This past week has been a busy one! First of all, we did not get the home that we put an offer on. The way our realtor was explaining it to me, the banks are running the show right now in Vegas. Most of the houses for sale are repos, foreclosure and bank owned properties. Therefore, the whole buying process is taking a lot longer as the banks wait for "highest & best" offers to come in. And they do. There are a lot of investors picking up the good homes in our price range. So, we are back to square one! We might drive down next month to spend more time looking.

This weekend we are heading to Washington to visit Nick's mom and step dad on their mission for a week. They are a lot of fun so we are looking forward to that. But I am not looking forward to the 10+ hour drive with Owen!

We went camping last week, for just a night. It was Owen's first time, and of course he loved it because he loves to be doing anything outside. Especially if it involves chocolate and marshmallows!



Owen loves to sing! If you are wondering why there is so much floor in the beginning, it's because Nick was trying to be sneaky while he recorded. Owen tends to be camera shy and stops what he's doing, but not in this one. He's belting it out! He makes up his own songs with the words he knows, and ones he makes up as he goes.

Happy Father's Day!

I have to dedicate this post to Nick because today is Father's Day, and Nick is an awesome daddy. He has really impressed me with his parenting abilities since I've gone back to work, and he's staying home with Owen for the summer. Not only does he care for, play with, feed, dress, and pick up after Owen, be he also makes the grocery list, plans and cooks meals, goes shopping, runs errands, and does dishes without complaining.

Owen loves his daddy, and I don't think he could ever find a better one! It was a great feeling to be able to plan a trip to go look at houses by myself and know that I don't have to worry about Owen and Nick while I was gone. Owen and I are lucky to have Nick.
We love you!

I just got back from Las Vegas last night. The first day I was there, I spent from 8 am to 9 pm with the realtor. It was such a long day! We saw a lot of houses, and I found one that I really do like. It has a great floor plan, with big open rooms. It does, however, need a bit of work like you can expect from foreclosed and bank owned homes. Mostly just painting and cleaning carpet though, luckily. So we put an offer on it, but it takes about a week, give or take, to hear back from the bank to see whether they accept the offer. If they don't, then it's back to square one. I'll have to start this home search from scratch! They are actually starting to sell really fast in our price range. Many homes have multiple offers on them. So, we'll see how it goes!

This is the view from my plane window of the Las Vegas strip and downtown area. Las Vegas is huge! The home we put an offer on is on the northwest, and my sister-in-law Jamie lives in the southwest. Without traffic, it takes about 45 minutes to get from one house to the other. But there seems to be traffic more than there isn't.

This is Lake Mead. I've been boating there a few times, so that is someplace fun to look forward to spending time!

I haven't spent a lot of time lately updating my blog like I try to, but I've been really busy! Besides working, I am on the internet every night searching for homes in Las Vegas on real estate sites. I have my eye on a couple. Thursday morning I am flying to Vegas by myself (yes, no Nick or Owen) to look at houses with a realtor. That way I have all the time I need to drive around and back and forth and be indecisive. I fly home Saturday night, and Nick told me I have to find one within those three days. I need to be ready to put an offer on one. The pressure is on! I am staying with Nick's sister, Jamie. She likes to look at houses too.

House hunting in Vegas isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Homes there are definitely different than what I am used to here. The yards are tiny and hardly any have grass! And I thought Utah was a desert! That will be the hardest part to get used to. I am trying to enjoy the beautiful green mountains and trees and grass here, while I can.

This is what some of the homes in Vegas look like, that we might end up living in: