March 2009 Family Letter

Dear Family,

I was still in Burbank/Riverside the first two weeks in March helping Katy with the new baby and with their move into their first home. I arrived in Burbank on February 25th, the day Charlie Bell came home from the hospital. Then on the 28th they loaded up the moving van and headed to Riverside. Since Katy had had a C-section, she couldn't do much with the actual move itself. But then she had a sweet little nursing baby to take care of. I helped during the nights some and helped unpack and put things away. My goal was to have the whole house unpacked and put away before I came home. Most of it got done, but not all. And in the midst of all of that she had friends and family help with painting. They didn’t get their oven in until after I left, so I still did no cooking. They got new carpet the day they moved in. New windows came after I left also. And new counter tops. What a state of frenzy to be in with a brand new baby! But Katy is amazing! She has always been able to roll with the punches. If it were me I would have been in tears all the time, but not our Katy. I think they are just so thrilled to be in a real house after 11 years of marriage that they don’t even care about all the little trials. The house needed a lot of work, and it has really come together nicely thus far. We are going back for one day prior to Conference because Paul has a new client to meet in LA. I will be anxious to see the cupboards she painted black. She also painted the baby’s furniture black, and it wasn’t finished when I was there. Charlie has been sleeping in the fancy stroller; it’s just like a little bassinet. It will be nice to see the nursery all put together.

Cupboard doors are off...let the painting begin.

One little newborn baby girl cannot have too many pairs of shoes.

Look at Jim's proud face after installing his new kitchen fan.

Paul came on the 13th. It was our anniversary. 41 years! Katy and Jim gave us a gift certificate for The Cheese Cake Factory. We really enjoyed ourselves. I was going to stay an extra week because Jim was going to have to work double shifts for that week because a guy at his work was going to have a baby. But then the baby came early, and Jim’s mom and his sister were going to come, so I didn’t really need to stay after all. I flew over on a one-way ticket, but because Paul came I was able to drive back with him rather than get another one-way ticket. It all worked out nicely. I sure miss them though, especially that adorable little baby. If you are not on Face Book, you should be. Then you could see pictures of her. I blog but haven’t worked with it enough to know how to put the photos on there myself, but the kids have some posted. I need to work on that now that the Christmas trees are finally down and packed away. I know; and it’s only March.

I guess you don't have to be on facebook after all, however; Katy has been guiding me every step of the way getting this adorable picture on my blog.

I couldn’t have the trees still up in April, so I knew I had to take care of them as soon as I got home from Katy’s. But I was kind of pooped when I got home and didn’t get to them for a couple of days. And then I didn’t move very quickly because I had to dust them and reorganize the packaging . I finally finished two days ago. Yeah! That great room sure looks empty now. Very nice…but empty. It makes me just want to go down there and sit. Paul made a joke that if you stood in one spot in the kitchen you could see Christmas trees (3 table-top ones), Valentine’s Day Annalee’s and ornaments, St. Patrick’s Day Annalee’s and Easter Annalee’s…all in the same glance. Pitiful! I’m sure they will talk about that for the rest of my life, and after. Before I go to bed tonight or at the latest tomorrow I should go in and take town the Valentine’s Day and St. Patrick’s Day decorations. Then things would be normal…just the Easter decorations up…bonus to be up this early before the actual holiday.

Look closely...past the Christmas trees, to the right of the Easter bunny with the yellow boa, there appears to be a St. Patrick's Day Leprechaun on the table, and above it on the mantel are Valentine's Day decorations.

Yep, now you see them...decorations for the four holidays all in the same room at the same time. But aren't you proud of me for fessing up?

Now that the trees are down I can get back to reading and to some crocheting projects and cleaning/dunging projects. I’m excited about that.

I’m still clogging on Monday nights…still really loving it. I will do it at home instead of walking on the treadmill a lot of the times. It’s so much more fun. And we are still square dancing twice a week. Love it, love it. We’ve got another festival coming up the first week in April in Laughlin.

That’s it for this month.