Well Spencer and I had cleaned our room as well as we could. We figured there was one room left to tackle.
Yep. That one. Rhea's bedroom, adorable as she made it, had yet to be deep cleaned and, well, we suspected there may be a critter or two hiding around her stuffed animals or behind paintings.
So we quarantined them all.
Vacuum bags full of her animals(they all fit into two!) sprinkled with a little bed bug killing powder.
I'd say it was a bit of an improvement!
Well we sat around after that, thinking about what to do, and figuring those little buggers wouldn't be going away any time soon, especially since the people above us were still suffering with the pests.
I decided to look at other options for renting, since our lease was up anyway, and we were on vacation, so for once, I had the time!
It took a good while for Spencer to take me seriously about checking out other places to rent. All the apartments were more expensive than what we were in, and the space was not any better. So I started looking at houses for rent, thinking, why not! Most houses are the same price as apartments anyway and they offer more space. I wrote up a list of houses that looked decent, and of which the price was right.
FINALLY after a little bit of prodding(not just from me I'm sure) Spencer decided we'd take a trip around and look at these houses. But, for some reason, the ones in our budget didn't seem to be quite what we were looking for...
I always try to see the good in things, but this, well... there just wasn't any. So I said, "I have a couple on the list that are slightly over our budget dear!" and so we were off.
I then realized that I was looking at the price, but I didn't scroll over enough on the page to find all the zeros after it. Unfortunately, slightly over budget was a slight understatement.
So, being defeated, I agreed we would go back to the apartment and I would go back to the web, searching for anything for rent online. Spencer, being the amazing spiritually in tune priesthood holder he is, decided we would drive around a little and took a detour.
We sat out in that backyard a long while, taking it in and thinking how beautiful it was, and how it seemed to just land right into our laps. A house this nice was, unfortunately, a little more than we were wanting to spend every month, even after we talked them down, but we wanted it, and we felt it was right.
We ran the numbers, what we made and what our outcome would jump to. It would be tight, but guess what- it worked almost perfectly. Perfectly enough that Spencer was alright with doing it. Before we knew it, we were packing everything up and cleaning. We threw out our loveseat and couch(the latter of which had a nice nest of bed bugs, freshly hatched, sorry no pics!)
And then got all ready to move in, taking a look around the inside to make sure it was exactly what we wanted. It was.
The family room upstairs separates the master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms.
We called for a uhaul, expecting this...
And got this! Which, again, worked out perfectly for us.
We got most everything moved in one night, and got to sleep by 5am. At 8:30am the power company came and turned off the power.
Not so fun. So, although the first day we were in was alright, and we did enjoy it...
The next couple days were mighty warm. Of course, the power company does not turn power on over the weekend. I mean, seriously, who needs power turned on over the weekend in the middle of July in southern Nevada? That's what I thought. No one. We tried to deal with the heat by making some good ol' home made rootbeer!
It was definitely fun, and the rootbeer was pretty tasty, but, unfortunately, we still ended up going back to our apartment over the weekend to sleep on an air mattress until Monday night.
But, after everything is said and done, we have moved in and are happy, and are adjusting quite nicely to no bed bugs.
Well, most of us are adjusting.... This little guy is still working on it. Despite what Spencer says, I believe there is still hope for it to live.
So! The inside was done! Don't worry, almost done, this can be the intermission if you want. Go ahead, grab some popcorn, or water, or a green smoothie. Why not? Ready? Ok, we'll continue...
So! The inside was done. Now, what to do about this delightful back yard of ours? Another blessing of Julie and Dale working at the Temple, they were nice enough to let this big lawn mower ride with them, and we were thankful to take it from them. To the backyard!
It was getting pretty long.... But Spencer just happens to be an exceptional lawn mower.
Well with the grass freshly cut and the house starting to feel more like a home, we went back to work and started back on our normal schedule. We were back into the groove of things when Spencer got sick. He went to work one day, but the next he just needed to stay home. So I went to work while he relaxed.
I guess he was feeling better throughout the day though, because not only did he clean up around the house, but he told me he thought a pond/fountain would look nice in our backyard. I said, yeah, I'm sure it would! And I figured, we definitely don't have the money to do that right now, and maybe someday it would be nice. But you know what? Spencer just happened to be feeling a lot better after sleeping in a little that day. And he dug a hole.
I came home and he was happy as can be, with a hole and some rocks around it. I honestly was a bit suprised, but was very happy that he was out and doing stuff on the yard, so we ran with it, and here's what we got!
A super duper pond. Hmm... but what was missing? Oh! of course.
Fishies! I gladly put them in the pond.
Spencer, being the smarty pants he is, let them out of the bag :)
Funny thing, Rhea did the same as me!
Oh, and she got just one fish, a very pretty multicolored little guy that she proudly named "Adolf". It didn't take her long to let him free.
So there you have it. We are still waiting on Rhea to make a backdrop for it, but for the most part, it's done and looking good.
Thanks for reading, I know it was long. But now you know the inside scoop on what we've been up to lately. I have to say I am so thankful for how everything has happened for us. The bed bugs are gone, money is tight but we are squeaking by and there is always an opportunity to grab hold of. Rhea has been a blessing to us, even if she doesn't realize it. Summer is in full swing and we are definitely enjoying the beautiful days and nights, and just being together. Hopefully it won't be another few months before we update! We love you all!
