January Recap

Believe it or not, we did do more in January than just move across state lines - though part of me is pretty sure I spent 75% of the month packing, unpacking or cleaning!

* Sad news... With the move we had no time for our date-night-movie-of-the-month. I know! But, we do have a couple movies we would like to see, so we are open to suggestions and recommendations. We'd like to see Sherlock Holmes, The Lovely Bones, Avatar or Valentine's Day. Thoughts??

* At work I got a sorta going away pizza party my last Friday of working a full-time week. Of course, working with almost all guys, I heard lots of "Hey Jenn, you should "quit" more often! Heh, heh, heh!" With a couple of sincere "Good luck!" and "Take care!" comments thrown in for good measure. That party, though, meant I was officially changing my status to part-time accountant and mostly stay-at-home mom!! Finally! We have worked so hard for this for our family. My new work schedule is completely opposite of what I was working. It's switched from working 5 days a week and having the weekend off, to working just 2 days and being home the other 5 days! :)

* If you give a RAT a spark plug wire... Actually, I don't really know if it was a rat, but something chewed through three of the spark plug wires on the Explorer just days after we got home from California. I got sick and stayed home Tuesday and when I went to start up the car Wednesday morning, all heck broke loose!! The check engine and check gauge lights both came on, the engine temp was not reading, the external temp was not reading and the car ran like CRAP at low speeds and while idling. I'm talking white trash, 30-year-old beat-up car that shook like an airplane "experiencing some turbulence" when it was at a stop-light. It was scary. I wasn't even sure if I was going to make it to the repair shop, but I did. We had a smaller, less expensive, similar experience in September and I had a feeling it was the same problem. I know the service manager at the repair shop we take our cars to, so I had him go out to the car with me to look under the hood. I'll be honest... When he popped the hood and I could see all the damage - chewed wires and hoses - I cried. We were so close to moving and just did not have the extra cash for a repair like that. Well, I got the Explorer back and the first few nights I set out traps, assuming it was mice eating the wires. I even got some cat poo from my co-worker to detract the rodents. We started out with six, count them, six mouse traps set with peanut butter and ended up with only one or two.

It was NOT a mouse. Every trap we found would be triggered, all the peanut butter eaten out of it and no mouse. We found several traps 10-30feet away from the car if we even found them. So my guess is that is was something bigger than a mouse. I parked across the street for the duration of our stay in that house! Whatever it was only seemed to nibble on cars parked at the house - the Honda always gets parked in the street and was never touched. Total damage caused by chewed wires: about $400.00 between 2 trips to the repair shop - I wish I would've taken a picture!

* Making new friends... our 1st full weekend here (the weekend after we moved) we already had dinner plans! One of Sean's co-workers had a dinner party at her house and we were invited. It was a southern food theme because we were celebrating Paul's (one of the guests) birthday and he originates from the South. There were about 12 people - Ethan was the only kid, but thankfully John and Michelle have grandkids, so they had lots of fun toys for Ethan to play with. He was SO good! He kept himself entertained the whole time and we were there for about 3 hours. Thank you, Ethan. And the food... It was a potluck, so there was all sorts of dishes. We brought homemade mac-n-cheese and then there was fried chicken, ribs, green salad, cornbread, collard greens, beans and a pasta salad. Not to mention carrot cake/ice cream for dessert - I opted for just a scoop of ice cream by then! Such a fun group of people!

* First house guest... Just a couple weeks after moving in, we had our first overnight guest. Spencer King, one of Sean's old mission companions, was in town for a couple of comedy shows - he's a stand-up comedian. Sean and Spencer had fun catching up and cracking jokes and then Sean went with Spencer Friday night to a couple clubs - one he was hoping to perform at (but didn't) and the other he did get to perform at.

* New ward. Well, we are [almost] officially part of a new ward - they haven't actually read our names in yet! But we have received a warm welcome, including meeting with the Bishop and visits from both the Relief Society and new Elders Quarm presidency. No new callings yet, but I'm sure those are coming. In the meantime, I already have to speak the last Sunday of the month!!

* Random pictures.... Not many this month - we've been too busy adjusting to our new life up north!

First trip to our "new" mall in Vancouver - we went one night just to check it out.

Don't laugh, but I really liked my January/winter-themed dining room table!

Alright, I think that's it! Phew! I just made it... Time to get to work on my February Recap - it will have more pictures, I promise!