First Time Buyers / First Time Sellers

I almost missed my deadline, but here is day two of my week of posts.

So we recently sold our first home. This was an interesting process. Interesting meaning scary, stressfull, and therwise non-enjoyable. However, we were VERY blessed during this process. We only had 1 1/2 months from start to finish to sell our house, and we actually did it. With the help of some very good friends we put our house up for Sell By Owner, and ended up getting about what we wanted out of it. There were some ups and downs along the way, but when all was said and done, we were very happy.

We put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this house, as well as a lot of love. Down at the bottom of this post is a video that shows the house as it was when we first moved in. Then it shows what we first did to the living room and bathroom. Then there are pictures (sorry they are out of order) that show what our bathroom and kitchen looked like in the end (the living room we kept the same color).

As part of selling our house we had to have our roof replaced. Thankfully our insurance company covered that.

The new owner chose green shingles, as opposed to the brown ones that were on before.
We loved the way this bathroom turned out.
Of course, the kitchen was our favorite renovation.

Boy, the lady who bought it sure is lucky:)

It was weird to watch the movers pack up our stuff. It was crazy to see the house empty. It was very, very strange as we were doing the final walk-through, and then as we pulled out of the driveway for the last time. A little sad, yes. But we were also ready to move on, and it is such a relief not to have to worry about the mortgage or any more repairs. So now we are temporarily homeless. We can't wait to get into our new place.

Messy Birthday

Well, I realize that I am WAY behind in my blogging. So, to catch up on everything, I'm am going to TRY to blog a new post every single day for one week. You might be wondering what I'm doing right now, but you'll have to tune in later in the week to find out that. To start it off I have to backtrack to Madelyn's fourth birthday party....

We decided to have a MESSY birthday party for Madelyn this year. We invited all her friends from her Sunbeams class at church. We started things off by covering the kitchen table with shaving cream, and letting them go at it.

This was very interesting to watch, seeing the different reactions of the different children.
Some jumped in with both hands.

Some were cautious.

Some took time to warm up to the idea, but then like it. And some didn't want to have anything to do with it at all. It was TOO messy:) Surprisingly this did not take long to clean up, and all the kids helped. Then we broke out the finger paints, and each child had their own little canvas to paint on. Everyone wanted to do this. I don't really understand what the difference was between the finger paints and the shaving cream was - maybe they just liked the colors.

Again, I noticed the different techniques.

Some just using their fingertips.

And others using their whole hands. We made sure to give each child an old, oversized t-shirt, so they wouldn't Mess up their own clothes - aren't we thoughtful?

Next came cupcake decorating. We had brightly colored frostings and a variety of sprinkles.

Everyone got their own candle in their cupcake.

Make a wish!

Happy Birthday Madelyn!!!

Madelyn loved all the presents she got. Thankyou everyone!

There's not better way to clean up from a Messy party, then to swim afterwards.

I thought the party was a big success. Madelyn had really been looking forward to it all month. "It's my burp-day, it's my burp-day", she kept saying. JT finally said, "Madelyn, it's not BURP-day, it's BURF-day!" Good one JT:)

Oh my little Madelyn, growing up so fast. She turned from our Hurricane (because she left a wake of destruction wherever she went) to our Dust Devil. Explanation? Definition - a dust devil is a strong, well-formed, long-lived whirlwind; usually harmless, but can grow big enough to threaten people and property; also known as a dancing devil and a whirly-whirly. That makes me laugh, because that really does describe Madelyn. She's very strong-willed; she's a beautiful child; she is a whirlwind of activity, from dress-up to dancing to jumping on the trampoline; she keeps us guessing, and we never know if we're going to get the sweet little Madelyn who gives us kisses and says, "I love your face Mom", or the little devil Madelyn who twists up her face and says "No Mom!" and other such sassy things; She is relatively harmless, but darned if she doesn't lash out at her siblings sometimes. We'll keep her though, forever and ever. We love our Madelyn, and are so grateful to have her in our family.

One funny thing that Madelyn said a little while ago - She had a dentist appointment, which she did not like. Then she overheard me talking about her needing another appointment. She insisted that she did not want another appointment. I told her that I understood that she didn't WANT to, but that she needed to go anyway. A few minutes later she said, "Mom, my friend told me that I can't go to any more appointments, so I can't go!" It didn't work, but it was a cute try anyway.

Yeah, it's been a while...

Okay, okay, okay, okay - I know it's been a long time since my last post. We've been a little busy. But out of the love of my heart for all who read my blog (and I know there must be millions out there), I will take the time out of my busy life, to update you on mine. I'll start with some things I missed from the beginning of summer, and then get you squared away on the more recent happenings.

School ended with a bang as JT graduated from Kindergarten. Personally, I think the whole Kindergarten graduation thing is a little silly, but I am still the devoted mother who goes and takes pictures. Here is a picture of JT in his cap and gown with his teacher.

And here is Cora with her 2nd grade teacher.

I really loved my kids' teachers this year, and tried to get in and volunteer in the classrooms as often as I could. Here is a sample of the kids' artwork from school this past year.

At the beginning of the summer we had an interesting Family Home Evening activity. In our town there are these artistically painted sheep placed all around town at different businesses and city buildings. So we did a kind of scavenger hunt to look for as many as we could, and then took pictures of the kids with each one. The kids absolutely loved this. The weather was as perfect as it could have been that day, and we all enjoyed walking around down town. Below are some of the pictures we took.

Now, you already know what we've been doing most of our summer - working on the house. Our poor kids have suffered terribly because we haven't done swimming lessons, or soccer camp, or weekly library trips, or anything. Don't worry, we're going to make it up to them in a BIG way (that will come in a later post - I don't want to give away any surprises). But we got everything done that we could, and now we are in escrow with a buyer for our house, waiting to see if she's going to accept our price adjustment in order to paint the outside of the house and fix the roof. Selling this house has not been what I call fun. And we have also run into a lot of problems with paperwork for the military, trying to get everything worked out for our move to Korea. But time and time again, we have been blessed when we thought we had hit a dead-end, and all of the sudden things have worked out. It has happened with our command sponsorship, it has happened with accompanied travel, it has happened with getting movers, and being able to leave from the port we wanted, and having our insurance say they would cover us for the roof, and on, and on, and on. Heavenly Father is truly mindful of us. And we did have a nice break from all the chaos when Joe's brother and his family came to visit us for the 4th of July weekend. One of the reasons they came was for Joe's re-enlistment. Joe's brother is an officer in the Air Force, and he as able to swear Joe in, at our home. It was short and sweet, just like Joe wanted it - no fuss. After that we just enjoyed our time together. And of course we went to see fireworks, first at the river on Friday night, and then at the rec camp on Saturday.

So now you're caught up with us, and I'll try not to leave you hangin' so long next time:)

State of Chaos

To Do List:
1) Paint master bedroom (done)
2) Paint master bathroom (done)
3) Tile master bathroom (done)
4) Put in new vanity and fixtures in master bathroom (done)
5) Put in new toilet in master bathroom (done)
6) Change light fixture in master bathroom (done)
7) Re-caulk tub/shower in master bathroom (done)
8) Paint both kids' bedrooms (done)
9) Paint kids' bathroom (part-done)
10) Change fixtures in kids' bathroom (not done)
11) Fix crack in living room wall (done)
12) Re-paint living room wall (part-done)
13) Finish tile on kitchen counter (done)
14) Tile the buffet/desk/thingy in dining room (done)
15) Paint buffet/desk/thingy in dining room (not done)
16) Make three cabinet doors for kitchen, paint them, put on hardware, and hang on cabinets (done)
17) Yard work (mow lawn, hedge bushes, plant flowers, etc.) (done, but ongoing of course)
18) tear down old rotting siding over the garage, and some eaves (done)
19) Paint the trim, eaves, etc. on front of house (not done)
20) Put up new shutters on front of house (not done)
21) Clean windows, doors, base boards and trim (not done)
22) Clean the back enlcosed porch (done)
23) Take five million trips to the dump (done)
24) Try to keep the house from being too messy while doing all of the above things, and with four kids out of school and home all day (what do you think?)

Korea or Bust!

Okay, here's the scoop. But we need to start four years ago, just for fun....

Four years ago we decided that we wanted to get out of the military. We started making plans to move back to Utah, and Joe started putting in applications everywhere. We even made a very quick trip to Utah for an interview one weekend. Buuuuuut, when we actually got around to fasting and praying about the decision, we felt like we were supposed to put in for an instructor slot and re-enlist. Well, Joe tried and tried for that instructor slot, but even though the training group really needed him, the people making the decision said NO - he either had to go back to Korea, or get out of the military. We didn't feel like we were supposed to go back to Korea at that time, so we called their bluff, and Joe started filling out the paperwork to get out. We were frustrated and confused, because we had felt so good about the instructor thing. Well, Joe turned in his separation papers in the morning (this was back in April '06) and that very afternoon when he went back to the office, the decision makers (in all their wisdom and glory) called Joe and said that if he went and took back his separation papers, then they'd give him the instructor slot - and we've been here ever since. Lessons we learned: Heavenly Father answers our prayers; Heavenly Father is in charge; Heavenly Father has his own time table.

Fast forward to present day....So we had decided to get out of the military...again. We were going to move back to Utah...again, and Joe was going to go back to school. However, when we finally got around to actually fasting and praying about it (there really is something to the fasting thing), we didn't feel right about it (does this sound familiar?), so we decided to re-enlist. We always said that if we stayed in past 10 years, then we'd stay in 'till 20 and retire, so that's what we're doing. Anyway, since we decided to stay in, it's really important to Joe that he learn Korean the very best he can, so he started looking into different language training programs in California and Maryland. Then about 2 months ago, Joe heard about this opportunity to do a one year language program in Seoul, Korea at Yonsae University (I think that's what it's called). It's the best Korean program that he could possibly get into. We prayed about it, and really felt like this was what we were supposed to do, so we applied. About a month passed, and we figured we hadn't got it. Then we heard that Joe had come in second, but they only give one spot to the Air Force. We were a little discouraged, but we figured we'd try for something else. Then, last week we heard that they might be giving a second spot to the Air Force, because they had offered one spot to the Marines that hadn't been filled. Friday morning we got the official word that Joe got the second spot. We're going to Korea! Lessons we learned: Heavenly Father answers our prayers; Heavenly Father is in charge; Heavenly Father has his own time table.

Here's the plan: The program is one year, with a follow-up assignment in Korea for three years. The school starts September 15th, and we want a month of leave (to spend in Utah) before we go, so that really doesn't give us a lot of time to get out of here. We have decided to sell our house, and it's got a lot of work that needs to be done. We are running around like crazy people trying to clean and fix things. At the same time, I am taking two classes online that I have to finish this summer, and Joe has a class that he has to finish up teaching, graduate, and paper work up the wazoo. Plus we both have callings at church that keep us pretty busy. We will miss our families and friends terribly, we will be sad to leave our friends in Texas, and to sell our first house. The next three months might possibly bring us to the brink of insanity, but it'll all work out in the end....it has to, right?:) Even though we're stressed, we are excited about going to Korea again, and starting this new adventure. We are grateful that Heavenly Father is mindful of us, and continues to give us direction in our decisions. Here are a few old pictures of things to come (get it?)