Lots and Lots and Lots of news to share

So July came and went with out a post, I know!
My stupid (of course I mean wonderful, dont want to jinx myself!) Computer went down, like, 3 times. Then last time I was in the middle of composing an awesome post to share when it DIED.
So now I have it back, and I want to share whats been happening. Hope you are with me for the ride, a lot happens in a month!!!!
The kids went back to school on July 17th. Every one seems to like it. Cam is in 8th grade, Bray is in 6th grade, which means that they attend the same middle school together and even have Theater Art together. Cam is in the Fall play, it is a murder mystery, and all he has shared with me is that he plays some guy in it! (he is a wealth of info). Bray is in a small one act right before the big performance. He says he doesnt like the play much, but is excited to have a part.
Ry is in the 4th grade and loves her teacher. She is still great about coming home and doing her homework, and sharing all the events of her day.
Lainey has started going to preschool twice a week to help with her speech. She loves it! It is a small class of only 5 students. She wishes that she could go every day!
We also stayed busy with scouts, church, and getting ready for school.

Now some really exciting news! In July, we also purchased a home!!!! WooHoo!
We are so excited to be in our own home. We were looking for a while and thought that we would not find one that suited us. My friend Sharon recommended that I give her Realtor a call.
I gave Yvette a call and told her all that we were looking for and even emailed her some homes I found on line. She did some looking and then found some other homes. We met one afternoon and went looking she took us to a home that she had not seen before and had been available since Jan. We found out that they needed to sale to beat foreclosing. I expected to see a really beat-up home in a mess. We walked in and were very surprised! It was beautiful home with the 4 bedrooms we were looking for, a laundry room and a very nice kitchen. It was built in 2006. It also has a bonus room upstairs and the master is down stairs. There is also a nice patio out back with a balcony upstairs off the the bonus room. I kept waiting for the catch. There wasnt one! We prayed about it and decided it was the home for us. The inspection went well and we were on our way, the other realtor wasnt as easy to work with, so we closed a little later than expected, but on July 9th we signed all the papers, and the home is ours!!!!
We are still in the same ward, and have several other members who live closer to us now.
The kids are not in the same school boundaries, but I am keeping them in their same schools at least this year, so Cam can finish middle school in the same school, then we'll decide later what to do next year.
I told you this would be long! Here are some before pictures of our home, and I'll post some "after" a little later.


This is the kitchen. We had to buy a fridge,
but the other appliances were in great shape.
This is the Laundry room








This is the Family Room built-ins
and fire place. this is the jetted tub in the master bathroom