Into March

 Let's see, I left off last time just getting back from St. Maarten. Which would put us in March of 2014.  We immediately started in on the house inspections, seller documents and making sure the loan was moving forward for the new house. BUT...





In the midst of this, Bart was offered a job up in SLC. The first thing I thought was, "If Bart's taking a job in SLC, we have to back out of this house. I hope we don't loose our earnest money".  We decided to NOT accept the job offer though. It just wasn't right for us even though I would have loved to move to SLC and be closer to family.

Things progressed with the house and everything moved forward easily and quickly.  We ended up closing on the house the beginning of April. The previous owners daughter wanted to rent the house back from us for a couple weeks while she finalized buying a house.



Bart loves to work outside.  She was so happy tearing out bushes





Our spring, up until we got the keys to the house, was a good routine.  Bart went to work and Dutch and I went to the gym. Can I tell you how much I loved the Provo Rec. Center.  It was close, new, had child watch and great classes.  I truly loved it.  A couple times a week we would meet up with Bart for a quick lunch, then Dutch and I would come home a nap.

One of our lunches with Dad at Subway. Thanks heavens for the $5 foot long.

 

Our little Burger King.

 

 I started napping everyday with him from about 30 weeks on.  The entire family got sick over Easter and it really just wiped me out.  I had to stop doing zumba because it was just too much cardio and jumping. Luckily there was a yoga class at the same time that I just started going to.  By 39 weeks I was still able to go to the gym.  I did yoga, pilates and swimming-I really just bobbed in to pool but it felt great because I was so hot.  I was so hot my entire pregnancy actually.

Sick on the couch for Easter.
 

 

Our attempt at an Easter Egg hunt



Learning to right a strider bike



This spring Bria, Brecken and Mailey also came to visit from St. Louis.  We spent lots of time up at Mimi's playing with them and having adventures at Red Butte Gardens and the Children's Museum.

 By the end of April the new house was vacant and ready for Bart to start remodeling. My parents, Bart's parents and one of our friends Shaun came down for a "demo day", and cousin Anna came and watched Dutch.  They basically ripped up all the carpet and trim in the living room, hall and bedrooms and tore out the entire old kitchen.


When we bought this house I assumed I would be able to help with the demo and painting and little projects like I had on past houses but I had braxton hicks contractions every time I tried to do anything.  Thus I ended up sitting on the floor or a camp chair and watched.

 Well nap time is over.  At least I am trying to get caught up. :)

Where do I begin?

Dear blog,

I am sorry that I abandoned you! It's been a busy year with lots of changes. To get caught up we probably need to go back many months ago.

Up until last July of 2013, I was work 2.5 days a week. That was keeping me busy enough and happy. But the practice decided to bring on a new doctor and thus I got bumped to working 1 or 2 Saturdays a MONTH. With the house being finished and me not working much, Bart and I decided we should start looking for a new house or a lot to buy and think about having a second baby. 

We looked off and on and off and on for a lot to buy but couldn't find one that we could afford and liked. By December of 2013, we found out that we were pregnant and expecting a baby in the summer. We still had a nagging feeling that we needed to change....something. So Bart started spiffing up his resume and looking for job opportunities. This wasn't intense job searching though, if he saw an email announcing an opening, or if someone mentioned something he'd look into it.

Christmas 2013 with Uncle Carter, Bria and Brecky

By the end of January we again actively started looking for houses to buy. Once or twice a week we'd go looks at houses that I'd seen on the MLS or that our agent had sent. A house came up that was in a good neighborhood but it had NO photos...and you know what that means...that it's ugly and out of date. We were the first people to look at it on a cold snowy night and it was old and dated, just as I thought. Bad kitchen, awful bathrooms, mismatched carpet and the owners had dogs. Dog hair, dog pee and dog smell. Even with all the negatives we liked the "bones" of the house and the potential it had. The location was great for us- close to I-15, the rec. center, shopping, grocery stores and schools.

We decided to put in a "low ball" offer and see what happened. The sellers countered but I wasn't quite ready, so we let the contract lapse. 2 weeks later I was still thinking about the house so we went back and looked at it again with my parents this time. We put in another offer, negotiated and went under contract right in time for us to go to St. Maarten. We had been looking at houses with our realtor so often that Dutch knew our realtor by name and even the sight of his car!

The view from our room

St. Maarten is a French and Dutch island in the Caribbean. It has lovely blue water, the perfect breeze and great snorkeling. It is "3rd" world though. There were part of town and people that were scary and it had lots of garbage, litter and bad smells. I would chose to go back to St. Thomas over St. Maarten but I next time I hope to go to Turks and Caicos or Barbados... Hint hint mom.

We had to go to the famous Maho beach and watch the planes land and take off.  It really was fun!

We followed this happy turtle for at least 30 minutes

Side note: I would not recommend running through JFK airport and customs, 24 weeks pregnant. We barely made it on our connecting flight and then I was having contractions/stomach pain and hot flashes the entire flight home. Next time I will plan ahead and ask for a cart to come get me.

Phew, I remember why I stopped blogging.  It takes a long time.  Instagram and Facebook are way faster.  Hopefully I'll get another post done soon.

Good things come in 3's.

We bought a new house.

We had a new baby.

We start a new job tomorrow.

 

With all these changes going on , I want to start blogging again-as therapy, as a journal and as a way to share our adventures with you. With that being said, Bart has requested that I make the blog private since I will be writing about us and our children.  I hope to get around to figuring out how to make the blog private and reorient myself to blogging in a week or two.

 

I loved "blog stalking" back in the day and I am happy to have friends, family and old acquaintances read our blog. If I don't have your email or your email has changed please let me know and  I will add you to the list or even have the blog post emailed to you when I update.


Thanks!

October 2013

Happy Halloween with our little lion.

 

 

 A pumpkin patch and petting zoo with grammie

 

 

Furlough

Furlough (noun): 16 days when Bart is forced to stay home and cannot go to work. So he works around the house and yard like a madman.

Bart built this AWESOME table! He designed the table, built it and did all the finishing.  It is beautiful and helps the kitchen look complete. Don't worry, it only took 2 times as long as it should have because we ended up re-sanding and staining the entire thing because we hated the glaze the first time. Gotta love projects.

 

 

 

This is what our office looked like when we originally bought our house. Bart has transformed it into it's own space and was able to finally make his shelves, closet doors and desk so that it can officially be called an OFFICE.

 

We have some huge trees in our yard and I was not about to have Bart climb them and do the pruning by himself...even though  he assured me that he could. So he got a tree company to come and I must say that it made a big difference and our trees look nice and healthy.

 

 

 

Bart did a ton of other things while he was home but I didn't think to take photos.  He didn't know when he would go back to work so he would hurry as fast as he could to start and finish a project in case they called him back to work the next day. Dutch and I liked having Bart home. Dutchy now looks at me numerous times throughout the day and says "da da?" I can't blame the kid for liking daddy the most, and at lease he says "ma ma" now.

Six years!

Bartus and I just celebrated our 6 year anniversary. We enjoyed a nice weekend down in St. George and saw Mary Poppins at Tuacahn. I re-read my last four anniversary blogs and have thus decided to write a different anniversary post this year. I love Bart dearly, he is an amazing husband and father.  I thank my lucky stars everyday that he married me.... and he still has his hunky high school physique-ow ow. But, I have decided to write 6 things I have learned, over my 6 years of marriage, including the good, bad and ugly.

Bart: I'd prefer to preface this with an account of the love and affection I have for Canessa.  She is very good to me and more than fills her role as wife and best friend.  Thanks Love!  That being said, I couldn't possibly remember the specifics of what I've learned each year (I can hardly remember what I did yesterday) - But I can certainly come up with six items of my own:

 

 

2007-2008: Year one, I learned that getting married and immediately having a mortgage is hard and in my opinion overrated, thus I have told multiple people to NOT buy a house before you get married or during that first year.

1. Spouses don't want to inherit your house! Buying the house together, and doing the remodel with both parties on-board is much less abrasive and much more rewarding. Plus, unless you have our current basement buddy renters (which is impossible because they are already taken), don't ever rent you basement - it's not healthy for you marriage.

Bart and I switched rolls for Halloween. He was the nurse and I was the engineer

2008-2009: Year two was a hard year. I learned that you need to fight fair and that you can't bring up all of your past problems because then you spiral down, down, down.

2. It's not just little kids that have to learn to "use your words". Com, com, com, communication! Though I prefer to grunt and point with my lips - it's hard to be interactive when I'm trying to balance a soda on my belly while watching my favorite TV lineup (don't bother me during House Hunters International!) - It comes across better to actually exchange verbal tonations (is that even a word?).

 Grass Valley

 2009-2010: Year three, I learned that having your husband commute to Provo, on I-15, in the winter, with construction will cause anxiety and it is better to move closer to where your husband works. 15 minutes away or less is perfect.

 

3. I'm the spender - She's the saver: AND it doesn't matter that she's the one asking me to do some of the projects. By virtue of me swiping the card, I become the spender (Plus - hasn't anybody ever told you, that you have to use the RIGHT TOOL for the job?).

 

 Bart grew nasty facial hair on purpose for Christmas

 2010-2011: Year four, I learned how important it is to truly be your spouses biggest, strongest, loudest cheerleader and I learned that through Bart being my best support during graduate school.  He believed in me and thought I could get the high on the tests and then enjoyed my treats I baked for my FNP class when I was the high scorer.

4. No matter how destitute we may feel, vacationing to some faraway exotic place is likely right around the corner - Thanks Renee and Cam - for letting us tag along! I thought eventually Canessa would become a fan of the weekend at home vacation (I suppose I was a little naive? Come on, who doesn't want to sleep in and mull around the house in your pajamees for vacation - maybe take a walk to the Y and overlook beautiful Provo? Nope - for Canessa it's Cancun, Europe, Hawaii, Hilton Head, St. Thomas - Kinda Crazy!)

 

 Lewis and Clark museum in Oregon

2011-2012: Year five, finally I learned that it is better to not fight over extended family functions-specifically what food assignment we get to bring and that sometimes it's not fair (I know, so whiny and rude) but family relations are worth it.

5. If Canessa can see it, Bart can make it! (Seriously,who told her that? Plus, didn't I say something about the right tool to for the job? Nope - who needs the right tool when you have Canessa's creative flare - especially apparent when it comes to saving money - I've learned what my $15 dollar garage sale sewing machine is capable of, and it's expected to produce designer decor. Also, the lack of certain power tools can be made up by pure brawn - no wonder I'm mostly broken...) 

 

 18 weeks pregnant in Hawaii

 

2012-2013: Year six: A baby changes your life and your marriage but for the most part (except from the 2-5 AM hour) it is a good, healthy, wonderful change.

6. Dutch is very thankful to Canessa for teaching Dad how to be a good dad. And since mom lays down the law, dad gets to be fun, chase him around the house, and let him bounce on the couch. Why again did we wait 5 years to bring this little bundle of joy home with us?