Abby's First Feeding

Property Taxes

My advice for the week: Pay attention to your mortgage payment. Ours just jumped up $85/month (which is a lot for a couple of poor students) and I spent the last few weeks discussing it, repeatedly, with our mortgage company (Wells Fargo), my title company, Maricopa county treasurer's office, the Maricopa land parcel office (or something like that), and my neighbor. Long story short, I just made (or, really, earned back) $2400! Whoo-hoo. Basically, when we bought the house somehow we were billed for the past year of property taxes and on top of that our mortgage company paid additional taxes on some other property (from our account). The county didn't care, as long as they got paid, and the bank blindly passed out checks from my escrow account whenever anybody wanted some. It took a lot of work, but finally we're getting our money back and our payments are dropping back down. Whoo-hoo. So the moral of the story is to closely manage your cash because if you don't others will.

Its Final!

Today our lawyer met the judge in Utah and finalized our adoption of Abigail. She is now ours, legally, for life. Next week we'll take her to the temple and seal her to us for eternity. We're so excited!

Saturday in the Yard and at the Park

Okay, this first pic isnt from Saturday, but I wanted to include it. Here our friend Caryn visits from Texas. She had a layover on her way to Salt Lake for a workshop, and so she stretched it out to 12 hours so she could spend the night with us.

On Saturday morning I got up and worked on the pavers, which are mostly level now, and then I began trimming the tree. It was entangling our power wires so I had to take drastic measures.

Jen took Abby to a baby shower for our friend Tiffany, and my girls wore matching outfits.

Abby also found a packager for her in the mail. Her birth mom's step mom sent a quilt she stitched. It is HUGE, and Abby will surely use it for a long long time.

Jen and Abby also went to the park.

Young Men, Young Laborers

So, I finally pulled out my sprinklers and laid down pavers in our side/back yard. I recruited the young men from our church. The Kendall boys are good hard workers, Dabid and Charlie (below) were decent reluctant workers, and Milo proved himself as a big whiner (you'll notice he's not in any of the photos of people working). Much thanks to them all--Logan, David, and others who helped too. Maybe I'll post a final photo when I finish the job. All the pavers are down now, but they need to be individually removed, leveled, and then reinserted.

Below is the only photo of my trip to Coronado. Its not too flatering, but it shows the gang.

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Coronado National Forest

I'm spending the weekend in Coronado National Forest with colleagues as we prepare for our doctoral exams later this month. One of our proctors had the great idea to invite us to his amazing cabin down south for a couple days to discuss exam content and enjoy the scenery.

Camping

We joined our ward in a camp out this weekend. Who said it never rains in Arizona?

Abby attracts followers wherever she goes. Here she sits with Paul. I'm reminded of the little girls Jen and I adored over the past six years... Melissa... Hannah... Adalyn...

Abby coudles with Jessica (above) and Sara (below).Holly and her daughter Kimber.

A little creek passed below the camp site.
The camp site had everything from bathrooms to a built-in babysitter.But Abby insisted that we bring her play-pen.

Video Blog

My mom gave me an early early Christmas gift--a new laptop. It has a web cam, which I've never had before, so here goes my first broadcast.

Let the Digital Scrapbooking Begin

So Jen finally started playing with her new photoshop program. She is quickly mastering the program and below are a couple of her first creations. I'm so proud of her. Soon she'll begin on scrapbooking.

Jen is taking over two choirs in August. Above is the Arizona Deseret Choir announcement. They are recruiting LDS singers. Below is the Women's Chorus and they are recruiting ASU students. Anybody interested?