27 August 2017

It was a fairly quiet week.  We have settled into our new routine fairly quickly and are really loving Two Jack Ranch.  Right now we have our three tortoises in the chicken coop with the grass I planted for them and that's it as far as critters on the ranch.  I have a lot planned, but until I can get the house unpacked and put in order, I can't tackle much outside.  We do have plans to get a couple of kittens to help with vermin control and will also probably add a dog in the coming months.  I'm doing my best to take it slow and be patient!

Felicity had another cross country meet on Monday and enjoyed herself.  She's learning a lot and I really think its a good sport for her.  Running is a mental game.  It's good for Felicity to learn how to motivate and push herself, those are certainly things that long distance running can teach.  The other kids and I went to see her run and then we went to Chipotle for dinner as our Family Home Evening activity.  It was hit (as if there were any doubts!).

I continued unpacking this week and was even able to hang a few pictures.  I finished unpacking the kitchen and pantry as that was the room I think I was dreading the most!  I also found time to run a couple of times this week.  I am in love with running the dirt road.  My views are amazing, no cars to worry about, and plenty of long straight paths.  I know the possibility of running into wildlife is increased, but I'm a desert rat, it doesn't worry me too much.  The one negative is that I have to pay attention to my footfalls more as there are rocks and dips in the road.  I almost have to run in the center of the road as it slopes on either side and it is uncomfortable to run for a long period of time with one foot falling lower than the other...that's a little rough on the old hips!

We had our internet installed on Wednesday which was really nice.  We had tried one service, but when they came out they couldn't get a strong enough signal to their tower for a wireless connection.  The second company came out and were able to get a fairly good signal, I haven't noticed too significant a degradation in our service from our old cable connection.  It's nice to have the conveniences of internet again!

Helen started choir this week at school.  They have a joint choir class in the afternoons with Sycamore Elementary.  Helen got to ride the bus over to Sycamore and then ride the activity bus home with Felicity.  I have been so happy with the Vail school district so far.  We have been able to participate in so many more extracurriculars, mostly because they provide bus service after activities even for the elementary school.  There are many other reasons I'm really pleased with the new district too including the facilities, staff communication, small class sizes, and more personalized attention.  Helen loved choir and talked about it the whole drive from the bus stop. 

Arlo had his second dentist appointment on Friday and it went really well.  The dentist had his filling done in about 10 minutes start to finish and he was a champ.  We had been going to Dental Village for our dental care, but since they wouldn't do Helen and Arlo's cavities, we moved their care over to Sweet Peadiatric Dentistry in the Fry's shopping center and have been more than happy with their care.  We have also adapted a new teeth brushing routine in the evenings; one in which I sit in the bathroom and monitor the teeth brushing, do the flossing for the two younger kids, and make sure we are doing a good job in general because I don't want to have anymore cavities!

The kids went to visit their dad on Friday night and I continued to clean and unpack.  I continued on Saturday to unpack and organize the house; I got the last box empited and all the boxes moved to the porch. Then in the afternoon I did my shopping.  Since WalMart isn't just around the corner any more, I really have to make a list before I go.  Gone are the days of going to WalMart two and three times on a Saturday!  I wrapped up my grocery shopping and then my mom and I went into Tucson to hit up Sam's Club for bulk groceries, mainly things to go in the kids' lunches.  We stopped for dinner on the way home.  We had some nice rain out at the ranch and my plants are being very patient with me as they are all still in transport pots waiting to be permanently planted.  I'll be able to do much more garden and landscape planning and executing once it starts to get a little cooler.  I also have quite a bit of my garden stuff still in storage and I need to find time to get that finally moved.  All in time!

On Sunday I taught the Sunday School lesson and then also the Relief Society lesson.  I felt like they both went really well.  I appreciate so much the opportunity to teach, and on a Sunday morning when the kids aren't home, it's not too big of deal to teach two different lessons.  I picked the kids up in the evening and we are ready for another week of adventures!

20 August 2017

I am officially a home owner again!  Monday morning I was at the title company at 8AM where I handed over the closing costs, signed all the papers, and walked away with my keys.  This has been an incredible journey.  In late October of last year I started looking for a homestead property for us to claim.  I fixed up my house and listed it three weeks after that.  18400 S. Mann Ave. was on the market, but out of my budget so I didn’t even bother going to see it.  In February, it was listed as a short sale and now within my price range.  I saw it, prayed about it, and put in my offer.  I had the distinct feeling that I shouldn’t worry about it, that it would be mine.  My offer was accepted as first back up.  I looked at other properties and just didn’t find anything that I loved as much.  In mid-May the first offer on the house fell through and my offer was on the table to buy the house as a short sale.  A couple weeks after that, the owners decided to hand over the keys to the bank in a Deed in Lieu process, which pretty much cancelled my offer.  My real estate agent contacted the bank and we negotiated an offer which was $15,000 less than my original offer.  In the second week of June it was accepted.  We had two loans fall through and were delayed in closing by 2 ½ weeks, but on Monday the 2600 square foot house and 5 acres officially became ours and I couldn’t be more happy.  We are calling our homestead “Two Jack Ranch” since the first animals on the ranch were two jack rabbits that live on the back fence line and were always there to greet me when I would go out to water.

Felicity had her second cross country meet on Monday and improved her time.  When we were done we went to Freddy’s for dinner and Family Home Evening.  We’d never been there before and it was really good, probably too good!  I diligently worked on unpacking boxes and trying to get the house put away in the evenings this week, although it feels like an endless chore.  The kids are enjoying school and doing really well.  Felicity has been excited to find that many of her friends at school are members of the church and attend the ward whose boundaries our house is in.  We will be praying about moving to our home ward at the beginning of the year.

Wednesday night we had the fun opportunity to go shooting with the Nelsons in preparation for Felicity’s upcoming elk hunt.  Sadie and I also did some shooting since we’ll be deer hunting the week after the elk hunt.  Helen and Arlo had their opportunity to shoot as well and it was a lot of fun.  Arlo has been asking to go back the rest of the week.  I think we’ll go practicing a few more times before our hunt, and I may just have to take Arlo out back with his bb gun, we have plenty of space now!

On Friday morning I dropped the kids off at the bus stop and then drove into Tucson to attend the temple.  I was so excited!  I arrived in time to attend the 7:30 session and really enjoyed myself immensely.  It also meant I got to mark off a new temple from my list.  The Tucson Temple is the 24^th temple that I’ve had the privilege of doing service in.  My plan is to go to the temple at least every other week, the morning of my off-Friday is rather ideal.  When I was done with the temple I went to the salon and Sadie did my eyebrows for me and I had my first facial.  It was really nice and such a great opportunity to relax and feel pampered. 

The kids went to their dad’s house on Friday night so that they could celebrate Helen’s birthday.  I stayed home and worked on unpacking.  I was able to get the kids’ rooms and the kids’ bathroom unpacked and set up.  I need to build some more shelves in their rooms, but for the most part they have access to all of their stuff and the rooms look put together.  I continued to work on Saturday morning and then Sadie came over to help me.  It was so nice having some help, she is so awesome!   We finished the laundry room, hall closet, and made a huge dent in unpacking the kitchen.  In the evening I went and picked up the kids and we stopped and did our grocery shopping on the way home.

We had a very nice Sunday.  We enjoyed our church meetings and then went to Nana and Papa’s for dinner and to do a couple of loads of laundry.  I still need to get a new washer and dryer!  We are in love with our new house and feel so blessed to be able to see this long term dream come true.  My to-do list is long.  There are so many projects I want to accomplish and things to work on, I will have to be patient.  The first project to tackle will certainly be getting completely unpacked!  A warm thank you to everyone that has helped us on this adventure.  I know there were lots of well-wishes and prayers on our behalf and we are so incredibly thankful. Now it’s your turn.  Go, live your dream!

13 August 2017

What a week!  So on Monday Felicity had her first cross country meet.  She ran three and a half miles in no less than 101 degree heat at 3:45 in the afternoon.  I was SO proud of her.  She worked hard and finished her race ahead of several girls.  We staged ourselves around the course as she ran and we cheered her along, although, her obnoxious little brother said “Mom, I’m not cheering, she’s not even close to first place”.  One menacing look later and a quick explanation about competing against herself and he managed to at least clap.  She finished strong when at the end I yelled to her to catch the girl in front of her and she sprinted the last hundred yards.  She was exhausted and red, but so proud of herself.  Her coach said he was impressed with what a hard worker she is, especially considering she’d only been to one practice before the meet due to weather restrictions.

On Tuesday I went out to the house to find that the water was shut off.  Evidently the bank hadn’t paid the well association fee, so I got an opportunity to meet one of my neighbors and pay the well maintenance fee.  With the water back on I was able to have the carpets cleaned in the new house.  The trees are doing really well with all the extra rain water and we are so excited that it’s ready for us to move in. 

Arlo had his dentist appointment this week and did so well.  He was very apprehensive about the nitrous oxide mask they had him wear, although once the gas took affect he was much less bothered by it; he did a fair amount of giggling during the procedure.  It was neat for me because I got to sit right next to him and watch as the dentist worked.  She ended up having to drill out a large portion of the tooth.  Evidently he cracked it at some point and it got bacteria down in it, so they did a root canal and then a crown.  She said he may still lose the tooth, so we will keep an eye on it.  He was such a good boy.  We will have to have another appointment to do the little filling on the other side since he had already been in the chair for more than an hour.  When she was all done he thanked her and gave her a hug.  She said she doesn’t get that very often!  Must have been the gas!

On Wednesday night I took the girls to the church building for their interviews with a member of the bishopric for their temple dedication recommends.  They are having the dedication for the new Tucson Temple on Sunday and we will be able to participate by watching it from our local chapel, but the girls needed special recommends to attend.  They were excited to show them off when they were done, we sure are excited for our very own brand new temple.

All indications were that we would be closing on Friday on the new house and so I set into motion a chain of phone calls to arrange help with the move on Saturday.  Well…the closing got pushed to Monday.  I decided to take a chance and went ahead with the move on Saturday anyway.  I spent Friday night finishing up all the packing and cleaning the rental.  On Saturday morning we were overwhelmed by the amount of help we received in loading the truck.  Many families from our ward showed up as well as some from our previous ward.  A member of our bishopric knows one of our neighbors on Mann Ave. and he came, having never even met me before, with his truck and trailer.  We were all loaded into the U-Haul and various trucks in about an hour.  Everyone then drove all the way out to our new house to help us unload and set up all of our furniture.  I am absolutely astounded and humbled by all the loving service we received.  One family brought us lunch for the afternoon, another took Helen and Arlo for a playdate while we finished up, and the new neighbor’s wife came by to meet us and brought cookies.  We were done in just a couple of hours, it was amazing.  I am so incredibly grateful. 

In the afternoon I took Felicity to a birthday party and Arlo over to mom’s house.  Helen and I drove into Tucson for the Cultural Celebration.  Typically a Cultural Celebration precedes a new temple dedication.  She and I really enjoyed the festivities, the singing and dancing that was provided by the youth (ages 12-18) of the temple district was phenomenal.  We also really enjoyed the opportunity to see President Uchtdorf in person.  It’s no mystery to anyone that I love the desert.  Tucson has always been my home.  My children are the 5^th generation in our family to call Tucson home, so the celebration was especially poignant for us.  I was more than a little sad that Felicity was a few months shy of being old enough to participate as I think it would have been an incredible experience.  I hope that those who did have the blessing of participating in the cultural celebration or serving on the temple committee appreciate what an amazing opportunity they had!

Saturday was actually sweet Helen’s 9^th birthday.  She got to celebrate on Friday night with Nana, but she has patiently let me put off the proper celebrating until after the move chaos has died down.   We did, however, enjoy our evening out together for the cultural celebration and some ice cream following!

I picked up Felicity from her party when we were done in Tucson and we went home.  Arlo spent the night at my parent’s house since he was too young to attend the temple dedication on Sunday morning.  We were at the stake center at 8:30 the next morning and the girls and I enjoyed the dedicatory service for the temple.  I am looking forward to attending next week, the Tucson temple will be the 24^th temple to mark off my list, and a special one for sure!

We spent time at the new house unpacking and trying to find all of our things in the stacks and stacks of boxes.  It has been like Christmas morning opening some of these boxes that have been packed since November of last year!  The kids took a break from unpacking in the afternoon and went outside to play.  They were out there for a couple of hours and when I called them in for dinner they had created a mud puddle and were covered in mud.  It actually made me pretty happy.  We are praying everything with the paperwork goes through on Monday and we can officially call 18400 S. Mann Ave. our new forever home.

06 August 2017

Still hanging in there!  We were finally able to get the air conditioner fixed at the rental this week.  The guy came back for the fifth time and then two hours after he left it wasn’t working again.  Luckily, he was able to come back the same day and get it back up and it has been working alright since then.  I’m so grateful!  The kids are still enjoying school, although Helen has lamented over missing her friends.  Arlo absolutely loves school and is so ecstatic to go every day.

Things with the house purchase are continuing to progress in the right direction.  Our appraisal report came back on Wednesday and the house appraised above asking price, so I will actually start out with a little bit of equity.  Now there is a novel concept for me!  They were two days late with the appraisal which has pushed everything else back.  The investor didn’t get the final numbers and closing documents drafted by close of business Friday, so that won’t be done until Monday.  Then there’s a three day waiting period, so we should close by Thursday of next week barring any more delays.  The bank had the septic tank cleaned and certified this week in preparation for the closing.  I went out and took pictures so that I’ll have a record of where it’s buried.  It’s all going well and I can honestly say that I really am learning to be more patient and let go of things.  This has been quite the experience and I have grown and learned a lot from it.

When we were out at the house on Thursday to water we had a bit of a mishap.  Arlo wanted to open the gate and then he and Felicity raced up the driveway toward the house.  Well, he tripped and smacked his head on one of the huge rocks lining the driveway.  There’s nothing quite as awful as watching a disaster unfold, I saw the whole thing and jumped out of the car as soon as he hit because I knew it wasn’t going to be good.  He got up from the ground with blood just pouring down his face.  I grabbed a sock from one of the kids and held pressure to it, but I couldn’t clearly see how bad it was.  We drove to my parent’s house since it was closest and I got him in the tub and the bleeding stopped.  Once I had him all rinsed off, I was able to assess the damage.  He ended up having two small lacerations to his scalp and fortunately wouldn’t need stitches.  He was such a good sport about it, Felicity was far more upset than he was.

Felicity decided to run on the cross country team since she didn’t make the volleyball team and had practices this week. She seemed to enjoy it, although I think it will stretch her a bit in her ability to challenge herself to do hard things.  I’m really proud of her. 

I’m passing the time in the rental while we wait for everything to finalize by making things for the new house.  This week I worked on a crocheted blanket for Helen’s bed and I painted a couple sets of laundry sorters.  I finally updated my cutting machine and have had so much fun playing with it.  Creating stencils for the laundry sorting bags was a breeze and I played with making some cards as well.  I used to do a lot more paper and vinyl projects, but had been struggling with my old machine; the new one is a lot of fun and I have all sorts of projects planned.  I am going to hold onto the other machine to use in my kitchen for cutting fondant for cake decorating, I just need to install a virtual environment on my laptop and load an old version of windows since the manufacture of the cutting machine no longer supports the software on new versions of windows.  Although it’s been a long time since I did any serious cake decorating!

I switched weekends with the kids’ dad so that they will be home for the temple dedication, so that meant that they went to his house on Friday night.  After they left, I drove into Tucson and picked out some paint for the girls’ new bedroom and had dinner.  I was up bright and early on Saturday and cleaned out my car and then took it to the car wash for a wash and vacuum.  I did laundry and cleaned the rental and started to pack.  I went grocery shopping and got my meals prepared for the week.  In the afternoon I took all of my cleaning supplies over to the new house and started to clean.  I dusted everything: cleaned all the windows and sills, swept and mopped all the floors, cleaned the appliances, cleaned out and wiped down all the cabinets and drawers, and scrubbed the showers, tubs, and bathrooms.  As much as that sounds, it really wasn’t that bad since the house is in such good shape.  By the end of the day it was smelling a little more like home and less like someone else’s house.  I debated as to whether I should paint the girls room while I was there, but decided that I really should wait until it actually closes!  I have someone coming to clean the carpets on Tuesday and then it will be move-in ready!

I had a nice Sabbath, I walked in the morning and then went to church.  I taught Sunday School and enjoyed the rest of my meetings.  I was happy to pick the kids up in the evening, although they were grouchy and tired.  Everyone got bathed, teeth brushed and lunches packed and by the time we were ready for evening scriptures, they were calm and happy again.