lord wants us to be.

That's a great feeling and all that matters!

Everything else will work itself out.

Snow...Snow...And More Snow!

We woke up this morning to snow coming down...still. 

It feels like weeks since we've seen the sun and the inversion is getting REALLY bad.

I miss that beautiful blue sky I use to know, and the warm sun-rays that would stream through our windows!

I miss it so, SO much. 

But, I'm determined to enjoy today. Because I have today.

And I get to play with baby T.

So, we bundled up and attempted to shovel our car out of the driveway for carpool...

which I managed to do.

Then I got a spurt of energy and decided to shovel the driveway and sidewalks.

Little T. watched me from his car-seat while eating a Graham Cracker (his favorite).

I was so proud of myself!

That cement was a welcoming sight.

I had a moment of hope that I would actually be able to walk on semi-dry land, and park without peeling out!

Thirty minutes later, it was as if I had imagined straining my arms and back while shoveling all that snow into neat piles.

The driveway and sidewalk was covered in a blanket of fresh, white powder...again.

Booo!!! Oh well.

I'm counting on a beautiful, green spring!

In the mean time, I'm going to snuggle on the heater with my baby boy and thaw out my frozen bones.

Arkansas, Arizona or St. George anyone?

Her Favorite Team

While digging through the hats in the closet, 

trying to find a sports team for my two oldest to represent at school for Spirit Day,

Princess came running into the room with Sport's old baseball cap yelling, "Mom!  I found my team hat!  Sport's team is my favorite!!" 

Really?  How sweet is that!

Her big brother was grinning from ear to ear. 

I could see he felt very cool at that moment. 

Mommy brag post:

This girl doesn't cease to amaze me.

She makes friends quickly and has such a big heart.

I've been blown away with how fast she's learned to read, write, and do math!

Her teacher thinks she's adorable and is constantly sending me pictures and e-mails about what a big help she is in the classroom.

Did I mention she earned the "Honor Roll Certificate" in kindergarten for getting all A's and having the best attitude?

That's my girl!

I rely on her so much (maybe a little too much?), because she's such a capable little girl.

I can count on her to clean up messes, make her little brother happy, help with dinner and dishes, vacuum floors...among other things :)

She always reminds us to read scriptures and suggests we sing a primary song before family prayer...without fail.

I don't know what her big brother would do without having her around to wrestle and harass.

And her little sister is definitely her very best friend.  

They are inseparable.

She loves her daddy and reminds him daily that she's going to marry him someday.

I hope he remains her one and only love for many, many more years!!

I love her giggles, silly jokes, rockin' dance moves, creative dress ups, and finding her art work strewn out around the house.

She makes me smile every single day.

I'm so grateful to be her mom!

I love you, Princess XOXO

Midnight Helper

My evenings are full these days.

And I'm surprisingly quite content with it all :)

However, that doesn't mean that by the time I get dinner made, children bathed, homework finished, reading time completed, scriptures read, teeth brushed, family prayer said, bed time kisses given, and sleepy babes tucked into bed...I'm not tuckered out and ready for bed myself!

But, dishes still need to be cleaned, floors still need to be swept, and the house still needs to be tidied up for another day.

Tonight baby T. decided to cut a few teeth.

So, he's helping me out by pulling all the pans out of the cupboards and making car sounds while climbing in and out of them.

I'm enjoying his company!

I'll just have a few more messes to clean once he finally decides he's tired enough to sleep.

Does he look sleepy to you?

 

I love being a mom.

They Want A Puppy

The children and their daddy have been working really hard at convincing me that we need a puppy lately.

I've always had the excuse that we just can't, because our landlord doesn't allow it!

But, that excuse may be useless here soon...and then what?

Do I give in?  Or be the big ol' meanie!

 

 I got this picture on my phone from JP today. 

It read, "M. got a new puppy today. Isn't he cute??" 

"Yes," I say,"he's adorable!!"

But, who will have to take care of him?  And feed him?  And bathe him?  And clean up his poop?

ME.

I'm not sure I can take on another cute little baby at the moment.

Five against one...

This could be tough.

Happy Birthday To Me!

I don't think I've had such a fun Birthday since I was a youngin'!!

Mr. JP woke up around 5AM to blow up balloons and string them up around the house, hang a Birthday banner and write me a love note.

It was pretty romantic and made me giddy all day!

{Sport had way too much fun pulling the balloons down after the party}

 THEN he arrived home from work with dinner, so I wouldn't have to cook on my Birthday.

He even remembered the cake...and my sister (It just wouldn't be complete without her and her lil' family).

All of my babies sang to me....

And showered me with sweet gifts...

A mushy card from my sister and a gift card just for ME,

A paper airplane from my little Sport with "I LOVE MOM" written on the inside,

A pretty blue necklace from my Princess,

Some awesome leaf earrings from my baby girl Minnie,

AND an iphone with this happy picture to greet me on it's screen :)

Which explains why my phone wouldn't work ALL day, and the husband's e-mails informing me that our phone company was having some technical issues, and to just e-mail him if I needed anything.

Yes...he loves me.
(And I think he was a little tired of dropped calls and lost text messages from my poor, beat up, old phone) 

I'm pretty excited!!! 

Although, I have this very real fear that one of my children will shatter the screen by throwing it against a wall/pavement, or drowning it in the toilet! 

I will do my best to keep it out of reach.

But, they are sneaky little boogers!

I'm already having way too much fun with it.

Thank you, love!

I'm feeling older...

But, look what I have to show for my life so far!

They bring me so much joy.

 

I love you, mom.

Thank you for giving me a Birthday!