I hate getting behind on my updates! It's almost September, and here I am just now getting to July. It's been a busy couple of months with the move and all. July was exceptionally fun and memorable so I don't want to miss it!
We started off with a birthday party for Camille Maloy. Kim was sweet enough to delay her party because we were in Utah, and Camille wanted her best friend (Paige) to be there. It was a Chuck-e-Cheese and the kids thought that was insanely amazing.
For the fourth of July the girls and I went out to Blue Diamond for bike decorating and a parade. They had their first Root Beer floats, got soaked by a fire hose, had a killer BBQ, and even participated in the parade. Afterwards we went to see Inside Out. The girls loved it! Then our traditional Burger King dinner and Fireworks. Sam was enchanted by the fireworks. We even got to spend the night with the Campbells, which made it that much more enjoyable.
Much of July was spent packing, shopping, and planning for A) the big move and B) Hannah's 6th birthday party. Hannah's birthday was a blast! She wanted a late over carnival theme. We invited all the girls from primary and from her school class for the event. They wore their PJs and we had pizza, cotton candy, face painting, games, and lots and lots of little girls. I can't believe Hannah is SIX! I admit I cried thinking about all the wonderful birthday parties and events we had in our little house over the last six years. It was a wonderful home to us, and we miss it already.
We did hit a bump in the road when it came to moving. Our buyers were delayed with their loan, which mean we couldn't move in until a week later! We got our keys on July 30th and started moving in the 31st. This caused some problems because we'd arranged to have our water and gas etc. shut off so we ended up staying at the Campbell's house while they were in Utah for a couple days, mostly for the hot water and for sanity's sake. We were going crazy waiting. But everything happens for a reason and we found out that reason not too long after we moved out. More on that later.
Facebook:
walk a mile in another person's shoes, and to reach across with love and an attempt to understand. My sister wrote this article about the LDS church donating food to the Utah Pride Center, and I think it is a perfect example of two organizations that don't always see eye to eye when it comes to their ideals and beliefs, but who can come together for a common goal, united in love for humanity. My hope is that, going forward, we can wrap our arms around each other, agree to disagree on some points, and work together within our community to create harmony. Only then can we say Love Wins.
Hannah after church: "What the heck? It feels GOOD outside!!!" (It was 95 degrees).
Woah! Real estate in the Bay Area is insane! I have been looking out of curiosity because I've been watching Parenthood and I wanted to get an idea of how much it would cost to live in Berkley. Spoiler alert: we could not afford to live in Berkeley.
Since we are moving further than walking distance from Adam's work,
Adamis looking for a second car. They went to check one out last night and I asked Hannah what she thought of it. "The inside was really clean," she said, " and I really liked the engine. The one on the outside of the car. It was neat." Now, I'm no mechanic, Adam, but I suggest you don't buy a car that has an engine on the outside.
Side note: We've only had two vehicles one other time in our marriage, and that was only for eight months! When we were first married, we could only afford one car, and now we only need one car!
Guys.
Adam bought a car. And now we are a two car family. Look at us. All grown up.
Six years ago today,
Adam Turney and I moved into our home. I was eight and a half months pregnant with Hannah. It seems surreal and impossible to think that in a week we'll be moving into our new home. Six years ago we moved in as two, now we are leaving as five.
After watching me wrap and pack all our glasses, plates, cups, bowls, and all our glassware I suggested to Adam it might be helpful to pack a box himself. He was extremely proud of himself, and made a big deal about it so I decided to take his picture. Box count: Melissa: 30 Adam: 1
Adam was getting Sam ready for bed and brought him to me to give him a kiss goodnight. I gave him several kisses (I can't help myself, he is the most delicious baby) and after a minute his eyes started darting back and forth between Adam and I. He put his hand around Adam's neck and started pushing him toward me, and giving me the eye, like he wanted me to kiss
Adam, so I did. He was so happy, and just kept pushing Adam's head toward mine and grunting, like he was telling us to kiss more. I love that even as babies, kids want to see their parents showing affection to each other.
Sam has been hitting himself when he gets in trouble, becomes angry, or frustrated. It is really sad and disheartening to watch, and now he's taken to hitting his head against the floor or walls. He doesn't really throw a fit while he's doing it, but he does watch for our reaction.
Adam was reading about it, and apparently lots of kids do this, mostly boys (boys are three times more likely to do it than girls) and it is a way to express their aggression and frustration before they really know how to. I remember Megan Christensen did this for a long time when she'd get in trouble. Does anyone else have experience with this?
The closing hymn of our last sacrament meeting as members of the Blue Diamond ward...God Be With you Til we Meet Again. Needless to say I had a bit of a meltdown at church, which was super embarrassing. We've been in some version of this ward for six years, and I'll miss it very much. I remember my first day in Sacrament meeting (in what was then the Painted Mountain ward). We sat behind the Maloys, and baby Emma was playing peek-a-boo with Adam and I. She was super bald and had a bib on that read, "I am not a boy." How strange to think that six years later that baby girl and my baby girl, who wasn't even born yet, would grow up to be best friends and moving out of their houses the same week.
Today during body pump Sam grabbed a crayon in each hand and joined me on my mat. He started grunting and squatting and lifting his crayons. I was cracking up. What a stud.
Quite a busy day. First we signed all the documents for the sale of our home and the purchase of our new home. Then I headed to the DMV to register our car. During the 3.5 hour wait I was able to get the car smogged and the oil changed. I read some more of The Martian before finishing registration. We dropped our kids off (thanks
Breann Pond Campbell and
Skylar Campbell) so that we can enjoy Bye Bye Birdie (thanks
Randy Denter) for a relaxing date tonight. Great and productive day!
There is nothing cuter to me than Sam walking around in a superman pj shirt and diaper, with random objects in his hands, and messy bed head, calling for his sisters.
I really loved this talk by Elder Quentin L. Cook. Living in Las Vegas is an interesting experience sometimes. Most, if not all, of my friends and I have at some point received comments about raising our kids in such an unsavory environment. First of all, these comments come from people who mostly don't understand that Las Vegas is known for the strip, but is not the strip (yeah, we have houses and parks and museums and Costco and even churches!) Second of all, some of the best people I know were raised here, or are raising their kids here. I had a conversation the other night with a good friend who said, "the Lord needs good people everywhere!"
"One of the remarkable characteristics of young wild sunflowers, in addition to growing in soil that is not hospitable, is how the young flower bud follows the sun across the sky. In doing so, it receives life-sustaining energy before bursting forth in its glorious yellow color.
"Like the young sunflower, when we follow the Savior of the world, the Son of God, we flourish and become glorious despite the many terrible circumstances that surround us. He truly is our light and life."
I'm grateful that the Lord has provided means whereby we may "bloom where we are planted," so that no matter where we are in this life or in this world we can thrive.
I'm very impressed with
Adam Turney. When we put our home on the market we weren't even sure if we were going to actually sell it, so we literally just put it up for sale as is. Now that we are moving out we are trying to deep clean it and make it look gorgeous for the new family moving in. Adam was able to find a can of paint that matched our walls and he's been busily spot treating the house this afternoon. It's going to look and feel brand new for our new owners!
So I posted a while ago about how I was struggling to lose weight. Update: the struggle continues. This week has been difficult because we've had to eat out a ton in between moves, but aside from this week I've very diligently tried to stay under 1350 calories every day, and I try a 30/30/40 ratio with carbs/fat/ protein. I work out at least five times a week (on a bad week--usually it's five) and almost all of that is cardiovascular vs strength training. I know I'm gaining muscle but I don't feel like I'm losing fat at all. I currently weigh more than I ever have in my entire life (without being pregnant). I'm sure stress is a contributing factor. I HATE THIS. This has never happened to me before. Usually I work half as hard for this and by week three I've lost ten pounds, but it's been three months and all I'm doing is gaining. Gah.
Where have the last six years gone? It's been such an honor to be the mother of this beautiful girl. She is bright, happy, spunky, silly, passionate, loud, opinionated, wonderful, and a thousand other things. She's always been able to reason with me and can often outsmart me. She has a tender heart and big ideas. She always wants to try her best and only do and say things that are appropriate. She expressed her feelings well, and can identify her emotions and communicate them. She's always been exceptionally smart and social. She has captured my heart and changed my life. When she woke up at 4:30 AM she said "I'm six! And next year I'll be seven...that's a big number for a kid!!" It sure is. I love you, baby girl!
Last week we were told to get our utilities taken care of for the new house because we were getting the keys on Friday. Adam arranged to have the new house turned on Thursday and our house turned off Monday. Well, obviously we haven't moved yet (hopefully the buyers will sign today) so all our utilities are turning off, even though Adam called to push it back! So annoying!!!
Warning: another moving rant. On Wednesday, July 16th we were told everything was a go and we would have our keys by Friday the 24th. They told us to contact our utility companies and turn on utilities at our new residents by that Friday, and turn off all of ours on Monday (giving a little overlap). We scheduled everything, and packed most of our house on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday the 20th we were told that there were delays with our buyers loan and it would be 1-2 day delays, to hang tight. We signed for the sell of our home, and the purchase of our new home on Wednesday the 22nd. All we had to do was wait for our buyer to sign and for our sale to be recorded. That 1-2 day delay has turned into seven, with no end in sight. Meanwhile, we've had to reschedule all our utilities (with penalties) and even lost our gas and water (water turned back on, we aren't going to bother turning the gas back on). We've been living out of suitcases since the 17th, we are basically living off bread crumbs and fast food, and I've been trying to keep my kids out of danger/destruction from our torn apart house.
So today I get notice at 9:20 that they want to do their final walk through at 10:30. One hour from then. I called around and my friend
Cathryn was so gracious and willing to pick up my kids so I could frantically clean and move boxes so they could do their inspection. I practically killed myself trying to put the house together in such short notice. They never showed. They never called. Apparently the agent said he was waiting for them to get off work. They said they'd wave the walk through and "hopefully get us papers by today" (yeah, I've heard that every day since Friday). I am losing my mind. We are hungry and cranky and exhausted (I haven't slept more than four hours in three days). We just want to move. We want to be in a home. Our home.
Buying a house was a piece of cake. Selling our house has been a nightmare. We were off to such an auspicious start with five offers in three days, two over asking price...but then one of the two backed out and then the second buyer is taking a lifetime to close.
If anyone needs me, I'll be curled up in the fetal position rocking back and forth.
It's 4am and I'm awake because I had a nightmare. I dreamed I had these cuts going along one of my legs that hurt really bad, so I showed Adam and he told me it had happened to him before and he knew what to do, so he put pressure on one of the cuts and a flat, two inch scale/bone made its way out (painfully). He repeated until all the cuts were clear. I woke up with my leg aching and a vow never to sleep again.
Our house closed! What a happy/sad feeling to say goodbye to 772 Magrath Street. Lots of amazing, happy memories in that home. Here's to new beginnings, and new happy memories.
Our last night in our first home. I've felt my heart breaking all day. We came here six years ago as two (plus a bump in my belly) and now we are leaving as five. When I tucked Hannah in her room for the last time tonight I couldn't hold back the tears. A memory came into my mind of Adam building her crib in that room as we anticipated her arrival. I've tucked her into bed almost every night of her life. I feel ridiculous because it's only three miles away, but it feels so momentous.
This evening she wanted to take pictures with her camera so she could remember the house and our neighborhood.
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