Saturday Fun

Saturday was a beautiful day here in Atlanta so Paul and I headed outside to tackle some more of our front yard.  Hayden loves being outside and had a blast playing with sticks and her shadow.  While cleaning, our next door neighbors came out and we got to know them a lot better. They seem like a great couple and have 3 sons, but only one that is still at home.  I already forgot her name (really need to work on this!) but the woman speaks Spanish and when she found out Paul also speaks Spanish she was soooo excited and spoke to him for about an hour in Spanish.  She told her husband, "I finally have someone to speak to!" 

During our conversation they said how impressed they were that we had already found a church to go to (they had seen us dressed up the past two Sundays leaving for church).  I have no problem sharing that I am LDS, but sometimes I really want people to get to know us before that comes out and before judgments are made.  Anyway, we finally said that we are LDS (which they didn't know what that meant until we said, "mormon") and that our church is assigned by where you live.  We explained that all of our churches teach the same thing wherever you go.  They kept talking to us for a bit longer, so hopefully they still like us! 

At the end of our clean up, the trucks entire bead was filled with pine needles and 18 bags!  Still more to go, but at least we have started the process...

Pine Needles

This should be my last rant about our home.  I am grateful, but just so much work to be done!  The previous homeowner decided it was a good idea to not rake ANY of his pine needles or leaves all fall and we have about 50 trees in our yard.  Because our grass has been covered for so long it is sadly dead.  Each afternoon (on non rainy days) I have dedicated a couple of hours to the removal process.  I can't wait for the weekend when Paul can help me!

 Our sad looking front yard, I still have dead grass to clean up

It may not look like a lot, but this is only the front yard and I cannot even move the tarps they are so heavy! 

Shadow

Over the weekend Hayden discovered her shadow and how cool it is!  I had kind of forgotten about this until today.  We were going through the house room by room and vacuuming cob webs (ewww gross) and she noticed her shadow in the guest room by the window.  She laughed hysterically as she realized her shadow did the same thing she was doing. 

Also she is getting really good at the first letter of words.  Today I put her down for her nap and about 20 minutes later she was still talking which means she has pooped 9 times out of 10, so I go in her room and she smiles, points to her bum and says, "pppppo" She is getting too smart!

3 Random Thoughts

1)  Just got off the phone with my Grandpa Cowan who is 93 years old today!  I can't even believe it.  He has played such a big part in my life and I am so grateful that he is MY grandpa.  I am so glad I have such great family that keeps him company and fills his birthday with lots of joy. 

2)  This morning Hayden was drinking her sippy cup of milk and when she was finished she held it up, looked at it and said, "bye bye ml" and waved at it.  It was too cute! 

3)  My last post I said that hopefully it was my last update but I was wrong.  Shortly after they hooked us up to the sewer Paul went and used our master bathroom only to discover that it was still clogged along with our shower!  So the next day, we called them back up and they fixed it.  Shortly after that we went to change our telephone numbers and our garage door stopped opening!  It is brand new so I am hoping it is still under some kind of warranty.  We have tried contacting our Realtor but she is out of town.  Hopefully our house will be running smoothly soon...

See I told you these were random thoughts.

(Hopefully) Last update

The original sewer hook-up crew came around 11 am and this time the owners son dealt with us and was much more pleasant.  He apologized for his father's behavior and said he can be very defensive and stubborn.  He said a crew would be back this afternoon to fix the problem.  They came back around 2pm and worked for about 3 hours.  We are running water to make sure it is going through the sewer and so far so good....They also refunded us the money we paid the plumber which is great.  We feel bad though because the plumber did not charge us nearly what he should have last night and he spent 6 hours dealing with us.  We told the hook-up crew they needed to make it right with them, so hopefully they do. 

Update

So after every possible attempt for the plumber to clear the water from our lines, and no success he decided to chalk it up for the night at 2 am and come back in the morning with a camera to see what was going on.  He suspected that we never got hooked up to the sewer and he was right!  We are still on septic and the crooks just put a "pretend" pipe in to make it look like we were hooked to the sewer.  They are of course very defensive this morning and are coming out to look at it.  They better be paying for all of this!!!  I just can't believe all the time, money and energy wasted because the original guy did not do his job.

The pipe we watched drip for several hours

Welcome to Georgia

So I am feeling bad for myself again and decided writing about it might help me deal with it!  Earlier today I was unpacking boxes in the basement and heard a dripping noise, only to discover water leaking.  I go upstairs and the only thing I can think is that we just got the washing machine hooked up (after 2 hours of trying to set it up and change out the 3 prong plug for a 4 prong dryer plug) and I have been doing laundry all day.  I call Paul to let him know and then discover our hallway upstairs is also full of water.  Being a little slow, I attribute this to the clothes I had drying on a drying rack (wishful thinking).  Awhile passes and I decide to open the bathroom door...yuck is all I have to say.  I then realize nothing is draining in the house and everything is bubbling.  I then wonder if something went wrong when they hooked our house up to the sewer since it was previously on septic.  After the sewer guy came out and assured us it was not because of his work we called several plumbers and finally found one guys who would come out tonight.  Don't worry it only costs $175 per hour and he is almost at the end of hour 2.  I feel like we can never get ahead, this is the most frustrating part for me!  Always throwing money away, there goes any home improvement project I hoped to complete in the next couple of months...He has been snaking the lines for quite awhile now and the problem can't be reached so now he is digging a whole in our yard to get the snake to the problem area. 

The plumber says he sees this problem all the time when old residence leave because when they clean they put stuff in the toilet that doesn't belong.  Then it sits for weeks before the new owners move in and it causes a big problem.  Thanks a lot old owners is all I have to say to you!  I know I have much to be grateful for and this is a small problem in the grand scheme of things, but seriously, could we get a better start our here in Georgia????? Please......

Yes that is our toilet in the hallway

The plumber told me to take a picture of this because it shows that they did not install the toilet correctly, I wonder what else they did not do correctly...

While this is very cheesy, it made me smile.  In the midst of the snaking I was trying to clean things to keep my mind of how upset I was and I was scrubbing an earlier mess and look what came out:  a smiley face :) 

Sorry for being such a big complainer, I think it's just part of my nature!

16 Months Old

Hayden turned 16 months old on the 16th of January.  My little baby is turning into a toddler, it is just crazy.  Here are a few updates:

• still obsessed with Shrek (she also has favorite parts that she gets so excited about)
• has 12 teeth
• started saying "two" when we count, "one, two, three"
• loves to mimic me and tries to talk on the phone most of the day (maybe I am talking on the phone a bit too much!)
• If she doesn't know what an objects purpose is her default is to brush her hair with it (reminds me of The Little Mermaid everytime)
• getting very skilled on our stairs
• loves playing hide-and-go-seek
• will eat most of the same foods we eat, but the only non baby food vegetable she will eat is green beans (and squash but only when it is in Michelle's special vegetable stew recipe)
• carries on lots of conversations with me and herself
• is starting to use her imagination in play
• kind of obsessed with ducks

Church

Sunday was a big day for Paul and I because we went to our assigned congregation for church at 11 am (great time, although it is right during lunch).  Our experience in Indiana was less than stellar so I went in with low expectations.  But we truly had a great experience and it just affirmed that we are suppose to be here!  I am so grateful for personal revelation and the ability I have to use it in my life to help me make decisions.  I know that we are suppose to be in this neighborhood and in Georgia.  Everyone was so friendly and excited that we have moved in the ward and we also found out that 3 other LDS families live in our neighborhood.  One woman even invited us over for dinner that night which was wonderful since we were still fridgeless and had no food! 

You here people say this a lot, but it is truly wonderful that no matter where we go in this world, we will also live among people who have the same values and beliefs as us.  We will be able to go to a church that teaches the same thing all over the world. Truly a blessing that we have the gospel in our lives and that we have personal guidance from a Father in Heaven that loves us. 

I felt a lot of gratitude on Sunday and am feeling good!

Move-In

When planning our move Paul and I never even thought to consider the weather in Georgia!  Boy were we wrong!  This is the biggest snow fall they have had since 1992 and it just so happened at the same time as our scheduled move!  It snowed about 5 inches and then they had freezing rain which froze everything (can't remember what they call it here, ice storm???)  So we were suppose to drive to Atlanta on the 12th of January and our goods were suppose to be delivered on the 13th, my birthday.  This is not what happened....

We did decide to at least start driving on the 12th and get as close to Atlanta as possible because the weather looked questionable the next few days in the midwest, so we got as far as Chattanooga, GA and stayed the night.  The news said the roads were still frozen in Atlanta and we did not want to risk getting in an accident.  That night at 12:30 am the alarm clock in the room next to us starting going off and after 20 minutes of awesome beeping, Hayden woke up.  She then decided it was a good idea to stay up until 6:30 am.  We left her in her pack n' play for 3 hours and she just played, talked, and cried off and on.  So at 3:30 am Paul took her to the lobby where she played for 3 hours!!!  She was crazy.  Anyway, I'm sure sleep exhaustion played into our emotions the next day.

We left the hotel around 9:30 am and got to our new home around 11 am.  The only problem was that our somewhat steep driveway was covered in ice.  We could not even walk up to our front door without falling down.  So we did not even get inside the house for about another hour.  Paul borrowed a pick ax and shovel from our nice neighbors and dug out our whole driveway thinking that it needed to be clear for our movers who were scheduled to arrive at noon (this took him about 4 hours to clear the whole driveway)

Here is Hayden watching dad clear out the driveway

This picture does not do the ice justice, it was seriously a thick sheet of ice

Hayden would not leave the window area while dad was outside, she was very concerned about him! Overall she was scared of the new house and wanted to be held all day. She was even scared of the stairs because they were wet from having the carpets cleaned. 

 Around noon we got a phone call from the movers saying they were in traffic and would be later than expected so we headed out to find some lunch.  Upon arriving home they were at the top of our neighborhood stopped and the driver said there was no way he could get his truck through the ice on the road.  It was a sad day realizing none of our things would be delivered.  Our fridge was also suppose to be delivered that day and it to did not make it.  So needless to say, were in an empty house for a few days with almost nothing.

After some emotional tears and frustration trying to get Hayden's crib through the door, we decided to celebrate my birthday by going out to eat.  We actually found a great little barbecue place, I can't remember the name, but the biscuits were AMAZING!  Here is Hayden and I and Paul and Hayden.  We look happy, but we were pretty dejected.  We did have a good laugh at this picture of Paul, doesn't his beard look painted on his face????

On top of all the disappointment, we have all been sick and we just kept getting worse with everything that had happened.  Poor Paul shoveled for hours and then unpacked our whole Uhaul while I held Hayden.  Anyway, the next morning we felt a bit better and decided to unpack what little we had and also set up Hayden's kitchen.  This also brightened our spirits...

I can't get the picture below to center, sorry!  Hayden probably had more fun playing with everything while dad set it up!

 

Paul contacted the moving company on the 14th to reschedule our move and they said they could not come until Monday.  Paul was not happy and this is one of the first times since we have been married that I saw him demand something.  After talking to several people and finally a supervisor they agreed to come on the 15th.  The truck made it across the ice which was still very much frozen and two men moved our entire belongings in!  I took very few pictures, it was kind of hectic.  Here is Hayden trying to pull off the tape on the boxes they laid down when they first arrived. 

Two funny things since I have been unpacking now for the past few days.  Our microwave turned yellow on the left side along with our washing machine (apparently I can report this and hopefully get a new one, it seriously looks unclean) Does anyone know why this would happen???

People say that you better make sure your garbage is empty when the packers come when you are in the Air Force because they will pack your garbage.  Well they didn't pack any garbage that I have found so far, but looks what they did pack... any empty soap dispenser!  They even had the courtesy to close the top off for me!

 Paul also called Sears about our fridge and they agreed to bring it on Sunday.  I know, I know I broke the Sabbath Day, but it was either that or no fridge for another week!  I know I was quite the Debby Downer in this post, but it was a rough couple of days.  Things are looking up and besides losing our pots and pans along with all my old letters to Paul it looks like everything else made it.  It can only go up from here!

2 Days Left

I am standing in my kitchen, packing again!  This feels all to familiar.  Since I left home at age 18 I feel like I have been packing and unpacking consitently.  The words of Dido fit perfectly for me, "I never really ever found a place that I called home, I never stuck around quite long enough to make it..." While Atlanta holds no familiarity for us it is finally going to be our home for awhile.  It is crazy to me that each time I move, I get so sentimental about the things I will miss when I leave...story time at the library with the friendly librarian, my two friends here Rachel and Liz, Paul coming home for lunch and living 10 minutes from work, the Children's Museum, feeling little responsibility besides rearing Hayden, having such a small easy space to clean...

Change is always hard for me, but at least this time I am mostly just excited.  We leave Wednesday morning (hopefully, apparently Atlanta just got 4-5 inches of snow!!!) and we will drive the 9 hours to get to our house that evening.  The movers are then scheduled to arrive Thursday to deliver our items out of storage.  The adventure begins!

More Dancing

Ok, some of you are probably over Hayden's dance moves, but I'm not quite there yet!  Hayden got this fridge toy for Christmas and absolutely loves it.  It's great because now instead of wanting the fridge open, she is always trying to shut it on me and it keeps her entertained while I cook.  Here are the latest moves:

And yes, those are baby skinny jeans!  I love them soooo much!  Also I will be posting Christmas pictures soon...

Christmas-part one

We flew home to Utah the Wednesday before Christmas and what an adventure it was to get there.  We had to wake up at 3:30 am to get to the airport on time only to find that our one year old car would not start!  We tried to jump it twice and finally admitted defeat and emptied everything out of the truck into the pilot and emptied everything from the pilot into the truck.  It had just snowed a ton so don't worry, the whole back of the truck was filled with snow!!!  That set us behind and we barely made our plane.  Upon boarding the plane, I asked Paul to put Hayden's empty sippy cup in his carry on bag and he replied, "what carry on?  I didn't bring one."  After convincing him that he did, he ran back to security and retrieved the lost item in the nick of time.  We had our layover in Denver which we were also late too because our plane from Indianapolis arrived late and they were announcing our names in the Denver Airport asking us to board the plane immediately.  It all ended well and we even ran into a missionary from Cheyenne who taught our friend the discussions.  Crazy morning!  My dear friend Marci picked us up since my mom was still teaching on Wednesday.  We stayed in Murray until Tuesday with a stop by Tooele late Christmas Eve and morning.

We were able to spend time with my two sisters and their husbands as well as my twin brothers and my mom and dad.  We enjoyed one another's company going out to lunch, going to see the lights at Temple Square, going on walks, playing games (learned a new one: Shadows over Camelot) and of course late night movies.  I also got to catch up with some of my best friends.  Paul finally got to see Harry Potter with my brothers and brother-in-law.  Boy was he excited, he's wanted to see it forever.  Hayden was a little slow to warm up the the dog Sasha but eventually she was ok with her too.  Hayden loved all the attention she got from all the adults and was really showing off all of her new skills.  While home I also finally made my grandma's amazing rolls with my mom so now I should be able to replicate them on my own.  I also finally learned to make pie crusts!

I can't take credit for the following Temple Square pictures, they are from Michelle and Jared!

 My sisters: Shannon, Michelle, me and my mom

 Hayden thought the lights were so fun to touch!

 Beautiful Salt Lake Temple

 Christmas Eve opening up some gifts after our big dinner since we wouldn't see them Christmas morning

Trying to entice Hayden to open up a present from Aunt Michelle & Uncle Jared (she loved the ribbon as most 1 year olds do)

Christmas night with Hayden and her stocking

Playing with a puzzle that spelled her name from her uncles Sean & Ian

Christmas part two

We spend late Christmas Eve and morning in Tooele.  Paul's family has a tradition of reading the Christmas story and having a testimony meeting where they talk about what they believe and then go around the room and say a little something to each person present.  While driving out that night I had a nervous bug in my stomach and it took me a second to realize it was because of the testimony meeting.  I always get so nervous doing things like that, but I always feel the spirit strongly and renew my faith.  Paul's brother Mark invited his girlfriend this year and it was nice to get to know her better through her testimony.  We opened up Christmas pj's and headed for bed.

Christmas morning was fun as usual at the Pratt house.  Anne and Steve love Christmas and always make it memorable.  Hayden was a little overwhelmed by all the fun things to look at and at first all she wanted to do was play with Grandma Anne's Christmas decorations.  We finally got those out of her hands by luring her away with a sippy cup and then commenced with opening gifts.  We ate omelets and then put Hayden to sleep for an early nap.

 Here are the trees we had to get out of her hands to open presents!

 Hayden loved holding onto Grandma Joye's cane.

While in Tooele we got to spend time with Paul's brother Trent and his family: Darice, Morgan, Marly and Brooks.  We  had so much fun getting to know our nieces and nephew again and Hayden loved having little kids around to play with.  We spent our time playing around in the house, shopping, sledding behind four-wheelers, ice-skating, late-night movies, and of course playing "Hearts" and a few other games.

 Hayden had so much fun with her cousins.  Here she is with Marly.  You will notice Hayden's huge goose-egg on her head!

 Hayden even warmed up to uncle Marko!

 Hayden had fun sledding but almost fell asleep, so we had to go in a bit early!

 Marly & Morgan

 This was the twins first time ice skating and they did so well!  

After church on Sunday

It is always bitter sweet to come home.  I of course was starting to get a cold (which always happens to me at the end of trips) so I wanted to get home to take care of that, but it is always so sad to leave.  We wish we were able to live closer so that Hayden knew her grandparents and cousins better.  Maybe in the future this will be possible for us.  Our travels home were much less eventful and our car even started up just fine when we returned! It was a little difficult deciding whether it was even worth unpacking since we are moving in another week!  Hayden is quite the traveler.  Since September she has been to Indiana, Kentucky, Atlanta, Missouri and Utah!  What a trooper she is. 

We are so grateful for family and for their love and support even though we are far away and don't get to see them often enough!