Halloween

Grace and Kaitlyn had a great time for Halloween. They went to a trunk or treat on Thursday and then got to go trick or treating with Daddy on Friday. Princess Grace and Little Gypsy Kaitlyn. Halloween is fun at these ages.

Long Time No Post

So I finally found my battery charger, but our computer is down so my online time is limited to whenever Sam is home with his laptop. Hopefully or home computer will be repaired soon and my post will not be so few and far between.

This is our new house a week before we closed on it so the final grading had not been done yet.

The back of our house also before the final grade.

So we are loving our new home after being here for two months. The girls love all the extra room, as do I. It is still hard to believe that it is ours. Of course, Sam always tells me it's the banks. Well, at least they let us live here.

We have had a busy fall, but it has been very enjoyable except for maybe the 10 inches of rain we got in one day. Gramma and Grampa Bair came to visit us in early September. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed every minute until it was time for them to go home. The girls were really sad. They love playing with Grampa and Gramma. Grace keeps telling us we are going to Idaho to see them next week.

Grampa Bair and Grace being silly on our visit to Cowtown.

Grace giving Gramma a push on the swing at Cowtown.

I'll try harder to post more but life sometimes takes me in directions I can't forsee. I am truly grateful for the many happy blessings we have received lately.

We're Here

We are in our new house. We closed on it Wed. August 27, 2008 and moved our beds in that night. Saturday we had lots of help moving the rest of our stuff in (thanks friends!). Now we have lots of boxes to go through because we haven't seen most of this stuff in six months. I love it here. I just can't believe it is ours. Well, when I get some new batteries for my camera I will try to post some pictures.

More Summer Pictures

I am finally getting back to posting some more pictures. I have not had access to the computer for awhile, but I am not sure anyone but me ever looks at this any way.

Fishing with the Evans in May. We are so sad that they moved away. Gracie can't go to the "Heavens" anymore.

Grace and Kaitlyn with Papa Zogg.

Kaitlyn on vacation. Gracie was throwing rocks in the lake, so Kaitlyn found something bigger.

Kaitlyn and Grampa Bair on the swings.

Isn't she cool? Just waiting for the train.

What a group! This was our ill-fated yet scenic train ride on the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge railroad.

Well, I guess that should do for now. I'll try to post more later.

Summer Photos I

Summer has past quickly here. Sam is back at work, so it feels like it is already over even though the temperatures are hotter now. Circumstances (a computer, Sam's work laptop, ours is in storage) finally allow me to post some pictures. Oh by the way 25 more days until we close on the new house. I'm not counting or anything.

Kaitlyn thought the bear might be hungry and need a snack. Toes really are delicious!

Grace and her friend, Kate in the Jungle at the zoo.

This is from our trip on the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. It was breathtaking.

Husband and kids are in need of some attention, so I will post the next edition of summer photos later.

Catching up on a quickly passing summer

Well, where do I begin. The roof issue on our house was finally resolved and closing reschedule just in time for us to discover a leak in the basement. This leak was caused by a combination of the unusually wet spring and the new sewer line that was put in in January. So after paying to have that fixed. We finally sold our little house June 5. So we had already signed a contract on a spec home in Turkey Creek right off of 119th W. and Pawnee. Closing date for our new home is August 27th. We are so excited. It is everything we have wanted but been unable to find. It is a 3 bedroom 2 bath house with a 3 car garage, an open kitchen and dining room area, and an unfinished basement. So that is the good news for the summer.
We went on vacation June 6th. We had an enjoyable time. We met my family in Durango, CO. We went on the Durango/Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. We had an interesting time. The views were breathtaking but we managed to breakdown halfway to Silverton. All in all a 3 hour trip took us about nine hours and the return trip ended up being mostly in the dark. You can't say we don't have an interesting time. We then went to Mesa Verde National Park. It was also a very enjoyable and interesting time. On our first tour, Grace managed to get a way from me took a tumble down some stone stairs. She cut her lip open with her teeth and we were very lucky that was it. She healed quickly and tells everyone she can about how she fell down the stone steps.
While we were gone, Sam's parents were supposed to finally have their manufactured home placed on their basement and permanent foundation. Due to all the rain and some other issues it took them more than two weeks to get it placed. Needless to say, we had nowhere to stay when we returned from vacation. So we became nomads. We became the official ward housesitters and bounced from house to house for almost 4 weeks. We are finally back with Sam's parents. I really feel for them though. Our bouncing around the ward was nothing compared to the problems they had. All the rain caused some serious issues with their home. Water, I mean lots of water leaked in and did thousands of dollars worth of damage. The ceiling in their front room fell in and there is water damage in every room on the south side of the house. They are leaving on vacation and the repairs will probably start when they get back. I hope they have a wonderful and restful time. They deserve it.
Well, that is the short version of our summer. I will try to add some pictures when we get our computer unpacked. With any luck, my next post will be from my own new home.

Well, we are coming to the end of the school year. For those who don't know, Sam was offered a job as assistant principal at Wichita South High School and will sign the contract this week. We are very happy. This is really what Sam wanted. We also have a contract on our house. It is supposed to close on May 23rd. Right now we are trying to work out some little problems and some not so little problems that the inspector found with a 55 year old house. (Imagine that!) We have fixed just about everything but a roof issue. Our insurance says that there is nothing really wrong with the roof except that it needs to have some of the shingles restuck. Of course, the composition shingles were put down over shakes which is now apparently not a good thing. So the ball is in the buyer's court. She is trying to find out if her FHA loan will still cover it as is. So it is just hurry up and wait. Hopefully, by the end of this month everything will be taken care of so we can start finding ourselves a new home.

Spring Break

After finally getting things done with our house and getting it on the market, we were in need of a break. (Well, it was already planned, but the timing was certainly providential.) We left Friday, March 14 to go to Phoenix to visit Sam's sister, Suzzie, his sister, Betty (who had moved to Gallup, NM) his grandmother and his aunt. His parents came with us and we really had a great time.
We got to Phoenix Saturday night and stayed with Suzzie. She just had a baby in January and we were there to attend Ambyr's blessing on Sunday. After the blessing, we spent the afternoon at Sam's aunt, Ginny's house. We got to spend a lot of time with his grandma, his aunt and some of his cousins. Monday Suzzie cut everyone's hair and Monday night we had a family dinner at a Mexican restaurant. We spent quite a bit of time at Sam's grandma's house. She has a swing set and a slide in the back yard and Grace, Kaitlyn and Lillie had a great time. We painted Easter eggs and hid them in the back yard. The girls loved playing with their cousins. Grace really enjoyed playing with Lillie.
Thursday we left Phoenix to go to Gallup to visit Betty. She also has a new daughter, Madilyn, who was born at the end of February. On the way to Gallup we went through the Salt River Canyon and Petrified Forest National Park. The scenery was beautiful and I have never seen such huge cacti. We were only able to stay a day in Gallup, but Grace had a wonderful time with Loraine. She especially enjoyed playing dress up.
We had a nice and relaxing time. It was hard to get back in to the swing of things. But, life goes on and we have to get back to work.

Moving Out

I can't believe February came and went. So many things have happened in the last month, I just can't keep up. First, we are now living with Sam's parents. We found getting our house together and keeping it that way to put on the market was going to be a whole lot easier without us there to clean up after. So, the first weekend in March we moved our beds and clothes over here. Then we rented a storage unit and started emptying out the house. After, two weeks of many late nights and many IOUs to family and friends we got everything painted and cleaned and as of March 12 our little house is on the market. Now with lots of prayers we hope some one will fall in love with it and want to make it theirs. It really looks good. I can't believe it is the same house.

Sam had an interview with the assistant superintendent over high schools at the end of February. Things went pretty well. She told him he was at the top of her hiring pool. So again, with a lot of praying we are hoping for a job offer soon. When that happens and the house sells, we might know what our future holds. Here are a few pictures of our new and improved house for sell.

January 2008

This month has completely snuck up on me. We have a lot of changes coming in the next few months. My husband is a math teacher at a high school and recently finished his Masters in Educational Leadership (for those of us not in education Administrators degree). Or in plain language, he would like to move up to being an administrator in middle or high school. So he is trying to get a job with the school district he now works in and our future plans depend a lot on where, when and what job he gets.
We live in a small two room, one bath home (690 sq. ft). With our youngest daughter nearing her first birthday, we are running out of room. So we have come to the conclusion that we are moving out. We just don't know where or when exactly. We would like to put our house on the market next month, but we have some things we need to finish up before it is ready. So, needless to say our lives are in an upheaval right now. Hopefully, we will know soon where we will be going and someone will buy our little home.