Zavoral Villa!

So, our year lease ended this month, the housing prices are at an all-time low, we're pretty sure we will be here for a couple more years, there's a huge tax break for first time home buyers, and we've been saving up....so that only means one thing! We are looking for a home to buy!! Well, really a condo or a townhome, since we can't afford a real house anywhere in Orange County. But it's still pretty exciting! We've spent 3 weekends looking so far. Last week our first offer fell through. Yesterday we put down two different offers, so we'll see if we get one of those. (These are the types of places we've put offers on!) The only thing we don't understand is what a "buyer's market" really is. We thought it meant that the buyer gets to pretty much negotiate any price they want, make the seller pay for closing costs, and that we can pick and choose and take our time. That is NOT the case that we have found ourselves in...at least in this a...

As part of therapy (Jeremy is my therapist), I am being challenged to write this blog post in less than 15 minutes. Why? Let me explain... Jeremy and I are trying to figure out why I am spending so much time working at the school. I swear I am always doing things that have to be done. I have a priority list, I am pretty organized, etc. Well, I'm starting to realize that a lot of my time is spent writing and re-reading emails and letters to teachers or parents. Last Sunday, Jeremy caught me preparing a letter for some parents. I typed up the first draft in about 20 minutes (way too long for length of content) and then I spent an additional 45 minutes tweaking, rereading and editing. He kept trying to tell me that it was fine, but I couldn't get myself to leave it be! Then, during the week, I caught myself working on a short email to another teacher for nearly 35 minutes. Later, I found myself spending another 30 mintues writing a different email. It was rediculous. I know why I ...

It's pretty cool to think that we were able to visit two "Puertos" in 2009. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico was awesome! This was the first time that all of SarahLynn's sisters have been together since our wedding, so it was extra special. We had a lot of fun together. Jeremy almost got engulfed by an enormous manta ray that had a wingspan of 14 feet. Tanya got super tan using every waking moment of sunshine. SarahLynn was the loudest screamer on our zip-lining adventure. Desha took the most (and the best) pictures. Dad threw up about 9 times on our scuba diving trip, and Mom performed the most consistent serves in tennis. One of our favorite parts was when we found a newborn baby humpback whale learning how to swim alongside his mother. We were less than 100 ft away from them! We also enjoyed when the whole family ate together at all the resort restaurants. The food was amazing (and unlimited). But even better than the food was that we were all together. Jungle Adventure Thi...