Games

Christmas is coming and just a reminder that I sell games. Check the website out here: http://www.yourgameguru.com/xc/home.php

If you'd like to order anything just email me with the name of the game and I can order it for you and get you 15% off the listed price. Let me know before the 15th and I should be able to get it for you unless it says "BACKORDER" on the website. Most should be in stock. Those in stock are located in West Jordan so it's easy to get them and deliver them to you quickly.

Some fun games are listed below.

Kids games: Hiss, Penguins, Blink

Family: Blokus, Can't Stop, PickTwo, Five Crowns

Adult: Wits & Wagers, Carcassonne, San Juan

Happy Thanksgiving

What a wonderful day! We actually had a very nice day today with Neils family. All the siblings were there and all their children. Karen and Michael were in heaven playing all day with their cousins. They were actually very well behaved which made the day go very nicely. We even went around the tables and said something that we were grateful for. It was really nice.

We hope that you all have had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

We are finally settling in to our apartment. There were a few things that needed to be fixed, a drawer in the kitchen wouldn't open, the door knob in the kids room wouldn't open from the inside (though the kids could get out, I don't know how they did that) and a couple other things. They've all been fixed now which is nice. It's been interesting getting used to the smaller quarters. The kids were really excited to share a room and they are loving it now, though it does make going to sleep a much longer process. Michael and Karen have certainly adjusted to our new "home" more quickly than we have, but we are settled for the time being.

All Moved In

Well, thanks to family, friends and ward members, we were able to move out of our house and into our apartment in about 3 hours this morning. Whew! We are so grateful to all that helped and especially grateful to Neils parents for taking the kids so that they wouldn't be underfoot and we could fully concentrate on the move.

Everything is scattered right now. I'm trying to find a place for everything and apartments are definitely smaller than houses and even though I tried to prepare for that, I guess I didn't do it correctly especially in the kitchen cause I have way more stuff than can fit in those cupboards. Oh well, learning to live with less can be good for us and will work for the time we'll be in the apartment.

Packing, packing, packing

Whistle while you work....... Well I can't whistle, but we've been working a lot lately getting ready to move. It's amazing how many "things" we've collected over the 6 years we've lived here. It's been nice to go through some of the stuff and take a bunch to the DI and throw some of the junk away. It's been a crazy week for us with boxes everywhere but getting the POD has made it a bit easier. We hope to have everything packed up by tomorrow so that when our helpers come on Saturday it shouldn't be too hard or take to long to load everything up.

We closed on our house today and signed all the papers, so our house is no longer ours. On the other hand, right now we are completely debt free. That's a nice thought.

Wouldn't you know it though, the kids have both been sick this week with a little fever that lasts 2 days. Karen had it first on Monday and Tuesday and now Michael has it. I guess it's his turn. Just a little more to take care of during this busy week. At least after Saturday, the moving thing will be over with for a couple of months.

Finding out

Well we found out today that they removed the home we bid on from the auction block, but we also found out that it's going to take about 2-3 weeks before we are approved by the bank board and at least 6 weeks before we can close on it. Fun stuff hu?

So we will be spending the holidays in an apartment this year. We finally found one, thanks to my sister Rosalie, that will lease to us for just 2 months and month to month if we need it longer. It's really close to where our first apartment was so it brings back a lot of memories.

It really is a lot less stressful to know where we will be living, even if we don't know for sure about our house at least we have a place to go after we close on this house. By the way, we'd love to have everyone who is available come help us on Saturday morning at 9:00 am to help us move. We appreciate all those who have told us that they will help, we look forward to seeing you soon.

Another Offer

Well, we found another home, just around the corner from the last home we put an offer on. This one is a short sale that was just about to go into foreclosure, but we put in our offer just in time. It hasn't been officially accepted, but they said if we offered a certain amount that they would accept it. So we offered that amount. We should hear the official word on Monday, but things seem to be falling into place. They even said that they could close in 3 weeks which means we will be in our new house before Christmas. Yeah!

I was tagged and asked to post the 6th picture in my 6th folder, so here goes.

Wow, I just posted family pictures and would you believe it's a family picture we had taken almost exactly 3 years ago, how bout that?

The 6 people I tag are Cindy, Pam, Sarah, Jessica, Heather & Kristina.

Family Pictures

We went a few weeks ago and got family pictures taken. They turned out so cute I thought I'd share. I finally got them scanned in and thought I'd post them for all to see.

We had a lot of fun and got some wonderful pictures. Doesn't Karen look just beautiful? And Karen and Michael holding hands is just the sweetest picture. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Quick Update

Ah, the highs and lows of house hunting and the bidding game. Tonight was a low. We found out that they wouldn't accept our offer and countered with the full asking price which we just can't afford. We were disappointed, but we are sure there is something out there for us and we have faith that the Lord will show the way.

So back to the drawing board. Except this time we'll be looking for a place that we can rent for a month or two while we look for a home.

Great Possibilities

Life has changed so much in just one week. Last Sunday we were telling everyone at church that we were going to take our house off the market and stay here for another few years. We were even planning on finishing the basement and fixing the yard. Now, just one week later, we have sold our home and are planning to move in just two weeks. Crazy!

We've even found a house that we love in a neighborhood that we love and we put an offer on it yesterday. If our offer is accepted, the people living there have even said that they can be out of their house the same weekend we are moving out of our house. It's incredible. There would only be a couple of days or at most a week between moving out of our house and into that home....if it all works out that is. Now we wait to see if our offer is accepted. We should find out tomorrow. The house isn't too far away from our current home either, just down about 5400 S and 5600 West.

Life sure is lively right now and full of possibilities. If this doesn't work, I'm sure we'll find something else. I can tell that the Lord is watching out for us and leading our lives.

House Hunting

I've been house hunting like crazy! In 2 days I've seen about 18 homes and driven by several more. There is a lot of very sad homes out there and a few very nice homes out there. I've narrowed the field and I'm taking Neils and the kids with me to revisit a few to see if they could fit our needs.

However, we really don't want to rush into anything, especially since we want a home we can live in for a long, long time, so we are also looking for temporary housing until we can find that perfect home. There are a few homes in our current neighborhood that we will be checking on tomorrow to see if we can rent those for a month or two or however long it takes to find our home. So it looks like we will be moving twice. Oh well, better this way then to have 2 mortgages, right?

Thanks to all for your support and help. We may take more of you up on your offers to watch the kids and help us move. Thanks.

I Can't Believe It

Well, we had decided to take our house off the market, but hadn't quite told our realtor yet when out of the blue, yesterday we got an offer on our house. We countered yesterday and today they accepted! Total shock, but good. I'm so excited! We didn't think that it would happen, so I haven't been looking at houses lately and now begins the scramble to find the house we want. Our buyers want to be in our house the weekend before Thanksgiving which doesn't give us much time and might mean that we will need to find temporary housing before finding the home we want to buy, but it's a step in the right direction and I am thrilled! Neils hates moving and isn't quite as thrilled, but he'll come around when we find the home we want.

We are sad to leave the wonderful neighborhood, ward, and especially the great friends we've made in this area, but we won't be moving too far away, so we will definitely keep the friends we've made here. Change is good. Wish us luck. Keep us in your prayers. We'll keep you updated on the latest goings on.

Disaster Children

So this morning as I slept in a bit and Neils helped the kids get dressed, the kids decided to have some fun in Karen's closet with all the extra hangers I have. This is their creation. They were so proud.

More Halloween Fun

Well, we made it! We made it through 5 different trick-or-treating events. 2 last weekend one at Karen's preschool, daddy's work and finally the big one around the neighborhood. It was fun and we have way too much candy now. The kids have been on a sugar rush for a week now, I'm tempted to make it all disappear. I guess it will be gone soon enough and kids should enjoy the spoils of Halloween. Karen wore 3 different costumes this year and Michael wore one. Here are a few pictures. Here's Karen's fairy costume at Preschool.

Here we are at Neils' work

Here the kids are ready to go trick-or-treating on Halloween night

And off they go. Isn't it cute that they are following Daddy so well.

There are no pictures of me because I didn't dress up this year. Oh well, maybe next year.