November 2012

November 2012 was one of the busiest months of this year. It all started actually at the end of October.

I was doing my normal morning run (in preparation for half marathon #3 on November 3rd). After about 3 or so miles my knee started killing me and I stopped running. I walked the rest of the way home, very frustrated. I had not tripped, I had not fallen.....ugh. Would I be able to run? The next week I went to the chiropractor and he helped me out a lot. I told him the race was that weekend and asked if I could run. He said to see him everyday and it should be possible. He also said that it would not hurt my knee to run on it, although it may be painful. Yuck, tendonitis is not fun. I also failed to remember that I have been using the same running shoes since the last month of my training for my first half marathon. So, yes, new shoes need to be purchased (I still have not done it - life is just so busy). So, needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the chiropractor's office right before the half marathon.

November 2nd, we signed the papers for our house! It was a little overwhelming, but so exciting. Just another step taken into true adulthood. I also wired away most of our savings into escrow and went into shock for a short while. It was just a lot of $.

November 3rd I did end up running my half marathon (The big free half marathon). I taped  my knee, took some ibuprofen and went on my way. My tape came off about halfway through the race, and I spent a good 2 minutes trying to get the other piece of tape to stick to my sweaty leg, but to no avail. So, I continued on and finished the race. I finished in 2:01:30 which was just a little over what my goal was. The goal was 2 hours. But, I cannot complain considering that I was not even sure I would be able to run it and took 2 minutes trying to get the tape to stick. So, not bad. Half marathon #3 -- check!

On Monday, November 5th, we officially got the keys to our new house and I started cleaning the almost 3,500 square feet monster. What was I thinking? This house is huge?! It will take forever to clean. But, it was definitely the house we were meant to get (not quite sure why still) though I am already longing for the day when we can put carpet into some more of the downstairs. Tile is a beast.

November 6th I got to see Kristy and James who were doing some canvassing for the Romney presidential campaign. They had stopped for lunch and we got to chat for a little bit, then they were back to work.

Much of my November was spent at the new house cleaning every inch (other people's dirt is scary and gross to me - my own dirt, still not great, but I handle it a lot better) with a lot of help from family.

Oh, did I mention that someone (I am guessing the previous owner) took one side of the door knob (we have a double door entry)  and the knobs that were one there are out of stock? Yeah, so this picture is fitting because I spent a lot of time looking for replacements. I ended up having to get an entire new set. Door knobs are expensive!

November 10th was the Rainbow ward temple day and also the best day to finish cleaning and tape the house in preparation for painting. We did all of the above. Another busy day.

November 11th we ate dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house. It was a nice little break from the crazy house stuff!

Found these cute kids looking at books on the stairs together. So sweet!

We also decided to paint the house before moving in so there would be no furniture to move and "it would be nice to move in with everything freshly painted - then it would really be ours," was what I said. In reality, I am still glad we did it, but it took a lot longer than we thought and it took a whole lot more paint. Our walls were previously a super light cream and flat paint (yuck!). I was not going to have that again - cleaning the walls is impossible with flat paint. So we went with sandstone (Sherwin-Williams) and semi-gloss. Such an awesome choice! I love it! It is definitely a neutral color, but a warm tone. Again, we had a lot of help from lots of family, but it would not have been possible without Grandma and Grandpa Walker. They are the pros. Thanks to all the Walkers in Las Vegas, my mom and dad, and Shauntelle....it was a huge help!

November 12th I went to Sherwin-Williams to pick out the paint color. I got stuck on the last 2, so got a quart sample of each to see which one I liked better. I was afraid of making the house too dark, so I chose a lighter and darker option. In the end, I went with the darker (Sandstone) and it looks awesome! But, I am still glad that I had the choice and got to see it on the walls before completely making up my mind. The kids came with us for the painting adventure in our new house. They were stoked! Reed took a lot of these photos. 

Yeah, Reed took that one. I am so glad I didn't see that. 

Trying out the colors - the lighter color ended up almost completely matching the old color - that's why you almost can't see it in this photo. 

Hmmm - wonder how Reed got this shot?!

Our high wall.....

Yes, it's super high! It will never be painted again, unless I can hire someone to do it. 

The kids enjoying the stairs. 

Front stairway

Downstairs bathroom

One side of the kitchen (just happens to be my favorite room in the house) 

November 15th was a field trip day for Reed's preschool. We went down to the railroad tunnels by Lake Mead and walked all 5 of them. Turns out, you can go all the way into Lake Mead, but it's a few more miles each way. The tunnels used to be railroad tunnels (as is obvious by the name), but after everything was completed. they took the railroad tracks out. Now, it is a nice dirt trail for walkers and bikers. It was a lot of fun! (I actually had to hurry home after it was all done because the guy to look at our oven was coming by - since it was not working - it was a big rush, but we made it just in time)

Random fun thing that we did during the craziness (November 16th): We saw 2 of my cousins play for the BYU volleyball team. There was some sort of exhibition games pre-season in Las Vegas. So, my Uncle Elmer and Aunt Amy came from San Diego to see 2 of their boys play on BYU volleyball. Yes, there is height in my family, I just did not get very much of it. The guys did awesome! It was a nice break. Photos courtesy of Reed.

My Aunt Amy and my dad 

Go cougars!

November 18th (Sunday) was Isla's 3rd birthday! We went over for dinner, cookies & ice cream, and some fun games! Can't believe that she is already 3! That means Eve is almost 3! Time certainly flies when you are having fun and being busy. :)

We also decided to move just before Thanksgiving since we were planning on doing Thanksgiving at my house (my parents and sisters were coming). Besides the cleaning and painting stuff, I also packed our house - intermittently. I was like a chicken with my head cut off. Oh, and I was still teaching the Beehives on Sunday all November and was in charge of an activity. Yeah, busy. So, on Tuesday, November 20th, all our stuff was packed and moved to the new house. We did do some moving on Monday, but the bulk was done Tuesday. By Tuesday night, we had all our beds set-up and some kitchen stuff unpacked. I have not been that tired in a long time.


Wednesday was spent unpacking and also celebrating my dad's birthday at Shauntelle's house! Before going over, however, Joe and Jana stopped by on their way to St. George for Thanksgiving. Reed and Taryn spent time playing and acted like they had never been apart - no shyness or anything. They did great. Always nice to see friends! James and Kristy also came by and helped a ton in the unpacking process. Wednesday night my parents came to stay at our house and we discovered that the start button on our oven was not working (are you kidding me?!) - it had worked on Tuesday. We thought it was weird, but decided to see if it worked in the morning. We reset the oven breaker and went to bed.

Sure enough, it did not work on Thursday morning, so all our plans changed. We went to Tyson's parents' house (they were in California) and had Thanksgiving there. It was a last minute switch, but everything ended up being just fine. We ate a bunch of good food, played games, chatted, and the kids even got naps. We also did some "black Friday" shopping on Thursday night at 9 p.m.

My mom left on Friday morning, but my dad stayed until Monday morning. They were looking for a house since they are moving out here Summer 2013 after my dad retires. They did not have any luck finding a house, but the market right now is really weird - at least in Las Vegas.

Saturday, November 24th we went to Exploration Peak Park at Mountain's Edge. We played at the play ground and hiked the little mountain right by the park. The kids all had a blast! It was a beautiful view of Las Vegas! Afterwards, we went and ate at Cafe Rio :) Yummy! Then we went back to my house to play some games and relax. Ah, family time is fun :)

So, that about sums up my November. Whew! Just typing it reminded me of how busy and tired I was. Busy month, but really a great month. I can't believe we own a house!