We're alive, I promise!!

So it's kind of ironic that I'm always checking friend's blogs to see if they've updated and yet I never update this thing of ours;) Figure I need to change that a bit!!

A LOT (multiply by 100) has changed for us this year, and we've stayed busy through it all. Here's a "quick" low down of what's been going:

#1 BIGGEST SURPRISE EVER-finding out I was pregnant again!! My due date is 11-11-11 (NO that was not planned-again, key in on the word SURPRISE above and the fact that I won't be lasting until 11-11-11)and we are having another little BOY!!!! Yeah...there's a whole story behind this but obviously Heavenly Father was just laughing at any plans of mine and went with HIS instead;) Which we all know it's for the better:) It's been an interesting ride, lots of new things and not so good things going on with this pregnancy but I'm just thankful to be this far along (30 weeks!!)and still be going!! It's amazing what you will do for your kids:)

This summer has been full of traveling for anniversary weekend (Heber Valley and 4 wheeling!!), family reunions (Zions National Park, Yellowstone-saw 6 bears and one REALLY interesting story involving a bear and my sister Steph, that I'll have to tell some day!!), a really short trip to southern Colorado, and our house being named "Hotel Allen";)

Here at "Hotel Allen' we've enjoyed having so many friends and family come visit-even if they have to sleep on air mattresses and our couches!!;) Seriously though, we've LOVED having people here!! In fact I think Jackson loves it more than anyone because it's not just boring mom in the mornings:) It's been nice to help out when we could and keep busy with everyone. Maybe next year we can have actual rooms and beds DOWNSTAIRS in a FINISHED basement that people can come stay in too!! Which leads me to....

We've been working on finishing the basement!!

Granted it's not as fun for me because I'm pregnant, but there are still some things I can do!! There have been times when my AWESOME father-in-law won't let me help...which was still really cute and nice of him to worry about me:) My father-in-law is the type of guy that knows a LOT...about EVERYTHING...and is AMAZING and AWESOME (I think I already mentioned that but it's worth repeating numerous times!!) Dennis is super busy with work, callings, and helping people around here that we weren't making a whole lot of progress. My FIL has a BUNCH of time off and has started coming down once a week to get things done in the basement and so we are cruising now (knock on wood because we have another inspection by the city on Tuesday and I want to KEEP cruising!!)!! We will forever be grateful for ALL of the help we've gotten on our house and especially from Dixon who has put in so much time that this should be partially his house too;)

I'm hoping we can finish things up before this baby comes, but again, I'm learning that it's doesn't always go the way you plan it to. If we don't finish before the baby I have a feeling it'll be....a while;) Either way I'm just happy with what we've gotten done so far!!

Other BIG news, at least for me it's BIG news, I quit teaching.....!! It's still kinda 'fresh' and I'm still a bit all over the place about this decision but certain things have happened to show me that it was the RIGHT decision even if it's not necessarily the one I wanted. Plus I do get to spend a lot of time with my little man Jackson before this next one comes!! But I'm not going to lie, I miss my job, my friends at the school, my 'kids' (aka students) and the joy of teaching and learning as well. I've applied for a leave of absence so that if something opens up and all is well in our lives I can go back PT next fall-but that has to go through "channels" and be approved so who knows. So far we've been keeping too busy with other things for me to slow down and notice a whole lot, but yesterday and today I'm starting to notice.

What else?!? We have also been going through the refinance process on our house which has been keeping me busy. We bought our home through the Good Neighbor Next Door program (GNND) for police officers, firefighters, and teachers and it has been a HUGE blessing!! We've met the three year 'required residency' of our home and I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon. We love our neighborhood, ward, the area, etc and we figure getting a lower mortgage payment is always a bonus too;) We had our appraisal finally done this past week and now it's just praying and crossing our fingers that we get a good appraisal...we'll see. The appraiser was super impressed by our upstairs remodel but not so much downstairs where the "remodel" is still taking place;) Hope to find out Tuesday what he gave us and then we'll go from there!!

Ok, seeing how it is Labor Day weekend I think this is enough of an update for now. Maybe I'll even try to update more often since supposedly I'll have "more time" being at home-HA!!;) Hope everyone has a good, fun, and SAFE holiday weekend with friends and family!!