Real Estate Reality

       I've heard a saying that real estate is like porn for women (apologies for the vulgerity), and maybe, just maybe, you enjoy shopping around homes as much as I do, so I'll share. We've mentioned that we've been keeping our eyes on the real estate market here in our area for some time. We've been doing our research, working on paying down debt, and trying to think logically about the process. Some days we feel that we're about 90% ready to be homeowners but other days we still only feel about 40% prepared. We've been pre-aproved and we've punched some numbers to see what we can afford, but our reality is that things are still quite unsettled for us, as Jon is still in the thick of working on his fire career. But, if we do settle here, we want to know we're getting what we want and that we're getting the most for our money. So, even though we may not be on the brink of pulling the trigger we hope to be prepared when we finally get there.
       We're primarily looking in the Glenshire neighborhood of Truckee. It's a neighborhood nestled in a large quiet valley and has lots of pros: it's a very family friendly area,  has a neighboorhood pool and clubhouse, receives less snow then surrounding areas and we have lots of friends already settled out there! The downsides are that it is a bit out there (it's several minutes from downtown), and it takes about 35 minutes to get to Tahoe City and ummm... the lake that we love so much.

It's quiet beauty gets me every time we drive out there.

We viewed this house about a month ago. 

It was listed at a very competitive price and was in

 seemingly great shape for its asking.

It's what I call "Mountain Style," 

which accounts for a lot of homes in our area.
Unfortunately, I haven't really decided if "Mountain Style"
is our style. 

From the outside all seemed nice. 

But inside, the house told another story. 

Three words: Dog. Pee. Everywhere. 

Yep. 

The owners were letting the house be ruined by their yapper of a dog.

Viewing the home was definitely a disappointment, 

and sad to know that people take so little pride

in caring for their homes. 

We did love the large 1/4 acre lot, 

but it was all dirt and shrubs and would require

LOTS of dinero to get it into shape. 

Then two weeks ago,

 a house came on my radar and I kind

of fell in love with it from the photos alone. 

We got in to see it a few days later. 

We liked. A lot. 

The exterior photos that I grabbed don't really do it justice. 

It needed to be cleaned up a bit, but it oozed charm.

Maybe I was a little pre-mature in imagining it 

all decorated for Halloween?

Here's another view of the front yard, 

as seen from the master bedroom balcony.

Jon said that we could drink mimosas on that balcony. 

The house had a foyer!

An actual foyer. 

Homes in our area in our budget, 

don't have foyers. 

Sure, the tile wasn't us,

 and I already saw some upgrades to do, 

but I liked. 

The kitchen had cabinets that went 

all the way to the ceiling, 

which I love. 

I already had some ideas for a facelift for the space. 

But the bones were there.

On top of four bedrooms, the house had a small den. 

The den was pretty teeny tiny,

but had lots of potential for becoming a comfy 

room for games and family hang out time.

The master bedroom was charming, 

with angled ceilings and walk out french doors

(which I failed to take photos of).

But the thing we loved the most...

was the backyard. 

Sure, it needed a deck,

but we could also imagine a built in stone firepit, 

encircled with adirondak chairs. 

That house was definitely over our budget, 

which is probably one of the reasons we liked it so much. 

We're staying put for the time being,

and keeping our eyes out for new listings. 

A Case of Crazy Hair

       We've been looking at Nolan's sweet face for over a year so to me his hair is the norm. But, man do we get a lot of stares and snickers when we go out (I think I counted about 30 comments on one shopping trip in Reno. 30!). Sometimes I actually get sick of the comments. Is that bad?And then, add to it all of the times that he's confused for a girl, even though he's wearing a blue shirt. And fireman socks.  Sure signs that he's a boy people. I'll admit, I have a running list of Afro inspired Halloween costume ideas for him (Kramer, anyone?). Here are the things we're ALWAYS hearing when we go out.

1) Where does he get that hair?

                 This is the number one question that we get.  They look at my straight blond hair and then to Jon's short do and they can't figure it out. This is when we clue then in as to why oh why we keep Jon's hair short. That was Jon many a year ago and a glimpse of my son in a few years.

2) Do you style it like that?
                Absolutely not. I rarely comb his hair. Bad mom perhaps? It actually gets bigger if you comb it.

3) Can't you use some gel on it?
                We've tried mousse. I was advised that mousse was the way to go. The mousse looked cute for about 5 minutes and then it was gone. No trace that it was ever there. I'm wanting to try some curling gel soon.

4) Do you ever cut it?
                 Before his first birthday I had trimmed it about 3 times. I saved a few of those locks. We wanted to let it go natural, but after a while the long fuzz wasn't allowing for his cool curls to be shown off.
       So at some point, we decided that after he turned a year, it was time to tame that curly beast. We let it go natural for long enough. We waited for Jon's mom and sister to visit, so that they could see the fro in it's full glory before we took some scissors to it. And then...we cut it. Here I am in action with the scissors (sorry for the not so great photos. I just picked them up and started at it.)

And here's what we were left with. 

Quit gross actually.

I'm not sure if I'll be able to bring myself to saving his fluff.

The next day, this is what my sweet boy was looking like. 

Plenty of curls, but not so much crazy fluff. 

We're still getting lots of comments but 

the girl confusion has calmed down a bit. 

I think it's already grown out a little. 

I better keep the scissors handy...

Just a Little Bit Behind

       We're just a little bit behind when it comes to keeping you updated on Milam happenings. When a cold sweeps through the Milam house, followed by a broken rib, we tend to find ourselves a bit off balance. But we're healing and getting ourselves back on track now.
       A couple of weeks ago Jon's mom and sister came out to stay with us and oh what fun we did have.

We ate out lots.
(Note: Yes, Nolan's hair is NUTS in this picture,
but stay tuned. I'll share about his first hair
cut later this week)

One morning, while Becky was off getting her yoga on

 we took a walk to grab coffee.

Of course, we beached it up while they were here.

Meeks Bay was our favorite spot this year.

Having the sun paranoa that I do, 

we keep Nolan very much protected when we're on the sand.

He's got his own mini-tent to hang out in.

I love this picture. 

He was trying to get at me through the netting.

Somehow I failed to manage very many good pictures at the beach. 

Imagine us lounging, 

people watching, 

digging sand and rocks out of Nolan's mouth, 

swimming, 

snacking,

and a very blue lake. 

One night we tried a new Mexican restaurant in town.

(Somehow I managed to not get a picture of all of us

together the whole weekend. 

What the heck was I thinking!!!)

Grandma Babs gave Nolan a bath.

I'm kicking myself for not taking more photos from the trip. 

Where was my head?

More on Nolan's haircut on Wednesday!

The 2011 Halfway Mark

       We're more then halfway through 2011 (I know, totally nuts!) so I thought we would check in on our 2011 goals list. How are you doing on your 2011 goals? I outlined ours here. I've checked in our list a few times in the past 7 months because I like to keep us in check on whether we're accomplishing what we set out to. So let's check in on ours, shall we?

1.  Purchase Megan an adult car

We're not there yet, and this has become less of a priority.
My car certainly still needs to be replaced, 
but other things seem more important to us
(paramedic school, paying off debt, etc.)

For the time being we're okay with getting

by with my car as long as it lasts.

2. Pay off Jon's truck

We're closer to this goal then we were back in January. 

Some months we do better than others,

but we're still very focused on accomplishing this

one way or another by the end of December.

3. Move ourselves to the big city: Truckee

Yet again, another one that's in the works. 

We had looked at a place and the landlord really

liked us, but we didn't think the price was worth the place.

So we passed. 

We check new rental listings everyday, 

but the pickings are slim.

We're also so comfortable in our current rental,

and we hate the idea of moving into yet ANOTHER rental

so we'll see what happens.

4. Get Nolan settled into a new daycare

The care that Nolan is getting at his daycare

is great. He loves it there. 

The kids love him

(they cheer when he arrives, and like to shower

him with hugs and toys). 

We're happy to have him there, 

and I'd be sad to have him move on. 

So this one again, isn't as important as I originally thought.

5. Career adjustments

This is the hardest of them all. 

Apparently the economy is in a slump or something

and jobs are hard to come by?

I read something about that. 

Jon continues to work tirelessly 

on his fire career 

(I can't even believe how dedicated he is to it),

and we'll keep plugging away until we get there.

6. Take a little risk

I've got ideas swirling. 

No news to share yet. 

And here's the rundown on some smaller things 

we have our minds set on this year:

1. Running the Reno & SF Half Marathons.

Nope. Not even close.

I've only gotten out for a handful of runs

since Nolan was born. I'm still hopeful, 

but not holding my breath.

2. Get started with Paramedic School.

It's in the works. 

We're praying that Jon gets in, 

and then it's a matter (a BIG matter)

of making it work with our already busy schedules.

3. Get our new toys up and running. 

Both are all revved up. 

We just need to get them registered now...

And hire a babysitter so that we can take

them out together...

4. Continue to save, save, save.

This we do. It's exhausting. 

I would love to go on a shopping spree. 

I dream about it. 

But instead, we save, save, save.

Every month.

5. Learn how to use this beautiful new camera of ours.

We get a C on this one. 

We've been practicing here and there,

but we have lots more to read about

and learn on.

6. Enjoy where we live just a little bit more.

We try to enjoy every free minute that we have, 

but maybe we'll do even better the second half of the year.

7. Keep the blog alive.

It's alive! 

It suffered a bit with balancing baby, work & life, 

but it's still here. 

Hip, hip, hooray.

I hope you're doing well with your resolutions!

We'll see what the rest of the year brings.

Staycation 2011

        We live in a pretty place, but we don't usually have the time to enjoy it as much as we should. My families annual trip to Tahoe is the perfect reason for us to relish in a full staycation. The Hay clan came to Tahoe for the Annual Tahoe Summer Family Trip (this was the 5th year!). That means 9 adults, 1 tween, and 4 kids under the age of 4 were all under one roof. We consumed a lot of food and did a lot of swimming, celebrated 3 birthdays, and spent a lot of time on our hands and knees playing with kids. I got to practice with our camera and took way too many pictures. Way too many.

These were the two youngest of the gang.

Four months apart and both weighing in at twenty-one pounds. 

I have a feeling they'll be running around together

next year causing lots of chaos.

Colby is one of the sweetest baby's around.

Cousins don't care to look at the camera for their 

aunt in the midst of playing toys.

The cousins made for one tired Blue dog.

Oh yeah, and the house that 

we (well, technically my parents) rented was amazing. 

Huge. 

We spent a lot of time in the kitchen. 

We took walks, because

walking was a good baby activity.

The neighborhood that we were staying in

had a private pool and park.

Grass is actually a novelty for Buzz. 

He doesn't really like the feel of it on his skin. 

I guess he's too used to snow.

Nolan and I got to spend a lot of time together

playing and cuddling. 

It was nice to get in as many cuddles as possible.

Jon had to work a lot during the week, 

but when he was around we fit in

lots of family fun time.

We played in the front yard.

And test tasted the lawn.

We loved using the pool. 

Pools aren't the norm in Tahoe so getting 

to hop in for a soak all week was fun.

Our kid is a fish. 

He loves the pool.

And of course he loves it when

his daddy plays with him in the pool.

The pool did the trick for tiring all the kiddos out.

The house that we rented also had 

access to a private beach. 

I never get tired of looking at the lake.

Jon and I are thinking of buying a house

on the lake with a pier.

My son likes putting any odds and ends

 from the sand in his mouth.

I can't believe the amount of family photos

that we were able to capture during the week!

One morning, 

we rented a boat so that we could

get out on the lake. 

Here we are in our best yachting attire.

Roxy was a champ the whole ride. 

Nolan never would have lasted out there.

My favorite part of being on the lake

is house stalking. 

There are McMansions lining the whole shoreline.

That's a huge staircase and elevator track down 

to the water. 

I was sweet on this one on the left.

But I could probably make any of them work.

Jon decided that we HAVE to have a boat.

Grandma did some babysitting for us while we were out on the lake. 

This was the third time we'd been out of the house

without Nolan since he was born. 

The first was for an hour trip to Target

(in which he started crying so we had to come home), 

and the second was for going out on 

waverunners earlier in the week. 

At the end of the week we attempted a cousins picture. 

My sister envisioned all of the kids lined up on the pier

all charming like.

It didn't work out quite so smoothly.

Katherine is a saint. 

My son on the other hand...

Apparently getting a photo taken is very traumatizing for a one year old.

It was a great week. 

I feel like I got a full dose of enjoying

Summer in Tahoe, 

which isn't usually the case when our work 

schedules make that hard to do.

Later this week I'm hoping to share

an update on how Jon and I are doing on accomplishing our 2011 goals. 

AND Jon's family is coming into town this week,

 so we'll be having lots of fun later this week,

and should have more pictures to share soon!

Love from Tahoe