Second Happiest Day of 2008

Today was the second day of 2008. We closed on our wonderful acreage at 11:15 this morning. O happy day! We paid our money, signed the papers, and received the key.

Dave had to work at noon, so the rest of us (me, Conrad, Bethany, Luna and Dallin) went out to the property. None of the others had seen the inside of the house before.

Alas, on the way there, Bethany's car stopped and would not go again. We had to arrange to have it taken to a garage. Then we all squished into our car (with skinny Conrad between the two kids in car seats) and proceeded to the property.

We were disappointed that Dave couldn't be there for our first time in the house as the real owners.

Apparently the house was disappointed too, because it wouldn't let us in. No kidding. The key would only turn part way and the front door would not budge, even when persuaded by my hefty heinie. Acch. We all took turns trying, as people do, and then went around to the back.

The back garage door opened with no problem. Yea! But the knob to the door going into the house was broken. We all took turns trying to pick the lock with a variety of objects found in the garage. When that didn't work, Bethany took the pins out of the hinges. Great, we thought. But alas, the door was fitted firmly into the frame and could not be budged. We took turns trying to pry it off the hinges. None worked. We trudged to the car with the kids so they would be warmer. (Outside temperature was 23 degrees F.)

I called the realtor. He said he had used the key just two weeks before to get in and it worked just fine. He called one of the daughters of the former owners and she came with her copies of the keys. She tried the front door. It did exactly the same thing for her as it did for us. Ah, she said, let's try the back doors (they had storm doors that were all locked tight). She opened the garage door and went through all the things we had tried. She called her husband, who suggested she try all the things we had tried.

At long last, we gave up and left. I won't get to go inside my new house until next year.

On the way home, we feared we would run out of gas, as I forgot to fill up before leaving Norfolk. The estimated distance said zero, but we did make it to Battle Creek and got gas. So you see, not everything that could go wrong did.

Yippy Skippy

Yippy Skippy, the money's here! More later.

No money yet! I got a call from Arizona yesterday saying I had to sign a paper and fedex it right away. After racing around town I finally caught up with the fedex guy and sent the paper on its way. They tell us today is the day.

Can that paper really reach Arizona by this morning?

I want my money! And a diet coke!

waiting, waiting, waiting

I'm chewing nails here. I'm waiting for the money for my new house to be wired into my account. The bank wired the money to the title company before 2:00 p.m., the time required by the title company to wire it to us the same day. It hasn't shown up yet in our account. Will we have to wait until tomorrow? This waiting is DRIVING ME CRAZY.

New job for me

Today I started a new job. It's at Walmart! I will be working as a sales associate in the apparel department, mostly in infants, I think.

Today I had orientation and learned policies and procedures all day. Tomorrow I do more computer-based learning plus some time on the floor.

I think it's going to be really fun. The next couple of months are going to be a little trying--a new job and a move and a new church calling. Oh, did I not mention that? I have to leave my beautiful young women and grow up to relief society as second counselor. But it's all goooooood.

Yesterday was Dallin's 2nd birthday and tomorrow is Alex's 4th birthday. Happy birthday to my special little guys.

On our way again

We're on our way home. The last couple of days were spent with family as we remember Bill. His funeral was very nice.

Had fun visits with Mom and Stacy. Two of Tally's daughters, Mary and Aleisa, entertained Luna with trick-or-treating, rides in a golf cart, and swimming. Luna had a great time at Great Grandma"s house.

Tonight at dinner, Luna looked at me and said, "I'm very important to Grandpa." She's right about that.

Staying the night in Gallup, NM.

Julie and Dave at the auction soon after winning the bid for our dream property

On a trip

We're on a trip. It's for a sad reason. Dave's stepdad, Bill, passed away and we are going to Arizona for the funeral.

We started out by visiting our family in Utah. We enjoyed lunch with Bonnie and Jim and R.O. on Monday, went to Bonnie and Jim's house after that and had a nice visit. Since we brought Luna with us, Jeremy brought his younger daughter, Sara, over to play. We all had a great time. Jim has an art show coming up at the first of the year and he showed us some of the prints he is putting in it. Fabulous. Loved 'em.

Monday night we took Nathan and Trent out to dinner and visited with them.

Tuesday we went to IKEA with Nathan. It was the first time we have ever been to IKEA. Amazing amount of stuff and ideas. We had lunch there. Once Luna ran off from Dave and got lost and we looked all over for her. Soon she came rolling up on the lap of a lady in a wheelchair. The lady told us that Luna had asked them where her Grandma and Grandpa were. But when I went to pick her up, Luna said she didn't want to go with us. She liked the nice lady.

Tuesday night we were able to see our handsome grandsons, Ammon , Aaron and Aedan, along with Shana and her husband, Brandon. I was glad to be able to meet Brandon, and it was great to visit with Shana. We've missed her.

The boys have grown so much. Luna loved playing with them and they all laughed and laughed.

This morning we went up Little Cottonwood Canyon with Trent. It was beautiful with the autumn leaves. Love the mountains. Luna wanted to touch the mountains. We stopped at a pretty place so she could look around and touch the mountain. She climbed up on a big rock. She looked at all the little rocks.

As we were driving down the mountain again, Luna said, "But I wanted to touch the mountain." We told her that she had touched the mountain. She replied, "Uh uh, that big rock was in the way!"

Now we're in Cedar City, Utah for the night. Tomorrow we need to get all the way to Mesa. It will be great to see everyone.

What a day!

Today was the day of the big auction. You remember, the one with the house and 14 acres? We went to the auction, pretty sure we wouldn't have enough money to win the bid.

At 12:30, bidding on the house began. We figured we'd be out of the bidding in about two minutes. I had practiced being disappointed all week long. We decided to try anyway, even if we would get outbid.

But my, oh, my! We got it! We got the house and the 14 acres!!! The trees and the pond (which we are choosing to call a lake)! The machine shed and the garden spot and the woods and the meadows and the quail that live in the front woods and the deer that live in the east woods and the cricut-green laundry room and everything!

We are so excited. I've prayed all along that if it is right for us, to have it all work out. And it is working out. We close on or before November 18. Yippee!

Beautiful Day

Hi.

I finally got my internet working again. For a long time, I couldn't go to any secure sites or pages I have to log on to. Even Conrad couldn't fix it and I thought I would have to reinstall the whole shebang. But last night I got a new virus program and yipee! I'm good to go again.

The weather has been beautiful here. One way we have been enjoying it is by driving around looking at properties to buy. We have found the perfect acreage! It has 14 gorgeous acres with woods and woods and clearings and a pond that feels like you're up the canyon because it has woodsy cliffs rising on three sides. The other side has a flattened area where we could sit and watch birds.

The house is good, too. Often acreages have old farmhouses, 100 years old, with crumbling plaster. This house is a rambler built in the 1970s, but updated, and has a main-floor laundry room and a partially-finished basement. Great condition, convenient features, extra-large garage and lots of storage are in this house. There is also a large machine shed with parking for our camper van.

Now here is the one drawback. It is going to be sold by auction. We're going to try to buy it, of course, but who knows how much it will go for? We're getting all our ducks (or dollars, actually) in a row, and hoping for the best. The property will be auctioned on October 18. Wish us luck.

I'm working on positive thinking. Here's my mantra: If it's right for us, we'll get it.

The pictures above are the house (the car is not ours) and some of the woods. I think the woodsy one is a view through the trees down to the pond.

I'm going to add some more pictures of Dallin and Luna at Poppy's Pumpkin Patch.

Time to pack and load

Today we pack up our stuff and head back to Norfolk.

I've been looking at houses for sale in Norfolk on the internet and sometimes I'm ready to ride by one when I remember I'm not there yet. Isn't it interesting how we can be someplace in our minds like that?

My friend Teresa is really glad we're going back. I missed her too.

Another weird thing is that Norfolk feels more like home to me now than Utah does.

I'll always be a Utah girl but I do love Nebraska.

Hi Andrea! Love ya!

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Well, you know how some weeks are more interesting than others? This is one of those weeks.

First, we made an offer on a house here in Atlantic. It is charming, and large, and beautiful. It's house number is 1823 and we made the offer on 9-23 (1+8-23). We offered 167, 600 (our first apartment's address). They countered with 175,000. We decided to counter counter the next morning.

Well, the next morning, the job fell through.

So, we're going back to Norfolk. I'm sad about the job, but I'm happy about Norfolk.

Somehow I think we're supposed to live in Norfolk. This is the third time this has happened.

So everybody send a positive thought for Dave, please.

But it's all good.

See you in Nebraska!

Vacation to Arkansas

We made it to Arkansas! It rained most of the way here (leftovers from Ike, I guess), but we had no problems.

Natalie and Alex have grown so much and are as charming and smart and cute and wonderful and delightful as can be.

I discovered I have one reader of my blog. Andrea, are you there?

I posted some pictures, finally. I think I'll work to improve my blog, now that I have a readership.

I'm starting to see a purpose for this blog. What if I tell my family about it and they can keep up with me this way?

Our big news for today is that Dave got a job in Atlantic, Iowa with a company called Mahle, which makes bushings and bearings for heavy-duty drive chains. He'll be a quality engineer and starts work on Monday, July 28.

So, looks like we're moving to Atlantic. In fact, we're in Atlantic now, looking for a place to live.

It's pretty.

Also, there's a branch of the church here with a brand-new building.

I guess we're off on a new adventure.

What do I want to say, anyway?

You know what the hardest part of starting a blog is? Starting. What on earth do I want to say, anyway? Even more inhibiting, what would anyone else want to read?

I don't know. But everybody has a blog, right? And actually, I suppose it's a good way to stay in touch, showcase hobbies, and make friends. I'll give it a try.

So hello. If you've come here to look at cards, I'm going to post some. If you've come because you know me, I'll try to entertain. If you got here by accident, sorry.