4th of July Weekend

We started celebrating the 4th of July a day early.  We went to dinner at my parents house with everyone and did fireworks.  Nolan was so excited for fireworks, it was all he could talk about on the way to my parents house and all through dinner.  These boys love being together!

On the 4th of July Ryan, his dad and Kirsten were painting our house.  I went to the Murray parade with Dianna and Alec.  Alec was in heaven running around getting all of the candy and Nolan loved all of the activity and being with his cousins.   After the parade we carried on the tradition of sourdough pancakes with Scottie/Nae family and the Bringhurst's.  I love that we do this and look forward to it each year!

 Later in the afternoon I went with Dianna to the BMW of Murray dealership.  Craig had set up an appointment for her to test drive a new car.  The car was an X1 and it was really nice.  Dianna loved it and knew it was the car she wanted.  We went back to our house to see how the painting progress was going before heading back to my parents house for a cookout.  Craig and Dianna went back to the car dealership and ended up buying the car.  It would be ready for them to pick up on Saturday, July 6th.  We did more fireworks, and watched the Murray fireworks from the neighbors lawn.  It was a great day!  We were all exhausted!

Saturday we did a little more painting, ran errands, took naps and took turns driving Dianna's new car.  We went swimming at Jared and Annie's house, had snow cones, picked up pizza for dinner and did a few things around the house.  Kirsten and Alec were supposed to fly to Denver, but ended up missing their flight.  There was confusion on the time they were supposed to be leaving and we were swimming when Ashleigh called and asked Kirsten where she was at the airport.  Oops!  Ryan went with his parents to pick up Jared and Annie from the airport - they were just getting back from France and Spain. 

Sunday Ryan and his mom took Alec and Kirsten to the airport bright and early to catch their flight.  Ryan and I went to church.  Craig and Dianna went to breakfast with Jared and Annie.  We chatted at our house for a bit and looked at pictures from their Europe trip.  Craig and Dianna stopped at my parents house on their way out of town to help return a couple of ladders and pick up a sourdough starter.  It was a great weekend and went way to quickly!!

Moving Day

On Saturday, June 28 we moved out of the avenues into our very own house - WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!  It has been the most exciting/draining/roller coaster experience ever.  One day we would think, should we really buy a house and the next we would think, I'm so excited for a house.  I have been looking online for a while at homes to see if our price range we wanted was unrealistic for the areas we wanted to live in.  It seemed OK, so we found a realtor and went for it.  We would look at a house here and there, nothing really felt right when we looked.  The market was starting to get a little hot and the prices were escalating higher than we anticipated.  It was beginning to look like we would just have to hold off on a house, which was fine.  We found a house that was beautiful and just south of Trolley Square - we texted Joe Friday night at 10:00 pm to set up an appointment for us to see it the next day if possible.  When we went there on Saturday at 11:00 am, there were already a few offers that had been made.  We loved the house and so we made an offer above listing price, which was above what we felt comfortable paying but loved the house.  We didn't end up getting it, which turned out to be OK but it took us a little while to get excited about looking at houses again.  We went to see another house that had major foundation issues - and after that we had all but given up on finding a house in our range, in the areas we wanted.  Well as things tend to happen, not too long after we had all but given up, I was looking online and saw a house and thought it was cute.  We went to see it that night and it just felt like the right house.  There was a study, a breakfast nook, a basement, dishwasher, garage, washer/dryer and it just seemed to work.  We made an offer the next day below asking price which is unheard of in this market.  He countered (of course) and said that we could pay the price we offered and he wouldn't pay closing costs, or we could pay the other price and he would pay all closing costs.  We chose the later and had him pay closing costs.  The price was still below asking so we were OK with that.  He also included a home warranty for the first year.  Everything seemed like it was falling into place.  We had the inspection done a few days later and there weren't any major red flags, just a few little things.  We sent back our list of things we wanted repaired and he offered to do the electrical things we were asking for.  We would drive past the house weekly and were just really excited about it.  The day before we were set to close, Ryan began to panic and so during lunch we had 2 people (Dan from the ward who does construction and a co-workers spouse) meet us there to look at the house and foundation to reassure us it was OK.  They both said it was OK and looked like a good house.  We went and signed the next day after doing a final walk through and the home was ours.  The whole process took 3 weeks total, but that was because we wanted to stretch it out.  

We had a lot of help moving and really appreciated everyone.  My whole family came to help, Kirsten, Bryce, Colter, Joel and Noah.  Collie offered to take Nolan and have him sleep over on Friday night which was a HUGE help and brought all the boys and Raylie down later Saturday morning.  Mom, Macy and I cleaned the avenues apartment and it looked fantastic.  I unpacked most of the house (all the upstairs) within 48 hours of moving in.  I don't like living in boxes and just want things to be settled.  We have enjoyed the house so far and have done laundry in our own house for the first time ever, and ran the dishwasher - 2 very exciting things!

Nolan Says

I wanted to remember a few of the funny things that Nolan is saying and doing right now:

*When trying to get him to bed, we tell him 2 more minutes, and he then says No, 5 more minutes that's the deal.

*I don't say hate, or hit, or tell people what to do - I guess we have told him those a few times too many

*In the morning the first thing he demands requests is chocolate milk.  He has to use the bathroom before we will give him his chocolate milk, so he says i'm going to use the toilet and you make my chocolate milk.  I wish I could type the way he says chocolate milk, it is so cute

*Why?

*What is that?

*I want to tell you a question

*I can do it myself

*After climbing in his car seat he says, you do the bottom buckle, and I'll do the top one.

*Sometimes when I ask him what he learned at school, he says "anything." meaning nothing.  I will ask him if they just sat around all day and stared at the wall and he says, "yes"

*He has started to play really well and has conversations with his toys about what they are going to do next. 

*He loves taking a bath right now, every night he wants one.  

*When I pick him up from school he is always asking if we are going to Costco, or Smith's or to the octopus (car wash)

Saturday Adventure x 3

On Saturday June 21, we went on a Northern Utah adventure with Colter, Bryce, Dianne and their two nephews.  Our first stop was at the ATK Rocket Garden - I have been here a couple of times but it is always fun to think about my dad when I go there and all the work that he has done.  Nolan knows that his morfar builds rockets and thinks it is pretty neat.

Next stop was at the Golden Spike National Monument.  I have been here a long time ago with my family, but it was fun to see them move the trains and read more about the railroad.  Nolan had a love/hate relationship with the trains.  He liked exploring and looking at them, but when they started to move and the steam started coming out, he said it scared him.  

Our  third and final stop was to see the Spiral Jetty in the Great Salt Lake.  I had always heard about it, but hadn't seen it.  It was really neat and something that everyone should see. 

On the way back to get our car, we stopped at the Golden Spike again to use the restroom and fill our water bottles.  We stopped at the DQ for dinner and headed home.  It was a fun day and i'm glad we went on this adventure.  After we got home, I dropped Ryan off and took Nolan to Maud and Bruce's for Swedish Midsummer.  I always enjoy seeing that side of the family, even if it is only twice a year.

Fire Station

On Thursday, June 19 after getting snow cones in Sugar House we walked past a fire station.  Nolan was walking with Annie and they stopped to look, from a distance at the fire engine.  There was a fire fighter cooking dinner and he said come on in and take a look at the truck.  Nolan was in heaven!