Busy, busy, busy

We finally got internet that's fast enough for me to blog. We have had a very busy two weeks. It's weird to think we've been in our new house for less than two weeks. It feels longer and it definitely feels like home. Here's a run down of what went on... (If you bore easily don't read any further)

Dec. 20 - Moving Day! One of the big reasons we will miss our old ward is because of our Bishop. Since I was called to be in the Relief Society Presidency over a year and a half ago I've spent more time with the Bishopric and I got to know the Bishop better. (I do have a point to all this...) Our Bishop has now helped us move twice. The first time was 2 1/2 years ago when we moved within the ward. This guy is everywhere helping people. I know very few Bishops who would take the time to help someone move. Bishop showed up to help us, along with his son, and two other guys from our ward. Thankfully Meghan showed up to help finish packing my kitchen. We got the huge van packed by 12 pm. While packing the van Lowe's calls me and says they are at my new house with my new fridge but no one is there. Hmm... of course no one is there. You were suppose to deliver the fridge between 12-4 pm. They called me at 10 am. Thankfully Mark's brother Jeff came to the rescue and let them in to our place to hook up the fridge. Oh, and I have to mention that I owe family big time. My sister-in-law took all three girls for the day so I could get everything done. I guess I should say she got Piper and my nieces got Téa and Calista. Love family!

We had everything moved into the new place by 3 pm and then the hard part started. Unpacking...dun dun dun...

Dec. 22 - Blind Installation! We had to live with big sheets of paper covering our windows for two days. Our blind man came Monday afternoon and installed all our blinds. I love my blinds. No more thin metal blinds that are bent. Now that we have the big 2-inch faux wood blinds there is no need for blackout curtains anymore. They do quite nicely. Later that night we went shopping for a couch and found one we liked.

Dec. 23 - Last minute Christmas shopping. Ugh. I promised myself I wouldn't do that this year. But after finding a house 2 days after Thanksgiving I didn't have a choice. At least it was easy shopping for Mark. I got my Christmas present already...for the next 30 years.

Dec. 24 - We got a lot of things put away already and it's starting to look like home. We had a great Christmas Eve meal and activity at my brother-in-law's house with Mark's parents. It really got the girls excited for Christmas and Santa.

Dec. 25 - Merry Christmas! What a relaxing morning for all of us. The older girls got up around 7 am and we let Piper sleep a little longer since we were up late the night before. She woke up just after we finished going through our stockings. Although Santa left very few presents this year the girls were excited and didn't know the difference. The girls got some great gifts and that pretty much occupied them the rest of the morning. We then headed over to Mark's sister's for food and games. We were there the rest of the day.

Dec. 26 - Another day of game playing with family. Can I just say that I LOVE living closer to them now. It's so nice. Our new couch arrived and after a few hours of thinking it might be too big for the family room I realize it's perfect and all I want to do is sit on my new couch that doesn't sink in the back.

Dec. 27 - Another day of game playing with family. This time at our house! We were able to play games late since we could put Piper to bed.

Dec. 28 - Yet another day of game playing with family! Can you tell we love to play? And mostly we've been playing a great card game called "Citadels". And we seem to always play Rage.

Dec. 29 - Back to the real world, sort of. Mark has had a week and a half off of work so we could pack, move, unpack and relax. I say sort of back to the real world because Mark only worked a few hours. Meg came over to help me organize the loft/playroom. Boy did it help. I'd lost all interest in unpacking/organizing so it was very needed. She also convinced me that we don't need a couch up there because it will take up too much room. Always helps to have another set of eyes to see stuff like that. So thanks Meg!

Dec. 30 - Merry Christmas...again. Our Christmas present from my parents was installed. How do people live without garage door openers? We did growing up for quite a while if I remember right. It was such a pain. But the opener was installed along with an outside keypad and Mark is in heaven. He opened and closed it several times just because he could. The girls were way excited too. They each had to have a turn.

Dec. 31 - Game night! Mark's brother and his family came over. We've kept the tradition alive for the last seven years. We play games until midnight. We ate a yummy nacho bar for dinner and then grazed on all sorts of not-good-for-you food the rest of the night. Once again it was awesome that we had the night's festivities at our house. We put Piper to bed at 7 pm, the older girls to bed 9 pm. We had a lot of fun playing games until 12 am. My nephew and 2 nieces played with us as well. It's fun to think that in a few years my girls will be ready to play harder games. Sometimes you just get sick of playing Candy Land and Shutes and Ladders all the time. Happy New Year!