Well there are definitely advantages to living back in Washington. And one huge one is that I've been able to see some old friends from high school. I've been friends with Ashlee and Jill since the 5th grade, and to still be friends with them is great! Brad and I were able to go out to dinner with Ashlee and her boyfriend Jeff. We had such a good time that we didn't want the night to end. Grandma and Grandpa were watching the kids, and we didn't end up leaving the restaurant until 9:15 - holy crap!!! But it was a lot of fun and hopefully we'll be seeing more of them in the very near future! The only bad thing was that we didn't take any pictures - AGAIN!! Ash - we need pics!!
I also got to go out to lunch with my friend Jill yesterday, and we had such a good time talking - it was like time hadn't passed. I'm sad that her and her family are going back to Idaho very soon, but am happy that she still has family here. So that when she comes back into town, hopefully we'll be able to go on a "date" again :) Also, she gave me the name of a very good hairdresser and I can't wait to try her out. I've already made an appointment, so I'm excited. It's a very hard thing trusting someone else to do your hair, so finding someone good is awesome.
It was so good to see both of them, and I can't wait until we can meet up again. Take care you two!!
12.30.2008
12.28.2008
Madison's 1st Birthday
Well yesterday was Madison's 1st Birthday. We had a little family party with cupcakes and ice cream. She wasn't too into the cupcake and ice cream, but was definitely into ripping the paper off of her presents. She made out like a bandit, but it was good. She needed some toys of her own, and now she has a lot more to play with. She ended up getting clothes (of course), a little riding horse, a piano, a shape cookie jar, a little animal train, a alphabet caterpillar, and some little drums. Pretty cute stuff!
I can't believe my little baby isn't a little baby any more. It doesn't feel like it's already been a year since she was born. It's crazy to think that just a year ago, she was a tiny little baby. We brought her home the next day, and the sleepless nights began. Now she is almost running, can carry stuff while walking, is starting to babble a lot more, has 4 teeth, and loves to play with Josh.
So here are some pictures from her birthday. My little girl is one year old!
Ripping open one of her many presents.
Her favorite toy, the little riding pony.
Her cookie shape sorter.
Singing Happy Birthday.
Her first look at her very own cupcake!
Digging in to the frosting. She didn't like it too much, but she will!
Christmas Pictures
Here are some Christmas pictures of both of the kids. Josh loved all of his presents and was extremely excited to be opening them as you can see!
Josh loved his trains, and he got a lot of them! This was over at my mom's house.
This is my niece Sidnei and Brad over at my mom's.
Josh opening presents on Christmas morning.
He loved his Thomas the train jammies.
He loves this Bounce Back Racer.
Maddie with her little CD player.
Maddie loves her little stroller and baby!
This was the big ticket item for Josh. His brand new train table. It lights up, makes sounds, and has a whole bunch of stuff to go with it.
He also got some Transformer jammies! 12.26.2008
Christmas
Well we had a great Christmas here as usual. We spent Christmas Eve over at my mom's house - we did the whole dinner and open presents thing there. And it snowed on Christmas Eve!! I love it when it snows on Christmas. It was so pretty to be driving in the snow and looking at all of the Christmas lights. It was really nice to spend some time with my mom and to see my sister and niece as well.
Then Christmas morning was spent opening the presents from Brad's parents, our presents for each other, breakfast and a big Christmas dinner. Brad's mom cooked two turkey breasts, a ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, rolls, and 3 different pies! And Brad's sister came over too with her daughter. So we opened presents from them as well. The kids made out like bandits again this year - but Josh was totally into the whole Santa thing, and it was so cute! One of Brad's uncle called Josh and pretended to be Santa. Josh told him to be careful of the fire (they have a wood fireplace upstairs) and that he (Josh) would get some water and the firetrucks to put out the fire so Santa could come down the chimney.
Josh got a train table from us for Christmas, and he absolutely loves it. So there will (and already have been) many hours of play with that. Maddie got a little stroller from Brad's mom, a baby, a little chair, and other girl toys. She hasn't really had any toys of her own, they've all been handed down from Josh - so now she's set. Plus her birthday is tomorrow, so she'll be getting even more toys! I got Brad a Seahawks jersey and sweatshirts (he was hoping for tickets, but maybe next year). And Brad got me some new shoes, a radio to play my iPod on, and a gift card to American Eagle! Whohoo!!!
It was a really good Christmas, and it's been so nice to be around family - especially at this time of year. We feel very thankful to have sold our house, have a place to stay until we find another house, and to be closer to family.
House hunting begins tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes and then it's Maddie's 1st Birthday! I'm really excited about that and am going to try to get her cupcakes made today, so it won't be a rush tomorrow. I will be posting some pictures maybe tomorrow or Sunday, so they'll be up soon.
Then Christmas morning was spent opening the presents from Brad's parents, our presents for each other, breakfast and a big Christmas dinner. Brad's mom cooked two turkey breasts, a ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, rolls, and 3 different pies! And Brad's sister came over too with her daughter. So we opened presents from them as well. The kids made out like bandits again this year - but Josh was totally into the whole Santa thing, and it was so cute! One of Brad's uncle called Josh and pretended to be Santa. Josh told him to be careful of the fire (they have a wood fireplace upstairs) and that he (Josh) would get some water and the firetrucks to put out the fire so Santa could come down the chimney.
Josh got a train table from us for Christmas, and he absolutely loves it. So there will (and already have been) many hours of play with that. Maddie got a little stroller from Brad's mom, a baby, a little chair, and other girl toys. She hasn't really had any toys of her own, they've all been handed down from Josh - so now she's set. Plus her birthday is tomorrow, so she'll be getting even more toys! I got Brad a Seahawks jersey and sweatshirts (he was hoping for tickets, but maybe next year). And Brad got me some new shoes, a radio to play my iPod on, and a gift card to American Eagle! Whohoo!!!
It was a really good Christmas, and it's been so nice to be around family - especially at this time of year. We feel very thankful to have sold our house, have a place to stay until we find another house, and to be closer to family.
House hunting begins tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes and then it's Maddie's 1st Birthday! I'm really excited about that and am going to try to get her cupcakes made today, so it won't be a rush tomorrow. I will be posting some pictures maybe tomorrow or Sunday, so they'll be up soon.
12.22.2008
We Sold Our House
Well it's time to let everyone in on the good news! We sold our house!!!! Ahhh, what a great feeling. We are so happy that part of the process is over with. We got our full asking price and made some money off of it - so that is great. We got the offer the 30th of November and have been working with the new buyers on getting the appraisal done, the inspection completed, a million pieces of paper sent back and forth and finally today, it closed. I can't believe it sold so fast, so if anyone is looking for a realtor in Utah - let me know and I will give you his name and number. We put it on the market on November 10th, had at least 10 showings, got the offer on November 30th and closed December 19th. Wow - so basically 6 weeks on the market. It's awesome.
Now comes the daunting task of finding a new house. But we've been doing our research online and have a few houses picked out - so we might be going to look at them this weekend. We just got pre-approved today, so that's another task we can cross off our list. Now hopefully the rest will just fall into place. But at least our house is sold now, so that's great. So new beginnings lay ahead for us, and I'm just very thankful for everything that has happened to us whether it was good or bad. 2008 has been a big year for us, but a good one for sure.
Now comes the daunting task of finding a new house. But we've been doing our research online and have a few houses picked out - so we might be going to look at them this weekend. We just got pre-approved today, so that's another task we can cross off our list. Now hopefully the rest will just fall into place. But at least our house is sold now, so that's great. So new beginnings lay ahead for us, and I'm just very thankful for everything that has happened to us whether it was good or bad. 2008 has been a big year for us, but a good one for sure.
12.18.2008
Baby It's Cccold Outside
Oh this cold weather! It has been so cold here in Washington, I don't remember it being THIS cold. The last couple of days the temperature has been in the single digits, if not below zero with the wind chill factor. It has also been snowing here the last couple of days and it's a pain in the butt to drive around here due to several factors! People here don't know how to drive in the snow, they don't pave or sand the roads around here, and I have to park the Tahoe outside. My baby - outside!! Oh the humanity. We have leather seats, so my bum gets pretty cold - but thank the powers that be for auto-start cars!!! I love it. I just wish I didn't have to use it so much.
On a more serious note - Josh just had an ECHO done on his heart today. Ugh, it's just been a huge ordeal with him having cavities, switching dentists, doctors, and trying to get the insurance stuff all worked out. But the bottom line is that his new pediatrician heard an extra beat - so instead of his heart going bump, bump it goes bump - bumpbump. Which the doctor said is one of his valves not closing completely. So he can't give Josh a green light to have his dental procedure done on Monday until they know exactly what's going on with his heart. So he had the ECHO done today, the have to send it off to a pediatric cardiologist in Spokane to read it, and then hopefully they will call us back. If he gets the all clear - he will go in Monday morning at 9 to have his teeth fixed under general anesthesia. The dentist's office said it would take about an hour to get everything done, they he'd be in recovery and then when they deem he is awake enough - we'll be able to take him home. Thankfully Brad has already taken that day off, so it will be nice for me and Josh to have him there.
It's just been a rough go of everything from the $1000-2000 estimate for the procedure, $600 estimate for the anesthesiologists time and who knows how much for the ECHO. So, Merry Christmas to us. But it needs to be done. Just when you think you're getting ahead.
On a more serious note - Josh just had an ECHO done on his heart today. Ugh, it's just been a huge ordeal with him having cavities, switching dentists, doctors, and trying to get the insurance stuff all worked out. But the bottom line is that his new pediatrician heard an extra beat - so instead of his heart going bump, bump it goes bump - bumpbump. Which the doctor said is one of his valves not closing completely. So he can't give Josh a green light to have his dental procedure done on Monday until they know exactly what's going on with his heart. So he had the ECHO done today, the have to send it off to a pediatric cardiologist in Spokane to read it, and then hopefully they will call us back. If he gets the all clear - he will go in Monday morning at 9 to have his teeth fixed under general anesthesia. The dentist's office said it would take about an hour to get everything done, they he'd be in recovery and then when they deem he is awake enough - we'll be able to take him home. Thankfully Brad has already taken that day off, so it will be nice for me and Josh to have him there.
It's just been a rough go of everything from the $1000-2000 estimate for the procedure, $600 estimate for the anesthesiologists time and who knows how much for the ECHO. So, Merry Christmas to us. But it needs to be done. Just when you think you're getting ahead.
12.13.2008
Maddie's Walking Debut
Even though she's been walking for over a month and a half now, I finally got it on my camera. Hopefully I can get it to post here. Enjoy.
12.08.2008
Random Happenings
Well we're still here. Brad got back from his orientation on Friday night. Josh asked about him every day and every night, so it was good that Brad was here this weekend. His company asked him to work Friday night and Saturday, and then on Sunday he got a call from dispatch wanting him to come in to work. So there is no shortage of overtime here, which is good and bad. He will probably be working a lot of overtime this week and into the weekend. Which it's probably a good thing that we're in Tri-Cities and that I have help, but sometimes it doesn't feel like that.
Josh has 3 cavities that need to be fixed. We tried to get them fixed before we left, but we couldn't get an appointment. So we're having them fixed here, and he'll have to go under general anesthesia. Which is really scary for me. They said the procedure would take about 45 minutes. I'm pretty scared about the whole thing, but I know that he'll be fine. I'm just waiting to hear back from the insurance and will find out for information later.
Other than that, nothing much is happening. Our days are pretty boring. Josh started a new preschool last week, and will be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:10 to 10:05. And let me just say - I thought 9 in the morning was hard, but 8! Eight is really difficult.
It doesn't really feel like Christmas is right around the corner yet. I'm trying to figure out who I need to send Christmas cards to and get those out. But no decorating our house this year. I'm going to miss our Christmas decorations! No lights on the house, no real tree. Oh well, there is always next year. We decided to buy Josh a train table this year. He is still really into trains, so I know he'll love it. And then there is Maddie's birthday. We'll probably just have a small family party over at Brad's parents house. Nothing big, but there will definitely be cake!
Well sorry for the disoriented thoughts and rambling. Not much to report, I'm just trying to get through one day at a time.
Josh has 3 cavities that need to be fixed. We tried to get them fixed before we left, but we couldn't get an appointment. So we're having them fixed here, and he'll have to go under general anesthesia. Which is really scary for me. They said the procedure would take about 45 minutes. I'm pretty scared about the whole thing, but I know that he'll be fine. I'm just waiting to hear back from the insurance and will find out for information later.
Other than that, nothing much is happening. Our days are pretty boring. Josh started a new preschool last week, and will be going Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:10 to 10:05. And let me just say - I thought 9 in the morning was hard, but 8! Eight is really difficult.
It doesn't really feel like Christmas is right around the corner yet. I'm trying to figure out who I need to send Christmas cards to and get those out. But no decorating our house this year. I'm going to miss our Christmas decorations! No lights on the house, no real tree. Oh well, there is always next year. We decided to buy Josh a train table this year. He is still really into trains, so I know he'll love it. And then there is Maddie's birthday. We'll probably just have a small family party over at Brad's parents house. Nothing big, but there will definitely be cake!
Well sorry for the disoriented thoughts and rambling. Not much to report, I'm just trying to get through one day at a time.
12.02.2008
No Time
Well we are just going through the motions at this point. It's really hard not having your own stuff, let alone house. I have to use my in-laws' computer, which to put nicely is a piece of crap. At least they don't have dial-up - but it is still really slow. So the days of writing on my blog every day or so are over. It's a pain to get on here, so I just don't.
Brad is in Oregon until Friday for orientation. It's really hard not having him here, but we're dealing. I went to go check out a school for Josh yesterday and I'm really disheartened. I thought they would have something better for him, but I'm trying not to get too down about it. I'll just keep looking. There is not really much to do here yet since we don't have a house. So if anyone is bored and wants to chat - feel free to call.
On a lighter note, I've got some video of Maddie walking - now the problem is getting it off of my camera and onto a computer to post it! She turned 11 months on Thanksgiving. She is walking almost all of the time now. She only crawls to get to something to help her stand up. She is still struggling to get those darn 2 teeth on the top in. They are really close, but are being stubborn. I think she's finally starting to feel better from being sick, so that's good.
Josh is adjusting okay. He loves being around daddy and grandpa - but since both of them have to work, it makes it a little bit harder. He got spoiled over Thanksgiving - being able to spend 4 days with both of them. I think he's just getting restless here. There is not that much room to move around in, and he doesn't have all of his toys, there are a lot of stairs, and no DirecTV! I took that for granted. Now I never know what is on TV, what time it is and we can't record anything. We have to go back to looking at a TV guide. Boo hoo for me, I know.
Well that's all for now. Please again, send good house selling vibes our way!
Brad is in Oregon until Friday for orientation. It's really hard not having him here, but we're dealing. I went to go check out a school for Josh yesterday and I'm really disheartened. I thought they would have something better for him, but I'm trying not to get too down about it. I'll just keep looking. There is not really much to do here yet since we don't have a house. So if anyone is bored and wants to chat - feel free to call.
On a lighter note, I've got some video of Maddie walking - now the problem is getting it off of my camera and onto a computer to post it! She turned 11 months on Thanksgiving. She is walking almost all of the time now. She only crawls to get to something to help her stand up. She is still struggling to get those darn 2 teeth on the top in. They are really close, but are being stubborn. I think she's finally starting to feel better from being sick, so that's good.
Josh is adjusting okay. He loves being around daddy and grandpa - but since both of them have to work, it makes it a little bit harder. He got spoiled over Thanksgiving - being able to spend 4 days with both of them. I think he's just getting restless here. There is not that much room to move around in, and he doesn't have all of his toys, there are a lot of stairs, and no DirecTV! I took that for granted. Now I never know what is on TV, what time it is and we can't record anything. We have to go back to looking at a TV guide. Boo hoo for me, I know.
Well that's all for now. Please again, send good house selling vibes our way!
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