Nienie Benefit Concert

Here is a great fundraiser for Stephanie and Christian Nielsen.

Nie Nie and her beloved Mr. Nielson are currently recovering from critical burns sustained in an airplane crash August 16, 2008.

Everyone PLEASE come and give your support to this wonderful family in need!

Poking my head out of the hole...

Some Random Thoughts Since our Move:

I just wanted to post and say that we made it here safely. I cannot believe I went so long without blogging. Oddly, I haven't thought much about blogging in the recent busy weeks. Or maybe that isn't so odd?! Hmmm.

We are here and getting settled. The three middle children started school on Monday. Kayla, the oldest, starts school next Monday because they are doing testing this week here. Finals, to be exact. In Colorado, we had finals before Christmas break. So this is a little unusual for us. Tonight is Kayla's first night at YW in the new ward. She was so nervous to go, so I'm praying she has a good time!

The weather here has primarily been cold and snowy. We have about 1.5 - 2 feet of snow in the yard. It's crazy! But my kids have enjoyed sledding and playing in it. We live at the end of a Cul-d-sac and I'm converted to this way of life! I love being able to let my kids, including and particularly the youngest ones, wander in and out without fear of them running right into the street. And I love the huge, triangle shaped yard!

I love being with Laren again and having us all together. I love that Laren actually gets home about 10 minutes or so after he leaves the office! In Colorado, it took him nearly an hour to get home after work.

We have a Church just a half a block away from us, but that is a different Stake. So we attend one down the street and around the corner and around another corner - like maybe 5 or 6 blocks, way too far away! Ha ha!!

I've gotten lost way too many times already, even with the Garmin. Apparently, these small neighborhood streets are just too hard for a college educated mother of 5 to navigate!! I'm getting used to parking out nearly to the main street every time I go to Walmart or Costco. And Colorado has never seen a long line compared to Utah. It's crazy!!! But, I love having lots of kids around here for my kids to play with; and to think we had a lot on our street in Colorado!

So far we are liking it, but it is not without lots of adjustments, including this small, but sufficient-sized house. I'm still missing so many things, so I'm just relenting and replacing some of the less-expensive things, either that or just accepting it and trying not to be frustrated!

My kids say school is a lot easier over here. They cannot believe how easy their homework is and how little time it takes them to do it, but we are not complaining!! ;)

Moving

Moving

As you know, a few months ago Laren took a job in Utah. The kids and I have stayed here in Colorado with Laren coming home just every other weekend. We have been trying to sell our house, to no avail. Laren and I recently made the decision to move the kids and I to Utah to be all together as a family and we will continue to try and sell our house in this crazy market.

So, I've been busy, busy, busy with getting things ready for Christmas, mailing packages, getting the kids withdrawn from school here and getting ready to move. We are scrambling to find a rental over there. Blogging has taken a backseat to all of the above, but I just wanted you to know that I haven't given up on it or you, I just haven't had time for it!

Hopefully I can sit down and do a more detailed post soon. But in the meantime, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Coming Home

After 3 sick kids and another with pink eye this last week. Look who's coming home tonight!

The House

The House

So many of my friends and family have been asking us if we have had any "bites" on the house yet. The answer is, unfortunately, no, we haven't! We have went for long periods of time where we have no showings at all and then the showings seem to crop up in clusters.

So, I've been trying to ignore the fact that the house hasn't sold yet, and I'm trying to focus on other stuff. Stuff that I can have control over. One of those things has been Christmas shopping. It brightens everything to think about this special time of year that we have to celebrate our Savior and participate in giving to others.

Another thing I've been doing here and there is staging my house. Yes, we've had it decorated, etc... but some things I've just let be because of time and money (my excuse for almost anything!). So I've kind allowed myself some fun and time and expense lately of buying a few more things to stage our house.



One of those things was this little nightstand I got on Craigslist for $10. For the almost 15 years of our marriage, most of our furniture has been made up of stuff like

this white dresser that we got that is basically junk furniture. But that is all we could afford at the time. And when we could start affording more, we got another vehicle, or moved into a bigger house or added another child to the family, instead of upgrading the furniture. Not all of the furniture we have is "junk" furniture. It's mainly just the dressers now.

And today, after some painting projects the past 2 days, I spent the morning and early afternoon baking cookies for our Card Group cookie exchange tonight. After I was done baking, I cleaned up my cookie mess. But I didn't bother with the aftermath of the hurricane that builds when you don't focus on cleaning the house for 2 days to paint furniture.

And this morning we awoke to a steady and accumulating snowfall. The first real one we've had so far this year in Denver. And I thought to myself that I really needed to clean my house, mainly taking care of all that laundry and vacuuming . But I decided after all my cookie work I would sit down and check my Facebook for a few minutes.

I did that and then my oldest daughter came home from school. We chatted and then I headed out to get my 3 middle children from school. The roads were slippery and the unshoveled sidewalks at the school made a quick trip into a lengthier one. We were all home and sitting in the family room. I was attempting to read some books to Tyler after assigning chores to those who didn't have homework and was receiving lots of backlash about it.

Just a few moments later the doorbell rang. Kyle went to get it and someone started to open the door. I heard a lady asking, "If your Mom is here, so I can show the house?" I put the books down and ran to the door. I told her that I was unaware a showing was scheduled and that I would be happy to show my house but that I needed some time. I asked if they had any other homes they wanted to see nearby so they could come back to ours.

She said, "No, that she didn't mind the mess." That was the "Looker," not the agent. I said if you could just give me five minutes to tidy up then they could come and see it. They finally agreed to wait in their cars for 5 minutes.

In the meantime I had all the kids but Tyler quick at work cleaning and bickering. After 5 minutes, the doorbell rang again. It was the "looker". She said they would look at a couple of other houses and come back. Relieved I closed the door. My kids and I spun through the house like we've never done before, placing all sorts of things in all the wrong places, like a pair of gloves in the kitchen cupboard. Desperate times call for desperate measures!

We didn't have it perfect, but it would have to do. The Agent and her Lookers came just as we were leaving. I'm sure that nothing will come of the showing, because that just seems to be the market right now. But I'm proud of the kids and the way they helped me in a pinch!

And as for why I didn't know about the showing sooner, I'm debating getting rid of T-mobile asap, because all of the showings go to my cell phone and it doesn't ring half the time in the house. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why all the Lookers want to come on the days you least expect them, like the day after Thanksgiving, or the snowiest day of the year so far?

Decorating the Tree

Decorating the Tree

Tonight the kids and I put on the Christmas Music and got out the ornaments and decorated the tree. Oh the fun memories brought about by Christmases past when we found an ornament Kayla painted in Joy School 8 years ago, or an ornament Kyle's nursery teacher made and gave to him 6 years ago, or that Rilyn or Alyssa made at school. Tyler was cute enough to come and ask me if his cute paper ornament could go on the tree - of course it could!

Rilyn was sad that Dad could not be there to decorate the tree with us. She wanted to know if it was okay to do it without him. I assured her that he gave us special permission. While we decorated, we did our part in adding to the holiday cheer by consuming our share and then some of sugar cookies and Jelly Belly flavored candy canes. Unfortunately, I didn' t get any pictures of us decorating because I was videoing it for Dad. Maybe one of these days I will figure out how to upload the video from the video camera to the blog?

Decorating the tree, what a great start to a fun month!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We are home from our trip to visit Laren in Utah. We spent pretty much the entire past week there! Despite us all cramming into a tiny studio apartment in Orem, the kids were so much more settled than they have been for the past 2.5 months. It goes to show that it does not matter what kind/size of house we live in as long as we're together as family. It was hard to keep them quiet so as not to disturb the neighboring apartments though.

The night before we left, we got some bad news about Laren's project: that it may come to a standstill due to less sales tax revenue for roads (and just about everything else) in Utah. I will admit I spent a few hours silently weeping over that. Usually being a civil engineer is a pretty stable line of employment, but this bad economy can even affect stable jobs, apparently. It was hard for me to have the energy to get my house in perfect condition and get everything packed and loaded for the trip we had previously planned. But my 12 year old daughter came to the rescue and helped immensely with anything and everything and away we went!!

While we were away we looked at a ton of houses to buy or rent. Most definitely we will be renting until we have job certainty, one way or another, and until this house sells. We also got together with Laren's sister's family in Payson a couple of times. And what would be a trip for us to Utah without a game of bowling at the Wilkinson Center? Afterall, our favorite University houses it! And equally satisfying was some good, cool sweet treats courtesy of the Creamery!!

We rolled in tonight, right before Costco was closing. I had Laren stop in hopes that I could find some Pumpkin Pies, but no such luck! They were completely cleaned out. So I sucked it up and came home and baked my own instead of falling straight into bed. But the smell wafting through my house right now while they bake, is quite a reward for my efforts already!

I hope you all have a Wonderful Thanksgiving!!