A New Post! What Have We Been Up Too?

Helping Mommy make bread.

Bensen is finally on a schedule after all the craziness.

Bensen is so fun right now.

One of his favorite past times is eating his feet.

Parker and a big cowboy hat.

Bensen outside while the kids played, lying on my lap.

Daddy and Bensen watching the kids play outside.

Staucie running through the sprinkler.
Yep.

Cutie pie.

He is trying really hard to learn to peddle Staucie's tricycle.

She loves the water and being outside.

We can only stand to be out in the heat if we are wet.

This is a great shot.

More pool jumping.
In and out and in and out.
Getting hands wet to make hand prints on the cement.

And then we kill more ants, spiders, silver fish, and whatever else got in the house.

Cockroaches

There really are lots of bugs in Texas, but some people seem to disagree and tell me that they have never seen any. I kill them all day long in my house. I am hoping that this will lessen over time when we can get them under control. The house was vacant for awhile before we moved in so the bugs made a nice home. I knew before we came that I would have to deal with way more bugs then before. For those of you who live in Texas and have never seen any bugs then yeah for you, but I know there are more bugs here in the Houston area than there were in Utah and California. I only saw spiders and ants. The night we moved into this house there were large cockroaches outside the front door when I tried to go to the car. Then as I walked across the sidewalk they ran back and forth in front and behind me as I screamed. I thought, "Welcome home." We have seen them in the house, Daniel just killed one in our bedroom a couple nights ago. My bug guy said it would be normal to see 2-3 in our house a month. Plus, we have spiders, pharaoh ants, silver fish, and other insects that I do not know the names of.

Anyway, people keep telling us that we are crazy and that they have never seen any bugs here. So, for all those who have lived in Texas and have seen their share of bugs PLEASE share. I don't like feeling like I am the only one in the world bothered by all the bugs in this humid climate. Although, I know I am a little extreme when it comes to the creepy crawly things. Maybe I will take a picture of the next cockroach I see so I can share all the glory.

So Here We Are in Texas

We are in a house in Texas in a nice town North of Houston. It took us awhile to find a place to rent. Things just kept going wrong with each rental we tried to get into. (It was taken, it had a registered sex offender next door, the management office wouldn't return the call, the landlord defaulted on his loan, etc.) We were grateful to have Matt and Brittany to crash with while we looked so we weren't completely homeless. When we did FINALLY find a house, we moved our stuff in one night after Daniel got home from work, and I had gone over earlier to clean and while there realized how DISGUSTING the house was. I cleaned for 2 hours and barely got the bathtub done in the kids' bathroom. I felt so sick when I got back. I felt awful while we were trying to move in. I hadn't been sleeping well and I had been so stressed and overwhelmed and not happy with the situation. I felt sick for a few days and was so mad that it hit while we were trying to move.

We ended up sleeping on Brittany's floor that night and then the next morning she went into labor so Daniel came home early from work and helped me finish cleaning Brittany's house and putt it back together then we finished getting all of our stuff out of their house. It took hours and we were exhausted. We sat in our huge messy pile in our house feeling overwhelmed. We had no hot water or gas for the oven or stove. The gas company took days to turn it on. We took cold showers and ate Subway every night. We had set up beds and the couches but that was it. Daniel had to work the next couple days so I couldn't get much done. There were cockroaches, spiders, and ants. I tried cleaning the kitchen to put stuff away but found a giant dead cockroach in the cupboard and had a break down. The kids had also been waking up at 6:00 am for some reason and we were going to bed late. I was so tired and I hate bugs. I just called Daniel and bawled.

Luckily my mom was already coming to help me clean and unpack. I was SOOOOOO happy to pick her up from the airport that weekend. She helped me so very much and I was so grateful. I also hired Terminex right away. My mom worked so hard for a week and we were able to get a lot done. I was so sad to have her leave. I miss her company and it made being in this gross house so much better. Now I have to kill bugs by myself :(

Things are better. We have most everything cleaned and put away. The kids are finally on real schedules. I am still trying to get a million things done though. We also don't have a bank here! Our landlord wants nothing to do with us. He doesn't care that things are not working properly or that there is a hole in the fence in the backyard and I am afraid the neighbors pit bull will come through any day.

Daniel and the kids at Brittany's. My cute family!

I couldn't buy food for a few days because I had to sit at the house and wait for the gas man to turn on the gas to the house. We didn't want anymore cold showers or fast food. (The hours they gave me were anytime between 8am-8pm. He finally came one night at 11:00pm.) My poor kids were hungry.
Our lovely house.

The bathtub in the Master bathroom is absolutely disgusting. It will not clean. We have tried everything. The finish on the fiber glass is peeling off and the grime and grease and scum just smear around. The landloard lived here last so he won't do anything about it. He used to shower in it and obviously never cleaned it. It is hard to tell from the picture, but we won't even use it.

Instead we have to share with the kids in their tiny little bathroom.

Depsite all of the little hiccups along the way, I know we made the right decision when we decided to move our family down here. I feel like I have been complaining WAY too much. We have been so blessed to have a job during these times and Daniel had two, one in Utah and a great job offer in Texas. I know that things are fine here and that we have seen little miracles happen in the midst of it all. It is just hard sometimes to see those good things when I hate bugs so much, ha ha. So this will be my only negative post. I just needed to get it out there. So, sorry to all who think I need to suck it up! I do, so that is why I won't complain about all the other things.

While we have been here, Bensen has passed his 4 month mark (May 3rd) and his 5 month mark (June 3rd). He had his 4 month check up a little late, May 20th. I am all about doing it the day that they reach the age, I don't know why. On that day, he weighed in at 13 pounds 5 ounces (10%) and 25.5 inches tall (60%). So he is my long skinny baby like Staucie. I don't know how I feel about the pediatrician. I just really liked Dr. Adams in Provo and I really miss it!!!!

Bensen is a loud baby. He is always making noise and it is always loud. He is really easy to make smile and laugh. He loves to have his tummy and neck tickled. He laughs out loud when I kiss his neck and face and tickle his tummy. He has blue eyes and some hair on top which is very unlike the other two kids. But he has the same look Staucie did when she was his age, the long droopy face, I think her cheeks were bigger though. He is a cutie and I enjoy him. He is cuddly too and I LOVE that!

This is Daniel's birthday cake. My sorry attempt. He ate one small slice and then I threw it all away because I kept eating it. That must be why he is skinny.

Staucie really wanted birthday hats!

Daniel's cake is on the floor. We sung and blew out candles, then opened presents. Happy Birthday to Daddy!

Daniel's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday

DADDY!!!

We Love You.

Birthday

Happy Birthday

Aunt Tyne!

We Love you and miss you!

Washington is so far from Texas!

Happy Mother's Day

to our AMAZING

Mothers

and

to our wonderful Grandmothers

and

all the Amazing Women we know.

We Love You!

The Move

This is Daniel and Bensen the Sunday before we moved.

So, on Monday, April 20th we finished packing up all of our belongings and loaded them into my dad's trailer, thanks to the help of friends and family who we love and miss. We stayed in a hotel in Orem that night with my parents and left Tuesday morning for the drive down to Spring, Texas (just North of Houston).

My family room after everything was moved out.

Tyne, Daniel, and Bensen sleeping on the floor in the back.

Daniel driving. It ended up taking us 4 days, bleh.
The kids did really well.
Staucie with a lolly pop.

Bensen taking a nap.

My sweet Parker. He probably had the hardest time.

Texas.

Very flat.

We stayed with Daniel's sister and her husband in Dallas Thursday night. It was fun to see them. And we were grateful for a place to crash. Then Friday morning we slowly got ready to make the last stretch to Spring. Daniel got a phone call from our Realtor telling us that the landlord of the house we were supposed to move into that day told the property manager that morning that he had not been making payments and would probably foreclose. So, we lost the house we were supposed to be living in. We are trying to rent a house here while we wait to sell our condo in Utah. Anyways, so fortunately Daniel's sister, Brittany and her husband, Matt, have welcomed us into their home for the time being.

We feel bad living here and taking over their house. There are 5 of us and Brittany is due with their first baby in 3 weeks. Staucie and Parker are sleeping in their baby's room and I feel terrible that she can't set it all up the way she wants. We also feel bad that are kids are terrorizing their beautiful house before their own kids are even born.

We are so grateful that they are here though to take us in so that our kids have a place to sleep, eat, and play. They love their Aunt Brittany and Uncle Matt.

The kids playing in the rain.

Eating Nachos around the coffee table (A Lees tradition)

Brittany, Matt, Ashley, Daniel, Staucie, and Parker

Bensen really likes their baby swing. He has had a sinus cold and has slept pretty good in the swing.

Eating yogurt.

Bensen sleeping in the Pack n Play in our room.

Staucie and Parker taking over the baby's room. Poor Brittany :(

It has been really hard for me to make this move for many reasons and on top of it, we are homeless, but I have felt right about it accepting the job. Daniel has a great job in Houston and we are excited for a new adventure. But I am quite discouraged that we have no home. We are living out of boxes that are in Brittany and Matt's garage. Our stuff is all over in their house. I feel bad for taking over their home, especially when they are trying to get ready for a baby. I wish I had a place to call home. We keep looking and have been trying to put in applications on houses, but then when our realtor calls on the house that we JUST looked at, she is told that it is no longer available. I just don't understand why it has been so hard. I have become very discouraged. I also wish we didn't have to spend money on rent and could just buy a nice new home. The houses here are a lot less then what we paid for our condo. Bleh.

I am also VERY grateful for my parents. They helped us by driving all of our stuff down and helped pay for things. They helped entertain our kids at gas stations and hotels. I am not only grateful for their help, but I am also grateful that they were with me. Moving away from everyone was sad. I didn't want to leave my family. I haven't had too many breakdowns and I think I might have cried the whole way here if they weren't with us. It felt better that they were here, but I did cry a little when they left me. Maybe because they are not a one day drive away anymore, or because I am homeless, or because I don't know when I will see them again, or all of it. Thanks mom and dad. I love you and I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Moving

We are trying to get everything organized today so we can load the trailer on Monday. We will stay in a hotel Monday night with my parents and then begin the 3 day drive to Spring, Texas on Tuesday with all of our belongings and our 3 kids stuck in the car for hours. My parents are helping us move down there which is so WONDERFUL. I don't know how we would do with the 3 kids for 3 days without some help. Plus we have 2 cars and all of our stuff. I am so grateful for their help.

We are trying to sell our condo. I am so sad to leave it. I love it. We took some pictures of our front room so we could have them online to sell it. The front room and kitchen of our condo was what I fell in love with when we were looking to buy 2 years ago. I found it online and just the pictures alone won me over. We went to see the model right away and I wanted nothing else. I have loved living here, it hasn't even been 2 years yet. I have loved our neighbors, being near so much family, and our new, clean home. I will miss Utah, we have been here for so long.

Bensen looked so funny in his car seat the other day when my mom put him in to run some errands in the middle of all our packing this week.

Staucie and my mom taking a break to eat some of the eggs we colored for Easter.

Parker found a good hiding place amongst the boxes.

Staucie found a nice seat when the shelves were removed from the entertainment center.

Goodbye Utah!

We will miss everyone there!