We are so blessed

Well, I know it has been forever since we posted here to our blog, but it has been for good reason. The past two months have been very eventful for our family. During that time we had a wonderful visit from Aunt Rebekah, Aunt Leah and Grandma & Grandpa B (I'll try and get some pictures up when I get a chance). A few weeks after that we were able to have a wonderful visit with Grandma & Grandpa W. It was so nice to have family close for a little while and hard to see them go. During this time things got a little bit crazy.

For those of you who have followed our saga in trying to buy a particular short sale house here in Colorado we waited for nearly 8 months and finally decided that it might be time to look for something else. We found another house that we "nearly" liked as much so we put an offer on it and it was accepted. We thought we might be offering a couple of thousand dollars more than what it was worth, but figured that the appraisal would pull it back in line (since after multiple counter offers the people weren't budging). Well, the appraisal came back roughly $30,000 below our agreed price. This put the homeowners underwater, and so they decided to back out of the deal.

The problem with this was that in the meantime I had talked to our landlord who was letting us rent on a month to month basis. His realtor had someone who was interested in buying the home. In the time between when we were working out details on the house we thought we were buying, and when the appraisal came back, the people came and looked at the house we were renting. They put an offer on the house and our landlord accepted. We had less than a month to be out of the house, and really weren't sure what to do. After a few very stressful and unfruitful days of looking for another option we received a phone call from the realtor on the original shortsale house saying he had gotten the banks to finally agree and asking if we were still interested...we said yes, but the only problem was that the original appraisal on the house had now expired so we had to get another one. As you can imagine based on what just happened we were a little concerned about where the appraisal might come in at.

We talked with the owner of the house and decided that we would rent the "short sale" from them while we waited for the deal to work out. The way we saw it, that was the only possible way that we would only have to move once. It was Wednesday when we got all those details worked out, I realized I would be leaving on Business the following weekend so we decided we were going to start moving on Friday...as you can imagine trying to move on that short of notice made things and adventure. We were completely helped out by wonderful ward members as well as a very generous friend at work who lent me his truck and trailer (I couldn't get a large UHaul on that short of notice)...We got moved in and are starting to make this our house. The appraisal came back and was only $4,000 less than the original appraisal so we are very confident that things are going to work out, although we are still astounded at how long it has/is taking.

The week I was gone on business Grandma B flew in to help Hannah and the kids...they surprised me by deweeding our Garden patch and planting a garden...we know its late, but we hope we will still get a plentiful harvest.

Finally I have been following my dear friend Tiffany's blog about her little girl Saide Huish who is battling an inoperable Brain Tumor. It has been a very sobering experience for me, and one that has caused me a lot of introspection, and helped me realize how much I take for granted the wonderful family I have been blessed with and my sweet children, whom I should enjoy at this stage of life, cause you never know what could happen or when. The Huish's are a great example to me and even though I doubt they read this they are in my prayer's and I hope that maybe you'll take the time to read their blog (www.sadiehuish.blogspot.com) a little bit and keep them in your prayers as well.

We are looking forward to our trip out to see family here in about a month!

7 always was my lucky number - Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary!

I am so grateful for my sweetheart. 7 years ago when we got married I thought I loved her more than I ever could, and I thought I knew her well. I have gotten to know her even better, and amazed daily by her unselfishness and love. Seeing her deal daily with 5 children ages six and under, as well as Husband who still has a long way to go on the road to perfection has only increased my love and admiration for her. She has far exceeded any expectations that I ever had for a wife when I was growing up. I truly am a lucky man. Our 7 years have taken us from Provo, UT to Ucon, ID to West Lafayette, IN to Mooresville, NC back to West Lafayette, IN to Sahuarita, AZ and now to Aurora, CO where it looks like we may settle. In addition to dealing with all those moves, she at one point dealt with living in a 650 sqft apartment on a Student Budget (basically non-existent) all while we had 3 kids ages 3 and under. We have been and are greatly blessed, but she is by far the greatest blessing I have received in my life. Hannah, I love you!

A Poem for my Love

It has now been seven years since that very special day
When my life was eternally changed in a very special way
April 26, 2002 is a milestone in my life
For that is the day Hannah became my wife
My love you has grown in ways that I couldn’t then comprehend
Because of the love and sacrifice you make for me your dear friend
With five little ones and not a moment to spare
Changing diapers and finding clean underwear
Working tirelessly each day from “son” up to “son” down
While cheerfully smiling and with nary a frown
The sacrifices you constantly make for me and our family
Make me excited for the prospects of what awaits in eternity
Thank you for your example of unselfishness, kindness and charity
I hope that you know how much you mean to me
Seven years together have gone quickly, seemingly in the blink of an eye
But by the same token I feel like I’ve known you forever, I think I know why
I look forward to many more years of having you next to me
I love you so much, Happy Anniversary!

Provo, UT

Ucon, ID

TMBGITW

Aurora, CO

Sahuarita, AZ

Mooresville, NC

West Lafayette, IN

Laura's 1st month of Life

This is Laura in her pretty little Sunday outfit...(good thing we took the picture when we did, 5 minutes later she spit up and the outfit was no more).
This morning the kids decided to make getting ready for church (the 9:00 meeting block) a little bit of a challenge...they were all being spies in their Tighty Whitey's and having a good time...it was too cute to not take a picture
We got dumped on with about 1 to 1 1/2 feet of snow on Friday and Saturday. We saw our neighbors making a snow cave and decided to try and make our own. Unfortunately, shoveling took so long that when it was finished we took a picture and then nobody played in it at all...Oh well! (Mom was relieved because she was worrying that it might cave in on them.)

Tommy wanted to go outside with his umbrella with the snow...I think the kids really love these snowstorms, especially because they are followed by 60 degree days so you don't get too tired of it. This past storm was the 2nd time in a couple of weeks where we have gotten a lot of really heavy, wet snow...but it doesn't last long.
This picture was taken by Tommy...Not sure what James had been eating but he does a fine job of making Goatees whenever he drinks anything that could possibly stain. (I think it was Hot Chocolate)
For FHE the day after Easter we did a fun lesson where the kids get to do an Easter Egg hunt, and then in each egg is an object lesson on the Saviors last week. They really enjoyed it.
These are my two cute little girls. Lizzy loves her little sister and is now talking up a storm. At night she has you sing at least 8 or 10 songs to her before she will go to bed like: Wheels on the Bus "Bus", Twinkle Twinkle "Tinkle" or "Staw", I am like a star, Popcorn Popping "Pa-corn", Once There was a Snowman, Once there was a Tulip "Grew-up", Oh my Father "Fader", I am Child of God, etc.) there are probably more I am forgetting, but needless to say she would probably sit there for an hour if you would keep singing.
On the Saturday Before Easter we did our Easter Egg hunt. I had told the boys if they would go to bed well the night before we would do it in the morning. Well they woke up at 6:00 sharp (almost like Christmas Morning) demanding their hunt. Since Lizzy is still a little too little to get it, I got things all ready and we were out "hunting" by about 7:00 am.
Instead of doing Candy this year, we put Nickels in there...Once they were done counting their coins they had enough money to buy a toy that we had previously purchased. They really enjoyed this, and it allowed us to avoid at least somewhat a Sugar overload.

A favorite past-time for the kids is to pretend that they are doggies or in this case, tigers. They each requested a bowl of water and another of cheerios. It was fun to watch them crawl around then race back to their bowls for another slurp and bite. (Lexie, our neighbor, joined them on this particular day.)
When finding out the Grandma W. was having a hard time, we decided to show her how much we loved her. "I love you this much, Grandma", they each said as they stretched their arms out wide.

Grandma and Grandpa B. came to visit recently. Lizzy took a loving to Grandpa. We all enjoyed their company and wish we could visit more often. After they left, Abe and James cried and Lizzy asked where "Gampa" was (did she mean Grandma or Grandpa? she uses the same word for both).

We're Home

Just a Quick Update for those of you that were concerned...Hannah was induced early because the Doctor was a afraid she might have IUGR? I guess where the Uterus is restricting the growth of the baby...If she would have been less than 5 lbs they would have classified it as this, but I guess she was just barely big enough to not receive this classification. Although she is small everything checked out great from a health and development perspective. Laura did not need any Oxygen and both she and Hannah came home last night and are doing great. They kids just love having them home and would hold the baby all day if we would let them. Hopefully this resolves any of the concerns that you all might have.

Lizzy Loves her Little Sister

Cute little sleeping baby...its amazing how she sleeps through the racket that is going on...I hope it will keep up.

Abe has probably been the most laid back about the whole situation

Tommy is going to be a great help...he always want to hold Laura

Mommy & The baby seem to be the center of attention...everyone gathers around them

James is being so sweet and gentle with his little sister.

This is our friend Heather who brought us a yummy dinner last night...Our kids just love her, especially "Super Woman".

Laura Jane Williams has arrived

Well, still no house buy yesterday at 5:47 pm little Laura Jane Williams was born. She weighs 5lb 1 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. That is smaller than our other kids have been, but she is very healthy and both she and Hannah are doing very well. I will just post a few pictures below...

Laura's siblings are excited to go see her at the hospital this afternoon. I must say though I had nothing to do with the Doctor deciding to induce the baby the day before the NCAA tournament started so that I will be home all day for the 1st round...but that doesn't mean that I won't take advantage of my good fortune...I've got lots of snacks to try and keep the kids entertained while I watch the BYU game this morning.

What will come first The house or the Baby?

Well, the longer that we keep waiting on this house, the more we begin to wonder if we might get a new addition to our family before we get a new lodging. (Now I have to ask all of you have you ever seen a more beautfiul 7 1/2 month pregnant woman?...I sure am a lucky man!)

So Today we were sitting around the table eating some snacks...and drinking gatorade when we had the idea of going on a drive out to the temple. Well, after we had brought up the idea and the kids were all excited I remembered the last time that combined the boys and a bottle of gatorade...it was on our trip home from Utah, and I remembered I swore to never go through that again...

So when I suggested we couldn't go because of the potty breaks we would have to take, James said emphatically, "I'll hold it up, Super Strong!" We'll Daddy won out and judging by the fact that they have all taken two trips to the potty in the last 45 minutes, it was a wise choice.

Lizzy, has been sick this weekend with a fever and some kind of virus, but as you can see from this picture she can still be a sweet little charmer.

Yesterday we went to the HomeDepot to do a little craft (they do them on the 1st Saturday of Every month)...Well, Abe decided to make his own little house out of the wood this morning and he was extremely proud of it (hence the picture below)!
Yesterday the primary had a valentines party...the boys really loved decorating cookies, making cards and playing games like Duck, Duck Goose!

Hannnah was able to go with Abe and our Neighbor friend Lexi on a field trip for their preschool to the museum of History and Science.They really enjoyed being Astronauts in one section of the museum.
We have really been enjoying some beautiful weather around here...its felt a lot more like late march than late January or early February. Now one other reason I've included a couple of pictures with Lexi in it is that there was a cute little incident with Tommy. On Friday night we were sitting down to read books and Tommy said somewhat distraught, "Mommy, my teacher said that I can't have a girlfriend! What about Lexi?" Well, Hannah explained to him that he teacher meant he was too young to have a girlfriend (you know the kind you date & Kiss), but that is was fine to have a friend that is a girl. Tommy was very relieved...Lexi is probably his best friend outside of his brothers(which is interesting, because outside of her, Tommy is very anti-girl stuff, it probably doesn't hurt that she likes to trade Pokemon cards with them.) Well, that's about all for this entry, we hope that everything is well with each of you!

The Month that was

Well, on Friday at School Tommy was selected as the lucky student who gets to be "Top Banana" for the next week. As a result he gets to carry around Chungo, the black monkey. Tommy had just earlier in the day been telling Hannah how he hoped he would be chosen...it is nice that he was able to have this chance before we move. He gets to take 5 things to his class to share next week he is pretty excited.

There have been some other school stories to share with you...involving Abe. Our neighbor was volunteering in Abe's class this past week and they were measuring out a dinosaur out of paper towel tubes. Abe saw them stretched out all over the floor and said "Hey its the Iron Rod", his teacher looked at him a little befuddled and said ,"Well, I guess it could be an iron rod". Angie, our neighbor was just over there to the side laughing because she knew exactly what he was talking about.

On another occasion at school they were reviewing numbers and holding up pictures of them. They held up the number "100" and asked if any of the kids knew what it was...Abe raised his hand and quite non-chalantly responded , "One Hundred". They were surprised that he got it right, but then continued. Next the held up a number "1,000,000" and asked if anyone knew, Abe held up his hand, and promptly replied "One Million". He then leaned over to one of the assistant teachers and said "I know all the numbers..." and then added "I know all the letters too." with a big grin. His teachers were probably wondering if he really did know all the numbers, but we're pretty confident at least on the One Million, it was just a good shot in the dark.

On the 9th of January James turned three. He is really growing up, in the past month or so he has become fully potty trained and has really started to show a greater maturity in many areas. That night we had some friends over, the one in the picture is named "Spencer". Interestingly enough Spencer's Dad knew Cheryl and her roomates when she was at Snow...it sure is a small world. This picture shows the wonderful excitement (see Abe's Face) that our children bring to our lives, even over simple things.

A couple days after New Years, the weather was so nice that we went ahead and went down to the beach at our Local Reservoir. We had a good time playing in the sand, but obviously didn't make our way down into the water. Not quite sure who the crazy guy is thats hanging upside down here

The kids love this beach because of the Giant mound of Sand to play in they love digging, and playing their version of King of the Mountain.

On New Years Eve Day we went to the Denver Children's Museum...little did we know it was going to be Jam packed...We had a good time playing around and Abe & Dad enjoyed Jumping on the Bubble Wrap (On the right hand side of the picture above). They used the kids jumping on the bubble wrap to replicate the sound of fireworks going off (they did it on the hour to kind of mock celebrate New Years').

That night we had some friends over and played Chutes & Ladders and UNO. After we got the kids to bed Hannah and I tried out a kind of stand alone version of the game "Dance Dance Revolution"...its pretty fun, but I think I had kind of an unfair advantage against a 6 month pregnant woman...Word has it Hannah wants a rematch after she has the baby and she is able to start training for the match-up.