a (house) hunting we will go!

before anyone jumps to conclusions...we are not moving. yet. :) 

but you may be wondering what in the world is going on. we put our house up for sale a few months ago and really, really pushed it because our dream house (literally) opened up miraculously in spanish fork and it was going to work out perfectly...

until it didn't.

the main thing that didn't work out was that we just couldn't sell our house. the interest was basically zero (ok, one couple was actually really interested. but they offered us less than what we originally bought the house for! and wanted us to leave every single appliance! hah!!! not happening). but we did all we could, hoping that whatever was supposed to happen would. 

in the mean time, i dreamt about living in this beautiful space. i mean, look at it!!!! can't you just imagine max running around in this house?!? (oh wait...he did!)

// those lights!! and that countertop! and the marble backsplash!! i'm getting sad looking at these pictures all over again... //

// julia even left one of her amazing custom paintings in the house! for that reason alone i wanted it! :) //

after a few weeks, we realized that things weren't looking good. we kept our house on the market, but as we expected, nothing happened. chris & julia's house sold in a heartbeat (as i knew it would) and we tried to console ourselves but nothing seemed to work...

until, one day a few weeks ago, max and i were walking home from church and we started talking to our sweet neighbor, donna. she lives next to this big victorian house (that i've never really noticed before) and she told us all about how it's been so long since that house received some "tender loving care" (hint, hint!!)

well, one thing led to another and before we knew it, we were meeting with the owner of the house. it needs a lot of work. like a lot, a lot, a lot. 

but i see so much potential in it!! (can't you just imagine christmas in this house? with a fire crackling in the fireplace??) hah! maybe you can't, but for some reason i have this weird thing with old houses that are falling apart. if this house had some tlc, it could be so beautiful.

however, after walking through it with the owner, i'm just not sure we want to take on such a ginormous project. she was an interesting lady...and was very open, and honest with us (telling us every single thing about the house.) it was beneficial, but burst our bubbles real quick. there was an electrical fire in the house (which we knew before hand) but some of the things weren't adding up...she kept saying things like, "we put in over $350,000 to fix it up after the fire" (really?! where?), and "we just got a little lazy, and wanted to get out of nephi really fast", etc...

basically, we would need to replace flooring in the entire house. the brand new wood flooring that they installed had gaps everywhere :( and the carpet upstairs was disgusting (as in, they had a ferret and a dog!!!), the kitchen, though "brand-new" would need a total overhaul, the windows are just as bad as ours (really bad), the roof is falling apart, the heating/cooling vents only cover the first floor (what?!?), etc, etc.

though we couldn't believe that we were actually looking at buying in nephi again, it was disappointing to say the least. 

and now, here we are, back at square one. 

for some reason, ever since we have moved to nephi (three years ago) we have been in a sort of limbo. we love so many things about nephi: our house, yard, neighbors, ward, etc... but something about utah county is calling us back: family, friends, grocery stores, kid-friendly environment, etc... :) 

we have no idea what the lord wants us to do, but until we figure it out, we'll keep plugging along in good old nephi, psyching people out by putting our house up for sale, and looking at beautiful (and dumpy) houses.

conference weekend // fall 2013

i love general conference. it's right up there with the fourth of july & christmas and i really hope that i can convey the importance of it to our sweet kids. i've tried to make it fun for them since they are still so young (and we expect them to sit through eight hours in a two-day period!) so i go all out with the traditional conference bags:

saturday morning we had our friends mark, chylo & their daughter clarissa over to hear the good word and feast on lots and lots of sugar. i made cinnamon rolls for the first time ever (without my mom's help!) and using shawni's recipe, they turned out absolutely delicious.

after the morning session, we packed up and headed to provo to spend the remaining three sessions with my family. after the afternoon session, the kids were slightly stir-crazy so we loaded them into the big red wagon and went for a walk to the park. 

// max was terrified to do this by himself, but he did it!! we were all so proud. himself included! //

// ave insisted on pulling the wagon home...barefoot! she did an amazing job, until she stubbed her toe //

besides the obvious reasons that conference is spectacular (good food & family time!) wasn't this conference weekend incredible?!?!? i am amazed at how in-tune the brethren are with all of the crazy stuff that is going on in our world and felt like so many of my questions and prayers were answered.

though i loved all of them, some of my favorite take-aways included:

+ elder oaks touched on so many things that i have been thinking about lately. i loved it. so, so much. marriage is between a man and a woman. the world is trying to change that. "Our understanding of God’s plan and His doctrine gives us an eternal perspective that does not allow us to condone such behaviors or to find justification in the laws that permit them. And, unlike other organizations that can change their policies and even their doctrines, our policies are determined by the truths God has identified as unchangeable."

+ elder christofferson's talk, "the moral force of women" was also incredible. i feel so blessed to be a mother and wouldn't have it any other way.

+ "like a broken vessel" by elder holland was inspiring, comforting, and beautiful. 

how grateful i am for a living prophet, president thomas s. monson, who leads & guides our church. i love him!! 

...

and isn't it crazy to think that just next conference we will have a brand new babe in our home?!? ahh. i can't wait. 

conference is the best.

preschool pals: week two

week two started out a little rocky (avery was sicker than a dog on sunday so we postponed preschool until wednesday/friday) but we managed to pull it off and learn all about the letter "D"!

wednesday's topic was dinosaurs!! i found this simple worksheet to practice writing the letter "d" which is what they did when they first arrived:

for a "hands-on" activity (which is clearly, what i'm all about! i just love messes ;) we made our very own fossils. again, this was really cool in theory. there are a few things i would have done differently (like have them make/roll out their fossils on a piece of parchment paper...) but they had a lot of fun with this. we also practiced saying "paleontologist" and talked a little about what they do. (krista, i kept wishing finn was there to help me out! he would have been the perfect helper!) they weren't done baking before they went home, but we sent them home on friday.

for snacks we had dinosaur pb&j's:

and on friday, our last day of preschool (until february...hallelujah! ;) we talked all about dogs. highlights included: making paper bag dog puppets (some of the kids spent so much time coloring those cute little things!), having spencer bring the sound box and read two stories to the class, and seeing cute keely feed her paper dog the dinosaur fossils she made earlier in the week.

though i was incredibly burnt-out and so, so tired (pregnancy & nine kids will do that to ya!)...we really did have a wonderful time! i know there is no way i could teach preschool full-time, but for two weeks? it's just about perfect.

preschool pals: week one

i've never participated in a co-op preschool before, but after talking to the other moms, spending way too much time online, making a trip to the provo library, and going through my mom's files, i felt ready to take on my first rotation!

our focus for the week was the letter "C" and the first day we talked about all things clouds!!

we started out by making small fry's cloud guide and talking about a few different types of clouds. i think it mostly went over their heads, but they loved gluing those cotton balls onto the paper!

// the set-up before the kids arrived! our fireplace finally came in handy :) //

after "circle time" (we recite the pledge, ABC's, sing the "Days of the Week" song, talk about their names, the weather, calendar, etc...) we went outside to play with cloud dough! thankfully, it was a beautiful day (it would have been disastrous indoors with that many kids!) and the kids went to town! they loved it. 

after free play, story time, a snack of goldfish crackers, and cleaning up, we finished off the day by making our very own clouds in a cup. i didn't try this beforehand, and i think i put a little too much shaving cream in each cup (the food coloring dried out before "raining" in the water...) but we improvised and i think that pleased everyone. it was another slightly messy activity (especially for the kids who wanted to play in the shaving cream...) but that's what makes learning fun, right?!?

i'd say it was a successful first day! (minus the part that it's incredibly hard to share your own toys when there are seven other kids at your house...both max and avery had their moments!)

day two we talked all about colors. when the kids first arrived they could play with the colorful marble track (that i borrowed from my mom!)

and we also put together a folder game all about colors (it was incredibly cute. found here!) some of the kids are more experienced at cutting than others...let's just say that all of the paper dolls max has cut out has paid off!! ;)

since max's birthday was the following day, we had a little celebration for snack time! dino cupcakes and capri suns:

and lastly, we ended with an activity that ended up being somewhat of a flop (next time i'll try out all of the activities beforehand...) i wanted to emphasize colors, and how cool it is to mix them and found this cute printable about brown bear, brown bear. the stamps i borrowed didn't quite work out though (it looked more like a blob than a letter...) but oh well!

whew!! and that was the end of our first week. 

(ps. i was exhausted!!!!)

preschool pals: the beginning

max started preschool at the beginning of september and though he was a little apprehensive at first, he loves it now! (ave and i enjoy a little girl time too!) there are eight kids in his group and we each take a two-week rotation (teaching twice each week). i think it's perfect. it's also great on the wallet, which is a huge bonus. max is the youngest (he's the only one that won't go to kindergarten next year) but i think it's been very beneficial for him. we are excited for all that is in store!!

one of the first weeks, we all took a field trip up the canyon to check out the changing leaves and have a picnic with all of the moms & siblings. it was beautiful!! we even got to walk through the "100 acre woods" complete with pooh bear & a real live tigger!