We Got Our House

Yeah I'm so excited.. It looks like we are going to be able to get the house I fell in love with after all.. The owners decided to lease it to us with an option to buy it if we want so we must be living right.. I can hardly wait.. You can check out our new home here.. I love the neighborhood. It has a private pond right in our backyard and backs to a nature preserve. There is a nice trail that runs along the subdevision for me to go running on and its just like being up in the mountains because there are so many pine and other trees and nature all around the neighborhood. It's like being in a forrest! There is a nice size river that is just around the block that I'm sure Steve will ehaust with his fly pole.. And there is a nice big lake called Lake Ori0n within 1 mile of our home to go boating on.. There's actually about 5-6 lakes around us all within a few mins drive, and tons more lakes we have yet to discover all within about an hours drive.. There are so many lakes in this state it's a boaters dream..
The only downfall is we are about a 30 min drive to go to our church which will make the weekly activities a challenge.. It's not like I will be able to drop the kids off and then go home and pick hem up when its done. I will have to stay or go do some shopping then be there to pick them up..
Also I am about a 20 min drive from the nearest walmart.. I dont know if I will survive without being within a few mins from a walmart but at least there is a grocery store within about 5-10 mins so I guess it will do... I think we will really like being here.. Other then the cold weather and very snowy winters I think its alot like Utah where we grew up so I think it will feel alot more like home... And bonus they even have a scrapbook store out here Yeah!!! NJ didnt have one so I am excited to have one so close now.. I cant wait to get out here!!

House Hunting

Just hanging in Michigan looking for houses.. So far I have only seen 2 houses I really liked. 1 was already under contract and the other one which I really really liked is too expensive for us so I am feeling a little bummed out.. There doesnt seem to be a whole lot in our price range to buy that are in good areas and so we are now looking at renting options which we have found 1 that would work so we will see.. I hope some more options come open for us.. It's been pretty cold here the last couple days.. They got alot of rain over the weekend so alot of areas here are flooding or have ponds in their back yards.. And alot of houses here have ponds, nature preserves, or lakes that come right up to the back yard. So very pretty but a little scarry too..
Seems we just cant find the right house with a decent yard in the right area.. Very discouraging!!
Owell hopefully something will come up..

Another Recap

We signed up Austin for basketball this year. This is the first time he has been on a basketball team. He has had so much fun.. He really looks forward to his saturday games. He is so into athletics right now.. He loves sports and being active.. He wants to try football next but I'm not to excited about that.. There seems to be many more injurys associated with football. Owell I guess you have to try everything once.

Look what we recieved in the mail over the weekend.. A good friend and co worker of Steve's sent us this gift as a going away gift.. Can I just say these are the best cookies ever... There were about 5-6 diffrent cake slices, 3-4 diffrent types of brownies, 11 diffrent types of cookies.. Yummy!!!!

So I got a Bosch mixer for christmas and I finally decided to try it out and make some bread.. After my last attempt to make bread I was a little nervous on how they would turn out.. I was very impressed with myself.. They turned out heavenly.. It was a really good recipe. And I spent about 15-20 mins kneading the crap out of it and it ended up having a great texture..

My mom wanted a recent photo of the kids so this is what we came up with.. Seems I can never get all the kids to cooperate or not fight or be crying in group photos so I snuck one really quick before school and it turned out ok.. Of course we had to try 3 times because someone would not be smiling or be pulling some crazy face..

12 years ago on Friday my precious Allie was born and I became a mother. What a sweet little bundle she was. After 32 hours of horrible labor, an infection from my water being broken so long and being utterly exhausted to the point my poor hubby had to wake me and hold me up to push through my contractions and with some help with the forceps she finally made her entrance into this world. And it's been like that ever since. Everything is always on her own time.. There is no rushing her. She is not about to do anything until she is good and ready.. She is my sweet angel, and I am so glad she came first. She is so gentle natured, She has a heart of gold, she is sensitive (a trait that often drives me bonkers) she wears her heart on her sleeves. She is very loving and kind. She loves her brother and sisters and helps me take very good care of them.. She is becoming a great babysitter.. Hooray finally!! She is so easy going.. I cant believe I have a young woman already..1 more year and we hit the crazy teen years.. Why cant I just keep them little?? Of course I am looking forward to having more mother daughter outings with her now that she is getting older and can relate a little better.. We have alot of catching up to do.. Being our first she was born under hard circumstances. Steve was going to work and school full time and what little time he had left he was doing homework or trying to sleep.. He was working graveyard shift and going to school during the days, and being a new mother and not knowing what to expect and not having him there to help me was extremely difficult. On top of everything else I developed a horrible case of the baby blues that didnt go away and took many months to overcome. I never got to bond with her the way I did with my other children. We have always put a lot of responsibility on her and have expected more from her then the other children. I'm not sure why we do that.. I hear alot of people do that with their first child. They kinda have to grow up way to fast and dont get to enjoy being a child.. Anyways enough babbeling.. I just cant imagine my life without her and I am so lucky and blessed to have her as my daughter.. I love you Alligator!! Happy Birthday...

A little friend get together for her birthday..

It's a crazy week for me.. I'm trying to get my house organized and clean for the upcoming weekend. I have my best friend from utah flying out on Thurs. to spend the weekend with us.. She and I are going to have a girls weekend out and go to NY friday and Sat and do some sight seeing and go to dinner and go see the play Wicked on broadway. I cant wait.. It will be so fun to see her again. I think she is my sister I never got... And my moms coming out on friday to help watch the kids while we fly out on monday to go house hunting for 2 weeks.. So lots to do.....