March

I'm playing catch-up, once again!  But I'm only a few days behind this time, instead of months.  Bravo! :)

I cannot believe the amazing weather we have had this winter.  March is often cold, wet, and full of snow--but this March has been mostly sun, warmth, and dry.  It's going to make for a hot, hot, fire ridden summer, I'm sure, but it has sure been a mild and lovely winter and and spring!

Enjoy the photo dump! :)

Grandma Great took the big kids to the Symphony.  I got to hang out with the little boys for an hour or so while we waited for it to be over. It was so great. I look forward to next year when we won't be on a Kindergarten schedule and just have these two--plus a baby lump that won't cause much stress. It should be a good year. :)

Katelyn has decided glasses are cool. These go to one of her stuffed animals, but they fit, so she's taken to wearing them! Silly girl!

We enrolled Luke in the same excema study that Josh is in. I told him he didn't look happy in this picture, and he told me that he wasn't happy.  Ha, ha. Silly kid.  We hope the cream works for him. 

Spring break was a success. I think this is the only week my whole pregnancy that I have felt good AND the kids have been out of school. We lived it up. :)  Monday for FHE we rode the train to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square to see the flowers. They were beautiful! The kids had fun.

 

Tuesday was Luke's birthday. We went to the Zoo to celebrate. It was grand fun.  We love our Zoo pass and look forward to using it more this summer.  We just renewed our mega pass, so who wants to join us!?

Wednesday we went to Antelope Island. It ended up being more driving then I was anticipating, but we saw lots of Buffalo (no babies though... :( ) and deer on our drive so that made it fun. We got to bring one of Katelyn's friends with us and that was great.  They have this ranch you can visit and play at--we loved it.

We got a basketball hoop this month. The kids have been having fun playing with Daddy with it.

We participated in our neighborhood Easter Egg hunt. It's always fun and I feel grateful to have such fun friends who include everyone.  Mike had the day off so it was good odds for him--one Mike to about 30 women. Ha, ha!

We love playing with our neighbors down the street!

Making bread with Daddy on Sunday morning is a favorite activity!

Katelyn is trying to earn money to buy a microscope.  One day she decided to have a fruit sale--her prices were steep, but she made some money!  Anybody want to donate to her cause?

And now, we've made it to April! NEXT MONTH we will welcome the littlest Miss here and I can finally get back to me.  I feel like I am really missing the boat lately and only operating at half--but I'm trying to remember to cut myself some slack.  This years' lame Conference prep and Easter does not define me--unless you take it to mean that 'pregnant me' isn't fully up to the 'regular me'--which is EXACTLY true! But, growing a baby is hard work...plus selling a house (which, thus far, has been full of more downs than ups!).  Next Conference we will do better. Next Easter we will do better.  This year...we did okay. :)  Seven weeks left today...time to dig deep! :)

Lost a buyer, found a buyer...

So--after all my ramblings, the sale fell through. :(  I have a list I'm going to ask Heavenly Father about when I get to heaven, and this situation is on that list.  It doesn't make sense to me why something that seemed, to my brain, to make so much good sense all around went south, but south it did and we re-vamped.  After hearing the news that our buyers backed out, we went right on with plan B and hired a realtor.  When we started this whole process we made a plan and it included a timeline for hiring help--we had met that deadline and so we made the jump.  It's a bummer, seeing how it is going to cost us extra money, but it's also efficient and somewhat of a stress relief knowing we've got someone to go to bat for us if things go wrong again.  We signed on Wednesday night and were back under contract by Tuesday morning (with competing offers!), so I guess it was worth it. * $7,000 worth it...? The jury is still out! ;) *

We had a roofer come out and verified that we did indeed need a new roof. Lame-sauce.  So grateful for handy and helpful family members who came over and spent the weekend with us roofing.  Mike got it all done yesterday, and we had an appraisal done, so we are one step closer to being done. It's no fun living in limbo-- I am hoping for some quick resolutions on any appraisal issues and some concrete evidence that the new buyers will actually buy our house.  We are a bit gun-shy after the last ones backed out after investing so much, and the VA loan that the new buyers have has a clause that lets them get out at any time.  Bummer.  We need to start moving towards temporary housing and storing our junk--but don't feel like it's smart to put any money down yet. In the meantime we wait. :)

I feel blessed that we were back under contract so quickly. It is no small feat to keep the house 'show ready' with all these kiddos, and my pregnant body doesn't seem to really want to cooperate either.  It is nice to let go of the stress a bit and not worry about the state of the house every second. We are never farther then 30 minutes or so from being able to put the house back together, but I no longer make sure the house is perfect every time I leave.  Bonus of being under contract, even if it falls through again. :)

Out for breakfast one of our show-mornings.

We have been making some movement towards our final destination-! That HAS been exciting!  We walked our lot with the builder this week and had a long chat about his thoughts.  We meet with the lender next week and, although we haven't actually put money on the lot yet, we are in constant contact with the owner and she assures us she considers it sold and won't sell it to anyone else.  Ernest money should go down on the lot soon and we are looking for architects to help us draw up our house plan.  We are stoked.

We're moving!

We have been daydreaming about building our own *dream* home for years now. We've got houseplans and we play with them all the time--move walls, add garages, pinterest light fixtures.  It's been fun.  We knew that our current home would not be our forever house, but didn't think we were quite ready to take the jump until the first of this year. It's amazing how things have just sort of fallen into place--totally, totally, blessed.  The financing is working out (darn our Texas foreclosure!), we found an incredible builder, we have our eye on a great lot and our house is under contract.  I can think of no other experience in my life where I have felt so led by the hand of the Lord in the direction he wants us to go.  It's been very humbling and thrilling.

We started to prep our home to put up on the market in January.  I am shocked and amazed at the work it takes to get a house ready.  It took us a full month--true, I was operating as pregnant Mindy, but a full month!  Bless my parents, their help was incredible.  It was such a huge blessing to have my Mom show up day after day to help me get things done, and Dad helped Mike with all the heavy lifting. So grateful. Our shed is PACKED full of stuff (and I'm amazed at how much of it I actually don't miss...shhh! don't tell Mike!) and our house doesn't totally feel like ours.  Our pictures and decorations are down and we had crazy mornings making sure everything is spiffy for potential  buyers...but it all payed off!  Like I said, the Lord has a plan.  For Sale By Owner and we were under contract in 2 1/2 weeks. That is crazy~!  The family buying our home is young, LDS, active, and cute.  Just the type of people I prayed would move in here.  I was so hoping for someone my neighbors could borrow an egg from, someone that would have kids to play with, someone safe and kind and helpful.  I think the Lord answered that wish. I am so grateful.

At this point, we are keeping our prayers focused on the home inspection--hoping, specifically, that our roof will not be an issue. It's original, and in great shape, but old.  Everything else, unless we have an infestation of bats we were unaware of, should go smooth.  Crossing our fingers and bending our knees--inspection day is Wednesday.  After that, we are home free!

The family who is buying our home is going to rent it back to us through June.  What an additional blessing!!  We will get Little Miss here while we still have our neighbors and friends around.  We don't have to have all of us shoved in a tiny apartment for 6 months. We get to take time to finish packing and cleaning and playing.  I am so grateful.

This week we think we will make the final decision on the move--build or buy, build or buy.  It's all we talk about and all we think about.  We should know this week if all our ducks will be in a row and if we can buy the lot.  Fingers crossed and knees bent!! :)

The link to our website...as my sister said, "I've never seen your house look like that before!" Ha! True!

www.laytonlocation.blogspot.com

Happy LOVE Day!!

How does your Valentines go? Does it include a hot date with you man, or a quiet night at home? What are your traditions?  

Pregnancy years don't usually include a date or dinner or dancing--pretty much I'm feeling the love with come ice cream and the chance to sit on the couch and watch TV--ha!  This year I had the chance to help with both kids' school parties and we had friends over for a 'fancy' (read tablecloth and colored plates) dinner and an evening of games. It was great for the kids, and great for us.  We sure love being a family and being together!

A 2015 Conversation

    

Katelyn:

Favorite Cereal: Fruity Pebbles

Veggie: Cucumbers

Drink: Strawberry Milk

Toy: Stuffed Animals

TV Show: Pokemon

Things to do: Go swimming

Book: The Box Car Children
Place to Go: Treehouse Museum

What do you want to be when you grow up: A doctor

What is something Mom says to you: Clean your room

What is something Dad says to you: Little Princess

What did you love about last year? Swimming Lessons

What are you going to do this year? Swimming Lessons

Who are your friends? Esme, Adrie, Omar, Mele, Mona, Emily

What do you love about…

Mommy? She's nice

Daddy? He's nice
Josh? He's playful

Luke? I don't know, he's always so annoying

Ben? He's cute

 

 

Josh

Favorite Cereal: Frosted Flakes

Veggie:Corn

Drink: Apple Juice

Toy: Legos

TV Show: Newsies

Things to do: Hug

Book: Curious George rides a bike

Place to Go: Water Park

What do you want to be when you grow up: I haven’t decided yet

What is something Mom says to you: Come upstairs

What is something Dad says to you: It’s time for dinner

What did you love about last year? Starting school

What are you going to do this year? Trade up to first grade

Who are your friends? Marcus, Jack, Ryann, Auklin, Kanyin, Greysin, Jenson, Connor, Connor, The Plaiziers, The Hydes

What do you love about…

Mommy? That she likes hugs

Daddy? That he likes hugs

Katelyn? That she is fun

Luke? He likes hugs just like I do

Ben? He’s cute

 

  

Luke:

Favorite Cereal: Every kind mixed, not oatmeal

Veggie: Potatoes

Drink: Drinks with sugar in it

Toy: All toys

TV Show: Pokemon

Things to do: Play wrestle

Book: Curious George books

Place to Go: Grandmas

What do you want to be when you grow up: I haven’t decided that yet

What is something Mom says to you: Yes

What is something Dad says to you: No

What did you love about last year?  Eating Ice Cream

What are you going to do this year? Lots of things

Who are your friends? Benson, Naomi, Lynny, Keira, Brandon, Josh, Katelyn, The Plaiziers, The Hydes, Kanyin

What do you love about…

Mommy? That you always say yes

Daddy? That he always plays wrestle

Katelyn? That she plays with me

Josh? That he lets me sit by him

Ben? That he gives me stuff when I’m hurt and can’t reach them.

 

Ben:

Favorite Cereal:  Frosted Mini Wheats

Veggie: All

Drink: Water

Toy: Play phones

TV Show: Whatever his brothers are watching

Things to do: Destroy things

Book: Push Here

Place to Go: Outside

What do you want to be when you grow up: ?

What is something Mom says to you:  You drive me crazy!

What is something Dad says to you: If we leave a brother or sister in heaven, it will be your fault.

What did you love about last year? Learning to walk

What are you going to do this year? Learn to talk!

Who are your friends? Josh, Luke, and Katelyn. Michael.

What do you love about…

Mommy? Snuggles

Daddy? Snuggles

Katelyn? Chasing

Luke? Chasing

Josh? Wresting

Happy New Year

2015 is looking to be a great year.  Big plans for big changes...!!  We made it through a sick Christmas, a sick first trimester, the actual flu (it was awful--three full weeks I was pretty much dead. I never want to repeat that!), an a truck total (Mike was plowed into by an uninsured, unlicensed driver--this was a fun hassle, let me assure you!).  On to brighter, healthier, and snazzier futures!

Enjoy a quick recap of January, in pictures. The weather was warm, the purchases were big, big plans were laid, and fun was had by all! :)

Katelyn went through 8 of these bottles during her recovery from strep. Wowzers! 

Out with the old...

In with the new!

Josh is in afternoon Kindergarten--poor Katelyn is gone all day. These three boys get to spend a lot of time together!

100 days of school!!  Made a lego house out of 100 bricks to take to school to celebrate!

Almost too big to fit all the boys in the tub!

Paid our taxes--even Josh (who made just enough in his clinical eczema study to get the privilege!)