We had our first big snowfall a few days ago. Emma could not wait until she could go outside. Dad had to shovel 3 times that day (the joys of home ownership :o) and Emma wanted to "help." After shoveling they built a huge snowman. They had so much fun together. Dad even pulled her around the yard on the sled. What a good daddy!
Emma is so much fun! She has her ups and downs like any other 4 year old girl :o) but she is growing up so fast. She is very excited to start school next year, and is always working on her letters and reading. She gets so excited when she figures out a word. I can't believe how fast time goes by. I on the other hand am terrified for her to go to school. It scares me to death, but she is so excited already. Maybe I just need more time to get excited for her to go :o)
Emma is such a good helper and is so excited for her new sister. She is always touching my belly and saying the baby kicked her (maybe it's because her other sister kicks her all the time)at least now she thinks it is cute :o) She is so smart and loves her Sunbeam class, I can't believe she is almost in CTR 5. Again, she is growing up too fast, but we love it. She loves her daddy and is so excited when he gets home (again, maybe it's because there are 2 referees home to keep Sofie away from her) Emma and dad went outside to build a snowman the other day and she had so much fun. She loves having a "new" room with a "huge closet" and is so sweet. I love being her mom! (I love being Sofie's mom too :o)
Where do I begin with Sofie? She has turned into a little bully. Poor Emma gets smacked, bit, pinched, pulled to the floor by her hair, etc. by her little sister. I am not sure what to do with Sofie. She can be so sweet, and then without reason turn into a mean little thing. She is too smart for her own britches :o) I know a lot of it is her age and she is the younger sibling. Sofie is also a HUGE mommy's girl. She will climb over anything and anyone to get to me just so I will hold her. If I am not accessible she will scream (and I mean scream) until I hold her. (I am trying the, just let her scream b/c she needs to understand I can't hold her 24/7, especially when the baby comes, it's kinda working :o) She is in for a HUGE surprise when her new sister arrives, I can already hear the tantrum, awesome :o) Sofie is not a talker either. I have tried teaching her sign language for a while and she doesn't want anything to do with it. Screaming is her language :o)
Yesterday I went to check on the girls in the front room while I was cooking dinner. I walked in just as Sofie had gotten a hold of Emma's ear and her hair to yank her to the floor. Evidently Emma was "standing" in the wrong place. I quickly realeased her grip and set Sofie in "time out." Sofie screamed the entire time while I held Emma on the couch. I went back in to finish cooking and Emma followed me in and was sitting on the kitchen chair with her play broom. Sofie followed (calmed down from her earlier fit) and pulled Emma off the chair by her pants. Emma fell onto the broom and now has a pretty good sized bruise on the inside of her leg. I try telling Emma to stick up for herself, but I don't know what to say to her without telling her to fight back. I did watch Emma hit Sofie back the other day a couple of times. Sofie decided she didn't like that so she full on, both hands/arms swinging, attacked Emma. Sofie won again. Emma hasn't figured out that she is bigger than her sister. I guess I need to wait until she does, then maybe Sofie will leave her alone :o)
The date is set for little girl #3! I am getting induced Decemeber 28th, woohoo! My doctor is leaving out of town the next day for a week, we live an hour away from the hospital, I am strep B postive again, and my mom was coming through town the 27th, so the 28th seemed perfect. Can I just say how much I LOVE being induced? I really do love it, it is so nice to have some sort of control and I am much less stressed about who will take the girls while we are at the hospital. Our hospital doesn't allow visitors under the age of 16 AND I only get 2 visitors the entire time I am there. I am way OK with that, peace and quiet :o) I am really hoping my labor goes as smoothly as Sofie's did, I actually enjoyed labor! I am sure there will be some sort of curveball, there always is :o) Sofie had the cord around her neck twice so with every contraction her heartrate would drop, scary but she was ok. It is so exciting, the end is near! This pregnancy has been very relaxed and easy, but I am still excited to be done :o) Yay for #3!!
So Saturday is the day we get to move!! Yay! Well except we only get to move into the garage because closing is taking FOREVER. We are "supposed" to close on Friday (which could all change quickly) but then we have to wait until Monday for it to record and then the house is OURS and we can actually live there. The builder is awesome for letting us move into the garage, it will be much easier for Ryan to move us into the house. We are so excited and can't wait for this next chapter of our lives!
This past Sunday was our Primary's Sacrament Program. I was so excited because it was Emma's first one as a Sunbeam. We have been working on her part for a few weeks, "I lived with Heavenly Father before I came to earth." It took her about one time saying it to memorize it, so before she would say her part she had to include, "I can do it all by myself!" very proudly with a smile. Well, here comes Sunday and time for the program. The Sunbeam class sat on the front middle row during the passing of the sacrament until they could take the bishopric's place. Ryan and I sat in the row behind them, and wow was Ryan amazed at the wonderfully behaved (NOT) Sunbeam class, including his daughter, haha. There were 4 little Sunbeams and 2 teachers to contain them. It was crazy! One of the girls kept spinning in circles and putting her feet up on the bench with her dress over her head. While one teacher was "helping" her the other was "helping" the little boy who continuosly tried to run up front to the bishop, and climb the wall (later during the first song he tried to jump over the wall....he missed). So needless to say that left my sweet little Emma and her little friend to be as obnoxious as possible :o). I asked Ryan to switch me right at the beginning of Sacrament so I could help with the kids until they went up front (I've seen them in action during Primary, who knows what they would do in Sacrament), but he assured me I needed to stay where I was at because the teachers could handle it and I wasn't in Primary anymore. Well about 10 minutes into Sacrament Ryan was constantly telling Emma to turn around and be quiet, stop laughing, don't poke her, sit down, sit up, you don't need to lay on each other, quit playing with her hair, etc. While I quietly sat there laughing to myself, I noticed Sofie was gone. She had escaped from dad while he was "helping" Emma. Haha! Luckily she stopped when she got to the stairs and turned back around to sit by us. Needless to say, Ryan leaned over and stated, "Holy crap, these kids are CRAZY!" I agreed and said, "told you so :o)." Haha
Okay so fast forward to the Sunbeam parts: The first boy gets up and the teacher whispers his part into his ear, he repeats it in the microphone. Emma is next. The teacher starts to whisper her part in her ear and she turns to scowl at the teacher. Then she turns to the microphone and announces with full attitude, "I can do it myself!" pauses (she had to wait for the laughter to die down), then says her part, "I lived with Heavenly Father before I came to earth" ever so sweetly. I about died. It was sooooo funny! Of course that is Miss Independent Emma.
1 Primary Program down, 11 more to go!
Do you like the red? We were surprised but really like it.
Kitchen!!! They were in the process of putting in the kitchen counters. I love the cabinets!
Dining room (looking from kitchen)
I recorded a little video of the downstairs and upstairs of our new house. They are super cheesy (sorry :o) but I was so excited and really wanted to show our parents the layout. Enjoy!
Downstairs
Upstairs
Sorry I haven't posted in FOREVER!!! We are all doing really well. The girls are getting bigger and smarter every day. They sure keep us on our toes. In fact before church today Emma sat on a princess chair on top of our bed and then fell off strait on her head. Luckily I caught her before she hit the ground but she was pretty scared. Sofie on the other hand decided to play in Vaseline while mom was getting dressed and comforting Emma. She was so proud of herself, clapping and rubbing her hands together. She sure is a handful :o) I had two older ladies at church comment on how I have my hands full with those two girls. When I told them we were having another girl they laughed and pretty much said, "Good luck!" If they weren't so stinkin' cute they would be living with Grandma's (haha) :o)
We finally found our dream house. We are absolutely thrilled and so excited! It is amazing how smooth the process has been so far with this house compared to the last one. It is located in Tremonton and not completely finished yet. They started painting the trim last week and we are hoping to close and move in right around Thanksgiving! Yay! It is 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths with a large bonus room above the garage. We really love this house and are so glad that we were patient enough to wait for the perfect time for this house to come around.
Front View!! (We LOVE the front porch, the house faces East, so perfect for those summer evenings out on the porch :o) They started on the siding on Saturday, it is nearly completed on the back and sides. 
Bonus Room
Kitchen
Front Room (to the right of the picture is the front door and the stairs to the bedrooms upstairs)
Here is a sample picture of what the house will kind of look like when completed :o)
Oh where do I begin? We decided to back out of the contract we had on the house yesterday. We are so very sad, frustrated, and disappointed. There were so many red flags that have come up since last Wednesday (after we had waited 5 months and finally gone under contract). We had an inspection done on the house and there were several things wrong that we didn't have the money to fix. Plus the sellers were refusing to cooperate after we started asking questions about the problems in the house (red flag). Then there were zoning problems with the house so we would have to bend a lot to get an FHA loan. When and if we were approved who knows if we would ever be able to sell it, so we decided to back out. Plus the appraisal came back really low, which wasn't very helpful. All in all, we know this is what we we're supposed to do but now we are stuck renting until next year, and until we can save enough money to possible try and buy a house again. I really loved that house but there was no way we would ever be able to sell it in the future and not lose a lot of money. The most frustrating parts of this whole ordeal is the money we spent on the house, not being able to get any of it back, and the time we have spent waiting for this particular house. We were able to get our earnest money back but all the money on everything else is gone. We do know that there is some reason this house didn't work out and hopefully it because there is something better out there!
What we are looking forward to: Sofie's 1st birthday this weekend!
What I am not looking forward to: Un-packing boxes in the same place :o(
We went to the doctor today and we got to see our new little GIRL! Yep, another girl. We were excited, well I guess everyone except for Emma (well and Ryan). Oh was she disappointed. She really wanted a baby brother, but she is going to have to wait until next time for that one! She cried right there in the doctor's office, "I don't want any more sisters" (is Sofie really that bad?) Funny girl. I cheered her up by telling her that she gets to help pick out a girl name, it seemed to work for now. I also told her that her cousin Jaynie has 3 little sisters and they have a lot of fun, she smiled at that :o) We are super excited to welcome the newest little GIRL around January 1st!
*We also got the house! We are working on all the paperwork and finalizing everything now. We are hoping to move around the 8th of August! Yay!
We are back from vacation! We had a very busy month and had so much fun visiting family. We first had a family reunion then we stayed in Idaho for 10 days! It is always so hard to come home. I have pictures and more of our vacation to come. Stay tuned :o)
The kitchen
Walk out (unfinished) basement
I am just now posting everything that has happened the last month! Sorry it has taken me so long. Things have been crazy as usual, we still haven't heard if we got the house we put an offer on 6 weeks ago. Frustrating, but it will come sometime. It has been a rough couple of weeks......we are expecting again. Surprise! It was a big surprise for us but we are excited. We have already heard a heartbeat and everything looks good, which is very relieving. The morning sickness is also a sign that everything is great. Ryan and the girls have been very helpful around the house, since I don't do much but go from couch to bathroom. We are looking forward to the next few months of family visits and vacations (and hopefully moving). Yeah for summer!!!!
My little baby is growing up so fast! Sofie is so stinkin cute and we sure do love her. She is crawling everywhere. For the first month and a half she army crawled but now she is on all fours just a cruisin'. She is pulling herself up and standing everywhere. It's crazy how big she grew overnight it seems. She is quite the mommy's girl and I love it! Sofie learned how to clap today and it is so cute. Here she is:Wow, I forget how quiet it is here in Idaho. I am so used to hearing police sirens every ten minutes. Last week it was a couple of gunshots. Awesome, so excited to move out of Ogden.
What a good daddy :o)
Yes, she has a little patch of hair that I put into a ponytail, too cute :o)
Wow, I can't believe how fast time flies! This has been a crazy month and it is almost over. Emma and Sofie are growing like weeds. Emma has started to come out of the dramatic 3 year old phase and is more reasonable now. She is so cute and thoughtful. She absolutely loves Primary and is getting really good at saying prayers. She thinks really long and hard about what she wants to say, too cute. Sofie is such a sweet baby! She has her two bottom teeth and is crawling everywhere. I could watch her crawl and laugh all day long. She army crawls and is getting pretty fast. She has figured out that she can make it from room to room now and as soon as her little hands touch the kitchen floor she starts laughing and slapping the floor. Too cute. She sure is a mama's girl though, I secretly LOVE it!
Easter was great. We had a really nice family day. The Easter bunny visited us and Emma was super excited. I love seeing her face light up when she gets excited about something. The day before Easter we put an offer on a house in Brigham City which is about 30 minutes north of Ogden. As Ryan says, "it's as close to Rexburg as we can get in Utah." It is a really cute little house, upstairs is finished with a full daylight basement down that is just framed. We are super excited about it. The sellers accepted our offer today but since it is in a "short-sale" situation we won't know for sure if we get it until this next week.
Ryan had the opportunity to travel to China for work for 10 days. He flew out of SLC on Sunday and will fly home next Tuesday. It is a great opportunity for him and he is having a blast. The time change is pretty crazy. They are 14 hours ahead of us! I've talked to him a couple of times since he left and he is sending me pictures when he gets back to the hotel Tuesday night which is Tuesday morning for us. We sure miss him but are excited for his adventure! The girls and I came up to Idaho to visit while Ryan is in China, we are having fun visiting and enjoying the BEAUTIFUL weather!
Oh yeah, I am such a slacker on blogging that I never blogged about Ryan's birthday earlier this month. We went to Kuna for Ryan's birthday (Conference weekend) and stayed with Ryan's sister and family, Kim and Sean. It was wonderful, mom and dad Erickson and Scott and Kylie were there too. Ryan had a great birthday! (Happy birthday babe, you are the best!) It was a great weekend except we sure missed Stacie, Whitney, and the girls! We are sooooo excited to see you guys in June and are counting down the days. Almost every morning when Emma wakes up she asks what day it is, followed by, "Is today when Jaynie, Lillie, Eliza and Adeline are coming to Idaho?" Super excited!
Carter and Emma had a great time!
We heard back about the house yesterday and we didn't get it :o( I was pretty bummed about it but it's okay. I keep telling myself, there are other houses out there so we are going to look at a bunch on Saturday. I found some pretty cute ones out in Roy. We don't know the area but it seems really quiet so we will see!
So the offer is in but we won't know until late next week if it was accepted. Cross your fingers!
So if you want a good laugh and appreciation for a patient mom, you should read my aunt and uncle's blog, Matt and Hayley. They have 3 very curious little boys and I love their funny stories! Jared, the oldest and 4 yrs, put a bag of popcorn in the microwave....for 25 minutes. And it gets even better from there! Read it, its great!
So we are putting an offer on this today:
It seems unreal right now, it is a gorgeous foreclosed home and we are PRAYING and keeping our fingers crossed that the bank takes our offer! I am extremely nervous and hopefully we will know within the next couple of days if they will take it. Wish us luck!
If you want to see the details on the house click here
Sorry for slacking so bad on posting. I am going to catch up I promise! I do have a tiny reason why I have been missing in action. Our computer went kaput, so we just ordered a new one but it won't be here until March 13th! Luckily Ryan brings home his work laptop at night so have some link to the outside world :o)
The girls are doing great. Emma is so fun, I can't believe she is almost 4 and a sunbeam! She got to give her first talk in Primary a few weeks ago, she did great. Mom on the other hand got the "great mom" award and totally forgot about the talk until 10 minutes before church. I am even in the Primary and was reminded about a hundred times, but yep... still forgot.
Sofie is growing up so fast. She is so much fun! I absolutely love having two kids and can't wait to add more into the mix :o) Sofie is such a happy baby, she is ALWAYS smiling, she smiles at anyone! She just figured out how to roll onto her belly tonight. She is pretty content to lay on the floor and kick her feet. In fact that is how we know she is awake because she kicks her mattress and all we hear is, "thump, thump, thump." The little stinker goes on strike from nursing about once a week though.
We are all doing well except we keep passing around the flu crud. I started it with the stomach crud, then Emma got the chest cold bad. She was having a hard time breathing, we were pretty worried for a while, but now her cough is just lingering around. Now Sofie has it but not as bad as Emma was and it seems to have made it back around to me again. No fun!
We have been pretty busy this month. My brother received his mission call the day after Christmas to Chile Antafogasta and he leaves March 11th! His farewell was Feb 15th so we went up to Idaho to visit. My sister and her little girl from Washington, my aunt and uncle and their boys from California, and my cousins from Colorado all came down for the occasion. It was wonderful to visit with everyone! I can't believe how fast time flies!
Well we hope all is well with everyone and we wish you all well! (I am hoping the new computer comes soon so I can post pictures)
We are still alive I promise! One month of a teething baby plus one attention deprived 3 1/2 year old plus a Wii (Wii fit and Wii Mariokart) makes for 2 busy parents and 2 generally cranky children. (We are slowly getting back on schedule) We are alive and well, I have just lost the desire to blog. It is slowly coming back I promise. Once I get all the pictures from the holidays onto the computer I will do some major posting, but until then......check back soon! :o)
