The Graduation crunch...

That's how I have been feeling the last week or so. Everything has been thrown into a two week period. Last weekend our schedule was slightly crazy. Hayli had prom on Saturday. She had a blast and I will post some pics below. Sunday, we had church from 9-12p. We then had to be at a church not far from the school at 2pm for the Baccalaureate service. At 3pm was a Senior reception. Then at 4pm was Senior awards for Honor students. (Hayli got like 6 or 7 awards, we were very proud!) A few hours later we were at the Stake Center for Seminary graduation. It was a long day. (My parents, bless their sweet hearts, were right there with us allday. Hayli was athlete of the year again for her school and volleyball so she was invited to the County Athletic banquet. They name one athlete of the year for the whole county in their individual sport. Much to Hayli's surprise, she won. It was a great way to end her volleyball career. This week is basically the seniors last week. They have had senior activities and finals. Next week it is just a few days of grad. practice and then Friday is the big day.
Mix in Chandler's baseball games (which I love), Callie's puppy school, finishing up Meg's school, and Kayla's volleyball stuff, and we are pretty much in 5th gear all the time. (Not to mention getting ready for Hayli's Open House here after graduation and getting her ready to leave in a few weeks for the Y) As mom's though, aren't we always busy? Even when they are little, it's just as crazy, but on a different level. What will we do when they craziness stops? Does it stop? I hope not.
Oh, and a very Happy 80th Birthday to my sweet grandmother tomorrow!

Chandler hits the double digits...1-0

Today is Chandler's birthday and he is now the big 1-0. I can't believe my baby is already 10. I took a cookie cake to his lunch and it was so funny watching him interact with his buddies. He says "dude" a lot. These pics were taken today of us by another 4th grader. I thought he might die of embarrassment having to take a picture with his mom but it didn't seem to bother him. I did not, however, even try to get a kiss goodbye. That PDA with mom ended back in first grade. :( Oh well, as long as I get sugar at home. Happy Birthday Bubba!

Foreclosures Part 2

Like I mentioned before, my company deals heavily in foreclosures. After we get word that a house has been officially foreclosed on, we go out and check occupancy. If people are still living there, eventually, there has to be an eviction. If it is vacant, we usually change the locks right then and order the house to be cleaned out and ready for the market. Rarely are repairs ever made, just clean up. However, the clean up could be pretty extensive and down right disgusting. Our company has to document (take pics) of all the properties so that Freddie Mac knows what the condition is and what needs to be done, as far as clean out. It also helps them understand what the list price should be. It may sound good to them on paper but when they get actual photos of the condition, they understand more fully why the list price we suggest may be different from what they may be expecting. Here are a few pics of ONE of the filthiest houses we ever had...although there have been quite a few. This house below I barely could go in to take pictures. It was so foul, inside and out. I couldn't believe people lived in there..with little kids!! It was so sad. I have not been back since the company had it cleaned out but I am pretty sure it would still give me the creeps.




The property below our company got a while back. This is the house where the guy took EVERYTHING you could imagine off the house and land. Since Kenny owns a pool company they asked him to secure the pool. Every pool has to be secure for safety reasons. This pool is bigger than it looks in the pictures. Plus, it is an L-shaped pool so securing it took some creative thinking on Kenny's part. The pool was SOOOOOO nasty. We had to get Hayli out there in some spots because neither of us were brave enough to walk out on it. If I would've fallen in that mess I would have had a heart attack!!
The last picture is the finished product. All I can say is I WOULD NOT want to have to be the one to try and disassemble that thing.