House

It has been pretty eventful this past month with our house.  A week or so ago Kyle woke up early to smelling smoke and running around the house trying to find where it was coming from.  He woke me up and we finally found that the plug in our laundry room had been burning/smoldering all night long.  The scary thing is we actually smelt the smoke before we went to bed and figured it was the washer so we unplugged it.  To our surprise we almost lost our house.  We were very lucky that the only damage was to the plug.  We still don't know for sure what really happened and hope it doesn't happen again.

On a much better note we have been painting our house.  We choose a darker brown than our last house and did an accent wall in each room.  My parents are coming down for Christmas to see our house so we worked hard to get the room finished.  The only thing we have left  are the base boards, closet door, and the door into the room.  That will be in the future when we have all the other rooms painted.  I think the room turned out awesome!  I LOVE the red wall.  I have wanted a red wall forever and Kyle was dragging his feet and once it was done he loved the color too.  The bedroom set helps finish the room as well.  I can't wait to finish all the other rooms.

The other side of the room.  I wanted to show the dresser.  I love the blinds as well.

Our laundry room.  Kyle put in the cupboards which are so nice to have.  We really want to put in a different sink as well, but that will be in the future when we save up enough money.

The walls have paint =)

After Kyle finished the laundry room he started the bathroom.  It is amazing how paint changes a room.  It looks so nice.  We even got our other bathroom finished but its not worth putting a picture of it on here.

It has been alot of fun watching our house change and see our vision happen.  I can't wait for summer to come and work on our yard.  I just wish we had alot of money so we could get it all done now.  I'm very thankful that Kyle is so good at painting and handy work. 

Christmas

Our first Christmas at our new house.  It go too cold so we didn't get the lights on our house so we went with just the deer in the front yard and lights around the front door.  We were surprised that no one in our neighborhood put up lights.

 Our Christmas tree

For Christmas this year we must have been pretty good cuz we got alot of things for Christmas.  We got a new house, Kyle got an air compressor and a barbeque grill, I got a kitchen aide and my piano tuned, and the dogs got some greenies.  (Their breath needed some major help).

New House

In September Kyle and I got a wild hair to go look at a house for sale.  It was pretty nice and got the ball rolling in the decision we wanted to sell our house to get a bigger house. A month after we made the decision a nice couple bought our house.  We couldn't believe that we were able to sell our house so quick.  So a house hunting we went.

Our old house

We looked at 10 or so houses and kept going back to this one house.  Kyle had picked this house as the one he wanted.  Our realtor Amy was so much fun and awesome.  She would point out the flaws in the house and also the good things. The house I wanted looked awesome in the picture but I didn't even want to step into the house.  It was trashed and nasty from animals being in there.  So we put an offer on the house and they took it!

New house!

We LOVE this house!  It is just over 3,000 square feet where our old one was just over 1,100 square feet.  We have an unfinished basement, 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and a HUGE kitchen.  I LOVE MY KITCHEN!  We also have a laundry room, a dining room, living room and a HUGE garage.  Kyle loves the garage.  We can fit all of our vehicles and our razor.  Our house is also on a half acre.  It has everything we wanted in a house.  

Part of our living room

  

My awesome kitchen

 

Kitchen and dining room

We are so excited about our house.  We were able to sell and buy our house at the same time and was able to move right into our house before we became homeless.  Plus we had awesome weather.  We were able to move in two days.  We were truly lucky to have everything go so well. We can't wait for spring to come so we can finish our back yard and plant some trees.

O

For my birthday present this year Kyle got me tickets to see O at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  I have always wanted to see this show and I was so EXCITED to finally see it.  We went down Saturday morning and went to the truck races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  It was so HOT!!!  I thought it was going to be alittle chilly and was glad I changed from pants to capris. We did have fun and the people watching is always a good time.  After the race was over we went to check into our hotel.  We definately splurged cuz our room was AWESOME! We stayed at the VDara Hotel.  It is one of my new favorites now.  The rooms are all suites and there is no casino.

 The water show at the Bellagio from our room.

 Yes I'm obsessed with the Bellagio.  It has always been my favorite place in Vegas.

 Water show.

 I was so impressed with the water show this time.  They had fog in all the shows and it was so cool.  They played the titanic song and with the fog it looked like lightening.

The view from our room.

When we got back from the races and was able to cool off we went over to the Bellagio and had dinner.  Then we got ready for the show.  I couldn't wait.  I had been waiting 10 years for this.  I LOVED every second of it.  The people are so talented.  It was so cool to see them dive into a huge tank of water.  My favorite parts were they would be on these swings and diving into the water and at one point there was a ship that came out that had parallel bars and they were way above the water and did flips and such.  I could go on and on but I won't.  You just need to see the show or yourself.  IT IS AMAZING!!!

Thank you Kyle for taking me to Vegas to see O!!!

Turning 30

This year I turned 30.  Yup I did and so far I'm ok with it.  I loved my 20's and I'm hoping my 30's are just as good.  For my birthday I didn't have to work so I cooked all day long. I loved it!  I made everything for Cafe Rio salads.  I made the cilantro rice, black beans, salsa, tomatillo ranch, and shredded beef.  I also made homemade icecream and apple crisp with apples from my friends tree.  I also made apple streusal cheescake bar to take to work the next day.  I love to cook.  If I have an idea of what to make I love it, but if I don't then I'm not a fan of cooking.  My birthday was very relaxing and I got to do what I wanted.  Of course I slept in too.  Kyle got me tickets to O at the Bellagio in Vegas and I can't wait to go see it.  I've always wanted to go to that show.

This is what I saw when I went to work the next day.  It made me laugh so hard!  My friends Angie, Tom, and Leslee decorated the lounge with confetti that said 30!, black streamers, and cobwebs.  Angie even stuffed a ton of confetti in my shoes!  It actually took me acouple hours to figure out she had done that!

My awesome cake!

The whole day was awesome!  If turning 30 was this easy and fun I can't wait for other birthdays to happen.

Taylor Swift Concert

For my nieces Rylee and Holly their moms got them tickets to see Taylor Swift.  Tracy also invited me to go and I'm so glad she did.  Taylor Swift puts on the most amazing concert I've ever been too.  Plus she had one of my most favorite bands NEEDTOBREATHE opening for her. 

I rode of with Carrie and Holly and we met Tracy and Rylee at the hotel.  We then walked over to the mall and got us something to eat and headed over to the Energy Solutions Arena for the concert.  Tracy went with me to get a NEEDTOBREATHE T-shirt but the line was forever long.  I was hoping that the T-shirts would be split away from Taylor Swifts but they weren't.  As we were standing in line the first opening band started.  I thought it was NEEDTOBREATHE and was totally bummed that I was missing the band I was looking forward too.  Well Tracy was AWESOME and worked her way to the front and asked a person to buy me my T-shirt.  They agreed and I was SUPER EXCITED!  Tracy you ROCKED!!!  So after I got my T-shirt we got back to our seats and found out it was a different band starting and they were really good.  I don't know the name tho.  Then the time finally came and I got to see NEEDTOBREATHE play.

 None of these pictures are very good and I don't know why but I atleast got some.  This is the stage NEEDTOBREATHE started on.  I wish they had sang longer.

 Rylee and Holly. 

There were screens on both sides of the stage and if you sent your picture they put it up.  So I tried to be the cool aunt and get the picture up on the screen but we ran out of time and didn't get it up there =(

 Taylor Swifts stage.

I loved how she changed outfits and some of the scenery of the stage.  I was amazed how fast they did it too.  She sang every song but one from her Speak Now album and probably around 5 to 7 songs from her other albums.  It was awesome!

Taylor Swift sang Back to December.

She had her white piano come up from the floor for this number.  I was amazed how talented she really is. She can sing, play the guitar, piano, ukulele, and dances with her dancers.

 Taylor Swift had this tree from down from the ceiling and she sat there and played her guitar and ukulele.  It was cool that she even played a song by a band from Provo that she really liked.  She even took the time to walk from the stage to this tree and hug fans. 

 More stage changing. These trees came from the ceiling.

 Taylor Swift sang Love Story as her closing song and she got in this carriage and it went over the crowd.

Taylor Swift over by us during the last song.

There were so many neat things about this concert.  The dancers were amazing and very talented.  The dressing changes were fast and amazing and her band was so talented.  I was surprised by how young the crowd was.  There were parents taking their kids home before the concert was even over.  It was fun seeing how surprised Taylor Swift was at how the crowd responded to her. I can't wait for her to put out another album and go to her concert again. 

Catch Up

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog and we have been up to alot of things.  Back in September we finally made it up the mountain for acouple camping trips.  The first weekend the weather was so hot but really nice.  We went on some great razor rides and the dogs loved it!  We had such a great time we went back to the same spot the next weekend.  Boy did mother nature have a different plan for that weekend.  It rained on the way up the mountain and it even hailed.  The rest of the weekend was pretty cold and we figured every day we would wake up to snow but thankgoodness we never did.  We still had a great time tho.  I can't believe it took us all summer to finally go camping up the mountain.  

 The view from our trailer.  It was so pretty up there.  We had camped here before but only once.  I would love to go there again.  It was less crowded and I still had cellphone service so I could still play on my phone. (hahaha that made Kyle very mad but he had his satellite TV so I figured I could use my phone too).

 I planted this bush a year or so ago and it acted like it wasn't doing very well.  Then all of a sudden this beautiful flower appeared.  I wish it had lasted alot longer tho.  It is Rose of Sharon.  I hope next year I get more flowers on it.

Once again Keeta couldn't help herself from chasing a bee again and got stung.  This time only half her face was swollen but she acted very differently.  Yes I am one of those pet owners who called their Vet at their house to get some ideas to help her.  I would have taken her in and paid the emergency fee too if the Vet had told me to take her in, but he told me what to do and the next day I went in to get more pills for her for when this happens again cuz she just won't learn!!!  Anyways, pictures never to it justice but she looked pretty sad. =)

Speed Boat adventure

Sunday morning had finally came and we were sad.  We had such a great time in San Diego that I was ready to move there.  Our last adventure was to go on a speed boat tour of the harbor in front of our hotel.  Kyle was excided to drive the boat and we were both excited to see the things we had already seen on land but was now able to see it on the water.  I can't remember our first stop was called but the government ran it.  We could only go so close before we would get introuble.  But over there were the sea lions and seagulls.

Us in the boat.

 The sealions.  There were so many and some of them were in the water right next to us but I couldn't get a good picture in time.

 Seagulls and sealions.

 We rode over to the Coronado Bridge and turned towards downtown San Diego. 

 This is Seaport Village that we went to on Friday night.

The USS Midway.  It was a huge ship and I still couldn't get the whole thing in the picture.  We drove the boat right under the front of it.  It was so weird to be that close to a boat.  Then we went over by the Maritime museum and saw the other boats we had gone on.  That was the last part of the tour and we drove back to our hotel.  The tour was short but it was really neat to see everything from the water.  I would recommend this tour to anyone.

Then it was time to head for Vegas.  We got about 30 minutes out of San Diego and gassed up the car and all of a sudden it wasn't driving right.  We drove around trying to find an auto shop that we could hook a computer up to it to see if we could still drive to Vegas.  Well we found a shop that could do that and after we got the codes the car died.  It wouldn't turn on.  So we were stuck at the mechanic shop waiting for a mechanic to look at it and fix it.  6pm came and we were told we needed some parts that only come from the dealership and of course they were closed on a Sunday and so we called my uncle and aunt again and they rescued us.  We stayed with them that night and they showed us around the place they live.  What a beautiful place.  In the morning we got went to the dealership and got the parts and went back to the car so Kyle could fix it.  After we got it to run we decided we better go back to the dealership and get extra parts incase it breaks down again.  Well on the way to the dealership the car started to die again!  We get the parts, fix it, and it runs so we decided to run for home before the car could think of dieing again.  We drove all the way home Monday and made it.  We were so glad to see our house and our dogs!  Man were the dogs super excited to see us.  I think they thought we had left them for good.  We were very thankful for my uncle and aunt who took such great care of us and came to our rescue.  I don't know what we would have done without them!

Overall we had a great time in San Diego.  The ride there and back wasn't our favorite but we hope to go back there again someday.  Maybe we will fly next time =)

Museum Day

On Saturday we went to the USS Midway Museum.The USS Midway was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, the lead ship of her class, and the first to be commissioned after the end of World War II. Active in the Vietnam War and in Operation Desert Storm.  Also this ship was the largest in her class in 1945.  The ship was huge!  Plus it had alot of planes, jets, and helicopters on it.  The ship became a museum June 2004.  There is alot of cool history about this ship and if you wanna know it either go there or google it =).

This is one of the planes inside the museum.  Sorry the picture isn't the best.

The back end of the USS Midway.

 The top of the USS Midway

 After we went to the USS Midway we went down the street to Maritime Museum of San Diego.  There were a bunch of ships that looked like pirate ships and acouple submarines.  We went on the ship Star of India.  It is the oldest ship in the world that still maintains a regular sailing schedule. The picture above is the HMS Surprise.  This ship was used in the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.  It is a replica of a late 18th century Royal Navy frigate.

 Kyle at the wheel.

This is of the B-39 Soviet attack submarine. That is one of the "doorways" inside the submarine. I have no idea how people can be on these. There isn't any room and you have to crawl through the openings and you needed to be short to stand up in there. It was cool to go inside but I got very claustrophobic. We also went on the Berkeley, Medea and the USS Dolphin submarine. The USS Dolphin recorded a depth record for operating submarines that still stands and that was in 1968.

After we had been to these museums we called my uncle Russell and aunt Connie and went out to dinner with them in Old Town San Diego. It was amazing mexican food. Right next to the restuarant there was some shopping. All the pots and jewlery were handmade by these people from South America. The things were so neat. After all that they drove us around showing us some beautiful parts of San Diego.  They took us to where most of the surfers go.  It was BEAUTIFUL.  The picture below is of that place.

 This is the pier by South Mission Beach.

Us at the end of the pier.

We went back to the hotel to get some sleep cuz we were going on a speed boat ride in the morning and then heading back to Vegas to stay at the Hard Rock Hotel and then home on Monday.

Seaport Village

After being at SeaWorld we just wanted to relax.  We hung out by the pool and when we had had enough we headed down to Seaport village which was downtown San Diego and it was so cute.  Tons of little shops and good places to eat.  We ate at a place that made gyros and it was SO GOOD!  I could eat there every day.  We walked around looking at the shops and then at 10 they had fireworks.  Every night during the summer they have fireworks over by the Coronado bridge.

We found a shop that sold hats and were trying them on.  It was fun trying on goofy hats.

 As we were going back to our car they had horse and carriage rides.  I wanted to go on one so we did.  They guy was so nice and he actually lived in Ogden Utah for awhile.   We can into people who had connections to Utah all over the place.  It was a short tour of the area by Seaport Village.  We did go by the bar that they filmed the bar scene in Top Gun and that was cool.  After the tour we headed back to the hotel to sleep cuz we had another big day of things to see.