Our Festivities

It's been a week or so since my last post and since then we have celebrated Christmas! I have a GREAT camera but I forget to take pictures when we have special occasions... dang it!! But anyway, we had such a wonderful holiday even though we were GO GO GO!! We love spending time with both of our families and sharing the joy and spirit of the holiday spirit. We opened presents on Christmas Eve with my Dad, who comes up from Utah, then we head over to the Corrington's for some dollar store BINGO!! On Christmas morning, we open presents together @ our house then we go eat breakfast @ my Mom's house(and we got stuck in the snow on our way up there). We then head to the Corrington's to open presents and then we usually come home and nap then go hang with the Akina's around 5pm for some good Hawaiian food!!!! Even though our holiday was hectic, we loved every minute of it!! I am so greatful for the birth of our Savior and for teachings. I am greatful not olny for this time of year but for every time of year. I am gretful for the opportunity that my Father in Heavan gives me to live my life, love, and make my own choices. I am very blessed ot have a great family, who loves me and supports me thorugh everything. Happy Holidays!

What a GREAT husband!

So, since we thought we would be moving before Christmas or like the day after, we decided to not put the tree up this year :( Well... plans changed a little and we probably will not be moving until January and so I kept saying "We need to put a tree up because it doesn't feel like Christmas". Greg took the day off today and surprised me today when I got home from work! He had the tree 95% up and helped him with the rest! He is the GREATEST!! It meant so much to me that he was willing to put it up with only 9 days left til Christmas!

Two down...

One to go!! I took my 2nd final this morning @7:30am! BTW, those are the worst!! Too early! But I got through it! It was pretty easy because we got to use a sheet of notes, front and back, and my friend Chelsea went into the professors office last week and typed up all of the test questions that were to be on the test, which was totally allowed!! Thanks to her, I had a great sheet of notes!! I have one final on Wednesday that I am able to use my book on so I'm not too worried! Wish me luck!

House NEWS!

We got news on the home on Saratoga that we thought was lost FOREVER!! We received a counter offer from the bank last Friday and they would like us to purchase this AWESOME house if we are still interested!! HECK YES WE ARE!! We now just have to sell our home, which we are a little weary about! We have to jump through a couple of hoops and then we will be able to get the home! At first, it felt GREAT to know that it could be ours but now I feel as though we will not sell our home and be stuck making 2 mortgages~ which I am deathly afraid of!!!!

FINALS!!!

This semester is by far my easiest! I have 3 of them. 1 online due by Wednesday, 1 Monday that I need 50 points on to get an A (YIPEE!!), and one on Wednesday that I am not worried about because we get to use our book on the test! SHEESH! This semester has flown by! As I get closer to applying to my program, I am more motivated in my classes because I just want to be done with school and working in the field! I also know that Greg wants to get moving on school or starting his own business! His need to succeed also motivates me to get into the program. Speaking of which, I will be applying next month for and praying my little heart out that I will get in! AAAWWW! It's very stressful and I feel that I have worked my butt OFF to get to where I am and I would LOVE to see all of that actually turned into something!

December already?!?

Where did November go? Man, how time flies!~ But we enjoy every minute of it!
Here's an update on what's been going on in our lives... We didn't end up getting the house on Saratoga due to some dishonesty on the sellers part. We found another house on Golden Gate that we were kinda sorta interested in. So after listing pros and cons, we decided to put an offer in on the home. The women selling was asking $124,900 and we offered $120,000. We were expecting a little bit of a compromise... but she wasn't budging. She counter-offered $124,000 and she was keeping her refrigerator. WOW! We were a little taken back by the fact that she was holding her ground on the $124,000. So that was a big fat NOOO! We are looking for a deal and to us that was not a deal considering it only has 362 more square feet that our current home. Neighborhood upgrade.. YES, Home upgrade... Not so much! In the middle of all that, we went to set a closing date with our buyer and the dude BACKS OUT!! Talk about frustrating!!! GGRRRRRR! So our house is back on the market and we are ready to just move out with the next offer that we receive! We are willing to sacrifice our privacy and live with the in-laws, if needed!!! If you know of anyone that is looking for a house, please let me know. We want to SELL FAST!!!

BLACK Friday

WOWIE! Today my sister in law, Jen and I went out shopping @ 4 am this morning! We went to Walmart first and MAN, that was a JOKE! I went there in search of getting a KitchenAid mixer... I found it and happened to be the 9th person in line, and there were only 8!!!!! I stuck around for 45 minutes or so then I decided that I was not getting into a fight over a stupid mixer so I left to get other items we had gone there for. After Walmart, we went to Sears. That was not bad at ALL! I found the mixer that I wnated and they price matched the one @ Walmart sooooo I got the mixer for $130 plus an extra 10% off then I also got a $40 mail in rebate making it... $90!!!! That was my deal of the DAY!! I was so excited!! While I was at Sears, a woman was telling us a story about how she had just left Walmart and how she witnessed a knock down, drag out fight over the same KithenAid Mixer that I was waiting in line for!!! Way to be in the Holiday spirit, right?!?

Thanksgiving Day

This time is my FAVORITE time of year! I love spending time with my family, laughing, and sharing memories. I just wanted to say a few things that I am thankful for. I am thankful for a loving family, a great, hardworking husband, my home, my job, and most of all, my eternal marriage. Grateful hearts and happy spirits make this season one of my favorite. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Bummer : (

We did not end up getting the house. The seller had lied about his income to the bank and the bank was not having that. In the world of housing and financing, a foreclosure is WORSE than a bankruptcy. The bank decided to cancel the sale of the home all together and go forward with a foreclosure because the seller was dishonest. We are very frustrated because we waited for SSOO long and in the mean while we could have been looking for something else. Why would someone lie about something like that?

ONE MORE DAY!!!!!


WE CAN'T WAIT!!

Thoughts from the heart

I have so many random things that I want to write about so I will spill a section on each...

I LOVE autumn time! It's my very favorite time of year, next to summer! I love the changing of colors and the cool breezes that float on by. I love the holidays that come with this time of year as well! There are also several birthdays to celebrate at this time as well! The release of TWILIGHT is coming in about a week as well! CAN"T WAIT!! My sis in law and I are going to a TWILIGHT party the Saturday after the premier and are totally stoked!



I have been more drawn to baby things lately... like making stuff for when our little one does arrive and I am not even preggers yet! I can definitely tell that we are ready for a new addition! We are waiting 'til we know where we are going to live first. And speaking of a house, we will find out if they accepted our offer on the 19th of November... 6 days and COUNTING!!!




I feel so blessed to have my sight so that I can see the beauties that Heavenly Father has created so that we may enjoy them. What a blessing it is to know that my Heavenly Father loves me and cares for me so much. I am grateful for a WONDERFUL husband who will always honor his priesthood and shows his love for me always.

Frustration... : (

Well, I was informed that we will now have to wait until November 19th to get a FINAL decision!!! We have been waiting for FOREVER!! It's sooooooo FRUSTRATING! Why can't the stinkin' banks make up their minds!!! That's EXACTLY 16 days away and trust me I will be counting... On a brighter note, I voted!!

Anticipation

Greg and I can hardly wait for our answer on "the house"!!! We are supposed to hear a "YES" or a counteroffer no later than Tuesday evening and the anticipation is KILLING us! We just want to know, but we know that patience will pay off! Some other good news, I got a RAISE from the architect! It was a very generous raise and it was very kind of him to do that considering that I only work like 7-10 hours a week and the fact that he also pays my health insurance premium! That same day, Rehab Authority called back and offered me my job back! (For those of you who don't know, I got layed off from the physical therapy office about a month ago because they we slowing down!) But anywho, they offered me my job back with the same schedule!!
That day was a great day and needless to say WE ARE TRULY BLESSED!! I am so grateful for the blessings that we receive daily and for the guidance that He gives us.

WELL...

We FINALLY sold our house this weekend!!!!! We put it on the market Thursday morning and had an offer that night! We contimplated the offer then decided to counter offer... that was a scary move because if he said "NO" we would have had to start all over. We counter offered on Friday and he ACCEPTED saturday!!! We are so excited and it almost seems surreal! We are now just waiting to hear back from the bank.. a yes or a no!! I will for sure keep you posted but YAY!! : )

Our House...

is now listed with a Realtor! We had no luck with the "For sale by owner" option and just finally decided that if the bank does accept our offer, we need to have our house sold!! It's a relief to know that we will not have to worry about finding a buyer and all that jazz but at the same time it's scary and feels like it's a BIG leap for us but I have faith that it will all work out how its supposed to.

Taking it easy

This past week has been totally stressful! So stressful that I have been getting stress headaches! Well, today is Friday and at least half of my stress is gone. It was SCHOOL! I had a BIG test today and had studied for what seemed like FOREVER! I thought that I did really well so all of that studying paid off! The other half of my stress is trying to sell my house, getting people into look at it, and keeping it CLEAN!!! I tried to study and clean yesterday and it seemed to work but I woudn't recommend it if you don't have to. But after all of that, it's the weekend and time for some relaxation. I have decided this weekend is going to be a care free weekend and that I am just going to take it EASY!

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House for SALE!!

Greg and I are trying to sell our house!! We found another one that we are ready to make an offer on, but this one must go first!! It has been a GREAT home and is located in a great area. We have done a few updates but there's still room for some improvements. We are doing a "For sale by owner" sort of deal but we are having a Realtor do the paperwork. Here are some pictures of the home. If you have any questions or are interested at all, give me a call! 241-5969







I can also e-mail you some more pictures. I took some pictures vertically and couldn't turn them :(

The Ranch 9/19-9/21

So, we just ended our summer at a ranch in Cow Creek, Idaho! It's about 10 miles from Afton, Wyoming. We went with Ted and Bev, Casey, Annalisa, and their kids and Melanie and John! We had SSOOOO much fun just hangin' out and not really having any plans. Here are some pictures from the trip :)

We were able to bring up some four wheelers (thanks Jen!) Greg and I took a ride up into the beautiful canyon Saturday morning!

We got our ride in just in time! The clouds started rollin' in and it started raining 10 minutes after we got back.


Melanie is such a great aunt! she brought crafts for the kids to do so they wouldn't be bored. Greg got in on the craft action and made us some pretty "HOT" glasses!
The little ones had their glasses on too! They were so cute! We would say silly face or mean face and they would instantly pull it!! Too CUTE!


We had a very fun and relaxed weekend, to say the least! I hope that the rest of the family can make it up next time.

Our Story

Where to start?!? Well, Greg and I met in September 2004 in the most romantic place... a frat kegger. HAHAHAHA!!! I remember it like it was yesterday. I was standing alone at this party watching the doofus that I had come with show off his "cool" street bike then out of the corner of my eye I see someone walking up to me. It was Greg. He made some comment to start the conversation and I agreed and we both laughed. He introduced himself and stuck out his hand, I introduced myself and gladly accecpted his friendly handshake. From there, we started talking and just as his friends were starting to ditch him, he asked if I had a boyfriend... I told him that I did. He bowed his head and said "Well, it was nice to meet you anyways." I thought to myself, it can't hurt to be his friend... then I said outloud "We can be friends." He gladly accepted and got my phone number. The rest is history. He is the most kind, loving, generous, helpful, caring person that I had ever met. He is also tons of fun to be around and I love that about him. We started "officially" dating February 2005 and he gave me a promise ring on my birthday, May 12, 2005. We were married on May 19, 2006 in the Laie, Hawaii Temple. I love my life and would not trade it for anything!