We're in!

First, some random pictures in reverse chronological order:

The front room (complete with stockings hung by the fire)

A snowy closing day on Thursday

Christmas time baking at our apartment, yum!

Making gingerbread houses! Avery was much more interested in stuffing her face with the plethora of candy.

Well hello friends and family!

We have much to catch up on now that we have INTERNET in our new home! I apologize for neglecting the blog so badly, but we're back in the saddle (meaning with internet after a 3-month "fast") and it feels GOOD!

It also feels good to be in our new home- I can't believe it!!! We're actually here. The move went awesome on Saturday- we probably had at least 15 helpers from the ward and it was speedy! It's a good thing that Brian and I could come clean up the carpets before hand (on one long Thursday night after our closing) because the previous owners left us a lovely mess. They owned 3 dogs and hadn't even vacuumed after getting their stuff out... so after 3 runs in every room with the vacuum and then the carpet cleaner, we got enough dog hair out to be satisfied. I'm sure we'll still be sucking up dog hair for a long while. Ah well; soon we plan to have new flooring anyway.

We're still unpacking, but have all the essentials put away. We even got Christmas put up in the front room! It is so cozy here with the fire place and pellet stove. We're so excited about this house; I was pleasantly surprised when most of the rooms felt bigger than I expected after we moved in. The kitchen is awesome: a ginormous sink, double oven, great filtered water from the fridge, plenty of beautiful hickory cabinets and everything feels new. Ahh!

We have plenty of home updating projects on our list and Brian is getting started right away on our stair case now that he has a lot of time off for Christmas. I'm so excited he'll be here tomorrow and so on! Christmas is so close- crazy. I'm preparing (mentally mostly) to cook my first turkey- it's a whopping 18 pounds, holy cow... or should I say bird. I'm also planning some other yummy dishes and it looks like we'll have a cozy Christmas all to our very selves. It's happy and sad at the same time, but I know we'll make the most of it; it'll be new.

Shooie! Move-in, Christmas, birthday, baby... so much happening. We still haven't picked out a name and we're feeling the heat since it's TWO weeks away! We have some names in mind but aren't set on a particular one. I hope one of them sticks out when the time is right.