Just some updates

Ashlyn can now ride a two-wheel bike. Her friend Evelyn came over one day riding hers and that quickly prompted Ash to ask me to take her training wheels off. She asks every day if we can go out and practice which we've done every day this past week. And just yesterday she learned to start the bike herself. No need for me anymore. It's such a hoot to watch little kids ride those little 12-inch bikes with their legs pumping as fast as they can go and really going nowhere. She's also learning to read very simple books.

Nate finally lost his first tooth and the other bottom is quite wiggly. If it doesn't come out this week I'm sure the dentist will pull it on Thursday.

No much with Erik. He and Nate have enjoyed playing tackle football in the yard every day after school.

Kiersten got brave and asked her orchestra teacher if she could move up to the intermediate class from the beginning. Her teacher agreed to let her try it. That means I no longer have to take her 3 mornings a week to the junior high. Intermediate is only 2 days a week and another mom and I are carpooling, so that means I only have to drive one morning a week. Very nice.

We still have an offer in on a short-sale house, but have completely done a 180 degrees. After walking through many homes and seeing things we liked and disliked, Tyler and I decided that maybe we should build. But where? Stansbury has a shortage of lots for sale and the ones that are for sale are priced too high or are small lots for what we want to build. There was a particular lot in the Ponderosa subdivision in Stansbury that was .81 acres but priced rather steep. We even went to the trouble of hiring an appraiser to appraise it just so we'd have something to back our offer. The seller came down a little but not much and so we were back to wondering where we could build that didn't need a septic system or a well dug. Lake Point to the north seemed like a good option with 1-acre lots. Our kids would still go to the same school, but they would be bussed and Ty has family out there. However, the developer was asking a lot for the land out there. It just was seeming like land in this area has not come down like other real estate properties or that sellers were willing to sit until the market turned around. We drove through Lake Point, liked what we saw (you can see the Great Salt Lake to one side and the mountains on the other), but were bummed about pricing. We gave our searching a rest for a day and then Tyler told me last Friday that a listing had come up on the MLS with 3 lots for sale in Lake Point that were significantly cheaper than what the developer was asking. This was a builder who had picked up these lots intending to build on them and is now in need of some cash and dumping some of his properties.

I was a little hesitant to move out of Stansbury. We've enjoyed living here and it is a nice community. Lake Point has a more rural feel to it and it will just take some getting used to, some adjustment like any move. I really feel that this is where we are to be, especially with the way these 3 lots showed up so suddenly. Tyler checks the MLS listings every day and we've never seen them before (even though there are for sale signs on the property that look like they've been there awhile). We are offering tomorrow. I hope all goes smoothly.

The Ultimate Oops

 Yep! We committed one of the most terrifying crimes a parent could be guilty of . . . forgetting your child.

Tyler and I have been shopping homes and looking through many model homes trying to get a feel for the different builders and layouts.

Today we were headed to Farmington to look at a model and had entered the freeway busily discussing a certain layout when Erik pipes up from the back that Nathan is not with us. We were stunned and shocked.

Unfortunately the next exit was about 5 miles down the road. We called the next-door neighbor and he kindly checked on Nate and gave him a popsicle while he waited for us to come back.

The sad thing is he had entered the garage just as the door was closing and had tried to flag us down. So he waited probably a half hour for us to come home.

Poor kid. He thought he was stuck at home til we came back later in the evening. We assured him nothing is more important than him. And if we had gotten all the way to Farmington, we would have turned right around and come back.

San Diego II

Back in January when we bought tickets for Sea World, there was a deal where if you bought the day you got the rest of the year free. So we took advantage of free and went again. As I was planning this trip I also discovered that the San Diego Zoo was free for kids during the month of October. Again we took advantage of free and discovered a very cool zoo.

It happened to be the hottest day of the entire trip and the kids didn't last very long. We did take the bus tour at the beginning, so I don't feel like we missed out on anything even though we didn't actually walk the whole zoo. I was very impressed with all the different trails and paths and how shaded it was. The gorillas were our favorite. They had a very active baby who enjoyed moving around a lot.

Our second time back to Sea World we went for a 1/2 day when we arrived and then headed back one more time on our last day. They were hosting a Halloween trick-or-treat and we planned to only spend a 1/2 day and then hit the beach one more time. And before we knew it the sun was starting to set.

We also tried out Legoland. I'm glad we did it while the kids are the ages they are. It really is a place for kids ages about 4 to 11. There were only a few rides that Ashlyn couldn't ride on because of height restrictions. For that reason alone I give it a thumbs up. Miniland, where they're reconstructed entire cities out of Legos, was very cool. It was so intricate it looked very real.

Our favorite place to eat was a place called Ruby's Diner, located at the end of a very long pier right by our hotel in Oceanside. In face we ate there two nights in a row. The food was great and Ty discovered a new way to eat fries . . . with lots of garlic. My brother Matt joined us for an evening at Ruby's and totally made Kiersten's day when he told the waiter, "I'll have whatever she's having" which was a child-size grilled cheese and a Sprite. He made her glow.

And then of course there was the beach. I definitely feel like we didn't get enough beach time. I'm sure we'll go back again and the beach will be number one priority now that we've visited most tourist destinations. And the zoo; I would love to spend more time at the zoo.