Loved Despite of Great Faults

Click the image for more moving pics, another dose of gratuitous baby pics can be found here (same album as last time, just added a few more pics).




Title from Blonde Redhead)

So we finally moved. The silly thing is those that usually read this blog probably helped us so you all already knew that. Thanks for helping us move though, it went a lot better than I thought it would. I was actually pretty happy to not really need much help from the ward as I know it sucks to go help a ward member to only have like no family there helping. I would attribute a lot of the ease of the move to Leslie though, she got most everything packed up and ready to go so nobody had to wait on us to pack anything.

Home Ownership

So how about home ownership eh? I never thought there would be so much to do to get a house in order. The unpacking was to be expected and the utilities were cake but everything else is such a time and money sink!

The first thing we wanted to sort out was the chirping smoke detectors. If you helped us move you probably heard the bloody things always chirping away. Anyway, we got Leslie's dad to bring over a ladder and change the batteries in all the smoke detectors (we also replaced the living room light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs to save energy and lower the heat from the lights... eventually I'll want to do the whole house). We thought we had stopped the chirping but that night two of them started chirping again. I reset them and they stopped. The next night they started up AGAIN! At this point I just pulled them out of their sockets and I've yet to put them back up. I think they're broken and that brand doesn't sell that line anymore so I'm still hunting for new ones to replace them. At least there's no more chirping at night.

The next major thing to come up was getting the yards in order. I broke out my electric lawnmower and started mowing the front lawn. I went with the corded variety so of course the first thing to happen is I ran out of cord. Once we got that sorted out, I came to the realization that about a quarter of my grass is freaking crabgrass. Isn't that just awesome? I don't think there's a whole lot I can do about it now but as the season ends, I'm going to get some crabgrass preventer fertilizer. I did the back lawn another day and since it hadn't been done for like a month it took me like 2-3 hours to do and even then it didn't look very good. I kid you not, there was some grass that was about two feet high or higher.

Another thing we wanted to take care of was something we've wanted since the town home: soft water. After some brief investigation we hit a sale at Sears and bought one. It was surprisingly cheap to buy (like $520) but the installation was kind of steep ($200, ugh). We kind of didn't care how much it cost because the savings we'd get on soap and wear & tear on our pipes would make it worth it. Leslie likes what it does for her skin and hair as well so I'm calling wins all around.

We also decided that we don't want to be the ladder-borrowing types (that requires getting to know your neighbors, nuts to that) and got us a ladder. We were at Costco when a guy was doing a demonstration for those Little Giant ladders. It seemed like a good deal so we broke down and bought one. They're kind of expensive but he dropped the price a little and threw in a few accessories, it's buying local (they're located here in Springville) and I've always kind of wanted one anyway.

Pest Control

One day when I was mowing the lawn, Gavin yelled for me and Leslie to come look at something he found. We looked over and we found this little mouse that had been knocked out or ran over by the lawnmower (no guts though). It moved when I touched it so it was still kind of alive. I put on some gloves, picked it up and threw it against the side of the garbage can as hard as I could. If the impact didn't kill it, I'm sure the methane gas from Parker's poopy diapers finished it off. Anyway, between all the mysterious holes we've been finding in the back yard and this incident we decided to get...


KITTAYS! (click to see their faces)


Oh c'mon, don't act so surprised. I've been wanting a cat for ages but I couldn't disobey my rules on animals:

1. If it poops, it can't stay in the house (got this from my mom but she has since defected and let a little yapper into the house but I'm going to keep up the fight).
   
2. It needs room to run around.

We couldn't do #2 at the town home but now that we have room, I'm down for cats. We got them from some lady in Orem that was giving them away for free. They were pretty cute and reminded me of my old cat Mandy so we decided to get them. We got 2 because a lot of people say cats do better in pairs (which so far has proven to be true).

I took them to the vet to get their shots going and what we thought were 2 girls ended up being a boy and a girl. Because of this we plan on getting them fixed as soon as we can since apparently even siblings may try to mate... yeah. I think we came up with names though, the male is going to be called Scratch Fury: Destroyer of Worlds (or Scratch for short) and the female is either going to be Wynn or Wynnie depending on what she'll respond to (get it? Scratch & Wynn? Guffaw!). Anyway, right now they're living in the garage until I can patch the holes in the back yard so that they don't run away (they will eventually as is the nature of cats but we want them to know this is their home first). Once they're living in the back yard, the hunt can begin. Now if only I could find a pet that murders wasps...

Oh Yeah, I Have Kids

So the kids... I think they've enjoyed the new house. Gavin actually has a backyard worth playing in now and Parker can puke in many more places than before. Actually, we think we may have gotten a handle on the puking thing. We got him on some kind of pill that seems to be helping, not 100% but enough to make things tolerable. Gavin likes the new kittens a lot but they don't seem to be returning the love quite yet. Once he figures out that they don't like to be held upside down they may warm up to him.

Gavin also started pre-school this week:


Gavin is geared up and good to go for the big world of pre-school.


We had him going to a summer pre-school program but that ended a few weeks ago. This pre-school runs the normal school season (only MWF for 2.5 hours though) so it won't be done until May. He's been really enjoying school. He's still a little shy at first but he's had chances to really let himself go and interact with other kids. He's a smart little bugger too, he can count to 12 and sing his ABC's already. I have high hopes for my kids when it comes to education so it gives me great pride to see him doing so well. Parker doesn't seem like he's going to be a slouch either so here's hoping.

Parker's motor skills seem to be developing a bit lately as well. He's got the whole rolling thing down now (though I swear he's going to dislocate his shoulder one of these days the way he does it) and is so very close to crawling. He does this sort of roll/army crawl thing to get around but it's not fast enough for him so he just cries when he can't get his way (I dread the tantrums this kid is going to throw when he's a toddler). His bottom teeth came through as well so he's finally out of the infant stage and into the baby stage.

It Never Stops

A lot has happened in the last few weeks but it seems like the projects don't have an end in sight. I'd like to paint the base boards, get new carpet, get more furniture, get a better desk, etc. but I guess I just need to be patient. I'll let you all know when all that stuff goes down or at least post new pictures when I get them.