San Diego Trip

Wow, so behind on what we've been up to, but I guess that's how it works when you don't have a perminant home. Seems like I haven't really settled yet. I was hoping to get so much done since I wouldn't have the normal workload when owning a house, but it hasn't happened yet. Hopefully soon!

So last weekend we took a trip to go see Katie Graduate from Mesa Community College in San Diego. We started the trip off with Connor's pre-school graduation! It was adorable. The kids were all dressed in their caps and gowns, and I finally got to hear all the songs that Connor has been coming home singing!



The day had started earlier for us since Baily had thrown up and wasn't eating in the morning. We brought her to the Vet, and they quickly determined that she had Pancreitus and could cost us a pretty penny. By the time I started calling around for quotes, Brian had already told them to go ahead with the treatments. We were too busy getting ready to go anyway, so it was probably a good thing anyway.

So after that stressful beginning we headed out for California. The kids couldn't have been better. We made a quick stop at the Build a Bear workshop and got Connor his first Build a Bear. He had already decided on a Panda, and when we got there they had one in his favorite color! GREEN! He was so excited. They asked if we wanted to put a button inside him to sing a song, or record a message, and right when she said that Connor pushed the Pomp and Circumstance song...so it was decided.

In California we arrived at our hotel on Coronado Island. It was beautiful. There were flamingos in the pond in the front of the hotel. The whole hotel was enclosed, but outdoors. We were on the first floor and had a view of the water and of the San Diego Skyline.

We took a walk down the waterfront in the morning on Saturday. The kids played at the beach, built sandcastles, and searched for sandcrabs. The water was great.



That evening we went to Katie's graduation. Besides Aaron falling in the fountain outside it was great!


Connor and Aaron with Cousin Sereine

The next day we took a look at the flamingos and took a nice bikeride down the waterfront.






We ended on a great note seeing my cousin and her new baby ZeeZee! She is adorable.




So we had a great trip! Hopefully a lot more to come soon!

Moving is Hard

So lately I haven't really been posting or doing anything else besides getting myself and my family out of the house. We hoped that we would be in escrow by the end of April so we wouldn't be in limbo about where we were going, but at this point we are still in the Dark. Let me start at the beginning of the story, and you will see where I am at this point.

So last summer, Brian and I were discussing options of where Connor would go to school next year. He will be entering Kindergarden in the fall of 2011. Since the housing crisis our area has stopped growing, which in turn has caused the plans for a new elementary school to fall through. The school Connor was zoned to go to was not the best, which wouldn't bother me so much if I was teaching there, but since I don't we wanted to explore other options.

The first option was to use Brian's parents address and drive about 10 miles to one of the best elementary schools in Clark County. The down side would be not only the driving, but that his friends would be far away. This would be the easiest solution though...logistically.

The second option was to look at renting or buying a house in the area we wanted to be in. After looking at house prices, we saw that the payments would be less if we bought, and we could rent our current house out above the mortgage payment of the new house. So we decided this was probably a good investment in our family's future. We decided to buy a house.

Our search went on for months. I looked at countless houses with the boys until Connor got frustrated and said, "Why are we not getting any of these houses?" I told him that people were getting them before us. So every time we would find a house we liked he would say "Hurry and get this one before they do" and would point to another group looking at the house.

So after about 7 months of looking a house came up on the market that we had seen 4 years ago, but couldn't afford to buy at the time! It is in the exact location we wanted, best schools, parks and on walking and bike trails! We looked at it and remembered the large 1/4 acre lot with a pool and half basketball court! The house is smaller and older than our current house, but has plenty of room for our family.

We quickly put an offer in and they accepted! But as you know in the short sale game, we are now waiting for the bank to accept the offer - and this is where we stand today. We have heard the bank has the appraisal and should be giving us the approval soon.

So we found some really good renters for our house, and decided it would be best to save money for the last couple months before we moved into our house. We are now staying with Brian's parents, and it has worked out so well. Brian's Grandma is staying here, and it's great to see her light up when she watches the boys. We are trying to soak in all the moments while we are here and enjoy the grandparents, Great Grandma and all the company around us!

Now you are caught up on what has been going on in my life...hopefully now I will have a month to breathe and enjoy the summer with the boys. We have been very blessed and we are hoping everything will work out for the best!