Halloween

Halloween was exciting this year because we got to dress Abby up in a cute costume. She wasn't super thrilled about it but we loved it. We did a little neighborhood get together in a friend's yard and had games and food and a costume contest. Abby is the ladybug(of course), I am the man with the amazing facial hair and Scott is the blond pregnant woman. We won the best costume award by a landslide.

Santa?

Christmas  this year has just been so different than what I am used to. We thought we would have closed and moved into the house by now and so I decided to put off decorating for Christmas because I didn't want to have to decorate twice and try to move a tree. But, over the weekend we visited my in-laws and I while sitting next to their Christmas tree I finally felt like it was Christmas. So, two days ago I got out our little Christmas tree and decorated it and put up the nativity yesterday and it has made a huge difference. I can feel that sparkle in the air, that little extra zing that just means Christmas. I can hardly believe Christmas is this weekend!
A couple weekends ago we took abby to the mall in Provo and Santa was there. Scott took Abby up the stairs behind Santa to sit on Santa's lap. When they came around the side of Santa and Scott set her on his lap and she looked up at his face this was the instant response followed by a frantic attempt to climb off his lap accompanied by screams of terror...

Priceless, right?

Finals are over!

I haven't posted in a while (it isn't my greatest strength) but yesterday I met someone who has inspired me to update the blog a little bit.( I stalk her blog but had never met her in person :) So, here goes...
I needed to finish one more class this semester in order to qualify for the Bachelor of General Studies Program at BYU. My transfer credits will count toward the final degree but not towards getting accepted, I have to have a certain number of credits at the BYU-Provo campus to get in. So, I signed up for a class that is offered on campus but also with an online option which appealed to me. If you know me very well at all you know that I am a horrible procrastinator (or maybe a great procrastinator since I am so good at it ;) and so I ended up doing the entire class in a week and a half. My poor family was terribly neglected but they survived. Abby is still going through some attachment issues since I didn't get the chance to spend much time with her while cramming and taking quizzes and tests. But, in the end I finished the class with a B, which feels pretty good considering the circumstances. I can slowly feel the stress leaving my body!
The house is continuing to progress towards closing and we are just crossing our fingers that we can close and settle in time to clean the house, move in and clean our apartment.  We  can hardly wait to have a place of our own.

Buying a house!

Some of you may heard rumors that we have been trying to buy a house. And yes, those rumors are true. A few months ago Scott saw a house online that was for sale in our neighborhood that he liked. I looked at the pictures and took Abby for a walk to go see what the outside and yard looked like. I fell in love immediately. We walked through the house and the love only deepened. Not only did the love deepen but the realtor told us that the house qualified for a down payment grant for certain neighborhoods that are considered somewhat historic that the city wants to upgrade and have families live in instead of renters. That only sweetened the deal for us. We had to attend 6 hours of classes with the city where you learn all about mortgages and lending, buying a house and the paperwork involved and what to look for, etc... It was a lot of information and it felt like information overload at the end of each 3 hour session but it was invaluable information. You also attend a one on one budget counseling session with a counselor before you get a certificate saying you graduated from the class and can apply for the grant. I would recommend this class to anyone who wants to ever own their own home, no matter how far in the future it may seem.
We looked at house again with Scott's parents who liked it. Eventually we decided to put in an offer and discovered that they had dropped the price of the house the day before we met with our realtor and wrote an offer. The process has been very drawn out and frustrating over the last two and a half weeks(it's an estate sale)but we finally were able to get the seller to sign an offer yesterday! So, we are under contract and now have to get an inspection, etc... to find out what condition the house is really in. After a trip to the county offices and some time spend looking through the big books of old records written by hand in spidery cursive we discovered the previous owners had lived there since 1965. So, the house definitely needs some updating. We are pretty excited about the idea of owning our own house.  So, we hope to be moved in by the new year if everything works out with the inspection, grant, etc..!

The nice backyard was another draw for us.

The house has a lot of character! I don't know if you can tell from the pictures but it has a round door and cove ceilings. It is on a little over an eighth of an acre and 2,000 square feet. There is a bedroom and a den upstairs (it's really a bedroom but the closet is outside the bedroom door) and two bedrooms in the basement. The basement is half finished and that was done at least 50 years ago so it needs a major update! It will be nice to eventually get a washer and dryer in the basement so I won't have to lug our laundry and Abby to the laundromat and try to corral her while doing laundry. There is a detached garage which will nice for all of our outdoor equipment.

First Snow!

This past Saturday we all went up the canyon for a little hike to see the first snow of the season. We drove up until the road turned to dirt and then drove some more. I think our Corolla must have been a jeep in a prior life; it seems to get us there no matter the conditions. This time it was mud that would rival some of the meanest looking rally car courses! (for those concerned for our safety, even though it looked like a rally course, we drove more like it was a drivers ed practice area.)

We found a spot and went for a walk up to the top of near-by hill and enjoyed the view. There is something so refreshing about going for a walk in nature; the crisp fall air, getting away from the rush of the city, making memories with the people that mean most to me. It was a lot of fun! It gets me excited for winter to make it's entrance; we just got some snowshoes to help us keep hiking through the coming season.

We also got to test out the new Abby carrying backpack! I left the canopy that came with it back at home but with a little on-the-fly engineering, we were able to keep the sprinkles off our smallest adventurer.

Medicine Cabinet Storage

Our medicine cabinet has never been very organized and I have been on the lookout for a solution that would store our miscellaneous medical supplies in a way that would make it easy to find what you are looking for in a hurry. Lately I have been feeling more urgent about getting everything organized. I received several suggestions that I considered. Some suggestions included a fishing tackle box, small plastic boxes with labels, an over the door shoe organizer and turntables. The over the door shoe organizer was at the top of my list because I liked the smallish compartments that were see through and it would be within eyesight. The problem with that is that Abby is cruising around the walls and furniture and would be able to pull on it and take things out. I contemplated cutting one in half and double hanging it from the top so there would be two layers but it seemed like more work than I was looking for and not the most ideal solution. While at Walmart looking at what my options could be I stumbled across an item that I ended up purchasing and using. I still need to label each pocket but for the moment I am pretty happy with this solution.

I like that it spins around so I can access everything. The pockets are small enough that I can compartmentalize things the way I like it to be. The large shelves in the middle store larger items such as our heating pad, etc...

First Teeth!

Poor Abby has had a hard time lately. When I took her to her 9 month check up they discovered an ear infection (which explained a LOT of things) and put her on antibiotics. Well, antibiotics do some great things and also have some side affects that are not so pleasant for the one changing the multitude of stinky diapers every day. BUT, she made it through all right and then over the weekend started getting super cranky and chewing on things, sucking on ice cubes in her self feeder, etc... On Tuesday I discovered not one but two teeth! The one on bottom is a little farther out than the one on the top. They finally broke through her gums and stuck around. For months they have been moving around and Abby's NP thought she would have teeth by 6 months but she waited until she's almost 10 months. The last day or two she has been chewing on spoons and clicking the spoon between her teeth, up and down and up and down...
Abby hasn't mastered the art of the classic crawl but for the last month or so she has become very proficient at the booty scoot or the monkey crawl. She puts one foot in front of her, scoots the other leg forward a little and pulls herself forward. It's hard to explain but it's oh so cute! And she's quite speedy, especially if the front door or the refrigerator door is open.
I will include some recent pictures of Abby, Scott and I...