Lack of Blogging

Okay I am going to explain the REAL reason for lack of blogging. WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!! Here is the story: Once upon a time Erin fell in love with Hidden potential on HGTV. As Justin moved our family to a small retirement community the house of Erin's dreams was not to be seen. (or at least under a million dollars) Erin looked and looked at neighborhoods, and different homes. She finally found one on the internet that was the right size for this growing young family. When she went running to find it, the pictures on the internet were not right, how could this be? Then internet was always right! After calling, she learned of the exact location and reason for no sign... it was a foreclosure. She looked and looked at it over several months, loving the location more and more. One weekend the price dropped again, this time it was time to find a way to get inside and see if it was worth all the hassel.

After calling, no one would let her in, so her incredibly smart and gadget oriented 3 year old opened the lock box and brought her the keys. Once inside, there was no smell of smoke, just old house, and TONS of HIDDEN POTENTIAL. All weekend they prayed and felt good that this was the house to raise the itty bitty children. On Monday, the bold call was made to find out how to place an offer on the house. Their dreams of raising itty bitties in the home was shattered when they learned that there were already two offers.

"No Fear" says Justin as he decides that we should also place an offer on this diamond in the rough. So the young couple decides to place an offer on this FORECLOSURE with potential, only to find that the house was won by the highest bidder.

As the weeks wore on, and the sad news dwelled in their hearts for the loss of this home, they found ways to get amazing loans for Dr.'s (thank you Bank of America). They also continued to save money and enjoy the hunt for another diamond in the rough.

One week the phone rang, and to much of their suprize it was not a telemarketer, it was actually the real estate agent calling to tell them that the other offer fell through. They rejoiced with great excitement and quickly placed another offer. After bartering multiple times, the bank finally relented to this poor young couple, giving them the diamond in the rough at a price they can afford.

Now this young couple has owned the house for a short time, you may recognize them by their terrible smell, large blisters, and paint in their hair. They are smiling from ear to ear with excitement for this adventure and uncovering the diamond.

More to come, as the adventure continues.

This was the best Christmas YET!! Having kids makes Christmas that much better. This year Brayden was so excited to sit on Santas Lap and tell him what he wanted. He wanted to read the baby Jesus story 100 times, and wanted to do all of the traditions of Christmas. It was fun to be with family and share this fun time.
While everyone was unwrapping presents, this is what camden was doing. I really don't know why we bother with getting him anything anyways. He was more excited about the dog crate than anything else.

Brayden was has wanted a vacuum that was just his size for over a month. He told santa, and he brought him one. He was so excited and asks to vacuum daily. If you ask me, santa can bring these kind of gifts every year. Santa brought one that works great and is light enough for him to carry up and down the stairs.

Gingerbread houses. The tradition that is always a mess and brings out tons of candy for the kids. Notice both of my boys have their hands in their mouths. They were so excited for all the candy, most of it didn't make it onto the gingerbread house. It's all about the memories, right? :)

After a fun day in the mountains with about 3 feet of snow, we drove down to the beach to enjoy the sand castles. We have seen the beach multiple times now, but it was so different on the California beaches. The family from Idaho were so excited to experience the sea shells and sounds/smells of the ocean.

We had smores on the beach and enjoyed the fun of a campfire. It was new to have cement fire pits.

The beach we went to was the same beach that our good friend Brett Webley works by. It was fun to meet up with Brett and catch up. It was fun to remember all the good times in Maryland.

Oh, the sand castles. I wish I had a dollar for every sand castle we have made since this summer. Our kids will just sit there for hours making one, and then camden ruins it and Brayden insists on starting another. They love the sand and digging. Good thing, because Oregon has plenty.

I have completely forgotten about updating our blog. I appologize. I have been so busy with so many other things... one of which was reading everyone elses blogs. It looks like everyone had a fun holiday season. We had tons of fun in California. We went to visit Justins brother and it was a fun trip. I am going to break it into a few posts because I can.

One day we went up to the mountains to play in the snow. It was tons of fun, and ended in a huge snowball fight. This is Denali, and she just got creamed by Justin with a snowball.

This is the crew that was in California for the holidays. We had a fun time catching up.

These are all the cute cousins getting warm by the fire after the snow ball fight.

Okay,this is Camden (in blue) sitting next to his cousin Elias. Do they look like brothers or cousins. They are both bright blonde, and blue eyed little guys that are about the same height and 6 months difference in age. They had fun stealing toys from eachother... (Thats how they play at this age right? )

We walked into our room to help the boys get dressed and this is what we saw. Love the creativity Brayden. Kids will always have a mind of their own right. :)