Auld Lang Syne

I have been wanting to do a "year in review" blog post on the last day of 2008, and then tonight when Jason and I were hanging out with our friends, Dan and Jess Hardy, we were talking about the dumb things people blog and twitter about, and how even though they are dumb, other people read about them... I think this post might fit into the category. But Jess said she likes reading stuff like this, so... at least one person might enjoy it!

January
We came back from our fun-filled vacation (cruise to the Bahamas, visiting with family in Tennessee and Utah) to dreary, snowy, windy, yucky old Laramie. Jason had to go back to school and I entered the uber-uncomfortable third trimester.

February
Tempe had her first (and only, so far) asthma attack; we went to Build A Bear to make a teddy bear for "Baby Sister"; Jason bought me a $40 cheesecake for Valentine's Day.

March
Uncomfortable, uncomfortable, uncomfortable... then... PAIN... then Helena Louise Anderson!

April
I tried to get used to caring for two demanding children while getting ready for our move to Utah; Jason tried to prepare for graduation.

May
Jason graduated from Law school!!! We moved to Utah to live with Jason's parents.

June
Bar Prep classes and studying for Jason; bicycling with Tempe and Helena all over Bountiful for me.

July
The girls and I visit Tennessee; Jason finishes up his Bar prep and takes the Bar.

August
Nothing really happened this month.

September
We begin house-hunting this month; Tempe turns two!

October
All kinds of fun activities this month: playing in the leaves, picking out pumpkins, getting ready for Halloween.... We make our first offer on a house this month (it was rejected). Plus, Jason was admitted to the Bar this month!

November
Visit to Tennessee to welcome Tyler home from his mission! We put an offer on our "dream house" this month.

December
Waiting, waiting, waiting.... then... finally! An acceptance! Christmas came one week early for us when our offer on our dream house was finally accepted.

So... that was the watered down version of this year.

Chesnuts Roasting

Merry Christmas!

We had such a fun Christmas here at the Anderson home. On Christmas Eve, we went to Jason's grandma's house--a family tradition. We ate, sang some great songs ("Jing, Jing-a-Ling" and "Six White Boomers", among others), played White Elephant, and just enjoyed each other's company. When we got home, Jason and I helped Tempe and Helena open their Christmas Eve pajamas (a tradition from my side of the family) and put them to bed. Then we did those secretive things that Moms and Dads do on Christmas Eve after the kids are in bed :)


I thought that I was a grown-up, but I must still be a little childish, because I had such a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve! When it was finally morning, we all got up at about 8:30 and went downstairs to see what Santa had brought. He brought Tempe a really cute dollhouse (and a racecar in her stocking) and he brought Helena a fun pink ride-on pony. After we all played with our Santa presents for a few minutes, it was time to open the rest of the presents.


We had quite a haul this year! It was very fun helping Tempe open her presents. She would get so excited about whatever she was opening that she would completely lose interest in the rest of the presents. Some of her favorites include some My Little Ponies and a Lightning McQueen pillow and blanket. Helena likes her two new books, her animal stacking rings, and her bead toy. Jason's doesn't choose favorites. Maybe he didn't like any of them. And as for me... well, it's hard to choose! I got the food processor that I wanted to make baby food, so that was good. My mom made me the cutest apron I have ever seen, and I love that! Jason framed a large family portrait to hang over our fireplace, and I love that too.... I don't know. It was pretty darn good. Most of all, it was nice to spend so much time with our family, just relaxing and playing together.

Tempe and Helena in their Christmas dresses on the Sunday before Christmas.

Tempe and Helena opening their presents

Helena loves riding her new pony!

Helena got into a chocolate bar when I wasn't paying enough attention to her. She was very, very excited! And Austin didn't mind because he didn't like the kind of chocolate it was.

Only a dead bird

This morning we had our house inspected. Quick, huh? I was glad to get it over with. I came at the very end of the inspection so he could show me everything, and when I got there, a realtor and his two clients were just coming out after their showing. Yep, their showing. I wasn't too happy, especially because they tracked snow all over my brand new carpet!
Anyway, everything was fine. Nothing pressing for us to take care of, but we do have a short list of repairs we will need to work on. The worst thing he found was a dead bird in the crawl space. I don't know how it got down there, because the only access to the crawl space is through the house--there's no outside access.
And it's no longer on the MLS site! It's ours!!!!
I loved it even more today. Everything except the mirror wall. I hated that even more. Does anyone have any ideason what to do about that? We would love to get rid of it, but in the meantime what can I do to improve the appearance?

It's a Festivus Miracle!

Ok, maybe I am jumping the gun here, but I can't hold back.... Judy the realtor called me today to tell me that we have an accepted offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have been waiting to hear for six weeks now, and I was getting pretty antsy and nervous, so her phone call was very welcome. I truly believe it was an answer to prayer.

Our inspection is tomorrow morning, and after that, I think I will be able to really relax and not worry. I know from my parents' experience that it's not a sure thing until the closing papers are actually signed. I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but it's hard not to when my dreams are coming true!

If all goes well (meaning it passes inspection and our loan gets pushed through quickly) we will probably close the week after Christmas. That means we will be in our own home in early January. My own kitchen, my own furniture, my own bedroom, my own giant walk-in closet without a baby sleeping in it, my own yard, my own deck and storage shed.... well. Mine and Jason's :)

House # I forgot how many we have seen now

On Saturday, I (Jason stayed home with the girls because it was snowing and we didn't want to take them out) went to see a house that I thought I would love. And I was right! I did love it!

The house is a 100-year-old craftsman bungalow in the heart of Bountiful, just a block south of the Tabernacle. I have always loved that style of home and always wanted to live in that sort of neighborhood--old homes with plenty of character, near shops and other downtown amenities. It would completely solve our transportation dilemma, because I could walk to the library, post office, grocery store, park, and all kinds of cute shops. So those are two things that really attracted me to this house.

The other thing that made me really want to go see it was the bathroom. IT HAS A CLAW FOOT TUB. Can you believe it?? A claw foot tub! What more could you ask for?? Not only does it have a claw foot tub, but it also has one of those sinks that is like a bowl set on the counter (I like those), which is granite, I might add. It's absolutely gorgeous.

The house has a front porch with a swing, a large lot with mature trees and landscaping, a formal living room with built in bookshelves, 10 foot coved ceilings upstairs, a basement family room, the aforementioned gorgeous full bath + a 3/4 bath in the basement, a master bedroom with sitting room, a mudroom, a giant updated Pottery Barn-esque kitchen with bar, a built in desk, and two other rooms that would work well as bedrooms for the girls (one is in the basement and one is off the master sitting room, but it doesn't have a closet so it can't be considered a bedroom). Click on the picture to see pictures of the interior of the house. Whew! Needless to say, I was walking around in awe, as was my realtor (it was her first time going to this house). I was ready to sit down and pull our other offer and write a new one for this house.

And then we went down to the basement.

Ok, I'm not very tall. I'm not even 5'1. And my head was about four inches lower than the ceiling in the basement. I'm serious; my realtor, who is about 5'9, Jason's height, almost had to duck her head to walk around.

It was so disappointing! Unless it dropped about $30,000, we wouldn't want to risk losing money trying to (someday) sell a house that lots of people couldn't even stand up straight in.

I've been thinking about it all day and yearning for it. That's right, yearning. I want it. I loved it so much, and if it weren't for the resale value, I would still want to buy it.

In other house news, today is our official deadline. Can you believe six weeks has gone by? But we aren't going to hear anything today; the listing agent says ours is the only offer they have but it isn't ready yet. He swears it will be signed by the end of the week. He said that last week, too. Our agent told him that she has taken us to several other houses and that we're starting to get impatient. I don't think that will help any. The bank is just going to take their time, and what are we going to do about it? Nothing. If we tried threatening them and saying we'll walk away, they would say "Fine. Walk away. We already lost money, we'll just keep trying." And we have nothing to walk away to, so for now, we are stuck.

And this is my 100th entry.

Lena Lou

Last night I was nursing Lena in bed, and when she was done eating, she just cuddled up against me, cooing and smiling. She is such a cuddly girl, and I love taking the opportunity to just snuggle with her every once in a while. It's so nice to hold her and see how happy and safe she feels in my arms. I'm so grateful that I have such a sweet, loving little baby!

Lena is learning how to scoot around on her tummy now. She doesn't get up on her hands and knees yet, but she army-crawls across the floor. She also has her first tooth now! I can't believe how big she is getting. She will be a year old before I know it!

Jason and I took the girls to the Festival of Trees last night, and it was another opportunity for me to think about how blessed I am to have a happy, healthy family. For those of you who don't know, the Festival of Trees is a charity event that benefits Primary Children's Hospital. All of the trees are decorated in honor of someone and are sold at auction to raise money. The trees are all gorgeous, but it's pretty sad when you think about why they are there. I kept hugging Lena closer and thinking how lucky I am that I have healthy children. I hope that they always are!

Tempe Jo

Yesterday I focused on Jason, and today I want to focus on Tempe (tomorrow will be Lena's turn). Every day that I spend with Tempe, I love her more. I am so proud of the little girl she is becoming. She is spunky, smart, independent, considerate, and loving. The most rewarding part of motherhood is watching her play "mommy"--I must be doing something right if she wants to be like me! Today we were finger painting. I use an old shirt of mine for a smock, and when we were done, she wouldn't let me take it off. She is still wearing it and saying "Tempe is Mommy!" every few minutes.

She has just started saying "I love you", and nothing warms my heart more than hearing her say "I wuv you, Mommy!"

JC

Blue Run Farm, June 2005

Vedauvoo, September 2005

Snorkeling in the Bahamas, December 2005

BYU-UCLA game, September 2008

Hiking in Bountiful, October 2008

Today I was thinking about my great husband Jason. I've always known I'm pretty lucky, but sometimes I get distracted with screaming kids, BYU financial aid circular logic, and intense budgeting. It's easy to focus on all the hard things about life and not think about what I have, but I hope to change my ways. Instead I am going to focus on embarrassing Jason more often.

The first time I noticed Jason was at a ward mix-and-mingle. We were all supposed to bring something that "represented" ourselves and talk about it. I brought my lion cookie jar that roared when you opened its mouth. When Jason stood up, he said, very seriously, "I don't feel comfortable sharing things about myself." I thought he was hilarious. In fact, that incident is what prompted me to invite him hiking at Bridal Veil falls, which in turn prompted me to cuddle with him during the movie later and eventually ask him out on our first date. I was so smitten that I didn't even let our age difference (5 years felt huge when I was only 19 and he was 24!) scare me off.

The best thing about him is that he still makes me laugh all the time. We haven't run out of things to say to each other, even after 4 whole years! I know, amazing, right?

I'm so grateful that I found him, and even more grateful that someone else didn't find him first :)

Argh!!!

Del Espinosa, the listing agent of our dream house, told our agent that we would have an answer by the end of November. But now he says it will be another 2-3 weeks.
ARGH!
I guess I should be grateful that they are taking so long, because that means we will just have that much more money in savings. Our agent asked if it was worth it to us to keep waiting. I said yeah, it is, since there's literally no other house we are interested in making an offer on.
So we just have to be patient for a few more weeks...