A Very Late Update

So... we no longer live in Burbank. In fact we have been out of there for two months now. To make a long story short, John's job at Disney didn't turn out quite as magical as we had hoped. Due to budget cuts Disney decided they no longer needed a workforce analytics department thereby terminating John's position. Bummer, I know.

John likes to joke that he is just doing his part to ensure everyone that we truly are in an economic downturn....=)

Fortunately we were able to fill our apartment thereby relieving us of the $2100 a month we would have owed until May (that was a bit steep for no income).

We are also blessed to have wonderfully supportive family who don't mind having us move in with them until John finds another job. So- our stuff is in storage, our bodies are at my parents house and we had to say goodbye to Burbank.

I want to dedicate this post to Burbank and all the wonderful people we meet there.

Here goes my ode to Burbank and formal farewell:

Goodbye house

The library next door to our apartment complex....sigh

Natalie at the library

The park, adjoining the library, next to our apartment

John and the kids playing at the very convenient park

Goodbye mouse

John worked at The Walt Disney Company headquarters which is on their studio lot in Burbank. It was only a 10 minute walk for John from our apartment. Working on the studio lot was an interesting experience for John. His cubicle was on the same floor as some of the ABC offices so among the actors he saw at work (that he recognized=) were Terri Hatcher, Tom Arnold, and Dustin Hoffman. The only actor I saw while living in the LA area (other than those living in the ward=) was the computer guy on the Oceans Eleven movies. I spotted him at the Elmo gathering with his daughter.

I will most definitely miss our silver passes. They allowed us and our guests (up to 4 people total) to get into the Disney parks for free as often as we wanted (we did have a few black out days). Though we only had them for a few months I managed to make it to the Disneyland and/or California Adventure 6 times and took a few friends and family members with me.

Farewell little friends...

Dewy, Analisa, Natalie, and Ethan

Dewy was Natalie's first boyfriend. She loved playing with this cute little guy (conveniently, I loved hanging out with his mother). One day out of the blue Natalie informed me, "Mommy, Dewy's a MAN!" It was surprising and a little alarming...but mostly just funny.

Natalie and her friends Hailey and Analisa by the ponies at Griffith Park. Natalie calls them "my girls."

Natalie and Analisa on a train ride at LA's Griffith Park. Griffith park was only a 5 minute drive from us. This huge park not only houses the LA Zoo, but a train ride, an old fashioned carousel (which happened to be the very carousel that inspired Walt Disney to create Disneyland...there's a little Disney trivia for you), a museum, horse and pony rides, along with the standard park equipment.

Travel Town was another fun part of Griffith Park. It was a train museum which included several real trains.

Natalie at Travel Town. Not pictured:all of Natalie's cute friends who went along with us (Chloe, Ethan, Dewy, Timmy, Ben, Hailey, Analisa, Ethan #2....)

Natalie and Chloe at Disneyland

...and big friends too

I made many friends who I absolutely love at the tri-ward playgroup. Pictured are Rachelle, Christina, me, Becky, and Aprilanne.

Another good friend, Rachel, became my running partner for a while.

WE WILL MISS YOU!

Give yourself a pat on the back if you made it through this lengthy post. Yikes.

A Thanksgiving Post at Christmas Time

I just wanted to express my gratitude for a wonderfully awesome family. We spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix and the whole Cottam family was able to get together, down to the last grandchild. With 4 of the 6 of us married, and 10 grandchildren, we are becoming quite a large group. It was wonderful to be together and to be happy to be together. Up until June some member of the family was living far away so it was nearly impossible to all be together but now we are all out west representing California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah and making it much easier to congregate. Special thanks to my big sister Lindsey for hosting us and putting together a beautiful and delicious Thanksgiving feast!