Disney World!!!

We moved into our new house on a Saturday and we left for a previously planned trip to Orlando the next Monday - it was crazy trying to pack, unpack, and pack again for our trip. I had a conference on social media and public relations hosted by Disney, so you have to bring your family along for something like that! It was a splurge we had planned when we took our house off the market, and got a decent tax return to boot. We had no idea that less than a week later, we would get the offer on our house that would finally stick.

We decided to not tell the kids about the trip, mainly because once they know about something fun coming up - a trip, a birthday, a visit - they do not stop asking about it. Like every day, every hour - are we leaving yet?? So, we tried to keep it a secret from them, even though it slipped out in bits and pieces over the weeks and Claire pieced it together... Miles was still surprised. We stopped by our house in the southwest one last time to leave our keys, and then Aaron drove us to the airport. We told the kids about the trip as we were driving to the drop off area for Southwest. I said - I think we should go somewhere today... Miles, do you want to go on a plane? YES! So we did. :) They were excited, though not that crazy freak out moment that we had hoped for... but it was still a fun moment!

Penelope, just a month shy of turning 2, was a lap child. I probably wouldn't have gone on the trip if we had to pay for her flight since they were pretty expensive, but in hind sight, it may have been worth the extra dough. She. Was. Awful. If she had her own seat, she was happy. But she wanted to go up and down the isles and switch back and forth all the time, and of course our four hour flight out there was completely full so there weren't any extra seats for us to snag. I held Miles part of the trip so P could have her own seat, until my legs started falling asleep. Claire and Miles were awesome though - I think we will only fly again if Penelope is closer to Miles' age now. Or if the flight is like an hour :)

A major perk of going to Disney World is to see Becky Baird -best friend/roomie/actress/comedian/best aunt who isn't related to you/owner of Becky Baird's B&B aka her apartment/cast member at the Magic Kingdom. She wears a lot of hats. : )

We stayed with Becky for three nights, split between the two nights we stayed in the Disney Beach Club Resort (where the conference was). She was so great to let us stay there - PLUS she got three of us in for free to the parks on FOUR different days. My rough calculations show that she saved us at least $2,000. We never could have made the trip if it wasn't for her, and frankly we wouldn't have gone except we got the chance to see Becky. Our last failed attempt at visiting her in Orlando was seven years ago when I was pregnant with Claire - both Matt and I had a violent stomach flu that lasted for days and made us miss our flight. So it's been a long time comin'!

Here are a few of my phone pictures and then I will have Disney photo overload pretty soon. We had some pretty great moments that outweighed the craziness getting there, for sure! I thought the whole trip was a bit like raising children - sometimes it is so, so hard and you wonder why you are doing this, and then you have a flash of something amazing that melts your heart and it makes it all worth it.

Butterfly Garden at Epcot

Dunraven Estates - Sold!

We have had our house off and on the market for the past year. It has been a rocky road as we have tried to recover some equity in our home after the real estate crash that absolutely rocked Las Vegas over the past five years. Any national headline about the real estate crash led with Las Vegas as the worst market in the country. There we go again Las Vegas, being the best at the worst categories...

Around 2006, our house was selling for 160% of our original price but if we had sold it, we could afford ... our same house again at a higher price... Then at its lowest around 2009 it was selling for 50% of what we paid - and everyone was doing a short sale to get out of their house. We just stuck it out - the house fit our family and we could pay our bills.

But it's just getting a little cozy around here - and we would love to have a backyard for the kids to play. This has been a great house for us and we will miss it for a lot of reasons. I wanted to include the photos of we used on the real estate listing so the kids can remember their first house.

This is the house I moved into as a single 25-year-old, the house that Matt and I came home to after our honeymoon, and the first house for all three of our kids. It is still crazy to me that they will forever and ever say that they were born in Las Vegas.

Dunraven Estates, as named by Becky Baird

Penelope's Room

Sweet P's Room

We will miss the new tile we put in - we got to enjoy it for almost 2 years

Half bath downstairs

Kitchen

Living Room/Dining Room = Cozy!

Master Bedroom - new shutters in the whole house... sad to see them go!

The kids asked to eat breakfast in their room on their last morning in the house. It was bitter sweet to see them all in there on the mattresses, waiting to get everything loaded up.

We had SO much help from family and friends to make this move possible. We had about 2 weeks to get packed. We had so many offers and buyers come and go over the past year that we didn't really take this one seriously until it was about 2 weeks into the 30 day close and we thought, this might actually happen - we better start packing!

Thank you to everyone who helped pack, clean, organize, watch our kids (so many times!!) and load up our moving truck. We have such a great support system - I can't imagine how we would have done a move like this with three kids without everyone's help!

First Games of the Season! Sharks in Action!

Haircut!

Looking handsome, and so much older, with a fresh haircut!

FINALLY on His Own Soccer Team!

At the last minute, we decided to register Miles for soccer this season. He has been asking for a while, and he is ready to start. We went out and got new gear (Claire's new shoes are being modeled by Penelope) and he was all set for his first practice with the Sharks. Before practice he asked me if he could make some new friends at soccer - I said of course! He said - then I would have DOUBLE friends!

I got some grainy cell phone photos at dusk, but it was the best I could do.

 After practice Miles said that he really liked making new friends, especially James. James is the son of a guy I knew in the singles ward and the boys seemed to hit it off.

Miles had a great time! Evidence = see below.

Visit From Uncle Dale

Matt's Uncle Dale came to visit for the first time!! Ever! I had never met him before, and of course neither had the kids. It was very cool to see Betty interacting with her only brother. In true Vegas style, we went out to a buffet for dinner one night, but the kids and Matt got to see him a bit more during the week. The Hillers took him on a culinary tour of Vegas - I think Matt and the kids ate out every meal that Friday. I hope Dale enjoyed a break from the snowy weather back East - come back any time!

Big Girl!

Penelope was soooooo happy to be in her big girl seat, facing front and seeing the world like the big kids do. I just wanted to watch her face the whole drive - she just looked so excited!