I don't even know where to begin. I'll start by saying that Justin and I pulled our offer on the house. I am seriously bummed out. The lender we had kept changing the financial numbers on us. One day it'd be this set of numbers, the next day he'd give us a higher set of numbers. I know the market keeps going up (so did our interest rate), but our lender kept giving us estimates (he failed to tell us this), not actual set in stone numbers. He'd sent over the good faith estimate paperwork, and it's a good thing I went through everything like a fine toothed comb. The numbers he had down set off about a million red flags for Justin and I. We had a big decision to make moving forward. Continue with the buying process with our new icky feelings and red flags, or pull out and wait for a house and lender that feels 100% right. As sad as I am about this (I'v been crying on and off for the past three days), I know that our forever home is still out there. This process taught us a lot about the game of home purchasing, and we are more knowledgable because of it.

On a happier note, our vacation was pretty excellent. I normally don't post photos of our Howland family getaways (honestly, I was pretty embarrassed of my *then* poor camera quality), but with the camera update, I thought I'd share a couple. We had a complete blast without technology guys! All three of us played miniature golf, we stuck our toes in the Pacific Ocean, and we had our first dinner at an authentic Irish pub. We ended up switching hotels (long story), but our second room was breathtaking. We had a balcony with a full ocean view, and the hotel had a lighthouse on top of it. Ava stayed up later than normal on Saturday night, but watching her get excited over the sunset was totally worth it. She also conquered her skepticism of the ocean during our trip! Ava bug flew her first kite, she played with seaweed, and she had fun running around the arcade. I failed to mention that she was a complete gem while riding in the car for over two hours (both ways). I am so thankful that she still sleeps so well in her carseat.

All in all our weekend was very relaxing... until Sunday afternoon. Aside from the Broncos losing their game in overtime, my Mazda decided that it was going to alert me with an "AT' symbol on my dashboard. Apparently this is a symbol referring to the transmission. Ironically, this horrible potential disaster couldn't have occurred at a better time for us (financially). We had planned on getting a family SUV soon.. but this soon wasn't what we had in mind. This is just worst case scenario thinking of course. Hopefully when I take the car in tomorrow, we hear some semi decent news. This is the first car Justin and I had as a married couple and I'm really not ready to let it go. I'm pretty stressed out about the car situation, but other than that, things are pretty good over here.

We've also decided to randomly plan trips throughout the year like we did this past weekend. It was so fun to be random and spontaneous. We connected in such a different way during this trip, and I'm grateful for all the "under the hood work" and fine tuning our marriage receives. I was crushing on the mister hard core this weekend. On that note, here are some of the photos from our trip:

Happy Monday all! 

♥- Leilani

Busy, busy

This past week has been so incredibly busy for me. From the time I hit the sheets, until the time I go to bed, it feels like my days are just moving by so quickly. In an effort to talk about what we've been up to, here's a little recap of our past week.

Monday

My mom watched Ava bug for five hours in the morning, while I took Justin to his optical prep appointment. This was the first time I did not watch my baby girl wake up in the morning. It was definitely emotional, but all went well. Justin had PRK (kind of like LASIK) eye surgery, and had the entire week off from work to recover. I spent ALL day caring for both of my babies because Justin was in total pain. I also spent over three hours doing homework for a new philosophy class (so fun). Let's just say, I'm glad Monday is FAR behind us!

Tuesday

I spent over two hours on the phone getting Justin's company bbq in order, among other things for his company. I never knew how stressful being an FRG (family readiness group) leader could be, until I became one. Volunteer work is not easy, so kudos to those who volunteer their time just for the sake of helping out. You are appreciated! We went to home depot (bad idea just a day after eye surgery) to get a quote on the custom blinds for the new house, we got quotes on french door refrigerators, and we added up the expenses that new tools are going to cost us. Justin was still in a great deal of pain, so I spent most of Tuesday evening caring for him and Ava bug. Tuesday, was a LONG day.

Wednesday

Justin woke up feeling a little better. Ava bug got all signed up for baby dance class and tot gymnastics. This was also the day we first saw the "sold" sign on our new home. Words cannot describe how great Wednesday was. We walked through our soon to be home again, and we let Ava bug play around. We also decided to actively do meal planning as of Wednesday. Food is probably one of the biggest expenses we have in our home. In an effort to become even more financially sound, we aren't wasting a single penny on unnecessary items.

Thursday

This was probably the easiest day we had all week. Justin was feeling better than he had since before the surgery, Ava finally cut her two bottom teeth, and this mama got her first DSLR camera. Sadly, after just three days of having the Canon T3i, I will be returning it for a full frame camera. I want to learn how to not only use the camera, but to edit the photos I take of my family. Basically Im in search of a camera that pulls all the stops. Justin bought a cut for his motorcycle club, Ava got her first pair of converse, and I also ran into a childhood friend while at the mall (it was good seeing you Angie)! We honored the fallen of 9/11 by letting off green balloons, and our family gave moments of silent out of respect.

Friday 

We got up super early to take Justin in for a post op appointment. All week long he hadn't been able to drive or go outside for too long. He wasn't able to watch t.v. or use the computer either.. It's safe to say we were ALL excited for this day. I purchased Ava's halloween costume, and I scored a rain coat for Ava at the PX for $5 bucks! Everything checked out great at Justin's appointment, so in celebration we decided to take our Bug out for a mini (budgeted) shopping spree at Target! My sweet Princess is currently wearing 18 month sized pajamas.. I'm saving some of this emotion for her 16 month post. I somehow managed to master making different kinds of homemade dip for Ava Friday night. I'm constantly trying to give her healthy options for meals, even on our busy days.

Saturday 

This was the highlight of our week. We decided to head down to the Puyallup, I mean Washington State Fair. I still can't believe they changed the name.. We had a complete blast! Justin was in awe over all the games, vendors, and rides. We played TOO many games, got our annual photo button, and we were able to score some awesome Bronco decor! We spent over four hours "doing the Puyallup" and my child knocked out probably about an hour before we left. Justin decided to wear a Denver Bronco shirt to the fair.. it attracted sooo much attention! Mostly good though. We ended up going back to the new house for some window measurements, and each time I'm inside, it definitely feels more like home.

Sunday 

That brings us to today. I woke up early for grocery shopping before football, Justin is well enough to drive, so he got a haircut. Now that football is on, and the baby is napping, I'm using this time to enjoy "mama time" while I don't have a million things to do. We are having people over today, so that should be a lot of fun too.

I normally don't go almost a full week without blogging, but if you managed to read all of that, you now know why it happened. How many of my blog readers had a crazy week like mine? What are some of the highlights from your week? I'd love to hear from you by email or the comments below.

Happy Sunday all!

♥- Leilani

Purchasing a home

The process of purchasing our first home has been emotional, confusing, and seven kinds of exciting. When we first started looking for homes, I didn't find anything that "popped" out for me. A lot of the homes we saw had *wow factors* but we always seemed to pass on them. This is actually one of the scariest decisions we've ever been faced with, and we were not going to settle until we found our dream home, or a home that had the potential to be our dream home. We looked for a couple of months, and we ended up being unsuccessful. We'd start the search back up after a couple of months, but the results were always the same.

Let's fast forward three months. I took Ava for a morning stroll in our subdivision. I went down a little farther than I normally do, and I stumbled across brand new, beautiful homes. A lot of them were under construction, so I hadn't really intended on taking a look. Let's fast forward about six weeks. I finally decided that Justin and I needed to go check these homes out. The model home was staged and ready for every possible buyer to view. As soon as we walked through the model home, I lit up completely.

Every room I saw was perfect. Open concept, marble slabs, and huge bedrooms. There was literally nothing wrong with this house. The model home fit our needs in every way possible, and the home was accommodating for a Howland family expansion (more little ones). The backyard was very decent and it had a covered patio with light beams (Justin was in love with this feature). As we made our way upstairs, I immediately turned to my husband and I said, "Let's do this!". As soon as we told the listing agent we wanted to take the next step, she handed us a preferred lender card for the man that would be helping us on our journey.

So far things with our lender have been great. I emailed him that night, and I got a phone call the next day. He gave us a pre-approval, and apparently listing agents love that. It lets them know they aren't wasting their time. After submitting a lot of other documents, our lender went over mortgage numbers, property tax numbers, and informed us of the MCC tax credit. The next day we went over and viewed the home that would soon be ours.. only to find out hours later that the home had been purchased. I was honestly crushed, but delighted to find out that there was one more home on that street with the layout we desired. It's funny how things work out because this home was even better than the last home (location wise). It put us into a cute cul-de-sac, and it gave Ava bug two neighbors her age on both sides.

After what happened before, we wasted no time getting the mutual agreement completed with the builder. They accepted our offer on the house, and now we have to wait for the VA loan process to commence. We submitted $1000 for escrow to hold because it let's the builder know we are committed buyers. The only way that the money in escrow can be kept is if our financing falls through and we had a bunch of upgrades (not the case), or if it is needed for closing costs (not the case). So far, this is where we are at. The house has to appraised in the next week, but we are hopeful everything will check out okay.

In the meantime Justin and I are researching LIKE CRAZY. We want this home to be our "forever home" so we've looked at elementary schools, we've been in contact with the company that dishes out the HOA fees, and we have been reading new home owner books. All in all this process hasn't been too bad, and we are so giddy about where we are at.

Per the request of everyone that wants to see a little more on the house.. here's a sneak peak at my future kitchen if everything falls into place! For all my blog readers, I have one request! Prayers or good vibes for us Howlands as we embark on this journey.

Happy Monday All! 

♥- Leilani