The reason I haven't updated our blog........WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!

So the past couple months have been a little crazy because we bought a house and moved in! It all happened so fast. Shae was always looking for a house off and on and he found one that looked promising on KSL.com. We hurried and made an appointment to go and look at it and a couple days later we put an offer in. They already had a couple of offers, but they liked us as a family the best and probably our offer the best. So it was accepted and we started the process of getting a loan to purchase the house. Luckily everything went pretty well. In our duplex that we were renting we were only on a month to month contract, so that was perfect. Our landlord found a new tenant quickly. So I hurried up and packed the whole apartment up and said goodbye to our old ward and moved. We still live in Orem and it is pretty close to our old place, but in a nicer neighborhood. So to tell you about our house, it was built in 1991. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 full bathrooms. One of the rooms we use as a playroom. It has 2700 square feet. We love the big fenced in backyard! It has a new master bathroom, new hardwood floors in the kitchen and living room, new kitchen counters, and new fixtures. It has a sprinkler system and a two car garage. No work needs to be done on the house. We are excited to be here. Now we just need to save up some money to buy some more furniture to fill the house. We also love our new ward. Everyone has been really friendly and we have gotten quite a few treats from neighbors welcoming us. So along with a great house, the old owners left us a trampoline, patio set, tether ball pole, lawn mower, air hockey table, stainless steal refrigerator with ice and water on the door, and a flat screen television mounted in the master bedroom. All for free!!!!!!!! So we are excited to be here. We just got Comcast hooked up so I can now update our blog. We also got a home phone number, so call our cell phone and we will give you our home phone.
backyard

kitchen

playroom

First official family camping trip

Last weekend we went camping with our ward to a reservoir. We went because it was a free fishing day on Saturday. You didn't need a fishing license and some men in our ward were going to let everyone use their fishing boats and fishing gear to fish. So we headed up after Shae got off work on Friday. We got there about 8:30 pm and luckily enough it was light still to set up our tent. The other thing we noticed right away was how cold it was. It was freezing. We layered the kids as much as we could with all the clothes we brought for them. We made a couple smores and went to bed. I brought Aiden's car seat in the tent thinking that would be a good place for him to sleep. He woke up a couple times and I nursed him, but I could tell he didn't like his car seat. So I put him in my sleeping bag with me. As soon as I did that he was happy and slept the rest of the night. I think he was cold in his car seat. It was so cold and windy and it even snowed on us. You could see your breath in the air. As long as we stayed inside our sleeping bags we were warm. The girls slept through the night just fine. Shae tossed and turned a little because we forgot to bring pillows and he couldn't get comfortable. In the morning we didn't want to get out of our sleeping bags because it was so cold. The kids and I went in our car and turned the heat on full blast. We ate breakfast inside our car to stay warm while Shae put away our tent and sleeping bags. We then waited in the car until we could go out on the boat and try fishing. But it turns out that the fish weren't biting because they had a lot of minnows and fly to eat. (That is what the fishing experts told us). But we still decided to go for a small boat ride. We thought the girls would like it even though it was super cold. We bundled the kids up and Aiden had a warm quilt around him and we went on the boat. While we were on the boat it started to snow on us. We didn't go fast because it was so cold. Aiden actually fell asleep on the boat because he was warm and covered. All the rest of us were cold, but the girls didn't complain. The girls enjoyed the boat ride and enjoyed watching these birds that sit on the waters' surface and then dive down to catch fish. After the boat ride we left for home. On the way home a ton of sheep were on the road, blocking our way. We were home by 11:00 am. For our next camping trip hopefully it will be warm and we will be able to take some pictures instead of focusing on staying warm.

Growing Aiden

Aiden is getting so big. He just turned 7 months old. He is now getting his first tooth. I also took him to the pool for the first time and he loved it. He was splashing and leaning forward to get on his tummy in the water. I think he will start to crawl soon. He also loves "playing" outside and tries to eat the grass. His big sisters love him and Lizzy can always make him laugh!

Preschool Graduation

Lizzy had her preschool graduation. She did an awesome job. She remembered all the songs and sign language. She also had a small part to give and said, "We learned about birds and insects." She remembered her part and a lot of the other kids part. I have to say I was pretty proud of my oldest girl that day. After graduation we went to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate. In the fall Lizzy and Ali will be going to preschool together. That will be nice!

Field trip to see farm animals

Ali, Aiden and I went with Lizzy's preschool to go see the farm animals at Thanksgiving Point. It was really fun. The girls loved getting a pony ride. Lizzy wanted to ride the biggest one. Ali was nervous at first, but then she loved it! Aiden even loved seeing the animals. That was a fun day.

New Swing!

Shae found a swing at Target that is round and has one rope in the middle of it. He hung it from our only tree that is in our front yard and the girls love it. At first I had to help them on, but now Lizzy holds on to it and jumps on. Lizzy will also pick up Ali and put her on and push her. They haven't hit the tree yet, so that's a good sign. I'm glad they have a swing now since we don't have a swing set.

Camp-out with Daddy

Lizzy has been asking for a long time to sleep in the tent in our backyard with Daddy, so finally Shae set up the tent and the girls and Daddy had a camp-out. Aiden and I stayed inside and slept. Ali tried to stay outside, but I guess Lizzy kept talking until it was really late and Ali could not fall asleep. So Ali ended up coming inside, but Lizzy and Shae slept all night in the tent in our backyard. Lizzy had a fun time. Hopefully we will be able to do some real camping this summer.