Smith Family Happenings

OK, things are a bit better now! The constant need for repairs has subsided and we're beginning to get unpacked. We still have a major repair and servicing to accomplish- but for now, we needed a bit of a break. We are currently in the midst of getting our hardwood floors refinished. The look pretty awesome! It's quite a process however and requires us to leave our house for several hours per day. Then when we come back- there is much leaping over the entry way floor (quite a feat for someone who will be giving birth next month) and waiting outside for the fumes to clear out. Tomorrow the last coat of the shiny stuff will be applied and the job will be done. We're not supposed to walk on the floors or move our furniture back for another three weeks. Hmmm, that should be interesting.

Otherwise, we're starting to get to know our new little town. It's pretty fun. It feels a bit like a smaller town, but has all of the stores and restaurants you could ever want! The neighbors are all still really friendly. They hang out with each other a lot! I mean, really.... a lot. Here is what we've witnessed so far- they all keep their bbq grills in front of their garages, because they seem to grill together all the time- movie projected on a garage with giant speakers- the next night, Wii video games on said garage- lots of fireworks together- lots of men wearing cut off, sleeveless, t-shirts- did I mention they hang out together a lot?- tv's in garages with various neighbors watching various shows... I don't know quite what to make of it all yet. I suppose its better than snooty neighbors who don't socialize at all, but maybe is it too much??

The Eads family came for a quick visit today. That was fun- we haven't seen them or spent serious time with them in a long time. It wasn't ideal circumstances- we couldn't step on the floors and had to entertain the four kids somehow. But some time at the park and some time outside was fun for all!

Someday we'll find our camera and get some pictures up for y'all. Until then, just picture a big mess, lots of boxes, and furniture in random locations. Yup, its our life.

Holy smokes, friends! There's a lot going wrong with our house! It all began yesterday with the closing. A last minute judgement was placed on the house, so closing got pushed back 3 hours (which delayed our poor carpet cleaning guy, who was very gracious). Then it seemed like a lot of stuff wasn't completed by the title company, so there was a lot of needless sitting around while everyone (realtor, mortgage broker, some other guy) talked intensely on their cell phones. Awkward and frustrating.

So, we find our key under a pile of pebbles by the front door (yup, you read that correctly- that's where the listing agent said they'd be- yay for foreclosed homes) and discover some things are bad. Air conditioning- apparently almost stolen until our neighbor stopped them at 11:00pm a few nights ago. All of the lines to the unit are cut. Water leaking into the basement from somewhere- discovered from dishwasher- dad can fix. Thank goodness. Faucet spraying water everywhere- dad fixed again- thank goodness they came up here!!! Today, major water pouring into the basement from outside spigot. Haven't even attempted to fix yet. New fridge shows up with major scratch down the side- and barely... and I mean barely fits into space. Maybe getting new one. Sheesh!!!!!

Avery's beginning to adjust to the idea of our new house- apparently her toys showing up one by one is helping. Grandma has been awesome at entertaining her! I can't believe we even considered not taking them up on their offer to come up and help with the move! Crazy!

Here's the good news... the nasty carpet got a lot cleaner! The guy did a great job. There are lots of kids on the cul-de-sac and it seems like everyone is really, really friendly. Jeff met all of the wives last night as they were all just hanging out outside while the kids played... fun, huh?? I haven't met them yet. There are some girls that are babysitting age too! Its way quieter than our apartment. The new sink and faucet that my dad and Jeff picked out are perfect and looking fantastic! If we decide to keep the fridge- its giant and awesome. Things that are crazy disgusting and dirty and cleaning up nicely...mainly thanks to my ma! There are more screens on the windows than I remembered.

OK, gotta go pack some more!

We're blogging from Indiana! We're much of the way through our two weeks here in the Midwest and loving every minute of it! We've been to the zoo, children's museum, living history museum, friend's houses, and Jeff has played lots of "spontaneous basketball". Which is apparently better than planned basketball. We've got a weekend full of baby showers for Jeff's sister and then back to Colorado on Tuesday.

I don't have any pictures from our festivities because I'm too lazy to upload them- sorry... soon, though!

Also, for those of you who don't know, we're closing on our house in a week!! We get to move in next weekend! Phew! Can't believe it! We're pretty pumped! Hopefully we'll have some good help- ma and pa Davis are making the trip up from AZ to help so that will be a fun visit and crazy helpful!

So, new poll over at the side... we're getting pretty desperate on the naming-our-kid thing. Not that we don't have plenty of time to decide, I just want to decide... so we're turning to public opinion. Be kind- some of our favorites are a bit out there, but with Smith as a last name, you have to be semi-unique!

Well, we've been lacking in the photo posts lately, so here's some pics to catch up. Erin and Tyler came for a visit this weekend- following Erin's bro's wedding in Colorado Springs. We met them down at Garden of the Gods and had fun on our "adventure" as Avery called it (some tricky wordage to get her to like hiking). Avery posing in crazy wind and by some cool rocks.

Here, Avery is very excited about her bravery in hiking up a rock formation. Very proud (like a peacock- 100 points if you get that reference) and with a grubby face.
Avery and her favorite buddy, Erin...
The fam...
Avery and one of her new favorite buddies, Tyler.
The following are some random pictures of Avery being three. Here, she's playing her tuba- get it... inner tube, but wearing it like a tuba- and she zerberts on it.

So really, the kid's meal at Chik-Fil-A... their "toy" recently was a CD to learn how to speak Italian. It wasn't even one aimed towards kids, just a CD with English and Italian phrases for you to repeat. What a joke, right?? Did they just get a bunch of these donated and decide they could be a toy? Or was this really the brainchild of some big-wig at the company? I thought it would be such a flop...

Boy was I wrong. The day we received it, Avery has been totally in to practicing her Italian. Maybe you won't think its as funny as I do... but it brings to mind one of my favorite scenes from "Friends". Remember when Phoebe was trying to teach Joey how to speak French? I can't even explain it, you just have to see it. Here's Avery's interpretation...

The inspection got pushed back to Thursday :(.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Well, nine days later... we finally heard on the house and we got it! We were really surprised because we were one of five offers on the house! On Monday, the bank asked everyone to put their 'highest and best' offers on the table- and I guess ours was the best!

Now, we're trying not to get too excited because the inspection is on Saturday. In the vain of getting too excited, let's all remember that this house is only 10 years old, so hopefully that bodes well for not too much wrong!

We really, really like this house... so please continue to pray for financial wisdom for us, that our emotions wouldn't control our decions (ie- us overlooking lots of stuff at the inspection because we just like it so much), and that everything at the inspection would go great!!

If everything at the inspection goes well, then y'all get more pictures! Until then, you can refer to the previous post and imagine the inside! :)

Also, stay tuned for some video of Avery speaking Italian... oh yeah... can't miss it!