What's the latest - May 2008

Life Changes More Quickly Than You Expect

It seems life is changing more quickly than we ever could have expected. In March we had decided to casually start looking for a house we could move into after Em finishes school. We wanted a little more space considering the upcoming addition to our family. Little did we know what was in store for us...

• Our landlord and good friend Brandon Weeks was kind enough to be our real estate agent. Maybe it was the quickest way he could get rid of us ;)
  The first time we looked at houses online with him, a house caught our eye. Little did we know after driving by it late that night that it would be the very house we would buy!
• We started negotiations on the house in the last two weeks of April and by May 2nd we had moved in!
• Not only did we fall in love with the house but we fell in love with the previous owner. Marion Peters, 82 who was moving to live with her son because the house was simply too much to manage. Not only was she kind enough to give us a great deal but she left us the lawnmower, appliances for the upstairs and basement apartment, a month of yard care, and EVEN some 1970's house decor! We still talk to her to let her know we are taking care of her house.
• Pregnant wife, Uhaul truck, our few belongings and all...we moved into our new home on May 2!

We have loved getting settled into our new home. We love our neighborhood, the ward and everything about the house! That is, except of course the massive bush that is larger than the home itself and the 70's decor. Have no worries, we have some fun plans for this place :) Anyways, life seems to get more and more busy but that is the way we love life!...see more pics.

Check out the other highlights below!


Highlights

NEW section of our blog!!! Want to see pictures of Emily as she is coming along? I know most of you want to hear from Emily and how she is doing anyway. Check out Emily's "Having a Baby" section of our blog to hear how she is doing...read more.










Trip to Las Vegas, St. George, Zions (April 23-26):For the third time in less than a 2 months I had another business trip to the lovely...or not so lovely downtown Las Vegas. Though it was Vegas, it was the perfect way for Emily to relax after finals. 3 days in the a suite at the Venetian, Circ de Sol - KA, some great food followed by a weekend in St. George and Zions. We love ZIONS! The Angel's Landing hike was definitely the highlight...see the pics.

Golfing for the first time in years! (May 24th): My brother Danny and his wife Jenn invited us to go golfing with them. It evidently has been a while since Emily and I have golfed. We knew we were in trouble when a staff person asked us to "please speed it up." I swear we were going as fast as we could! The problem is we only moved 20 feet forward with each hit...we might need some help. Danny and Jenn however were a different story - AMAZING! Sorry no pics :(


Preparing the Apartment (May 31): We can't believe it! We are Landlords. We will see if that ends up being a good or bad thing! It took a while to prepare but the basement apartment is ready. I posted the add on May 28th and after 60+ calls, over 20 appointments on that Saturday, we have our renters! They are great! Hopefully we will have pics of them in the next update...see more pics

Havin' a Baby

"If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it. I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle."

-Vincent van Gogh

Ahhh...Finding out what we're having!

It's a girl!!!

and we have the pics to prove it!!!

Her face.

Man this technology is cool!

So, it took a bit of convincing her, but Emily finally agreed to have her picture taken every so often. Not only that, she committed to updating this page for all those friends who are wanting to hear how she is doing. Hopefully Em can provide you with some updates...right now it is finals, she is just a little bit busy. Stay tuned!

06/24/08: Moving right along...about to find out what we're having

05/25/08: Nearing the end of the 2nd trimester. We find out what we are having in a month!

05/06/2008: So we decided to start taking pictures. It took a bit to convince her but Emily came through. Have you ever seen a cuter pregnant woman?

The Move

The living room of our first apartment as a married couple.

Everything WAS clean before we started packing...

We loved our first apartment!

If your newly married, best to just fork out the 35 bucks for the Uhaul and get it all done in one trip. It was a squeeze but we did it.

If you can't tell Andrew is excited to help us move at 8:00 AM on Saturday.

My nephew Kyson may not have been the "biggest" helper but definately was the most exciting about moving stuff and the big truck.


Yes...that is brown...brown carpet.

And yes...that is carpet in the kitchen!

Ready or not...the "Honey-to-do's" list begins...

Our first home! We fell in love with the house, the yard and the neighborhood in North Orem. Plus...it had a rentable basement apartment. How could we pass!

Marion, the previous owner gave us explicit instructions for taking care of her rose bushes!

The house is in a cold-e-sac. We already love playing with the kids in the neighborhood.

The Basement Apartment

So, we thought we would give you an idea of what the apartment looks like with some before/after pictures. I tell you, I felt so embarrassed to stand in line at home depot with my "Home Depot: Easy 1-2-3" bright orange home improvement book. All the other men in line had this look like, " Ah, he is new at this!" Well, slowly but surely, I am learning!

Dining Area Before

Dining Area After

Kitchen Before


Kitchen After

Bathroom Before

Bathroom After

Family Room Before

Family Room After. We won't tell you how many coats the wood paneling took :)

Bedroom 1 Before.

Bedroom 1 After. Painting closets is a pain

Bedroom 2 Before

Bedroom 2 After. It's amazing what a little white will do.

Trip to Las Vegas, Zions - the Angel's Landing Hike

We stayed at the Venitian in Las Vegas. We had fun enjoying the Venice like atmosphere.

We should have taken more pictures of Vegas but these are the few we have. I hired Nick Gough and his friend Amanda who are TV personalities in the UK to come to our company conference and host some of our sessions at the company's internal sales and marketing conference. Nick was HILARIOUS. Definitely turned what could have been a boring conference into something incredible. See more of Nick on his site: http://www.nickgough.co.uk/

Emily had a chance to attend one of the sessions I managed with Nick and Amanda. Overall the work conference but spending time with Em in Vegas and then hiking Angel's Landing was even better!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful morning to hike Angel's Landing.

This picture was taken at the base of the hike

Ready to go! If you have not done the Angel's Landing hike in Zions National Park,

we HIGHLY recommend it.

There were so many beautiful flowers along the trail. You'll see more later...

How do I get out?

We have too much fun together!


Check out that valley...can you see the trail below?

The trail climbs pretty quickly

I can't believe I got so close!

Yep...you are going to have to climb up that! How about this hike as a modern day example of the iron rod! Although there wasn't any fruit at the top, it was rewarding to get there!

Can you spot others on their way up?

a 1500 foot drop off on each side!

...More of the flowers

...and more.

Hold on tight...4 feet on each side, then the 1500 ft drop-off

Is that the highway down there?

No Fear!

Look at those switchbacks!

More beautiful spring flowers.

We made it!!!

I can't believe we hiked to the top of that!