Waco Fun

Warning: This is a long blog entry so read only if you have the time!
So, our trip to Waco thus far has been tiring. We arrived in Dallas, Texas and after waiting an hour to get our rental car we were on our way to Waco. We arrived at our hotel and then immediately went out to find a place to live. We looked all afternoon and into the evening. We found a couple of areas that we really liked in Hewitt, Texas which is just south of Waco. We decided that this area was probably the area to shoot for. The next day we went to the Waco second ward and were greeted very well. We were invited to eat dinner with some very nice members, thank you Keller family, and were given a lot of good advice on where to look for housing by others. We also met a couple who were moving to the area as well, the wife joked with me that we were going to be competing for the same places, I assured her there was enough for all to have. Brother Keller took us out to see more areas and while we were driving we found a place that really spoke to both Alan and I. We wrote down the address and a phone number along with others that we saw. On Sunday we had an appointment with a lady and she didn't show up, this was the beginning of our bad luck. We were still able to see the property however and it was disgusting inside. This was our first real disappointment. We also found a duplex that we had seen on the internet that looked really promising in an area that we really wanted to be in. When we went into the duplex we were very disappointed in the way it had been maintained and especially in the pink matted down carpet, yuck! On Monday we had an appointment with a rental company and the agent called me to let me know that her grandmother had died and that she was giving the appointment to a colleague. She hadn't returned our call so we decided to look on our own again, we visited a property company which a very exuberant landlord/owner from New Jersey, he had a combo Jersey/Texas accent, it was very interesting. He was very excited for us to look at his properties we looked at a couple and decided that this could be an option if we couldn't find anything else. During this conversation Alan received a call from the duplex we had both liked from the night before. So, we met up with Mike, a guy who seems to have a story for everything, we loved the place. It was a great price and very well maintained. We talked about all the famous people he knows or has met, The Simpson Family (Jessica Simpson), Ted Nugent, Elvis's good friend, and a guy I didn't know the name of but apparently he was in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and of course David Koresh (he said he talked with him in a restaurant and Koresh invited him to his compound, a friend of Mike's told him to stay away from him, seems like pretty good advise considering the outcome.) The Realtor finally called us and we met up with her. Although she was very nice, she now had two loads of work to do and didn't have much time for us, so we rushed through a couple of properties all which left a little something to be desired. And we decided that we would take Mike's property. We called him and met him at his office. As he walked in so did a girl who looked oddly familiar, it was the girl from church who had joked with me about stealing her new home. We had stolen it, she had just returned from the property where she was looking at the same place we had just decided to take. She looked a little disappointed, but Mike sent her out to see another property just like it in another neighborhood. It had a bigger backyard area and Mike suggested that we look at it and decide whether we would want that one. We decided that it would be a good idea and so we headed over there. We looked at it and thought it looked good, but we didn't get to see the inside. Then we saw her there too, so we talked with her, she said "Are you looking at this one too?" We felt kind of bad, like, we were taking her new home from her. We decided that we liked the first place better anyway, it is in an area with a lot of members, and there is a nice area in the back where a lot of chickens like to hang out. Anyway we signed for the first area and hope it turns out well, I just hope the rooster doesn't wake me up too much.
Alan and I waiting at the airport, it was the moment I realized we were alone without the kids.
Our new home!
Baylor Science Building, it is very nice. We went here on Monday and Alan got to talk to his professor about a recent trip he had taken where a shark had eaten the cable that was connected to the geology equipment that was going to be drug across the ocean floor. He showed us pictures and it was pretty crazy. Hopefully the project will go through on the second run as this is what Alan was going to do his thesis work with.
We are coming back Tuesday and are excited to see our baby boys again. By the way, sorry this was such a long post.