Easter Weekend

Jeanne and Paul got married on Friday! It was nice to be apart of the whole event. Saturday we helped pack up the house and then I worked a few hours. We spent the evening at Darren & Doreen's and Lacy was there. Lacy and Darren will start omni drops next weekend and that got Jesse wanting to do it too. So we ordered him drops so he could get on the program. I started on Saturday! :)

The next day was Easter. We went to my mom's for brunch. Which was delicious as you can see. After that we went to see my sister at DSW since she had to work. We met Daniel over at the grandparents house and visited then ate dinner. James and Josh weren't there because they went to Colorado, but Amanda came with Madison. We found out that Amanda and James are having their second child! She is 6 weeks pregnant - due in December! How exciting for them! Madison is very excited to have a little brother/sister. We all went to Jeanne & Paul's new house for dessert and champagne to congratulate them on their new house and their marriage!

Busy Weekends, Weight loss, and S'more

I can't believe it's already mid-April! Tax day is today, but luckily we filed ours early February! :) Last weekend we were going to go to the Tulip Festival, but it's a drive, and we didn't want to be rushed since I worked Saturday evening. I also worked Sunday too! Busy busy! 11.5 hours worked on the weekend! I'm kind of glad that I only work 3 hours next weekend! :) 

We will be going to an Easter service on Saturday night with the VanderVort's. We have a huge day for Easter: brunch w/my mom, dinner with Jesse's grandparents, finished with a dessert celebration for Jeanne & Paul's wedding! They are getting married this Friday! 

I am also excited for tonight because I am meeting up with this lady I met last summer on a camping trip who did this weight loss program and now she is a consultant for them. She lost 81 pounds or so, so I know it works. So we will see what she says tonight! :) 

Also, some sad news. One of my mom's dogs, S'more, that she has had for 11 years died this morning around 1am. Apparently he went downhill fast the last few days and my mom told my sisters and I last night that he wasn't doing well. We didn't realize he would go so fast. I hope the best for my mom.

March 29-30th, 2014

Last week I said we got pre-approved. That was a wonderful weight lifted off of our shoulders. However, we looked at 16 houses on our house tour yesterday, and didn't really find anything we liked. The one house we liked from last week has now been foreclosed, so we just have to wait and see what is happening with that. We are assuming an investor bought it and plans to fix it enough to pass an inspection for someone else to buy. This is all speculation... so we will see what happens with that. Everything else we didn't really like. Most of the houses are 1.5 stories. The ceilings are way too short on the second floor, and that is where 1-2 of the bedrooms were. Jesse had to keep his head bent down to be up there. So for now, we will be patient and keep saving up our money. 

We found a Harry Potter closet/room!!

Jeanne and Paul are getting married in a few weeks! Their house closes on April 15th and they are getting married on April 18th. So congratulations to them!! 

Jesse is working at a different job site for the next 3 weeks. It's great for our savings because it's the swing shift, but his schedule is 4pm-12:30am. We won't actually be awake together (at home) except for the weekends. I plan to take this time to check things off my to-do list. Last week I started organizing my things. It's spring time, we might be moving soon, and I just want it organized! 

I start my new part time job this Thursday! I am excited and relieved that the first few shifts are only a few hours. 

I also got two cool cookbooks for cooking with cast iron. I tried the banana bread recipe this weekend! Yum!!

That's all there is for now.

Pre-Approved

That word, "pre-approved," is such a beautiful word. It just sounds so nice. 

Today.... we got pre-approved! We are so excited! We can now really be serious about buying a house since we have the go ahead by the lender!! I seriously can't sit still now that we got that wonderful e-mail. Tonight I know I will be on Pinterest pinning ideas for our future new house!

That is all for today. Just big and wonderful news! :)

More House Hunting

We did more house hunting. It really is exhausting, but we had a good time.

The previous owner of this house bought it for a rental and did not make a mortgage payment. Also had mold, house add-on's without a permit, and sewer problems in the yard (gas spewing through).

We went to this house and did not enter. We don't want it, but would love to know it's story!

Our niece Madison had lots of fun going with us to houses!

This house was our favorite! Hoping to put an offer on it!

We also had a wonderful time at Demara's 3 year old pajama breakfast birthday party!

Such a happy Demara!

We are still waiting to hear back on the pre-approval. It's already been three weeks, so we are hoping this process is almost done. 

March 21-23rd, 2014

I am looking forward to this weekend coming up. Tomorrow I start my weekend with a PTO day. I will do some cleaning and probably some shopping at Costco. We definitely need to buy Costco sized coffee with our household. 

Saturday morning we are going to Demara's 3 year old birthday party. Her parents are throwing her a pajama breakfast birthday party! :) How fun! After we go to the party we are going to meet up with Jeanne. Jeanne and Paul have an inspection because they found a house! It closes mid-April!! Jeanne is going to show us some houses. Some houses in Federal Way, some in the surrounding areas, and then some in Tacoma (have a different criteria). We are thinking we may just buy a house in Tacoma if it's decent and cheap. There are so many possibilities! So we are going to look at all kinds of houses to see what we would like to do.

Sunday we are going to church and having a relaxing day. Hopefully I will remember to take photos of houses we see and of Demara's party! :)

Housing Market

I was hoping to write some good news in the next few days, but there is none as of now. Tomorrow we hear back on the pre-approval so we are crossing our fingers for that. We also looked at a house on Thursday because it just came on the market. It was the only house in the area we qualify for and meet our 3-4 requirements. Our offer (full price + seller pay closing) was rejected because they accepted an offer that was significantly higher than asking price. That was frustrating for us. Why are people offering higher than the asking price as their first offer?! Now there is nothing for us on the market. :(

Birthday Weekend

We had an awesome weekend! Dinner, trampoline nation, and menchie's was all a great time. There were some injuries at the trampoline place, but everyone still had fun. 

Left to Right: Sarah, Amanda, Mom, Me, and Armando

I hope you enjoy all of our fun photos from dinner and Trampoline Nation! As you can see, my sisters and I all got shirts! Thank you Amanda for treating us three to them!

On Sunday we had a relaxing day. :) It was very nice.

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Ashley's Birthday Week

We were able to make some good progress last week with saving money!! Yay!! We got pre-qualified for a mortgage loan last week too which is the first step. The second step is to get a pre-approval. Last weekend we gathered all of our financial and other documents to send in to get pre-approved. It all got turned in on Monday so we are crossing our fingers!!!

I had that interview last week for the part time job as an event aide. I really liked it because it is an active and social job. They e-mail all the shifts 3 weeks before the next month and you tell them when you are available. Then they e-mail the schedule out to everyone. That is very cool because we have a few plans this summer already and I worried how I could ask for the time off. We go to Vegas Memorial Day weekend and then we may go to Hollywood in August for Jesse's brother's wedding. Anyways, I wanted it because I would really like to earn more money since we are saving for a house. Everything counts! The following day after my interview I was offered the job!! :) I turned in all of my paperwork on Tuesday. Next Wednesday she is e-mailing everyone the shift schedule for April. I won't be working until then. That's okay - this month is already so busy!! I also am now babysitting for a family. The little girl is adorable and the parents are from Germany. I babysat last Saturday - too easy! She was asleep the whole time!!

Guess who is the luckiest girl in the world?! My husband and grandmother went in together and bought me an iPad! I love it so much! It was my birthday present! :) Happy Ashley! 

For my birthday we are going out to fish and chips tonight. On Saturday we are meeting friends/family at Mongolian Grill and then who ever wants to join us or meet us at Trampoline Nation for fun and afterwards we are going for frozen yogurt! Super excited!