Recent little video...

Click link to see... 'tis pretty CUTE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SzHz0WGC0Q&feature=player_embedded

What a Month!!!

Josh was a great help with packing... I have many little surprises along the way with random things in boxes. He thought it was so fun to put everything into boxes but wondered why we don't dump it out after. He's really into dumping EVERYTHING he can get his hands on. I call him my "human tornado".

So, this past month has been the craziest month EVER! I will just mention everything that happened in quick point form so you can get a feel for the caos.

• Mark started a new job teaching at MacEwan University (he teaches an intro to accounting class) and he is so far absoltutley Loving it!





• Mark started a new job working for a small accounting firm Called "Miniely, Tower, Hughes & Associates"... he's one of the "associates".





• I (Marie) started a new job doing Home Care Nursing. I'm able to pick up small shifts here and there whenever I want, so it works good and i don't have to leave josh with anyone other than Mark.
  



• We Moved.

• The night we got posession we noticed the downstairs doorway was FAR too small to fit our washer and dryer. SO.... Mark stayed up till 1:30 AM with our Brother in Law, James Bishop and knocked down the wall. We were going to have to do it at some point so we figured why not now? the washer and dryer it came with looked less useful than a washboard. All is well now, we just need to rebuild the wall soon.
  


• With the move has come many wonderful adventures... Starting with a plumbing issue in the basement hooking to our main water line- also a leak in the upstairs shower and under the bathroom sink. Two plumber days later all is fixed in this department. This plumbing entailed having the city come and turn our water off which took a little over 5 hours as there were some problems there. But I think it was meant to be, because I was able to give a Book of Mormon to the Epcor guy which was really cool.




• Next we had a minor Electrical problem in the basement. The telus man and i had some fun taking off many ceiling panels uncovering many cut wires. I also experienced many not so exciting SHOCKS when I turned on different light switches in the basement. SO... one hour of electrical work later, this is now fixed.
  



• Next, we found out our first sunday at church that this house used to be owned by someone who used to live in the ward and has a very "exciting" flooding history. I'm sure you can't imagine how excited I was to hear this. It truly made the week.




• Next I signed us up for a Flood prevention inspection which will be conducted by a city of edmonton engineer (all free woohoo) and they will be doing an in-depth inspection this week with cameras in our walls and pipes etc and we may quailify for some subsidy.




• THEN... saturday I was shoveling the walks and smelled gas... I had mark go smell as well to make sure I wasn't making it up (by this point I am sure this house is haunted or something) and sure enough we had a huge gas leak. I called Atco and an Awesome man came and redid our entire gas-line to our house all the way inside... again Free! He also detected a problem with our water heater and fixed that because he was nice.




• also in the midst of all the fun, add on the fact that josh got Three teeth this week which wasn't very fun for him. He is doing great though and loves all the space to play!
  



• And to answer your question... Did we get an inspection prior to buying? yes we did. Helpful so far? not so much.

I think that's all that has happened so far... by this point we just laugh and aren't surprised by anything anymore. Life is fun that's for sure!

Even though this house has thrown a lot at us this week, we still love it and are happy to be here.

Josh is One!

A year has gone by since Josh joined our family and we couldn't feel more blessed! We love him so much and we've had a fun couple of days celebrating the fact that our baby is now a little man (yup he's one year old. You're all right - time flies). So here's what we've done:

Everyone knows that we are 'careful with our money' (some may say 'cheap') so the night before Josh turned one we took advantage of going to a local indoor playground called 'Let's Play!' because it is free for children under one. Hopefully he will get to see it again, but in the event that its a while until we frequent it again, we went to take advantage of one last free entrance. We had tons of fun climbing, crawling, and sliding all over the place. The reality is that Josh's smile and giggle while we are there are worth more than money can buy, so I'm sure we'll be there in the not too distant future - especially with the probability of several feet of snow and temperatures below 'rediculous' coming at us in no time.

While Dad worked on Josh's birthday, Mom and Josh went to the dog park (Copper likes Josh's birthday too. We've only been about three times this year. Before Josh we went more than three times a week. Copper is getting used to being second in line.). It was nearly 10 degrees outside so it was a good time to take advantage of one last outing in Edmonton. Hopefully Josh's future birthdays will present the same opportunity (unlikely).

Uncle Jeff and Aunt Lindsey and their boys stopped by to congratulate Josh on his accomplishment of being one and brought him a really nice abacus - never too early to start down a good carreer of accounting (Just joking Josh - you can do whatever you want when you grow up). It was nice to visit, though it was much too short.

We had the official party on Friday the 11th. Marie's family joined us for homemade pizza and cupcakes. It was great to have everyone together to celebrate Josh's first birthday. Josh and Dad had fun feeding each other the cupcakes and Josh was spoiled with several gifts and had a lot of fun watching all of his big cousins walk around. Josh took 6 steps that morning and is really excited about being able to walk - even though his excitement often brings him to the ground to clap for himself.

We can't believe one year has gone by already. For Josh, this is a big day! For us, November 10th will always be a special day because its the day that we first met the boy that we were told we never would. He truly is a miracle! He brings a special spirit into our home. He helps us come closer to our Heavenly Father and to better understand His unconditional love. We wouldn't trade this day, or any of the 366 days that we've come to know Josh so far, for anything in the world.

Truly, these are days to celebrate!

Josh's halloween costume.

Here is some pics and a small video from Halloween! Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXbAP2yBw20 CLICK to SEE the VIDEO!