Family Photo Shoot

My sister, Whitney, came up last week from BYU to take our family pictures. She did a great job and we are happy with how they turned out. We went up into Little Cottonwood Canyon and it was freezing. Emma started eating the snow after the photo shoot and her fingers turned bright red and she started crying. Overall though, I would say we had a fun time. The kids loved playing with Aunt Whitney for the day. We'll have to kidnap her again soon! (By the way, Truman was stuck in-between Jake's legs on purpose. We tried to get him to stay on the side of him but he kept wanting to run off. Dumb dog.)

Fall leaves

One of my favorite things about fall as a kid was playing in the leaves with my siblings. It was a nostalgic moment as I watched Ben and Emma play in them today. They had a great time. Josh even enjoyed touching them. Ben can't wait for him to be able to run around and play with him and Emma. It will come sooner than he thinks!

Ward Halloween Party

I took the kids to our ward Halloween party last night (Jake had to work :( ) I have a nasty cold but the kids wanted to go really bad, so we went. Overall, it was a good time. Emma LOVED wearing her Cinderella dress and ran all over the church, holding her dress up and showing off her sparkly princess shoes (ballet flats from Target.) Ben is a water-type Pokemon named Poliwhirl (I know way too much about this stuff! ) Josh is a hotdog. When I saw the costume at Old Navy I couldn't pass it up. It was perfect for him, making him look even more cute and chubby than he already is.

Update on our offer...

Today our offer was ACCEPTED!!! We are so excited and just hope there are no major snags along the way. We need to get it inspected, appraised, and get our loan in place. We have scheduled our closing date for November 29th, but it potentially could be sooner.

As for the house it has 2664 square feet, 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, an office, a living room and family room, central air, central vac, .22 acres, swingset, 2 water heaters, newer roof with 50 year warranty shingles, automatic sprinklers, fully fenced, dog run, new carpet and paint, crown molding, and more. I'm already thinking of decorating and remodeling ideas! Keep checking back for more updates.

Guess who?!

Can you guess who is who? I found one picture of Ben in a photo album that looked exactly like Josh but it wasn't digital and I don't have a scanner. These are a few that show the kids' similarities though. Can you tell who is who?




Answers: 1) Ben 2) Josh 3) Ben 4) Emma

Our first offer on a house

Tomorrow marks a monumental day for us... putting our first offer on a home. We know it's not a done deal, far from it, but we are excited to be in a position where we can own our own home. Hopefully by this time next week we will know if it's ours. Keep your fingers crossed for us. It's up in North Salt Lake, near the Eaglewood Golf Course. We are hoping to get a good deal on it. I will post an update soon when I have one.

Gooey Pumpkins

For Family Home Evening on Monday we carved a pumpkin. The kids had a blast. It took Emma awhile before she would actually put her hand inside it, but once she did, she wouldn't stop playing with the goop and seeds. Jake had fun carving it, making lop-sided eyes. After that I let the kids color on their own small pumpkins, then we put them outside on our porch.

Schipaanboord Grandkids

A couple weeks ago we went to Gardner Village and had the Schip grandkids' picture taken. It was a gift for Jan's (Jake's mom) birthday. We got a couple funny ones and one good one where every single kid was looking at the camera. If you look at the second picture, you will notice Emma is screaming "cheese," Kimball is making a "cool pose," Ben's grabbing his crotch (most likely needing to use the bathroom), and Isabelle is giving Josh some "cousin love." Now why didn't we use that one?! :) It was fun to spend some time together and let the cousins play. We definitely have some good looking kids!

Jumping on the bandwagon...

So, it seems like everyone I know has one of these and I actually started one months ago but was a slacker and didn't do much to it. My sister inspired me though, so here I am at 2:51AM, nursing my child and typing out my message with one hand... ah the life of a mother. :)

Update time: Jake graduated law school in May 2006 at the University of Utah and we moved to Oregon. He found a job in Klamath Falls and we stayed there for about 7 months. We made a lot of friends and grew to enjoy the area. In May 2007 Jake was offered a job back in Salt Lake with a great firm. He would be practicing environmental law (what he studied in law school) and we couldn't pass it up. We moved back and have been incredibly happy, being back by his family, some of mine, and our friends.

Jake and I have been busy looking at houses and hope to buy one in the next couple months, hopefully sooner! We have a great realtor and are sure she will help us find something perfect.

Ben will be 5 Dec. 16th. He is enrolled at Highland High School's preschool program and loves it. So far he has learned about healthy bodies, sports, fall, kings and queens, and this week it's pirates. He loves pokemon and surfs the internet whenever he can, looking for stuff he can get us to buy him for his birthday and Christmas. He's a smart kid... almost too smart. :)

Emma is 2 1/2 and revels in being a girl. Her favorite color is pink and she loves princess stuff, dolls, dresses, getting her nails painted, you name it. She also loves being "mini-mom" helping (and bossing) Ben and Josh. She's a good hug-giver and has tons of energy, more than I can handle some days.

Josh is our latest addition, born July 26th. He is my easiest baby yet. He weighs about 14 lbs. and smiles big gummy grins constantly. He is Ben's clone. We have found pictures where Jake and I couldn't tell the difference between his and Ben's baby picture.

That's about all for now. I will try and update as we get more news. Keep checking back for the latest happenings in the Schip Family Adventures!