2009: part II

From the last post, I left off where us Powelson's were enjoying a nice summer of work and taking time to play. Despite having a full and busy schedule of fun, somehow, we ended up with no plans for Labor day, and so spent a lazy Labor day morning talking about plans for where we wanted to be in a few years. Discussion turned from trying to move from our one bedroom apartment (since the lease was up) and trying to find a house to rent for a while. Craigslist results for houses to rent yielded very expensive results - how can people afford to rent houses? But there was a little two bedroom home for sale. With no intent of actually buying a house, we called the Realtor to see if we could check it out. We went to look at the home that afternoon, and really liked it. Two days later we put an offer on the house and the sellers accepted! I've heard that most people look at a few homes before buying their first, but it just felt right, and you can't dispute that feeling. So we bought it.

The house

The back of the house

The secret grow house, which is one of the many storage sheds on the property. (If you come to visit us, Richard gives a special "flashlight tour" of our crazy back yard. It's pretty spooky, but you do get your own flashlight.)

It turned out to be a good buy - 1) because the monthly mortgage payment turned out to be less than what we were paying to rent our apartment, and 2) because we found out we would soon need two bedrooms! About two weeks after signing an agreement to buy the house, we found out that we would be having a baby! And two weeks later, as we were trying to adjust to that news, we found that Kim would be losing her job (thanks to major state budget cuts the whole program was closed).

So to review, in just a little over a month, we bought our first home, found out we'd be having our first baby, and found out we would be losing our major source of income - in that order! Oh yeah, and Richard started graduate school sometime in there as well. And right after that, we moved into Richard's parent's home until the house closed (which, by the way, we sincerely appreciated them letting us crash there and eat their food for a month!).

According to the Holmes and Rahe stress scale, these factors alone should have made us both at risk for stress-induced illness (really, the scale should have said we were at risk of going crazy). And despite all this, I have to say that we've been incredibly blessed, not just because we haven't gotten ill, but also because life has continued to move along beautifully. We are loving the house, and slowly getting settled in. Kim is thoroughly enjoying some down time in-between jobs, and is enjoying a healthy pregnancy to date. Despite the recession, there's been pretty job interviews and it's looking hopeful that there will be a good job soon. Richard made it through his first semester of graduate school with great grades, despite all the life commotion. November and December were mostly spent wrapping things up (moving into our home, Kim finishing her job) and adjusting to all the changes. So I think, with the new year, we're ready to just veg for a while - at least until May 19th when our baby is due. Hopefully we'll have no exciting news until then! Here's a few more pics from the rest of the year...

Just got handed the keys to our house!


The first Thanksgiving we've ever cooked - rather beautiful, if I may say so...


My little brother - back from his 2-year church mission in Canada!


Out with the Powelson clan


Christmas in spangle - making truffles, going 4-wheeling, and gym night




And there's it is, 2009. Wishing all a wonderful 2010!