Busy Busy

I almost feel guilty for posting because we have a lot of things we are working on and I hate to be spending time at the computer instead of working. But this is the only attempt at journaling that I do, and I want to keep it fairly up to date. We have begun our home renovations. And, as is always the way with renovations, each little project turns into a big project. Our house is 40 years old so there are bound to be issues underneath the surface. We decided to update the bathrooms. At first we were just going to resurface the countertops and shower and strip the cabinets and restain them. But we started srtipping the cabinets and discovered that they were unstainable (the paint hides many things), and there were so many different coats of paint on them that stripping all of it was out of the question. So we broke down and spent money on new cabinets for the bathroom. Taking advantage of a 20% off instock cabinetry sale. After scraping the old dated tile off the floors we discovered mold in the walls. So we had to take out a lot of the drywall in the bathroom too. And when we took the toilet out the lid got broken and we haven't found where to buy just a tank lid and not a whole new toilet. We knew we'd have to invest some money in this project, but we didn't want to spend a lot because we felt that was too risky. Right now our bathroom is gutted, but we have gotten the new tile floors down (to Jake's credit). I have finished painting all of the wood deck railing and fencing and am starting painting on the shed and entryway. What has made a lot of this hard is that Jake has been working a lot. They have a big project that they have to get done at work and it has required him to work every weekend this month, there goes any and all time he could spend on the house. BUT he has this weekend off, so we hope to get more accomplished on our gutted bathroom. I feel bad that a lot of those big things are falling onto his shoulders. I really just don't feel like I am competent enough to handle those tasks, and Jake is meticuluous to the letter with his projects. There's our update. Hopefully there is more to report after this weekend!

It's official....kindof.

Most of you know that we have been in limbo for awhile as to whether or not we will be moving. Right now (though things can change), we are definately moving. Jake has been offered a position in Utah with Northrop. We haven't gotten the official offer letter yet, but we have been told that we need to get things going especially since we have to try to get our house sold. I was a little bit hesitant at first because we just moved here a year ago. And we really moved here with the mindset that this was it. We thought this was where our kids would grow up. But now only a year later we are moving again. We love this house, we have become kindof the party house. There are usually several friends over at any given time and we have loved having a lot of friends close. These are a lot of people we've known for almost 8 years, so it has been fun to live near each other again. I never thought I'd move back to Utah again, and I wasn't really excited to do so.
BUT I am excited to get to live near my family. 2 years ago only a couple of my family members were living in Utah, but right now my mom and 6 of my siblings are living in Utah. And in 2 years we could scatter to the winds again. This is probably our only chance to live close to so many of my family members and enjoy lots of family gatherings. I am really excited about that. Plus, Jake will be working fewer hours and will get to spend a lot more time with us. Also this looks to be a good opportunity for Jake in his career. At first it didn't, but now it does. It's hard to explain that, so I'm not going to. Just know that now we are very excited about the move, though we were quite hesitant at first. We have met with our realtor and have begun doing many projects in order to get our house in shape to sell at a good price. We are just trying not to lose money on it at this point, which is hard since we've only been here a year. But I think the changes we are making to the house will make a big difference.
PS. We are going to be living in Tooele and Jake will be working out at Dugway Proving Grounds. It is an hour commute, but Jake commutes an hour to work on most days right now, so we aren't too worried about that. Hopefully we can get all of this work done in time for a good open house!

Potty Training has begun

Well, not really. I do hope to have Jaxon mostly potty trained before his next birthday (which is a long ways away if you've read the last post), but I don't think I'll be doing much heavy duty potty training until our lives are a bit less hectic. For now we are just going to be introducing the potty and having him sit once in awhile. However, Jaxon has started to tell me every time he is pooping. He stops and says "eewwie" and then makes the faces associated with that pasttime. So last night when he came into my room and said eewie I decided just to try it out. I took him to the bathroom and sat him on the toilet and he went poop. It was pretty exciting to have him poop on the potty the very first time I sat him on there. The funny thing was that he happened to be holding a book, so he looked like a pro sitting on the potty reading a book while pooping. Typical boy.

Watch out for the Terrible Twos!!!!

Happy Birthday Jaxon!!! Jaxon turned terrible 2 on September 2nd, though I think the terrible hit a few weeks ago. He has certainly lived up to the cliche. He has begun the tantrums and getting into things and destroying everything he can. But he is also a total sweetheart at times. He loves to try to help me do things. He trys to sweep and vaccum and is good at helping with the laundry and dishes. He loves to give kisses and hugs and he's very good at being the annoying little brother to his older sisters. He is also Kailey's favorite entertainment. Though he sometimes is unintentionally rough with her, he tries really hard to help with her and is always very sweet. He is also 100% boy. He LOVES cars. Everything cars. He loves the movie and he loves any car he can get his hands on. It is also one of the only words he knows how to say. He is a late talker and still only audibly says a few words. Hopefully he'll catch up soon. We love him so much and I can't believe that he is 2 years old already!!!!
PS. We had a few friends over for a little get-together for him on his birthday. We just ate and opened presents and let him play with his new toys. Nothing fancy. He got lots of new toy cars that he loves and we got him his own Lightening McQueen tricycle so he doesn't have to try to ride his sister's bike anymore. Our camera was left at Jake's work, so I have to get those pics from friends who brought cameras, but I'll have them soon. Love you Jaxon!

My Hubby the Pilot

Jake is now officially a pilot!!! YAY! He started his pilot's license training at the end of last year and he took his checkride last weekend and passed!! YAY! It took him awhile because he could only do it in his free time after work when he could schedule with his instructor. He has been done with all of the training for a few months, but it took over two months to get a date with an examiner, and he had to go to phoenix to do it. But he's done! I am so proud of him, he works so hard and is so determined. I love you honey! Congrats!