Pictures of our House

This is in response to a request from my mom, who is serving a mission for our church in Texas. Here are pictures of our house! First up, our beautiful bay window! I still love it, but we are really wishing for some curtains.

This would be our hallway. First open door on the left is the bathroom, across the hall is our linen closet. All the way down the hall on the left is our tv room, the room next to that is our computer/baby room and all the way at the end of that hallway is our master bedroom.

This was taken on the 2nd day we moved in, so understandably, everything is still in boxes. Our house is looking so much better today than it has for awhile, because we're finally getting things put away! We might be able to have people over soon! :) Anyway, this picture was taken from the kitchen table, so this room is much larger than it looks, especially since it is adjoined by the front room.

Surprise!

Well, we told everyone that we were waiting for Christmas, but we couldn't wait! I know, we're weak. But at least this way we have time to get used to the idea that we're having a baby . . . . . girl? Wait a second. Evidently our order came in wrong, because we were both so sure it was a boy! Oh well. We're grateful that she's healthy and active. Merry Christmas to all!

How do you tackle a whole house?!?

Moving can be so frustrating! I know, we officially moved in about a month ago, but our house is still a huge, scary mess. It wouldn't be so bad, except that we keep bringing things into the house, and they get piled on top of the other piles in the house that need to be put away. It felt so bad to me that today in church, I just kept thinking about my house and how messy it is and how much it needs to be organized. It really ruins your Christmas mood to have a messy house. That said, I won't be able to work on it for at least another day! Oh well. All I want for Christmas is an organized house! :) I know we've all been there, it just feels like we're never home long enough to really focus and make some sort of a dent. Thankfully, both Reed and I have Wednesday through Friday off, so we'll have time to work together on our house and get lots done. Keep us in your prayers. :^P

Christmas finally came !!

Today we went and purchased our real, live Christmas tree. What a pain! :) I think I prefer the out of the box kind of Christmas tree, because you can put it up anytime, don't have to tie it down to your car, and then worry about watering it. But, I must admit, the smell of a real Christmas tree is awesome. That's why I love them! So I can start wrapping presents and putting them under our tree. It makes it feel just a little bit more like Christmas is actually coming now. I love it.
In other news, Reed and I have decided to put off graduate school for another year. This way, Reed has more time to look into schools, study for the GMAT, and find a job in the meantime that might be in the field that his bachelor's degree was in and maybe make enough at it that I can stay home with our baby and not have to work! That last part would be well worth it to wait another year. Plus, it really helps our lives to calm down a little bit and not feel so rushed. Still no callings yet in our new ward, but we've been warned that the bishopric is looking for a couple to work in nursery. :) Who knows. . . . . I was kind of looking forward to working with the adults in this ward in some capacity, but we will be happy to serve in whatever way we can.
I'm not excited or anything, but Christmas is only a week and a half away! And that means we'll know whether we're having little John or little Jane! :) (Don't think for a second I'm actually giving away our baby's name. That will continue to be a surprise for the next 5 1/2 months or so.) Everyone have a great week! Remember the real reason we celebrate this time of year!!