Home for Christmas

Honestly, we're home for Christmas every year. We're blessed to live close to to a lot of family, so we can celebrate at our house and see parents and siblings all in one crazy day if we want to. But this year is just a little more special, because we just bought our first home! Buying from your landlord has its own set of  issues -- we found out after we made a purchase offer that you have to live in the home 6 months before you put it under contract -- but it's pretty awesome to sign all of those closing papers and be done. No moving required. 

Way back in May I promised pictures after we got things unpacked. I took some in July but they never got posted (no one ever complained either!), so here's your tour. Of our cute little townhome. 

Time to Move On

There's something about packing box after box after box - with the knowledge that I will be unpacking them later - that really takes some of the excitement out of moving. But it was worth it. Totally and completely worth the $40 for the perfect moving boxes, the 51.5 hours of paid time off it took me to get us completely out of our old place and the basics set up in our new home, several late nights, sore backs, dry skin from handling boxes all day, taking the long way home from work to move more stuff, and spending a lot more than usual in the Auto:Fuel category of our budget.

We have been wanting to move for several months and seriously trying to figure out the details for the last couple of months. We talked about and looked into several different options in several locations, all of which felt right at the beginning but then didn't work out. Then everything fell into place and we love knowing we are where we need to be.

Here are our cute kids in the midst of the move. Pictures of our new place to come after we get out from under these stacks of boxes that are slowly disappearing.

Left In the Cold

Our furnace died last week. A slow death, leaking carbon monoxide at an increasing rate as it went. The first time the CO detector went off, we chalked it up to an old furnace, cold weather, and being gone most of that day. When it went off twice more that same week, we called our property manager and he sent over a serviceman. The heating guy brought a brand new CO detector and instructed me to call him if this one went off. That night it went off 4 times between 2 am and 6:30 am. Fortunately the kids slept through both the screaming alarm and the cold air that came in as we aired out the house. Aaron and I, however, didn't sleep much at all. At 8:30 I called the heating guy and he came right over. After an hour or so he pronounced our furnace dead, shut it down, and we packed up and went to Grandma's for the weekend.

We had an unexpected vacation weekend of playing, talking, hanging out, and relaxing.

Nora discovered she likes to bounce,

and Zeke discovered that Nora bouncing is a great toy.

The new furnace was ready for installation 3 days later, so I gathered up all of our things, packed the car, and took the kids home to meet Aaron who got off work early. The heating guys brought the new furnace in and got it all set up but one part was missing, meaning the installation would have to continue the next evening. So we refreshed our overnight bag and went back to Grandma's for one more night.

We are happy to now be back at home and have more efficient heat. Now to catch up on all the Saturday chores that didn't get done last week...

Moving Up

What we love about our new place (although at the moment we can't really see the floor because it is covered in boxes):
-dishwasher, washer, and dryer
-lots of closet space (more than we've ever had)
-enough wall space to hang all of our pictures
-being closer to work and flying
-de-junking as we move
-having our storage be in our house instead of our parents' houses
-re-discovering all the great things that have been in storage
-covered parking
-yard-care responsibilites (although it has required some initial equipment purchasing)
-curbside recycling
-seeing the trains, which Zeke requests every time we drive somewhere
-a bigger TV (thanks Heather!)
-bigger-city grocery shopping (better prices and selection)
-starting fresh with a better cleaning and organization schedule
...and more things we're discovering everyday!

Oooh! Pick Me! Pick Me!

So -- how many of you read our sidebar?

[ . . . ]

That's what we thought.

If you did read our sidebar, you would already know that we have started a photo blog to share more of our life with you. It's not a one-photo-a-day effort, but more of a chance to share our fun photos and the stories they tell. (Thanks to Skye for her photo blog, which inspired ours.)
Really, you should start looking at all the good stuff to the right of our posts: our latest, greatest, breaking news, the ever-increasing list of blogs we read, and the pictures and lists that are updated regularly.

Now don't fret - we've only been photo-blogging for a week, so you'll be able to catch up.

Aaron's Got An Airplane

After several months of minimal airplane-related purchases, we decided to get Aaron an airplane for Christmas. His very first plane, the NexStar, had a very spectacular and unfortunate demise over the summer, and our Christmas airplane is a NexStar replacement. Sort of. Aaron just bought the pieces he needed (since the wings survived the crash); the new parts are blue and the wings are a contrasing red.

Because we don't have our own hangar yet, Aaron engineered a hanger to keep planes out of our living space but leave them accessible for frequent flying. A little plexiglass, a little PVC pipe, some rope, and lots of help from Aaron's dad and we have a platform that can be hoisted into the ceiling of the garage. Now the airplanes are in the air all the time!

We took them down yesterday to go flying, and the system worked like a charm. One really fun part of the design is the clear plexiglass platform, which allows us to see the planes when we're right underneath the platform.

Another Reason We Don't Own a Dog

Monday Zeke and I went out the front door to go for a walk. As I shut the door behind me, a very large, very unfamiliar bloodhound came rambling up the driveway. Before I could finish thinking 'I wonder who he belongs to?', the dog bounded up the stairs and nearly knocked Zeke over. I tried to push him away (unsuccessfully), then realized Zeke had a graham cracker and maybe that was the attraction.

I picked up my crying Zeke and tried to kick the super-friendly dog away (since now I had my hands full). The dog fell against the front door, the door popped open, and the dog ran into the house. Luckily for us, Grandma was home and she chased the dog out of the house and came to rescue us. She tried to chase it out of the yard, but the dog had some attachment to our house and refused to leave. She held his collar, called animal control, and sent us on our walk.

Turns out the control officer and this dog know each other from previous meetings. And as the officer was about to load the dog into his truck, a couple of people randomly walking by said 'Oh that's our dog.' So he released the dog to them, the clueless owners didn't get a citation, and we are still shaking our heads about it.

Welcoming Autumn

Happy first day of autumn! And what a great day it is! It's the 22nd, it's raining, and the fall colors are beautiful in the mountains. There is still green mixed in with the red, orange, and yellow, which is perfect. If you have the chance, go drive Provo Canyon to see the fall scenery. If you can't, here is a sample from last week. It was breathtaking.

In honor of the first day of fall, look for an autumn recipe on the recipe blog later today. And I have a few more to come later. Tastes of the season are just one of the wonderful autumn things we enjoy. I'm looking forward to taking Zeke out into the crunchy leaves soon, to birthdays for me and my siblings, and to spending a great Halloween and then the fun holiday season with our family. But for today, we will stay cozy and warm at home, listening to the rain.

Hungry for Recipes?

We have started a recipe blog! It's our way to share our family favorites and the Loertscher and Carlile favorites with you. Check it out at aaronmanndirecipes.blogspot.com (there is a link on the sidebar too).

Let us know what you think. And we do take requests - if there is something you don't see, or a recipe you have that you would like us to try, just let us know.

There are a few there now to get you started, and we're adding more recipes a few times a week.

Happy cooking and even happier eating!

Swiss Days Parade Report

Talk about being involved with Swiss Days. Saturday morning we put on our vibrant yellow parade committee shirts and went to the parade lineup to be put to work. Our job at the parade was to direct traffic - get the parade participants to the right spot and make sure they start rolling at the right time. And direct all the spectators who asked where and when the parade started. The sad part of being on the committee is that we didn't get to watch. But we did get to be in the parade at the very end. In a 1963 red Ford convertible.

Zeke went to the parade with Grandma and Grandpa Carlile. They had a great time watching the parade together. There were plenty of big trucks and loud tractors, not to mention clapping - all things Zeke loves. One of his favorites was a little RC car that our friends from HobbyTownUSA drove up and down the street.

Swiss Pride

My love of Swiss Days started after I went to Swiss Days with Aaron. Yes, yes, I did grow up just down the road in Heber City, but we only went to Swiss Days a couple of times because my mom doesn't like the crowds, the traffic, and the parking. And I don't blame her one bit. One of my very favorite things about Swiss Days is parking at Mom and Dad Loertscher's and walking down to the Town Square. We are excited to be living in Midway this Swiss Days so we can help.

We thought we were going to work in the knockwurst sandwich booth with our ward. But at the beginning of August, we were asked to join the Swiss Days parade committee. It's been lots and lots of work (hence our un-updated blog). I just didn't realize how much behind-the-scenes work went into organizing all of those entries into a sensible line up. Making sure the bands don't come right together, keeping the llamas away from everything noisy, and keeping the politicians separated can be quite a headache. But I have enjoyed being so involved. Aaron and I are the computer gurus of the group and I think we have received tasks we are both skilled at and enjoy.

We hope you all are coming to this year's Swiss Days parade - it's going to be a good one!

Swiss Days 2006 (can you spot a tiny Zeke?)

leavin' on a jet plane

Skye, Jon, Kaelyn, and Kylie lived with us for 5 days this past week while their belongings were in transit to Cleveland. It basically doubled the size of our normal household. We have had even more of a crowd around over the weekend with Aaron's Grandpa Averett's 90th birthday party on Saturday and Kylie's blessing on Sunday. Zeke didn't seem to mind the extra people around, although he had to compete with Kaelyn for Grandma's toys and he lost completely to Kylie for rights to Grandma's lap.

Kaelyn and Zeke hang around at the birthday party

4 generation photo with Grandpa Averett

Sweet baby Kylie in her blessing dress

Zeke having a toga party in Skye's poncho

Skye and Jon left yesterday for Cleveland. We're sad to see them go. We miss family home evenings, playing board games, and Skye being available to rescue us from one emergency or another (everything from broken-down cars to moderate injuries). But we're excited for them too. And we like to dream that next summer we'll be able to go to Ohio to visit.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our fourth anniversary. And, according to the etiquitte experts who know what we need this year, the chosen gifts are fruit, flowers, linen, and silk. If you're interested.
We're not doing anything great and special today, but it's still a special day. It's a wonderful thing to celebrate a companion to be with forever. Having a friend right there makes the trials easier and the happy times even more fun.

Milestones

Two exciting things at work in the past week:

1. Our research project just reached our 100,000th participant mark!
That's right, 100,000 DNA samples. When the project started in 2000, 100,000 was the ultimate goal. However, because time and experience have shown that 100,000 is not the end, we're still collecting. Who is lucky number 100,000? One of my co-workers.

2. I have over 100 controlled documents!
One of my many jobs (the one I was hired for) is to create and maintain all of the written, official company documents. When I started, there was nothing formal. Now, 2 years later, I have 105 documents. Most of them are work procedures, but I also have policies, operations stuff (like timesheets and purchasing), and a full safety program. I wrote most of the 105. I hope that my others see this as a big accomplishment in organization and efficiency and not as an amazing achievement in red tape!