Alex turns 5!

These are a bit late too - but oh well. Alex wanted a tractor cake and here's what it came out as.

Here's his early birthday party/joint welcome home Dani party.
He loves him some Thomas!

Grandma Doris and Grandpa John took us out to eat at Texas Roadhouse a few days later.

Sitting on the saddle

Now enjoying the ice cream.

Here he is with his Preschool 5 year old crown.

Dani's Home (6 weeks ago :)

Ok, so these are all in reverse order because it won't let me rearrange them. My sister Danielle got home from an 18 month LDS mission to Charlotte NC. So even though these are late - here's some pics from us picking her up at the airport. We are so happy to have her home!

update on our homelessness

Ok, so we have sold the house, moved in with Ben's parents for a whopping 3 days, moved again - into our basement apartment (that has no sun light - Mindy I have NO idea how you did it for 3 years) and finally decided what we are going to do with ourselves. Yay!

After going out with our realtor once - looking at 3 houses (two of those being short sales)- we decided it wasn't for us. We had looked into building and even had a few places picked out. So we started to talk to builders and see what we could work out. We had a few requirements

1. It had to be in a good school district

2. It had to be close to Ben's work - so he could still come home for lunch

3. It needed to be in a good neighborhood

4. It needed to have a big back yard for my crazy boys to run around in

5. And we needed it to be within our budget

So, honestly we didn't think all of those needs were going to be met. We talked with 2 builders who were building in communities that we both really liked. But one came out to being just a better all around deal.

So after signing all the paperwork we got

1. A fabulous elementary school a mile away

2. An extra 3 minute commute for Ben

3.A wonderful neighborhood that is still growing

4. .36 acre lot

5.And a snug but workable budget.

We feel so blessed to have been able to provide this opportunity for our family. We really hope the next few months go by without too many hiccups but we know what matters is our family's well being and not where we live.

We're moving!!!

So about 6 weeks ago Ben and I had a crazy idea - let's make our lives way more insane then they already are - let's sell the house!!! So we got our realtor over here and checked everything out and a week later we had it up. A week and a half later we had an offer (way low) we countered and they decided to let it fall through. Another week and half went by and we got another offer (on my birthday! and it was cash (we like cash) but they wanted to close in two weeks (we also like time to get things packed.)) Even though things would be super rushed we decided this was the offer that really couldn't get any better. So we accepted and now are 3 days away from closing. So far everything has gone pretty smoothly. Our inspection came back with only a few problems that we are able to get fixed. And we have most of our stuff packed - we just need to move the big stuff into storage.
We're not sure what we're going to do from here. We've talked about building but where ever we go we have to be in by the summer because Alex starts Kindergarten this year and we want time for him to make friends. We feel that this was a good decision for our family, no matter how far away my sanity has run. But where ever we do land it will be where we need to be and we just keep telling that to ourselves over and over and over :)

What can I do?

What do I do with a boy who takes a cat, locks the cat and himself in a bathroom and then combs toothpaste into the cat's hair with his toothbrush? But who the day before was so stinkin' cute, wanted people to play "Hide and Peek" with him.

My non-dancers

So I've tried for years to get Ben to go dancing with me. Every time he seems to find a way out of it. So when we found out the city has a family Valentines dance I told him we were going to it and he would have to have fun. Well the first two years he secretly planned things so they "happened" to be on the same day as the dance, but this year I made sure he wasn't going to get out of it. I even started telling the boys that we were going out dancing. Alex must have gotten Ben's non-dancing genes cause for 3 days all I heard was, "Mom, I can't dance with you. I'll just sit on the chairs with Aunt Lindsey."
So we got there and I couldn't believe how many people were there. More than I thought would show up to a city sponsored event. They had a live band (which rocked!) and cookies (the boys LOVED!) and fun streamers and balloons everywhere. So I finally got Ben onto the dance floor and realized why he had been putting this off for so long lol. I think we'll be signing up for some dance classes soon. But we had a great time. I even got Alex out there and we boogied! On our way home Alex said, "Mom, that wasn't so bad."

Sledding and Steph

We thought there was no better way to start out the new year than to go sledding. So we packed everyone up and went to a local golf course where the hills are steep and you can really get some air.

Here's Mike Lindsay and Alex climbing back up the hill.

Ben and a very bundled up Spencer.
Alex is getting a ride back up the hill from Uncle Mike.

Here's Steph after she biffed it.

Alex and I getting ready to go down.

Later at the house Steph and Izzy are sporting flowers.

WE thought we'd have a girls lunch out while Steph was still here.

Spencer was loving the bread!!

Mom and Sarah

Alex said he was cold so he put his jacket back on and was trying to cuddle up with Aunt Lindsay.

Now he wants Grandma too.

The night before Steph was leaving we had a pizza party and found some fun music to listen to. Ha ha ha. Only the Condie's can REALLY enjoy Elvis music.

We had lots of fun with the puppies and too soon it was time to say goodbye.

Bye bye aunt Stephie!!! Love you!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy 100th Post!

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Nice and quiet and low key.... it was perfect. My camera pooped out on Christmas Eve so with the help of my sister and brother in law we got my pictures off my memory card and then put it into a borrowed camera so we could get all the fun pictures until Ben and I could get another camera. Thank you Lindsay and Ryan!

So here are our holiday pics.

Here is me and Mya. This is the one of Mike and Lindsay's puppies. She's super cute and ready to explore. This one is going to Lindsay's sister in AZ.

Here's Alex with all the puppies.The boys are playing with Grandma Bonnie's Thomas Train that goes around her tree.

Here are my boys playing. Love them!

Here's the tree before any of the boys got up.

Dad and Spencer. He is not a morning person.

Alex enjoying a treat as he opens his present from his Preschool teacher Miss Jennifer.

Alex is loving his movie "Babe"

Notice something different about Ben? He finally got contacts! Yea! No more getting poked in the eyes when we kiss. He's also enjoying Stephie's presents from Alaska.

Steph got Izzy some fur lined booties.

And dad got his signed copy of the Sarah Palin book. We all got a real good laugh at that.

Grandma trying to wrap up Spence.

Grandma got each of the couples a remote controlled helicopter. Spencer was in love with them and just laughed every time they came down. He would run over to it and try and smother it. As you can see it took a few people to keep him away from them :)

Mike is practicing his skills.

And Spencer just giggling at them.

We also got to talk to Dani for the last time before she comes home in April. It seems so short but feels like so long since she was here. We talked to Stephie as well. She's coming in New Year's Eve and gets to stay a week before she heads back and gets ready for her training to be deployed to Iraq in April.

We love our family and are grateful for the time we were able to spend with all of them over the last few weeks. Hoping 2010 will be a wonderful and safe year for everyone.

What Alex likes

I just asked Alex what he wanted to eat this week cause I'm making up my grocery list. He said he didn't know, so I asked him what we eat that he likes and he says, "I like to eat at Grandma's house. We eat Mac and Cheese and cottage cheese and cheese........ oh yeah and salad." Anything with cheese in it and Alex is up for it. Now I know why he gets along so well with Aunt Lindsay. Cheese addicts.

This never happens

On a really really good day I'll get one of my boys to take a nap. But never both on the SAME day at the SAME time. Well here is proof that miracles happen. Both boys asleep - in their own rooms. At least Alex made it to his bed.

My cute sleeping babies.