Goodbye, Suncrest...

Hello DAYBREAK!!

In July we decided to short sale our house. It was on the market in August. We owed way more than it was worth on it and didn't love our house. We didn't want to put any more money into it(finishing the basement) because we already owed too much. We feel like we would have had to stay in it for another 5-10 years before we could sell it for what we owed. It was a hard decision because we love our friends/church and we didn't want to loose our credit. But we went for it anyway. We knew it would be a long process so it wasn't a big deal. However, the process is over and we are moving! It still hasn't hit me and we move this week! So here is the other part of the story...

We got a few offers submitted to the bank. The people with the higher offer called us to see if we would rent the house back from then till the end of the school year! PERFECT! It gave us a firm deadline & lots of time to figure out what we would do next. I planned my life as if we were moving the end of May. We turned down a cheap house to rent in our neighborhood...in the best culdesac. I planned a 2 week vacation to CA in March. Booked Girls Camp to be at my parents cabin. I signed Sav up for a tumbling class in the neighborhood through May, etc. etc. etc. It was time for the house to close & the people changed their minds. They would let us rent it for 1 month. We closed March 1st. Have to be out by April 1st. Going to CA the 1st 2 weeks of March. Great!! I cried. I could have said yes to that cheap house. How could I leave my neighborhood in a months notice? How could I have my house packed up and find somewhere to live when I was going to be in CA? Of course, everything has worked out. We searched for something in the neighborhood but nothing came up. It sounded nice, while we had to rent, to just stay in our neighborhood for 1 or 2 years. Then it wouldn't have been that big of a move or change for us. Our next choice was Daybreak, a master planned communtity, 25 mins west of Sucrest. When we were looking to buy we thought we would love Daybreak so we decided to rent there & see how we like it. We looked at a couple of houses and decided to go with this one...



Pictures from KSL.com. I didn't want to show anymore pics because they had the other peoples furniture in it. I'll post more when we are moved in!

Pros...
+Great location. Walking Distance to the pool, parks, lake, temple, church, etc. +Almost brand new & was someones 2nd home so it has barely been lived in.
+Lots of kids...especially girls(what I was told by the friendly moms outside)
+A tad bigger (finished sq. feet) than what we are in now and a more normal, 2 story floor plan.
+3 minutes to a Target & other great shopping.
+I'm not uncomfortably pregnant & can still help with the move. Although, some days I feel like I am 9 months along!!
+We are debt free!

Cons...
+NO basement. Where are we supposed to throw all of our stuff?
+NO friends...yet!
+NO yard, well, a tiny cement side yard. (this could be a pro because its kind of nice to have a low maintenance house while renting!)
+Moving just flat out sucks!

I might add more to the list later. All in all, we are excited.
Once we got over the fact we couldn't stay in our neighborhood...we actually think this change will be good for us. I think we'll really like Daybreak!

Other side notes...

+Josh also had to move his business this month & luckily moved to a bigger place with warehouse space...which now seconds as our storage unit. Funny enough, Mark & Racquel(business partner) had to move this month too and needed somewhere to put all their stuff!

+This move also means Sav will get a big girl bed! We'll see how that goes!!

SO. CAL

*I've taken a break from blogging because I finally published it last month. I love my blog book. Publishing it has made me want to be a better blogger. I want to tell stories and show details for my kids and not just jot down main ideas. I'm going to be better this year and really make this a personal history of our family!

Sav and I spent the 1st 2 weeks of March in California! We had a great time as always, except for her random nights of sleep she kept pulling on me! The day we left she was up & at em' at 6 am! She did not even nap that day! There was one night where she was up from 2am to 8am! Sav is the best sleeper, so i don't know what her deal was. Luckily she had a few good nights that made up for our lack of sleep.
One more funny sleep story...I had put her down at my parents house for the night & my dad was to listen for her, while my mom and I went to get my sister & her husband from the airport(they had been in Hawaii for a week)Well, we get back at 1 am and Sav is wide awake sitting there on the couch and my dad is peacefully sleeping in his bed! We were so confused...who knows how long she had been sitting there for! She had a stack of books and a bowl of cheerios to entertain her. When we walked in she said, "Mama, you back?" So that was another late night and she still didn't sleep in! Good thing we didn't find her outside by the cliff my parents live on!
Anyway, Sav loved playing with her cousins & being entertained all day, every day! It was so nice to be able to wear flip flops, walk to the park, and go swimming! Josh flew down and met us the last weekend. We wanted to take Sav to Disneyland before the baby came. We went on a Thursday and it was perfect! The sun was out but the crowds were not. We got there at 10:30 and were done by 5! The longest line we had to wait in was to see the princesses. Sav loved it. She got shy but it made her day. There are always 3 princesses there but they rotate...after waiting over an hour we saw Mulan, Jasmine & Belle. Mulan? Really? We were disappointed because while we were waiting we snuck a peek and saw Cinderella, Savs favorite! Anyway, the Nemo Submarine ride was the next longest line @ about 25 mins. Josh waited while Sav and I went to the bathroom. Well, right before we got on the submarine Sav decided to stand there and pee her pants!! Do you think that stopped us from getting on? NOPE! Gross, huh?! If I saw that happen with another family I would have freaked out but we just couldn't for go the ride and not get on! I think Sav had a fun day. She was scared of all the stuffed characters...which worked out in our favor because we didn't have to wait in line to see them. We would just watch them from afar and that was good enough for her! We left the park, got dinner and went home!
The rest of the weekend we swam, went to Irvine Park,the beach and hit up some of our favorite restaurants! I wasn't exactly excited to come home because I knew we would be very busy with moving! yes, MOVING! We closed on our house and have to be out by the 1st of April. A post is coming very soon about that!

Savannah Kate

Savannah Kate is 2 and 1/2!! Time is flying by and I am LOVING this stage! She amazes me at the things she knows and how quickly she retains everything she hears. Here is a list that Josh & I came up with of things we want to remember about her right now...
*Shes all about Princesses! She loves every princess and talks about them constantly! Sav could watch Disney movies all day! We've started a bad habit of looking up Disney movies on You Tube. She could sit on the computer desk for hours and boss us around to the next movie she wants us to click on. She loves all the Princess stuff shes collected and lately only wants to use her princess jammies, cups, underwear, bubbles, wipes,etc. We are so excited to take her to Disneyland in March!
*So, some of our movies are DVDs and some are VHS. These require 2 different machines. Sav has mastered how to use both for her movies. She knows all the buttons and can even change the cords on the side of the TV. This is great when we are at home and she doesn't need help, but not great when we are at other peoples houses and she thinks she can handle their DVDs all by herself!
*We recently signed her up for a tumbling class in the neighborhood. She loves going with all her little friends!
*Potty training!! We've been going at it for a while now and shes done really good, except for #2! Its driving me nuts! I am not a fan of cleaning her poopy underwear everywhere we go but she hasn't had one pee accident yet! She wont even pee in her diapers! I want to give up when she yells from the top of the playground "I poo poo in my underwear" but we're still working on it!
*Sav loves to sing. She knows lots of songs and loves all the songs off her Disney Movies. Some of her favorites are... ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, I am a Child of God, I Wonder & I Know you (from Sleeping Beauty) Popcorn Popping, Savages (from Pocahontas), etc. She is always singing her little babies to sleep!
*Social Butterfly! Sav could play with her friends all day, every day. She talks about each one of them by name every day! I have to tell her make believe stories about them at night when I'm putting her to bed. Most of the stories have to deal with her and her friends going to visit the Princesses in their "temples."
*Sav is still a great eater and a great sleeper! There isn't much she wont eat and shes sleeping 11-13 hrs. a night and taking a 2 hr. nap. The other day, however, she woke up at 4:30 am at her grandmas house and was watching a movie in their playroom all by herself! She loves to pull the kitchen chairs up to the cabinets and help herself to the snack cupboard. She knows where every friend keeps their snacks too and helps herself at other peoples houses as well. Kind of embarrassing but they all spoil her rotten and let her eat her way through their houses!
*She loves when her dad does crazy things with her...Throwing her in the sky, flip her on his legs, etc. She will ask for it again and again.
*Sav is a hitter. She is usually pretty good with kids her own age, unless they do something to make her mad. The thing that drives me nuts is that she loves to hit younger kids. Not babies but 1 year old sized kids. Its like she feels like she has power over them and can just push them down. It makes me crazy especially when its an innocent stranger that is just standing there.
*Sav loves grocery shopping at Smiths. They have the mini carts that are just her size! She pushes it around and puts everything in there for us. She is usually really good at just putting the things we need in the cart but she does get a little crazy on us sometimes!

I feel like she has grown up so much in the last few months. We love our little girl and are so lucky to have it so easy with her. There are occasional tantrums, but for the most part she is a really happy, smiley girl. She is the best little tag along and I enjoy being able to spend so much time with her. I know our world is going to be rocked with a new baby, so I want to soak up every last day with her while I can!

V-Day 2011

We had a great time celebrating Valentines Day this year! Josh planned a weekend away for us...our anniversary is on the 19th, so it works out nice to celebrate the 2 together. Do you think I got one picture from the weekend? NOPE!! We spent a night in St. George and then one night in Vegas. We met up with Laura & Shawn and did dinner and a movie with them Friday night! Josh golfed with friends Saturday morning while I shopped. We made our way down to Vegas just in time to check in to our hotel, New York New York. Then we went and bought some show tickets...we decided to go with a hypnotist. We walked the strip, ate dinner at Cheesecake Factory and then went to our show. It was pretty funny, Josh tried to be on stage, but didn't make the cut. We got up, checked out of our hotel, went to the outlets & started our drive home. It was alot of fun but we probably wont be back to Vegas in awhile!The hotels are amazing, especially all the new ones, but its just so dirty there! Sav spent the weekend with Josh's parents and our friends the Clarks. Its nice not to have to worry about her one bit!
Monday(the actual holiday) was a fun day for us! We found out we are having another baby GIRL!! I am so excited! Sav is going to have a sister and we don't have to(doesn't mean I won't) buy one thing! I'm feeling prepared already ;) The baby is healthy and everything is developing like it should. I'm so excited to see if she'll look just like Savannah or not! Less than 5 months and we will know! I can't believe how fast time is flying by right now!

These pics are of Sav on her 1st and 3rd Valentines Day! LOVE HER!

Baby #2

I haven't written one thing about this little person growing in me! I figured I'd better document some things now before it gets even later!

*I'm 18 weeks along, my due date is July 6th. That will make this baby and Sav almost exactly 3 years apart!
*We find out what I'm having on Valentines Day! Either way I'll be happy...a sister for Sav or a boy to even out the score!
*I'm starting to show, but am still in the fat stage.
*I changed doctors for insurance purposes. We actually don't have maternity coverage, so we went with the cheaper hospital, St. Marks. We do have supplemental plans, which helps.
*My Dr's. name is Kat Miller. She is a midwife. Her partner physician will preform my c-section and she will assist him. I chose a midwife because I knew she would be more understanding towards a v-bac. Though I am thinking positively, I don't have my hopes up for a vbac...I just wanted it to be an option just in case things happened perfectly. I know a 2nd c-section will be much easier than the 1st and that I will be much more prepared for it!
*I have had way more symptoms with this pregnancy compared to my 1st. With Sav, I didn't have one symptom the whole time...I went 9 days over, still feeling great! This time around, I definitely went through the nausea/tired stage. Luckily I've snapped out of it because I was in a real funk for a little bit. I really can't complain though...most have it lots worse!
*Josh and I are not newborn people! We knew we wanted more kids and didn't want them more than 3 years apart, so we just went for it! I am so nervous for the 1st 6 months. I didn't adjust very well to being a mom, so I am hoping that I will handle it much better the 2nd time around. Don't get me wrong, I am excited, just a little more anxious! One thing that calms my nerves is how much Sav LOVES babies. She pretends to be a little mommy all day long! She loves her dolls and mimics every little thing that I do. Real live babies are even more fun for her :) I know she'll be the best big sister, even if she has to go through an adjustment period herself! She thinks she has a baby in her tummy too!

Anyway, there are some thoughts. I will post a baby bump picture soon! I'm going to publish my blog next week and I didn't want this kid to think I didn't care about them!!

2:30 Church=One LONG day!

Our Ward got split for the 2nd time in one year & we got pushed back to the 230 time slot! Its dark when we get out! Josh spends most of the morning at the church which makes it a LONG day for Sav and I. By the time we are leaving to go, I should really be putting her down for a nap. This is how I found her one day after church while I was making dinner...

That being said, Sav LOVES church! She is such a good little girl during the 1st hour and runs to go play with the toys for the rest of the time. Sav loves all her friends in there, especially Brinlee. Im amazed at what she learns in nursery, especially all the songs she picks up on. She also doesn't mind getting a sucker from the Bishop at the end of her day ;) There are weekdays where she asks to go to church. I'm so grateful for her love of church at such a young age...lets hope this sticks with her in her teenage years!

The End of 2010...

A couple of days after Christmas, my family flew up for their annual Christmas Break ski trip at the cabin. Sav was in heaven...she loved being surrounded by her cousins all day long! It was also nice for me to have someone to entertain her all day! We skied a little bit, played in the snow & just enjoyed our time with the fam. My mom puts a lot of work into all the planning it entails when all of us our together, which makes for a fun, carefree time. THANK YOU MOM! For New Years Eve we watched a firework show put on by the boys and just relaxed. I was the only one in the cabin that was up at midnight! These are the only pictures I got of that week. Sav talks about her cousins daily. I love that she loves them so much!

Holidays 2010

Lets go all the way back to Thanksgiving...we stayed in Utah and celebrated with the Chases at Joshs parents house. It was good, as always. That is also the day I told Joshs family I was pregnant!

Christmas...
Savannah loved everything about Santa Claus...it took her a while to warm up to the idea of actually sitting on his lap, but she finally did it. It was so funny how shy she got. This picture says it all. Another funny thing about Santa...Anyone or anything with a white beard(including the native American Costco employee) is Santa Claus to her.

Sav loves being out in the snow. Here she is building her 1st snowman with her dad. Some how she got the idea that anytime we are outside in the snow, we HAVE to have hot chocolate when we get in.

We also celebrated Christmas in Utah with the Chases. On Christmas Eve, Josh's mom put together a nativity. Aren't they the cutest Mary and Joseph you've ever seen?

We opened all our family presents from each other that night as well. Sav loved it. She made her classic surprised expression every time she opened something. This the only picture we got of her opening presents the whole holiday! We were too busy with the video camera...

Christmas morning was just the 3 of us. Sav slept in till almost 11! We were dying but didn't want to wake her up because we knew she wouldn't be getting a nap that day. Josh and I did our gift exchange before she woke up. Sav loved all her presents that morning but wasn't too thrilled to open them all because she still wanted to play with her presents she got the night before. We tried to keep it small & simple but she still seemed to get a lot of gifts! That afternoon we went to Joshs grandparents house. Everyone from his moms side was there and we had a lot of fun catching up with everyone. We had a great day. This is one of the only pictures we have from Christmas day...sad huh?