It's a house!

Well, we've found a house and we're closing on December 21!!!!! It's a cute little place and we're so excited about it. The whole house hunting experience was rather amusing. We really thought we were going to move down here and find a brand new, beautiful, perfect house in the right school district for less than 150K...we were WRONG! Jeni, my sis-in-law, was ABSOLUTELY RIGHT when she said that the pictures can fool you. The realtor would send us these listings in our email and we'd look at the pictures and say, "Oh, that house is PERFECT" And then we'd get there and it would be a DUMP! So needless to say, it took us a little while to find a house. But we found it and it's just right. It certainly needs a little work. We're starting with the bathrooms. We originally thought we'd start with the kitchen until we went back to the house and realized that all of the glazing the seller had put on the bath and tiles was chipping off. That seems like something MIles would enjoy eating, however it also seems like something that would be highly toxic. So we're still deciding if we want to reglaze the tubs and then re-tile, or if it would be better just to put a shell over the whole unit. Any advice would be great. After the bathrooms we'll get to the kitchen where we're going to have the existing cabinets sanded and repainted. Also, we'll be knocking through the wall of the existing pantry (which is PUNY) and extending it into the space currently being occupied by the wet bar. We'll be so sad to see the wet bar go, of course. It's such a classy addition to any living room, and you know how we like to keep our beer and peach schnapps handy... But really, did these things ever get used? Even in the 70's? Honestly, I feel like we need to put a black light in there and wear leisure suits just to be in the same room with it. So anyway, that will be a rather fun project. Chase is looking forward to all of the demolition.
The other exciting news is that we're pregnant... Okay, not really. But we did get living room furniture after FIVE LONG YEARS of sitting on old DI (deseret industries for those of you who are not in-the-know) couches. My special thanks goes out to Carl and Kendra who recommended Ashley Furniture Store when we visited them last time...Guys, we didn't forget and you were right! They have great deals! We're very excited about our two couches, loveseat, ottoman and side tables. Plus we got new area rugs. I'm beside myself at the moment.
As for the boys...they're really enjoying being around so much family. Miles is loved on every minute of the day, especially by his Uncle Garrett and Uncle Eric. Cameron gets spoiled rotton by Nana and Grandpa and has really enjoyed their collection of movies. Well, he's really enjoyed their copies of Spiderman 1 & 2. And I love the back yard with the 6 foot privacy fence. I can literally just throw Cameron outside and let him pretend to be Spiderman all day! Lastly, we're really enjoying the weather. It's fabulous. I know I won't be saying that in July, but for right now I'm loving it.
Anyway, I just wanted to bring you all up to speed. We'll post pictures eventually...

So some of you are probably wondering where we've gone! We're in Texas! And what a crazy, crazy ride it's been. I'll spare you the drama and tedium, but basically we decided to get here BEFORE December in hopes that the apartment complex would find someone to take over our lease. We made the final decision to move TWO DAYS before we actually did it. Literally. All week we hummed and hawed because we didn't know what to do and I finally had enough and made an executive decision. We felt good about it and went ahead with our plans. So on Saturday the 18th we packed up the truck and headed south. By Sunday we were here without any real incident. I say without real incident because it wasn't incident-free! Sunday morning as we were leaving our skanky motel Chase locked his keys in the truck and we had to call a locksmith. A cool 25 minutes and $65 later we were on our way. Now, for those of you who know of our previous trips to Texas, you know this isn't really that serious. Afterall, no cars were totalled or tires blown up or moving trucks breaking down. So it's all good.
The REAL drama came the following Friday right after Turkey day when Chase tried to fly back to Chicago. He was scheduled to take the Financial section of the CPA on Saturday morning. I dropped him off at Love Field in Dallas at around 6:15 pm. We kissed, we hugged and he told me he would call when he arrived. His plane was scheduled for a 7:15 departure. WELL at 7:45 the phone rang and I could hear my father-in-law talking to Chase. I thought nothing of it because what plane actually leaves on time the day after a major holiday? So I listened to dad's half of the conversation and became increasingly alarmed as I heard things like "They're holding you where?" and "So where are they taking you?" Turns out Chase had been arrested while going through security and he was on his way downtown to be booked. NO KIDDING! I guess Chase had thrown a knife into his backpack at some point during the move and had completely forgotten it was there. It just happened to be big enough to be considered a "prohibitive weapon" which is also a Class C Felony. So they cuffed him and hauled him away and he spent the next 7 hours sitting in a holding cell with a bunch of druggies and one guy charged with manslaughter. It was awful. Mostly for him, but for me too! Thinking of him down there was terrible! So we were so relieved when my father-in-law posted his bond and got him out of the clinker. So now Chase is trying to find someone to represent him on a pro-bono basis and we're trying to figure out how much it will all cost. It's been a huge bummer to say the least.
As for house hunting...that's been a real treat. We've seen some total dumps and some really nice places. We're trying to find something in the middle. We've actually found a house that we like a lot and we're considering putting an offer in on it. It's older and needs some work in the kitchen, bathrooms and backyard - mostly cosmetic stuff. But it's got good space and a good layout. It's small'ish, but it's a good size for a starter home. Once we figure out how much the legal fees will set us back we'll decide whether or not to put a bid in.
Stay tuned and we'll keep you posted...

"Don't smoke when you get big, kid!" This is the advice we got when we arrived at the park this afternoon. Not exactly what we were expecting. We showed up at the park which was crawling with kids because it was SO NICE today. Anyway, as we're walking onto the playground Cameron notices a guy walking on the path who is hooked up to oxygen and is pulling the tank behind him. I tried to just divert Cameron's attention, because he really lacks tact at the moment. Of course, there's nothing as interesting as stuff with wheels, so Cameron was drawn like a moth to a flame. I think he thought it was some great new toy that he should have, too. So he's standing there, mouth agape, pointing. I knew the guy saw him so I tried to hustle him onto the playground before he said...oh, no, too late..."MOMMY, LOOK!!!!!" The guy was cool and gave him a big smile and said, "Don't smoke when you get big, kid!" Nicely handled by the guy with the tubes. I just laughed and smiled at him and then realized it was the saddest thing in the world. So I'm passing along that advice to all of you. Just in case you forgot. Don't smoke.

Okay, I have the Sunday blahs. We are all SICK...AGAIN! I HATE BEING SICK. If you have not read any prior posts about us being sick (you don't have to look far - we're sick all the time), then let me just say that being sick ranks right up there with having a baby without any sort of painkillers. I hate it THAT MUCH. And that's without having other people to take care of. Chase learned this lesson about a week after we got married when I ended up with a sweet "bladder infection." I cried, I moaned, I groaned. I laid on the couch waiting for death to take me at any blessed moment. And that is my preferred method of getting through an illness. So you can imagine that when I'm sick the last thing I want to deal with is my kids being sick. So this morning I decided that I would stay home with the boys. They're both really gross and I've got a killer sore throat. Then I told Chase he'd better tell the missionaries we can't feed them tonight. His response was "Oh, no. We can still do it! I'll do everything." I tried telling him that I just didn't feel like it. After all, it's hard to remain in a stupor on the sofa when you've got eight eyes boring holes in you and asking for referrals. SO I've dragged myself into the shower and I'm just trying to conjure up the energy (and desire) to go blow-dry my hair and put on makeup. Yuck. On top of that we are up to our eyeballs in boxes. The house is completely pulled apart and we're half in and half out of boxes. I hate that, too. Hmmm...I hate a lot of stuff today. I guess I'm just bitter that my day (which started out by watching the Bears and Steelers games and knitting a hot-pink scarf) has reached the point where I've got to be productive. Argh. Anybody got any Calgon?

Just for those of you who are wondering and waiting for pictures of my babes, I don't have any. I know, it's awful. I just don't have a digi camera right now. We're getting one for the house hunt, so I'll get the boys in their costumes at that point...
Thanks for wondering, Sara!

As we approach Halloween evening, the night of trick-or-treating, I am coming to a shameful realization...Cameron and Miles are not just my sons on Halloween, they're my patsies. My stool-pigeons, my decoy, my cover. Whatever you want to call it, I use my sons to get me some yummy candy. Up until this point I think it was subconscious. I really WANTED to drag Cameron out all night, freezing his tush off and pulling at the "feathers" I had sewn on him (2005), or the anchor tattoo Chase had drawn on his arm (2004). I really LOVED the idea of watching him go door-to-door and thrust his little open bag up into the air, looking expectant. It was CUTE to hear him learn to say "trick-or-treat", which sounded more like TickTeat. But as we count down the days the thought of all of those glorious mounds of candy piled on my living room floor after a dutiful night trudging down the streets makes me giddy. I LOVE candy. Perhaps it has something to do with my up-bringing or maybe it's encoded in my DNA; I don't know. All I know is that when I see people stringing up orange lights on their trees or sticking skeletons in their front windows I positively drool at the thought of the forthcoming bounty.
So am I ashamed, you ask? No. I have also recently come to realize that I'm not the only parent who feels this way. The more I think about it, the more I realize MY parents were probably known to dip their hands into our confectionary coffers. Think about it. Halloween night usually went like this: You run out of the house with some sort of paint on your face and a great thrift-store dress (or fatigues) that your mom found. In your right hand is a flash-light and in your left hand is a pillow case. No plastic pumpkin for you, no, you plan on striking it rich tonight. For the next FOUR HOURS you cover (and re-cover in many instances) the streets located within a 5 miles radius of your house before returning home exhausted. You and your siblings or friends proceed to dump out your goodies and start categorizing the candy. Then you start trading. But before long mom comes in and tells you that you can have one more piece and then it's time to hand it over and go to bed. No, you're not allowed to take your candy into your room because then you'll just spend all night eating it and getting cavities. So, as a trusting young child you hand over the candy and head for bed. Now here's what you didn't know...it's at this point in the evening that mom feels VERY rewarded for having borne children. She and dad rifle through the bulging bags like homeless people at the dumpster behind Olive Garden. They laugh, they giggle, they pour the candy on the floor and lay down to make candy angels in it...Yeah, I can see your wheels turning. You know I'm right.

We call him Raccoon Rawlins! Miles has taken up a new sport...trash can hunting. He has always loved to eat paper and paper products and we try to keep it far from his reach. However, since he started crawling he has learned that one place to find paper is in the garbage can next to our desk! So if we leave the room when he's on the floor he takes the opportunity and races for the waste basket and before we can run back in the room he has rifled through it to find a discarded credit card offer or some other such thing. We usually find him with half an envelope hanging out of his mouth and a big grin on his face. What a rascal!!! Too bad we still don't have a digital camera or we'd have a picture posted. It's the funniest thing!
This weekend we have been trying to be productive. We spent the day yesterday cleaning. Well, I was cleaning and cooking like a fiend and Chase had to work 2 hours away in Indiana. We fed all four missionaries and that was so much fun. We have a great couple of elders in our ward. AND we got our loan approval taken care of! Now we just have to go find a house! We're so excited!!! Now we're just counting the days until we leave!

89. Just keep that number in your head for a moment. Okay, so those of you who have been to our apartment know that it stays quite warm through the whole year. I don't know if it's because we're on the second floor or because it's insulated too much or because we're actually living directly above hell. One way or the other, it's hot. So we look forward to cool weather so that we can open the windows and patio door and get some fresh air. So tonight Chase and I are sitting here on the couch reading - well I was reading US magazine and Chase was reading it over my shoulder, which, as a Kilgore, I cannot abide so I gave him his own copy. Anyway, we began to realize that it was hot as blazes. Seriously, hot as an actual blaze on an actual fire. So I put my hand by the vent to see if the heat was on. It wasn't just warm, it was hot. So I check out the thermostat. 89 degrees. And our thermostat usually reads a bit lower than it actually is, so I'm guessing our apartment is somewhere in the 90's as we speak. Clearly this is the work of Cameron T. Rawlins. Thanks, Cam.

So I'm thinking maybe it's just Mondays. For those of you who didn't see Sara's post about Cameron's lack of pee-control last week in Iowa, just know that it was a long, messy Monday. And here we are again, one week later. I feel like it's that camp song, you know "Second verse, same as the first but a little bit louder and a little bit worse." Seriously! He was louder and WORSE! Cameron's day was complete with two "accidents" (and I only call them that to give him the benefit of the doubt - they're really LAXIDENTS, as in the kid is just way to lazy and lax to get up and go to the bathroom) and an episode of really bad aim. I guess it's a little like a waterhose and when you turn that spigot on you better have control of it or who knows what will end up getting wet. SO anyway, I thought it was just him, but maybe it's just Mondays. Maybe this is what I have to look forward to every Monday from now until, well, maybe forever. NOT COOL, CAM!

I just felt like putting up some fun pics of the family. First there's Cameron looking like a thug. He loves to put his hands in his pockets. I haven't got a clue where he came up with that idea but I hope he keeps doing it. SO FUNNY.
Second you'll see the ladies of my family. You ladies are fabulous. From the left: My cute mom holding my equally cute nephew Ty, big sis Chrysta holding neice Gaby, 'lil sis Cathryn standing behind neice Lydia, sis-in-law Kathryn, neice Taylor next to the bride Alyssa my sis, on the other side of the bride is sis-in-law Christy (mom of Ty) and Sara (Mom of Gaby, Lydia and Taylor). So many hot mamas!





Next there's the pic of my bro Scott and his family Christy, baby Ty and Zach. I like this pic because of Scott's uniform. I'm seriously considering telling Chase to sign up for the Navy.
















The last picture is of Halloween 2005 in Iowa with my bro Jerry and his family. Cameron was big bird. I SLAVED over this outfit and needless to say, my talents lie elsewhere. This year I bought costumes from the Disney store...

Miles is crawling! He's been working on it for the past month and this week I just knew he was going to do it before Daddy got home from training. Sure enough this morning I was opening the mail and looked down just in time to see him crawl about 2 feet to get a toy! I can't believe it! He'll be 7 months on Monday. He's got two teeth and he's crawling. I feel like he's losing his baby-ness too fast! I'm so proud, though. What a smart little monkey! Now if I could just get him to sleep through the night. Sara, since I know you're wondering, he was up three times last night. Midnight, 3:15 and 5:30 and then he was up for the day at 7:20...I've GOT to get him on a better schedule. He's just SO STUBBORN! If we could cut out the 3 am feeding that would really be ideal...
In other news, for those of you who did not get the email, WE'RE MOVING! Long story short, we originally planned on moving next September and Chase just happened to see a bunch of people from the Dallas office on Monday. They convinced him that he should come ASAP. We talked about it and prayed about it and by Wednesday the deal was done. Now we just have to get packed up here and find a house when we get there. 11 weeks feels like a long time until I realize how much packing I have to do by that time. Oh, man. My head is totally spinning. We're so excited, though! We'll either live in Carrollton or Allen. Carrollton is more central and it would be a better fit for Chase's job since he has to travel in all directions. I'm more interested in Allen, though, because house prices are lower, houses are newer and I think there are more young families. We'll just have to wait and see what shakes out! Yay for Dallas!

More pics of the boys and their cheek-sucking ways. SO cute! On Monday Owen got dressed first and when he came downstairs I had to laugh because he was wearing the same outfit that I was going to put on Miles! So here are the pictures...Enjoy!

We're here in Iowa while Chase is training this week. I hate staying home by myself in our sweet apartment complex. Actually I hate just walking through the parking lot of my apartment complex, so that should give you an idea of how I would feel staying by myself. Anyway, everytime Chase goes out of town we come to Iowa and we love it here. The kids are having so much fun playing together. Miles and Owen are great friends. They sit together and grab each other's faces. Usually Owen ends up falling over, at which point he starts to "steam roll" Miles. He scoots until his head is up against Miles and then he keeps pushing until he has rolled over Miles. Then Miles sucks Owen's cheeks or hands or other appendages. It's all very sweet and very slimy. Nothing like love, right?
Anyway, I got some pictures from the funeral from my sister, Sara, and I had to post them. My earlier post talked about my crazy grandma going down the slide in her swim hat and goggles. Now you can see it for yourself. Everyone needs a crazy grandma for a little comic relief, right? The other pictures are of the kids in Galena. Miles and Owen had the cushiest ride around town in my double jogging stroller. They looked pretty happy. Once Sara gives them to me I'll post pictures from this week in Iowa - including some cheek sucking pictures.

Here are more!

This is just the first of many pics to come. We got our family pictures taken today. So cute. The boys were pretty good. Cameron insisted on having his Lightning McQueen race car in his hand. Oh well. There was a cute shot of the boys together, too. I'll post more after I get some lunch in me. Yum.

Birthday party! Here are pictures from Cameron's birthday party three weeks ago. It was a double birthday party with Charlie who is the kid next to him. They're best friends! It was a really fun time!

Today was the happiest day of Cameron's life! The local fire station had an open house and we spent a couple of hours there this morning. We started out by putting on a miniature-size fireman costume complete with boots and suspenders! Then we got to look at several different fire and special rescue trucks. Very cool. They even let the kids get up into the big engine right after it got back from a call. Then they had a fire extinguisher demonstration. I got to use the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. That was a cool experience. The absolute highlight of the whole day was when the Life Flight helicopter arrived. It came overhead and circled a few times and then landed about 50 yards away from us! Cameron couldn't even believe it! We got to go inside it. The hardest part was getting Cameron OUT of it.
Chase was also having a very good time. At one point I was about to go inside one of the fire trucks with Cameron, leaving Chase outside holding Miles. I looked back and noticed he was frantically trying to get inside, too, while pushing the stroller and holding all of the bags. I really don't care much about fire trucks so I volunteered to stay outside with our stuff, much to Chase's relief. He was happy to get a chance to go inside. How cute is that? We will post pictures as soon as we get them!

I forgot that I needed to post these pictures of the wedding in Salt Lake (thanks for sending them, Jeni...one day we'll get a new camera). This was just about a week and a half ago. Enjoy.