September 29
Our neighbor was murdered. Laura is still suffering from some PTSD like symptoms (not really) but she was definitely home to hear all 6 or 7 gun shots. If you're interested in reading the news story: http://www.lbreport.com/news/
We started looking for places to live in better neighborhoods.
October
We visited Troy's family in Utah. For some reason, we decided to drive. Brutal. Especially since we drove up Saturday night, and then back to Long Beach on Monday night. But it was good to see Troy's dad and his wife, as well as Troy's sister Brittni, and her cute little family. Her son is so cute, he's gonna be 4 years old this March. The whole time we were in Utah, though, the only pictures we took were:
We are so lame.
Also, Laura accepted a full time position with the hospital where she was working as a per diem employee. ("Per diem" just means that I came in only when they needed me - to cover someone's sick day, or if someone took a vacation day, etc.) She didn't officially become full time (according to the paperwork) till mid November, but was still working full time hours once she accepted the position.
November
1. We went to Phoenix to see the Davis family. Harold got a fancy promotion, and has to work in D.C. now. (He's able to go home once a month, though.) We dropped him off at the airport with Erika and the kids the morning after we drove in.
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| Bye, Harold! It was nice to see you... |
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| Troy teaching Brooke the finer points of Mario. |
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| The Red Ranger keeps the Davis family protected while Harold's gone. |
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| What a good looking bunch. |
2. Laura became an official full time employee, and now has benefits. Which means Troy now has benefits for the first time in years. To Troy, that means, "I can go snowboarding again!" (He didn't think it would be a good idea to go snowboarding without having benefits.)
3. Nov 18 - Troy got a WiiU!!
4. We found an apt! Our friend had a neighbor downstairs from her apt building move out, and was able to hook us up with the apt manager so that we were able to start moving in Nov 20. Laura had been packing since October, so it was good to get the boxes cleared out of the old apt.
5. Laura's parents and younger brother, Hunter, came down for Thanksgiving. They stayed in our 1 bedroom apt with us, and were gracious enough to help us move some boxes and cook Thanksgiving dinner while Laura was at work.
December
1. We finished moving.
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| Goodbye, Mario! |
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| Goodbye, Link! So long, ghetto apartment! |
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| She still feels safest under or behind the couch, though. |
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| But will also let you rub her belly. She's so soft! |
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| She is a cat, so she is intrigued with the drawstrings on hoodies. |
3. Laura's parents and Hunter came down again for Christmas, and this time Jason and Liz joined us as well. Since Jason and Liz live in South Pasadena, they didn't feel the need to stay with us in our (slightly smaller) one bedroom apt with 5 other people, but still joined us for Christmas weekend/day.
4. We went Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve, to uphold the Pruett family tradition.
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| Liz and Dad were hiding somewhere. |
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| One of the families we went caroling to lives in an apt complex that was c o v e r e d with Christmas decorations. Including this Christmas raptor, which we naturally got a picture with. Team Raptor, high five! |
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