Long weekend

Although this weekend has been great, it has been really crazy. I hate to admit it but I cannot wait to get back to our normal life. Let me give you a brief description of our weekend. Hold on to your hats because I'm going to try to go fast.

THURSDAY

First I have to mention Thanksgiving. We went to my side of the family this year. It was with the Pratts ( my mom's family) so it was like it was a fancy Sunday dinner. Anyway, Josh and I were out there around 9:30 and didn't leave until 7:00. We had to help prepare dinner (which was at noon) and then after that we were pretty much lazy. While preparing dinner we actually had to kick the kids outside. That was the wrong idea since it rained on Wednesday. You can only picture the mess. Anyway, while we sat around after eating we looked at the ads and prepared for our Black Friday shopping day. Me, Karen, Wendi, and my mom kicked the boys out at 6:00 to go to Michael's. WHAT?!?!?! They have cricket cartridges on sale for $30. They are normally $90. So, we forced them to go and buy one for us for Christmas. Now they have a "man code" for what happened at Michael's. Apparently there was too much estrogen in the store.

FRIDAY

Since Josh and I are buying a house we need a washer and drier. Sears had a great deal on one Friday so both of us woke up at 4:30 and Josh went to Sears to buy that and something else for my mom. HE was there about an hour and a half which isn't too bad. He eventually came home and went to work for the rest of the day. Around 6:00 AM I drove out to my parents house and Karen and I went to Walmart. We followed my parents down to the Walmart in Coolidge and went shopping there. Lets just say I am going to do that again! Anyway, we found everything we wanted except for some Cars slippers that Karen wanted for Kaiden. We were only gone for 2 1/2 hours which is good considering it took an hour driving and then we walked around the store a few times looking for miscellaneous items. Like I mentioned... worth the trip. Anyway, after that we came home and hung out for awhile... went to Target and then back to my parents house. We baked some Lemon Bars, cut up some fruit, and made pumpkin cookies. We also did some cleaning because I was having a bridal shower there the next day and my mom was gone. We hung out together all day, which is great because I don't get to see Karen too often. I spent the night at my parents house. By the time the day was over I was missing Josh because he left really early that day to go to Sears. It was worth it though.

SATURDAY

Saturday I hosted a bridal shower for a high school friend of mine. Her name is Shannon. She's getting married on the 30th of December. I'm excited for her, but... I'll just stop there. Anyway, it went well, I guess. Shannon's mom wanted games. (Don't even get me started on games and showers. If you want to know my opinion feel free to ask.) Anyway, after that was over (after some torture) Karen and I cleaned up and went to see Twilight. Paula, Wendi, Evan, and Wendi's best friend Tabitha came with us. I have mixed feelings about the movie. I liked it but I'm not freaking out about it. I would like to see it again... when it comes out on DVD.After that I got to come home to my awesome husband and hang out with him. We went to the temple lights with Karen later that night and then came home and hung out with each other. After a busy weekend it was great to finally relax. Now lets see if I can make it through my week of finals.

Hooray for Josh!

I have to admit that I don't know what we would be doing if Josh and I were both going to school full- time and working part-time. We wouldn't be able to survive. We also wouldn't be buying a house over the next few weeks. I love the fact that he is working full-time in order for me to finish school. To be honest with you, he is looking forward to starting school in August. He is doing a couple of classes next semester but he doesn't like online as much as in-class so he is patiently waiting. I love him for that.
Anyway, where he is currently working, he just got promoted. Well... I should be honest. He's been manager for the past six months but he's been "in training" the whole time. He was supposed to get reviewed within the first three months but it never happened. Three months after his review for a promotion was supposed to happen he finally got it. He has officially gotten a raise of $1.30 which is really good, that will pay for more of the house and he also has paid holidays (just in time for a paid Thanksgiving and Christmas). Since his review was so late they are also going to retro pay him. That means that for the last 90 days he will be given his $1.30 raise for all the hours he has worked. We are both looking forward to the next pay check.
Josh has been working a lot of overtime lately because his coworker quit. They were able to find a replacement for his coworker so hopefully he won't be working as much over the next few months. That means more time with me and working on the house!

House Hunting

Most of you already know this but Josh and I have been house hunting for the past month or so. We have found one that we love and cannot wait to close on it so we can officially paint, decorate, and live there. Right about now you are probably starting to think "Are they crazy? She is student teaching next semester and won't have an income." Yes, we are crazy, and you are right, I'll be teaching full-time with no pay. So how are we going to afford it? With our rent price going up, the house will only be about $30.00 more than what an apartment would cost. So, we decided why not? It is twice as big and more permanent. That means I won't be afraid to make holes in the wall. I won't have to worry about getting our deposit back either. We are going to be living in the same ward (I have meeting new people issues) which means that I am still stuck in primary. What a joy. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the house, sorry they are not that great but I don't have time to fix them up and do all that fun stuff. It's just so you can see what it looks like.

This is the house. It can use some painting but since we don't have and H.O.A. we can paint it pink and purple if we want. No, we don't want to. Eventually we are going to take out the rock and put in some grass. That will be when I have a real (teaching) job.

This is part of the backyard. As you can see, it already has a garden. That will save some time and money. It also has a shed, a ton of cement, and rocks. The rocks are going to be taken out (eventually) and replaced with grass. There are two gate entries into the backyard, one of which is cement. That means there is a ton of bike-riding area.

Here is the kitchen. Nice and big. Notice the flat-top stove and ton of counter space. We have to get a new fridge and washer/ drier but we are okay with that. I want to get an up-to-date one that isn't too expensive. We will have to wait and see what is on sale.

We call this the wall-o- cabinets. Don't you love it? Someone designed this house just for me. It is in the family room, that is the only problem. However, instead of covering up the cabinets with a couch (why waste the perfect storage space) we are going to try and make it a built-in entertainment center. We haven't decided how yet, but we'll play with it to find something out.

I guess that I should mention the specifics. It is about 1700 square feet. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Like I said before, there is no HOA (Josh likes that part) and this house is very updated. We had an inspection and there are a few problems that need to be fixed (nothing that Josh couldn't do) and a plumbing issue. We haven't decided what to do on that problem yet, but we will get it fixed. Our closing date will be within the first week of December and we cannot wait!