C is for....COOKIE

Yes, it rained again yesderday....and do any of you remember what I do when it rains????

Make yummy cookies. It seemed like a great day to make the standard Chocolate Chip Cookies. A lot of people compliment the look of my cookies...and the taste of course. How? they ask. I say..."Tollhouse & Crisco." I use the TollHouse Choc. Chip Cookie recipe, but instead of Butter I use Crisco...NOT BUTTER CRISCO! If you like flat crispy cookies, then go ahead and use butter. I like the fluffier cookie, hence crisco. Obviously bake them in the center of the oven and do not over cook them..about 10-12 mins. Take them out just when they start to get a bit of color and them let them cool on the cookie sheet for 5 mins then remove. And Voila...enjoy! What ever you do.....do NOT eat the cookie dough. I know that may be hard for most of you....but it tastes soooo better cooked! I NEVER eat the dough!

Scenery from Dallas to Mansfield

So this was our drive on the 4th of July. It was so beautiful and green. There were trees and small rolling hills everywhere. Oh, and a few totally exhausted girls.

4th of July...yes, out of order

For the 4th we went to Lynette's house. We walked blocks and blocks and blocks...jk...to the parade. Super fun..and HOT! The girls finally realized that they had to cheer to get candy thrown at them. Luckily, Aunt Lynette came to the rescue and gave each of the kids a bucket to collect all of the goodies. Maddie even got a toy football thrown at her head.....soooo funny! After the parade we came back to our house to unpack....ugh. Still unpacking. Later that night we got pizza and parked in a Hospital parking lot a few miles away to watch the fireworks. After coming back home...unpacked more, then went to Fabian's to spend the night!!! Long day!

Madeline's first front tooth...GONE!

July 19, 2009

Taaa Dahhhh

Yeah, we finally have internet and TV after only 2 LOOOOONG weeks. I got so sick of watching princess movies and Polly World. UGH!!! When ever I needed to check email or facebook we would have dinner or stop by at our friends. We even tried to tap into local wireless.....no luck. oh well. I am thrilled to be back in touch with the world. I am sitting in our new office. the window look sout to our front yard. It seems it's in the back of the house since you have to take a few turns in the hallway to get to it, but it does look out the front. It's also by the girls bathroom (YAY, they have their OWN bathroom now!!!) that way I can help Kylie when she comes running needing to go. Yes, I know....she's 3 1/2 and just now potty training. Better late than never, right? Maddie was 2 1/2 and great. Kylie....well, I was in and out of the house so much and spending at least 2 days a week in Maddies classroom, then we were moving. I didn't want to have to stop to have her go to the bathroom everytime. TMI, sorry.
So we are almost settled. I still need to get a picture of us standing front of the house. We never got a "SOLD" sign, oh, at least we now know it's ours. THe first thing I set up was the kitchen, man that took FOREVER! Larry put the beds together. We barely put most of the office together this past week. Our "blue room" is the catch all. The backyard is large, and will get larger when we re-do the fence and the fence line. We have lots of weeds ad have only found 3 ant hills. We bought our first YARD stuff Monday.....holy cow....we can shop and spend money really really well. Monday night we went to visit Michael and Jeannie Stone and their adorable kiddos. Yummy dinner!!! We are also lucky to have Fabian and his family so close to hang out with and my sister Lynette just a 45 mins away. We haven't ventured out too much, only when we need to buy something. Soon, I will brave the heat and take the girls to a nearby park...maybe!
Well, sorry for the rambling! I guess there's been too much going on to keep things straight these days! We miss everyone in CA, but we are looking forward to meeting new people here.
catch ya later!

Ok...here's our house

Sorry if this is a bit dark. Keep in mind that it is BEAUTIFUL in person.

Stats: Built in 2002, 2,340 sq ft, 0.283 acres lot, 4 Bed/ 2 Bath

FINAL CLOSING PRICE $159,900.

We are super excited. Mansfield is just south of Arlington and about 15 miles from Larry's work.

VIDEO OF HOUSE : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmyHmeujg9c

So is everything REALLY bigger in Texas???

Ok, so most have you have heard...Larry accepted a job transfer through Progressive Insurance to move to Texas. This actually came at a great time since Progressive announced this week that they are letting go 200 people nationwide....100 from CA alone. They have been restructuring offices all over. They use to have a Branch Manager and then a few Team Leads (Larry was hoping to get to this position last year). The Team Leads were over the two dept.s of the office (Prop. damage & Injury). Larry works on the injury claims. With this whole change the Team Leads positions were dissolved, one of them in the office will now take Larry's spot as he leaves, but the other was let go. Crazy how things work out! Texas is also a good move for us since there's a lot more options for job growth there! And we have been wanting to buy a house (super cheap there) and we will also be close to family and good friends.
Larry & I are flying out on May 31st to find houses for us. We were just going to drive out after Maddie gets out of school at the end of June and rent and apt, but I couldn't find anything under $1000. NUTS! So, we will get the ball rolling, put offers on houses, and then we will have a house by the time we get out there. Our Realtor said that houses are closing pretty fast in TX (30-45 days)...it's not CA...thank goodness.
Funny side note....I didn't know where to start to find a realtor in TX. I remembered an ad on BYU channel for www.LDSAGENTS.com , I went there and within 24 hours they connected me to a realtor. It's actually pretty cool, totally recommend.
So, we will totally miss our family and friends out here (in CA) but I know that the friends that I currently have will always be my dear friends where ever we live! I know it's totally crazy moving 1,500 miles away, but at least we have connections there. I know I will miss a ton of stuff being away from my Friends here like baptisms, birthdays, BABIES, and just fun girl time. I guess we all have to step outside of our comfort zones at some point, and I don't know if it's good or bad that this will be the first time in my life that I am able to do this. I have lived in Modesto for 29 years and I think it's my time. The girls are really excited to meet new friends and also to get to know their cousins better. I just ask for your prayers to help us along the way. We love you!