Pix from the Erin/Porter b-day party

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Day Trippin’

We have been enjoying some of the sights in our new home.  A few weeks ago we took a little day trip to see some local waterfalls.

We also took the girls to the Seattle Children’s Museum and Seattle Center.  Oops, looks like Eden caught Anna by the tail.


Doesn’t Eden look so "cool" in this picture?  Claire is actually smiling like that on purpose – she always does that face when I say “smile”.  Do I look like that when I smile?

Three is just so right!

All these pictures are courtesy of Cameron’s Blackberry - not too shabby.
Till next month . . . hopefully.

Anna’s Big Sh-bang and Homeowners No More

Anna turned 5 this past week and she had a fun little rainbow themed birthday party.  Above she is standing under the really great rainbow pinata that I forgot to take a picture of.  You will have to use your imagination.  Thanks for the great dress Roni and Nana Anderson!  It was perfect since I hadn’t done laundry in about a week and she had nothing else to wear.

I actually forgot to take pictures of any 0f the awesome decorations (that I stayed up until midnight putting up).  At left is the only one I have.  I had a rainbow of streamers coming down from this one point in the house but the picture doesn’t do it justice.  Again, use your imagination. (note the number of raindrops)
It has been a rough few months for Anna.  She is bored out of her mind and can’t wait to start Kindergarten this fall. 
She is so smart and already reading some simple books.  I know she will do just as great as her older sister.



Anna received a couple of new rainbow theme outfits for her rainbow themed party.  She loves them both (except for the wild flip flops – which she told Nana A. about).  She wore each outfit equally through out the day.  She has since worn each outfit for two consecutive days.  Too, cute! 

. . . In other news we closed on our short-sale home in Utah today.  All the papers were signed and we received a text message this evening saying we no longer own a home in Utah.  What a relief!  It was  a pretty uneventful process – we received four offers in the six months it was listed.   The fourth was finally approved by our lender and it was a quick couple of weeks after that that we closed.  The total loss came to $30k.   We put so much into that little house and loved that little neighborhood so much.  Thank you little house and thank you little neighborhood for being such a great part of our life.

In Full Bloom – In February?

It’s what they call a “mild” Winter in the Great Northwest.  But in fact, there has been no Winter whatsoever.  Fall melted right into Spring.  The first flowers popped up at the end of January and now, by the end of February, our street’s in full bloom .  Man, I love trees!

Here are a few Springy pictures of the girls for our loved ones to enjoy:


Anna looks so great here!  Not bad for not even brushing her hair today . . . it just wasn’t worth the fight.























Claire is actually really happy in these pictures.  She’s just smiling more on the inside.



































Eden composed this shot all on her own and wanted it sent out special for her friend Olivia.  I picked another shot that was a little more sharp but she liked this one best. She said she had a mustache in the other one.

Ta-Ta for now.

How we’re Doing or Don’t Grease this Squeaky Wheel

We’re doing well these days - adjusting to our new home and community pretty well and we had a good Christmas. Claire turned two the beginning of January! But, I’ve got no pictures of her birthday. I sort of dropped the ball. Sorry, sweetie! Here are some kissing cousins shots from a fun Christmas eve, though.

Christmas Morning!

(Eden wore this blue ‘Snuggie’ for the next three days straight.)

Cameron’s Christmas chops. He grew these for fun and shaved them later Christmas morning as a gift to me. Funny thing was there was a picture of his dad in that scrapbook he’s looking at sporting the same look. The book was a gift from his mom.

Don’t Grease this Squeaky Wheel

On facebook someone recently asked me how we were doing. SO here is the truth! We have been living in an area full of prosperity where it seems many people struggle deciding what “gross non-essential” to spend their extra money on next. Amidst it all, is our little family - trying to own up to some naive financial decisions in the past that have been exacerbated by crappy economic conditions. In short, money is real tight.

We have sufficient for our needs unlike others around the world at this time. We even have a little extra for Eden to have discount piano lessons and Claire and Anna to attend a music class in a neighbor’s home occasionally. We’ve also got the internet (which is debatable as a non-essential) and basic cable TV.

What more could we want out of life ? . . . insert sarcasm here.

It’s been three years since Cameron graduated with his Master’s degree and far past time to start paying those student loans off. Not to mention my large student loan that we have previously paid on but are now deferring as well. We have doubled our lowest monthly payment to pay our credit card off and it is just about killing us.

Add to this recipe a good, clean, and cute home that will not sell for what we owe on it since it appraised for 20k less than what we bought if for only two years ago and still is not selling.

Fortunately, the mortgage company agreed that we are in financial distress and approved a pre-foreclosure sale (aka. a short sale) of our home.

But, there is opposition in all things and we are really seeing some blessings in all this. We’ve noticed that having glamorous fundraisers for “non-essentials” at church can be hurtful and we will be sure to avoid doing that to others in the future. We have found that eating healthier foods on less money is possible, especially when eating out is never an option. We have felt great peace in giving to those even less fortunate than ourselves, as we really feel the sacrifice, by taking money out of our grocery budget to do so.

So for anyone who may feel in a position to help us out. Please don’t! We have all we need and we have a greater appreciation for what we do have because we have less.

. . . insert shameless plug here: Unless, of course, you want to get the deal of the century on our house for sale in Stansbury Park, Utah. Be sure to check it out!

Our Last Six Months

Life has finally slowed down for us. No more Primary President, no more PTA Secretary, No more packing or unpacking. Eden is now in school (she had the swine flu the first week we got here) and Claire and Anna are back in a routine. Cameron is doing well at work and I am starting to find my way around our new town. I have been to Target like four time in the last two weeks. Love it!

So here is the last six months in a nutshell:

Eden’s first day of the First Grade. What a great school Rose Springs was for her! Her new school is great, too. We also like our new ward. There are several little girls the ages of ours at church. Everyone has been so friendly here.

Halloween – Cameron took this picture. He was dressed as a secret service agent - suit, sunglasses, and an I-Pod in one ear. At the Halloween carnival he kept walking around and escorting the girls like they were VIP’s and he was their body guard. It was great!

The Big Move – I wasn’t going to post any pictures of the new house. I haven’t really liked it. It is larger and in a nice area. It’s just old and I miss all the tile and carpet and warm paint that we had in our old house - which hasn’t sold yet. Boo!

We really do live in the forest – the rain forest, that is. It has rained everyday so far.

Some things I do like about the new house: It has a family room, which I’ve never had before, not even growing up. We took down the wallpaper in this room when we moved in. We painted it with some leftover paint in the garage. It feels so much nicer and I really love the real fireplace - can’t wait to use it.

. . . and the trees. I love trees! This is one thing I have always missed while living in Utah. These trees are in our back yard. I actually took this picture standing in the house looking out the sliding glass door.

And, for the girls a brand new trampoline. They love it – especially when mom jumps with them. They have been taking towels out to dry it off before jumping. Funny!

Kindergarten, Never Again

Oh, boy!

It was only yesterday she sat on the rock in the dirt out front and had her picture taken on that First day of school.

What a year it has been! We were so impressed with how much she learned this year.

She is reading tons of sight words and trying hard to master sounding things out.

She can count to 100 and write all her numbers to 30.

What a smarty pants!

This next shot is her with her poster for “Some Bunny Special” week. She came home with a big empty poster board. Right in the center we put a cute picture of her when she was two. We placed pictures of her with the people who love her most all around it. She then wrote down all her favorite things on the picture of the bunny. They included favorite food, pizza and favorite color, brown. We’re going to laminate this one.

THE PROGRAM ~ Here are a few pictures and a video of the end of year program . . .

Here she is with a couple of good friends that live on our street and were in her class.

And, here she is with her wonderful Kindergarten teacher.

For the special day she picked out my shirt and I got to pick out her dress. She never lets me pick out her clothes. She didn’t love the dress but she didn’t complain. I didn’t love my shirt, either, but . . . it was a fun, fun, morning.

And last but not least ~ a little video footage for the grandparents.