Renovation

This is going to be a quick post but here are the photos of the new updated house. I have had a lot of people ask for them. So we have only done the bedrooms and living area. We have yet to do the kitchen, bathrooms and basement because overall they are incredible shape! Also it is not done being decorated but you know you never have everything you want when you are first married but I can honestly say that I am very grateful for what we do!

Anyway, we have been extremely blessed but also worked very hard to get what we have. And to be honest, I am so grateful for the renovation. It definitely is not easy to balance life and to focus on your marriage throughout a reno, and emotions are high to say the least. haha but we are very happy with how it turned out and are extremely happy that it was a growing experience for us. It is soo neat to know that we did the work ourselves and that it is OUR home! So enjoy!

Same ol' thing

Like I said in our last post, we have been pretty busy the last couple months remodeling a house and getting settled, school, work etc. You name it, we did it. But I can say that even though we have pretty packed schedules, we do know how to have some fun as well!

Grant and I celebrated our one year anniversary. We were in Lake Powell over our "real" anniversary (can't really complain about a free vacation) so we didn't get to really celebrate. Although Grant and I had Wendy's on our wedding night and we did in fact have Wendy's on our one year anniversary. That's real celebration right there! haha Anyway we decided to celebrate the next weekend. All I wanted to do was sealings and a nice date with my husband. So that is exactly what we did. We went to the temple in the afternoon and then headed to the Lion House for a yummy dinner. We went home and had a yummy dessert and took in the nice summer air, star gazed in our backyard and just talked. It was such a great day, simple and relaxing just the way I like it. 

Next, my parent's bought my family tickets to see Wicked for Christmas last year. We were so excited to finally enjoy that present. I had never seen the play before and I absolutely LOVED it. It was incredible and I was seriously obsessed with the music after. I think the songs were stuck in my head for weeks. It was a perfect night out with the parents and siblings. Family nights will never disappoint.

Grant and I got a new niece in September and she is soo dang cute. I honestly cannot get enough of her. She was born September 5th and gave her mom a run for her money. My sister is such an amazing women and delivered little Avery without her husband present. My brother in law Kyle was in Basic Training for the Army and until this past week, had not met his little girl. They are an adorable little family and I am so happy for them. I know that Kyle and Chels are both incredible parents and Avery Lynne is one of the luckiest little girls alive. She honestly is not lacking in the love department :)

Also in September, our good friend Maddie and Weston invited us to the state fair. It was such a blast to just people watch and enjoy a night out. Honestly, the state fair is just a different place. The crowd, the food, entertainment, all of it is just great. It never disappoints.

I know that all of this is random and does not really flow but oh well. Next on the list is a wonderful hike up to Elephant rock. I will be honest, moving to Bountiful when we first got married was a real struggle for me. I know that Sandy is only 30 minutes away and I can go there all of the time, but it was just different. I can now proudly say that I LOVE it here and can see why Davis county people never leave haha. There are so many great things up this direction and don't even get me started on the views. Grant and I decided to go for a hike after work one Friday. It was the perfect free and fun date! We packed pb & j's and ate dinner up on the giant rock. It was the perfect way to bring in fall. 

sorry for the terrible quality! phone pics

Another thing we did was get family pictures taken with Grant's family. Grant's one little brother just got home from a mission in June for Halifax Canada and his other little brother (when I say little brothers, I mean BIG brothers just younger haha) left on Wednesday for Boston Massachussetts for a two year mission for the LDS church. I am so proud of his decision to go and I know he will be one incredible missionary!!

Lastly, we made grape juice! When we bought our house we loved the backyard and all of the fun things that come with it but I never realized how much I would love our garden area. In our garden area there are multiple fruit trees and 4 grape vines. We are talking long big grape vines haha. I underestimated how much fun it would be to grow our own fruit and reap the rewards of doing so. Grant's sweet Grandma and Grandpa came over to our house, helped picked grapes and stayed up all night teaching us how to make grape juice! It is the yummiest most delicious grape juice I have ever had and plus it is pure and so healthy, no sugar, nothin!

We Bought A Zoo

Well Folks, you heard it. We bought a zoo?? Whaaa? Well although that is not completely true, it sure seems as if we had.. When Grant and I first got married, we knew that we wanted to get into a home as soon as possible. We decided to start saving up and looking around for what we liked. And boy did we look. 6 months of home tours, should we's and we'll pass is what it took for us to find the home we wanted to buy. One day I was looking online for homes in the Bountiful area and I came across a descent size home that was an easy fixer upper. You see, I wanted to build a home but the Mr. was not having it. He wanted to live up on the east bench right below the temple, and for those of you that know the Bountiful area, there is not one single home that is newer than at least the 70's. So we made a deal, we would get a fixer upper now but we would be able to make it new! Anyway back to the story, I found the home I wanted so I called on it. It had only been on the market for a couple of hours and the realtor said there were already 2 offers and multiple calls. I felt defeated and very sad because it was finally a normal looking rambler (unlike some of the crazy odd homes we had seen) and it was on a quiet street with a BIG beautiful backyard. Well I will cut the story short, but after many weeks and calls with the realtor, we were able to go look through the home. Now even an hour after we got home, we submitted our offer and before we knew it, they accepted our offer! We were ecstatic and unsure of how we got soo lucky to get this home. Really though, this house is a GREAT deal and somehow we got it..On Monday July 16th we closed and went straight to work. Grant and I headed over to the house and started the long awaited remodel. We ripped out the baseboards, the nasty ORIGINAL carpet from 1962, the old light fixtures, the popcorn ceiling. You name it, we did it. It took us about 3 weeks of full remodel until we got to move in. We moved in on August 4th and I was soo excited. It is sooo amazing to own a home. Although there is a lot of work that goes into it, it actually feels like home. So we textured, primed and painted the walls and ceilings, we added in canned lighting throughout the entire home, we recarpeted and put new baseboards and crown moldings. We still have a few projects cough the kitchen, bathrooms, and don't even get me started on the basement but it is home. But we were lucky enough that the kitchen and bathrooms are in excellent condition and we will eventually get to that. And on a random note our backyard is huge like I said, but it had a small vineyard and a small little orchard! They both produce the yummiest fruit!!

The remodel was easy for Grant,  in high school, he had helped his parents remodel all of the apartments that they own. Me on the other hand, I was sooo sick of painting and of home depot, but I must say it was worth every minute and penny. We love our home!!

Sorry these pictures are pour quality but it is the best I could do! These are all of the before pictures. I will do a whole other post for the afters!!!

Master Bedroom looking in from the door

Living room

Entry way

My Saturday job, painting all of the moldings and baseboards

One of many "Home Depot Lists"

Another Living room shot

Dining room overlooking our backyard (sorry about the lighting)

Nasty shelving in one of the rooms. This was one of the first things to go

Some of the ugliest nastiest carpet I have every seen

One of the upstairs bedrooms. (turquoise and orange carpet)

The past little while

It has been a LONG time since I have posted and I realize that I really am only doing this blog for a journal for Grant and I, so I guess I better catch up on life.

For Valentine's Day Grant bought be photo shop because I really have wanted to pick up on it. I really cannot wait for school to be done so that I can actually have a fun hobby. Later that night we went to dinner and to "This means War." Loved the movie, it was so great and even Grant liked it...which is a huge improvement...we are making progress on the chick flicks!

A couple weeks later for spring break Grant, Ali, Mike, Dani, Kurtis and I decided to venture out to Zion's National Park. We headed down on a Friday night and stayed till Sunday. We stayed at the Zion's ponderosa and it was a blast! I am so grateful for all of the amazing people we have in our life and for the happiness and fun they bring. We seriously have been so blessed.

In April, Grant finished his first semester in the Health Administration program up at Weber. He did an awesome job and it never ceases to amaze me his dedication to school and the effort he puts into our future. I am so grateful for his example to me, because honestly I struggle gaining any motivation to study or do homework. Speaking of which, I will graduate with my Associates in July, which is really not a big deal, but it does mean that I get to start the Child and Family studies program up at Weber. I hope to end up getting my masters in Family and Marriage counseling.

Our little nephew Nathan has O.I. and so this great charity (Angel Hands) put on a day at the zoo for all the children at Shriner's hospital. Our family went and we had a blast! Grant was so excited about the tiger's and went picture crazy.. but I am not so sure they liked it because one of them jumped up on the knit fence right into Grant's face and let out the loudest roar I have ever heard! It scared us so bad and I just don't even think words can describe how crazy scary but amazing it was!

This is not even close to what it looked like but its the best I have.

On May 19th, my side of the family was at our niece Kamdyn's birthday when all of us decided to just go for a spur of the moment cabin trip down to Nephi. Every year I look forward to my "first"cabin trip of the year because it means summer is finally here! I just love it down there and I love being able to spend time with family!

This is the best I could get. They would not all look at once!!

We then spent Memorial Day up at our friend Maddie's parents cabin up at Pineview. We just lounged, ate the most amazing cinnamon roll pancakes ever, watched movies (including Never say Never, yeah that's right the boys loved it haha), four wheeled and had our first boating trip of the season! It was freezing but it was still so fun! It was the perfect getaway.

So far this summer we have swam, barbequed, played crouquet, enjoyed fires etc. We are so excited for the summer season and to mayve spend some more time together even though we both are taking jam packed semesters... I just have to keep telling myself it will all be worth it...maybe...hopefully.

Catch Up

Alright, I am going to make a somewhat quick post because I am doing this blog more for a journal and what not for Grant and I to have and I haven't been all that great at posting.

Anyway, a lot has happened the past little while and we have also been super busy with work and school. Grant and I started another semester of school but lucky for Grant, he was able to start the Health Administration program this semester which means by next Summer he will be done!! Yay! He is really enjoying his classes because they are finally classes that interest him versus the generals..

I am just trucking along with school and feel like I will never make it to the end..I am pretty sure that is a normal feeling. It helps though that I enjoy my classes this semester because I really do not mind going to class, most of the time atleast.

So here is a little recap on what has happened the past few months.

We had Thanksgiving with Grant's family this year! We were laughing pretty hard because Grant and I got put at the teenager table with all of Grant's cousins who are in highschool. I guess getting married doesn't bump you up to the adult table..but we had a blast because they had tons of funny stories for us!

We celebrated our first married Christmas together and it was great! We spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas day with Grants. It was really neat because we were able to Skype Grant's younger brother who is on a mission in Halifax, Canada/Nova Scotia area. I have never met him in person so I am very excited for June 14th so I can meet another brother! Anyway,  Grant and I had so much fun surprising eachother with gifts as well as decorating our first tree together! It is so fun starting traditions together as a little family.

We started the New Year off at my sister Lindsays house with her, her husband Brian and their three little kiddos! It was so much fun because we just hung out and played games.

January is a big birthday month for my family. One of those birthday's is Grants!! It was so much fun planning for Grants birthday. This year I wanted to do something fun and special for him because he has been SOO busy working full time as well as taking 15 credits, so I through him a small surprise party with all of his friends from highschool! He loves getting to see them and it is so fun getting to know all of them as well as their spouses!!

So far this year has been super busy and it is only February.. 2011 was super good to us and I am so excited to see what 2012 has to offer. I think it will be great!!

ps.. I have pictures but I need to still download them to the computer so.. pictures will come!