Who Knew Rhea Would Lead Us to This Dream Location?

John has been busy with his Peregrine Falcon of late. It's flying season, so he and Kimberly have been out flying her in the front yard, but she's quickly outgrown that flying area and was just itching to stretch her wings for some longer flights, so John got permission to use some fields about a half mile east of where we live.

Rhea is trained enough that John has been able to fly her without a creance (kind of like a really long bird leash). So our clan decided to join up with John for one of the flying sessions. John started walking...

and walking...

and walking...

until he was finally far enough away to have her fly to him, which she did with perfect grace!

To reward her for her valiant flying abilities, John took her to the annual bird reunion with other falconers where she got to meet up with all her bird friends -

That's Rhea in the bottom left corner. We had fun checking out the different birds, including the owls, which are always my favorite.

Screech Owl

Great Horned Owl

So, back to that awesome field John was flying his bird in - he became friends with the previous owners of the field, who told him that the fields will only be available for a few more years because they are now owned by a developer who plans to build houses there in the next 3 to 5 years. Build? Houses? In our dream area? Just two streets north of my dream street many of you have heard me talking about - a dream street of which is sadly probably out of our price range because they are all half to full acre lots with tons of large trees - but one can still dream, right?

When we heard a builder is planning to build in this area, which is still in our stake, and in the same school boundaries for all three schools (remember I said it is only about a half mile east of our current location), our interest was peaked, especially since we have talked about possibly moving in...drum roll please...exactly 3 to 5 years, exactly the same amount of time the developer is planning on.

I made a phone call to Layton City and got the name of the developer, who has begun work further west just off of Fairfield, and told me that yes, they do plan on developing further east towards Boynton, but not for a few more years. He sounded very apologetic, but I was thrilled, because we need a few more years to eek a little more equity out of this home.

We are already on a somewhat unofficial list for first pick of the lots in phase three. They are currently just starting to build houses in phase 1, and have just barely finished the approval process with Layton City for Phase 2, but they won't be starting in on Phase 3 until they are done selling the lots in both of the first phases.

We'll see how it all pans out. I'll be the first one to admit that some of our best laid plans haven't always gone the way we envisioned. We'll see what the future holds, especially since change is really, Really hard for me. We've been in this house for 12 years and have made many dear friends here, and let's be honest, I love our mortgage payment. We've also had some beautiful remodeling projects done in this house. Why would we want to change all of that?

We agreed when we moved in that we would probably only stay for about 10 years. We have been happy here, so we have continued to stay, but one thing we're discovering is that we are itching for a little more yard space and a slightly different floor plan. But like I said, we'll see what the future holds for us.

For several years we had planned and saved for a Dodge Intrepid, thinking that would definitely be the car for us...that is, until we actually test drove one when we were ready to purchase a second car, and we hated the design! We quickly made some new plans and found a car we both really liked - the Mitsubishi Galant, a car that lasted us for 10 years. So, we may plan and dream for the next several years, and come to find that our actual plans may be very different. Until then, I am free to dream away...

Some Funnies

John and I braved the snowstorm last night and drove to down town Salt Lake for some yummy P.F. Chang's and some funny laughs watching Brian Regan at Abravanel Hall. I have never seen him perform before, but I've had many a person tell me he is hilarious - and clean - a hard combination to come across.

Trust me, we've been to Wise Guy comedy enough times to know that most comedians aren't very clean. They need to take some lessons from this guy and see that it is possible to get a packed house roaring with laughter for an entire show with nary a vulgarity or inappropriate reference.

Dounut-y Progress

We got a mini doughnut maker for Christmas. We have made several deliciously yummy batches with it. The other day, we devoured some chocolate ones.

Before

After

And what yummy doughnut doesn't deserve some fresh sprinkles on top?

On a not-so-related note, progress is being made on the basement...the end is finally near!!

Heading down the stairs. To the right is our food storage/furnace room. Straight ahead is where Kimberly's room will be and the door to the left is headed into the den/family room area and a couple of small storage rooms.

Heading into the den - all dry-walled, and the first coating of mud done (well, partly).

all the way into the den area (I'm standing in one of the storage rooms to take the picture, in case you were wondering where those were at) Hidden from view is a closet to the right for all the toys that have had free-reign in the basement until now :)

And here's a picture of Kimberly's closet - I know, fancy, schmancy, huh?

As soon as the mudding is done, we'll be able to paint and lay carpet. See? Told you we can see a light at the end of the tunnel. Can I tell you just how excited I am to be painting soon? *Can you hear the hint of sarcasm in my voice?

No really, it will be fun.

My Tall, Dark Secret in the Closet

I have a problem. A rather large, growing pile of a problem in my closet. I am finally admitting that I have a problem and sharing it with you today.

It has only become a problem because I fear the pile may fall over eventually on some unsuspecting 2-year-old. That, and Kimberly keeps asking when I plan on taking care of the newspapers. John? He doesn't think anything of the newspaper pile because he's used to my attempts of making a leaning tower of pisa with our daily newspapers.

I have yet to reach the top of the ceiling in the closet, but don't worry, I'll get there eventually.

Can you see that I am an avid proponent of recycling? I wish Layton would get on the bandwagon and implement a recycling program, but alas, until then, I have to drag them myself to the grocery store recycle bins, which by the way were overly stuffed today. Guess everyone else had the same idea as me.

Wanna guess how far back those newspapers go? April '11. No truly, I do it so that I can continue being the neighborhood supplier of newspapers for everyone's Easter egg dying and pumpkin carving sessions. Really. I get several calls every time. Now that I've recycled that whole stack today, I guess I better get back to saving because Easter is just around the corner.

Totally off the topic, but here's another cute picture of Megan.

For some reason, she keeps insisting that her purse is really a hat. She cracks me up.

And in other news, this is just one section of the roof John had to repair this last week.

I really, Really beg to differ with what the insurance adjuster quoted us. $800 measly bucks (okay, technically $1300, but we got $800 after they put in our deductible). For this? And all the other sections John spent all week patching up? We really, Really could have used a new roof, but alas, it was not in the cards for us, so we will be saving up our own pennies and re-roofing the entire thing in the warmer months of this year or the next. Lucky John. You know being on the roof is one of his least favorite activities.