Christmas Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We had to join in the festivities! Put up the decorations, turn up that Christmas music, and whip me up some Chex Mix!

Brian and Some of Our New House

Brian is extremely proud of himself for learning how to pull himself up to a standing position.

He's been so good and he really surprised me with the ease at which he adjusted to being homeless, and moving, and construction in his own bedroom etc. Here he's helping me unpack.

I love the kitchen in our new house. It is everything I need and want.

Brian likes the kitchen too.

I like the big windows to let in the natural light.

The living room. See if you can find Brian in this picture.

This is the other half of the living room and the dining room, which has temporarily become the work bench during all the repairs and construction. Oh, and see if you can find Brian again. Only this time it's the other end of him.

A Story To Tell

Since November 4th, our little family has experienced all of the following major changes, challenges and fun: we were forced to move out of our rental house because the landlords unexpectantly needed to move in, we packed, cleaned and removed ourselves and all of our stuff within three days, we were homeless for a week, we lived out of a U haul, we bought a house, we waited and waited to close on the house, we closed on the house, we moved all of our stuff into the garage of the house, we extensively cleaned and repaired the house, we bought a used refrigerator, washer, dryer and couches, we moved all of our stuff into the inside of the house, we unpacked, we cleaned up all the leaves in the yard of the new house, and finally we got our lives semi back in order. All of this occurred while Mark continued to complete some major and important projects at work, and I did my best to help Brian adjust to the craziness.

All in all we are extremely grateful for the help of family members and especially the muscle Mark's family and our brother-in-law Dave provided in helping us move all our boxes and furniture into a U haul, then to Mark's parents garage, then to our garage, and then into the house. It was certainly no ordinary move from one house directly to the other. We also want to thank my mom and Mark's mom for watching Brian while I cleaned every inch of both the house we moved out of and the house we moved into. And thanks mom for cleaning the unbelievably nasty stove in the new kitchen. I love it now that it is so clean and shiny just waiting to be used.

Our new house was a foreclosure, which hopefully can help explain the incredible amount of work that it needed and still needs before it is really livable. No one has been living in the home for over six months and the people who lived here before, have got to be the most uncleanly people I've ever heard of. That said, once it was cleaned from top to bottom and with a lot of elbow grease, it has turned out to be the perfect place for us. It sits in a quiet neighborhood in Holladay with nice big trees and REALLY nice neighbors. Lucky for us winter is on its way so we can wait until spring to worry about the dead grass and overgrown bushes and vines, and we can focus on fixing the inside of the house and turning the basement into an apartment by the end of January in order to rent it to Mark's brother and his wife.

There is still a lot of work to come, but we are just so happy to have FINALLY, after months of searching and touring house after house after house, found the house for us in just the nick of time. Prayers really are answered. Thanks again to all of you who have helped and offered to help, we could not have done it without you! There will definitley be pictures of the new place to come when things calm down just a little bit more. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Count Dracula

Halloween is much more fun when you have a little guy to dress up. Thank you Allison for lending us the costume. Brian was the biggest hit at the ward Trunk-or-Treat. He loved the attention.

Happy Halloween

Stay tuned for some Little Vampire pictures.