Breaking in our house

We had our first family get-together in our house this weekend. It was Josh's Mom's birthday, so we decided to host the event after only being in our house for 2 weeks! I think it went pretty well and I really enjoyed having a house big enough to fit everyone. I think we ended up with 16 adults, 2 babies, and 2 kids. That's 20 people! We hope to have many more events like this in the future.
We still don't have our new carpet installed upstairs yet (should happen Wed and Thurs), so we're just living downstairs for now. Once our 2nd living room is no longer our bedroom and office, we'll have even more space for guests! My Mom is coming to visit this weekend, so we've got a guest room to get ready too. I wish we were able to spend more time at home, but we have just been so busy. Maybe we'll be able to catch up in a few weeks- HA! For now we're enjoying beautiful sunrises, sunsets, and short walks along country roads.
Here are a couple of pics from our last few weeks.

Titus' spot in the truck on the trip from WA- we're already in TX at this point. Look at how hot and tired he is!

Josh's Mom with her 2 grandsons (our 2 nehpews) Benjamin and Jackson

Our first scorpion

Titus helping with the refrigerator packaging


Family birthday night

Settling in

We're so excited to be in our new house! There were a few issues that came up that almost delayed our closing, but everything ended up working out just fine. We stayed up until midnight last night working on stuff inside and finally made ourselves sleep. So far today, Josh spent 8 hours mowing the lawn while I scrubbed 2 bathrooms and the laundry room. We already need a trip to Lowe’s and Walmart. Maybe we'll get a box or two unpacked tomorrow!
I think Titus likes this new house already. When we were moving the canoe last night, Titus started prancing around the front yard like he knew he was home. He enjoys chasing grasshoppers outside and already understands that it is much cooler if he stays downstairs instead of upstairs when he's inside.
Oh yeah- during our first night in our new home we already had 2 guests: a brown recluse spider in the kitchen sink and a scorpion in the bathroom sink. I wonder what we'll find tonight! Gotta love country livin'!

Our first week in TX

All is well (and hot) down here in TX. Our trip went as well as it could except for when we left Albion. We didn't quite get away as early as we had hoped. We were finally ready to leave at 9am. I was in the truck with Titus and Josh was in the U-haul. As I was about to start the truck, my feet were suddenly attacked by wasps! I jumped out of the truck and went dancing over to the Uhaul. My feet were burning! I didn't know how many times I got stung, but it hurt. I decided just to deal with the pain and went back to the truck. Pretty soon I see Josh coming over to the truck. He opened the door, and wasps started flying around the truck again. Well, we had 3 nests in the door jam of the truck and each time the door was opened, the wasps were able to fly inside. We had been driving the truck the evening before and several times that week without any problems. Anyway, we spent about 30 minutes messing with the wasps before finally making a safe departure. My feet burned for awhile and then just got really hot. Since then, I've had itchy feet and a small rash, but nothing too bad. So other than that, our trip was perfect. Titus was a great traveler and kept my lap very warm for most of the trip!
It still feels a little like we're on vacation since we're not in our house yet. We're sleeping in a garage apartment on an air mattress and just have a little food and some clothes unpacked. We were able to unload the Uhaul at our new house and just store everything in the garage- much better than having to use a storage building and move all that stuff twice! We've made some purchases for the new house and really look forward to moving in this Friday. We have also both settled in to our new offices and are getting reaquainted with ACU. It seems like we've been here much longer than a week since we've been so busy and have accomplished so much already. So that's been our week. We feel a little out of touch with everyone, but I'm sure we'll catch up soon. We'll try to get our new phone number and address sent out as soon as we have them (they are plowing us a new driveway that will most likely change our address, so we don't even know what it will be yet!) Have a great week!

One more week

It's hard to believe we leave WA one week from today- yikes! Packing is coming along pretty well- I'm down to a few kitchen boxes and a few other random things left to pack. We're getting really excited about our new home but also trying to savor our last few days in Albion. I decided to make lists and share them with you:

10 Things I am looking forward to at our new house:
1. A DISHWASHER!!!! I have not had a dishwasher for over 7 1/2 years (except for the time I was in NM). I can't imagine how much time will be saved by one this little appliance!
2. Multiple rooms with singular purposes- I am hoping to have as few multi-purpose rooms as possible. Example- our current dining room is also where the washing machine, hot water heater, and computer live. It also has the closet with all my clothes. Titus' room houses the chest freezer, dryer, and refrigerator. It will be nice when all these things have a home in rooms that are designed for such purposes. Along the same lines...
3. A laundry room! Currently my washer and dryer are in different rooms (granted they are just around the corner, but still). My new laundry room has lots of storage too!
4. A garage, not just one, but two! Our attached 2-car garage will house the 2 cars and our 2-car shop will house the truck (and someday, my doggie daycare). We've never had a garage in our married life, so this is VERY exciting.
5. A guestroom. That's right, if you come visit us, you will no longer have to sleep on the hide-a-bed in the living room!
6. More than 1 bathroom- we'll actually have 2.5 bathrooms- also VERY exciting.
7. Land- at least 10 acres, survey may say more. Just imagine what we can do with all that space! The pond will be pretty nice someday too!
8. Covered front porch with swing- need I say more?
9. Pecan trees- yummmm
10. Space- it will just be nice to spread out a little and have room for other people in our home. Yes, it means more cleaning, but I choose to focus on the positive

10 Things I look forward to in Abilene:
1. Being closer to family
2. Finding an awesome church that we can really get involved with
3. Cajun Cones- the BEST snowcones/shaved ice EVER! My favorite flavor is called "I don't know, but it's good." Come visit us and we'll enjoy one together!
4. Stores! We won't have to drive far to find everything we need. Abilene has 2 Lowe's and 2 Super Walmarts- what else do you need!?! (It has lots of other stuff too!)
5. Long growing seasons for gardening.
6. Wildflowers galore! WA seems a little limited in this area.
7. Reconnecting with old friends
8. TX BBQ- Betty Rose's, here we come!
9. Thunderstorms
10. Lakes with yummy fish- catfish, crappie, bass- no more trout!

10 Things I will miss about our life in WA:
1. Cool summers- we don't even have an AC and rarely feel like we need one.
2. Green grass all year long that doesn't need water.
3. My spice closet- this is truly the most special thing I will miss about our little house. There is a small closet with about 6 shelves for spices in our kitchen and we use every last inch of space in it. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out!
4. Friends- we have made some great ones here!
5. The Snake River- my favorite afternoon hangout (and Titus' too!)
6. Lentil Festival- I know it sounds silly, but we actually like this small town event.
7. Mountains- we have hiked in some really beautiful areas up here.
8. Snow- guess we won't need our snow tires or snow shovel in TX!
9. Winco- I actually like buying food from bulk bins and bagging my own groceries!
10. WSU- I really like this campus. It's so green and has some really neat buildings.

I'm sure I could keep going with these lists, but that's enough for now. Maybe my next entry will be from TX!

16 More Days- Just a little update

I can't believe we only have 16 more days left in WA. This summer has just flown by. Before you know it we'll be settling in to our new home and starting our new jobs. I haven't blogged about it yet, but I also accepted a job with ACU last week. I'll be the chemistry lab manager. Basically, I'll set up stuff for labs, make the needed solutions, maintain the chemical inventory, and keep equipment calibrated. It will be nice that we can drive to work together and even work in the same building! I'm excited that I don't have to apply for any more jobs and that I don't have to work evenings or weekends.
Last week was also my birthday. It wasn't a great day. It was the first b-day without my Dad and it marked 7 months since he passed away. Also, Josh is out of town, so I just spent my day working in the herbarium and crying- alone. Pretty sad, huh? I did, however, get phone calls from about 5 people and that made me happy.
So other than lots of packing, that's all going on here. Have a great day!

Cowboy party

Last Sunday our church threw us an early going away party- cowboy style in honor of us moving to TX. They also gave us a song book that everyone signed and a quilt with a square from each family. Here are some pics from that night.

Potluck meal with "Texas" food

Root beer at each table with personalized labels- way cute!

Fun table decorations- chips were in bandanas that were in upside-down cowboy hats and sheriffs badges were turned into napkin rings.

Cactus cake- very yummy!

Thanks everyone!

I found my drag queen!

Yes, it's another post about my hairstylist who happens to be a drag queen. I thought I had lost him. When I got back to Pullman in May, I learned that Fantastic Sam's had closed. So I have refused to get my hair cut all summer because I didn't want to find a new stylist. At work this week, a friend tipped me off that I might find my drag queen at SuperCuts. I checked it out today, and there he was!! I was so excited. He has only been working there 3 weeks, so I was really lucky to catch him. Now my hair is short and ready for the TX heat. Too bad I still have to find a new stylist in a few months. Sigh...