The Happs

I haven't blogged on Yodame in a while. I've mostly been updating the kids blogs. Brennan has a blog now too. I'm trying to journal in their blogs so that I have a record of the things they did, so the blogs are not terribly interesting but the Grandma's and Grandpa's seem to like them.

Things have obviously been very busy here. Adjusting to two kids has been a challenge. I've had my breakdowns and more than a few restless nights but overall it's been fun. My biggest anxiety with small babies is that they will get sick. I think it comes from being so sick as a kid myself. I am resting easier now knowing that we've all had some really bad illnesses here and have coughed all over Brennan and I even had stomach flu, Sara had walking pneumonia, and he didn't get anything but the sniffles. Amazing!

We haven't traveled much so I'm hoping now that he's 4 months old we can start to do a few more things. We did all kinds of outdoor activities with Sara but when she Brennan's age it was Spring, so until he's old enough to go into the ski trailer our options might be a bit limited. We have been hiking several times locally and he seems to really like that so far.

Dan and I are doing great. I think parenting another kid has brought us closer together. I really appreciated everything he did for me in the hospital when I had Brennan, it was rough and I really relied on him. He is a great husband and a great person. He goes out of his way to make sure we're all happy. He is the best father I could have ever ended up with for my kids.

We are looking to the future and we are thinking that our current house is too small for the four of us. Dan will have it paid off either by January or March so we're thinking of putting it on the market and just letting it sit there until it sells. In the mean time we've been looking at houses and talking with a realtor about our options. We've explored buying an existing one or building. It'll be interesting to see what we end up doing. Even though we could probably get a half a million dollar loan and live in a giant mansion like a lot of Dan's co-workers do, we'd love not to be house poor. We love to travel and have freedom. It would be great if we could get little bit bigger house that we could also have paid off in just another few years and then be totally debt free.

Dan really wants a bigger kitchen and he's dreamed of a better stove. I'd love to still have a nice yard and a covered porch where we could have gatherings and I think overall we'd love to have more room so that we could have guests (we lost our guest room w/ Brennan) and family dinners. Also it would be amazing to have a kids play room.

This Saturday we are going to look at our neighbor's house two doors down. It's an awesome house and is selling for pretty cheap. I'm so excited to see what it's like inside. It might be a good option for us and if not we'll keep looking next year.

We want to stay in the Springville, Spanish, or Mapleton area. My first choice is Spanish because I really love it here. It would be hard for me to move away. I love that it's somewhat rural, the splash pad is great, the wind turbines are fun to watch, the new river trail just down the hill is awesome, and the multitude of kid centered city festivities can't be beat. Also, because it's not in a big city, you can get way more house for your money. The only thing that could be better here is our library, it sucks.

Most of all, I love our view here so if our neighbors house works out that would be great, we'd have the same view. Maybe even better because it's a 2 story and they have huge windows in the front living room which we don't have.

Changing topics, I've been able to jog every night and ride Dan's exercise bike. I think I'm going to start doing Zumba again too with friends. I hope to be in better shape by Spring to hike mountains and resume biking. I feel like I've missed so much hiking and biking while pregnant and I'm ready to go hog wild in the spring and summer next year.

Also, we're looking forward to maybe visiting Alabama in May of next year. It's been a long time since we've visited and my 90 year old Grandma would like to see Brennan. I think we might head down to Panama City beach too. Dan is grumpy about it. I guess when you've lived in Hawaii, other beaches seem sub-par but I've promised him these beaches are amazing. I hope the weather holds out. I can't wait to show Sara the beach that Momma grew up on. I love that beach and miss it dearly. Maybe someday Daddy will show the kids the beach he grew up on but at this point I'm not holding my breath. Maybe next year will be the year I get up the nerve to go without him!