Wrapping up the soccer season

It was such a joy to watch Bradley play his first sport this year! He was always excited for practices and games and he loved getting to play with and against friends he has already made in school. He is such a go getter and social butterfly!

Last game of the season!

Luke's season is just about done. So fun watching Luke grow so much athletically. He does a great job and has improved so much over the season. He has even scored a couple of goals, but he has made countless great passes and assists! He is definitely a team player! 

So handsome!

Halloween 2017

Once again I spent way too much time working on the boys costumes. Because I love to make costumes? No! Because I'm too cheap to buy them so I tediously work on knock-offs to save money. This year I was working up till the last minute. Thankfully Grandpa Jim pitched in and of course made some awesome swords and an apparatus to carry them for Nate's costume.

Inspiration: Lloyd from Ninjago

Cheap version!

Inspiration: Jack Sparrow

Luke doesn't just wear the costume, he becomes the character.

Thank goodness Bradley was willing to wear Nate's old Obi Wan costume from two years ago!

They are so cute!

 This was our first Halloween outside of our old Pasadera neighborhood. We started with "Trunk or Treat" on main street in Sultan. It was kind of boring. Lots of participants but I think we all missed that door to door feel.

Luckily we were able to meet up with the Simon's and some friends to walk around their neighborhood. The boys had a lot of fun and got way too much candy!

Remlinger Farm Field Trip

Nate's class took a field trip to Remlinger Farms. I volunteered to go and Mrs. Sifferman was kind enough to assign me a great bunch of kids! Nate, Wade, Sienna, Jackie and Nate's good buddy Juan. 

Nate was having so much fun with his friends. There were rides and a hay maze. He kept saying it was the best day ever!

He really liked the animals too and getting to offer them some food. I am so grateful to be able to help out on these fun days!

Interior Design

Since we made an offer on a house that is still very much under construction we have the added benefit of picking some of the finishes. This is both fantastic and scary at the same time! I don't have much of an eye or a vision when it comes to this sort of thing so I just did my best to pick my taste. The cabinets were already going to be white (which is great because I would have picked white!) But we also got to choose our countertops, hardwood floor color, carpet color, kitchen backsplash and bathroom tile. We had to pick it quick too! They had some choices for us to choose from for each thing. Here is the counter, cabinet and I picked the backsplash on the left. Hopefully this all comes together okay!! AAAHHH!

The wait is over... Almost!

Well, I wasn't expecting it at all. I had plans for finding property and building. Then one day a listing for a house popped up in my email Thursday night. It was located in Snohomish near Panther Lake. I was familiar with the area because I have a friend who lives out there. Snohomish School District (Dutch Hill Elementary to be exact). A bit further out than I wished for but close enough that I would compromise if I liked it enough. It was new construction on about .40 acres so I was intrigued but skeptical. I figured it would be all native protective growth or something like that. But regardless, it peaked my interest enough that I immediately forwarded the listing to Chance and told Clint I wanted to check it out. 

I knew I would be in the area on Saturday so I didn't want to make the trip to go see it Friday but Trisha decided to scope it out for me first. Her report: You don't want it. She said it was surrounded by trees and not the wide open spaces I was looking for. I relayed this to Chance but he still insisted on driving by it after work on Friday. He ended up running into the listing agent who allowed him to not only look through the one listed but to also walk through the other homes (there were 6 total) that were under construction. One of them had a larger lot (.75 acres). It had more of a side yard, but Chance still felt that I should go see it. 

So I drove out the next day with all three boys to the open house. I left them in the car and asked the agent if she could show me other house under construction (not the one listed) and she walked me through it. At the time it was only framed but I was surprised to see that the floor plan was very close to what I would want (if I wasn't getting a rambler): 

That being, master bdrm, laundry and den on the main floor as well as a kitchen and living room separated by the dining room but all open. It didn't have a huge bonus room (one of my dreams) but it did have 3 bedrooms and small open bonus area upstairs. But here's what really drew me in besides the floor plan being very close to what I've been looking for: The location. The builder bought some land and is building 7 homes each having about .40 acres with the exception of the house we liked which had .76 acres. It is surrounded by trees, but this house had the almost the entire .75 acres cleared. The yard wasn't flat but I started imaging the boys running and sledding down the sloped part. Playing soccer and football where the yard leveled off to the side, them playing and exploring the woods and getting to ride their bikes and scooters on the private road that would be getting paved.   Not to mention putting a hoop on the mostly flat giant 3-car driveway so they could shoot hoops someday. I loved the idea of having neighbors to feel more secure, but still having space and a yard of our own. In fact our house only has one neighbor on the side. The back will be another lot the builder is going to put a house on but is planning on leaving a buffer of trees. My report to Chance was "well I didn't hate it."

This is a map of the neighborhood. Our lot is on the bottom left corner.

We went back to look at it on Sunday. This is what it looked like! Am I crazy for considering making an offer on a house that looked like this?

 Though I wasn't initially crazy about an elevated deck in the back I have started brain storming the possibilities (like building it into a storage area for a riding lawn mower!)

This is part of the side of the yard. 171st is on the other side of the trees and bushes in the background . Lots of room to run!

So Trisha was right about some things. It wasn't really what I had in mind. (Certainly the price tag!) But something about this house/lot/neighborhood as a whole had me dreaming a new dream. Chance and I thought about it for a few days and decided to make an offer. We prayed a lot. If this wasn't God's will I really hoped the offer wouldn't be accepted and I really didn't want to get in a bidding war either. We had to wait several days as the seller had decided to take a hunting trip! But we finally heard that he had accepted our offer! The house should be ready around January 1st. Luckily, there were no other offers on it which makes me feel like God may have helped us out there! We were excited and terrified! Picking the home and place you are going to live at is a huge decision. Especially when we plan to settle and have no plans to move until the day we may need to downsize. But there's no going back and we are excited to look forward to this AMAZING new chapter we have been waiting for even before we ever moved from Pasadera. We finally get to move to our "forever home." We feel so incredibly blessed! God has been so good to us!

Pullman 2017

As they do every year the boys asked many times if we would be going to Pullman this year. I could do without the long drive myself, but for some reason they love it enough to endure the drive! Chance's parents are generous enough to pay for our hotel and tickets to the game if we choose to go (only Chance did this year). So it's hard to pass up such a kind offer! So off we go for our annual Pullman trip.

I was actually very surprised how well the boys did on the drive. Far less high maintenance than they have been in the past and Chance and I actually had lots of time to talk about the house we had just placed an offer on.

After we dropped off our bags we headed to Cougar Country.

The next day we met Chance's parents at the Crimson and Grey store to buy some souvenirs. Once again Chance's parents let the boys each pick something out. Luke got a cougar sweatshirt and Brad and Nate opted for stuffed animals. Even Chance and I got new sweatshirts!

After shopping we took the boys to the campus to burn off some energy. Of course Nate biffs it at the end. Classic Nate.

Bradley snuggling "Sharpy" his new stuffed cougar from Grandma and Grandpa. 

Nate found a giant pine cone. It was so heart warming because he put it aside to go play and then when we were leaving and he was heading back to pick it up, another little kid happened upon it. He didn't say a word, but the Mom realized that maybe Nate was coming back for it and told her son that it was probably Nate's. Nate then said, "It's okay, you can have it" (though I knew how excited Nate was when he found it and that he really did want it). I'm grateful for the way the mother read the situation because I think she realized it too and told her son that it was Nate's. I was so proud of him though for being so kind that he was going to let them take it. Such a sweetheart.

Such a beautiful campus in the Fall!

Lunch at New Garden! The boys were pretty good playing their electronics while Chance and I and his parents enjoyed our yummy Chinese food!

By then the weather was starting to get rainy so we took the boys to the Student Rec Center which was even cooler now than when we were in school!

Waiting to get checked in.

Testing out the indoor track...

A little indoor soccer...

Rock Climbing wall...

basketball...

And finished it up with a swim!

The boys were exhausted by the end of the day. I don't remember why Nate was so cranky here. I probably didn't let him have another mint or something.

Chance went to the 7:30pm game with his parents. It was a cold and rainy night so I was thankful for the decision we had made to have the boys and I watch the game from the hotel!

This is what boy snuggles look like. Good thing I'm tough. :)

No big snafu's just a fun family weekend together. So glad we get to make these memories along with Bud and Marcia. :)

Glimpse into my future?

I found an App that you can take a picture of someone and it can turn them into the opposite sex, make them older, make them younger or make them "Hollywood". We had a lot of fun with it! 

Here is Chance as a girl!

 Amy with the "Hollywood" filter. She looks like a Disney princess! Haha!

Me with the "Hollywood" filter. I wish!

Chance with the "Hollywood" filter. Hubba hubba!

And funniest and creepiest of all is when I took pics of the boys and used the "Man" filter on them! It made them look like college aged! Bradley's looks a little strange with funny because Luke and Nate seemed to think his looked the best!