Getting settled

It's been a crazy couple of weeks. We were able to move everything out of the old house and Chelsea spent the whole day helping me clean. She is such a hard worker. She never once complained and worked hard for the 7 1/2 hrs we were there (and she did a great job). It felt good to complete that part, close the doors for the last time, and hand in the keys. We have had a lot of good memories in that house and it has been a good place for our family for the last 2 years. I always get a little sad when we leave a house behind but look forward to staying put for a LONG time. We are throwing out the boxes this time (YEAH!) Now onto the next phase.....unpacking. (insert big sigh here) As we are getting settled we are discovering things we really like about this house and things that we can't wait to change. The first thing I did was to take down all the UGLY lace curtains that they so kindly left for us. Mike kept telling me to take pictures so we could have before/ after pics after we remodel but I didn't. I do regret not taking pics of the lace creation was in the living room, but I did take some of the bedroom windows. I couldn't decide whether to burn them or donate them. I decided that someone might want them and took them all down to the DI (3 big trash bags full!)

This is just half of my garage right now. It's so overwhelming everytime Mike and I try to clear things out. I just don't know where to put stuff and we have thrown a lot away :)

Now onto a few things that I really love about this house: Starting with this gas fireplace. It actually produces heat (unlike our last one) and I love having a fire in the background. I have had it on several times in the morning or evening and love sitting by it.

This is one of the first things I have hung (little something from home). I don't think this is where it will stay because I'm not ready to hang things yet, but it looks good here.

This was an unexpected surprise, a doggie door in the wall of the dining room. It leads out to a dog run on the outside of the house. I have LOVE, LOVE, LOVED this feature. Chester can come and go as much as he wants and all the poop is contained on the side of the house. We had no idea this was here when we bought the house.

We are excited about the pool and Mike has been busy learning about all the upkeep that is required. It's too cold to use, but we are looking forward to a wet summer.

I'm also enjoying the family room/ loft that is upstairs. It is another place to go and hang out. Mike has found a home for many of his books that he has been moving around. I'm hoping that one day we'll be able to get a nice sectional sofa to go in here. It was nice that they left this big screen TV.

We have a lot of plans to make this our home and to make it show our personality. It will be a long work in progress but we have lots of time!

Parent game

Today was the last basketball game that Brianna preformed at. They took a minute at the beginning of the game to honor the 8th grade members of the team along with their parents. They have had a great year and have an awesome teacher. When Brianna told me about the event I was teasing her about wearing sweats, my glasses, no make up, etc. She begged me...."Please mom, no socks and sandles". I sure was tempted :)

Intruders

This is what I walked into when I got home from work this AM. I guess they thought they were under attack.

Student of the Month

Brianna was nominated for Student of the Month by her geography teacher. We got to go to a breakfast this morning where they presented the students with their award and a license plate holder (which her daddy promtly stole). It was a fun way to start the morning. She also had 2 friends (Maddie and Lai) that were nominated. She must hang out with some high caliber people :)

Chelsea, Faith, & random pics

Chelsea met Faith during their summer school PE classes in June 2010. People kept saying they looked like twins and they hit it off quickly. They have been BFF's all year. They have had countless sleepovers, movies, and have attended several school events together. We even took her to St. George with us on one of our many weekend trips. They have shared a lot of laughs and supported eachother through tears. Unfortunately, Faith's family is moving to Idaho the end of March. So Chelsea is loosing yet another friend. I hope she will remember all the good memories of her friendship with Faith.

When I was looking through her camera for the above pic, I found these cute ones of Cord. It's so amazing how fast they change and grow up right in front of your eyes. These were taken probabaly last year. Cord looks so little and cute like always.

Spotlight Dance Competition

Brianna's first dance competition since leaving dance tracks. It's a lot of fun to see all the dances and they did a great job. The above pic is one she took after applying her fake eyelashes that are part of her stage make-up. Kind of interesting view.

Good News and Bad News

We were supposed to close on our home on Friday 2/11 but because the bank took so long getting all the paperwork to escrow, we didn't close until today. We were so excited to finally be done. Both Mike and I have taken this weekend off to be able to move everything over and then have a week to clean the old house. So all is well.

That afternoon I stopped at a Walmart before dropping Brianna off at dance. When I got back I saw this! No idea who did it. The big chickens hit and run. Why did I buy a home in Vegas????

He went to JARED!

Let me start out this post by saying, I really don't like Valentines day. Can't really explain why. And with our anniversary on the 15th it's a rule that we don't usually do anything for each other on valentines. I'd rather just find some time to celebrate our Anniversary than give gifts. And I'll also say, that the only piece of jewelry that Mike has ever given me is sitting on my left hand and he gave it to me 19 years ago when I pledged to love him forever. So imagine my surprise when I saw this bag sitting on the table after he went to work. I just sat and stared at it not believing it to be true. I finally found a way to open it and was blown away! I have secretly always wanted a Pandora charm bracelet but knew that they were expensive so I didn't even say anything about it. So my mouth just popped open when I saw a bracelet in this beautiful white box. It has one charm on it right now, but it means more to me than anything. It's a little house to represent the house that we are buying together after 3 years of renting and going through school. It symbolizes that we are ready to settle down and stop living in the "temporary". We are excited to paint and make this our home. That's why it is so special to see that charm on it. I was so excited about it that instead of going to bed (needed to sleep) I hopped on-line and started looking at all the different charms that are available. And yes, they are expensive. So I'll be building my bracelet slowly, a birthday gift here, a Christmas present there. I was really touched by his thoughtfulness and didn't even see this coming. I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I might even start liking Valentines day again.

Happy Valentines Day

I so badly wanted to go to Cord's preschool to see his little party, but once again, I worked and couldn't stay awake. He came home with his little box and had so much fun pulling out all his valentines. Mason was a little jealous and had come to realize today that Valentines in middle school is much different than in 5th grade. Reality bites sometimes! But I did really enjoy the Valentine that Cord had made for me.

I've been dragging my feet, but I guess it's time to get packing. Although we haven't closed on our house yet. We did decide that we needed to pack up the important things first, then we'll get to the other things. :) We were supposed to close on friday, but we are STILL waiting for the bank to get the paperwork to the title company so we can make this official. Our new house is empty, we have to be out of this one by the end of the month. Mike and I both have this weekend off to move so I sincerely hope we can get this moving along.





At least somebody thinks this process is fun.....I don't!