Matt's Trip

Matt Here.

from a hotel in Austin....

I finally got an internet connection, so here's a quick post.

I drove all Saturday and Sunday, got here Sunday afternoon, unloaded the truck into a storage unit on Monday, and started work on Tuesday. Driving the truck was slow going (never over 60, often under 45 up hills).

130 gallons of diesel, $300

food, drinks and a hotel, $80

stopping only for gas every 5 hours, priceless.

Holding my breath...

I have been too nervous to blog much as of late. It seems like every time I say something out loud, something goes crazy. Today we are waiting for the appraisal man to come through to prevent any delays in closing...if he continues with his MIA status, who knows what'll happen. You know what the lamest thing about buying and selling a home is? Everyone gets a chunk of the pie, and yet they aren't held responsible for making things happen on schedule, FRUSTRATING TO NO END!

So until I'm out of this house officially, and into our new one, I think I'll avoid blogging all together, maybe I wont change my socks or wash my clothes either, I'd rather rely on superstitious nonsense then any of these other people who are getting paid to make this happen! argh...

Matt's List

Matt Here.

Reading Christa's post, I've been thinking of a list of things I may or may not miss.

1. Cursing snow plows.
2. Cursing Utah drivers.
3. Throwing water at the neighbor's barking dog in the middle of the night.
4. Pulling the E-brake around icy corners to see Christa's reaction.
5. News coverage of the gang activity at the intersection around the corner from my house.
6. Having a swamp cooler on my roof.
7. Morning glory, and trying to hide it from potential home buyers.
8. Pounding on doors because no one can hear their doorbell from the basement.
9. "Upgrading" to vinyl siding.
10. Calling animal control because my neighbor has roosters.
11. The painfully akward half time shows of David James, Pace Mannion and Thurl Bailey

Firsts and Lasts

As things move along with our move, we are starting to experience some of our 'lasts' here in Utah.
Here are some that make me a little sad:

My last shift working in the ER.
My last girl's night.
Our last trip to the zoo.
Our last Sunday at church.
Our last outing to Wheeler Farm.
Our last walk with the walking group.
My last haircut from Sheena.
Our last trip to the library.

It has all come together so quickly, and should everything go according to current plans, all of these lasts will be completed in 11 days time...

But with all these lasts will come new firsts, and these are some I'm looking forward to:

Walking through my new house for the first time.
Attending our new ward.
Having a winter without shoveling snow (not that I've ever really done it truthfully,but I'll be glad Matt doesn't have to!)
Making new friends.
Finding new parks and places to take Lexi on warm days.
Welcoming baby #2 into our world.
Visiting some other Texas cities around us. (San Antonio, Dallas, etc)

And even though I have to remind myself to calm down several times a day as the stress starts to build, I think it's gonna be a great future!

Set Back #1

Well if it's too good to be true, it probably is...

The people who put an offer in on our home are not going to get their financing approved, so we're back on the market >sigh<. Alas, all is not lost, we are trying to renegotiate with our offer #1 folks, and our Realtor mentioned 5 people called requesting showings the day after it went under contract. So the interest is still out there, and since it only took a week for 2 offers last time, perhaps we'll be so lucky again :)

We'll keep you posted!

Upward and Onward!

Matt went to Texas yesterday and found a perfect home for our family!!! Our offer was accepted today, and everything is a go for the end of the month. Check out pics at the link below:

New Hall Home

It's a 4 bedroom, 2 bath 2,000 sq foot home in Round Rock, TX. We'll have a guest room with a great bed (thanks Katie), so anyone and everyone is welcome to visit!

To our Utah Friends...

Wow, every day something momentous happens around here! We received 2 offers on our house in 1 week, and took the second, which was a full price offer! We could not be more excited or thrilled about the situation. Matt is headed to Texas once again tomorrow to find a house for us to buy. He's got his list of possibilities, and my criteria (which basically comes down to a large bathtub), and we are just plowing forward with this move.

We close on our house in 3 weeks, and will try to simultaneously close in Texas if we can get things to move that quickly. Matt will head to Texas with our stuff Memorial Day weekend, and I'll head off to California to spend a week with his family. I thought it would be best to visit with both mine and his family for a week or so, since we probably will not be seeing them as often as we did when we were here. I'm sure we'll hit the beach, and just maybe we'll take a trip to Disneyland :) Then it's off to Texas to start a new life!

People keep asking me if I'm sad to go, but at this point I'm just too excited about the way things are working out to be very sad. We did spend some good time with our friends the Wilde's last night, and it made me think of all the friends I will be leaving behind. That's what I will miss, not the snow or our house that caused us so much grief, or the graffiti that springs up in our neighborhood daily in the summer...nope none of that! But the good people we've met, the people who have helped us teach our little girl, the friends that were there when I miscarried, and the ones I've spent hours and days talking to, learning from, and sharing the last 3 years of my life with.

So thank you to each and every one of you! We'll stay in touch, and hope you will as well!

Pom Pom Reward

For those of you who don't know, Lexi can be a little stinker. 2 weeks ago, after nursery, I asked her if she played nice 'I hit Zach and had to take a time-out' was her ever-so honest response. This whole hitting phase has been going on for a long time, and has even gotten her reprimanded at the gym a couple of times.

So a few months back my friend Stacie gave me this great idea of a pom-pom jar. When she does something good she gets to put one pom-pom in the jar, and once it is full, she gets to pick a prize of her choice. Whatever she is particularly struggling with, we give her 2 pom-pom's. For a while there it was pooping on the potty, and lately it's been playing nicely with her friends.

This weekend she filled the jar up once more, and wanted to go on a pony ride for her reward. (Grammie to her on a pony ride while in California, and she most certainly hasn't forgotten how great that was.) We took her down to Gardner Village and off she went. It was a good time had by all....however she took about a month filling that jar, and all she got was a 2 1/2 min pony ride, I think she got gyped. Maybe next time I'll take her to Disneyland, that seems like a more fitting reward :)

Bug Lady

Matt Here.

Alexis and I had to get out of the house for a showing so we went to Chick-fil-A, where she got a chicken nugget meal with chocolate milk and a neat bug jar toy. Usually I hate even letting her know that there is any toy involved, but I thought this one was pretty neat. As soon as we got home we found a spider and put it in the jar. Now she won't go anywhere without it.