January Monthly Mash-up

The migration to Utah is under way.  Phase One entails getting our current house ready to put on the market by April, so my days are filled with projects that will convert the house to the dream home I always wanted it to be.  It's going to be very hard to walk away after the visions I've had for the house are finished.  I've been painting at least two fulls day each week.  I hired a repairman to start working on numerous projects.  The countertop company will be here Wednesday to show me their plan for installing granite countertops in the kitchen.  I've purchased all new appliances for the kitchen. Carpet will be installed in the entire house as soon as the painting is finished.  When the weather has been nice, I've spent my days working on the yard.  Sigh.  I love my house, my neighborhood, and my small town.  The Midwest has completely stolen my heart.

Brynlie still refuses to talk about the move, and she bursts into tears anytime the topic is brought up.  I hope she can look back one day and say this move was a great decision.  I've been looking into every dance studio and researching everything about the schools in hopes of bringing her a glimmer of hope.  She says we have ruined her entire life.

Brevan has accepted the fact that we are moving but is positive we are not making a good decision.  He's still upset that we are going to uproot him while in High School, after he has worked so hard to make friends in the past couple years.  I don't blame him.  I would have refused to move as a teenager.

Lindsey and Logan think the move sounds like fun and love to discuss the exciting new changes.  I wish I had their enthusiasm, but my optimism with the new challenges is definitely growing.

Here's the current (flexible) plan:

• Have our current house on the market by April.
• Fly Brynlie to Utah this spring to watch the local dance studios compete against each other so she can get an idea of which studio she would like to join.
• Spend quite a bit of time away from the house this summer so I don't have to worry about keeping it spotless when 6 people and 1 dog live here. 
• As soon as the house sells, we will most likely purchase a lot to build our home.  We have eliminated Woodland Hills (the roads are too steep for my teenagers to drive in the winter), Payson (it's an older town and we want to be more secluded in a newer area, plus I don't like the schools) and Spanish Fork (we want to be in more of a country setting), so we have decided the base of the mountain in Salem is where we want to live.  The schools are almost brand-new and the High School doesn't have many more students than Kearney High School.  I've become a country girl in my old age!  Although there are HUGE advantages to moving right into a finished house where my kids can immediately start making friends and adjust to their new life, we want to stay in this next house indefinitely.  I know that if we move into something that "works OK" we will never leave because I'm determined to get some stability in our lives.  If we have a lot purchased and a builder ready to start on our project, we can enroll the kids in school and start attending the new ward even though we will live in a rental house.  If we luck out to find a house we love that is already built, I will jump for joy and happily move right in!

I already feel in limbo.  There have been some situations where we've been "written off" as the people who are moving soon.  I don't blame anyone - I think I've subconsciously done the same thing to other people before, but it's hard to see my kids experience it.  Now that we've decided to definitely move, I just want to go.

I literally spend hours every day perusing house plans and going over the advantages of each lot in the available neighborhoods.  I also check the real estate site every day for any new listings.  I'm in contact with several realtors, lenders and home builders on a daily basis.  The thought of building a new house is super exciting for me because I've always been a bit obsessed with house designs and following the real estate market. The Springer in me comes out when I set my mind to something because I will research every minute detail.  The builders and real estate agents are very surprised at how much information I gather on my own.

I only took one class this semester because I knew how busy I would be.  I'm loving the marriage class I'm enrolled in, although I have to admit my mind is not as focused on school right now.  This semester ends in April and I will take a break from school while the house is on the market.  It's no small chore to keep 5,000 square feet of living space spotless to show strangers!

Some pictures that wrap up the past month:

Lindsey and I took a sewing class after she got the machine for Christmas.  We had fun giggling together and joking about our seamstress abilities.  We made super cute pillowcases (I made a superhero one for Logan) and look forward to doing another project soon.

Brynlie learned how to take naps.  Not newsworthy you say?  It is when your daughter hasn't taken a nap since she turned 2 and deals with anxiety that often gives her insomnia.  Hurray for NAPS!  Bella gets excited to cuddle anytime one of us naps in the family room.

Case in point:  these two are ridiculously cute when they nap together.

Ryan had a check-up at the Cancer Center in January and was CLEARED for another couple months.  Woohoo!  The appointment made us both a little nervous, because we have a love/hate relationship with the Cancer Center where we spent many anxious days.  He goes back for the full body scans the beginning of April.

This happened.  Ashley (the hair stylist who has kept us trimmed for the past 9 1/2 years) cut 8 inches off Brynlie's long locks.  Bryn wanted it shorter, but she had to keep it long enough to put in a bun for dance competitions. 

A few months ago I joined a group of awesome women who get together once a month to mass assemble freezer meals.  It helps make dinnertime much less stressful for me, but my picky family only likes about half the meals I make.  Too bad, so sad. 

One day we had an actual "Family Meeting" to discuss the pros and cons of our move to Utah.  I wanted the kids to feel involved in the decision, but it seems to have backfired a bit.  Oh well.  I had good intentions.  I wrote down some of the advantages/disadvantages I thought of and had the family add to the list.  The kids came up with these advantages: no humidity, our internet will work better (because it's very spotty out here in the country), people will know how to say "Brynlie" because it's more common in Utah (haha), we can go camping in the mountains and visit Lake Powell often, and there won't be so many nasty bugs.  They agreed with my con list and added "Bella" because she loves living on land where she can roam the neighborhood while chasing deer and bunnies.

My oldest son was very proud at the math I used to plan the kitchen remodel.  We have samples of paint, granite and carpet all over the house as we make decisions.

 One day I took a break from the chaos to join the Sister Missionaries for a day of service.  It was a perfect distraction that reminded me of the truly important things in life.

 How low can you go?!?  Gas prices dipped incredibly low and unfortunately have now started to rise.  For months, I would get excited every time I drove past the gas stations and saw the prices plummet.

My youngest child might be a little tall.  This picture shows him performing with his classmates in an assembly.

Brevan has great friends.  The kind of friends you dream of your kid finding.  I've never met a group of teenagers that are so accepting.  Brevan spends time with them most days and always helps plan a big get-together for the weekend.  A few weeks ago was our turn to buy junk food and host the group at our house.  I was beaming with happiness while listening to these kids laugh and bond.  How on earth am I supposed to pull Brevan away from this......

These cuties both happened to dress up for school on the same day.  Sisters are fun!

Besides preparing for the move, I'm busy filling my duties as a Dance Mom.  That means blinging the costumes, running all over town looking for specific lipstick colors and spending all our money on dance-related items (ahem...$1000 in January alone).  The dance world is serious business so I hope my daughter always appreciates the time and expense spent on her!

This baby-faced angel informed me that having a summer birthday means he doesn't get to miss school on his birthday to spend a day being spoiled.  Problem solved - get spoiled on his half-birthday instead!  It was a gorgeous day, so we ate at Chipotle before licking ice cream cones in the sunshine.

I love to paint.  Usually.  But when it takes over my life and becomes more of a chore, I don't like it so much.  In the past few weeks, I've painted the dining room, kitchen, laundry room, Brynlie's bedroom, Brynlie's bathroom and the front door.  Tomorrow I will paint the upstairs hallway, and later in the week I will paint Logan's bedroom/bathroom and the master bedroom/bathroom (again...because I don't like the color I painted it this past fall).  Starting next week, I will paint the entire basement, which will be very time-consuming.

I'm pretty proud of the door project.  I always hated the blue color, but couldn't decide on a color.  I think the orange-red matches the brick well.

Logan took this picture of me while painting the kitchen.  Please ignore my messy hair, big booty and make-up-less face.

Our oldest niece, Miss Ashlyn Kate, FaceTimed us when she opened her mission papers.  We were ecstatic to find out where she was heading!  The kids gathered around my phone and watched her open the envelope in front of a crowd of friends.  In May, she will head to the MTC before spending the next 18 months in Omaha, Nebraska!  We are so proud of the amazing girl Ashy has become!

This winter has felt more like spring much of the time.  Last week we had a couple days in the 70s, but then an ice storm came through so the schools released early to allow kids to get home safely.  I had to wait 45 minutes to get into my own neighborhood because our garbage truck got stuck while trying to accelerate up this small hill.  A snowplow came to help and ended up getting stuck also.  We spent the rest of this day sitting by the fire watching the snowflakes fall. 

Cute little #5 is a beast on the basketball court.  He has tried many sports, but really loves basketball and is CRAZY GOOD for his age!  Ryan is coaching his team this season, so they are making some fun memories.  I love how the players and coaches all join hands before the game for a prayer.

After the game, Ryan sits with the boys in a small room to congratulate them on everything they did well.  The Upward basketball program really is awesome.

Just a random picture of my boy post-game.  This kid is quite the Mama's Boy and I don't care one bit.