Pictures

Yesterday before the Yorke's left, we took pictures so that we could remember the special occasion of Barth getting ordained by his dad. I was so glad that they could be here to ordain him to be a high priest and also be there for his setting apart for his new calling. We had such a great visit and the kids LOVED seeing Grandma and Grandpa!!! There were lots of tears yesterday when they left!!! We were all very relieved when their plane actually took off yesterday. It was delayed over 5 hours due to the Texas weather, but they were able to get back so that they could make it to their shift at the temple today!!!

And picture time wouldn't be complete without a picture of Grandma and Grandpa with the boys. I put Aaron down for an early nap hoping that he would be awake before they left, but he slept almost 4 hours yesterday at nap time. I guess that we wore him out!!

Correction!!!

Here is just a little correction to let you know that after pulling out of our contract because of the radon, we found out that we WILL NOT be loosing our earnest money. That is because the sellers were not willing to make the needed improvements and so that made the contract invalid on their part and so we get our earnest money back!!!! Yeah!! I am glad about that.

At Peace

"When you are living righteously and are acting with trust, God will not let you proceed far without a warning impression that you have made the wrong decision."

-Elder Richard G Scott

This is a quote that I was asked to read in RS on Sunday. How fitting it seems after everything that has happened with our house since yesterday. I was very worried about the whole radon thing for our new home. I worried whether or not it would effect our resale in years to come. I worried that even if we got our house "fixed" that sometime in the future "the experts" would come out and say that whatever method we had used to get rid of the radon was now found to not be ineffective. I worried that my precious children would perhaps be safe in their own home, but what happened when they went to the neighbors' to play. If the radon was that high at my home, I am sure that it would be that high at the other homes in the neighborhood as well!! Anyway, after much pondering and worrying, we decided that we would back out of our contract and loose our earnest money. I felt so at peace after making that decision that I knew that it was the right one to make. But there was a glitch. The sellers had a certain length of time to tell us if they were going to make the repairs that we had asked for. If they agreed to all the repairs, including the radon mitigation, we would not be able to get out of our contract without going to a lawyer. And so the stress continued yesterday and into today. We decided that we would wait to hear back from the seller to see if they had agreed to all the repairs. If they had not, we could walk away from the whole thing and only loose our earnest money. Luckily we didn't have to wait long this morning for the call to come in. The sellers had not agreed to all the repairs and so we could just walk away!! I cannot tell you the joy and relief that I felt. I felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from me.

Now I must say that I really wanted to get into a house this weekend.....more than anything!!! I am so tired of being in an apartment and not having my own things. I am tired of traipsing up and down stairs all day long. I am tired of not having a yard for the boys to play in. I am tired of not feeling settled. This whole saga has gone on long enough!! So, this was a VERY hard thing for me to do. When I sat and thought about everything though, the welfare of my children outweighed my need to feel settled. I knew that if I went ahead with a house that I KNEW could be harmful to my children, that I would always regret it. If they got sick in the future, I would always know that it was my fault. It is the same philosophy as not buying a house near those big power lines. If I know that they cause cancer, why buy a house next to them? The same principle applied here.

Now, the hunt for a house resumes. This time hopefully we will get the right one. I am relieved and at peace with the way things worked out. I know that the Lord is keeping a watchful eye over my family and I am grateful for that!!!! The Lord is mindful of all that happens in all of our lives. That gives me great comfort in this time of upheaval and trial!!! I know that things will work out for the best. I just hope that it will be sooner rather than later. :)

RADON?!!!!!

As you know, we had our home inspection this past week. One of the optional things that we could have done was a radon test in the basement. It cost quite a bit and would take a few days to complete, but was highly recommended because finished basements tend to have higher radon levels. So, we decided that since we were planning on using the basement as a playroom and were going to be spending the majority of our time down there, that we would go ahead and have it done. Well, Barth called this morning to say that the radon test was back and that it showed very high levels!!!!!! What?!!!! We are supposed to be closing in just a matter of days!!!! We faxed over an addendum to the sellers this morning saying that they must have a radon pumping system installed or they have to pay us so that we can have it installed after closing.

For those of you who don't know what radon is (because I didn't until recently), it is a heavy gas that is the second leading cause of lung cancer in the US. Basements are especially bad for accumulating radon because most of the radon comes from the soil and if the basement is not sealed properly, the radon can seep in. Also, since it is a heavy gas, it sinks, making the basement of a house the most likely place to find concentrated levels. To fix high levels of radon in a basement that is not finished, the walls and cracks are usually resealed. If a basement is finished, the suggested way to treat the levels is to install a pipe and fan system to rid the area of the bad gasses!!! Good ventilation reduces radon levels.

So, there you go!!! Our little crisis here just days before we are supposed to close on the house!!! It always seems to happen like that doesn't it? We are hoping that all works out well!! If not, I guess that it was not meant to be and we will just have to find something else!!!! AAAAHHHH!!!!!

Update!!

Okay, here is an update on what has been happening here!! Things are still in order for us to close on our house this Friday at 11am!! I am very excited about it and the fact that on Monday (a week from tomorrow) we will be getting back all of our things that we haven't seen in almost a year!!! On the Monday morning that our things are being delivered, Brian has an appointment with the geneticist at the Children's hospital in Cincinnati to consult about his hypoglycemic problem and see if they can't figure out what is causing it, etc. There is not much for us to move here from the apartment, mostly just clothes. Since we got a corporate apartment, most of the things that we had in our last apartment are still packed up in boxes and sitting in closets. Barth will take those things to the new house on Friday after closing or on Saturday.

Yesterday was a Primary activity at the park. The kids loved it!! They had all sorts of games and a treasure hunt. They ended the activity by making ice cream in baggies. It was tons of fun for everyone. We all went and Aaron had a blast playing on the playground while the big boys had their activity.

I was supposed to give a talk today at church on the family, but was asked yesterday at the activity if I would mind speaking in a few weeks instead. This didn't really come as a surprise to me as we found out this week that the Bishopric of our ward was going to be changing and that Barth was going to be called as the 2nd councillor. So, instead of me speaking, Barth got to speak!! Barth's parents will be coming in later this week to help set him apart for his new calling and so we are very excited to be seeing them soon!! The boys can't wait to see Grandma and Grandpa!! We are excited that they will be here to see our new house!! There are lots of things happening here this next week it seems.

Okay, so I think that is the long and short of what has been happening here. I don't think that I left anything out, but I swear that my brain doesn't work anymore, so it is possible that something has happened that I didn't write about. Oh- we haven't gotten our appliances yet, but will be going over to Lowes tomorrow probably to get those. We have shopped around and it seems that they have the best prices for what we are looking for (plus free delivery)!! If I get some time, I will try to take some pictures and post them!! Until then, we are doing good and keeping busy!!

Happy Birthday Auntie M!!!!!

Happy Birthday Melissa!!!!

Happy Birthday to Melissa, aka Auntie M!!!!! I can't believe that my BABY sister is 18!! Boy am I getting old or what? I can remember the day that she was born!! I was SO excited to have a sister!! I remember running to tell the neighbors that she had been born. When Ms. Luttrell asked all the questions of how big, how long, what time, I had no answer for her. All I knew was that I had a sister at last and I was so excited!!! What a wonderful sister she is too!! She is smart and sweet and will do anything for anyone. She is a terrific aunt and always loves to play with all her nephews and nieces!! I am so glad to have a sister like her and I hope that she has a wonderful day today!!! I love you kiddo!!!!

Coney Island

As you know, this past Saturday was Barth's company picnic at Coney Island. It was a lot like Sandy Lake Park, just bigger. We got there at 11 in the morning and didn't leave until after 7pm. The kids were worn out, but had tons of fun. We rode lots of the rides, played putt putt golf, went to a safety fair where we saw a fire truck and the inside of a tank used for riots. We also saw this big device that the bomb squad uses to blow up bombs and other suspicious things. It was really neat. Then we enjoyed a picnic dinner of hot dogs and hamburgers provided by the company. After that we headed over to the pool to cool off. It was warm on Saturday, around 90, but wasn't all that bad because here, if you go in the shade, it is actually cool!!! I didn't get any pictures of the kids at the pool part because it was so crowded, but both Weston and Brian went on the huge slide in the middle of the pool several times and loved it!!! Overall it was a great day and we all had a fun time!!! Here are some pictures of our day.....

Riding the carousel.

All the boys (including Barth) enjoyed playing golf. There were lots of people there, so we had to wait a bit at each hole, but it was fine since it was so shady.

This is a picture of Aaron waiting for Daddy and his brothers to finish riding the bumper cars. Aaron enjoyed climbing up and down by the railing as much as the boys did riding in the cars I think.

Here is kiddie land. This was Aaron's favorite part of the day. We had to drag him kicking and screaming away from the "choo choos"!! I think he rode them about 10 times.


So that was our day!! I hope you enjoyed the pictures!!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day!!! I just wanted to publicly thank my husband for what a great job he does as the father of our children. Barth is such a fun and funny dad!! He always has something fuuny to add to our conversations and the boys just adore him. Aaron is by far the biggest Daddy's boy that we have. When Daddy is around, he doesn't want anyone else. I am so grateful to have such a fun husband that is always willing to sacrifice for his kids. He does so many fun things with them. They love his slumber parties, playing Rar-rars, playing catch, chutes and ladders, going to the park, hiking, and fun nights of a video and a treat. We always have fun with Daddy around!!! Happy Father's Day Barth!!!

Here he is...the man of the hour!!!

He is always ready and willing to play games with the boys and have fun!!
Barth is still a kid at heart. Sometimes I think that he has just as much fun playing as they do!!
And I can't finish talking about Father's Day without writing about my own wonderful Father!!! Thanks Dad for all you have done for us over the years!! Thanks for all of those early morning trips to seminary and for supporting me in all that I ever did. Thanks especially for all your car and fixing advice that you are always so happy to give!!! I love you!!! I hope that you had a great day!!!! A girl couldn't ask for a better Daddy!!

Company Picnic

In the 6 years since Barth has been graduated from BYU, I don't think that he has ever worked for a company that has had a company picnic. Tomorrow we will go to our first one and we are excited for the day of fun!! We will be going to Coney Island which is an amusement park/ water park. There is also bumper boats, putt putt golf and several other activities planned for the day. The boys are counting down the minutes until it is time to go. I don't think that it is nearly as big as Six Flags, but we are sure to have a fun time!!! Here are some picture of Coney Island that I got off the internet so you can see what we are doing. I will have to post all about it when we get back!!!!

They Can't Spell Here!!!

Since I am a Texas girl, I grew up saying ya'll!! Not until I moved here had I ever seen a different spelling for the word ya'll. It is SUPPOSED to be spelled "YA'LL" and NOT "Y'ALL." Somehow they think that they are in the south here in Northern Kentucky. I think that it is kind of funny because this area fought with the North in the civil war and they are as far north (almost) as Salt Lake, so why they think of themselves as in the south, I will never really understand. I think that the funniest thing about where we live is this crazy red and white water tower!! (please scroll down to the bottom of the picture to see a small picture of the water tower!) Barth and I both saw the tower and couldn't understand why in the world they would have a water tower that said "Florence Y'all" by the side of the highway. Not only that, but they spelled ya'll wrong to boot. Well, we wondered and speculated and then one day during training at work, Barth's group was asked if anyone had questions. Barth asked why in the world there was a water tower with "Florence Y'all" on it. He was told that the tower used to say "Florence Mall," which makes sense because it is right over the mall here, but the rules of the city said that there was to be no advertising on city structures and so the writing was changed to be "Florence Y'all!" Barth said that someone ought to tell them that they spelled ya'll wrong!!!!! Anyway, as I was visiting the city's website the other day I saw that they are having a whole entire festival for the city and they named it after their crazy, wrongly spelled water tower!!! Pretty crazy I must say!!!! Who knows!!!! Anyway, just thought that I would share a little bit of the strange history and sites of this great area that I am in!!!

The date is set!

Yesterday was an eventful day for us!! Not only did we finally get a house, but we also set a date to have our new baby to arrive!!!! Her birthday will be September the 6th!! Since I was able to schedule it so far out, I will get the first c-section of the morning, which I like. I like to have the morning time because then I get to enjoy the little baby all day long and the boys can come up and see their new sibling!!! The next order of business....deciding on a name for this new little girl.

Big News!!!!!!

Well, as you all know, we have been looking for a house for, who knows, like forever it seems. Now after the 5th contract we have made, we have an accepted offer!!!!!! I am so excited!!! We will close and take possession on the 29th of June. That weekend we will clean and then our things will be delivered on Monday July 2nd!!! Needless to say, I can't wait to have all my things back again. After apartment living for almost a year, it will be so great to have a yard and 4 bedrooms and all of our own things again!!!! This house is actually about .2 miles from where we are now. It keeps us in the same ward and same school so no more changing. The kids are down for a nap but will be excited when they wake up to find out that we finally have a house!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, without further delay, here are some picture of the house. I hope you enjoy!!

This is the front. Yes, the grass is turning yellow because it hasn't rained much here lately. No one has sprinkler systems here because it usually rains 5 or more inches each month so you don't really need to water. If it doesn't get to raining soon, we will have to water like crazy to get the yard back into green shape!! Also, siding is a very big thing here. The brick that you see in the picture is all the brick that is on the house. The rest is aluminum siding.
Here is the kitchen. It is nice and big and has wood floors. There are wood floors in the entry way, kitchen and hallway leading to the study. I am really excited because I love that the kitchen appliances are white!! I like white rather than black!!
This is the family room. There is a formal living and dining room that are right as you come in the door that are together just like we had in The Colony. (In our last house in FL they were separate) From there you walk on back into the family room that you see here. It is good sized and has this cool fireplace that they are doing in the newer houses here. There is a switch on the wall that all you do is flip like a light and the gas fireplace flares right up. I'm not really sure how that works, but it is cool!
Here is the finished part of the basement. It is a big, huge room and there is a half bath down there too. There a 2 unfinished rooms downstairs also. One is like a workshop and then other part is storage space. This is going to be the playroom and I am very excited about that.
Here is a picture of the huge master bedroom. There is a nice sized bath too, but no good pictures of it. All 4 bedrooms are upstairs. The rooms are all really good sized- 11 x 13 is the smallest, and the other 2 are 13 x 14 and 12 x 15!!
There is also a loft at the top of the stairs that is good sized for something. I don't know what we will do with this space yet!!!! I am really excited about everything if you can't tell.
Here is a picture of the back yard. It is not all that huge, but it is fenced. This is the land of the chicken wire fences. Everyone has these kind of fences. They look like a barn fence I think, but there is chicken wire or mess like stuff that goes from the ground to the top of the fence. You just can't see it in the picture. Another positive is that the swing set stays with the house. I know that the boys will love that!!!!

A few other notes about this neighborhood are that there is a little park in the neighborhood and a fishing pond. Across the main street that the subdivision is off of, there is a pool that we can go to. The area that we are in has 2 pools that are available to the little subdivisions that are off of the main road. This is a little confusing I know. The best way that I can describe it would be to say that it would be like if you traveled down McCoy Rd, all the houses that were off of that main rd could swim at the pool that hypothetically was at the end of the rd. Does that make sense? Anyway..... to say the least, this is a great day!! A house at last!!!!!! Yeah for us!!!!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Amanda and Uncle Steven!!!

Today is our Aunt Amanda's Birthday!!! She is the 30 today!!!! On Tuesday, my brother, Steven, will celebrate his birthday and turn 32!! I can't believe that we are all getting so old!!! I just recently saw them at Melissa's graduation. Amanda was the one that got me into this whole blogging thing in the first place!! Thanks Amanda. We can't wait to see you and Steven and Pierce a little later on this summer!!! We hope that things go smoothly with your move and that you have wonderful birthdays this year!!! We love and miss you guys!!!

Are you sure it's June?

Yesterday and today it has been "typical" weather here for this time of year. It hasn't gotten up to 75 either day. For this warm-blooded TX girl, it seems kind of cold for the beginning of June. The weather has been too chilly for swimming, but just perfect for taking a walk!!! Yesterday after we got our home nice and clean we headed out to the little pond that is with our apartments to feed the ducks and geese. The ducks weren't in the mood to eat, but the geese and baby goslings were. After we got back from the walk and I was reviewing the pictures, I noticed that the shutter had not opened during the geese feeding pictures, so sadly, there are none of those. Here are some pictures of our nice walk though.

Weston and Brian on the way to the little pond. These flowers are all over the place here in our apartments. They are so pretty!!! Brian is carrying the bread for the geese. I wish that I had brought more!!

Here is Brian saying that we need to go that way!! The grass here is usually a beautiful, deep green, but Texas has been hogging all the rain lately and it hadn't rained here in quite a while, hence the yellow grass!!

Here is a picture of Aaron checking out the ducks that were sleeping beside the pond!! He kept pointing to them and saying, "Quack, quack!!" He loves animals!!

What a little cutie!!!

The trail around the pond has the little bridge that crosses over part of it. The boys all had a great time collecting rocks and throwing them into the water here at the bridge. It was a perfect morning for a walk. It rained (finally) in the afternoon and is supposed to do the same today. It sure hasn't seemed like June here the last few days, but it has been so nice that I am not complaining!!!!

Summer Jobs!!!

Oh what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Well, here at our house, it is the time for SUMMER JOBS!!!! It is my favorite time of year. The boys are so excited for summer jobs and it makes my life so much easier as a mom!! Here are a few of the things that we did today!!!

Each of the boys had jobs to do this morning. Weston vacuumed the living room and Aaron's room. Brian did the hallway and his room. Brian dusted. Weston cleaned the bathroom sinks. Brian swept all the floors. Both boys washed windows and were asking for more. Me, I finished up the dishes and then headed to the laundry. (Plus I gave refresher instructions on how to wind up the vacuum, how to properly sweep and vacuum...all those kinds of things) The boys wanted to do more jobs, so they helped to fold and then put all the laundry away in the proper spots!!! Our whole place was clean by 9:30!!! It was fantastic!!! When I said to the boys that it was now time to play, they both turned to me and looked at me like I was crazy!!! Weston said what they were both thinking, "But Mommy, we'll mess up our nice, clean house!!!" I love when they take pride in the things that they are doing!!! The pictures here were taken at the end of doing their jobs, but I just had to take a few for my blogging purposes. Above is Brian winding up the vacuum after we were done with it!!
Aaron decided to give him a hand. Aaron thought it was fun to sit on a chair and supervise. He also got into the swing of things by getting a washrag and wiping everything that he could see. He was so proud of himself!!!
Here is Weston cleaning the boys' bathroom. He did a great job!! They were so excited about working so well that they can't wait to do it tomorrow. I kid you not!!! What good little helpers I have!!! I just love the good ol' summertime!!!!

Oh My!!

Yesterday our house hunt continued and we made offers on two different houses. The first, once again, was not willing to move on the price, and the second we have yet to hear back from. If that doesn't work, we are all set to make offers on two others and hopefully something will work out!!

We had a crazy happening with our family yesterday. I would say "at our house", but technically, it was at someone else's house. As we went house hunting yesterday we went to see a house that I had seen before, but that Barth wanted to look at as well. I knew from being there before that the people had cats, long haired cats. Now, as you know, Weston is allergic to cats. He has never had a problem with Grandma's cat, or any other cat that he hasn't touched, but this was not the case yesterday. We were in the house for less than 2 minutes when Weston started sneezing and rubbing his eyes. Within about 15 minutes, his eyes were swelling shut!!!!! It was all pretty crazy. I was shocked because nothing like that has ever happened before when he has been around cats. (we didn't even see the cats, just saw their toys) We went right away and gave him some Benadryl, washed his hands and flushed his eyes and he started to get better within half an hour. Anyway, it was just crazy!!!! He didn't have any breathing problems from it, thank goodness, just bad swelling of his eyes!!!!

Well, that is our update from here!! We will keep you posted on our housing situation!!!!

Trip Pictures

Oaky, well I should have had these up a lot sooner, but here are some pictures from my trip back home for Melissa's graduation.

Aaron loved playing the piano and really enjoyed sitting on Auntie M's lap while she played. She is such a fun Aunt!!

Here is a picture of Melissa and I on Graduation day!! I was so glad that I got to be there to see the whole thing!!!

Melissa and her cake. It was hard to get used to the green and gold as opposed to blue and white, but everything turned out really pretty. The open house that Mom and Dad had for her was really nice. It was great to see everyone that I hadn't seen in a long time!!

Aaron cuddling with his Auntie M. It took a little while for him to warm up to everyone. I think that this was one of the only times at the open house that he let anyone besides me hold him. There were just too many people there that he didn't know.

Aaron snuggling with Grandma before the graduation began. He wore both Grandma and Grandpa out by going up and down stairs in the time that we had before the graduation started. I thought that he would have falled asleep, but he was too interested in what was happening to have any of that sleeping stuff!!!

Here is Aaron playing bubbles outside with Grandpa on the day that we left. He had a great time out there. We were sad to leave. I can't wait to get back!! It was a fun trip. I was so happy that I got to be there for Melissa!!!!

End of the Year Festivities

Today was a little award ceremony for Weston's class. It was a lot of fun. Here are some picture from it!

When we came in all the kids were on the floor and we sat in their chairs. Each child took a turn reading something that they had written during the year. Weston read a poem that he had written. Here is a picture of him with the whole group on the floor. He was excited that we were there!!

After that, Weston's teacher, Mrs. Gault, gave each of them reading awards on how many books that they had read during the year. In the 4 weeks that Weston has been in school, he read 36 books. There were kids there with a lot more, but I figured if we had been able to count ALL the books that he had read in Ms. York's class in NC, he would have had a lot more. He said that his favorite book that he read this year was "Ramona the Pest"!!

Here is a picture of Weston with his certificate.

And finally, here is a picture of Weston with his teacher, Mrs. Gault. In his hand you can also see that he is holding a trophy. He got that for having perfect attendance in this school. (He missed several days at his last school, but they said that didn't matter. He just had to have perfect attendance at this school to get the award!!)

See Ya Soon!!

Well, in just a few hours I will be boarding a plane and heading back to my beloved Texas!!! I am so exctied to go to Melissa's graduation and see everyone that I haven't seen in almost a year. I hope that you survive with out my little blog here, but I will post all about my fun adventure when I get back!!!!