Gorgeous new house!!

So there we were living in my moms house with my three kids five and under... We had been living with her a month. Keri had just found out he had gotten the job he really wanted so the next step was to find us a house.  That part seemed really hard.  First how in the world were Keri and I going to agree on a house?! We rarely agree on movies! Our first disagreement was on location. I wanted to live in the Kaysville/Layton area... he was open to pretty much anything and it didn't matter how far away from Kaysville/Layton it was.  We grew up in Kaysville after my dad retired from the miltary and I just loved the area. It is pretty much next to everything you need to include my favorite part.. the freeway.  The most important thing about living in the Kaysville/Layton area however was that I wanted my kids to be in the Davis School District and more importantly I wanted my kids to go to Davis High. This was my driving force behind everything.  Keri thought I was limited our options really wanted us to look at a few houses down in Syracuse.  Mostly what I have against Syracuse is that you have to drive down Gentile for what seems like years to get down to the houses and I just didn't want to do that.  In North Carolina you had to drive forever to get anywhere and I was over that. I live in Utah now. I want to be live close to things. Not be driving down a long road every day to get places... but to avoid fight I hopped in the car and drove down the looooong road to look at some houses.  I'll be honest I feel in LOVE with a house down there! I really wanted this house. It was perfect. Right across the street was this gorgeous park with a lake. It was amazing. The only draw back.. the only thing saving me from taking this house was that it was on the worlds busiest road and there was no way I could buy this house that had a gotgeous park across the street with a lake and take the chance the twins would open our front door and run across the worlds busiest street and get hit by a car going 60mph.

Well I was starting to get nervous.  We were pretty crammed into my moms house.  She already had a full house before we moved in as Kelly and Shaun live there. While it was fun to all be under one roof after six years of living so far away it was time to be in our own home again.  Well just around the corner from my mom is this super gorgeous new subdivision. It use to be farmland that had horses on it. It is set against the mountains and it is just this luscious green and super pretty to look at. Well last year it got sold and homes started popping up. When I saw that I will admit I was mad!! They sold the pretty farmland for HOMES?! Is there no end to that in Utah? Where are all the poor horses going to run now? There use to be so much farmland in Kaysville and virtually all of it is gone now.

Getting past my soap box my mom dragged me into the car one Saturday and told me we were going to drive into that new subdivision around the corner.  She told me I WAS going to find a house there. I had previously driven through it and I had hated it!! I don't know how to describe it. It was not your normal subdivision. They would have normal houses and then they would have these very modern, very odd looking houses. My friend said if you saw these homes in Park City you wouldn't think they looked weird.. but we weren't in Park City. We were in Layton.  They also had this bright orange and white home right as you turned onto the street. I wasn't sure what was going on with this neighborhood but I was SURE it wasn't for me.

Well we drove around and we actually found this cute green house.  It was probably only half finished so the door was wide open.  Mom, Shaun, and I were in the car so we decided it was a good idea to go in the house and check it out. I noticed a sign out front from the builder so I asked mom if I should call them.  She said it was a good idea.  I called the number and a guy named Dallin answered. I told him I was outside his house and would love to go inside.  He said that would be fine and asked if I wanted him to meet us. I told him sure. I told him we had been pre-approved for a certain amount already and he said he had a few houses in the area he could show us too.  Perfect I thought!! So we went in the house while we waited for him and we HATED it.  Oh my gosh we did not like this house.  So then we are outside in the car regretting that we called this guy. Naturally mom tells me as much... you shouldn't have called him she says.  Well a few minutes later he shows up and drives us around the corner to a blueish/gray house.  The outside is cute.  We walk in and I immediately fall in LOVE with this house.  I immediately know more than I have ever know anything in my life that I am standing in my house.  Everything was perfect. It had granite counter tops. It had a balcony off of the master bedroom. It had a huge bonus room. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs. It has a 3 car garage. It has a huge laundry room. It has a walk in pantry. It is perfect. My walk in closet is huge. My bathroom is huge. It has a built in school area with shelves. There is nothing I don't love about this house.  I called Keri over and he loved it as well.  I couldn't believe this was happening. I can't remembering being this excited about anything.  We signed the contract right then.  Dallin was the son of the Contractor we decided on a price that was a littler lower than the asking price of the house so we had to wait a few days to see if the dad would accept the price and luckily he did.  After that day which was Sept 20, 2014 everything pretty much went off without a hitch.

October 23, 2014 we closed on our house and the very next day we moved into our new house!!! It was so excited to get the keys to our first house!! I feel so blessed that this all happened the way it did.  Blessed that Keri worked so hard to get his degree to get this job to afford this house. Blessed that our heavenly father had a hand in all of this. Keri's job had to line up perfectly for us to get into this house when we did. I feel like in life we focus so much on the negative and we don't stop to give thanks for the good.  We survived the weekend in this house with just the basics as we are waiting on our household goods to come out of storage and be delivered on Tuesday! Let me tell you .. you think you have everything until you are trying to take dinner out of the stove without oven mitts... or you take your shirt out for church on sunday and you don't have an iron.... or you've made baked potato's and you don't have a cheese grater.  I think all of these little things make for good memories and one day when we are older and all settled into our life here in our cute little house we will look back and laugh at the time I thought taking turkey steaks out of the oven with pull ups was a good idea!!!

Big changes to a brand new start!!

Our family went through a lot of new changes since I lost wrote! For starters due to a heart condition Keri retired from the military after 10 years. We knew it was coming but when the retirement orders finally came down it was really sad.  I decided to make our last summer in North Carolina memorable so we made it a busy one.  Cambree and her best friend Bella enrolled in swim classes in June, in July they did dance, and in August they did a tumbling camp and another swim session.  Is there anything better than spending the summer with your best friend? I just love Tabitha so it was nice to spend the summer with her as well.... tiring but nice.  One day the girls rushed from one thing to the next to the next. They went from tumbling, to swim, and finished off the afternoon with dance.  I told you we were ending summer with a bang! Cambree originally was mad at me for putting her in the second session of swim lessons by ended up loving them. By the last day of swim class my baby girl actually jumped off the diving board. I have never been more proud of her. I never in a million years thought she would jump!!! She progressed so good over the course of the summer.  Dad drove Shannon out to Utah for a month so he was able to stay with us a few days at our house. We took him on base to the Movie/Pool night.  They were showing Goonies and you were able watch the movie while you swam. Cam and I went to all three this summer. They were so fun! Cam has turned into quite the swimmer! We threw in as many playdates as we could knowing our days were numbered.

As for me I spent as much time with my friends as I could. I was really going to miss Tania, Kimmi, and Tabitha. I can't say enough about those girls.  Tabitha was my partner in crime during my last year in N.C.  It was so nice to have our girls do everything together. They had Pre K together, they had dance together, and they just liked to be together. They were truly two peas in a pod.  The swim teachers asked me if they were sisters because they were always talking about each other. I think the first session they did more singing and dancing in the pool than they did actual swimming and that is okay They had this song they always song that goes "Me and my girls are best friends forever..."  I'm going to miss seeing them dancing and singing around the house.

Well we got the house packed up, the movers came, and we headed up to Shannon's house to spend the night before our big trip across the country to Utah.  It was sad to see our house in the rearview mirror. The twins were just 10 months when we moved to NC.  They learned to walk in that house. We watched them grow up. We have so many memories in that house. I hated saying goodbye to North Carolina. It was the most content I remember ever feeling in my life. I truly had the best friends. Cambree had the most incredible friends ever as well. I hated making her say goodbye.

The long trek across the country wasn't bad at all actually. We decided we didn't want to see West Virginia again so we went down through Tenessee.  Let me tell you it was gorgeous! I would live there in a heart beat!! Since the Air Force was paying for this trip we decided to travel in style and stayed in a Hyatt closed to the Grand Ole Opry. We got to our hotel and I took Cambree to the pool.  The next day Cam put on her pink cowboy hat and pulled out her guitar and we stopped by the grand ole opry for pictures. She fit right in. My girl is going to be a star one day and we can pull out that picture one day and be like yep, we knew it back then! We took our time and 4 days later we rolled into Utah. I had forgotten how gorgeous the West truly was. When we got to Wyoming I was finally getting excited to be out West!!

Cambree only had a few days to get adjusted to the time zone because it was right to Kindergarten for her!!! I can't believe my baby girl is in Kindergarten. If we had stayed in NC she would have gone all day... well turns out half day out here means barely 3 hours.  The school day out here is just as long as she was going for Pre K. I was surprised!! Mrs. Cooper did an amazing job getting Cambree ready for Kindergarten as she is already a few months into school and knows everything they are going over. I think school is going to be a breeze for her this year. Cam has been a real trooper. I put her in dance out here and she will start tumbling soon. She has two friends at school she really likes and one of them is actually a cute little boy. That is something new. I think we have transitioned pretty good but there are days we still long for our NC life.

Goodbye Pre k, hello summer!!

I cannot believe it! School is out for the summer!! Cambree has officially completed Pre K! I cannot believe how much she has grown since she started in September 2013.  There are two elementary schools inside the military housing area we live in and Pre K is a part of the regular elementary school. Cambree went to school like everyone else each day from 8:20-10:50am. She had the absolute best Pre K teacher anyone could ask for. Mrs. Cooper was amazing.  I've never seen a teacher do so many cute projects with their kids. I think we all teared up in our last pick up line at school.  Before school started Cambree couldn't even spell her name all the way. Within a few weeks of school she could not only spell it but write it perfectly. She has learned to recognized all her abc's, and the sounds they make. This girl is well on way to reading! I'm so proud of her!! 

Cambree also just finished up her second year dancing at Southern Dance Explosion! I put together a picture of her and her best friend Allegra picking out their tutu's at 3, how they looked at the end of their first year, and how they looked at the end of their second year.  Cam has come a long way since she first started dance. She use to hate to put her ballet shows on! I use to have to put them on before we left so she wouldn't cry in class when I put them on her.  It has been so fun to watch her progress over the years! It has also been so nice that she has been able to dance for two years with her best friend.  

 This is a picture at her last recital with her best friends Bella & Allegra! These three girls are the cutest friends ever. Bella was in Cambree's pre k class as well as dance class so those two got super close.  These girls danced to "I'm not ready to be a princess" and they were spectacular!

 Cambree & Bella also tried out tumbling this year and LOVED it! I definitely have a tumbler on my hands.

School's over, tumbling is over, dance is over for another month.... it's time to kick back and have some fun! I'm so proud of my baby girl!! 

Cambree turns 5 in style!!

I'm so bad about keeping this blog updated but I thought I would give it a try. Every January just when it starts to get dreary with the weather we get to make it festive by celebrating birthdays. Cambree's comes first and this year it was her 5th birthday!!! I cannot believe my baby girl is 5!! For her actual birthday we went up to Shannon's house because Grandpa Lindy & Kelly were visiting! It was so fun to celebrate with family! 

 The birthday girl!

 Cambree with Papa Lindy

 Shannon bought the cutest pinata that we did

 Buddy was determined to crack that thing open

 Cam & Jax

Of course we had to keep the party going.  The week after her actual birthday we had her birthday party with friends.  Cam has THE CUTEST friends ever so she was so excited for her party! Her party list included her best friend Allegra, Bella, Charlotte, and Maddy. There was no question what the theme would be... PRINCESS!! I have to admit even I was excited for her birthday party!!  The party went off without a hitch!!

 Decorating the table is my favorite part!!

 I thought this carriage holder was the cutest thing ever!

 No party is complete without cute water bottles!!

 Cam & Ashy!

 Cam & her friend Bella! 

 The whole gang!

 Cambree has had this same cake for three years in a row. It is her favorite!

Getting a picture of the whole gang! 

Cam enjoyed every minute of her 5th birthday! I'm so glad she has so many people in her life that love her! Happy birthday baby girl! 

Lots to catch up on!

I can't believe it has been so long since I've blogged!! So much has happened since I last wrote.  I think we better start with summer! Summer summer summertime!! We had one of the best summers I've had in a long time.  It all started when my dad told me he was having a work conference in Orlando at the end of July.  Whenever I hear the words trip, conference, or tournament I can't help but immediately start to hatch a plan.  I called my dad and within seconds we figured out a rough plan.  I was going to have to talk Keri into driving to Florida and meeting up with my dad.  We would stay with him at his fancy hotel and then meet up with his family later on in the week.  Usually when I'm hatching a plan it takes a lot of work to convince Keri but this one didn't take much at all.  Before we knew it it was the end of July and we were off to see my dad. When he travels for work he usually travels in style. I've gone to many conferences with him and we usually stay at Hiltons so when I saw the place we were staying I was a bit disappointed. Granted it had a whole kitchen area with a microwave and dishwasher and it had two rooms but Dad had set my standards high with past places.  Well we settled in and spent the next day relaxing.  Tuesday we hit Sea World.  The military gets in free once a year so it is always on our itinerary of things to do. Cam has already been to Sea World once but she was little. This time she was super excited. The problem with being in Florida in July is that it is insanely hot.  Like imagine the hottest you have ever been and double no.. triple it.  I thought I was literally going to melt to a puddle.  That didn't get our spirits down though. The kids love loved it!! Well later that night we took a walk quite a few blocks down to check out the hotel my dads conference was actually being held out. Holy luxurious!! When I saw all the crystal chandeliers hanging everywhere I knew we HAD to switch hotels!!! Then I saw the pool.  It was amazing. It had a separate part for little kids with sand even. Immediately I was off to hatch a plan to get us to switch hotels!!  Luckily it didn't take too much convincing to switch. Now this hotel was more my style... it fit the version of me that I imagine being really rich lol.

Well Keri and I worked out a plan where he would actually take the twins and go visit his family down in Satellite Beach while Cam and I stayed with my dad.  The next thing on our itinerary was ... Disney World!!! We took everyone a few years ago but again Cam was too young to really enjoy it.  She was SO excited that we were going!! Again... Disney World in July is incredibly hot!!! These won't be vacation pictures we will be showing as we are all plastered in sweat lol.  Disney was amazing! We hit all the rides we wanted except one.. Splash Mountain.  So when we first entered the park I told my dad we needed to go to splash mountain and get a fast pass.  We did just that and after a fun day at the park we headed over to Splash Mountain for our last ride of the day. We were in line talking about what an amazing day it was when... what is that? RAIN!! We were literally one person away from getting on Splash Mountain when it rained and they closed down the ride!!!!! Nooooooooooooooo. We decided to wait it out in line but after 45 minutes we threw in the towel.  We were one person away from a perfect day!! We left with great memories though!

The rest of the week went by fast. Cam & I spent the days hanging out at the awesome pool. On Saturday we headed down to Satallite Beach where Keri's mom lives.  The next day we spent the day at the beach.  Keri's grandparents live RIGHT on Cocoa Beach so we went and chatted with them and then walked out their back door to the ocean. Like ten years ago I visited Florida with my friends and we found Cocoa Beach. It ended up being my favorite beach back then and it is my favorite beach still today.  The next day we were leaving but before we left Dana planned a big bbq with Keri's grandparents and his Aunt Michele. We LOVE Aunt Michele. She is one of the most amazing, sweet, generous, loving people I have ever met! Oh and she is gorgeous too! I think my girls look like her.  We had a great time eating and chatting away.

Well we got back from Florida and had one day to recoop before Dad and I hopped in the car with the kids to drive back to Utah.  We had planned to go home to Utah for 3 weeks and Dad offered to drive us back after that. Yep, my dad is pretty awesome. Well it took us 3 days in the car to get home to Utah.  All in all it wasn't that bad. The kids travel great. I don't know how people did long road trips before dvd players were installed in cars, The dvd player saves us!! This trip my girls were crazy about Britney Spear's "Oh la la" song.. driving at 11pm at night listening to my girls sing it is a pretty great memory.  Well we got to Utah and instead of staying 3 weeks we made it a month. It is always chaotic living out of a suitcase for longer than a few days but we still had a lot of fun. It was great to see all my old friends again too.  Dad and I even managed to see Utah States opening football game against the Utes.  There is nothing like walking up 79 stairs at Rice Eccles to remind you how old you are getting!! I swear the oxygen was thin up there!!

Well after a month of fun Dad and I headed back in the car with the kids.  This time around my back was bad though. I have never had back problems in my life.  I am not even sure what happened to cause it but my back was basically out.  I had no idea how I drove in the car for three days with that back.  It was pretty awful.  When we finally did get back to North Carolina my dad took pity on me and stayed almost a whole week to help me.  I could not have gotten through that week without him.  Our favorite thing to do was to talk our long walks at night.  After a month and a half together it was REALLY sad to see my dad go!

Well that about sums up our summer 2013.

Horribly swollen knees...

There are a few things I will whine about but usually I keep the whining about my knee's to a minimum. Most people who haven't known me forever don't even know I have horrible knees.  Horrible knees doesn't quite describe however.  The cartilage in both of my knee's have been deteriorating since I was a teenager.  My orthopedic doctor found this out around my 6th knee surgery.  I woke up in recovery and he told me my cartilage is sloughing off and I would be looking at knee replacements for both of my knee's by 40.  I was told this about 13 years ago.  I was still groggy from the anesthesia but I remember looking at my mom and crying. In total I have had 9 surgeries on my knees and finally my doctor told me there was nothing else he could do. I had to wait for my knee replacements.  I suffered through a pregnancy with my twins on bad knees. I suffer through chasing after my 4 year old and my 2 year old twins on bad knees. Most days I can barely get up the stairs but I just have to keep plugging along.  I saw the orthopedic doctor here at Fort Bragg last year who told me I was too young for a knee replacement (let alone two knee replacements) and his direct quote was for me to "suck it up."  Encouraging words right? I don't think this man realizes what it takes to get through a day with three little kids.  I don't have the luxury of laying on the couch icing my knee's. I am up and going all day. Not to mention all the up and down that comes with constantly changing the twins diapers... and the up and down of the stairs chasing them around the house. Carrying Buddy up the stairs when he has fallen asleep. Just lots of little things that most people can just do pain free.

Well in February we all went to Washington D.C. for Keri to have a procedure done and then we went sightseeing.  I remember we were walking to the White House and I had to use the bathroom.  Instead of making everyone wait I told them to go ahead and I would catch up.  Well they must have been speed walking because when I got done they were quite a ways away.  I made a stupid decision. I decided to run to them.  Running isn't something I can do with these knee's but I did it.  Now four months later I am still regretting that decision to run. The next day following my run to catch up (which was quite a distance) I could barely walk.  Then it was insane swelling.  I got home and trying to up and down the stairs was ridiculous. I would get this intensely sharp pain shooting up and down my leg every time I bent it.  Whhhhhy didn't I just tell them to wait for me in that bathroom?! Well I went to my pain management doctor and luckily she ordered some new MRI's on my knees.  I just got the results and took them to my doctor.  Now on top of my catilage being gone and arthritis I have joint effusion which is fluid in my knee.  The report says Medial femoral condyle articular cartilage thinning with subchondral edema and fissuring involving the patellar articular cartilage with suchondral edema  and joint effusion.,  

So basically that is the reason my knee's have been extra worse. I have all this fluid in my joint causing the incredible pain. Well I was able to get a referral back to orthopedic's and I am in the process of getting another appointment.  Basically what they would do is taking a huge needle and draw the fluid out.  To be honest it sounds painful.  I don't know if anyone has had a cortisone shot in their knee or a synvic shot but those things are sooooooooo painful. Honestly I try to avoid cortisone shots because it hurts so bad. However it is nice to know this might be able to ease some pain. 

Anyway, I'm trying to be positive. My brother is struggling to even walk right now so I am extremely grateful I can still walk. I am grateful that eventually my problem can be resolved.  There are a lot worse things I could have.  I just hope I can get into orthopedic's fast and they can be more helpful than last time! I have my fingers crossed!!

Devious girl!!

So many funny things have happened with the kids and I regret I never write them down to remember.  One thing happened a few days ago and I thought I had to write about it.  So the other day Cambree's best friend came over to pick her up for a play date.  I opened the door to go out and put the car seat in Allegra's car and of course who would follow me outside but Ashy.  Now the problem with that is that she won't just stay by me and watch. She likes to hit the dusty trail and run down the street.  This is only made worse when Buddy joins her for the jog.  I didn't want to have to deal with chasing Ashy so I put her back in the house while I helped put Cam's car seat in the car. The whole ordeal took maybe 2 minutes.  So the girls are about to leave and I go to open the door and oh no... Ashy has locked the front door.  Mind you I didn't even know she could reach the dead bolt on the door let alone actually know to twist it.  So there I am outside on the porch without a way in the house ... and I don't even have my phone.  Luckily Kimmi hadn't left yet so I knocked on her window and asked for her phone.  I quickly called Keri and told him what happened.  He was less than thrilled with the situation as he was just arriving at work.  I was on the phone with him and I keep knocking at the door telling Ashy to let me in.  She simply knocks right back to me and doesn't attempt to unlock the door.  What is worse is I see Buddy looking at me through the window.  Help me Buddy!! Luckily Keri got ahold of someone at the housing office and they quickly came and let me in the house.  By the time I got in the house would you believe the twins were in the family room watching tv? They abandoned me. They didn't seem too concerned that I had been stranded outside.  Luckily the whole ordeal didn't take that long but I'm still dying that stinker locked me out! What a devious little 2 year old!!