Happy Mothers Day

I know, a little belated! But I did have a really nice day. I even got a phone call from my brother in Korea and my sis in Hawaii, how nice are they?? Good kids. Mark showered me with little presents, it was so sweet. He put everything in this really cool quilted leather box. The big shocker was that he bought me JEWLERY! The man who despises jewelery purchases actually got me a Sapphire anniversary pendant. The one where the stones get bigger in an s shape. LOVE it. Sapphire is my birthstone, I love it! I got the Trace Adkins CD and some super soft socks that are infused with Aloe, they are the bomb. I put them on and it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, they feel so good. Plus some other little things. I loved the cards the kids made me, they all said the sweetest things! Cade even wrote me a little poem. Its so cliche but I seriously love the things the kids write that come straight out of their little minds, I love hearing their thoughts. Anyway, I actually was pretty hard-working on Sunday I had to be up early (after a late cleaning binge) and had choir, then get ready for the primary song during Sacrament meeting, the Mark had to go back to work at 5 (BOO!!!) and we had his mom and sisters family over for soup and salad and rolls, so I had to get all that made before he left. Then we watched the Survivor Finale, which was cool. I felt very loved and appreciated and tired! But thats my life as a mom, right??

And no, I didn't get ANY pictures of anyone on Sunday. I just forgot to take any. Bummer.

Mark is signing the offer on the house tonight and Travis will submit it early tomorrow. I went back out tonight and showed my mom the house, she loved it of course. She was a little scared by the paint too but had some good suggetions. Did I remember to take any pictures??? Uhhhhh, whoopsie! I dont know where my head is, I swear. I just grabbed this one off the listing. Any pics of the inside dont really show anything interesting anyway.

Local boy makes good

So in typical style for us, we put a way low bid on a way awesome house we haven't actually seen inside of, we just feel great about. And the bank counters with an offer we can't refuse. Ya, bay-bee! And then 10 hours later we hit a snag because Pinal county property tax is outrageous, but it worked out OK. And we are going to close in 3 weeks. WHAT?? Oh yeah. Totally crazy. They are going to pay the closing costs. It will cost us virtually nothing out of pocket. Our monthly will go up by about 300 bucks. Ouch, but we are thinking long term. Mark had gone last night to walk through it (I mean, we arent totally crazy, just partially) and he was SOLD! Here are the stats on the casa:

*3900 sf <----that is not a typo
*6 bed 3 bath (we just figured that out today, it was wrong on the listing we thought it was 5 bed)
* beautiful granite countertops
* Big kitchen with lots of really nice cupoards
* Needs a tad of cosmetic work. As in:
* linoleum floors (its not gross, its just not tile)
* 50% of the paint inside is pretty horrible. And they did a horrible job painting. we are talking dark brown, royal blue, etc. bleh! Ironically, it seems as if they painted right before they left, with super high quality paint, as a "favor" to the next owner. Boo!
*Backyard is solid rock, that just wont do(good thing I know a hot landscaper!)
*pigeon crap all over the driveway (good thing I know a hot pigeon guy)
*Awesome location, exactly where we want to be!
*conservative projection: 100,000 gained in equity in the next 5 years

Mark took me, his mom and the kids out to it today, and we were all thrilled. He done good. He was the one who just said, hey, I know this seems like a long shot, lets just go for it and see what happens. I'm so glad we did it. He's the MAN!


Its so crazy that this was just kind of a whim, and now we are in with both feet. I was so emotional this morning. Who knows what my problem is. I'm just really tired and have been going nonstop for 3 days, literally. I love teachers, but I'm glad teacher appreciation week is over. At one point I thought I had lost the envelope of cash donations from Coops class at Paradise Bakery. Luckily I'm a total idiot and had left it at home to begin with. DOH! I feel bad I did't do more for any of the other kids classes. Boo me! I'm just burned out and so are the kids.

Weekend forecast: Planning and attending multiple birthday parties, cleaning, lots of driving, and celebrating mothers day!

Sprinkles, I love you!!

When I found out that Sprinkles of Beverly Hills ;) was opening a cupcake store in Scottsdale today, I just HAD to go. So Jill and I took the kids over there, and it was SO worth it! They are the yummiest things I have had in a LONG LONG time. It's like 20 bucks for 6, but who the heck cares, they are worth it. I got a 4 pack, Dark chocolate (which I ate in the car, I could not wait!), Strawberry for Mark (he better get home quick or it might dissapear!) Pumpkin (I let Dayton have, I just had a little of it, so so good) and I'm saving the Chocolate coconut for myself for tonight during my mommy TV time. I also got a special Coke they have, but it turns out it was the kind in the bottle like you get in Mexico that is made with real sugar. It was super yummy anyway. It really reminded me of vacation to Mexico and Panama. Fun. And THEN this guy was in the store taking pictures of people and got a shot of Jill and I, plus then outside we had the kids posed with their cupcakes (but we wouldn't let them eat them, how mean are we?? LOL) and he came over and took a couple of them and got their names and ages. He was from the AZ Republic so now mabye we'll be in it. COOL! We are so famous! We want to go back when they have other flavors on other days of the week and try some different ones. So anytime anyone wants an AWESOME splurge, we'll go to Sprinkles!!! I have the list of what flavors are on what days :D

Other sweet things:

*Dayton rode his bike without training wheels today and did it on his very first try!! I'm so proud of him. But then he was being a stinker and wouldn't let me take his picture.

*We put an offer on a house so we'll see where that goes.

*Due to a neighborhood b-day party, I don't have to cook dinner!




Yeah, I guess we are pretty cute! :D

Its official!!!

Heather delivered this to us today :D

I haven't blogged yet about this particular adventure, because living through what I have I never count my chickens before we have the keys in hand, so to speak. :D

We got our actual loan approval to buy a house today!! It took WAY too long (like 6 weeks long!!) So this week is the big week of putting down an offer on a house or 2. Yipes. Its big scary stuff. It sounds all fun and frolicky when your still in prep stages but then when the moment of truth comes, it gets a bit squirrelly. Its like getting married (for other people, not us in particular! LOL) We've held hands, giggled, smooched, made out a whole bunch, which was super fun, but now its time to settle down together and it gets a little nerve-racking hoping it will work out OK. and it wasn't all just a big act. :D We have done hours and hours of research and praying, looking and re-looking. We probably know more about the neighborhoods we like than our realtor does, and he knows a lot. We really like this one, but the neighborhood is kinda sketchy, so we are going to low-ball this other one (or 2) and just see what happens for now. Theres the issue of the school, the ward, the neighbors, the commute, the price, the HOA, blah blah blah. And all the really really awesome ones tend to get sucked up the day they come out on the MLS so we need and inside track. The one we have the inside track on is the one in the sketchy neighborhood. Also we drive past so many houses that would be great, that are like ghosts. They are obviously abandonded, but no record of them being for sale anywhere. The banks just haven't caught up with them yet I guess. We have kept it pretty low drama, we are staying cool and calm, trying to plan best for our future and get the most for our money. Exciting and scary. :D

The only downside is that we LOVE where we live. Our house is cute, but a little too small for us as the kids get bigger, and of course it is not ours and we'll have to move out in a year anyway. It just sucks because we are in the best neighborhood EVER and it will be physically painful to leave. Our school as much as I have my complaints and its really really hard work, it just about the best there is in the valley, and it will be really hard to downgrade that. It seriously makes me sick, I can't even think about it. It will be like moving away from home for the first time or something. Bleh. It makes the whole process a little less fun (happy now, Maddy?? LOL) So everyone needs to STOP being so dang awesome for the next couple months, OK?? LOL just kidding that is not even possible. Stop it, you're making my cry already and I havn't even packed a flippin box yet!

So thats the big scoop, that is what is happening around here. Oh yeah, and we got family pictures done tonight and from what I can tell they are awesome!! I am beyond excited about them. Woot!! I'll hopefully post them tomorrow.