I admit it

Today I am very discouraged. It seems like no matter how hard I work, I never get closer to my goal of graduating from college. I have 26 credits left and it feels like it will take a lifetime to finish them! If we had more money I would be able to finish those remaining credits in two or three years; but right now we are not in a financial position to contribute any money to my education. I have been so blessed to receive several scholarships in the past year and a Pell Grant, and I have been depending on those to pay for some of my classes. Unfortunately, there are very complicated guidelines concerning Pell Grants for BGS students (that's me) and I'm not sure I will be able to access all of the money that I was awarded.
It's frustrating. So far, I have had a hard time finding someone at BYU that is familiar both with Pell Grants and with the BGS program, so I haven't gotten any real answers. I have a phone appointment with a financial aid counselor on Monday and I hope that she will be able to help me. If not, I think I might scream.

The 4th Tag

Tag! I'm it. Margaret tagged me with the "4th tag", where you post the 4th picture in the 4th folder on your computer. Here's mine! It's from July 29th, 2006--my baby shower when I was pregnant with Tempe. I think I'm holding up a pack of onesies in this picture. My good friend Amanda took pictures of me opening my presents. I was so happy that she was able to come! We lived with Jason's parents that summer, and most of my friends from BYU weren't around for the summer. I didn't really know anyone in the ward here, so my baby shower was all Jason's relatives + Amanda.
I tag Rachel W., Jeanne S., Amanda D., and Kristy S.

Houses #19, 20, 21, 22, and 23

It's been a while since we went to see any houses, but today we went to quite a few. There were a few that we might keep our eyes on, but nothing that jumped out at us.

House #19 was a 3 bedroom, almost 2 bathroom home in Centerville, just a few streets north of the house we have an offer in on. We liked a lot of things about it: the layout was exactly what we are looking for, it has an unfinished room in the basement that could potentially be a 4th bedroom, and it has a huge backyard. But it doesn't have a master bathroom and besides, it's at least $15,000 more than we can afford. If it drops $20,000 we would probably be really interested! In the meantime, I think I'm going to send my brother-in-law and his wife over there to see it.

House #20 is a new construction short sale (feel sorry for the builder!) in Centerville, with 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. It was ok. It had no backyard, and not really any potential for a backyard, and I thought some of the materials used looked a little cheap, like the kitchen counters. They were made to look like they were marble, but they very obviously weren't. I didn't like that at all. The master bathroom and walk-in closet was too big--a waste of space.

House #21 was in the same development as #20, and had almost the same floorplan. However, this one had a much bigger lot and although it was unfenced, it has the potential for a decent backyard. We liked the layout a little bit better. The master bedroom still had a nice big walk-in closet and a nice master bathroom, but it wasn't oversized. And in the master bedroom, there was a sort of nook off to the side that was just the right size for a crib someday! We really liked that. I guess this could be an option to fall back on.

Doesn't this house look like two houses that collided and got stuck together? House #22 is a short sale in West Bountiful, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was a mess inside, with half finished tile in the entryway, stained and worn carpet throughout, a half finished shower in the master bathroom, and soft spots on the floor. The layout was really nice and it's in a nice neighborhood, but at $10,000 over our budget and needing another $10,000 put into it, it's a no-go for us.

House #23 is another new construction in Foxboro. We've already seen a house in Foxboro (house #16) and we really didn't like it, but we want to look at all of our options. I liked the layout of this house a lot, but it had no backyard at all yet--meaning dirt and rocks behind the house, that's it. The builder came to it with us, and he said it would be about $3,000 to put in the sod and fence. Besides that, it's in Foxboro, which is just so out of the way. So we will probably scratch this one off our list.

Still holding out for #18... we should find out next week if they accept our offer. If they do, the bank wants to close soon after. Who knows, we may even be in our own house by Christmas!

"Go on up to your crib... I mean, your big girl bed!"

This week I found a great toddler bed + mattress on Craigslist for only $75! I think it was a steal, because toddler beds go fast, and this one is really cute. Tempe learned how to climb out of her crib (also this week), so it was perfect timing.

I can't believe that my baby is sleeping in a big girl bed!! She has done fabulously. She sleeps in her bed without wandering around the room or playing after we leave. She hasn't even fallen out yet! She is really growing up.

In other Tempe news, she pooped in the tub today... ugh. Maybe the worst part about being a parent. When Jason came home from work, she ran to him to tell him the story:

"Yucky poo-poo, bathtub, oh yuck! And Mommy, Mommy, oh oh, Mommy! [said with her hand to her mouth as if calling someone] Uh-oh!"

"Then what did Mommy do?" Daddy prompts.

"Oh, that's ok! Mommy [unintelligible chatter] moose poop, yuck, clean it up!"

She said something about moose poop because once when we were at the cabin, a moose had pooped out by the swing set. It made a big impression on her.

Tennessee--finallee!! (haha)

I am finally blogging about our recent trip to Tennessee. We went to welcome my brother back from his mission, and it was so great to spend some quality time with him and with the rest of the family. We had a lot of fun playing games, eating dinner as a family, and catching Tyler up on The Office and LOST.

There's a pretty funny story about Tyler's actual homecoming--funny, and sort of sad. We arrived at the airport about 20 minutes before his flight was supposed to land, armed with cameras and welcome home signs, and got all settled in where the passengers come out. We waited, and waited, and waited, and kept checking his flight status. Finally, my dad started asking people what flight they were coming from, and none of them were from Tyler's flight! About 15 minutes after his flight landed, my dad's cell phone rang. He answered, and to our dismay, it was Tyler--downstairs at the baggage claim and wondering where we all were! We had, unfortunately, neglected to see if Delta came out at the same place as the other airlines (they don't). So we all rushed down to baggage claim and ran to him. Poor Tyler!! He said his stomach was full of butterflies and he was so excited to see us again, and then he walked out and.... nothing! We were no where in sight! Luckily, he had met some members on his flight, so he found them at baggage claim and asked to borrow their cell phone to call Dad. I just think it's amazing that he could remember Dad's number after 2 years!

Kelsey and Jeff waiting for Tyler's flight to land!

Elder Allan in front of our homemade banner.

While we were in Tennessee, we were able to meet up with our friends from law school, the Smiths. They live in Huntsville, Alabama, so we met at an awesome children's museum in Murfreesboro. I love that Tempe and Caleb are holding hands and looking at each other in this picture!

Tempe loved being at Grandma Lisa's house again. The weather wasn't great, but we took advantage of it when we could, playing in the yard and going for walks or to the park as a family. I'm so glad that Tempe and Helena are able to see their grandparents as often as we do, even though we live so far apart! I hope we continue to be able to see each other regularly.

Still waiting for our dream house...

We've got some more information about our dream house--house #18. While we were in Tennessee last week, my brother-in-law's realtor tried to take him and his wife to our house. They said they couldn't go see it because we have an offer on it, and their realtor said "Oh yeah, they said there was an offer on it but they're hoping for something better." Umm, hello, our offer is only $4,000 less than the asking price! I think that's a pretty good offer.
But the house is also officially in foreclosure, with a sale date set for the end of the month. So we should know by then. One of three things will happen:

1. Ours is the best offer and the bank accepts it to avoid foreclosure.
2. A better offer is made and the bank accepts it to avoid foreclosure.
3. The bank doesn't accept an offer and goes into foreclosure.

If option 3 happens, I will be so mad. Foreclosure is expensive for the bank, so they probably still wouldn't end up with what they're owed (which is $222,000). If a better offer is made there is obviously nothing we can do about it, so we just have to keep praying that no one else will want it as much as we do!

I am trying to prepare myself for rejection, but it's hard. We are so ready to have our own place again, especially since Tempe has learned how to climb out of her crib. Everyone keep their fingers crossed for us!

7 random facts about me

Well, I've been tagged by my cute friend Jen, so here are 7 random things about me!!

1. I spend a lot of time thinking "conversations" in my head... um, yeah, that sounds weirder than it really is. I just mean I think of what I would say to certain people, and what they would say to me, and how our conversations would go from there.
2. Between the years of 2000 and 2005, I lived in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Utah, Tennessee, and Wyoming.
3. I use Facebook to spy on people.
4. My go-to snack at bedtime is toast with peanut butter and a big glass of milk.
5. Bad grammar and poor spelling drive me crazy (so I use spell check all the time).
6. I started writing our Christmas letter way before Halloween.
7. I went to two different high schools.... crazy!!!!

Ok, now I tag... Kristy S., Rachel A., Rachel W., Cari P., Jaida H., Christie B., and Mary H.!

It's official

Last night we made an official offer on our "dream house" in Centerville. Because it's a short sale, the offer goes to the bank, not the seller, and they take much, much longer to accept or reject than a normal seller would, so we won't know for quite a while. We offered $200,000, which was $9,000 less than the asking price last night... but today the price dropped to $204,000! So our offer was only $4,000 less than the asking price.
This makes me both happy and sad. Happy because maybe the bank will realize we made a great offer and accept, maybe even sooner than the December 15th deadline we gave them!
Sad because maybe somebody else will come along and offer what they're asking and snatch it away from us :(
I guess all we can do is cross our fingers and pray.

Autumn fun