Blast of winter!

After several weeks of absolutely beautiful weather, this is what our yard looked like this morning. The high today is only supposed to be in the 30s.

Janelle's farewell

Yesterday we drove up to Perry to hear Janelle give her farewell talk. She gave a good talk, but unfortunately she didn't have a lot of time to speak. They had 2 youth speakers before her which each surprisingly gave fairly long talks. She probably had only about 10-15 minutes to talk when they had told her to prepare a 30 minute talk... She had a lot of hearing impaired friends there so they had someone signing throughout the whole sacrament meeting. It was fun to watch them. Janelle seems really excited to leave for her mission and we wish her the best. She is going to the Portland, Oregon ASL mission and goes into the MTC on April 11.

Afterwards we went to Grandpa White's house for a dinner after church. There were a lot of people there and we got to see Chris & Brett's new son, Clarence, and Garrett & Danielle's new baby.

Aunt Deb cutting Janelle's cake with Clarence & Addie watching.

And in case you are interested, here are some more of my spring bulbs blooming:

Sleeping peacefully...

Kitty just fell asleep on the couch for her afternoon nap. They always look so sweet and innocent when they're sleeping...

Playing on the swingset

Here are some pictures of the kids playing on the swingset with Grandpa. We didn't take a lot of pictures while my parents were here because we were so busy house hunting...

Offer accepted

I got a call from Norm yesterday evening letting me know that my parent's offer on the Draper house was accepted! It seems a little surreal to me that they are actually going to be moving out here to Utah and that we really found them a house. I did a count of all the houses that we actually went in to to see and the number comes close to 30! I didn't go to all of them, but there were only a few that I didn't see (and I usually had 2 or 3 of the kids with me). This morning as I was driving around running some errands, I kept spotting "For Sale" signs everywhere I looked. It will take a while to get out of the "find a house" mode. I find myself getting on the computer and wondering what to do since I don't need to check the MLS listings anymore during my free time to see if any new homes have been put on the market...

Now that my parents are back home in Virginia and the house in Draper is pretty much a done deal, my parents will be focusing on getting the last minute details fixed on their home in Virginia and will be listing it on the market. Hopefully it will sell quickly and the changes they have made to the home will pay off. They have painted just about every room, put in a granite countertop in the kitchen and done a TON of decluttering. They will also be putting in a new sliding door in the basement and are considering putting in new carpeting in the upstairs.

I think the final closing for the home in Draper will take place in about 30 days so they can move in any time after that! It's about 20-30 minutes from our house (depending on traffic and how many red lights you hit). We're all excited out here!!

My parents' visit

My parents flew out here on Friday, March 9th to look for a new home. They are ready to really retire this time and have decided to call Utah home again. They were both born and raised in Salt Lake City and still have a lot of family here. We had about 10 days to find a home. Luckily the weather was beautiful the whole time they were here. Ranging from highs in the 60s to 70s.

Here is an overview of how our time was spent while they were here:

Friday, March 9
-Pick up my parents at the airport around 4 p.m.
-Eat dinner & go to bed.

Saturday, March 10
-My parents & I spend the morning & afternoon looking at houses.
-Work on M&M's church talk and school presentation.
-Bathe the kids.

Sunday, March 11
-M&M gives a talk in primary.
-I teach YW.
-Eat dinner.
-I go to Stake Women's Choir practice.

Monday, March 12
-Go grocery shopping.
-Go to school and watch M&M give her presentation on Peacocks.
-Pick up Luke from school and go home to eat lunch.
-Pick up rental car for my parents who then drive around looking at houses.
-Drive M&M & 2 friends to gymnastics.
-Eat dinner and go for a walk.

Tuesday, March 13
-My parents watch Blondie & Kitty while I help out at school in Luke's class.
-Do laundry all day.
-DH works from home in the morning and then goes to a welfare assignment at Welfare Square in the afternoon.
-Go to see a couple of houses with my parents and then have to hurry home so DH can leave.
-My parents go to lunch with my mom's brothers & their wives.
-Play outside with the kids.
-My mom & I go to Enrichment R.S. birthday dinner.
-DH & my dad take the kids to the park.

Wednesday, March 14
-DH attends the 6:40 a.m. session at the temple for our Stake Temple day.
-Spend the morning look at more houses.
-Have to hurry home to be there in time for Luke to get off the kindergarten bus.
-My parents stay out with Norm looking at more houses.
-Do a few more loads of laundry.
-My mom & I go to Sears to do some clothes shopping for my birthday. Don't find anything I like.
-Attend the 6:40 p.m. session at the temple with my parents.

Thursday, March 15
-DH leaves early in the morning to drive down to Provo for a Family History Technology Conference at BYU. DH was on the committee for the conference this year and was asked to be the chair for it next year.
-Finally get all the laundry put away!
-Go out looking at houses after Luke gets home from school.
-My parents drive down to Provo to have dinner with the Williamsons who used to live in Virginia.
-M&M goes to Activity Days activity.
-Find out the postman tried to deliver a package (from my in-laws) but since we weren't there, I now have to pick it up at the post office!

Friday, March 16
-My birthday! I got a new vacuum with which I had to then vacuum the whole house to get ready for my brother & his fiance to visit for the weekend.
-Look at more houses after Luke gets home from school.
-Have to hurry home to be there in time for M&M to get home from school (early closing on Friday).
-Go to Kohl's with my mom to do some clothes shopping for my birthday. Find 2 nice skirts and tops to go with them.
-Get beds ready for D & K to stay with us.
-Go to dinner at a restaurant called Archibald's. It is located at Gardner Village. Amazingly the kids were very good. There was no complaining (except that they were hungry and couldn't understand why it took so long to get their food). There were no big spills or messes made. It was actually somewhat enjoyable.
-Go home and meet D & K at the house.
-Open a few birthday presents.
-Have birthday cake.

Saturday, March 17
-DH goes on his first bike ride of the season.
-My mom & I cut out the fabric for a dress for Blondie.
-Go with my parents to look at one house and drive by another.
-My parents & D & K drive to Woods Cross to have lunch with my dad's sister and her daughter.
-Cook dinner. DH decides just as dinner is almost ready that the weather is perfect and he should change the oil in his car.
-The rest of us eat dinner.
-DH eats a couple of bites and then we have to leave for the adult session of stake conference.
-My parents take the kids to the park.

Sunday, March 18
-DH attends the priesthood leadership meeting from 7-8:30 a.m.
-I bathe the kids and get them dressed and hair done for stake conference.
-My dad drops me off early at the stake center for some last minute practicing for the stake women's choir.
-My parents & DH & the kids arrive at stake conference. I got to sit up on the stand the whole time with the choir while my parents & DH got to deal with the kids. Apparently everyone was very well behaved. Kitty sat on my mom's lap most of the time and played some with the lady sitting behind them. DH said that after the rest hymn was over in the middle of conference, Kitty turned to the people behind her and announced, "It's over!!" D & K stay home because K was sick & throwing up Saturday night.
-Go home and eat dinner.
-D & K leave to drive back up to Rexburg.
-Spend time outside with the kids on our swingset.
-Go for a walk.

Monday, March 19
-My parents go to the store & I go to the post office finally to get my package.
-Drop off the rental car.
-Look at one house.
-Rush home to pick up Luke.
-Visit a few more houses.
-Decide 'no' on a house we looked at a few times in Riverton and another one in Draper.
-Pick up lunch at Wendy's (around 2:30).
-My Mom & I go to the fabric store to buy some more fabric for dresses for the girls for D and K's wedding.
-Get a call from Norm while we're there telling us about another house in Draper.
-Stop at the grocery store on the way home.
-Pick up M&M at gymnastics and drive to the house in Draper.
-Decide that this might be the one.
-Go home to eat dinner & Norm goes home to write up the contract for my parents.
-Call DH on the way home to put some frozen pizzas in the oven.
-Arrive home & eat dinner around 8.
-Finally open the package from the in-laws - Thanks!!
-Get the kids in bed.
-Norm arrives around 9 and leaves around 11.
-My parents pack & we all go to bed.

Tuesday, March 20
-See the kids off to the bus stop at 8 a.m. and then leave for the airport.

So, are you tired yet? I know I am! The rest of today I get to spend doing a LOT of laundry and getting the house back in order!

Found one, finally!!!

Well, after a week and a half of searching, my parents finally found a home that they liked the evening before they were scheduled to fly back to Virginia. It has been a long and tiring process. We went out house hunting almost every day they were here for a couple of hours each day. We had finally given up Monday afternoon after another few hours of searching. Both of my parents were disappointed with the thought that they would have to go back to Virginia without having found a home out here. We were in the process of trying to decide what to do next and how we would house everyone for my brother D's wedding in June. Then while my mom & I were out at the fabric store a little later, Norm (their realtor) called my mom's cell phone and said that he had one more house for my parents to look at out in Draper.

So we went back to my house and talked with my dad & looked at the house listing on the internet. We decided to give this house a shot and called Norm back to have him set up an appointment to see the house. So, I picked M&M up from gymnastics at 6 p.m. and we went straight to the house with all the kids with us (my parents had to return their rental car earlier that day and DH wasn't home yet). This was the first house that we looked at that had just about everything that my parents were looking for in a home. There were two others houses that my parents kind of liked but one was on the corner of a busy road and the other had a layout that wouldn't really accommodate their piano and china hutch and still have seating room for company.

It's a beautiful house in a beautiful location with a very nice yard. The rooms are all good size and really the only thing they will have to do when they move to it will be to put in a fence for Molly.

So Norm went home to write up the contract and we went back to my house to eat dinner and get the kids to bed (we didn't get back to my house until about 8 p.m.). Norm came over a little after 9 and didn't leave until around 11!!

We will find out later this evening if the owners accept the contract or not. Apparently they are a little anxious because they had the home on the market in the fall and a contract fell through and it was in the listings just before my parents came out and another offer fell through so it was just put back on the market again while my parents were here and listed at a lower price!

White today!

Today I have a few white crocuses as well!! We have been having beautiful weather here since my parents arrived Friday evening. No luck yet on the house hunt though...

Purple crocuses

I now have patches of purple crocuses in addition to my yellow ones:

First sign of spring...

I was pulling into my driveway when I saw some color in my flower beds at the front of my house. When I looked closer, I realized that I had some FLOWERS blooming. I noticed some tulip bulbs coming up a few days ago, but with the snow that we had last week (about 4 storms) I was not expecting to have some bulbs blooming already! Blondie & Kitty & I got out of the car and proceeded to remove some of the dead flowers from last year and I couldn't believe how many bulbs I have coming out of the ground! I have a lot of crocuses, tulips and daffodils that are starting to make an appearance. I also saw a hyacinth coming up. I LOVE bulbs because you do all the work in the fall and then just sit back and enjoy them in the spring.

It also helps that our house faces east so it gets the morning sun. We are usually one of the first houses in the neighborhood to get bulbs blooming in the spring...

Blondie teaches FHE

Blondie taught family home evening tonight. At first she wasn't too sure about the idea, but when she found out that she got to color and use scissors to get ready for it, she was VERY excited about doing it. There was an idea for a lesson in the February Friend that I knew she could help with. So I printed out some pictures for her to color and cut out and she LOVED it. She also loved putting the pictures up on the corkboard with the push pins. She kept asking throughout the afternoon when she could teach her lesson to everyone...I was pretty amazed with how good she did with the coloring (pretty good for a 3 year old I think). Here are the pictures she colored (the lesson was on the creation):

Teamwork

Building a tower together is fun...
But it's even more fun when it falls over!!
Blondie & Kitty played like this for about 15 minutes, taking turns putting blocks on top. ...And each time the tower fell down, they laughed hysterically.