New Home

Things appear to be well under way for our new home. Our builder submitted for permits on Sept 22nd. It takes about 4 weeks to get them and then they can start digging. Once the foundation and footing is done, it is almost exactly 120 days until the home is done. The expected date right now is mid-April. We will be meeting with our general contractor once they have permits and we should have an even better idea of the date.

I thought some of you might like to see what we are building.

Our home will look like the above photo except our pillars on the porch will be wood, not stucco. The main stucco of our house will be the light stucco around the windows in this photo. Our front door and the vent will be "Evening Blue". It isn't navy but it isn't royal. I will see if I can get a sample.
The stucco around the windows and other accent points will be forest green just like the garage door in the above photo. Our garage door will be the same as in the first photo...I think..we picked "almond".

This is the basic floor plan. We made a few tweaks here and there but not too many.

On the main floor, we will be adding a picture wall between the "dining room" and the living room. Not where they show the sample wall but more towards the front of the house. This is to break up the football field feeling but still keep it open. Above is a sample of the picture wall from a different floor plan. We are also adding a Powder Room aka Toilet and Sink on the main floor where the "storage" closet would normally be. We also added the peninsula in the kitchen. We thought about an island but it just didn't work so this gives us the same amount of extra space.
We chose light oak for our cabinets, white for our appliances and a light color for the counters. We like it bright! This way I can paint the walls any colors I want too. We will have the same cabinets, counters, carpet and vinyl throughout the entire house. Below is a sample of the counter top.
Then we have upstairs~
Check out my master closet!! The master bedroom is HUGE too. I seriously don't have enough furniture for this house.

We made several changes in the Master Bathroom. These include...

A Garden Tub

A separate showerA Second Vanity
A window between the vanities
and believe it or not, vinyl is not standard in the master bath, only by the commode SO we upgraded to that as well. Carpet in the bathroom...GROSS!
We also decided to move the laundry room upstairs! We figure that other than kitchen towels everything is upstairs that we wash so why not have it all up there all the time. This replaces the storage upstairs. Because of this though we will have a big mud room between the garage and kitchen. I am SO excited for this. This is one feature I have always wanted to have in a home.

I know we have replaced a lot of our storage with other things but we will have a huge crawl space below the house. The next door neighbor says that his is 8.5 feet.
We are on lot 178 with the church behind us. We met our neighbors to the east lot 179 on Saturday and they seem really nice. They have at least 2 little girls, one who is 5 and one who turned 3 this weekend. I am sure we will meet our other neighbors as we venture out to watch our house be built!

Public Service Announcement

In case you haven't noticed, my computer time has been cut down drastically. This is due to my computer being in a not so friendly spot in my bedroom. It sucks. I have SO many blogs to catch up on. I have photos to edit and post...I am just not getting in the quality time with my computer that I need.

Hope

I had an interesting conversation with Stephen last night. We talked about what he thought about life after death, if he even believe in it. He said he had talked with him mom about it and I asked about her thoughts. We talked about religion and Jesus. Stephen believes there is something more. That it would be a waste being here if there weren't. He said his mom believe there was something more too. He told me that he believes in a general higher power and that Jesus was probably a man but that was it.
It really has bothered me that someone, and I know there are billions of people in this world, doesn't believe in Jesus. He life is such a fundamental part of my life. I have never once doubted in my life that he lived. That he is everything I have ever been taught. I have always been so certain of this as much as I am certain that the sun rises in the east.
It is so difficult for me to think of living a life without that type of knowledge and the hope that it gives.

I used to be really good at watching the Mormon Messages each week as they came out but haven't recently for some reason. Today I came across one, almost accidentally that made me decide to write this blog.



I suppose I have been blessed with the Hope and Faith I have in my life. They have always been there and really take no work on my part. I wish I could better explain this to those who have never felt the way do. To you my friends who are reading this, I think most of you have felt what I am talking about. Isn't it the most incredible thing? I hope (no pun intended) that someday Stephen and maybe even Jeffrey can understand what I am talking about. That they will be able to feel the Spirit and recognize it for what it is.

I KNOW that Jesus was a man who walked this earth. I know that he lives again.

Noise, Noise, Noise

This is taken outside our hotel room where we were the first 2 nights. It was HORRIBLE. We could understand the words to the songs with the window closed. They would crank it up a bit more at 6:00pm and it went until 4:00 am. Then at 6:00 am the construction across the street would start. Mind you, we are also on the 15th floor.

Pool Time

There were 2 reasons why we went to Vegas and this is one of them...

Canal Ride at Piazza San Marco

We went on a canal ride at the Venetian hotel. We decided to go in the afternoon because we didn't want to have to stand in a line. Well there was no line because it was 98 degrees outside that day! We road with another couple who were from Colorado and were really nice. Our boat guy, I can't think of what he would be called right now, was actually from Firenze (Florence). His name was Niccolo and he had a decent singing voice as he serenaded us as we went under the bridges. It was a fun change of pace.

Sirens at Treasure Island

I hadn't seen the Pirate show at Treasure Island in years. 2-3 years ago they changed it to the Sirens show. We decided to eat there and then watch the show. The meal was decent enough and the show...I thought my eyes were being burned out of my head! Those women were wearing less than what most women were wearing at our swimming pool. I found it all entertaining but between our jobs, we are NOT around that type of stuff. I don't think we will be going back to watch that show for a very long time.
We did meet some very nice Brits since ours weren't with us. (They are going on a Panama Canal Cruise as we speak.) There were 2 couples, one from Nottingham and one from Newcastle. For those of you that don't know, Newcastle is right near the boarder (where many of my ancestors are from) with Scotland so their accents were very Scottish. The ones from Nottingham, well they aren't 30 min from our friends in Leicester. We had a nice chat with them. They had been to Zion's earlier in the day and been to Salt Lake in the past. They seemed to be a bit scandalized, as we were. Seriously people...I would not let children see this show!
I was able to get some decent photos though.

Little Caesar's

The first day in Vegas we decided to head out to find somewhere to eat.

We walked through Planet Hollywood, Bally's in front of Bellagio and into Caesar's Forum shops. We ate at some mexican restaurant there that was good.




Caesar's has add on to the forum shops during the last few years. Ok maybe it has been 5 years but I don't go to Vegas as often as I used to go. This area has twisting escalators. We were up on the 3rd floor and had to go to the bottom floor. It was a ride for my tummy. Yes I am that big of a wimp when it comes to heights.




Rick took this photo of me...I don't realize how long and how much hair I have until I see photos like this. It kinda freaks me out to be honest. My hair is naturally curly/wavy too.

Diagon Alley's Back Door

shhh...I found the back door to Diagon Alley...

In N Out

My blogs from our vacation are all over the place. Sorry. It is like my life these days...all over the place.

I have always enjoyed In N Out. Their fries are THE only fries I will eat with ketchup, not a lot, but some. Until this last trip I had never tried a cheese burger. MMMM It was so good.

During most of our visits to In N Out I hadn't tried their shakes. Back 6 years ago when I was engaged to Steve from Vegas, we went to In N Out and he ordered a strawberry shake. The heavens were opened to me that day. I had found ambrosia. Seriously, there have been times when I have craved a strawberry shake from In N Out. I have tried them at Arby's, Burger King, McDonald's, Chadders and so on but nothing compares to an In N Out shake. I had decided when we booked our trip I would have one every single day we were there, until I found out how many calories are in them.... 680!!! Let me tell you, those 680 calories are worth it but not everyday. =( I only had 2 shakes while on our vacation. I let the Dude have a few sips on the first one but the second, not a drop. And to think, there is going to be an In N Out just over a mile from me in less than a year!!

Stephen Moves In

Stephen moved in with us this week.

We came home from vacation on Sunday around 3:30. We spent until about 10:00 that night packing up my Jeff Gordon bedroom. Monday I came home from work and spent another 4 hours in there. Rick took 3 trips to the storage place with a full car. He said the bins are stacked 10 feet high...I haven't seen it yet.

1,000 square feet really isn't much space for 3 adults. When I went to USU I had my own 2 bedroom apartment because I wanted enough space.

Yes, our futon is in our dining room.
I have a 27" table for my computer now. I used to have a 4 foot desk AND a 29" 2 shelf bookcase on one side and a full 5 shelf bookcase on the other. The large bookcase is now in the hall next to the bathroom. The desk, in storage.







So if I seem a bit on edge for the next six months (hopefully it doesn't last any longer)...this is why!

Philosophies On Children

This is not meant to offend anyone and if it does...well you probably have been offend by me before and I don't know why you are still reading my blog.

My philosophies on Children:

I know why when you are normally given children by God that they are young, because if you started when they are teenagers or in their 20's....you can't raise them up to be the way you want them to be! Sure you want them to have their own personalities but if they are that old you can't tell them how to keep themselves clean, clean their bedroom, control who their friends are and the list goes on and on.

People are able to procreate in their early years for a reason - if you wait until you are in your 30's or older you are too tired, too stuck in your own ways and just don't want to have to deal with all that stuff!

I really do like children but honestly, I like it when they go home to their parents and I am able to sleep through the night.

There is a reason to have children early in marriage rather than waiting (I am getting this mostly from my sister but I agree) because you get too comfortable with your way of life without children that throwing them into the mix after 8 years is a bad idea. It just makes a hard situation of adjusting even harder.

Yeah...

Free Roller Coaster

I found my own free roller coaster in Vegas last week.I am VERY afraid of heights. I told Rick that I felt like it was actually getting out of hand it has gotten so bad. It seems to just get worse and worse. We went to Caesar's Palace our first day there and road the twisty escalator. Coming down from the 3rd floor got my stomach going.
Yep, I am officially a wimp!

My Husband the Model

Of all the photos I took, 364, while on vacation, I think these are my two favorites.

LIFE

Life has been SO busy lately....I will blog soon...hopefully tomorrow