Monday, August 29, 2011

Home Sweet Home

Well, we did it. :)  Today our offer was accepted on a house!  I was a little nervous because we asked for money off the asking price (it is a new house), closing costs, blinds (the good kind), and a fridge.  Luckily he accepted our first offer! We are set to close by Oct. 28th.

The house shell. It is obviously nowhere near done.


It is kind of a funny story. And a bit of a long one, sorry.  An old friend of mine recently moved back up here and started in real estate.  He posted on facebook a lot about how easy it is to buy a house etc. and finally I just posted on his status "if you can get rid of the down payment, I may be interested." as kind of a joke.  His response was "yeah, I can do that."

Our plan (as you may have read previously) was to move to apartments for a little while.  BUT, we spoke to the lender (Zender the lender, which is an awesome guy, recommend) and qualified, but found out we once again, were on the cut-off for the down payment thing (even though this one was way higher than the last).  This one is a USDA loan, and you qualify by living in a rural area and making less than the cut off of money.  HE, however, didn't send us off but called his underwriter and found that they would accept us because we have a child which can take off a few thousand, and I can show pay stubs to prove I don't work a full 40 hour week.  The last lady just said "sorry." With this good news, we went to go look at houses.

We headed out to Graham (like 5-10 minutes down the road).  We found the neighborhood but there weren't any examples of the floor plan to look at.  We moved to another neighborhood to find the plans and we saw Andy's old buddy Lee walk out of the house next door.  He and his wife Megan said they liked the neighborhood and we realized that the "sample" houses were about 10k cheaper than the other neighborhood.  Our agent checked and those were USDA approved too!

We thought we had decided on the house and went back to show my dad. He pointed out a few flaws (backyard was on a slope, weird family room, no space for dining table) so we went back later that night and realized that we loved the one across the street and changed our minds.  We put the offer in on Friday, and we found out today that it was accepted!

The house has a "great room" which is EXACTLY what I was looking for (kitchen, dining, and living room are the same room) and has 5 bedrooms (4 upstairs and 1 downstairs) and 3 full bathrooms.  Although the full bath downstairs is weird and just more to clean but oh well. It also has a pantry and a separate little room for the washer/dryer. It is also lacking in the window department which I see as a bonus because they let cold air in and I want to keep the power bill down. The back yard is tiny but it is a corner so it has a big (for the neighborhood) side yard to put a playset, trampoline, bbq, etc. and it is in a cul-de-sac so no traffic and the kids can play in the street (lots of kids there, friends for Sawyer).  It doesn't have a park but is right across the main street from Graham Elementary and there are sidewalks to get there. We are big walkers so no big deal.

We hope to be in this house for a long time.  We have enough space for a few more kids (4+ if we ever felt the need for that many), and we are ok with the school boundaries (Graham Elem, Frontier Jr. High, and Graham Kapowsin High School).

Anyway, I took some phone pics of the house in its current situation- wood beams.  I hope to get more as it grows.  I have to call to make the appointment for picking the colors tomorrow.

Sorry these are kind of out of order, and won't make much sense to most people besides ourselves since they just look like wood beams.

This is at the top of the stairs, to the left will be Sawyer's room but you can't really see anything

Our bedroom's closet

Standing in the living room looking at the room downstairs and storage under the stairs

Stairs and to the left you see the bedroom downstairs (aka play room for now and office in a few years)

Andy's in our room

The living room. That box is a gas fireplace and the hole above is where the TV goes. The downstairs room behind it

I am standing where Andy was 2 pics above, with our closet on the left and bathroom directly behind him

The soon to be kitchen (island to the left where the pipes are) and Andy in the pantry

The Harry Potter closet, Andy throwing Sawyer in the hole to the under-house storage place

That beam is the bedroom door beam, and we see sawyers room in back and the laundry room

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Hair experiment

I recently was on stumbleupon.com and found a youtube video of a girl that curled her hair with her headband.  My hair will NOT hold a curl from heat longer than an hour so I thought I'd try it out. The girl in the video had thick hair, but mine is thinner so I thought it might turn out better since hers was a bit too frizzy for me.

First, I took a shower the night before and dried my hair with the blow dryer.  It might have been a little damp still underneath, but not much. I found one of my many athletic style headbands laying around that doesn't have super grippy rubber on one side.

The first step is to wrap the headband around your head sweatband style.  You take one piece of hair from the front and loop it in front of the band, then back behind it by your head.  You continue to do it from both sides until your entire head is wrapped around it.  You kind of have to wing it in the back. I left my bangs out since they were short and would look weird curled. If you had a cute headband and thicker hair, this actually is a really cute vintage style to wear it for a day. Mine is sloppy because I was going to sleep.

Then, I put a handkerchief on upside down so it didn't fall out and frizz while I slept.

I went to bed and when I woke up, I pulled it out.  I had only given myself like 20 minutes to get ready and it was super curly! (excuse the silly face)

I decided to just brush it out really quick and ponytail it up so I could go to work. I liked the spirally side and curly bottom.

When I got home, I took out my ponytail and the curls had loosened up enough to wear it down.  The back was a little iffy, but overall I was pleased with my hair experiment.



I now had spirally curls that lasted all day!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Foreshadowing

When I went to drop Sawyer off today, I couldn't believe it. We did not plan their outfits.  Do you think this is telling the future?


Sunday, August 21, 2011

The end of the vacation

To end our stay-cation, we tried out a fairly new little restaurant we've seen downtown Puyallup called Crockett's Public House.  I really wanted to like it because I like to support local businesses like that and it was delicious! Andy got some tacos and I got a hamburger (I like when they let you order how well you want your hamburger done.) It smells smoky when you go in, and you sit on wood benches.
Check out our little fry-thief while I was taking the picture LOL They look overdone but they were soft

Afterwards we hit up Elements fro-yo and Beany wreaked havoc running all over the place.


On Sunday we went for a drive past Orting-Kapowsin Highway and found some awesome hidden neighborhoods in the middle of nowhere.  We then headed to my aunt Irene's because my parents were there.  We stopped at Jersey Mike's Subs which is like my favorite and Sawyer liked it too.
 Then we got to my aunt and uncles and Sawyer and Lily played with the ball pit balls the whole time.  She gave him a peach and he ate the whole thing too! Then we took Sawyer on his first boat ride.  It is funny it has taken this long for him to be on a boat, but none of the life jackets we have really fit him until now.  He didn't mind it but didn't really have fun either. He was super tired and ended up falling asleep.


I am SO not excited to go back to work.  One of my favorite co-workers is on vacation this week, and I know since I have been gone all last week there is a ton of stuff on my desk waiting to get done. I guess I will put on my comfy pants (the small maternity pants made for early in pregnancy that dont have that big stretch band and look like normal black pants) and hide out in my cave for a few days.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Stay-cation


This week Andy and I both took work off for our anniversary.  We had big plans of hiking overnight, Tulalip, Vegas, etc, but due to the falling of paydays, we just had a stay-cation.

(Warning, these are all pictures from my phone so they aren't the best quality.)

On Monday (our anniversary) we went to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, the cheesecake factory (Yes Berners, we are still taking you lol).  Andy had "the best hamburger" he's ever had, and I had some fry-bread chicken Navajo sandwich thing.  Sawyer had a baby plate and some fries.  Then we had the best cheesecake ever, banana. MMMmm.


On Tuesday we went to the batting cages to hit some fastpitch with my free coupons.  I missed a couple but considering their bats are awkward shaped and heavier than crap, and it has been 7 years, I did pretty well.  We also got Sawyer some new kicks now that he can walk and we can't let him go barefoot in parking lots. We went to Ivars afterwards, then I had practice.
Awful picture, but you can see his new shoes (i used to have the same ones lol)

On Wednesday, we were lucky enough to go to Wild Waves theme park.  It was one of the things we wanted to do this week but didn't want to spend the $80 to go.  Luckily, my awesome mom found tickets at Costco and bought them for us for our anniversary!  It was SO fun.  We got to ride the new "riptide" which is when you drop down a steep hill on a tube and swirl around a bowl.  We went so fast with the weight of Andy and me and made it around the bowl 4 times! (To compare, my brother and Des only made it twice around).  I guess in some ways it pays to be heavier lol.  We went down the hydro slides a bunch since there weren't ever lines for those (probably because you end up with a wedgie every time), found the biggest wave spot in the wave pool, and rode the major roller coasters and all the water slides. To end it all, we saw my favorite Sounder, Osvaldo  Alonso there and said hello.  Well, Andy yelled "hey ozzie! go sounders!" and he laughed really hard and said "yeah, go sounders!"
I did not take this picture, but it is Ben from the Jackie and Bender morning show going on my favorite ride, Riptide.

On Thursday, we went to the Department of Licensing and I said goodbye to Green Car.  He would cost too much to fix so I signed the car over to Andy's mechanic.
There's Green Car in the middle

 We then went to the hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Sumner "The Buttered Biscuit".  A friend suggested it and after I found it on Yelp, it looked like a good place to go.  BIGGEST MEAL EVER.  And deadly. Really. The drinks were served in Mason Jars (cute.)  First came a big cornbread with sweet frosting butter, then my breakfast came which included chicken fried steak, gravy, biscuits, eggs with ham, cheese and sausage, potatoes with peppers and onions, and it was all greasy and the size of my plate.  To put into perspective, Andy finished his burger and helped me eat.  After taking home the leftovers, we still had a late night snack, breakfast for the 2 of us, and another breakfast for Andy the next day. This could kill you but it was sooooo goooood.  It was a good thing I had practice that night to burn off calories.
"Don't be a chicken" This pic doesn't do the size justice. The biscuits underneath were a couple inches tall.

Cornbread!

Tuckered out Beany with his squished cheek.
On Friday we went to the park for a bit with Everett and Tyrell.




That evening we had a team meeting to elect our rugby executive board.  We had to nominate and vote for President, VP, Treasurer/Fundraiser, Social Chair, Recruitment Chair, and Captain.  We actually had to elect 2 captains, one for the forwards (the strong ones that are in the scrum and do most of the rucking) and one for the backs (the quick people that do most of the ball handling). I got elected captain for the backs!  Which excited me because it meant I am officially a back now, since they had me hooking (a forward) most of last year and I don't like being in the scrums much (it is painful lol and the rest of the peeps were usually larger than me).  We got a new coach and I'm glad he put me somewhere I think I am better. After that we met Erik and Des and my 'rents at our favorite family hang out spot, Famous Dave's happy hour.

It wasn't the vacation we had in mind when originally planning the week off months and months ago, but it was a nice break from work and got to spend some time together which is tough when we both work full time and stuff.  I feel like Sawyer grew up a ton this week too, he is definitely acting like a toddler now.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

Moving

It is official! We are moving September 10th!  A 2nd/top floor apartment opened up at Meridian Firs and we got the spot!  It is next door to Bradley Lake so we can just take off from our house to go for a walk, run, or play in the giant playground.  They also have free tanning, fitness room, pool, and covered playset of their own. Plus it is across the street from Walmart! We are moving to save some money so we can save up for a down payment and hopefully get a house next year, but I am loving the benefits too.  Also, they just renovated them all so the heat isn't the annoying floor electric box things, it is in the ceiling so you can fit more furniture.  Plus the kitchens look good.  I am also excited there isn't any stairs so Sawyer won't fall down when he is drowsy.  All we have to do is sell a lot of stuff that isn't going to fit in there :-/

Our home isn't the only thing on the move, so is Sawyer.  He is a solid walker now.  He even got his first walking injury!

Yesterday we went to Irene's after the Sounders game because my parents took him for us.  My cousin Adam graduated homeschool so we were celebrating. He looked so cute waddling around with a bell Uncle Bob gave him in his little swimming suit.  It is hard to keep a look out for things he could trip on though.

My mom likes to show him the ducks and they came up to get some food so my mom brought a bun down to feed them.  They were jumping up at them- definitely not afraid of people.  It was funny because my mom would feed them, then give Sawyer a piece to throw to him but he would just eat it himself.  I tried to stay far away, because I hate hate hate birds. I was afraid they would come over to me to try to find food!

This week Andy and I are both on vacation.  It is our anniversary on Monday! It fell on the worst time of the month payday wise so I am trying to find free things we can do all week. We will probably be packing up a lot of our stuff too for the move.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Toddling

Sawyer has been getting braver lately and letting go to waddle over to us.  Today he learned to stand up on his own and was walking all over the living room.  He was pro by the time he went to bed.  Here is a video of him when he was first learning.


Sunday, August 7, 2011

High Rock Hike

My parents wanted to go on a hike and so did we.  We planned to go to Sunrise at Mt. Rainier, but my mom heard a lot of it was still snowy.  After asking my facebook friends and double-checking it on the WTA website (Washington trails association)  We decided to go to High Rock.  It is a hike up to an old fire watch tower near Mt. Rainier and I heard that the snow had recently melted.

After a very bumpy drive up a mountain, we found the trailhead.


The highest peak at the top of the picture is where the tower was
We started the hike up.  It was about 1.6 miles each way, but if you hike you know it feels like way longer when it is steep!



I found some snow still! In August!

There were all sorts of wildflowers on the way


Mt. Rainier to the right
We finally got near the top with some great views. It was straight down though.
You can see some snow patches but it was warm


Up a little bit more and we saw the tower!  The picture doesnt do it justice...it was pretty steep going up to it and there were no trails, just a rock.


We finally made it up (even Andy with Sawyer on his back which was very scary for me and my mom haha)
Its a long way down, but good view of the mountain!



Sawyer peek-a-boo.  To the left and right of the rock was a LONG way down if you slip

In the tower
While we were in the tower we talked with some people that got there after us.  The guy played rugby and had been at our tournament last weekend. They had a NINE DAY OLD BABY with them!  The most incredible part of that is the lady that gave birth nine days ago climbed that.  You arent supposed to exercise for 6 weeks (your uterus can actually fall out- yeah gross) post partum, but I dont know how you even could. For a couple months after, even walking in the park would be painful afterwards, but this lady climbed a mountain!  Kudos to her lol. I was tired and I have been exercising.

Anyway, we went back down (easier on the body as a whole, but my bad knees were giving out), and took a different route down the mountain in the car with a million potholes.  I dont know how anyone without an SUV or truck could make it up or down but we saw a car there so it must be possible.  We stopped at a park in Ashford on the way home for a picnic. MMmm. Definitely a good day!  We are all completely tired though!

Sawyer's first Lunchable


They had a nice new park!