Need I Say More...

We are finalizing the purchase of a foreclosure with a kitchen that looks like this! Who cares what the rest of the house looks like? If this was your kitchen you wouldn't care either...


Okay - some of you might, but I don't care because I love the kitchen! We will post more pictures as we go along but we are still waiting to finalize details regarding the inspection, the appraisal, being in a floodplain, the carpet and the bank. I am told that it has been a pretty straight-forward foreclosure and yet it is frustrating and hard to wait all at the same time. Our close date is scheduled for February 28th - but we are shooting for earlier.... We will just have to wait and see.

Note to my magical kitchen: I promise to take good care of you, to fill you with new appliances, to keep you clean, to love you, to make great things that come out of you and to do service because of your functionality. I promise to keep good food storage, make nightly dinners, cook healthy food and love you dearly. I promise to spend a lot of time with you and create family memories with you. I am so glad that you have waited for me this past year. I know a year with no family, just sitting empty, must have been very hard. I am sorry that you had to endure so many hands opening your cabinets, pulling on your doors and feeling violated. I am sorry your hardwear was stolen and that people broke their nails trying to peek inside your appliance garage. Please know this abuse will stop and that your sad journey is almost through. Thanks for your patience. I am coming. And, most importantly, don't worry, I am bringing the bleach. Good night magical kitchen - I love you already and know that my love will just continue to grow for you and all your magic...

The last detail....

We finished paying for the cruise, we bought our airfare from Salt Lake to Rome and back again, we paid for our apartment in Rome, we finalized our staying arangement for Greece and the only missing puzzle piece was how to get from Athens to Rome. Over the past several weeks airfare from Greece to Italy has been about $375 for both of us to fly one-way on a one-hour flight! LAME!

Just this morning, our wonderful Greek hostess (okay, she's not really Greek but she is in Greece) notified us that they were having a great airfare price. YOU BET THEY WERE! For just $171 we are now both flying from Greece to Italy and I am officially done with the planning. We saved about $200! Thanks Aegean Air and THE BIGGEST THANK YOU TO PATTI!

I am waiting for my passport to come with my last name changed and that is it! There is nothing else to do but wait a very pleasant 99 DAYS! I think that finalizing our home purchase and all that entails (packing, moving, unpacking, paiting, deep cleaning, buying appliances, etc) will keep us plenty busy! But today I am just so darn excited!

Primary Kids at the Draper Temple Open House

What a fun time! Erica and I convinced our husbands that we should take our primary class to the Draper Temple Open House. When we got the tickets it was last year and we didn't know that we were going to get a new primary class at the start of the year and so we took last year's class and this year's class. Four adults (none of us have kids) and 11 primary kids was a hoot!
It was the most amazing experience to see the temple through the eyes of a child. A couple of our kids had already enjoyed the tour and every time anyone would oooooooooooh and aaaaaaaaaaah they would tell them to just wait - the best was still coming.

The kids LOVED the celestial room - one little guy told me that he could look up and stare at the chandelier for the rest of his life - it's just like heaven he exclaimed. His brother told me that you could see yourself reflect for forever in the next room and he just wanted to come back here so badly.

Their testimonies are the most precious thing and we absolutely love our kids. I really am going to miss them when we move! It has been my favorite calling. Because I didn't grow up in the church serving them in the primary is my first ever experience in the primary! I will always remember them and I have the biggest love for the primary and now an even greater appreciation of the temple.

Cruisin'

I just booked our flight for our cruise which makes it seem very official. We leave in 114 days! A long and short time all at the same time...
We fly from here to JFK and then straight to Rome where we board our boat. We then have shore excursions in Naples, Cairo (Egypt), Port Said (Egypt), Jerusalem (Israel), Nazareth (Israel), Ephesus (Turkey), Patmos (Greece), Santorini (Greece), and Athens (Greece).

We finish our cruise in Greece so we planned to spend 5 extra days in Greece staying with some friends before we fly back to Rome. We have rented an apartment in Rome overlooking the Vatican and will spend 5 more days in Rome before flying home through JFK.

We booked our cruise last June and are so excited to be going! I just can't wait...

I'd say it's not really a secret anymore...

I always knew it...

I have been trying - really I have - I just have to give in when the migraines come...

http://health.discovery.com/national-body-challenge/articles/whats-so-bad-about-diet-soda.html

This should make me feel better: http://funwithfoodstorage.net/