Updates...

Life has been moving by pretty quickly this summer. I have started to wonder when it will slow down again but until then I am just trying to keep up with the pace.

Some of the fun (and not so fun) activities we have been involved in lately...

Every other year my family heads up to a lake to enjoy seven fun filled days with each other. This year we realized we could go to Pine View and have three condos instead of just two... which is important in our ever growing family. We participated in the first ever Prettyman talent night, which was surprisingly pretty good. There were games, food and just a lot of fun... oh but let's not forget the swimming pool. Pine View actually has a water slide which all of the kids really enjoyed (you had to be under the age of 13).

Right in the middle of the reunion we had the chance to come home and participate in Michael's sister Alisha's wedding. It was kind of short notice but turned out really nice thanks to some fantastic relatives. It took place in their uncle's back yard and was a nice evening. Congrats to Alisha and Sai!
After finishing up our reunion we came home and packed to head out to San Diego for our annual 4th of July trip. Michael and I both got our hair-cuts by the amazing Nicomi. We were able to spend time at the beach, enjoy a relaxing BBQ before heading down to Ocean Beach to watch fireworks and take part in the OB marshmallow fight. This year we were hit by some of the biggest marshmallows I have ever seen. It was a ton of fun! (Oh, I almost forgot to mention our trip to the swimming pool where Michael and I won over Nicomi's nephews love and affection with our amazing pool toys... so sorry Nicomi.)
As we were taxing the tarmac Michael's sister Amy called to say she was up at the hospital. She was six weeks from delivering her first baby and having complications. She had been put on bed rest earlier that morning so I thought she was now in the hospital to help mandate that rest... not the case. We arrived at the hospital a little after six, right after the doctor's had explained how the delivery would go down... what! Amy was in tears and pretty nervous but Michael and Amy's husband Kenneth were able to give her a blessing and she calmed down and was amazing. Little Danny was born at 11:02.
Later that week we found out we needed to find home owners insurance. Our insurance wouldn't cover us because of some wiring in the house (that is now already scheduled to be replaced). We then started to panic as we found this was the case with several different companies. We finally figured out who was covering the current homeowners and went with them.

That Saturday Kenneth and Amy needed help preparing everything for Danny's arrival home once he gets released from the NICU. He was six weeks early and things still needed to be done. They wanted dots painted on one of his walls so we helped Kenneth with that while Amy did other projects around the house. It turned out really cute.

Sunday was just another normal family party. Family, food and fun!

Last week was running smooth and we had already started to pack. As I dusted my allergies started to go crazy but I just kept packing. Thursday afternoon we went into the title company to sign for our house... Yippee! We are now officially homeowner. After returning from the signing I felt drained, my joints ached and I started to get a fever. I had never had a fever with my allergies before and this made me suspect. I decided to call my brother who's wife was experiencing the Swine Flu and find out her symptoms, sure enough I had the exact same symptoms. Nice, I have a house and I can't show it to anyone for a least 7 days.

The next day I woke up feeling much better and questioned my self diagnosis. I called my uncle who is a doctor to see what he thought. He confirmed I had the Swine Flu and shouldn't go out for at least 7 days from the first day of symptoms. He was amazed with my quick recovery. He also said the Swine Flu is like the Chicken Pocks in that once you get them you become immune to them and that this strain will probably be a lot easier to deal with than what will be coming this winter. Glad to get that over with. I have to say, I thought it would be much worse than it was.

Friday night we cancelled our weekend plans with friends and decided we might as well start working on the floors in our house. We headed over and pulled up all of the carpet and padding... don't forget tackboards. We filled in the cracks and at about 1 am headed home to sleep.
Saturday we went back over to the house and sanded all day long. I am not sure why we thought we would be able to sand and re-finish three rooms and a hall in one day. At about 1 am we headed home, dropping some of our carpet off in front of some random house. It was their neighborhood clean up so the city will be by to pick it up... should we feel bad for this? We did get all of the rooms sanded but will head back over today to stain.
Yesterday was truly the day of rest for me. Since we couldn't go to church because I was on quarintine I was lazy. Michael pulled me out of bed at 8:45 to take the sander back. Once we returned from that I went back to sleep. I hadn't slept well in about a week and I was in heaven. I finally got back out of bed at noon to sit around doing nothing. At about 3:00 I fell asleep and woke up at about 4:00. Meanwhile Michael was doing the laundry and straighting everything up around the apartment. Michael finally convinced me to go for a walk. We returned home and I was in bed before 10:30. It was the calm before the storm. This week we will finish the floors, packing and then move on Saturday. Man, I had better get working. Don't plan on an update for at least a week.

Here are some of the pictures of our house. I can post them now because it's actually ours.