okay, so I've been busy

I spent Nevada Day weekend in Las Vegas. I was at Renee's house from 10pm-2:30 am, so it was actually fortunate for me that Brien forgot his temple recommend and I was therefore able to sleep in that Saturday. We returned home to Ely on Sunday (29th) (our quick stop at Amber's on the way out of town lasted longer then Brien's official plan, but I knew an hour wouldn't be enough), I wrote a check to to Title company on Mon. (30th), and on Tues. (31st) I was able to pick up the keys for our new house. I spent Halloween with Emily, her husband works with Brien and the men were in Caliente, NV for a field review. We were disappointed by the number of trick-or-treaters. I know that next year we will be swamped because our new neighborhood is very popular with the kids.

The first weekend in Nov. Dennis & Deneece and Cidnee (parents in law & SIL) came up so Dennis could help Brien rip apart the house in order to install new electrical wire and new sheetrock. It was a crazy weekend. That following week we worked on the house and also spent a little time packing for the move. The 2nd weekend in Nov. (happy Veteran's Day) the same family members returned with the addition of Wil (electrician) and Holly and Spencer and Easton (both too little to help with anything, but pretty darn cute.) Sidenote: While Spencer (3 almost 4) was offering the blessing for the food Easton (1) dropped part of his pancake on the floor. Spencer put his foot on it to try and keep Jack from eating it, the dog won, but afterwards Spencer said he, "put his foot on the black side (of the pancake) to try and keep Jack from eating it. (For the record, Brien made molded pancakes and only a few were slightly black on one side.) Well, the men worked some long days, until midnight on Saturday, and until 6pm on Sunday (the "ox was in the mire" so they skipped church) and they were able to restore power to the house before the reinforcements left to drive back to UT. They didn't get home until 11 or midnight. We are very appreciative of all the help!

Dennis took it easy for a few days by going back to work and then returned on Wed. (nov. 15) evening to offer even more help with the new sheetrock until he went home this past Saturday. We worked him to the bone. He deserves a really nice Christmas present.

This past Saturday (18th) was moving day! 95% of the house was boxed up, and the people who came to help were incredibly fast. They left the house an hour after they showed up. We are lucky to have a friend/ward member who has a 26 foot u-haul truck, so it was easy to move everything. I stayed behind at the apartment to finish packing up the little things that were left and worked on cleaning the place. The pseudo-apartment manager, who I know from the Middle School, came by and did the apartment inspection while I was still cleaning. I look forward to getting my deposit money back. We have spent more than expected on the house, so the extra money is very, very welcome. (Sorry, Lacey, we aren't as poor as you would like, I still have enough money to pay the bills and put something in savings. The little extra income just means that it's okay that we overspent on the home improvements.) We still need to prime and paint and put in new cupboards, but we feel good about our little house on the terrace.

I have taken losts of pictures. It's busy the next few days with Thanksgiving coming up, but I home to post some "before", "during", and "now" photos next week. I won't have any "after" photos until we start/finish the painting. Hopefully, we will have money to do molding with the painting.

Amber, I hope this makes you happy! I have been legitimately busy the last few weeks (I took very little time off work, just a few hours on Fridays).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I have been blessed with a wonderful husband, an awesome family unit (blood relations, in-laws, and everyone in between), and I have a fun job, not to mention a cute dog. Life is truly good!