26 is the new 21, right?

Happy Birthday to Me!

The best cake ever! (Texas Mint Sheetcake. . . ask us for the recipe. You will not be sorry.)

Jaxon sitting and watching a movie with the other grandkids. So cute!

I can't believe it, but I'm really feeling old! I remember turning 21 and feeling like I'd really arrived, but 26 makes me think time needs to stop now! We had a great time on my birthday (mostly because I actually had the day off which is a rarity during potato harvest.)

We ended up leaving Chandler at 2:30 in the morning because that's when I got off work, and we just wanted to GET OUT! We got to Thatcher at about 4:45am and it kind of set our whole weekend off. Friday morning Ari was cute and gave me some presents before we started our house hunting.

The first place we looked at we'll call "straw bale apartment." It actually was very nice inside, and we were seriously considering it until the landlord mentioned that the straw bales that were inside of the walls (as insulation) were infested with scorpions and they were careful to spray once a month. So that was a no.

The house across the street from straw bale was the "pee house." It was also very affordable but smelled like dogs had been sitting in there for 20 years peeing all day and night long. We gagged as we walked in and knew it was a big no. Both of these places were next door to the coca-cola plant and recycling plant so we would have heard a tin can crusher every hour on the hour, also a big NO.

We were really excited about seeing a duplex that my mom had seen previously and really pumped us up about, but when we got there the lady next door was very weird. She was holding a newborn baby and when she answered the door she acted like I was going to attack them or kidnap them or something and she kept saying the other side of the duplex had already been rented out and to please leave them alone. I tried to explain that we had an appointment that morning to see the place but she kept saying, "please just go! You're bothering me!" All this was happening while a little chihuahua was yapping in my ear and made for a VERY stressful meeting. It almost ruined my birthday.

The 8th street athletic club apartments were a no-go because the landlord didn't realize I told him we had kids.

Basically the only shining moment of our day was when we saw the little house on El Paso Blvd. (Angels singing a light rendition of the hallelujah chorus in the background.) Aside from this place being on the pricier side of our search, it is absolutely the best fit for us. It's a great little 3 bedroom/2 bath, with a nice sized living room, kitchen, and laundry room. It has a great back yard and a decent front yard as well. (There's a bench swing hanging from a tree!) It reminds me a lot of the house I grew up in minus the add-on my parents did in the early 80's. We felt really good about this place and told the landlords we were interested.

That night Ari took me out to dinner and we kept talking about the house. (By the way people, Superwok is NOT what it used to be.) We decided to go see one last apartment complex right across the street from Safford Middle School. The outside was nothing to be desired, but the inside was not that bad. It was actually decent sized, extremely small kitchen, and orange formica in the bathroom, but we thought we could make it work. The rent was excellent. Thus we were set on crappy apartment complex.

That night I tossed and turned and did not feel right at all about the apartment. There was a balcony issue that we didn't feel was the safest for Jaxon, and I wasn't excited about Ari sharing a laundry facility with the complex, but it felt like something more then that. I just knew we should not move in there. In talking about it with Ari the next day she was also having reserved feelings about the apartment.

So. . .we decided on the house! We're so excited about it and can't wait to post pics of it. It's definitely 70's style, but there are some great upgrades inside. The majority of it is tiled, with 2 of the bedrooms being carpeted and one faux hardwood.

The birthday ended up being great, I mean. . .we found a house!:) Ari also spoiled me with 2 shirts, a membership to 8th street athletic club when we move there, some AWESOME reversible basketball shorts (I can live in those things!), a DVD, and a super comfortable pillow. All in all, it was a great day!