Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Our new home

Adam and I had decided that we would like to purchase a home in Manhattan Kansas where we would be moving to. Well unfortunately it worked out that I would have to do it all by myself. We had to get a bunch of power of attorneys in order for me to do it all but I got pre-approved for a loan, found a realtor and started looking online at houses. I new I would have to go to Kansas to really look so I planned a trip the first week in March. This was the first time I have EVER been away from the girls overnight except for when I had Ellie! So I hated leaving them but they were in good hands with my parents. Thankfully Adam's family is in Kansas City area and my brother Ross and his wife Lindsay and there 2 boys. I asked Lindsay if she would go with me to Manhattan to look so that I would have somebody to bounce opinions off of. Manhattan is a 2 hour drive from Kansas City; she left Braden there oldest with her parents and brought Cashel who was 11 months old. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, so I only had 2 days to find a house. My realtor thankfully had everything lined up so we could see a bunch of houses. I new I wanted a 4 bedroom house that would be newer because of Adalyn's asthma and allergies. On our second day of looking she said a house had just come on the market in St. George KS which is a small town just 8 minutes outside of Manhattan. We went and looked at it and it was perfect. It is a ranch style home with a finished basement. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. I love that there is a huge storage room downstairs and it's very spacious. It also has a tornado room with a steel door in the basement so that we can be protected. (Hopefully we never have to use it!) Anyways it had a fenced in backyard with a play set and a shed. One of the things I loved the most is that there is a new elementary school right across the street that I can see the playground from my front yard and walk Adalyn to school everyday! I just felt so strongly this was the house for us. I had to convince Adam a little bit because he wasn't here to see it in person but he finally said yes. (I actually thought it was a lot easier looking for a house without him because I just got what I wanted!) We put in an offer and a week later had a deal. We didn't close on the house until June 1st because we didn't need it until then but now we are all moved in and we able to buy a bunch of new furniture. Both of the girls got a bedroom set which I love. Adam and I have never had a bedroom set so we also got a king bedroom set. I love that we have been able to decorate and do whatever we want because it's our house (not the military's)
An interesting thing about living here is that we go to a branch it’s called the Wamego branch which is an awesome little town 5 minutes away. Our branch has about 80 to 100 people in it. They have been so welcoming and we have felt the spirit so strongly there. We meet in the back of a chinese restaurant! Yep, it's interesting but there is some vacant rooms between us and the church completely renovated the small space we have, so once your inside it looks like a church just very, very small. Adalyn loves her class and Ellie is very slowly adjusting to nursery (I sit with her) Adam this past week was called to be the young men's 1st counselor. There are about 45 primary kids, 8 young men, 8 young women. They have informed me that they have big plans for me but are waiting until I have the baby which should be in the next 2 weeks. So we'll see what happens. So far we love it here it is so green and beautiful.


Dining room and kitchen

Upstairs living room

Upstairs living room

Adalyn finally got her purple room.

Ellie and the new babies room.

Ellie's room

The girls bathroom.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom

Basement family room.

The downstairs(basement) family room.

This is our downstairs(basement) guest bedroom. So come visit!!


Our new home

Adam and I had decided that we would like to purchase a home in Manhattan Kansas where we would be moving to. Well unfortunately it worked out that I would have to do it all by myself. We had to get a bunch of power of attorneys in order for me to do it all but I got pre-approved for a loan, found a realtor and started looking online at houses. I new I would have to go to Kansas to really look so I planned a trip the first week in March. This was the first time I have EVER been away from the girls overnight except for when I had Ellie! So I hated leaving them but they were in good hands with my parents. Thankfully Adam's family is in Kansas City area and my brother Ross and his wife Lindsay and there 2 boys. I asked Lindsay if she would go with me to Manhattan to look so that I would have somebody to bounce opinions off of. Manhattan is a 2 hour drive from Kansas City; she left Braden there oldest with her parents and brought Cashel who was 11 months old. We stayed in a hotel for 2 nights, so I only had 2 days to find a house. My realtor thankfully had everything lined up so we could see a bunch of houses. I new I wanted a 4 bedroom house that would be newer because of Adalyn's asthma and allergies. On our second day of looking she said a house had just come on the market in St. George KS which is a small town just 8 minutes outside of Manhattan. We went and looked at it and it was perfect. It is a ranch style home with a finished basement. 4 bedrooms, 3 baths. I love that there is a huge storage room downstairs and it's very spacious. It also has a tornado room with a steel door in the basement so that we can be protected. (Hopefully we never have to use it!) Anyways it had a fenced in backyard with a play set and a shed. One of the things I loved the most is that there is a new elementary school right across the street that I can see the playground from my front yard and walk Adalyn to school everyday! I just felt so strongly this was the house for us. I had to convince Adam a little bit because he wasn't here to see it in person but he finally said yes. (I actually thought it was a lot easier looking for a house without him because I just got what I wanted!) We put in an offer and a week later had a deal. We didn't close on the house until June 1st because we didn't need it until then but now we are all moved in and we able to buy a bunch of new furniture. Both of the girls got a bedroom set which I love. Adam and I have never had a bedroom set so we also got a king bedroom set. I love that we have been able to decorate and do whatever we want because it's our house (not the military's)
An interesting thing about living here is that we go to a branch it’s called the Wamego branch which is an awesome little town 5 minutes away. Our branch has about 80 to 100 people in it. They have been so welcoming and we have felt the spirit so strongly there. We meet in the back of a chinese restaurant! Yep, it's interesting but there is some vacant rooms between us and the church completely renovated the small space we have, so once your inside it looks like a church just very, very small. Adalyn loves her class and Ellie is very slowly adjusting to nursery (I sit with her) Adam this past week was called to be the young men's 1st counselor. There are about 45 primary kids, 8 young men, 8 young women. They have informed me that they have big plans for me but are waiting until I have the baby which should be in the next 2 weeks. So we'll see what happens. So far we love it here it is so green and beautiful.


Dining room and kitchen

Upstairs living room

Upstairs living room

Adalyn finally got her purple room.

Ellie and the new babies room.

Ellie's room

The girls bathroom.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom

Basement family room.

The downstairs(basement) family room.

This is our downstairs(basement) guest bedroom. So come visit!!


Monday, July 19, 2010

Adam Coming Home!!!

So finally on May 21st Adam was able to come home! Yeah I was so excited! I had decided that it would be better not to tell the girls he was coming because I new they would just ask me about it 24/7 and be upset when I left to go to the airport. He wasn't flying in until midnight and then we stayed at a hotel next to the airport. We had webcam while he was gone but this was the first time he saw me and my big belly. It was fun for him to feel the baby move. It was so nice that he was home.
Thankfully my parents were able to watch the girls and the next morning we were both anxious to get to my parents house and see the girls. I had thought Adalyn would be surprised but would be ecstatic. I also warned Adam that Ellie who had a very hard time with Adam being gone and cried for him constantly would probably cry and not want to go to him. As you can see by the videos, that's pretty much how it went.
I new once the girls got over the shock of him being home that they would not want to leave his side. Once again it was Ellie that really struggled with that, if Adam even got up to go to the bathroom she would have a melt down.
We had a fun week together in Oregon. On Sunday we saw my sister Kristy and her kids. Then on Monday we just spent the day together, shopped around and Adam just played with the girls. On Tuesday we went to the beach and spent a night in an awesome hotel with 2 bedrooms and it was right on the beach. It wasn't the best weather but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying our time together. On Thursday we went to Eugene and spent the day with Jay and Chelsea and there kids. Then on Friday we spent the day getting the van packed up and ready to leave. Adam on that Saturday would be driving to California to our old base to out-process and then drive to Kansas to meet us. I flew out Sat. with my mom and girls to close on our new house and get all of our stuff delivered from the moving company. My mom stayed a week to help me get a little settled.
It was really hard to not be with Adam consistently but we new that it would be that way and that when he got to Kansas he would only be with us for a day before he would leave for Alabama for 2 weeks for training for his new job. The girls struggled with this a lot and hated him coming and going. While he was gone for 2 weeks I just kept getting unpacked and taking care of everything that goes a long with moving. I was 33 weeks pregnant when we moved.


In this video you can see that the girls were surprised, but when you see Ellie walk to me and it stops that's when I picked her up and she started crying so hard, and burried her head in my neck and wouldn't stop. Adam tried to comfort her but she just gripped me tighter, finally I thought if I made her go to Adam she would be okay well her reaction to that is in the next video!


I felt so bad. Ellie has always been very sensitive and Adam being gone for so long has really affected her. After about 30 minutes Ellie finally calmed down and went to Adam and didn't leave his side again!







Adam Coming Home!!!

So finally on May 21st Adam was able to come home! Yeah I was so excited! I had decided that it would be better not to tell the girls he was coming because I new they would just ask me about it 24/7 and be upset when I left to go to the airport. He wasn't flying in until midnight and then we stayed at a hotel next to the airport. We had webcam while he was gone but this was the first time he saw me and my big belly. It was fun for him to feel the baby move. It was so nice that he was home.
Thankfully my parents were able to watch the girls and the next morning we were both anxious to get to my parents house and see the girls. I had thought Adalyn would be surprised but would be ecstatic. I also warned Adam that Ellie who had a very hard time with Adam being gone and cried for him constantly would probably cry and not want to go to him. As you can see by the videos, that's pretty much how it went.
I new once the girls got over the shock of him being home that they would not want to leave his side. Once again it was Ellie that really struggled with that, if Adam even got up to go to the bathroom she would have a melt down.
We had a fun week together in Oregon. On Sunday we saw my sister Kristy and her kids. Then on Monday we just spent the day together, shopped around and Adam just played with the girls. On Tuesday we went to the beach and spent a night in an awesome hotel with 2 bedrooms and it was right on the beach. It wasn't the best weather but we didn't let that stop us from enjoying our time together. On Thursday we went to Eugene and spent the day with Jay and Chelsea and there kids. Then on Friday we spent the day getting the van packed up and ready to leave. Adam on that Saturday would be driving to California to our old base to out-process and then drive to Kansas to meet us. I flew out Sat. with my mom and girls to close on our new house and get all of our stuff delivered from the moving company. My mom stayed a week to help me get a little settled.
It was really hard to not be with Adam consistently but we new that it would be that way and that when he got to Kansas he would only be with us for a day before he would leave for Alabama for 2 weeks for training for his new job. The girls struggled with this a lot and hated him coming and going. While he was gone for 2 weeks I just kept getting unpacked and taking care of everything that goes a long with moving. I was 33 weeks pregnant when we moved.


In this video you can see that the girls were surprised, but when you see Ellie walk to me and it stops that's when I picked her up and she started crying so hard, and burried her head in my neck and wouldn't stop. Adam tried to comfort her but she just gripped me tighter, finally I thought if I made her go to Adam she would be okay well her reaction to that is in the next video!


I felt so bad. Ellie has always been very sensitive and Adam being gone for so long has really affected her. After about 30 minutes Ellie finally calmed down and went to Adam and didn't leave his side again!







Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A family visit

The end of April all my siblings but one sister (Jackie) came to Oregon to visit and to go to Kayla my nieces wedding reception. It was a busy week and a full house but we had a blast. We went to the Zoo, to Bauman's farm, and to my sister Kristy's house for Mother's Day. All of the kids play so well together and love being at grandma and grandpa Jones' house. There is so much space outside for the kids to run around and so many kids that they just go off and play all day. My brother Ross and Lindsay came from Kansas and there 2 boys Braden and Cashel, they enjoyed digging in the dirt with my girls. It is so nice to be able to talk and hang out with my brother and sisters and there spouses. We of course shopped a bunch and just had a good time. Living with my parents has been such a blessing. I can't imagine being alone while Adam has been away. The girls have gotten so close with my brother Jay and sister in law Chelsea. They love when they come stay with us from Eugene. They have really gotten to know all of there cousins better and just loved being in Oregon. Most of all it has been so nice to watch my girls with my parents. They love my Mom and Dad so much.