We Have Internet Again!

Now that we have internet again I sort of feel obligated to post something. Let's see...

If you would like to see what has kept me super busy at work recently visit LA Family Services. That is our blog for all the families that we have been signing up for our Christmas Adopt-A-Family program. I had never heard of Adopt-A-Family before, but it is basically like Sub for Santa. We are signing up the families that we have been helping this year and could use some extra help at Christmas. The site is for the people who decide they want to sponsor a family. They can go to the site and read about the families, look at the family sizes and ages and genders of the children (some people are really picky about that) and let us know what family they want. Oh, and if anyone in L.A. wants to adopt a family themselves or with a group let me know (last year at work we adopted a family and everyone was in charge of one person in the family) . Unfortunately not all the families we sign up will be adopted, we just don't have that many sponsors, so every extra sponsor helps. =)
Robert and I also went to a concert at the Disney Concert Hall on Thursday. I was excited because when I took the tour of the hall a few years ago they took us all around the building, except in the actual theater. So I finally got to see inside the theater. It was really intimate feeling because there were seats all around the stage. We got to hear the LA Philharmonic and were literally right above the orchestra. In the picture above we were on the right side, in the right section, second row, aisle seats. It was fun to be that close to the orchestra and actually be able to see them. Robert was kept entertained by a lady violin player in the first row who was really into the music and was moving all over the place. I kept waiting for her to knock over the music stand of the person behind her.

Our Not So Exciting News

Sorry it has been a while since I updated. We don't have Internet at home, and what time I have at work I usually spend checking e-mail etc, mundane things. We are almost done painting in the house. We're not quite unpacked, but getting there very slowly.

The biggest news on our house is not very good news. We had a break-in last week while Robert and I were both at work. We came home together (luckily, I would have hated to come home to that alone) last Monday to find our side door wide open. Our first thoughts were, "did we forget to close the door?" Then we saw an uncrustable sandwich and defrosted otter pops lying in the entryway, both of which were definitely in our freezer when we left. So then I thought, "What the..? Did we forget to lock the door and some little kid came in and went through our fridge?"

Then we saw the damage to the door. It had been pried open (prob. with a crow bar) and deformed enough that the locked dead bolt was no problem in opening the door. On examination of our house we found a lot of small but expensive items missing (i.e. electronics, jewelry), drawers obviously rifled through, boxes knocked over. We were surprisingly calm about calling the police and making an inventory of all the missing items. All in all, the burglar got away with several thousand dollars worth of our belongings. Punk kid! (we're assuming a juvenile did it, who else who take uncrustables and otter pops?) .

The worst part about it all was the vulnerability that we felt afterwards. All our doors were locked, all the dead bolts were locked, and they still just walked in. Everyday last week we came home dreading to find our door wide open again. We got a security alarm system installed on Saturday. For the peace of mind, it is worth it.

Buzz Lightyear

You can e-mail the pictures they take on the Buzz Lightyear ride to yourself, so these are the two pics that I do have from Disneyland (yes, we went on it twice)

Disneyland

We finally went to Disneyland! It was our first time since moving here and my first time ever. We went with Kevin, Ellen, Lauren, Wendy, and Daniel (Robert's relatives). I was surprised that I was entertained the entire time because everyone kept telling me that Disneyland was for kids. Maybe I'm just a kid at heart, but I had a great time on the smaller rides. The highlight was going to Club 33, a fancy members only restaurant inside the park. Robert's company has a corporate membership that anyone in the company can use. It is an expensive restaurant, but when you make reservations you get a park hopper pass for free! So basically it ends up costing the same as if you bought a park hopper, and you get a really nice lunch to give you energy for the rest of the day.

Update on our house: We've moved into our new house last weekend and it has been an exhausting past week trying to get things in order. We are still living out of boxes, but they are slowly getting unpacked. We also haven't finished with all our painting and home improvements, but I image that will take another couple months to finish (or the entire time we live here...). Sorry, no pictures, I have to figure out where our camera cord is, but I'll add some when I find it.

Touring Downtown

These are some of the places I got to see today on my tour of downtown Los Angeles, and all by 8:00 a.m.! I have taken my new bus from Claremont a couple times this week. It's not bad as long as you have a book to read. And, bonus, this bus gives me a tour of downtown everyday. My old bus would come into downtown on the opposite end of the city and drop me off before I got too far. This bus takes me all over downtown before getting to my end of the city. My stop is the very last stop. At least on the way home I get first pick on all the seats and am guaranteed not to have to stand. (The pictures are: Union Station, The Disney Music Hall, City Hall, the main L.A. Public Library, Cathedral of Our Lady, L.A. Superior Courthouse, courtesy of the Internet)

Our House

We finally closed on our house on Friday! On Thursday night we were pretty sure we were going to close on Friday, and Robert and I were so excited we decided last minute we would go out to the house on Friday night and stay the night to get an early start on repairs the next day. I was suprised to see some workers out in our backyard when I got there Friday evening. Appearently our realtor is awesome and conviced the bank they needed to repair the pool shed since it was their fault it had gotten flooded. Now it's almost like new (better than it was before). Sweet! One less thing we will have to do.

I also met up with Robert's dad, Rick, at the house since he has so generously come out from Nevada to help us get things fixed up. He started fixing sprinklers before we had even gotten there. We have a lot of work to do now, but we are planning on moving in this Saturday! Yesterday we started on the repairs. I mostly spent the day cleaning the layers of dust and cobwebs from every window, ledge, and corner in the house. We also spent a long time at Home Depot, which is a place I have a feeling we will be visiting often. The Wheat boys, Rick, Robert, and Grandpa Chuck, spent a lot of time getting the pool in working order and we went for a swim after dinner.

We finally got around to painting around 8:00 p.m. I'm nervous about our paint colors. Everyhouse I have ever lived in so far has had white walls all around. Robert and I like some color, but I don't know how all our paint choices will all turn out. Eeek! Robert and I are so lucky to have gotten help from so many people, I don't know how we would have done it all ourselves. From all the ward help moving and the help yesterday and in the coming days with the house, it has left us very grateful for family and friends. Thank you everyone!

For more pictures than you ever wanted to see of our house visit our web album here.

Claremont House

Consider it our before pictures. A lot of these pictures were actually taken the very first time we visited the house. Hopefully our after pictures look better. =)

This is the Coolest Movie Theatre

Wendy, Lauren, and I had a girls night out movie night on Thursday. We saw Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It was fun, but the coolest part was the theatre. They recently redid the theatre at Westside Pavillion Mall and they have a few small theatre rooms with only couches! The theatre has about eight rows of leather couches. And when you buy your tickets you have to choose your seat so you don't have to go in early and wait forever if you want a good seat. What great progress in the world of movie theatres.

Sea World

I had family come visit us! Almost. My cousin Katrina and her husband Brett and their baby took a trip to San Diego last week and we went down one day to see them. It was my first time meeting little Ali. She was so cute and such a good little baby. The day we went was the day they had planned to go to Sea World, so I also went to Sea World for the first time. I liked the shows and the animals. I kept saying, "oh how cute!" The animals were just so cute waving at the crowd and spinning circles.

We Have A House!