Wii Finally Got One!

Our Christmas this year was a little different than usual. Desta and I did not get each other any major gifts. We decided instead to buy each other a Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Seeing as how they are pretty much impossible to find before Christmas, we planned to buy one in January. As it turns out, they are still pretty much impossible to find now.

So after weeks of looking, I found out that Circuit City would be getting a shipment in on the 21st. Unfortunately, the 21st is a Sunday, so I assumed we would not be able to buy one since we don't shop on Sunday. I was OK with this fact, but I decided to go early on Monday morning to check and see if by some miracle they still had one in stock. As it turns out, our Circuit City is closed on Sunday so the Wiis would be available that day.

As I got out of my car to check the store hours, I noticed there were several people sitting in the parking lot with their cars running. On the door there was a sign that informed me that the store would have 15 Wiis available on Monday morning and that the line started right where I was standing. As I stood there reading, everyone in the parking lot got out of there cars and came and stood right behind me in line. Suddenly I'm the first guy in line. So I decide it may be worth it to wait around a little while. Luckily, in about 20 minutes, Circuit City passed out vouchers to the first 15 people in line. I took my voucher back at 10:00 when they opened and purchased our Wii.

Just so you know, Desta and I are not big video game people so this is kind of a new thing for us. But the Wii is not really like other game consoles, so it works out great. So far we have had a blast with our new toy.

Settled In

When we got back from California on January 1st, we immediately began preparing for our move. This move was not a big move, mind you. We only moved to the 4-plex immediately behind us. In fact we are still the top-right apartment, same exact layout and everything. We spent the 2nd-5th moving everything we own to our new place. You really don't realize how much stuff you have until you are forced to relocate every last item of it. It was a grueling few days but we survived and are now much better off for it.

You may be asking, why would we take the time and energy to move everything we own a distance of less than 100 ft? Good question. And believe me, if there wasn't a good answer, you can bet we would not even think of doing it. Our new place has a small storage facility out back so no more camping gear in the closet or bicycles in the living room or Christmas decorations under the bed. That has been nice. There is also a much better yard out front and a garden in the back. We are no longer on the busy main street (1100 S). We have some nice trees out front that will be great in the summer. Zoe will be running around pretty soon and now she will have a much better place to do so outside. Still, these benefits would not be worth the trouble of moving were it not for the $100 we will be saving each month.

There are a few inconveniences with the new place such as less cabinet space (plus we lost our beautiful new cabinets) and a weak shower head with no water pressure. But overall this is a much better place for us to be right now. It is nice to be settled in to our new place.

For those interested in mailing us gifts and letters and such, our new address is as follows:

James, Desta and Zoe Gillice
1076 S Anne Cir.
Orem, UT 84058

Zoe's first "big girl" bath

Since Zoe started sitting up all by herself over Christmas, Desta decided it was time for her to start taking "big girl" baths. Zoe, of course, loved it. And here are the pictures to prove it.

Pictures - Thanksgiving 2006

These pictures are a couple of months old. We will have a bunch more from Christmas up soon.

(Click image to see all photos)

Thanksgiving 2006

Christmas Vacation 2006

...and oh what a vacation it was!

We had a great time traveling and visiting relatives in 2 different states. We started our adventure by driving through the night of the 19th and arriving in Bend, OR early the next morning. We stayed in bend until the 26th. We had a great time there. I had not been to Bend since May of 2004. It was great to see my Mom, grandparents, aunts, uncles cousins, nieces and my sister. Thanks to everyone who made our time in Bend so enjoyable. Desta and I were so happy that we got to see everyone. We were especially happy that Zoe got to meet everyone. She says to say that she loves you all.

We left Oregon on the 26th and traveled all day to my Dad's new house in Grass Valley, CA. The house was beautiful and we had a great time visiting with family and friends. We would like to thank everyone in CA for putting us up (putting up with us?). We had a great time. After nearly a week there, we made our way back to Utah on New Years Day.

It was 2 weeks without work, school, cooking, cleaning or worrying about anything really. It was a well needed break and we enjoyed every minute of it.

The New Gillice Family Blog

Well, I have been fed up with the nightmare that is "Windows Live Spaces," so I thought it was about time that I do something about it. Talk about a crappy Microsoft product. Nothing works right on that thing and it was ugly as sin. Google products haven't let me down yet so here I am giving "Blogger" a try. So far it is leaps and bounds better. Maybe I will have more desire to keep this thing updated!

So here we go! It's 2007! Keep checking back for all the latest happenings of the Gillices!