The rest of the house

How cute is this? This is the entrance to the house (yes, we have another one that we are looking at...actually about 4...but this one is MY favorite). Both sides have vines growing up them (you can't see that now, because....well, it's winter and they are dead) ;)
This is the enclosed sun room. It was nice, she said in the winter time when the sun is out you can open the door from the sun room into the house and it will heat the house. We had to do that for a while because the boys were playing in the sun room and we wanted to talk in the livingroom and we needed to keep an eye on them. It's bigger (obviously) than you can see in this picture, but this was the angle I liked the best.

This is the Living room (the room behind it is the formal dining room that is in the other blog). I thought the rugs and drapery just pulled the house together, so I was extatic when I found out that that all stays if I want (I told her I absolutely wanted them).

This is the master bedroom. I couldn't get the right angle on this room, I tried a few and this was the best I got. I wanted one where the bed wasn't the center of the picture because I highly doubt the bed stays. But I couldn't get the right angle, so you'll just have to imagine this one.

This is the bathroom. I love the double sink, that way Jon gets one and I get one. It's got a deep tub in it too...no jets though ;) The upstairs is all plumbed for another bathroom because Jon just can't see how it's possible to live with children and just one bathroom, but we did it when I was growing up. I would however like another bathroom. So it's all good.

There is also a double detatched garage, and a storage shed (that used to be a garage and could be used, but I think it's just better as a storage shed. And the guys at Jon's work were making fun saying that they don't think it's a good choice to live down there because it's called "Mormon Valley" down there. I don't know that they were aware that he's LDS so it probablly won't bother him to live around a bunch of Mormons. I believe Beverly (the lady selling the house) said that there were 4 wards there (the town...I think...is about the size of Lovell). We will keep you all updated on what we decide. Oh yeah, and this house, when we walked in, we were sure that it was WAY out of our price range because the housing here is insaine! So when we asked how much the house was (after trying not to fall in love with it because we were sure it was too much) we found out that it was RIGHT in our price range. Yeah, so that makes it even better.

Part of the other house

I was going to try and put these in some sort of order, but it was enough work just to get these pictures on here (this will be one of two blogs that I am just showing pictures of the new house that we are thinking about. This here is one of the bedrooms (I should have gotten a pictures of the closets, they are HUGE!)

This is the back yard (well part of it...) obviously the boys LOVED this part of it. But the back yard is really big (we will put up one fence and then the whole thing will be fenced in). This woman had children (well, they are grown now, but she had this planned so that it is child friendly...for grandkids now). The back yard is basically for children's play and then there is a fence to the front and the front is "adult space" it has the flowers and all the beautiful landscaping. It's really great.

This is part of the kitchen (I loved the kitchen) all the appliances here stay (she wasn't sure about the washer and dryer. They might stay, they might go, but they are really old anyway, so one way or the other that's the least important of the appliances as far as I'm concerned...they always have places around town to do laundry until we get our own.

Oh, I loved this. This is just a little nook in the kitchen with the table (which you can't really tell in the picture, but it is a pretty good sized table). And the window there to let the light in, it's really cute. We will probablly use this instead (I don't remember if the picture is in this blog or the next, but there is a formal dining room).

This is the rest of the kitchen (with 2 sinks). It's a real cute kitchen.

There it is. This is the formal dining room (since we will need more rooms before we can probablly afford it, this will maybe turn into a room for a little while, we will see what happens. We will have enough for now.

Houses and Microwave meals

First of all, I am going to do the Microwave Meals (only a few though 'cause that would take up a ton of room to do them all). Since I have promised Mary to write some up here for her and I keep forgetting, I will do it now while the boys are sleeping and I remember.

Mandarin Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (1 pound)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup apple juice
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (11 ounces) mandarin oranges
Hot cooked rice
2 green onions, slices

Flatten chicken to 1/4-in thickness. Place in a greased 2-quart microwave-safe dish. In a bowl, combine brown sugar and cornstarch; stir in teriyaki sauce, apple juice, oil and garlic. Drain oranges, reserving juice; set oranges aside. Add juice to the teriyaki mix; pour over chicken. Cover and microwave on high for 8 minutes. Baste chicken with sauce. Cover and cook 3-5 minutes longer or until sauce is thickened. Serve over rice. Garnish with onions and oranges.
Yield: 4 Servings

Parmesan Potato Wedges (Side Dish/Appetizer...could be either one)
1/3 cup dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons onion salt
1 teaspoon paprika
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted

In a resealable plastic bag, combine the brad crumbs, Parmesan cheese, onion salt and paprika. Coat potatoes with flour; dip in butter. Add to bread crumb mixture; shake to coat evenly. Arrange on a microwave-safe plate. Cover with waxed paper. Microwave on high for 4-6 minutes or until tender, rotating every 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes
Yield: 3-4 servings

(Here are the recipes that I have with me; if Mary - or anyone else for that matter, would like any of them I will e-mail them to you):
*Main Dishes*
Beef Tortilla Casserole
Tortilla Casserole
Crab stuffed Chicken
Pineapple Veggie Chicken
Chicken Divine
Sour Cream Beef 'n' Beans
Broccoli Chicken Roll-ups (it sounds like a Chicken Cordon Blu with broccoli)
Microwave Chicken Parmesan
Barbecued Pork Chops
Cashew Chicken Toss
Ham with Apricots
*Side Dishes*
Microwave Rice Pilaf
Parmesan Corn on the Cob
Fiesta Cheese rice
Swedish Meatballs
*Appetizers*
Fiesta Dip
*Desserts*
Chocolate Mallow Nut Bars
Butterscotch Peanut Fudge
Marble Brownies
Banana Creme Pie
Casserole Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Chews
All of these are microwave meals. I haven't tried all of them yet, but all of them I have tried taste just like you cooked them in the oven or on the stove, they are really quick to throw together and my family loves them...and so do I because I don't always feel like cooking dinner over a hot stove for hours at a time. Most of these only take a few minutes cooking and prep time. They are great.

Now, everyone keeps asking what's going on with the house; so I will tell you. The listing agent is having a hard time getting a hold of the seller (which may explain why the house has been on the market for so long). The seller apparently works in the oil field or something, so that's why they can't get a hold of him. He finally got a hold of him the day before yesterday and according to our contract he only had until 5pm yesterday to say yes or no or counter the offer that we made on the house. So De (our realtor...more or less) called to ask if we could give him an extension. I asked how long because...well, I want to be in a house, not a hotel and right now the company is paying for this hotel, but they will only pay up to 30 days (I'm not complaining about that, I know it sounded like I was, but it wasn't meant that way). And we can't afford this place after that (well, maybe we could, but I would rather just stay at a Super 8 or something and not spend quite this much money on a place to stay if we have to pay for it), so if the whole thing goes over a month we are just going to have to move from one hotel to the other before we have to move again to a house (we hope). I'm trying not to complain, but I am just sick of moving right now. So De said that it would be MAYBE 2 days, probably one, but it could be 2. So I said 2 days would be fine. If he's wanting a week or more, the answer is "No." So really, we don't know any more than we did when we started, but we should know by tomorrow for sure. If not then De is getting a call EVERY DAY until we do. This time I will be the squeaky wheel because I'm not just waiting around to see what happens. I want to know where I will be living a month from now. So we will see what happens. I will let you all know when I know what's happening.

Blessings

I was just reading everyone's blogs trying to catch up on what I've missed while I didn't have the internet (for a whole week...oh poor Karen) ;) And I read Julie's about how it's easy to fall into that slump of "I don't have as much as I want so, oh poor me" instead of looking around and seeing how much we have. I have been blessed to see how much we had and how much we still have. Even though we don't have our 4 bedroom house anymore, we do still have a place to live. And the way I figure it, if we get that house that we put an offer on, the rooms are a little smaller than the ones in the house we just moved from; so this way since we are all living in ONE room (I don't recommend that to anyone I like) so when we get to the other house the smaller rooms won't seem like a big deal anymore...the fenced in back yard will seem like it stretches out for MILES, and I don't have to worry about the boys getting out of my sight for a few seconds and they can have time outside to just run around and be boys. And right now, even though we are living in a hotel...not my first choice...but in any case we have a place to live, and it's not even one of those old run down places where you are afraid to let your kids be on the floor. And out of all of this I've got to say...I will miss that bath tub. This is the first hotel I have EVER been in, that the tub was so inviting that I just couldn't resist. I can't stand taking baths in hotels, it creeps me out. But this is a jetted bath tub, it's a deep one too, so even with this big pregnant belly of mine, it still doesn't stick out of the water and freeze 'cause the water covers my whole belly...oh it's nice. Even Jon tried it out last night and said "You know if we get the preacher's house" (it's another house that we are looking at if we don't get this one, we will see though) "I know what could go into that other bathroom..." so he really liked it too. So even though we are living in a hotel...at least it's a nice one. (Side Note) The Preacher's house (technically) has 3 bathrooms, but one isn't finished and it's RIGHT next to the other one (it's odd placement I thought, but whatever) so Jon was talking about knocking the wall down between the bathrooms and only having 2 bathrooms but just making one of them a big bathroom. And I still have all of my family. Which recently seems like a huge blessing despite last night. Chris was up last night wanting to play with Ethan, the only problem was it was like 11:30pm and Ethan was (obviously) already sleeping, but that didn't seem to stop him from climbing into his crib to play with him. A few days ago my cousin's good friend died in a car accident (he was 18 years old), and that poor Mother; that's the second son that she's lost in a car accident. I was just thinking that I bet that Mother would LOVE to hear her boys up playing together (even when they are supposed to be sleeping), I'll bet she would love to have the whole family "stuck" together in one room for a month or so. I'll bet she would love to be looking at houses to buy and have to make sure it's got everything that her sons would need to be comfortable living there, because that would mean that she has her sons. I know at times it just gets to the point that I want a break from the boys and I just don't know if I can wait until Jon gets home to take over some of the responsibility, but I should just be grateful that I have my hands full with these boys...and another on the way. Some people don't get the luxury of hearing their children play in the middle of the night, some people don't get to walk up and down the store isles saying "would you put that back, I'm not paying and extra 15% just because the cover has Lightning McQueen's face on it", and some people don't have a husband that will come home and take care of the kids when they've had "one of those days". So what if I don't have an oven to cook on right now...some people don't have food to put in their oven. So what if I have kids that keep me up until ridiculous hours of the night...some people don't have their children and would LOVE the chance to just sit and play with them until ridiculous hours of the night and into the morning. So what if I don't have the house that I want...I know that whether we get this house or not, I will still have a roof over my head (it just may not be THAT roof), and some people don't have that much. And so what if EVERYTHING doesn't turn out exactly how I want it to turn out, I have the faith that everything happens for a reason and if there is a reason that we are supposed to just stay here in this motel, or in a rental for a while longer, then I will just deal with it. You'd think I would have learned. What if everything had worked out JUST how I wanted it to in Pocatello? Do you know how big of a mess we would be in right now? We would be in such big trouble financially right now that I don't know if we would have ever been able to pull ourselves out. What if everything had moved along smoothly like we wanted it to, what if the owners were willing to take $20,000 off of the price of the house. We would have been thinking that we were doing great! And then when Jon got laid off I don't know what we would have done. That house would have been unsellable (is that even a word? I don't know). So I just have to trust that we are where we are for a reason and that whatever happens, I know that I still have what matters most.

Missing Internet

I just thought I would let everyone know that I won't be replying to anything that you send me. It's not 'cause I don't love you, it's because we are taking our internet back today and I won't have the internet anymore until we move into the motel. Then we will probably have a break again when we won't have the internet after we move out of the motel and (hopefully) into our new house.
And as far as that goes we now know that all the appropriate paperwork and whatnot are to the listing agent. Last we heard they were trying to get a hold of the sellers (who they said would most likely counter offer). So we think we will see what they counter offer and then decide. The way we see it, we have the upper hand because their house has been on the market for a while (not many people want...or need a 5 bedroom house) so that's not a big selling point for them. If we don't like their offer and they don't like ours we will check back in 6 months and see what's available. If that house is still available we will see if they like our offer (or possibly a lower offer). We are NOT desperate to buy, but I'm sure they are getting more desperate to sell because they already have another place they are living, so they are making 2 house payments right now. So we will see what happens. I will write again when we find out.

Just so you all know...

I just thought that I would let everyone know that I was just blowing off steam today. I think I still have my sanity intact, I don't know that I would know if it left though. We were just trying to get the house cleaned and packed and the movers hadn't called yet (they have now), and we couldn't get a hold of our loan officer or our realtor to find out if they got the information they needed and if they had sent it on to the people that it needed to be sent to (we got a hold of the loan officer, we are calling the realtor tomorrow). And the boys were both screaming all day long, and that added to the stress Jon and I are already under, I just needed to complain. But thanks to everyone that called just to check and see if we were alright. We are all fine, I just find that typing releases stress for me, and I just needed that.

Uhhhh!!! My head is going to explode!

Part of me almost wishes that the company hadn't been packing us. It is driving me crazy! Because I keep wanting to pack everything, and I can't because if we pack it we are liable for the damages unless the box is completely smashed. So we are having someone come over tomorrow or the next day to come and evaluate what needs to be moved. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday we are having them actually move us. So we have to pack up the things tonight that are coming with us...I don't even know what all is coming with us because for a month you need a lot of stuff...but then try and decide the bear minimum that we need because we have our entire family in ONE ROOM for a month (or a month and a half). I am officially changing my mind about the whole living in a motel would be fun for a while idea. I "lived" in a motel for a week while we looked for housing. And if you need alone time...you have to sit in the bathroom (not really "relaxing" alone time), plus you have those people that are all "I can hear someone, tell them to be quiet." (Yeah, I have little kids, I don't know about everyone else's kids, but mine don't just sit all day. Even if I allowed them to sit in front of the TV ALL DAY LONG...they still wouldn't just sit all day). So I am just going to call my home teachers or someone, just to come be over here while the movers are here, just so I don't have to be here alone with them, that makes me uncomfortable. (And, no, Mama, I don't mean they are going to spend the night here, just during the day while the movers are here...hehehe). And the boys are freaking out CONSTANTLY about who knows what? And I am just ready for this move (and the next move for that matter) to be over with already. I suppose I shouldn't complain; some people don't have a house to live in, and they don't have the option of a motel and they don't have any children to drive them crazy. So I guess things are good here 'cause we do have a place to live and we will have the option of a motel and we do have children to drive us crazy, so I can't complain I suppose.
I don't know of anything else that is going on, so I guess I don't have anything else to write, I just was hoping to think of something so that I didn't have to quit and go pack and unpack and do laundry. *BLAH*

I'm going to miss this ward

Man, I'm going to miss the Pocatello 1st ward. Everyone there is all "What can we do?" and you know they aren't just doing the regular "Is there anything we can do for you?" and then if you need something they are too busy or something because when they found out that the company is moving us. They still kept asking, they are almost like little kids when they want some candy or something. "Pleeeeeaaaaassssse, please can you find a way to let us serve you?" ;) LOL. Really they are awesome! We even had one sister in our ward who offered to babysit the kids so that we could pack (that was before we knew the company was doing it for us) I told her that would be a huge help, that would be more help than coming to help us pack. Her and her husband had also just moved their daughter so they we offering to give us their boxes and apologizing that they had already given some to someone else that was moving. Then when we found out that the company was doing the packing and whatnot, we told that sister that we wouldn't need her to watch them and explained why, and told her that we appreciated her offering though. I thought that would be the end of it, but this sister came up to me after church and said "If you ever need a place to stay, I know that sometimes your stuff gets moved before you do, so if your beds and things are packed and you still have to stay....don't sleep on the floor Ok? We have rooms at our house that you can stay in." and she was offering everything you could think of...anything that we might possibly need. I thought this was especially sweet because, we had seen this sister in the ward, but not really MET her until a few weeks prior, and she was still willing to give anything that she had to give even though she didn't really know us that well. And our home teachers kept asking and asking like they wanted to make sure that we weren't making something up just so we could pack and load by ourselves or something. And we have had most of the members in the ward that know us in any degree, if they know we're moving, they are there asking what they can do. It is the only ward that is even comparable to the Butte wards. And those of you that know how I felt about the Butte wards know that's saying something. So I hope the Green River wards are similar, because this ward is going to be very missed.

I know you're wondering...

Yes, we did put down an offer on the house. But they can't "officially" tell the sellers we made an offer until we are "officially" pre-qualified. They couldn't pre-qualify us technically because they needed our tax returns for a few years (and like we're going to be carrying those around with us all over Wyoming and Idaho). So we will fax them on Monday to the banker, then he will fax over the official pre-qualification stuff to the realtor then she will send the papers to the seller who will either accept, reject or counter our offer. So we will see what happens.
And Mary, I haven't forgotten about sending those microwave recipes. Let me know what kinds of foods they have available that are not WAAAAYYYYY expensive (if anything LOL). There are a lot of the recipes with chicken in them, but I didn't know what the price of chicken is down there. But I will either e-mail, mail or just write some on my blog when I get the chance.
I am so exhausted and we have early church tomorrow, so I am going to go to bed now, and hopefully I will wake up before church is over tomorrow. ;) J/K

House

Well, we found a house that we think that we are going to put an offer on. (And no Michelle, you can't be dead set against it because you have not seen it). It is a 5 bedroom house and we really don't need to do much of anything to move into it. It comes with the dishwasher, refrigerator, and I think a microwave...that's minor if it doesn't, and we already have one anyway. I don't know where we are going to put the boys because there are 3 bedrooms downstairs (one is the master bedroom...or it could be a family room, we are going to decide about that). And there are 2 upstairs. So I know the baby is going to be downstairs because I am NOT climbing the stairs 15 times a night to feed him....I am just not that patient of a lady. But I feel bad if the entire family is downstairs except one of the boys. I don't want them to feel like an outcast or something. We might just put the older boys upstairs and us and the baby downstairs. We'll see how it works out. It has a nice fenced-in yard for the boys to play in and room for a garden (no garage though, but we can survive without it). And 2 3/4 bathrooms (that means that it doesn't have a tub, but it has a shower and everything else). I don't know what it is with people around here EVERYTHING either has a maroon carpet (every one's house was even the EXACT same shade of carpet) or, if they don't do the maroon carpet thing, they have to have at least one room that is painted dark red and black. It will take a bit to cover up, but I will do it (not while I'm pregnant of course...or in the middle of winter when I can't open a window...I know better than that).

This is our walk-in closet in the master bedroom (yeah, it'll need a little work obviously), but it has potential.

This is the red and black bathroom in the master bedroom (we'll see what we can do with that, but it's not needed for the structural integrity or anything, so it'll do until we get around to it).

This is the master bedroom. The door on the left is the closet, the door in the middle is the bathroom and the door on the right side (you can't see real well 'cause it looks like the door to the bathroom) is the door to the laundry room...in our bedroom, I find that odd, but it works. ;)

This is the upstairs bathroom, you can't see it in this picture, but the tiles in the shower are really cute, I love them. All we need to do for this room is to get a shower curtain. That's real expensive, I don't know if we can afford that. (Yeah, that was sarcasm assuming you couldn't tell).

This is the kitchen, the only problem with that is that there is really a SMALL space to put a table, maybe when we replace the carpet in the living room (someday) we could cut some space from the living room and leave a bigger space to put a table. And it has wine bottle wall paper up across the top, I'm taking that down first thing 'cause that will annoy the heck out of me. But the tiles (again, you can't see them real well) are real cute I think. And all of the appliances looked to be fairly new. So if we get this house we have a portable dishwasher that we will need to sell...we will trade for a Washer/Dryer ;)

This is our back yard view from the deck. We don't know if the RVs come with the house or not, we were going to ask. Really, it doesn't matter one way or the other to us, but since no one was currently living there we didn't know if they were just keeping them there until they sold the place, or if they are leaving them there. It would be kind of nice to inherit those with the house though.

And last, but not least, this is the living room (and 2 of the best looking boys I have ever seen...they do come with the house) ;) But only if I am the one to buy it. You can't see it real well, but over where Jon is leaning there is a shelf kind of thing (I don't know what it would be called) that goes over the door. I can already see problems with that. We are just going to have to set down FIRM rules that my little monkey boys are not allowed up there because if they fall on the other side of that it's quite a ways down. And I am afraid that Jon will end up killing himself trying to change the light bulbs in that light fixture on the left. I really like the house though, it's not as big as the other house, but like Jon said, we don't have to stay there FOREVER. It's a good house for the next few years (well more than a few, but I'm not sure what the word would be for alot more than a few, but less than forever). It has enough room that we can grow a bit and until the next child comes (after Justin...who knows how long that will be) we can have a spare room for an "activity space", I'm excited about that. I read some real good ideas in a few of the books I've got for inexpensive games for the kids to play. So I could have a room that they can play and have fun and I can do my scrapbooking while they play. I was glad that we got to talk to the bank, because I had been looking at this house, I thought it looked cute but it was just barely out of what we had guessed our price range was. When we went to the bank we found out that we qualified for at least $40,000 more than we thought we did...we still aren't going to go as high as we qualified for because like our last realtor (in Pocatello) said "It really doesn't matter if you find the perfect house that looks like it was built for your needs and you LOVE everything about it. If it puts more financial strain on you than you are comfortable with (so to speak) you will learn to hate it no matter how much you love it to begin with." I don't want to end up hating my house, so we set a limit that we were comfortable with and stuck with that. I'm not sure what was up with that house on Fir street. I thought maybe our realtor was selling it or something because it was "technically" in our price range that we qualify for, but we didn't want to go that high financially, but she kept asking if we wanted to see it, so finally we were just like "Yeah, let's go look at it" with NO intention of buying it, just because she kept asking. It was a nice house and all, but like I said it was more than we wanted to spend. But she wasn't the one selling it or anything, so I don't know why she kept asking if we wanted to see that one. I like our realtor though, she's real laid back when she needs to be, but she was real "on the ball". We only have a week here to look for a place to live (and we are at the end of our week), so we were like "We want to see this house and this house and this house." And she would get appointments right away for that day and in only a few hours. I was impressed, then she would give us time to look at the place and not try to rush us out. And she would point out features that she thinks we would like in a certain house without being pushy or "hovering" (I hate when they do that). So we will see what kind of a deal she can get us on this house. Pray for us that we will listen to what is right and not just what we want. (I have a hard time doing that sometimes when it's something that I really want). And thanks for all of your thoughts and prayer up until this point. They have really been felt.

House hunting in Green River Sucks!

I think I've changed my mind about the hotel thing. It's too stressful with all those cry-babies around us that keep calling the front desk saying "I think I heard someone sneeze or something, so you'd better call and wake up the ONE sleeping child that those people have to tell them to be quiet." And you'd think in these $400/day rooms (yeah, we are SO not paying for that, I would be at a Holiday Inn or something like that if we were) they could afford decent beds. Their website brags in more than one place about their "comfortable beds"...I don't know where they got that information, but honestly (and I am NOT exaggerating) I was more comfortable that weekend that we went camping and I was pregnant with Christopher and ended up sleeping with a rock in the middle of my back all night. That bed is a brick. Jon was sweet enough (and was THINKING enough) that he folded the comforter over so we are sleeping with that underneath us, so it's not quite as bad. But I can not wait to get back to my own bed. I wake up and my entire body is just aching. It makes me feel for those that have to wake up feeling like that no matter what bed they are sleeping on.
On the plus side (I think) FMC is paying for people to come and pack our house and then move everything to our new place. Yeah! Darci didn't have such a great experience, she told me, with professional movers...so hopefully our experience will better than hers.
I am getting so frustrated here. Right now we have the option between a duplex that seems alright enough but that land lady is a flake. (She just didn't show up the first time we had an appointment and never bothered to call...until we called and said "We've been waiting for you for 30 min, we had an appointment." THEN she called back to say sorry. Then the second appointment she was late and when she came she was on the phone, never introduced herself and then after we were done looking at the duplex we had to wait for another 10-15 min. for her to get off of the phone so that we could ask her questions about the place. Jon's all "I like the place" I'm thinking more, "Yeah, but if we need her, I'm assuming it's going to be 3 months before she 'gets around to it' if she's this bad when she's TRYING to get our business, she'll be TERRIBLE once she has our business." and our other option is to buy a house that everyone (who have never even seen the place) seems dead set against it. I'm hoping that Charlie's relatives (or relatives of relatives or friends of relatives?) Will be better...and the duplex will be good also. We are going to see it tomorrow. So we will see what happens. I think it drives me most crazy that when he asks Luke for an opinion if Luke tells him "Well, you need to check for this or that." He hears "This particular house has this or that." Like Luke told him to check for "funny things" like he heard about people who put animals in the vents and stuff and leave them there for the next owners to find (which was a legitimate warning...just check for some strange things that they may have done to the house) but then he went in and was almost surprised NOT to find any animals in the heater. *Uhhhh* It's a nice house. I think it would be nice to live there. And the monthly payment would be about the same (in some cases cheaper) than renting here. And the renting market here is virtually non-existent. And the few places here that are for rent have such a monopoly on the market that they are SO ridiculously priced that I just can't stand paying that much for such a mediocre place to live. Maybe I'll have Charlie come and make them a deal so he can have a monopoly and they can too...;) (Just Kidding Charlie...you know we love you). Well, I think that's my whining for now, I am just so frustrated and stressed out. We are going to try and make a decision tomorrow. We are going to see the duplex from the guy that Charlie gave us his number. And then we are going to look at the house again and take more pictures, and then we are going to talk to Chad (the guy that might be working our loan if we get the house). Oh, how my head hurts. I need a nap.

Green River

So we're here in Green River. Man the housing here is EXPENSIVE, I heard that it was a good price down here and that Rock Springs was really bad...I'm not sure where they got their information from, but it was wrong. We are excited that we found a 3 bedroom duplex for $1,000...it's the cheapest one that we've found. We are currently paying just under $700 (in Pocatello) for a 4 bedroom HOUSE. Grrrrrr! Stinkin' greedy people that think their houses are worth more 'cause there here in Green River. We were also looking at some in Jamestown (it's just down the road). I asked one of the Realtors if Jamestown was smaller than Green River and she said well, it actually is Green River it's just a seperate part kind of "out of town". But they have named it...hmmmm...so now they think they are so special here that they are naming PARTS of their town now? J/K it seems like a nice place to be though really. We are going to look at it today, so hopefully it will work out. Because otherwise Sue is going to have to have to go back home before she gets to come and help pack. That would not be fun. So hopefully we will be able to find a house soon enough that we can get packed and moved by...this weekend? We'll see what happens.

Egeland Randomness

Well, I am sitting here in front of my computer trying to decide what to write about.
We are going house hunting tomorrow. I think I am excited, I do kind of like that part. I am however VERY VERY VERY excited that my Sister is going to get to come and see me and her son. Topher's excited about that. He loves cousin Sammy. We aren't going to have very many options I don't think. I hope out of the minimum options that we have at least one is the right one for us. I'm sure it will all work out though. If not, I think it would be fun to live in a motel for a little while (My Mother-in-law my disagree, but I think it would be fun...for a LITTLE WHILE). Getting up and eating breakfast that I didn't have to cook, doing the dishes involves throwing them away and then someone else coming in and emptying that. I can take as long of showers as the boys will let me without them killing each other and not have to worry about the water bill. We have more than 3 channels to look through (which may or may not be a good thing). Not having to feel guilty about the microwave meals...besides, I know how to cook some REALLY good microwave meals that you'd think were cooked on the stove, but they take like 12 min. in the microwave. Like the cheesy chicken bake and the cherry crisp (yeah, you can do that in the microwave), I think it's just as good as in the oven, but that's just my opinion. I just think it would be relaxing for a while. But I am so excited for my sister to come, I haven't seen her since Thanksgiving, which, I know, has only been a few months...but it seems like FOREVER! I still need to pack (and do some laundry so I can pack), I should probably do that seeing as how we are leaving in about 12 hours.
And only 38 days until Baby Davey comes home! Yeah! (For those of you who don't know, that's my brother David...he's on his mission in the Dominican Republic for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). I haven't seen him in about 2 1/2 years. So I am very excited to see him. And I am really really really really really hoping that come March the weather (and my pregnancy) cooperate so that I get to go see him off the plane. If worse came to worse I could go see him on one of his lay-overs. But then it wouldn't be the same. 'Cause I would be all happy that I finally got to see my brother and then only a few hours later he would have to leave again. I think that would be very hard. I would just rather be there when he gets home (and we can all make fun of HIM this time for freezing to death when we all just have our jackets draped over our arms).
And Ginger is having a baby. Yeah, I assume it's alright to say that on here. She said "Tell all of your friends" and I am SO excited for her. She's going to be a great Mother. I swear, she has more patience than Mother Teresa. She'll do great. I think there is nothing more exciting and terrifying than being pregnant with your first child. Especially with all of those people that can't keep their nose in their own business after the baby is born. (DISCLAIMER: I am not talking about the friends and family or the Mother of the new Mom that say "He might be hungry" or "It's a little chilly out for a baby, maybe you should put a jacket on him.") I am talking about those nosy strangers that you've never met before that tell you you are doing it wrong (whatever they feel "IT" is at the moment) and you are going to scar your child for life or make it sound like you ought to have Child Services called on you. "THOSE" people have to be my biggest pet-peeve EVER! My thought is that if you are not the Mother, the Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Aunt, Uncle, Cousin, or close friend (and even those are only on the exception that you have children of your own or have REALLY helped raised someone elses' children) don't say anything. If you want to praise, great, do that all you want. If you are going to criticize...keep your mouth shut. Unless the Mother is dangling the kid over a cliff, forgot to buckle him up when she put him in the car, or in anyway is TRULY putting his life in danger, just keep it to yourself. I realize that there is no easier target IN THE WORLD than a hormonal first time mother that is already questioning every move she makes...but let's cut her a little slack, you don't know everything either and believe it or not, you are not always right nosy lady. Yeah, ok, that's my 2-cents on that subject. (Why is there not a cent sign on the keyboard? They have a dollar sign and ^ this ^ sign...what is that one even for? Who knows, these are the things that keep me up at night...not really)
So back to the house hunting thing, we would kind of like to rent for a while before we buy. But we don't know where we are going to go, so if anyone knows of anyone that is renting a place that they didn't want to advertise because they would like to choose who lives there instead of just having to take any bum with a checking account. It would be much appreciated if you could steer them to us...or steer us to them. We do have great references, and my husband is a neat-freak, so the place gets taken care of. I did find some cute houses to buy, but I would like to be able to put more than the minimum 3.5% down on the house. Which some of them we could do right now, but I would really like to put as much down as we can that way we don't have to pay interest on that. But whatever is supposed to happen will happen I suppose. Well, I really need to go and get packed and whatnot.

I don't know how many more times I will get to write for a while. So if you don't hear from me (blogging, Facebooking, or e-mailing) it's not because I don't love you...we are going down to Green River this Monday and (hopefully) finding a house (to rent, we aren't buying yet)...like we could afford to buy down there yet. Those housing prices are OUTRAGEOUS!!!! When we do buy we are just going to have to buy a house that has enough room to build on to because everything with enough rooms is about $100,000 out of our price range. There was 1 or 2 that were only about $30,000 - $40,000 out of our price range...but still out of our price range. (I wish we could stay here and get that house in Inkom though...I LOVED THAT HOUSE). Oh well. So we don't know how long we are going to be in Green River, however long it takes to find a place to live I guess. Then we are going to come back here and pack everything up and then move that weekend I hope. I am REALLY, REALLY, REALLY excited though about my sister coming. She is going to meet us in Green River and come back with us to help pack. It'll be good to laugh again. I mean I do laugh, but it's never like laughing with my Sister and my Mom. It's the kind of laughing that my Dad comes out into the living room to tell us to "Quit or you're going to make Karen go into labor." kind of laughing. LOL (I love you Daddy). So our apartment got rented yesterday (well, they put a deposit on the house so as soon as we are out they are going to move in), so we can get out of our lease so we don't have to be paying for a house here (that we aren't going to be living in) until May AND paying for a place in Green River. We were a little worried about that. But it seems that we were meant to be in Green River for some reason because everything seems to just be "falling into place" for us to get the job (in just a few weeks)...and the same day that Jon was officially done with his Ash Grove job, and then someone coming in and renting the place immediately after we found out when we were moving (it was like 2 days after we found out exactly when we would be moving they came and rented the house), and we are going to take 2 cars when we go down to Green River because we were planning on selling one of the cars (we have 3 because we HAD to get a mini-van and still haven't been able to sell the Buick or the Taurus) so Jon will drive the Buick down and I will drive the mini van and we will leave it at our house that we rent (or in storage down there if we can't find a place to live yet) and then when we move for good Jon will drive the moving truck with the Taurus on the back and I will drive the mini-van again. Oh, I hope I can get all of the stuff done that I need to without my head exploding or going into labor or something. Well, I don't think that I have anything else to say. Oh yeah, a little side note ONLY 40 DAYS UNTIL DAVEY COMES HOME!!!! I'm so very excited about that. Yeah!

Topher's Blog

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My Cute Boy!

The laughs never seem to stop around here. Christopher was examining my stomache yesterday and was talking to Justin (he thinks that in order for Justin to hear him he needs to speak into my belly button ;)). So he was talking to Justin and I had a contraction. I did the "Ooohh. That kinda hurt" under my breath. And Chris looks up and says "Baby Justin hurt Mom?" Well, I didn't want him to associate the baby with someone that hurts Mom. So I was explaining to him "Justin is getting big and he needs more room, that's why Mommy's belly is getting so big." The look on his face said that he was satisfied with that answer. Then he gets that scowel (however you spell that) on his face; he cupped his hands around his mouth and yells into my belly button "JUSTIN! YOU'RE TOO BIG! GET OUT OF THERE!" I started laughing and asked "Chris, who made you so cute?" He shrugs his shoulders and says "Don't know, I just cute."

DOUBLE DIGITS!!!!

Yeah! I am finally in double digits! 99 more days until Justin is due! Woo-hoo! It sounds like a lot less time to me when you say it in days! I am not looking forward to having to change OB's AGAIN...but atleast this time I don't have to take people's advice that I JUST met...or worse, have NEVER met. At least Kristin can give me some advice...and thanks for that. There is no worse part of moving as far as I am concerned. That seems to happen everytime I get pregnant. Oh well, maybe next time I will still be in the same area. ;)

So we are trying not to go crazy here at the Egeland house. (Mom Egeland I may have to take you up on your offer) We have to get everything packed, find a house (or, *sigh* an apartment) to live in and get everything moved over to Green River in 2 weeks. I don't think I am looking forward to all of this. At least this time if we don't find a place RIGHT AWAY it's not as bad as it would have been with the other jobs we've had. This one, if we don't find a place to live will pay for temporary housing for a while. So that's nice to not have a "we HAVE to find a place to live so we have to take what's available...even if it's as bad as the ashberry apt. in Missoula."

Poor thumbsucking Ethan boy. Jon noticed today that he had a blister on his thumb from sucking it so hard. It made me so sad. He is walking real well though. Even when he fell over a few times, instead of crawling he got back up and started walking. Ethan and Topher were having a lot fun yesterday. We had gotten the boys some toys for when we came back from Jon's interview. Chris has been using any ball he can find and some 1/2-inch dowels to play baseball with. So when I was shopping I saw a t-ball set with a ball (but it's not too hard), a bat, a tee and a home plate...I just HAD to get it for him. And he loved it. Then he made sure that Ethan got a turn to. It was sooooo cute. (If my house hadn't been such a mess I would have gotten some videos of it) maybe we will tonight.

And my poor big boy (the one that I married), is way too into that stupid game...LUUUUUUKKKKEEE! (Add skunk eyes and a wrinkled forhead). He really took advantage of that whole "not having to go to work the next day" thing. He was up until 6:30 this morning playing that game. He says he was only up until 3, but I know he was up longer than that because I finally gave up waiting for him at 3. So finally when I woke up at 6 to get Ethan I told him it was time to quit...and it was still another 1/2 an hour until he came to bed. I sure hope he's not planning on doing that every night...'cause it's just not going to happen. ;) LOL.

And I am debating whether to order my Stampin' up! stuff today and hope that we don't move before it gets here, or send it to my Mom's house (but then I have to order it as a customer and therefore not tax deductable, or wait until we move and hope that we get the internet before the end of March so that I can order and still get all of the "Sale-A-Bration" incentive stamps. I will probablly just end up ordering today and have my V.T. keep an eye out for it if we are gone. (she just lives down the alley from us, so she probablly goes by our house pretty often anyway). Well, I think that I am out of things to say right now, and I should probablly get packing since we don't have hardly anything packed and we are apparently moving in 2 weeks or less. We have to go get some boxes too. *Sigh* again.