Moving and Waiting and More

We are super excited! The Smith family from our ward has decided to rent our house!!! Wahoo! We are so glad that we are able to rent it to people we know and trust! And the best part is their girls won't have to switch schools or wards - which is always scary when you have kids in middle school and high school!
They are in the process of painting all the rooms - the girls wanted blue and pink bedrooms. They are also tiling the front entry, both bathrooms and the laundry room because they had tile from their old house they wanted to use! It looks GREAT so far. Because the house definitely needed it and we really like their family we are also recarpeting the entire house. That should be done on Saturday. So in other words, our house is going to look AWESOME now that we won't live there. HA HA!

Anyway, we spent last week moving out of our house and into my dad's house! We have a storage unit here in Nampa that is SO PACKED! Oh my gosh! I don't think we could fit even one more thing in there. Unfortunately, we weren't able to fit either of our TVs in there either. So get this, we are living in one bedroom at my dad's that already had a twin day bed, huge bookcase, piano, wardrobe, and dresser in it. NOW we have added our queen air mattress, Ryker's pack and play, our clothes, Sadie and Copper's kennel, our tv stand and our 52" tv. HA HA HA it is so stinking TIGHT! But hey, I am just glad that I have a dad who is willing to put up with us and let us live here until we can finally move!

So on to the status of Justin's job and the real move to Idaho Falls. The last we heard it will probably be around the middle of October before his clearance goes through but it could be as late as the middle of November! Yikes! That means that we have to try to extend our closing date on the condo and hope that the seller is willing to do that. Really the house is still technically on the market so it won't be any different and we won't be out our $500 earnest money either.

We had a tense moment with our agent late last week.

Just a little background first. We had planned on closing with Bank of America and a lender that we know and trust here - Toni Wood. However, her underwriters require us to have Justin's first pay stubs. This is standard protocol just to assure that the amount he has been told he will make is the amount he actually will make. Anyway, so our agent in Idaho Falls asked if we would be willing to check out a lender she uses that might be able to have us close Justin's first day of work instead of waiting for his first pay stub. OF COURSE we are willing to check it out. However, I also wanted to check with our lender to see if they can do anything similar for us.

In the meantime, Justin got a phone call from our agent where she told him that she was talking with the listing agent and IF we agree to use their lender then the seller will work with us on the closing date. But if we insist of using our lender then there were no guarantees. Of course, that made Justin mad - we all know how well he likes to be told what to do, especially by the person who is supposedly working for us. He called and told me what happened so my hackle was raised. I called the broker at Group One to get her opinion on the matter. She explained that while it was in fact legal, it was not right to corner us like that and if she were her agent they would be having a serious conversation.

I spent the weekend thinking over the situation and decided that I don't think what our agent said was necessarily what she meant. I want to assume the best and as such I assume that she actually meant that the seller would want to close when Justin starts and not wait for pay stubs. So I emailed her, explained how it came across, and also explained what we hope she meant. I also told her that because it was better for us we did decide to go with their lender, but not because they told us to. I do feel better now because our agent called Justin and apologized over and over again for making him feel that way.

So hopefully things start rolling soon. We will need to paint and recarpet the condo before we can move in. Anyone interested in spending all day painting with us so we can get it done in a weekend rather than over the course of a couple weeks?

Kind of funny, I haven't actually been able to go to the doctor about the pregnancy yet because we don't have any insurance or money. (you kind of have to have a job to have either) I was able to go in to get an ultrasound just to make sure that it was a viable pregnancy, there was only one baby, etc. However, because of Justin's delayed security clearance (well it isn't delayed it just isn't in yet) I won't be able to go in to the doctor until after he starts. I am just about 12 weeks along! Wahoo done with the first trimester and hopefully the morning sickness soon as well. But with that being said, I will be 20 weeks on November 20th. Ha ha, I am thinking that my first doctors appointment will be when we find out what we are having! WAHOO! Ha ha! But really, it's all good. It should make the pregnancy go by faster, right? It's already gone by pretty quick.

Group One has asked me to come and work part time until we move. They need help around the office and it is a lot easier to bring me in then to try and train someone! Really good timing because our unemployment just ran out! It's an extra $900 - $1200 each month!

One last thought and then I'll end this rambling post! Because Justin and I are both done with school (finally) we no longer get free tickets to the football games. HOWEVER we do still have student ID cards that don't expire for another year. So we talked to some of our friends who are still in school and they gave us their student tickets to use. THANK YOU! But then when we were driving home from Twin Falls on Tuesday I received a phone call from the Boise State Athletic Department. We were selected as the American Family Insurance Family of the Game for Saturday's game! Cool, right??? So we get 4 tickets to the game. Candice and Chad had originally planned on coming but then the student tickets sold out. But now they get to come! And we gave our student tickets to some friends who are students but hadn't gotten tickets yet. They will be filming us waving at the crowd before the game and then playing it on the big screen. We are going to take Carter and Ryker on the field to wave too but then we will send them home with my mom so we can enjoy the game :)

So yeah, that's what is going on in the Reed house! Hope everything is going well for you!

Update On The Reeds!

Okay, so we really haven't been that busy this summer, but it has still been a crazy one! It's actually been pretty fun having Justin home full time.

Justin received a job offer late May to work out at the INL! We are still waiting for his security clearance to go through, but it has made this summer much less stressful!!!

We've had the opportunity to do a lot of shopping and really do whatever we want to! Well within reason, money is still pretty tight.

So what have we done with all of our time? Well we built a really cool chest to hold all of our rockband and gaming stuff. It matches our love sac that we made the summer before we got married.

We have been working on getting the house ready to rent out. It's amazing how different our standard for us to live in and for someone else to live in are so different. But I think that is really because we want to be able to get the most rent possible and the rental market is pretty tough right now!

We are working on relandscaping our flower beds some. I think Justin and Adam have pulled the weeds out front like 5 or 6 times this summer already. Justin finally got the weeds pulled and put the weed barrier down so hopefully we can just put the bark in and plant a few cute plants to finish it up.

We got to go camping just about every weekend in July, that was fun. And I got to witness the birth of my niece Cadence, Ariel and Anthony's little one!

Oh and I guess the most important thing that happened this summer is we found out that we are expecting...again. Ha ha ha! Whoops! We are really excited about this new little baby that will be joining us early April!

So here we go again! Our little family is expanding, we are moving, and we are simply loving life and loving being with each other!!!!!

Ryker and a lemon

 
Look at that face!!! But he kept at it!

What Is The Plan?

I'm sure most of you already know this, but even though I am a mostly scattered and random person, I am in fact a control freak! Whoops! I don't think it's the bad over-controlling psycho kind, well maybe it is. But I like to have a plan. I like to know what is going to happen at least somewhat in the future. And while I may seem random to many, I do usually have a plan.

Yet here we are, no plan in sight. It's an interesting and somewhat frightening feeling that I am sure most of you have gone through at some time or another. You may even be experiencing it right now! For the past 19 years I have gone to school full time, I have worked full time since graduating high school, and as long as Justin and I have been married life has really been pretty easy on us.

Next Friday is Justin's last day of work. He had planned on joining the Air Force and going to training the end of June. However, the officer training classes have been canceled until further notice. So he is still looking for a job and really needs one soon.

I graduate from college on the 15th of May and stay home with Ryker. While that in and of itself is a full-time job, it is not something I am used to.

I am very nervous about not having a plan. But I guess we will just take whatever we can get.

Keep praying and know that there is a plan, it just isn't one that I can see right now!

Aaaaah! :-)

Swim Time

I have been going to Zumba with my mom the last couple of weeks. That has been a lot of fun! In addition to this, we took Ryker swimming for the first time. He loves taking baths in the regular bathtub and floating on his back. However, the colder swimming pool with echoing children screaming was a whole different ball game. Ryker screamed and cried for the first 15 minutes. He finally calmed down and realized he liked it. By then he was getting pretty blue colored so we had to call it quits. But it was a good experience. We are hoping to go back every week so he will be ready for summer swimming!
Here is our little swimming stud :)

Happy Easter

Our Easter was pretty low key this year. Even though it was Ryker's first Easter, we spent the day watching General Conference and then went to Grandma and Grandpa Hobdey's for a light dinner. It was overall a really great day to just sit back, enjoy the family, and reflect on the true meaning of what Easter represents.

However, once Grandma and Grandpa DeGiulio got home from California, we had a nice big Easter Egg Hunt and Aunt Joe and Uncle Al's house with all the cousins! It was a ton of fun and Ryker was so funny with all the Easter Eggs.

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Gratitude

For those of you who don't already know, things have been kind of tough for us lately. Mostly financially speaking. With the birth of Ryker, we made the decision that it would be best for me to stay home with him, which meant giving up my wonderful, good paying job. I have still been able to work from home some, but that is taking a bit longer to get up and running than originally expected and of course the job hunt for Justin has been all but exciting. While things are really tight right now, it has made me stop and ponder what it is I am doing. Is it really worth the sacrifice to be able to be home with my baby all day? I have to admit, I am not the best house wife around just yet. I struggle getting the house cleaned and taking care of other household chores on a daily basis. It's something I am working on improving. So does it really matter that I am home with my son all day each and every day when I could, in fact, be out working my full-time job making more than enough money to make ends meet?

YES! It really does matter! And I know that it matters.

Ryker may not know now, and he may not ever know, how much of a sacrifice we really are giving in order for his mommy to be home with him to hold him when he is sad, to feed him when he is hungry, to put him down for naps, to clean his dirty diapers, and to read and play with him. However, it does make a difference.
I can tell by the way that he recognizes us that he knows that we love him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that mothers who are unable to stay home with their children or who chose not to love their children any less than I love Ryker. However, I am saying that it is worth the sacrifice. It is worth the struggles and some of the humbling that is required in order to be here with him.

I love this quote from The Proclamation to the World about our role as mothers

"By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children."

I love my husband and all that he does for us. I love my dear, sweet little boy and the amazing kid he already is. I love my extended family for helping us and supporting us as we struggle to get on with the real world now that college is over.

I am deeply grateful to everyone that has supported us throughout the years. Thank you for everything and for continuing to be there for us.