Offer Accepted!!

We are so excited were are going to be home owners!!
It's a 3 bedroom 3 bath duplex, right across the street from our apartment complex. This pictures really don't do it justice.
We are excited about the finished basement, real hardwood floors, big backyard, parking (it's hard to find out here actually), new kitchen cabinets and granite countertops. We move in July 17th, and can't wait!!

Basement

Memorial Day Weekend

Well, because of my awesome 9/80 work schedule, we had a glorious 4-day weekend! Friday was spent looking at more houses. We finally found one we both really liked, and were both excited about. We put an offer on it, and we're waiting for this weekend to hear back from the sellers. There's a competing offer, so we're anxious/nervous going into this weekend. But, let's get back to Memorial Day weekend. Saturday we hit the Farm Museum and the sustainable living fair. It would have been cool to investigate the solar and wind power companies if we had a house. But we don't. One cool thing we saw was blue-jean insulation. It's amazing what these wackadilies think of to be sustainable.

After we ate lunch at the fair, we were packing our stuff up and Brooklyn fell off the picnic table pretty hard. Her lip was bleeding a bit and she was crying pretty hard. Then, instead of allowing me the time and focus to comfort my child, some nutso lady came by and started blabbing away about the amazing powers of homeopathic magic crystals that seriously reduce bruising. Of course my polite sensibilities kept me from doing the right thing, paying attention to Brooklyn! Instead I nodded my head and feigned interest. This lady was about to give some of her crystal powers to Brookyln but I think she finally realized she was an absolute stranger (crazy?) and that administering mysterious pills to children wouldn't fly too well. So she finally left us alone, but it bothered me that she didn't have the decency to allow me to comfort my child, and also that I didn't have the nerve to dismiss her immediately to do what was best for my kid. In the end, Brooklyn was fine and we had a lovely rest of the day, but I definitely won't make that mistake again.

Sunday was routine church. Busy, busy, busy. But Celeste and I both enjoy our callings and serving the ward.

On to the main event of Memorial Day celebrations! We took a trip to the National Zoo! We saw pandas, lions, monkeys, exotic birds, cheetahs, bald eagles, sea lions, and elephants. It was fun...except for 20 minutues in when Brooklyn fell down, skinned her already scabbed knee, and started bleeding all over the park, crying her eyes out. And continuing to cry for 10 minutes afterwards. Yeah, that part wasn't so cool. But the rest of the day was great.
After the zoo, we went to a friends house in the ward for a BBQ. It was delicious food (especially the jello!) and great company. We're really starting to settle in here, and we're looking forward to getting into a house and putting down more roots. Celeste just got cast in a children's production at the community college, and she's taking a photography class, and she's started doing some grading to bring in extra skrill ($$). Work is going great for me, and I'm excited that we're starting to test our physical robots in the field. That's the best part!

ANIMAL PICTURES!

Kyle Payne our brother-in-law took some amazing pictures of Hunter while they were visiting us. Thanks Kyle!!

Check out the website for more!
http://gallery.me.com/kyle_payne/100396

Whirlwind

It's been a bit of a whirlwind even since Hunter arrived. So this post we'll be playing whirlwind catch-up. Let's start with my family's visit.

Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Megan, Uncle Kyle, Hallee, and Madie all came down to visit the end of April. They came to be here during Hunter's baby blessing, and also so that Megan and Kyle could visit Temple University and scope out Philly. It was a lot of fun to have them all here, but our 2 bedroom apartment was hardly adequate to cope with 10 people for 5 days. And not just 10 people, but two 2-year-olds! Brooklyn and Hallee had a blast playing with each other, but they had lots of energy that was tiresome to contain. Although our visit wasn't completely hassle-free, the best thing was the baby blessing and just spending time together. We got some cute action shots of the time my family spent here.



To add to the maelstrom, I just got called into the Young Men's Presidency. I was immediately thrust into a flurry of responsibility, being called on to teach every Sunday, chaperone an all-day event/dance, and prepare for a flurry of summer activities coming up. I love it. I love being able to serve and help.

This week has been eventful as well. Brooklyn officially turned 2 today! We had a small birthday party in the park on Friday. We had cupcakes and Capri-sun. Mom and Dad actually put forth the effort to buy Brooklyn a birthday present, and I think we got it right: Lightning McQueen toy car. She loves the movie Cars.



In order to celebrate our anniversary coming up, we took the family to Bengie's Drive-In theater last night. It was so great! $8/person for a double feature! We saw Monsters vs Aliens and Star Trek. They were both great movies. I thought MvA was going to be better than it was, but it was still cute. Star Trek was incredible. The only thing I missed was some of the science talk that the tv shows have. The one thing I didn't like about it, is that it was over too soon! I wanted more, more, more. And with the way things ended, I'm sure J.J. won't disappoint.