I must be an idiot!

I don't know what my problem is, but I'm having serious issues getting pictures uploaded onto my blog post. I've been trying to post for weeks, but since I'm apparently an idiot, I'll just post without pictures.

The last few weeks has been exciting. Events of the last little while have included a high seas rescue, an MIA home seller, a giant tonsil, and a 104 degree swimming pool. Don't worry, I won't elaborate on all the craziness.

We took a short weekend trip to Bear Lake with my family. It was tons of fun, we spent a windy day on the beach soaking up the sun. Hans thought he was pretty cool because when the boat broke down he got to go rescue them on the ranger boat. When the weather was bad the next day, we took the kids on a cave tour up in Idaho. It was very cool, but there were so many more stairs than I remember from when I was younger. Not an easy thing while carrying a whining 2-year-old.

This last week, we were expecting to move into our house, but come closing time, the seller was MIA. It's a long story, but apparently the seller was out of town and couldn't close. So here we are, still in my parent's basement.If everything goes according to plan, we should close no later than Tuesday. Hopefully!

House!! For real this time!

Remember how I posted forever ago about how we were buying a house. Well, now it's for real. But, here's the kicker. It's not even the same house. We waited and waited on that short sale and Hans decided that we needed to look around. I felt no need to look at any other houses because as far as I was concerned, I had found my house. I finally gave in just to make Hans happy. Our realtor sent us a bunch of listings and Hans picked out a few he wanted to see. On Tuesday night, we looked at one in Pleasant Grove and fell in love right away. It's on nearly half an acre and the house is huge with a partially unfinished basement. Perfect for us.

While we were looking around we found out that there were already three other offers and the owner would be signing one in half an hour. Our realtor is amazing! She immediately drove us to her house in Cedar Hills, we wrote up an offer and delivered it to the realtor back at the house. We actually waited out in front of the house while the realtor met with the owner inside. He came out about 15 minutes later and said Congratulations! It was absolutely crazy! It wasn't until the next morning that I actually felt like we made a good decision. It just happened so fast.

We are so excited to finally move on with our lives and get out of this strange limbo we've been in. We're crossing our fingers and hoping for the best.

Montana Pictures

I wanted to post a few pictures from our Montana vacation. We spent a rainy day driving through Glacier National Park and into Canada and a few days playing on the lake in the boat and we even celebrated James' 2nd birthday. What a blast! I had high hopes for that last picture, but James clearly was not in the mood for pictures.

Lessons Learned!

A few things I learned on our Montana vacation.

1 - Never give Augmentin to a child on a nearly empty stomach (especially if you're going to be in the car for a long time).

2 - If you don't follow the previous tip, never come between your husband and a package of wipes he's trying to open. It could be fatal.

3 - When it rains is Cardston, Alberta, it REALLY pours!

4 - If I ever strike it really rich, I'm going to buy my own island on Flathead Lake.

5 - Phil Jackson lives in the teeny tiny town of Lakeside, MT. Who knew?

6 - Flathead Lake is FREEZING!!

7 - Glacier National Park is still gorgeous even on a gloomy day!

8 - The border patrol people have absolutely no sense of humor. Seriously, don't even think about cracking any jokes.

9 - Much thanks to Colin for this lesson. Never approach the US-Canadian border on foot, especially with your hands in your pockets. And no, it does not matter how bad you have to use the restroom.

10 - My kids are amazing! We can survive over 12 hours in the car in one day. Whoa!

4th of July Weekend!

We had a great 4th of July weekend. That started with a family bbq. Everyone was in town so we were able to get a picture with all the boy cousins. As you can imagine, it's absolutely impossible to get a great picture with all these boys, so this is the best we've got. After dinner, we all had ice cream cones and the boys just loved it.

On Saturday, we decided against spending money to get into an overcrowded pool and had on own little pool party. For those of you who know James, you're probably pretty impressed with the fact that he's in the pool at all. Yep, we're making progress!

Pictures. . . YAY!!

I finally got the pictures from my camera onto the computer. It was a long process, but I can finally show you four months' worth of pictures. This post is kind of a jumble of some of my favorite pictures of the past little while. So you get to see Noah grow up to 4 months old (and James' crazy antics) in just one post. Lucky you!

The day we got home from the hospital. Try not to pay attention to me. I just had a baby two days before.

I love this picture! James gets a kick out of posing with Noah.

Just another one of the two brothers.

Apparently, James aspires to be a plumber. Hans can't leave tools around if he ever wants to see them again because James picks them up and puts them to work. If you look close you can see a wrench in his right hand.

Noah's blessing day. We never did get a great picture of him that day. So sad!

My three boys!

Easter egg hunt. James got into it a lot more than I thought he would. He picked up on the concept pretty quick and went crazy.

Showing off the spoils!

Just a great picture of Noah. In this picture, I think he really looks like Hans.

James apparently cannot be left alone with milk and Cheerios for any amount of time. Look close and you can see a drop of milk running down his forehead.

Just another cute one of my boys. Noah is about three months old in this picture. I can't believe how the time flies.

My little thumb sucker. I know it's not a great habit, but I think it's so darn cute!

This is one of the last pictures we took in our house. So sad! It's a rare moment to see James actually eating something, so enjoy it while you can.

This last weekend, we went to the Orem Summerfest. It's one of my favorite times of year and now that James is old enough to enjoy it, it's even better. He rode on this little roller coaster with his cousin, Brooklyn. This was at the start of the ride.

As the ride went on, he started acting funny. Each time he went around, he slumped down a little more and zoned out a little more. I couldn't decide if he was sick or falling asleep. Either way, he was just fine when he got off and eager to go on more rides.

The car ride was a huge hit. The carnival was a blast and we'll definitely have to make it a tradition.

Our House!

So sad! We're leaving it for good this weekend. I never anticipated forming such an emotional attachment to our house, but it almost makes me cry thinking about leaving it in the hands of someone else. As much as I complained about how it was so small, I'm going to miss it like crazy. We've lived here for over three years, almost as long as we've been married. We brought both our boys home to this house and we put a ton of work into to make it how we like it.

Someday we'll drive by and show our kids the first house we lived in. They'll wonder how we lived with two kids in something so small, Hans will complain about how the owners have the the lawn go and I might shed a few tears. We will miss this house, but it's time to move on.

Spillproof?

Whoever invented the "spillproof" sippy cup never met James.

Harness Giveaway

I was reading a friend's blog and she had posted a link to this blog. I was so excited, I just had to share. Ok, really I just get an extra entry if I post about it on my blog and I REALLY want it! They call it a 2-in-1 harness, but it's pretty much a leash. But hey, if it keeps James close and away from kidnappers and cars, then I consider it totally humane. Love it. Go here for the giveaway.

House Update!

I've had so many people ask me about what happened with this house, so I thought I should post a quick update. Well, here is a picture of the house. So cute, huh? I love it.

So, on Monday, we got word from the seller that they would be sending us a counter offer. I was so nervous because I knew we couldn't go any higher than our original offer. About an hour later, our realtor received the offer and gave us a call. All they wanted was to be able to take the fridge with them. I was so relieved! We ran right over to the office and signed the counter offer right away. But all is not well quite yet. This is a short sale, so the bank still has to approve everything and that could take months, if they even approve it at all. We're preparing ourselves for a long wait, but hopefully it won't take too long.

Up to this point, we feel so lucky. I feel like everything has gone so much smoother than I could have ever hoped. When we looked at the house on Saturday, we knew that there were three other offers already going in, so I felt like it was such a long shot. I just knew I was setting myself up for a huge letdown, but I loved the house so much, I felt like we at least needed to try. It turns out that there ended up being a total of six offers and ours is the only one the seller is even presenting to the bank. I couldn't be happier with the way things are going and we're just praying that this isn't too good to be true. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Crazy Monday!

It is 7:15 am and the craziness is about to begin. I've already been up for and hour feeding and changing two boys and, judging by the noise Noah just made in his pants, I'm going to have to change him again as soon as I'm done here.

First of all, our house is under contract (WOOHOO). After a few arguments, quite a few tears, and several counter offers, we finally have a signed contract. The inspector came through on Friday and the appraiser came through on Saturday. We have yet to hear about either. We were quite nervous about both of those going smoothly and the house appraising for the purchase price, so we are anxious to hear.

On Saturday, we went hunting for our new house. Well, we found it! The problem is there are three other people who also believe that it is their new house. So, we wrote up an offer and it will be going in this morning along with at least three other offers. Before we can put it in we have to get pre-qualification letters from two lenders.

So, to sum it up. Today we will talk to two lenders, go pick up pre-qualification letters from both, deliver them to our realtor, get the offer into the bank, find out about the inspection and appraisal on our house and hopefully hear something back from the bank late this evening. Oh yeah, and I have to go to the grocery store today (free mission tortillas from Albertson's). Wish us luck!

Oh James!

Yesterday, we discovered that Noah has an ear infection. So sad! It kills me to hear my babies screaming in pain. So, once again, we have a bottle of pink amoxicillin in the fridge. James has only had to have it once and it was awhile ago, but he still remembers how much he loves it. Every time I give Noah a dose, James freaks out.

Last night, James was in the kitchen by himself for a few minutes while I was feeding Noah. When I walked in I discovered that James is a little too smart for me to handle. He had opened the fridge and had taken out the amoxicillin. Then he reached up on the counter and grabbed the syringe I had just used to give Noah the medicine. Then he opened the silverware drawer, found a sharp knife and was using it to try to open the bottle of medicine. What am I going to do with him?