Denver Weekend

Recent crafts: three hats, one cute lemon outfit, diaper cones (or pee-pee tepees), four photo props called cocoons and bird's nests.

Justin and I had a nice little get-a-way Friday and Saturday. We really wanted to visit the temple before the new baby comes along so this was the perfect chance. Alison volunteered to watch Amelia so that was a huge blessing. Justin got off work early on Friday. We left home around 1:30 pm. I think we arrived at the temple by 5 pm. We stopped at Sonic for a limeade (thanks sweetie, it was yum). Our main topic of conversation was our housing situation. I think we have two solid choices again and so spent a lot of time debating the pros and cons of each house. Pretty much we decided NOT to rent, even though it could be a viable option if the two home choices we have pan through. Alison's father owns 8 homes here in Sidney that he rents out. A huge home is now available for rent so we need to decide soon what to do. Our new choices are the Newton house and the 19th Street house. To see information on them click on the house names! The Newton house appeals to me because of its size, age, and charm. It was built in the 1920s so is not very efficient with utilities. It also has a garage that needs severe attention. The 19th street home is more efficient, smaller, but has an attached garage (which is NICE in the winter). Both are competitively priced so it is basically a matter of how much time and money we want to spend on updates, etc. I think our decision as of now is to offer on the Newton home and see what happens. We saw the home Thursday night and learned how much the property is actually worth so we plan to make a really low offer, the seller is motivated to sell so he may take a low offer! Depending on how inspections go that house is the forerunner. If the seller won't work with us we will offer next on the 19th street home. We REALLY hope that one of these will work. I feel pretty good about our decision so far. It may change but such is life!

The temple was awesome. Our session was really small. I did not realize how small the Denver Temple is. Before we went I read up on the temple's history. When it was first built the neighborhood demanded the temple lights be turned off by 11 pm, after 6 months of this the residents changed their minds! The lights stay on all night now. I love doing temple work! The Denver takes your family names and records them after the session. I was a little concerned when the worker kept my family name. That made me realize how important those names are to me. I did not want to give the name card up.

We went to dinner afterwards at a seafood restaurant. It was super delicious. I had stuffed jalapeno stuffed shrimp! Being pregnant makes it very easy not to overeat. I am very careful to eat slowly as to avoid being up all night with indigestion. We both enjoyed taking our time and having no real plan to follow. The best was sleeping until 9 am! It's been a long time since I last slept in like that.

Saturday morning we spent shopping. Justin followed me to two craft stores (JoAnn and Hobby Lobby), a bookstore, and a local mall. I find malls are filled with useless, extravagant stuff. Mostly we wondered aloud at all the hype and began to enjoy the small, simple comforts of living in Sidney. The distractions are definitely limited. My one outlet was the Pottery Barn Kids store. I slobbered over the really cute baby nursery's and the little girl rooms. I now have fabric for Amelia's seasonal outfits. Please anxiously await new cute projects! For lunch we went to Rodizio Grill. Our hostess seated us in a bummer spot because the servers skipped us more often than not. Still we had our fill of chicken, steak, and pork...pretty much going into a meat-induced coma afterwards. I reminisced over the feijoada eaten regularly on my mission. It was refreshing to hear Portuguese spoken by some of the staff.

Mia was really glad to see us! She did awesome with Alison. Alison ended up putting her train bed in Ella's crib, it worked like a charm. She went to time out once for hitting, staying there for 20 minutes until she apologized. Go Alison! We both enjoyed numerous hugs and kisses from Mia. We had the Haley's over for my favorite birthday cake and ice cream. I made jell-o cake with whipped cream topping. Thanks for the wonderful weekend.