The Last Few Months

A lot has happened these last few months. Dan and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on the 30th of April. Dan spent the whole week trying to figure out what we would do. We ended up going down to the Gateway. As we were wandering around we actually saw Andre Kirilinko with his son coming out of Dicks sporting good store. We didn't want to interrupt time with his son so we didn't say anything. It was cool though. We decided to eat before coming back up here. We ate at a great little Italian place called Biagi's ( I think that is how you spell it). They have the most amazing food! Anyway, I had a great time with Dan. It is hard to believe that we have already been married for 2 years. I guess time flies when you are having a good time. :)

Digger turned a year old right before all of the graduations. Yes, I do know my dog's birthday and it happens to be May 21, 2010. lol I was going to make him a dog safe cake with dog safe frosting but just did not have the time. He has gotten so big!!!

May was the month of graduations. My sister-in-law, brother, and both Dan and I graduated. The first 2 were your typical graduation with the typical graduation music ( dun dun dun dun dun dun). Our graduation was quite different. Of course we had your ordinary speakers but then we had a vocal group come up and do a little concert.We all were dancing and singing to everything they sang. It was so fun!

Random dancing in the front aisle

Daniel, myself, and our friend Alan

We decided to take some of the money we received from graduation and put it into getting plants for our garden. Our garden has watermelon, honeydew, a grape vine, a tomatillo plant, 4 tomatoes, some serranos, green, red, and orange bell peppers, zucchini, crookneck squash, yellow squash, cilantro, 2 types of oregano, garlic, strawberries, and probably some others that I am forgetting. We also planted a semi-dwarf apple tree to go along with our cherry tree. We are going to have a ton of canning to do later on this year.

Here is our garden so far

Our strawberry patch that we put on one of the terraces of the garden

Here is the front of our garden. We planted honeysuckle plants on the outside that will eventually cover the entire front fence minus the gate

Our little apple tree. It is pretty much as tall as it will ever get. We will not have edible fruit for 3 years with it, but it is well worth the wait.

We have been trying to do everything we can to improve the house. Our house is not in bad shape or anything, we just like to tinker with it. Today I painted my plain white utensil holder to match my kitchen. Here is a picture of it for you. What do you think?

Have I done any good?

All last week I had been feeling pretty down. I felt as if I were in a rut and that I was just going to be stuck there forever. I then began to ask myself "Have I done any good?". I forgot about it for a while and began to clean our office. When I began going through our little filing cube the question came back to me "Have I done any good?" I began to find greeting cards from friends and family, old mission letters from friends, invitations for all kinds of special occasions, and even awards. Memories began to flood my mind and I knew I had done good. I am not writing this to toot my own horn or anything but to serve as help for myself. I want to be able to come back to this post when I am truly feeling down and remember that I have made a difference. I have helped 4 friends with the decision to go on a mission. One of those four I even helped them turn their life around so as they could serve a mission. I helped to raise money for cancer research by doing the Relay for Life. I have tutored jr. high students. My friends have all faced difficult situations and I have been able to lift them when they are down or make them see their worth. I have helped them to be proud of who they are and what their differences may be. So, hopefully for those of you who took the time to read this, you will remember the good that you have done.

School

Since Dan and I first met school has been a big part of our lives. Late nights working on papers, proof reading at 2:00 in the morning, staring at a computer screen for hours on end, sounds pretty romantic doesn't it? We found one of our school catalogs and began crossing off classes that we have already had. By the time we had finished we were both in shock. Dan has five more classes until he graduates and I have four. It is so crazy to think how quickly time has flown. I remember when we began this journey, it all seemed so difficult and at time beyond reach. I am proud to say that as we near graduation that we are both currently on the Dean's List which means that both of us are carrying gpa's of 3.8 or higher. Our goals are to reach President's List (3.9 or higher) by graduation. I hope this is something that we can both attain. I cannot even tell you how grateful I am for this experience and for the opportunity that I have had to further my education. I am sure Dan feels the same.


These are our awards for being on the Dean's List.

Life as we know it

So, sorry it has taken me forever to post again (4 months isn't too bad). We got the house! I know the excitement of that statement is not as exciting as it was back in May when we moved in but still, how exciting! It is the biggest move we have made in our lives. We have a great neighborhood with tons of little kids. Everyone is super friendly is willing to give you the shirt off of their back if you needed it. I absolutely love it up here!!! Next year we are going to do a bunch of projects out in the yard like putting in some flower beds, taking care of the cherry tree, leveling the backyard, and even putting in some more sprinklers. Yay for fun outdoor stuff!!!

A month after we moved in we decided that we needed to get a puppy. It was a Thursday and I was off from work. I decided to check out the puppies on KSL.com. I was looking for a cute beagle or something like that but knew that Dan really liked basset hounds. Thirty-seven pages in I found a litter of the cutest basset hounds. I knew I could get Dan to cave so as soon as I showed him he fell in love with them. I talked him into calling on them and...well...the rest is history. We decided to name our pup Digger. For some reason he just looked like a Digger. He is now 4 months old and we have had him for 3 months. He is a very curious, mischievous little dog. We love him though. He is spoiled rotten as he should be. I get the most havoc from family members because I treat him as if he is my child ( I bought him a swimming pool and am currently looking at a hoodie and a Halloween costume for him). That's okay though, he knows he is loved.


Digger at 6 weeks (When we first got him)


Digger and Mom playing in his pool


Bath Time!! (9 weeks old)


How Odd!!


Veggin' Out (14 weeks)

Other than that, life is the same. Dan and I are still working for the same companies and keeping an eye out for other opportunities as we graduate in less than a year. (We only have approximately 11 more classes until we are done. Wa hoo!!!!) Hopefully something will turn up before graduation. Well, that is about all for now. I will post again sometime soon (before 4 months go by). Promise.

P.S. I should have pics of the house up soon as well. :)

Closing time - every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Today we closed on the house. I am glad to say that all the millions of forms needed for this are signed and done. For some odd reason this all makes me think of the song "Closing Time" by Semisonic. That is why the title of this post is what it is. lol I guess this lyric works for us because it is just up from here. :)We are packing all of our things up and planning on moving Friday night. I can honestly say that we are both totally stoked. WooHoo!

Moving day , Moving day, we can't wait 'til moving day!!

So, the loan has been approved and the previous owners have moved out. We will be closing this week and moving by this weekend. We are so grateful that Monday is a holiday because that gives us time to move and unpack. I am running around crazy packing things up. I hope that I am not driving my hubby crazy.(Honestly, I think he was crazy before me. Lol. Just kidding!)

I can't believe this day is almost here. I am going to miss living out here in the country. I will miss almost hitting chickens and turkeys daily. I will miss the occasional racoon in the middle of the dark road and the skunks running out in front of my car and also creeping down into the ditch out front. I will miss the deer wandering around. I will miss the cows mooing, chicken clucking,and geese honking late at night and keeping me awake. I know this sounds like I really won't miss this but honestly I will. There is so much peace and beauty down here. I wish we didn't have to go back to the city!

It's a........

It's a go!!! After much headache we are finally done with getting all of the documents for the loan and have been told that we will be closing on the house on the 27th!!! I am soooo super excited!! Even though I am very excited, I truly will miss the place that we call home right now. It is so difficult to go from the country to the city. I find this quite funny because I am a city girl that supposedly didn't like the country. Go figure!