Demolition Day

So Saturday, March 28th we had our DEMOLITION PARTY. It was such a success! From 9 am 4 pm we had about 20 people show up to help it. It was amazing! The ward members came and help filled up our 30 yard trash dumpster. 

I had my girls and the Ellis girls and we played in the park for 3 hours. It was pretty exhausting but the girls did great. We even walked to the Libberts house for a potty break. 

When we came back we had the pizza delivered - by a special angel who paid for it all. BLESSINGS! We then started on the pond and then we found the snakes! 8 to be exact. The girls were all screaming and everyone was laughing. It was really fun. I took the girls home for naps from 1-3 and came back. I worked on the yard and taking out all the rocks that we wanted out. 

We finally left the house at 530. We came home, I showered and watched the Women's Conference on the TV. 

We were SOOO tired but felt so good. We had so many blessings with this house. People showed up, helped, gave us old tools - it was just such a blessing. We have felt like the Lord has helped us and guide us so much. 

Since Saturday (today is 7 days since we closed) we have started our furnace, took down the walls, bought tile, and got plans for our bathroom downstairs. I can't pathom how much we accomplished in 4 days. Tyson worked 12 hours a day during the time off. Now he is getting up early, going to the house before work, then going after work and working until 10 pm. 

It's been hard. It's been hard to be a "single mom" and even thought I know it's just for short time - I am learning so much and have been humbled. I am SO thankful for Tyson and all that he does when our life is more normal. 

Our goal is to be done by July 1st. I don't know if that is doable but we will work on it until it's done. 

First couple of days

The last couple of days have been a blur! All day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been non stop. Tyson has been at the house 12 hours each day and we have achieved SOO much! Jason Northrup has been there both days and has single handedly torn apart the bathroom and laundry room. It's amazing! 

We have all the popcorn cealing down, all the baseboards and room boards, all the flooring. TODAY Tyson, Jerry and Jason took down a wall and put up canned lights - the whole place is shambles. Mess, nails, dirty, dust, mouse poop - its all there. 

Today I took them all dinner, Tessa and her kids met us at the house. We walked to the park while more work was done. I have had so much help from Meghan Cheney and Amanda Calley - watching the girls while I went to help. I have been getting up every morning with Tyson at 5 am and working so I can help at the house. We are tired - but also have a lot of energy. We are excited and I think we are just amazed at what we have accomplished in two short days. 

Tomorrow we have our big Ward Demo party. We got the big 30 yarder dump truck that we expect to fill up tomorrow - which is what we wanted. Then we can throw the rest away little by little. 

The girls haven't seen Tyson in two days but we want to take advantage of the time he has off.  

Home Closing + First Day

We closed on our first home. Holy cow. Both Ty and I woke up at 5 am on Wednesday 3/25/15. He taught seminary and I worked. 

He got home at 715 am and we got everyone ready. We dropped off the girls at school and headed to the closing office down the street. We actually got meet Jack Manfield and his son in law, Billy. We were a little scared to meet them - we had negotiated back and forth so much. 

Well our fears were quickly put to rest. Jack was a kind man, who was moving back to Laramie WY. Although we are not sure why, it seemed like selling the house wasn't exactly what they wanted but a situation had come up. We talked about some questions we had and they were very kind. They loved that we had a young family and even said that the fact that we were a  young family helped in them choosing us. They talked about the fireworks you can see in the back yard on July 4th and the school in the back. They talked about the cat's his wife had and how the swamp cooler worked great. The talked about the roof being replaced just 5 years earlier. They talked about the house having great bones, but needed fixing. 

The papers took a long time but after studying we felt really great about it. No last minute changes or crazy things were found - we had prayed a lot that we would not have any surprises in the closing. Pat was there and Brian, our loan guy, were there. It went super smooth. We took lots of photos - the feeling was calm and excitement - no fear. 

When we finished Pat took us to  lunch at Ted's Buffalo Steak House - SOOO good. It was right in Bradburn - which is the area we love. After we went to the house for the first time. We were giddy driving up because now it was ours! 

The house was smaller than we remembered and we quickly realized just how much work there was - but it was ok because we were taking it one thing at a time. 

I left to pick up the girls and take them for naps - Tyson changed and got to work. he got all the carpet taken out. He is pulling out doors, floors, lights .... anything he can. After naps I drop off the girls at Amanda Calley's house and I headed to help Ty. We pulled out tacks from the wall and I started to take off switches. The basement smelled SOOO bad with the carpet up. Oh it was so nasty! We opened all the windows trying to air it out. We headed to Home Depot to buy our first supplies - a tarp, tape, water pump, gloves it was $101 - the first of MANY more trips I'm sure. 

Tom Razo met us at the house and we figured out the load bearing walls and the downstairs configurations. I started to get really anxious around this time - it seemed like the project was just too big! I could feel my heart start racing. Tom and Tyson seemed so sure of themselves. 

Tom left and we continued to take doors our and more flooring. Tyson started on the popcorn cealing. I picked up the girls at the Calley's and headed home. I worked while the girls had a snack and we all went to bed at 9 pm, which is very late for the girls. 

Tyson got home at 930, prepared his seminar lesson, took a shower and went to bed.

Talk about a busy first day of home ownership!!!! 

A Day In Our Life

Tyson woke up at 5 am to go teach seminary.

I wake up but cave back into bed. I'm up at 530. I go put my contacts on and head downstairs in my PJ's.

I start working and work on InfusionSoft, doing blog post. I have a conference call at 730 am. I come down at 8 am and kiss the girls good bye. Tyson had dressed them, did their hair and have them ready for school. They are off to school at 815 am.

I work straight from 8 - 1130. I do two super quick pick ups while I am downloading something for a client. I start dinner at 12:30 by making the rice for Ham Fried Rice. I go upstairs and pick up the bedrooms. I put on pants and head to Goddard. 

We get home around 1 pm. The girls have a yogurt for a snack. London goes down for a nap from 130-4 pm. At this point Sydney wants a bath to go "swimming", I draw it for her and I start watching a webinar online and answer more emails. Sydney gets out at 230 , we get dressed and she watches a show on the Ipad. 

I eat lunch (which is WAY late for me) so then I watch a show while I walk. London gets up at 4 and we eat a snack while I finish dinner. 

The girls watch a show and then we all play outside. The girls eat dinner at 530 and then we start cleaning up and pass the vacuum. 

Tyson gets home around 630 and we play. Sydney did not take a nap so she was in bed at 630 - she cries for a little bit but is sleeping after 15 minutes. 

London and Tyson do "file folder games" and we have a super quick FHE. Tyson puts London down at 745. I go up and get ready for bed. Tyson heads off to Best Buy and I get into bed. I'm sleeping by 845pm.

Overall it's been a great day!

-- 

Somedays .....

Dear Sydney and London,

I wanted to let you know that if at any point in your life you start a new project and its super hard and you work and work at it and you finally are starting to feel like you are on top of it - then something happens that is your fault and you get setback just a bit - that will hurt but that is also Heavenly Father keeping you humble. 

This week I was feeling really good - all my clients seem to be doing great and I was thinking "wow I'm doing really good for once" but then the next day I found out one of my hastags was corrupted and went to a bad site, then I totally messed up on dates for a client session and totally forgot that I had a credit card on file and a client had to remind me - all small things but together it was enough to put me really low. I know mistakes happen and I've always been so thankful for the opportunity to learn but man it's still painful. I was embarrassed and I owned up to my mistake and apologized - not easy when we are suppose to close on a house and my income i needed more than ever! 

Still I know its not the end of the world. I will get back up and try again. Being a VA has tested me so much and has made me get back up and up again when I would rather sit there and lick my wounds. 

I'm sure Sydney and London will have these often in their lives - I hurt for them even know but also know they rise up, learn and  be better for it. 

Failing at this one task does not make me an failure - just a learner. I have to keep telling  myself this even though I am in deep of the pity me moment. We are so blessed and continue to be blessed. 

I am thankful to learn and to try again and get better. 

Caught in the act

Tyson took this picture when he surprised two giggle crazed sisters last night. It was 20 minutes passed their bedtime. Was there frustration? Sure but what I love about this picture is the fun they have together. I remember always playing with my sister and causing all sort of nice trouble. I remember going out in the roof in Nicaragua and going to the neighbors - always together.  Our new house has plenty of bedrooms but our girls will share - they love it and give each other comfort. I shared until I was 16 and when we finally got separate rooms it took a while to get used to it. I missed my sister. 

So here's to siblings that share and laught and stick together. There have been nights where we go to get Sydney to the potty and she won't be in her bed - she climbs into londons crib and they sleep together. It touched my heart. 

It's warm!!!

It's been almost 70 today. After several weeks of being inside due to snowstorm after snowstorm it's finally warm. Sydney has been reallt struggling at school the last two weeks. Today she was ripping paper in books. It came out of nowhere. She has always been emotional but never hurtful. We are trying to really talk to her about right and wrong. Today she had no shows - thank heavens it's warm so we are not inside all day. Today I got up at 6, worked until 1230, picked up the girls, put London to bed, cuddled with Sydney, did more work, walked for 40 minutes, made dinner and now we are outside. Our printer has died so we are going to go buy a new one tonight. Glad this happened before the house closed.