Back on the Grid

So I finally found my camera cord again, which means I will officially start posting again. I know, I know, I could have just bought a new one, but things have been a leetle nuts around here and I really haven't felt like blogging much. It might be easiest to explain all of this with a timeline:

October: We sold our house in Nampa (very quickly, I might add) and scrambled to move all of our stuff and our selves into my mom and dad's spare bedrooms. It was a bit tight up there with all of our stuff, and we were living in a maze of boxes. Now you know why I couldn't find my camera cord.

November: Ryan was offered an awesome job at City Hall where he was an intern. YES! We decide to look for a fixer-upper house to buy in Boise. (Washington, we love you, but you'll just have to wait.)

December: My poor mama slips on ice and breaks her ankle really bad. I mean really bad. She has surgery, and Rose and I spend our days doing our best to take care of her. Poor Mom! Ryan graduates with his master's in Public Administration (YESYESYESYES!!!) And we start looking at houses. We find one we love on an acre in central Boise, but it's a LOT of work so we still keep an open mind.

January-March: Basically we look at other houses but focus mostly on negotiating with the bank on the one we fell in love with in the first place. It is a looooooong drrraaaaawwwwn-out affair. Super head-ache. We finally agree on a price, the bank sends in plumbers, the plumbers don't tighten something enough and cause a flood which we discover the day we start moving in, the well turns out to be contaminated and the pipes are so nasty the water basically comes out of the faucet as lumpy orangish-brown mud and it ruins the faucets etc. The furnace breaks. Twice. Hmmm, what else? It's been a party.

Long story short, we finally have moved in to our big giant fixer-upper that we love despite its clunky furnace and crusty pipes and broken doors and unfinished kitchen. The house oozes with potential (and other things) and the yard is even better. There are giant apple and pear trees falling all over themselves, plenty of shade, lots of grass to play in (ok it's mostly dead, but we'll totally fix that) and more garden space than I could ever tackle. Currently there is no kitchen, but we're working on it. Who needs to eat, right? Also, for some mysterious reason, there is no longer a front door. We'll fix that too. If you come visit us, you are more than welcome to come knock on any one of the seven other doors. That's right, seven. Whoever owned this house loved back doors.

If you stuck it out through this whole long post, here's your reward: We are having a baby in November, which is pretty wonderful despite the fact that I'm already the size and shape of a small manatee. Give me another couple of months and I predict I'll be a full-grown elephant seal, nose and all. Am I the only one who's nose seems to get bigger during pregnancy? Mine totally does.

 Rosie on the deck

 Part of the back yard that still has grass

 The lawn goes up to this fence, after which the "wilderness" begins. That's our optimistic term for lots of weeds and brambles and wild trees.

 A lot of the lawn looks like this with dead grass and thriving weeds. With Rose dancing across it.

 See? No front door. The facade needs a little help. Not to mention the front yard.

 And here's my beautiful kitchen. Jealous?

 Some Easter morning cuteness

 Nobody can smile all the time.