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.