A Fall Wedding

We're going to have a wedding in the family in November! Brian's not so little, but younger brother, Bruce got engaged on August 27th to Beth Linford! (Some of you may know Beth from Washington or have known her sister, Audrey, since she was friends with Brian in high school.) We are so excited to have Beth in the family! (I won't be the only in-law anymore!!) So November 17th in the Jordan River Temple! Now comes all the wedding planning....good luck you two! We love you and look forward to spending lots of time with you guys while you're at BYU the next few years!



(I don't have a good picture of the two of them so I will work on getting one and posting it soon!)

House Pictures

Today we went out to the house for the first time since we signed the contract! It was the first time Brayden and my Mom had seen the house so that was fun! (Brayden was asleep out in the car last time so we took turns looking at the house.) We are getting more and more excited to move....although it's still about a month away. We have our inspection on Tuesday morning so hopefully nothing big shows up! We didn't take pictures of the basement since it's not finished but here's some pictures of the house...

The Outside...a better picture than the one I posted previously....I realized when I got home that I didn't take a picture where you can see the entire house! Oops!

The front door....I love that it's unique!

The Kitchen

Master Bath....we love the huge tub!!

Shower in the Master Bath

Looking in the Master Bedroom from the Master Bath

Master Bedroom

The Entryway....taken from the living room

Looking down the hallway from the dining space

The Living Room....we're thinking we want to put a flat screen up on that wall where the clock is currently.

House Info

Okay, so since many people are wondering about the house and what it looks like, I'm going to attempt to give some info about it. We haven't had a chance to go and take some pictures so here's the picture they used on the listing. It's not very good but it gives you an idea I guess. (It's in Eagle Mountain for those of you who didn't know that already!)



Here's some of the features of the house: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2 car garage, Trex deck, 2650 sq feet, on a cul-de-sac, unfinished basement (room for 2 more bedrooms, a family room, and bathroom), .23 acres, RV parking on the side of the garage (we don't know anyone with an RV so we're going to turn that into a basketball court or one day make it into a third car garage), full landscaping (although it needs help....there's no bushes or trees), LARGE master bathroom with jetted tub, and an alarm system. They had started putting a fence in, so that's about halfway done and the neighbors are ready to go in on finishing the rest of it, so that will be nice! They are giving us a $3000 carpet allowance so we've got to start carpet shopping and deciding on what we want...everything besides the carpet is tile, so that's nice! Basically we're thrilled to be getting a house that's about 2 years old that already has almost everything!! We're happy to not have to purchase blinds, appliances, etc....the only thing we'll HAVE to purchase to live there is the washer and dryer. We're also excited that the neighborhood has a pool and hot tub! That will be nice!! Every neighborhood in Eagle Mountain has a few parks/play grounds so that will be wonderful too!! Oh, and did I mention that we can throw a rock from the backyard onto the golf course?!?! (The yard almost backs right up to it.) Brian's THRILLED to be able to be so close to the golf course and has been joking around that he wants a Cadillac Escalade golf cart! Yeah right!

Our closing date is set for September 25th and after getting the new carpet in and possibly painting, we're aiming to move in around the 2nd or 3rd of October. It's still not set in stone since Brian will be working in Orlando, Florida, the last week of September...and there's NO WAY I'm moving without him!!


In other news....we are still fighting with the builder of our townhouse to get our money back. Right now, without having talked to the lawyer again, we have one possible way to get the money back....if we don't qualify for a loan. So once we've purchased the house there's no way we'll be able to qualify for another loan for the townhouse....that forces them to refund us all our money. So basically it's still possible we'll get our money back, but either way, we're purchasing the house. The worst scenario would be that we just walk away from it and lose our money but we're hoping that doesn't happen...I'm not sure when we'll know anything for sure about it....it's just been a nightmare!! We've come to the conclusion that we weren't meant to live there and deal with the dumb builder and their issues....we'll be SO better off in this house! We can't wait to call it home!!

We Got It!!

Well, we got the house!! So unless something big shows up on the inspection or any other problems, we should have a new home the end of September! I can't remember our closing date right now but it's going to be crazy with Brian being out of town almost the entire last week of the month! The plan is to try and close before he leaves and while he's gone, I'll be in charge of getting all the carpet replaced. (The seller gave us a $3000 carpet allowance.) Then we he gets back, we all move in!! Should be a crazy month coming up!! :)

Our House Drama

Okay, so I thought I'd fill everyone in on what's going on with us and our quest (and I mean quest) for a house. It's been filled with lots of drama recently!! So it all started back on April 3rd when we signed the contract on a townhouse. They gave us a closing date of September 28Th and we weren't sure we wanted to wait that long, but we loved the townhouse (especially after putting all our touches and upgrades into it) and were anxiously awaiting September. Well, September is pretty much here and that picture of our dirt that I posted back in April, well, it looks the same! Still no progress on the part of the DUMB builder!! Needless to say, we are NOT happy, not one bit!

So last week we decided to look into trying to get our money back on the townhouse and we started looking at other places out in Eagle Mountain with our realtor. (We have a real estate lawyer and are trying to decide what our next step will be about getting our money back.) With the way the real estate market has been lately, we have found that we can get even more for our money now than was possible back in April. So after a few days of searching, we found a house in one of the nicest sections of the Ranches (a HUGE section of Eagle Mountain) called Highlands on the Green! We love it and put an offer in on it the very next day! Well, apparently other people liked it too because there were 3 offers on it!!! (We were offer #2) This started a little competition and the sellers asked everyone to submit their best offers. Brian came up with a plan to resubmit our original offer but put an addendum onto it that says we are willing to beat the best offer by $1000. We are hoping this will work to our advantage!

So as of now, the 1st offer has dropped out and it's just two of us left competing for this house! Traci, our realtor, hand delivered our 2nd offer to the sellers and their agent tonight and hopefully they have decided to let us see the other offer and decide if we want/can beat it. She talked with them for almost 30 minutes and told them all about us and how much we loved their house! Hopefully she kissed up enough!!

So everyone...stay tuned! Keep your fingers crossed for us and hopefully tomorrow we'll have good news!!!

Brayden's Interview

Jamie got Brayden to sit down earlier today and show off some of his cool tricks.

Brayden's Favorite Place to Eat!!

So this is Brayden POST HAIRCUT!! We shaved his head because his hair is just so crazy to keep up with! It's almost monthly that we have to take him to get haircuts, so we decided to take it into our own hands and see what he looks like with a buzz cut! I am still not sure about it but everyone else seems to like it!
But this picture was taken at one of our favorite places to eat....can anyone guess what resturant it is??

You're right if you guessed TUCANOS!! SO YUMMY!! We had lunch with Shane there on Wednesday before going out with our realtor to look at houses, but that's a story for another day that will hopefully have a good ending!! (We should have some kind of idea in the next few days!!!)

Jumping with Daddy

Trampolines have been a big hit in our neighborhood lately with all the kids....Brayden and his little friends included. But we're extra lucky because our landlords have one in our backyard!! So Brayden and Daddy like to go outside in the evenings and jump together. Brayden just LOVES to jump! (Some of the tramps in the neighborhood are dug down into the ground so Brayden can jump on those without our help.) Shane took these pictures the other night of these two while I was making homemade ice cream! So thanks Shane for taking this pictures!! These are also PRE HAIRCUT photos....for Daddy and Brayden!

A New Trick

Here's pictures of Brayden's latest trick....I'm not really quite sure how to describe it but the pictures show what he's doing. Yes, that is a pringle in his hand....he loves pringles! He thinks he's SOOO cool doing when he's doing this!! He gets such a proud look on his face! Oh, and these pictures would be PRE-HAIRCUT!

Pug Puppies!!

My parents dog, Kia, had her puppies yesterday! Logan called us about 9 am yesterday and told us she had already had two puppies, so we headed down the street and were on hand to witness the birth of two more of the puppies. After she had four we all thought she was done. But then, around 11:30am, here came another! And then again an hour later! Ok, so then with the six puppies we totally thought she was done. She got up, ate, drank, went outside to the bathroom, etc and then about 2:30 pm here came puppy #7!!! (Seven is a HUGE litter of puppies for a little pug!) There are 4 females and 3 males!!

We've been down there a few times and Brayden just loves them. He's going to have to wait until the get a little bit bigger to play with them though! Their eyes are still closed and they mostly just crawl around and sleep/eat/poop just like human babies! But in a few weeks, Brayden will have 9 pugs to run around Grandma & Grandpa Leavitt's with! (My parents also have a male pug, Bandit, but he was not the father of these puppies.) We can't wait until they get a little bigger and more active! But then, it will also be time to say goodbye as they go to their permanant homes! :(

DUI check

Someone showed me this video off of YouTube the other day, and I thought it need to be shared. This cowboy was doing so well...

Some News!!

Well, after finally updating the blog tonight with all these photos I've been neglecting lately....I have some news to share. We bought a car! After having only one car our entire married life (that did NOT have air conditioning by the way), we finally found a car that we love! We bought a 2005 Honda Accord! It's a dark gray color with gray leather interior, which is just what I wanted! It also has a navigation system that we've been trying to figure out! It's nice to finally have a second car that is so nice! I've been enjoying it all weekend while Brian's been off in California working! I'll post some pictures soon!

A Final Farewell at the MTC

On Wednesday, we dropped Kellen off at the MTC after he had his last big Olive Garden feast! (Of course he was to nervous to do as much damage as he usually would!) Both of our Grandmas came to say goodbye too! Of course it was hard to say goodbye for 2 years but he's doing what he should be doing! (It's crazy to think of how different Brayden will be in 2 years and it's sad that Brayden won't remember him!) Kellen's going to be an amazing missionary and we're so excited to hear all about his adventures in the MTC and then over in Belgium and France! We love you Kellen!


Proud parents with their missionary!

A proud older sister, brother-in-law, and nephew!

One last family photo!

Mom putting on his missionary tag! (As you can see, Dad was already getting emotional....in fact, he still is!)

One last brother and sister picture!

Good luck Elder Leavitt! You're going to do great!!

***Thursday, after entering the MTC, Kellen flew to San Francisco with other Elders and a Sister to appear at the French Embassy to get their French visas! The stake executive secretary happened to be on their flight too and said Kellen looked great and that he had a good visit with him!! That's our missionary!!***

Kellen is set apart as a Missionary!!!

Tuesday night Kellen was set apart as a missionary! It was at 9pm which is Brayden's bedtime so that put an interesting twist on the event! (He was CRAZY during the blessing!) The Stake President shared some wonderful insights with us and then gave Kellen a beautiful blessing. I don't remember many of the words he used because of Brayden's acting up but I do remember he said "You will feel the power invoked on your behalf because of the daily prayers of your family for your sucess and safety." The Spirit was very strong and so were everyone's emotions.

Kellen with both his Grandmas. (Grandpa Leavitt had gone up to the Ranch already to spend some time with his brother.)

The Family

Kellen with Chase and Brady....he chose the two of them to come join us as he was set apart. (Chase has his call and Brady's papers are in, but he might have it by now!)

Uncle Kellen and Brayden

Kellen, Torey, and I....we all had dessert afterwards before about 30 of Kellen's guy friends came by for final goodbyes.

Kellen's Farewell

Sunday July 29th was Kellen's farewell! We had no idea how many people were coming for Kellen! They ended up setting up seats in both the foyers and hallways outside the chapel and also had people sitting in the choir seats! One comment I overheard, "Are all these blonde girls here for Kellen?" He did a amazing job with his talk! It was really heartfelt and his testimony just shined! And the first counselor in the Bishopric thought it was be great for me to give the closing prayer! Needless to say, I totally lost it and cried the last half of the prayer!

Afterwards my parents ended up feeding about 150 people at their house! We had all kinds of yummy food....tri-tip sandwiches, pasta salad, fruit, Great Uncle Gaylord's homemade caesar salad, and lots different kinds of desserts!! Brian ended up having to be out of town so we really missed him! Shane came and was really great to watch Brayden while I helped in the kitchen! It was fun to have so many friends and family members there with us to say goodbye to Kellen!


Kellen and one of his best friends, Chase. (He enters the MTC in Sept.) I love this picture because Kellen's smile reminds me of how cute he was growing up. We don't see that smile very often!

Kellen and I

Kellen with some of his buddies...most of them leave on missions in the next few months!

I got to feed my new little cousin, McKay, a bottle.....until Brayden got jealous! (I think it's crazy that I have TWO cousins younger than my son!)

The weather was perfect until the cool breeze became a crazy wind and everyone that was still left at the house had to go outside and hold the batting cage so it wouldn't blow away!!

Making Great Grandma's Famous Bread

As long as I can remember, my Grandma Leavitt has been making homemade bread. In fact, the only kind of store bought bread I've ever seen in her house in sourdough bread which she says, "Grandpa just wants some sourdough sometimes." So when they came up to spend time with Kellen as he prepared to enter the MTC, we told Grandma she had to make bread! And the first batch of six loaves were consumed within just a few days! (She ended up making more on Wednesday afternoon after we dropped Kellen off!)

Kellen, Mom, Brayden, and I all got our hair cut that morning so while I was getting my haircut, my son was learning first hand how to make Great Grandma's Famous bread! And I'm not biased or anything but I think the bread turned out EXTRA good with those ten little fingers helping!






Notice there are no pictures of the bread once it was baked! We were all too busy eating it while it was hot!

Grandpa Leavitt's Birthday

Brayden must have known it was Grandpa's birthday because he wanted to be with him and help him with everything he was doing! He just loves to run over to him, grab his leg, and sign "Please." Here's a few of the things Brayden's helped Grandpa with on his birthday...

He couldn't resist helping Grandpa mow the lawn.

And who wouldn't want to help Grandpa BBQ some delicious meat!?!

And he just had to help Grandpa open his birthday cards and presents.

It was no surprise he was determined to help Grandpa blow out the birthday candles on his strawberry pie!

Cedar Hills City Celebration

On July 21st, our little city of Cedar Hills had their annual bash. We got up early (well, early to us!) and went down to the Parade. Now this parade used to really only consist of kids that decorated their bikes, lawn mowers, and anything else they could ride but has now grown to actual floats sponsored by the few businesses we have in town, which are mostly dentists. (You'll see why I mention the dentists in a minute!) So we went to the parade and I didn't get my camera out because I wasn't expecting much...but Brayden absolutely loved it! He loved picking up all the candy that was thrown to him by these dentists and other local businesses. (I TOTALLY think the dentists were trying to drum up some business with all the candy! They sure weren't throwing out toothbrushes!)

***Notice the pass along cards! Those came from some of the local missionaries who walked in the parade!***

We got home from the parade and put Brayden in his high chair to have some early lunch and next thing we knew, we turned around and saw this....



So we just left him there because we didn't want to wake him up and he ended up sleeping for about an 1 1/2 hours!!

Here's what our schedule for the rest of the day looked like! (Unfortunately I didn't take any pics!)

1:00pm Leave to drive up to Shane's place and go swimming.

2:00pm to 3:00pm Swimming with Shane

3:00pm Getting cleaned up and driving to Brian's mini mission reunion

3:30pm to 5:30pm Japan Sendai Mission Reunion

7:00pm BBQ with the Leavitt Family

9:15pm Walk to the park to watch the fireworks

10:00pm FIREWORKS!

Brayden loved the fireworks and also the glow bracelets that Grandma had left over from Girls Camp. We probably had 100 that we all played with! Brayden wore two put together as a necklace so we wouldn't lose him in the dark! And just like every year....the Cedar Hills fireworks only get better and better!

Feeding the Ducks

After spending the first few years of married life living in Provo and going to BYU, I finally accomplished something I wanted to always do on campus AFTER we moved out of Provo.....we went and fed the ducks at that cute little pond just south of campus! I always drove by there on Sunday mornings on the way to the singles ward we served in and always wanted to go and feed the ducks. So after a Petersen Familly Sibling Dinner down at Bruce's apartment, we all went and fed the ducks! Brayden seemed to really enjoy it and so did Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Bruce, Bruce's girlfriend Beth, Daddy, and Mommy! Brayden even helped the ducks do their job and ate some of the bread himself! We're going to have to do it again sometime!