Back to School

This is an attempt to get a picture of Whitney smiling. She grins the biggest, sweetest smiles now but never for the camera. She also did a tiny giggle a few days ago. I am sure she will be laughing all the time once her sisters figure out how to get her to do it.

Abby's first day of school. That is the school behind her, she is on our back porch. So nice. On Friday it was early out and I didn't know because I never really got a schedule, so after waiting a while she just walked home. I was kindof upset about the whole thing, but glad she can do that quickly and safely.

Isabel loves to pick up Whitney, I'm not sure Whitney likes it but it's cute sometimes. So far all the girls have been really good with the baby.

Abby holding Whitney.

Isabel climbed on Scott and stayed there while he stood up and walked around. Good thing we have vaulted ceilings.

The news-Well, we finally sold our house, it was anti-climactic and still doesn't seem real, it has been such a long process. Finally after we went up north to sign papers, nothing happened. Then we had to wait a whole other weekend, including finding out the government loan people don't work on Fridays. So monday there was no word, then tuesday it happened, they signed and we had to sign a few extra papers. Of course the money we made took two days to get to our bank, so on Friday I was calling everyone trying to find it before another weekend passed. But now it is all good. I assume the people moved in and now can deal with the weeds, the utility payments and all of those stressful things. We are thankful it did sell, and are looking forward to getting our loan done on this house, since we are still on the construction loan. The next big project is the lawn, which will be a lot of work, but so nice to have done. Scott has big plans for the sprinkler system, I just want somewhere for the kids to play and a few trees. We will also put in a garden area, but will have to figure out a way to keep the deer out. people here have all kinds of fences, even electric fences around flower beds!

Abby likes school, she has only had 2 days. She is making friends and likes her teacher. She was confused the first day in the cafeteria, since I packed her a lunch, but hopefully she will get into the routine. It is different having her gone all day. Sara says she misses her. But it's good, she loves to learn. In a few days we start with Isabel's preschool, Tuesday and Thursdays, then she has dance Wednesday mornings, and Abby has it Thursday after school. They are both in a ballet\tap combo. That was the only choice, but it should be good for them.
Whitney is becoming a happier baby. She is growing so quickly. She likes to sit up in my lap and just hang out. She still take a lot of naps in the swing and sleeps pretty well at night. I have started putting her in the crib in Abby's room and that has worked. She used to need to be elevated a little, but she seems to be ok flat on her back now. I am so glad Scott was able to add a plug to the swing so it doesn't take batteries. Much better this way.

Scott's grandma Vos (his mom's mom) died this week and he flew out to Minnesota for the funeral. Sadly, the girls and I never met her. He is coming back in a few hours, but has been called out to help with a marijuana grow somewhere. They want him to listen to the radios since he speaks Spanish. So we will only get to see him a few minutes. It is not fun, but we are pretty used to it. I worry about this kind of thing but hopefully all goes well and he comes back soon. At least he gets overtime....

I am ready to get back into a routine, hoping that all these activities help us get to know more people. We still don't have the microwave we have been waiting for...but it's supposed to come this week :)

Hope all of you are enjoying the end of summer. My dad will be here over Labor Day weekend, so that should be fun. Anyone else who wants to come visit, you are welcome!

Whitney chillin' at about 2 months old

Running from the water truck in the Pioneer Day parade, it came down the end of our street since Main street is under construction.

One little deer in our yard, there are tons of them around here, but it never gets old for the girls. A few days ago we went for a drive and saw at least two sets of twin fawns, spots and all, plus a lot of other deer and fawns. I like them as long as we are below 25 miles per hour and not on a main road. Then I do not want to see them.

Abby's cupcakes at her friend party. Always our favorite activity to decorate them with different colors of icing and candy on top.

The kids who were at Abby's 6th birthday party.

The Dairy Queen cake we got in Cortez, Colorado and drove over an hour to get home. It stayed perfect! We ate this on her actual birthday, the 21st.
Not much has changed since last week. We are now supposed to close on our house this week coming up and seriously hope it happens. We will make a trip north to sign papers and do school shopping. Also to visit friends and family.
Abby is all registered and ready to go to first grade. She will be in a class with a few kids she knows already so that will be nice. I did get Isabel into a preschool and I am so excited! It will only be 2 hours Tuesday and Thursday, but it will be so fun for her, and good for me to have more time with Sara and Whitney. Mostly Sara, who can be a little bit of a difficult child, but is so funny and sweet when she has your undivided attention. Someday she will be glad we provided great siblings for her, but not so much right now.

First Post from San Juan County!

Whitney, july 5, after she was blessed. We had a lot of family come down for the weekend. She wore the same dress her sisters did.

Cuddling with Great Grandpa Watson, he's a very comfortable guy!

She likes her bouncy chair, and her big sister

All our girls after Whitney's blessing, I got matching dresses at Costco, they all looked pretty.

Meeting Grandma CC for the first time! The last day at out Eagle Mountain house

Well, it took a while for us to get the internet up and running, and now I just have not had much uninterrupted time, but I know I needed to get some pics and info up for all our friends and fam who care to know what we're doing.

The move went quite well. We loaded up and Scott and his parents drove down to Monticello. I stayed with my mom to clean the house and then we drove about an hour to a motel, went swimming and stayed the night. We left in the morning and drove the remaining 3 hours to the house. That way most of the stuff was in the house. A few people came to help, which was nice. We then got to the job of unpacking. My mom was able to stay with us for about another week and a half and that was a huge help. She got to play with the girls, and hold Whitney, which was the biggest help for me. Scott's parents also helped a ton, so thanks to all the grandparents! We met some really nice people at church on Sunday and had a lot of great neighbors stop by. The town itself is quite small, but it has everything a person really needs. It is such a change to be able to go pick up eggs or milk without it being an hour long production like it was in Eagle Mountain. The grocery store is tiny, but only about a block and a half away. The house is beautiful, and very well done. Of course there have been a few issues with things not being finished, but overall it is good. Who needs a mirror in the bathroom, anyway....

The girls have done pretty well. They miss their friends and other things we were used to, but generally they like Monticello. We can't believe it when Scott drops by for lunch, so different from before, and especially the last year where we barely saw the guy!

Scott LOVES his job, and has been single-handedly cleaning up the National Forest around here. He also managed to break out the back window of his work truck with a 4 wheeler. He was very busy with the 4th of July, checking on people doing fireworks, and also the 24th, with is pioneer Day, Utah's state holiday which also has a lot of campers and fireworks to check on. He has talked to a lot of good people, and also some who are not happy to see him, but I guess that goes with the job.

I have met a few other moms around here, and people at church. Everyone has been really nice but Whitney keeps me from really socializing too much. Or maybe it's my lack of sleep. Anyways, I have spent a lot of time trying to get the house how I want it, changing the kitchen cupboard layout several times. I am adjusting to the lack of shopping, and the lack of 24 hour stores. It is funny to be in a town again where things close at 5 or 6. There is a Wal-Mart about an hour away. It is a drive for sure. But a Dairy Queen ice cream cake can survive all the way, so that is good to know! I love the weather down here and am enjoying keeping windows open day and night. I hated the summer in Utah county, that was when I missed Canada the most. I couldn't stand how early it got hot and how it never cooled down at night. So this has been great. We will see how the winters do, though!

Abby turned six on the 21st. We invited anyone close to her age we could find and it turned out well. She also had an early birthday when Grandma CC was here, and presents when her other grandparents were here the weekend before it. She is getting big! We are woking with flashcards of sight words so she will be totally ready for first grade!

Isabel misses her friends the most, we loved Alena next door, and Caden across the street. But she does like the house and town and goig for rides in the mountains. Sadly there are only 2 people who do preschool in town and they are full, so I don't know if she'll be able to do that. I hope she can get in dance or something else, anyways. I am not up for doing another parent taught school, but who knows.

Sara is 2 and loving it. She is sortof potty training, but with the mmove and the baby and all that it is a little much. She could do it any time, if she wasn't so stubborn and I wasn't so afraid of scrubbing our new carpets. I just can't chase her around all day. But we'll see, there's got to be something that will work.

Whitney is now 2 months old and jus started smiling! she is soooo cute when she grins. She won't do it for the camera, but sometime I will catch her and post it. She is now 10 lbs 13 oz, generally healthy but we think she has a little reflux. She spits up a lot and screams when she eats, but not all the time. The doctor gave us a prescription for baby Zantac, but we'll see how she does.

The last news is our house drama.... long story short. We were so lucky to get an offer while I was in the hospital with Whitney. Seemed perfect, to close right as we moved out. Then the buyers decided to close some credit cards and ruin their credit score. They are trying for a government loan where you have no down payment. So they took weeks to find out the problem. But they were trying to fix it. Meanwhile they ran over the date on the contract. Their agent wasn't worried about it. Then they came back with an extension for 2 weeks. We said ok. Then they ran over that date. We put the house back onthe market. By that time the utilities had been off over a month, and our yard was frying in 100 degree heat. We also had to do another mortgage payment, etc. We decided to just cut our losses with them, get the earnest money and try to sell to someone else. But then they came back saying they were really approved, and now we are still waiting to get the final "yes, they are printing documents" phone call. Throughout the process the buyers and their agent have been difficult to say the least, but i won't go into all that. We are thankful to have gotten an offer, but this buyer's market allows people to be completely inconsiderate. Even though they have cost us a lot of time, stress and money and have broken their contract twice, we are still at their mercy, we get no more money or anything, the offers stands as it was months ago. let's just hope this is all over within the next week, then we just have to do the mortgage on this house, which of course, appraised low by the one appraiser in town. fun, fun ,fun. but we are blessed and have lots to be thankful for. I think this has been the most stressful year of my life but I am ready to get all of this done, get back to school and routine and get some friends and move forward.

our mailing address is

PO box 1031

Monticello, UT 84535

our physical address is 333 N 150 W

our phone number is still 801-847-6263. we have anew cell, but it's just for when we are out on the road, if you call this number and let it ring it will forward to the cell if we're out.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I don't have much time, but I wanted to let everyone know that we are doing well. Whitney is now 3 weeks old and is a sweet baby. She loves to be held and cuddled as she sleeps, which would be fine if she was our first. i am spoiling her a little since the poor child doesn't even have a room or crib, just the pack n' Play in our room. At 2 weeks she was up from 6 lbs 11 oz to 7 lbs 4 oz, so she is getting lots of food, even though she is a quick eater. I am glad about that!
Abby had her last baseball game yesterday and did great, sadly a lot of this seaon was rained out or we missed because of our crazy schedule, but she loved it, anyways. Isabel continues to be herself, wearing dresses every day and very interested in everything. She loves Whitney. Sara also loves the baby and wants to hold her all the time. She just looks at her and laughs and laughs. She doesn't even mind if she is screaming, she hangs on. She has gotten louder, but she is doing better than I had expected.
Scott continues to work a lot, but is loving it. There has been a lot of drama as the FBI and BLM raided a bunch of people down where we are moving because they were selling artifacts they got off federal land. 23 people were caught, and a few days later a well-loved doctor who was arrested killed himself. A few days later another person did the same. The community is obviously upset, and there is already a lot of animosity against "the feds" so it is not a fun situation to move into. Scott was not involved in any way, but it still is hard. click here for some info, or visit www.ksl.com
I have been packing as much as I can considering the circumstances. I don't get a lot of sleep, but we are pulling through. I can't believe in 5 days I will be in my new house!! I keep waiting for something to go wrong, but hoping it doesn't. Our new house just needs a few last things but is basically done. This house is still working with the buyers, no major trouble although they have been a little weird with their requests.
I will post more pictures and things in a few days. tuesday Scott and I and Whitney are going to Monticello for the final walk through and I hope to take some nice pictures. After that we will be posting from our new home!

Baby Whitney

Here she is, finally! I was induced Saturday, the 30th about 3:00 pm. Whitney Hope was born at 9:11 pm. Things went pretty well, I am doing fine and not in any pain, just tired. We spent most of Friday waiting to be called in to be induced and that didn't happen. But it all worked out. Whitney was 6 lbs 11 oz, a tiny thing but is already showing some personality. She slept most of her first day, going 12 hours without feeding but she was fine. I should have been sleeping the whole time. Today she is much more awake and is eating constantly. She has figured out nursing quite well and I am hopeful that won't be a problem, except keeping the other girls off of her. All three have been very good, gentle and interested in their new sister, it will just take some adjusting to working around a newborn. We are glad Scott will be around for a few days to help.

Other big news is that we got and accepted an offer on our house today. We are cautiously optimistic about it. I don't want to get my hopes up, and we didn't make quite as much profit as we would have liked, but in this economy we are just glad it sold, and at the right time. Our house in Monticello is done June 23, we should close on this house June 30, so we will have to work all of that out. We are excited that things are finally coming together, just have a another crazy month until we can settle down in our new home. I will write more later, but just wanted to get these pics out to all of you! She has almost strawberry blonde hair, very light eyelashes and eyebrows so I am thinking she will stay light. All our other girls were dark so this was interesting to see when she came out.

New House Pics

We finally got some recent pictures of the house. Scott went down a few weeks ago but we used new cards in the camera and it is not uploading very well, so we will have to see what the problem is. Our builder took these today. The drywall tapers are almost done, and things seem to be moving along well. The pictures are of the great room, one end with the stairs and hall where we will have the couch and TV, etc, the other way is the kitchen, you can see the corner pantry. Then the outside, of course. They had to raise up the foundation, so hopefully we won't have 20 stairs. We might need to add some rocks or dirt later, but all this is better than flooding every spring. The builder is never going to do a basement in this development again. But we got ours, so we're happy.

Scott is working in Ferron (middle of nowhere, Utah. About 2.5 hours away) with another officer this week. It should be a busy Memorial Day weekend. Then he will be home on Tuesday night to have some time off, and we are hoping to have the baby. If she doesn't come on her own, we are scheduled sometime Friday afternoon to be induced, but I am after 10 other women that day, so who knows. If she decides to come sooner, I will have to get ahold of Scott and hope things don't go too fast. We have gotten a few things ready but it is hard with showing the house to get all the baby stuff out. We will keep it simple until we move. So no cute nursery pictures for this one. We have had quite a few people looking at our house, with more tonight and tomorrow, so I just spend a lot of time cleaning. Abby is done with kindergarten next week, and Isabel will have her Joy School graduation. They will both miss it, but I think we will keep busy with baby, packing, friends and everything else.

I have been monitored very closely with this baby after all my bleeding around 14 weeks, and everything since then has been great. No problems. The last ultrasound on tuesday said she was 7 lbs, 4 oz. so a good size. Abby and Isabel were 7 lbs 13oz and 7 lbs 14 oz, so that sounds about right for me. The older girls are excited and understand, but Sara does not get it. We set up our pack n play and she didn't try to climb in it, so that is a good sign. She says it's for the new baby, so that is also good.

Scott is liking his job, had a lot of action with people up in Boise, and has now taken his 4 wheeler to work with him. Such a rough job. We are both ready to live together again, only about a month we are hoping now.

Abby has been doing a lot of baseball and loves it. Isabel plays a lot with friends and is always sad about leaving them. Sara talks like crazy and wanders around. She loves to dress up "like a princess" and loves being outside, in the dirt. I am thinking a lot about doing a sandbox for her. The dirt down in Monticello is red, so that should be fun to wash off.

I have been fine with the pregnancy, it is just everything else I am juggling that is stressful. It has been pretty warm and that is not fun, but not much longer, and we gave in and turned on the A\C in the afternoons. Just wondering now when she will show up, but pretty sure it will be within a week! I can't really believe it!

hope all is well with you,

House Pics...Finally!

Scott was able to get a guy he works with to take these pictures for us. They started framing on Wednesday, and this was Thursday afternoon. On Monday(the 11th) Scott is planning on going down to see the house and make sure they rough in the electrical in the right places for us. He will also take a load of stuff down to a storage place in Moab so we can start with all that. I really wanted to go down and take the big girls to see it, but it is a really tough day trip. Hopefully we can take them down once before it's done so they can really see where we are going to live.

I will update on the rest of our lives later. For now we have just been crazy with all the regular stuff. We have had a few more lookers at the house, which is good. Scott is on his last 3 days in Idaho, then he will be home for almost a week, which will be great. After that he will work 10 days straight, right up to my due date, so hopefully this baby is like the rest and stays in forever. I have bought newborn diapers and other baby things we needed, so i feel sortof prepared...physically if not mentally at this point.

Scott and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary one state apart, but we are planning a date for next week.