Madi's birthday

Madi's birthday was on May 13th & she turned 4 years old. She was some kind of happy! She told me all month that she was turning 4. (Me typing this comment does absolutely no justice to the comment... it was priceless hearing her say it... I think I'll be the only one (& Bryce too) who will have any effect when reading this... sorry to the rest of you!) Then her birthday actually came & WOW was she ever excited. If she was a puppy, her tail would have been wagging all day long, lol. She cracks me up! Once again, my typing/explanation is doing no justice, lol. (I must be tired, what's new....)

Madi wanted a birthday cake with butterflies on it. So she asks, I make. That was the whole point of me learning to decorate cakes! So I went online to get ideas & showed her a number of pictures & she wanted all of them (of course, what 4 yr old doesn't want every cake they see!) but she choose one that was 2 tiered with butterflies going up the side of the cake. So I made her this cake. I love how well it turned out! Every part is edible too, and I made the butterflies sparkly. (The things I do for my kids... 2 days of my life swamped with daily activities & squeezing in a big old cake)

I was just going to put Madi's birthday pictures but now realize that they are all on Bryce's phone & Bryce's Dad's camera. Sigh. I thought I had it all together. Not quite. Oh well, I'll get them and post them another time!

Long story short, Madi turned 4 and she is happy about it. We had a great day with her & I went down memory lane (of course, I'm too sappy not to go down memory lane... it's my favorite street you know, lol). It was fun to look at pictures of her from last year's party & to remember all the fun things about the last 4 years. I LOVE MADI! She's such a fun child! I love her spunk, her playfulness, her crazy smile, I love it when she asks for "black black black licorice" (not sure why it has to be black x 3, but that's how she asks... and ewww, black licorice, yuck! It's like she's 90 yrs old or something, crazy Madi!), I love watching her play, watching her try to brush her long mane of hair... tucking her in at night... she always wants a really good squeeze for a hug, and she used to always want a kiss, but now she giggles if I try to kiss her. So funny, so many good times with Madi. Love her so much!

And I promise to get my act together and get those pictures. Don't ask me to put a date on it though, lol!

We found a house ☺

We went to Edmonton on the 15th May and spent the week house hunting. Very stressful having 5 days to buy a house. Not for the faint of heart, that's for sure. We went to Edmonton we 3 or 4 houses we were really hoping to see/buy. When we spoke with our realtor on day one, he told us that the homes sold or had pending offers on them, and one had some sort of "disaster" and wouldn't be able to show their home the week we were there. (which by the sounds of "disaster", we no longer were interested in their home!!) So we were literally starting at square one. We saw about 25 homes the first 2 days (I lost track after awhile). On day one, there was only 1 house we would even consider buying, and it was a little on the small side, but we could make it work if we had too. On day 2 we found 2 more homes we really liked alot, both of which had great space and work would very well for our large family. One was in Edmonton and one was in St Albert. We debated which one to put an offer on... the one in Edmonton was awesome (I loved it sooo much) and it was pretty much a turn key home. The only thing it needed was central air conditioning & Bryce's dad told us he would put one in for us (LOVE THAT MAN!!). It was also only a few steps away from the kids school, which was a huge benefit. The one in St Albert was great too. Bryce really loved this one, I did too... Bryce was cute though... after we drove away from that house, he didn't really want to look at any more homes. He even said his heart was with the one in St Albert. (If you know Bryce at all, this is NOT the kind of mushy, gushy, emotional kind of comment one would hear from him. He REALLY likes this house.) Anyways, the perks of the St Albert house are that it's close to my family (like a 2 minute drive), the house has SO much room, so many bedrooms, an office, a bonus room, a great yard backing onto a little forest. In the evening we could hear the frogs and crickets. Very nice to be in. OK, so we had 2 great homes that would work for us & they were in our price range. After a great debate we decided to put an offer on the house in Edmonton. Mostly b/c we wouldn't need to do any work/improvements to the home & it was close to the kids school. Our realtor went to put in our offer and found out that it sold the same day we looked at the house. We were shocked & disappointed but happy and relieved that the house in St Albert was our close 2nd choice. So we put an offer on the house that evening, there was a little negotiating, and by 10:30 (ish) that night, our offer was accepted ☺ Hooray!

We went back to our hotel and were so happy that we didn't have to go through another day of going through peoples homes. I was so excited it was hard to sleep. And then I was freaked out that we had put an offer on a house... a little scary. The housing market in Edmonton is very expensive, I was so anxious about everything that night. I had a horrible sleep. (I'm broken these days... since I've had Dallin, sleep doesn't come easy. I can be totally exhausted and still not sleep. So if I have anything at all on my mind, I may as well kiss sleep good bye, it's not going to happen. It's made for a very long year.) Anyways, we had to wait until Thursday to have the house inspected. I was just praying and crossing my fingers that things would go well. If they didn't, then we would have to start all over again and we were flying out Saturday morning! Not much time for anything! We have 5 kids, it's not like there are a ton of homes that can work well for our family. If we had just as couple or a few, the market would be bigger for us. It is what it is. Thankfully the inspection went very well! We were thrilled and relieved to not have to start all over again. ☺

So things are good. We found a house, it is a nice house with lots of room for our children, there are 3 1/2 bathrooms (we only have one bathroom for 7 people right now... it's brutal, to say the least), we got the house for $80,000 less that what the owner initially tried selling it for, there's nothing wrong with it, Bryce is happy he can hear frogs and crickets whenever he wants (lol), it's in a nice neighborhood, there's a park just a hop skip and a jump away... so many good things.

I am SO glad we have worked our butts off the past couple years. We have scrimped & saved every penny we could so that this could work out. I am very grateful for this opportunity, it is such a blessing for our family. I know most people already have homes, and maybe have been in one forever and a day, but for us, it was a hard one to accomplish. It hasn't been an easy thing for us. Going through school and having baby after baby during school, then getting into the military and having just enough (OK, not even enough) to get by... Bryce has only been a Captain for 2 years... once he hit captain, we finally had enough coming in (combined with me working like mad) to start to pay down the student loans, pay off our van, and save up $$ for a down payment. It has been a long road for us. But boy do we appreciate it. I don't take this for granted at all. About 3 years ago Bryce & I were looking on the MLS and did the mortgage calculator/affordability thing . At that we would have only been pre-approved for a mortgage of about $57000... the only thing we could find on the MLS in that price range was literally a shack. I mean it, it was a shack in the middle of nowhere, Manitoba. I cried and cried and cried... I didn't feel like it would ever happen. A house was so far out of our reach. It makes today a sweeter experience for me. I SO appreciate, and recognize all the blessings that have happened so that we could get into a home. It's overwhelming, I just can't express enough gratitude. It's been a long road, and truthfully, I wouldn't trade it. I am glad that I know the difference (well, soon will know the difference) between not having and having a home with enough room & bathrooms. Simple things make me happy these days. ☺

I've been thinking about this all week, and Bryce and I have been reflecting all week of the events that have led to this. I have wanted all week to have a moment to write this down. Glad I finally have a chance....

So we move from Shilo, Manitoba to St. Albert, Alberta at the end of June. Our PMQ will be packed up on the 28th June, the truck will be loaded on the 29th, and we will hand in our keys on the 30th. July 1st we will start our drive to Alberta.

So excited to leave, but it's kinda hard too. Tonight we took the kids to the park and Dallin was trying to climb on the structures and go down the slide, and he was playing with the pebbles. It was sweet to watch... and then I went down memory lane (no surprise there)... I remembered my little Madi being that age, doing similar things in the same park. This is where my babies discovered their world. It's where I've raised my children, my baby Madi, had a baby (Dallin)... I watched my kids walk down the road to the school many mornings and looked for them at lunch time and after school. This is where my life has been with my family. So many memories here. I am excited to go to a better location with so many more amenities and opportunities for my family... but I know I will cry when we leave. I always find it hard to drive away from our home and know that this chapter is over. It happens every time (we've moved 14 times since 1997). I guess I'm a sentimental fool, haha.

OK, gotta stop going down memory lane. I'm getting teary on myself. Can't cry at night you know, my eyes will be red and puffy in the morning! ;)

Here are a few pictures I took.

This is the park that is at the end of our street. The kids are going to love it ☺

Here is the front of our house.

This is the view of the back of our house (picture taken from the bonus room).

This is the view from our master bedroom. I love this neighborhood! I'm looking forward to all the walks we'll take with the kids. It really is such a great location!☺

Here's our eating area. Pretty hardwood floors & fantastic view. So great!
I hate the pillar thing. Bryce doesn't mind it... he keeps telling me we just need to have a toga party and then I'll love it! Funny, funny man! We're planning on taking it down at some point. I think it's tacky. Maybe it's just me, but I could do with out the pillar. It will be a good joke between me & Bryce though... maybe we should keep it, it's brought us so many laughs already, lol!

Here's our bonus room.

I was going to post more pictures of the bedrooms and such but a room is a room is a room. They never look like much. I'll post pictures again after we move and get settled in.OK, that's it for tonight. Oh wait, I'm adding one more picture...

Our friends Amy & Dave Sopkow watched our kids while we were gone. They took this picture of Madi with their little puppy, Gizmo. Madi LOVES Gizmo! Good thing it's a little dog, Madi could actually hold it! ☺

That's it for tonight. I am done blogging. I'm sure Bryce would like me to resurface again and walk away from the computer. So I will. Night all ☺

Soooo we are moving!!

So it's official... we are moving to Edmonton by the end of June/early July! Woooo! Very excited! Bryce found out this past Thursday that he didn't get into med school, but you know, that's OK. Both moves, to Edmonton or a move to Ontario for school, had their pros and cons. It was bitter sweet hearing that he didn't get in. Disappointing because we really hoped to have the opportunity, but so great in that we get to leave Shilo (yay!) and be closer to family, to a temple, to good friends and to every amenity one could imagine (YAY YAY YAY!) and of course to BUY A HOUSE! That is seriously SO SO SO exciting! We've saved up enough money so we can buy a house and a nice one at that. ☺ I am so so so excited about having more than one bathroom. It almost brings me to tears when I think about having a house with enough room and bathrooms... oh life is good! (although, maybe the fact that I am this excited about bathrooms suggests that I need a life, lol!) So we are planning to go on our house hunting trip May 15th-21st. We've arranged for Amy & Dave to come stay with Noah, Adam & Madi and June is going to stay at Rejeana's house. We are going to bring Dallin because he's still pretty little. It could be a very long week for him and for whoever would be watching him... I don't want to put him or anyone else through that. My opinion is that if Bryce and I cannot handle ONE baby at this point, then we really have issues! Well, everything is falling into place. Now to find a house... I have waited so many years to do this... so happy, so grateful! I'll post pictures once all is said and done. ☺

OK, my whole point of blogging today was to make a record of a funny comment Noah said today. Oh the boy cracks me up, he's funny and doesn't even realize it! OK, today is my friend Janet Olsen's birthday, she plays the piano in primary, at church. Well the primary presidency decided to have her come to the front and have everyone sing happy birthday to her... which meant she wouldn't be anywhere near the piano. So someone commented and said to the kids, "I guess we'll have to sing accapella." Noah heard this and his response was, "But I only know English." Wow, that cracked us up when we heard that... seriously hilarious!! Oh my Noah, sweet, dear Noah... he was so serious about it... and we were sitting behind chuckling. Such a good comment. I never want to forget it... and that's why I am blogging today. ☺

Well, it's Mother's Day today. I'd really like to say that it's a blissfully, easy going day... but getting up at 6:30 in the morning to get all my monkeys ready for church and then to come home and have to feed everyone... it doesn't really feel like any other day of the week. I almost wish it wasn't mothers day (I know, I know, I'm bad for feeling this way)... it gives the illusion of the potential of the day going smoothly, that my children will all dawn their halos and never fight, that the house will be spotless, that all meals will magically appear. Reality is, having 5 kids just takes alot of time and alot of work... and always with nowhere near enough sleep. Sigh. But the good things I like about it is that my kids came home from school on Friday and couldn't wait to give me their Mother's Day gifts that they hand crafted themselves... and I honestly just love their excitement and how their eyes lit up while they tell me about what they made. That is what makes Mother's Day worth it to me. That and watching Dallin try to walk independently of furniture, and the sweet smile I get from him when he sees me. That's what's good about Mother's Day. I guess, now that I think about it, who really cares if the house is clean or if meals magically appear, I have my kids. And for whatever reason, they seem to love me, even though I am so far from perfect. Funny how that is. I am grateful for my family. ☺

Well, I guess I should go see what the rest of the world is doing. It's been a nice few minutes of quiet to sit and blog. I'm guessing that the next month or so will be crazy busy getting ready for the move. Oh and did I mention the best part about not getting into med school? I don't have to pack my house myself, the military pays for it to be done... and unpacked too. So sweet, so great! One less thing to do...

Have a good day all!