Author: christy

Last Oct. my best friend moved from our neighborhood after five fun years of great friendship and parties. So you grin and bear it and keep in touch the best you can and find a new best friend to hang out with. But my two other best friends were both threatening to move as well. Emily and Steve were a bit more persistant. One fine day I told Emily, “If another one of my best friends moves, I am out of here.” Within a week, they put money down on a lot to build a new home. But, they chose to stay in the neighborhood to be near their many close friends here. Well, I told her fine, I’m moving too. I want a forclosed home so that I can get it for a great deal and we have to move now since interest rates just dropped.

So my friends and I went for a walk through a neighboring community that we all consider a nice place to live. I walked with my palm pilot, taking notes on homes that had forclosed. Once we were tired of walking, we got back into my van and drove around a few more streets.

Later that day, we took an evening drive with the family to look at these forclosed homes. After looking at those homes, Matt drove around for awhile longer and found THE HOUSE. We took down the information and went home laughing about the whole thing.

We’re very happy with our current home and had no interest in moving until we saw that house. The house is in a planned community with CC&R’s so the neighborhood is beatiful, with the exception of the few forclosed homes that haven’t had the yard cleaned up this spring. The park is a block away, the church is a block away, and the Elementary School is a block away. The house is easily accessible to the main road out of the neighborhood, but out of the way of much traffic. The house sits on almost a quarter of an acre and is nicely landscaped and has 2/3rds of the yard already fenced.

The entry of the house is nice. It looks up into the second floor. The front room is a very open common room with the dining room and the kitchen. The kitchen is huge. A two car garage off the back of the kitchen is wonderful. (We don’t have to see all garage on the front of the house!) The main bathroom, coat closet and master bedroom are on the other side of the main level. The master bedroom has a large walk in closet and a large bathroom with a garden tub and two sinks.

Downstairs is the laundry room, a completely unfinished basement, and a few spiders. This is where the fun begins for Matt because he has exciting plans for a sound proof room and a recording studio attached. Unfortunately for him, that room will be shared with me as a craft room. (We’ll draw a line down the middle I think!)On the other side of the basement we’ll build a guest room and a living room/kitchenette.

Upstairs is a large family room that overlooks the entry and the back of the house. On the right side are two bedrooms and two linen closets. On the left are two more bedrooms, with walk in closets and a good sized bathroom.

The children have already claimed which bedroom they want from the decorations left by the previous owners.

So in one month we’ll be painting the house and moving in. All because I followed through on a joke. Oddly enough, our friends Steve and Emily, are no longer moving.

Why are we buying this house? Because we’re getting it for $31K less than two identical homes have recently sold for in the neighborhood. We’re walking into a good deal of equity. Our mortgage will increase only by PMI and the differenc in taxes and insurance, and we’ll have growing room!

And when you come to visit, there’s a nearby golf course as well. In the meantime, we’re frantically preparing this home for sale and getting rid of all the clutter we possibly can! We hope to see you all soon!

It is amazing to me that each of our children has such different personalities. For example, our 3rd child will turn two this Friday. Matt and I were discussing little Elijah’s habits just yesterday and came to the conclusion that he is obsessive compulsive. After he leaves his bedroom, he shuts his door. Then he shuts my door on his way past it. Any bag near the exit of our home, must be hung on the doorknob. If I move it again, he will rehang it as soon as he notices. He loves to wash his hands.

Okay, so this is fine, but the obsessive part is more an obsession of water. Despite that he likes things neat and organized, he loves the sound of water hitting the floor. Luckily this means he’s in the kitchen or a bathroom for most of his water time. When the water faucet comes on in the bathroom, we run to see if it’s Eli, or an older child. If there’s a cup left sitting around, he will pour it.

So we have a two gallon water filter in the kitchen sitting on the counter available for us to drink freely. It has helped me not to have to help the older kids get a drink every time they’re thirsty. They can help themselves. Well, Eli grew two weeks ago and can now reach the spout. So we pushed the filter to the back of the counter. He will open the dishwasher, and push the spout down. Or he’ll move a chair to get to it. It doesn’t matter that he’s already been swatted on the bum twice and put in time out both times today, he wants to hear the sound of water hitting the floor.

Just when I think it’s safe and everything is out of reach of our little long arms of the west, he finds a squirt bottle.

So the terrible two’s have officially begun…….

“I love you,” I said to him. He climbed into my lap, took my face in his soft hands and he whispered, “I love you, too.” Then he leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. What a romantic he’ll be. A heart breaker, too. And to think, he’s not yet two.

It just goes to show how much kids learn by example. Each day when my dear Matt comes home from work, he carresses me in his arms and gives me a tender kiss. Little Eli is always right there waiting for his turn to get a hug from his daddy and sees that his daddy loves his mommy.

Thanks honey, for all your love.

I don’t know that many of you know, I’m a Home Interiors Displayer. I’ve recently set up a webite with the company. You can visit my site at www.homeinteriors.com/cbarnson. What I do is decorating, floral arranging and gifts. So most of the posters and readers are guys, so let me tell you how this information can be of help to you. Many of you had some struggles with Valentines Day. With my help that won’t have to happen again. I can order whatever you’d like and have it shipped to you, or do the floral arrangement or greenery arrangement and send it to you. Your girl will love it. Matt has enjoyed the florals around the house and not having bare walls. So the next day that you should be planning for is Mother’s Day. This means you should be planning a nice gift for your mom, mother in law, wife/girlfriend. I’d love to help with those gifts for those special women in your lives.

In reviewing the blog, I have realized, that with Matt’s change of beliefs, you only got half the story of our dear Joshua’s birth. He told you the part about Joshua breathing in tons of amniotic fluid and being born with double neumonia. The bad news was it was the worst that pediatrician had ever seen. She carefully tried to break the news to us in hopes to not upset us too much. The good news was it was not an infection. Obviously they kept him in the ICU to be carefully observed and poked.

During this same time, all the family began to arrive. I asked Matt’s stepdad, Dennis, and Matt’s brother, Jay to administer to Joshua by giving him a Priesthood Blessing. Matt obviously wasn’t thrilled, but at my insistance, they gave him a blessing. I was not there to hear what was said in that blessing, as there were only supposed to be two visitors at a time and we’d already broken that rule by having three.

The next morning they x-rayed Joshua again. Another pediatrician came in to check on him. She asked the nurses repeatedly if they’d x-rayed the right baby. Then she said, “Either they x-rayed the wrong baby or this baby received a blessing yesterday.” Now obviously this is Mormonville for a doctor to say something like that but when she came in to report Joshua’s health she let us know this not a normal circumstance. Joshua’s lungs were clear. Not clearing. They were clear. Obviously we needed to continue the antibiotics since they had started them right away. In fact, figuring out the correct dosage of antibiotics was the only reason Joshua stayed in the hospital an extra day.

We are all greatful for the touch of the Master’s hands in the hospital that night. Miracles do happen and we are truly blessed.

Today Josh is pushing 12lbs. and is probably an inch longer already. He is five weeks old tomorrow and is very healthy and happy. We’re glad to have him as a part of the Barnson clan.

Sunday I had a terrible sore throat. When I get them, the cold hits and it lingers for weeks. With a newborn in the house and no insurance, we really need to stay healthy, so I decided to try a “cure” a close friend of mine recommended….garlic. She said to swallow a clove of garlic when you first feel the cold coming on, and then one more the next day. I’m thinking HOLY COW that’s a horse pill and a half and I really don’t want to smell like garlic, but I decided to give it a try. I warned Matt of the possible ordor, and swallowed the garlic with a glass of chocolate milk. It went down easily (I chose a small clove) and I hardly tasted it. The trick is fill your mouth with the liquid, pop the garlic and swallow.

The next morning my sore throat was gone, but I still felt like a cold was threatening. At lunchtime I took the second clove with the last bit of chocolate milk I hid from my kids specifically for this purpose and swallowed. The cold never hit!

Are you brave enough to try it? You’ll have to ask Matt if I’ve smelled like garlic this week.