Head Up, Move 'Em Out

Well…it’s just about final. It looks like the clan is heading to Salt Lake City, UT. Neil accepted an offer over the phone today to join the SLC branch of Stanley Consultants as an Engineer In Training level 2. The date is not firm yet for when the transfer will officially happen. Stanley is being very generous in allowing us some time to sell our home and for Neil to finish his degree. A rough estimate is the end of May. Stay tuned for more updates.

Room makeover and some puppysitting

This week was quite eventful for us. Abby was able to watch her Grandma Sharp's puppy. His name is Chip and both of the girls absolutely adore him. Actually, I don't know anyone who doesn't; he is such a cute dog! I thought the poor dog would be so worn out and tired of the girls, that he would try to keep his distance, but he didn't. After a long day of playing hard, Chip went into Abby's bedroom and fell asleep next to her. Too bad Abby couldn't sleep with him next to her (and yes, she is pretending to sleep inside her pillowcase). She was so excited, but didn't want to see him go. It has been three days since he's stayed with us, but Isabel still looks for him around the house. I wish you could hear the way she says his name, "Jip, Jip!", it is really cute! Abby would carry him around all day, or call after him to see if he'll chase her. Isabel loves him, but is scared of him all at the same time. She wants him to chase her, but he tries to bite and nibble at her feet and she doesn't like that too much. She will try to push him away, but he just gets more excited when she does.

Also this week, we remodeled our den! Okay, for anyone who has see our den, this was a major accomplishment. It held the computer and desk, plus all of my crafting stuff. I packed all of my sewing and crafts away and we put up a chair railing instead. We also moved some of our household things around and got rid of a few things to make it all seem a little less cluttered. We're hoping this will make our house look a little more appealing to potential buyers. Hopefully we can sell our house before Neil has to go up, otherwise we will have to stay behind without him. Wish us luck!

Quad trip

Thanks Jeff and Jacki for inviting us along

on your atv adventure. We had a blast! The girls had such a great time. Abby is still talking about it. They both love being outdoors. My only restraint from taking them out all day long is that I can't keep up with them. They are both so active and independent, I get so warn out even after a short period of time. Does any child before the age of five have any concept of danger? And it isn't as if I can be brutally honest with them to scare them straight. I can't tell them not to run into the road because a car could hit them and kill them. Can I tell them about bad men who watch for little girls who leave their moms in the store want to take them away? Well, I'm going a bit off tangent here. In my last post I complained about the heat, but this is the perfect time of year in Arizona. The weather was nice and warm with a little breeze. Perfect weather for being out in the sun. We love going out with our friends, too. I was hoping to have our pictures laid out a little different, but I am still learning. Above is our cute niece, Madelyn sitting with Abby. Below, Neil is taking Isabel for a ride. She bounced all over the place, and thought it was hilarious. I'll post more photos on facebook if you want to see more.

Novice Blogger

So, I've wanted to get this thing going for a while, but have been stumped as to what to post. I feel as if we are the most boring family out there, although we have a blast together. Right now we are contemplating a move to SLC. Neil doesn't think I should tell people because he doesn't want me getting my hopes up. Eh, we'll see. I feel I've put in my dues down in the heat. Now that school is no longer an issue, I guess it will all depend on what kind of offers we get. He is also nervous to get into ridiculous weather, as he calls it. My idea of ridiculous comes June-September when you can hardly breathe outside when the temperature is nearing 120 degrees. Blah! I think I would rather live in a "snow globe" as my mom calls it, for a couple months out of the year. My other issue here would have to be the old people. This is nothing personal to those of you with grandparents that they love. To be there is a discernable difference between the "old" and the "elderly". I live near Sun City, where retirees come to get out of the snow. Unfortunately, they believe it should be cut off from the rest of humanity, and get real crotchety when someone younger gets in their way (and it doens't take much to get in their way). I will never understand their grocery store behaviour. First of all, they always choose Saturday to do their shopping. They have the rest of the week to themselves, but choose to be a nuisance to those in a hurry of Saturday morning. They like to park their carts in the middle of the isle and are in no hurry to get back and move out of the way. And yet they love to tell me that what it is I am doing wrong, because my children are yelling and screaming to get out. The golf carts are funny also. They love to ride those things everywhere, chugging along at 20 mph, with a long line of cars behind them.
All right, I think I have rambled enough. I'll probably come back now and compose another long entry.