Monticello Trip

The weekend before Halloween we drove down to Monticello to see my cousins that live there. It is always nice to go see family and just chill. While we were there we went to Grandma Hansen's house and raked leaves. Of course you can't rake leaves without jumping in them.












Everyone got involved. It was way fun! The kids had a blast and were upset when we started bagging them up. Tyler even went as far to jump in the bag as we were putting the leaves in there. It was way funny!
Thanks Hoggards for letting us come and see you guys and stay at your nice new house! We love you all!

CEO Breakfast

We were able to attend a breakfast at Brandon's school this morning. His teacher nominated him to recieve the award called a CEO (Chief Example to Others) at Northlake. Brandon is doing so well in school he makes me so proud. His teachers have all always had such great things to say about him. He is currently carrying a straight A report card (minus a couple A+) :) I am so glad that he is a much better student than I was at that age....sorry mom! He is such a sweetheart to everyone. Just one example that I can think of that I wanna make sure gets written down somewhere is...One day he was ridding his bike to school with a group of kids from the neighborhood and one of the girls in the group had her tire go flat. Brandon stayed back with her and walked to and from school that day so she wouldn't be alone. What a GREAT kid I have been blessed with. LOVE YOU BUDDY! I can't get the video to upload :( I hope one day I can figure it out and post it someday.

Our Summer in a nutshell

So I decided that since the summer is over I will try to roll it all into one post. We did a lot of fun things this summer, I am sure I will forget most of them but here we go....
We started the summer off by moving to Tooele from Logan. That has been an adjustment for all of us. Being landlords has been good so far, I am sure glad we found good renters. The rest of June was spent trying to organize the new house (although it still isn't done). In July we had the Meadows reunion up in Joe's Valley. It is always a blast to see everyone. I spent the time visiting with everyone and jumping off of the rock into the water. After the reunion was the glorious occasion also known as my birthday. Of course July consists of the two "firework holidays". We love fireworks! Next comes August, nothing too exciting went on in August. I decided to go FT at my new job of 2 months at Chase bank...still deciding if it was the right choice, but there is no turning back now. It will be another adjustment for us all as I haven't worked FT time in about 2 and a half years (since I had Ty).



Brandon started 3rd grade at his new school called Northlake Elementary. He has enjoyed it so far...he was so excited to go and make some more friends. The only thing I have found humorous so far is he was glad to sit in the front of the class (he has been in the back the last 2 years) but on day 2 the teacher switched him to the back cause a kid was talking too much so he had to be moved. I guess that is a good thing...that he was moved because he was the good kid in class not the talker (at least not yet). I hope it stays that way.

I guess it is time

So we have lived in Tooele now for 3 weeks and I am still working on adjusting to the new place. We love the house but I miss Logan and the people there still. I also hate driving by the lights at the ballpark and not being able to stop and play. Andy is able to come home every other night, but it usually ends up being between 3-4 in the morning so we really don't see him any more than we did before. I am missing my yard too. We fixed the fence right before we moved so the boys were able to go out and play without me worrying about where they were. We have a fence here but no grass. One day we might...probably when it is too cold to play outside. I will take some pics once I get all the pictures hung up on the walls. I have started my new job at Chase, so far all I have done is computer training and a little shadowing. This upcoming week I will be training in Salt Lake for 3 days. The following week I will finally be able to sign on to a computer and help some people with their transactions. I think I am going to like it there once I get on and running. The people I work with are really nice. The only thing I am not excited about is the fact that they have a dress code which consists of black pants and blue or black shirts. That is going to get old fast! :) It will be good though.

I have also decided that I can't look at other people's blogs anymore. Everyone else is having so much fun and we have just sat around doing nothing for the begining of the summer. Now that July is here we will have so much going on that I will have something to post. I am also wanting to get some family pictures done sometime soon. So I will be putting them on here too.

Until Next Time...

One more day....

I decided to go ahead and write this up now, since it is now technically Friday and we are on our last day here in the beautiful city of Logan, Utah. We are all going to miss this place. It is a good thing it is only 1 hour and 42 minutes away. (Yes I clocked it on Wednesday) I went down for an interview. Anyway....I am going to miss all the wonderful people I have met while here these last 10 years. Many, many friends have been made. Also, many good things have happened to our family while we have been here. First off...when we moved here it was just the two of us, who knew starting out up here we would have 2 little boys in the time that we were here.

What a joy they are in my life! I love them so very much!
As we move on in our journey together we will continue to be blessed, I know we will. Change is always hard, but in the end...it all works out the way it is supposed to.

You can never beat the beauty that is up in the Cache Valley, but this picture of Tooele doesn't look to shabby either.
Stay tuned as we go about this change in our life, as always...I am sure it will delight those who follow along. :)

Week in Review....

SORRY...IT IS A LONG ONE...

Okay everyone, I have decided to write (type) down how I have been feeling this week. Started off the week with a last minute trip down to SL so I could have an interview with a branch down there, felt like it was a wasted trip the minute I got back in the car....leading to frustration that they wouldn't just do a phone interview first then a face to face, saving me the 3 hour trip. Turns out my suspicions were right, received a call on Wednesday that I did not receive the job. On Monday night the ladies I bowled with on Wednesday nights took me to dinner at Aggie's. I was bummed about the interview but they cheered me up really fast, I love them all. I was also able to ride the motorcycle to dinner so it was awesome! Of course at the end of dinner I went to being sad cause I realized it was the last time I would see them before I moved.
Tuesday was pretty uneventful, I worked all day so not much time for anything to happen. Got to watch Biggest Loser so that is always a good day. :)
Wednesday was disappointing with the phone call I received. Plus trying to figure out which mortgage company we were going with was starting to really grind on me. I turned it over to Andy and then stressed about what he was doing about it. I can't remember much about Wednesday so it must not have been too exciting either. Went and walked by the Logan river and saw how full it was. Tyler fell down a little bank and got his arm in the water, scared us both more than anything.
Next...Thursday...once again I worked all day, but that evening I went to Zumba and then some ladies in my ward threw a "going away" ice cream trip. I sat there in the little ice cream shop and took in all the people who loved me. Making me go through a whole slew of emotion in about one hour. I am going to miss everyone up here in Logan. I stayed out until 12:00 talking to 2 of the ladies that came, I think we were all just glad to get a break. We were standing in the rain for about 30 minutes of it.
Friday brought some packing, not very much is done. Everyone keeps asking me why I don't have much packed, all I can tell them is I have had to open the boxes I do have packed at least 4 times to look for something I didn't think I would need. But I did pack up a few things on Friday. Then that night we went to a ward dinner and then to get some more ice cream. Staying out until 10:30 with one of the same ladies I was out with the night before. Her name is Ashley and we became instant friends, making it even more hard to leave.
Now we are onto today (Saturday), once again I filled my day with activities to help me avoid packing and making it all come to an end. Three of my high school friends came up and we did lunch, then one hung out for a few hours then another one of my friends came over with her boys and we decided to go get more ice cream! In case you don't know this about me....I LOVE ICE CREAM!!! I did go to three different places so it is completely different, right?
The whole week was filled with the stress about the mortgage, finally on Friday we made a decision and we are now hoping to close by the 26th so we can move in on the 28th...that's right folks that is next Saturday! Only 7 more days! I better get moving on the packing thing. I pack when I am okay with the move and then when I start getting sad about the whole thing I stop. I do have some ladies from the ward coming over on Wednesday morning to help, but I don't want to have too much left for them to do. Of course by Wednesday I will be okay with everything being packed up, cause I really won't need any of it but some clothes and toiletries. I have such wonderful friends up here that they have invited us over for dinners Wed-Fri of next week so I won't have to worry about that. I just hope that one day I can be as great as everyone has been up here. Everyone sure is making it that much harder to leave!



Myspace Quotes Graphics

It is official!!

After about 10 months of saving chore money, birthday money, and any left out change Brandon is the official owner of a Lagoon season passport.

I decided after I finished my bowling tournament yesterday that I would surprise him with a trip to Lagoon. He was so excited he couldn't stop talking about it the moment he found out we were going.

He was a couple dollars short to pay for the whole thing so I told him the night before that I was planning on taking him but he didn't have enough money. We decided he could do some chores for the grandparents. He didn't have enough time to do them all that night so he had to write up a "contract" with Grandma Hadlock so he could come to her house and work off the money she gave him.
(sorry it is sideways) It was written on a lid from Cafe Rio. So funny!
Then we were off to Grandma Anderson's where he volunteered to clean her toilets and she said that was worth the rest of the money he needed, so we were off.
Before hand Brandon and I had made a deal...if he would go on the Wicked

then I would "buck up" and go on the Wild Mouse with him

So that is the deal for the whole summer, every time he goes on the Wicked with me I have to go on the Wild Mouse with him. I am sure hoping that he won't hold me to that. He really liked the Wicked....my opinion of the Wild Mouse didn't change (still scares the crap out of me)!
I was so proud of him being so big and riding on all of the big rides. He had been on most of them last year, but fell short on height for some, but he rode them this year with no problem. One of his big accomplishments was he opened his eyes in the loops of the Colossus

He was so excited when he did that. He says next time he will tip his head back and look for the track. He is so funny.
One interesting thing happened to us while on the Tidal Wave...

there are quite a bit of birds that like to fly around this particular ride, some small, some big. Well, we were just ending our ride when a big ole goose flew over it almost hitting us in the head. We screamed and ducked, meanwhile, the goose got the crap scared out of him too...literally! Brandon ended up with some of the evidence on his hands, arm, shirt, and shorts. GROSS! Not as gross as the poor kid a couple rows in front of us, he got it right in the face. Next time I will be wearing a poncho :)
It was way fun to go and enjoy the excitement he had the whole time we were there. Of course we rode the classics like the white roller coaster, musik express, jetstar 2, and the sky scrapper. At every turn there was a huge smile on his face! I am so proud of him saving up his money to get his passport. He decided last year that he wanted to do it and then did it.

Our New House

I was trying to think of a way I could show you all our new house, well the house website took it off because it is under contract so I was able to go and save the pictures they had on it and make a slide show with them. I wish I would have taken my camera and taken some pictures of some of the other things that they didn't. Oh well, I will next time we are out there. Some of the things that are not shown are...bathroom upstairs, one of the bedrooms (probably cause it is kind of small)and the backyard. It is spacious but doesn't have any grass. Neither does the front yard. Both of the rooms upstairs have walk in closets, the one downstairs isn't walk in but good sized. So added all together there is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2 family/living rooms, a 2 car garage, and a fenced backyard with a deck out of dinning room. It is located in Tooele which is about 30 minutes west of Salt Lake but puts us only 20 minutes from Andy's work which will be so much nicer for all of us. I am still sad to leave Logan but I know as it gets closer then I will be able to become more excited. I have just been in Logan for a lot of years and I have some really good friends here that I will miss. But I am looking forward to making new ones and making a better life for my family, which this move will do for us. I will make another post once I get some more pictures taken. Until then...

The Explanation

Ok so a lot of you are confused by my Facebook posts so I am going to do my best to explain them....
We have been trying to figure out a lot of stuff so we could move closer to Andy's job. WELL, the loan officer told me (or so I thought) that I would have to have my employment verified 2-3 weeks after we closed on our new house. We had originally thought that I would quit with the bank and find a job somewhere else in Tooele if there wasn't an opening for me to transfer too. But I couldn't be in "new hire status" when they came to verify my employment. That kind of stressed me out knowing how far away that meant I could be working from my house, since I would have to transfer to some random branch just so I had the same job. I wasn't happy about that at all, I knew that if it was too far away I would be quitting it and I didn't want to quit a job shortly after I was given it. That just isn't the right thing to do in my book...thus making it so I would be farther than I wanted to be once Brandon started school again.
We are currently under contract for a house in Tooele and there aren't any jobs in Tooele or in Magna (about 20 min away) so I went and talked to the mortgage rep today and asked him if they would frown upon me just staying at the Logan branch until they verified my employment then I would quit the bank and find a new job. Well, he informed me that could work since I only have to be employed until we close (sign the papers). I was greatly relieved to find that out. Huge relief! I wasn't planning on quitting until after we move anyway, we obviously be closed before that happens.
I am currently looking for an opening to become available in the next 3-5 weeks as we wait to close, but I know now that if nothing does open then I can just hang out here in Logan and it will be okay. I hope this clears up a few things...of course it probably doesn't, since it doesn't even make sense to me half the time.

Finally

So on Monday we finally got the answer we had been watiting for...we were approved to go ahead and purchase a home down in the Salt Lake area somewhere (most likely Tooele). Of course we also found out that the house we have had our eye on since we turned in our application 3 weeks ago was sold Monday morning. That is just our luck! So now we need to go through lists and lists of houses trying to find another one. We were able to go looking at about 5 on Monday afternoon, none of which really struck our fancy. There is one that MIGHT be a possibility, but we are still looking. Of course Andy and I are on opposite schedules...He can go Tues and Thurs mornings and those are the only two days I work. So Andy will probably do the priminary scouting then I will be called in for back-up or final decision. Oh of course I go through all the listings on the computer and send my favorites to the realtor so he can show them to Andy, so I guess Andy is the middle man. I sure hope we can find something quick...June 1st is coming and it is coming FAST!! We have told my parents we will be staying in their basement, but I think after this weekend (we were there for 4 whole days) my dad is having second thoughts about that. LOL

No News = Frustration!

So we turned in all of our "required" paperwork into our mortgage rep on Thursday two weeks ago. Well, Friday at 3:30 comes around and he needs some more information from me. Knowing that it wouldn't really make a difference if I took it on Friday afternoon or Monday morning, I chose Monday morning. Well, I dropped of the remaining information and he informs me that we need to come up with some more, REALLY!!! So I go back home and we get what is needed. He sends off the info to the underwriters on Tuesday at 5:00. Yes that is 5 days later, I understand that mortgage people are extremely overwhelmed right now, all I ask is that they ask for ALL of the information so we don't get delayed another 5 days. Anyway, meanwhile we are working with a realtor in Bountiful and he can't actually show us anything until we have a nice little piece of paper in our hand saying it is okay for us to do so. Also, I understand that...why show houses to people if they can't even buy one. We made an appointment with the realtor for this coming Monday because Brandon is out of school and we wouldn't have to worry about what to do with him while we went and looked. But we have not heard back from the mortgage company yet, so we can not go look as planned. We are still "penciled in" just in case by some miracle we hear from mortgage company tomorrow morning. Highly doubt that will happen! I am sorry this is so negative, but I am feeling a little overwhelmed since we have renters moving in and no where to go. Plus a job and daycare to find in the meantime. Of course I could quit and eliminate all of those problems, but then what...a whole new ball of problems would arise for sure.

We Have a Renter!

So I guess we better get moving on making our decisions....
I called someone up to give me a bid to trim our apple tree in the backyard and mentioned we wanted to make it safe so we couldn't get sued if a branch broke and hit one of our renters in the head. The guy that bidding asked if we were going to be renting. He asked if he could take a look. After we walked through he asked if he could bring his wife by to take a look, so two days later him and his wife returned. She loved it! So they returned on Monday and signed a rental agreement with Andy and I. We are to be out by the first of June so they can move in. We currently have no idea where we will be going but I do know it will be in the Salt Lake area. We are trying to purchase a second home where prices are so cheap right now. Some are in Tooele so we could end up there. That is all I know for know. Hopefully in the next week or so we might know more. If not then we could be needing to stay with someone while we figure it out. We figured we couldn't pass up having a renter. People usually don't "fall into your lap" like that.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

Hello Everyone

So here we are the 25th of March and I am watching the snow fall. I guess that is what happens in Utah during the Spring. So far I am okay with it cause softball hasn't started so it can rain all it wants. We are ALL waiting for baseball to start. Brandon has been saving himself for baseball all year. I think he is more excited then me. I hope we are able to get him signed up somewhere. In case you don't know or haven't heard...we are moving so Salt Lake, or at least somewhere in the valley, when school gets out. We have been doing a lot of little stuff to the house to make it look nice so we can rent it out. I don't know much of the details right now, as we are not sure how long the whole process is going to take and we don't want it to be too soon. That is why I am not sure if we will be doing baseball this year. I did call down there and they have some leagues that start in the summer too so we will definetly get him in one of those. I was hoping to get him in, what they call the Pony League. It is more involved I think so he would have learned more. But anything is better than nothing. Next year we will put him in that one for sure. As for me...I don't know what I will be doing. It might be time for me to stop playing and just focus more on him. If I happen to find some team to play on that would be awesome but I will be okay if I don't (At least I think). I will keep you all posted as details come in. I have to admit...I am a little nervous about moving. I have gotten REALLY comfortable up here in Logan. I know that it will all work out, but I am still nervous. I am also very excited at the same time. It is weird to think that I could actually have Andy home for more than a couple hours here and there and one day a week. I just hope everything works out. I am secretly hoping I am able to quit working all together, that would take care of a lot of my worries in moving. But we will have to see what happens there. I guess I will stop now, like I said I will keep you posted. Until then....GO BRAVES!!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

To "celebrate" Dr. Seuss's birthday Brandon's school has crazy hair day. I had no idea what to do since he doesn't have much hair to make crazy. My friend Trina offered up some hair color spray. I told Brandon that was what we were going to do so he went to town coming up with an idea of how he wanted to spray it...


When he woke up this morning we went to town working on his masterpiece....






As you can see, he decided to do all three color polka dots instead of just green on top and orange on the bottom. I think it turned out pretty cool, if I don't say myself. Next year after Halloween I am definetly snatching me up some colored spray so I don't even have to worry about it when Crazy Hair Day rolls around again. Thanks Trina for hooking us up.

Brandon is 7 continued

So to finish up Brandon's birthday we spent the night home as a family. We had pizza with cinnamon rolls (like they do at school) and opened a couple presents and watched Megamind (for the 5th time...at least). Here are some picutres from the evening....enjoy!





Oh yes, how could I forget...he lost his first tooth at school that day too. It was the highlight of his day. He made the box for the tooth fairy to "deposit" his money into. He wrote the tooth fairy a letter asking her to leave the tooth, not sure what happened to it though. I didn't get a picture of it before she took it I guess.
We also went to school and gave some cupcakes to his classmates. They were bright colored with Oreo sprinkles. I should have taken the picture before we gave them all away, but oh well. Andy and Brandon also went outside and built a "seven layer snowman" (Andy's idea). Andy was too cold to stay outside and build an actual snowman...he has shorts on.

Brandon is 7!!

Holy cow, I can't even believe it....Brandon is 7! It is just nuts to think that it was that long ago that I became a mother for the first time. I never knew that I could love someone so much. In one little instant the love in my heart exploded. Ever since then he as been a blessing in my life. He is doing so well in school and loving every minute of it. I am so proud of him. He is getting so big and growing up everyday. I keep telling him to stop but he just won't listen =)


Toy Story 3 cake. Isn't it awesome! Thanks to Uncle Troy for pointing us to his friend so she could make it for us.

He was so excited to get a "big" mit so he could move on to "big kid" baseball. I am sooooooo glad that he loves baseball! He has been waiting all year for the season to come. We are almost there buddy!


We went to Sizzler when we were down in Salt Lake on the Monday before his birthday. It is always a blast to get together with the family and making my little boy feel like it is totally his day.




We spent the day before dinner at a place in VF Factory in Draper called "Planet Play". It was lots of fun! Go Karts, mini-golf, mini-bowling, lazer tag, of course an arcade. Way fun!
We will top it all off with taking cupcakes to his class tomorrow on his actual birthday. He is so excited to give his class cupcakes with colored sprinkles and oreos. He is the best big brother Ty could ask for. We all love him and are extremely blessed to have him in our lives. Love ya~