Wednesday, November 25, 2009

It's a Thanksgiving Miracle!

We received great news today.

Our house will resume being built on Friday!

They lifted the hold from our property and 3 of the 5 lots will be finished within a few weeks. We should be in our new house by Christmas, should everything go smoothly from here on out. It's our Thanksgiving Miracle! We are so truly blessed to have such amazing family and friends to help us through this.

Thank you ALL for your thoughts and prayers!

We love you and HAPPY THANKSGIVING!


yes, it's true

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Well, Here We Go

The whole house stuff is still exactly how it was a few weeks ago. We are still hoping and praying that the woman in charge of this mess can figure out what she is doing and let us move on with our lives.
In the mean time, Salisbury (our builder) is generous enough to let us crash in a townhome not far from here for the next few months until everything gets settled. We are grateful for this, because as of Dec. 1 we would be homeless if it weren't for them.

So guess what we get to do this week? That's right, pack up and move out.

This is the start of our moving process. I hate it. But it's something we have to do. I'm glad Hayden is in this picture. She makes it look better:)

This is how Hayden smiles when we say "smile"
I love it.

So once we are out of here, I'm not sure when will be the next time I can be on the computer since I'm not sure we will have internet. But we won't be all the way moved out until Monday, so we still have time. Good stuff.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you and your families. I love turkey day and all the good stuff that comes with it. Hope your holiday is a blessed one!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Breathe In.....Breathe Out

I'm trying really hard to stay positive and look at the big picture of things. But I'm not going to lie, it's kind of hard for me right now. Especially when I have a little one that is not feeling up to par and has been doing this for most of the day:


Poor girl.
She started getting sick with a fever yesterday afternoon and she just wasn't acting like her cute normal self, so we decided to take her in to the doctor last night. She doesn't have strep, and I think we ruled out appendicitis and H1N1, so we think it's just the basic flu. After a pretty good night sleep, she woke up, threw up once, and has been off and on with seeming to feel well, and then seeming to feel miserable. It's no fun to see your baby like this. Breaks my heart.

To make things worse, we found out the reason our house isn't being built. (For those who are out of the loop, our house and a few others have been sitting for 11 days without anything being done since the framing. Meanwhile, other houses all around us are going up in 25 days or less). Basically, our builders no longer own the property where our house is being built, due to a long story involving fraud, theft and murder.

Seriously.

Some woman, who had millions of dollars, went to jail for tax evasion. While in jail, her husband and his business partner took $42 million of her money and invested it in land and property when the market was high. Our lot happens to be on some of that land that our builders bought from that husband. Long story short, the husband was murdered on a bad business deal, his partner now owns that land, the woman got out of jail and thinks those guys actually stole her money and she wants it back, which means she wants the land, which means we would be out of a house! She has put down what is called a Lis Pendens, which I think means "lawsuit pending" and basically means our builders are not allowed to do ANYTHING until everything is figured out on her end.

There are much more details to add, but I don't understand it all, so I'll stop at that. Possibilities: The woman will wise up, drop everything and the builders will resume work and finish our house in 15 days (please oh please); OR our builders offer her other pieces of land in return for the ones they have already started on, which could take a while; or it's a lawsuit against her that will take months and months.

We just have to wait and see what pans out. It's hard, because it is completely out of our hands. We can bail out now, but we would lose the $4000 Utah grant, which we really need for a down payment. So right now, we have to wait and see what the next week holds with this woman. Happy Holidays, right? !!!!

So, with a little help from running endorphins, I think the best way to find a happy place right now is to think of everything I am grateful for. 'Tis the season.

1. I love my husband. He has only Hayden's and my best interest at heart. I love that he can be a softie over some things, but he can be super assertive when he has to be, and it has paid off.

2. I love my baby. She is such a funny girl and helps me to be a better person.

3. I love my supportive family, on both sides. They are always there to lend a helping hand or an ear to listen.

4. I love my friends. They are so willing to help in times like these. I really appreciate it.

5. Our Realtor, Jim Cannon, who is fighting for us to get this whole mess figured out.

6. Carl's job. It is a blessing to us. We are so fortunate.

7. Our home right now. It's nice and it keeps us warm during these cold, snowy days.

8. Ella, of course.

9. Warm, gooey brownies from sweet friends down the hall.

10. Having a gym so close that I can use anytime I want (between the hours of 5am and 10 pm)

11. Good people who will actually read this whole post, even though it's a beast.

There are so many things I can put, but I'm tired now of thinking about all of this. I need to go eat the rest of those brownies and find my happy place.

Good things will happen. I just need to stay positive. I know I really do have a good life.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Our Very Own American Idol

I love this kid. So much. She brightens my day, even if I'm stressed about little things, like our house being built, for example.



Yes, she is singing along to "The Little Mermaid". Be still, my heart.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Donut Falls

On Saturday, we decided to take advantage of this beautiful November weather by driving a bit up to Big Cottonwood Canyon and hiking to Donut Falls. It was really fun and so dang pretty. Hayden was a trooper and even hiked half the time by herself. She never once complained about anything! Maybe we have our little adventure/outdoors girl after all!

The beginning of the hike was paved, but once we got to the rough stuff we had to stash the stroller in the bushes and Hayden was on her own!


Hayden has an obsession with rocks, so imagine her delight when our whole hike was full of not just little rocks but BIG rocks she could sit and rest on.


It was really muddy and snowy in some parts of the trail, so we got nice and dirty.
We found 3 caches along our way to Donut falls. Isn't Hayden such a big help?
Our little hiker.
We even saw 3 moose!! Yes, 3!!! I WISH I could have taken a picture of all 3 at the same time, but they were moving too much for me to get a good shot. Awesome!


We made it to our destination.
Of course pictures don't do it justice, but it was so pretty! It's called Donut Falls because at the top the water falls through a hole in a rock that supposedly looks kind of like a donut. Yummy :)

We hiked up around to the top to get a view of the "donut" .

On our way down, Hayden was so exhausted, she passed out on Carl's shoulder. She did soooo well!

It was so much fun and we were wiped out when we got home, but it was worth it. It's fun to get out and explore this beautiful country that we live in. Thank you, November, for being so beautiful so far.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

House Update

Remember, a couple posts ago, with the pictures of the foundation on Oct. 31?

Here is a new update!

As of November 5:

Who's the cute house model?


From the entry way. Obviously it's hard to tell what is what inside at this point, but this gives you an idea.

Shot of the living room and garage
The basement great room
and a shot of the future rooms downstairs

Anyway, it's exciting for us. If I could, I would probably just sit and watch them build it all day. Pretty pathetic! :)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Ella the Wonder Dog!

I ran across this gem as I was looking through my pictures today, and it made me laugh. Out loud. I remember writing THIS POST a long time ago and I'm wondering why I didn't put this video with it. I think I was having uploading problems....

Anyway, it's about Ella and eating. I realize I look a little, ummm, greasy or what not, but just try to look past that:) I'll blame it on the fact that I had just had Hayden...2 months earlier:) Yea, that's a good excuse, right?

ENJOY!

Oh Great

We're in the "MINE" phase.
I guess everything belongs to Hayden now.
I don't even know where she learned that word.
I guess it's time to really focus on sharing.
Here's to teaching our children manners!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Happy November

It's November, and it's a BEAUTIFUL day! I'm just trying to soak it all in before winter really hits. Plus, it's perfect weather for building a house!

Here it is, the foundation from the front
(as of Oct. 31)



and from the back
It's looking pretty good so far. I can't wait to see the rest!

We even had beautiful weather for Halloween last night, too!

Carl and Hayden at the trunk or treat

Hayden was tired and her pumpkin was too heavy for her to lift, so she's resting.

Our hot dog




And this is Hayden after an abundance of candy:




Hope you had a great Halloween and a wonderful Sunday!