The Straights

I've been finding it a bit difficult to get back into a normal routine lately, and so updating our blog has sadly fallen to the back of my list. I'll try to keep this from getting WAY too long winded, so we'll see how this goes! First, on August 12th, our baby girl Amelia Elizabeth joined our family. She was two weeks early, and had to be delivered because of my pregnancy-induced hypertension (we'll just say that my blood pressure was high...REALLY high!). 35 hours later we had our beautiful baby girl, 8lbs 9oz, 21 3/4 inches long. It was hard, but completely worth it. We love her so much, and are eternally grateful to our Heavenly Father For blessing us with this sweet spirit! She blesses and enriches our lives everyday. Here are a few photos of her over the past few months.











Paul and I had also decided prior to Amelia's birth that it was better for us as a family to move to Grande Prairie. We wanted to be close to family, as my parents live here, and Paul got a job at a really great shop, and a significant raise. Next year when he becomes a journeyman, he can make 35 dollars an hour, compared to 25 in Whitecourt. I lived here with my family for a few years while I was in high school, and was not happy and didn't like it at all. I moved back to Edmonton as soon as I graduated, and vowed that I would NEVER live here again. Well, never say never, right? Well, packing with a new baby was interesting, but we got it done and made the move. My parents have a suite that the previous owners of the house built onto the back of the garage, and we are living there. But, we weren't able to move in right away. Whoever built the bathroom did a terrible job, and skipped way too many corners. We noticed that the was were a little wet and soft and when we opened it up, they were filled with black mold. So, needless to say we couldn't live in there, especially with a new baby. So we have been living in the house with my parents for a few weeks until we can get things fixed. But, as they skipped so many corners, we have been having a tough time getting things done because it has just turned into one gigantic awful mess. We finally got the toilet done this week so we can at least stay out there now, all that is left is the shower, which hopefully will not take forever. It is taking us, especially me, some time to get used to things up here. we live in the country 15 mins out of town and I don't have a car most of the time. So I am at home by myself all of the time, and I'm feeling a bit lonely. In Whitecourt we lived in town and I could go to the library, or to the store, to the church, or whatever with Amelia. I also kind of feel like I still don't know anyone in our ward except the parents of the kids i grew up with. It seems like we really don't have any friends, which is tough, as we had several in Edmonton, and some in Whitecourt. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with my Paul, but I would like to do things with other people sometimes, and feel like we have some friends. Oh well, I'm sure it will come with time. We're still happy and trudging along together as a family! Hopefully my posts to come won't be so long and will have better news in them!