Housing update...

After much thought and discussion we decided to sell the two lots we own up off of Reata Road.  If you know anyone looking to build a house on 1/2 acre that doesn't mind waiting until the fall to start (or put in fire sprinklers), check out the listings on Craigslist.  They are great lots on a quiet cul-de-sac.  One of them will never have a neighbor on one side because it borders a "valley."  When these two lots sell we have one reserved just down the street from the third (and final) lot we already own.  We thought of building on it now, but really feel like we need to save it for our last house.  It's perfect for a daylight basement and on the end of the street bordering BLM land.  It will be great...one day!  We had to get another excavation bid and one for a well, plus re-do the lumber package since the price has increased quite a bit over the last two months.  So, once again we are all ready to go to the bank - just as soon as the two lots sell.  We have someone who is interested and we are supposed to hear from them on Tuesday.  Our fingers are crossed for good news this week!

Brett had his final track meet on Friday.  He's in lane 6.  He did good, but it wasn't his best day on the field.  He talks about doing Cross Country in the fall.  That will keep him in good shape for Track next Spring.  I can't believe my baby is turning 16 next weekend!!

Evan brought his caterpillar home from school at the end of April.  It just formed it's chrysalis and will hopefully become a beautiful butterfly some time next week.

I'm having a bad, bad day (think "Despicable Me")

Mark went by the pump station for the water upgrade system for the City of Richland.  This is the issue that continues to hold us up from building our new home.  All of the pipe has been laid, but the pump station needs to be expanded in order to meet demand.  The city engineer told Mark to go by the station and when he sees activity to give him a call and they would talk about when we could start building.  So, Mark has gone by almost daily for a couple of weeks.  There is an addition to the current pump station that we assumed was for our water project.  When Mark stopped by today the project manager was there.  Mark asked him when the project would be completed and the manager proceeded to tell him, "Oh, this pump is not for your neighborhood.  It is for a project in West Richland.  We haven't even started on yours yet.  It will be another couple of months."  BOOOOO!!!!  And later today we met another lot owner who will build right across the street from us.  He has a piece of paper from the city that says they hope to be completed by September 1.  Needless to say we are quite discouraged by this news.  Wish we could sell the lots and buy somewhere else, where we could start building now.  We will have to go out and re-bid everything now, which makes Mark pretty sad.  We have put up a "For Sale" sign on the second lot in that same neighbor hood.  If you know anyone who is interested it is a 1/2 acre lot in the Reata Ridge Development let me know.  It is in a cul-de-sac and you will never have neighbors to one side because of a small "valley" bordering the lot.  It has a horse trail behind the lot.  You will have a good looking house to one side (if we are ever able to build!).  Now I just pray that the little bit of sanity I have left doesn't disappear.  On the plus side...there is a pool at this complex!

Life has been BUSY!!

This is my boy...ready to play the Wii. He loves to be naked and even wears this helmet in the car. I guess you can never be too safe all strapped in a 3 point harness car seat!

Kehli participated in the 5th grade choral festival. It was fun to go and listen to her sing "oldies" like Lean on Me and It's My Life.

Kehli got back to WA just in time to complete the D.A.R.E. program with her first grade class. She was chosen to be the runner up from her class to read her essay out loud, but turned it down because she was too nervous to read it in front of everyone. At the assembly they gave the runners-up a medal so she was sad that she had turned it down. Oh well.

We took the kids up to see Grand Coulee Dam and stopped at Dry Falls on the way. The picture above is of everyone standing out on a ledge with the falls behind them. It doesn't look so big in the pic, but it is HUGE. Wikipedia says this about it:

"Dry Falls is a 3.5 mile long scalloped precipice in central Washington, on the opposite side of the Upper Grand Coulee from the Columbia River, and at the head of the Lower Grand Coulee. Ten times the size of Niagara, Dry Falls is thought to be the greatest known waterfall that ever existed. According to the current geological model, catastrophic flooding channeled water at 65 miles per hour through the Upper Grand Coulee and over this 400-foot (120 m) rock face at the end of the last ice age. At this time, it is estimated that the flow of the falls was ten times the current flow of all the rivers in the world combined."

It would be so cool to watch videos of the big floods that came down from Montana so many years ago. Mark says when he dies that is one that he is going to rent from the celestial video store. The picture below was taken in the visitor center at the dam.

We spent most of our Spring Break in Quincy at Mark's parents house. We did some yard work, rode dirtbikes & four-wheelers, relaxed, and ate like pigs! I think I gained 5 pounds in a few days. It was great to have somewhere to go that had space and the kids had a great time.

We celebrated Easter today and spent the weekend hunting eggs, decorating cookies, dyeing eggs, and wearing pretty new dresses!

We went to Chick Day at Basin Feed back in March and the kids had a great time. They got to hold the chicks and baby ducks, pet puppies and rabbits and have hot dogs for lunch. It was a great excuse to get out of the apartment for a couple of hours.

Zaggora Hot Pants...do they really work?

So, I had heard about these Zaggora Hot Pants and thought it was one of those exercise tools that claimed to be something more than it was. But as I researched it and read testimonial after testimonial I started to think that they may offer something more than any other "loose weight quick" things that I had tried in the past. So I thought I'd give them a try. The company is based out of the UK so my Hot Pants - Capris took 3 weeks to arrive. I read about their 2 week challenge and decided to give it a try. The requirements were that you had to weigh and measure yourself, wear the hot pants 5 days a week for two weeks, then weigh and measure yourself again. I HATE the scale so I didn't do the weigh part, but did take my measurements and my two weeks were up this morning. I did not change any part of my routine (exercise, eating, sleeping, water intake, etc...) - the only thing I changed is that I wore the hotpants while I exercised and then either around the house or running errands on the days I didn't exercise. I exercised a total of 6 times during the last two weeks, doing cardio/running 4 times and weights/strength training 5 times. I have already cut out white flour from my diet as much as I can and have cut back on sweets. So.....the results are in.....I think Hot Pants are all they say they can be. I lost a total of 2.25 inches on my waist, hips and butt with the biggest loss on my hips at 1.25 inches. I am impressed! Just changing what I wear during workouts can make a difference. I took some before pictures, but will spare you seeing them. I will continue wearing them in the hopes that my butt cellulite will continue to firm up and perhaps disappear (I can hope right?).

Happy March!!

Been a busy couple of weeks...

Brett has finished driver's ed and now just has to wait 3.5 more months to get his official license. We also have about 46 more hours of practice driving. It has gotten a little less nerve wracking, just a little. He started track this week. This is the first year trying track and so far he's enjoying the practices. He would like to do sprints so is training with that group, which includes hurdles.

Erin enjoys spending time in the kitchen and has helped me make several types of cake pops lately as well as some peanut butter brownies. We are trying different recipes trying to find the perfect one to make for a church dinner in a couple of weeks.

Kehli is gearing up for a dance recital this spring. She is quite flexible and enjoys her Jazz Funk class. She is registered to start Girls on the Run on Monday and is looking forward to Brett being her running buddy for the 5K at the end of the program.

Kendall is also signed up for GOTR and I will be her running buddy for the race. We have a ways to go to get her ready for that!

Evan misses his preschool in Utah and still asks me to take him back so he can learn more Spanish. He will get tested next week to be admitted to the Dual Language program for Kindergarten this fall.

Adam is spoiled rotten...need I say more? He's starting to talk more and the other kids love to show him off after they teach him something new.

Mark is busy at work. I am busy playing taxi driver. We are just about ready to start building another house. We are done with the bids and could go to the bank as soon as we get the okay from the city. Mark spoke to the city planner today to see where they were on the water boosting project. Permit should be issued next week to put in the pump station. It looks like we need to wait another 3-4 weeks before approaching the building department about starting to build and possibly getting our permit amended so we don't have to install fire sprinklers. It's hard to be patient, but hopefully it won't be too much longer and we can be in by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!!

Update on Luke: he is doing amazingly well considering the accident he had. He is beginning to move and say words. He remembers things, but nothing of the accident. He is off the ventilator, but his lungs need to continue healing and he will be in the ICU for at least another 2 weeks. I am on a committee that is organizing a fundraiser for Luke. It is wonderful to have something to do that will help. Up to this point we haven't been able to do much of anything, physically anyways. It will be held on March 24 and will be a spaghetti dinner, bake sale and silent auction. I am in charge of the silent auction so if there is anything that you want to donate for that let me know!

Luke Durst

We have been having a few days of serious reflection. A family from church is going through an unimaginable situation right now. Their 5-year-old son fell out of their bonus room window (25 feet up) onto their concrete driveway. He is doing well considering the accident, but certainly isn't out of the woods yet. It has been a good experience to talk to our children about it and the power of fasting and prayer. Today was the first time that our children have fasted on a day other than Sunday. We all anxiously wait for the text message telling us that there is an update from the hospital. We wish there were more than two each day, but are grateful for modern technology that keeps up up to date on his situation and progress. It is wonderful to hear the faith of a child as Evan prays for his friend that, "his broken head will get better and Luke will not die." He says it so sincerely. As a mother I can't imagine the emotional stress of it all and I have been hugging my kids just a little tighter each day. We continue to pray for the Durst family and the doctors that are watching over little Luke.

It's February already??

Wow, this year is cruising by faster than usual. I realized it may be because I am mentally blocking out most of my days in this apartment. The only thing that bothers me is the noise level. I know that one day I will miss the noise (Mark's mom tells me this), but for right now I wish the volume was turned down just a little! Everyone is adjusting just fine and I am grateful for how quickly we can have the whole place spotless. The down side to that is as soon as Adam carries 2 toys from the bedroom to the family room it looks like we haven't picked up for days. Oh well!!

This last month I have been very grateful for my vacuum sealer. I am able to buy quality meat in bulk at a great price and repackage it into family size portions. It is so worth the time and effort so we can enjoy good dinners. Next time we get chicken I will put less pieces in the bags because I have found that there are too many leftovers. I am also surprised how much I can get into our shoebox size freezer. I got 20 pounds of hamburger and 40 pounds of chicken. I had to put 6-7 bags of chicken in a friends freezer, but everything else fit.

Brett is doing well with Driver's Ed. He has drive #3 today which will include parallel parking...I guess we should have practiced. He is happy to tell us when we do something "illegal" like when Mark doesn't signal early enough (5 seconds before you change lanes - really???) or when I don't hold the steering wheel with two hands. Mark has yet to ride in the car while Brett drives. I guess that will come with time. He has signed up for Track, which starts in a week and a half. He's never done it before, but wants to run sprints. We got Brett registered for EFY this summer. He will go the last Monday in July in Provo. I know it will be a good experience.

Erin is finally growing a little bit, although we are sure she will be our shortest child. Her feet are as big as mine, and much to her dismay, I'm not too good at sharing my shoes. She is looking forward to turning 14 so she can attend the Youth dances.

Kehli is enjoying her Jazz Funk dance class. She can really move that body! Her DARE essay was chosen from her class to read at the graduation ceremony, but she declined because she was too scared to read it in front of the whole school. That made me sad, but she's getting better with her shyness. It has taken years for her to go to dance class because she didn't want anyone watching her. We really try to help with her self confidence.

Kendall wants to do Girls on the Run this spring. It will be good for her. She's a crazy girl!!

Evan is happy to be back with Teacher Michelle, but misses his friends at McKee in Salt Lake City. He will be happy to be back in Spanish learning next year and I'm sure will be very "helpful" there. We attend the Kindergarten meeting next week and he will be tested for the Dual Language program soon.

Adam has turned from my sweet little baby to my little busy boy. He's like a little tornado, leaving a disaster where ever he goes. He and Evan play good together and he is patient with all the kids when they want to tote him around still. He LOVES dogs and pretends to be one often.

Mark is busy with work and we are grateful for his job that provides for our family. We are finishing up house bids and will call the city next month to see if they are willing to work with us on the fire sprinkler issue. If not, we won't start building until this summer. I'm trying not to think about having to wait!!