Yes, We Are ALIVE!

What a busy month! I hardly know where to begin and there's so much that's happened that I don't know if I'll cover it all. The post may or may not be long depending on my longevity so I'll try and outline what will be included and you can skim through the post for the areas that interested you:)

• Went to Idaho
• Came back for a few days
• Went back to Idaho
• From Idaho to Pullman Washington (Chris' grandparents)
• From Pullmand to Portland Oregon (friends Ereksons)
• Back to Idaho (Baillie Graduation)
• Home to Utah
• Back to Idaho drop off boys
• Fly out to Chicago to house hunt
• My side family reunion
• Long week of number crunching, phone calls, and bidding
  

Our first trip to Idaho was brought on by Chris and me being sick of our apartment and feeling the need to escape! I think even more than me Chris was feeling antsy and needed "fresh, new" air; he wasn't use to so much exposure to me and the kids:) Even more than the fresh air, he needed free babysitting as he would call it. Where can you get that better than at Granma's and Grandpa's. I was really reluctant to go since my parents were out of town but finally consented seeing I still had family, my wonderful sisters!!! So the pictures can explain what we did:

Came home for the weekend and a few days. During that time Chris took Jared shopping for my birthday. They went to both malls and were gone for quite awhile. When they came home Jared couldn't wait for my birthday for me to open a gift he helped pick out so I opened one early. It was one of those Willow statues and a mother is holding her little boy toddler with his head on her shoulder. Jared told me that was baby Jared and that he was sleeping. I haven't been able to put it out as of yet because he wants to keep it in the box where he can sleep. As for the other gifts I am very impressed with my husband. There were quite of few things I had to take back/exchange but I must say he did very well and I liked his taste. My favorite thing he got was a pair of shorts that didn't fit so I went to exchange them but they didn't have my size. So dissappointing!

On my birthday we also headed up to Idaho again. Stayed the night and left the next afternoon for Washington. Below are some pictures taken on my birthday, not necessarilly of my birthday but on my birthday nonetheless:)

The first thing I want to say about Washington is it's the most beautiful drive that I've been on in a long time. As you drive north in Idaho it is just BeaUtiFuL. It's green and for a lot of the drive your right by the river. Once you get close to Pullman you enter the land of the Paloose. Green rolling hills that are gorgeous. I've only been there one time before and it was at the end of summer when the fields grains in the fields are long so when the wind blows it's like a green ocean with ripples throughout. Love it!

So the scenery was nice but how about the kids?!?! Actually, pretty good. They were kids of course and there were times we wanted to pull our hair out but considering their ages I would say they were impressive. I think we stopped only 2-3 times in our 9 hour trip to Pullman. Not bad.

While there the weather was overcast and rainy so we didn't spend as much time outside as we had hoped but managed to go to the duck pond(no ducks but there was fish and turtle we fed bread to), the huge grassy area behind grandma's and grandpa's, Cougar Country (local fast food joint where Grandma Meservy worked), and a park Chris played at as a child. We also spent lots of time talking and playing games (when the kids were sleeping) I first learned to play Mah Jong at Granny and Grandpa's. Chris' grandparents have a lot of art of all varieties and LOTS of books. Some of the art is scarry to kids but Jared loved it all, especially the masks in the bathroom which are usually what scares kids the most:)Next stop: Ereksons!!! How we miss the Ereksons. They lived below us and almost every weekend we went down to the Erekson's after putting Jared down and listened for him with a baby monitor. Never again will we be able to have babysitting like that! Needless to say it was fun to reunite with them again. Grace is 10 months older than Jared and Spencer and Clark are 9 days apart. While there we went to Powell's book store. You literally can get lost in there. I thought Andy was kidding but oh no! That day I thought about putting a pull up on Jared but dismissed the thought. Later that day he fell asleep and he hadn't gone to the bathroom yet and wet his pants during. The rest of the day he went shortless and sported a diaper. Church was fun and afterwards we had a wonderful dinner. If I remember correctly it was roast (they say pork roast is best), half a bottle of liquid smoke, and salt and pepper both sides of the roast. YUMMY!!! Monday we hit the zoo and then left after dinner that evening. Even though the kids were traveling fairly well we wanted a whole ride of quietness so we left around 7:00 and drove through the night. It was exhausting but worth it!
Loved visiting the Ereksons and loved green Portland but one thing I AbSolUteLy disliked is their law where someone else pumps your gas for you! What a stupid law. I am quite capable of pumping my gas for myself thank you very much! We had to gas up twice while in Portland. The 1st time we were just arriving outside of Portland around 4:30. Bad idea. Cars were backed up and we had to wait for awhile to get to a pump. Ok sometimes you have to wait at the pump but once we got to the pump we had to wait several minutes and this is where I was going CRAZY! I got out of the car and started muttering how stupid it was and that I could do it myself and why couldn't the government think of better, more meaningful useful jobs for people to do. I eventually got back in the car after Chris' request. The guy finally came and started the pump. And then it finished and in any other state I could have gotten out of my car picked up the nozzle and put it back in its holder, but not in Oregon, I had to wait. The second time filling up we were hoping to make it to Idaho before having to do so but there just wasn't any way. So at 12:30ish AM we drove around to four different gas stations until we found one that was open so someone could come and fill our tank for us. How annoying.

We finally made it to Idaho and spent almost 6 days there. During this time Jared went on his first expedition of golf. I was summoned after the first 9 holes. They said he was doing good but was too into it and often got in the way. He liked taking out the flags and golfing right by the rest of him. He used the golf club they had bought for Wii Sports. It was just right.
Graduation was good. Nice and short. At the end of the commencement as their song was being played (not sure of the title but it had lyrics "I'm going to be 18 forever...") they all gathered in the middle of the floor arms around each other singing. There wasn't a formal exit but I thought it was kind of fun. (her class was just under 200)While also at home Camille and I did hair and makeup, boys included this time:)Then back to Utah. We went to a barbecue at a friend's house (Jared in the red wagon is with Sara's Spencer) here's some cute pictures:
One more trip back up to Idaho to drop off the boys. I was going to take Spencer to Chicago with us but he hadn't been 100% and I knew he wouldn't be able to nap well plus it'd be a ton easier for us without an infant to look at places so he stayed with grandmas. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I could take him. It would have been insane!

While in Chicago we saw around 20 properties in 2 days! Exhausting, yeah, just a bit. When we first got in we met with a mortgage officer and then drove around for a little while. Up to this point I've surprised myself with how I've handled moving. Surprisingly I haven't shed tears or been too sad about moving. But as we were driving it really hit me and I started crying. Chris didn't realize it and was talking about all he was excited about and I sat glumly next to him. And when I did talk I was very down on everything and negative. I did not want to move. I love being close to family that I can go if/when I need to, I love having friends in the same circumstance as me, and I love having a husband that is home quite a bit. But that was all going to change. I'm going to have to start from a new slate with no friends, Chris will be gone A LOT more, and my family will be a plane ride away instead of 4 hours. I know it's right to move to Chicago and that I'll make new friends, still see and talk to family, and Chris will still be a great dad and husband. I just hate the beginning phase of getting use to it. But now that I'm back in Utah I'm back to not thinking about it. I don't want to feel that depressing feeling so I'm choosing not to think about moving and just enjoy everything right here and now.

Anyways, back to real estate... After the first day Chris and my eyes were so heavy. We took a much needed brake and rented a bike for Chris and he rode by me while I got in the run I needed for the day. We ran along Lake Shore Drive. I'm excited to run along the beach again and go to the beach with the boys again.

That first day we were really impressed with a lot of properties but had our eyes on one in particular. We both were pretty sure this would be the one we zone in on. It had a nice size kitchen, living room, family room, 4 bed, 3 bath, Huge storage room, and everything was updated. Location was further north but in a nice neighborhood.
The second day we met the above's competition. Right in the neighborhood we wanted. It would cut 20 mins off of Chris' commute one way, nice kitchen, family room, and living room. But it didn't have as much storage and was 3 bed, 2 bath, and a smaller kitchen. We liked it but it was smaller. What did we want????? This one was so close to so many things and we'd really be living and experiencing Chicago. What to do... What do you think we did? Will reveal later:)While there we stayed with friends Mark and Laura and their cute baby James. They are the sweetest couple and are out there for the summer. Mark has a couple more years of school left but will eventually end up in a suburb of Chicago. I wish they were out there sooner.
We got home Sunday and Monday we were having a family reunion at Lagoon that I was in charge of. A little crazy but we did it and I didn't forget anything too important. Jared had a ball. He loved the rides and really didn't get scared of any of the ones he tried which really surprised me. He loved being with his cousins and his favorite ride was bumper cars. Chris and I had left to get dinner and after bumper cars finished he'd run out and back to the line and push through the kids till he got to the front of the line. No one stopped him until we came back and made him wait at the end of the line. I didn't ride on a lot of the big rides but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Jared and his cousins while talking with my mom and sisters.

Later that evening though I did do a BIG ride. Camille, Heidi and I did the Sky Coaster. SO FUN. I'd done it before but nothing can compare it to doing it with Heidi! She is terrified of heights and kept her eyes closed the whole time. I was freaking out more than her but all the same the two of us were so tense. The video is too long or else I would post it. There was lots of screaming, laughing, and shaking when it was said and done (I was shaking like crazy when I was done.)My niece Rachel got sick the second day and then the very next day Chris and I got sick. Not fun.

This last week has been one of prayer, thought and more prayer. What did we want, space or location??? After a lot of thought and reasoning we decided...... on location.

• We knew we wouldn't stay in the city forever so no matter what we'd probably be moving within the next five years from either place so why not live more in the city and really experience it!
  
• The neighborhood was more safe and close to so many things for me and the boys to do.
  
• Forty minutes a day is a lot of time I'd rather spend with my husband then him in route.
  
• We're surrounded by younger families and a younger ward that hopefully will be more social for me. There are others but these are the more important ones.

After about four days of offers and counter offers we each finally agreed on a final price. We have no signed our life away! The first day after doing so we were both really nervous and wondering if it was the right thing but as the days go on we're getting more excited. So to anyone that wants to come to Chicago we'd love to have you!

Wow, this has been a LONG post, just a few more:

Jared: Likes to watch Nascar on TV and when he does he actually cheers for the cars and tells them to go faster. One time while flipping through the channels it landed on boxing long enough for him to realize what it was. He must have noticed that they didn't have their shirts on because now when he wants to box with his dad he says, "Take my shirt off dad, take my shirt off!"
It's been getting hot here so we've started using the fan. Jared likes to turn it on and off and then stick his fingers in to stop the fan. We told him not to and that he was going to hurt himself. One time when we weren't watching he stuck his fingers in when it was still on and his middle finger recieved five distinct cuts at the tip of it. He screamed and screamed and it took him awhile before he'd open up his fist to let me look at it. the cuts weren't too deep so all is well. Kids....

Spencer: eight months old and not quite crawling but he got his first tooth this last week:). I thought a month ago he'd start any day. He's even closer but has not yet taken that leap. Do you think I can prolong that for another month! I don't want him to be crawling while packing!