We have 3 fruit trees in our back yard. I assumed they would be peaches, but to my delight, I think 2 are apricot trees and one an apple tree. I am excited about that! The bad news is I think we have gophers... Unpacking is happening slowly since I am gone half the day taking Will to school and tired the rest of the day from driving. Maybe once school is out I can knock everything out quickly. The kitchen reno should be complete in 2 months, so then most of the kitchen boxes will be out of the way. For now, most things are staying boxed. Today I'm going to paint the kids bathroom and then unpack some of the boxes of kid bath stuff. I had a bunch of kohls gift cards and got a good deal on space themed stuff. The kids are very excited. The bathroom currently is very dark navy blue - Dave thought it was black it was so dark. Instead of painting behind the toilet and stuff, I'm just going to paint the top half a light blue and put a planets boarder in the middle. It should look a little less claustrophobic in there after that.

New House!

So we officially closed on our new house yesterday and I could not be more excited to move in! Dave and our realtor went and dropped off Will's new mattresses and picked up the keys last night. I met one of our neighbors on Saturday when we were doing the final walk-through since they were cleaning the floors(they also have a floor cleaning business) and they seemed very nice. Then yesterday Dave met one of our next door neighbors who is the young mens president and he showed him where the bishop and the elder's quarum president live - a few houses down. There are kids like ants in that neighborhood and I could not have asked for a more family friendly area to move into. I am so excited to have a real family oriented neighborhood and a back yard with the awesome swing set we will be getting. The kids might actually have a fun childhood now! More than anything, I prayed the kids would be able to make and grow up with good friends wherever our new home would be and it is all seeming very promising! We will be doing the big move on Saturday in between sessions, but will be going over every day until then to take over other things. On the downside, me, Maddy, and Joshua are all sick, so I just hope Dave doesn't catch it right before the big move.

Susan Boyle - How Great Thou Art (I Dreamed a Dream) 2009

I have heard about Susan Boyle, but never heard her sing. The Motab channel on Pandora played this. This particular version of How great you art brought me to tears.

So, for a while I have been eating whatever I wanted, drinking tons of soda, and too busy away from home to cook any meals for the last couple months; meaning we ordered out a lot. Still at my heaviest weight, I was putting off caring to lose weight until this moving stuff is over - I mean at least I was staying the same weight and not gaining. However, I decided to do a couple of little things before then. I have been too busy to go to the gym at night so I woke up early and went to the gym twice last week AND I stopped drinking soda, and you know what? Ten days later, I have gained 7 pounds. SEVEN POUNDS!! I have never hated looking at myself in the mirror as much as I did tonight. I don't even recognize myself. I'm going to go to bed and feel miserable now.

Me and Maddy went to Tenille's wedding last night. All of us were planning on going, but Dave had some work issues to work out and couldn't. It was nice just the two of us though. Maddy had a great time and was able to play with some of the cousin's kids. I sat at the table with Eliza (my cousin), some of Andre's kids, and Jake and Sadie. It was nice to chat with them and everybody else. Maddy came with me before the wedding to find an actual dress that fit me and so I got her a dress and new shoes as well. She was so funny showing them off to everybody. While watching people go through the line and greet the bride and groom, I saw an older couple I'm pretty sure was from Spring. I did some investigative work and flipped through the sign in book. The only names that looked familiar were Tom and Loraine Sutton, but I'm not sure. The Orem house continued to be our big project all last month. We tore down the carport, got new carpet, put up new blinds, put in some new light fixtures and closet doors, and painted the whole house pretty much. It doesn't seem like there are many people even looking at it, so my big thing when I went to the temple a couple of days ago was to ask what I could do to help it sell. I got some needed calmness and guidance while I was there. One feeling I got was that I needed to ask the Lord. So often with anything, I feel like things will happen on the Lords time and the only thing left for me to do is just have faith that it will. While I'm sure that's a true principal, I think I need to ask the Lord for some things instead of just rolling with the punches all the time. I'll also be fasting tomorrow. That never hurts. I have started packing things that we never use. I can't wait to move. So very excited! One more month!

Last night I came home pretty late after painting more at the Orem house. I normally set out breakfast, water bottles, and clean underwear on the table for the kids, but was just too tired to do it. I got up this morning when I heard Will and had to explain why I hadn't remembered to put the stuff out. So, tonight I, once again, had to go paint for a few hours and got back after 9. I looked on the table and saw his and Maddy's water bottles with pop tarts next to them and a pair of clean underwear. I guessed Will had done it and Dave confirmed and told me Will did it so "mommy doesn't have to worry about it". He is such a sweetie. Most of the painting is done except for some white trim in some areas and the one room that is purple. I should finish all that tomorrow and then we are having the carpet replaced next week. After everything is said and done, the house should look pretty nice. We also put new blinds up and closet doors in. The only thing really left to do is replace the carport, but I am having a very difficult time finding a contractor who wants to do a small job like that. I have left several messages and had zero call backs. Then one guy said,"I guess we could do that." and never called back. The only people left to do jobs like this are the people who post their skills in the classifieds and none of them have any reviews. I just don't know what to do now.