It's official...we're moving!

One Saturday night in mid June

My hubby and I cozy in our room.

On the Web we searched for a house to buy

Seven months of looking, it's true, no lie.

A new listing we were excited to come across

Call the realtor now, we can't bare another loss.

A bank-owned home that was priced to sell

And everything about it looked really swell.

This house we saw, this house we loved

The bidding war is on and push came to shove.

We lost the bid to someone with cash

Our dreams were gone, they were gone with a flash.

But then we heard there really wasn't any doe

Our bid is back in and here we go!

Our offer was the highest, yes it's true,

The joy in our hearts, it grew and grew.

Praying and hoping everything would work out,

With it in the bank's hands we had some doubt.

We waited for months or maybe just weeks

Our friends prob'ly thought we were really big freaks.

And finally last Thursday on August thirteenth,

WE CLOSED, HORRAY! Before the fourteenth.

And now some remodeling to the house we will do,

A makeover of such, so it looks brand new!

The packing I started and hope to have done

By the time we move, this part's not so fun.

By Labor Day we hope to be in our new home

Hello Glendale, ready or not, and here we come!

Karaoke Baby

Ella loves to hear her voice amplified through our karaoke machine. The only trouble is fighting with Dad over who gets to use it the most.

Ella's Birthday

Going through the pictures I realized that I forgot to blog about my sweet baby's birthday. I had her in the summer on purpose so we could always have a swim party and I would never have to come up with any other birthday entertainment, just a new theme. This years theme was The Little Mermaid. Some people think that being pregnant in the summer in Phoenix is crazy, but I think it's brilliant!

Ella was not interested in her cake at all!

Maybe even annoyed.

Grandma and Grandpa Jackson were in a car accident on their way to the party. Oh, the sacrifices they make for their grandchildren. They are okay and Pa's nose has healed nicely! Or at least as nice as it was before.

I wish I could take credit for this but I can't. Ella's very creative Aunt painted this ocean scene to hold all the food.

"Mom what do you have me in?" "Don't worry Ella Bella you look adorable!"

I'm finally feeling...Wicked

I finally saw Wicked. I say finally because this was my third attempt to see the show. I missed it the first time it came to Phoenix because by the time I knew it was here and it was worth seeing it was sold out. The second time I tried to see it, Dave and I were in New York. It was November of '07 and I bought tickets online way in advance. Well, a few days before we left for New York we heard about some Broadway strike that was going on and several of the shows had been cancelled indefinitely, including Wicked. Despite all my wishing, hoping and praying the strike didn't end while we were there, dumb stage hands, and we missed the show. So needless to say I was so excited to hear it was coming back to Phoenix. It was every bit as good as I hoped it was. And I'm going to see it again and again and again starting with New York in November, I hope...

UTAH

At the beginning of the month we had the opportunity to go up to Utah to visit family. We had a blast with cousins we haven't seen in a couple of years. Here are some of the highlights...

Our first stop was the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. What a beautiful temple! I loved standing on the grounds of the temple overlooking the valley and being able to see the Jordan River and Draper Temple too. Gotta love Utah!

Two of my wonderfully fabulous sisters that both live a thousand miles away from me. Sniff, sniff. We are the latter three of my mother's six children. Rachel Thomas and her family live in the Seattle area and Liz Novak and her family live somewhere in Michigan. Oh, and Ella snuck in there too.

My sisters with our families.

This was my families first temple open house. We can't wait until the open house of our very own temple here in Phoenix!

Six of us signed up to run the 10K Freedom Run, Glen & Rachel, John (my bro) me, and Melissa (my sister) and Jared Novak (Liz's husband who missed the photo op.). Glen was the winner coming in at 41 minutes!

I don't know what everyone else excuse is but I am a DESERT RUNNER! Give me HOT, FLAT, DRY, FLAT, LOW ELEVATION, and FLAT land.

Every 4th of July my Grandma's ward has a program at the neighborhood park. The primary kids always sing a few songs. My girls weren't interested in participating but Quinn didn't hesitate at the chance and Great Grandma Petersen got up with him.

Here is the only picture I got of my Grandma Pete. She turned 86 this year and still lives in the beautiful home my Grandfather built over 50 years ago.

At the Provo parade on the 4th. The floats were great but according to Lauren, Brittany, Dailee and Aubrey these puppies were even better.

The evening of the 4th Dave and Quinn grabbed their mitts and headed to the Provo Temple to watch the fireworks. Quinn's expression says it all. There is no one he would rather be with then Dad. And Dailee, Aubrey and I went to...

Whaa Hoo! Jonas Brothers!!! Actually I'm not that big a fan, I know a couple of there songs but they put on a great show!

This is the Payson City Pool. If you want to avoid the expense or crowds it's a great alternative to Seven Peaks. This is cousin Sarah going down the slide.

BBQ at Uncle Brent's house the night before we left.

Aubrey with her best friend and cousin Emma. They only get to see each other once every one to two years. So they were inseparable once they got together.

Quinn and Jacob became great pals. They are both the only boys in their family and each have three sisters.

She's on the move!

June 22nd marks the official day that Ella started crawling! Yeah Ella! She is enjoying her new found mobility and the 11 1/2 month honeymoon is over for me. She has gone from no maintenance to some maintenance.

She is finding fun new things to play with...
And discovering so many new things!

Pictures of Nature

We discovered this nest with two little eggs in it earlier this summer. It was fun to watch the baby birds hatch and grow!

A few days old.

A few weeks old.

Mama with her babies right before they left the nest.