Photo Shoot

Cutest pics of Jax around the club house of our town home community!

#1 Won!

Okay so #1 for Now,,,

Matt loved it! We loved the neighbors, the feel, the potential. As I mentioned earlier, this house has been beautifully maintained. Which, means less costs associated with deferred maintance. Although, it still needs some updating, it allows me to design the kitchen, pick out carpet, paint, exterior updates...etc.

Matt and I agreed #2, while it is totally remodeled, it's small and you can't change that. Also, it has already realized any possible appreciation with all the upgrades the last owners completed. The third, is too big of a project. At the end of the day, it needs 50K of work and the neighborhood and school district won't sustain a property value much higher than what it's listed for.

We still have more houses to see and more neighborhoods to expore. We'll keep you posted on how the house hunting goes.

Check out these before and after pics of mine and Matt's first home in Sugar House.

House Hunters Phoenix

For those of you who watch HGTV (bless your heart) you know the drill. Matt and I are going house hunting tomorrow. We haven't narrowed down the location we want to live in, we're still exploring Desert Ridge, Scottsdale and the North-Central Corridor area. Tomorrow, I am taking Matt to see my 3 favorites in North-Central Phoenix. By the way, North-Central is an awesome area it looks like you're in a totally different city with nice big trees...and I don't mean cacti. It's like a sugar house neighborhood plopped into the desert. And it's right around the corner from Matt's work.

House 1:
Classic 50's rambler on a nice size irrigated lot with a large pool. This is a very well maintained house. The outside of the house needs a nice coat of paint and the powder blue carpet would need to be replaced. The neighborhood is incredible with houses well over 1 mill just around the corner. This neighborhood also boasts the best schools in Phoenix.


House 2:
Beautiful Remodel! I mean beautiful. Hardwood floors, awesome kitchen, incredible master bath. The backyard is the size of a park - without a pool. The neighborhood is also beautiful. The only downside is the size. It has one less bedroom than the other 2 and less living space.



House 3:
ALOT of Potential. This house would be a project. This needs new kitchen, new floors, new everything. The price is $50,000 under the other 2 and in this market we could probably get it for well under asking. Location is still good, but not as good as the other 2. Great curb appeal and awesome square footage. Even a separate entrance for the guest bedroom (hint, hint).


If you have any thoughts or would like to add your experiences to this process please feel free to post comments.

New Fun Blog: CrabMommy

I blogged yesterday of my troubled day. I'm still working on the attitude of gratitude. In the meantime, I uncovered this awesome "whinny" mom's blog: http://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/crabmommy and http://crabmommy.blogspot.com/. Unlike her, I do love Motherhood, but it is fun to hear her vent about Motherhood woes. I especially love the piece about the The Martyrmeter.™ I would be the 1st to own one - as my sisters all know I love to compete.

Every new set of parents plays the martyr game. Which of you is doing more? Is it the breadwinner slogging through a deadly job to provide the dough? Is it the stay-at-homer, dealing in tantrums, playdates, and interminable wiping of orifices?
Don't argue. Get a MartryMeter™!
A two-pack handset (one per parent) and docking station combo, the MartyrMeter™ takes the guesswork and arguing out of the competition for the title, Most Put-Upon Parent. Simply log your activities into the handset (see attached sheet of coded chores); at day's end, plug the handset into the docking station, where the MartyrMeter™ will compute your daily miseries and stack them against your spouse's. Rest assured, our computational device has been programmed for complete accuracy. Winners may rest their case!
Note: the MartyrMeter™ Deluxe Edition® comes with a built-in lie detector. Do you suspect your spouse of fudging numbers and fibbing about times? Does parent-on-duty say the baby woke at 5am but you think it was probably closer to 6am? Just grab that Meter, and let our patented motion and heat sensing technology track your spouse's blood pressure while he or she holds the handset. If he's lying, we've got his number! Game Over!!

Michelle Saves the Day

So I've been having one of those feel sorry for myself days. Matt's been at a conference all week and weekend. My normal "weekend" breaks consists of Matt taking over and giving me a few extra hours of sleep or a few hours in the afternoon to run errands without a baby - I live for those breaks! During this year of residency "the intern year" on average Matt is home twice a week before 9 or 10PM. Today I woke up with a positive attitude and was doing pretty good all day. Then tonight Jax had an enormous breakdown and I just starting feeling sorry for myself. I was just on my sister Michelle's blog and saw her most recent post titled "Half Empty or Half Full?" She talks all about teaching her children an attitude of gratitude (I wish I still lived by her so she could teach me that lesson again today). Anyway, she also posted the poem below. It's pretty uplifting and to say the least saved my day. I am blessed to have a husband that works sooo hard. When does he get his "break?" I'm grateful for a wonderful baby who seldom has enormous breakdowns. Enjoy and hopefully you won't need this as much as I did...

BE THANKFUL
Be thankful that you don't already have everything you desire. If you did, what would there be to look forward to? Be thankful when you don't know something, for it gives you the opportunity to learn. Be thankful for the difficult times, during those times you grow. Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you opportunities for improvement. Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build your strength and character. Be thankful for your mistakes, they will teach you valuable lessons. Be thankful when you're tired and weary, because it means you've made a difference. It's easy to be thankful for the good things. A life of rich fulfillment come to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. Gratitude can turn a negative into a positive. Find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings. - Author Unknown

Check out my Slide Show!

Jax is 7 Months Today!

I can't believe Jax is already 7 months old. Where has the time gone? I just can't believe all of the milestones over the last 7 months. He started out a little peanut that ate, slept and pooped. Now, he is sitting up, flirting, grabbing like crazy (mostly my hair and food), concentrating on toys, shifting toys from one hand to the other, wanting anything that mommy has. Still no rolling over -we've decided that the weight of his head makes it too difficult to gain momentum.

Above are some of my favorite pics over the last 7 months.

Tribute to Aunt Marge

For those of you who know the Adair family, you know Aunt Marge. Aunt Marge lives in Northern California and just recently retired from a 35 yr+ career teaching school.

I have many special memories of Aunt Marge. I thought I would share a few as a tribute on her birthday.

Aunt Marge has such a passion for math and geophraphy. We took a month long road trip around the US (which is in itself a very entertaining story that I can share another time), Aunt Marge would spend countless hours with Rachel, Sheree, Mike and I reviewing state capitals and times tables. She would use visual mnemonics; creating elaborate stories to help us remember whatever she was teaching us. I still am awesome at times tables and know most of the state capitals.



Next was Christmas, Aunt Marge was Christmas! She would finish teaching school, pack up her rust orange 1970s Buick Skylar and head to Salt Lake. When I say pack up I mean her car would be filled with Christmas gifts for all six of us Adair kids. She would shop weeks before Christmas and find all sorts of gismos, socks, underwear, videos and her classic gift of a case of ramon noodles and macaroni and cheese for each of us. We would each get a special day to wrap presents with Aunt Marge. When Christmas day came she was just as excited as all of us. My parents did a wonderful job of Christmas every year, but Aunt Marge was such an added bonus!

More recently, shortly before Matt and I were married we entertained the idea of buying a "fixer-upper" in the foothill/sugarhouse area. We knew with my Mom's expertise in real estate and remodeling and Matt's "can do" attitude we could have a fun project. Aunt Marge helped us with the financing and expenses of the remodel. Thanks to her and my Mom, Matt and I had a beautiful first home!!

From the "BOOM BOOMs" (her name for the loud thunder), to Aunt Marge's summer school to rationing cheese portions to family vacations - Aunt Marge has been an integral part of our lives.



HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT MARGE! WE LOVE YOU!!!!