We moved! Finally an updated post.

Well, it has been a whirlwind these last couple months! I finally decided it was time to update this thing! We decided to leave Orem only 2 weeks after we decided we would be moving in mid-August. Those 2 weeks were crammed with packing, procrastinating, more packing, tieing up loose ends on all sorts of things, packing and cleaning. We made some visits and said some goodbyes. We didn't get to visit/say goodbye to everyone we wanted to, but oh well...these days, is there ever really a goodbye with how connected we can stay with technology? One of the hardest goodbyes was Grandma and Grandpa Brewer. They became our best pals and our favorite people to visit while we were in Utah! We already miss them dearly.

We packed up everything into our Budget truck with the help of the Elder's Quorum from church (Thank You!). It was really strange seeing our little basement apartment all bare, and realizing how much STUFF we had accumulated! When we moved in, we had been married just over a year and didn't have very much. By the time we left, our family had doubled and so did our stuff! We had some really great memories there, but now its time to make some new memories in a new place!



 

Ben's Dad came down to Utah and drove the truck up to WA while Ben and I drove with the girls in our ONLY car. We sold Ben's commuter car before we left, so now we are down to a one car family. (Thank you Dad B! It was so nice of him to do that for us!) So far it has worked out really well! :)   In fact, Ben's parents are so extremely generous that they are letting us live with them until we can get into a house! We are hoping to be able to buy a house in the next few months.

 

Cost of living and housing/rent are so much higher here than in Utah! It is crazy that it is cheaper for us to buy a house than it would be to rent a decent place! We've been going through the process of getting pre-approved, taking homebuyer's education courses (really helpful!), and looking for homes! We actually put an offer in on a house a couple weeks ago, but got outbid by a cash investor! Grr! Those cash investors are smart investors, but sure are frustrating when families like us are trying to buy homes! It is way more of a seller's market up here in the NW than it was in Utah. Oh well, something will open up for us soon, I'm sure! (We are trying to put a bid on a foreclosure house as I type this!)

 

Ben is loving his new job and is glad he made the decision to go with this job rather than the Utah job he was offered around the same time. Since we are down to one car, he's been taking the commuter bus from Vancouver down into Portland. Its been working out nicely for him because he doesn't have to stress over driving in traffic, and he gets some time on the bus to read or do whatever.

 

The girls have been keeping me busy and it has been nice to be close to both sets of parents and spend time with family. I'm antsy to get into our own place so I can start "home-making". These 'crafty and cozy' seasons are just killing me thinking about all the cute stuff I could be doing/decorating if I had my own space to do it!  Once we get settled into a place, I also look forward to setting up my music studio again and getting some private students and some students for Let's Play Music classes. In the mean time, I've started singing with the clark college chorale to keep singing and music a part of my life.

 

Ben and I have callings in the ward, even though we are temporary. I am a primary worker teaching the 6-7 year olds. My class is 7 boys and 1 sweet little girl. Its been fun. Ben is the 14-15 year old sunday school teacher. It has been interesting trying to trade off and juggle Alice around during church while we are trying to do our callings. She turns 18 months mid-November, and will (age wise) be old enough to go to nursery, but she is still not walking, so we are working hard to get her walking before nursery age! (She's making some great progress on the walking though! She'll probably be running around in circles in the next week or two!)

 

Here are some fun pictures of the girls since we've moved...they are best friends! So cute. There are a bunch more that we want to share, but they are on Ben's phone, so those pics will just have to wait until we update again. Enjoy! :)