Our First

I know it looks a little ragged in this picture, (I don't have the post renovation pics yet.) but this is our first Investment property! Open for renters immediately. We just closed on it yesterday and couldn't be more excited with this first step in our new Business venture! Celebrate with me!

Here is my quick story, for memory's sake.

About 6 weeks ago, Mark and I were introduced to a Real Estate Investment group. Going to our first meeting, I remember that I was Mad at Mark (capital M intended) for making me go listen to another pitch about the perfect solution for all our financial goals.  It was a waste of my time for sure.  Well, I walked out of that meeting eating my words. We sat with the president of the company, Kris, and everything he said just resonated perfectly with me. Everything was exactly what I was wanting. This company, Strongbrook, is exactly what Mark and I have been looking for to meet our financial goals.  We have always known we wanted to invest in real estate property, just didn't know that way to go about doing that exactly.  Well, Strongbrook is unique in that they have created a system that does the work for us. They research the markets, they find the homes, they get us in touch with a realtor in that area to complete the sale paperwork, they then set us up with your property managers who will rent the home and manage it's needs, and then, they continue to watch the market for us and will let us know when it is time to sell, refinance, or whatever. It is so awesome.

We are loving what they have for done for our financial goals, and are already looking forward to purchasing our second (and other) properties.

Dear world: if you have EVER had any interest in real estate investments, but aren't quite sure how to go about doing it for yourself, I would strongly recommend looking into Strongbrook's system and see if it resonates with what your looking for like it did for us.  Let me know if you'd like more information. Click below for the website where you can check it out for yourself.  If you want to speak with someone from the company directly, you can sign up for a "gameplan" on their website or just contact me and I'll get you started. I highly recommend their company!

Click here if you're wanting more information

AZ Cousins

I am a fairly spontaneous person by nature. I can't say that I play on this characteristic a lot, but I do have a history of making sudden plans.  So, it was no surprise to my brother when I sent him the text saying, "I'm coming down in 2 weeks. K?" He took a few days off work and we got to just hang out and enjoy the AZ lifestyle. And it lived up to it's HOT HOT HOT stereotype. OOo-Whee.

We escaped the heat by heading over to their community swimming pool most days. Cameron was really timid around the splash pad at first, this being his first time. But, before long he was walking right through the shooting water like a toddler. Oh be still my mother's heart; it was darling! I still can't get him to love the swimming pool, but he sure loved that splash pad. He learned the word swimming while we were visiting - and that was beyond darling when he would repeat it back to us when we told him that is what we were doing.

 Lesley did great and planned several things for us to do during our visit.  I suggested that we go to the newest Arizona construction site. To my surprise, they are almost done, so there wasn't much to see other than the missing landscaping. But, we took a short gander, giving a little personal thanks for the blessing of having temples on the earth today. (to learn more about LDS temples, click here)

 I was really lovin' that Cameron got to hang out with his cousins. He and his cousin Spencer are only a few days apart, so the closeness in their relationship is really important to me. It took Cameron a couple days to get comfortable playing with the boys, but by the end of our trip, he loved chasing around the house with them and playing without my immediate supervision. Glorious.

 Lesley did a great job satisfying my History loving heart. She planned a whole day in Phoenix to visit a few museums and just enjoy the city. Sadly, the first museum/old house was closed for the annual refurbishment. (boo) so we headed over to the second stop - the Arizona State History Museum; free of charge-bonus! Sadly, we got there just as it was closing so only got to run through a few of the exhibits. Some highlights included a piece of the USS Arizona from  Pearl Harbor, items from the French Peace Train, and a replicated Senate house where the Arizona constitution was drafted. The boys ran around like children would in a museum, which was a damper on the read-every-plaque part of me. That and my son is a whopping 30 lbs, so carrying him around is a bit of a work out. Whew!

 I loved that I got to go and see my brother. He and I have always had a great relationship, and I'm lucky to have him in my family. The boys are darling, and I must capitalize on their newfound friendship while it is still fresh - I guess that means another trip very soon.

P.S. Dear Lesley - I suppose you'll be wanting some of these photos. I'll need to be getting them to you right quick so you can scrapbook them away with your renewed scrapping skills! Done and done.

Little Dude.

Nicknames: Cam-a Ram-a, Cam, Poops (uncle Tom).

Most Common (unprompted) words: Daddy, Dog, Kitty, Treat, Drink, Outside, Bath, Shoe, Lamby, Nap, Mickey, Woody, Dinner, Eyes, Up

Other words (with prompting): Book, Adventures, Please, Lunch, Breakfast, Church, Dressed, Car, Banana, Swimming.

Size: 18-24M clothes.

Most common food loves: Ice Cream & Watermelon. Fish crackers over Pretzels. Paper, grrr-are we not out of the mouth phase yet?

Typical: Will hear the dishwasher open and come running. Closes himself into rooms all the time. Standing too close to the TV. LOVES the Pad or Phone; always wants to "play" on it when he sees it sitting out. Wakes up about 6:30 or 7 which is a nice relief from his prior 5:30 routine. Dances to music, sings in church during the hymns, reads books, love errands, stranger danger is pretty intense. Likes to put pencil/crayon/pen to paper. Loves to sing or listen to singing. If he hears us say "outside" he will run to the door and cry when we don't go out right away. Will ask for a bath in the evening when we start going upstairs. Waves incessantly to perfect strangers, but will not say "hi" to people we are talking to. Loves to pull out all the tupperware and towels from the drawers. Gives kisses and "loves" to mom and dad.

It's been so fun to watch him learn and grow.  I take him to preschool already (since I am teaching it...I'm not that crazy) and he learns nothing but I like to think that he is. I am thankful everyday that God gave this boy to our family. Every. Single. Day.

Grilled Pizza Pie

Another fun first happened this summer in our adventures in Grilling Pizza Pies. I had never had grilled pizza before this; and I must say it was really great! Bryan manned the grill while Mark tossed the dough. It was pretty low key, but really fun to just be with the family and have a few laughs.

We were lucky this summer to spend quite a bit of time with the Morrell's. Cameron has grown quite a liking to his cousins, even though he just follows them around endlessly; and Mamma Morrell made her delicious fruit Ice Cream a delightful handful of times. It's been great bonding time, and I've loved it all!

Grandparents

Conveniently, this post comes on Grandparents Day. I didn't plan this, I swear! A few weeks back, my mom and step-dad came to town for a visit. Cameron just loved playing with them. They took him to the park, spoiled him with treats, and played ball outside at least a dozen times. It was so charming to watch them laugh and play. I can't express how grateful I am for stalwart examples for Cameron.

I too love when my mom comes to visit. Since the wedding, our relationship has been more distant than it was in years past. Albeit, I did move 2 states away, and that can put a damper on the closeness of any relationship. So, suffice it to say, it is different now. So I was really glad when she was passing through town and stopped to stay with us. She encourages me to be a better housewife and mom. She supports my hobbies and ambitions. And she just keeps me on the path of being anxiously engaged in a good cause, rather than falling into some "idle-woman" habits. Some of our other activities included a splash pad visit which turned sour due to rain. An ice cream trip to Macey's where we pushed Cameron around in the cart with the car attachment. He was in heaven! A date night for the Hubs and I; to the temple of course which was great. And dinner out to P.F. Chang's.

It's so great to see both Joe and my mom feeling like they have purpose to their lives again. I sure do appreciate all that Joe does for my mom. We feel so blessed that they found each other, despite that their marriage has made them harder to keep track of!

Love that they are the grandparents to my son. Love them both.

Summer Days

My horrifically neglected blog. I must admit, I took an intentional break from blogging last month, mostly because things just got crazy, and I got overwhelmed with my ever growing "need-to-do" list and my much more exciting "want-to-do" list. So I put my wants aside and tried to just focus on getting the dinner on the table regularly.  A feat that requires goal planning and mental dedication for me. I'd like to say that I was successful, but alas, I still feel too busy to blog but my desire to journal overtakes the realist in me. Thus, I am going to blog a ton this month! Some new, some from last month's adventures. Just a myriad of life to remind myself that there is more than what I seem to remember.

And so we start where we left off. 

The family farm has been a fun hit this summer. We've gone up a few times and took a gander at the sites of Brigham City; which are minimal. We went to see the new Brigham City temple grounds, which were lovely, and across the street to the historic tabernacle which turned out to be much less than I expected. Luckily we didn't have to drive far to see it. We love the little cafe there where we ordered enough food to feed an army (can you say crunchy french toast? yum!), and shopped at the Amish store which I don't think is owned or operated by Amish people. Alas, that's the name of the store so we're sticking to it. We purchased a bit of Traffic Jam there, a delightful mix of citrus and berries to spread on your toast; yummy, and some Ice Cream for the drive home. 

Uncle Tome acquired a few kittens to help manage the mice and other rodents that have become pests. They are so tiny and cute, they make me forget that I don't care for cats! Cameron, on the other hand, is enamored by animals.  "Kitty" he says over and over again.  He pets them and follows them around all over the farm. It's too cute to handle! When he hears their baby meow's, he will burst into smiles, jump up from what he is doing, and start looking for them, "kitty?, Kitty?" he is so fun!

The cousins and Uncle Mike have joined in on the visits once or twice. Activities always include several games of horseshoes, climbing on the tractor, playing tag in the vineyard and orchard, and relaxing under the mister that Uncle Tom installed on the Bunk House. It's beyond nice to relax there and watch the others play! I just love it.

 The smell of mint sails through the air from the field on the property. And the shade tree over the well creates a perfect place to sit and read a book while taking in a summer day. It's hard not to love this place. Mark has such dear memories of his childhood and grandparents here. But for me, it's just a wonderful retreat from the world. Farewell, until next summer!

Lastly, this picture has been in the works since our first trip to the farm, and every trip after. A side by side of Mark and Cameron on the farm. It makes me smile every time.  That Morrelly-Belly. It is legit!