Haefan, aka "Tiny Awesome": sleeping, and too small to type.
Jeydan, aka "JJ": rrrrrrrrrrerrerrrdxrdfrxtctrcygtctcttdr
Kaelan, aka "Awesome": hjikijo9iiio['kl''k,,m,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, llllllllllooooojuy677777777gtttttd
Lathan, aka "Guy": i love the beach.
Griselda, aka "hot mama": I love my boys. And California. And vacation. And summer. And the beach. And the outdoor lap pool. And family in the same state. And swim lessons. And air conditioning. And Daddy on vacation. And my Michigan neighbors. And my facebook friends. And so many other things...
Dave, aka "Bald Daddy": I love my family time. Spent more time with my kids in the last few weeks than I have spent in a long time. Went fishing with my boys twice. Got some left over poison ivy from my fishing vest that I evidently brought with me from Michigan. Good times. Swam the lake twice. Have been swimming / beaching at least 4-5 days a week. Went biking without fearing for my life. Except for when I was attacked by a yellow jacket that happened to find a vent in my helmet while I was flying down a hill at 35 mph. Not a great experience. Imagine trying to kill a yellowjacket that is biting you while breaking, avoiding getting hit by cars all without crashing. Fun times. Went hiking with my boys on the american river. Loving it here.
I have a friend who posted this on her blog a while back and I think it's fantastic. A great showing of our missionaries that I hope our boys can look to as something great to look forward to:
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
IS THIS REAL?????
We are poaching wireless internet services here at our rental home and so I will make this quick in the case that I get kicked off...
First, we officially get connected with our own service this coming Friday - apparently the one and only internet provider here was "busy" until then. So that means that we've been without the WWW for a MONTH!!! Unheard of, right? Well, our new Blackberry Storms saved the day (or month, rather). We've been able to keep up with important emails and bills and family letters. But posting and updating people outside of Facebook has been nearly impossible since I have almost no one's info on the phone. Anyway, back to business...
REALLY QUICK run-down of the past month:
*We moved our stuff out of the Michigan house one week early and camped out at home in sleeping bags. Our neighbor saved us with a few pots and pans, towels, and baby crib.
*The moving process was a traumatic one. The packers did an ok job, from what we could tell; but we still can't find the bed sheets and mattress covers that are essential (we've since bought the stuff so we could move out of our sleeping bags). The movers, on the other hand, were a disaster. They didn't break anything that we really cared about, so that was a plus. They did forget about half the linen closet (how do you get just half???) so we spent $100 to ship some of it via UPS and then spent another extra $50 to check bags on the plane with the other stuff (and that was with a discount!). Then with the remainder, we gave to our good friends, the Joneses, since they are moving only about an hour away and the military was moving them for free. Fun, right?
*We went a few days later to Cedar Point (a REALLY awesome amusement park). I went on the one and only coaster again that has ever made me shriek with real fear and loved it (the fear was gone, though, sadly); but discovered a new one that really got my heart racing, so I have a new favorite. It was AWESOME, but the line was too long to go more than once.
*We returned back to our empty home, gave away all of our food items and miscellaneous stuff that wasn't packed (detergent, cleaning supplies, etc.) and sold the other stuff on Craigslist. Then had all the carpets cleaned. With the nightmare of obtaining our rental van over with, we returned it without drama (sort of) at the airport. But as we were leaving, a HUGE storm hit the area and it was as dark as night at 2pm. We couldn't drive very fast because the rain was pounding so hard and there was literally some flash flooding on the streets (which isn't all that common in MI). Then I saw some street lights without power and hoped that our neighborhood was safe from disaster.
*The flight was pretty uneventful, thankfully. We arrived at the hotel right off of the Sacramento Airport at about 5am Eastern time, so we were bushed. My dad brought over our already delivered van and dropped it off there at the hotel so we made our way to Auburn by about 10am. We enjoyed a day at the beach without any stuff at the house that very day. So nice to relax.
*Our stuff came the next morning and the men dropped an overwhelming amount of boxes in various parts of the house. We haven't been able to locate a lot of different things, but nothing that we can't really live without (apart from the sheets!). They broke a few items, one of them being a leg on my favorite dining table ever. I'm ok with all of it, but that doesn't mean I won't be filing claims for every last item. They did a poor job from start to finish and I won't be letting it slide. I'm just glad that I should never have to move again. Even when it's all done for you, it's still a pain.
*We are in a nice rental that is about 2000 sq ft; but with no basement, we are very short on space for our stuff. Most everything is in the garage that isn't essential. So our cars are getting cooked everyday in the beautiful California sunshine...
*If you didn't already know, we put an offer on a beautiful house about 2 months ago, but we couldn't come to an agreement and so nothing came of it. Well, since being here, we looked at another potential home and decided that the one we offered on was really the best one for us and the one we really wanted - by a long shot. So we put another offer in this last Wednesday and offerred a little more for it this time, but said THIS IS IT. Take it or leave it. Well, they took it! So we are on our way to getting our dream home. We put for a longer closing because we have a 3-month deal at our current place. We are so excited. So much change and messes to straighten up with so many boxes, etc, but we are looking forward to decluttering these next few months and having the time of our lives! I'll post some pics in a few days...
First, we officially get connected with our own service this coming Friday - apparently the one and only internet provider here was "busy" until then. So that means that we've been without the WWW for a MONTH!!! Unheard of, right? Well, our new Blackberry Storms saved the day (or month, rather). We've been able to keep up with important emails and bills and family letters. But posting and updating people outside of Facebook has been nearly impossible since I have almost no one's info on the phone. Anyway, back to business...
REALLY QUICK run-down of the past month:
*We moved our stuff out of the Michigan house one week early and camped out at home in sleeping bags. Our neighbor saved us with a few pots and pans, towels, and baby crib.
*The moving process was a traumatic one. The packers did an ok job, from what we could tell; but we still can't find the bed sheets and mattress covers that are essential (we've since bought the stuff so we could move out of our sleeping bags). The movers, on the other hand, were a disaster. They didn't break anything that we really cared about, so that was a plus. They did forget about half the linen closet (how do you get just half???) so we spent $100 to ship some of it via UPS and then spent another extra $50 to check bags on the plane with the other stuff (and that was with a discount!). Then with the remainder, we gave to our good friends, the Joneses, since they are moving only about an hour away and the military was moving them for free. Fun, right?
*We went a few days later to Cedar Point (a REALLY awesome amusement park). I went on the one and only coaster again that has ever made me shriek with real fear and loved it (the fear was gone, though, sadly); but discovered a new one that really got my heart racing, so I have a new favorite. It was AWESOME, but the line was too long to go more than once.
*We returned back to our empty home, gave away all of our food items and miscellaneous stuff that wasn't packed (detergent, cleaning supplies, etc.) and sold the other stuff on Craigslist. Then had all the carpets cleaned. With the nightmare of obtaining our rental van over with, we returned it without drama (sort of) at the airport. But as we were leaving, a HUGE storm hit the area and it was as dark as night at 2pm. We couldn't drive very fast because the rain was pounding so hard and there was literally some flash flooding on the streets (which isn't all that common in MI). Then I saw some street lights without power and hoped that our neighborhood was safe from disaster.
*The flight was pretty uneventful, thankfully. We arrived at the hotel right off of the Sacramento Airport at about 5am Eastern time, so we were bushed. My dad brought over our already delivered van and dropped it off there at the hotel so we made our way to Auburn by about 10am. We enjoyed a day at the beach without any stuff at the house that very day. So nice to relax.
*Our stuff came the next morning and the men dropped an overwhelming amount of boxes in various parts of the house. We haven't been able to locate a lot of different things, but nothing that we can't really live without (apart from the sheets!). They broke a few items, one of them being a leg on my favorite dining table ever. I'm ok with all of it, but that doesn't mean I won't be filing claims for every last item. They did a poor job from start to finish and I won't be letting it slide. I'm just glad that I should never have to move again. Even when it's all done for you, it's still a pain.
*We are in a nice rental that is about 2000 sq ft; but with no basement, we are very short on space for our stuff. Most everything is in the garage that isn't essential. So our cars are getting cooked everyday in the beautiful California sunshine...
*If you didn't already know, we put an offer on a beautiful house about 2 months ago, but we couldn't come to an agreement and so nothing came of it. Well, since being here, we looked at another potential home and decided that the one we offered on was really the best one for us and the one we really wanted - by a long shot. So we put another offer in this last Wednesday and offerred a little more for it this time, but said THIS IS IT. Take it or leave it. Well, they took it! So we are on our way to getting our dream home. We put for a longer closing because we have a 3-month deal at our current place. We are so excited. So much change and messes to straighten up with so many boxes, etc, but we are looking forward to decluttering these next few months and having the time of our lives! I'll post some pics in a few days...
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