Belated Birthday Post

We celebrated my little sister's 23rd birthday last Tuesday.  I can't believe how time flies!  (Not to mention the fact that since she turned 23 that means I'm turning 26 this year...)

To celebrate, we met Dani and Stephen at Macaroni Grill for dinner.  Then Dani invited us over to her apartment for cake that her roommate had made.  What she didn't know was that Stephen had planned a surprise party for her and invited her friends to come over for cake and other goodies. :)  It was a good night.

(Brittany you're on my blog now so you're officially not blog stalking me anymore ;))

Crappy Blogger

I have been a crappy blogger--especially since we moved into our new house!  You'd think I'd have all these things to blog about being in our new place and with it being summer.  And you'd be right in thinking that!  But...I just haven't been very good at documenting those things.  From here on out, I promise to be a better blogger to all 5 of you who read my blog.  Scouts honor.  Over and out.  :)

Stadium of Fire!

Covey and I had the chance to go to the Stadium of Fire last night!  It was so much fun!  My sister's boyfriend, Stephen, was hosting part of the program and so he was able to get us some free tickets and fantastic seats right on the field!  It was a blast to see David Archuleta and Brad Paisley perform.  Brad was by far the best part of the night.  And the fireworks were amazing!  Seriously the best show I have ever seen.  After the show, Stephen got us into a post-show party and we got some free food and even ran into some friends of ours from our old ward.  We didn't get home until 1am but it was worth it!

 Paragliders flew into the stadium with the flag.

Stephen hosting part of the show

David Archuleta--he was pretty good live.

Dani and her friend Ariel

Mom and Mike

We saw our friends Dave and Kinsley (you can see Kinsley on the left side in the flag shirt).

Brad Paisley!

He put on a GREAT show!

Dani and Stephen--he finally got to come sit down to enjoy the fireworks!

The picture of the Statue of Liberty was formed on the field using glow sticks.

The guys

The girls

Our friends Dave and Kinsley

Nursery--Our First Week

We had our first week in nursery this last Sunday.  While we felt a little out of our element, it wasn't too bad.  The couple that we are taking over for just kind of went through the routine they have each week and the kids were pretty good.  I have to say, some of the things that they do and say are just hilarious!  While it was a fun first week, I am a little worried that 2 hours every Sunday entertaining the kids is going to be kind of hard until we get the hang of it.  Wish us luck!  (And if anyone knows any fun nursery games we can play, please let me know!)

We Avoided It This Long...

...but we've been caught.  By what, you ask?  

The "nursery" calling in our new ward!

To be honest, Covey and I have really been dreading being called into the nursery.  The thought of taking care of other people's crying, snotty nosed, children just doesn't really appeal to us.  (Maybe we're in the minority here, but I don't think so...)  

When we moved into our new ward and found out that they had 4 nurseries, we knew were were caught.  We tried to convince ourselves that they were going to give us a different calling, but deep down--we knew.  So when the call came from the ward clerk to have us meet with a member of the bishopric, we weren't all that surprised when they said, "We'd like to extend a calling to you to be nursery leaders."  Covey and I just looked at each other and started laughing.

It was kind of funny though because the counselor started to explain that "normally we don't put brand new people, especially young couples, into nursery so soon after they move in" BUT "we felt like it was the right place for you to serve.  The good news is that we usually only keep people in the nursery no more than a year."  Um...thanks...I guess...

Obviously, there is some reason we were meant to be in this calling, in this ward, at this time.  I'm sure we'll learn what it is soon enough.  In the meantime, we will be social outcasts in our ward and will be constantly asked the question: "Are you new in the ward?" And we will say: "We're in the nursery."

Art City Days Date(s)

It's been a while since Covey and I went on an actual date.  With moving into our house and trying to get everything squared away with being a new home owner, we haven't really had the time. *Correction: we haven't made the time.*  When we moved to Springville, we knew that they would be having their city days some time during the summer and we planned to go when it came up.

So on Wednesday night, Covey asked me if I wanted to go on a date with him to Springville's Art City Days the following night.  Of course, I said yes. ;)  On Thursday after work we got some cash and then went over to the park.  It was definitely small town, but we had a good time.  They had some really good BBQ sandwiches and then for dessert we got a scone.  It was divine!  We stayed for about 45 minutes at the Battle of the Bands but it got kind of cold and we didn't have a blanket or a jacket so we went home.  But it was a fun night and a great change from doing house stuff. :)

 
On Friday, we got together with my sister, Dani, and her boyfriend, Stephen, and Dan and Kanessa.  We got pizzas and drinks and then went over and settled down to enjoy a magic show (it wasn't very good but the little kids loved it) and then an a capella/comedy group called Moosebutter performed.  We had high hopes for them and the beginning of their act was good but it went downhill fast and so we left and went back to our place to play games.  I think the highlight of our time at the park was watching Hunter (Dan and Kanessa's son) try to roll down the hill.  Too funny!

Saturday we went and saw the fireworks with Dani and Shannon.  It was a fun weekend and it was nice to get out of the house.  Hopefully we can go to some of the other city days around the county over the rest of the summer!

M.I.A.

Sorry I have been M.I.A. lately!  As you probably guessed, I have been working on putting our new home together so it feels like our home.  The process has been a little slower than I would have liked, but it is coming together.  I will try to post some pictures soon!

Satan's Attack on Gender

I recently read a story about a Canadian couple who hasn't disclosed the gender of their 4 month child (read here).  No, it's not because they want it to be a surprise to their family and friends (even the grandparents don't know the gender).  The reason they are not telling people is because they want to raise a "genderless" child, meaning, they don't want people to treat their child different based on its gender.  According to them, they want their child to decide which gender it is going to be.

 

 This story truly makes me want to cry.  This as another one of Satan's attacks on the importance of gender to God's Plan and it makes me so angry.  The Family: A Proclamation to the World says that "Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose."  

While I don't believe that this couple's intention is to be one of Satan's minions, I feel sad that these parents think they are doing their child some great service by not telling people if their child is a boy or a girl to try to avoid their child being treated in a specific way.  People are supposed to be treated in a certain way based on their gender and that is okay (as long as it doesn't turn into discrimination or oppression, of course).

After reading this story, I was filled with so much frustration that I just had to get my feelings about this out there.  Although this story is getting a lot of coverage, it does encourage me that most people are having a similar reaction to mine.  I hope that when I have children I can help them gain a testimony of the importance and necessity of the characteristic that gender plays in our Heavenly Father's Plan for His children, because it is SO important.

It's Official!

We have moved into our house and it is officially OURS!

I am so excited!  It is crazy that we are now HOMEOWNERS!  Our house is still a mess and we're trying to figure out where everything goes, but it is still so fun to organize things and make it look and feel like home.

We did get our new bedroom set today and it has been delivered to our house, but I haven't seen it yet because I am at work and Covey was the one who met the delivery guy at the house.  I can't wait to see it!  

I will post pictures of the house when I get everything looking a little less cluttered--hopefully by the weekend at the latest.  Covey and I are pretty anxious to get everything put away.  Once we get that done, I get to DECORATE!  I am excited to put everything together so it actually matches. :)  Wish me luck!

Update!

We have keys! 

Kind of.  They are at the house (along with a little "move-in" gift basket) but we can't get them until after work.  The recorders office didn't get everything taken care of but we are going to go ahead and move our stuff in anyway.  

Let the moving fun begin!

Still No Keys...

So...we still don't have the keys to our house.  Why?, you ask.  Because the some smarty-pants who works with the builders forgot the important step of sending in the Certificate of Occupancy to the city yesterday when we signed on the house and instead they sent it today.  This is a problem because the city isn't open on Friday's!

The reason this is a problem is that without the Certificate of Occupancy being recorded through the city, we can't have the title to the house or the keys so technically, we can't live there.  Now, while we can still move our stuff into the house this weekend as planned (since the house has been closed on), not having the title or keys doesn't make me a very happy camper.

However, it is still possible that it could get recorded through the city today because the mortgage broker knows someone at the city that is trying to get everything filed and recorded for us today.  So I guess it's still possible that we could get the title and keys today but no promises.  Boo.  This whole thing has just been a mess.

  I am trying to focus on the fact that we have signed on the house and we are a few steps closer to actually living there, but it is hard to be so close and have this be the issue that is holding us up because it wasn't our mistake that it wasn't submitted.  I need to just be happy and think about having a nice, new house in Springville that doesn't have anyone above or below me to make noise.  (Our next door neighbor is a cat lady so I don't think she'll be making much noise.  I am hoping to have some interesting stories though...)

I will keep you updated on the status.  I'm sure anyone reading this is just dying to know how the story of getting into our new house goes... ;)

Closing Day!

WE CLOSED SIGNED OUR LIVES AWAY ON OUR HOUSE TODAY!!

I can't believe that the day finally came that we got to close on our house!  There are still a few things that need to be done before we can actually move into the house, but by tomorrow morning at 11am we will be first time homeowners and we will have the keys to our house!  

Originally our plan was to close this morning and then move our stuff from my dad's trailer into the garage until we could move it into the house.  This plan has been slightly altered and we will actually be moving our stuff into the house on Saturday morning.  So if you want to volunteer to help, I won't complain. :)

Hooray and Happy Day!

Final Walk Through Day

Today was the final walkthrough on our home!  We basically just went back through the house to see if they had fixed the things we wanted fixed.  They are still working on a couple of things but it should be done by tonight.

Then, tomorrow is CLOSING DAY!  We will be closing at 8am and then moving our stuff from my dad's trailer into our garage (because he needs the trailer on Friday morning).  We can't move it into the house until the loan has been funded and the closing has been recorded which won't be until 11am Friday morning.  But then we get to have the KEYS to the house and the fun will really start! :)  (Normally I wouldn't count moving as fun but when it's moving into your first house, that makes it fun!)

I seriously can't believe that we are finally going to be closing on our house.  Wa-hoo!

First Bonfire of the Summer

Yesterday started out as a really nice day with sunshine and blue skies, but in the afternoon it started turning ugly with rain and wind.  We had wanted to go up the canyon with some friends and were worried that the weather was going to prevent us from that.  We made some tin foil dinners and stopped by the store to get some drinks, marshmallows and roasting sticks.  As we drove up the canyon, it started to rain a little bit.  But it started to clear up again soon after we got up there and we felt a little better.  Then it started to rain, then blue skies and more rain and some wind, then clearing.  Talk about bipolar weather.

Dan and Kanessa joined us about 10 minutes later and we got the fire going so we could cook our dinners.  Meanwhile, we played some croquet and it started raining again.  Nice.  Finally it stopped again and we ate our dinners.  They were SO good!  Seriously, food cooked over a campfire is just amazing, especially tin foil dinners.  YUM!  

After letting our food digest for a little bit, we pulled out the marshmallows.  Now, these are not just any marshmallows.  These are the biggest marshmallows you've ever seen in your life.  And they were AMAZING!  Not only were they huge, but they tasted about a million times better than the regular marshmallows.  Am I in love with these marshmallows, you ask?  I just might be.  (But don't tell Covey...)  

We chilled by the fire for a little longer and then packed up and went home.  Even though we got rained on and it was windy and kind of cold, it was still fun to go up the canyon and just enjoy each other's company.  We're looking forward to many more bonfire nights this summer.  And you better believe we are bringing our monster size marshmallows with us...

 I was not pleased with the weather... :(

I don't care who you are.  You cannot look at this and tell me it doesn't look freaking delicious.  (And it was!)

Covey warming up his tush

 Roasting marshmallows

 Kanessa and Hunter

 Do you see how big these marshmallows were?!

 Yummy, gooey, sticky sweetness

 In love with my marshmallow

So. Good.

Walkthrough Day!

Today was the day we got to do the walkthrough on our house!  We were actually really excited because today was the first time we have seen the house without stuff all over the floors and counters and in the garage.  It was (mostly) clean and it was fun to just walk through each of the rooms and learn some important information about the home.  

We did find some cosmetic things that we want them to fix before we close on the house (like a towel rack in the bathroom that wasn't centered on the wall, some scratches in the laminate floors and a few paint touch ups), but we are expecting to close on it by next Thursday.  Yes, it is another week away but we've waited this long right?  What's another few days?  (At least this is what I'm trying to convince myself.)

In the meantime, here a few pictures of the house.

One Step Closer...

We just found out that Friday is the day for the walkthrough of our new home!  So excited!  This means that when we walk through the house, we can point out different things that we want fixed before we close on the house.  Depending on what needs to be fixed will determine when we can close but I am expecting it to be early next week.  Yay!

Today is NOT the day

Today is May 9th, which means that it is the day our house is supposed to be completed.

BUT IT'S NOT! :( :( :(

I am so bummed!  Suffice it to say that there have been a few hangups trying to get everything completed (on the builder's end, not ours) and so they have delayed the completion date yet again.  Now, they are saying that the new completion date is May 12th (this Thursday). 

Grrrr!!  I am so tired of the delays.  I just want to be in my house and sleep my own bed!  (Covey and I have been sharing a queen when we are used to a king.  We haven't been sleeping well lately...)  I want my closet back and just my own space!  My in-laws have been very gracious in letting us stay at their house while ours is being finished, but I just want to be in my own house!  

No more delays!  

No more addendums changing the closing date!  

Give me the keys to my stinkin' house!