A Chicken Named Goober.

  We got the keys to our house today. I knew that the landlord hadn't been a landlord long and had very little experience renting houses so I prepared myself for less professionalism (not in a bad way but just more personally based than legally minded). I told myself that the house would probably be cleaned minimally and not all my question would be answered right away. I was right on, the house was definitely better than how we first toured it but needed at least another 5+ hours of cleaning plus some paint touch ups.
This awesome crew came over on Monday night to help us unpack and eat pizza! So grateful for family whose always willing to lend a hand!

   Our landlord is the sweetest guy. He is deaf and since we didn't know sign language, we mainly communicated through Pictionary moves and thumbs up/down. Lots of smiles and laughs, I think he appreciated my enthusiasm. I finally went out to my car and got a sheet of paper, he could write, his English wasn't perfect but it was much better than my Pictionary skills.
   After he answered all our questions, he wrote on the paper, "One more thing, the last renter left a chicken!"We looked outside and sure enough, a fluffy white chicken was strutting around in the grass. Liam went outside and chased him around making the "boc boc boc" noise that we've only practiced while reading our farm books. He was so thrilled to put his animal noises to good use! I went back in with a grin, and wrote on the note pad "We love chickens!" After which he gave us a big thumbs up!

   After he left, we started cleaning and unloading some basic essentials. We quickly realized that we had a lot of cleaning ahead of us so we made a plan and finished for the day so we could spend the Sabbath with our family instead of Mr. Clean.

   On the way home Chad said "Kayla, are you ready for this?! We are making History today, Merrell family history!" I love when Chad gets as nostalgic as I am every day. But he's right! We're tenants for the first time in a while, we have a house instead of an apartment for the first time in 4 years, which also means we are paying rent for the first time in 4 years. We are entering this whole new chapter, Chads working, I'm "homeing", and Liam now has a chicken named Goober.
    I've got to be honest, I'm a little scared of "Making Merrell History". Being 100% stay at home mom has been so weird for me, I've loved it but its so different from working and having Chad in school. It doesn't feel real. I've been telling myself that as soon as we get out of my parents house and on our own again, we'll get back into a good family groove but a small part of me fears that we left our "groove" in Idaho.

   I'm sure we'll adjust but the magnitude of this lifestyle change is starting to hit me!
   I means, I have a chicken for heaven sakes! What does that means?
I'll let you know once I find out. Until then, here's an adorable picture of my baby and my pet chicken, whom we've lovingly names "Goober".