Everything Else in November

November came and went so quickly, it seemed.  We had fun days and fun moments throughout the month.  Here's a sample of what we did!

Happy Mo-vember.  I think that's what it was called at least.  For some reason November was mustache month and several of Paul's friends were growing a mustache.  Paul had just gotten started when he had to shave it off.  Why?  He was called into the Bishopric in our ward and can't have facial hair.  So his mustache didn't last long...

And here's a snapshot of the new Bishopric of our ward.

Mark Christenson. Bishop Aldridge. Paul.

Fun with Neighbors

We really are grateful for our wonderful neighbors all around us in our apartment complex.  There really are great people everywhere!

We've recently met another neighbor and he and Glenn have become fast friends.  Caleb is an only child as well, is 6 and is similar to Glenn.  They play so well together and have such fun!  One day they were outside having adventures, collecting treasures and having a blast.  It was one of our chilly days we've had here and I had them come in and enjoy some hot chocolate. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year for Thanksgiving we spent with several friends from our ward.  We all signed up to bring different dishes, so it was a fun combination of traditional dishes from each of our families.

Our friends the Denson's hosted the event.  We also had the Fairbanks, the Breinholt's, Uncle Bob (of the Denson's), and Paul's co-worker and his friend.  So 11 adults and 5 kids.  

A New Car!

Paul and I had been thinking about buying another car for a while...But we didn't really put a lot of thought or work into it until the last month or so.  We decided that we wanted another car that was bigger than our Civic, especially in the storage area.  That wasn't hard to do because our hybrid Civic has only 12 cubic feet of storage.  So...we then decided that we wanted a small SUV.

We test drove many different models but ultimately we liked the Honda CR-V the best and felt most comfortable in it.  After doing research into the price and the year and all that, we decided that the one we test drove was the one we wanted.  We went back to the dealership the next morning--the first customers in the door--and asked for the guy who helped us the previous night-Justin.  He wasn't in yet, but Aaron was willing and able to help us.  We started walking toward the desk where they keep all the keys and we were telling him about the car we drove--the make and year and I even remembered part of the stock number!  As I was saying it, another guy was walking away from the desk and started saying it with me--because he was taking the car out right now for a test drive.  Wait what?!  He had gotten a request to drive it last night but the guy had to postpone it to the next morning.  So he was about to take it out.  

Our hearts sank.

We were definitely nervous, but Aaron said not to worry.  He had a good feeling for us.  We wanted to believe him, but we weren't sure.  We didn't want to go through the entire process all over again.  Not that it was the only car in the world for us, but it was nice that it was what we wanted at a good price and here in Austin.  So we got started with paperwork and getting into the system and all that.  It seemed like the others were gone a long time, but I'm sure they weren't.  When they returned, Aaron got the keys from them and was not going to let anyone else have them.

It was going to be ours!

So we sighed a huge sigh and finished all the paperwork.  Then I wrote the biggest check I've ever written--but it sure felt good to pay with cash!  And it was ours!  We finally had another car!