Since we have announced to the ward that we have sold our house, we had a number of comments. People have been telling us how much they will miss us and telling us how much we have improved the home and property while we’ve been here. It’s nice to feel appreciated. We will certainly miss this ward. We’ve been extremely pleased with everyone. When appraisors come to value a home they have no way to gauge how great neighbors are,...

Nolan is at that learning stage that makes me smile. We seem to have this ritual… When he sees me, he runs to me with his arms up and starts grunting for me to pick him up. Once on do, he pats me on the back a few times. I’ll then stick out my hand and say “give me 5” which then then does. Then I say, “Show me your cheeser!” And leans his head back and give me a big goofy grin and kiss his chin.

This morning I had stake priesthood leadership meeting. When I arrived, President Tindall and President Dunkley were outside waiting for Elder Hinckley to arrive. I went and shook their hands and said good morning. President Tindall asked if I was loosing weight. He said I looked more “cut”. I have lost about 10-15 lbs the past couple months. It is nice that it is noticible.  Leadership meeting and stake conference were great....

Today was a big day in Utah. It was the BYU vs Utah football game. I don’t think the game has ever been as big with both teams being in the top 25 (Utah #7, BYU #14). Utah is undefeated, and BYU has only lost one. Originally I had a stake priesthood leadership meeting, but it was rescheduled for tomorrow morning. But we still had adult seesion tonight at 7:00. So I got to watch the first half at least. I left when it was BYU 24, Utah 27....

Today my parents dropped by for a visit. It was a pleasant surprise. It was their anniversary so they decided to drive out and spend the day in Salt Lake shopping and hanging out. They didn’t stay too long, but just long enought to chat and drop off a Christmas gift.

We studied it out in our mind. We weighed our pros and cons. We made a decision. We prayed about it. We felt good about it. We moved forward. We got what I would consider a great deal on a nice home. We got almost $17,000 off the asking price about about $41,000 off the estimated appraisal price of the home. Plus the house is vacant so we should be able to move directly in from this house. Sometimes I think that God only is concerned about our...

We went and looked at another house tonight. It was a house that we had seen on the market in the past, but had since expired on MLS. It is located in Alpine, which is where I really want to be. All of the homes are higher priced in that area though. It is right at the top of our budget. The home is nice, not nearly as nice as the one we put an offer on, but its in a better area and has a much bigger yard. All things considered, I think I like...