house hunting MADNESS!!

Mike and I had a crazy day yesterday! We have been house hunting for about a week now with a realtor in Nampa. On Tuesday we went out and looked at a bunch of houses and there was one that i absolutely loved. We got pre-approved through a lender for enough to pay for this house that i loved and then went back to look at it yesterday. Well when we got there, the realtor got into the lock box and the key was missing. She called around and found out that the house had sold and that no one had bothered to update it in the systems! So i was really upset! I was in love with this house and now it was gone! Well we went back to her office to look and see if any new listing had come up. There were two more so we went to look at them.
The first was trashed! The people knew that they were gonna lose thier house and so they kicked in all the cupboards and recked the whole house! The next house we looked at was perfect! it was a cute house and the floorplan worked out great for us! But then i look out the back window and realized that the yard was like two feet wide and i couldnt deal with looking at a fence all day long out the window! I was pretty upset because Mike loved the house and i did too except for the yard! Then we realized that the house that is backed up to this ones yard was the very first house we ever looked at. So I asked if we could look at it again because the yard was HUGE! So we went inside and realized that it was the exact same floor plan minus a wall that was never put in to make the bedroom downstairs! Well my dad has built a house and so has mikes dad so we knew that they could put in this one wall for us! I was sold! I wanted this house so bad!!!! So we went back to her office to make sure that it was still available!
Well it was still available, but there were 7 other offers on the house and they were only accepting offers for another hour. And we had to be pre-approved through wells fargo because that is who the house was through! Stupid wells fargo! Well every person who could handle a mortgage loan was at a meeting in boise! and we only had an hour left! We couldnt get a hold of anyone but still wrote up an offer anyways hoping that we might be able to get it in! Well 20 min before it was due a WF person called us and just said that he knew Debbie and trusted her and if we were pre-approved somewhere else he would just write us a letter saying that we were through him too! Without even taking any information. So we got the offer in with not a second to spare!
Who knows if we will actually get it but it was a fun and exciting day trying to get this all done on time! We made a very strong offer that was 10000 over asking price, so we are hoping that we get accepted! I love this house! But with 7 other offers, who knows how high they offered for this house! I feel really good about it though!
So we will find out on Monday evening if our offer was accepted! If not, we will not get too upset because we know that the right house will come up! We have really been enjoying this whole process of searching for our home! Its kind of stressful but its so intense and exciting! So i will keep you posted on if our offer gets accepted!!!

We are all moved!

So we loaded up the uhaul last friday and left saturday afternoon for home. It did take us a while to drive back because the uhaul can only go so fast... but we were glad to be back home! We got all of our stuff into a room at my moms house on sunday and i was surprised that it all fit! I did have to leave my craft stuff out because i use it so much! but everything else fit into one room! Mike is still back in Pocatello because he has classes until tomorrow, but Maeli and I are settling in back here in Oregon!

I was kind of sad leaving pocatello! I never thought that i would be sad moving away from there, but i was! I have made so many good friends that i was having a hard time leaving behind! EMILEY!!! I MISS YOU!!! :)

So things are gonna start slowing down here soon i hope! Once mike gets back and he starts a regular schedule of clinicals it will be at least! But we are really looking forward to being done with school and finding a house this summer!!!

Maeli's first word

We have been trying to get Maeli so say mama or dada for the past few months... and today she finally spoke! Well she didnt exactly say what i wanted her to... but i guess that she has her priorities straight :) I got it on video right after she started talking so here you all go!

Christmas and the new year!

Hi everyone! my mom was begging for an update and some pictures and i have to agree that it has been a while since i have updated this :)

Well we got to go home for a full 2 weeks for Christmas! it was AMAZING! We had tons of fun with all of our family and got to see lots of friends too! Christmas eve we got to see some family out at my Marvin Grandparents house for dinner. My grandparents are much too generous and got us the whole getup for church. Mike got a new suit and he loots so good in it!! I got a few church outfits and some shoes!! and we both got new scriptures with our names on them and cases for them too! Maeli got a toy :) We felt very blessed to have gotten all of this stuff because we needed it badly!!

Christmas morning we got up bright and early as always at my parents house. We got up and played with the kids santa toys until mom and dad got up. Then we got to open presents galore! We got all sorts of books and movies for FHE and that are just great to have a round. We got this adorable measuring board from my mom for the kids growing up. I got some vinyl for my new cricut (i didnt know about yet), mike got white pants and a shirt for getting baptized in, and maeli toys... and tons of other stuff... we got spoiled this year for sure!!! oh and i got mike some weather toys as we all know he is obsesed with weather!

After we were done there, we headed over to mikes parents house where we had some breakfast and waited for Matt to get up :) Then we opened some presents. Maeli got some toys :) and she ate some paper too!! I got spoiled over there! I got some more vinyl, a jukebox for by cricut, my software for my cricut, and a cartridge for my cricut! And then mike surprised me with the pink cricut that i was begging for and he told me that i couldnt have and that i would have to wait till after christmas! It was so sweet of him to keep it a secret from me so that i could have a sweet surprise :) And we also got a lot of other great gifts as well from family!!

We got to got and see mikes aunt Jennifer and uncle Ken and cousin Megan! We always love seeing them! They are a hoot!!! And we got to see Brittany and her family a few times while we were there!

We left the day after the fiesta bowl because mike wanted to stay and watch it with is brother.

Then on the 9th was mikes baptism day! we were so blessed to have so much family down for that. My parents and younger siblings came, and Brittany and Adam and the kids came too! We also had tons of friends who came from rexburg and logan UT that night too! Maeli got an ear infection AGAIN that day! but we got her to the doc and got her some meds and still carried on with the night. Bryce got to baptize him and Brittany and Adam gave some great talks! Then we all stayed for some grub and had fun chattin!! It was a great night. The next day he got confirmed in church by my dad! It was just such a great weekend!!! Im so proud of mike for making this huge step! Maeli got a rash in church so we had to take her back to the doc because she was allergic to the penicillin. we got some new antibiotics and it was all good! She has been quite the handfull when it comes to health :) but we still love her!!

Not a whole lot has been going on since then. Maeli is starting to stand by herself for short amounts of time. She will be walking here soon im sure! I have just been enjoying my cricut and doing lots of crafts with it :) finding every reason to use it!! Oh and i joined Weight Watchers. Its not so much my new years resolution but a life time resolution to have better health. WW has been teaching me how to make healthy choices and to look at what is in food before i just eat it. Its crazy what all i was eating before. And i have started to work out again. I was doing really good before thanksgiving but then quit when we were traveling so much... so im back on track and im gonna lose this baby weight. I started another blog to track my progress... www.projectbabyweight.blogspot.com if you wanna cheer me on :) i know that i wont do it if im not accountable to someone so thats why im doing the blog :)

We are moving home soon too! we are getting excited for that! Only like a month and a half. And mike sold his car last night! That was a huge blessing. We used the money to pay off some student loans :) only like 13,000 more to go... we will get there someday! Well here are some pics from over the break!! Enjoy!

Snow Day

Daddy and Maeli went down the snow hill today. Mike just loves the snow and wants every chance he can get to go and play in it. So he took Maeli and dressed her up in her little snow suit and they went out to play! I stayed home because I really dont like the snow or the cold... i would rather stay inside and stay warm! Maeli wasnt very happy at first because she couldnt move in her snow clothes... but when they got back she was smiling and Mike said that she had a good time! I took her snow suit off of her when she got back and set her down to go hang it up and when i got back she was already passed out on the floor. Good job daddy for wearing the little ball of energy out!

Turkey Time!!

I just love getting to go home! We had so much fun with all of our family around us for the holiday! We were lucky to get to see mikes aunt Nancy her husband and kids who came from Eugene to visit! We also got to see a lot of the marvin family too!
So i have been begging mike to build me a cook book holder to go in my kitchen since my birthday and it finally got done! Mike and my dad spent a day in Grandpa Marvins wood shop building it for me! I got it hung on the wall as soon as i got home and it looks so good! It is exactly what i wanted!!!
On Thanksgiving, we got to have a late lunch with mikes family! It was amazing!! Then in the evening we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Marvins house for a huge family dinner. Well Maeli had a fever of 103 so we had to leave early and go into the ER. I was super sad that i didn't get to stay and visit more but I'm glad that we got Maeli looked at. She had another ear infection, this time in both ears. She also had some virus which left her with a high fever and a swollen soft spot for 4 days. it was a bummer that she had to be sick again but she is almost all better now. So here is a pic of Maeli at Grandma and Grandpa Rankins house eating her first thanksgiving dinner. It was chicken and sweet potatoes :)
On black Friday i had a great time with my momma! Her and i went out shopping at 3:30 and laughed way too much!! There were really funny people out there with their grumpy attitudes and we also almost got hit by a semi. it was scary and i wanted to say a few choice words... but mom wouldn't let me :) But i did get my cuttlebug!!! i was so excited! i also got a bunch of plates and folders for it! I have had so much fun crafting with it. Now all i need is a cricut and i will get all my scrap booking that i wanna do done.

On Sunday we got to go and say goodbye to my cousin who is leaving for chili on his mission. it was fun to get to see everyone and eat a great dinner my aunt Heidi made! We also got to see one of my best friends who lives in Florida! She was home visiting and so we went over to their new home and visited with her for a while. Then unfortunately we had to go home :( The drive wasn't too bad though!

Im so happy that i live close enough to go home and visit! We only have three months till we are home for good and i cant wait! It is going to be so nice to get to go to all of the family events and get to visit everyone when we want!

Recently Maeli started pulling herself up to stand. We went into her room to find her standing in her crib! It was so cute!!! Since she is crawling also, she is quite a hand full and we have had to put her in a play pen a few times to keep her contained :) She hates it and always tries to push her way out. And she has hit her head on about everything in our apartment! Poor girl looks abused from all of her bumps on her head :)Okay... so this is an absolute horrible pic of me! I was all ready for bed with no makeup or no hair done so im sorry! But it was just too cute that Maeli kept trying to give me kisses and so i had to share :) She has been really big into giving kisses lately! They are great slobbery ones too!!

Crawling, being sick, and knitting

This last week we noticed Maeli getting a little bit of a cold. It was no big deal, but a runny nose and a bit of a cough was all. Well on Saturday she started wheezing really bad and then in the afternoon she started gasping for air. This freaked me out! I had no idea what to do for her because she couldn't breath! So i called up my mom and asked her what to do, trying not to bawl my eyes out and to stay calm. She suggested that i go into an immediate care place since my doctor wasn't open. So i did! We rushed down to the closest one here in town and we luckily had no wait and got right in. The doc said that she had an ear infection from the cold as well as an upper respiratory tract infection. Basically her airways were swollen making it hard for her to breath is what i got from it. So she had a nebulizer delivered to our house and we went and got some meds for the ear infection and for the nebulizer and we have been giving that to her every 4 hours. I think its pretty cute since the mask is a dinosaur. She has been doing much better but still is a little wheezy.

Well after we started to get her the meds, she started to get some energy back! So the next day she started to crawl. She has been army crawling for a few weeks now and so its fun to see her really crawl. She still hasn't gotten in quite down all of the way but she can take a few real crawls and then she will fall onto her tummy. We are so proud of her though and cant believe how fast she has been growing up! Its a little sad but so exciting at the same time. We love our little girl so much and feel so blessed to have her in our family!!


Also when mike and i were home to see his grandparents, his grandma gave me a pattern for knitting and also some squares for quilting. well i havent gotten around to the quilt but i have gotten to do a few of the knitted kitchen clothes. they are so cute! I was very impressed with how they turned out! I think they are adorable too!!!

And here are just a few pics of our little girl growing up so fast!!!