Under Construction

The truth is...

But our lives have been...

We have been really busy...

and...
We have been trying to balance both...

But we finally have...And this is happening at 5 pm today...

So hopefully our...
Will get more attention next week!

Something Fun!

The first five people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It will be done this year.

4- You will have no clue what it's going to be. It may be a story. It may be photography or an article on properly cleaning your face before a masque. I may sew or paint something. I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who follow the directions. Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

My Rant

I have written my congressmen and my senator today and I am so angry that I am using my blog as a venting outlet. If you aren't interested in this kind of rant then check back another day for more moving pictures.

I find it offensive that Oliver and I do not qualify for the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit because we have chosen to be married. Before we were married I bought our townhouse and now, in my husband’s name only (and he has never owned a home), we are buying our first single family home. We have been married a year and because we chose to be married and not just co-habitate, we are being punished. Similarly, this is unfair in that lesbian and gay couples qualify for the credit and we don't. Why are we being punished for choosing marriage? Why are we being punished for choosing to love and marry as spouses? What is wrong with our society and what it values?

I also think that the tax-credit should have to be repaid! How does it benefit the majority of people that I know who bought homes when they could afford them and love where they live and don't need to move or don't want to and wouldn't qualify even if they did. Oliver and I would love the tax credit to be able to buy the appliances, finish the yard, put in the carpet and paint but we also feel that we should repay the money borrowed from the government because why should my unborn children pay for people to buy a home? And why are our children paying for years and years and years to come to make bad choices?

I also find it maddening that some people we know bought their home and then a few years later re-financed, took out more than $150,000 cash to buy a boat, car, furniture, finish the basement, etc and spent it all. Then, the government came in to save them from their poor choices and living in a home they couldn't afford and forgave more than $100,000 of their principle balance. They didn't have to give back any of their toys, and my tax dollars are paying for their fun toys and for all the cash they spent and their bad choice. Is that what the law is designed to do? Ridiculous!

Here is the quote of the description of the bill answering the question what is a first-time home buyer: For example, if you have not owned a home in the past three years but your spouse has owned a principal residence, neither you nor your spouse qualifies for the first-time home buyer tax credit. However, unmarried joint purchasers may allocate the credit amount to any buyer who qualifies as a first-time buyer, such as may occur if a parent jointly purchases a home with a son or daughter. Ownership of a vacation home or rental property not used as a principal residence does not disqualify a buyer as a first-time home buyer.

And here is the website for more information: http://www.federalhousingtaxcredit.com/2009/home2.html

Packing the Townhouse

Oliver and I spent much of our Saturday boxing and labelling stuff! We decided if we pack one room a week it will make the last week go a little more smoothly. This weekend we packed most of the office and the garage. We own more books then the Herriman Library! (Those of you that have been know this isn't an amazing accomplishment - and they definitely have more videos and CDs then us.)
Here's a picture of the garage which is being loaded with all our boxes and furniture in preparation for the moving truck.

And this is our labelling station. Every box and piece of furniture has a colored piece of paper taped to it which corresponds to a room assignment at the new house. This way, the people that help us move don't have to try to guess which room is the office or the guest bedroom or the whatever - they just look at the colored paper and make sure it matches the color that will be taped in the rooms at the new house. Pretty slick - this makes you all want to help and haul boxes huh?

And this is the main man behind the madness. I helped pack the boxes but he was good enough to carry them all downstairs (and the empty ones upstairs for that matter). I only hauled one box of books downstairs - what a great guy! He sure was raised right...

Duvet Cover - opinions PLEASE!

We are replacing our old duvet cover and desperately need your opinions! The last one got lost and it was white with patch quilt blocks in bright bright colors on the front. This will be the cover in our guest bedroom and I want something loud because we already own a sea foam green one that has stripes on one side and flowers on the other - I want something with a little more personality for my cheerier moods! I am keeping the one that we have right now but I want something a little more happy and fun - I have the one that goes on for traditional guests! Please post a comment and vote on which one you like - THINK LOUD!

Reminiscent

I have been feeling reminiscent today. It has something to do with the fact that Oliver and I finally picked out our wedding pictures that we want published in our book. We don't have any of our wedding pictures from the photographer because we had to finalize our book selection first. It has been really fun to look through all the pictures but it also makes me wonder, how does a girl go from this...
To this...

I feel like the time has just flown - it's no wonder my mom thinks so too!

House Pics for Taylor

We know that a lot of you want to see pictures of the house that we are buying. But this post is all for Taylor! This is more pictures than most of you want to see, but our favorite Taylor is not living close anymore and so we are posting for him. Tay - we wish you were closer (especially so you could help with our fix-ups) - we miss you!
This is from the front - we sit in the south east corner of the cul-de-sac...

Here is the roof which is in good shape. They did a good patching job (according to the inspector) when some of the shingles blew off.

These are the gutters that have about 1/2 inch of grime in them. This is one reason we wish you were closer! :)

Here is the garage - the side you can't see already has three places installed to hang bikes. I guess we'll have to buy another bike... You also can't see the central-vac which is piled by the door. There is an exit to the back yard from the garage and a sink which you can see the very edge of.

Here is the crawl space above the garage looking from the garage towards the kitchen. The garage ceiling is insulated which is going above and beyond code. Similarly, there is twice as much insulation as required.

This is looking from the island in the kitchen through the dining area with bay window and into the family room which the inspector claims has a wood fireplace and both Oliver and our agent think is a gas log fireplace. Can you come back and tell us what it really is?

This is the master bedroom with a window seat the lift for extra storage. That is also the new carpet which the bank put in - it hasn't been vacuumed yet.

This is the living room upstairs, right off the main entry.

This is the bathroom on the first floor by the bedrooms. There is also a half bath off the kitchen. The toilet is dripping and we need to get a plumber to come and fix a handful of things.

This is the bonus room downstairs that grandpa said can be turned into a walk-out basement. We would put in a kitchenette and extra bathroom so that we could rent out the basement. Grandpa suggested putting the door where the window is and either putting in french doors or one door with windows on both sides.

This is another view of the kitchen. We already bought the appliances and they are all black. The one appliance you can't see is the trash compactor which is on the backside of the island. It is a Kenmore.

This is the laundry room which is right next to the master bedroom. This is the old cabinetry that matches what used to be in all the bathrooms and the kitchen. We are very glad for the upgrade!

This is the downstairs family room and the bonus room that we told you about earlier is through that doorway. To the left is an under the stairs little crawl space for kids. It has a light that you can turn on and off. The storage room and cold storage are also located to the left of this room.

This is the manabloc. It is probably my second favorite part of the house (next to the kitchen).

This is a picture showing some of the missing light bulbs. We probably have to go and buy 25 - 30 light bulbs. Exciting! We also have to go and buy 28 knobs for the kitchen hardware which is missing.

Let us know if you want to see any other pictures - we can send you the home inspection if you want. Love you - teach well today!

Finances...

We had our home inspection today and it passes with a 9.5 out of 10! It just needs some elbow grease, a plumber and a lot of TLC. If you know a good plumber don't hesitate to send me the info.

Then the mechanic called to say he would like $540 to fix my car - that must be the blessing of paying off your car - it is my philosophy that you either pay the bank monthly or the mechanic quarterly...YUCK! The truth is we have the best mechanic and we know that he would not over-charge us nor recommend work that isn't really needed. I would say, when you are driving down the freeway and all your gauges flat line and you can't even get your gas to go and you just decelerate even though you used to be going 75 in the fast lane that you might have to pay for something. Then, less than 5 seconds later everything comes back on, and I'm sailing away...So he can have a slice of our bank account this month too... :(

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/

228 and Still Counting

I thought that I would finally update our blog this morning - but it is going to require a lot of work. I went to camera to get some new pics to put up and found that there are more than 228 pics and it is still downloading from my camera. So you have missed quite a bit - but here goes...there are 7 new posts so you may have to come back a couple of times...

Christmas Afternoon in LaCenter...

After Christmas stockings, brunch, movie and nap we made our way through a snow storm up to Washington to continue our festivities. Our family was in the middle of doing gifts when we arrived (Oliver had to shovel us out twice and push - no wonder his back hurts). But we made it safely and enjoyed an afternoon of gifts, good company, good food and games. Here is Kelly and Alec...

Grandpa, Grandma and Aiden...
Deb doing the new slipper dance...

Apples to Apples fun...

All in all, we had a great day!

And when we finally got back to my mom's house around midnight we exchanged gifts with her too. We were up really late laughing and visiting and having a ball. I am glad to be home, because that was a totally different adventure, but we are glad to have celebrated Christmas this year with so many people that we love!

Can you find your bag?

This is what the Portland airport baggage claim looked like when we arrived. There were piles of bags in every direction. There were literally thousands of unclaimed bags piled everywhere. You could barley walk to the carousel to get your own luggage. Luckily we flew on the first day that they didn't cancel any flights and having a direct flight meant no further complications...if only getting home had gone so smoothly...

Chirstmas Morning in Oregon

Due to some crazy weather in the northwest this year - we all spent the night at my mom's best friend's home and got to do stockings first thing in the morning. Do you see my hot pink duct tape in the background?
Here is Benn enjoying the new puzzel that they got from Santa to take the beach.

And here we all are (Oliver's snapping the picture) with our stockings.

And here is Oliver really excited about his new legos...

And then we had the yummiest Christmas brunch ever!

The Youngs Join Us

Thank goodness they are so flexible! Our plans moved and rotated and changed up until the day that we all got together for some dinner and a quick gift exhcange. They got us an electric carving knife which we are really excited about and we got then some great silverware. Kyle received a kid's copy of the Book of Mormon and wasn't all that attentive - so being the good mom that she is - Holly held the book in his line of sight so he could appreciate it more. Happy reading!