Our 6th Wedding Anniversary

I know it was crazy for us to get married a week before Christmas, and that December was a terrible month to be outside for pictures in Nauvoo, Illinois.  However, that was the day we chose to get married, and now 6 years later, Mark and I couldn't be happier together.  Sure, there are tough times, but we work through them together, and the Lord has always put us on the right path...somehow.

This past Saturday was a really nice day.  It would have been better if I got to sleep in, but with a baby that refuses to sleep in himself, that was just not going to happen. I wasn't sure if I wanted Mark to open his gift at our date out, or at home...but I decided that I couldn't wait any longer.  So after we ate breakfast we exchanged gifts.  He knew that I spent several many hours working on this present, but Mark wasn't really planning on getting gifts for each other this year.  So I told him that all I wanted was for him to do something romantic... it didn't matter if it didn't cost anything.  Well, he totally pulled through.  It was simple, but it made me cry.  He had written a short paragraph telling me how much he appreciated being married to me and then listed 10 things that he loved about me.  (Just so you know, he actually told me that it was a much longer paragraph, and the list was originally about 35 things, but he couldn't get it to look good on one page.  So he had to crop it and take out all the funny parts and just make it more serious.)  He used my scrapbooking software and printed it out onto card stock, and then he rolled it up like a scroll and tied a ribbon around.

 It was very sweet.  It made me cry! :-D

Then it was his turn to open my gift:

I took his box of pictures from him mission, contacted his mom for any other materials I needed from his mission, and I went through all his mission stuff to find anything that I could to make it a great scrapbook. I even covered the binder all by myself with that Chinese fabric I bought at Joann's. 

 I started working on it General Conference weekend, and I finished it with about a week or so to spare.  I was so excited when I finished it, and I think he was pretty pleased with it.  In fact, after he looked through it for the first time, I saw that he was a bit teary-eyed. YES!!  That's what I was going for!  He thought it was such a great present that he went and got a couple Christmas presents from under the tree to give to me as my anniversary gift instead.  "They were gifts that put me over budget on what I was supposed to spend on you for Christmas, but if I give them to you for our anniversary, then I'm not going over budget on Christmas!  Besides, these are the best ones to give for an anniversary anyway!"  He got me those Dead Sea Mineral Body Scrub and Nail Pampering Kit.  I was really excited because I knew that I really like that kind of stuff, but I wouldn't ever spend the money to buy it for myself.  That was a really great idea to give me!  Woohoo!  He felt like he had to make up the difference because my gift was so much better than his.  Whatever!  I'm was just so happy that really appreciated that gift.  (In fact, he liked it so much that he wanted to bring it to Church to show off...which he did...as did I!  We are both so excited about how well it turned out!)  Check out the slideshow on the right sidebar to get a closer look at the scrapbook. (Sorry for the glare in most of the pictures, but the camera will never be a good substitute for seeing it in person.)

 Mark and I had talked all week about what we might want to do for our anniversary this year to celebrate, but it wasn't until that day that we finally just made a decision and ran with it.  Our friend Laura Hawley from our ward had us watching her daughter the day before, so she was happy to watch Canon while we went out to eat.  We left as soon as we could to eat at Texas Roadhouse.  It was a great meal, and the waiter was just dandy, but the wait to sit down took too long.  We ended up missing the showtime for the movie we wanted by about a 1/2 hour.  The next showing of anything that we might have been interested in wasn't for another 1 1/2 hours.  Also, Mark was starting to feel a bit tired, and we had a Netflix movie waiting to be watched at home already, so we just decided to not spend any more money and just go home. Besides, cuddling on the couch is so much more comfortable than those seats at the theater...even on our awful couches.  We had dinner and a movie, and didn't have to worry about the responsibility of putting the baby to bed.  What a great night!

Thanks for a great night, honey, and for an amazing 6 years!  I love you!  Let's do it again next year! :-D

November Went by Too Quickly, And December Is Halfway Over!!!

I apologize to all those who were sitting on the edge of your seats... waiting for Kat to update her blog.  November really got away from me, more or less, I just didn't find time to go online.  In all honesty, once Canon turned 1 year old at the beginning of the month, he started working on the whole "walking" thing for real.  A week later he was actually walking, and he's been keeping me on my toes ever since.

Also, I've been spending all (and I mean ALL) my spare time (an no, evenings with Mark don't count as my spare time) working on a "secret project."  Okay, okay!  So it's really only been a secret from Mark.  There are a ton of people from our ward and family who know what I've been doing, but I can't mention it here... not until after this weekend.  If you can, wait a week for me to post  about it on the blog.  However, if you're dying to know, just give me a call.   Our 6th wedding anniversary is this Saturday, and I spent hours and hours on the gift I am giving him.  I started working on it the weekend of General Conference, and it took me 2 months to complete.

There have been a few wonderful events that have happened since Halloween that are worth mentioning.  Canon's birthday came and went, and we had a really fun party for him (and that was posted on the baby blog in a timely manner... unlike this post).  Later in the month came Thanksgiving.  We were hoping to be able to host this year since we didn't host last year because Canon was only 3 weeks old.  Well, we ended up not finding anyone who didn't already have plans and were happy to accept an invitation to our former neighbors' place- the Stoutenburgs.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with their friends.  Canon had a few new people to play with, which he absolutely loved.  Mark had new people to talk sports and politics with, which he seemed to love too.  And I truly appreciated a chance to get together with a group of people who were of devout faith, but not part of my own religion.  It was great to be able to share my testimony with those who were open to hear what I had to say.  Thanksgiving this year was a day to reflect on the blessings I've been given, and I gained a new appreciation for the blessings of the Gospel, my country, and my family.

Then, early in December there was a FABULOUS weekly special on Delta.com.  Mark's mother and Aunt Colette were able to fly out here for a weekend.  It truly was a whirlwind of a visit, but it was amazing to have them here.  We did a ton of Christmas shopping to be able to send our gifts with them instead of paying for shipping them to Utah. We had so much fun with them that I pretty much forgot to take any pictures.  I took a  bunch while Colette was cutting Canon's hair (his very first haircut ever!!), but that was it. Sad! :(  Thank you so much for the lovely visit.  It just makes us more homesick for family to be around.

Once all that was over it was time to prepare for the Ward Christmas Party.  Technically my calling has been disbanded by the leadership of the Church, but since we already had this party in the works, the bishopric decided to let me run with it for this event.  We held our ward party on Dec. 10th, and it was a pretty successful event.  We had over 150 people for our ham dinner, and our Variety Show had over 25 acts.  It went a little long, but the whole ward seemed to really enjoy themselves.  We also featured a Giving Tree for the ward.  For 2 weeks or so, the ward has an opportunity to serve each other by picking an ornament with a gift idea, purchasing that gift and giving it to the bishop, who would then distribute those gifts to the people in the ward.

As of right now, we're getting ready for our anniversary celebration this Saturday, and then it's Christmas!!  I'm sure there will be more posts soon.  Until then, enjoy the holiday spirit of Christmas!

Halloween Craziness

Ok, I'm so sorry to say that I did NOT get any pictures of our costumes.  I'm the Activities Chairman for our ward, so I was the one in charge for our Halloween party.  We did a Trunk-or-Treat, and I was busy the whole night, trying to make sure that all of the stations were taken care of and that things were running smoothly.  So I never got around to taking any pictures.  Canon went as Tigger and I was dressed in my Queen of Hearts Card costume (that I've used almost every year since Senior year of high school).  Mark was going to dress up, but then when he made to get ready, he discovered that he no longer had a particular black shirt anymore... so that costume wasn't going to work.  So... he just carried around the little Tigger all night instead.  Today for church I thought it would be inappropriate for Canon to be dressed as Tigger, but we did dress him in a black turtle neck and black pants and attached a white sticker rectangle to his collar.  He was a priest.  I figured, although maybe breeching sacrilegious, it was more appropriate for church attendance. (I'll include a picture of Canon in his Tigger costume to the baby blog within the next couple days.  Stay posted!)

The Trunk-or-Treat activity was a total hit!  It was my first activity since I was called, and I really only had a couple weeks to put it all together.  I had a couple volunteers to be part of my committee, and it all turned out GREAT!  We did a donut-eating contest, a cookie-decorating station with sugar cookies and frosting and sprinkles, and a "Ghost Busters" game which was a fishing game where the kids fished for a ghost tootsie pop on their hooks.  We had prizes, candy, balloons, and a huge crowd.  Tons of people told me that I did a great job pulling it all together, so I feel confident that the ward appreciated the effort put into it.  It's been a really crazy week leading up to last night, and it was really quite fun... but I think I've asked too much from Canon with all the driving I've had to do to get all the materials... skipped naps are no fun for a little one.  Now that it's all over and done, I hope to have a more calm week and focus on giving Canon lots of attention.

Oh, and now that it's Halloween, that means that Canon's first birthday is tomorrow.  Can you believe it?!?!?  Canon is a WHOLE YEAR old now... tomorrow!  I can hardly believe it!  I'm going to make a little post on his blog tomorrow, but we're having his birthday party on Nov. 6th.  This way we were able to get some friends from Boston to join us too!  I'm looking forward to a time to catch up with people.  Yay for birthdays!

Happy Halloween, and Happy Birthday to Canon!

Who's the Turkey Now?

So on Thursday of last week I went upstairs to get Canon from his nap.  I looked out the window and saw something that made my jaw drop.  I ran with Canon down the stairs to hurry and get the camera to take pictures to prove what I saw.  I really couldn't believe my eyes.

That's right.  I saw LIVE TURKEYS just strutting down my sidewalk.  I would've taken more pictures, but my battery died... or the memory card was full... one or the other.  But seriously!!  I was about ready to call the local news to tell them about it, thinking maybe they had escaped from a local petting zoo or something and this call would help them locate the missing turkeys.  I didn't have time to look up the phone number on the internet because I had to leave to go pick up Mark from work.  Oh well, next time, I guess!

I was super excited about it, and when I showed Mark the pictures he was just as amused.  That night I went to book club and showed the hostess the pictures on my camera, and do you know how she responded?  "Oh, yeah that's cool.  Wild turkeys are all over these parts.  Didn't you know?  One year on the Sunday after Thanksgiving there was a whole flock of them at the church building strutting their stuff."

Ok, so I guess it wasn't that impressive afterall.  Maybe it's a good thing I didn't call the news station, huh?  I just never figured that there were wild turkeys anymore.  I assumed they were all domesticated and bred on farms these days.  Guess I'm the big turkey now! *blushes*

Road Trip

Last week Mark had an interview for a federal clerkship in Bay City, Michigan.  The cheapest way to get there would be for him to drive, so we decided to make a family vacation out of it.  We could've driven north and gone through Canada to make the drive shorter, but with Canon that would be a big hassle since he really doesn't have any ID to get through customs.  So, we decided to go visit Mark's uncle in Ohio instead.  It only added a couple hours to the total drive, and I got to hang out at his house while Mark drove the rest of the way for his interview.

Here are some highlights from the trip:

The long drive there was really hard on Canon.  He skipped his afternoon nap and got really fussy in the car.  At about 8pm he just crashed.  I was trying to prop his head up with the monkey (like a pillow) so that he wouldn't get a sore neck.  After being soooo fussy, I thought that his sleeping was extra cute!

Canon loved playing around in the "wide open spaces" of a new house.  So much to explore!

We went with Uncle Andy and cousins Erica and Trevar to see their old neighborhood and where Andy works, and then to run some errands.  Erica got to sit by the baby, and he really loved the attention.

  

We found this fun raccoon hat with all their toys... need I say more?

  

We all got to meet their goats and watch how the family feeds, milks, and otherwise takes care of them.  It was fun in the barn!

I got to help milk 2 of the goats.  It was a bit trickier than I expected... but pretty fun too.  After I finished, Oreo kicked the container and spilled about half of what we just got out of her.  I felt so bad because I figured it was my fault.  At least she didn't step IN the milk, but still!  *sighs

Canon did enjoy the goats, but this video doesn't quite do it justice.

Friday night we went to watch Trevar play in the marching band at the high school football game.  (Go, Trevar!!) Erica really liked playing with the baby while we were there, but I could tell that Canon was getting super tired.  I made them all leave the game early so I could put Canon to bed.  It was fun while it lasted though! Mark wasn't too thrilled about missing the last quarter.  I think he was getting into the game. :)

On Saturday we drove out to Kirtland, OH to see the Church History sites.  We went to the visitors' center and watched the totally awesome movie about the early saints in the area.  We toured the N.K. Whitney General Store, the Whitney Home, the Saw Mill and the Ashery, the Kirtland Temple owned by the Community of Christ and their visitors' center, and then finally the John Johnson Farm.  I have to say that I really enjoyed the LDS sites more than the Community of Christ sites, but I tribute that to the Spirit that you feel.  The LDS sites all have missionaries baring their testimonies, and you really get a feel for the sacred nature of the site.  Touring the Kirtland Temple was really cool, but everything seemed too fact-based.  They really didn't focus on the sacred nature of the events that took place or testify of their beliefs.  However, it was very organized and the tour guides were very nice people.

Here are some pictures from Kirtland, OH.

      

 

Canon fell asleep during the video they show before touring the Kirtland Temple.  His nap was way overdue, so I was glad.  He slept in Mark's arms all the way through the temple and into the last room, the inner court.  It was there that Mark said his arms were shaking and he needed to hand him over to me.  Well, the transfer woke him up, but at least he was a happy baby.

  

We then drove to the John Johnson Farm.  It was really nice to tour that old home too.  Check out the feather painting she had done on the doors and other woodwork throughout the house.  Pretty cool, huh?

By the end, Canon was getting pretty restless.  He was happy, yet pretty loud and distracting while the missionaries were trying to share their testimonies.  Mark said that the elder who spoke there at the end bore a really nice testimony.  Honestly, I didn't notice a word he said because I was trying to not be embarrassed by the rowdy pre-toddler. *blushes

But we got a family portrait in front on the very step where Joseph Smith, Jr. preached after he was tarred and feathered. Mark's grandparents served a mission being tour guides of this very house.  So, Grandma and Grandpa Smith, this one's for you!

We left to come back home on Sunday.  It was a very fun little vacation, and we were so grateful to Uncle Andy and Aunt Cindy for welcoming us into their home for a few days.  It was so fun to see their home and animals.  It was great to see you guys!  Let's hope it won't be too long before we see them again!

Andy and Cindy 

  Trevar

 

We can't forget Belle, the first animal that Canon actually warmed-up to.  She was a fun little dog.

Thanks for everything!  We love you!  (Sorry, there isn't a good picture of Erica... but I did get her in a couple videos.) 

P.S. We found out this afternoon that Mark did not get the job in  Bay City, Michigan.  Oh well!  It was still worth it!

A... let's call it "different"... Kind of Morning

So this morning, like most mornings, I woke up to get Canon dressed and ready for the day before taking Mark to work.  Sometimes I wait to feed Canon (and myself) breakfast until after we get back because of time.  However, this morning I wanted to see if I could finish feeding Canon breakfast beforehand.  Well, I ended up having Mark drive so that I could finish feeding him in the car on the way, which is fine... but I was starting to get hungry because I didn't eat.  I can wait though... it only takes about 1/2 hour total to drop Mark off.

All of the morning seemed fine and good- Mark was at work on time, I had a mental note of things I wanted to get done before picking him back up after work, and I had just gotten home and was thinking about what I would eat for breakfast.  I turned off the car, got out and opened the back door to get Canon.  Since Canon always likes to play with my keys, I put them in my pocket after locking the car doors because I knew that he'd put up a fight when I wanted to unlock the house door to get inside.  I got Canon out, shut the door and started for the house, reaching into my pocket to get the keys.  What?!?  No keys?  I looked in the car, there they were, sitting in the back seat.  They had fallen out of my pocket... after I locked the doors.  So I was locked out the house, with my keys locked in the car, and I didn't know what to do.

My first instinct was to call Mark, maybe he'd think of something intelligent and resourceful.  He suggested I call the landlord (Liz) to let me in the house and that maybe he'd be able to get a ride home from work.  Well, she didn't answer her phone.  (In fact, Liz didn't return the message until about 3pm today.)  I called a couple (the Hawleys) who are supposed to be hosting us for dinner tonight.  I got the husband who was at work and told him that I wanted to confirm our dinner appointment.  He told me he'd have his wife call me, and I was hoping that it was going to be right away.  (It's almost 4pm now and I still haven't heard from her.) I then called someone else whose number I had in my phone, but she didn't answer.  I asked a nice little old lady (Marie Moll- a neighbor) who was walking down the street if she'd be able to help me get to the courthouse where my husband was working so that I could get his key, but she was on her way to an appointment.  (She seemed genuinely concerned, but she's quite nervous about driving downtown.  She wanted to help but didn't have the time this morning.)  There was a couple from our ward that I wanted to call (the Stephensons), but I never programmed her number into my phone, so I couldn't reach them.  After a little while and a feeling of desperation crept on me, I started flipping through my cell's address book.  I came across someone I thought might be able to help (Callie Jennings) since I knew she was still looking for a job.  When I called her, she told me her husband had their vehicle at work, but that I should give Brooke Stephenson (the one whose number I didn't have in my phone but wanted to call) a try.  She had their phone number right there on her refrigerator, so I was able to get it from her.  Turns out, Eric Stephenson was able to stop by the courthouse and get the key from Mark and drop it off here at my house on his way in to work.  Eric said it wasn't too far out of his way, and he seemed happy to be able to help.  What a relief!!

I was in the front yard with Canon for about an hour by the time I was finally able to get into the house.  I was somewhat nervous and frazzled, but Canon wasn't any the wiser.  He just had a grand time playing in the grass and dirt, "walking" around the whole yard and up and down the sidewalk.  It was a good thing that I was able to feed him breakfast before we left because it was nap-time by the time we got indoors.  I was pretty starving though.  It was about 10:00am before I got to eat my breakfast, and I had been up since about 7:00am.  *sighs*

At least I was able to get Canon down for 2 real naps today, even if I didn't get anything else in the house done.  I'm just grateful for the blessing of a home, a loving and understanding husband, and a network of friends who could help me out in a time of need.  Needless to say, I felt kinda stupid this morning... but I'm better now!

Changed My Email Address

I made the switch from hotmail to gmail recently, and so far I'm glad I did.  It's been such a long time since I changed my email address, but I think this time was the biggest hassle.  I emailed everyone that I could think of, every contact in my other email contact list that I thought would ever use it...I tried to change the address for all those fun accounts (like recipes, parenting tips, etc.) but for some reason they still get sent to the old address.  And now I find that friends' private blogs that I originally had an invitation to won't let me in anymore.  Even when I try to log in with the old account, Blogger won't let me access those blogs.  Ugh!  So, for those of you who would like me to be able to read your blogs, please invite my new email address: kat.mark.dahl@gmail.com and I will be able to keep tabs on you too!

How many of you have changed your email address and what hassles did you have to go through because of it?

Lost Puppy, Belly Laughs and a Spider

I felt like I really needed to post something today, but the only things I could think of to post were these:

Those of you who had spent some time at our apartment in Allston, you might remember this little guy...

Most often paired up with this little gal...

Well, a couple weeks ago we needed to go to the post office, so we decided to take a walk there.  We had brought Banjo (the puppy) and another toy along with us for Canon to play with.  As we were leaving the post office, I noticed that both of the toys were missing.  I usually notice every time the baby drops a toy from the stroller, but this time I somehow had missed both times.  We were kinda bummed because Mark's parents bought those for us right after we were married and we had them displayed ever since.  Now half of the "couple" was missing.  I kept hoping that we'd find it on the sidewalk on the way back... we actually DID find the other toy that Canon dropped, but not Banjo.  So, that very afternoon Mark bought another one online from the Beanie Baby website.  The replacement arrived just a couple days later, and this one has a fancy collar.

Now Mark's parents will never have to know that we lost their puppy... wait a minute... Oops!  :)
_________________________________________________

This was a video I took shortly before Canon's morning nap.  He was just laughing and laughing, so I had to get the camera.  He even went a little longer after I stopped the video too.

How long can you watch a baby laughing?  Go ahead, time yourself!  This video is almost 2 1/2 minutes long.

Canon really loves his Vergil. Thanks, Breanne!!
__________________________________________________

When I was getting ready to put Canon down for his nap, I saw something in his window.  I tried to get a good picture of it because it's pretty big, but the best picture I could get from the inside was by zooming in on a shot taken from far away.  I don't know what kind it is, but it's yellow with dark stripes.  I think the video here is the only thing that does it justice.

Let's just say I'm glad to have doubled paned glass windows!  Eek!!

What We Do in Our Spare Time

Canon loves it when we "chase" him, but he hasn't quite gotten the hang of chasing us.  It's so fun to watch him grow.  We're having a great time hanging out with Daddy before he starts working next week.  Canon and I are not looking forward to giving up Mark to work 40 hours each week, but Mark is looking forward to having something to do everyday... not to mention receiving a paycheck!


Our transition into this new area is still in the process, but we're enjoying it.  It feels like home.  I'm loving being in a real house all to ourselves.  Canon is at an age where taking him to playgroup on a regular basis is not as difficult as before.  He's not quite playing with other kids, but he does like the interaction with new people... which I love too.  I was never really able to make it to many playgroups in Boston because of Canon's nap times, but I'm determined to make it work out here.  There are so many nice ladies out here that get together, and I really want to get to know them better.  


After living here for 3 whole weeks, DirectTV is FINALLY coming to install the service today.  I'm getting excited because we'll actually be able to get the Mountain, a TV station from Utah that plays all the college sports from the area... which means.... BYU FOOTBALL PARTIES!!  We're also getting a DVR, so finally we'll be able to record and watch later the shows that we miss on TV.  Ok, ok...I'm lame, I know... but I'm still glad it's coming today!

We've Moved!!

I've been pretty busy over the past 3 weeks getting packed, and then trying to unpack and get everything settled into the new house. It's been really fun to have Mark home all day long to just help out with the house, get decorations up, and just to hang out. He starts his Judicial Fellowship the beginning of September, so the move to Springfield has come and gone, but not without any hitches. Let me describe some of the events of this recent move.

• Mark kind of got lost on the way home from the rental place.We had three guys help us load the truck, and one girl come to play with Canon while we worked...which was all very helpful. However, it took over 3 hours to get fully loaded... and Mark forgot that they hid his bike behind a bush and didn't get it loaded into the truck. So now we have to wait for a friend to bring it out here for us.
• We couldn't get our Comcast Internet hooked up right away because the previous tenants never cancelled their account... so we had to fax Comcast a copy of our lease to prove that we lived at the residence. However, we still hadn't gotten a copy from the Realtor yet... and it took 3 phone calls to get them to drop off a copy. After 5 days we were finally able to get Internet hooked up.
• Within a couple days I noticed that a small diamond from my wedding ring was missing. Don't really know when it was lost, but with everything we'd done over the past few days, there was no finding such a small stone. So we took it to a jeweler to get fixed.
• My kitchen took FOREVER to figure out where to put things because I had only 1 drawer. Count them... it... ONE!! We made several trips to Walmart, Target, and Lowes for things we needed around the house. We settled on stacking two end tables we got from Target with baskets to allow for more drawer space for kitchen stuff (even though we put them in the dining room). Once we got those put together, the kitchen went a lot more smoothly.
• Our bed's box-spring wouldn't fit up the stairs to get it to the bedroom. So we slept with the mattress on the floor for a few days until we could figure out what to do about the bed. Mark decided to buy 2x10's and place the boards across the bed frame. Honestly, we found these strong boards to be much more comfortable than the box spring was. Oh, the irony!
• Canon's room was the only room in the house that didn't have any window coverings, so he'd wake up to the sunlight and not want to go back to sleep, and I DID NOT like to be woken up at 5:30am and then fight the kid to go back to sleep. It also had a green-house effect in the afternoons and got really hot in there. We went to buy a shade at Target and found a cute curtain that cost only a couple bucks more than the shade. When we got it home we discovered it was only ONE curtain. So we had to buy a second curtain, which turned out to be more expensive than we anticipated at first. But, once we bought curtains, and the land-lady installed window shades, it has been much nicer. Canon sleeps much better now.
• I've been wanting to repaint Canon's dresser because the drawers have been sticking and the paint was peeling. The professional at the hardware store told me that I need to strip it before painting it. That ended up being a disaster (mainly because I didn't really do it right). We would have to go buy some more stripper, then an electric sander because it was just too much for me to do by hand, and then the paint/stain...not to mention the time it would take to do all that. I was waiting to finish his room because I needed a place to put his clothes, so we just gave up and bought a new cheap dresser from Walmart.
• We still don't have TV hooked up because the earliest install date for DirectTV is August 25th. Hopefully they'll have a cancellation in our area soon because we'd like to be able to watch something on TV. We missed the finale of So You Think You Can Dance though! BUMMER!
• We're responsible for watering the lawn, but the previous tenants seemed to never do it. In fact, much of the grass looks dead... and we figured out why. When Mark tried to water for the first time, he found that the water to the outside faucets was turned OFF. He had to figure out how to turn it back on... and then he went onto Craigslist to find a cheap lawnmower because the house didn't come with one.

All in all, we know that there are always interesting things to deal with when you move, but it's really been a fun change for us. I absolutely love being in a house, and I'm looking forward to getting to know some people. We had the sister missionaries over for dinner on Thursday, but that just made us realize how much we miss entertaining. We want to have people over, but we just don't know anyone around here yet. Mark and I miss having friends. :)

If you're interested, here are some videos that tour the house so you can see it, but keep in mind that not everything is in its place just yet. We're still trying to get some things organized. I tried to get it all into one movie, but Blogger was having troubles uploading it, so here it is broken up.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Bathroom:

Part 3:

Canon's Room:

Part 4:

Our New Place, and Our Current Place

This week I spent a lot of time online looking for a new place to live in Western, MA. Thursday I drove out there with Canon and looked at 3 apartments. On Saturday, Mark came with us that time and we saw about 10 places... and it was totally worth it. We put down a security deposit on this...

It actually has a lot of storage space with a full basement, 3 bedrooms, a dining room, and even...

a backyard...

and a driveway!! No more street parking for this grocery-shoppin' mama!!

We were super excited about this place and talking about it the whole drive home. Then, once we got home, this is what we found.

Remember when our apartment got water damage from the foundation leaking into our bedroom last summer? Well, that was nothing compared to this. Canon's entire floor was soaked, as was his closet (which we use as our storage closet for all our boxes of books and other treasures), into the hallway, the coat closet, and even our bedroom's closet.

Walking on the carpets, water would pool around your foot. Mark said that he went into Canon's room and jumped around...and the floor SPLASHED. Who needs to go outside when it rains in order to play in the puddles?

The management had sent men over to the apartment to wet-vac all the carpets... AT 10:30PM. I wasn't too excited about waking Canon up so often that night, but we would rather that they get it all cleaned up sooner rather than later. We had to pull out all the stuff out of all those closets and the bedroom... this is what my living room and kitchen looked like.

I was super stressed about it all day. I didn't want to go home after church because I didn't want to be in the apartment, with all the huge fans blowing, and the dehumidifier making all the loud noise. I didn't want to be in a place where I couldn't even think about putting my baby down to play. He would HATE being in the play pen all day and not be able to crawl around. Luckily I am blessed with a husband who let me just nap while the baby did... in the only place that seemed to give refuge to the horrible mess. When I woke up, the apartment looked like this!

There's actually space for Canon to play, my kitchen is totally open... the hallways are a little narrower, but they're workable. Everything that we need to be able to get to is accessible. I no longer feel like I don't have my apartment anymore.

Mark is the BEST HUSBAND EVER!!

Independence Day

On Saturday July 3rd the three of us hung out with our friends, the Tylers. We spent the hot, hot day waiting in line to enter the "Oval" to watch the Boston Pops Concert featuring Toby Keith. It was a really fun day with too little time of babies sleeping, lots of sunscreen, and many of these baby smiles.

Even when it was super hot, Canon usually looked like this...

and this...

and this...

The large family group sitting next to us gave us a couple of glow-sticks for Canon. I think he thoroughly enjoyed them.

We had pretty good seats, and apparently the camera man thought so too!!

When Canon saw this confetti....

He looked like this...

Overall, I think it was a great day!

One thing that we didn't get a picture of was how we loaded the stroller on the way back to the T. Normally when we know Canon is not going to be in a car we don't really bother to strap him into his car seat in the stroller. However, this time I did strap him in, almost instinctively. Apparently the stroller was top-heavy because as we were going down a ramp on the sidewalk, somehow the flipped over... practically upside-down... in the middle of the intersection. Canon only had a look of "what just happened?" shock, but he didn't cry or anything. I think he just thought it was an interesting ride. Phew, that was a close one!!