Wow, it's been a crazy few months. Before I start trying to catch up, I have to cry a little that we have no pictures of anything. Alyssa lost our camera at school and we have a new one but I haven't gotten around to using it much yet. Anyway, on to the update.
November was good--I think. I can't remember. A good Thanksgiving at the church with family again. December was a whirlwind of getting into our NEW house!!!!! We have been so blessed to find a great house in a great neighborhood in our price range. It was a stressful few weeks trying to get everything figured out. We'd put the offer in July and were waiting. When things got approved it went really quickly after that. But the timing worked out perfectly and we signed papers on the 18th of December and moved in December 22nd. The next day we took off for Phoenix for Grandma Thompson's funeral with the 3 older kids. It was a good trip. It was nice to take a break from house stuff and get some sunshine and celebrate a great lady. The awesome part was they put in brand new carpet while we were gone, so we came home and it looked amazing! Rushed back for Christmas Eve with both families where the kids got totally spoiled, as usual, and then on to our home for Christmas. We have spent a lot of time fixing things up and cleaning (it was a short sale), but we love it here. The ward is big with a lot of kids, a lot of youth and the school is really close and the kids like their teachers. I will post pics as soon as I can.
We also got a NEW dog. Our friends moved to another state and wanted to take their dog but couldn't find a rental that would allow a big dog, so they offered him to us. He is a great dog. That being said, Scott and I have never had a dog and so it's been an interesting experience. But it has been a really good one. He is already part of the family, hair all over the house and all.
I also got a NEW job. The kids brought home a newsletter from school saying they were hiring crossing guards, which I did forever ago when Alyssa was one, so I applied. Now I get to go stand on the corner 3 times a day and freeze to death. It'll be great when the weather warms up, though.
NEW callings: I'm the girls camp director, Scott is the High Priest group secretary, Alyssa is the Beehive secretary.
For Scott's birthday he and I got to escape everything for a weekend and spent some much-needed time alone. We went to the temple and out for dinner then went swimming and hot-tubbing (mostly that) at the hotel and had a huge breakfast buffet.
Now we're just trying to get into a routine and settle things down a bit. We are so blessed and so grateful for all the NEW things in our lives.
