Getting Through the 4th of July

I tried to do an update like a month ago, but other things have taken priority and it obviously never happened. Chloe made it to girl's camp and had the time of her life. The whole ward saw a different side of her, and it's been a very positive change for her. I was hoping she'd do a blog post of her own about it, but she hasn't even gotten the pictures off her camera yet! She's as bad as her mother :)

While Chloe was at camp I signed Sophie up for an art class. It was a good distraction during those mornings, and then we fit in lots of fun activities during the afternoons.

We drove ourselves crazy looking for a house. I thought we were doing good taking our time, looking at all our options, making sure we found just the right place. And then we got sick of looking. It felt like there were no good options. Everything sucked, or was under contract the day it was listed. That's when we put pressure on ourselves. After two failed attempts (one was an error on my part, the other on the sellers) we found something that fit our criteria: tiny house on a big lot, no stucco, no HOA. And it's only 2 miles from Brandon's office, and really close to the library! It needs a lot of work, but we're excited about all it's possibilities, and Brandon LOVES projects! Maybe his blog will get some action.

Once we got the house under contract we've been so busy with all the paperwork, screaming at loan processors, getting inspections done, and then the appraisal. Now that that's final, I think we can breathe for a bit. Chloe is packing her heart out. She is such a great help around here.

We even made time to go to Bloomington for the 4th. Not that our kids would let us miss it, but we went and stayed a couple extra days at my parents. Here is some of the fun we had: