Syracuse to Saratoga

I need to get going on this post before I lose allll motivation to keep up this blog! At the end of October we loaded up everything in the townhome and made the one hour commute to our new house in Saratoga Springs. Jason, Ryan, and Cort did all the heavy lifting and loaded up the uhaul. My dad, Debi, and Tierra were there to help unload the truck. It was an overwhelming couple of days packing, loading, cleaning, unpacking, and organizing on top of dealing with some health issues... but we are officially IN and we love love love our new home. I think we'd be fine never moving again haha.

There was a lot going on that weekend with the move, halloween festivities, and Tierra's fam being in town. Jason and I managed to sneak away for a few kid-free hours to deep clean the townhome before handing over the keys. It. Was. Exhausting. Before leaving I snapped some pictures for memories sake. It was a long 2.5 months in that place. The kids never fully adjusted to living there. We definitely don't miss the two flights of stairs, constant police sirens, extremely hard water, cheap appliances, right-turn only busy road, tiny jumping spiders, missing package deliveries, questionable neighbors, and hour commute to almost everyone. We do miss living close to Debi however!! The kids loved getting to see her so often. She took them to the park, the library, watched them for date nights, and was there for us in multiple times of need. She's the best.

So long Syracuse! I don't think we'll ever be back haha.

Now onto the good stuff. OUR HOME.

I'm still shocked that we got it with how crazy Utah's housing market is. This was the first house we put an offer on and our offer was under asking price. After a little negotiation, WE GOT IT. We ended up meeting the sellers during the home inspection and now we're instagram friends haha. They are so sweet! It's a blessing that things fell into place the way they did. We love the house, the location, and our new ward. Jason works from home at least three days a week which makes the hour commute to work bearable. I love living so close to my family and we have the sweetest next door neighbors that will hopefully become lifelong friends. I truly believe that we are here for a reason and that none of this was a coincidence.

Here are the photos from the house listing. I instantly fell in love after seeing it on Zillow!

We're hoping to finish the backyard in the spring. We've switched out some light fixtures, faucets, and added blinds to make the home feel more like ours. It is coming together so good! Here are some photos since we've moved in.

^^ View from the playroom

The kids have adjusted SO WELL to the new house. They've been sleeping better and playing better together. They also both love their nursery classes! That's something they haven't had since covid began. It makes church so much more enjoyable for all of us.

PSA: I got the island pendants, downeast barstools, and downeast dining table from Facebook marketplace. Seriously saved us hundreds! The barstools are a little too high so I'm debating on if I want to re-sell them for a small profit or cut the legs down to counter height. We will see.

Obviously I can't decide the best way to set up my living room lol. I realllly would love some new couches in here.... cough cough.... Jason. It's too bad that couch shopping is the actual worst.

Something we have purchased since moving here is a second car. We were living the one car life much too long. We got a 2022 Hyundai Elantra and it is the perfect commuter car for Jason. I guess we are a Hyundai family because this is our fourth Hyundai car purchase and we already know our next car will be a Palisade as our family grows. Take our money Hyundai! Or wait better idea, please sponsor us :)

As I finish up all I can think about is how much we've been blessed. I get so hung up on my daily struggles sometimes that it's hard to recognize how truly lucky we are. I'm so glad we are here. We are excited to start this next chapter of our lives, make new friends, and strengthen family relationships. We hope to be here a long, loooong time!

Labor Day Weekend

This post is gonna be lacking a little in the picture department. I debated even making a post because of it but decided that was a lame excuse. I don't need a lot of pictures to document a fun weekend with family. I just want to be able to remember it!

Friday evening we went on a dinner date with Shi and Kody. We met them at R&R for a yummy bbq dinner and then we satisfied our sweet tooth {sweet tooths? sweet teeth???} at The Baked Bear for dessert. Shi worked some of her auntie magic and was able to rock our fussy Emmett to sleep.

On Saturday we drove to Logan to spend the day with Jason's side of the fam. I always enjoy going up there. We all brought something for a picnic lunch, but ended up staying at Evan and Blaire's for convenience and AC haha. While we were there we noticed Emmett popped his first tooth! That explains the fussiness, poor boy!

After a couple of hours in Logan, Debi, Tierra, and Cortlen came back to our house. Grandma Debi was oh so kind to babysit Emmett while the rest of us hit the gym. I love going on Saturday's because the gym is usually c l e a r e d  o u t. It's like people have lives on the weekend or something ;) The boys did their thing while Tierra and I worked all of our muscles silly. I was sore for daaays. Worth it!

Tierra and Cort stayed with us for the remainder of the weekend. We watched movies, slept in, made german pancakes, relaxed, played aggravation, and blasted country music at the pool for our last swim of the summer. We have so much fun with those two - I already want them to come back!

^^ A little bro bonding hahaha

Tierra and Cort headed back to Idaho Monday afternoon. We spent our Labor Day evening at Britta and Austin's for a bbq dinner with another friend couple of theirs. So yummy, so fun, and a perfect end to our long weekend!

I could {maybe should} end this post here BUT I let this sit in my drafts a bit too long and more things have been going on around here. Sooo here's just a brief life update.

8/16 Parade of homes and Bahama Bucks with Britt and the kiddos.

8/18 Parade of homes with Hails in the afternoon. Dinner and games at Britta and Austin's in the evening. We had Korean rice bowls for din {possibly my new fav meal} and donuts for dessert.

9/7 We got a new car! We traded in our 2015 Chevy Cruze for a 2017 Hyundai Tucson. It's bigger, safer, better. We are in love!

9/8 The Anderson's and Martin's came over to our place for dinner and games. We had pizza, salad, donuts, soda {so healthy lol} and played kan jam and spikeball outside. So fun!

9/12 I took Hailey out for a birthday lunch at Smashburger. Emmett and I hung with Britt and the cousins afterwards. Emmett and Ellis were being sooo sweet to each other!

9/15 Went to the Kortni Jeane warehouse sale with Shi and Britt! Sad babies, spoiled milk, and smoky skies sum up that early morning haha. We got some cute swimmies for ourselves, our kiddos, and even our husbands.

I was extremely sick later that day {i think} from eating raw cookie dough the night before. I had the worst stomach aches and couldn't keep any food down. It. Was. Miserable. Shout out to my hubby for sticking by me through it all.

9/18 Relief society paint night activity. This is the first relief society activity I've ever attended if I'm being honest. It was a lot of fun and I even made some new mama neighbor friends!

9/21 Visited Grandma and Grandpa Syddall. They snuggled their great grand baby and then Grandpa dominated us all in rummy, as usual.

9/22 Gym date with Jason while Grandma Debi babysat. We took her to Kneader's for lunch afterwards. That evening we went to the Anderson household for dessert and jackbox tv games with Shi and Kody.

Alright, I think that'll do for now. There's been talk of potential job opportunities in different states for both Austin and Jason, so we're trying to soak up all the sibling time we can while we still live so close. Who knows what the future holds! I'm excited, nervous, and anxious all at the same time. I don't want change, but also do???

Be Mine

Yet another valentine's day in the books! Last year I received a job offer on this day. Little did I know that I'd be expecting a baby 13 months later! My last day of work was February 13th. My co-workers spoiled me with cards, baby gifts, & the prettiest cakes. We also enjoyed a nice long lunch at Rich's Burgers 'n Grub downtown.  It was so yummy! I'll be taking Jason there soon lol.

^^ Seriously, these cakes! And yes, they are as yummy as they look.

 It's been a good run Novitex/Goldman, but I'm ready for my next job - mama!

So this valentine's day was my first official day as a stay-at-home-soon-to-be-mom and boy, I sure kept myself busy! From the moment I woke up I was going non-stop. Lots of cleaning, lots of laundry, lots of shopping, and lots of valentine's day preparing. Now that Jason doesn't need to pick me up from work, he has the luxury of going in to work earlier so he can make it home sooner. I LOVE that he's able to do that. It's so so so nice having him home around 3:30 and I'm sure I'll appreciate it even more once baby boy is here.

Here's a peek of how we celebrated our valentine's day.

^^ My valentine to Jason.

That evening Jason took me on a date to Macaroni Grill. We snapped a quick car pic before dinner since we've not been the greatest at taking pictures together lately {might have something to do with the nice little pregnancy chub I got goin' on haha}. If you're not familiar with Macaroni Grill, they have a layer of paper covering the table with crayons to write & draw with. Although this is probably aimed towards keeping kids entertained, we couldn't help but write out baby boy's name over and over and over.

I hope everyone felt soooo loved yesterday! I know I sure did.

Some other exciting news - we finally got ourselves another car! A 2015 Chevrolet Cruze. We got it at the same dealership as our last car, so they cut us some nice deals. I AM IN LOVE. Mainly it's just nice to have my own car! We installed the car seat as soon as we brought it home, you know, in case our boy wants to make an early appearance. Only three weeks to go!