Other things going on in our lives.

Besides the house, there's been a lot of stuff going on around here. Colin, turned 8 months old last week (the 15th). He is eating me out of house and home! He eats 3 huge meals every day. Each meal includes a huge bowl of fruits or veggies mixed with rice or oatmeal cereal, several handfuls of finger foods (cheerios, diced carrots, peas, etc.), and half a sippy cup of water or juice. On top of that, he nurses 4-5 times a day. It isn't enough! I think he's ready for a snack in the afternoon! He eats a ton and yet he's so skinny! I don't get it. He is sleeping through the night on a regular basis now, which I love! :) What I don't' love though is that he's a Mamma's boy. I can't put him down! He won't go to anyone else either if I'm in the room, and that includes Daddy sometimes. If I want him to go to John, I sometimes have to leave the room. We're trying to break him of that though. He is a cutie!

Devin is a sweet boy who is growing up so fast suddenly. He looks like he's 4, but talked like he was 18months old until just recently. He's been getting speech therapy from the school district and all of a sudden he's picking it up lately. We think he's right about where he's supposed to be now (2 soon to be 3). He's finally interested in potty training and moved up to big boy underwear this week! What a big boy. He's very good at it when he wants to be!

Erin is a great helper! She is getting ready to graduate from Kindergarten at the end of June, and reading on a level that's half way through 1st grade! What a smart cookie! She loves to ready and often brings out a whole stack of books from her book shelf to read to me. He loves to hold and play with Colin. She is a great entertainer. She also loves to play with Devin. They play a game they like to call little Devin where she basically takes care of him like she's his mother. I've often found her dressing him up, or doing his hair, or reading him a story before his pretend nap. They have really bonded!

As for us, John is finally settling into his job a bit more, I think. He is so excited about our house and the best part for him about it is that he won't have to be constantly fixing it up! I don't blame him.

I have been very busy doing the mom thing. I've kind of taken to reading a bit lately and have read a few books for my family book group. I also just finished the twilight series. This has been a love-hate relationship for me with these books, because I love them so much I can't put them down. However, I also hate it because I don't get anything done while I'm reading them. Some people don't really like these books, and I can understand why. The main character is not my favorite. She's obsessive, stubborn, and a little annoying, but her counter part is good. He's hot, very sophisticated and totally devoted to her. I guess He's what every woman wants. Not me though cause I already have the perfect man!

We did it!

Well it finally happened! We got our dream house! We put the offer in on Valentines day and here we are more that 3 months later with the acceptance from the sellers! Why did it take so long you ask?! Well it was a short sale: The buyers are selling it for less than they owe, so the bank loses money. The bank took forever getting appraisals and broker estimates and the like, and when they numbers didn't match up to what they were being offered, they put the house up for auction. Then when it didn't sell at auction, they finally settled on our offer and we got our dream house! Long story! It was painstakingly slow, but it was well worth the wait we are set to close and move in mid-June. Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Florida Baby!

John and I went to South Beach Florida! John had a work convention to go to there and He wanted me to go along. So, we dropped the kids off in Delta with my parents (Thanks again, Mom and Dad) and took Colin with us. (He's still dependent on Mommy.) While John was in his classes, I went to the beach, went shopping and just relaxed. We did get to see some of the sights though after his classes. Our favorite was when we went to the Everglades. It's this huge swamp land where alligators, turtles, fish and other wildlife roam free and tourists like us can take a flat-bottom boat out on the shallow water to see them up front. Yes I said Alligators! They came within a yard of us in the boat and out of the boat too! We watched an alligator demonstration and then John and I held a real one with our bare hands! Wow! Miami is Beautiful! The climate reminded me of Hawaii: Warm and Humid. I don't know if I'd go there in August or September!

We rode in a boat like these with a giant fan on the back.

That log out there is actually an alligator! Very close!

This guy's crazy!

I think I'm crazy!

A dangerous weapon!

Too close for comfort.

What a cutie!

It was a nice break away from the kids, but we missed them a lot and called them every night. When we called on the second night we were there, we found out that my Grandma died! It was really sad. She was getting very feeble though and I'm sure she's feeling much better now. Unfortunately we missed the funeral. I feel awful about that because we moved back to Utah so that we wouldn't miss those big important occasions! Well, now not only were my Mom and Dad watching the kids, but they were also in Richfield helping with the funeral arrangements. What a week to go away! Anyway, when we got back into town we went straight to Richfield and we were able to see family and pay respects to Grandma at the cemetery.