Friday, May 25, 2012

Told you I was bad at this....

I warned everybody I would be really bad at blogging, and I was right!  Four months between posts is not what I had in mind when I started this.  So, here is the last four months....

* Right after Jillian's cardiac MRI we left on our family cruise to Mexico!  Both my parents and Jason's came along, it was a lot of fun.  Jason made a video that I will post:)
*The last week of March we started the piers on the last part of our home, yep...it was sinking again!  We piered 60% of it 3 years ago and hoped that would do it, but we found out that the garage side had sunk 3-4 inches!  Luckily our home owner's insurance came through and covered this portion due to a leaking air conditioner.  When we found out it was sinking again we were devastated, we had no clue how we were going to come up with the thousands and thousands of dollars it would take to put more piers in.  We decided to make a claim and pray for a miracle.  I told Jason that if the insurance would cover this then we knew for sure this was the place we were suppose to be!  It took five months and a lot of time on Jason's part but it was approved and we moved forward with the long, loud, annoying process.  For those not familiar with the process, it starts by ripping up all the concrete in the garage, then digging down to the bottom of the foundation-which included jack hammering portion of the concrete out.  After getting to the bottom of the foundation they drive steel piers (pipes) down until then are firmly into bedrock (about 25 feet for us)  then they secure the piers to the foundation (another LOUD process) when all the piers are in place they hook them up to a hydraulic jack and lift the house!  It is kind of freaky, as the house moves it creaks and moans and more cracks appear in the drywall. After that they put it all back together, which is just as bad as it sounds:)  We are now a little over two months into the process and still have drywall and paint to do....hopefully it will be completely back to normal by the second week in June!! I am so grateful we live in an town, neighborhood and ward we love because we will be here the rest of our lives.  Funny thing is our homeowners dropped us stating we were too big of a liability...LOL!
*Jacob and Jillian graduated from preschool yesterday, and will be going to kindergarten in three short months!  I am so excited and any tears that are shed that day will be tears of JOY...we made it six years and we are all still alive..huge accomplishment.  I met will the elementary principle about Jillian's heart condition, she was very understanding and we were able to put a plan into place in regards to missed days, hospital stays, recess/physical limitations, etc... I feel good she will do well in school and if her next surgery falls during the school year we are set to go!
* We were able to take our trailer out for a quick over nighter up Spanish Fork Canyon to Diamond Fork.  We have new neighbors who we invited along, we all had a lot of fun and are looking forward to many more trips this summer.  If the weather would just make up it's mind it would help in the "fun" department:)

Now for our plans this summer...they include a week in St. George with most of the Simon clan, June 3-10th. The Brunson family reunion the first weekend in August, IHH family heart camp the second weekend in August, plus at least two trips to Lake Powell and possibly a cruise to the Caribbean for Jason and I:)  We also may be hosting a foreign exchange student from Norway if we can get a place for her at Westlake High through the Alpine School district! It is going to be a busy, fun summer!