The Andersons: September 2011

So I told my Mother-in law that I was going to wait to post this until the inside was somewhat cute and I could put up pictures of everything, but let's face it, by the time that happens we will have lived in the house for years and it will no longer be a new house to us and we will be moving so hence the part 1. Part 2 will be ongoing and in the who-knows how distant future and you will get more pictures of the inside.

We closed on the house in July and spent most of that month painting and replacing carpet, making lots of changes to make it livable. We feel blessed to have found it and know that this is where we are supposed to be because normally we are not so good at decisions and house...that's a big one. Should have been hard for us, but really we only looked for a few weeks before making the offer and it being accepted. It was not a short-sale or foreclosure so things moved really quick, yet through the whole process we felt at peace. I am pretty sure Heavenly Father masked lots of the things that were wrong with it to help make the decision easier. For example, the smell. Lots of houses we had looked at smelled like smoke and they were immediately ruled out. This one also belonged to a smoker who also had a small inside dog. Yet, when we looked at it I remember saying that surprisingly it did not smell that bad and immediately gave it a 10. After we bought it. I do not know how I missed the smell except to say there was divine intervention. The paint and carpet helped greatly.

We miss out friends in the Paradise Stake but feel comforted to know that this is where Heavenly Father wants us to be right now. As my family moved out from my parents' home, it will be a blessing to be close to them so we can help out with Richard and we are able to see Grandma Davis more often.

The first thing we liked about the house is the neighborhood. We both dislike gated communities and we didn't want to be part of an HOA, which is hard to find in Vegas. This has an HOA, but no fee and the rules are pretty forward. If your house doesn't look like a pig sty, you will be fine. We are so close to the temple (I thing 1 mile, maybe less). The neighborhood is quiet and the homes and yards are well kept. After moving in we found out that our neighbors are in our ward. We really like them. Great neighbors make such a difference.

Front

Next we will skip to the back of the house. I grew up in a house with a terrific back yard. I think it was 1/4 acre, which is unheard of in Las Vegas. We had a tree house, garden, patio, trampoline and still room to ride our bikes. Although ours is not as spacious as my childhood backyard, we have a yard and a larger than Vegas standard size yard. We didn't want to be so close to our neighbors that we could lean out the window and borrow their shampoo. Our yard has great potential. It has a terrace, which stair that Jimmy and Kristi love. We plan to tear out the bushed that are there and plant fruit trees and a garden. It also has a sizable grass area and a patio. Great for future kids to play in and for outdoor dinners. We also hope to move one of the side gates toward the from of the house so we will have more room for fruit trees and a sand pile.We also have a few friendly geckos that keep our bug population down and the hummingbirds and bees love our flowering bushes. I love that there are nowhere near as many cockroaches as our old area of town.

Back Yard

More soon to come on the inside...

This week, we dropped my little sister, Linda off at the MTC. I am super excited for her and a little jealous of the fun adventure she will have. I didn't do so great at documenting, most of the pictures are on Amy's camera and I assume she will post them on the family blog. We visited Grandpa Keeley in the Veteran's home on Tuesday and were able to see our friends the Polsons. Love them. Then it was off to Uncle Thor and Aunt Lisa's for traditional homemade waffles and freezer jam. Let's just say I ate a few too many. The next morning we went to Uncle Thor's farm and picked raspberries, peaches and apples AND Jimmy got to ride in the back of the truck. It was awesome. Then we had a delectable J-Dawg in Provo and were off to drop off Linda. She had a 12:55 drop off time. It was way different from when Robert left. They had the little devotional with the families, showed the movie and sang Called To Serve, you know so you really get the moms emotional. This was way better. Such a spirit of excitement and service. Sure Mom still cried, but that is what moms do. I am super duper excited for Linda. Dibs on picking her up!

Aren't sisters the best?

Linda's bag boys, I mean Elders. Amy is excited to be in a place with so many boys. Check out her face.


Does it look to anyone else like Dad has Jimmy by the hair?	I wouldn't be surprised if he did

Man I'm a good photographer. I managed to get her hand right in front of her face. Please reference one of the previous pictures to see what her face actually looks like.