8/8/11-8/14/11

Monday, August 8, 2011 through Sunday, August 14, 2011
This week hasn't been overly productive.  The kids have continued to play with their cousins.  They have been helping to "babysit" some bunnies.  I think they just like to go over because there is a trampoline to play on!
Cole has really been enjoying scouts and Morgan loves Young Women's.  I think they are happy to be back in the states!  I've been working to help Brittany and Meghan organize some stuff and also trying to keep up with making bread.....not such an easy task here.
Chris was able to get a new car.  That is one major thing to check off the to do list!  He ended up with a silver (or is it gray??) VW Jetta.  I am looking forward to its great gas mileage with all the commuting we've been doing!
We have decided to buy a house rather than rent.  Now we just need to get qualified and find one that we like.  The real estate agent sent us an 86 page list of houses to look through.  We narrowed it down to 28 before Cole, Alysa, Morgan, and I drove to Utah for the weekend.  We drove through the areas and narrowed the list down to 16.
The kids and I met with Brad, the real estate agent, on Friday to look through a bunch of houses.  We found one that we all LOVED!  We looked at another afterwards but nothing was going to be as fun as the other one!  After finishing up looking at houses, the kids and I headed back to Idaho.  Chris finished up work and met Brad to look at the house.  Unfortunately, he didn't agree with our assessment of the house.  Apparently it wasn't the highest quality house and he feared that it would fall apart.  I guess that's what happens when you build houses for 9 years.....you notice the little things!  So, no go on the house.   The house that we looked at last was really close to the house that Chris didn't like so Brad drove him by it just to see the outside.  Chris really liked the neighborhood and wants to look at it on the inside.
Chris finished looking at houses and joined us up in Idaho.  The kids were so happy to have him there....and I was pretty happy also!  I don't know how families do the long distance stuff.  This is killing us.
At church on Sunday, a couple spoke that was leaving to serve in the El Salvador Temple presidency.  They seemed a little nervous about their safety so Chris and I talked to them for a little bit afterwards to share our thoughts on it.  It seems like it was a lifetime ago that we were there even though it was only a couple weeks!

Sunday afternoon, Chris headed back to Utah and the kids and I prepared for another week.  I can not wait to get settled in our place.  I am extremely grateful to my sisters (and especially their husbands!) for putting up with us for so long.  I don't think we could have survived this time if it wasn't for them!!