My Time in UTAH! :)

UTAH...that word makes me so elated!  Sappy, I know...but, I don't care what anyone thinks.  I left my husband for 2 weeks, and headed to the great state of Utah, to see my family.  It was blissful, to say the least.  How do I love them so much?!  My friend told me before I left that I had the most AMAZING family...and you know what?!  She's TOTALLY right!  I am sooo blessed!

Sometimes I think it's best that I live far away from them.  Maybe I appreciate them more that way ;)

I am a loser and didn't take any pictures, so I will just use some older ones to describe my experience the best I can.

Here is what I did...

I traveled with my GREAT Aunt Linda to Salt Lake via Jet Blue. :)  I do not have a picture of her, so you'll have to use your imagination.

Once we got to Salt Lake, my cousin Alison picked us up!

I stayed the night at her house.  The next morning she took me to my Aunt Cindy's (where I would be staying during the duration of my trip).

This would be Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rick.  I know, I know...I look just like my Aunt Cindy...we're practically twins...sheesh...if I aged a year every time I heard that, we WOULD be twins! bahaha! (She is gonna kill me for that little joke!) ...Love you auntie! ;)

So, I got to hang out with these two cool kids.  Lucky me, right?!  My Aunt Cindy and I did a lot of running around to get ready for the annual family reunion the first few days I was there.  We went to lunch and hung out too, so it wasn't all work. ;)

  Lucky for me, I got to have lunch with my Aunt Terri too.  It was great to spend time with both of my aunts.

...and I got to see these pretty ladies. love my cousins!


Unfortunately, because I suck at life, I have NO pictures of me meeting baby Charlie, or me and my aunt taking Luke and Layna to the zoo.  BUT, we did do that...and it was more than enjoyable.

Overall...it was amazing...and, while I may try, no amount of gushy words will begin to express how much I cherish the times I share with these extraordinary people.

The Adventures of Cindy and Samm

Later in the week we headed to our family reunion...Uncle Rick had a golf tournament, so he
was gonna have to meet us later. So, my Aunt Cindy decided she was going to just drive the RV herself. YA...I thought...girl POWER! So...we got in and drove off...but not before we almost drove off with the RV plugged into the house. Oops!
SO, now I must finish my story in a dialogue, because that is THE ONLY way I will do this story any justice.
Achem...
We get on the highway...and....


Aunt Cindy: (singing "I am Woman hear me Roar")
Samm: Wow...(thinking: are you really singing that right now?!)
Aunt Cindy: It's the adventure of Cindy and Samm!
Samm: (laughing...and thinking my aunt is sooo cute!) Yup, it is..
We keep driving...
Aunt Cindy:  I hear somthing weird...do you hear it?!
Samm:  Ya, I do...

Sound goes away...

Aunt Cindy:  Ahh...I think it went away...
Samm: Cool.

5 minutes later...

Samm:  Do you smell that?!
Aunt Cindy:  Smell what?!
Samm:  I smell something burning.
Aunt Cindy:  No...I don't
Samm:  Humm...
Samm:  Are you sure?!  It smells like something is burning...
Aunt Cindy:  No...let me check the gauge.  (looks at gauge)  No...the engine isn't overheating or anything.
Samm:  Oh, okay...just keep your eye on it.

2 minutes later...

Samm:  I STILL smell burning...

Meanwhile Grandpa and Aunt Terri are in front of us.  We're following them.
 
Aunt Cindy:  Woah, look at my dad swerve!
Samm:  Geez...grandpa is gonna kill someone.
 
Grandpa pulls over fast and so we pull over too...
 
Aunt Cindy:  I wonder why he is pulling over.
 
As we stop, smoke fills the air, and it's coming from the engine!
 
Aunt Cindy and Samm: (screaming!!!!!!) Ahhhhhhh!
 
Aunt Cindy:  Get the dog!!!!!!!  (yes, we thought the car was on fire, and YES she screamed "get the dog!"  not "save my niece...she's too young to die!")  LOL! :)
 
The RV was smoking and it looked like it was on fire.  Luckily it wasn't.  We just blew the radiator hose.
 

I knew I smelled smoke! :)

We had to call my Uncle Jim to come and save us.  He did...and we made it to the reunion...AND we had a good story too!

TOM'S

Have you heard of these?! They are called Tom shoes.  Now, you're probably thinking..."okay...so what?!  What is so great about them, anyway?!"  Well, ladies and gents...I have an answer!  They are so wonderful because everytime you buy a pair, the company "TOM" will give a pair of shoes to a child in need.  I told you it was pretty great, now didn't I?! 

What could be better than buying a pair of shoes?!  How about getting a pair of new shoes, AND helping a child...THAT'S what's better! :)

So, go buy some...seriously.  And, if you're thinking, "oooh...I wanna help a child in need, but I don't need those shoes...," well, of couse I have a solution.  I'm a size 8.5! :)

<3 SammAsh

PAUSE!

Ever wish you could make time stand still?!  I DO!  ...and if I had the power, I would have pushed the pause button here!  Then I probably would have rewound and replayed a few times.  <3 my family to pieces!

I did, however, make sure to soak up all the time with them the best I could.  Afterall...it's gotta get me to Christmas, and I am ALREADY having withdraws! :)

Okay...this is the real thing!

So, I have promised my self (again) that I will start blogging.  I still follow the rest of the family and their blogs, and when I look at them I realize how much I miss my blog.  So, I am starting again.  I REALLY, REALLY promise.  In fact...if I don't post, I request that you harass me, so that I do it :)

I suck at life...

...cuz I never update my blog.  LOL! Sigh...  :(

House Hunting continued...

So, I thought I would post a little more about the process of purchasing a home.  I hope one day I can look back at this and laugh, because right now I am just frusterated.

You see...in Chino Hills (where we live), we are faced with homes in short sale situations.  There are virtually NO standard sales in Chino Hills. Well, at least not in our price range.  This makes finding a home, a LONG and stressful process.  I often fantasize of "the normal way" people buy homes.  They find one, then put an offer on it and 30 days later they get the keys.

Unfortunately, with short sales, the process can be drawn out to months.  So, we are stuck making offers on short sales if we want to stay in Chino Hills. 

So far, I believe we have offers on about 20 different houses.  Seems like a lot, right?!  IT IS!  In fact, we have made so many offers that we just signed a blank contract so that realtors can just send them in for each home we think we like.  We are even making offers on homes we haven't seen.

We have to make offers ASAP because some homes will have 25+ offers submitted within the first day or two of being on the market.  So, there is no room for error.

We recently had an offer accepted-which was a HUGE accomplishment.  THEN, the bank countered our offer $20k more.  While we wanted to get into a home, we didn't think it was worth it, so we walked away.  It was a HARD decision since we have been looking for what seems like FOREVER! 

However, currently, we made an offer on another home and we went to the bank on this one too.  The reason it is such a big deal is because with 25+ people competing for one home, you have to be hand picked.  Basically we beat out others, so that was exciting!  So-currently our offer is at the bank.  IF the bank accepts our offer, we still have a long process ahead of us.  The bank would STILL have to send it to the investor and the investor would have to approve it too.  Then they would have to appraise it, etc.  If all went well we would be looking at getting in sometime in late May.  So, we are crossing our fingers, but not holding our breath, cuz we've been through this before...

House Hunting

David and I decided in October that it was time to find ourselves a home.  What an exciting time in a couples lives...or so we thought!  I have come to despise the house hunting process.  What once seemed to be an exciting adventure, has now turned into a stressful limbo between extreme highs and lows. 

Now...I suppose I should be somewhat thankful for the opportunity we have to purchase a home, because, let's be honest...without the downfall-correction-PLUMMET-of the economy, there would be no way we could have afforded a shack here in good ole' $outhern California. :)

So, I just felt the need to share.  I have been really irritated with looking lately and not finding anything.

David After Dentist

This is one of my favorite youtube videos of all time.  This little boy just got back from the dentist...

I HATE teeth!

...seriously!  Why do we need them?!  I mean, hasn't modern technology thought of a better way yet?!  We can send people to the moon, talk face-to-face with people in Tokyo, and travel by plane, but we can't live without teeth?! 

Well, I thought I could.  In fact, when my dentist told me I needed my root canal "redone," my first response was "just pull the damn thing!"  ...and then he told me that if he did, he would have to drill a titanium screw into my jaw to replace the gap that would be left.  So...I waited...and waited...about 5 years...then it got infected...and I waited a little longer...

Then, last Monday (6+ years later), I FINALLY got it done.  I was really proud of myself.  I have an insane fear of dentists.  I was injured by one when I was about 12, and since then, I have been a big wuss!

Do you honestly blame me?!  Who wouldn't be afraid of this?! 

...right?!  Is it crazy that I am afraid of this?!  Cuz apparently, my Endodontist thought I was unnecessarily stressed out...I guess most people don't turn white, shake uncontrollably and grip the dental seat.  Humm...

Well...anyway...now I am currently on antibiotics to kill the infection, then I will get my crown on Monday.  And to think...all of this fun will ONLY cost me $2,000!  What a DEAL!!!(NOT!)

...and, we're back!

Happy New Year!  I am back, and have decided that one of my many resolutions is to keep up on my blog.  So...here goes nothing!  Stay tuned...

Kristin's Annual Birthday/Bowling Extravaganza!

The day after Christmas, my family has an annual bowling tournament...boys against girls! We started the day off by heading over to the portrait studio to get family pictures taken. It was the first time, in a VERY long time, that the Reid B. Pearce family was all together. We were able to get a few really great pictures.

After getting our pictures taken, we headed over to have lunch. After lunch we went to the bowling alley. We had three lanes...one for the boys, one for the girls, and one for the kiddos! As usual, the boys won, but it was probably because they always cheat! LoL! j.k.!

Christmas Evening...

Christmas evening was spent at my Aunt Terri's house. We had dinner at her house and waited for my cousin Katie and her family to come down from Idaho Falls. They hadn't celebrated Christmas with us yet, so her kids got to open all of their presents from everyone. It was a lot of fun watching them! Afterward, we played bunko. I wasn't very good, but it was fun anyway!