A Chapter Closed

Last weekend we traveled to Rapid City for the last time to FINALLY close on our house there. We feel so grateful that with the economy so bad, and so many others facing foreclosure, that we were not one of them! Our house was on the market for nearly a year. I am so glad that it is behind us. We have had a lot of really trying things going on this past year, yet are so blessed in many different ways. I know I couldn't have gotten through them without the gospel, Aaron, and our family and friends. The economy is very scary, but the faith that I have through the Lord, gives me the knowledge of 2 things. We are doing what we are supposed to be at this time, and also that everything will be ok. Like I mentioned earlier, we are extremely blessed.
The picture of Mason and Taryn is when we were at the hotel (it had a pirate waterpark inside) and each of them owed me a 5 minute time out for not listening. As you can see below, Kylie was thrilled that she was a good listener and earned an extra 5 minutes with just her and Daddy, while the other 2 sat on the bed!

I had to explain to her over and over that she was too small to do the big kid waterslides. She tried to climb up the stairs a few times, but is not quite 42 inches. Mason on the other hand did them for the first time (we had stayed there before and he didn't want to) and probably did them at least 50 times. I did them a few times too, and the more I rode them, the less I enjoyed myself. I guess I am getting older.

Aaron and the girls coming down the kiddie slides. We spent a lot of time there in our 2 day stay. We had fun just hanging out with nothing that we HAD to do (we met with the realtor the night before), swimming, watching Disney channel corny movies, and ordering room-service. It was a much needed break for all of us. The drive was 8 hours, and the kids were great. We were all a little bit sad to bid farewell to our dream house, but dreams are made of soooooo much more than houses. The people who bought it are both cancer survivors, and I am happy that they are keeping the princess castle mural up in Taryn and Kylies' old room, and also the jungle monkey mural in Masons old room. They are also keeping the mural up in the kids bathroom (it is of Hawaii), and the only painting they are doing is the playroom. That makes me happy. I loved my house, but never quite adjusted to the fact that it was 6 miles out of town.

Mason jumping on the hotel bed. A fun tradition in our family, and it hasn't sent us to the emergency room yet!! It hasn't quite hit me yet that we won't be hearing from our realtor, or worrying about the house because it was a stress for so long, but each day I feel a little more relieved. I can tell you that in this unstable economy, it feels great to be renting at this time that is for sure. Thanks for a really fun weekend Aaron, I love you.