Bear Lake - August 23, 2015

Sunday - August 23rd

Missy VanBibber invited us to meet her at Bear Lake yesterday.  While Roger slept in the morning, I packed up all our stuff and loaded it in the truck so we'd be ready to go as soon as he woke up.  It is super smoky outside.  There are a lot of fires burning in Montana, Washington, and California.  The news said that all the smoke in the air is from those fires.  It is really, really bad outside.  You can't even see the mountains.  There was a warning on Friday for little children and elderly people to stay inside because of how smoky the air is.  I had told the kids about that on Friday night when I had noticed the warning.  We had been outside a lot on Friday and I didn't notice the warning until we got home.  The kids were a little worried about all the smoke since hearing that.

While I was loading stuff in the truck, I started to cough and had a little coughing fit.  The kids were worried and told me to stay inside.  It was nice that they were so concerned.  I took a break from loading the truck and drank some water.  I decided to work slower and more carefully so I wouldn't have to breath so deeply while I was out there.

After I loaded the truck, Missy called to say that they were leaving the lake, because it was too cold, windy, and smoky.  She said that it was really crowded there, but no one was in the water.  Everybody was sitting on the beach in sweatshirts, huddled together or sitting in their vehicles for warmth.  They left the beach and went to their property.  We decided to go and hang out even though, the lake was probably too cold.
On the way there, we took a break from the long drive.  We just wanted to get out and walk around for a little while.

So, we met the VanBibber's at their property.  We had a lot of fun visiting.  It was crazy to see everything all covered in smoke.  

 Boys are crazy!  Parker decided to ride his truck down this little hill.  I have a hard time watching when they do crazy and dangerous stuff.  But Roger was so encouraging of Parker, he wasn't about to back out.  I know the hill doesn't look that steep in the pictures, but it freaked me out a little.  I was pretty sure he was going to fall forward and hurt himself on the rocks at the bottom.
He was just fine though.  He fell backwards and the truck went down without him, so that is good.  I felt silly for being so worried.

You can hardly see the lake through all the smoke.

It was getting late and we were talking about what time we'd leave, when the kids asked if they could stay the night in the tent with Missy and her friend.  Missy said yes.  She said they had enough blankets and it wouldn't be a big deal for them to bring the kids home, since our house is on their way and they have enough seats in their car.  So, Roger and I agreed to let the kids spend the night.

It was weird going home without our little ones.  I was worried about them, because I just can't help myself.  I'm good at worrying about things.  I knew Missy would keep the kids safe.  She is really good with them.

Roger and I had a nice relaxing evening at home with no kids.  It was nice.  The kids had a lot of fun.  They woke up because they were really cold around 2:30am.  They all ended up waking up and so they had a fun time goofing off and telling stories before they all fell back asleep.  They all woke up again around 7:00am.  Missy said , they went in the trailer to watch a movie.  During the movie, Parker and Alissa played outside, got bored, then went back in the tent to sleep some more.  Missy, her friend, and Brinley started to fall asleep during the movie, so they went out to the tent and went back to sleep also.  So, they all slept in until 10:00ish.  When they woke up, they cleaned things up and had a yummy barbecue before they left to come home.

They got home around 4:15pm.  They said it was a fun time and they were glad they got to do it.  

Bear River Museum and The Splash Pad - August 21, 2015

Friday - August 21st

The kids didn't want to sit around at home all day.  They really wanted to go out and do something.  Alissa has been begging to go to downtown Tremonton, walk around, and see the different stores.  She kept telling me about the museum and how much I'd love it, so that was the first place we planned to stop.  We waited for Roger to wake up, so we could see if he wanted to come with us.  He didn't want to.  

We parked over by the Splash pad, that way we could cool off after our walking around.  We walked to the Bear River Valley Museum and it was so interesting and fun to see everything.  We spent all our time in there.  It was really interesting to see all of the stuff they had and to learn about Tremonton's history.

We left, because it was getting close to closing time.  We were hot by the time we got back to the splash pad.  My friend Janae had called while we were walking, so I was on the phone with her.  I told the kids to play for a while so I could keep talking with her.  The kids decided that they were hot enough, they wanted to get completely soaked.  They had a lot of fun playing in the splash pad and over on the playground next to it.

It was fun to talk to Janae.  I hadn't talked to her in a really long time.  We used to get together at least once a year, but since we moved out of our old house, we haven't really had a good place to keep doing our get togethers.  I hope we can start doing them again, once we move.  Janae is moving also.  They just bought a house.  It is really big and they are excited about it.  I'm happy they were able to find something.  Our friend, Regan just bought a house also.  It is definitely a sellers market right now.  That's why it is so hard to find a house.  I'm not loving that we haven't found anything.  I'm really hopeful that something will work out soon.

Roger's work had a party at the Brigham City pool tonight, so Roger didn't have to go to work until midnight.  We didn't want to go to the party.  We're not big fans of overly crowded places and his work party did not sound like something we'd love.  So, we didn't go and we enjoyed our extra time that we got to spend relaxing with Roger at home.  It was nice.

I want this house - August 17, 2015

Monday - August 17th

 There is another house that I really want.  The most frustrating thing is that all of the houses I love the most are just out of our price range.  I really love this house and they have it listed for $173,000.  It is for sell by owner.  Alissa's friend Sydney lives close to this house and she really wants us to live close to her, so she has gotten in touch with the lady that lives there.  She told them that the most we qualify for is $160,00.  Then she asked if they would be willing to go that low.  The lady gave her phone number to Sydney and told her that I can call and talk to her.  That would be crazy if they would sell it to us for that much.  I sent a message to the guy working to get our loan and asked him if he could pluck in the numbers today and give me an exact amount of what we could qualify for.  I'm hoping it will be more than $160,000.  I figure I will call that lady after I find out the amount we qualify for.  I can't see any harm in calling her.  I really love that house.  It is exactly what we are looking for.  It is a floor plan that I love (because it is the same plan of the last house we lived in and the first house we owned).  But this house is better because it has the fourth floor, which I've always wanted, and a large yard.  I just love this house.  It would be amazing if we could get it.  I really need to stop getting my hopes up about things like this.  That is why house hunting has not been fun for me.  I get way too excited when I find something I love and it is too big of a let down when things don't work out.  I feel like I'm making myself crazy!  We need to find a house we both love and get it already.  This is the house that I want really, really badly.  I want this house so much!

Alissa and Roger went to Lagoon today.  Parker really wanted to go with them this year.  They were going to take him, but then they checked online to see the height requirements for some of their favorite rides.  Parker was close, but not tall enough.  Next year, we are determined to have the money for all of us to go.  That way, if someone isn't tall enough or they are scared, they will have me to keep them company while the other ones enjoy the ride.

I wrote the first part of this post earlier today.  Since then, I've learned what we can qualify for.  I had my hopes up for a little while, because the guy texted that he was doing whatever he could to get us as close to $173,000 as possible.  After a few hours, he texted that he was only able to qualify us for $158,000.  That's even less than he had said before.  I'm not really bummed about that.  I know Roger was nervous about having a bigger house payment.  I think a bigger house payment would stress him out too much.  I just really hope we can find something soon.  I don't think I'll call that lady about that house.  I feel silly calling her, when I know we can't qualify for what they are asking.  Maybe it won't sell right away and they'll eventually lower the price, then I'll call.  It hasn't been on the market very long, so I think we just need to wait it out and see what happens.

Alissa and Roger had fun at Lagoon.  Roger is having a harder time handling the rides.  He felt sick and had to sit out and let Alissa go by herself.  Alissa wished that Parker had come with them after all.  She didn't like riding the rides by herself.  They ended up coming home a lot earlier than planned also.  Roger was just having a hard time.  Is body isn't on a normal schedule, so waking up early and going to Lagoon was really hard on him.  He didn't get enough sleep last night and he was really tired.  Alissa still says they had a fun time.  She's happy they went.  When they got home, Roger went straight to bed.  He's asleep now.

Parker's friend, Simon had been over all day.  They have been playing Minecraft nonstop today.  Brinley's friend, Onnika and her brother Weston came for a few hours today.  Brinley and Onnika had a lot of fun, but I don't think Weston had a ton of fun.  The boys stayed in the living room playing Minecraft, but it sounded like they weren't having very much fun.  They were being a little bossy and kept getting after Weston for not doing things right.  It really didn't sound like he was having a good time.  I tried to encourage them to do things different and it helped a little, but I just don't think Weston had fun.  I'm pretty sure he won't be coming over to play again.

I haven't been feeling well today, so I spent the whole day on my bum, in front of the computer.  I'm working hard to get caught up on my blog.

Chillin' With The Kiddos - August 15, 2015

Saturday - August 15th

Roger is going to take Alissa to Lagoon on Monday for her birthday, so he set time aside today to hang out with Parker and Brinley.  He asked them both what they wanted to do with him.  Brinley wanted to play board games and Parker wanted to play video games.  Brinley and Roger played Battleship and Sorry.  Brinley won both times.  She loved that!  Alissa and Parker were outside swimming while they played their games.  I hadn't put the pools away properly after the last time we used them, so I knew they were going to be in bad shape. I've been needing to get them out, clean them, off, air them out, and put them away nicely.  So, before the kids could play in the pools, I used a little bleach cleaner to kill germs and get them looking nice again.  When they were all done playing, I let the pools dry completely and put them away nicely.

  

Happy Birthday Alissa! - August 13, 2015

Thursday - August 13th

Alissa's a teenager!  She had a really fun day.  Roger and I had a fun time teasing her.  Every time she didn't agree with us or someone, we said, "Wow!  Ever since you've become a  teenager, you've changed.  You have such an attitude now."  or Roger would say, "Oh no!  There's that teenager attitude coming out."  It was funny.  We had a couple of good laughs over those situations.

Alissa wanted to decorate a big 3-tier cake all by herself.  She wanted chocolate everything.  So, I made her a big chocolate cake and she decorated it.  She did a pretty good job.  I like the design she came up with.

She loved her presents we gave her.  She got a lava lamp, a snow cone machine, a sketch pad with pencils, and some duct tape for making crafts.

We made snow cones and sat outside on the back of the truck and ate them.

When we finished, we came inside to sing Happy Birthday to Alissa.  We were all too full to eat any cake, but we had to do the singing and stuff with Roger before he had to leave to go to work.

 After Alissa blew out the candles, Roger cut the top layer of cake a piece of cake fell off.  Alissa and Roger ate some of it off of the table. I thought that was funny.

Then, a cake fight ensued.  Alissa and Roger had a lot of fun.  By the time they were done, Alissa, Roger, and the kitchen were covered in cake.  It was crazy!

 Roger convinced Alissa to pose for a picture with him.  He told her that he was going to hold cake, to make it look like he was going to get her with it, but he wouldn't really get her with it.  So, she decided to pose.  She knew he would throw it on her, but decided to risk it.  As soon as I snapped the picture, Roger smashed the cake in her face.

 Parker and Brinley didn't want to join the cake fight, so they stayed in the living room, where it was safe.  They were waiting for Alissa's lava lamp to warm up.

They were so excited when it finally started to move.

 Roger and Alissa made a mess!  Clean up was not fun.

Roger and Alissa got all cleaned up.  I helped Roger get ready for work, then I spent the next hour cleaning the cake off of the floor, wall, counters, and everything in the kitchen.

Alisa's friends, Erin and Sydney came to hang out tonight.  I took the top layer off the cake, so we could sing Happy Birthday to Alissa again, with her friends over.  Sydney and Erin both brought a little something to give to Alissa.  They made cute cards and Erin gave her a necklace.

 We all really wanted to watch the movie 'Home' again.  It was such a cute movie.  We thought it was at the Redbox at McDonald's, so we walked to McDonald's to get it.  It wasn't there.  That was pretty disappointing.  We came home and decided to just order it off the tv.  It's such a cute movie.

Alissa's friends went home around 10:00pm.  I sent them each with plates full of cake.  We had so much cake and there is no way we could eat it all.