We found it!

Exciting news!!! We found a home to rent in Emmaus, Pennsylvania. The past couple of weeks, Darin and I have been gathering apartments and homes to view, in the Lehigh valley area. We planned on being in PA for 1 full week with a crazy agenda of homes to see. We had so many homes that I made a binder with notes to keep them all straight...yes I am a little OCD sometimes! We ended up seeing more than half of the homes and driving by all of them, weeding out the yucky ones. We had our top 5 choices picked out, and I was very disappointed to learn that our #2 choice (and my personal favorite) had been rented before we could see it! However, during an attempt to find another home in that same area we stumbled upon a "FOR RENT" sign by a home that I classified as out of our budget league! But our moms told us to call and we did and guess what it was right in our budget!!! The owner Bruce was leaving for a 4 day fishing trip and had us come right away to view the home. The minute I stepped foot into this home I WAS SOLD!! This was the first day of looking!

Many of you know I LOVE old homes. Bruce didn't know how old it was, so I am going to be on a mission to find out! It has 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a basement and attic, a huge sun room in the back, tons of storage closets, washer and dryer. Presently it has oil heating (boo), but Bruce is in the process of getting a gas line approved (YEAH!). That will cut utility costs.

I love the porch, and look forward to putting some chairs out there along with hanging flower pots! It is exciting to live in a home rather than an apartment with neighbors through a wall! Now our kid can cry and I won't feel bad about letting him.

The home is located in the town of Emmaus which is a few miles south of Allentown, and 50 miles north of Philidelphia. Emmaus has a population of about 11,500 which is very manageable for a small town girl like myself!

The yard is huge, and luckily Bruce takes complete care of it! That was a big seller for me too!There is plenty of room for Nash to run and play! There is also a couple of parks in walking distance....I think we will be very happy here!

We feel very fortunate to find this home, had we found it a day later, Bruce would have been gone and we would have missed out...we feel very blessed! We meet with Bruce on Monday, and I will take pictures of the inside.

There is a sad part to this happy ending! Our sweet little Lindy (dog) can not come with us....we will have to leave her at my parents house, where she will eat anything, and everything, as well as run rampant and free...well I don't think she will miss us that much!

We will miss her!

New York City!

Since we found our home so quickly, we were able to go on a sight-seeing trip to NYC...what a crazy place!
Darin seriously had some mad driving skills, there were people, cars and building everywhere!

Nash was a happy boy as usual...even in the LONG tense driving situations.

We really enjoyed our trip to NYC and I am looking forward to the next trip there. Both our moms surprisingly loved it too. Although, we certainly looked like tourists...note to self do not wear BRIGHT PINK to New York...I stuck out like a sore thumb...they prefer black!

Lady Liberty!

We had a fun trip to NYC. The only attraction we really saw was the Statue of Liberty. I am so glad we went and saw her, it was a great little outing and such a beautiful day to do it!

We felt like cattle loading on and off the Miss New York Ferry!

We invited both our moms on this trip to help with Nash as well as have a little sight seeing fun!

This is how much Nash enjoyed the Statue of Liberty.

The crew.

Do you ever look at a photo and think...man we are old! This is that picture for Darin and I, we are really starting to look our age... I love that we have a picture with both of us in it (very rare)!

We are so excited to live on the east coast and experience all of these fun places. I am sure this will not be the last time we see this lady of liberty!

Great-Grandpa Cosby

The day we were leaving my Grandpa Cosby stopped by. We had to get another picture with Nash and his Great Grandpa. Now we know where Nash's hair line comes from!

March Moving Madness....So Long Vista Valle!

Vista Valle Townhomes...aka Mormon Compound...aka Vista Valle Hotel and Suites.  This was our home for the past 3 years, and we LOVED living here.  When we first moved in half the tenants were LDS which made making friends VERY easy.  Thus the reason for the name Mormon Compound, as it was referred to in the ward.  We liked to call it Vista Valle Hotel and Suites because we had the best neighbors, if your family was coming into town and one of the neighbors would be gone, they would volunteer their home for your family to stay in.  This was so nice to have family so close, and not feel like we were sleeping like sardines!  We want to give a big thank you to all the neighbors who let our family stay in their homes as well as let us use their parking spots!  You guys are the best and we will miss you OH SO MUCH!

YES...I was crying at the point of snapping this picture on our way out!

We were one of the lucky few with a garage, this made moving easier too.

The next door park that always brought in questionable people and acts...we will miss our drug dealing neighbors....hmmmm.

Nash was a big help during the move, he had a ton of fun playing with the Grandmas, and whoever else was around....Thanks everyone for helping out with him.

We had so much help cleaning!

Cinderdarin, Cinderdarin, night and day Cinderdarin, wash the dishes do the laundry.... Our floor looked so great after he was done!

The fam waiting to take the long trip home to Utah.

No we didn't take the bean bag (big red ball) home like that, we actually stuffed it inside, and it took up the whole car.  It will remain there until Pennsylvania.

The packing crew.  My dad and brothers, got everything into the trailers and pick-ups.  They decided Darin and I shouldn't drive any of our cars so we loaded the cars onto trailers and pulled them home.  It was nice to be all together during the move.

The moving train.  Train #1 my dads big hipped dodge with Darin's car on the back.  Mom and Dad Willardson had their blazer in case we needed more room. (thank-you) Train #2 Kedrick's Sequoia with our UHAUL trailer, which was a piece...we about tipped over so many times, because of the trailer tongue, or maybe it was Kedrick's driving (it's a toss up!).  Train #3 Cody's Ford pulling my car.  

Don't you worry it won't be this much work going out to Pennsylvania.  We are getting a BIG moving truck and pulling one car, then driving the second.  

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP FROM FAMILY AND FRIENDS!  WE LOVE YOU ALL!

Goodbye Disneyland!

When I was a kid we went to Disneyland every year with my Grandpa Bruce who worked there.  It was the highlight of the whole year.  I was so excited to have my family come to California to move us so we could all go to Disneyland again.  Darin's family came every year sometimes twice a year while we lived in California, and it was a blast being there with family. Even though there was a BILLION people there, we had a ton of fun, I LOVED IT!!  

Koen just didn't have the strength to pull out that sword!

Sadie was like a rodeo queen waving at all the people on the carousel.

Nash was wiped out!

We are going to miss Disneyland!  It was great being able to go and spend a couple of hours at the happiest place on earth and then go home.  I think what I will miss the most is the Jalapeno Pretzels!!  ....yum...sigh...

These kids were so good the whole trip.  Granny Cosby had a ton of fun with them while us big kids went on the bigger rides.  Good-bye Disneyland...we will miss you!!

Family, Family, Family!

The last 2 weeks we lived in California were full of family fun. Darin's brother Troy came with his family. I was lame and didn't take ANY pictures while they were with us...sad :( They helped us out so much with washing walls and patching holes. We are so grateful for the time we had with them. Darin was so happy he got to spend a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain with them and I was happy that he had someone else to go with on all those scary rides!

My mom, and Darin's parents came also during the week to help clean and pack. It was nice having the help we did with Nash too. They watched Nash for us while we enjoyed an afternoon at California Adventure...SO MUCH FUN!! Troy's family stayed for a week, and then the Cosby clan joined the craziness for a week. The first day the Cosby's family joined us we took our last trip to Newport Beach. I remembered my camera this time and here is some of the fun...

This is the first picture since having Nash that I have not Photoshopped myself skinny.

(FYI I won my weight loss competition...28lbs BABY!!!....YEAH...it's over!)

Silly little monkey!

He loves his daddy!

The kids had so much fun in the cold ocean! They were ready to run after being cramped in the car for so long.

Sadie got her BAY-WATCH on!

Koen couldn't contain himself and stripped down to his undies....uh-oh!

We were able to watch sea-lions and dolphins and enjoy the nice weather.

Fun was had by all!

A trip to the beach was a great way to start off our last week in California!

Diclaimer

Okay so I promised posts. I will get to that soon, we are all sick at the moment, so when the air clears there will be some major posting. ;)