Some Exciting News

I haven't posted for about two weeks, or longer... but I haven't exactly been feeling so great for the past few weeks... not because I have a cold or the flu, but because sometime around June of next year, we'll have an addition to our little family, that's right, I am.... PREGNANT!!!

I'm just a little over 12 weeks... at 6 weeks, I had my first appointment and the Doc could see the baby's heart beat, way cool! Then yesterday I went to another appointment, and we got to hear the baby's heart beat, 163 BPM, coolest thing ever!

We couldn't be more excited, this is what we have been praying for and wanting for a really long time! I haven't been THAT sick, there are days that are rougher than others, but I really can't complain, I've been able to work and go to church and do all of my YW stuff, we've been really blessed.

Coolest story about how we told our parents: We went to Babies R' Us, and they had little frame ornaments that say "Best Christmas Gift Ever" on them, and then you put a picture of the sonogram in it. We bought two, one for Tyson's mom, and one for my parents, and wrapped them up like a cute little Christmas present. Thanksgiving morning, we went up to Tyson's mom's house early, and had breakfast with her, just the three of us. We gave her the gift and told her it was an early Christmas surprise. She opened up the box, and just stared at the little picture, looked up at me, and said, "Are you??!!" And we said, "YES!" And she started dancing around the kitchen, hugging, and crying, it was awesome!

We ate Thanksgiving with Bonnie and the some of Tyson's family around 1 PM, and then hopped in the truck and drove out to Vernal to spend the rest of the weekend with my family. They were waiting, very patiently, for us to arrive so we could have Thanksgiving dinner together, so right when we walked in, they wanted to get started eating... I handed the little present to my mom and dad and said open this together, its a special Christmas surprise. They had NO CLUE! They opened it, and stared, and my mom then said, "Are you??!!" And we said, "YES!" My mom hugged me so tight and was crying and my dad still had no clue what was going on, he didn't know what the picture was of, he said, "Why is everyone so excited about this little picture of a tornado?" :) We told him he's going to be a grandpa, and then it set in... it was again, a very awesome reaction to our exciting news!

The doctor said everything is going really well, I actually lost a little weight during this first 12 weeks, and the baby has a very strong heartbeat and is measuring perfect. I have a history of heart problems from my side of the fam, so they are going to do the ultrasound at the new IMC hospital in Murray. Tys knows its a little girl without a doubt, I am not so certain either way. Sometimes I just know its a boy, or get the overwhelming feeling that its a little girl, but we are excited either way! We are going to Costa Rica when I'll be 19 weeks, so the day after we get home, we have our ultrasound and find out what we are having... very exciting!

I know this is a long post... but I hope you are all enjoying this Christmas season, its been snowing every day out here and its definitely going to be a beautiful white Christmas. Since I've been sick, I haven't really had time to get caught up in the Christmas rush, and I must admit, its been really nice. Saturday I made granola for friends and neighbors, and tonight we are taking a homemade coconut cream pie and homemade eggnog out to our boss and his wife to share our exciting news. I love this time of year, and I feel like this new little life has already brought more love into our home. I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and can feel the love of our Savior and Lord. Love, Dani (PS: I'll post some pictures soon, I'm starting to get a little bump :) I just forgot my SD card)

Every Little Bit Helps

We have a tradition every year to go and purchase a cart load of turkeys and give them to the food bank. Our parents always do the dinner for us, and we contribute a side dish, so we never need to spend much money on Thanksgiving Dinner.

This year, our boss gave each employee a $50 gift card to Smith's. Again, not having any need to buy a turkey for us, we asked our bishop if there was any need in our ward. He said that there are a few families that are really struggling, lost their jobs, one is waiting for a new heart, and times are rough, any help we could offer would be appreciated. We decided to take our gift cards, since we each got one, and bought a full Thanksgiving dinner for three families in our ward. Smith's just happened to have Norbist turkeys on sale for $8, but limit to one per customer. When we went to check out, and the cashier said she could only do one of the three turkeys for $8, and would have to charge full price (around $30 each) for the other two. We needed three, so that was fine.

The turkeys wouldn't ring up at all. The line was really starting to build up behind us, so she just decided to give each turkey to us at the $8 sale price... little miracles, maybe her heart was touched, I don't know, but we bought 3 turkeys, 3 bags of potatoes, 3 gravy mixes, 3 boxes of stuffing, 3 cans of cranberry, 6 cans of yams, 3 bags of marshmellows, and 3 pies for $87.00!

We even had $13 left over...

We took the groceries over to our bishop, and that following Sunday, he came to us and said that as he was driving to one of the members' homes, he felt prompted to go to a different house than he originally planned. When he gave them the food items, they said that they were praying for something to happen, they were going to be short on money for Thanksgiving Dinner this year.

Can I just say how truly blessed we are... My heart was touched by the spirit after hearing this from our bishop, and I cried throughout sacrament meeting. This is such a special time of year to reach out and help others around you. I feel blessings from heaven pour down on us every single day, hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! We're heading to V-town after we eat with Tyson's fam in the city. Love, Dani

TAG - 7's

I haven't had much to blog about lately, just been super busy as always, so thanks Shalisa for tagging me!

7 things I can do:
1. I can play the piano
2. I can speak in sacrament, teach the entire YW, and have a 2 hour pres. meeting after church all in the same day
3. I can fall asleep on the couch every night by 8:00 PM
4. I can talk to my sister on the phone for hours
5. I can have something going on of every night of the week on a regular basis
6. I can scrapbook, when I have time
7. I can sit on a plane for 16 1/2 hours and not get freaked out

7 things I can't do:
1. I can't wait for Thanksgiving, I get to see my family!
2. I can't wait for this day to be over so I can fall asleep on the couch again
3. I can't stand leaks in our roof, NO FUN!
4. I can't believe how lucky I am to have Tyson as my sweetheart
5. I can't find time to do the things I love
6. I can't wait to go to Costa Rica in February
7. I can't wait to finish the basement in our house (its scary right now)

7 things that attracted me to Tyson:
1. His outgoing personality, he is nice to everyone
2. His genuine love for me
3. His ability to make me HAPPY
4. His power to hold the Priesthood
5. His ability to speak Chinese, I love hearing him speak Chinese
6. His strong work ethic, he is not afraid to get his hands dirty
7. His kind heart, he is a great example to me

7 things that I say most often:
1. Love You Dear
2. What do you want for dinner
3. Say hi to Rooks for me
4. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job
5. I'm just really busy right now
6. Sure, I can do that
7. and that, and that too!

7 favorite foods:
1. Chicken Tica Masala and Oloo Gobi Veggies from Bombay House
2. Veggie Tacos at Chipotle
3. Shrimp Tacos at Cabo Grill
4. Strawberry Whirl from Jamba
5. Homemade Granola
6. Breakfast Burritos (made at home)
7. Fresh Seafood

7 celebrity admirations
1. President Monsen
2. Brad Paisley
3. Oprah Whinfrey
4. Shi LaBeouf
5. Jewel
6. U2
7. Condoleeza Rice

7 people I tag:
1. Nichole W.
2. Brandi
3. Tralina
4. Whitney
5. Liberti
6. Rosanne
7. Amanda C & G

PRIVATE IN A FEW

I'm going to give it another few days, and then, I'm going private. I watched a report on KSL, and it did freak me out a little... I just don't want it to cause any REAL problems, and I feel like this a precaution that I can take... I'll probably make the switch by the end of the week... If you want to be added, and you already haven't left a comment or sent an email, please do in the next few days... Thanks, Dani

HOME MADE GOODNESS

Can I just say YUM! I have the best recipe for homemade granola... and it is so so so good!!! There is no sugar, its made with honey, and I changed up the recipe a little and substituted olive oil for vegetable oil, its much better for you. I also added extra cashews... Yummy Stuff!

I'm totally not used to cooking with gas, and at our new house, the dryer and stove are both gas. Normally, two hours at 225 F is just right, but it still was gooey after 2 1/2 hours of cooking. We put it back in for an hour and a half at 300 F, and it was just right...

I'm working on perfecting it, I'm going to give this out at Christmas to friends, neighbors, ward members, my boss... etc... This will be a tasty and healthy treat to snack on, there is already too much sweet stuff around the holidays!

A guy that we work with wants to buy it from me, for the last forty years of his life, he has eaten mush for breakfast, I don't know what mush is, but this stuff is way better ! :)

LETTER FROM A CHRISTIAN - THE YEAR 2012

I recieved an email from my sister-in-law, Tralina. The email contained a link to a letter written by a Christian in the year 2012. It is written very well, and hits on some key issues in this upcoming election, which is just a week from tomorrow. It is 16 pages long, but take the time to read it... I don't think I have taken the time and considered the true costs of legalizing homosexuality...

This letter makes you think again...

http://focusfamaction.edgeboss.net/download/focusfamaction/pdfs/10-22-08_2012letter.pdf

SOME MORE BEFORE AND AFTER HOUSE PICS

I've finally been able to hang some things on the wall and finish putting in new light switches, so here are more "before and after" pictures of our work in progress, sorry, this is kind of long, but most pictures:

The Entry Way

Before:

After:

The Entry Way had physadelic wall paper, that was more like fabric glued on the wall, nasty carpet at the entry and the stairs going to the basement, a crusty little globe light with gold feathering, a cast iron banister with hearts, yes, hearts, and glass tiling that had gold spider web etched in it, I know, you're jealous huh :)

We ripped down the fibrous wall paper, peeled up the glass tiles, my mom used a wrench for hours unscrewing the banister, and we ripped up the carpet. My cousin textured the wall that had the wall paper on it and we painted it a nice warm beige color, we put tile in the entry way, carpet on the stairs, and installed a new banister, which I love, no swirly hearts, much more modern...

The Kitchen

Before:After:

Oh, the Kitchen... where to start. There was so much work to do, and so much of it my dear hubby had to do, my mom and I tried to peel up the back splash, the glass tile floor, but we couldn't even budge one tile... the kitchen had red brick back splash with black tar behind it, very pretty, old light fixtures with millions of cobwebs, yucky appliances that just had to go, black glass tile laid on half of the floor, crusty carpet on the other half that was laid over layers of vinyl (which had to be torn out also), and a sliding glass door that didn't close, how safe!

We started by renting a tile lifter from the Depot. Tyson used this for the glass tile on the floor, and the lovely back splash. We laid beautiful tile throughout the entire kitchen, installed a new sliding glass door, new black appliances, travertine back splash, a new sink faucet (the old one leaked), and beautiful new light fixtures. Thankfully the cupboards were like-new Kitchenmaid cabinets and the counter top was also fairly new, its Corian brand, and we kept both, just needed some deep cleaning, but they actually are pretty nice... so that's the kitchen!

The Living Room

Before:

After:

Probably one of the rooms/areas that needed the least amount of work. There was popcorn ceiling, complete with glitter flecks throughout the entire house, minus the kitchen. Once that was down, my cousin textured the whole ceiling, and then we primered and painted everything. The carpet came out, way too many animals stains for us. We had to primer the sub-floor, the stains had soaked through the carpet.

We kept the fire place. All of the homes in the neighborhood have a similar rock fireplace. For right now it works... we plan to tear the rock out eventually, like next year, maybe this winter, and install a gas log fireplace with crown molding... but for now, its not so bad.

So there are some of the updates of the bank repo that is slowly becoming our home. Its a challenge, but it definitely gives us a project. Our neighborhood is doing a clean-up where you just set stuff at the street and they hall it away, so 6 pine trees have been chopped down, and I'm pruning the plum tree that is growing out of control tomorrow. Its definitely come a long way, as you can see from the pictures.

Also, about going private, I'm going to give it another week or so, so just let me know, if you already haven't. Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, can't wait to get to my pruning, love Dani.

CATCHING UP ON A TAG

Fun Tag

1. Go to your pictures

2. Upload 4th picture of 4th folder

3. Post

4. Tag four of your friends (Nichole W., Shalisa, Megan, Brandi)

Tyson and I on my birthday last week... the big 26!

TO CHERRIE K. ROBERTS

Sorry, I don't know how else to get a hold of this person, she is a distant cousin of ours, her mother was raised in Tyson's parents' house in Vernal... She works for State Farm and has googled Tyson's name to find our blog and stay in touch, of which, we have no problem, this is the perfect way to do just that.

Cherrie, just leave your email in the comments and we'll add you the list, we are still going to go private, its just something we have decided to do... please leave us your email, we'd love to stay in touch!

I'm posting some house pictures here in a minute...

GOING PRIVATE...

I have decided to go private... I guess we all have our reasons, but I've been thinking about this for awhile now, and have decided to go ahead and go private. I started typing in an electronic journal about three months ago, and I really love it. I can type so much faster than write anything out by hand. I write in the electronic journal every day, and I love going back and reading my entries. Sometimes, its just the little details, toast and cereal for breakfast, a new entree recipe one night, what we got accomplished on our home, how work went that day, and then there are the entries about spiritual and gospel related experiences, discussions between my husband and I, family relationships, and life's little lessons that I never write about in my normal hand written journal because it takes too long. I wrote in my journal every single day while we were in Taiwan and China, about 2 1/2 weeks, and it took up more than half of my journal. I treasure the experiences, and a written record is such a great way to look back and remember life's experiences.

The point is that I would rather stop posting about recent updates and happenings, I feel like its all a bit fluffy. I don't have little adorable children (yet) to post about, and I don't really get to write about some things that I really want to write about, that really show my true personality and convictions because you never really "know" who is going to read it...

There is someone in Bloomington, Illinois that googles "tyson hacking" just about every morning and is directed to our blog. Bloomington is the headquarters for State Farm, where Tyson's Father worked for about 35 years, and we both have thought its someone from there checking up on the Hacking Family. They never leave a comment, so we don't really know who it googling my hubby everyday...

Anyway, I'll give it about a week or so, just leave me a comment if you want to be added to the list... I've loved staying in touch with all of you, its been great to see how you are all doing and what you have been up to, Love, Dani

FUN FALL WEEKEND

This is my absolute favorite time of year! Aren't these pictures beautiful? Just a little bit of snow and Autumn colors... stunning! Every year, I look forward to the crispness in the air and the beautiful colors. With this change of season, also comes Conference Weekend, another favorite!

The conference talks were wonderful, I can't believe I actually got to watch/listen to all four sessions, this is a first for me. It seems like something always comes up during conference weekends. This was the first time in the four years of marriage, that Tyson and I got to sit together and just listen and take in the messages shared during conference. We really enjoyed the time together of course, but the talks really touched each of us. We are truly blessed to be able to hear the words from our dear sweet Prophet and the Spiritual Leaders of our church. Each message shared had something that I needed to hear, and Tyson and I both felt renewed and uplifted.

The weather was also amazing this weekend, we got so much rain, and even snow in the mountains. Our grass is greener than ever! For the second session on Sunday, we have a tradition of going up into the mountains and listening to the session while taking in the beauty of our surroundings. Yesterday, there was just a little bit of snow up in the mountain peaks, but also the most beautiful yellow, orange, and gold colored trees... it was spectacular!!!

We also got to spend some time with family this weekend. Tyson's brother's family, Layne and Sally, came down with their six kids, and we all hung out at Tyson's sister, Tralina's, house. She also has six kids, so with Tyson's mom, Tyson, and me, we had a very full house! We had really yummy food, and our ten nieces and nephews played so well together. It was a lot of fun!

Tyson's scar is healing very well, and he is feeling really good. We go to the doc tomorrow to see if Tyson can go back to normal life. He's had to lay low for about a week so the stitches can heal. We are hoping he is in the clear so we can get a few more rounds of golf in before the real snow starts to fall... thanks for everyone's kind comments, we appreciate all of your support through this little bit of a scary time... love Dani

ALL IS WELL

Just a quick post, yesterday Tyson had the cancer cut out of his face. Wow, what an experience. The procedure went well, it was a lot more involved than either of thought it would be, but the cancer is gone, and that is what is most important. The surgery is called Mohs Surgery, and the process goes like this: numb the cancer growth and surrounding skin area, cut the cancer out, cauterize the wound, test the cells for cancer, if there is still cancer, start over. Tyson had to be numbed and cut on twice. The second time, they got it all, and they were able to stitch him up. The hole that was cut out of his face is about the size of a dime in diameter, and approximately 1/3 of an inch deep. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the hole. The doc did a fabulous job of pulling the skin in, and stitching the wound shut right next to Tyson's right nostril. The doc said that in a year, you shouldn't even be able to tell he had surgery on his face. The upper lip area is super sensitive, and by nature, the skin tissues take longer to heal, so it may be months before the wound actually heals.

Tyson's face is very swollen, and is bruising pretty good right now, but he is doing really well. Doctor's orders were to take "several" days off work, he's not supposed to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk, and no strenuous activity for at least a week. He's home resting today... following doctor's orders. Thanks to all of you for your comments, emails, phone calls, and most importantly prayers. We appreciate you all so much.

A MUCH NEEDED UPDATE

Life is crazy, I'm sure this is the case with everyone. We would just be getting home from our Europe trip, but Tyson's grandma hurt her ankle very badly, and since she was the tour guide and financial backer for this trip, we had to cancel. BUMMER!

Last week, Tyson went up to Idaho for a few days for work. He did 11 cell tower sites, which is incredible! He came back to the city, had a client lunch meeting, and then drove back up to Jackson, Wyoming to do 8 more cell sites. But this time, I got to go with him, thanks to our awesome boss! We drove through the most beautiful country. Swan Valley, Idaho and Jackson, Wyoming are some of the most beautiful places! We saw three moose, and a few bucks, and the fall colors were stunning!

We stayed in our favorite hotel, its in Teton Village, Snake River Lodge and Spa. For some strange, but awesome reason, they upgraded our normal room to a King Suite (for the same price as the normal room)! Sweet! There was a fireplace and jacuzzi, plus the room was gorgeous, I've never slept so well in all my life!

We spent 2 full days, driving from cell site, to cell site, way up in the beautiful mountains in Wyoming and Idaho. We got to eat at the best restaurants in Jackson, and we really enjoyed our time up there. Things work out, I'm sure Europe will happen another time, but I'm grateful for the mini "vaca's" that we get to do together.

After we went to the last cell site on Friday evening, we drove down to Rexburg and stayed with Tyson's brother's family for the weekend. They have six kids, and the youngest is a sweet little three month old. We had so much fun playing with the kids all weekend long. We went to Green Canyon, its a little old hot springs pool, and we played for hours with our nieces and nephews. After the kids went to bed (their bedtime is 7:00 PM), we played Settlers of Catan until midnight, new favorite game!

Our sister in law, Sally, has a favorite treat, that she can't get in Rexburg, a carmel-chocolate-dipped, candy coated, apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, YUM! We bought three Monday night and fed exed them up to Rexburg. They called the next afternoon very pleasantly surprised! We had a great time with them!

So, a couple other things going on, we love our new ward! Tyson was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Young Men's Presidency, and they just called me to be the Secretary in the Young Women's Presidency, so our Tuesday's are going to be pretty busy! We are really excited though, we have never felt so welcomed and loved in a new ward like this!

One more thing, and Tyson won't like this (he, like many men, is a very private person), but I'm going to ask you all for your prayers. Tyson has had this growth thing, that looks kind of like a zit on the side of his nose. He's had it for a long time, like a few years. So, he went to the dermatologist, and they took a biopsy... and we just got the results... and yes... its cancer... specifically, basal cell carcinoma, which isn't the worst one, thank heavens! Tyson said its no big deal, but I'm a worry wort, and cancer just scares me a lot! It can progressivley get worse if it doesn't get taken care of now. He is having it cut out of face next Tuesday, and since its right next to his nose, a specialist is doing the procedure so he doesn't look goofy after they cut it out. The surgery could take up to six hours. I know this is a very long post, but please keep Tys in your prayers, he's a strong man, and I love him dearly. We know that everything will work out, but a prayer or two can't hurt, right? Thanks, Dani

FINALLY-THE BATHROOMS

Finally, I remembered to take the "After" pictures of the bathrooms, so here you go!

Bathroom #1 - Master

Before:

After:

The pictures don't really do it the justice that it deserves. The coolest part of this bathroom is the newly tiled shower. Tyson tore the existing shower out to the 2 X 4's. The plumbing was just crap, so Tys and his buddy poored a new cement floor, put new plumbing in, and then tiled the entire shower, up to the ceiling. We painted the walls and ceiling, put a new toilet in, and new tile on the floor, replacing the yucky linoleum from the 70's. We tore out the old crusty lighting and vanity and put in new lights and a new vanity. We installed new hardware, a brushed nickel faucet, towel rack, hand towel holder, and TP holder. I found these adorable towels and rugs at Target for a steal. I really wanted to do something with dark chocolate brown, and Tys loves, loves, loves the color green, so these worked perfectly!

Bathroom #2 - Main

Before:

After:

So, the main bathroom was equally disgusting. We ripped out the lighting, vanity, mirror, flooring, and tile on the walls of the shower/bathtub. We replaced the vanity and a new counter top, put in new lights, tiled the floor, painted the walls and ceiling, and tiled the walls up to the ceiling in the shower/bathtub. We also put new hardware in, brushed nickel faucet, towel rack, hand towel holder, and TP holder. We are so excited to have a second bathroom, we have family/friends come to stay with us about twice a month. In Sugarhouse, we had one bathroom, and it was a little difficult at times, we are so, so, so excited to have our guests have a bathroom all to themselves!

We are still waiting on a few more lights, so more pictures to come. This house has come a long way in just a few short, but very long weeks. We feel so blessed to be able to buy this house and make it our home. Our neighborhood is the best, the neighbors are all so nice and welcoming. They read our records into our new ward on Sunday, and everyone has been so kind and friendly. We have never had such a warm welcome, we are so blessed!

THE LADY & SONS' PEACH COBBLER

I've had some requests for the recipe for the cobbler we had the other night with our friends. Its super easy and really yummy. I just want to give a little background on how our family has become hooked on Paula Dean's recipes. Tyson's father was the President of the Mosquito Abatement in Vernal for years. They have conventions every year, and the year of 2004, the convention was held in Savannah, Georgia. They stayed in a hotel right across the street from the Lady & Sons Restaurant, owned by Paula Dean. They ate there for several meals; its Southern comfort food. They ate fried chicken, collard greens, black eyed peas, and chicken pot pie, all of Paula Dean's recipes are to die for! Anyway, Tyson's mom got us a cook book signed by Paula Dean. There are some really tasty recipes, but WARNING, almost all of Paula's recipes are super rich and super tasty, but definitely not diet food, so pace yourselves :)

The Lady & Sons' Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 Stick) butter

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup self-rising flour

3/4 cup milk

1 28-ounce can sliced peaches in heavy syrup, undrained

(or use fresh if available)

cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Place butter in oven in a 2-quart baking dish to melt. Stir sugar and flour together and mix well. Slowly add milk and continue to stir to prevent the batter from lumping. Being careful to not burn yourself, remove hot baking dish containing melted butter from oven; pour batter directly over butter in baking dish (DO NOT STIR). Spoon fruit on top of batter, then gently pour syrup on top (DO NOT STIR). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if using. The most important part of this dish is not stirring the mixture. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Your batter will rise above your fruit, producing the most wonderful of crusts. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

Enjoy!!!

P.S. (The bathrooms are finished at our new house, but the other lights are on back order, so I'll post the before and after pic's of the bathrooms this afternoon)

COBBLER WITH THE CRACROFTS

Last night, we made a yummy dinner for Tyson's mom. It was her and Edwin's 40th Anniversary. We had a great time, the food was great, and we enjoyed having her over for dinner. After dinner, she had to go, and shortly after she left, our friends, the Cracrofts, came over!

They were in our old ward that we just moved from, and they are great friends. Amanda and I use to walk at 5:30 AM three or four times a week, and do step aerobics together in the mornings. She is such an amazing friend, and I've missed her so much since we have moved. I have no desire to get out of bed before 6:30 AM since we have moved. I miss our morning workouts so much!

After we showed them around our new house, we sat down (pretty much in the dark because we don't have the chandelier installed yet) and had ice cream and peach cobbler. It was a really yummy treat, the recipe only calls for 3/4 Cup of sugar, so its not too sweet, thats what the ice cream is for :)

They were so sweet to drive out and see us, and they brought us a house warming gift, a beautiful rose plant! It is gorgeous! Thank you so much Amanda and Justin! We are so grateful to have such great friends!

THE PRIVACY CONTROVERSY, OH AND OUR HOUSE

Many fellow bloggers have chosen to go private... I'm faced with making the same decision. I have never really given it that much thought before. I don't post specific things, more just recent happenings in my life. I think its been a great way to stay in touch with people that I haven't seen or heard from in a really long time. Its amazing to see the little families growing and all the fun things going on in each other's lives. Its also a really awesome way of keeping a journal for yourself and family. I don't have kids (yet), but we have a lot going on, and its been fun to look back through the posts and reminisce a bit...

So where I am going with this... I last posted about our wedding pictures, I was so excited to get a disc and just be able to view the pictures. I specifically mentioned the photography outlet used for our wedding, and I got a snipity comment left in regards to my post.


Now, I was under the impression that this was my blog and I can write about whatever I should choose to do so. Some very memorable (and entertaining) posts I've read are when someone has related a story from their life, even if there is a little sass :) Nikki's post about being "Just a Mom," Megan's "Line Etiquette," and Kandice's "OLED" were all great!


And don't get me wrong, I love comments! I wish every person that visited my blog would leave a comment (a nice comment). It's an easy way of checking in with each other to say hi, but I don't really like getting rude little comments left on my blog. I've changed a couple of things on my settings, hopefully this will suffice for now so I won't need to go private.

Now, on to the more interesting part, our house. We're in, we love it. We officially moved our bed in last Tuesday. The outside will have to wait until next year most likely, but the inside is beautiful and we feel very blessed to be able to purchase this house and do the many things we've been able to. We got our kitchen stove on Saturday. We had our first real meal yesterday, pork roast, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and we celebrated with Natalie, Nikki, Chris, Rooks, and Tyson's mom. Tyson has been helping his mom the past two weekends in Vernal, so we don't have the new lighting in quite yet (thank Heaven its summer and we have natural light so late in the day) But I'll post before and after pictures just as soon as the lights are in, I can't have the crusty-shabby-70's lighting in the "after" shots... Stay tuned!

(Just a taste)

WEDDING PICS AND HOUSE UPDATE

Tyson and I had our wedding pictures done by Digipix of Vernal. The photographer used a camera that flashes bursts of pictures at one time. I'm guessing he does this so that maybe one of the 10 shots of the same thing might be decent. I definitely think we got quantity, not so much quality. Four years ago, it took us about three or four hours just to view the disc of 1,254 wedding pictures, and then pick a package from there. We chose a few, well, six shots, and then had a disc made with the remaining pictures to view as an electronic wedding album. They charged $40.00 for one 4 x 6 print... yikes.

Tyson and I moved to Salt Lake in July of 06' to our little house in Sugarhouse. One day while we were in sacrament, I told Tyson I wanted to go home for some weird reason. We never leave early, so it was very out of the ordinary to leave after the sacrament was passed. When we got home, I thought I might go down stairs to the dungeon, well, its the laundry room really. Much to our dismay, there were six inches of standing sewage water in the basement...

This was a rough day for us, we had only lived in that house about a month, so tons of our stuff was still in boxes in the basement storage. We threw out several boxes that were soaked, and we're guessing, since we can't find it, the wedding disc went out with the boxes damaged in the flood!!! We call it the flood of 06'.

The flood of 06' happened two years ago, and just this last weekend, we finally got another wedding disc from Digipix. Digipix has gone out of business and isn't printing or doing anything anymore. They sold us a new disc that has full rights to the pictures, so we can go to any film developing place to have our wedding pictures printed out. They were very difficult to deal with from the very beginning, again, quantity, not quality. I'm SO SO SO excited to have all of our pictures now, only 4 years after the fact, better late than never though! I've put a couple of my favorites on here for your viewing pleasure:

Also, a quick house update, pictures coming, I promise. The house has changed dramatically over the last 2 1/2 weeks. Carpet is coming this Wednesday, so we are just about ready. We have had a great deal of help from family and friends, and we are so grateful for such great support. We had the entry way, both bathrooms, both showers, and kitchen tiled, new back splash in the kitchen, new doors and casings, baseboard, trim, vanities, lights, appliances, paint, banister, and carpet. Oh, and the grass that the bank let die, is getting greener each day, I am so excited to move in and have it be our home. My parents are bringing our appliances out from Basin Appliance on Thursday, I can't believe how far this little old bank repo has come!

I LOVE THE SHOPVAC

We officially closed on our house last Wednesday! Since the 24th was a State holiday, the loan funded on Friday, the 25th. We went there straight after work and started working. So much of the work that needs done, unfortunately, Tyson has to do. I'm just not tall or strong enough to get some of the tasks done. We started by scraping the popcorn ceilings down, which fell onto the gross carpet. My mom came out and helped all weekend , and her and I rolled up the carpet and padding, and took it to the trash container. That took most of Friday evening.

Saturday, bright and early, we went back, and Tyson chipped out the tile flooring in the kitchen, the back splash in the kitchen, and the tile shower in the master bath. My mom and I continued to clean and do odds and ends. My sis, Natalie, also came, and she ripped out all of the baseboards and existing tack strip. Wow, we got a lot done that day! My mom then took us out to the Olive Garden and then a little shopping that evening.

This, I feel really bad about, but my cousin Stewart came down from Ogden Sunday morning and textured the ceiling. He runs his dad's construction company and could only help us that day, and we just don't have time for Tyson to do it all, sorry cuz, but thanks for helping us, it looks awesome!

Monday, was the day for prep work, and sucking up all the dust left from the ceiling mess. I have been introduced to a lovely "tool" of my husband's, the SHOP VAC! You can clean just about any mess up with this little dandy of a machine, and I LOVE IT! It makes all the dirt, dust, and crap go away! Yay for the shop vac! Its so fun to run it along the walls and watch it suck stuff up, I've actually really enjoyed cleaning up this house, the shop vac has made it more than bearable.

We've primered the ceilings, painted them with real paint, and a shout out to Benjamin Moore paint, it seriously rocks! Tyson has torn out doors, casings, bathroom mirrors, showers, toilets, vanities, old appliances, and we are finally ready to start painting the walls with color and getting the flooring in. The entire house already feels, smells, and looks, like a completely different home. I've taken pictures, but I'll wait and post the before and afters together to get the real affect.