Yes, it's true. We are now the proud owners of a brand new mortgage! Okay, and there is a house attached to it as well. We officially closed this morning and are finished with all the stressful financial and paperwork stuff. Now the hard work starts. We are starting to move tonight when Brandon gets home from work. So much to do, but I'm super excited. Mason and Ellorie are thrilled. They are most excited that the new house keys are "golden". They are really in to keys and very disappointed that they don't get their very own keys. Mason is very excited about the unfinished basement, specifically the space under the stairs which he has dubbed his new hideout. Ellorie is thrilled about her new bedroom with the big closet. I am most excited about having a master bathroom (hooray!). Brandon is really looking forward to all the yard work ahead of him... um not really... he is excited to have a garage to park his truck and motorcycles.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Hooray
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
9:08 AM
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A better idea
Today is hot! Our rental house is hot with no A/C, so it's a good day to play in the water. We found a better use for our tiny pool. I was buying some more packing tape at the store and the kids spied these water cannons. Sweeeeet. Four bucks CAN buy you happiness, or at least hours of entertainment.
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
3:01 PM
1 clever comments
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Busy Sabbath and a big load of dirt...
I have been a serious blog slacker! Too much to do. I have a few more days before I am unplugged, so I'll have to squeeze a few more entries in this week. We had a very eventful day today. Somehow the bishop got wind of our moving, and so we received a call a few days ago asking us to speak in Sacrament meeting today. Brandon also taught the deacons and I substituted teaching Ellorie's primary class, and Mason had a talk in primary, so I had to write that one too. And as if that wasn't enough to squeeze in, we had to do it all over again at the senior citizen home in our ward boundaries a few hours later. (Just the talks, not the lessons.) Whew! So I figure we're done with talks for at least another week or two until we are asked to speak in our new ward. No complaints, things went well. I actually like giving talks after the preparation is over. just a little more on the pile makes little difference at this point.
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
6:04 PM
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Monday, June 16, 2008
Two Averie Videos...
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
6:22 AM
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Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tagged
I've been tagged by Hilarie:
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
4:02 PM
1 clever comments
Saturday, June 14, 2008
So much to love...
Yeah! I have a new computer. I'm so so so happy. This means I don't have to wait for 20 minutes for it to warm up, 10 minutes to close down all the viruses, and another five minutes to open up the internet. Nor do I have to wait for three minutes for each page to load. I just have all kinds of time on my hands now. Now I have no excuse for being a blog slacker. It's a Mac by the way. I totally love it. It took about three seconds for me to turn it on and to be on the internet. Super! It has all kinds of bells and whistles that I know nothing about, but hopefully will figure out soon.
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
7:09 PM
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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Under Contract!
Whew! The last few days have been a bit of a whirlwind. After looking at every single house in our price range in the surrounding areas, we found one. It's brand new on an acre, which means we have to put in a huge yard and finish a basement, but I'm super excited. It's in a great neighborhood, good schools, not too far from Brandon's work, and did I mention it's brand new? So we are officially under contract. Oh boy, now the hard work starts... I'm starting to pack and have been on the phone non-stop to take care of all of the many "moving/home buying" things. Financing, negotiating interest rates, insurance, getting quotes for various things, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera... I'll post some pictures next week.
On a completely different subject, it's FREEZING today! There was an inch of snow in our yard this morning. I'm ready for summer. My kids are wearing thier winter coats today. So do I pack up the snow gear or hold off until later? Well, gotta go, tons to do!...
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
12:59 PM
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Sunday, June 8, 2008
House Hunting
We have decided to get serious about the house hunting. Wow, I forgot how much time it takes! So far this week I have spent hours and hours looking up houses online, a full tank of gas driving around to look at them, and walked through dozens of just-not-quite houses. It is a bit frustrating. There are so many houses for sale in our price range, but all of them have tiny bedrooms, have really strange basement layouts, and/or needs an entire acre yard de-rocked, leveled, sprinklered, and planted. It makes me feel tired just thinking about it. Almost all the houses for sale here are brand new, which is both a good and a bad thing. My kids have been super patient with us. We know it's time to quit looking when Averie starts screaming. Mason is quite into the process. He is keeping a notebook with a list of his favorite things about each house. One house we looked at had a cat that ran out of the garage door into the house when Ellorie opened the door. That was of course number one on the list for them because they insisted that the cat came with the house. They both really want a pet. Hopefully soon. We'll just keep looking. We have more to see tomorrow, so wish us luck!
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
12:51 AM
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Thursday, June 5, 2008
Thursday Riding Report
I had a really fun lesson today. I rode "Red" again, though he wasn't nearly as energetic this time. We practiced a level 4 dressage test pattern in the arena. We've done some basic patterns before, but never an entire test. It's a lot to remember! This is a diagram of a dressage arena. The letters are marked on the walls. This is how the test goes:
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
9:12 PM
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Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Swimming Lessons and Brittany the Rule-Breaker
Mason and Ellorie started swimming lessons yesterday. It is a first for both of them. They were so excited. I was watching my friend's little girl, so I loaded up the stroller with 40 lbs of babies plus all the swimming gear, towels, shoes, etc, and headed in to the facility. When I walk in the door the lady says, "Mam, I can't let you bring that in here." The stroller? Are you kidding me? I have two babies here! She said I could take it up two flights of stairs to the observation deck (This is a HUGE stroller). No elevator. So I unload my 40 lbs. of babies, and all the gear, and fold up my stroller and try to get it up the stairs. NOPE. Love all the strangers that sit there and gawk at me like I am a crazy woman. So one of the workers has a little compassion on me here and allows me to stow my stroller in a storage closet until the lessons are over. Meanwhile, Mason and Ellorie are whining and waiting very impatiently for Mom to figure it out so they can go in to their lessons. Good thing we arrived early. I send Mason in alone with instructions, and take Ellorie (and 40 lbs. of babies) in to shower and head into the pool area. The nice lady at the front desk told me that if I folded up the stroller I could sit in the chairs by the side of the pool. The babies were very content watching all the kids splashing around and we were having a lovely time. Mason and Ellorie were loving their lessons, though Ellorie wasn't really listening to her teacher. Once she was walking away from her class while her teacher was helping someone else, so I yelled at her to get back to her class and listen to her teacher. Big mistake. They booted me out. I guess it's a big "no no" to talk to your children while lessons are in session. I had to go out to the observation deck with both babies and all of our gear for the last fifteen minutes. Oops. I guess I'm just that rule breaker Mom everyone rolls their eyes at.
So today I was determined to do better today as I had only one baby to lug around. I left the stroller in the car, packed minimally, and I even remembered my camera. We were on time and everything. So I got the kids to their classes, snapped a couple of pictures, and headed up to the observation deck like a good mommy. I took a bunch of pictures from the deck and Averie played on a blanket and ate snacks. It was so much fun to watch the kids faces as they learned new things. Mason has totally amazed me. He's always been a little hesitant in the water, but he loves his teachers and has just had a great time. I should have had him in lessons before now. Right before lessons were over one of the employees came up to the deck to talk to all the parents. She said that SOME of the parents had gone out on to the deck with shoes, and that was another bit "no no". GUILTY. Excuse me for being a little too busy to read the tiny sign painted on the wall. Also, she handed out a paper of more rules that parents should be aware of. Number 1: No cameras or picture taking until the last day of class. ummm... So just call me Brittany the Rule-Breaker. I guess I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe they'll have me trained by the end of swimming lessons. I hope the kids learn something too...
Look how intently Mason is listening to his teacher. I need to take notes.
Even Ellorie was listening today...
Mason's first back float. He even floated without help for a few seconds. I'm so proud...
Ellorie tried a back float too, but she is still a little nervous.
They both had huge grins on their faces for the entire lessons. I'm glad they are having fun...
Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
1:25 PM
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Sunday, June 1, 2008
Fun Family Weekend

Love,
BrittanyLane
Posted at
9:43 PM
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