Update

I keep fiddling with my blog background but I think I like this one. We will see how long it lasts.

Updates:

1. I am HUGE! Aleah keeps bursting out with, "WHOA!" When I ask what it is she says, "Your tummy is sooo big." Thanks. Still 4-5 more weeks to go.
   
2. Four people have come to see our house in the last four weeks. One couple made a verbal offer and then backed out.
3. One day after someone didn't end up coming to see our house because of rain I made the girls matching red white and blue skirts and Aleah a "rainbow" dress. It is amazing what you can get done when your house is perfectly clean - what else is there to do? Will post pictures later.
   
4. Brian's last day of work was Friday. He caught our colds and has been doing work around the house. I like having him around. Aleah and Colleen are in Heaven.
   
5. We are going up to Chicago this weekend with the Cooks and will hit the Temple, zoo, candy factory and IKEA. Yeah!
   
6. Have watched some good movies this week. Hitch - funny romantic comedy, Hotel Rwanda - disturbing but VERY good. I am ashamed of the international community and that I didn't even realize it was happening at the time. On a much lighter note we watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on hulu.com. It was hilarious. I love hulu. It might replace Netflix for me.
   

And the Winner is....

House #3.

We decided to buy the for-sale-by-owner home. Aahhh! Big decision. Movers come 3 weeks from today! Aahhh! We are really doing this! Crazy.

Our Top Three Houses

After looking at houses all over we have decided to get one in Huxley, a town of about 3000, and close to Brian's work (3 minutes) and close to church and shopping (15 minutes). The Jr. High/High School is also in town along with a library, rec. center, 3 hair stylist, Subway and Dairy Queen. I think it will be a good place for us.

I have been making pro/con lists in my head for the last 5 days (takes me forever to go to sleep) about what house we should buy and I thought I would share our top picks and the pros/cons of each with you . Maybe then I will be able to figure out what we should do.


House #1 - The Gray House


Pros

• larger bedrooms
• ceiling fans in all the rooms (no A/C)
• good place for garden/fruit trees
• nice character (check out the kitchen and built-in hutch)
  
• great exterior paint job
• good dog/chicken run

Cons

• small basement laundry room (not nearly as creepy as ours, it would be a step up)
• no family room (I keep telling myself every move that I will get one)
• detached garage

House #2 - The New House

Pros

• newer house in established neighborhood (ie tree, cool homes, not a sub-division)
• attached garage (great for hauling kids/groceries esp. in winter)
• no up keep
• place for garden/fruit trees
  
• unfinished basement that could easily be finished (sewing/family room)
• master bath
• A/C
  

Cons

• the most expensive option
• no character (not as bad as some new homes, but still)
• jutting garage house
• no family room
• it just doesn't speak to me even though it has a lot of pros

House #3 - For Sale By Owner House

Pros

• heated/insulated workshop in/behind garage
• downstairs family room and bedroom/sewing room
• tons of storage (huge shelving units perfect for food storage in basement)
• small green house
  
• beautiful yard
• lots of space
• large lot
• play set
• least expensive option
  

Cons

• small bedrooms (we would probably need to do bunk beds)
• super shaded landscaped yard - tricky for gardening
• the exterior will need to be repainted in the next 2-5 years
• detached garage

I think I really like the for-sale-by-owner place the best, even though it kills me not to have a great garden spot. We will have to be creative. Keep posted for my plan for the Huxley Community Garden. Think very low cost garden plots for the community, orchard, berries and visiting speakers on gardening, pruning etc. Plus, hands on classes on canning. Maybe we can have our cake and eat it too.

Iowa Trip Pictures

The morning we left for Iowa

Colleen spied her swimsuit among the packed clothes
and insisted on wearing it.

The trip to Iowa wasn't too bad at all. We rented a minivan so we would have a little more room to spread out. However, after renting it I am not sure I want to buy a minivan. It is nearly impossible to hand things back and take care of the kids without driving off the road. Anyway, we got there ok and checked into our hotel. That evening we went swimming. The kids were in heaven!

The next two days were filled with looking at houses. The girls did really well. Aleah really took to the realtor and kept accidentally calling her Grandma. The girls preferred houses that had window seats and hidden cupboards and closets.

We took Saturday afternoon off to think and recuperate. After a great meal at a local Thai restaurant (check out Emily's bowl of noodle soup!) we "rested" while the kids watched a cartoon and then Brian took the two oldest bowling while Colleen and I napped.

It is too bad he didn't take the camera because they had a great time. With the bumpers up the girls did as well or better than he did in all the games.

On Sunday, after Sacrament Meeting we went and took one last look at our top three houses and then were on our way home. Our girls were disappointed/horrified that we were not staying for Primary and that we would be buying food on the way home. I tried to turn it into a moral lesson on why you should try to never travel on Sunday because you end up breaking the Sabbath--but yeah, not good.

The trip home took FOREVER since we got such a late start. We filled up at Iowa 80, the world's largest truck stop. Yet one more reason for you to come out and visit us. ;) It was immense and even had a trucker movie theater inside. The girls did pretty well on the trip home.

Emily read Harry Potter #5

Colleen woke up after an hour nap and was happy.

Aleah kept sleeping and sleeping.

The weird thing about staying in a hotel room together was the waking up process. We would all go to bed at the same time and Brian would be raring to go at 5 or 6 am. Emily would wake up between 6 and 7 all chipper, but the younger two would have slept in until 8 or 9 if we had let them. Aleah has been making up for her lost sleep the last two days. She didn't wake up until 10:30 yesterday. My 12-13 hour of sleep needing girl!