Before and After

Lots of fun pictures...

This is the cake I made for 4th of July.  This was our 1st holiday together with out any other family and I wanted to do a little something so we could celebrate.  

 We went to this fun park on the 4th as well and played Frisbee and kicked a ball with Anna.  Aren't the parks up here gorgeous!

 Yes Kali was asleep so she stayed in her chair in the corner but I loved this picture of the trees.

Our 4th of July plates

 Hey Mom

 My little look alike.  I honestly haven't thought she looked like me much until I put her hair up like this.  Now I can see it but when she was a baby I didn't see it at all.

 Anna climbed to the top of this all by herself and I had to take a picture cause I just know how crazy she is.

 This is our living room before the movers brought everything in.

 All 3 bedrooms were empty.

 She was SO excited to see her bike.  She got right on it and started peddling I was very impressed.  She couldn't do that very well on her own before we left.

 Our living room after.

 Kitchen after.

 Room 1

 Still room 1

 We have a bed now!

 The girls room.

 The girls room still.

 We had the missionaries over for dinner and I made them rolls.  Anna was my little helper.  I'm glad she likes to help even if it's hard sometimes.

 Love it.Going to Costco in Style...I also posted this on Facebook.

 Fresh raspberries, yum...from Washington.

I want to note that Zach has officially been working for a month now here in Renton.  I can't believe that much time has gone by but at the same time it almost feels like it's been forever.  Now many people are probably wondering how it feels to be without any family.  Honestly I haven't minded not being with Family because I get way more time with my own family and with Zach and ya I'm selfish and I don't like to share but it's been really great to get to know my girls better and Zach.  The only hard thing is finding someone to watch my girls.  But we are finding some good friends and I think over time we will figure that out.  I wish my girls could play with there cousins but at least they get to skype family every now and again.  We also look forward to times we can be together with other family but overall I feel it's great to be here even if just for a few years.  Oh and I DO NOT miss the heat.  Honestly I would not choose to move to the Mesa ever again if we didn't have family there but only time will tell.  I will also have to see how I like the winter here.  

Finding a place to live 101

Okay so I decided since we have moved 4 times since we've been married and I moved 3 times before that that we are starting to become experts on finding a place to rent.  Now if it's buying a house I'm not sure that will ever happen but someday we will get there.
Okay so when we came up here we had a tour with a Realtor guy and he gave some really useful tips.  Okay so questions to ask when thinking about renting a place.

If it is an apartment here are things to look for:
-Is the front office organized and clean
-Do they answer the questions correctly and honestly
-Do they know all the answers to the questions that you ask?
-At the end of your contract will your rent be month to month or do you have to renew again for another year?
-Does the place share water with the whole unit or do they have your apartment individually metered.  If it is meter with other apartments a lot of times they will split it up evenly between the other people.  Which can be really bad because if someone else uses a ton of water you will end up paying part of that.
-Does it have new carpet?
-Does the apartment have new appliances?
-Do you get free parking or do you have to pay, is it covered?
-What level is it on? Do you really want to be on the top floor when you have to carry a ton of groceries up those stairs?  If you are single I would think it would be ideal but not with little kids.
-Where is the water heater? (What happens if the water heater floods the apartment?)
-Water pressure and also does the water stay hot for a long time so everyone gets a hot shower?
-Any rules about pool hours or any other amenities they have?
-Do they have a room you can use for parties or events? -If so is there a deposit and is it hard to get back.
-What does it cost if you have to break your lease?
-Are all repairs taken care of by the complex?
-Are trash and water included in the rent?  If separate how much is it/or has it been in the last year?
-Do you have to do an application?  If so how much does that cost?
-What is the total that you will have to pay to get into the apartment?
-Is your deposit refundable or is some of it non refundable.


Other things to consider if it is a house you want to rent.
-Are the people that you are renting from up to date on there mortgage, if they are they shouldn't be afraid to show you on paper.  You don't want an eviction notice to suddenly come up from a bank  (We've never done that but the Realtor suggested that)
-If you are in a hot climate how old is the AC unit, and what does a normal electric bill usually cost?
-If in a colder climate how do the heaters work?  Are they gas or electric?
-Will they do all the repairs or what are you in charge of?  (that should be a part of your lease)
-The address to the place should be on your lease.
-If you break your lease what will it cost or can you just find someone to replace you?
-Does the house have a yard and if so is it fenced in, is that a concern for you?
-Do you have to do the yard work or do they have someone to come do it for you?

-LAST BUT NOT LEAST MAKE SURE THE PLACE FEELS RIGHT....PRAY ABOUT IT AND MAKE SURE YOU FEEL GOOD ABOUT IT.  IT IS YOUR HOME AND YOU WANT TO FEEL LIKE YOU CAN MAKE IT FEEL LIKE HOME NOT JUST SOMETHING YOU HAVE TO LIVE IN FOR THE TIME BEING.

This may seem strange but it will be a good thing to reference if we end up renting somewhere else again.  Also some of these things may seem like a no brainer but it's always a good thing to review.  I also hope it will help someone who is looking for an apartment know what questions to ask.  If anyone has anything to add let me know I would love to make this a good list.

Kali's tooth/slug

Last night Zach found our first slug.  Even though it was outside on a box it was still just a little creepy.  I'm sure that we will probably see more of them in the future but I had to document it cause I've never seen one before.


Kali's 1st tooth has finally came through!  Yay!  It truly is exciting even though it kinda helps me realize that I don't have a little baby anymore.  She is still my baby but she is growing up so fast.  She is going to walk any day it seems like.  She already just stands in the open all by herself.  It's crazy to think my baby could walk.  I'm so ready for my bed to come though cause feeding her at night is a trip on an air mattress!  I feel bad cause I know I wake Zach up sometimes and I feel bad cause he has work but I don't really have a whole lot of options.

Still moving

Here are some pictures I've been needing to post.

 Us in the airport getting ready to say goodbye to Zach's family.

  So happy she didn't have to sit in this car seat for 25 hours of driving! Yay!

Anna's favorite, parks

 The Seattle temple!  Well it's actually in Bellevue but I'm excited we have a temple about 1/2 an hour from us.  

 This is a pretty cool park!  When it is warm enough, which I have no idea when that will be the kids can go swim right there in the water.  

 Most of you probably already saw this picture on Facebook but ya for new couches!  We are super excited and super blessed to have new couches.  

 She is so stinken cute!!!

 Pike's Place fish market.  We bought some fish and seasoning here and took it home and cooked it, yum!  Salmon will never be the same again, lol.  

 Cheese

 This was the little hotel we got to stay in for a week, and I was SO done with it by that time.  Ya we have to sleep on an air mattress now but we have our own room and we don't wake the kids up every time we talk.  

We are still not even close to done with our move and sometimes I just really want my stuff....but then I also realize how little we really need in life to survive and I wonder why do I have all this stuff?  Then I remember the times when I'm cooking a meal and I only have one pot so I can't cook most things I'm used to or when I need scissors and I don't have any, or tape, or a broom, or a vacuum, or my stroller, and the list can go on and on.  When you are forced to only live with the 12 bags you brought with you everything you do is limited. It really helps me appreciate the pioneers and what they went through.  Hopefully our stuff will come in a week, but it could be 2 weeks, oh well.  

Our move to Seattle this far

Wow!  What an adventure this is already and it's just beginning!  We are finally here but we are living with the 12 bags we took with us on the plane plus 2 car seats, and yes I said 12 bags!!!!!  It was nuts, but we did it.  We couldn't have done it without a friend of our that was on our flight, Sharon Whitener.  So we get to the airport and Zach's family came to say bye.  They helped us get all the luggage figured out and checked in.  We then had to carry the rest of the 4 carry-ons and the few hand bags we had.  We get to security super fast which was a blessing but getting through was a trip.  I haven't flown in a while so I forgot that you have to put your liquids in a separate bin.  So here I am scrambling through 4 bags to get all the liquids out and I don't remember where anything is because we just kind of threw stuff in the bags.  Once we have done that our stuff is EVERYWHERE!  I was feeling really bad for the people behind us, but what are you suppose to do when Anna wants to run and I'm carrying Kali and Zach is carrying 3 bags and trying to keep Anna close?  We did it but it was insane.  Good thing I wore shorts that didn't need a belt cause I didn't need that too!  Once I went through the medal detector the guy had to check my hands for metal and I also had to stand there for a few minutes probably because I looked frantic!  What do you expect when I'm carrying one kid and trying to keep track of another one.  We finally get on the plane and Anna only saw the take off, she was out after like 10 minutes and slept through the landing....isn't that nuts!  When we took off she said she was scared but she did really good.  Kali also slept most of the way on either of our laps.  When we got to the airport to find our bags Sharon offered to help take half of our luggage to the place we were staying.  I don't think we could have done it without her because all of our bags wouldn't have fit in our rental car for sure.  We would have had to take at least 2 trips.  I felt super bad though because she took off to our hotel and had to wait for us because they wouldn't just let them drop our stuff off.  We hurried as fast as we could but had to take a bus to the rental car place and then try to carry everything to our car after that.  We just were SO grateful for her and the huge blessing that it was to not have to try to go back and forth to the airport.

Today we have been apartment hunting and we realize that we may have to be in a way smaller place then we would like but I guess that is part of the adventure.  I would love to be in a home but I'm afraid with the time we have that may not be possible.  I just hope and pray that the Lord will guide us to where we need to be.  It's hard to know what to do at this point.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!  I'll be honest for some reason Zach always does crazy fun things for me on Mothers day and Valentines Day seems to just be a blur, I guess in part cause he is usually in the thick of school and it's hard to find time to do anything special together.  But this year he bought me an iphone.  I couldn't believe it.  We have talked about wanting something like this when we move to Seattle because we need to have a way to figure out where we are going.  It will also be nice to be able to find restaurant and any store we are looking for.  I didn't really want to pay extra for the plan but I think we will enjoy having a fun phone, and yes I would say that it is in part Zach's present as well.  I guess I get the iphone because Zach says he would be on it too much if he had it, and it's so true.  I don't get addicted to things that that like he does.

I wanted to share a little story about a Mother I met the other day.  Zach and I bought something on craigs list and we went and picked it up from this guys house.  We had to wait a while to get everything set up correctly but while waiting I talked to this guys girlfriend who had 2 kids and was super sweet.   The crazy thing is she had tattoos all over and she was drinking wine I'm pretty sure when I was there and they both smoke but only outside cause there house really didn't smell like smoke.  But she loves her kids and she told both of them several times when we were there that she did.  They have fun family pictures hanging up in there house and she told me that they try to do the best they can with what they have.  She was so polite to Anna and talked to me like I was her long lost friend.  I believe there are many amazing woman and specially Mothers in this world and I believe that if we will all use our talents and skills to the best of our ability that we can be the people Heavenly Father wants us to be.  As a member of the Lords true church I feel that being a Mom is by far the greatest calling Heavenly Father could give me.  I'm so blessed to be a Mother and I couldn't imagine life without both my beautiful girls!  I'm so grateful for my Mom and for my Grandma's and all the woman in my life who have taught me so much about what it means to be a good Mother.  Happy Mothers Day everyone!

This is our new VAN!  Yes it's a mini van and yes it screams mormon but well it also is the most practical thing we could buy and we are very excited about it.  Growing up I never wanted a mini van but well I guess being a Mom has changed lots of things about my life.  I really think we are going to like this van!