After weeks of interviews and dinners, we have finally chosen the direction we are heading in! Denver, Colorado! It was a tough decision, especially considering that Los Angeles was offering what seemed to be more money. However, when we compared the living expense of each city Los Angeles wasn’t offering enough to get us there. How could we turn down the opportunity of living in a beautiful state where we know we can afford a home? In the end, I’m just happy that Andrew still has two great offers to choose from that are both in Denver, CO. And as many of you may already know, Andrew has finally made a decision on which offer in Denver he wants to take! Grant Thornton here Andrew comes! Both were great companies, but I guess for us as a family, that company was best for Andrew. It’s all finally happening! It’s all coming down to going to Denver and Andrew starting his First out of College Job. I can’t wait to get out of Utah, and Andrew can’t wait to get out of school!

Trying to find a house to buy in less then 2 short trips to Colorado isn’t easy! Or how about trying to do it without a realtor? Even more impossible! I spent hours and hours searching the web for the homes that we wanted to see on our trips down to Denver. We saw only about 20 + homes. Out of the 20 + homes we ended up putting two offers down. The first home, located in Parker, 2 bedrooms, brand new, very nice area, was only $224,000 and seemed way too good to be true. Apparently it was way too good to be true because someone had already put an offer down on the home and everything was in process. The home was up for sale for less then 2 weeks and it was already being purchased. The second home we put an offer on was a home built in 2000, in Highlands Ranch. If anyone knows anything about Colorado, they do know that Highlands Ranch is one of the IT places to live in Colorado. Well…IT turned out not to work. We offered about 25,000 less of what they were asking. The home is older, and there were a few problems that did need to be fixed. I don’t think I have ever seen uglier tile! Not only did they put the tile in themselves, but it was done completely wrong! Besides, I’m not a fan of having outdoor tile put inside my home. Their tile was definitely for the outdoors, I think I might have cut my feet trying to walk on it without shoes! Well, we definitely didn’t want the home enough to offer then anywhere near their asking price cause we didn’t offer a counter when they told us they were willing to accept 10,000 less. Our dreams of finding a home to move into as we moved to Denver were quickly coming to an end. Before our second trip to Colorado, we thought we had found a good deal, but it turned out it was just a crooked Realtor trying to get leads lying about homes that were not for sale. A supposed great deal on a home wasn’t a great deal because it wasn’t for sale even though it was showing as if it was for sale. The home wasn’t for sale, needless to say and sadly the homeowner must have been in on the gig, because they could have cared less that their home was showing for sale online, even though it wasn’t. Nothing but bad luck with homes. Many of the homes we looked at the reason their asking price was fair or lower in the nice areas was because there were major problems with the homes. They lived behind a main street, or they were tri-levels (if anyone has ever seen a tri-level you understand that it is a problem to resell because it doesn’t follow the traditional standard of a home), or they were filthy. Some smelled like cigarettes, some like cat pee, and some were far off in distant remote areas that were a far trip from the freeway. Before our second and final trip to Denver I was sure it was over, that buying a home was just not in our cards, at least not for now. Well, I was wrong! Somehow, Andrew had happened to come across a home for sale on Craig’s list. The home was initially out of our price range because we didn’t want to live on pennies. They were asking 267,900 for the home. But, we decided to go ahead and look at the pictures and see if it had any offers on it. It was a beautiful 2006, 3700 sq. feet Castle Rock home. The house looked worth way more then their asking price, and apparently it is worth more. The previous owner had foreclosed and the bank owned the home. The first thought that came to mind is…what’s wrong with this house, it can’t be this perfect. Why would a beautiful, huge home be at such a great price! Well, luckily for us, when we went and saw the home we realized it was not only near perfect and the deal of a century, but there were no current offers. So, we decided to take a chance and offer a lot less of what the home is worth. We definitely didn’t think it would work. The selling agent had explained that the bank was very strict on trying to get around 267,900. If anyone ever tells you not to bother trying something that seems like it will never work, DON’T LISTEN TO THEM! As I have learned from my mom…it doesn’t hurt to try! At 15,000 less then their asking price, which was 45,000 less then the home originally was bought for, they accepted our offer! It was unbelievable for everyone that somehow we got this home that was way too good to be true. If you are dying to see what it looks like, take a look at the pictures on our link www.benitezfam.com/new_home.html . It has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a huge loft upstairs, with a large unfinished basement, totaling 3700 sq feet. Cherry wood cabinets, wood floors, upgrades all over the home, it is awesome! I would have been happy and blessed to have a smaller older home, like the ones we were looking at. But this home, this was definitely a miracle and blessing that was completely out of our hands. Thanks to my parent’s advice, Andrew’s family accommodating us to see the home, and a ton of prayers, we were incredibly blessed to find this opportunity. More then anything I wanted a room I could decorate for our little Brendon! But a really nice huge house? Yea, that never really came to mind because there was no way that they were going to accept our offer on a home that is worth far more then what we paid for it. So as I said, when someone says, don’t bother trying it won’t work…I say…DO BOTHER TRYING, IT CAN’T HURT TO TRY! The success and joy far outweighs any disappointment we could have had if we didn’t get the home. And this proved to me more then ever, you never know what opportunities will come in life with a little help from above.

After hearing about getting the home of our dreams, the home that we figured we could afford in about 5 years, there was a minor set back. When we planned our Thanksgiving trip to Colorado in the back of our minds we did know that I was not only 32 weeks pregnant, but suffering from a very large and annoying gallstone. As the weeks go on and the baby gets bigger, his little feet tend to kick the heck out of my gall bladder. I was learning to deal with the pain, I was learning to deal with the nausea, but I wasn’t ready to be laying in a hospital bed trying to get an infected gall bladder under control. I had read and was warned that if the gall bladder got infected because of the gall stone that it could not only cause severe pain, fever, and possibly sepsis, that I could throw my body into preterm labor. I don’t know why as humans we think this, but it always is, “it will never happen to me.” With my terrible luck when it comes to hospitals and getting sick I should have realized, it would happen to me! With a fever and vomiting, I was lucky enough to land myself into the Colorado Springs hospital. I got to not only be scared for myself, but to also freak out that the baby could be in harm. They hooked me up to a fetal monitor and was watching me closely for contractions. The doctor was not willing to remove my gall bladder with a 33 week old baby in my womb; he was only willing to help me get the infection under control. Of course in so many ways I just want my gall bladder ripped out of me, I’ve dealt with so much pain and nausea for the last 8 months, some days I wished I were dead instead of dealing with it. But he knew, and I also know that it isn’t a good idea to take a chance of surgery when there is a baby involved. Thankfully the hospital was great and we did get my infection under control. I was released and happily flew back to Utah the next day. We were hours away from getting on a flight to go back to Utah, but instead that wasn’t in our real agenda, a short few day trip to the hospital came first. Hospitals are never fun, and I think even worse is the bill I know we have to pay for needing to go to the hospital. But, the best part out of everything is that the baby seems to be completed unaffected by out sick I am. No matter how high my fever got, no matter how sick I was, the baby was doing just fine if not great! Don’t’ get me wrong, I can’t wait to get my gallbladder removed. It sucks not being able to eat a lot of foods, as well as, any food I eat I usually end up feeling sick as a dog after I eat it. Less then 7 full weeks and hopefully I will be able to find relief in many ways, a healthy baby boy to take home, and a gallbladder to leave at the hospital before I go home. If you are thinking you should pray for me, my response is…I can use every prayer anyone can spare.

If you were to tell me a year ago that Andrew and I would be expecting in about a year, I think I would have laughed, but it definitely isn’t a laughing matter anymore. I didn’t think anything was more exciting then marrying Andrew after knowing him for 4 years and having to wait around for 2 years. Well, surprisingly, and I do really mean surprisingly something is. It’s a difficult feeling to explain. After feeling so sick for the first few months, I could hardly say we were excited. I was not excited about feeling so terrible every day all day long, and I doubt Andrew was excited about taking care of a big baby, ME! Although the first few months became rough, especially in Newark, we not only managed to get through it, but I did realize that I am SO SO lucky to have a husband who is willing to do laundry, cook, and clean for me when it was hard for me to even just lay around because no matter how much I rested, I still felt awful.

Thank Goodness For Andrew! Now, with only a few months left to go before little Brendon Scott Benitez arrives, we are so busy! The anticipation and excitment of knowing that we will have a little boy (who will learn to be just like his daddy and help around the house with laundry, cooking, and cleaning) is so overwhelming! I went from feeling like an alien was inside of me, to feeling this little kick against my tummy, to feeling him wailing on me with kicks and punches in the middle of the night. I almost thought there was two at times cause the little runt wouldn’t stop. But feeling his movement, knowing that I have OUR little boy inside of me, is by far the most exciting thing in the world! At times like this, even when he wakes me up in the middle of the night with some of his practicing Hockey moves, no matter how tired or sick feeling I am, I still have to smile a little bit because I know that we are so blessed to be sealed to eachother and to this little alien inside of me that grows bigger and bigger by the day. It’s true, he looks and sometimes feels like an alien inside, but he’s still MY little alien! And even though I have no idea how much fun he will bring us during his teenage years, I already know that I love him. It really doesn’t get more exciting then this!

The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy! Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining that Andrew is interviewing and getting opportunities like crazy! I wouldn’t dare complain about that. Ok, I’m complaining a little bit, a teeny tiny bit, but the anticipation of everything is starting to wear us both down. PWC, KPMG, E&Y, Grant Thornton, Omniture, Squire, BDO, Protiviti, Freddi Mac, HP..and I don’t even think these are all the places that Andrew had gotten accepted for interviews, I lost track a long time ago and couldn’t remember one company from the next. I didn’t ever think it would be a problem if Andrew tried to get as many offers as possible, but it is starting to wear us down. First interview, second interview, fly out interview…it is neverending!

I always knew any of these companies would be crazy to pass up on an opportunity of having Andrew as one of their employee’s, and the more he applies, the more it seem’s that they feel that way too. Andrew hasn’t been declined for any interviews that he has applied to, and in fact, he has had to decline interviews because not only is he trying to keep his grades up with school full time, but he tries to work up to 25 hours a week. I must say, I am so proud of him and all his hard work. His hard work in school and working is FINALLY paying off. He has some great opportunities that are coming his way and we actually get to be picky about making decisions where Andrew wants to work and where we want to live. What a Blessing! But still, I cannot wait for it to all come to an end. For us to finally know where we are moving to. For us to finally have a direction to point at and say, that is where we are living. I tease Andrew telling him that our child and his wife are homeless because we have no place to call our own yet. And of course as I say this Andrew looks at me clenching his lips together, with no words, and just nods his head like I am crazy. I can’t help it, I just want to see an end to the endless interviews, dinners, and fly outs. What a great feeling it will be to know which direction we are heading in.