moving in and some Serendipity

I felt so loved Friday night!  The escrow officer called us at 4:30 saying we could be in the house.  By 5 I had enlisted my brother Andy, my sister Amy, my parents and ron in our cause.  We got to the house by about 6.  By about 9 we hade everything in the house, had the girls in bed and were eating KFC provided by Ron and Gail.  It was quick, easy and amazing.

Now the work begins!  I've never been in a dirtier house, which is rough for me since I've spent the past year in the Taj Mahal of apartments.  Oh well, I've just got to take it one step at a time.  Yesterday morning rich and I woke up at 4 or 5.  I guess we were too excited to unpack.  We unpacked everything and rich started to mow the lawn.  Then we headed over to ron's to finish cleaning.  My visiting teacher Sarah Windes met me there.  Gail watched the kids while we cleaned.  They gave us our deposit back in full!

Rachel made us lunch.  Then we headed home to put Julia down.  anna and I went and got milk at smiths (within walking distance! but we drove).  Then I started cleaning like crazy while the girls played and watched movies.  At about bedtime I was trying to clean the guest bathroom.  It had some major hard water deposits that were yellow (nasty!).  I scrubbed and scrubbed with lime away and was about to meltdown point (I'd been cleaning all day!).  Richard was so sensitive and he looked up online what he needed to do - went to home depot - got supplies - and cleaned the toilets for me.  That's love.  And it's also why I married Richard, he's good a solving problems for me.

Today (sunday) has been a welcome day of relaxation.  It was pretty crazy.  We went to church and felt so welcomed.  Tons of people said hello and welcomed us.  The girls went to primary and nursery without one drop of fear!  It was very unexpected (and wonderful).  I sat next to girl named Julia in relief society.  She somehow figured out that I am Rachel Mitchell's friend and she is Rachel Mitchell's sister in law.  So, the baby that we watch - spencer - is her nephew.  And it goes a step further - she used to live in our house!  We bought the home from her inlaws and she was living in the basement before they put it on the market. 

Serendipity is in the title because I've offered the basement to Rachel and Jaren.   I don't like having a big empty basement.  But I have no desire to rent it to strangers!  Maybe since his sister lived there they will be more likely to want to?  Richard also saw a kid from Vernal in our ward.  Also, Richard was talking to his boss last week, and he grew up on our street!  My boss grew up on the street behind us.  It's just been pretty wild moving to this house, the world just seems so small.

Here are the things I love about the house so far:
dimple dell park in walking distance (miles of nature trails)
walking distance to library
nice neighbors (the entire RS presidency lives in sight, ward choir is next door every Sunday...you get the idea)
it's so quiet you can hear the breeze blowing through the leaves - it makes me feel like I'm in the mountains
garage (we both have black cars, that's really bad in the summer when you don't have a garage)
our own bathroom.
I took a bath!  For the first time in a year!
sidewalks (we went for a walk this afternoon)
front porch (I sat out there and talked ont he phone this afternoon)
functional kitchen with stainless steel sink

the list goes on - but I'm tired and going to bed

Here's some of my major to do's this week:
wash windows
After carpets are cleaned (Tuesday 8am) move everything into the rooms and organize
wash all doors and walls
clean fridge and behind fridge (and oven! and washer! and dryer!)

 Did I mention we walked to the library Friday night?

 At 5:30 and stayed until closing at 6 pm.

 anna was dying to go.

 then we walked to an Indian restaurant.  yes, we walked there.

 We have been learning about india this month.  anna will tell you all about it.  she was thrilled to eat at this restaurant.  she chose mango chicken - but she hardly ate it because she filled up on NAAN.  so did I!  Actually I ordered Aloo Paratha because I've made it before and wondered what it should taste like.  mine was better.

 this morning we had French toast.  notice the LIGHT coming in from the window above the sink.

 bathroom.  Julia loves that she can climb on the toilet and get into mischief on the sink.

 anna's dancing room.  this and the blue carpeted room in the basement are anna's favorites.

 Julia's room.

 anna's room.

 our room.

 kitchen

garage.  thank heavens for the garage.