Happy Thanks

I don't have a lot of Thanksgiving decorations, but I love what I do have! Thanks to Ti Pan Trading. Heres about all I did for Thanksgiving. I actually am way more excited to decorate for Christmas this year. We have been in our house for a full year now and my decorating mode has definately improved. Were planning a trip to Hobby Lobby to achive maximum holiday spirit soon.

5 things I am missing...

1. My bestest friend Linnae. She lives in Texas, and should live in Utah next door to me.

2. My San Diego trip that was canceled because the Feds didn't get me my $8000 dollars for buying a house yet.

3. The feeling of summer being really long, I can't believe it is almost over.

4. Having all my friends close by. I don't miss college, just all my friends there! Now we're scattered.

5. The motivation to work out, I have none. But want to. But alas, I probably wont.

110 In The Shade

I recently got to experience a little bit of Hollywood, wait no, Broadway. Well okay it was both. I had recieved tickets to the Hale Center Theatre's production of "110 In the Shade". It is the musical version of "The Rain Maker". I have a very good friend of the family who works there and I had heard that Audra McDonald (currently from ABC's Private Practice) was staring in it. I got all star struck and talked to our family friend. We got tickets!!
I took my husband and my sister. Let me tell you we had a blast. It was so fun! I wish that I could see Broadway all the time, Utah just really doesn't have the appreciation for the Arts as much as other places. After it was over we waited around to meet Audra. We are all huge "Private Practice" fans.

This was also staring Will Swenson from the LDS movies, "The Singles Ward" and "The Sons of Provo". It just so happens that Audra and Will have been dating for sometime now, so it was fun to see them act together. They actually met a few years back doing this same musical on broadway in New York.

Here she is!! We were so excited! We got her autograph and she chatted with us for a little bit. She was so sweet and down to earth. She prefers to act in small theatres than television and hates the red carpet. So this was her at her best.

My Love/Hate Relationship with IKEA

I absolutly love IKEA, however I hate how much money we spend there. Were still in the process of making our house ours and incorporating our style into it, but that takes money! So we have had to do it a little at a time. Our latest purchace was drapes for our bedroom and a new dresser for our bedroom as well.

This was what our windows were before the drapes. Just plain old blinds.

The after effect! The drapes slide back and forth. Our room was getting so bright at like 6 a.m. so we wanted them to block out light better.

This is what they look like when they are open. I love the design on them. See below.


Here is the new dresser! Finally something big enough that the drawers aren't falling apart and bursting with clothes!

And of course IKEA gives you a million tools that you only need one of. These were just for putting our drapes together. There was like 16 of them! Needless to say we threw them away.

Now we just need to get somemore art for our walls. They are so bare and white!! We want to paint in our bedroom as well, just not sure on colors yet.

Tulip Festival!!

Well its that time of the year again. SPRING!!! and flowers are my favorite. Out of all the flowers in the world, Tulips would have to be my most favorite.

Every year Thanksgiving Point in Lehi has the Tulip Festival. They cover their huge gardens with Tulips for a few weeks. Never have I seen so many in one place, I imagine the only other place with this many is Holland where they are grown for the Floral Industry. Neil and I had a fun Saturday walking around in the 75 Degree weather. My dad let me borrow his fancy camera to take some pictures! I just LOVE THEM!!! (ahem... if any of you want to make me happy you can send me some, thank you)

This one is my favorite breed. Its called a Parrot tulip, the edges are naturally frayed like that. Some don't like using them in arragements but I think it gives them character.

This one was Neils favorite!!

ENJOY!

Quaint Backyard

So our house has a cute little fenced in backyard. It was a huge reason for choosing this house. We wanted a place to put Koda when the weather was nice. It even has a built in shed that we can store plenty of yard tools in.

When we moved in we only had dirt in the backyard, blah. I hated it and so did our dog (she's kinda high maintenance). It would get so muddy! So when the weather started to warm we planted grass seed! Yay! I am so excited to have a little patch of green. It is already coming up and getting full! In no time it will be a lush carpet to walk on, and Koda will be much happier. Since its just a small area we didn't want to buy a lawn mower. All that gas is such a waste. Soooo... were being earth friendly!!! Were going to get one of these bad boys.... I am so excited!!! I have always loved these... never used one tho. So yeah, I will be having fun and saving the earth at the same time!

OUR HOUSE!!!

I guess its about time I update this... I am getting abuse through text messages for it being so old. ;) We have loved having our house and have had a fun time making it ours. I finally took some pictures since the weather has been nice here.

Our front tree. So pretty! Spring has come to Payson Utah.

The Front of our House

Okay so when we first moved in our walls were all the same bland color of Tan. Blah! We didn't love it. There are also some rooms upstairs that are going to need some painting. The previous owners had no style at all!!

DESIGN TIP OF THE WEEK: The paint colors Forest Green and Canary Yellow do NOT go together.

This is what the walls in our main living area looked like before we got started...

another before...

And here is our finished product!!

I love it! Is so much more us!

We are also big on plants! These two big ones are just a few that we have in our house.

My cute little kitchen.

The back of the house and kitchen.

My Laundry Room!! (and Koda's room while were at work)

Thats just a few pictures of the house. Hopefully that will satisfy some peoples needs (ahem! Linnae ;)) We love it and are always finding projects to do with it to make it more ours.

House, Anniversary, Holiday's and Happiness

OH WOW! So much to talk about. I know I am behind but since getting our house it seems I have been so busy busy busy. But have loved every minute of it.

Okay.. so we got a House!!! We moved in on Halloween. It was a perfect day to move. However there were several kids the rang our doorbell...(we didn't answer, we were exhausted from moving). We love our house, it is just the perfect size for Neil & I, and of course our little Koda (dog). It has 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths. My front room and my Kitchen both have bay windows in them which is great for the extra room. Our little back yard is perfect for our dog. Fully fenced in and has a nice patio and shed. I would love to show you all pictures but my house is a mess and we have hardly any furniture. Soon we will be changing the furniture delema seeing as how we get $8000 back from the state for just buying a house! We are excited for that too. So when we do get more seating we will take some nice pictures. We have been here for two months and love it! Payson is such a nice small town. Its quiet and we can't wait till the summer to explore and enjoy it a little bit more.

On November 20th we celebrated our first anniversary!!! I can't believe we have been married for over a year!!! Its so crazy! We have been from poor poor college student and unemployed husband in the cold depths of Idaho to paying our very own mortgage. What a year we have been through. Its been so good for us tho. We have grown stronger and closer because of it. Not to mention have a greater respect for having jobs, and being a homeowner. We were very careful with our money and have invested it in the right things. I always tell Neil that I can't wait till we are old and married. I love him so much now and can only imagine what it will be like when we are wrinkled and brittle. ;)

Our Holiday's were simply the best!! Last year it was hard for us because we were away from family for so much of them. This year we tried to be with family as much as we could. We were pretty busy with family parties and dinners...however I got a nasty cold on Christmas eve and am still trying to get over it. Despite the sickness, it was a very good holiday. It was nice to have 12 days off of work to get over it. Around New Years I was feeling quite a bit better and decided to throw a party at my house. We had over 11 people for dinner and it made me feel so good! More family!!! I was excited to cook for everyone and had a wonderful time counting down to the New Year. HAPPY 2010 EVERYONE!!!

And lastly I have been thinking the last few days about how wonderful my life is right now. I don't have any complaints (other than it could be a little bit warmer right now, 70 degrees could be nice, the snow doesn't make me happy). I am so happy with everything. I couldn't ask for anything more right now. I have been truly blest with the love of my life, a roof over my head, jobs that support us, and family that I love.

Hope all of your holidays were as great if not greater than mine. ;)