A Tribute to 2011

Like many of you 2011 has been one heck of a roller coaster ride for my family. I can honestly say it has been the WORST year of my life- HOWEVER! We have also had some of the biggest blessings we have ever experienced this year as well! So here's quick run down (for journaling purposes) of all the bad and good that has brought us to today!

January 2011: Our car broke down while getting ready to enter the freeway. After hundreds of dollars it was determined NOTHING was wrong with it. It broke down again. Same story.

I started working towards turning my hobby of photography into something more lucrative! It worked really well until I had my car accident. I've also grown a lot as an artist and learned more about my own style as a photographer! :)

February 2011:

We traded in our electronically confused car (which was a 2006- it should have never fallen apart like it did on us) and got a 2007 Nissan Quest mini van! With the trade in and what we had to put down on it we got an amazing deal and have loved having it! We even learned that it is a 4-wheedrive which wasn't something we thought we would be able to get in a van for under 20K. YAY US! :)

April 2011: An hour after I turned in my registration for my very first triathlon I got hit head on in an intersection by two teenage girls with my two children in my new (to me) van. Now this is what is so weird about this situation. This horrible experience has actually

turned out to be a huge blessing...

We ended up shelling a lot of money out between our deductible, renting a car, and buying new car seats. I ended up with a lot of soft tissue damage that needed to be cared for for about 4 months. I was still dealing with some basketball injuries, and some left over stuff from training for my triathlon, and the way PT works is they try to fix everything while focusing on the "main" injury. Another blessing!

The owner/ driver of the car decided to get a lawyer and sue me.

As the year progressed it was determined that "little-Miss -can't- pay- the- bills" that hit me with her little car had NO

car insurance. MY insurance determined I wasn't at fault (there were no witnesses which made this really hard since I was turning left (on a green arrow mind you)) because of my character! Yay for being a good mommy with a good driving record!!! haha!

My insurance company is now suing the driver for over 30k in damages. I feel bad for her since it has since gone to collections... hopefully it will be a lesson to her that you NEVER drive w/o insurance on your car... EVER!l

May 2011: I found out I am PREGNANT!!! woo hoo! I was sick for three months. (Not too shabby!) But would have never been able to run in my triathlon because of how sick I was... maybe this was a blessing too??

July: My parents moved to Las Vegas (away from Sylvia and I). We also learned of some serious health issues concerning several members of our families.

August: Josh and I went under contract for our first house that we waited on for several months. It fell through due to legalities we weren't prepared to wait for. Our first lender lost all of our hard copies of our private information. After an awkward decision and many letters begging us to come back to him we found another lender that was amazing.

September: We learned Lyndi may have down's syndrome. Then we learned that she actually might have Trisomy 18 (edwards syndrome).

This was the longest several months of my life. I was heart broken and have never had a stronger testimony. We also learned that she is a little baby girl. We are so excited about having another little baby that we cling to all we have!

October: WHAT AN AMAZING MONTH FOR US! We found out that Lyndi is a healthy amazing little baby! We went under contract with our second home!... and it was an amazing experience!

We got refunded back EVERYTHING that we had put towards the car accident in April. Perfect timing for the buy our home! :)

Also- Josh got a promotion! He's now becoming a Content Lead of his own crew for Run Studio's at Microsoft. I'm so proud of him!

November: We closed on the house and are now officially home owners!

December: We moved into our home! My sister has baby Grace. Due to several different reasons my parents weren't able to come down for Christmas which broke all of our hearts, but Josh's family came up on Christmas eve and spoiled us rotten! We spent our first Christmas in our new house!

Now as you can see there were a lot of hidden blessings in all of our trials. If we had not bought the van when we did my car accident would have been catastrophic for our family. Even though my husband is a penny pincher- having the money tied up with the insurance company until the time we actually needed it in October was so inspired! Having the torment of not knowing what was happening with Lyndi actually took our minds off of other family health issues AND the stress of being jerked around with the first house. The stress of trying to buy the first house was a huge blessing because the price of the house we did buy didn't go down until after we walked away from the other one.

Through all of our trials... we still are walking away from this year with so much more then we ever had. We love each other so much more and our testimonies of tithing and the power of prayer are stronger then I can even emphasize. And on top of all that... I have made more friends this year then I ever have. I love my friends all dearly and am so grateful for all of the support and prayers they have offered us in their own homes.

God bless and happy New Years everyone. I hope that 2012 brings more happiness and joy to all of our lives and that we all learn to find the beauty in the dark days as well.

(ps. Sorry the pictures are all old... I'll work on getting some new ones up of our house and baby Grace in this next week hopefully!)
Love Nichole

OFFICIAL HOMEOWNERS!

On Friday at around 10 or 11 o'clock I got THE phone call... "You are official home owners now!" Woo hoo! I sat down at the computer and cried. I tend to do that a lot lately. Everything makes me cry- joy, sadness, happiness, pain, lack of pain, and so forth. :) But that's okay because this was a GREAT day for us!

After Josh opened the door with our OWN set of keys!

(I promise the peacoat makes me look BIGGER than I really am...

it's not very pregnant friendly! HAHA!)

Our Realtor, Troy!

The kids seeing a REAL mailbox for the first time!!!

And yes- we have a garage!!! FREEDOM!

Troy teaching Josh how to light the pilot light.

Man. Let me tell you how much easier it would have been if

we would have just brought matches with us on Friday-

cause Saturday was quite the adventure! haha!

And finally- JOSH DOING THE HONORS!!!

We are so grateful and excited that this is happening for us! We strongly felt that it was time. We've had people tell us we're stupid for buying right now when the market could still and is still going down. My answer to them is this: WHEN IS IT EVER THE RIGHT TIME? If we wait our entire lives on other factors we will miss our life. We have to take a leap of faith and jump in with both feet ready. What if Josh gets laid off. What if I die of cancer in 6 months. What if there's another attack on our country. We can live by "what if's" all we want... but we will never progress in life that way. Life is about having faith, and Josh and I have faith that this is what and where we are supposed to go.

We love everyone and are thankful for all of your support. :) This is our dream that has finally come true!

Love Nichole

Closing Time... (I Know Who Will Want to Take Me Home...)

We signed all the closing documents on Monday. It was a 400 page book full of jibberish that Josh and I had seen and signed all the month before in other various runs to the Lender. My signature was AWESOME the first quarter of the way through and then turned into an ugly mess of scribbles and cursive. I hope they don't question the validity of it! HAHA!

Today is supposed to be the day we hear back that the deed of the house has been put in our name and we get our keys! Everything with the timeline of buying this home- or ANY home for that matter- has been really off. I know that all good things in life come from waiting and are more appreciated when agonized over but PLEASE can we close today??? :)

Josh and I are hoping to move Monday. We even have people lined up and on call for when we get our special call. If we don't- then we wait until after Thanksgiving to move. SUCH A JOURNEY! HAHA!

We ARE extremely excited... but being almost 29 weeks pregnant this excitement exhausts me. HERE'S TO TODAY! I hope I have a happy tale to tell by the end of it!

Love Nichole

6 Years... My Cinderella Story

Six years ago my breath caught in my chest as I watched my husband walk around the corner wearing his black tux with a turquoise tie. His hair was gelled and cut short. He slightly blushed as he saw me sitting in the foyer of the temple wearing my bridal gown. Staring at one another we both just smiled. Finally after some prodding from one family member or another we finally took each other's hand and walked to the front doors. We knew what awaited us outside- a horde of loving family and friends ready with camera's.

One. Two. Three.

Pushing the doors open we were enveloped with so much love as we walked outside the temple doors as husband and wife. Flashes and congratulations met us. Overwhelming feelings of awe and wonderment filled me as I smiled at everyone.

"So this is what Cinderella feels like?" I quietly thought to myself.

It was the most amazing experience of my young life. Little did I know that the experiences that left me speechless would continue to stack up as the years Josh and I lived together as husband and wife increased.

******

It amazes me how long six years feels when I look back on it, yet somehow it flew by. Getting ready to give birth to our third child, I feel emotional as I remember all the trials that have brought Josh and I closer together. We have experienced serious disappointments and amazing enjoyments together. From arguments that really are quite comical, to some that didn't feel all that great during the time. From a miscarriage to two live births (thus far); and many dorky moments driving to Taco Bell at midnight before there were any children. Every stage of our life together has been a journey, a journey that is building upon the foundation that was created those precious years ago. The story of Joshua and Nichole Gaertner- married for time and eternity.

I love my husband more today then I that day he blew my breath away in his handsome tux. I never thought it possible with my young naive heart to ever feel more then I did that day. If I were to fast forward to today I would be pleased with how our life together have forged out to be. My heart would fill just at the knowledge that my life goal and dream of being a stay at home mother would be fulfilled. That through the prodding of my husband I would obtain my bachelor's degree and explore with my passion of photography. I am so blessed to have married a man who cherish's my own dreams as much as I do. I am so blessed to have married a man who has goals and dreams that coincide along side mine. I am blessed to have found a companion that just plain puts up with me. :)

And so here I write to my husband and say: HAPPY ANNIVERSARY AND I ADORE YOU, HEART AND SOUL. You are my best friend and life long confidant. I thank you for your hard work and dedication to this family and I love you more then I ever thought was imaginable.

You are my Prince Charming- and I will forever be your Cinderella!

Love Nichole (aka Goose... aka Nikki-Anni-Hanni!)

Hello, Hello! (Our 2nd Shot at Becoming Homeowners)

So as you all know we had been under contract with a house for several months. The house was aesthetically beautiful, huge, and had everything we could ever want- in our dream home. The problem? It had EVERYTHING wrong with it paperwork wise. It was a hot mess and we decided to walk away. Looking back on the listing today it dropped another 10K and is once again currently under contract. It makes me feel bad for the sorry saps who are trying to buy it this time around because the house is actually going under the foreclosure process again. I guess the first time they foreclosed on the second home in the duplex. Between that and a mix up with the parcel number that house will be hard to sell if they don't straighten things up now.

Enough of that however! Because I have GREAT news! Josh and I are under contract for our second home! And she's a quaint little rambler. We are so excited because the process has taken weeks thus far instead of MONTHS! It is amazing how much easier things seem to go when Heavenly Father steps in. :) Apparently the other home wasn't meant to be, but this house sure seems to be! We've had the inspection and appraisal done and we've locked in our rate already. I'm not going to drive anyone nuts with envy and spill the beans on the INSANELY good rate we got, but just say that it is record breaking for this economy. :) I will say that I am so proud of my husband and how hard he works at keeping us on top and in good standing. He is my Knight in shining armor and I couldn't ask for a better partner in crime.

Here are some pictures of the house!:

Front Yard/ Door

2 Car Garage

View from front door. Living room to the left, hallway with bathrooms and bedrooms to the right. You can see the dining room area by the sliding glass door and our kitchen behind the wall.

Most of the kitchen... it's small but comes with enough room for a portable island behind the pantry area and the house comes with all appliances. We'll upgrade over time, but for now these are awesome!

Front door and living room view from dining room. If you look closely there is an awkward door hiding behind the open front door. That is actually into our laundry/ mud room that also leads into the garage. We'll have a laundry room!

I don't currently have any pictures of the backyard, but suffice it to say there is a fairly good sized, completely fenced in back yard for my kids to go crazy on! We're pretty excited about this!

The house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath rambler with vaulted ceilings. That alone helps bring in more light and makes the place seem so much larger than it is. It may not be our "dream" home, but it is a dream to us right now. No one says you have to buy the biggest and best the first time around. We figure by the time the kids are bigger and need more space the economy will hopefully have turned around enough to make a great profit on the home for an upgrade. We're buying it at a KILLER steal in the Seattle metropolitan area and feel that this investment will be only beneficial for our future. Housing over here is crazy. We'd be CRAZIER if we didn't jump on this!

Something exciting about the house is that it is remodeled on the inside. Apparently when the house went under foreclosure a family member went ape crazy on it and destroyed all the walls and stole all the copper piping out of the house. So the walls are new, the plumbing and wiring is all new, and the carpeting is new. For a foreclosure- you can't get any better then that!

Anyway- our closing date is Oct. 31st. We're really HOPING and PRAYING we can close by then however have an addendum that states we'll close on November 18th if the lender can't get their stuff done quickly enough.

There are still a few things that could happen that would prevent us from buying this sweet family home... but hopefully in the next few weeks I will have more happy news to share! :)

Wish us luck!

ps. This posting wasn't written very well... so I'm sorry if you found a LOT of errors. I'm pretty exhausted!

Our Journey with Lyndi

Fear of the unknown is generally the type of fear that leaves me numb. Being told one thing after another, not knowing what the truth is creates a fear that no mother should ever have to realize. Altering your own expectations for a life once thought to play out one way to another type of life is a hard adaption for anyone, especially for people who have a hard time with change.

This post is only to document and record a trial that Josh and I went through with this pregnancy so that we can remember the blessings that have come out of it; not to dwell on the sorrow that could have been.

When we had our first ultra sound we were so excited to see our little baby. She's not a very interactive baby so we enjoyed every little movement she did make. Playing shy she kept her knees crossed and turned over into herself making it difficult for the RadTech to find what she needed to find.

Or so we thought.

The radiologist then came in and explained that they need us to return because they couldn't locate the nasal bone. He continued to say that this could be similar to a cleft palate- not a big deal. Just something to be aware of for when she does arrive. Taking it all in stride I cracked a joke saying that if they can fix Michael Jackson's nose I have no worries that Lyndi can't be made whole. The RadTech smiled and said she wasn't really sure if there was anything that could be done about a missing nasal bone, but to not worry.

During the drive home a few tears slipped from my eyes. Concern and not fully understanding what was being said to me weighed heavily on my heart. Trying to push all thoughts out of my mind I waited until the next morning to "GOOGLE" what a missing nasal bone was linked to and what it could look like.

That was my first realization that Lyndi could potentially have Down's Syndrome.

My QUAD test came back that next morning and I was informed not to worry, but wasn't given any actual numbers. Two weeks left until the next ultra sound.

When we came in for our second ultra sound we were ecstatic to learn that they could find a nasal bone, however it wasn't definitive as to if it were shortened or not. Pushing all thoughts aside, finding comfort in what we did know I came home and called all family to announce that Lyndi would be fine.

Now I want you to understand that Josh and I had come to terms with the idea that we would be choice parents of a very special spirit. It was scary as the unknown always is and there were many tears of mourning for what we had dreamed of for this child. But there was also a completely new love and compassion that I never had before too. Two weeks of not knowing shaped me and prepared me for what was going to be told to me later that evening.

After I got off the phone with my sister-in-law I received a phone call that I wish I had never answered. It appeared as if Lyndi had developed two choroid plexus cysts in her left lobe. (Now you have to realize that some of this information isn't actually accurate. So much of what we had to deal with and try to understand was due to human error. Cori plexus cysts actually occur in a spot center of the brain where there actually isn't ANY brain matter... hindsight is worth 20/20 right?) With the phone to my ear, I sat quickly down as the nurse described this could be due to chromosomal abnormalities- such as Down's Syndrome... or something worse. And then she asked me if I would like to see a specialist or schedule another ultra sound. I opted for the specialist.

Now remember. We have come to terms that our beautiful daughter may be a very special spirit that will forever be innocent. What we hadn't come to terms with is the chance that we may never get the chance to hold her and look into her sweet eyes.

I called my best friend hysterical. What was this joke? How could we have JUST learned that she is going to be fine to we could potentially lose her? My Relief Society president came over immediately and let me cry and talk to her. Her presence alone gave me so much comfort. Her faith and her own experiences soothed my soul.

That night Josh held me in his arms as we cried ourselves to sleep. The next month was full of many prayers. I constantly had a prayer in my heart and on my lips. I felt like a zombie but was told by my friend that she thought I was handling everything really well. Josh and I started feeling Lyndi more and would hold my stomach laughing as she would try to squirm away from the pressure of our hands. The Lord's spirit was strong in our home and we could feel that there was a reason for this trial. That we would come out on top no matter the conclusion.

Finally. Time for our next ultra sound with the perinatal specialist. It was at this appointment where we learned that Down's Syndrome was never actually the concern with Lyndi- it was Trisomy 18. I had never heard of this before. The specialist then continued to explain that if she were to have Trisomy 18 (aka Edward's Syndrome) there was a large chance she would never grow to term. Even if she were to make it to her birth the average life expectancy of children born with this is 5-15 days. Only 1% make it to age 10.

This was HORRIFYING news, however I felt SO grateful to have been ignorant to the truth. The specialist then tried to reassure us and explain that we appear to be low risk, however there are still some tests that need to be run. We scheduled another ultra sound.

Another month of waiting.

Another month of pondering.

And another month of loving and adoring every little thing we could about this little baby inside me.

The miraculous thing about this experience is how close I feel it brought me and Josh to one another, and the Lord. I have learned patience, and adoration for the two little children that I already have. I have learned that I am A LOT stronger than I ever knew. I have matured, testified, and hopefully lived the way our Heavenly Father would applaud. I stopped listening to the radio and began listening to the christian channel (it's okay to laugh here... I did embrace my more dorky side! haha!). And even sang "our god is an awesome god" at the top of my lungs a few... hundred times.

I was full of peace.

I have never fallen in love with a person or a child that I haven't actually ever met as often as I have with this little girl growing in my womb. She is perfect and she is and will always be amazing. We had our last ultra sound yesterday and were finally told everything that had pointed towards Trisomy 18.

*Apparently Lyndi's diaphragm had never been located.

*They believed her to have a heart defect in one of her ventricles because of the pattern of her blood flow.

*Her hands were difficult to capture, and with Trisomy 18 how the child holds her hands is very indicative to the abnormality.

*And they were concerned about her kidney's.

Either Heavenly Father decided to step in with the first appointment with the specialist and help direct that conversation AWAY from all of these issues, or that perinatal specialist could see the pain and fear behind my eyes- what ever it was I am THANKFUL and GRATEFUL and ever so happy they never told me any of these concerns. I truly believe that there was a lesson in this trial for both me and my entire family, but that lesson did not include a broken heart and a mental break down. Instead I strongly believe it included faith, trust, compassion, and patience.

So to conclude this testimony and record of what Lyndi's journey to this life has brought to our family I am pleased to say that yesterday's news was much happier.

For the first time in this entire pregnancy I finally heard the words every mother YEARNS to hear, "It appears as if you have a healthy baby girl."

My prayers have been answered and my testimony is a rock. Miracles do happen and our Heavenly Father knows and LOVES us. He does not give us what we can not handle and because of our trials we grow spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Josh and I reached the top of our mountain and we did it together. I look forward to the rest of this downward slope together... while holding the hands or all three of our precious little children.

Love Nichole.

Dear Lyndi,

I adore you. I can not wait to hold you and smell your hair. I can not wait to look into your eyes and hold your little hand. I look forward to your first cry and feeling your warm body against mine. I can't wait to just be your mommy and to bring you home with me to meet your family. You have a big brother and a big sister who kiss you every day. You will be spoiled and loved and I hope you feel this inside me. I hope the rest of your journey is full of beauty and strength because you sweet girl, deserve it.

LOVE,

Your Mommy!

The Love of a Mother...

Well I am finally sitting down to write down a little bit about what has been going on. I still would like to keep some of our worry private but I can not just sit here and think with out trying to sort through my feelings.

I am torn.

Our last ultra sound we had a slight worry that escalated until we had another this morning. We were told that everything with baby was moving along great and what we thought may be missing was not. It was a happy morning full of relief and joy.

And then I got a phone call.

Apparently everything we worried about is still a concern- however it could be something more dramatic OR nothing at all.

We just don't know... and that's the part that is tearing me up.

I have this feeling of sadness that just won't leave my chest. I already feel as if I KNOW this little baby girl and my ideas about how our life will be continue to change. I'm okay with the change- come what may and love it. It's limbo. I feel like so many aspects of our life are in limbo right now. The house (which we've decided to walk away from, it's just a matter of doing the paperwork now but there isn't any hurry), my parent's health, and now this little girl.

My mom tells me daily that this is a trial but to keep my faith because everything will be okay, and I KNOW in my heart that it will. It is amazing how much my testimony has grown during these last six months and how frequently I feel the

Lord's arms wrapped around me in the comfort of the Spirit. There is a purpose and I know we are supposed to be facing these trials right now, but my heart still aches.

So I pray for my beautiful little daughter that I hope to meet when the time comes. I pray for comfort and for peace. And mostly, I pray for the wisdom to understand all that may or may not befall us.

LINDY MARIE 20 weeks

Love mommy

Please remember this is a sensitive time for me right now, comments of support and comfort are encouraged; however please refrain from analyzing our ultra sound and sharing information that could cause more worries. Thank you! :)

It's a....GIRL!

Yesterday we had our ultra sound and got to see our new baby! And as far as we can tell at this point this baby is more likely a girl. She flipped over and refused to let us see her face about a quarter of the way through the procedure and she kept her legs crossed at either her ankles or knees the entire time. :) So far she isn't anything like my other two children!

There still may be a chance that she is actually a he because the little boy part may have been tucked up under his belly. But that's okay because we are having another ultra sound done on the 20th for entirely different reasons. Then we'll be able to hopefully confirm gender.

As of right now her name is Lindy Marie. :)

Now there is a small blip in this excitement because as I have mentioned before we have to go back in and have another ultra sound. At this point I won't be going into detail about what could be wrong because we haven't had confirmation yet. Just know I will absolutely and positively ADORE this child and she will be utterly beautiful. I know that the Lord will not give us anything we can't handle, and this child will be a blessing in our lives. :)

We are excited to meet you little Ms. Lindy!

Love your waiting family!

A Little Crazy...

Can you tell I have been going a little BLOG CRAZY lately?

It helps me sort through my own thoughts...

Still no word on if the amendments on the contract for the house have been accepted.

Hopefully we know by Monday.

Then we can make THE decision!

An Entire Horde of Happy Posts...

I have decided that I need to stop focusing on all the negative (and yet still exciting) aspects of my life. I have so much to be happy and grateful for so I thought I'd put up a couple of posts full of the people that make me the most happy in my life. You will have to excuse the photography and try not to judge my skills too harshly since these were more spur of the moment memory pictures for me.

My daughter turned two and we went to Denny's for lunch and then a park with water and a beach afterward. It was so much fun, and both kids had a blast! I wasn't feeling too well but I tried to keep up a happy face for my little girl on her big day.

Aiden was even super excited because he got a brand new water bottle with a football on it. It's the little things that make my kiddo's so happy. Perhaps I should take some lessons, eh? :)

My pregnancy has been extremely hard this time around. I tend to have hard pregnancies- but this just feels different. I am now 16 weeks and will set up my ultra sound in three weeks at my next doctors appointment. Yes we will ask to know what it is... but we aren't rooting for either gender at this point. What ever this little bean monster decides to be will be exciting!

I think Aiden is starting to understand that mommy has a baby in her belly because he has become quite the little "daddy" himself. He carries "babies" around with him everywhere he goes and takes great care of them. He even is helping Shaylee try to become a better mommy. At this point she gets frustrated and throws her baby across the room and storms off. Aiden is being quite patient with her! HAHA! :) It really warms my heart.

Today is the day we decide to walk or not on the house. I haven't heard back on the title "amendment" we have asked for. If they don't agree to a title amendment giving us more time on the inspection then we will kiss the home goodbye. We don't see the point in shelling out money for an inspection on a house that may never get a cleared title anyway. I have been stressed about it in the past... but today I actually woke up with a calm. I decided to lay it in the Lord's hands. I have a hard time with this sometimes and it takes me awhile to hand my problems over, but I finally humbled myself enough to do so. At this point there isn't any more Josh and I can do... so we wait... some more. But that's okay now. I'm waiting with a calm.

Anyway- I hope you enjoy the pictures because the next three posts down are all new too!

Love Nichole

Private School... Park?!

Josh found this private school hidden away

just down the road from where we live....

It has a super huge field,

and quite the play area....

It was a nice peaceful evening together as a family.

Other families showed up that probably belonged to the school...

so we quietly and QUICKLY snuck away! HAHA!

The lighting was absolutely HORRIBLE... so pardon the pictures! :P

Shaylee's Eye...

My daughter was running away from me

as I chased her down the sidewalk at the park.

Just as I said, "Slow down booboo!!!" ...

she tripped over her own chubby little legs.

It was so sad to see her go flying face first into someone else's jogger stroller.

As soon as I picked her up I could see this wasn't going to be just a little owie...

so Josh drove all of us immediately to a walk-in clinic.

The doctor said that there wasn't any apparent breaks-

she didn't feel any crunching. *shiver*

And Shaylee's eye wasn't getting stuck in any direction...

so we went home w/o any CAT scans or Xrays.

There still may be a slight fracture-

but from how quickly she's healing I'd say she's one lucky little lady!

Even with a big owie- she's still quite beautiful to me! :)

Trip to the Beach...

We have been spending a lot of quality time going and exploring new parks and beaches with friends. My friend Karena came along and showed us this one in Ballard. My children had a blast! Especially getting seaweed all over themselves! :)

They even took Aiden's superman and Shaylee's new mermaid down!

Their toys had so much fun too! :)

Love Nichole

A Week...

Our Realtor told us to give the house one more week. If the huge paper mistake made by Fannie Mae (apparently) isn't corrected then he suggests we move on. I guess I've been preparing for this but it really makes me sad because there isn't a whole lot more available. Apparently during this month of waiting the market has gone up a little bit. I had a little break down earlier because all I want is a safe home for my children. My daughter got out of our apartment yesterday during dinner. It obviously wasn't a huge deal because we were right there, but she did get far enough away the entire apartment complex saw me chase my daughter down the sidewalk in my slip.

It's time for my children to have a fenced-in yard to play in. It's time for me to have a space to grow a garden and become more self-reliant as we are taught to be by our prophet. It is flat out time and I feel it deep with-in my soul, but because of someone else's ignorant quick actions we may have to walk from one home to a market that is so unsure we may not find another home for a long time yet. And to tell you the truth, that angers me.

I am so frustrated with this system I could scream, spit, and strangle. We have signed the same documents because of "mistakes" and addendum's the other side keeps changing THREE TIMES! Okay, people. Once- understandable and even expected. A second time? Annoying but whatever. A THIRD time? ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It has become unprofessional! And today? They asked for another copy/ proof of our certified check from the bank because the bank's branch address was under "location" and not the address of the home we are trying to purchase.

HELLO?!

Isn't this a banking institution we are dealing with? I worked at a bank almost six years ago as a teller- and even I know that the banks branch goes there, NOT THE HOUSE. It is our banks policy to have that there just in case something "bad" ie. fraud, illegal, fake, is connected with the check so they can FIND where it was originated.

So as you can see... my faith in being a first time home buyer is dwindling quickly. If I, a house wife can find where all the problems are before the seller or title company can then something is wrong. This is THEIR job to do the research. Not mine- but thank goodness I have the know-how and knowledge to get the job done or we'd be hurting in a completely different way in a few years.

Perhaps I should find my way back into the banking institution so that I can help protect those naive to this process. I'm thinking, from what I've seen thus far, it can't be THAT hard. Right?!

To Be... Or NOT To Be (our house?)

For the last month we have been playing a vicious game of yo-yo and cat and mouse. We found the most beautiful home and were AMAZED to find out it was in our price range. Although we were approved for more, we were adamant with ourselves and our Realtor we would not go over a specific price point so that we have some breathing room. Needless to say, when we saw this home our jaws dropped and our hearts leaped. Could this be our home???

It really is a BEAUTIFUL home; inside and out. It's 1696 sqare feet with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The pictures I have to show you (stolen of course from the listing!) only show two bathrooms and part of the house but they do the job. The master suite is huge, as is the second bedroom. Since we have our third baby due in February having a large second room is a must since two children will always share in this home. There is a laundry room and a two car garage as well. And the backyard is 2/3rds larger than the picture shows... enough room for my kids to actually be kids.

Pictures:::

Now don't think this is too good to be true... because the truth is we have been going through quite the drama since we decided to bid on it. Once we decided to bid we have been sitting on egg shells waiting to hear back from either Realtor or lender. We offered asking price and were informed that there were multiple bids going on at the time. We also were told we were very competitive but we would have to wait. A week later at 8 am. I got a call that made me cry. REMEMBER- I'm pregnant. HAHA!

We won the bid.

During the bid war we were informed that there may be a title issue; were we still interested? After conferring with my father and through lots of prayer we decided that yes... it was okay. If it was a big deal we'd make the final decision once we knew. After that we were assured through the listing agent that the title issue had been resolved. Still treading carefully we ended up firing a lender and finding another lender- WHO IS BOMB BY THE WAY!!!- who did finally drudge up some misery on our end.

The home is a townhouse and was listed as such; however, the public property tax records list it as a condo. (My husband and I did some digging around on the unit.) Bringing this question up with my new lender we have found that that is part of the title issue that was "resolved." Quotes because it's still in the air. Now we have to figure out if there are HOA dues which we can't find ANYWHERE since the contractor went out of business. And... worst case scenario I came across from all my snooping today... the parcel numbers between the two units were confused years ago. So apparently we are buying the neighbors house according to the records.

GREAT SCOTT!

That is a HUGE mistake?

How does one work in any part of the taxing/ property/ housing market and NOT catch that? How was this mistake EVER made???

That said- we ARE currently under contract... but we may have to make a decision shortly on if we walk from this beautiful move-in ready home, or move on and continue our hunt.

Praying and fasting will be going on in this home and I know it will all work out the way that will work best for our family. I just hope that this mess gets resolved before the woman that owns the other unit decides burning both units would be in her best interest! HAHA! *JUST KIDDING!*

Wish us luck! And let me know what you think???