We decided that the only time that we would have to go look for housing was after Ryan finished in the clinic and before he took his Western Regional Board Exams. After some searching online we decided that it would be best for our family if we bought a house. There is a lack of rentals in Sioux City and they are WAY over priced. We contacted a realtor and set up 3 days worth of house hunting.
Before we headed to Sioux City we decided that we needed to service the cars. Ryan was driving his car around and realized that there was a large hole in his exhaust line and it was leaking into the car. We contacted our mechanic and he had us bring it in that same day; by 5 PM that night he had welded the VW a new exhaust line and the car was ready to be picked up. The next day, Tuesday, April 30th Ryan took the van in to get serviced and they came out with a list of over $2500.00 dollars worth of stuff that "needed" to be fixed. We thanked them and called our mechanic and he told us to bring it in and he would look at it and tell us what actually needed to be fixed. He ended up replacing our front axle, replaced the battery, replaced the power steering boot all for around $700. That is a big price jump and he did it all in two days.
Unfortunately, we didn't get our car back until Wednesday, May 1st, around 5 PM; our original goal was to leave around 6 AM. We ended up getting into Sioux City around 7 AM. We were tired but it all worked out. The office was nice enough to set us up in a hotel so after looking at houses all day they could go swimming. Last time that we were in Sioux City, we were introduced to a new floatation device for little kids and Emily loves it. It gives her the freedom to get in and out of the water by herself without us having to hover over her (we still stay close to her), and it is Coast Guard approved!
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| Emily swimming by herself |
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| Cutest Girl EVER!! |
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| Christopher is our under-water fish |
While we were in Iowa we looked at close to 20 houses and found one that we really liked. We put an offer on it, it was accepted, and we were approved for a loan but the bank won't release the money until Ryan actually starts working. Ryan will start working as soon as he gets his Iowa Dental License but we have no idea when that will be. We are playing the waiting game. We also went to the ward that we will be attending and met some neat people. One of the doctors that Ryan will be working with found out what church we went to and contacted a friend of his, who goes to the same church, and he invited us over for dinner.
We headed home Monday, May 6th, around noon after signing some papers for the house. Poor Emily spent her birthday in the car.
We ended up celebrating Emily's birthday on Tuesday, since she is two we didn't think that she would mind.
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| cupcake |
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| blow... |
After cupcakes and a bath Emily worked on her presents...
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| Having a tea party with her brothers |
I went in for my second doctor's appointment and everything looks good, I just wish that I felt better...
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| We have another thumb sucker :) |
