We are still here

We are still in the hotel. Things are going good but I am getting very anxious to get out of here. I am having problems with my usb card reader thing so I can't post pictures until I get that figured out. We still don't know when we will get possession of the house. We are hoping to close on June 7th or 8th. The people will be gone this weekend so I am trying to see if I can at least get some carpet cleaner people over there on monday or tuesday to clean the carpets. We need to call for our stuff out of storage by the 7th and then that will take a couple days for it to get here which is fine. Last weekend with mom and dad we went to Lowes and bought a fridge but during our home inspection we measured the area and it won't fit so we have to go back and exchange it. Our home inspection went well. Nothing major is wrong, just some little things that they always find. Jason's honey do list just got a little longer after the inspection! We are very excited to move in and have things become a little more normal and get our schedule back (hopefully)!

Where is Stef?

I have it on a good authority that Grandma and Grandpa left Kansas. What are you doing Stef? How do you fill your days? How is it going living in the hotel? When do you take posession of your new home? Any more pictures?

Hope all is well with you and yours.

James new look

We got some pics from James today with his new partial plate. Doesn't he look great?

Our Saturday

Got up early this morning to run my last long training run for Fontana. Did 10 miles and felt really good.

The kids were bored and asked if we could hit the beach. Yep. I took Jon, Caitlin, Lauren and Jon's friend Estaban down to Balboa. We parked on the island and ferried over to the fun zone. While walking to the ferry, the kids reminisced about all our trips and walks down there. They got up on the seawall as they used to do when kids all in a line and walked all the say up there. I took a picture as it brought back lots of memories. They are just bigger now. Hehe.

The other pick is the big office of the Balboa marina. It also houses some restaurants, a fishing company where you can fish right off their docks and a hall that you can rent out for weddings.

It was a good day! How was yours? Stef I have been waiting for pics.......still waiting. LOL

something to make you chuckle

An Amish boy and his father were in a mall. They were amazed by almost
everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that
could move apart and then slide back together again.

The boy asked, "What is this Father?"

The father (never having seen an elevator); responded, "Son, I have
never seen anything like this in my life, I don't know what it is."

While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old
lady in a wheel chair moved up to the moving walls and pressed a
button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small
room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the small
circular numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued
to watch until it reached the last number and then the numbers began to
light in the reverse order.

Finally the walls opened up again and a gorgeous 24-year-old blonde
stepped out.

The father said quietly to his son..."Go get your mother.

Happy Birthday Mialee

Mialee began her birthday morning with two fun gift bags full of surprises. Then she frosted and decorated 37 cupcakes to take with her for her special day at preschool this afternoon. She keeps checking to make sure she is really 4. Friday evening is her party with some family and friends.

SOLD!

I took Mom and Dad to the house yesterday to see it. It was the first time the sold sign had been up. The people we bought the house from are selling all their furniture so we went through and made a list of the things we wanted to buy. It was very fun. Jason got held up in Oklahoma on his business trip and so he isn't home yet. I hope he will be home today. We are having a good time so far!

The Kansas Border

I just talked to Mom and Dad and they are almost at the Kansas border! They should be here in about 4 hours. We are very excited to show them McPherson, Jason's work, our new house, and all the nothingness that makes up Kansas.

The Bee's.....

Yesterday we noticed these in the late afternoon. They were swarming outside our garage. They ended up settling in the tree that belongs to our dear friends and next door neighbors. The tree is between their house and our house but they claim it on their side. We took pictures before they called in the exterminator to kill them. Now we have dead bees in the grass and kind of all over as they couldn't get all of them out of the tree but what ever they sprayer them with killed them and so when the wind blows, it knocks them out and they go where ever the wind carries them. The unfortunate thing is that they can still sting. We have warned all the neighbors not to walk around barefooted for awhile. Hopefully everyone will heed the warning. What do you think? Want them in your yard? bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Can you say BEEEEEEESSSSSSSS????

Now Serving Paisley

We aren't quite sure why Paisley was laying on her high chair tray like a piece of food but it was very cute and we were lucky to capture this moment.

Gazebo

Here is a picture of our gazebo. I got it off of the real estate site because I keep forgetting to take a picture of it. To the right of the gazebo is the pool. I was thinking it might be cute to paint the gazebo so it looks a little fresher, any input?

Happy Birthday Taryn

Happy Birthday Taryn! We hope you have a great birthday on the plane. Have a fun and safe trip! Let us know about your presents and your cake.

Inside Our House

We will have to take more pictures when the house is decorated with our things, but we really like how the current owner also has decorated the house.
Kitchen

Dining Room

Fireplace in living room

Living room
Family room in the basement
Little nook in the basement
Fireplace in the basement

We are very excited to get inside the house and start making it our own. We like the colors they have on the wall and most of them will work for us and our things so we won't have to paint too much, but we do have a couple other projects we are excited to get started on!

There's No Place Like Home!!

We are the proud new owners of this home! We have visited it three times and love it very much! We are excited at this new chapter of our lives and for the responsibility it brings!!

Nice Kicks

Jason is going to start working in the factory where things can be a little more dangerous tomorrow and so we had to go buy him some steel toed boots. We were lucky to find some that he thinks are really cute and don't really look like steel toed boots! Luckily the company will reimburse us! YAY! He also already has his first business trip planned for next week, he will be visiting Tulsa, OK.

A Suite Life

When we were in Liberal Kansas at the Holiday Inn there was a Wizard of Oz Suite. We really were excited about the decorating so we had to take a picture of it. There was also a wall of pictures from the movie and some of the "munchkins" had stayed in that hotel and signed the pictures. It was pretty fun.

Happy Mother's Day

We hope it is a good Mother's Day for all the Mother's in our family and for our Mom. What did they give you in church? I hope it was chocolate and that they stop discriminating from Father's Day!

Thanks Mom and Dad

Well we have arrived! We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express. When we got here we grabbed some lunch and then called the realtor to see a house or two. We went and saw a house we have been excited to see but we didn't fall in love, it is a possibility but we want to see other options first. After we got back to the hotel the front desk called saying there was something for us at the front desk. It was a nice balloon bouquet with some candy for Jason and I to say Happy Mother's Day and good luck with the move and the job from Mom and Dad! Thanks! That was just what I needed to cheer me up. I'm starting to feel a little sad with how permanent this all seems, and how temporary our housing is. We went grocery shopping and it was difficult to find food that would be appropriate for just having a fridge and microwave. This is going to be interesting! Thanks for all the calls and emails I have received! We miss you all and hope everyone will come visit us!

On the Road

This is our hotel in Albuquerque, it was on historic route 66.

These are Paisley's cute new pj's.

We've been through a lot of states these past 2 days of traveling. I get to cross off 2 on my list: New Mexico and Oklahoma. We are finally in Kansas, just barely over the border in Liberal. We were planning on staying in Oklahoma, but the town was booked. We are having a good time traveling. We did a lot of exploring in Albuquerque, and had fun going to Old Town. We are about 4 hours from our new home, McPherson Kansas.

Proud Mother Moment

Nathan has taken off with his sign language. He is up to 20 signs and even combines some to make 2 word sentences. Little toddler hands signing his needs is so precious to see! His speech is starting to come around slowly. His last hearing test showed he is not yet hearing within normal limits, he can hear vowels, and he can hear parts of consonants. He forms his mouth into the correct shape for a word, but consonant sounds. He does use the 'd' and 'g' sounds frequently. GO is his most common spoken word.

Our Traveling Family

I spoke to Stef this morning. They were in Flagstaff Arizona eating lunch and doing well. Paisley is being a happy traveler and they seemed to be making good time.

Workin' hard or Hardly Workin'

Well the movers have arrived and now it is their turn to work hard while we get a break. It has been kind of tense having other people handle all of our things with perhaps not as much care as they would handle their own things. But, the moving is going good, and it is nice to finally supervise instead of doing it ourselves.

Mooving

We had a nice pancake breakfast this morning while we were waiting for the movers to show up (we are still waiting actually). We thought Paisley looked very cute with her milk mustache and we wanted to share the cute pictures!

Congratulations Shelley!!

Alright I waited to see if you would share your good news with the family but NO, you are to humble. So I will. Shelley ran her 2nd half marathon yesterday. Her first was in January when she ran with Stephen and finished ahead of him with a time of 2:11. Yesterday she ran her second half marathon (13.1 miles for those who don't know how long a marathon is) and she finished in 1:53. That is HUGE! Its almost a 20 min PR. I can assure you that it is a very big deal. Good for you Shelley. Your training is paying off and you are looking good for St George. Woo hoooooooo!!!

GOOD LUCK STEF, JASON AND PAISLEY!!

We wish you clear skies (especially since its storming and full of tornados at the moment). Please, please keep up the blog and post lots of pics and updates on your lives. Love and hugs, miss you already.

Packing Paisley

Paisley loves boxes, so yesterday we had a lot of them in the living room getting read to get filled and Paisley decided she would pack herself. It was very cute! She also liked sitting in them and going for a ride. We will have to keep one box for her to play with in the hotel until we find a house because that is her favorite toy!