When No One Is Looking

If you know Georgia at all, you know that this little lady is very concerned with finding herself in situations where she may be embarrassed. She shrinks from the spotlight, does not like it when I catch her singing a little tune, cringes with attention from little old ladies in the grocery store, (which there is no end to because of her hair) and so on.

So when I discovered that she figured out how to work the photo feature on my lap top, all by herself, and she had been taking pictures of herself while I am otherwise occupied, I was so surprised, and I could NOT stop laughing!

Laughing with tears running down my face.
Maybe they are not that funny, but I was so entertained by this little uncensored snippet of my girl. I love her, and I love that she is a bit self conscious. But I also love that she has this goofy side.

I still can not believe how many she has been taking.

Portrayed here.

Oh, and there were a LOT of pictures on the computer. So there are a lot of them I wanted to post. Hopefully she is not permanently embarrassed by them when she gets older.

Georgia and her favorite puppy. He takes lots of rides in the washing machine. He is the "Baby" of his time.

The pig snout look appears to be a "go to" for her.

Almost forgot this one. SO scary!

More pig snout

Probably my favorite

She starts with the props. Her very most favorite book in the world. This very un- politically correct nursery rhyme book that Del's mom gave us. It is old, and has strange antic dotes for children to learn great life lessons. Such as, when you open the door for strangers, you may be eaten by a wolf and have to have your mother cut his stomach open to get you out. You then need to fill his stomach with boulders and stitch him back up so he will drown. We read a story from it every night.

Yes. Yikes!! A cameo from Walker with his breakfast smoothie still all over his face.

The end.

Wonder where she gets it from?

South Beach

Del and I spent a nice long weekend alone in South Beach, Miami.

Del uses a software product called Brightree to help run his business. They had a conference for their customers, and we were able to attend it. It was fun to get more of the big picture on how things Del tells me about, are implemented with the software programs. They also had classes for Del on competitive bidding, which is coming up. And any information on being prepared for that is welcome.

It was also interesting to meet other DME company owners. It is almost weird when you can have a conversation with a couple whose lives rotate around kids, and a medical supplies company, and being compliant with Medicare. You could say we spoke each others language.

So while Del attended his classes I napped, and read by the pool, then we would meet back up. Brightree did a really nice job with their conference. Somehow I always managed to miss the ice cream or smoothies they gave out for a snack between classes though! Bummer!

South Beach reminds me of Las Vegas.

Take away the gambling, and add a beach. Same thing. The main strip out in front of the hotel was crazyville. So you can decide if that is your scene or not based on that description.

We stayed at Loews South Beach. Our hotel was very nice, and had a great pool and direct access to the beach. Which is beautiful, but lined with Las Vegas like hotels, and the crowd that atmosphere draws.

Let's just say that I became very adept at finding an escape route from convention bound men, traveling alone, or with a pack of other convention bound men, while Del was in his meetings. And then at night, when everyone was drunk, finding an escape route from those men, with Del sitting right in front of me!

 I will spare you the details of those stories, but let me just say...uncomfortable, and annoying!!

We had some bumps in the road with the flight for our babysitters from Utah, so we actually arrived a day late for our getaway, but it ended up running completely smoothly from there out.

The only other minor hiccup was that the weather was actually pretty chilly. But we lived it up for the three hours that the sun was shining strong, the wind was calm, and the pool and beach were hip hoppin'!

I will tell you about the book I read while we were away, because it appears that I am modeling it in this picture.
It is "Killing Lincoln" by Bill O'Reilly. And I loved it. I am a big history lover, so it was so captivating to me. I actually finished it on the trip, which just goes to show that I had a lot of time to read.
Perfect! So perfect!
I read, then slept, then read, then slept. And then wondered how it was possible that I was still tired. So nice.

Oh, and for some reason I was able to get away with reading on the plane, which often makes me air sick. But I was fine this time.

Anyway. The book chronicles the last weeks of the Civil War, and how that led into the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. I have read several books about Lincoln and his cabinet, and I liked how I could recall details from other accounts and plug them in to the date-by-date timeline this book lays out. I recommend it!

We had events pretty much back to back, so we stuck around the hotel. But one night we did venture out to a really yummy, very authentic mexican restaurant. We sat in completely compatible, enjoyable silence for much of the meal, stuffing ourselves with the freshest, most delicious guacamole dip and hand squeezed in front of us, lemonade, ever, and watching all the crazy people that walked by the open air restaurant. I love my husband so much! I love being with him, and just being myself.
Oh, and after watching the characters in South Beach, I am so glad I am with a sane person!

I had such a restful weekend, it felt good to get back to the normal routine. Sounds like a success to me!

A Major Breakthrough!

Well, the chair has made a temporary home in Walker's room. He finds it to be a good spot to drink a bottle. But that is not saying much, because this guy will drink a bottle anywhere. The flip side of never being a pacifier baby. He is majorly addicted to the bottle! I have a lot of work ahead of me getting him off of that. Soon.

Oh so exciting!

The boys have basketball games on Saturday mornings. It has been so much fun to watch their progress as they catch on to the concept of just what exactly it is they are supposed to be doing out there. 

Last week, Del was at Wally's game. Wally got the ball and made a shot! It was like a lightbulb suddenly went on! Now he counts down the days to his next game. He was so proud to tell everyone he made a basket!

Will has been another story all together. He is hilarious! He runs down the court like the whole team is just out there for a nice slow, skipping jog. He is known for dribbling the wrong direction down the court. His coach is always telling him to find his man, or stay with his guy. 

Last week, Will ended up standing right next to me near the sideline when they blew the whistle for a time out. So I said to him, "Hey Will, your coach keeps telling you to stay with your guy."

So, Will obediently turns around and runs after the guy he is guarding, right back to the other team's bench for the time out! His coach called him over to the correct huddle. It was so funny! 

But Will is always out there with a big smile, and a happy little skip to his step.

But then on Saturday, he had a breakthrough! He was all over the ball! He guarded his guy, did his best to dribble around the other team's defense, and even took a couple of shots! He got to shoot two free throw shots.  So many parents of the other kids on Will's team have told me how excited they were for Will. It is fun to see all the boys on both teams have their moments.

He made them both! This guy was on cloud nine! It has been so much fun to see the confidence boost this can be for these little boys! It just takes some time to get the hang of it at first!

Here is the video of Will's free throws. I so wish I had Wally's shot.

We are getting geared up for the move! We have managed to collect lot of boxes, and I have actually gone through a few closets in an attempt to par down what we will be moving. Del and I are going to enjoy a nice long weekend of sun in South Beach,  Florida, and then life will turn to "Mission Move!" 

I must say that it does not help knowing that I am doing most of it alone because Del HAS to get some very important things done for work this month. He can't delegate them, and they have a deadline that is crucial to the growth of the company. 

So that means it all comes down to Moi!! 

I still need to buy a new washer and dryer, a mattress, order the furniture that will take a while to get here, get the painters scheduled to hopefully start right after closing, have the carpenter come take a look at a couple of projects I want to do, get a handy man in our house to do fix it jobs, and contact all our utilities providers. Oh, and pack, and actually move. 

So, yeah, pretty much everything! Ha!

But first... a good book, poolside! Thank you very much!

Wasting No Time

That's right. I have wasted no time in planning what furniture will go where in the new house. It is too consuming! Always in the back of my mind. Along with when will I pack, where will I start, how will I move THAT???, lists of things to be done, at this house, and that, and crunching numbers, numbers, numbers, to stay on budget. Not to mention that normal life has not stopped even one little bit. If anything, things are busier. We have also had at least one sick kid every day since Christmas.  And to think some people move all the time! Over and over! How do they do it?

I have not, by the way, even begun to pack. What a mess. We use every square inch of our current home every day. So if I get too vigorous in my packing too early, we will end up needing to dig through the boxes I have ready to go. We are also going out of town two weeks before we move, so I don't want our babysitters to have to move around a storage unit while watching our kids. We also live so close to the new house, that most of the decorative things that I would pack early, I will just put in my car and drive over to ensure they arrive safely. So... as of now, it looks like a lot of planning, and only a little action.

That is okay, because at this point we have not even attempted to find a renter, so we can take our time getting out.

I made the first purchase for the new house, and learned a hard lesson. Always measure!! Twice! I ordered a mirror from an online furniture retailer, and when I opened the door for the delivery guy and saw him staying there with this beast, I had a little heart attack!!

Much bigger than I had anticipated! We can barley fit our family and what we already own into our current home, let a lone a mirror and it's packaging that practically need their own room! Oh, and not only is it big, but it weighs about twice what I do! Holy cow!

When Del came home I greeted him with, "Ummm, I got myself into a bit of a mess." And then led him into the front room where with new mirror resides. He thinks we will be able to hang it. Finding a spot on a really big wall is probably better than paying to ship it back. Me and my big ideas! Literally! It is pretty though.

I have loved the look of this velvet chair I found on Pintrest. I love dark velvet, and the feel of this room.

Then, I walked into Home Goods, and look what greeted me at the front door! It is prettier in person than this picture. I texted Del and asked, "How interested would you be in a black velvet wingback chair for your office?"

He responded with " What the heck is that??"
I think he would be more into the deer head hanging on the wall.

I got the chair, so he can test it out in person. I love the idea, but I will let you know if it is a keeper. I also found a swivel arm Ralph Lauren lamp at Home Goods, and four gold frames for $3 at the thrift store!

Fun, fun!! We are excited, and so are the kids! Very excited. And when we are at the kid's activities we often have someone come up and tell us they will be our neighbors. So they see us coming!  Will especially loves that he will live really close to some kids in his class.

Well, I am off to do some laundry, and vacuum around my new mirror! Sheesh!

On The Move

Yes,
Indeed. The secret is, we are moving. Aaaaa!!!

I can hardly believe I am saying it myself, but we purchased, and are moving into this home at the beginning of March. It is located about... one and a half miles from our current home. And this is why I have decided I like dental molding. The front and dining rooms have it.

The sequence of events leading up to this are hard to believe for me.

And if you would like to hear a long, probably not very interesting story about how this house found us, read on!

(I had hoped for a better picture, but the snow, and a tired and hungry Walker were not working in my favor.)

I went to Will's basketball practice about three weeks ago, and a man that I know from the community came in and sat down next to me. Our kids are in the same school classes, so we started chatting about that, and then our conversation made it's way around to real estate. After we had talked for a minute about where we both live, us in our current home, and him over in the neighborhood built on the golf course, we realized that we both know a lady in town that is a real estate agent. Then he said to me,

"You know... if you are looking for a nice home around here, and you want it for a great price, my business partner is building a new home and his old one is not even on the market yet, but I know he would want you to buy it."

I laughed and told him that right now we are not house hunting. We had decided that we had tried our best, but nothing we had attempted to purchase ever worked out, so we would sit tight until we hopefully could move our kids closer to family.

He went out and talked to the home owner in the hall on his cell.

By the time I left basketball practice he was telling me the owner REALLY wanted us to come look at the house. They are building on the two lots combined next door to this existing home, and want people with kids to be their neighbors.
He kept telling me I had to go look at it. I came home and told Del that I had two car salesmen (they actually own car dealerships) trying to get me to buy a house. We laughed it off. Then, the next thing I knew, the real estate agent that we knew mutually, (who also lives in the golf club neighborhood) emailed me and Del. She said she had been contacted by the seller and the guy I talked to at basketball. She thought it would be a REALLY good idea to at least take a look, even though she knew our ultimate goal of living closer to family. She wanted us to have a shot at an amazing deal.

So, we agreed to take a look at it. It had a huge kitchen and an alarm system that tells you what door or window just opened! We liked it, loved the neighborhood, but we did have some concerns.
I shared the concerns with our realtor, and she emailed the sellers. And within five minutes they had offered a solution to almost every hesitation we had, and then some! We could not believe the perks they were willing to throw into the sale. One being continuing the fencing of their new yard next door to our home so that we would have a barrier between us and the golf course pond the home backs up to.

So, after much analyzing, we made an offer. And they countered.

We decided to think about it.

Then, the next day, the seller came back and told us they would accept our original offer, and BAM! We have a new house!  We were in shock.

                           (I want to wait to share too many photos of the home, until after I feel like
                           it is mine. But one thing I am pretty excited about is the workout room in
                           the basement. And the beautiful view of the First Green on the golf course!)

We felt like we were led to this decision by Heavenly Father. He knows what is right for us. Much more than we know. We are nervous. We have lived in our home for almost eight years.We did not imagine that our next home would be one that we did not build. We certainly did not think it would be in the same town we live in now. Getting to know a new neighborhood is intimidating, to say the least. But from what I have seen and heard, the people that will be living around us are pretty amazing. Not to mention the sellers, who are right next door. (You should see the new house they are building. Spectacular!!)

 Our kids will not have to change one thing about their lives and routine except where they sleep, and the bus number they take. We will be in the same ward for church, and go to all the same schools.
We are going to rent out our current home, and it will be nice to be so close in case anything comes up.

We don't quit know where this life is going to take us. We just hope that we will be happy in our new home, and pray for the continued guidance of our Heavenly Father. I know he answers prayers. And I know that he is a loving forgiving Father, when at times that I am angry, or frustrated with my lack of understanding in his will. I have faith that living in this home with be a blessing to our family, and that the doors to the future desires of our hearts will open wide one day, and I will look back on my life with gratitude that I was able to experience what I did. I feel blessed to live in such a well cared for and beautiful home and neighborhood. And I am grateful for Del. Sometimes when I am being led down a path in life that I don't understand, I can be emotional and difficult. And I am glad that we can become closer and more understanding of each other through these thresholds of life.

So there you have it! That is how a house that was not even listed found a family that was not even planning to move. This will be our new home base! If you want to come and visit our doors are open to all! We can't have a home at this point and time that is near our family, so all our loved ones, including friends, will have to come and see us!

A Long Weekend

We had a nice long weekend to take in many basketball games and a little dinner at Portillos. The kids BEG us to be able to get a shake when we go there. This time we obliged. They were very happy.

It got COLD here! How about where you are? We were so spoiled with our 50 degree weather. It definitely weakened my Chicago Winter Resolve. So now I have to rebuild my stamina for a long Winter. Groundhog Day is right around the corner, and that is a big deal around here. The movie was filmed in our picturesque little town square, so we really whoop it up. Let's hope that little bugger decides the cold will leave early this year.

The basketball boys. So cute! Del and I have to tag team it to get to games because they overlap at different locations.

Will in action. Or... not. We are still grasping the concept a bit.

Basketball shorts and snow boots. Good combo!

Will was our photographer for most of lunch.

Sharing.

Don't you love Portillos? When I first moved to the Chicago area (almost 9 years ago! Yikes!) I did not get the appeal. Boy do we love it now! Oh, and notice how many napkins it takes for us to get through a meal. Save a tree anyone? Oops.

Runnin', Runnin', and Runnin', Runnin', And...!!

Did the title of this post get that Black Eyed Peas song stuck in your head? Sorry. Super annoying, I know.

I have been meaning to blog lately. But then I find myself in the car headed to basketball practices, or games, or gymnastics, or dance, or swimming lessons, or cub scouts, or pre-school, and then I realize that because this is all that I do, there are not a lot of interesting events to blog about.  I guess I could post of couple of philosophies on life, according to me. But that is not going to be a draw for any reader that may be out there. So I will pull it together, and get something up soon. Maybe after I sit down and figure out how to simplify in the kid activities schedule! Sheesh! How did this craziness happen!??

In the meantime, I will leave you with an image I am loving lately. Because nothing makes me happier than looking at beautiful interior images. I think I may be a little too emotionally effected by a well designed room.

Pretty right? I am loving the mix of more modern lines in the furniture, mixed with the much more formal and traditional dental crown molding. I might tell ya more specifically WHY I like that in a few days. But for now, it is a secret!
We will talk soon.

Christmas-ness 2011

Our Christmas Eve dinner table.

We had a nice Christmas at home this year.
Georgia and I were sick on Christmas Day. That was kind of sad for Georgie Girl. But kids manage to have a nice time, sick or not, when they are opening presents. Del took the boys to church and Georgia and I laid low. It was kind of nice not to have any obligations because we did not feel so hot. We ended up just eating left overs from our Christmas Eve get together, and we were all content to play with toys, watch new church movies from our families, and Skype our parents and siblings back in Utah.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, Del and I attended a party thrown by a company that uses him for chairs. It was fun to get dressed up and hit the town with my date!

Our Christmas card door. Or as our babysitter put it. "Holy Christmas cards!" We LOVE it! Thank you for sending them!

I took the kids to the mall to see Santa. The mall is a drive for us. We got there, and the wait to see Santa was over two hours long. So... we took pictures with Santa in the back ground from the balcony as we walked back to the car. My kids officially laid eyes on Santa this season. So sad. They were very good sports about it. Georgia is holding up the list to give to Santa that she had Will help her write out.

We had our good friends, the Laws family over on Christmas Eve. We read through the Nativity program that we do every year with Del's family when we go home. His dad wrote it a few decades ago, so it has staying power! It goes through the Bible story, and includes Christmas Carols, so I played the piano, with the occasional help from Walker. Not so helpful really.

The theme from for our very simple table decor was inspired by the paper projects made by Buddy the Elf in the movie "Elf."

Opening a few presents with friends on Christmas Eve.

Ellie wearing the earmuffs Georgia picked out for her.

Yearly gift of pajamas from Grandma! We always love them!

Gifts under the tree after Santa visited. Our little front room can barley hold presents for four kids!

Oh yeah! Easy Bake Oven. (biggest waste of money on Earth.)

Playing with the light saber before it is even out of the box.

Some of my resolutions for the year are to be more on top of the assignments my kids need to do so that we are not rushed last minute. That includes school, church, cub scouts and on and on. I also want to get at least a few of the years of my blog made into hardback books, and get the annoying little home maintenance stuff around the house taken care of so that when we are ready to rent it out we are not doing quit as much paint touch up and such. I want to complete my more in-depth study of the Book of Mormon that I started in 2011, and then start over with a new study guide to add to what I have learned, and then add a detailed study of the Bible.

I told Del I should add a big health goal, like run a marathon.

But I don't want to.  Ha!

Church on New Year's Day. Will was not happy, hence the splochy sad face.

Del and I went out on New Year's Eve, so we had a little ice cream party with the kids on Monday to celebrate the new year.

Pretty exciting.

And that is what we have been up to this December! Tomorrow is back to school for everyone, and that is a good thing. We are all ready to get on with the new year! Happy 2012!