A Little Update

I hope you aren't sick of hearing about our house details. I'm sure there will be plenty more posts to come. Just think of it like when a child is born and every post after that is of the cute little baby. Well, this will be our baby for now.

We closed on our house yesterday! It felt like our wedding day. I couldn't stop smiling and it was complete with witnesses, signing papers, a huge commitment, and our lender even brought a gift! I counted, we signed our name 48 times and our initials 5 times. So many papers!

Our apartment is a sea of cardboard boxes. We move on Friday and that is definitely not soon enough. Two bathrooms here we come!! We are taking the kids over tonight to show them the house for the first time. I'm excited to see their reaction. If you ask Taylor what he is most excited for, he'll tell you "the fridge." It has a water dispenser on the door and he told me that he'll "never be thirsty again". Has the kid been dehydrated the past 4 years or something?

Well, back to packing and cleaning...will it ever end??

Ta-Dah!!

Gayle worked her magic on the pictures I took in the last post. Check out the before and afters!! Which "AFTER" is your favorite?

BEFORE...(#1)

...AFTER (#1)

BEFORE...(#2)
...AFTER (#2)

BEFORE... (#3)

...AFTER (#3)

BEFORE... (#4)

...AFTER (#4)

BEFORE... (#5)
...AFTER (#5)

BEFORE... (#6)

...AFTER (#6)

Thanks again, Gayle! I'll have fun decorating with these.

I'm a Total Wanna-be

My cousin, Gayle, has the most amazing talent in photography. I love her blog where I can see all her work. Recently she posted pictures of her flowering tree and it inspired me. As I wash dishes I can see into a neighbor's backyard and I've been watching a tree bloom. It just so happens to have the same colors of pink, white, and green that I want to use to decorate McKenna's room. So yesterday I became a "wanna-be Gayle" and tried to take pictures to hang in her new room. My camera is nowhere near as nice as hers, nor do I have her talent, but I still didn't come anywhere near her photos. I really couldn't zoom in close enough, even with my macro. I even busted out my film SLR camera and had the pictures developed...nice try, but no cigar. Some might work out...we'll see. Here are the best of what I took on my digital camera. Gayle, can Photoshop help these??

PIGTAILS!!

McKenna's hair is finally getting long enough to do something with it. Yesterday I experimented with pigtails! What do you think?!

She actually held perfectly still and for a long time. That's just what I need since I am a girl hair beginner!

"Ugly"...I Don't Think So!

Last Saturday we took a drive to scout out the location for an upcoming family reunion. It took about an hour and it's located up in mountains surrounding Heber City. As you can see in the picture below, there is still snow up in there yonder mountains. (Imagine how even more beautiful this will be with leaves on those Aspen trees!)
Most of the roads were paved in our drive, but the last stretch was just dirt. The snow is melting and it had been raining all morning, so you can imagine what kind of conditions our drive became. We did some serious mud bogging in our little minivan! At one point I thought we were stuck for good, but Dave powered us through. Anyway, the cabin is gorgeous and in a beautiful location. We should have a great time!

I couldn't help but notice the breathtaking views surrounding us on our way home. I know first hand that Utah is not the most green state, but anyone that calls Utah ugly just hasn't seen enough of it. Remember this was just a short drive and look at the pictures I took from my passenger window.
I took a lot of pictures. I felt like my mom on a family road trip...just minus the loud organ music. :)

Not too bad for a picture taken through glass and at speeds of 55 mph .

And here are the happy travelers! I was worried that Derek would get car sick with all the windy roads. He did start to complain of it, but luckily we didn't have much further to drive. Do they make kid's Dramamine?? I can't wait for the reunion...and hopefully the roads will be in better condition by June. :)

It's Over!

Derek just finished his last game of his first year of little league soccer. It was a very cold and rainy day, but he said that he didn't mind. It sure has been fun to watch him learn the sport and build confidence in his abilities. He really improved over the months of play and started to understand the strategies of the game. In the Fall season he just wanted to be goalie (there isn't one in his age group) and would run past the opponent with the ball to guard the goal. But this Spring he made his first goal and averaged 2 each game after that. He makes great defensive plays and isn't afraid to get in the middle of things to get to the ball. He's growing up too fast! At the end of the game the coach handed out medals for all the players and Derek has been wearing or talking about his since Saturday.

My 200th Post! And one of my favorites!

What a great way to celebrate my 200th post but with pictures of our first home!!! The inspection went very well and the house seems to be in very good condtion. The home appraised above our purchase price, so we should have no problems closing on the home now. I posted a picture of the exterior a couple weeks ago and now here are pics of the interior....just in case you were curious. The house is vacant so the pictures with decorations are not current.

The Dining Room. Behind the vertical blinds is a sliding door to the backyard.

The Kitchen (duh). The doors on either side of the fridge are closets and the door on the "oven wall" leads to the garage.

These next pictures are for you Scott! :)

Moen

Moen

Basement Storage Room. I am very excited to build up some serious food storage in this room!

Master Bedroom. On the top floor. The window looks out over the backyard.

The Front Room. You enter into this room from the front door and can see right into the dining room.

Backyard. With a garden this size it's no wonder they built such a huge food storage room! The neighbors told us that the previous owners really used all this dirt for a garden. I think I'll just use the smaller section!

Here's a shot of the back of the house from our back fenceline (the garden is to the right).

I think that's enough pictures...you get the idea. We close in two weeks and are just dying to move in!