Summary of 2012

I actually forgot that I ever started a blog! Lol! How sad is that! But this year I committed to learn how to blog so that I can track our family events and photos, since I'm horrible about keeping track of these things and I definitely don't scrapbook! Let me quickly catch up from 2012 before I move into 2013~ Or maybe the end of 2011 .. since we had our second son on December 21, 2011. Our sweet, little Patrick McKay joined us just 4 days before Christmas, talk about a fanatastic Christmas present. Jeremiah, who was 2 1/2 at the time, wasn't so sure that he liked his new little brother and asked me to put "BaKay" back in my belly! Haha. So Patrick and I got him a "big brother gift" - Truly, the BEST $20 I've ever spent! Ever since, Jeremiah has adored his little brother! McKay is quite the little guy. He rolled over from his tummy to his back before he was 3 weeks old! He started crawling at 6 months and walking at 9 1/2 months! He's been quite the little mover, he keeps us on our toes. In 2012, Jeremiah potty trained, learned to ride his bike (with training wheels) and has been the best big brother and mommy's little helper! Well ... he thinks he is a big helper! We bought a new house at the end of last year! It has been such a blessing. It truly has reminded me that all things come in due time of the Lord. Patrick and I bought a small house, for our first house. It was 1600 square feet, but we lived in only 800, since we had an unfinished basement. What does 800 square feet look like??? 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a tiny kitchen, small living room and small dining room. With a family of 4 in these conditions, we were literally living on top of each other!!!! AGHHH. Let me back up for a moment. Nearing the end of 2011, we started looking at houses because I was pregnant with McKay and we couldn't imaging bringing another child into our tiny house, however, we decided to wait until May of 2012 because that was our 3 year mark in our house and we had gotten the First Time Home Buyer's Tax Credit - we had to own our house for 3 years. So, in April of 2012 we found a house that we LOVED, but the night we put in our contingency offer, 3 other offers were on the table :( We were crushed! We had our house on the market for about 4-5 weeks and decided to pull it off of the market because we weren't finding any other houses that we liked and our house wasn't selling. Needless to say, we were VERY disappointed. At that point, we decided that we just wanted to build a house and the builder that we chose couldn't start our house until the spring of 2013. So - we were going to be stuck in our tiny house for 1 more year. In September or October of 2012, we were getting ready to sign papers with our builder, but our real estate agent wanted us to get our prequalification letter first. We had submitted an application online and were waiting to hear back from the bank. Then, one day I saw a friend of mine had put her super cute house on the market. I must say, unfortunately this wonderful family had to move, but I loved her house. The same day that I saw her house on the market, we heard back from the bank. They had apologized for taking so long because their systems had been down and they would get back to us that week. Now, here is where I really feel that the Lord had stepped, because if we had heard back from the bank any sooner - we would've already signed papers to build a house the following spring. Anyway, I had seen my friends house before, but I wanted Patrick to see it and tell me what he thought of it. That same night, that we had heard from the bank, we went and had dinner with our friends and looked at their house - we both loved it. After praying we really felt that this was the house for us. SO a week of serious work and stress, we got an offer in on the house and our house on the market. I should note that the day we got our offer in, another offer came in toO!!! (Ugh, are you kidding me!!?? If someone needs to sell a house and have a bidding war, just invite the Martin's over! Lol) Luckily for us, the other offer wasn't good, so we got the house ... well, contingent on our house selling. ... And the long process began. I LOVE HGTV! I admit it ... I have a problem. But at least some of the information I got on there came in handy! 3 pieces of advice when selling a home. 1.) Stage it! Remove all unnecessary furniture and items. Make your house FEEL as big as possible. As I said before, our house was tiny ... that's why I emphasize FEEL as big as possible! We packed a good 40% of our house before we listed it ... the 2nd time. 2.) Take out all personal items - such as family pictures and religious items. Now, I struggled with the latter, because I am a proud member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, but that is what was suggested to be able to sell my house, so I did it. The reason they say to do that is because buyers need to be able to picture themselves in your home and you don't want anything out that might deter them from purchasing. 3.) Price it right! If you price it competitively, buyers will see how much more your house has to offer that other houses in that same price range. Pat and I spent 3 1/2 years and a lot of money fixing up our house, so we wanted as much money as we could get. Unfortunately, the market wasn't as good as when we bought the house, but we came out okay ... Now the GREAT news!!! Our house sold in 10 days and we got our asking price!!!! so there is my bit of advice if you're selling a home. Anyway, that was a tangeant! But, I truly feel that this was the house we were supposed to get because our plan was so different from what happened, but I feel that the Lord provided the way for us. And I am so grateful because now we have this beautiful house with plenty of room to continue to grow our little family! That pretty much sums up the last year in a tiny little nutshell. I'm excited to track our family and our progress this year! So ... here it goes for 2013!!!