That's our boy!

Such the proud mom! The kids' school had it's mini-Olympics today and Chad had previously qualified for the push-up competition. I went... and he WON (not because I went - but because he's awesome!)!!! Can you believe it! He did 50 push-ups... and might I add, correctly! All his gymnastics training finally paying off. He got a gold medal and everything! Not that he's not athletic or anything, he cartwheels everywhere that he goes... but still! Think there's an actual push-up event in the real Olympics? I'll keep him training for it!

Color me happy!

Random side note... Want to see a very happy girl? Install her shiny new red washer and dryer and she will jump for joy! Is it possible to be in love with some major appliances?

Here's the pics...

Can't catch me, I'm the gingerbread man!

The days are spinning away like crazy. We've officially slept in our house for a week and are loving it! It's so nice to have a place of our own again. Of course, it would be lovely to get rid of all the boxes, but one thing at a time. We got new living room furniture last week, and D's plasma TV was delivered on Saturday, so now it's just a matter of getting all the white walls painted! Yikes! The laundry room is pretty much done though! Good to have priorities!

We just finished making our gingerbread house for Family Home Evening. The kids (and D) had a great time, especially Haley, who kept trying to eat everything. Turned out great! Love buying those kits at Costco! Everything included, you just have the fun of the assembly!

Also, got all the Christmas cards in the mail today! So excited! I love sending and receiving Christmas cards! It's totally the highlight for me - know it's silly... but it's totally true! I love getting caught up on everyone and what's going on in their lives.

And wanted to mention the addition of Max II, our new cat. The day that we drove back up here from California with our cat, Max, he disappeared. He's been gone for about 5 weeks. So the other day D is looking on the internet at the Oregon Humane Society and sees a cat that totally looks like Max and is even named Maxwell. So, we went to the shelter, had a really hard time deciding that it wasn't him, but decided to bring him home anyway. He needed a new home, and we needed a new cat. He's very sweet and puts up with a lot, but he is a bit skittish and hides. So, as soon as I find him, I'll post his picture.

Here's some pics from tonight...

Also...

2 of our 3 PODS arrived! Yahoo! We had about 8 guys from church come and they emptied them in about 2 1/2 hours! All the furniture and outdoor stuff! Yippee! Now we are partially moved into our house. We got the family room organized, and after searching for a few hours we found all the screws for the beds, so we got most of the beds put together. Today the final POD comes with all the boxes with all the "stuff", so by this weekend, we should actually be moved into our house. YeeHaw!

It's SNOWING!!!

I can't believe it! I've never lived anywhere that snowed! Totally crazy! I was going outside to put something in the mail box and thought that I heard rain. Then I realized it was a softer sort of sound. I opened the door, and sure enough, it was SNOWING!!! For a girl from California, this is pretty amazing! I called D, and he didn't believe me! I would totally take a picture, but I can't find my camera and it's driving me CRAZY!!! Just believe me when I say IT'S SNOWING OUTSIDE!!! Not enough to stick, but more than enough to amaze this California girl!!!

Oh DeEr...

So tonight we were in our house - now you gotta know that we don't live there yet. Our stuff arrives on Saturday, so we're just kind of hanging out there right now. I was there today with Chad and Haley painting the laundry room (in preparation for my shiny new RED washer and dryer that are coming tomorrow - I'm so excited!).

Anyways, back to the original story... so we're in our house, and our new friend, Susan Neff, comes over. I'm touring her of the house, and take her out onto the back patio to show her the backyard. Now our backyard really isn't that back, and it's got bushes going all around it, but no fence, and we look down and there's this deer right on our lawn, hanging out in our backyard. We were totally amazed. Now to some of you this might not seem like a big deal, but to us from LA, this is insane. You only see deers at the zoo, and we have one hanging out in our backyard. We called the kids to see the deer, and Haley is yelling "hi deer!" to the deer, and I swear, it's little tail was wagging in greeting to her. It stayed there for a while and just stared at us, and then just moseyed off into the direction of the little brook next to our house. Crazy! Welcome to the wild!

It's OURS!!!

It's over!!! The whole thing is done! The house in Los Angeles is SOLD!!!! and the house here is OURS!!! Now granted, our stuff won't be here for another week and a half, but it doesn't matter. We have our own place... and the kids love it! Especially Chad! He just wants to move in. We have power, and got our cable today, so I am a happy camper. Now all we need is some furniture. One thing at a time. We are happy!

Sign on the bottom line please

We signed all of our loan papers this morning. They gave us little postcards with a picture of our new house on the front, and "Derrick and Shannon Huckvale have moved. Their new address is..." on the back. I have yet to put the new address anywhere because I don't want to jinx anything. Everything on our end is going great; now if we could just get LA to cooperate.

The LA house was supposed to be tented for termites today, and the termite guys decided that they needed to get into the neighbor's yard (for some odd reason), and no one was home to give them permission, so they left a note and said they would be back tomorrow. They are supposed to close on Friday, but now I am being told it probably won't happen. If the tent goes on the house tomorrow, it will come off on Friday and then they will do the repairs. Being as Friday is Veteran's Day, they can't close on Friday, something nobody seemed to notice before. So, both houses should be closing on Monday. Yikes! They really are trying to kill me!

Someone's prayers are being answered...

Well, we found out on Thursday that the guy got approved for another loan - YIPPEE!!! So thanks to all for keeping us in their prayers. Keep it up! Tomorrow they are coming to make sure that we fixed everything on our inspection list, and then on Tuesday the house is being tented for termites and then on Friday, the house is no longer ours - at least that's the plan. Then on Monday, we get ownership of our new house - as long as all works out!

Other than that, on Thursday and Friday I was able to go to a scrapbooking convention (CKC-Seattle) in Seattle which was a lot of fun. I took a bunch of cool classes and bought some stuff - of course! It's always nice to get a little "me" time. It was weird eating dinner and sleeping in a hotel by myself though. Now it's just a matter of getting us moved (we get the house next week, but our stuff doesn't come until November 25th) and getting our Christmas cards out - I know it's early, but if I don't get them done now, who knows when I'll have another chance! Just addressing my envelopes so that they're ready to go in the mail come the beginning of December.

Last night, Chad was able to go to the Blazers basketball game with a neighbor, and believe it or not, as "anti-sports" as Chad is, he had a really good time. I think it's in part to all the free food and running around the court that they did.

Somebody really doesn't want us to move to Washington... or just sell this house!

So on Wednesday, a week before our escrow is to close and halfway in the middle of packing up all our moving trucks, our agent calls to tell us that the buyer's loan was pulled on him. Apparently he didn't disclose that he had just recently bought another property, but the loan people found out so they cancelled his loan. Now, we are all running around like chicken's with our heads cut off trying to figure out what to do. The escrow on our new house is supposed to close the week after next. Yikes! Apparently the guy has applied for a new loan and we should know on Monday what the answer is, but everyone here is telling me that it's not likely he will get approved. So, my wish is, for everyone to keep their fingers, toes and anything else crossed and to keep us in your prayers! We love you all!!!

California here we come!

So Derrick, Haley and I drove all day, into the night last night, and we finally made it at about 1:00 am. What a long day! Not too many stops - food and some gas - and it still took us about 15 1/2 hours, but we made it! We are currently at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Tomorrow our PODS storage containers arrive, and some friends, to start packing us up. Today we are headed over to the house to take care of some of the repairs that need to be made and meet with a plumber. I'm headed to Memories (YEAH!) and to Costco to get some really good apples! Will check in more later!

What is "trunk or treating" you might ask?

Ok, so tonight our church had their Halloween party. There is always a chili cook-off, a costume contest, and then the favorite is the "trunk-or-treating". Trunk-or-treating is trick-or-treating thru the cars in the parking lot. All the adults open the trunks of their cars and sit in them, some even decorate and have creepy music, and then the kids run around the parking lot going from car to car, saying "trunk or treat". It's a lot of fun, and since you know everyone, you don't have to worry about the candy. The kids even got tooth paste! Could you guess that we have two dentists in our ward?

So, here's pics of the kids in their costumes. Haley, not feeling so hot, is a little grumpy Pooh Bear; Luke as a Clone Trooper, minus the helmet; Macy as Super Girl; and Chad as, of course, Anakin Skywalker. Notice the straigthened hair! Took me about an hour! See how long it is!

Dr. Susie is in the house...

Ok, so for some unknown rule, our children refuse to lose their teeth on their own. Luke recently lost his 7th tooth, the first one to come out on it's own. The other 6, pulled by the dentist. His new teeth like to grow in front of, or behind, the baby teeth, so therefore they don't push out the baby teeth. Chad, who is 10, has only lost about 8 teeth, and I would say about half of them were also pulled out by the dentist. Well Macy, who is now 6, and has yet to lose a tooth, is more curious about her wiggly teeth. So, she wiggled and wiggled her bottom two teeth, until last night, Nurse Susie yanked them out with a string. Gave me the heebie-jeebies a bit, but didn't bother her at all! And I love that I don't have the giant dentist bill to pull them out!

The Force is With Us...

So, there is a museum called OMSI here in Portland. Not sure what it stands for... Oregon Museum of something. But anyways, it has a Star Wars exhibit going on right now... so of course, we had to go. We went for family night on Monday with Bob and Susie's family and all had a great time. They had original costumes and props from the movies, and different things you could try, like hydro-driving, and a movie about Robotics, narrated by none other than C3-PO. It was pretty cool. Derrick and Chad were totally in their element!

Our new digs...

Ok, so I promised to be better about this, so here I go. Here's a picture of our new house. Not a great picture, but you can totally see how cute it is! And as mentioned earlier, we are totally excited about the unfinished basement!

Hi Debbie!

So, I was talking to my friend Debbie yesterday (love The WB... not sure about The CW!) and she was mad at me because I'm not being good about blogging very often. I told her that I just don't have anything much to write, but I guess that's not true.

First off, our house in LA is still in escrow. I know it sounds funny that I am saying "still", but I'm just so excited that it might actually get sold! And, not only that, but we are in escrow on a house up here in Camas as well. That, we are very excited about! It has 4 bedrooms, a separate family room and an unfinished basement. D is really excited about the basement... and I've already planned a scrapbooking area in it - so I am excited about that! I'm going for the inspection this afternoon, so I will try to post some pictures later.

The kids are still doing great and don't have school today, so they are excited about that. And, last random bit for the day, Haley is working on being potty trained. And although we totally had to talk her into it, she is getting pretty good about it.

Keep your fingers crossed...

Well, rumor has it that we went into escrow yesterday on our house so... keep your fingers crossed! Especially since we found a house up here that we want to make an offer on! Unfortunately, the kids will have to change to another school, within the same district, unless I want to drive them to and from school every day... which hey, I've already been doing that for like 9 years, but otherwise everything will stay the same. Church, scouts, etc., so that's all good. Just giving the escrow a few days and working on getting pre-approved for a loan, and then I think we're going to make an offer, so as I said before, KEEP YOUR FINGERS CROSSED!

Today I get to go and work in Macy's class for a few hours and I'm excited about that. I always enjoy being in the kids classes and seeing what their working on.

It's been a while...

Well, I haven't blogged in a really long time. Just trying to adjust to a new way of life. The house is still on the market - yikes!!! - which means that we are still living in Bob and Susie's basement. Not bad at all, just need our own space. Super duper thanks to Grandma Paula, Grandma Helen and Grandpa Fred for watching over our house and trying desperately to get it sold for us. I heard that it's getting painted and new carpet even! Crazy!

The kids have adjusted to their new school really well, and even enjoy taking the school bus! It's just always a guess on how early the school bus is going to get here. We almost missed it again this morning (we've missed it the past two days) because it comes early and leaves before it's even supposed to be here. Very frustrating! I think that I'm going to talk to the bus driver this afternoon and ask her what time she thinks she gets here so that we are down there.

Other than that, the boys have both started back up with scouts and are enjoying it. Macy is waiting for a Daisy troop to start up, and then she will be doing scouts as well (with me, I think, as one of her leaders!). Derrick is loving his new job, and Haley and I are just trying to keep our days busy and productive.

Anyone want a house?

Well, the first official day of escrow, the buyers backed out. The husband and wife were fighting, so they decided it wasn't the right time to buy a house. Oh well. They were driving me crazy anyway! The whole process was. Not so easy to sell a house! So, if anyone needs a house, please let me know!

We spent the day yesterday at a beach in Oregon. It was so cool. Cold weather, gloomy, overcast, but the kids had a great time digging in the sand for hours and Luke of course loved going in the ocean. And then we BBQ'd on the beach and had a bonfire, with s'mores and everything! - something you can't easily do in California. Such a neat concept! It was after 9 last night when we left the beach, and we were the first in our group to leave, but we had 2 hours to drive home!