"Help! I need help."

A few nights ago, we set up the kids' bedroom, complete with Jackson' crib, Lydia's lofted bunkbed (with toys underneath) and stuffed animals arranged on the window sill.
Before bedtime, Lennon taught Lydia how to safely climb up the ladder into bed. Though we also taught her how to carefully climb down the ladder, we were still concerned about her climbing down without parental help. So, we instructed her to call us if she wanted to get down.
A little while after we tucked her into bed, we hear this little voice calling, "Help! I need help."
Worried that Lydia had fallen out of bed, we both rushed into the kids' bedroom, and found Lydia clinging to her ladder, crying for our help. While comforting Lydia, Lennon nudged me to look at the windowsill, now devoid of stuffed animals.
It seems that Lydia climbed down the ladder, scooped up a stuffed animal or two, climbed back up the ladder, deposited the animals in her bed. By the time she placed all of her 25+ animals in her bed, she was too tired to finish climbing the ladder to get into bed. Thus the call of "Help! I need help."
I guess she can climb up and down the ladder all by herself.

Interesting Things about Nevada

Here are some interesting things we have learned while living in Nevada:
(1) It's pronounced Ne-vah-da, with a long "ahh" sound - just like a true Rochesterian would pronounce it. :)
(2) Pedestrians have the right of way, even if they step out in front of a car without looking!
(3) Nevada does not have any recycling program. It 'kills' me to put the empty milk jug into the garbage can, not the recycling bin!
(4) Most people put snow chains on their tires in the winter (December to February). Carson City is nestled in the 'foothills' (smaller mountains) of the Sierra Nevada Range. If you want to drive almost anywhere, you need chains on the tires to create more traction on the snow on the steep mountain roads.
(5) We've heard that car inspections are basically a licensed person doing a once-over a your car. We'll find out for sure on Monday!
(6) In Carson City, the ratio of casinos to Starbucks is 1:1. (Not so much in Reno - many more casinos.)
(7) The weather is quite chilly at night (30's), but gets up into the 70's by noon. It makes it difficult to know how to dress for the day.

We'll let you know more interesting things as we discover them!

Moving In & Unpacking

Ahh ... unpacking. The moving truck finally arrived on Wednesday, October 22nd at 8:30am. There was much fiasco - the truck wouldn't fit into the apt. complex, and they had to rent a smaller truck (and charge us) to shuttle our stuff from the big truck to our apt.
After moving our stuff in (boxes everywhere) and assembling our furniture, the movers finally left at 3:30pm! The kids and I took a walk until Lennon got home from work - smart idea, considering the amount and craziness of the boxes everywhere!
A week later, we are pretty much moved in. Mostly just decorative & miscellaneous items in boxes that need to find homes.

Our bare apt. (before Wed.)

Here are some pics of our empty apt, that is before Wednesday (move-in day).
It is pretty spacious; I think it has even more square footage than our house in Rochester.

Our babies

We have 2 little kids.
Lydia (born in July of 2005) is now 3 yrs old, and is a bubbly, talkative, caring little girl. She loves books, playdoh, peanut butter sandwiches, and helping Mommy put the clothes into the washing machine. Lydia also loves to help out with her "Baby Jax", by giving him toys.
Jackson (born in June of 2008) is 4 months old. Jax (as we call him) loves being cuddled and loves to talk. Currently, Jackson enjoys putting his foot in his mouth - literally.
Look for pictures and more updates in the future!

Our wedding

Some of you (mostly the ones I re-connected with on Facebook) didn't know that Lennon & Diana got married. We did!
We met at Elim Bible Institute in 1999, and became good friends right away. I (Diana) found out that Lennon liked me, and thought it to be weird that my best friend would like me, so I ignored him for quite some time (namely 6-7 months). After a while, I was okay with being friends again, and that turned into 'good friends' again, and then I didn't have a good reason not to like him. :)
After we graduated from Elim, three weeks later, we got married. And that was about 6.5 years ago - in May of 2002, in Rochester, NY.

Trials & Joys

We found a washer & dryer! No more doing laundry for $2.25 a load - and with kids, we do a lot of loads!
Getting the unit to our apt was another story. U-Haul gave us much grief and run-around, because we had out-of-state driver's licenses. After many phone calls and trips to different U-Haul locations, we finally got a discount and were able to rent a truck.
While Lennon was picking the washer/dryer unit, I went to find the DMV. After following bad directions, then good directions, then missing the correct street, I finally got to the DMV to be treated gruffly and shoved a bunch of forms with MANY parameters to be done in order to have our car registered. Argh!
After that mess, Lennon had me meet him at Ashley Furniture in Reno (30 minutes north), and we picked out a wonderful mattress. (We had been sleeping on an air mattress for 2 weeks now. Better than the floor, but not the most comfortable long-term.)
So, it was a trying day, but it turned out okay, once we got into a very comfortable bed ... snore ....

Our adventure so far...

When Lennon & I arrived in Carson City, NV at 10:30 at night, we discovered that the key for our apt. had not been left out for us. So, we ended up calling the 24-hour maintenance guy to let us in. When we woke up the next morning, we looked around the apt. and discovered that things were not up-to-par for a luxury apt., nor had the customer service (Villas at Dolphin Bay) preceding our move been very good.
Since we had not signed a lease yet, we went over to look at another apt. complex - Parkway Manor. During our searches online, we liked Parkway Manor better; however, the price and amenities were better at the 1st apt. complex.
Let me tell you - the customer service at Parkway Manor was incredible! After viewing the apt., we felt like we were home! And then, the leasing agent told us that they were running a special. So, it turned out to be $150 cheaper (and much nicer-looking) than the 1st apt!
We signed the lease with Parkway Manor, and then went to Sacramento, CA for the night, since our apt wasn't ready for us yet. We slept in, wandered around IKEA finding items for our new home, and then picked up the kids (and Lennon's mom) at the airport after many delays.
Lennon began his new job the next day, and he loves it! (I'll have him write about it sometime.)
His mom stayed for a few days to help us get settled and adjusted a bit. And then, Thursday morning, we were on our own in our new city.

Lennon's new job

Back in the middle of August, we were at a standstill regarding Lennon's promotion within Starbucks. It appeared that Lennon could possibly be promoted to Assistant Manager after 6-12 more months of waiting, mostly due to the economy.
Because of that not-so-encouraging news, Lennon began browsing the job postings on the Starbucks internal website. He found a posting for a "roasting technician" in Carson City, NV.
We prayed and talked about for many, long hours before he applied online. One week later, he had two phone interviews. Two weeks and another phone interview, he was offered a job!
Then began the frantic packing and prepping of our house to sell. (It still hasn't sold.) And then more crazy packing as the moving date neared.
The moving truck came on Friday, October 10th, and Lennon and I left that day as well. We drove across 10 states in 3 days (38 hours). Lennon's mom flew out with the kids on Tuesday of the next week.
I believe that it was 9 weeks, from the time Lennon discovered the job posting to the day we left from NV. Wow! Well, we Fediws LOVE adventure!

Change is good.

There've been a lot of changes in our lives. To name a few: (1) Having a second baby (Jackson Elias) born in June, (2) Lennon taking a new job with Starbucks, and (3) Relocating to Carson City, Nevada, and (4) Leaving our family & friends in Rochester, NY (due to our relocation). That's our lives in a tiny, itty-bitty nutshell. Stay tuned for more details on the above events, as well as our day-to-day lives.