Dreaming

If Noah and I were to buy a house, this is the one we would choose:

If we were to truck our belongings to the new house Grapes of Wrath style, this is what it would look like:

Resulting in this:

If Alex were to ride his bike in the cul-de-sac in front of said house, it would look something like this:

If my boys were to sit on the front porch of this house while Gabby played next door with a new friend, it would look like this:

May this particular dream continue. . .

Hope

The grant to get Utah home buyers into new construction ($6000 to first time home buyers that buy new) has run out, meaning that mine and Noah's house might get some good traffic on it now and maybe we'll actually sell the thing.

I understand the desire to keep new construction going in Utah, but with as many houses on the market it was really just a slap in the face to everyone trying to sell their old houses (particularly those aimed at first time home buyers, such as the one we've been trying to sell). The last thing Utah needs right now is MORE houses on the market.

Part of me would like to tell you all how I really feel about the politicians that got that grant passed, but in an effort to boost my karma in this time of need, I shall remain silent.

Bad News

Noah: Kaila, I have some bad news.
Kaila: Uh oh, what is it?
Noah: They dropped interest rates to the lowest rate ever and they also dropped the price of that house you wanted.
Kaila: That's not bad news, that's all good news.
Noah: Did any of that make you happy?
Kaila: Um, I guess not--since we haven't sold the house.
Noah: Then it's bad news.
Kaila: Sigh...

I Didn't Want that Stupid House Anyway . . .

Today we received word that the buyers of our Utah house fell through (by the way, our Utah house was under contract). Which means that we wont be buying the house we put an offer on yesterday, for now anyway.

So I did what any woman would have done under the circumstances, I went out and got drunk. Okay, not really. I did however do something I haven't done in I don't know how long--I impulse shopped. That's right. I got the kids in the car and went straight to Target where I purchased a shower curtain for the bathroom I won't be decorating ($15).

A Darth Vader bobble Head for Alex's future Star Wars Room ($7) and a puzzle for the craft room I might not get ($6). Kapow!
Pardon me while I go eat an entire batch of cookie dough.

Sigh...

For the record, I have not shed any tears (Noah hasn't either as far as I know) and in all honesty, I don't have anything to complain about. Life is good. We've got a good job out here, good friends, and each other. Who needs a stupid house when you have all that.

Making an Offer

So we're now trying to decide between two houses:

or:

We'll probably go with the second since it's more in our price range. We may even be putting in an offer Monday. We're mulling it over.

House Hunting: A Child's View

Noah and I have recently discovered the key to house hunting with children: hand them each a camera and let them go crazy taking pictures, while simultaneously NOT going crazy in the house itself.

Here is their picture journal:

The entrance to house #1: (loved the house, not the layout)
Window, lake and deck Master Tub (love) Exterior of House #2 (Noah's favorite) Half bath (look past pink walls to see potential)
Mirror/ closet in Master bath (you can watch yourself bathe, hmmm) Stairs!

By the time we reached house #3, it was dark so the outside pictures unfortunately did not turn out. You can however still feast your eyes on these:

Bathroom of house #3

Wet bar, oh and John (he's our agent)

And last but not least (it being my personal favorite), house #4:

Closet Fish. Window of Gabby's future bedroom?

Valentines Day Game ON

Gabby opted for the more meaningful Valentine card this year, which means we went to the craft store and purchased everything to make 24 cards. The girls in Gabby's class are getting Butterflies inscribed with you make my heart flutter, while the boys are getting Mice inscribed with you are a mouseterful friend--I don't know if the boys will get the play on words, but it was the best I could come up with. We actually finished all the cards a week ahead, which is huge for me. I'm usually the type of person that would put it off until 9 PM the night before. Hooray for new beginnings!

In addition to the cards, Gabby is supposed to bring in a box to hold all of her valentines. So we made this (finishing it two days ago--I know, I impress myself):

If you'd like instructions, or "Destructions" as Gabby would say, you can find them here."

As for the rest of the family, we're keeping things pretty simple. I've been waking up with Noah every morning this week (a whole 20 minutes before I usually get up) to make him a smoothie for breakfast. His present for me? A new

Unfortunately, it probably won't arrive in time for Valentines day, and it might not even be that house.