Home Owners!!

Our lease was going to end in February, so we had to decide whether or not to renew. We thought we'd just contact a realtor our friends had recommended and look around a little. So in December we went and looked at three houses. While we were looking at these three (uninspiring) houses, I pointed out to our realtor another house in the same neighborhood that was "coming soon." It was a house I had seen when I went to check out this neighborhood with the kids on our bikes. We were checking out the neighborhood because we'd seen a house online that we liked. Aaron and the kids had driven by and really liked the neighborhood. So I went to check it out (on the bikes) and saw this outwardly lovely "coming soon" house. Then I pointed it out to the realtor when we were in the neighborhood. She called the sellers' realtor then and there. And she said we could get in to see the house after Christmas. 

So all during Christmas, I kind of dreamed about this house. I told family about it and just imagined what it might be like inside. I felt drawn to this house. I liked the neighborhood and the exterior. The day after we got home from Christmas vacation, I went with the realtor to see it. And the dream house turned out to be a dream! I really, really liked it! Aaron did, too. So this was only the 4th house we saw, but we decided to put an offer on it. The rest is history (and also recorded in my journal, so I won't bore you with the details here.)

As I'm typing this out, I am thinking how similar it is to when I was shopping for a husband:) I remember it was right before Christmas I was feeling kind of bored with life, looking for some renewal (like our lease). I went with my roommate McKelle (my realtor) and her boyfriend Trustin to hand out some leftovers from a ward activity. We ended up at Aaron's apartment. I was like, where have you been all my life? (visiting the neighborhood) I developed a crush on him right there. I looked him up in the ward directory (like zillow, redfin, etc.) and basically started stalking him. Shortly after Christmas, I went to visit my sister Felicia and told her that I was interested in this guy Aaron. And I tried to find opportunities to flirt with him. During the summer, I went home and thought a lot about Aaron even though I didn't know him that well, (like when I hadn't even seen the inside of the house) and when I came back in the fall, we started dating. Then he made an "offer" and...bam! Married. Apparently I'm really good at the whole love-at-first-sight thing.

So here's our house. 

I just love the bent tree in the front yard. It helps to give the house character, no?

Will I like having this one, big, living/eating/cooking room? In theory, I do. In reality, it's kind of depressing to always be able to see your dirty dishes. Good thing there's a deep sink! But I do like not having to leave the action in the living room in order to stir something in the kitchen. 

Cutest half-bath ever!

Upstairs toy/game room

Master bedroom and bathroom (which are upstairs)

Scotty's Room

Annie's Room

Kids' Bathroom

Guest room (Come visit us!!)

Laundry Room (also upstairs)

The backyard has been awesome! The kids really do play out there a lot. And I love seeing the trees. I think it will be even cooler when they are full of leaves. 

There definitely is a different feeling to owning a house instead of renting it. I thought it would be easier...this is my house, I can do whatever I want! But it's more stressful in a way...how will that affect our resale value? Yet it also naturally gives you more love and commitment to the house to be the owner. I'm happy to be here. I'm feeling really grateful for my blessings. The house is great! But it's already very clear that this house is not my greatest blessing. The people who live in it are. And I already know that we can be happy anywhere...I know we aren't going to be any happier here than we were in our 700 ft square basement apartment in Provo. It really is the love and the people that make a home.  

Birthdays and Haircuts

I turned 32 last month. It's so nice, somehow, to be 32 instead of 31. A nice, even number. For my birthday we helped with the Pinewood Derby and went out for Italian food. And then we bought a cake at Walmart. Also, ladies from my ward were so nice. They made me feel special. 

Behind us, please notice our laundry/food storage room in all of its glory. Glad we have that preserved for posterity.

Sometime, somehow, I convinced Annie to cut her hair. Her long locks were lovely, but also required a lot of maintenance to look good. She wasn't really interested in cutting it until I told her she could donate the hair that she cut off. That's Annie...she doesn't want to throw anything away, but she loves to give things away.

 Taking the picture, I said, "Don't do that with your face. Just try to look normal." She said, "It's hard to look normal when you're holding your hair!!" Fair enough.

More Family Pictures

Over Christmas we had family pictures taken with the Dennis clan.

@ashleyyoungphotography

Party, Recital, and Play

Before Christmas, the kids sang at a senior citizen event had a little co-op party. We did a gift exchange and made gingerbread houses. Our co-op is called Kid Tribe. It has been great this year. Scotty and Annie have such good friends there. And I love all the moms.

Annie also had a Christmas recital. She has been making a lot of progress in piano. Her teacher makes her use a metronome. Annie wasn't a huge fan of that at first, but now she very happily practices with it. Her songs were Carol of the Bells and Silent Night. And the teacher and I played Sleigh Ride. So fun!

We also made a Saint Lucia outfit for Annie for a homeschool activity. Isn't she cute?

Annie was also in a kids' version of A Christmas Carol. She played Mrs. Fezziwig and Mrs. Cratchit. She did a great job. She's very expressive on stage.

Christmas

Christmas is really fun as a parent. As a kid, you are super excited for what feels like years and years. Then you start to grow up, and your excitement dims as your age increases. How lucky that the excitement returns as we anticipate our kids' excitement.

We did Christmas in our own home this year. Tickets to Utah were cheapest on Christmas day, so we flew out at 6:30 pm and had most of the day to do our own thing and then go be with family for the week. On Christmas Eve day, Aaron and I told the kids we would not use electronic devices of any kind. They were excited about that. And it is really, really good to disconnect once in a while. I have a testimony of doing that. So we had lots of quality time. We did our traditional Sandberg dinner with rice pudding and caramel rolls. This was actually the third time this year that I had made rice pudding. Once for co-op kids to try when we were talking about Denmark. Then for our ward Christmas party (The whole bowl got eaten. I was kind of surprised.) And then for Christmas. I'm like a professional rice pudding maker.

Scotty did not like the rice pudding. We told him he had to take three bites of it and thus nearly ruined Christmas. He would put it in his mouth and start gagging and saying he couldn't swallow it. Once he walked to the garbage and spit it out. We didn't count that bite. There were tears and gnashing of teeth. But there was also character building. We hope.

The kids went to bed, and Aaron and I set up everything so that it would look magical on Christmas morning. It was so fun! Being a mom is wonderful. We felt happy with how things turned out. And it was just so great to share the experience with my husband. Being a wife is wonderful.

Annie made some homemade presents. The one she gave me came in three parts. I opened each part separately and then got these instructions. It was a Merry Christmas sign for the front porch.

The first part of the gift was a cardboard tray for holding cans. It had been painted red and green and had a hole poked through it. The second piece was an empty wrapping paper tube. You stick that into the hole in the tray. Then you put the sign on top. It was my favorite.

After a magical Christmas morning, we drove to the airport. Everyone was very cheerful, and we had a direct flight to SLC. Such a miracle to get from Texas to Utah in a mere 3 hours. Isn't it great to live in a modern age?

We had so much fun being with the Dennis clan. We were all there together. It was really fun. We went sledding and made slime and watched movies and played Pandemic and went bowling and took family pictures and opened presents and ate good food.

Someone to play chess with? Best cousin ever!

After our lovely time with the Dennises, we drove south to be with the Olveras and Halls. We did New Year's Eve and Day with them. It was so nice to see everybody! What wonderful people!

We also had a quick catch-up with the aunties and the Lewises. So glad we got to see them! We felt so blessed to be with family at Christmas-time. And we're glad to be back in Texas where it isn't freezing cold.