It's Kinda Nice...

..here in our new neck of the woods.  In fact, so far, we've found very little to complain about.  Our neighbors have been very neighborly.  Our home is perfect for our needs--we love it! And they don't call this the Natural State for nothin'.  You know, I love NYC.  I love love love Chicago.  I've sort of figured myself for a big-city kinda girl lately.  But I gotta say, things are a little slower paced here, and I like it.  That's not to say that the people aren't sharp.  And interesting.  There's still plenty of that.

We have a backyard!!!  There's no swingset or anything back there yet, and it's intensely hot all the time just now, but we are still happy about the backyard!  Here are Layla and Campbell enjoying the morning shade on the patio.

For Campbell's birthday (a post in it's own right), we took a break from unpacking and went to Beaver Lake, about 20 min. away, for a little swim (such perfectly room-temperature water!) and cookout.

We spent another morning visiting this beautiful chapel in the woods and then hiking a little nature trail along Tanyard Creek, both about 15 minutes from our house.  We had a great time!

Spencer and I used to sort of joke that the only kind of armadillo is a dead one, since we had seen a million of them on the road in TX, but never a live one.  Now that has all changed!  Behold, the elusive armadillo!

Lessons for the first-time home owners:  if you are going to install your washer/dryer by yourself, just remember that where there is a hose going out of the wall, there is usually a hose that should be plugged back into the wall.  If that one gets ignored, all that water that your washer is done with pours out onto the floor.  And then seeps through to the closet.  And the bedroom. 

But I have to admit that even though our brand new shop vac is like pocket-size, that, of all the things, is what really makes me feel like a homeowner. 

And the end of the story is that I think we saved the carpet.  And possibly the padding.  But that is all still tbd.

Oh, and to answer some questions:

-Here's the basic itinerary for our summer vacation: 

Chicago-Vegas (Just the airport)-St. George-Sundance-Salem-La Canada, California (Near L.A.)-San Diego-La Canada-Orinda (SF Bay Area)-Yosemite-La Canada-Arkansas

-Campbell had to wear her cast for one month, it got removed on Monday.

-Spencer started work on Monday, it's going pretty well, although he's mostly just been going through orientation, signing up for insurance policies and all that stuff, but it seems that he is quite excited about it all.  And that is probably the last time I can say much about his employment on this blog, you know how that goes.

We miss all our wonderful Chicago friends a lot, and think about you all often.  We were really happy to see some of them in Utah.  We were also happy to see some of our CA friends while there.  We also miss all our family but were so glad to see so many of them this summer!