Merry Christmas!

Chris and I are so excited for a long weekend! We started out by getting off work at noon Christmas Eve! We met up with the the rest of the family at Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's to visit a bit before we decided to have a late lunch around 3pm at Macaroni Grill in Orem where Aaron was working since he had a double shift on Xmas Eve, bla... It was fun to still see him since he could not join us till 9pm that night. We thought while we are all together (Sara was up for Christmas break as well) and knowing that this is our last year at their home that we would have a sleepover at Chris' parents place. So afterwords, we all went to our place to hang out a bit before getting in the Expedition to drive through the Thanksgiving Point Christmas lights at 6pm! Then they dropped Chris and I back off to take a quick nap and pack for the sleepover! Once everyone was together, we had our Christmas Eve feast at 9pm which meant that the night was just beginning haha! After dinner James read the Polar Express story (another tradition), we did our gift exchange from when we picked the names out of the bowl and than Fran had to read her book that she read to the siblings when they were little, shed some tender tears, played pool, card games, and watched the new movie I got from Aaron that night (Confessions of a Shopaholic!!!) and probably crashed around 4am! Surprisingly we all still woke up early enough to call it morning! I want to say it was around 8am that we gathered together to have James read the Christmas story out of the scriptures which is done every year before we gather at the Christmas tree and unwrap the gifts that had been given.

This was such a special year for me at least! Chris and I are getting anxious to add to our family and experience the memorable traditions with our little ones! Hopefully we can soon bring in the joys that children bring into a home and a family. Chris and I then chose to go home and clean up while we have our own little Christmas! To my surprise as I entered the house, I saw that lights on and thought oh no, I thought I turned everything off but then quickly saw that Santa also came to our new home!!! I continue to be in ah over the things Chris does for me to try and makes things special for us. He must have snuck out somehow when I was asleep or something to have gotten away with this! The stockings were filled and displayed ever so nicely on the couch and the tree was lit up :) He couldn't wait any longer so before we put everything away and cleaned up for the day, we opened up the gifts that my family gave us and what we gave each other! It was not much which was perfect after everything that we have been blessed with the only thing we wanted was to be surrounded by family and each other. I love Chris dearly and I am so grateful for all that he does for me and his efforts to have a happy wife :)

We then got cleaned up and went back to finish the day with Chris' family! I got to chat with my family at home, visit Grandpa Mitchell, Aunt Cyndi and her son Ashton for a couple hours before we went up to visit Grandma Whitchurch to see her in all smiles surrounded by her lovely family! Chris' family was at Grandma Whitchurch's as well so afterwords, we all went to the movies at Jordan Commons! All in all it was a long fun filled 2 days and I am so sad to know that Christmas is over :( This is where after a month and half of excitement ends till next year...

Family time well spent!

This weekend Chris and I did a little bit of last minute Christmas shopping for his parents and the sibling we were assigned from when we picked names out of the bowl. It was nice to get out into the crazy lines and crowds of people since this year I purchased the gifts I got for Chris online. It was nice but I also like getting out in the mix of people.

Sunday after having dinner at Chris' parents place I thought I would bring Mr. Kruger's Christmas! This is what my family starts the December FHE's with and I wanted to keep it going in my home each Christmas season. It made me feel good when I received a text from Fran asking me if I had it and if I could bring it over! I did not get the text till we were already at their house since I was already on the same page, I had it with us! I love those moments that Fran and I are on the same train of thought :) I love the movie, it is a sweet and tender movie that should be watched in every home at this time of year.

Tonight for FHE, James was able to be with the family! In fact he now gets to spend 2 weeks at home!!! We have not seen him for a couple weeks since he could not come out last weekend so this is going to be so nice for him to take this short break from travel/work. We went to Desert Star like we do every other year only this time we were split up :( So I sat with the boys (Aaron, Josh and Chris) while the girls sat with James and Fran. It was still fun! I like ordering/eating pizza while watching a comedy play at the same time :)

My Grinch~

This year HIT the company Chris and I work for put on a Christmas party for all the in house employees. I am a proud wife who can honestly say, married a very talented person! Chris was by far the highlight of the party as he dressed up as the Grinch! I was all smiles as I watched the Grinch interact with the people/children. In preparation of this event, Chris and I watched the Grinch the night before. Chris wrote down some of the common one liners in the movie, repeated them over and over as we got ready for work the day of. The company rented out a full Grinch body costume so between the two, Chris was amazing! We had sandwich subs, drinks and cookies. Santa came and our friend Autumn sang a song while playing the guitar! It was fun and thankfully not too long as Chris quickly discovered how hot the Grinch costume made him :( Once, Santa left and all the attention moved to the area that they were playing the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Chris was able to get out of character and eat some dinner. It was so sad to see him soaking wet and near purple :( The poor guy was dying in the costume.... So this shows how amazing Chris is! He will do whatever takes and he will prepare to do the best he can in all that is asked of him. Even if it means that there is a possible run to the emergency room to rehydrate his body :/

In remembrance~

Yesterday after church, we joined the rest of the Whitchurch family in a drive up to Chris' older brother Daniel's grave. Every Christmas we go up to put a Christmas wreath on his grave, talk about memories of him and sing Daniel a couple Christmas carols. Never have I seen them leave without shedding some tears as he is very much missed in their home. Each time we go, I am reminded of the beautiful blessing of the atonement and for the opportunity we have to see him again and for me to meet Daniel. I am so so grateful for the knowledge that I and Chris' family has of the Gospel. To know that this time on earth is not the end and that we can all if we choose to be in a better place after this mortal life ends.

We then returned for a lovely dinner as always prepared by Fran. We continued that night and watched Home Alone 2 that was placed in NY which we loved and I loved now that I have actually been to NY and could recognize several places that were in the film! I love spending all this time with the family! Not that we do not see them weekly anyway but there is something different about it around this time of year. Maybe it is the knowledge that James, Fran and Britt are going to be in California and that we do not get to see James nearly as often as we did. Now that they are selling their home, it is sad to think that it will be our last Christmas in this home. I am however really excited to have Aaron, Josh and Annie in our neighborhood! James and Fran have all their selections picked out and McArthur should started building next month.

In preparation for today's FHE, Fran was slaving away in the Kitchen so that we can all make Christmas treats for our friends! We had a couple options of caramel popcorn and assorted cookies. We frosted cookies and put the popcorn in little Santa bags and gingerbread men bags. Put them on Christmas plates and then Chris and I went around our neighborhood passing them out while they were fresh! Not sure what we are going to do if the neighborhood continues to double! While we were passing them out we had run into Dayna and Nate Checketts that decided to do caramel dipped apples which I thought was a great idea!

PARTY PARTY!

The neighbor girls have been so so sweet and inviting of everyone as we slowing build more homes therefore adding more neighbors. October we all met up at Erika's in our pajamas and slippers to go on a late night run to JCW's for some ice cream and social interaction! November, we met up at Brooke's place to do a craft of the Christmas day countdown. I did not purchase a kit since there was so much going on with having my family over the Thanksgiving holiday and then the fact that I have one already but I did make some treats to socialize with the other women which was great fun! We have 12-14 of us that show up which = good times! We decided to all go to Chili's yesterday before everyone gets carried away with the Christmas festivities and even then only 10 of us could make it. We talked for hours as usual and just enjoyed the time of being with one another. More than half of the women in the neighborhood have children which are under the age of 6 so it is their cure to have adult interaction ;) It is still weired to not be with Chris for the 3-4 hours that we usually spend chatting, eating or whatever but he really enjoys having me come home updating him on all the latest lol! It's funny because Chris and I spend every waking moment together which does not give us much to talk about when it comes to daily activity so these "GNO's" spices things up a bit ;) After we were done with Chili's, I road back with Stephanie because we needed to paint our sweaters for the party!Chris and I had purchased a pink and then a white sweater from the DI Thursday night and then Stephanie and Derek purchased a plain red and white one at Walmart. They all turned out great! Chris and I did candy can stripes on ours :)

Friday night was our neighborhood party night! Amanda and her husband Jared planned a Ugly Sweater Christmas party which of course the whole neighborhood came to and participated in which was fantastic! There was GREAT food/treats and games! We did white elephant gag gifts! Chris and I wrapped up a semi useful computer parts and then I wrapped up an extra toaster that we got as a wedding gift. We voted on the best/worst ugly sweaters and etc. The exchange was by far my favorite! Chris ended up with a men's extra large thong and then I got some "Man Hunter" piece with a zebra print hand bag! Well, we were so "excited" for our gifts that when we and Stephanie/Derek let Amanda's party we took them right over to Sara and Cody's Vintage Gingerbread Party which to had a white elephant exchange! I have to say that between the four of our gifts, that they were major hits and we left the party with more "useful" gifts haha! I had some cute pictures for a kitchen and then Chris ended up with some lotion's from VS that he passed over to me lol! Around 1am we felt partied out and ended the night with a Christmas movie!

We woke up Saturday morning so so tiered because we had our Whitchurch family pictures scheduled :/ They did however turn out great! We just used Chris' camera/tripod so that he could be in them. We barely mad it before the light rainfall came our way. Enough turned out that Fran and James were able to pick one for the Christmas cards that were ordered through Costco online! I am so doing our own next year! I had no idea it was so inexpensive and fast! Fran was able to order 50 for $14 and have them ready the following business day.

Feeling the Christmas Spirit

In preparation of the Christmas festivities, I have been listening to Christmas music at home and work, baking cookies and breads for the smell and the pleasure of eating them, leaving the Christmas tree lights on and watching Christmas movies which will continue throughout the month to bring in the feeling of Christmas! So Saturday Chris and I had our ward Christmas Party which was not the best ward Christmas party I have ever been to. Maybe it was the food? The theme was a Mexican fiesta? We had taco salads and or burritos which is good food but not what I have in mind for a Christmas meal.... Non the less we had a nice time making small talk with the other members of our ward. We did however call it an early night by leaving after we all ate before Santa came for the young children and etc. We decided to talk our neighbors in to joining us in a "adult" activity since we did not have any children. Stephanie, Derek, Chris and myself went up to the Sandy Expo Center for the last day of the Festival of Trees!!! This was my first time going and I really enjoyed it a lot!!! It was the last day so most everything had been bought out with the Sold sign in front of the displays which was amazing for me to see considering all of them were for the Primary Children's fund! It was so touching to see all the work and creativity that goes into each display and than to have so many purchased!

Sunday was of course the day that Chris and I went over to his parents place, this time for an earlier dinner than the norm for the reason that the First Presidency Christmas Devotional was on at 6pm. This if nothing else ALWAYS gets me into the Christmas spirit! I love the spirit that comes into the room and feels our hearts with love and peace as the family gathers to hear the words of the prophet and his apostles. I love hearing the stories of families around the world and some of their childhood memories at Christmas time. It puts me in my place to remember the true meaning of Christmas before we get to far into the season and gives me the feeling of true gratitude for my family, trials and blessings.

In the month of December, Chris and I have for the last 4 years (including the year we dated in 2006) spent all of our family home evenings on Mondays with his family! I love it because we spend more time with family and that is what I treasure most :) We start it off with the first Monday after the Christmas devotional as our service project. In 2006 and 2007 we shopped for missionaries that Josh would recommend while on his mission in NY. I guess Aaron and Chris did that as well. I thought it was very sweet because there was always that missionary that did not receive the support from his family either it be that they were of different religion and or they did not stay in contact therefore they would have not received anything for Christmas. After that the Whitchurch boys had all went on and returned from missions so 2008 we took care of a family that we new could not afford the extra expenses Christmas brings if you were to do gifts for one other. Today, Chris and I joined the Whitchurch family to assist at a near bye Angel Tree. This was harder than I thought it would be. The details were so vague that it was hard to know what the children really had in mind. Non the less, it felt good to help!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We were able to have our driveway/garage etc. sealed on Monday before the snow rolled in! We new this was something we needed to mark off our check list before the holidays took over and the bad weather came! Next, my family arrived Wednesday morning!!! Chris and I have been looking forward to this arrival for the last month and we were finally together again! I have not spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family for 6 years so this was a real treat and than to have them come to our house was even better!!! I got to have the pleasure of having my mom at my side in the kitchen helping me with my first Thanksgiving dinner! Boy did I learn a lot and I could not have done it without her! It made the experience so FUN!!! Everything turned out fabulous and the family had a great time playing games and eating snacks while they waited for the big feast! Chris was in charge of the potatoes and cutting the meat! I really love that Chris is SO supportive and wants to be apart of everything I do! He did an AMAZING job on the potatoes! I will have to make sure he keeps this job for the years to come ;) We all played, ate and took naps while others continued playing board games lol before more family came over! Chris' cousins and family stopped bye throughout the day to see my family and/or our new home which meant a lot! Chris and I feel so blessed to have two wonderful and I mean wonderful families!!! To have our families be so supportive of each other has really made life a better place~

Thanksgiving day was just the beginning because the following day we all went up to see Ty, Jessi and their kiddos! I was so excited to see little Harli :) We ate leftover thanksgiving food for lunch and hung out with the little ones before everyone other than Jessi and Harli went to the barn to do some horse and/or pony riding!!! This I have to say was a MAJOR highlight!!! After it started to get dark and we put the horses away, we kept the pony that Hallie flew off of when he got startled which I still feel bad about :/ Non the less Hallie recovered enough to get back on for a little bit just in time for us to come up with a brilliant idea! Yes it was a Wester idea so it was something that we should not have been doing but we made our own little Wester Rodeo with the Shetland pony!!! It started with John getting bucked off when rying to ride it bareback and than we had to have him do it again for the rest of the family to see! It was so funny that of course the other boys just had to see if they could do it and who could stay on the longest before getting bucked off riding bare back! Of course we all pulled out our video cameras so we have some amazing footage if anyone wants to witness our eventful evening! Following the Wester Rodeo, we kidnapped Tyrel and stopped at Temple Square for the Christmas lights!!! This was the first for half of my family! It was very cold but so worth the memories spent with my family and again Chris was so so supportive to have 12 people now staying the night at our house! He was so cute and thoughtful, the night before my family arrived Wed. Chris stopped at Best Buy for a couple more t.v.'s to have in the other bedrooms so that the family could all have their entertainment throughout the week they were at our house :) He is so wonderful and sweet! I could not have been blessed with a better husband!

So that night we had the pleasure of having Tyrel with us so that he could be down here to take us all to the BYU vs Utah football game! He was so kind to let Fran and James join us and if that was not sweet enough, Tyrel hooked us all up with the Blazers vs Jazz basketball game after the football game which included all 12 of us plus all of Chris' family!!! We were all burned out with the four day weekend that we just spent Sunday sleeping in and me doing haircuts before my family decided to go up to grandpas before heading back to Oregon :( This gets harder and harder for me each time a sibling that visits or the whole family visits that I am a total sob fest for a week before I can begin to keep it together. As much as I love my family, I do not ever want to see them leave. I can't wait till the day they really do get to move to Utah! I think that is also why its hard...knowing that none of them want to go back :( Until next time, I love you all and I could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving break!!!

Birthdays, Decorations and a Niece!

The start of our busy holiday season is here!!! Friday we celebrated James' Birthday :) With thetransfer of his job to California and added travels, we have not been able to see him for 3 weeks so we decided that more than anything, James would wish to spend time with his family. With that in mind, Chris and I decided that we were going to take James and Fran on a double date for his birthday gift! He loved it and we did too! For dinner we went to Goodwoods in Draper the following Tuesday and hung out chatting catching up and playing games! We love James so much and it has been sad not having him home as often to welcome everyone into their home. James has a way of making us all feel so special, loved and missed even if it was a day since we last stopped by lol! To not hear him in the most exciting tone say, "Hey!, It is so nice to see you!!!" following with a big hug has been missed!

My sister Abby also shares the same birthday as Chris' dad so I usually pull aside to sing Happy Birthday to her by phone! This year is exciting because the family is actually on their way to Utah!!! Yep they are coming to our house for to exciting reasons. One to be hear for the birth of our little niece, Harli and to spend Thanksgiving with Chris and I!!! I am really excited to break in our new kitchen to cook Thanksgiving dinner for 11 people :0)

In preparation of having my family here this next week, Chris and I spent all of Saturday decorating our house for Christmas! Our most favorite holiday of the year!!! I have posted some of our decorations ;) This is an event that Chris and I love to share in together and we make it as fun as possible by baking cookies and playing our favorite Christmas tunes each year!!! It is funny how over the 3 years we have had being married that we have taken on specific jobs such as putting up the tree and then setting up the Nativity is Chris' thing while I get the little stuff put everywhere and then we both decorate the tree together :0) My favorite part is the warm cozy feeling it brings into the home with music on the savior and serving others with the spirit that we should all have all year long.

Nov.22, Sunday afternoon Tyrel and Jessi welcomed little Harli into the world which makes this baby number 2! Chris and I are so very happy for them and we are grateful all went well with the delivery! We can't wait to see her but we have to wait till they come home from the hospital. The spread of the swine flu has caused the hospitals to not allow more than two people to enter the hospital other than the couple who are expecting and they have to be over the age of 14 I think. None the less we are super happy for my brother and we still got pictures sent to us so we can see how beautiful she is!!!

First snow fall of the season ~

Our new snow flake Christmas lights only lasted a week in our windy area :( So sadly enough after seeing them all in our gutter, Chris and I decided to take them down, pack them nicely back in their boxes to purchase the standard Christmas light bulbs. We had a couple hours before my cousins baptism so we thought we had enough time to rush to Lowe's for the return to find that while we were searching for new Christmas lights that a snow storm or shall I say blizzard (with our Lehi winds) had started. I couldn't find any that I liked and the larger clips were sold out so we decided to opt out on them for now. The traffic dramatically slowed down with the weather conditions so by the time we made it back to our house to see if the baptism was still "on" and then change of course. I was left with only 30 min. to change and get up to Murray. Chris did not feel good about risking the drive and checked the freeway to find that there were two accidents between our house and Murray :( I was so sad and disappointed to not be able to support my Aunt Cindy and her youngest son who is 20 I believe be baptized.... This put a real damper on my day so I decided to go out anyway to at least meet up with Ashton afterwords. Chris would not let me go out alone so he came with but then we received a call from my Aunt to let me know that he had work at 5 and she needed to take him to get his haircut first. talk about bummer news! Not to mention that my older brother and his wife could not make it either coming from Ogden up North :( I wish still that we could have given him the support that family should offer but even more so I hope it was special and memorable day for my cousin Ashton as he continues down a wonderful path in his life.

The upside of Saturday was after we found out that seeing my Grandpa, Aunt Cindy and Ashton was out of the picture. Chris and I decided that while we were out, we would finish the errands that were needed. We were able to pick up my sister Abby's birthday gifts and the Christmas gifts for my family so that we could send them back with them when they are in town next week! The snow did make it difficult at first but it slowed down as we came closer to the later evening. Chris was also able to pick up a new game for the xbox which was just in time for a incoming call from his friend Spencer who is also a gamer :) Spencer and Nat then decided to come over to visit a bit before Natalie needed to go to work. They also brought over p90x for us to try! I am happy to say that we have already worked out more then last year.....which might I add was not hard to do since I only used my gym membership ONCE last year. So when it came back to renewing another year this week I decided to give it another try :0/ So far I am already on day 3 ha ha!

While the Whitchurch's were in California over the weekend it was perfect timing to have Spencer and Natalie come back for Sunday dinner following some card game playing and socializing (Chris' favorite)! Natalie then discovered that I am capable of doing hair so she decided to come back Tuesday for some blond highlights :) It turned out great and she loved it which always makes me feel good!

BLINDS!!!!

Here we are 4 weeks to the day living in our house and we FINALLY got our blinds installed. We did not know it would take a month to have blinds put up :( It did however take us a week before we decided on what blinds we wanted and then after canceling them through Home Depot when we found out it would take three weeks. We felt we should go with a referred friend from our new to be neighbors. When he came to measure our windows he did not have the selection or shall I say the exact blinds we wanted that we saw at Home Depot. I was willing to pick ones that I did not want if we needed to purchase them through this gentlemen for whatever reason but he meet up with us at work the following day to show us some additional options. We found the color we wanted but they were the wood wood ones and not the faux wood blinds. Therefore the price went up :( We decided to go with the dark walnut wood blinds everywhere accept the kitchen and the front door side window. Those we replaced with the white faux wood blinds. Well we were on track for a week in a half to find out that when that time came, he forgot to put a return address on the order. This caused the blinds to be put on hold and then mailed at a "rush". The "rush" still took 7 additional days... so it was a disappointment when we were rescheduled for a third time when we were informed of his prior commitments that occupied the following 2 days after they were delivered :(

Once the day came a whole month later, we were so thrilled to have our blinds that I did not care that we had to wait so long lol! I was able to pull down the news paper ha ha and we gladly helped bring in all the stuff to and from his vehicle...Not to mention breaking down the boxes and putting them in the recycling bin which he seemed to be overly grateful for! As he was hanging up the blinds we noticed pretty quickly that he purchased the wrong ones but we did not say a thing because we were afraid he would take them back! It was not a big deal other than we wanted the privacy ones without the holes but I or Chris said that we were going to complain because we felt like our house was finally "complete" in a way that we aren't in a fish bowl lol! All in all we are thrilled to have our blinds!!!

Our productive week...

I have been really bad about getting our address changed with everyone but I can finally say that I got around to it! Last Tuesday we received our intercom system so we have a doorbell and we can chat in between rooms now ha ha! The intercom I think has bee Chris' favorite thing to set up of all the tasks I have had him do such as the hardware on the cabinets which started out tricky last week but we finally got it rolling when we made a trip back to Home Depot for a VERY useful tool that cost $2 but it made ALL the difference for Chris!!!

On Thursday, I stayed late for work so Chris decided to make a trip to Lowe's near by which lead to the grand purchase of our outside Christmas lights!!! It was so fun to see what he decided on and we went with the icicle snow flake lights! I feel SO lucky to be married to someone who LOVES Christmas as much as I do! In fact, Chris was in the mood and we couldn't help but notice the warm night that night. We fell into our temptation to hang up the lights before we faced the biter cold weather. If any of you know me, I hate the cold. I have come to the grips of accepting the fact that I will always feel cold but I would not want to volunteer to be colder if I had an alternative so I think I am hooked! I have never experienced such a pleasant experience hanging up the lights! It made all the difference to make it SO enjoyable even though it may seem funny to have them up! :)

For date night Friday we went to Home Depot LOL :) and Costco for a Christmas wreath and an incredible blender that we were suckered into purchasing! Chris and I just could not believe that a blender could make ice cream and then hot soup right after each other not to mention the two of us are BIG soup, smoothie, dip fans along with being snack eaters over meal eaters! Chris has been non stop with the use of our new blender which is really fun. Who new that a blender would get HIM in the kitchen ;)

Yesterday Chris and I went to the design studio with Fran to help her pick out her interior choices for their house! On the way back, Chris and I ran some much needed errands and ended up finishing the night with our friends Derek and Stephanie! I took Stephanie to Tai Pan where I bought some beautiful plates and bowls with the help of Chris :) and then we ended the night with a movie!

Today Chris and I received a calling in our ward to be the Young Single Adult representatives! We are super excited for this opportunity and joked around the dinner table a bit with the idea of checking up on Aaron, Josh and Annie when their house is completed this Spring!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!!!

Our first Halloween just 2 weeks into our home with a trip in between equals forgetting to decorate and prepare ourselves for the holiday...YIKES! So Chris and I spent the Saturday taking care of errands and purchasing a BIG Happy Halloween sign that lite up so that people new to come trick or treat at our newly developed neighborhood! It worked enough to catch the attention of all the children living around us witch equaled out to 5 families ha ha but non the less it was super fun to see all the little children dressed up while we chose to be productive by putting on the cabinet hardware, well Chris did and he did wonderful! :)

Earlier in the day Chris and I joined Fran to look at one of the model homes they are thinking of building...Yep! This means that James and Fran decided to also build in the same neighborhood just down the street from us!!! Chris and I are super excited about this because we LOVE the idea of having them SO close to us with all the changes happening. The plan as of now is to have Aaron, Josh and Annie stay at the house here while they are going to school and of course have a home James, Fran and Britt can return to every month or so (if we are lucky) while James finishes his career in California till retirement can take place. It has been the only option that felt right so we are all trusting that it all works out and that their current home will be able to sell at the price they need. Anyway, so Fran flew out after this so Chris and I chose to finish our Halloween night over at the Whitchurch home to be with Britt. Annie, Josh and Aaron were also home which we did not expect but we were so happy to see! We ate Fran's famous taco soup and watched a scary movie of Chris/Britt's choice!!! I was of course scared out of my mind and kept my eyes closed during 3/4 of the movie so when Chris and I came home I watched a happy feel good movie so that I can go to sleep in ease :)

We hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween! We loved receiving a picture of little Hallie in her cute witch costume! I decided I need to make sure I do better next year and get dressed up to support Chris and his love for Halloween :)

Oregon here I come!

It has been nearly 2 years since I last made it home to Oregon. It was for Abby's baptism and Jennifer's wedding which ended up on the same day!!! It to was a wonderful occasion but I could not believe it had been SO long since I made it back! I guess with ALL the trips my family has been making to Utah, the time flew right past me. I have been super excited and with EVERYTHING that is going on in my life, I did not even get a chance to count down the days but this was one of my favorite trips to see my family :) It was special in so many ways! I arrived early Friday morning around 9am to have my Momma, Tucker, Mari, Abby and Hallie waiting at the airport! I had the entire day "catching up" with every member of my family. After we chatted and they showed me around their new place, we went to the pumpkin patch, shopped for Halloween costumes and had "girl time" :0) which included popping some popcorn and watching a cute movie with my mom and sisters!
This ended just in time for me to get away with my brother Stan who took me out with his friends to a local concert which I LOVED! I do not get a chance to have one on one time with Stan so this was a very special treat for me that meant so much!!! My sisters tend to take up all my time and attention and this trip was supper hard trying to divide my time with each sibling and trying to give more of my time to my brothers. Yes, I feel I have much work to do with this since I feel I still need to get together with all my brothers. Chris and I miss dearly the time we had with John when he lived out here in Utah. And we both look back at the moments we get with Tyrel, Stan and John. We would love to have Hyrum and Tucker come out sometime along with a weekend with just my parents!
Saturday was our big day.... we were all able to be together for Hallie's baptism which was tender for man of us! I did not expect it but there was a very special spirit that day. Hallie was so sweet and our whole family had the pleasure in singing the opening number which was "Families Can Be Together Forever" I think this is what did me over as it really hit me that Hallie was the last member of our family to be baptized which also completed us before we branch out into our own little families! I am so lucky to have the opportunity to have been at each one of my siblings baptism day and to be apart of of family. We are all so very special and our family would just not be complete without one of them here. The day continued and it was full of fun having our cousins with us (Ira's family) afterwords for a big lunch :) My mom, Mari and I escaped for 45 min. to a Home Decor shop because my momma has been wanting to get Chris and I a house warming gift :) It turned into several house warming gifts because we could not decide on one thing so I was able to get some really fun cute things for our new home!!! They had to continue to the Youth activity along with the older cousins while I returned to the younger ones to color and cut Hallie and Abby's hair! They both turned out so good! When Mari came home I finished hers and the color did not "turn out as planned" She was quit upset because the color ended up being much lighter and more golden then expected but when she woke up, it seemed darken or maybe not be so dramatic. We all had a wonderful Sunday and I got to see Abby give the opening prayer and scripture while Hallie did the talk about her baptism in Primary. I loved so much being there for my family and seeing old friends in the ward I grew up in! It was also a sad and very emotional day for me and family members as I had to return to Utah :( Each visit gets harder and harder for me to face the leave even though I new that I was coming to Oregon from the family visit last June and knowing of their upcoming visit for Thanksgiving in 3 weeks or so. Each visit with my family, I am reminded more and more of how wonderful each of them are and it has been so fun for me to interact with each of them and see their personalities blossom! I had a very memorable visit that I will treasure forever! I already miss everyone so so much that I had to call home again before I ended the night. I am happy to be back home with my husband but sad he had to hold his crying wife at my return while I shared with him of my experiences with my family.

Our MOVE!!!

After Chris and I closed on our house, we were able to sign off our "last minute touches" and retrieve our house keys Thursday!!! Bless our neighbors hearts or shall I say soon to be neighbors! Stephanie and Derek were so willing to join us in our excitement! Chris and I wanted to take advantage of our time off work to go to the Post Office to sign off for our mailbox keys and the City Hall to set up our delivery of our garbage cans etc... while they picked up their fathers truck so that we could pick up all of our purchases at Furniture Row which included our new king size bed frame, mattress/box frame, 2 night stands and 2 full size couches! If that wasn't enough, they also helped us pick up some of our 'big' things from Chris' parents home where we were staying for the last 2 months. It was so enjoyable and to have our new friends hanging out with us was a treat! Chris and I had work the next day but we could not stop, so I we went back for everything else just leaving a change of cloths which we did not end up using because we wore ourselves out and we fell asleep on our bed after we finished setting it up with no sheets or blankets! It was really not all that fun waking up cold in our cloths and not realizing what we did until we woke up for work with only 4 hours of sleep and not the good sleep!

Well we finished our 8 hours of work Friday to rush home right at 5pm to finish unpacking all the things we had brought over! We remembered that we left everything that was in the closet so we went back to the Whitchurch's with the intent of sleeping over there for one more night since we had no blankets or sheets but we stayed up late with our errands and setting up the wall mount for our TV and fell asleep once again at 2 am freezing!!! I wish I could have been upset for not learning our lesson from the night before but I was sure happy it worked out that way because we woke up to the driver of RC Willey delivery for our front loaders and refrigerator at 7am on the dote! We ended up being their first drop which was super exciting news for me since this meant that I could go with Chris to pick up the rental truck! Well, after we were sent from one U-Haul location to a further U-Haul location, we finally got a rental to meet up with are wonderful friends and family who took the time to help us move out of the storage unit we rented. I think we broke record time because it only took the 12 of us 45min. to load and unload our stuff!!! Chris and I can't say THANK YOU enough to express the gratitude we have for all of those who volunteered to help! It made our move so easy and fast!!! I loved having my brother Tyrel with me during this time and as always, Chris' family was all there with their help and support through this whole thing! We enjoyed having our good friends Dustin and Andrea with little Avery (it was just shy of a year when we were helping them move into their first home) and my good friend Jennifer who was also with us when we moved into our little 1100sqft apartment 2 years ago!

After everyone ate pizza and eventually lingered off, Chris and I had the chance to return the rental truck before 3pm with half of our things unpacked and put away before we decided to take a break on our wonderful new couches! Then a break turned into a "short" nap to us not waking up for 15 hours which lead into Sunday morning!!! Were we exhausted??? I think that two days of 4 hours each night with a move tipped us over the edge into hibernation LOL!!! I think I was in High school the last time I slept that long without waking up! Good news was our couches past the "test" and we were able to wake up refreshed :) Later that afternoon, Chris and I finished unpacking the second half of our stuff! Yep, in 2 days we had everything in place with the pictures hung and with the company of our friends Stephanie and Derek :)

We Closed!

Here we are, the time has finally come! Chris and I closed on our very first home today leaving the office with sore hands from the stack of papers we had to sign! I had no idea it would be an hour and 45 minutes of signing and we both feel so good about our decision to build :) We learned SO much over this experience. There is nothing like it to prepare you for all the choices you have to face and to know what decisions to make over others. None the less, Chris and I feel we did a pretty darn good job!!! We went over to our house afterwords and discovered that all the things we asked to be fixed from our walk through Monday had been taken care of so we will be signing those off and picking up our keys etc. tomorrow at 3pm and ready to move in!!! We have been so blessed during this process and the bumps we ran into ended up being for our good!

The Good, Bad and absolutely Terrifying

Days before Chris and I close on our home due to our home being completed 6 weeks early, we took a nice little vacation for four days to San Francisco with Chris' parents! This is a very memorable spot to vacation for the Whitchurch family due to many trips taken in the past so they have wanted to take me for some time!

James had already been in California due to work so Fran flew with us early Thursday morning while James picked us up at the Oakland Airport which immediately reminded me of good old memories from our flight to Hawaii from our honeymoon 2 years ago! We had a good chuckle when Chris and I could point out the very same chairs that we slept on the night we decided to save money before our flight took off early morning ha ha. It was the worst decision ever made on my part but even then I probably would not have changed a thing because I saved a ton of money and we made up the lost sleep on the plane ;) It really is quit the story and was quit the adventure lol :)

Anyway... James took us over to San Fran to check in our baggage at the Hyatt Hotel. It was fun to see all the barges on the way and seeing them load up all the crates of who knows what from China. Since our hotel was along Union Square, that was where we started! All the art was displayed and they even had a movie being filmed which explained the yellow guys with signs protesting against food storage!?! It was so odd for me to hear since I was taught the total opposite all my life. We continued walking the streets and came across one of my favorites!!! H&M baby :) I discovered this store on our New York trip. I think that was when I fell in love with good shopping! I purchased a new red coat and they had more of my favorite turtlenecks and in more colors so Fran and I stocked up on those again he he! Chris found a very stylish European sweater that I love and a hat...if you know me my fetish is over boots and hats, I LOVE THEM!!! Afterwords we stopped at Lori's for lunch which was very fun and then to the Westgate mall. I loved watching the performers on the streets, they were most entertaining and then off we went on the Cable Cars to Lombard Street which was an adventure in itself! For dinner we went to Fino's and then slept oh so well ha ha!

Day two, we started out at the Warf at Pier 39 and 41 I believe and checked out the seals :) We did a little bit of window shopping until I found a hat store! I found many but limited to one lol. We had fish and chips for lunch and then we went on the Blue and Gold Bay cruise out to Golden Gate Bridge!!! We then went to Coit's Tower, walked down the stairs to the Cathedral. James and Chris went back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner while Fran and I walked around the corner from our hotel to another favorite....ZARA'S! For dinner, we went to Ton Kiang which had the best vegetables ever tasted yummm!

Day three we finished up any shopping and met up to go back to the Warf. We walked down the other end to Ghirardelli's to purchase some chocolate :) and checked out the pirate ship! By the time we made our way around the crowds we ate lunch at the Boudin Bakery which was much needed! It was the coldest day on the trip so we had clam chowder soup bowls to warm us up! This to was a very fun place! The bakery smelled SO good and it was fun to see them make all the different animals out of the bread! The airshow started at noon before the Blue Angels came out from 3-4pm. The fog did not allow them to stay out long, around 15-20 min. and they were not able to leave formation much due to the weather coming in but flying over head was fun!!! The airshow before them made up for it and Chris got a few good pictures! Now here was the not so fun part! Trying to get a ride back to the hotel....the bitter cold made us hurt. After a couple hours trying to catch a taxi because we did not want to stay in the line for several hours for the cable cars...we finally took up an offer from a limo driver who was yelling out $10 a person to down town! James accepted the offer as another guy also offered the driver $200 to the airport if he picked up his luggage as well! We were then wondering if we were in for a trip to the airport? Seconds later the driver was convincing another couple that we were just humans and we did not bite as he shoved them into the limo. We quickly discovered that he was trying to fit ten different people at once to make quick money! From the moment we got in and discovered what the driver was doing we all did not feel good about the situation we were in. Not to mention that he had his Iranian mother in the passenger seat who spoke little English. The couple in the back with us were very nice and they were just as nervous as we were. The limo driver was not the nicest guy but tried to cover it up by telling us he loved us afterwords!?!? When the gentlemen who was desperately trying to get the driver to pick up his luggage and quickly take him to the airport since he was still trying to find more people on the streets, we panicked thinking we would be taking a trip to the airport. The couple spoke out first and backed out saying they were not going to the airport and wanted out of the deal. When the gentlemen trying to get to the airport heard that he told us he would drop all of us off first he got out. There was all kinds of bickering but nearly forced the couple back in the limo with us so they said they would just get dropped off at our hotel since they were close. When the driver got back in and bickered back in forth with his mother a short while before he got back out and requested that he charge the couple the $200 if they still want the ride since it was their fault that he lost it, ha!!! He was so rude and then kicked her out because he claimed he did not want her business anymore which I think ended up being okay for them since anyone knows that you can get a $10 taxi ride! We were shocked at how rude he was to the couple and here we were back to the four of us! He began to drive and we felt so trapped! The driver continued bickering with his mother (not in English) clearly upset that he lost the potential money he "had" every now and again jumping in to English convincing us that the people are the stupid ones while still honking and yelling out different prices to people for a ride. He was not going under $100 and then continued getting more upset as people denied is ridiculous price. We were now concerned that he would change the price on us...he then turned towards the Warf obviously seeking out for more people to take downtown. James mentioned that we were the opposite direction and then we heard never ending comments of him avoiding traffic etc. He new we were not convinced clearly as he continued honking and throwing out offers to people while going in circles. He then said that if we don't want his business, we could just get out then, we without thinking twice took it as our window out and said "Lets Get Out Of Here!!!! I can't even remember if Chris waited for the limo to stop completely before opening the door for our escape! We were SO relieved to have escaped not knowing when we would have ever made it home and yet it took the entire night to feel safe! We all felt scared and our bodies felt it and then we realized we were back at square one, the Warf! We walked back up to the taxi line in the freezing cold to discover a massive line and only one taxi coming by every 20 min. We decided that we should probably try and change our dinner plans so Fran and I waited inside Hard Rock. Our table was ready for us before a taxi came along so we all ate slow and tried warming up hoping the crowds would disappear a little in the meantime. When we finished, Chris checked the taxi line to discover that there were 20 or so people in line with another 1-2 hour wait!!! I wanted to cry but James called the taxi service to inform them of the need. I wish we thought of that earlier because 5 min. later when everyone was out of the restrooms the line cut in half and then maybe 10 min later four more taxi cabs pulled in and we made the fourth one!!! As we revealed our horrible night he informed us that the limo driver was illegally driving for the City, that there is a limo driver picking up several girls at a time at bars and then harassing the last one he drops off, that our hotel is black listed plus little misc facts that are good to know if you don't want to ever be black listed ha ha! We also learned that the breaks have to be changed out every week in San Fran because of the hills!!! It was a fun and educational ride that I will never forget and we were all so very happy to be back at our hotel even though it was before 8pm lol! We did not care that our night ended so early because it felt like 11pm!

The last day we were in California went a ton better! We were checked out before 10am taking the rental to Cliff House along the beach for brunch :) I loved it! The restaurant had the walls covered with pictures of all the famous people who ever ate there which had been a ton because it was 99 years old! What I loved about San Fran was how old everything was. I forgot about the old wind mills and building because I love in a newly developed area. The coast felt just as cloudy and cold as the Oregon coast which reminded me of my childhood memories. We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then spent the remaining time at the San Fransisco Museum of Arts before are flight back home!

Shopping Spree :)

I could not say enough how much I needed this weekend! I was able to stay in my comfy clothes and cuddle with me sweet husband all day while watching a wonderful and much needed Conference for two days!!! I love being with Chris and I have always needed to hear the words spoken each Conference. On top of that if it wasn't enough already, Chris took me out on a shopping spree. If it wasn't intended, it sure ended up as one! I was feeling a need for this moment as I had not purchased anything for myself since our New York trip, well and a couple things in Florida. We had been saving so hard for our home that I needed a little something to put on myself to get excited about! My sweet sweet husband has gone far beyond the title of a wonderful husband and friend to me! He is my best friend and he is irreplaceable which also brings comfort to know that we are sealed for time and all eternity!
While the men all went to the Priesthood session, Fran, Annie, Britt and I all tried to make the first 100 to Deseret Book. Good news, we did and it was so fun! We were given a free plaque and 5x7 picture of our choice :) We enjoyed the time out as girls and stopped at Tai Pan on the way home. We decided to avoid the lines and wrap up dinner before the boys returned. This is my favorite part... I always feel left out because I think they get to hear the best stories during Priesthood but am grateful to have them share the stories/lessons over dinner as a family :) Sunday we celebrated Annie's 18th birthday and we surprised Fran on her birthday last Thursday when James came home a day early for her special day! It was a fabulous weekend full of wonderful moments!

House Update!

Here we are... the days are not only flying by for Chris and I but for Chris' family as well. As they see the progress they to are counting down the days that we will be out of the house which will cause a level of sadness/goodness as well. Chris and I have loved being at the Whitchurch's home for the last month 1/2 developing a closer relationship with the girls and filling Fran's home with more family members :) Maybe it is the knowledge of their need to move to California that makes it hard. Family has always been very important to me so when we found out that James' new position at work has been transferred to California, it was so devastating to me. The thought that the only family I had in Utah was leaving and we just contracted into a home created a feeling of abandonment and sadness. I felt stuck here and my only hope now is that my family moves closer to us and quickly :0) The Whitchurch's have brought me in and have made me feel so at home over the last 3 years that the couple years of being alone here in Utah evaporated but I reflected right back to those empty feeling that I had before I met Chris when James told me they have to move. I am coming to grips with the idea knowing how hard it is for both James living out in Cali and only seeing us on the weekends and for Fran who will be away from us all other then Britt but what has really helped me is knowing that they will be retiring here in Utah so there is hope for their return while we use there place as a vacation spot ha ha ;) I also remembered that Chris is my family and having him in my life has brought me much joy and much strength to endure life lessons we face and will be facing in the future.

On another note, the house has completely skyrocketed towards completion! Since our last update of the tile etc., the cabinets and counter tops have been installed, the concrete has been completed for the driveway, patio and steps including plastering, the shower and garden tubs cultured marble was done in the master bathroom with the shower frame, the granite kitchen was completed with the installation of the appliances that we purchased from them, all the hardware was put in along with the mirrors, the painters came back to touch up and fill in the cracks between the walls and baseboards, the plumbers came back to install the sinks and toilets so we now have running water and light because the electricians came back to install the light fixtures throughout the home so we don't have to walk through the home with our iPhone LOL! Now your thinking what we are thinking.....'what's left?' Well the closing date is 2 weeks away and all that we can think of is installing the garage door and painting the garage door and front door, the weather strip for the front door, installing the carpet and installing the speakers for our audio system which will be done next I believe, they will grind up the dirt around the house, oh and the cleaning crew comes in to make it spic n' span! Anything else I am missing???

Shopping and Killers Concert!!!

Today was a very good day that started out with me waking up to Tyrel's phone call informing me that he was pulling in! I volunteered to keep Tyrel company when he told me he was needing to deliver some tickets to the BYU game but I was not sure when Tyrel was driving down to Provo so I waited for his call to find that I needed to jump into my cloths and accompany him for an hour! I love my brother and I loved having the time to ourselves to chat and talk about life! It is also Hallie's 8th Birthday today!!! I was happy to say that I remembered to mail out her birthday card and I am even more excited for the purchase in my plane ticket to go to her baptism next month!!!

Afterwords, Tyrel dropped me to my wonderful husband and we shopped on line to see if there were any bed spreads we both liked due to the one we really wanted being totally sold out :( They only had the Queen size left and let me tell you how tempted I was to trade out our new King bed for a King because I wanted the bedspread so bad LOL! Non the less we were able to keep our King bed frame because we found one that Chris loved and I love, especially when I purchase some beautiful rose red sheets to match!!! So it is on the way :)

Next!!!! It was time to get all dolled up for the KILLERS CONCERT!!! We were offered a free ticket last night from our soon to be friendly neighbors and then received notice this afternoon that they were given a second ticket to offer us. Chris would have loved to go and I would have loved to have him with me but he and his dad already made plans to go to the new Bruce Willis movie that came out so he kindly gave up the ticket for sister Britt! It was a joy to take her out with me and get her out on the town! I can't tell you how much I love going to concerts! I would totally go every 6 months to have my fix ;) Maybe some day when I am not focused on everything else I need to save for ha ha....... ya, I don't know that the day would come but I can certainly say that I had a wonderful time and I have much THANKS for our new friends and neighbors to be in a month :)

After our return from the concert, my cute as can be husband was awaiting my attention and we decided to go on a midnight drive to grab some grub from good old Wendy's and yes I purchased a yummy root beer float!!!

Good times~

Friday night I had the pleasure of meeting up with old girlfriends from Oregon! Jennifer Andrus picked me up from work and I noticed right off the directions to Jennifer Long's place due to her living near where we are building our home! In fact they are in the Pilgrim's Landing 2nd ward and we are in the 1st ward, well at least until January when everyone from Thanksgiving Point is moved into our newly built chapel! With the thought of our new home, Jennifer wanted to see our place since she has been away all summer long. Afterwords, we arrived at Jennifer Long's place and played with little Cohen while chatting and catching up! I loved having this opportunity to hang out with some girl friends and discovered that this is a much needed thing for us all but I needed to cut the night short since Chris and I also had my older brother Tyrel with Jessi and baby Ty over to stay the night with us!!! I love having them over and spending time with family! It was the cutest thing playing with my nephew all night and watching him watch Daddy and uncle Chris play pool :) This has been my favorite stage with little Ty! I can't wait to be a mommy some day and receive the blessing of having little children in our home! The good news is, we get to have them over for the next two weekends!!!! Jessi is doing really good! We painted each other's toes because she is 7 months pregnant and it gets a little difficult to paint your own if you know what I mean ;)

Since we all stayed up till after 1am, Chris and I did not get the early start that we had hoped for but we were able to show Tyrel and Jess our home with the new cabinets and counter tops that were installed over the last week! Afterwords we split ways so that Chris and I could get a few hours of work in while Tyrel & Jess went to some yard sales around Draper. Once they were finished we met in Provo to hang out and grab a bite to eat before the BYU game started. At that point, Chris and I went back to RC Willey to purchase our new refrigerator! We were really pleased to get the Labor Day sale on it too! We then headed back up North to the South town mall to pick up some new slacks for Chris and ran into more deals! They were already on sale so we purchased three new pair and when we checked out, the cashier had a coupon for an additional $20 off! It was quit the day and if it wasn't enough, we decided to stop in at Furniture Row to look at some couches because we were not 'totally' pleased with RC Willey's selection. We looked like a couple silly kids plopping on all the couches that looked appealing but needed a test of comfort ha ha :) and then we came across a couple package deals that they had going on that ended this weekend. They were so good that we had a hard time passing it up but there was no need for all the tables that came with it and I was not "in love" with the couches. I asked if there were any more deals and the salesman said that there was a package deal for a couch and love seat but they only had the one color option, so I took a look and ended up loving them! Chris and I also loved the color! The salesmen over heard me say that I would rather have two couches of a love seat so he said that he would only charge an additional $30 to exchange the love seat for another couch and you know what that meant!?! We could not pass up the crazy deal and were SOLD!!!! So here we are! We have been blessed with running into all these sales that has enabled us to purchase much of what we need to furnish our home!

Blessings and a Promotion!

While so many companies are trying to survive the terrible economy over the last year, Chris and I continue to give thanks for our many blessings. Chris and I have so much to be grateful for and we know that our Father in Heaven is looking out for us and our families. I can't help but notice all the wonderful opportunities that have come our way up to this point in our lives.

After I was let go at Central last September due to the difficulty of the auto industry surviving the economy drop and an instant rehire from HIT the day after, Chris and I have survived the lay offs and Chris has received two promotions over this last year. Last December Chris was promoted from Team Lead to a Supervisor and we just found out today that Chris is being promoted to a Management position over the design department. This new position brings us both joy and a new level of security as we both seek to plan out the next year but it also brings challenges to Chris' new position with the continued struggle through this difficult economy. I know that Chris has much preparation as he begins to clean up areas of the design department but I want him to know that I am so proud of him! We both continue to pray that HIT will be able to succeed through this economical struggle and that Chris will soon feel the blessings that this promotion can bring into both our lives.

This also means that Chris moved back to the department I work in. Last time he was a supervisor so I was still able to report to the manager while everyone else reported to Chris but now we do not have that option. Even then, HR did not like how close we worked together having a husband work over his wife but the company is still not wanting to move me from the design department at this time. We will wait and see if changes arise for me in the future but for the mean time I remain completing the tasks for the design department while I continue reporting to Lance who was moved to cover a special project for the company.

While all these changes have happened, Chris and I continue to be thankful for the opportunity to build a beautiful home together and receive the 8k from the government and recent news of an extra 4k from the state! As we prepare ourselves for a new chapter, we see and have seen in the past how things fall into place as we trust in the Lord. No matter how things work out since they never go as planned, Chris and I know that we will always be okay and we will always have each other!

Exciting Mail!

Yesterday Chris was looking through the mail from what we received over the weekend and he started getting excited for me because it was in regards to my school loan for Cosmetology. It was a small monthly bill every month that was automatically pulled and we did not even notice it so Chris was not worried about getting it paid but I hated having it. When we looked into building our home I was reminded of it and I was able to see how much I had left to pay. When I discovered that it was a little over $800 or so I told Chris that I wanted to just pay it all off. He said it is no big deal but if I wanted we could before we close on the home. Again, I forgot all about it but now here we are with the fantastic news!!! We are now just weeks before we close and we receive a letter that says they are waiving the last $700 and closing it out because I never gave them any late fees or something! So I guess they reword people who always pay the bills ha ha! I am just so happy I did not pay the rest of it a couple months ago and listened to my husband!

Other exciting news is the tile (entry way and kitchen) and vinyl (both bathrooms and mud room) are completed today!!! The cabinets are to be delivered tomorrow for installation on Wednesday!!! I can't tell you how giddy I am over the tile and vinyl :) Chris and I both thought we remembered our tile being more cream with a little bit of brown and we had no idea what the vinyl looked like but the tile was darker then we thought which makes us so happy and the vinyl looks fabulous! So we did 18 inch tile in the kitchen and the 12 inch in the entry way, above are pictures of the entrance from the front door and then the entrance from the garage into the mud/laundry room so you have an idea what they look like!

Stucco and Stone!!!

Here we are, now the stucco and the stone work is completed and we are super happy with it!! The funny thing about building a home is that Chris and I have forgotten the shades in colors of our selections... We had to go back and actually ask which exterior option we picked last May lol :) So we had a general idea but everything is a little different when it is actually done because your looking at little samples when you pick it all out. Next is the tile work and we are curious to see if it is as light as we remember.... time will tell!