New House

So....we did a thing. One evening I was looking on Facebook and I noticed a friend of mine selling his house. For an amazing price. He was willing to give a friend an even BETTER deal, if an offer was made right away. Allan and I went and looked at it, fell in love, and bought it. We moved 6 weeks later.

I 100% saw the Lord's hand in this move. We weren't planning on moving AT ALL, but it worked out so easily that it was just the best thing ever. So now we're in an adorable house across the street from WSU and love your neighborhood and ward. It's the best!!

our "we just bought a house" faces!

in the middle of packing...

the night before the move...

EMPTY condo!

view from our front porch the Sunday after the move

our new house!!

Just keep packing, just keep packing, just keep packing.....

You might remember back in July when I posted about leaving my current job and getting a new one. 

Allan and I knew that as soon as I got a new job we would start to look for a place to live that was within a reasonable distance of our works. With both Allan and I working in the Ogden, UT area we started looking in Weber county for somewhere to live. When life slowed down a little bit (ha! like it ever slows down...) we finally made it out and about to look at a couple of places.

The second place we looked at we fell in love with it immediately. The guy renting it out is wanting to retire and hasn't really dealt with it for almost a year. He was in the middle of renovating the whole place. New carpet, new paint, new appliances, etc. It's a 2-bedroom, 2-bath place that is perfect for our little family. We talked about it, slept on it, and the next day got him our contract and part of the deposit. The great thing is this guy really wants to get out of renting and is willing to sell us the place - so we're looking at purchasing it. :o)

So now....we're packing. All day, all night - all I can think about is all the stuff we have to move. :P The good news is that I don't think we'll have to move for a long time yet after this move. At least, I hope that's the case - because 3 moves in one year is 3 moves too many in my opinion. ;)

Saturday can't come and go soon enough! :-)

How we got a whole household full of furniture for next to nothing...

So, this post is a long time coming, I know. Life is busy around these parts! What with moving...(yup. Moving. A post will be coming shortly [i think] about that.) and playing and all sorts of other things, I just haven't had time.

ANYWAYS. Back in June, Allan's Aunt Beth texted him some pictures of some really nice furniture....and asked us if we wanted their entire dining room set (which included a table with leaf extenders, 6 chairs, a china cabinet and a buffet table). Then she asked if we wanted their couch and loveseat. THEN she asked if we wanted the bedroom set (including the bed + mattress, man dresser and woman dresser + vanity.) The only catch was that we would need to get down to the Palm Springs area of California and rent a moving truck and drive back all that furniture. We thought it out - and decided that we'd never get a deal like this again (plus we could sell all of our old furniture) and finally said yes!

After switching dates a couple of times, we drove off one Friday afternoon in a cute red Ford Focus we rented from the car rental. We got to Palm Springs just fine and the next morning got our rental truck and returned the car. Aunt Beth had not only all that furniture for us, but other odds and ends for us to take as well. Our 16' moving truck was very full! The great things is that Aunt Beth gave us some money to help make the trip and also hired movers to pack up the moving truck for us.  We then drove home Sunday and with some fun adventures on the way (like getting pulled over for "not paying for our gas" [we did pay for it]) we got home and got everything unloaded.

We now have a very full house of furniture - since we knew we'd be moving so soon we didn't unpack a lot of the stuff - and the china cabinet is in two pieces in Lindy's bedroom. :o) BUT it makes me very excited to get all moved and organized in our new place. :o)

the "buffet" table

the china cabinet and one of the chairs from the table set

*I'll try to post more pictures when we move into our new place - maybe you'll even get a tour! (don't hold your breath waiting for that.....)

let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..... NOT!!!

For the past three days I have woken up to ugly, gnarly, snowy conditions. It took me over an hour on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to get to work. It was nasty and not so much fun.

However, today, the roads were clear. I got to work with minutes to spare. :) And looking at the forecast for the next week I am one VERY happy camper:

Sunshine! Temperatures above 20 degrees! What more could a girl ask for? (well...lots, but I'll be happy with this!)

In other news I've slowly started moving to the new place and this weekend is THE BIG MOVE of everything else. I am excited to get everything set up in the new place and to make it a home. :-) It will be fun times.

Also, because everyone keeps asking me - no, I do not know when I am getting married yet. I have a working date in late March, but we're still waiting for everything to go through. We met with our Stake President last night and he is dedicated to help us finish everything out and have everything in place so we can get married as soon as possible. I left that meeting last night with a lot of hope.

I was reminded of this quote by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles :

“To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His ‘more excellent ministry’ with a future of ‘better promises.’ He is your ‘high priest of good things to come.’ ” - Jeffrey R. Holland, “An High Priest of Good Things to Come,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 36

Isn't that just lovely? Hold on. don't give up. It will be okay. That is my mantra for this next month. January has been hard one for me in so many ways and I am glad that it is ending today. February will be a challenge to get through, but I have a feeling it will fly by like a blink of an eye. Which more than I can say for January. :)

Before I know it will be March. March brings my birthday, our wedding (hopefully) and warmer temperatures (at least, one can hope for that!). Life is good. It's going to get better. I just need to live one day at a time.

Blame it on the weather

Lately the weather here in Utah could be summed up in one word: crappy.

It has been super cold with a nasty inversion hovering for weeks. We have inches and inches of snow everywhere that won't melt because sun is being blocked by the nastiest air quality I have seen in a long, long time. I step outside and start hacking up a lung.

So it's no surprise that today while at work I have felt down in the dumps, sad and depressed. I have decided to blame it on the weather. I don't feel like doing anything or going anywhere because of how nasty it is outside.

Supposedly there is a front coming in this evening bringing some storminess and enough wind to get rid of this cold air pool of grossness. Looking at the forecast the weathermen are saying it will be 40+ degrees for the rest of the week/into the weekend. I never thought I would be SO HAPPY to see 40 degrees!

In other news the lease has been signed and the moving will commence in about a week's time. I'm actually getting really excited to move. I'm excited to have the kitchen (and rest of the house, but mostly the kitchen) be MINE and I don't have to share it with any other girl. (no offense to any of my past roommates - I'm just excited to have my own space to decide where things go and not worry about people changing that.) Allan does claim that he wants some say in it all, but let's be honest here....he doesn't really care and if something does bother him I told him to speak up and we'll discuss it. ;)

Never mind the fact that I have to pack everything up for the 2nd time in SIX months, I'm excited to start a new chapter in my life. It's just a sign that things are slowly falling into place and soon Allan will be able to move in with me and life will be even better.

In the meantime....if you're looking for something good to do for someone on Saturday, February 2nd, give me a call. I'm sure I can find a few boxes for you to carry......

until next time,
Ciao!

Success! We win!

Hello there friends!

At the beginning of last week, after being super sick, Allan and I made two goals of things we needed to give all our attention to for the week. Nothing else mattered beyond these two things and they were

1. Find somewhere to live (my current contract ends the 7th of February....and I need a home!)
2. Throw a fun party for Lindy on Saturday.

I am pleased to announce that even with getting strep throat Tuesday and being sick for 3 days, we succeeded in accomplishing BOTH goals! :-)

On Thursday evening I felt well enough that Allan and I went and took a look at 3 different living arrangements. The first one was in Midvale and was a good price, but SUPER tiny. The 2nd one was also in Midvale, was a bit bigger, but had a horrible layout and I hated it. The final one was an adorable townhome in American Fork. It was a good price, had lots of open space and plenty of windows/outlets (those things are important yo!) We fell in love with it. We took an application, filled it out in the car and met the landlord that night when we turned everything in. We talked with the landlord for 20 minutes! We thought she liked us and we hoped that she would give us the rental unit. Well, Saturday morning she gave us a call back and WE GOT THE PLACE!!!! Oh man, I am so excited! We sign a lease tomorrow night and we'll do most of the moving in on the 2nd of February. I'm so excited about this place. I'll live there by myself for just about 2 months until we (hopefully!) get married and then it will be OUR place and I'm just stoked about it. I've had a grin on my face over it all weekend long. :o)

Then, after staying up way too late working on final details Friday night, we threw Lindy her 3-year old birthday party. She was SO EXCITED. All of our family/friends that we invited (minus a few friends) were able to come and it was so great to see them all and for Lindy to get to share her birthday with them. It went of well, the games were fun, the food was good and Lindy was spoiled with lovely gifts from everyone. :o)

All in all it was a lovely weekend and successful week and I'm feeling a million times better. I just hope something else doesn't creep in and attack me. :)

Now I just have to pack everything up and move.....again...... :P

Until next time, ciao!