The Best Day of the Year

Ah, the first day of school. For me, it's better than Christmas. Today was the first quiet day I've had to myself in 3 1/2 months! While I do love my little darlings with all my heart, I really, really, really look forward to school. Today was a total treat. Jay is out of town, so our annual breakfast date is postponed until Friday. Instead, I came home and took a nap. A good long one, guilt-free. Then I treated myself to lunch, ALONE, and went and got a mani-pedi. SO needed. I may have let a moan slip out while the nice little Vietnamese lady massaged my feet and calves. By then it was time to pick up Eric (2:30), so the peace and quiet was over for the day. But guess what? Tomorrow I get peace and quiet again! I may clean and unpack tomorrow. Unless something better comes my way. Hey, it's like summer vaca for me now (at least til Friday when Jay comes home).

In the last week, we did NO unpacking whatsoever. We went to the beach, Sea World, the beach, Sea World again, and more times to the beach. I swept up a week's worth of sand off my floors today, and let's just say that it could have weighted down a small punching bag. Oh well.

I don't want my AZ friends to think that life is a total beach, so I'll gripe a little. It has been HOT. Not AZ hot, but humid and very warm (85-90), making for hot in the house without a/c, trouble sleeping hot. Two nights ago I was still up at 3:00 and got up and sat in front of the open bedroom window, wondering why I was so sweaty. There was no breeze-the air was stifling and damp. I just sat there and waited for a little bit of air movement. Since Jay is in AZ this week, he said he turned down the a/c in his hotel room and slept really well. I had 3 hours of sleep last night, due to insomnia, the heat, and no hubby in bed.

Anyway.........yeah for schedules, routine, and peace and quiet!

All settled?

hahahaha! That would be a good one. We've been here for two weeks. The important stuff is settled and put away. The rest is.... not so much. We'll get there, but for now we are enjoying the beautiful weather, being outside, and exploring our new digs. The kids are settling nicely. They all have friends and social lives that are better than the ones we left. There is definately a higher power guiding our family right now, and I am very thankful. The troubles we had have been traded for new ones, and I'm okay with that. We are in a good place.

Here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to:
-moved out of AZ.... lots of help and lots of tears. friends and family are extremely missed.

-moved into CA.... lots of help and no tears. family, old friends, and new friends are very appreciated.

-met my cousin, Heidi (whom I hadn't seen in 9 years!), at the beach. it was so good to hang out and realize how similar we are!

-hanging out and dinner with the Banks. old friends...so much comfort.

-kids have been to two movie nights, played 'fugitive' all over the neighborhood with the ward kids, and the older two have been to two dances.

-Jay's been back to Phx and I survived my first 4 day stint alone with the kids.

-HUGE amounts of $$$$ have been spent. food, more food, stocking up at Costco, school clothes, shoes, new bedding, etc, etc.

-went to OC a couple of times to see family... this last Saturday we were there for Holly's family's big day.

-went to a luau. AWESOME food and entertainment. (including my Bekah doing a hula!)

-we've also been to the beach... A LOT. almost every day!

-Eric tried out Water Polo for the first time. decided that coming into a new sport like that as a junior when all the freshmen have been playing for 4 years is probably not a good idea.

-Jay's parents have been down our way a couple of times to help put things away and help paint the boy's rooms. first big projects are done.

Well, that's what comes to mind. My camera charger is still MIA and the battery is dead, so, pics will have to follow. I guess you'll all know when I get more unpacked, huh?

Summer in Pics

Here are some more summer pics.... in no particular order because I am too lazy to re-order them after spending 30 minutes bringing them into blogger one at a freakin' time.

One of the several times we were in Carlsbad over the summer for like 2 days at a time, I think this was Memorial Day... in the pic above, Jay is cracking up because a wave just got us while we were waiting for whichever kid to snap the pic.

We went to the beach with Holly and Grady, Mary, my Mom, Tracy and her girls. Look at all the 'moms' it takes to put suntan lotion on Grady. hahaha.

Rebekah spent a little time with Holly and Grady after Girl's Camp. I think it was the single biggest self-esteem booster for her EVER, because Grady likes HER. Will let her hold him and help take care of him. She ate it up.

A boy and his dog.... gross.

Bek and David posing in some impromptu 'shade" with Fritz.

David finally grew taller than Aunt Jennifer. A true 'milestone' in his life.:)

See that guy in the top left corner? Yeah.... he jumped off that cliff into the water below. This is at Blue Ridge Resevoir here is AZ, on his first High Adventure Trip. The second one was in Lake Powell, where he did more cliff jumping, with our new ward in Carlsbad.

Jay LOVES Paradise Bakery and our friends over there made an awesome giant cookie for him on Father's Day.

David and his friend Gage both made the All-Star team and got Home Run trophies.

One of the times Jay's Dad, Grandpa Johnny, came to visit, he left a pair of pants and his hat. Eric thought it would be funny to dress up like him....see if he noticed. Yep.... and Eric thought it was SO funny.

This is the cake and flowers that Jay and the kids made for me for Mother's Day. YUMMY! Also in the background is proof that our house use to be a home before it all got boxed up. We have been living in a 'house' since early June.... and are eager to turn our new place into a 'home'.
It sounds dumb, but living in a 'house' and not a 'home' for the past couple of months has really taken a toll. It's like you don't feel right or something. I don't know..... just sayin'.

More pics later.......gotta go pack some more:(

FINALLY CLOSED

After the longest escrow in the history of man, the purchase of the Carlsbad house is finally finished. We should be moving August 7th. Just in case anyone is thinking of refinancing or purchasing a home, do NOT use Trust One Mortgage in Irvine, CA. The WORST customer service, professionalism, know-how, etc. This company is a prime example of why the mortgage industry is not going to recover for quite some time.

I've been a total slacker in the blog department lately, mostly because I don't want to just be negative and bitching all the time. There have been some fun times mixed in with this summer of hell. Here's some photos:

4th of July weekend, my Mom and Mary came to visit. This is Rebekah and Patrick. I just love little Patrick (Jimmy's 2nd boy) and want to hug him soooo bad, but he just loves his mama and rarely lets anyone else get any lovin'. Maybe one day;)

Mary and Jimmy. A rare photo of Jimmy smiling;) Mary is the only person who can ever get Jimmy to pose for a photo. Isn't my baby sis gorgeous! And my kid bro is pretty handsome, too. I love it when we get to see him and his fam.

James (Jimmy's 1st boy) and Aunt Mary. I use to watch James on Fridays when he was a baby. He turns 4 this weekend! He has the best sense of humor and always makes me laugh. I am going to miss my AZ family soooo much. Now that the move is final and the date is coming, I can't even think of my nephews (and their parents) without tearing up.

My mom and Rebekah talking Patrick into playing with Colby.

Mary doing the bitter-beer face under water. Maybe it's because Eric's armpit was so close to her face! eeeew!

We celebrated Colby's 2nd b-day while some of the fam was together. He's such a cheese! His brothers are close by, making sure he can blow out those candles!

Chicken in the pool. Christian and Eric beat Chase and Mary, only because Eric cheated with a leg swipe under water. Typical.

Hope you all are surviving summer............

Changes, Mayhem, and General Crap

We have been super busy and super stressed over here. Nothing has gone as planned, and life continues to throw it's curve-balls. However, I wanted to do a quick update. Anyone who tells you that the loan market or the economy is improving is just wishing and full of crap. Our loan was suppose to close by June 1st.... it's still not done with. The mtg co just keeps asking for more and more stupid crap and it's driving me CRAZY. The sellers in Carlsbad also need at least 2 weeks to move out from the close date, which means we don't know what day we're moving because of all of it. After 3 weeks of listing on craigslist, we finally got a renter for our AZ house on Saturday. They're suppose to come sign the lease on Wednesday.

David has been to scout camp, and also just made the All-Star team. So, baseball season is extended until at least July 8th. We hope to move the 9th so David can go to scout camp with our new CA church group. However, if their baseball team advances in the playoffs past the 8th, we will have one ticked off kid and aren't sure how we're gonna deal with that.

Eric went on a canoe trip with our church group and had tons of fun, especially cliff diving. If there were moms there, I'm sure the 60 foot jump wouldn't have happened. However, my little devil loved every second of the concussion (my guess) causing jump. I think we've turned a big corner with him over the last week. I think he's my kid again.

Rebekah is looking forward to girl's camp next week and otherwise is tired of doing chores and lets that be known daily. She's a great help though. Last week she had to have her gum repaired by laser and was NOT happy.

Tomorrow I have dental implant surgery (scary, super nervous). That's all I want to say about that.

My Own Mountain

During these crappy economic times, it's really easy to think that someone else's problems aren't as bad as yours. I just want to send a fair caution out there..... I promise you that you don't know exactly what is on that other person's path. What their mountain of crap is. Chances are, if you knew, you really would NOT want to trade places. We all have our own personal mountain of crap to overcome. I believe that "mountain of crap" is custom made for each one of us. We're not gonna get one that is beyond our limits. It may seem that way, but in the end we'll find that we did it. The trick is to find out what you can learn from your path and to just take one step at a time and overcome it, hoping that there is a valley before the next mountain. I think that everyone has felt the economic crap on some level, some have it extreme. Others have teenagers who keep them up at night worried to death, causing them to relocate their lives, others have little kids zapping every source of energy from them, still others find themselves starting over in mid-life, and many other various situations.... some of us have more than a couple of these. Please... let's not judge each other and their mountain. Just be supportive, lend a helping hand when we can, a shoulder to cry on when needed, and prayers that times will get better for everyone soon.

For Rent

Glendale, AZ. Beautiful Bellair home for rent. $1400/month, 2600 sq. ft., 4 bed/3 bath, park-like backyard. Available for July 4 move in. Must see!

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/apa/1197104165.html