September-October

September was a calmer month as far as activities go, which is a new thing for me.  Usually I am just getting back into the swing of things in my classroom, still slaughtering my students names and figuring out who can't sit next to whom.  It was nice not to be stressed out, but I missed my teacher-friends.
 
Well, I take it back, I was a little stressed out as I spent most of my time on the phone trying to work out the kinks that had happened with our home loan, calling a million different people but never getting anywhere.  A few lessons I learned were: 1.  Missionaries, if you ever have medical bills while serving, make sure you give them your home address, not a mission one because you will move and the bills will never get to you and they will go to collections (without you knowing about it).  2.  When you are applying for a home loan, they check to see where all of your money is coming from.  Apparently, depositing paychecks is a bad thing and can hold up your loan (until you send them copies of the check as proof that it wasn't "gifted money").  Who knew earning money while you are applying for a loan was a bad thing! 3.  I am the luckiest girl to have a grandpa who is a savvy laywer and a broker.  We would not have gotten into our house without him!

On a positive note, I did get to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  The peace and spirit that you feel there is awsome, as well as the little, beautiful details that decorate the inside of the temple.  Here we are outside.

Back in July when we hiked to the rop swing, we were with Thomas's family.  We thought it was so fun that we took my family on the hike.  This time was a little more difficult for me because I was 7 and a half months pregnant but I made it!  We forgot to take a picture of me swinging, but I got a better shot of Thomas :) 

At least the month ended on a good note.  A former coworker of mine offered to throw me a baby shower, which provided the opportunity to see a bunch of my teacher-friends that I had been missing.  I forgot to get a picture of all of us, but I loved every minute of it and am so grateful to know such wonderful girls!

October went by really fast, but also really slow.  It was the last month of my pregnancy and while most women are READY for the baby to come, I was ok that she was taking her sweet time.  Our loan process was still hung up and I wanted to be in our house before she arrived.  Thankfully, I had a few baby showers to disract me.  I still have thank-you's to deliver but I have to say how thankful I am to everyone for the advice and gifts I received.  It was very humbling to see how many people were excited for and supported us.  I hope to be able to return the favor.  Like before, I forgot to take pictures of each shower (not that surprising if you were around me while I was pregnant, my brain was mush!). 

Finally, on the 25th we were able to move into our house!  Thank you again to all who helped us, we owe you big time.  I am especially grateful because I couldn't do anything being 9 months pregnant.  Somehow I didn't go into labor during it all, but it wasn't that far off!  Here are a few pics of the house.

I have to note that this picture was taken from the appraisal, so the room doesn't quite look like this anymore.  I would have taken a picture of what it looks like now, but it isn't as neatly organized :)

Now that I have caught up on life before Ember joined us, I can now write about her arrival. :)