Hunting

Here’s something you might not know: Jarom and I have been looking at houses for a while. And by “a while,” I mean since last Monday. We met with a buyer’s agent on Wednesday, a mortgage lender on Thursday, and had our first house showing (and made an offer!) on Friday of last week. (It was turned down.)

Yesterday, June and I saw 6 houses while Evan was with his grandma and Jarom was at work. One of them was perfect – lacking only the quintessential white picket fence. So this morning Jarom came with me to see it, we made an offer, and it was accepted this afternoon!

Now comes the tricky part though, right? Inspection and appraisal and all the other stuff you have to do before buying a house. But, if it all works out, we can officially move OUT of our basement in 4 weeks! Into a beautiful house of our own.

How cool would that be?!

So, wish us luck and whatnot.

Upcoming

Dear world,

Just checking in. We’re still here, for sure. Right now it’s 5:30am and I haven’t slept at all. Oh yeah, school’s out – why on earth would I be up so late?

It’s because I keep offering to do huge favors for people. A few days after graduation, I drove Jarom’s cousin down to Southern California. And then drove back about 20 hours later. Since then I’ve made 4 cakes, babysat too many kids, and volunteered to do a handful of other things. Tell me to stop! PLEASE!

Anyway, I’m up making a cake right now. I planned to start it a long, long time ago, but things didn’t work out…I was writhing in agony on the couch for a while, which slowed me down a bit. Once I got over that, Evan woke up from a bad dream, and of course that woke June up. Out of respect for our neighbors (both upstairs and sideways) I try to keep the kids as quiet as possible at night – especially at 3am – so I stayed in their room for a while in an attempt to calm them both down. I was actually so successful that they both decided it was Not Time To Sleep but rather Time To Play Enthusiastically. Don’t worry, like a good mother I interpreted that as Time For Me To Go.

And I’ve been working on the cake since then. Usually this has 12 layers – the most amazing cake ever, in my opinion – but I’m making a very small one this time, in a 4-inch springform pan, with 6 layers. Proportionally it will be much taller than usual. Hopefully just as delicious?

Real updates will be coming soon. Ish. We’re spending the weekend at a place? A lodge-type cabin-y resort thing. For whatever reason, I’ve given it so little thought that I just realized earlier today I’d better pack a few things. For 3 nights, yeah, probably.

So there’s your check in. I’ll try to write a more interesting and detailed update over the weekend. In the meantime, think of a catchphrase for me to close posts with! Like “Wishing you dozens of donuts” or something.

(No. I don’t need a catchphrase. Does anyone even read to the end of the post, though?)

Lastly

I read this article recently about how we notice so many firsts as parents, but the lasts tend to slip by unnoticed. Of course, this need not apply to parenthood only, but to life in general.

One thing that won’t go unnoticed: my last final. I’ve been preparing for it all day and will probably finish it tonight after the kids go to bed.

And another I look forward to in the vague future: my last day living in a basement.

Also in the vague, hopefully more distant than near, future: my last day being a Provonian (thanks, Bryan). When I moved out to Utah for college in 2002, I expected to be back in California as soon as I finished. (Wouldn’t it be a twist of fate if that actually happened?) Instead, I’m still here 10 years later, and I adore Provo.

I don’t adore finals, though, so I want to celebrate this being my last!