Yes, I am wondering where the month of May went. It's already June and the start of summer. I can't believe it! May was a bit busy for us so here is a review:
Mother's Day weekend was spent in Las Vegas looking for a new home. Clark, Kate, and Jake were left in Texas with sweet friends and we took Carlee with us. She did very well on the flight but stayed awake the entire time and with the time change, she was exhausted. We arrived Saturday night around 7:00 but spent 2 hours in line getting a rental car. Right before we got the car, Carlee finally fell asleep. So we loaded our stuff in the rental van around 9:30 and headed on our way the 1.5 hours to St. George to stay with my sis. We were starving so we hit the 24 hour McDonald's at the end of "The Strip" and drove along looking at all the sights on the way. Joe and I haven't been to Las Vegas in years so it was fun to talk about memories and all that has changed. It took us about an hour but Carlee was asleep and we figured this was a good time to see it in the dark. We got to St. George about midnight Vegas time and 1:00 a.m. Utah time.
Sunday was Mother's Day and the first time I didn't wake up to breakfast in bed by my children. I missed them especially that day. We went to church with Steph but it wasn't the same. I missed seeing my sweet children up on the stand singing their little hearts out with the "mother" songs. I missed Jake's big grin and thumbs up as he tries to sing all the words but ends up getting distracted and talking to his friends. I missed Katelyn's shy smile and wonderful singing voice getting all the words right. I missed Clark's "I'm too cool to smile at my mom but I'll sing my heart out with sincerity and try not to smile at her" smirk. We had a great morning with Jim and Steph and after a yummy lunch we drove to Vegas to check out the area all afternoon and then headed back that evening.
Monday we started the hunt. We looked at about 16 houses. Most of them were foreclosures and needed a lot of work. We went to a few other ones but it was hard to look past the clutter to actually see the home. We would set up appointments but the homeowners would follow us around the house and wouldn't even clean up before we came! I was amazed and disappointed. It was a very discouraging day.
Tuesday was spent in Henderson. We looked at about 14 houses this day. There were some nice ones but yards were extremely small and it would be a very long commute from the ones we did like. We then stopped in Logandale on our way back to St. George and visited with some great friends and went to dinner. They took us on a tour of Logandale and convinced us to look at homes there even though it is also a far commute. They are so happy there and we would love to live close to them.
On Wednesday we really liked one particular house and were thinking of putting an offer in but found out there were 6 other offers on it so we didn't want to compete. We also looked at another home that had my favorite floorplan and a half-acre lot. We were so excited from the front door and then we walked into the kitchen . . . It was gutted. Some of the top cabinets, bottom drawers and doors, the island, dishwasher, sink, and parts of the butler's pantry were missing! I was so sad. Two of the upstairs bedrooms were also missing carpet. It would have been the perfect house but we would have paid too much to buy it and then even more to make it liveable. We also checked out some new homes that are being built and they were pretty nice but, again, no yard for our children to play. We looked at about 6 more this afternoon.
By the evening, we were sick of looking at houses and just wanted to relax. We checked into a motel for the night and then went out for dinner at Claim Jumper in a really great outdoor mall. It was fun. Carlee had a blast just walking around and looking at things and we enjoyed just being with her. We then went to bed early for our 6 a.m. flight home. Although we came home feeling a little disappointed and empty-handed, we do know the area a little more and have time to continue our search.
Jacob had his end of the year program for preschool on the 17th. His class sang a couple of songs and he did great. He has really enjoyed this year and loves his teachers, Miss Kim and Miss Rose. He was lucky enough to go to school with his best buddies, Mitchell and Brayden, too. He finished off his year the week before Memorial Day with a pizza party on Tuesday and a water party on Thursday. He had a great time and is out for the summer!
Clark had his piano recital on May 23. His teacher was Brooke Jardine and we are going to miss her. She was a great teacher and Clark did well. He has a great ear for piano and can often play the songs just by hearing them. Unfortunately he needs to sight read a little more but we are going to work on it over the summer. Clark enjoys playing the piano and has a great talent for it. We will miss Sister Jardine and appreciate all of her hard work and patience with Clark.
Memorial Day was spent having a traditional breakfast at the Guenther House downtown. The kids ate up their waffles and bacon and we toured the museum and enjoyed walking along the river. We had a 45 minute wait for breakfast so the kids passed the time posing for pictures, playing "Mother, May I?" and "Red Light, Green Light". After our yummy breakfast we went miniature golfing at Malibu again. Unfortunately we weren't as lucky as the last time but had a wonderful time anyway. When we walked through our back door that afternoon, the phone rang and it was a house showing in 20 minutes so we ran through the house for any touch-ups and jumped back into the car. We decided to get some ice cream and go to Target to look (not buy) at toys. When the hour was up we headed back home to get ready for the next week and the beginning of the end . . . of school.
