Great Gifts

This morning we slept in b/c we were both up later than our usual bedtimes last night.  Christine called and asked if I could run some flyers around to a few properties in case any prospective buyers stopped by any of the homes on the weekend.  Autumn & I went to a few properties that were out in the country, and there were some cool looking flowers out there.  This flower is so pretty, but it also has a ton of big scary thorns all over the stem that makes it look more like a weed.  But, I still think it’s really pretty.

Even though I had mapquested where the addresses were, I must have missed a turn off somewhere, b/c we were way out in the country on little roads that I didn’t even know existed.  We got stuck behind a group of cyclists, and I thought it was funny that this sign was in the picture that says 40 mph, b/c I was only going about 15 mph.  We finally went around them and ended getting even more lost.  We got to see some pretty countryside, though and enjoyed going on a little joy ride.  We finally found a main road and I figured out where we were, which was about 15 miles away from where we were trying to get to.

I needed to stop and get gas anyways, so we decided to go in and get a treat.  It was Saturday, so we had Slurpee Saturday.  There were a few people in there getting drinks, and Autumn just started talking to them as if she knew them.  I had to interpret for her but she was saying, “We go to Papa’s house.  I want to see Drew.”  I love that Autumn is so friendly and outgoing.

We finished dropping off some flyers and passed by one house where 1/2 of it had been burnt by fire.  It really made an impact on Autumn, b/c she keeps bringing it up all day how the house got “broken” by the fire.  We got to Mom & Dad’s and Curt was there putting cabinets in the kitchen.  He’s built them all from scratch and after he put the ones he had in the kitchen, he left to go work on some more.  It’s going to look so nice when he’s done.

And just in case you thought the rest of the house is put back together, it’s not.  Here’s a picture of Mom & Dad’s bathroom w/ the carpet all pulled up.  They are going to put tile in there next week.  The rest of the house is also a mess b/c the painters came Tuesday – Thursday and all the big antique pieces had to be pulled away from the walls.  So there’s still quite a bit of work that has to be done.

Nate got home from work and told us to come outside b/c he had a surprise for Autumn.  I noticed these beautiful flowers in the flowerbed by the pool.  I love how they are yellow in the middle and then there’s a ring of red and then another layer of yellow on the ends.  Spring just makes me so happy!

This is what Nathan brought home for Autumn…a turtle that he found on the side of the road.  The turtle was being shy and wouldn’t come out of its shell, so we went and put it in the pool to see if it would swim.  It went to the bottom of the hot tub and swam up to the top after a while.  We took him over to the creek and Dad climbed down a 10 foot drop to put the turtle in the water.  He was so happy to be free and went and found a cool and shady place under some branches.

After releasing the turtle, Autumn went & found some puffy dandelions and had Papa help her blow the seeds all over.  We went back to the house and I spent most of the evening using the internet to look for and apply to jobs.

Mom & Dad were so great to help watch Autumn & keep her busy while I looked for jobs.  Dad devised this awesome way to get Autumn around on her trike (b/c she can’t use the pedals yet).  He put this big stick on the bottom of the trike and used that to push her around instead of having to lean over.  I finally finished my job search for the day and Maggie came over to visit and talk.  Autumn finally crashed and burned around 8:00 (b/c she didn’t get a nap) and I knew I had to get her home and in her own bed.

Here are three great gifts I got today in addition to all the other fun things we got to do today:

1. Access to the internet (finally)!  I don’t have internet at my house b/c I can’t afford it and Mom & Dad’s room where the internet connection in has been torn up for over a week.  Today Dad finally put all the cords and connections and modem up and going again.  I was able to look for and apply to jobs (over 8 of them today and I have a good feeling that at least one of them is going to work out).  Then the other nice thing about having internet access again is getting to blog and look at other people’s blogs.
2. The conference edition of the Ensign finally came after weeks and weeks of waiting!  I am loving the new layout, fonts, and that the pictures are in color!!!  I am SO EXCITED to dive into it and mark it all up and find all the spiritual treasures and gems just waiting inside of the pages for me.
3. I was flipping channels and saw that I have access to Style Network.  Sometimes they give you a free preview for a few weeks to get you hooked and then they take it away so you’ll sign up for that channel.  Anyways, I had access tonight and so I got to watch Clean House w/ Niecy Nash, which is one of my favorite shows of all time.