House Hunting and Sick Girls

Alana goes to school and church and has tons of playdates with this sweet boy Jack! They play so cute together. It doesn't hurt that I love Jack's mom Jenn and get along with her super well too!

 Papa and Mimi came to babysit one day while I went on a field trip with Brett's class. They brought more art kits and all the kids were very excited about it! The field trip was up to the University of Utah to see some science things. It was actually a pretty stressful trip. They had the kids walk a lot! The experiments were a little over their heads and the telescopes were not very engaging. At least six kids were sobbing by the end of the trip including Brett. He came home saying it was fun though, so I guess his memory of it was different then mine.

 Blurry picture of Lizzie and Daddy dancing to Let it Go.

We wanted to go the temple and decided it would be good to go and stay at Mom and Dad P's house and let them babysit while we went and did a session. The kids had fun playing with not only Papa and Mimi but also Kaden, Lexi, and Uncle Neil. We did some initiatory then did an endowment session. It was really wonderful to be in the temple and I felt prompted to do a better job at teaching my kids about their Divine Nature. The next day we woke up and had a pretty casual morning. I was stressed because I wanted to look at some new construction communities and I needed to pick up the flower arrangements for Stake Conference. I was feeling like there just wasn't enough time. I texted the other ladies in the presidency and one of them was able to pick up the flowers so that helped. We then decided to leave the kids at Papa and Mimi's while we looked at some communities. 

Here is an entry from my journal that day:

Yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind! We have been saving and planning to move in the spring, hopefully May. So you can imagine we have been looking at home listings like crazy trying to get ideas of things we like and the prices we should be expecting. Sean's new job is in the city of Draper which is right at the point of the mountain in Salt Lake County. We want to be fairly close to his work as well as close to Mom and Dad P and Z. I have been interested with the city of Bluffdale for years, but Sean has always been super skeptical. I took him out there once 2 years ago and he was really horrified by how bleak and undeveloped and windy it was. We went again last year and again he was pretty unimpressed. On Saturday Papa and Mimi were kind enough to keep the kids for a ton of time so we could go drive through some communities (its hard to tell how the area feels online). We started in Edelweiss in Draper, which is beautiful, but felt like we were driving up to a ski resort. It was really high up and boasted being above the inversion which I absolutely believe. It was beautiful with breathtaking views and the $500,000 model was amazing! It just felt too far away (even though it was only 8 minutes from Sean's work!) and just didn't feel right.

We decided to look at the bluffdale candlelight homes since it was on the way back to get the kids. We weren't even sure if we were going to go in the model because Sean was remembering his previous impressions of the place. We drove a bit down the street and saw an awesome park which very quickly started changing his impression of the place. It really is amazing how much things can develop in a year! 

We walked through the model then spoke to a lady there. She told us they have two spec homes they will have ready in April/May and showed us the floorplans. We told her we'd like to look at the larger of the two. She gave us keys to another property in the same plan and also told us where they were building the home we would actually be buying. She also said the finishes were all chosen and not up for changing. She showed them to us and they looked fine, but honestly I wasn't paying that close of attention. One of the things that has been swimming through my head is how badly do I actually want white cabinets. The cabinets in the house are espresso. We went and looked at the home and it was amazing. We really fell in love with it! There are a few things we are a little concerned about. The lot size is pretty small, I don't even know the number but its pretty small. The lady said we could put a swing set in the backyard which is the most important thing to me, but since its only a two car garage I would like a big shed as well. The back of the house faces a water retention area so it will be filled with grass and I think she said some trees. We really like that idea a lot. The home is South facing and is around the corner from an area where a new park and splash pad is going in. There is also a charter school right next to that park. The only other concern is that there are only 3 bedrooms. We are trying to decide if we prefer 4. With this particular home we would have them finish a large portion of the basement (a great room and bathroom with one unfinished bedroom). There would be room to build one or two bedrooms in the basement later on. The only other downside is there is no mudroom! I really love mudrooms and am trying to decide if I am willing to give up a place to put shoes and coats and backpacks that isn't directly in the family/dining room. We put down a completely refundable deposit and signed a contract on this house. We have 2 weeks to decide if we want to continue.

Here is a picture of the type of home we would have purchased. It really was very pretty!

We went to dinner at Mom and Dad Z's on Sunday and talked and talked and talked about the house and the pros and cons. It was helpful to talk it through. Alana started to get a fever and by the time we left Mom and Dad's house, her fever was up to 102! We got her home and got some medicine in her and all the kids to bed. 

On Monday morning I drove out to the Bluffdale community to ask some questions, drop off a check, and look more closely at the lot size. It was a lot bigger than I remembered which gave me comfort. Alana wasn't feeling great, but she was a trooper! 

 I drove over to the Edge homes to see the model there and ask about their floor plans. I loved the actual model which is called a Natalie! I toured a home called the Nicole with 4 beds and a small loft upstairs. I already liked it better than the candle light home. There was a mudroom and just more space. The downsides of that one were the windows on the side of the house that looked right at the house next door, also the office front room was really dark with no windows and felt like a closet! I talked with the lady Eryn there and made an appointment to come back on Friday with Sean and our Real Estate agent David.

 This is the Nicole floor plan.

Throughout the next week we researched the community a lot and looked up all the quick move in options in that neighborhood with their floor plans and looked up pictures. We also did more with getting our physicians loan in place and canceled the candlelight home. 

Lizzie was watching me make dinner one night and I kept telling her not to touch the pot on the stove because it was hot. She listened really well, but when I took the pot off the stove and turned it off, she touched the stove top. I saw her doing it and was 2 steps away but couldn't get there fast enough. She burned her hand really badly. I felt so horrible. She snuggled to me and alternated between crying and screaming for 2 hours. We just snuggled with her hand on a cold pack and watched Frozen. 

 The next morning it was feeling better but the blisters were pretty nasty!

Alana's fever just kept on going. She missed school on Tuesday and Thursday and Tumbling on Wednesday. On Tuesday night after she had gone to bed, Sean and I discussed that there was a good chance she had the flu. Her legs were aching and her fever was getting up to 103 in the night. Lizzie was also starting to be feverish. I took the girls into the clinic to have them tested for flu on Wednesday and luckily they were both negative. On Thursday morning Alana started complaining that her ear was hurting really badly. Sean had checked her ears twice earlier in the week and they weren't infected yet, but it's not surprising she developed an ear infection with her runny nose and hacking cough! I took her to the clinic and got her checked out by Jordan then went to pick up her prescription. She took so many naps and snuggled a ton and even went to bed at 5:45 on Wednesday night. I have never seen her so sick, it was heartbreaking!  She is finally getting back to herself today! Lizzie has just continued with a yucky cold but has never gotten the full sickness, she is feeling a bit better today as well and her hand is healing nicely. She has been trowing tons of fits lately which I think is partly because she doesn't feel great and partly because she is almost two =) I can tell that she is so frustrated that she can't communicate as thoroughly as she'd like. She knows a ton of words and even does 2 word phrases, but she can't tell me everything she wants to. It is also hard that a lot of her words sound similar so she gets mad when I don't understand what she is saying. 

Brett celebrated his 100th day of school last week as well and dressed like a 100 year old man. It was very cute!

Last week we also had to get the van intake hose repaired and the carbon monoxide detector kept beeping and making me nervous that there was something wrong! What a crazy week. I was so grateful Sean had some pretty flexible afternoons with his geriatrics rotation so he was able to help out with lots of the craziness! 

Sean took the day off on Friday and we went out to see the Edge homes together. Online we saw a home with a Morgan Floorplan that we really love. We walked through it and we fell in love. It really is a great house! The couple who had it build had some plans change and backed out. They had great taste though and I love the finishes the chose. The home is big and spacious (500 sq ft bigger than the candle light home). It has the biggest kitchen with so many cabinets, a loft, a mudroom, a front porch, and a trail right outside the backdoor which leads directly to a giant park. The house is completely finished now and they are willing to hold it for us till April when we are able to close. They required a large deposit which will transfer over into our down payment.

 Here is the trail!

Thursday was also the first day of February so we have been doing our traditional heart notes in mailboxes. The day before February, Brett surprised us with notes and cars in our mailboxes. He has been really sweet with Alana feeling so sick, he even saved a treat he got from school for getting 100% on a test to give to her! They fight so much and then there are moments when they are just so sweet!

Brett has been obsessed with penguins for at least a year now! They are studying them at school which is really fun. He drew this on the back of one of his school papers the other day. 

 I know I have written that Sunday's have been tough for our family lately. They have been getting better and yesterday was by far the best one in a really long time. Brett woke up and asked if he could make a penguin stuffed animal, I told him we could see what we could do with the scraps and such I have in the craft box. He waited patiently till I got home after a church meeting in the afternoon and we went to work. He drew the pattern and I followed it the best I could, Sean helped him with the hot glue for the eyes. I am actually super impressed with how well it turned out! He was very pleased!

Alana has been obsessed with unicorns and Sean helped her draw this unicorn and then she colored it all on her own. She really has a talent at coloring! When I went to walmart this morning to return some pants I bought for Brett that didn't fit and to get the rest of Alana's antibiotic which they didn't have, the girls had a blast playing with these giant stuffed animals!