Life after the Bar is quite lovely. It's been so nice to really be able to enjoy doing things together as a family. Last Saturday we went to Avon for Maddy's farewell. She's serving in Hong Kong which fits her perfectly as she just visited China this past summer. Her talk was so good, Maddy is so genuine and speaks from her heart. I know she will do so good as a missionary. After her talk we went back to the house and had lunch with all the family. When it was time for us to head home, Lydia and Allie were both having major meltdowns. Loren and I got in a, "Good luck, you'll do great!" to Maddy before we had to escort our extremely tired girls to the car. I felt bad we didn't get to talk to her more or give a good last goodbye.
Lucky for us, Dad, Mom and Maddy stopped by our place on their way down to the MTC so I got a second chance. Poor Loren was at work but talked to her on the phone. It was so good to see her again and give her one last, long hug. We can't wait to hear about her experiences! Lydia keeps saying Maddy's going to China where the panda bears live. Not sure if there's actually panda's in Hong Kong but if Maddy were to see one, it would rock Lydia's socks.
This past weekend we went up to Cache Valley again. We got to see dad perform live for the first time at the Cowboy Rendezvous. This man is such an inspiration to me. He is always looking for ways to improve himself and become better. He taught himself how to bake, woodwork, paint, play the guitar and more. Recently he wanted to learn to sing so he took lessons then signed up for the open mic at the Rendezvous with Dale Major. He did so good! I'm sure this is only the beginning of his performing career. Loren and I decided that he looked like quite the classy cowboy. He's an impressive example of what determination and persistence can do.
We spent the rest of the day in Hyrum celebrating Mary and Kiana's birthdays. It was so fun to be together. Poor mom and dad have had CRAZY time trying to get the house ready to sell. The roof caving in during a rainstorm, gutting the bathrooms, black mold, exploding windows in the Trailblazer, and over-flowing sinks is just a portion of what they've been dealing with. It's crazy how this all happened right when they decided to move. Slowly but surely, the house is coming together and will hopefully be ready to sell in a month or so.
Saturday night we took a break and the girls went to My Fair Lady. It was such a good show! The acting was amazing, I was really impressed. I can't remember the last time I went out and did something like that so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Even better being with my sisters, mom and grandma. We missed Kiana who was sick.
These two sure love their Grandma!
I saw a deal the other night on a Salt Lake City Connect Pass. The pass gives you admission to 14 different places like Hogle Zoo, a SnowBird Resort tram ride, Tracy Aviary, The Gateway Children's Museum, Red Butte Garden, Thanksgiving Point, Clark Planetarium, US Olympic Park and more! I thought that since this is probably the only time we'll be living close enough to take advantage of going to all those places, it might be worth it to get it. Plus we still had some Christmas money we hadn't spent so we went ahead and got it. We're so excited! We're going to try and go to all 14 places from now till the end of the summer. I think we'll make some wonderful memories.
For some reason, I've been going crazy over our finances lately. I calculated what we spend every month and cut down on a lot. I ran the numbers and now know where every dollar goes. I finally made a budget that I think will work and am determined to stick with it. I've been researching mortgages and different loans for first time home buyers for when we move back to Logan in August. I still don't know if we'll be able to afford a down payment by that time, but I seem to be obsessed with checking Zillow and Realtor.com everyday nonetheless. We have an appointment with the bank on Wednesday so hopefully we'll have more of an idea of what we can do after that. August is coming fast and it seems like I haven't been enjoying being here as much because I'm so stressed about finding a new place to live. That's why I'm excited about the pass we bought. Hopefully that will make us stop thinking about housing for a day and make some quality memories. Time sure doesn't slow down.
The girls are doing great, growing and learning new things everyday. Allie goes in to the plastic surgeon next week to see how things are progressing with her helmet. Hopefully she'll get to take it off but we'll see. She's such a happy, sweet baby. Though the past couple weeks she's been a bit more fussy as she's teething. Hopefully she'll get that tooth in soon. I can't believe she's almost 8 months old! She's really close to crawling, I bet she'll be scooting around in the next couple of weeks.
Lydia's still as sweet, fun and headstrong as ever. Though we have our trying times, she makes me laugh and love being her mom. She loves blueberries, strawberries, hot dogs, Thomas the Train, making Allie smile and helping me make dinner. Life would be meaningless without my girls.
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