UPDATES

Since my last post...

We've actually moved!

15 mins East of where we were in Aliso Viejo. Not quite Omaha, Nebraska... but closer!

We found a town home in Lake Forest in a quaint little neighborhood complex, with what we though was the best choice for what the property had to offer and what it was priced at.

Now. In Omaha we could have gotten MUCH more bang for our buck.. but we're just not ready to leave this sunny whether and beachy coastline; Not to mention, MY side of the family ;) Although I DO love Chris' side, too!

 We had so much help moving it was awesome! I can't wait to be settled in and have them all back over to enjoy our backyard patio.

Since moving we've had my parents stay over as well as The Sweeny's. How much nicer it is to have space to entertain, rather than trying to make space to try squeezing them in! haha.

We feel so blessed, in knowing we are able to afford this home and to have been GIVEN so many big ticket items in order to fill it!

Tithing is certainly paying off ;)

Hattie is in a close 2nd with her Daddy to LOVING it the most.

She's finally got a room to call her own, a backyard to explore, and STAIRS to constantly walk up and down, up and down, while holding firmly to the bannister. She makes it all worth it.

Thoughts about Moving

Not that we've told many people, but we've been house hunting for the past two months.

Surprisingly, our first bid was accepted and we were on the road to home owners WAY sooner than I sure expected.

And I guess we're still on that road.. 

but it's become a bit bumpy with all the contingencies to remove in the process. 

(if you don't understand what that means, its OK, Im still confused about the terminology) 

It basically means we're waiting for inspections to be complete and loans to be accepted and funded by a bank... and once those are all completed then we "remove the contingencies" 

(still confused? ...Sorry)

Anyway, the point is that it's got me thinking. What if things don't work out? Or what if it's not worth it  to go through the whole process, knowing that in 4 or 5 years we'll need a bigger place. 

AND

 my biggest epiphany occurred when Chris' parents headed back home. 

Every time we visit with his family I notice that he gets 85% better about being polite, and remembering to be super kind and say sweet things. 

..Or maybe it's just that he's not so tightly wound when he's got his family near by.

And just like that, it's back to his tightly wound comfort zone within 3 days after they're gone.

SO

The epiphany 

What if we moved closer to his family?! 

-------

ugh. when I really think about it, it makes my heart ache. 

NO BEACH

 NO (MY) FAMILY

NO 360 DAYS OF SUMMER!?

But honestly, it all might be worth it to have a consistently pleasant husband 

(and more importantly, father) around. 

It IS just a thought 

but one worth talking about.

Birthday Boy

Christopher turned 32 this month!

what an old man

To celebrate we thought it'd be fun to revert back to kid mode and play a few games at Dave & Busters

Before all the excitement we had dinner at Yard House. 

His boss had given us $40 in gift cards there, so it wasn't a hard decision. 

We invited two other couples who also had girls who were Hattie's age. 

Lets just say dinner was a big disappointment.. 

Here it is in a nut shell:

A booth with babies = NO high chairs and LOTS of squirmy ones and spilt drinks

Not such great food for a not so great price 

(thank goodness for those gift cards)

Lousy service

So of course, Chris complained and came out with a free meal!

Happy Birthday to him!

Now on to the fun part 

 

Shaun killed us all on this multi-player pac-man game :\

Our girls were such troopers the entire night! And best of all they were WIPED OUT by the end of it. 

Can't wait for it to happen again.

Although I wouldn't be opposed to a sitter, either

Good Samaritan, not great.

Last week we got a knock at the door.

 Chris looked through the eye hole and saw a man he didn't recognize. He opened the door reluctantly, only to see that the man was holding my wallet in his hand!!

  

NO WAY!

It had been weeks now with no word and no hope of it ever turning up. But low and behold, our prayers were answered. So cool.

He said he found it about three weeks ago in the middle of the street with papers flying everywhere on the road. His job working for a towing company takes him up and down that particular road on the daily. He saw it in the street, he said and stopped and picked up what he could and just left what he couldn't. 

In thanks we gave him a $20 from Chris' wallet and said goodbye. It looked like pretty much everything was there still, other than the receipts I had stashed throughout the previous month or so. which makes sense because they're so light weight. 

A few days past and I started remembering a few more things that were missing... 

like my blank checks... 

$5 in cash

$25 gift card to Toys R Us

A gift card to Macy's for $50 

.... yet all my other cards that didn't have cash value happened to be just fine.

Why do I feel so sick right now?!

I can't help but be frustrated at the thought that they were taken out of my wallet once it was found. 

Not to mention that Sharon and I had re-driven our route that night MULTIPLE times looking for flying papers in the road... and we saw NOTHING, not one piece of trash littering the streets. 

I sincerely hope that I'm wrong in my accusation, but if I'm not I sure hope Karma treats him well. Especially with the extra $20 we handed him at our door. 

I guess I should look at the bright side in knowing that my ID card is safe, I don't have to worry about identity left, and I don't have to spend $50+ on replacing my license, Disneyland pass, and my wallet itself.

And to celebrate, I've been to Disneyland 3 times in the past week! And I'm no where near sick of it, yet. Not to mention that Chris FINALLY got a pass, too. yippy!

(and for all you responsible people out there, yes I canceled all my cards AND closed the account that the checks were linked to, and yes I do know that I still could be a victim of identity left)

Hello Officer...

So last night I went with my friend Sharon to Goodwill in hopes to find a left handed glove. 

We ended up joining a city league thanks to an invite from another mom we met at the pool while swimming with our girls. One problem was that I had zero equipment for it. .. so to Goodwill it was.

45 minutes (and this gem) later..

 we walked out with smiles on our faces, and no glove in hand.

Sharon had outdoor play mats for Amilia in her hand, and I had a brand spankin' new glider chair in mine. I'm embarrassed and SHOCKED to confess that my initial thought once buying it was, 

"YES! My second child is going to be a breeze!" 

As we loaded it into the car I'm 95% sure I set my wallet onto of the car in order to free up a hand to help guide the chair into the back seat. 

Next stop was Play it again sports. Because we still needed to find a glove.

It was closed. But right across the street was a Sonic Drive-In. Cha-Ching!

and when it was time to pay, I remembered. 

MY WALLET! ugh...

Once Sharon paid for our food we retraced our route and found nothing! SO SAD.

I got home and immediately canceled all of my cards. (You can imagine Chris was displeased, but not surprised by the news) heh.

 In the morning I called to make a police report and was told they'd have a sheriff dispatched to come speak with me. 

"Wait, what?! Like you're going to have someone come to my house?!"

"Yes, ma'am to help assess the situation."

"oh okay..."

I was shocked. Orange County sure does takes care of its residents. 

5 minutes later I had a Sheriff standing in our apartment questioning me on my whereabouts last night. 

Never expected that to happen this year! 

She was super nice and looked into the surrounding city departments to see if any wallet was reported as found. No such luck. She left me with a reference number of my report and a pamphlet on identity left. Which didn't quite leave me with a sense of relief, but at least I'll be informed about it, if ever I do have to deal with it. (knock on wood)

I hope I've learned my lesson to NEVER, never ever set my personal belongings down where they could be left behind. It's not worth it. 

(Have I ever mentioned my 2 month old brand new video camera I was given for my birthday/Christmas gift I set down on a table so I could eat a hotdog...? yeah, that's long gone, too)

NOT WORTH IT!

So please. Do yourself a favor and keep your purse on your shoulder, and all your goods inside of it! 

I can only hope my wallet turns up sooner than later, cause I'd really like to use my Disneyland Annual Pass again. ;)

Girls Night

Believe it or not, but I have finally started to solidify relationships within our ward here in Aliso Viejo. Thank goodness

 And a major plus to it, is that they've got BABIES. Babies the same age as Hattie!

It's been so nice to have play dates with friends and get out of the house for a trip to the park or a walk around the block throughout the week. 

With that said;

Last night a group of us girls went out to the movies to see Safe Haven 

(which I still have mixed feelings about as far as whether or not I liked it) 

From the movies we went and grabbed yogurt from yogurtland and closed out the place. Apparently we still weren't ready to call it quits so over to the one fast food restaurant that stayed open 24 hours...

Del Taco.

I ordered a bean and cheese burrito to help justify our stay and I regretted it after my first bite. 

We chatted about every single stereotypical topic of conversation young married women talk about and had a blast doing it. 

We finally headed home after a text from one of the girls husband.

It read: "Really?!"

Hahah. Yeah. It was 1am on a Monday night. 

We're pretty wild! 

(PS. It's been a while since I've blogged. I can tell I'm a bit rusty, so forgive me)

Cyberspace

 We're finally in it! 

After two years of living without it, I decided to make it a new years resolution to have WiFi (and cable) in our apartment. 

It's so nice. 

Although I can already feel the difference of how our time is spent. 

After dinner prep, sitting around the table enjoying it, and finally washing all the dishes afterwards, we were able to kick our feet up with a box of girl scout cookies and watch (Im)practical Jokers. In which we laughed our pants off the whole time! Including Hattie. Whenever we laughed she decided she should too. 

SO CUTE!

Never seen the show?! You're missing out! It does have a few over the top pranks but over all, please just make sure you've emptied your bladder before tuning in.  

And with that said, be sure to check in on our blog sooner than later. 

I have a feeling our entries will be sky rocketing compared to the year past.