Last Christmas I Gave You My Heart

I wanted to do a Christmas round-up, but a lot of crazy stuff has happened over the past week. Here are a couple of pictures of the family in Logan. They are all Rachael's family, but that's all I had time to upload. Here's Lily-Bug in her cute tutu (I got it at the Festival of Trees)

 

Grandmother holding Tessa-rooney (she hardly put her down!)

 

Seuao opening his berry 'pecial jersey

 

Little Tweet Heart!

 

It was a good time. There was plenty of craziness with balls and toys and babies galore, but it was fun. And, we got in some good Pounce playing! Yay! We went to Logan on Wednesday afternoon. We drove both of our cars, since we had so much crap and since gas is so cheap (I paid $1.29/gallon today!). We have had a lot of unexpected expenses come up, like car repairs, etc., so I didn't get much for Christmas. Allen kept asking me for gift suggestions, and I gave him quite a few (like Penelope, Mamma Mia, the Joseph Smith Papers vol. 1, Mormon Scientist, the Illustrated Church History, etc.), but I got the Mummy Trilogy (uh, did I want those?) and Prince Caspian DVDs. And I had to wrap them and transport them to Logan, or I wouldn't have had anything from him to open. Yes, it's pretty shallow of me, but I was feeling sorry for myself afterward, since Rachael, Becca and Lexy were all showered with gifts from their husbands. So on Sunday I was annoyed with Allen and I wasn't feeling well (I have been hacking my lungs out), and I had to drive back to SLC in the snow. Needless to say, I wasn't in a good place. Then . . . As I was carrying Benji from the car downstairs into our apartment, I smelled something funny. I didn't realize what it was until I stepped on the carpet and it squished. Yep--flooding. I put Benji in the exersaucer, which was safe from the water, and looked in the kitchen. There was a couple of inches of standing water on the linoleum, water was dripping from the ceiling, and I could still hear some flowing. I found the faucet in the laundry room blasting (I had to use a wrench to turn it off), then I went upstairs to see where the water was coming from up there. In the X's apartment, the faucet on the kitchen sink was also running full-blast. It turned off easily, though, so I was a bit confused as to what happened. Apparently Mrs. X asked one of our neighbors to fill the water bowl for the cats while they were gone, and one day the pipes were frozen. They must have left the faucet on inadvertently, so when they thawed . . . Anyway, I was in a bad mood already, and I just couldn't deal with it. I called Rachael to see if we could crash at her place. So we have been there for a few days (since our apartment is currently uninhabitable) going back and forth to clean and pack while the restoration people have been tearing out carpet and drywall and ceiling. So we are trying to find a new place to live, all while working and trying to take care of the little man. It has been insanity. Thankfully my Mom volunteered to watch Benji for a day or two--at least we don't have to worry about him for the moment. I didn't realize how hard it was to leave your child! I know he's in excellent hands, and I have worked overnight before, so it's not like this is my first night away from him, but I won't get to see him in the morning! It makes me so sad! He took my heart with him! :o( Here's the upside: we did find an apartment, which is probably smaller than the one we are vacating, but it has TWO FULL BATHROOMS (no more sink baths!), a dishwasher, laundry hook-ups, and covered parking. Plus, it's affordable, and it's much closer to work for me! All in all, it's pretty good timing, too--at the end of the month, so more apartments were available to look at; it was over Christmas vacation and Grandmother came out to visit, so we were able to sleep in my Dad's room at Rachael's house, and we are moving on New Year's day, so many members of our EQ can help us load the truck. Don't get me wrong--it still sucks--but I'm glad to be getting out of our old place and I feel very blessed right now. I'm incredibly tired: I have been at work all night, I'm running on about 2 hours of sleep, and now I have to go pack up the rest of my life, move it all across town, then come back to clean. Bow-wow. I need sleep, but there's no rest for the weary, right?