Home buying sucks!

Life has finally settled down a bit. 

We moved into our new house last week and it has been such a relief! 

We ended up having to move out of our trailer last November (2012) because there was beginning to be a mold issue. We knew we had to keep the windows wiped and keep our dehumidifier on, and we thought that was working. Until we started to notice it more and more. Then we started looking for it and realize there was a lot of mold in there. We piled into my in-laws house. All four of us in one room... our mattress covered the whole floor with the girls on a futon and a spare bed. It was ridiculous! We shared one bathroom with 3 other people. The bathroom part was actually not really that bad, since we all had different schedules. Only a few nights were we overlapping. 

We were trying to buy a house at that time, with 5 acres of yard we really wanted and a 4 bedroom manufactured home that needed to be fixed up quite a bit, but nothing we couldn't handle. The worth was in the yard. We bid on that, but lost out on it. 

Then, about a week later, we found another home in the city we live in that we liked. This one was a HUD home as well. We bid on this one, and got it! Yay. After 2 months of people not doing there job, we FINALLY got denied. UGH! We searched for another home. 

Ian was on his way here, so we decided it would be easier for us to live with my parents. Since they had 2 rooms for us and our own bathroom. This situation worked out so much better for us. 

There was one home I had seen and been wishing for since the beginning of looking that I wanted, but it was about $20,000 over our budget. My dad (our real estate agent) said lets just go look at some. We looked at this one and a bunch of others. And narrowed our results down. We decided to go ahead and make an offer on the home we wanted that was out of budget. And within the weekend they accepted... no counter at all! Which we were completely surprised about. We thought we could close the deal within 3 weeks! We couldn't wait!! 

Things were crazy. Our original closing date was Feb 8th. One week before my doctors due date for me and 2 weeks before my due date for me. PERFECT TIMING! 

Well, the lender we ended up working with, literally got "tired of working with us" and just denied us. After we already got an extension with the sellers. I was SOOO over house buying by this time. There had been so many ups and downs. We decided to pull the plug. Search for a stick built house and not a manufactured home. (There are so many more obstacles to overcome with manufactured homes). We found one that would do. But we had to have our bid in within 2 days. The selling agent of the other home told my dad before we pull the plug on this home we really want, to try a guy she knows. We debated and decided yes, we really wanted this home, let's give it one more shot. What could it hurt.... 3 weeks later we are finally homeowners of our perfect starter home!! YAY!!! 

This was so stressful. 

Tested our marriage out for sure. 

Thankfully, we are still together!! lol. 

It is amazing to finally be in our own home!!! 

This summer will be 7 years of marriage for us. 7 years and 3 kids later, we finally got our own place!! It is amazing! I LOVE it soo much! 

We, of course, are still setting up and such, but it has been great! 

Long winded post, but now I will be able to post before and after pictures of our house as I decorate it!

 WOO HOO!! :)

IT'S A.......

Omgoodness! 

Waiting for the results was torture!! 

We had the ultrasound tech write down what it was and close it up.

I took it to my friend Brittany to make us a cake.

The cake turned out perfect!!

When they walked in with the cake, I felt the nervousness go throughout my whole body!

This was FINALLY it!!!

 Then the time came...

Sooo nervous!

And......

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!

I can't believe it!!! 

I was SURE the cake was going to be pink inside!

Now what am I going to do?!?! :)

Big News!

Ah! Hello again! 

Been wanting to write for a while now. Finally doing it! 

I have big news to share! 

The Lord has blessed us with another child! 

I am 19 weeks pregnant with our 3rd! Yay!! :)

This one was definitely a surprise, but one we are most welcoming to! 

We are going to find out what it is. Next Friday. 

I honestly don't have a preference for a boy or girl. 

I have decided that if it was only me that was important, I think I would want another girl, but it isn't. 

So that makes me seriously undecided. 

I am petrified to have a boy! For real! 

What do you do with one....??

I am a pro with girls. Not boys.

Although Ryan is a little outnumbered! Haha.

Too much estrogen around here.

(Poor guy when the girls are teenagers!! He's in for it!)

He definitely need a boy!

God knows what is best for our family!

We are doing a gender revealing party after the ultrasound. 

We are going to have the ultrasound tech write down what it is and then seal it in an envelope. 

(We won't know still!)

I am going to drop it off with a friend who is going to make us a cake. 

The inside will be either pink or blue.

At my sister and dad's birthday party that night we are going to cut the cake and find out what it is! 

:)

Oh boy! 

On another note.

Trailer life is going well. 

Used to it now for sure. 

Dream of our property all the time, but have to wait.

We have decided to get some credit (Ryan had none).

And that we are going to have to take out a loan for most of it. 

Not our original goal, but realized that it is what we are going to have to do.

Especially now with our 3rd on the way.

I had a dream last night that we found 50 acres of land and a beautiful house on it... 

for $40,000!!!! Hahaha! If only!

Wouldn't that be nice!?

The girls are growing up like crazy!

Getting to be soooo much fun! 

They play together so well.

We love to watch them interact with each other!

Natalie is such a big sister to Brooke! 

Always making sure she doesn't get out of line.

Then again.

What are big sisters for?! :)

They love to talk to the baby in my belly and give it kisses. 

Melts mamas heart!

I will end with some pictures. :)

Bath Time:

I love to see Ryan interact with the girls! 

He loves them so much!

Here are a few of him with Brooke:

 The girls fell asleep like this on the couch:

 Daddy and Natalie:

Will write again soon! :)

Healthy Chocolate

Um, all I can say is this is so easy and amazing! 

And without further ado...

Healthy Chocolate

(I don't remember where I got this recipe... I thought I bookmarked it. Sorry)

1 Tablespoon of Coconut oil

1 1/2 Tablespoons Agave Nectar

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

Melt Coconut oil

(This is my second batch it was so good... I times the recipe by like 4!)

Then stir in the rest of the ingredients... and put it in a container with saran wrap and put it in the freezer!

It turned out like the consistency of  fudge. But I guess if you lessen the Agave Nectar it will be harder. 

Next time I will try honey in place of the nectar. 

You're welcome! :)

Update and some healthy yummy treats

Ahh! Hello! I can't believe it is already May! Dang, this year has flown by! There have been so many changes going on in our life this last year! 

First off, and most importantly, my relationship with the Lord has grown so much! It has been amazing seeing what the Lord is doing in my life and the life of my husband! The Bible study I am doing with some women from our church has been such a blessing! God has been teaching me the duties of a woman, wife and mother. I am learning how to submit to my husband and take care of the needs of my children and my home! I am more confidant then ever about my place in the home with my children! 

We have been going through Becoming A Woman Who Pleases God. It is on the Proverbs 31 woman. I would recommend it to you for yourself just to read or in a Bible study of woman to go through! Love it! We are on our last chapter this 2 weeks. 

My relationship with my husband is growing deeper with both of us desiring to serve the Lord with all our hearts and might! He has been teaching me a lot about our God and King! I love him more and more everyday! 

Third, Our eating habits are so totally different it is awesome! We now drink raw milk from a local farm, use free range eggs, grass fed meat, no preservatives or added ingredients as much as possible and we joined a CSA for organic, local produce that starts for the summer season in a month! I have gone through our cabinets and fridge and gotten rid of any and everything with added ingredients in it... Well, I couldn't bare to waste it all, so I tried to eat a lot of it so it wasn't going to waste. But either way, it's gone! And gone for good! :) I home make any treats we want to eat from the store or just can't part with... like my husband and Homemade cheese crackers or cheese its. Obviously, I substituted the flour with fresh ground whole wheat flour. Or the other day we made these amazing churros! Same thing with subbing, but I did use sugar, organic. And deep fried them in peanut oil. Next time I will do them in my deep fryer. It was really hard to keep the temperature right in a pan! Here are the pictures of mine:

We devoured them! 

Seriously!

There would have been more, but Ryan and I couldn't keep our hands out of them while we were making them! :)

Basically, we are still eating most everything we used to eat, just the healthy version of it! Which has been nice because we don't feel deprived! I still bake. I just use healthy substitutes and use honey or Stevia for my sugar. 

Stay tuned for healthy chocolate that you SHOULD be eating every day! :) I know, there is no such thing... YES there is!! :)

Easter Pictures(better late then never)

A little late in posting pictures form Easter... oops. Oh well. 

Here they are:

(Just figuring out what was in the eggs!)

Natalie with Aunt Amy

Brooklyn with papa Joe

Looking at a ladybug 

Our Family

LOVE

Me and my man!

My sister and I

Ahh it was a beautiful day! 

And I will leave you with a "verse for the day"

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ."

Philippians 3:20

Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Banana and Chocolate!

We went on a trip to see some friends from church that live about an hour and a half away. It was a nice quiet ride there since Brooklyn slept most of the way and Natalie just played with her "monkey sock" I made them. (tutorial coming soon)

It worked out perfect for timing with sleeping. On the way there she got half her afternoon nap and on the way home she got the other half! 

Baked Oatmeal with Strawberries, Banana and Chocolate

So, the other morning I made this wonderful Baked Oatmeal! 

It put together really quick and came out soooo  yummy!! 

I will make this again for sure!  

Here is the recipe. 

Ahh! I love Pinterest!  

Follow me here if you want! :)