‘Tis the night before Christmas and all through the house

There are creatures a stirring, although, not a mouse.

There’s 3 wiener pups, 3 cats, Serra~V~,

And soon 2 more grand kids will be here.  Yippee!

Yes, here we are in Vegas, excitedly anticipating our first Christmas with our new Serra~V~.  She has no clue what is going on, only that there are many people here that are doting on her.  She is quite happy about it I must say.  She gets packed about everywhere by someone, and never gets left alone for a minute. 

We have been quite busy since we arrived on Sunday.   We left Calabasas early and made good time.  We attended our old Buffalo Ward where I participated with the Ward Choir.  I only attended one practice before we moved and it was pretty sad.  They obviously worked really hard though and sounded really good.  We haven’t been gone long enough though as one of the members asked us when we were moving. 

Yesterday (Monday) we got an early start and headed over to our house to get some financial papers that we figured we would need to co-sign on a loan for Amy Jo.  We went to the bank and attempted to apply for a loan so she would be the owner of the car and insure/register it wherever she is.  We were brutally shot down and so went to plan B.  We headed across the street to the AAA insurance office and found out we can go ahead and move our policy to California and leave her here in Vegas at her parents address.  It will end up costing her about $200 extra a year because she wont have the benefit of our multiple car discount.  It would be more to have her drive to California and re-register and insure it there though, and a huge hassle.  So, until she qualified for a loan this is what we will have to do.

After all this, Brian and I went to the glorious Super-Walmart where we got some last minute items for Christmas and some packing paraphernalia for finishing the house.  We then bit the bullet and called the realtor we talked to a few months ago.  He met with us a half hour later.  He is a really energetic, sweaty fellow, who is really a Johnny on the spot.  He was surprised to here from us so long after we met with him.  Most FSBO’s don’t last as long as we did trying to do it on their own.  Anyway, we went with him because he eats, breathes, sleeps, and sweats real estate and is really aggressive on selling.  Most realtors don’t do much to sell other then listing on the MLS and letting  the buyer half do the rest.  He promised to do us a good job, took our keys and told us it would be listed that night, but not to expect to many to call on it in the next few days.  Anyway, we are actually really relieved to have this project out of our hands. 

Grandpa and Grandma Gee arrived this morning from Utah.  Adriane arrived this morning fresh from San Francisco.  Eric and Tracy et al will arrive some time today from Idaho.  We will miss Holly and Ian.  They will be coming up In January.  Brian has secured a ticket to come and see them.  He will stay for 2 days and load up all our junk and drive it back to Calabasas.  He got a round trip ticket because it was cheaper than a one way.  Go figure. 

Last Saturday we attended the Calabasas Ward Christmas party with great excitement of getting a picture of Serra~V~ with Santa.  Just as they announced his arrival she slumped over in exhaustion and slept.  Oh well.  So here is Serra~V~ snoozing on Santa.  Then she woke up and we were able to get the Serras together with Santa.

And here is Serra~V~ with her great grandfolks.

Peek-A-Doug

Well, we are having a great time with the camera and are still trying to figure out all the tricks.  Here are some of her 8 month pictures.

Brian here…As you can tell we went out and bought ourselves a digital camera for Christmas.  It’s already producing some wonderful pictures of our little monkey.  You thought there were lots of pictures before….well you haven’t seen anything yet.  Pam is going to go nuts now…more pics of the boogus the better I say. This first picture is titles “I cry sometimes”.  Beautiful eyes huh?

Here is her fat dad and her modeling Christmas PJ’s.

She is a big baseball fan already….any guesses on the movie playing behind her?

     No doubt you will be seeing a lot more pictures now that Pam has a new toy.  We are settling well in to California and are really taking a liking to the fantastic weather.  We’ll be heading up to Las Vegas this Sunday to spend Christmas with the Andersons and then come back down to California as New Years is a busy time for RV Rentals.  I’m really enjoying the new job.  Martin and Brent are fantastic to work with and are easing me in to my responsibilities. 

     I had an “information session” with Pepperdine last week and they gave me some great information.  I am meeting one on one this Thursday with a recruiter and we’ll go over everything in a little more detail regarding my application.  I also have planned to attend an information session for the MBA program at UCLA on Wednesday.  It’ll be interesting how the two programs compare.  Personally, I actually am really sold on Pepperdine although UCLA would be a more prestigous program to attend.  We shall see but right now I’m leaning heavily towards the Waves.  

     ”Bye for now.” 

Sorry there are no pictures as of late.  We no longer have the use of a digital camera and the scanner can’t be hooked up yet.  That is a real sore spot for Brian.  He can’t figure out how to get the cover off the tower to install the card that the scanner requires.  He is about ready to send his degree back to Utah State.  Dang Japanese contraptions.  Anyway, our gift to ourselves for Christmas will be a digital camera so the new year should be plum full of new pictures.  I can’t wait.  It will be fun to have instant shots that I can keep or erase and just print up on the computer.  I will still use my nice camera for many things but the everyday snapshots will be fun. 

Brian is enjoying his job and says he thanks his lucky stars he is no longer with Enterprise slaving away.  Serra~V~ is finally getting used to sleeping in a new place, thank goodness.  She had a rough first week and I really felt it.  She is getting over a minor cold.  The worst part about it for her is when I use the suction on her.  She howls like I am abusing her royally. 

Last night we went to the temple to see the lights.  It was nice and not too crowded.  We also caught a short concert at the visitor center with some fun Christmas music by a ensemble of 5.  Amazingly we didn’t hit a lick of traffic the whole way.  So we are here and looking forward to the rest of the holidays.  Christmas is forever changed with our new addition.  It should be loads of fun.

Seems like forever since I have written on this thing.  Lots of changes have occurred.  We are officially in California and Brian is working at Expedition Motor Homes.  Sink or swim.  Dad and Martin left him alone today after a brief overview yesterday, and although it will take him a few months to become an expert, he has managed well.  He says he is enjoying it so far. 

We spent the first part of last week finishing up moving out of our home in Vegas.  It was a bit overwhelming and difficult with a teething baby vying for my attention.  Brian had to continue on with Enterprise until Wednesday, the day before T-day, which did allow him much time to do any of the moving.  I did all that I could and so on Friday after the holiday he returned to Vegas to do some repairs and such.  We will try to finish getting everything out eventually and get it sold too. 

Thanksgiving was fun. We were able to spend the weekend with all the family. minus Dallas and Doug who remained in Logan to work.  Serra~V~ wasn’t quite sure to do with herself when all her admirers left on Sunday.  She had gotten used to having more love than she could handle. 

For those of you who haven’t seen her in a while, she is now sporting 6 teeth, the last two, top dead center.  They have given her a rough time and she likes to bite unsuspecting fingers with them.  She squeals constantly to hear herself and make her presence known.  She also sings along with the radio, tv, and at church.  She will be a singer, most definitely. 

We gave her her Christmas present already since she needed it.  A new car seat, and that all she getting from us.  (Well maybe a few other things. )  She has outgrown the infant seat we bought originally and we decided it wasn’t safe to wait until Christmas morning to open it.  She won’t know the difference anyway. 

Anyway, a little discombobulated with all the change, we are surviving this move well and feel that many opportunities will come from this endeavor.