Sadly the house on Ashbrook near Gilbert and Adobe is not going to be our house. The house was re-appraised at $150,000. Since the bank doesn't like the $20,000 difference between the asking price and the appraisal, and the seller doesn't want to lower the price anymore than they have, we are moving on...
Happily on Wednesday we put an offer on another house near Stapley and McKellips which was accepted! We actually like it better, but we won't get our hopes too high until we are signing the final papers this time. The seller seems to be a little more negotiable though! We'll let you know what happens!
Friday, July 10, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
the last 5 exciting things we have done outside...
1. TRUCK REPAIRS - okay, not so fun, but has to be done! Ryan has been working like crazy on the truck, especially last week.
When he fixes one thing he finds another part that needs something. Everyday after work this last week he's been trying to figure out the next thing. The job he's been doing for work right now requires him to do what's called "zoning" to Horse Mesa Dam (Apache Lake). He drives to a substation near there instead of to the SRP yard where he regularly goes. So he has needed the car and has been dropping me off at my parents house for my work early. I don't mind getting up at 3AM with him, but I hope he gets it running smooth again soon. I feel incredibly blessed that we have a good car that runs and has cold AC, especially since it's summer.
2. VEGGIE HARVESTING!!! - There have been 3 squash and 1 tiny carrot enjoyed from our little garden so far. The carrots aren't quite ripe yet and the cantaloupe and watermelon vines have a lot of flowering going on, and not so much fruit growing. We'll see what happens though.
This is a picture of the first summer squash. I was quite excited.
3. BBQ-ing FOR THE YOUTH - This was the first Wednesday of June at the home of some ward members. The youth were busy swimming while Ryan was busy BBQ-ing, as usual.
4. FEEDING the DUCKS!!! - One morning a couple weeks ago Elizabeth, Bethany and Benjamin and I went to Riverview Park with some old chips from my pantry. At first most of the birds that were feasting on the crumbs were pigeons. Yuck! We moved down a little closer to the lake and woke up some sleeping ducks.
They didn't seem to mind once they spotted the food.
The kids also had some fun on the playground before it got too hot.
5. CAMPING!!! - This is what makes living here in the summer bearable. Well, having A.C. and going swimming help too. We went up to a camp ground not too far from Woods Canyon Lake, the day after Ryan's adventure of having a porch collapse under him and getting squished by the roof. It was a much needed get away. Ryan's family has a tradition of going camping there for a few days every summer. All of them came up at some point that weekend. Ryan enjoyed taking a nap in his parents tent trailer. I wish I'd snapped a photo of that. We slept, fished, slept, ate, slept, fished... you get the idea. It was cloudy most of the time and rained really good on Fri. night and some on Sat. morning. When we got home late Sat. night we set up our tent in the living room... after moving almost all of the furniture out of it. We set up some fans and it was dry by morning. Again, I wish I had a picture, but at the time I was tired enough to not care. Here are just a few photos from the weekend! We had tons of fun with the Stewart family!
1. TRUCK REPAIRS - okay, not so fun, but has to be done! Ryan has been working like crazy on the truck, especially last week.
When he fixes one thing he finds another part that needs something. Everyday after work this last week he's been trying to figure out the next thing. The job he's been doing for work right now requires him to do what's called "zoning" to Horse Mesa Dam (Apache Lake). He drives to a substation near there instead of to the SRP yard where he regularly goes. So he has needed the car and has been dropping me off at my parents house for my work early. I don't mind getting up at 3AM with him, but I hope he gets it running smooth again soon. I feel incredibly blessed that we have a good car that runs and has cold AC, especially since it's summer.2. VEGGIE HARVESTING!!! - There have been 3 squash and 1 tiny carrot enjoyed from our little garden so far. The carrots aren't quite ripe yet and the cantaloupe and watermelon vines have a lot of flowering going on, and not so much fruit growing. We'll see what happens though.
This is a picture of the first summer squash. I was quite excited.3. BBQ-ing FOR THE YOUTH - This was the first Wednesday of June at the home of some ward members. The youth were busy swimming while Ryan was busy BBQ-ing, as usual.
4. FEEDING the DUCKS!!! - One morning a couple weeks ago Elizabeth, Bethany and Benjamin and I went to Riverview Park with some old chips from my pantry. At first most of the birds that were feasting on the crumbs were pigeons. Yuck! We moved down a little closer to the lake and woke up some sleeping ducks.
They didn't seem to mind once they spotted the food.
The kids also had some fun on the playground before it got too hot.
5. CAMPING!!! - This is what makes living here in the summer bearable. Well, having A.C. and going swimming help too. We went up to a camp ground not too far from Woods Canyon Lake, the day after Ryan's adventure of having a porch collapse under him and getting squished by the roof. It was a much needed get away. Ryan's family has a tradition of going camping there for a few days every summer. All of them came up at some point that weekend. Ryan enjoyed taking a nap in his parents tent trailer. I wish I'd snapped a photo of that. We slept, fished, slept, ate, slept, fished... you get the idea. It was cloudy most of the time and rained really good on Fri. night and some on Sat. morning. When we got home late Sat. night we set up our tent in the living room... after moving almost all of the furniture out of it. We set up some fans and it was dry by morning. Again, I wish I had a picture, but at the time I was tired enough to not care. Here are just a few photos from the weekend! We had tons of fun with the Stewart family!
FALLING OFF OF BUILDINGS
Yeah, it's not really that fun. Just ask Ryan. He knows. I don't have any pictures of it, thank goodness, but Wednesday the 17th is when it happened. My visiting teachers were over, it was about 11am when I got a call from Ryan. He says, "I need your advice on something." I say, "What kind of advice?" Ryan: "Well, my chest and my left shoulder hurt." Me: "What did you do?" Ryan: "I fell off a roof."
Here's the story, but Ryan tells it much better. He was at work by the Horse Mesa Dam replacing the roof on some kind of a big old shed that had a very poorly framed porch. He was out on the porch striping off the old roofing when all of the sudden the porch started sinking while the rest of the building looked like it was rising. It just collapsed, as it seemed to him, in slow motion. He landed on his feet but then immediately fell over, as what was left of the porch's roof fell on top of his upper body. When the roof had first fallen it was vertical, then it flipped over so the bottom was facing up when it landed on him. He tried to push it off, but it was too heavy. His coworkers, who were working on other things nearby but not right next to him at the time, realized his predicament a couple of minutes later and pulled what was left of the roof off.
The damage? He went to a doctor the next day for x-rays and amazingly nothing was broken! The doctor really thought he might have torn something in his left shoulder because it and his ribs were really squished and sore, but nothing was torn or fractured. The doctor was very surprised. His left shoulder and elbow are still bruised, but nothing was broken. It didn't really hit me how seriously he could have been injured until a few days later. He and I both know how blessed he was. We count new blessings everyday each time we think about what happened. He has healed amazingly fast as well. I know the Lord watches over us, and Ryan and I both are truly thankful for that.
Here's the story, but Ryan tells it much better. He was at work by the Horse Mesa Dam replacing the roof on some kind of a big old shed that had a very poorly framed porch. He was out on the porch striping off the old roofing when all of the sudden the porch started sinking while the rest of the building looked like it was rising. It just collapsed, as it seemed to him, in slow motion. He landed on his feet but then immediately fell over, as what was left of the porch's roof fell on top of his upper body. When the roof had first fallen it was vertical, then it flipped over so the bottom was facing up when it landed on him. He tried to push it off, but it was too heavy. His coworkers, who were working on other things nearby but not right next to him at the time, realized his predicament a couple of minutes later and pulled what was left of the roof off.
The damage? He went to a doctor the next day for x-rays and amazingly nothing was broken! The doctor really thought he might have torn something in his left shoulder because it and his ribs were really squished and sore, but nothing was torn or fractured. The doctor was very surprised. His left shoulder and elbow are still bruised, but nothing was broken. It didn't really hit me how seriously he could have been injured until a few days later. He and I both know how blessed he was. We count new blessings everyday each time we think about what happened. He has healed amazingly fast as well. I know the Lord watches over us, and Ryan and I both are truly thankful for that.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
in the good ol' summertime...
...you need an umbrella for high school graduation night, a winter jacket if you'll be going up on the Rim, and plenty of sun screen. It must be an Arizona thing... I know it's not official summer yet, but again, this is Arizona.
Here's the run down of what we've been up to in May and so far in June.
First of all congrats to Kevin & Kristi (Ryan's sister) Johnson! Koltyn Jay came into the world on May 18th at a whopping 10lbs 8oz! He is a cutie, and just as big as Sophie who is a whole month older!
Ryan's youngest sibling graduated from Mountain View. She has wonderful artistic talent. Way to go Lara!
As you know, we put an offer on a house in Mesa near Gilbert Road and Adobe which was accepted. Everything looked good, but the house was appraised for $5,000 less than the asking price so the bank we had applied for a loan at wouldn't finance us. Now we've applied at a different bank and everything is going smoothly so far. The deal should close no later then July 15th... we hope!
Elizabeth (my sister) and Jeremy's family went to Disneyland for a week and had a fantastic time there. On May 16th Jeremy graduated with his Master's form ASU's bussiness college, and with all the family activities (2 showers and his graduation) going on it made for a busy day. Jeremy also had a birthday in May. There was also a family baby shower the next weekend. We had a fun Memorial Day too. Ryan helped his dad on thier roof, I went to some cemetaries with my parents, and we had fun at my Aunt's pool party in the evening. There were more of my cousins there than I've seen in ages! It was really good to see them.
I've been working hard getting devotionals and decorations ready for girls camp for the last month. Tempe Stake went to Lo-Mia June 6-10th, and once again I had the privlage of being the 1st Counselor and the Del Rio Ward Camp specialist. The theme was "Be Loyal to the Royal Within" and our ward got to decorate with "Belle" from "Beauty and the Beast" as our "princess". (i think i'm a little quotation mark happy for some reason)
We had 8 girls in the cabin this year and everyone got along much better this year than in previous years I've been to camp. It was kinda chili, but only got into the 40's at night, instead of the 20's like last year. One of the Mia Maids hand drew the poster for our ward this year. It was so beautiful I had to take a picture of it. Camp was a tremendous experience for all of the girls. Especially the Sunday night activity called the "Hold to the Rod Faith Walk". It was amazing! Some stake leaders dressed up as Sariah and led the girls in small groups to several scenes from Lehi's vision of the Tree of Life. They saw a cabin as The Great and Spacious Building with people mocking and pointing their fingers at them, they experienced the mists of darkness as they tied bandannas around their eyes. They experienced temptations to let go of the Rod of Iron, and the encouragement to keep going, as they followed some rope tied to pieces of conduit toward the Chapel in the trees of Orchard Camp. They felt the embrace of our stake president and his wife as they took off thier blindfolds and led them into the Chapel where a lit up Christmas tree held bracelets with charms shaped like crowns, which was the fruit of the tree. I almost cry just thinking about it. I know it's something I'll never forget and I pray none of the girls who experienced it will either.
Ryan just got back today form taking the Scouts fishing at Willow Springs Lake. He only caught one fish and one of the boys caught one as well. He will be going to Geronimo in July again this year. We both love any reason to get up on the Rim, not to mention being able to serve with the youth. Some of them are so amazing! We are excited to camping with the Stewart's soon. Hopefully we will have better luck with the fish next weekend!
Friday, May 15, 2009
house pics...
Several of you have been asking about pictures... well, I haven't taken any yet because the house is still occupied and it would feel wierd to me to take pictures of it while someone else lives there. We just completed all of the loan documents! (so happy it's done) It's just East of Gilbert and just a couple blocks South of Adobe. It has 2 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, a 2 car garage, good sized pantry, a living room, famliy room, R.V. gate, and no trees in the backyard, which I plan to fix. I'm having way too much fun designing the landscaping and deciding which bushes and flowers to plant! I guess that's the Watson in me coming out, and my O'Barr side has quite a green thumb streak too. Anyway, if all goes well we should be moving in by mid to late July. The current occupants were palnning to move in a couple weeks anyway, so as soon as they move out I will be taking tons of pics so I can have before and after shots. Here are the pictures from the flyer:
Monday, May 11, 2009
HOME HUNTING!!!
Since our last post we've learned that Ryan tore a ligament in his right wrist. There's really nothing to be done about it because it happened so long ago, over 4 years, and it's mostly healed. It will periodically cause him some pain for a while longer.
We also put an offer on a house last week. It was countered and then we put one last offer on it which, I am relived and excited to say, was accepted!!!!! As for the fun paperwork... not too excited. The home has been professionally inspected, which found nothing major to be concerned about.
During the course of our searching for a home there have been a few things I've come to appreciate. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Soon Ryan's tools will have a home of their own in a garage instead of in the laundry room.
2. Watching Ryan's eyes light up as he proclaimed, "I can fix that," whenever I saw anything that I didn't quite like about a house.
3. Designing the landscaping of our future backyard.
4. The creative architectural designs of some houses, like the one that has an added on bedroom that you can only get to by going through another bedroom... Nice, huh?
5. Finally finding a house to put an offer on that was never a meth. house!
We also put an offer on a house last week. It was countered and then we put one last offer on it which, I am relived and excited to say, was accepted!!!!! As for the fun paperwork... not too excited. The home has been professionally inspected, which found nothing major to be concerned about.
During the course of our searching for a home there have been a few things I've come to appreciate. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Soon Ryan's tools will have a home of their own in a garage instead of in the laundry room.
2. Watching Ryan's eyes light up as he proclaimed, "I can fix that," whenever I saw anything that I didn't quite like about a house.
3. Designing the landscaping of our future backyard.
4. The creative architectural designs of some houses, like the one that has an added on bedroom that you can only get to by going through another bedroom... Nice, huh?
5. Finally finding a house to put an offer on that was never a meth. house!
Saturday, April 25, 2009
more Spring-time Stewart Stuff
For those fans of ours out there who 'demand' new posts, your calls have not gone unheeded, however delayed the answer may be. Well, here’s a little of what we’ve been up to during March and April, since they have both come and gone now. We had a great Tempe Stake Conference in March where we heard from Elder Packer, Allen Packer that is. He is Boyd K. Packer’s son. He's a great speaker. Our niece and nephew, Kimble and Karter, had birthdays. We had fun visiting at their party out in Q.C. Ryan’s sister, Heather, also had a birthday and another sister, Stephanie and Aaron Pratt, welcomed a brand new little girl into their family, which I believe I all ready posted. Sophie is adorable! 
I was able to help Heather a little with painting her new work facility while Ryan built a few things for her. He made a platform in the library, a mail box post and a few other things. If you want to see some of the pictures please visit her blog: http://hjcustomdesign.blogspot.com. Guthrie is a really great place!
I’m having fun as the ward young women camp specialist again this year. I love it! I passed off the girls cooking certification in March. Campfire pizza is pretty darn tasty, when it's not burned that is. Ryan had Scout leader training that Saturday and another weekend in April as well. He’s still doing great with the troop. We also helped my sister's family, Elizabeth and Jeremy Poll, move an Ash tree from my parent’s back yard to theirs. Actually, they and my dad did all the digging, Ryan provided the tree transportation. It will make a great shade tree for them when it grows. My mom had fun visiting with her big brother, my Uncle Danny and Aunt Gretchen O'Barr from Wasilla, AK. They were here for a week or so. We always love to see them, and to see the pictures they take when they are here, like these ones.
I love visiting with relatives! Especially when we go out for food. Mmmm...tasty! 
We enjoyed part of General Conference from Ryan’s parent’s house. He has been helping his dad with re-roofing, so before and between Saturday’s sessions they were up and working. I wish I had thought to bring my camera! It’s still a work in progress, so I may get a picture of that yet. Ryan has made a few visits to a doctor about his hands. He slightly injured his left one at work a few weeks ago, which seems to be healing just fine. He injured his right wrist, however, several years ago and it’s still giving him grief every now and then. The specialist had him get an MRI. We should hopefully know what the problem is soon.
We were able to go the Easter Pageant with the youth in our ward. The Poll’s and my brother Jason were there the same night in their own groups. Despite the louder and lewder than usual protesters, we were able to enjoy the sweet Spirit of it and point out our brother-in-law Aaron Pratt as Christ on the cross. We also enjoyed Easter dinner’s with both of our families on different nights. Having two delicious meals near holidays is one of the many great things about living near our parents. My garden is looking good. I don’t expect to get too many vegetables out of it, but I do enjoy watching the plants grow.
I also got a beautiful bedspread from JCPenney that I've been eyeing for a while. I love it!
A big thank you to my cousin Wylene Wilson for teaching the young women, and me, about horses and letting us ride on April 18th! It was a lot of fun to watch her crack that bull-whip. I sure learned a lot. Did you know you can tell a horse's age by looking at it's teeth? It's true. You can check out all the awesome things she does at www.wylenewilson.com. On that same evening Ryan helped out at the annual scout chili cook-off fundraiser. He brought his BBQ and was grilling hot dogs the whole time. The two crock pots of chili that he made disappeared pretty fast too. 
Well, I think that covers us for now. Oh, and the most exciting thing, we just got pre-approved to buy a home! We’ve been looking on-line for months and are now moving to phase two, actually going inside of houses. Hopefully we will settle somewhere in Mesa by fall.
I was able to help Heather a little with painting her new work facility while Ryan built a few things for her. He made a platform in the library, a mail box post and a few other things. If you want to see some of the pictures please visit her blog: http://hjcustomdesign.blogspot.com. Guthrie is a really great place!I’m having fun as the ward young women camp specialist again this year. I love it! I passed off the girls cooking certification in March. Campfire pizza is pretty darn tasty, when it's not burned that is. Ryan had Scout leader training that Saturday and another weekend in April as well. He’s still doing great with the troop. We also helped my sister's family, Elizabeth and Jeremy Poll, move an Ash tree from my parent’s back yard to theirs. Actually, they and my dad did all the digging, Ryan provided the tree transportation. It will make a great shade tree for them when it grows. My mom had fun visiting with her big brother, my Uncle Danny and Aunt Gretchen O'Barr from Wasilla, AK. They were here for a week or so. We always love to see them, and to see the pictures they take when they are here, like these ones.
I love visiting with relatives! Especially when we go out for food. Mmmm...tasty! 
We enjoyed part of General Conference from Ryan’s parent’s house. He has been helping his dad with re-roofing, so before and between Saturday’s sessions they were up and working. I wish I had thought to bring my camera! It’s still a work in progress, so I may get a picture of that yet. Ryan has made a few visits to a doctor about his hands. He slightly injured his left one at work a few weeks ago, which seems to be healing just fine. He injured his right wrist, however, several years ago and it’s still giving him grief every now and then. The specialist had him get an MRI. We should hopefully know what the problem is soon.
We were able to go the Easter Pageant with the youth in our ward. The Poll’s and my brother Jason were there the same night in their own groups. Despite the louder and lewder than usual protesters, we were able to enjoy the sweet Spirit of it and point out our brother-in-law Aaron Pratt as Christ on the cross. We also enjoyed Easter dinner’s with both of our families on different nights. Having two delicious meals near holidays is one of the many great things about living near our parents. My garden is looking good. I don’t expect to get too many vegetables out of it, but I do enjoy watching the plants grow.
I also got a beautiful bedspread from JCPenney that I've been eyeing for a while. I love it!
A big thank you to my cousin Wylene Wilson for teaching the young women, and me, about horses and letting us ride on April 18th! It was a lot of fun to watch her crack that bull-whip. I sure learned a lot. Did you know you can tell a horse's age by looking at it's teeth? It's true. You can check out all the awesome things she does at www.wylenewilson.com. On that same evening Ryan helped out at the annual scout chili cook-off fundraiser. He brought his BBQ and was grilling hot dogs the whole time. The two crock pots of chili that he made disappeared pretty fast too. 
Well, I think that covers us for now. Oh, and the most exciting thing, we just got pre-approved to buy a home! We’ve been looking on-line for months and are now moving to phase two, actually going inside of houses. Hopefully we will settle somewhere in Mesa by fall.
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