More random stuff

We just got back from a fun trip to Washington to see most of Dan's family. Before I write about that trip, I wanted to mention the stuff we did before we left so that I don't forget.

We made one last trip to Redskins Training Camp. I tried to catch a glimpse of my new favorite, Alfred Morris. I hear he's a pretty great athlete. I like him simply because he sounds nice. (Read this article.) I saw him for a split second, but by the time I took a picture, he was stretching or something. He's in there somewhere.

 A cool old bacon factory that is now home to lofts. I wish OUR lofts smelled like bacon. Sometimes the halls smell like dog poo, but not bacon.

 Dan wins the award for cool parent in this house. I came home from shopping one day to find Dan and Sam donning paper hats. I would never think to do that. Sam drew a monster truck and its track on his hat.

See the truck?

We had our home inspection the day before our trip. It went relatively well. At one point during the inspection I used the bathroom. Come to find out our inspector was under the house in the crawlspace when I flushed and tons of water leaked under the subfloor and into the crawlspace. So the homeowners are going to fix that and a few more items before we close in THIRTEEN DAYS! Mom and Dad Cheney came over to see the house during the inspection. Then we went to lunch to celebrate Afton's birthday with them since we'd be in Washington on her actual birthday.

They gave her a ladybug dreamlite and a princess dress which she put on as soon as she got back to our apartment.

Thanks, G&G Cheney!

More on our Washington trip in a day or two.

The Latest

Redskins fever, and their training camp, made their way to Richmond. Their practices take place just a few blocks from our apartment so I took the kids over there the other day to check out the pandemonium. This picture doesn't make it look too crazy, but it was really crowded and hard to get around in there.

 They had an area for kids and this little booth set up where if the kid can throw the football through the window he/she got a free cup and lanyard. Look at that perfect throw.

 He did it twice and Afton did it once. I love free cups. Free anything, for that matter.

We've been going to my parents' home about once a week. This particular time they had a sprinkler on outside for the kids to play with.

 And here's Mr. Tree Face.

One time we went to Putt Putt. I had a great video of Afton golfing, but youtube is messing me up with its new channels and now I have two accounts and I can't figure it out so I'll have to do that later. Afton would hit it a few times and then pick up the ball and put it right by the hole and tap it in. More like push the ball along and then it would make it in.

 I don't know why, but this picture below cracks me up.

In case you're wondering, I won.

Last weekend we went to Virginia Beach for some sun and sand. First we stopped to clog our arteries at County Style Donuts. Delish.

 Sugar coma.

 Afton wears that dress a lot.

 Check out her sand-filled swim diaper.

 And the kids found that empty cheeto bag (behind Afton in the pick below) and that kept them happy for quite a while. Filling it with water or shells, dumping it, etc.

 We left right as the thunder rolled it. It was only 4:12 when this picture was taken.

Since then, we've seen more houses and are now UNDER CONTRACT on a house! YAY! Fingers crossed that the inspection goes well and we can move in about a month from today.

Come on in and have a look around

Greetings, dear readers. It's time for the grand tour of our luxury apartment. Lest you think any old Joe Schmoe could walk on it to one of these beauts, you have to have a key fob both for the parking lot and the building itself. (It has nothing to do with the slightly sketchy area in which we live, of course.)

Once you enter, you are engulfed in amazement. Concrete floors AND metallic sconces? Can it be?

The view coming in.

The view towards the front door.

As you enter, a bathroom is on your right. As you may notice, we really cleaned up for this tour.

Past the bathroom, also on the right, is the master bedroom - complete with a queen size air mattress. On Dan's side of the bed is a wardrobe box which doubles as his nightstand. On my side is a suitcase with a laundry basket on top. Dan's clothes are in the closet and most of mine are upstairs in the kids' closet. There is one metallic sconce in that room for light. And notice the large window which gives us light from...

The kitchen/office/living room/den/everything else space. Thanks to my parents for loaning us their folding table and chairs. Those are boxes of food on the floor (which don't all fit in the cabinets) and a map of Richmond on the wall.

Another angle. That door on the left is our washer/dryer. Thank goodness for those, at least.

Upstairs is a loft where the kids sleep and play.

And they've got their own bathroom, which is great.

We are bursting at the seams in this place and can't wait to move! Dan is studying 24/7 for the Virginia bar exam (which is next week. Prayers are appreciated.) and after that's over, we'll continue the house hunt and hopefully either find something by the time school starts or move into a different apartment.

Thanks for coming along on this magical tour of our luxury apartment! Any loyal reader (who is related or a really good friend) is welcome to come and stay anytime! But it's BYOAM. (Bring your own air mattress.)

Stuff we've been doing

So despite what I said in the last post, we have been doing some things. The children's museum is $1 the third Friday of each month from 5-7pm. That also means it's totally chaotic, but we went anyway.

I thought it was pretty nice. I'd go again, but not until another $1 night.

Dan got me pretty flowers for our 9th anniversary.

Richmond had a big fireworks show on July 3rd. It was boasted as the largest display in the state. They shoot the fireworks from an island in the James. To avoid traffic we drove to Dan's work and parked on the top floor of the parking garage. It was a great show and we got home lickety split.

 I love the pic below.

 Taking pictures of Sam taking pictures.

G and G Cheney drove over to Richmond for the fourth. We met at the Lewis Ginter botanical garden, which happened to be free that day. And subsequently very crowded. It was really pretty. They had a great butterfly house.

 They also had a splash pad. Afton was staring down a tube when it apparently shot water in her face so she was done in about 2 minutes, but Sam lasted a bit longer.

 We hit a local BBQ joint for lunch.

 And then headed to Despicable Me 2. Despite looking asleep in the picture below, Mom and Dad both liked it and stayed awake for the whole thing.

 Afton's first theater experience.

After that we said goodbye to G and G Cheney and crashed for the day.

Lately Sam has been into a little thing we like to call "honey buns." We had leftover hot dog buns so Dan smeared honey on one and gave it to Sam - a honey bun. Now Sam eats them all the time. It's strange to buy hot dog buns and no hot dogs, but at least they're cheap.  Afton's caught on to the craze, too.

In case you hadn't heard, the offer we put on the house last week was rejected. We had heard that someone put an offer on the house so we made an offer that we guessed was better than theirs (we didn't know what their offer was) and then they came back and offered full price. I think the seller should split that extra money he got with us, thank you very much. 

I joined a gym yesterday and have gone twice so far. I thought there was no way I'd be sore after the class I took yesterday. I mean, the first pump-you-up song the instructor played was "Dancing in the Streets" (which I totally thought was sung by Cher until I just looked it up). But I was sore by the afternoon. So that's a good (although slightly pathetic) sign.

Not much going on around here...

So, I think we've looked at almost 40 homes by now. About three weeks ago we saw a home that we really liked. The next day someone else bought it. Last week we went and saw a home and the next day someone bought it. We weren't in love with it, but we think we should start charging realtors to have us come and look at their homes. They'll sell the next day. Guaranteed. Case in point: We saw a different home last weekend that we really loved. It's been on the market for about two months. We took our realtor and my parents to look at it yesterday and found out that someone else put an offer on it yesterday. This time we weren't to be outdone. We put an offer on it today. We'll see how it turns out. It could go either way and I think we're alright with that. (Happy if we get it, but not crushed if we don't.)

Houses are expensive. Once we get a home we're just going to stay there all the time because we won't have money to do anything else. So it'd better be something we like!

Apartment living is not good for my waistline. I have gained like ten pounds since we moved here! I need to join a gym.

We like Richmond. There are lots of great parks and things to do. I try to get out with the kids but it's been raining a lot and there aren't as many INDOOR things to do, so that's a bit of a challenge.

Dan is now taking three weeks off to study full-time for the BAR exam. It's at the end of the month. He'll finish listening to all his lectures this week and then focus on practice tests for the rest of the time. One of the professors gave advice at the end of the lecture and told the students not to do anything but study for the next three weeks and not to make any major decisions during that time. Dan is buying a house and a car. Wonder what the professor would say about that. When it's over we are going to celebrate with either a trip to the beach or Busch Gardens or something. We're also taking a trip to Washington in August to see Dan's family.

Afton is almost potty trained. She is afraid to go #2 on the toilet so she holds it too long and then it hurts. She went #2 on the toilet today. Yay! I'd been wanting to wait until we bought a home to potty train her and then do it all in one day, but this approach seems to be working, too. She loves to wear skirts and dresses, she mentions what kind of birthday cake she wants at least once a day. She loves condiments (salsa, ketchup, butter, etc).

Sam is getting to be a great reader. One of the wards we went to gave each of the kids their own copy of the Book of Mormon and told them that if they read it fives times that week, they'd get a prize the following Sunday. So Sam dutifully read five verses each night (with Dan's help) and then we decided to go to a different ward that Sunday so I took him to Target on Monday to pick out a hot wheels. He picked one that looked like a hammerhead shark.

The kids are getting to be pros at house shopping. They can guess which doors lead to attics and they figure out which bedroom and bathroom would be theirs. They're also sure to try out each play set anytime there is one.

Not many pictures taken lately so here are a few from Father's Day.