The Rest of January

After returning from our trip it felt like we had been gone just about as long as we had lived in our new house. I felt like I had to get reacquainted and settle back into it. Even though we were all unpacked when we left, we hadn't really started any home improvement projects. I'm sure if I mapped it out we could do projects every weekend for a year, but we are taking it in stride and starting off slow. So we painted an accent wall in the living room, hung pictures, re caulked the bathrooms and pruned the bushes in the backyard.

I was pretty excited to do some painting, but Asa needed to be distracted and fed while the painting was going on, so I got bumped off the project and Mike and Annabelle did most of it. In case you didn't know my favorite color is green. So far I'm not sick of it. I'll have to remember to post some finished project pictures soon.

Another huge happening in the house in January was teething. Asa cut his top two teeth in January. Nothing like two little teeth to change the way a baby looks! He seems to be a pretty good teether. I think he only cried at night once. Mostly he is just a little moody and has a really runny nose. Asa enjoyed getting around the house more this month by rolling and shifting around. I couldn't always figure out how he was getting there but he did.

I moved Annabelle to a new preschool this month as well. I was getting tired of driving her all the way back and forth to her old one. We really like her new one. The program is much different. I feel like she is learning more and I am glad that she is making friends with some kids that live around here and some are even in our ward. Of course, her favorite time is recess, but she also seems to like that she gets to bring homework home once a week. Don't worry, it isn't mandatory, they are preschoolers after all!

One of the funnest things we did in January was thanks to Annabelle. She saw a commercial for the Glendale Glitter and Glow Block Party and asked if we could go. The event, parking and shuttle were free so we just had to go! Haha, but it was awesome. It is in a historic walking district in Glendale and they leave up the 1.5 million Christmas lights and then have 24 hot air balloons tethered in the streets lighting up every time they ignite their torches. Add live bands, street performers and awesome carnival food . . . we had a great time. We even got to watch them set up several of the balloons. I highly recommend it to anyone in AZ in mid January.

Another huge happening around here in January was rainstorms! We easily got more rain and flooding from these winter storms than we had last monsoon season. I liked it because it made it feel more wintery. But after a few days it would clear up and we could enjoy being outside again. Kinda the best of both worlds. Luckily, unlike in a lot of other parts of the state, we didn't suffer any damage from the storms. Because of the monsoon season at the end of the summer, there are a lot of runoff areas to accommodate all the rainwater. A lot of times they make these areas into grassy neighborhood parks. Here is one that Mike found serving it's purpose. There were even ducks swimming around in it.

At the end of the month we caught a warm day and went to the zoo with some friends. It was our last chance to use our zoo pass before it was going to expire and it was awesome. The only animal that Asa noticed was the elephant. He watched her sway and walk around. My friend distracted him enough to get him to look away for a second to get this picture.

Annabelle and her little friend stuck together, talked most of the time and tried to ditch the old ladies and babies a time or two (wether or not it was intentional or not is still up for debate). Anna's favorite animal was yet again, the diaper rash monkeys!

Well that was January, whew! I'll get caught up soon :)

Nothing exciting to Report

We had a great Christmas season but things are deffinatly slowing down. Looking for a job has become a major priority for Mike. Annabelle is busy learning her alphabet and singing almost ALL the time! The novelty of snow is starting to wear off as temperatures drop but I need to get a few more sledding days in with Annabelle before I say that I am sick of it.

Mike went to California earlier this week to interview for a job making . . . cheese! He has had another interview here in Utah with a different company. Of course we'll let you know when we make a final decision - probably not for a while yet.

I am excited to announce that for the first time since probably 1999 I finished reading a novel that wasn't an assignment! The book club in my ward is reading "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. I had heard about the book before and it took a lot of self-control to read the book in a week. I think a 24 hour period would have been my first choice. I had forgotten how hard it can be to put a good book down! I am not necissarily reccommending the book because there were a few parts that made me cry a little more than I'd like to admit - but if sad and even haunting literature doesn't affect you then maybe you can handle reading it :) I'm not sure what book I will read next and I am open to suggestions so long as the book isn't so intense that I won't be able to sleep at night because I am so worried about the characters. I'm a little hypersensitive I guess.