Home Update!

We had our 4-way meeting with Chet on the 19th and everything passed and looked great! Since then, the sheetrock, taping and the interior walls have been textured. Tim said that the trim carpenters will install the moldings and shelves on Monday! With all the progress that is happening with the interior, they have also been working on the exterior! They have put up the scaffolding and chicken wired the house for the stucco to be completed this coming week!

Over the last couple weeks we have been running into our "future" neighbors more and more, well just about every night now ha ha! We are getting pretty antsy about getting into our home now with all the progress that has continued and the development of new friends! Chris and I both feel really good about the neighborhood we chose to be at for our future children. We are surrounded with good people and very young families so we fit right in! Again, we feel so blessed to be where we are at. We have so much to be grateful for and I hope to always recognize the good in life even when times get hard.

2 Year Anniversary~

This year we kept it pretty simple. With the building of our new home that will be completed soon, we did not have the opportunity to do anything huge...

We had already given each other our gifts lol I know, we are horrible about waiting. Christmas is torturous for us he he he :) None the less, Chris and I were able to enjoy what we got each other a few days early! Chris has been so good at picking out perfume for me and I had ran out of the two bottles I had so he got me some Dolce & Gabbana perfume!!! I LOVE them both so much, best yet! They are called "light blue" and "D&G 3 L'IMPERATRICE" The funny thing is, Chris had bought me my first bottle of perfume for Christmas of 2006 and it happened to be the same one that James bought for Fran shortly after ha ha ha! And then when Annie smelled the bottle light blue, she said that dad bought mom this and we were thinking "Again!" Surely enough this is bottle number 2 that Fran and I have to switch off and on with during events lol. There are times that we both just smell the same ha ha :) Like father like son, they just like the same smells! Speaking of father like son, James collects watches and this is something that Chris wants to do as well. I bought his first really nice one as his wedding gift from me in 2007 which was a black fossil watch with a diamond towards the top of the face and to say the least, James happened to have the exact same one too!!! I don't know what it is! I just have pretty cool in laws!!! I then was able to get his second one this last Christmas in 2008 which had a brown face since I love brown and I had flooded is closet with autumn tons ha ha, but for our anniversary this year, I purchased a beautiful white faced fossil watch that he to LOVED!

We did after all take time to go to dinner at Goodwoods after work today. I loved it! Chris wanted to talk about the last two years of marriage such as what we appreciate most about each other, our funniest moments so far, things we have over come and grown from etc. so we took our time having this moment and freshened our thoughts and feelings of appreciation. When James text me to wish us a Happy Anniversary since he was working in California, I told him about our evening and he replied with, "Marriage can be like a beautiful pair of new shoes. They are pretty and you get lots of compliments but they can pinch and make your feet sore but over time they are comfortable and become a joy to wear all of the time." I loved it and feel that it is so true! Over the last three years of our relationship, I have seen how far we have come and become one. Like, I said, it was simple but lovely and I am happy to say that we are very happily married!!!

Uinta trip to Ruth Lake!

Chris and I had a wonderful weekend with our rock climbing friends, Matt and Sarah Nelson. We met up with them right after work to the east side of the Rocky Mountains to a new world of beauty! I could not believe how absolutely lucky we were to live in this incredible state! I have developed more of a love and appreciation for Utah! As we drove through Heber and a few more small towns before entering the Unitas I saw more and more of my home town. There were so many trees and lakes that took me right back to Oregon. So than I thought of the beautiful red rock and the feel of the Oregon coast was right in my own back yard! All I need is the actual coast ha ha I guess I can't have it all!
Once we finished our peaceful drive, we arrived and started our hike in. I was so lucky, Chris was so good to pack everything and leaving me to carry the camelbak. Chris and I were in ah of the beauty! When we made it to Ruth Lake it was picture perfect, it looked as if it was made for a movie! You had the mountains and rock with the surrounding trees and lakes perfectly placed in scattered places around you. We made it right in time to set up camp and get a fire started before the sun went down for the evening. We packed foil dinners full of veggies and potatoes. Matt and Sarah brought some Salmon to share and Matt tried to catch a trout with no luck. We had a great time talking all through the night getting to know each other more and more till we finished off the night with a good nights rest.

I was the first to wake up Saturday morning around 8am so I decided to walk around the lake a bit and returned to Matt fishing again.

The fishing went on till noon, we all took naps after eating breakfast and then Matt finally caught a trout! He got his fix and we all decided to go rock climbing which went on till 4:30. I loved watching everyone climb!

I was so proud of my husband climbing up a 5.10b! It is a fun activity that we started to get into a year ago with Matt but all we have really done was in door climb. This was my first time climbing outdoors so when it was my turn to climb I put on my gear and climbed up half way before I realized that I forgot to change my shoes because I was nervous about not being able to do it! I was going up in my Nike's! I asked if I should climb back down to put my rock climbing shoes on and they were all like, not if your doing it in your Nike's! I thought I would finish up the wall as far as I could and then actually made it all the way up without rock climbing shoes on a 5.9 ha ha! After climbing, we hiked back into camp to gather our things and head out.

On our way back we stopped at Granny's in Heber to spoil ourselves with shakes, fries and a grilled chicken sandwich! Chris and I had so much fun, it was a perfect weekend after a long week of work :) Everyone needs to get away every now and again from the go go go day to day lifestyle we live in. Attached are some pictures of our trip!

Thank you!!!

I want to take this time to give thanks for all the Whitchurch family! I have the best in laws :) Chris and I moved out of our apartment after spending our first two years of marriage at the Allegro apartments over this last weekend! While feeling the emotions of spending your last days at the place we developed many wonderful memories. Our only memories as husband and wife while moving into a storage unit/Whitchurch home and being tied up with the progress of our new home, I can't tell my family how greatly appreciative Chris and I are to have their support and help!

Aaron is a true sweetheart, he not only helped us move to the very end on Saturday but he also sacrificed his own room so that Chris and I can move right in before he and Josh moves down to Provo on Thursday. The whole family helped and they all sacrificed their Friday night for us and yes, it was a sacrifice for teenage girls and brothers in their early 20's on a Friday night so thank you thank you thank you for all your help!

Chris and I are truly enjoying this time we have to be close to the family. Some may say that it can be difficult but I love that Chris has spent all evening with his brothers! Since we were all moved in yesterday afternoon, I was able to shop for Chris' anniversary gift and Chris and I also got to go to the neighborhood BBQ that was held where we are building our new home! Britt was the only one left at home bored out of her mind so Chris and I were able to take her with us! After we finished up at the BBQ, we took Britt to the movies and I loved having her with us! We saw The Traveling Wife! How grateful I am for these opportunities to be with family and adding to memories that we will definitely look back on!

Home Update~

All day at work I was so excited to stop by at our house after work since Chris and I saw that they were working on the roof early this morning as we drove by on the freeway! So here is the update on our home! We are meeting with the electrical guy tomorrow morning to plan out the audio system etc. before they get there to complete all the electrical for our 4 way meeting Wed. morning. Chris and I are so excited for the progress and how fast they are moving along.

As we walked through the house we discovered that they were completed with the framing, heating, plumbing (including the tubs)! They completed the roof and they have the windows in the garage to be installed tomorrow! How fun! This is when the really fun stuff starts! We will now begin to see more of what we picked out for our home!!! Above is a picture of a proud and excited husband inside of the doorway of his new home!

St. George :)

Chris and I also have a LOVE for St. George! We were all packed and ready Friday morning before work so that we could leave from Provo but then realized that I forgot a few things so we decided to go back home to pick them up. As we passed the horrid traffic going south, we decided it would be a bad idea to sit in it so I came up with this grand idea of driving through the night ha ha! Chris ended up getting a call from the apple store letting us know that our laptop was ready to be picked up so he dropped me off so I could go to bed early while he goes up to SL for our laptop. Well, I didn't go to sleep but I was almost there when Chris returned, ooops! Since he was back home, I decided I wanted to stay up with him and we watched "The Natural" Yes, I am a fan of Robert Redford and I love baseball! That left me with 3 hours of sleep and I really did not think I would get up at 3 AM but we did so I pounded down a Rockstar and off we went! I so wanted to take a picture of Chris snuggled up in the passenger seat with the blanket and four pillows! He was so cute and he looked so cozy but I was afraid of waking him! It was perfect, I had the road to myself and my ipod so that the music would not keep Chris up. I would plan a road trip like this any day and Chris would too! He really did not mind at all waking up at Zion's! He slept like a baby and woke up to a beautiful drive in the canyons!

We arrived at 7 am just in time for breakfast and hike up Angels Landing before the weather got to warm. After finishing up our hike around 1pm, we checked in our hotel and finished the night with our family! There were 13 of us that decided to go bowling and I beat everyone the first game! I couldn't believe it!!! But I also loved every minute of it ;) It was only the second time that I got lucky in getting a higher score then Chris! We all had a great time together and we do not get together with all the cousins all that often so this was such a treat for us!

Now for the main event! Our cousin Aaron received his mission call to the Portland Oregon Mission and we had the pleasure in supporting him on his farewell talk! I can't tell you enough how incredible he did on his talk! It was charming and touching.... maybe because the topic was on the gratitude and importance of parents but he did so well! He will be such a great missionary and Chris and I wish him all the best!!! All in all, Chris and I had a wonderful weekend and we did not want it to end!

Just because....

I have the most wonderful husband ever! Today was just like any other ordinary day other than the generous gift given from my husband. I received a bouquet of beautiful red roses for no special occasion other than my husband wanting to tell me how much he cares! The best reason for gift giving.... although Chris takes advantage 100% for any opportunity to "give" on the holidays, birthdays and anniversary :) I am one very lucky girl, Chris has been so amazing and so good at letting me know that he is grateful to have me as his wife over the last two years! Thank you for the flowers, I love love love them!!!

A day of moving!

While Chris was at Lake Blanche this weekend, I decided to take advantage of the time I had to pack! Last weekend Chris went with me to reserve a storage unit, pick up boxes, tap and some bins so that I would be ready to start our move. I stayed up till 2 am last night which was great since I slept in till noon today lol! Chris called to tell me they were on there way so I got ready for the day to finish our errands. Chris was such a good sport and Josh was so kind to help us out after their long hike following very little sleep plus very hot weather. We loaded up all the boxes I packed last night and took them to the storage unit following a trip to the DI. It was so nice to get rid of what we were not taking with us to get a better idea of what we still needed to move! A half empty apartment equals a productive weekend!