Mantua

As crazy as it was to take off camping in the middle of trying to pack our house, it was really really relaxing and needed! I was forced to sit still and get away from boxes and packing tape and I really needed that. Ry bug was not feeling the best from the moment we got to camp so that was a bit of a bummer. It didn't take too long before the mountain air healed her though! 

It was a little cold and rainy so the plan of boating a lot was postponed and we shifted our meal plans around to better fit our schedule. Here is Chad making french fries and Jilly just chilling. This was her first camp trip!

Yum! Burgers and home made fries!

The fairy tree had turned into a memorial tree but there was still a fairy tree a little ways back. 

Ry was obsessed with picking ALLLL the Reeds. She was just so pleased every time she found one. 

Mollie set to work making all of us bracelets with our names on them. So sweet. 

Ahhhh...I really need more camping in my life! 

HANDSOME BOYS!

Kissy face girls!

And ripped pants dad! The kids got LOTS of laughs watching dad set up camp in ripped pants. 

Bri took jilly for a walk and came crying, screaming and running back into camp. Jilly  had got loose and ran off. Jilly made it back to camp before Bri but it was sad to see how distraught losing the dog made her. I'm glad Jilly Bean found her way back to us. Bri didn't want to let go of Jilly for several minutes after realizing she was back at camp. 

It took some mom snuggles to bring that cute smile back. 

It rained a little and Mollie was quick to be back in the tent snuggled down with the dog watching a movie in bed. I don't know if Jilly is enjoying or enduring. Either way, I love her. 

Finally it was warm enough to boat!  Jilly loves it just as much as the kids and we had a really great day on the water!

Boat lunch is the best lunch. 

Soooo happy to be on the water!

I love the camping, boating life! It is the best! 
 

Friendzeez!

We are always looking for an excuse to get together with friends, so when Emily visited from Cedar City, it was a good excuse to party! Emily provided pizza and we provided the kids! We have alot of kids between the 5 of us!! 

And when the kids were done posing, we needed one of the girls! News of us moving was starting to get out so our conversation seemed to revolve around that. I was still feeling VERY anxious at the job ahead of me! 

But these girls are so sweet and kind. It was fun to all be together and  hang out for a bit! Love you ladies!

 

Father's Day

Father's Day! I was feeling super grateful this day, after my crazy weekend, that Chad was finally home! I was glad we got to celebrate him and shower him with gifts. After all, he is the reason we are able to buy such a beautiful home! I really realized he is my rock and source of strength when there are hard or worrisome things. He helps keep my head level and calm. He had 1 meeting to get off to so we did gifts early and let him go. 

He always wants steaks so I don't ever have to cook on Fathers Day so I'm ok with not cooking! Our relaxing evening was disturbed when Brielle screamed bloody murder from the kitchen. We ran up to see what was going on and there was this giant moth just sitting on our window. It was the size of her hand! It was huge! I've never seen one like it. 

We spent the evening outside chatting with Alex about house things and letting the dogs play...or fight over Jedi's toys! Haha Jilly is always stealing them! 

I sure love this man and that we get to do life together. Thanks for being my rock, my constant, my calm and my peace. I love our life we have made. And I really love you!
 

The craziest weekend of my life

  

Oh I'm tired just remembering this weekend! So we had been looking at a house and it was only 6 months old and we really liked it. Chad and Carter were going off on a YMs camp out and so we thought we better put an offer on before he left. So we did on Thursday. He left friday right after work. He was out of service by 5.  I had Bunco at 7 so I was puttering around the house getting ready. Just before I left, Alex, our realtor told me that our offer was being considered but they wanted to know if our house was already on the market and ready to sell. It was NOT. But we knew if she said no that they may not consider us any longer. We didn't want to loose this house. So we decided to do a soft listing just so we were being truthful. She assured me it would just be the front of our house with some details and that we would do professional pics later.   And that she could pull the offer down at anytime. Ok, I was starting to feel a little nervous but surely, a Friday at 7pm nothing would happen over the weekend till Chad got home, right? WRoNG! She went ahead and listed our home. 

Before I go on, just look at all these awesome boys who went to camp! Carter had a blast and came home so happy and so tired. He told me he only puked twice. Ew. 

Anyway, at 7:30 I got  another text from her with a request for a showing at 7:40! Umm NO we declined that one. I was starting to panic. Our home was NOT ready to be shown. She got several more requests for the next morning! I was really FREAKING out right now. I left bunco as soon as a could, ran home and threw the girls in bed. And started boxing things up like a mad person! I boxed and taped and ran around and cleaned and hid and nearly gave myself several panic attacks. I worked like crazy from 8:30-1:30AM. Finally, I felt like our house could be acceptable for a showing. 

Request after request came in for showings and we decided to just be gone from the house for the day. I took the girls and Jilly and hit the yard sales. By 11 that morning (Chad still didn't have service) I got a text from Alex saying OUR OFFER WAS ACCEPTED! I screamed. I couldn't believe it! All I wanted to do was talk to Chad and celebrate and plan with him but I couldn't. I sent him a text that said CALL ME and then I told him that when he read this our house would have had 5 or 6 showings already and that I had some big news. 

We went to parks as long as we could for the rest of the day. I was so excited and my mind was already going through what we would have to do in the next month to make this all happen. We couldn't buy the home until we sold our other home. Time was short and we knew we would have to bust our bums to make it all happen! Chad finally called and we broke the news by screaming into the phone. 

Within days, over Father's Day weekend, we had an offer on our home for exactly what we needed it to be. Its crazy to me that we bought our home in 2014 for $175,000 and 7 years later we sold it for $420,000!!!! Isn't that so crazy? The housing market is wild. But the only reason we could buy right now is because of the equity in our home. We were going to walk away with about 200K. 

Alex was so very gracious to us during this time and really wanted to take the kids over to see the house since it was going to be ours. We took them and they loved it! A little fighting came up when it came to choosing rooms, but we got it figured out. They loved the house, the yard and the space! We can't wait to move it. The seller left several things for us which included a TV, wall mounts for TVs, a deep freeze, a bedroom set in Mollie's room, a six foot folding table which I was very excited about and a push broom for the garage! 

Here we are in front of our New, soon to be home! We can't wait! Let the craziness ensue!

Girls day!

With the guys heading off the camp, we decided we needed a girls day! So of course we went out for pasta at Olive Garden! Then we went down to the Gateway to check out the chalk art festival. It was super cool to see the artists in their elements making incredible pictures. But I was sad they weren't more complete. We came just a bit too early. But still fun to see!

We walked through the mall and took advantage of all the fun photo opps!

 We had a really nice day together but it was HOT so we didn't stay out too long. But I sure love my girls and hope I remember to always make time for them! Love you girlies!