After Kanyon was born in February 2007, we officially became a family of 6 living in a 2-bedroom house. Using the bonus room we had previously added to the house, we rearranged bedrooms multiple times to accomodate everyone's growing stages. It quickly became apparant that we couldn't live forever in the old single-wide. Of course, that was never the plan--to live there forever. We bought the old single-wide in October 2002 for $2,200. The purchase was the cheapest and best way for us to live in Salmon. It was cheaper than paying rent, and it was better than living with family. We figured we could use the house as a starter house, until we could afford a permanent one. However, less than 6 months after buying the 2-bedroom house, we discovered we were pregnant with twins. So, we grew out of the house much quicker than we anticipated, thus the reason for the room addition in 2004.
A few months after he was born, Kanyon grew out of his cradle, and he had to move out of our master bedroom because there wasn't enough room for a crib. This change began the bedroom shuffle, and also became the beginning of the end of our stay in that home. Josh and I sat down that spring and came up with a 5-year, debt-free plan: the first four years would be dedicated to paying off all our debts--the multiple credit cards, the truck, the van, the trailer, etc., and the fifth year would be the saving up year--we'd save all our money to put a down payment on a home.We decided that we wanted to buy a brand new double-wide manufactured home in the future. After building that 10x14 bonus room onto our house, we knew we couldn't work together to build an entire house without a divorce included. So, every year, Josh and I would go to different manufactured home lots and look around at the houses on display for sale. We wanted to get a feel for what we liked, what we didn't like, and what we really wanted in a home so that we'd be ready when we could financially afford one. In the casual search for a house, we found one that we loved, and we kept the floor plan layout and looked at it whenever we needed a reminder to stick with our goal of paying off debt!
Last year, we were right on track in year 2 of the 5-year plan. We paid off the van, a credit card, and were close to paying off some more debt as well. In September, we looked at a manufactured home lot in Idaho Falls. They had a special sale, so we thought we'd check out what they had. It was a home lot we'd never been to before, and the stop there was supposed to be like every other home sales lot visit: get out of the car, walk around homes, pick up floor plans, leave. But this time, things ended up different than planned. We found a house that we really liked. A LOT. The layout of the home was different than the other floor plan that we'd become attached to years earlier, but I could imagine our family living there. The double-wide had a simple floor plan that flowed well and felt spacious. The 2,026 sq. ft. home had 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, a family room, and a living room. The kitchen connects the living spaces and has a nice long bar and lots of cabinets, the dining room is just off the kitchen and is next to the mudroom, and the master bedroom suite was complete with a retreat and walk-in closets and an attached bathroom. All for a reduced price of $95,900. We told the salesman we would discuss our options, and get back with him. With the $8,000 rebate offered by the government for new home-buyers, we wanted to take advantage of both the home sale and the government rebate, but there was no way we could financially afford it at the time. We weighed all our options, and told the salesman it just wouldn't work out.
In October, a month later, the home sales office dropped their prices again in an effort to clear off the lot models to make way for the coming new year's models. Our home's price dropped considerably! Right after that, the government decided to extend the special rebate offer from November 30 to April 30. We both felt really good about the deal this time, since we knew we could afford the house in the spring. So, we told the salesman we wanted the house for sure. In November, we put a deposit down on the house, and officially started the process of purchasing it. Little did we know then the long ordeal that was to come in the pursuit of finding financing for the new home.
to be continued...
This is exactly what you'd see if you were to come visit us in the evening: all of us in the living room--Josh reading his newspaper and watching the television simultaneously, me on the laptop (see where I was sitting?), Ammon reading a book and also watching TV simultaneously, and Jonah, Micah, & Kanyon playing on the floor.
This photo makes me smile. It's a photo that captures life in a single moment of time. A moment that filled me with hope and optimism and love and gratitude. Sometimes I don't know if I'm a good enough mother, if I'm doing justice for the job, if I'm filling the role properly. But seeing them play with the FHE games, well, it was like eating leftovers, when the food is even more delicious the second time around after having time to soak up the flavors. Even if my FHE wasn't the best planned or most prepared or inspirational, we played together, we laughed together, we had fun together, and I felt happiness. When I saw my boys playing together the next morning, I knew that they had felt that good feeling and wanted to carry it over to the day after! That moment in time of seeing my boys play with the "
He went back to school and went to lunch recess. A half hour later, she called us back saying he needed to come back to the clinic and that he shouldn't play roughly outdoors in the meantime. When we went to pick him up, he was already outside playing football with his friends!!! After picking him up and taking him back to the clinic, she said the wrist bone had been chipped. She then put a splint on it, wrapped it tightly again, and made an appointment for him to see the Orthopedic Surgeon for Thursday morning (3 days away). 
He had pains in his wrist over the next few days, but only at bedtime. We continued to give him ibuprofen, and he seemed to be okay. The wrist wasn't swollen or looked out of place, and we had no idea what to expect for Thursday. When he saw the Orthopedic Surgeon on Thursday, the Dr. diagnosed it totally different than what the NP had told us. Ammon had broken his wrist--not sprained it, not chipped it, BROKEN it!! He broke his left wrist at the growth plate, which slightly shifted the bone. Ammon received a permanent cast, choosing the color red: 
Why has it been so long?
I was tired from waking up all night stoking the stove and tending to Kanyon's needs, I was stressed because I hadn't taken a shower and I had so much to do, I was overwhelmed with all that needed to be done, and I was just plain ornery. Of course, since Josh was gone, I ended up taking Kanyon with me for most of the day and he didn't like having to be tagging along with me doing all my preparations. He was unhappy, screaming, head-banging, and throwing tantrums constantly. So that really helped my mood as well.
All the decorations got put out and hung (with only one problem--the stage curtain wouldn't shut). On the walls were cut-out snowflakes the primary made, along the back wall was paper plates with the theme 
All that was left was the food. I had left 3 giant cans of green beans in my car that I had to cook, and they got frozen due to the low temperatures outside. By the time they started to thaw in the slow-cookers, they looked more like French-Style green beans. But they weren't thawing fast enough, and when it was time to eat, we were still trying to cook them--taking them little by little (the church only had small pans) to the stove to heat up faster. I ran to the grocery store and got the cooked, sliced ham and the donuts and hurried back to the church. The dinner was delicious; we ate ham, potatoes au gratin, green beans, jell-o salads, and donuts. 
There were 6 missionaries serving from our ward at that time, and I asked every member to bring something small to send in a package to each of them from our ward themed 
The final event for the evening was a program. It went pretty well (with only a few problems--the microphone quit working half-way through, the actors forgot a few cues). The children's book "Snowmen at Christmas" was narrated while youth portraying snowmen acted out the scenes. The YM/YW, Primary, and Snowmen also sang songs throughout the narration that went along with the story, like "White Christmas", "Snowflakes Falling" (to the tune of "Popcorn Popping"), "Falling Snow", "Jingle Bell Rock", "Joy to the World", and "Once there was a Snowman".
I love this movie!! What's not to love about it?!! It's full of comical 'cliche' humor and quirkiness, beautiful music, gorgeous costumes, excellent dancing, a very hot actor, and an inspiring story. And I also love this movie because of the memories it evokes within me...