Moving

Well, we packed and cleaned and moved from Orem, UT to San Jose, CA. We feel like all we've been doing for the past month or so is packing & unpacking boxes, cleaning, and organizing. It has been a great transition so far and we really love our new home.

We left on Sunday, September 12th at around 11:30 a.m. and made it to Reno, NV that night around 9:30 p.m. Hannah did so good in the car. She only got really upset and antsy once and that was about 2 minutes before one of our stops. Her Grandma Price sat in the back seat with her the entire time and kept her entertained which was soooooo helpful! Thanks again Mom! The next morning we ate breakfast and headed for San Jose. The drive the 2nd day was much more scenic and we only had to make one stop outside of Sacramento. Hannah's Grandpa Turner also went with us and drove the UHaul most of the time. At one point he had to maneuver through a very narrow road where they were doing construction. I think we were all just holding our breath and hoping that the UHaul or the trailer that was carrying one of our cars didn't hit one of the walls. Thanks again for all your help Dad! Everything went so well!

Our landlady was here to greet us when we got to our new home. She showed us the place and gave us some very helpful information. She also had some flowers and hand soap in the kitchen for us. She is so nice and has been so helpful. We fell in the love with our home when we first saw it. We have so much more space and light than we did in our last apartment. We live in a pretty neighborhood with lots of trees, access to a couple of swimming pools, and a park that is very close.

Hannah really enjoys living here. The first week here she spent most of her time outside with Grandma Price or Grandpa Turner going on walks and exploring. She likes chasing the squirrels that are everywhere, collecting leaves from the sidewalk, watching the cats and dogs (and sometimes petting them), pointing to the planes in the sky, and playing on the playground at the park. She also likes doing things inside such as taking all of the books off of the bookcase, taking all of the DVD's off the shelf, taking all of the baggies and ziploc bags out of their boxes, pulling the toilet paper off of the roll, and trying to walk up the stairs. We are still working on child proofing things. We tried to child proof but the wood here is too hard to get the screws into with a screw driver so we need to borrow a drill or go buy one.

Hannah has figured out more things while we've been here. She finally started crawling to things and using them to pull herself up to a standing position and this past week she started standing up in the middle of the floor without help from us or other objects. She has also been saying more words. She is getting really good at saying "no no no" to us. It was cute at first, but now that she says it all the time it's not so cute. She has big mirrors in her room and she likes to look at herself in the mirror. The other day she started pointing to herself in the mirrors and saying "Hannah" (sounds more like Nana). She's also been saying words such as dog, hot, work, baby and some of her favorite words to say are yuck and shoes.

We were able to unpack and organize most of our things the first week because of all the help we had from our parents. We still need to find a place for a few things and we need to work on decorating. We are planning to buy some furniture in the near future such as couches, dining room table and chairs, etc. but until then we are using camping chairs in the living room and a card table and folding chairs in the dining room.

We are in the "Friendly" San Jose 16th ward and we really like it so far. We have met a lot of people and everyone has been so helpful and friendly. There is a good mix of people in the ward--young, middle-aged, old, Caucasian, Hispanic, Polynesian, Asian, etc. There are a lot of young couples with young children just like us and we are planning to start going to their play group this Friday. We go to church in a beautiful building!

We are getting acquainted with the area and we are getting more and more comfortable driving around and finding things. The weather was pretty mild when we first got here but the last few days the highs have been in the 90's and 100's and it has been very uncomfortable.

Here are some pictures and we'll post more soon:

Hannah with Grandpa Turner:
Hannah with Grandma Price:
Hannah with boxes in the background:
Playing in the cupboards:
Discovering the sandwich bags:
Walking in front of our house:
Leaf collection on the porch:
We love this picture:
The walkway in front of our house:
One of the many squirrels:
A view of the park from where we enter:
A pathway in the park:
Hannah & Elmo going on a walk in the stroller:
The playground where Hannah likes to go:

This is where our neighbors live:
This is actually a mansion that is now used as a hotel/resort and it is right next to our neighborhood and the park. They hold a lot of conferences and weddings there. If you come visit us you can stay there for about $150/night or you can sleep on an air mattress on our floor for free (there are also other hotels you can stay in of course).

We'll be posting lots of pictures and more info soon. We'll also be adding posts from the past that we haven't had time to get to yet.