Home

Its official. I am a homeowner. Well, a condo-owner. But, I call it my home. :) Here, I am with my parents on October 30th at the closing. It felt great to sign my life away on my half birthday. Happy 23 1/2 present to myself!




Here I am opening the door to my place for the first time with my own keys. After opening the door the painting, repairs, carpet cleaning, and more began the next morning bright and early.





Here my Mom and I sport our adorable paint reducing wear. My mom is a pro painter and has it down to a remarkable system. Even including, as you can see throughout all of these pictures adorable fashion pieces soon to be displayed in next years fall collections. :)









The paint roller is not included with the collection, but sure looks great in combination! Here I am painting my kitchen. I can't wait to put up pictures of the finished product sometime soon!




Here is a teaser for you, with my bright red fireplace being painted by Dave and I. Another teaser for you, I like color....






My new favorite place is Home Depot. I never thought I would say that. But I just did. Here I am holding some chair rail out the window after we bought an eleven foot piece that my Dad and I didn't consider how it would be put in the car. Well, I am sure he did as a professional home repairman. But, I sure didn't!

Wow, it was a crazy amount of work to paint and move in. The paint job was really bad from the previous owner so it has taken oodles of work. And, it is not even done! Last weekend I got the help of Rob, Steve, Dave, my parents, and a u-haul and moved on over. Pictures will come once I can get the drill and paint cans off the floor. :)

I have been so overwhelmed the past few weeks. I never imagined I would be buying a home at my age. I never thought I would be able to. I had no idea how to do it. No idea what closing costs, addendum's, concessions, and more were. And to be honest I am still not so sure what they mean. :) Just over a month ago I didn't even dream I would be doing this. But it happened super quickly and all along it felt right.



None of this would be possible without my Grandparents and my parents. Here is a picture of my Grandma Ann and Rob at Rob's wedding a few years ago. I do not have a picture of my Granddad on my laptop. But I wanted to include this picture. Their sacrificing made my home purchase possible. My parents sacrifice also made this possible. I can't thank them enough for allowing this dream to happen at my age. Even as I write this, I am sitting in my Grandma's chair next to her piano in my own home. Every day I am reminded as I look around my first home of people that loved me and love me now. People who helped me financially, helped me paint, helped me move, helped me plan, and helped me with every element. I am lucky to have my other Grandparents be so excited for me that they have come over numerous times to come and see it when sadly I have not been here! I hope they can come see it super soon! I am so lucky to have family and friends in my life who will come to my aid with everything, who are supportive, and who are excited for me. So thank you

Granddad
Grandma
Dad
Mom
Rob
Hillary
Ryan
Emily
Rich
Steve
Grandpa
Grandma
and Dave

for being excited, making this possible, helping me move, helping me paint, and helping me with everything even as I have been stressed out, anxious me.

Pink Note Six Years Later

A month after I started working at epg, my friend from elementary school, junior high, and high school started working there as well. Alex is an incredible friend. She is one of those people that includes everyone, makes everyone smile, and I am pretty sure that no one could ever say anything even slightly negative about her. I have some great memories with Alex before she started working at epg. I included a picture of us back then. Sadly, it is NOT a good picture of either one of us. Alex is in the back row and her face is covered up! And, well I am the fat girl in the front. I only have like three pictures from high school on my laptop! Sorry Alex! Alex has always been an amazing friend. I am pretty sure that Alex won't remember this story, but I have thought about it a lot throughout the past few years. One day in high school I had been having a horrible day. I don't even remember what had happened, but it was a classic bad high school day. That night Alex dropped off a note and a gift saying that she had been thinking about me. I hadn't even told anyone about my horrible day. But of course Alex just knew. I even remember that the note was written with a pink pen. Alex, probably doesn't even remember doing it. But I went to my Mom and started to cry and said, "How could she have possibly known how much I needed this?!" So, thanks Alex almost six years later for that simple thing you did! It really did not only make my day back then, but still impacts me today. I spent so much time at Alex's house growing up. Too many stories to mention, and too many stories I probably shouldn't mention on the blog. :) So fast forward to now. Here is a picture of us on Halloween at epg. Alex was bo-beep and her neice is a sheep. Not a cow which I thought she was. :( I do not know my farm animals. Cows and sheep are not the same thing. And, who has ever heard it said, "Little Bow Beep has lost her cow....?" Ya, no one. I am sure glad that Alex works at epg. I think I will gain fifty pounds by how frequently I walk upstairs, stop by her desk, and inhale her chocolate. I am so lucky to have great friends in my life, like Alex, who make me laugh, let me vent, teach me important lessons... :), forgive me for missing their wedding receptions, and forgive me for calling their niece a cow and not a sheep.

Fabulous Fall Update

It's a beautiful fall day outside. Sunny and crisp. Usually fall just signifies that winter is coming on. But today I am happy with fall because it is so beautiful. Here are a few updates on my life.

Last weekend we celebrated Rob and Jack's birthdays.

Here we are singing to them. Jack sure was ready to blow out his candles.

Rich and Jack also had some fun making silly faces...














In other news, I am closing on a condo purchase on Wednesday. :) Cross your fingers that it will all work out by then. Here is a look at the outside. If that link doesn't work it is roughly around 39th South and Highland Drive in Salt Lake. It is nothing crazy fancy. But I am excited and proud of myself for doing it. I am proud of myself because it has been a hard thing for me to do. Hard in the sense that I wasn't a finance or business major. I don't know what all of the terms mean. I don't have a husband next to me helping me out with all of this. And, sometimes I don't know if I am doing the smartest bestest thing. But, life has to keep movin forward and I am proud of myself for moving forward hoping for the best. The last few months have been full of hope and trust. Trust that I could get a job. And, I got a job I really do enjoy. Trust that I can keep that job. Trust that buying a condo is the right thing to do. And trust that everything else will work out in my life. Sometimes I feel that people wait for things to happen in life. And, who knows maybe all of this is a bad choice but I am proud of myself for doing something. This last weekend I watched Shawshank Redemption (edited on clearplay for all of you who are thinking I am a bad person...) And although it is sometimes lame to quote from a movie I liked this quote, "Get busy living or get busy dying." So, I am hoping for the best and am excited to close on Wedneday to move in and start painting. :) Pictures to come...

# Jersey

Rob and Hillary were in Spain for the past couple of weeks and I helped watch Jack. I had a great time talking, dancing, singing, reading, and watching movies together. How could you not love seeing all these faces for a week? :) Jack loves numbered shirts, but in his opinion the number should always be in the front so that is why in every picture his shirt is on backwards. :) They got home yesterday and after my cousins wedding we got together at Steve's house to look at pictures and to play a little soccer. They brought home a soccer jersey from Spain and of course the number is worn only on the front.
Jack also spent time with my parents. They got him a big boy bed and here he is after he was surprised with his really cool (and comfy I might add) big boy bed.


A few weeks ago Dave and I went on a fun group date that was modeled after the Amazing Race. Dave and I came in fourth out of nine, but were happy with how we did. :) Things have been CRAZY busy the last couple of weeks for me. One night when I was watching Jack I went to bed at 8:30 right along with him. Just wanted to update everyone on a few bits and pieces from my life.

State Fair

Saturday I went to the Utah State Fair. Last year was my first time at the State Fair and I went at night. This time I went during the day with Dave and some of his family. Here I am chilling with three of Dave's nephews. And I had to make sure I mentioned three so you wouldn't think that the fourth man on the far right was his nephew. :) I really enjoyed seeing all the animals, rides, booths, people, and more. I am a city girl that is for sure. An East side city girl. I didn't know that West street numbers existed until I was 17! :) So, to be on the West side of Salt Lake at the State Fair was out of my comfort zone and to be surrounded by cows, sheep, goats, and more. It was a great day and I even loved my $9.00 nachos and $3.00 drink. :)

Cause we're eating...

I was very ready and excited for my first vacation day and long weekend from work. On Friday Dave and I tried Smashburger. There is a new location in Sugarhouse. I would probably go there again but it is not anything to make a special trip for. We also went to Julie and Julia. I started reading the book, but had a hard time getting through it. In the book Julie swears a lot and complains constantly which is kind of a drag to get through. But I loved the movie! I would recommend it to everyone. I really liked it. This is a picture of Meryl Streep playing Julia. She did an excellent job. Saturday, I watched the BYU game and was of course so proud of my cougars!!! :) Sunday, it was a birthday celebration for Grandpa, Grandma, Emily, and Rich. Jack was clearly worn out before he even got inside for the birthday festivities. Eventually he woke up for the fun birthday celebrations. But this video says it all.... Jeni "Why we are eating birthday cake? Jack: "cause we're eating." :) What a perfect excuse to eat birthday cake and goodies anytime! I am going to use that reasoning more often! For labor day Dave and I went four wheeling up on the dry farm. The last time I had been there was more than 3 years ago on Memorial Day. It was fun being back. This picture is up on combine hill where old combines are put to rest forever. When we got up there Dave drove around for a little while in circles. I asked him what he was doing and he said, "to scare off the rattlesnakes." Lets just say the only time I got off the four wheeler was to take these two pictures. It was beautiful up there. I want to share more pictures with you, but if you want to see more you will need to check out Dave's blog. It was great being outside driving fast and being alone in the hilly mountains of Morgan on the last holiday of the summer. Goodbye summer....I sure do love you.

Back to School

I had the realization the other day that this year is the first time since 1991 that I haven't been starting school. Am I sad? Not sure. Am I happy? Not sure. I really do love learning. But I am more than happy to have August mean something more to me than back to school this year. When we were younger every time we started school my Dad would give fathers blessings and then my Mom would yell out, "I don't want to go to school!" We would all then begin on our back to school song, but I will spare you the actual lyrics. This song would continue for a LONG time and I remember singing while brushing my teeth for bed getting ready for the next day. What do I miss about back to school time? I miss new binders, pencils, notebooks. I miss shopping at Office Max with all my siblings talking about pens and pencils that we needed. I miss when my nerdy brothers got new fancy graphing calculators and I got the old graphing calculators passed down to me. I miss back to school pep rallies and wearing my new cheerleading and pep club outfits for the first time. I miss seeing old friends in the hallways asking about their summers. I miss getting my picture taken in front of the flagpole at my parents house. I miss getting new textbooks and hoping that I would get a new or nice book and not one of the old gross ones that I would swear had been used last by a nasty boy who picked his nose. I miss going to Dean Collets counseling office to figure out my schedule for the next year and hoping that I would be in classes with my friends or at least with the cute boys. I miss opening my locker and getting new backpacks. There are so many more things that back to school make me miss. But this year I am very grateful for one thing....go here to check it out. :) Back to school is great, but having this online is even better this year.