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.

My Firm Foundation of Testimony

I had the opportunity to attend the General Women's Broadcast last night in the Conference Center and thought it a bit ironic that we would sing verses 1, 2, 3, and 7 of the hymn "How Firm a Foundation". Last week was our Primary program and the children sang verse 1 and then the congregation joined in on verses 3 and 7 of the same hymn.

1. How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled.

3. "Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

7. "The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I'll never, no never, no never, forsake!"

I can't even begin to describe the power of singing with 20,000 other women that we will never forsake the gospel of Jesus Christ. I felt a little like one of Helaman's 2000 stripling warriors going into battle. It also brought back to rememberance the talk Sister Beck gave at BYU Women's Conference this last spring. In her talk she brought up the plague of pornography that is inundating the homes of good Latter-Day Saint homes and families throughout the world. She paused and then very forcefully said, "Fight!" "Fight pornography and defend our homes." It was very moving and actually brought the audience to spontaeous applause.

So I reaffirm Sister Beck's words to fight! Fight against all that is unholy and ungodly. Fight for goodness and virtue. Fight vigilantly for the family, for more time with our families, for less media and distractions.

My dad once told me the story of Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young. They were both called on a mission to England in September of 1839. Heber C. had just finished his new log cabin for his family that measured 14' by 16', and they left for their mission so sick and weakened by disease "that both of use could not take a common trunk two feet long and ten inches square and put it in a wagon." Brigham then said, "The Devil meant to afflict us to see whether he could not back us out; but he had two hard fellows to deal with."

Well, the devil has got a hard gal to deal with in Melissa Seamons Leary. I'm a fighter. I fear not what the devil can do, neither am I dismayed by the world in which I live. I will never desert to the other side, and I will never, no never forsake the testimony I have that God lives. His church is on the earth today, restored through the prophet Joseph Smith. I know that God is in the details of my life and is very interested and concerned about me. HE KNOWS ME PERSONALLY BY NAME. Of that I declare with certainty.

Please refer to this blog post --

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

I regret to say I grumbled and complained A LOT even though I vowed last year I wouldn't do it. I had no ambition to do a Primary program this year and procrastinated very badly. Our theme this year was My Eternal Family and I knew I wanted the program to be presented in families instead of classes. In the previous two years I've decided not to have everyone "say" a part. This year I knew everyone would need a speaking part if we were going to have it presented the way I wanted it. I tried writing a program and got as much as a 1/2 page and finally consulted the internet where I came across a program that was written much better than I could ever hope to do and was basically what I wanted to accomplish. Some people just have a talent for such things. I am not one of them. Thank you lindblomaubrey on the Primary Page at Yahoo Groups.

It really did go well. The kids sang great, the program flowed fairly smoothly, and we ended on time (even with almost 100 kids speaking). And I'm breathing a little more easily tonight thinking there will be no more nightmares of chaotic Primary programs.

We ripped the strip. Does that mean it's time to move again?

While living in Magna, our project one spring was to rip the parking strip in front of the house and get rid of the grass. We didn't have a sprinkler system and I was tired of making sure it got watered. Plus the weeds were starting to encroach. Well, as soon as that was done, we put our house up for sale and moved.

Our spring project this summer was ripping 90 feet of parking strip, so we offered on a home several days ago. However, this doesn't mean a permanent move since we won't be selling our current home. We're looking at this as an investment opportunity.

Tyler's been surveying the short sale market for awhile and came across a house in Stansbury that was in desperate need of a yard. It's a 4000 square foot home on .68 acres (cul-de-sac) of weeds and a few bushes with a four-car garage for . . . you know . . . those people who only have one car :) We've deduced it was a young, first-time homebuyer who built the home, thus cutting corners (although they felt the need for a BIG garage). There are no vaulted ceilings, laminate counter tops, and the deck is okay but we would be taking a huge step back in terms of the deck and the yard. We're interested. It has potential. A lot of exhausting potential.

When Tyler first broached the idea I said no way. I didn't even want to entertain thoughts of starting over again. I've slowly warmed to the idea, but have not had any strong feelings either way. When we where living in a one-bedroom apartment, I knew it was time to move when we were expecting our second child. After walking through the Magna home, we sat in the car and I told Ty, "We found our home, didn't we." It just felt right. And it was. It was a good place for us. There was no urgency to move the second time around. I had just delivered our fourth child and didn't really want to think about moving, but we knew we were going to start feeling a little cramped. We went house hunting and I fell in love with our current floor plan walking through a different home. So when we got the flyer on this one and it was the same, those same feelings came back, "We found our home, didn't we." And Stansbury has been a good place for us.

Short sales are a funny business where the sellers are basically upside down in their loan but the bank doesn't really want to deal with a foreclosure. The bank, therefore, lets the seller try to sell it at a discounted price so they dont' have to. There is already an accepted offer on this house at the bank. But a myriad of different things can happen for it to fall through (buyers don't want to wait and back out, bank doesn't like the terms of the loan or the purchase price). The seller is also allowed to accept multiple offers. So technically we are in back-up status. The odds are not in our favor. We give ourselves about a 10% chance of getting this home, which won't break my heart. Short sales take a long time, anywhere from 3 months to a year. Time is certainly one commodity we have lots of. Patiently waiting it out just might make us the proud owners of a second home.

(Don't let the picture fool you; there is no good grass in the front. It's basically weeds.)

Salsa Jargon

Tonight we had salsa and chips.
Nate commented on how hot the salsa was.
I told him it was medium.
Erik said, "Does it come in small?"
I told him there was mild which wasn't as hot.
He asked if there was a hot one and I told him it was called hot.
"Is that like large?"