To move or not to move...

That is the question!

With the addition of family member #8 in the very near future, we are definitely outgrowing our house. So, a couple of months ago we started toying with the idea of moving to something bigger. We would LOVE to be closer to DH's work (45 minute commute each way definitely cuts into family/free time), but for some reason neither of us are too crazy about the idea of moving back to Utah County. This is also a GREAT time to buy a home - home prices continue to drop and we could most likely get something bigger for a pretty good price right now. At the same time, it is not a great time to sell a house. We have several homes in the neighborhood that have been up for sale for 6-8 months with no serious offers at all during that time.

At the same time that we started looking around at buying a new home, we also started looking into possibly just refinancing our current home. When we bought this house we ended up taking out 2 mortgages to avoid paying mortgage insurance and we had locked in at a great rate at the time - at least we thought that we had. When we showed up to closing we were surprised and very disappointed to find that our mortgage lender hadn't locked us in at the rate we wanted when DH had called him to lock in and so we were left with more than a 1/2 point higher than we supposed to get. Unfortunately at that point there was nothing that could be done (at least as far as we knew) and rates were continuing to rise so we had to settle for the higher rate.

So, fast forward to today. Rates have been very good for the last little while, but we have been hesitant to refinance because we are not sure how much longer we want to remain in this home and if it ends up being a short period of time, then the closing costs to refinance are usually too high to allow you to come out ahead even with the lower monthly payments.

Well, DH found out from a co-worker about a mortgage company that can offer better than the typical interest rates because they only deal with people that have really good credit scores. So we looked into and it looked like we would be able to get quite a bit lower of a rate than we have now and be able to pay off the closing costs with our savings in less than a year - plus being able to consolidate the two mortgages into one loan and lower our loan time to 20-years (instead of our current 30-year loan which we have 23 years left on).

After thinking and praying about the decision for a few weeks, we decided to refinance with Box Home Loans and hope that our home appraised for high enough that we would be able to avoid the mortgage insurance. So we started the application process - most of which we were able to fill out and digitally sign online. We had our credit scores run and then I got a call the morning before Kitty's birthday from an appraiser who wanted to come to our house in 2 hours. At the time the kids were off-track from school so they were each assigned some cleaning jobs to do and we frantically cleaned the house as much as we could until the appraiser showed up. At one point during the cleaning Luke made the comment, "Wow! I wish our house was this clean all the time!"

A couple of days later we got a copy of the appraisal and to our pleasant surprise our home appraised for higher than we thought it would - YEA!

Then yesterday I drove down to Orem to pick DH from work and we drove over to the Title company to sign the settlement papers. Our closing costs ended up being slightly less than the estimate we were given and our monthly payments will be a few dollars less than we were estimating as well. Kitty and Kay came with us - which I was a little hesitant to do - but they were both very well behaved and Kay had fun holding the pen while I signed/initialed all of the papers - she wanted to help. And we were at the Title company for just a little over a half an hour.

So our plan is to stay in this home for probably another 2 years and then see what the market is like and possibly try to sell then. In the meantime we have some home improvements that we want to do before then - and hopefully sooner rather than later so we can enjoy them a little before we think about moving. Some of the projects in the plans include fencing in the back yard, building a shed, putting in a wood floor in the living room, adding cabinets in the laundry room, and adding an extension to the side of our driveway for some additional parking.

We really like the area and ward that we live in and everyone is so super friendly around here. We also love the huge yard and garden area that we have here. We just wish that the home was a little bit bigger (with bigger rooms) and a little closer to DH's work.

Moving up!

About a month ago Blondie decided it was time for her to finally learn how to ride a two-wheeler. DH had been trying to help her but in the end she just set herself to the task and learned on her own! While we were watching her ride, we realized that she was way too big for her current bike so we got down M&M's old bike from the garage and she is enjoying riding the bigger bike now. (We're just having a little disagreement on how high her seat should be. DH thinks it needs to be high so that her toes barely touch the ground when she is on it, but she can't start on her own that way so Blondie and I want him to lower it. She is getting very frustrated because I don't even think she has been able to start once on her own with the seat up high...)
So, with Blondie on the bigger bike, DH put the training wheels back on the smaller bike and Kitty is now learning to ride.

DH in the spotlight again

DH was chosen to be included in a recent video made by the church about FamilySearch and the Granite Mountain Records Vault. You can watch the video here:
FamilySearch Shares Plans to Digitize Billions of Records Stored at Granite Mountain Records Vault

If you click on the videos tab in the middle of the page, DH is in the second video. The first one is also interesting to watch if you want to see what it looks like inside the vault. This video was made to be shown at a genealogy conference being held here in Salt Lake.

He had to spend some time at the church's motion picture studio to practice and record the clips as well as doing some voice over. I think it turned out pretty well!

What a difference a few days can make!

Tuesday afternoon:


This morning:
We have a couple of inches of snow in the yard - a very wet, heavy snow.Our blossom tree out front - it actually looks like it's blooming with all of the snow on it! Hopefully it will get a chance to actually bloom in the next couple of days...

And the verdict is still out on whether my strawberry plants will survive or not...

Golden Spike

Last Saturday, after Luke's soccer game, we headed up to Promontory, Utah for a family reunion on DH's side. The reunion took place just outside of Corinne at an old family farm - although not a direct ancestor. Unfortunately we really didn't know anyone there and with our five kids that we have to look after we couldn't do too much visiting either. Lunch was provided and they had some musical entertainment during the lunch and then we took the kids around the farm to see the horses and climb on some tractors.

The kids had a lot of fun feeding this horse.
Kay threw a fit when we took her off this tractor and carried her back to our car to leave. She kept crying and saying, "I want my tractor!!"

After we left the reunion we headed over to the Golden Spike National Historic Site where the railroads from the east and the west finally joined to complete the first route across the U.S. They have replicas of the original engines that were there at the ceremony when the last spike was pounded into the ground to join the tracks. They were beautiful engines! Apparently after May first they bring the engines outside for some re-enactments during the daytime, so when we were there they still had them housed for the winter season in the engine house where engineers were working on polishing them and keeping them in good shape.The Jupiter - the Central Pacific passenger locomotive.
No. 119 - the Union Pacific freight locomotive.
Both of these engines ended up being at the last spike ceremony accidentally - you can read more about the story at the Golden Spike NPS website.
Kay was a little bit of a pill during our visit to the Visitor's Center and had no interest in watching the video that they show there, so I sat near the door so I could watch her playing out in the exhibit area - luckily there weren't very many people there at the time. Her favorite part was outside at the railroad tracks playing with the rocks...

After the Golden Spike park we tried to drive to Promontory point, but apparently weren't on the right road because it eventually turned into private property and we had to turn around. Next time we're up in the area we'll have to see if we can figure out a way to get there - it's supposed to have a pretty scenic view of the North side of the Great Salt Lake and there is supposed to be a spiral jetty that is nearby.

Garden work

Yesterday we did some yard work during our family home evening time - the kids and I worked in the garden and DH mowed the lawn. I think it's good to get the kids out there and have them share in some of the work. I think that this is the earliest that we have ever been ready to actually start planting in the garden. Yesterday we got some more strawberry plants planted before we headed inside. We have been having very strong winds all day today though, so I hope the plants survive!!

The weather is supposed to be cold the next few days so hopefully it will warm back up next week and then we can start planting in the main section of our garden!

And here is Kay's contribution to the work:

Kid talk

Things that Kay says:

Super-lella = Cinderella

camer = camera

This is what she calls her siblings: Emmy, Ky-Ky, Lee-lee and Lar-lar.

Any baby that she see she points to it and says, "Baby Wesley!" - my sister's baby.

The other day when I got Kay out of bed I told her "Good morning" and then she added at the end, "Princess". Usually when I get her out of bed I tell her, "Good morning Princess", but that morning I had left off the princess part.

She loves to sing "Twinkle, twinkle, little star". She mostly just knows the first two lines though - she gets kind of lost in the middle section.

micycle = bicycle - She actually sings the Bicycle Race song by Queen that goes, "I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle" - except insert micycle in there...

Another favorite song/activity of hers is Ring around the Rosies - except she has changed one of the words. This is how she sings it, "Ring around the rosies, Pocket full of TOESIES!"

The other morning I asked her if Elmo on her nightgown had a good night's sleep. Her reply was, "Course!"

Happy 5th Birthday Kitty!

Saturday, April 17th

For Kitty's 5th birthday, we had a pizza dinner at our house, followed by some playing outside in the nice spring weather and then cake and ice cream. Kitty chose a castle cake which was fun for me to make - it was the first time that I had done flowers and leaves like that. Kay had a hard time trying to understand why all of the presents were for Kitty this time and not for her. And then Blondie had to be next to Kitty at all times whether she was opening her presents or blowing out the candles on her cake...
Kitty got a couple of princess dolls and a Pucci Pup that she has been enjoying playing with (along with her sisters). My parents were able to come over for dinner and cake again. It's nice having them nearby so they can be here to help celebrate the kids' birthdays!

Change of attitude

So a couple of weeks after I posted about Kay's lack of interest in participating in prayers, she all of a sudden decided to start participating. We can even get her to help say them sometimes and she loves the attention she gets afterwards when she has said one. She sits there with a big grin on her face while she repeats the words that I say to her and then afterwards she jumps up and goes around the whole family circle giving everyone a hug and/or kiss. She is also starting to recognize prayers at other times and will occasionally fold her arms when one is being said or say "amen" afterwards.

Zoo trip

Thursday, April 15th
Since the kids are off-track from school right now and the weather has been beautiful, I decided to take them on a trip to the zoo. This was Kay's first trip there where she has been old enough to really notice and be interested in the animals. My parents came along with us which helped out a lot. Kay is at the age where she wants to be very independent and wants to do what she wants to do. I brought the stroller for her to ride in and to carry our lunches and I think Kay rode in it for a total of maybe 5 minutes while we were there.

It turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day. I even had to stop and take some time to put sunscreen on the kids after lunch so they wouldn't get sunburned.

Beautiful colors on this peacock!One of Kay's favorite things to do at the zoo was to climb anything that she could. Fences, rocks, stairs, etc.This baby elephant was by far my favorite animal at the zoo this trip.It is so hard to get 5 kids looking at the camera and smiling at the same time!Kay's favorite part of the zoo was riding on the carousel. She just sat there smiling the whole time the ride was going. When the ride ended and I told her it was time to get down, she started crying and throwing a fit because she wanted to stay on it.This is a fairly new attraction at the Hogle Zoo and it is one of the prettiest carousels I have ever seen. All of the rides are different animals. Kay rode on a bald eagle, Blondie was on a dolphin, M&M was on a peacock, Luke rode on a snow leopard, and Kitty was on a zebra.
My 5 little monkeys!
Playing at the zoo playground before we left.

Sensitive girls!

The other day we watched the movie Enchanted for the first time. Blondie got a little sad and emotional at one point in the movie and then both Blondie and Kitty were scared at the ending so they quickly ran to the couch to get some comfort from their dad!

Blondie quite often gets scared when we're watching a movie or a show - she's definitely got a sensitive side to her!

Baby K turns 2!!

Tuesday, April 6th
Baby K is now 2 years old! I can't believe that she is that old already! So, from now on she will be known as Kay on my blog (instead of Baby K).

She is still obsessed with Sesame Street so I made her an Abby cake (one of the new characters on Sesame Street) for her birthday. It turned out really cute. My parents were able to come over and have cake and ice cream with us on her birthday. One of her favorite gifts was a bouncy ball that she went around the room throwing to everyone - she made sure that everyone was included (even her dad who was running the video camera).After Kay finished with her cake, she immediately got down and went to her grandpa to ask him to throw the ball with her. Then she wanted to include grandma too (who was still finishing her cake). She kept saying, "Come on, Grandma! Come on!"One of Kay's funny quirks lately is that she is always wanting to wear a dress or skirt. The problem is that I have so many other cute outfits that are shorts or capris or pants that I want her to wear but she will throw an absolute fit if I try and put them on her. She also only wants to wear nightgowns to bed. The other day I forcefully put some pants and a long-sleeved shirt on her for bedtime because it was chilly (and she was freezing from having just been playing outside). It took her quite a while to settle down after that... She is definitely going to love summertime when I don't have to worry about dressing her warmly!

Trying to figure out how to work the video camera.
Lately she is having a time going to bed at night. She likes to fall asleep in my bed (usually holding onto my hair). Then DH or I will put her in her crib and some nights she will wake up around 4 or 5 in the morning crying/yelling for me. When I go in to get her she immediately changes to a happy tone of voice and says, "There she is!" or "There's the momma!" I'm hoping we can get this resolved before the new baby comes in just a few short months! I would just let her cry and scream in her bed, but she shares the room with Kitty and Luke's bedroom is just next door...

Kid talk

Blondie's first comment after throwing up: "Is my shirt dirty?"

She is obsessed with clothes and looking good and only cared if anything got on the new shirt that she was wearing...

Easter 2010

This year I picked out patterns to make my girls Easter dresses over a month in advance. I bought the patterns and fabric when it went on sale and then promptly brought it all home and then didn't do anything with it until about a week ago. I finally cut the fabric out last Saturday and then started the sewing on Monday. The hardest part this year was that all of the patterns I picked out for the girls were tiered dresses/skirts that had a lot of pieces that you had to gather and fit together. So it called for a lot of busy work just to get them together. I finished them all up yesterday and we even had time to make some matching flower barrettes.

This year I also had a helper - M&M. She expressed interest in learning how to sew when she came with me to the fabric store to help pick out the fabrics for the dresses. Thankfully there were a lot of straight lines that needed to be sewn that I was able to let her help on. I even had her do some ironing and a little bit of serging as well. I also had her take out some of the basting stitching and cut stray threads that needed cutting. I think she really enjoyed helping out.

The girls all loved their dresses and I think they turned out rather cute! The only problem I had was with Baby K's dress. Her dress turned out a little too big and when I put it on her it looked like she was a tiered cake. My husband suggested I put some ties on the dress and I thought that sounded like a good idea so I gave it a try. I had enough leftover fabric to cut out some ties for the dress and attached them at the side seams. Once we put it on her it really helped add some shape to the dress. She has been wearing it all day today and loves jumping up and down in it. The fabric for the dresses is kind of stiff so they poof out really easily and the younger girls love twirling around in them.

We have enjoyed watching General Conference this Easter weekend and were looking forward to going to my parents' house for dinner, an Easter egg hunt and birthday cake for my mom, but my mom ended up coming down with a touch of pneumonia so we decided to put it off for a day or two until she is feeling better. We also had snow again this morning so hopefully the weather will be warmer tomorrow for our egg hunt.Blondie and Kitty's dresses were made from the same pattern - just different sizes and a different color fabric.It felt kind of weird not going to church on Easter, so I just had the kids dress up in their Easter outfits for the morning session of conference and then we took a few pictures and let them change if they wanted to. M&M was the only one who ended up changing. I couldn't even get Baby K to take her shoes off for her nap...

And I was reminded by one of the girls that next year I will have to make FIVE dresses...

Decorating eggs 2010

This year Baby K had a lot of fun getting in on the action of decorating the eggs for Easter. She kept saying "pretty eggs" while we were decorating them. When I put the first color dye in front of Baby K, she immediately picked up the boiled egg and dropped it in the dye solution. Luckily I had the table well covered and it only splashed a little. She wanted to help so much and ended up dropping a few eggs that cracked when they hit the table. Once we were finished with the dyeing, Baby K had fun putting lots stickers on the eggs. Blondie didn't want to be done with the dyeing so she just kept dipping the eggs that she had colored into other colors until most of them turned out a weird brown color - and she ended up breaking a few as well. It's nice as the kids get older because they can do most of the decorating without help now.

Fiddler on the Roof

DH, M&M and I went to see a production of Fiddler on the Roof on Wednesday night. This was our first time going to the Hale Center Theatre and it was a lot of fun. It is a pretty small stage, but the theater is round so there is really no front or back to the stage. It was neat seeing how they did the scenes so that everyone in the theatre could see. We were seated on the second row and had a great time. It was fun seeing M&M laugh at the humorous parts in the play. Thanks to my dad who came to our house to watch the younger kids for us. The only downside to the date we picked to go to the play was that there was a big concert going on at the venue just across the street from the theatre so we had quite a bit of traffic getting to and leaving the theatre.

Spring snow - day 2!

On Thursday morning it continued to snow so the kids went out to play after lunch. It actually wasn't too cold so the kids put on their snow pants and boots and gloves and then just wore a jacket on top of that. The sun was super bright! It was a really wet, heavy snow which was perfect for making snowmen. Here are some pictures:

Teamwork!
Blondie and Kitty worked with one of the neighbor girls to make their snowman. They ended up making a short, fat one because they weren't strong enough to lift up the snowball they had made for the middle section. It was pretty cute watching them use their imagination to come up with their design!