Getting the house ready to sell and a fun trip to Mexico

 The month of February was a little crazy. We were checking up on the new house regularly to make sure things were going the way they were supposed to. As well as getting our house fully ready to go on the market. So crazy to think that we will be moving out of this house. There are things that I will miss because we have been in this house for 10 years. I had 2 more babies in this house and closed that chapter in my life of having babies. I will not miss some things. How low our ceiling is in the basement. Mine and Brandon's shower because it is terrible and the hot water in our house does not last very long at all. That and our backyard with all the tree roots in it. haha It has been a really good house though. We have had some fun memories in this house. So it does feel weird putting it on the market. However, since we know what we are moving into we are very excited to move on to the next chapter. It has been so fun to see the progress on our new house. We also really need to sell our home so that we have extra cash to be able to afford this new one. So it has been a mad house around here getting everything repainted and cleaned up/decluttered. With school and preschool and homework and sports all going on at the same time as well. Brandon and I also had a trip coming up to go to Mexico for Brandon's office. We were super excited to be getting away for a bit. Plus we put our house on the market like the day of our trip. So we could be gone and hopefully have some showings while we were gone. The boys were going to be staying at my parents house so that would make it easy for the house to stay clean. It was a crazy but good month. 

Kayden and his 2 buddies Theo Hanson and Tommy Harris. We gave them rides home from school and the boys loved Brandon's Tesla and how fast it went and the fact that it could make tooting sounds. haha They would all blame it on each other and then laugh and say that it wasn't them that it was the car. haha Silly little boys! 

I had to take some pictures and send them to our stager to see if it looked ready to be photographed! It looked so clean and so empty! Pretty crazy!! 

Tiles going in the boys bathrooms downstairs. It looks so good! 

We had our house cleaned by a cleaning crew and they scratched up our oven trying to clean it. I was not a happy person. In fact the cleaning crew messed up a lot of stuff. Brandon had to re culk some of the bathtubs. They left white streak stains in the upstairs bathtub from the cleaning solution they used and I Could not get it out. They re arranged stuff and we couldn't find things for bit. Some things looked dirtier than before they came. Needless to say I was really upset with the job that they did and vowed never to have a cleaning crew come and clean my entire house again. It was really frustrating to pay them as much as we did to have to re clean and fix things. 

Really looks so clean and empty! 

My boys gave me little gifts on Valentines Day. So cute! They came in and put these things on my night stand right in the morning. It was very cute! 

February 22nd our house officially had a for sale sign up and we were on the market!! So crazy!! It felt really weird to know that it was officially happening. Kayden did not like the sign being there. Plus it was cold outside and I wanted him to take a picture in front of the sign. He was not happy about it. 

It has been a good house! We are ready for the next adventure though and hoping it sells for a good price and quickly.

Wyatt had to dress up for a class play they were doing. Greek God time frame. He enjoyed making his toga. haha 

Basketball season was also in full swing. I do enjoy watching the boys play basketball. They get better each year. 

Off to Cancun Mexico bright and early!! 
Mexico was a fun trip. We have never been so I was hoping it would be a really good time. I do love Mexican food. Rather I should say I like Mexican American food. haha The place we stayed was actually really nice. The food was pretty good and the pools were nice. Plus they had hot tubs! Wahoo!! 

This was just a bathroom in the main area. It was so fancy!

I have no idea what animal this is but they were all over. In fact there was a whole group of them the first day we were there just walking along the grass and side walk before our room. 

These drinks we got were actually really yummy! The bar tender asked what we wanted. We told them we don't drink alcohol and that we liked fruit and to just surprise us. Well he did just that and they were delicious! 

Brandon and his passionfruit mocktail. 

It was a really cool bar area. It looked like a library and then you opened the door to go into the bar. It was like a speakeasy bar. It was cool. Although the next time we tried it out it was not as cool and it was packed. 

Breakfast was delicious. So much yummy fruit and the drink I had was what they named it as "coconut water". It tasted like a melted coco loco drink. It was so tasty. They also ended up having a passionfruit water that tasted like the best passionfruit juice. It was so good!! 

I love having all of these fruit options!

We went to a circus restaurant one night with the docs. I think we were the only ones without kids there. haha It was fun but yes way more of a place to go if you have kids with you. They had some fun drinks though that were non alcoholic. The food was eh.. 
We decided we wouldn't do that one again. It was fun to do one time. They had a performer too. So it was pretty fun.

The desserts looked so cool but were terrible. 

Go ourselves drinks in a coconut. They were ok. haha Mostly I just enjoyed being in the sunshine. Brandon and I can't stay sitting for long. So we hangout and then went on to the next thing. We also walked the beach quite a bit. 

We did an excursion one of the days with Travis, RaQuelle, Guy and Kristen. It was a long day and decently fun. I don't love going and seeing ruins all day long. I enjoy going on nature hikes to water falls and other things like that. Sure it was cool seeing how these empires were made and crazy that they could make all of these things with the little recourses that they had. 

We thought we were going to a natural cenote. It ended up being pretty man made. So we were a little bummed. It was cool but it was very crowded and we ended up not getting in. 

It was a long day of walking around looking at stone buildings. Interesting but I don't know that I would do it again. 

Yummy popsicles. 

I also went to the spa one of the days with RaQuelle. We ended up getting some credits to use because of some mishaps that happened with booking and getting money back that had been over paid. The guys ended up going golfing so RaQuelle and I went to the spa. It was relaxing and a nice way to spend them morning. Especially since I was going to be all alone the whole morning while Brandon was off golfing. So this at least took up some good time. 

The smoothies at the spa were really yummy!

Some fun pickleball time!! I really do love the heat. So I didn't care that it was hot while we were playing. I enjoyed sweating. haha 

Dessert time at one of the restaurants. Brandon got a passionfruit fill taco dessert. It was so tiny! haha He said it was really yummy though. The ice cream was a little weird. 
Then before we knew it we were getting up early to head back home. 

We watched the sun rise and then we were off to head back to cold/dry Colorado.

While we were away Gigi had to play dress up with the boys. She put her wigs on them and took pictures. Kayden didn't want to so I don't have a picture of him with a wig on. However, Kayden enjoyed dressing up like a handy man with all their play tools. haha They always have a good time at Papa and Gigi's house. 

Hello 2024

Well January 2024 is officially off and running. We are not in the phase of really getting our house ready to sell and to move into our forever home! January started off busy but fun. Lots of things going on with getting our house ready, the new house, school and sports. Just a lot going on. So we were off and running. 

Our first boxes packed for our move and for decluttering. 

Drywall has been delivered. 

Brandon stuffing insulation back up into the ceiling. haha

Oh ya, we also had our first casualty! Poor bunny! Looked super weird just having that head there. It looked like he had been buried by his bunny friends. I have a feeling we will be seeing a lot of planet earth like stuff when we live here. 

The ornament Kayden made at preschool! 

I told Emmett I would take a picture of these clay ornaments he made. We had kept them for a year or so and I was ready to get rid of them So I let him keep his favorite one or two and got rid of the others. 

As we were getting things cleaned up and prepped for getting our house on the market I took down he foil and curtains on our bathroom window. Look what I found!!! MOLD!!! YUCK!!! So then we had to kill the mold and repair the windowsill. Thankfully Brandon is good with wood work and so we decided to case in the window.

It is a good thing we are always going over to the house to check on things. I had to make sure to tell our builder about the broken steps. We also caught the dry wall guys before as they were working and told the main guy that we were supposed to have rounded edges. Which he said, "Well that would be a good thing to know. I was never told that!"
Communication has been an issue with this home build.

Painting our room. We have been off and on painting for months. We finally decided it was time to get it finished. It was a lot of work!! 

Emmett and Kayden wanted to be in charge of making dinner. So Emmett made the Mac and Cheese with a little help from me and Kayden watched the peas. 

Ethan took no time to finish his lego car. He loves building these and will just work for hours. 

Then of course we had to start the year off with going to the movies. Always a good time! Kayden is so funny at movies these days. He gets very in to it and will laugh out loud with an evil laugh when the good guys are beating the bad guys. Its pretty funny! 

Tile choices for bathrooms. Thank goodness for Floor and Decor opening up near Costco. It made it way easier to find tile for our bathrooms. 

The house getting prepped for stone and then stucco!!

Time for the expander!

Emmett pallet started to split super quick! It is crazy how fast he was getting expansion. It has taken him quite a bit of time to get used to his expander. Eating with it and talking are really hard for him. We keep telling him he will get used to it and then he will talk normal and swallow normal. Not fun at all though. Yet necessary to give him the space he needs for this adult teeth to come in. 

Dry wall goes up really quick. Then it's tape and texture. However, they missed a cut out for a light. I thought it looked like it was missing a light but no one would listen to me.

Sad to take this down. We will have to put it up in our next house too! With new pictures. The boys have gotten so much older than these pictures. Although, I do love these pictures! 

Ok, so at Brandon's office they did a "Wheel Unfortunate" like they do on Dude Perfect. The thing Brandon got was take a card board cut out to dinner. So Brandon ordered this cardboard cut out from the show "Parks and Rec" and we went to Long Horn Steakhouse. 

I recorded Branded walking in and telling the host he needed a table for 2. Then he sat down and I sat across from them just while the server came over and asked what they wanted to drink. Brandon looked at his "date" and then told her a Diet Coke and water. Then I joined them for dinner. We got a lot of funny looks and some people finally asked what was going on. They all thought it was funny and I got to enjoy being a third wheel and eat yummy food! haha

Kayden also got to go bowling for a preschool field trip. 

He had a great time being there with all his preschool friends. 

Time for the talent show. Wyatt was so excited and a little bit nervous for his talent show. 

He did a great job. He had one trick that didn't want to work but he pulled it off like a champ and tried it again and then went into a different trick when it didn't work. He even had it Knott up on him at one point. He didn't spaz out he just got it fixed and kept going with some great showmanship. It was fun to watch. Although, I do have to say that my mommy heart was nervous for him especially when things were not going as smoothly as he had planned or wanted. He did a great job though and didn't let it bring him down. 

January 24th we got to take Wyatt to the temple for his first time!!

I love our new tradition of taking our boys to the temple the year they turn 12 just them and us. It was fun being able to just go with Ethan and now it was Wyatt's turn. It just makes it feel more special and a bigger deal I think when we take just the one who is going through for the first time. Then after we go get lunch or a treat. With Wyatt he wanted to get IN N OUT since it was lunch time. So we drove down and got IN N OUT for lunch. It is a fun and special day when they get to go to Baptisms for the Dead in the Temple for the first time. Wyatt said he loved going to the temple. That it felt peaceful and happy. What a fun afternoon! 

 

With the start of January brings the chaos of 3 kids in basketball at the same time. We had Ethan (his last year of rec ball), Wyatt and Emmett all in the same season. Thankfully, we were able to carpool with 2 of the boys friends. Just makes it for a really busy 6 weeks. The boys love it though and it's fun to watch them improve in their basketball skills.