Friendly Neighbors

When we moved in, we had SO MANY neighbors drop in to meet us and bring us a treat or gift. Southern hospitality at its finest. Ward members were also inviting us over for dinners and get togethers. Our HOA brought us this awesome fruit basket. But probably my favorite gift was from Mimi our neighbor. She brought us 3 loaves of sourdough bread...fresh from the oven. It was right before dinner and so we sliced a loaf up to eat with supper. OH MY GOODNESS! My kids INHALED it...I mean 1/2 way through dinner they wanted to go and get another loaf. But I wouldn't let them... I wanted the goodness to last. Those 2 other loaves only lasted until the next day sadly enough. So the next time I saw Mimi...I begged her for the recipe. She was very willing to share and she actually brought me some of the starter. I only make whole wheat bread...trying to use and rotate that food storage you know ;). So she gave me a few tips on how to make her recipe using whole wheat flour. Just to give you a comparison of how good her bread is: If you are related to me and you know about Granny's rolls...imagine that in bread form, just slightly sweeter. And if you are a member of the Grovecreek 10th ward...if Andrea Scheuber's and Mimi's bread were in a contest...it would be a neck and neck race! So I've since started making our bread again, because I've tried what's out there at these southern grocery stores and it all tastes like cardboard to me. If I'm going to have carbs...they better be worth it! And the whole wheat tricks that Mimi shared have worked wonderfully! I haven't had a batch fail yet. Although it does taste a little different with whole wheat...it's still pretty darn good. My kids are loving it too since every time I make a batch, I could get 4 loaves of bread out of it, but since I only have 3 bread pans I usually make cinnamon rolls or dinner rolls with the extra dough. Reminds me of the urban legend of the new bride cutting off the end of the roast to fit in the pan. I'm also learning to time it right so that I'm not baking in the middle of the day. Many nights I've stayed up to make sure that our bread comes out of the oven...good thing it only takes 30 minutes to bake, and then I'm off to bed!

Missionaries

One thing that we were anticipating in our move was being out in the mission field, away from the mother ship, helping out a ward or branch, and hopefully just being a good example of a semi-normal family! (HAHAHA) When our truck of stuff arrived 3 days after, we were amazed at how many people showed up to help us unload, and unload, and UNLOAD! (8 people have A LOT of stuff!) Ward members came, neighbors stuck around for quite some time, and the missionaries assigned to our new ward showed up. This was the first time for me and the kids to meet Elders Black and Scott, and Sisters Hernandez and Neufville. In the few weeks time, we've grown to love these young missionaries. Nate was able to go on splits with the Elders while we were still in Utah, and I believe he had met Sister Hernandez also. After our first couple of weeks of being here Nate made the comment, 'Our boys have spent more time with missionaries in these few weeks than they ever did in their lifetime in Utah.' What a great blessing it is to have them in our home. We feel their love, and it's great to see what the life of a missionary is like...both good and bad. In fact one Saturday we had both sets over for dinner, they both arrived an hour early because they wanted to do a little tracting in our neighborhood. The Sisters had a good response but it was great for us all to hear the not so nice people down the street that 'politely shut the door' on the Elders. (And as a disclaimer, I didn't know that we shouldn't have both sets over for dinner at the same time. Oops. But I did ask Elder Scott if it was okay and he said that it was every once in a while since Elder Black is the Zone Leader and can use that time to 'meet with the sisters'. Better not make that mistake again.) We were able to have the missionaries over on Mother's Day so that they could skype/talk with their families. It let me see just a little bit of what it's like to be a missionary mom. And the last picture is of the kids playing Ninja with the Elders...one of their favorites especially since every one can play, even Seth.

Tired little kiddos

It was bound to happen. It's hard to adjust to this getting up early! Today I was on my way home from errands when Rachel called and said, 'Jace and Hannah didn't get off the bus.' Excuse me? Were they even on the bus? I stayed calm, but immediately called their school and asked if they were there or if they had gotten on the wrong bus. The front office got a little panicked and started calling their bus driver and others for their school. I decided to try neighbors' houses that I thought Jace and Hannah might go to. Just a few minutes later as I started to leave, the school called back and said the bus was bringing them back home. Apparently when the last boy got off the bus, he said to the driver, 'There's a couple of kids asleep in the back' Yup....poor Jace and Hannah had fallen asleep and no one noticed. Guess it's an early bedtime for us tonight!

Our Home

No this isn't about our home here in Alabama. I've still got boxes to unpack ;) So until that happens...I'm waiting to take pictures. We do love it, love the neighborhood, and ward that have all welcomed us with open and loving arms. But I wanted to write a bit about our home in PG. As most of you know, Nate and I poured our heart and souls into that home. We remodeled 95% of it before we left. We really did want to 'cash in' and use that money to buy a home here in Alabama free and clear, for a couple of reasons...because we did put our heart and souls into our PG home our kids and our bank account took the toll. Most Saturdays were spent on project after project, inside and out. Luckily we didn't go into any debt to fix it up, but it didn't leave a whole lot of money for trips and vacations. I don't feel like our kids ever missed out though...we did have fun in the almost 8 years we did live there. In fact with what we learned and the work ethic that I hope we installed in our kids, I hope it will pay off more than a trip to Disneyland. We had a few inquiries before we left, but nothing solid. So we decided to rent it out. After meeting with a property manager the week before we were to leave, I felt that it was the right thing to do. We could make a couple of double house payments, but not for long. As we were finishing up loading the truck on Thursday, we had a knock on our door. Jill and Mike Butt. They had tried to get ahold of our PM, but couldn't... so living close (in our stake actually) they were prompted to come up to the house. We showed them around, talked about the house, their family of 12, and what their situation was. I don't mind saying that there were a few tears shed, from both parties. Friday morning our PM called and told us more about them and the events that led them to us and to be able to rent out our house. I don't feel like I can say EVERYTHING right now, but I will say this. Heavenly Father had this plan for both our families, and sent the right people at the right time to make sure that plan followed through. It was absolutely AMAZING to sit back and discuss with Nate the events that took place in just those couple of days. Nate called Mike last night and they had a great chat about what had happened and of course talked about things pertaining to our house. I'm glad they are there...taking care of it and loving it just as much as we did. (Besides...we left 6 free chickens and a cat...what more could you want?) Here is a picture that my sweet neighbor sent to me saying: I'm super impressed with your renters...they're out there sweeping and weeding.