Feeling Blessed....

Although the last month for me has been an EXTREMELY rough one and I have been dealing with some inner struggles and trying to figure some valuable life lessons out, I have felt blessed. I (we) have the most amazing friends and ward members here. I have felt their love and support and it has meant so much to me. I have had some really good talks with a few people and have gained much insight through them. We have continually been asked if we need anything or any help and that means more than you would know. I just had to post and say THANK YOU to all that have been so thoughtful and helpful during this time and words can't express our appreciation to all of you.

School is back in Session!!!!

The 08-09 school year has begun. My kids were SO stinkin excited. They both had woken up early and were dressed by the time I woke up. Crazy kids. Ally is in first grade and Cayden in 3rd. I love when I tell them I want to take some pictures of them outside they both go out and immediately choose their "spots". They both love to choose different spots and poses for me. I am surprised Cayden isn't in the tree, that is his usual spot, LOL! Got to love the tilt in Ally's head and Cayden's one leg on the rock (hard to see) I don't tell them anything they just do it. They crack me up.

3 of my 4 favorite people. Grady was still cathching his zzzz's inside.

Pictures to go along....

Here are some pictures to go along with my "venting" post. I forgot to mention the same night as Travis is ripping down Ally's ceiling both my washer and dryer broke. I can laugh about it now. So don't worry, I am much happier in this post, LOL! We got the ceiling replaced, the roof fixed, the washer AND dryer working again, and for now everything is good. (minus-we still haven't sold our house, ha ha)

My hot amazing husband pulling down all of the wet ceiling and insulation.
The big pile of wet insulation and drywall.

Where to Begin...

The last month has been a complete roller coaster full of happy moments, stress, tears, laughter and confusion. For those who don't know we had our house on the market for a very long stressful 9 months. We had made the decision to move back to our ".home" (Arizona) and put our house on the market. Well we all know this economy is a hard one. I was SO tired of stressing about having the house clean "in case" someone came to look at it and then without fail if I would let the house go a little bit someone would call and want to come look at it in like 20 minutes. Well, finally the beginning of July we got our 1 and only offer. It was a full price offer and we were STOKED (it better be full price after how low we went in the listing price, LOL). We started looking for a home in Az. We thought with the market the way it is this should be easy. Oh no, not the case. If the house wasn't a short sale it was bank owned and those are hard to come by because they get snagged easily and you have to close in 30 days and we weren't closing on ours in NM for 60 days, so not possible. Then the short sales are a joke. You offer on them and don't know anything for 1-3 months. Time was sneaking away and the stress was too much I could take. I was going crazy trying to find a house and KNOW what our plan was going to be. (Those that know me I am such a planner) We finally found a house that was perfect, had just what we wanted (mostly a pool), beautifully landscaped (perfect for trav) and we were even more excited to see that it was one of the very few being sold be a real person and we wouldn't have to deal with the bank. We made the offer and got it accepted the same night. Finally, things were going right. We continued to have problems on the home front. We ended up replacing half of the ceiling in Ally's room after a big rain storm and it just seemed like problem after problem. We went to our reunion this last weekend unsure about the whole situation (the buyers were wanting to back out and we were trying evertything we could to keep them in). We listened to our voicemail after we got back into town to learn that they did back out. It is sooooo frustrating becasue we have been in the contract with them for a month and then they back out. What it all came down to was the man really liked the house and the woman really wanted another one and she got her way. I am mad and upset and hurt and frustrated that they held us up for this long and waisted our precious time of having the house listed. Now we are back to square one and I really don't know if I can deal with all of this much longer. Having my house ready to show at any given moment, the kids being gone at school and me being bored out of my mind knowing that I could be working part time and playing this waiting game anymore. Everyone keeps telling me everything happens for a reason and it will all work out and I keep trying to convince myself of that but so far I am not convinced. Then to top it all off I go to teach my class last night and I have 1, yes ONE, person show up. So lame :). That is my venting for the day and I appologize but right now I am bugged and angry.

Picture catch up...

Be aware.... lots of pictures to follow. I finally uploaded pics to my computer and decided to add some to the blog. First is Cayden and Kenny and Ricky at their end-of-the-year baseball party. Cayden really enjoyed his team this year and Travis helped coach a lot and they made it to the playoffs. They were the bottom team in the playoffs and they played their little hearts out and ended up 4th place out of like 20 teams. Way to go Falcons!!!

Why does my husband always have to make goofy faces :)
Cayden with Coach Jeff. We are sure going to miss him and everyone else from the team. He is such a great coach, he got teary eyed giving all the boys their trophys, he loves these boys so much.
Trav and Grady had to hit up the skee-ball.
And THIS is what happens when mom leaves the kids home with dad, he makes Grady do goofy things and always has pictures to show of their fun times.

A friend and I took our kids to the "new" pool here in town. They had a great time, although it does not compare to the pools in Az. it was still fun. Ally and her friend Nina.

Cayden and Willoughby, they get along so great and have so much fun. They have big plans to make a band together when they are older.
and.....what would be a day at the pool with out snacks, right?
Em, this is for you. My new hair cut. I went a lot blonder and shorter (the back is shorter). It is hard to tell in this picture though but it's all I got.

Cayden, Ally and their friend Brooke playing in the rain. Oh to be a kid again.

Cayden flyin high
Cayden "flippin out" he is such a nut.

Here is Travis and Afton at the Sherwood Family Reunion. We love you Afty!!

Ally performing to "Fabulous" from HSM at the reunion.
All the kiddos returning from a LONG ride on a big wagon pulled by horses, Ally looks half dead, lOL!

Flying Baby!!

Grady loves when Trav throws him in the air (really high) and flips him onto the bed. So we decided to capture the moment. Look how high he is in the last picture.

A bit of Randomness...

Well I realized I hadn't posted for a while so here is what has been going on.
*Taking the kids to the park every day for free lunch (best thing ever)
* Studying my personal trainer book (can't wait to be done)
*Searching day after day for a house in Az.(post about this later)
*Trying to think about starting to pack the house and where in the world am I going to get enough boxes to pack up the entire house.
*Watching SYTYCD!! Love it Love it Love it
*Laughing at Grady, he is so stinkin funny, he can ALWAYS make me laugh
*Missing my good friend Shannon who recently moved to Washington.
*Going to Fowlers and having fun riding horses, quads and swimming. My kids really act like they are going to Disneyland when they get to go to the Fowlers house, they LOVE it there.
The summer has been FLYIN by and I can 't believe we are already almost in Aug. We leave in one week for my family reunion and CAN'T wait. We love being there in the mountains with all the family and this year we are stoked my brother and his 2 kids from Utah will be coming. We are sad that Sarah but we are happy to have any of them, my kids miss them very much and are so stoked to see them.

A few more...

I was so sad I forgot my camera for the weekend of the 4th of July so I have been getting some pictures from my 2 sis-in-laws. Thanks! My boys all need hair cuts in this picture,LOL