What? November already?

After being soundly admonished by Heather to correct my slovenly blogging schedule here I am. I was shocked to realize that November is a week gone. I guess I had so much fun in October I just didn't want it to end.

Rosalie and I took the opportunity to go on an adventure to visit Christina. Sam and Heather had gone the weekend before and experienced a Montana Autumn snow storm. Of course they had to get the real experience by getting stuck in the snow, more than once. Rosalie and I saw little patches of snow but we spent a beautiful warm weekend in Montana. We got a chance to get acquainted with Dash the Dog, she is sweet and lovey, and a wonderful companion for Christina. We got to watch the Peirson family and friends bring in the cows and calves. Then they separated them, weighed the little ones and shipped them off to a feed lot. Rosalie and I watched, and Christina was right in there with the cows... I am always amazed by my cow-girl daughter! Dave & Kara and Anna are there now. I sure hope Christina doesn't get tired of having company because we all love to go and visit.

Jef and I have been looking at houses. It has been very fun to look at the different houses and consider how they might work out for us. We wanted to look in the Sugar House area because I have always loved that area of Salt Lake. We finally decided on one that is on 17th East. It is a pretty classic bungalow style and although it has been updated in the last 100 years, the best parts of the home had been left intact. Danny Nix acted as our real estate agent, and we really tested his patience! Good thing he's related!! Actually he did an outstanding job for us. We made an offer on the house but the owner didn't think we had offered enough. We gave it a lot of thought but we just didn't feel good about offering more so I figured we'd just look around some more. After I got back from Montana, Dan let us know that the owners hadn't had any other offers since ours... so Jef decided to make another offer, less this time, and they decided to take it. I don't think that is the usual way to play the offer game but then Jef doesn't always like to do things in a conventional way. This time the economy worked in our favor. It is a lot smaller than our house on Brighton Point, Jef calls it 'Grandma's Bungalow'. It has a small yard, it will take Dylan just a few minutes to mow it. He is going to move into it, it is close to the University of Utah, while we do a few projects like put in a stairway and finish the surprisingly large attic area to add another bedroom and bath. We need have Baird teach us how to fix the leaded glass windows, we have quite a few, they are still intact but barely. You know we have been looking for a fun project... Jef will be leaving for Africa next week so I will get to take care of the final details and sign the papers on the house on the 21st, we get the keys on the 24th. Dylan and I will drive down to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving with Lydia and family just a couple of days later. Jef gets home from Africa on the 29th, Dylan and I will drive home on the 30th and then we will start working on Grandma's 'doll house'. Jef says we will be having Christmas dinner there. Sounds good to me!

It is time to get Jef from the airport. Jeffrey and the kids are coming to visit us this weekend because Jeffrey has a doctor appointment in Idaho Falls on Monday. I am taking Monday off to play with the kids while Jeffrey goes up to Idaho. I haven't see Sarah, Collin, and Mason for several months and I was so delighted that they will be coming up. Lydia will stay in Arizona to have the chance to get caught up with her classes and study. We'll miss her but I think she will be able to put the time to good use, and we'll be there in just a couple of weeks.