Moving

So I moved to Orem a couple of months ago. I miss my California family and the weather of course, but it is good to see Heather's family and Ryan so often. Mom and Dad bought the condo and I am living here full time and paying the bills and paying them a little rent. So far I am handling living alone pretty well. I keep pretty busy between work and taking care of the condo. My ward is pretty weird. It is just my complex and another one across the street. So it is all condo sort of people. Lots of young couples with 1 or 2 kids and then some older retired types and older singles. Our sacrament meetings are seriously loud with all of the babies and toddlers. Here are a few pictures. Not too exciting but I have been really busy. I didn't have furniture until a couple of weeks ago so here I am sitting on the floor watching TV. It looks like I was watching NCIS at the time. Sitting on a couch seems really luxurious now.

Woohoo! The new couch. It's really comfortable. I have some pillows now so it doesn't look quite so brown on brown on brown.

Here are a few of my favorite Orem things:

There is a boat dealership right by my house and I drive by this houseboat several times a week. It always makes me think of my freshman Y-group. But that's another story. It is kind of an ugly houseboat.

This is Stonehenge of Orem. Apparently this is a nursing home. I don't know why they built their own Stonehenge or named their facility Stonehenge of Orem. But it's fun to drive by.

Construction Progress

The end is in sight! The tile is in and they finished the grout today. Now they just have to put back and repaint all of the baseboards and then seal the floor. I think it looks really nice. The darker color will go better with the furniture.

The grout will be a little lighter when it dries.

Here is the hole I cut in the plastic tonight to get to the microwave.

Fun with Construction

They started the tile replacement project on Monday. On Monday they just came in and covered stuff with plastic so it wasn't too bad. But the last 2 days they were taking out all the tile and it has been super loud and dusty. Hopefully putting the tile back in will be a little quieter. We also haven't been able to turn on the heater because the intake vent is in the dust zone and would spray dust all over the house. So it is a good thing we live in California or it would be mighty chilly instead of just chilly. I'm hoping it doesn't really take 3 weeks to finish everything because not having a kitchen is already getting old. Plus I don't think I have enough clothes to last for 3 weeks without doing laundry. Here's our special plastic doorway to keep the dust out. There is a zipper in the middle that lets you in and out.

We can get in the fridge but everything else is totally covered.

Huge wall of plastic blocking off the living room. All of the furniture from the downstairs is in there.

Emily's Blessing Day

I went up to Utah with Mom and Dad last weekend for Emily's blessing day. I had to work while we were there but it was nice to see everyone and get out of town for awhile. Here are some pictures of the fam after church. The new and improved Higbee family! Now with 5 kids! Heather's kids are all the same age that we were when Ryan was born. I was Evan's age. I remember it was fun to have a new little baby around. Heather's kids really love Emily already. Little Lindsay has even learned to change her diaper. Hopefully they will help Heather out a bit so Heather doesn't go too crazy.

Grams and Grandpa with the new grandbaby.

The whole Stewart-Higbee group. Notice Jonathan has already untucked his shirt. His Grandma Higbee had just tucked it in before we started taking pictures.

Laurel, Lindsay and Evan. This is what Evan did when I said to smile. These kids crack me up.

Here's Dad about to throw Jonathan into the bushes. Jonathan doesn't look too upset about it though.

Pretty baby Emily. I tried to take one without the blanket in the way but she started fussing after this.