Our New Home

Marshall and I have been thinking about what new home to purchase. We have been renting a condo since we got married and our lease is up this summer, so we knew we had to start looking around. We were having trouble finding a house that was exactly what we wanted, so we had considered building a new house, but the same week we were talking about it, a condo in our current neighborhood went up for sale. We decided that it would be a good idea to invest in the condo as a rental. Since we don't have any kids yet, we thought it would be good for us to live in the condo for a little before we use it as a rental. So, we put an offer in, then heard back a few days later that our offer was accepted. We closed on the condo the last week of February and have been redoing the interior since then. We will hopefully be done with everything this week, so I don't have "after" pictures yet, but here are the "before" pictures. You will be amazed at how different it looks when I post the after pictures. 

 

The kitchen and living room are all in one big main room when you first walk into the condo.

This is the front door and the hallway that leads to the three bedrooms.

Below are pictures of the two spare bedrooms.

The laundry room, storage room and guest bath.

This is the master bedroom. We love that the condo has two balconies.

 The master bath has two separate areas. The sink area is open to the bedroom and the shower and toilet are in a separate area.

We love our new condo and how all of the re-do's are turning out. I should have the pictures of the finished condo up within the next two weeks.

We hope everyone has had a fantastic Easter!

The Month of Love

February has been such an exciting month for us. Here is what we have been up to...

(Most of these pictures were taken on my phone, so sorry about the quality.)

On February 1st, Marshall took me on a surprise date up to Brighton to go snowboarding. I'm not all that great at it, but we still had an amazing time.

 That same evening, my brother and sister-in-law (Adam and Brittany) had their sweet baby girl, Laela. Marshall and I went straight from snowboarding to meet our new little niece. Brittany did amazing with the delivery and I don't think I have ever seen a more proud new daddy than Adam. 

 A few days after that was the Super Bowl, so we had a few friends over to the store to watch on the big screen. Marshall hates the color purple, but agreed that if the Ravens were in the Super Bowl, he would wear a purple shirt. Luckily, the Ravens not only made it there, but also won, so my decorations weren't a disappointment. We had so much fun and were able to meet Ryan and Jill's adorable new baby boy for the first time.

Another exciting (but not it a good way) thing that happened this month is that my younger brother Ryan was in a pretty severe car accident, where his car flipped three times. Luckily, no one else was involved in the accident and Ryan amazingly walked away with a few scratches, really sore muscles and whiplash. He didn't even end up going to the hospital. We are so incredibly thankful to our Heavenly Father that he is okay. This is a picture of the car after it had been towed.

February 10-15, I went down to Las Vegas to watch my niece and nephews while Travis and Kim went to Hawaii. It was such a great week! I love those little munchkins so much and was so happy to spend that much time with them. I have the best husband in the world who was supportive of me going, even though I was away for Valentine's Day. 

Jonathan and Christopher needed boxes to take to school for their Valentine's parties, so we looked on Pinterest to get some ideas and this is what we came up with. Jonny's minion box had to be the best in his class, and Chris loved making his monster box.

 On Valentines Day, the kids woke up to hearts all over the walls and a little present for each one. They of course all got candy, but Jonny and Chris also got new Spiderman shirts and Anella got a new Minnie Mouse sippy cup. After school we went to Towne Square's play area, so the kids could spend time outside in the beautiful weather. (I miss Vegas weather so much!) That evening to celebrate we had a Valentines dinner with Grandma and Uncle Ryan, then the kids took a bubble bath with red water.

 While I was down in Vegas, I could not get enough of this little girl! Anella is at my absolute favorite age for kids (19 months) so we had so much fun dressing her up and going to Target while the boys were at school. All three of these little ones are such bright spots in our family and I miss them so much when I am in Utah.

 

I got back to Utah late on Friday night, and my handsome husband came and picked me up at the airport. I was so happy to see him! Although I love being with my family, I hate being away from Marshall. We had decided to celebrate Valentines Day on Saturday, so when I woke up Marshall surprised me with a box of chocolates, and Nordstrom gift card and this necklace...

After we got up, ate breakfast and got ready, Marshall had a whole day planned just for me. He knew I had wanted to see the movie The Guilt Trip, but we hadn't gone yet, so he looked it up and it is now only playing in one movie theater in Utah. Luckily, it wasn't too far away, so we drove out and watched the movie. After the movies, Marshall took me to Nordstrom and was sooo patient while I shopped. I got a few new things, but tried not to spend too long in there. For dinner, Marshall took me to The Melting Pot in downtown Salt Lake. This is where we went for Valentines Day last year and is where Marshall told me he loves me for the first time. It was such a great day and I feel like the luckiest girl since I am married to such a great man. 

For Marshall's Valentines presents, I made him a Valentine for each of the first 14 days of February. Each had a little treat attached to it, like "You are one hot 'tamale'" with a box of hot tamales or "You have stolen my heart" with a box of Reese's hearts (since they are his favorite). I also gave him a framed quote from Pride and Prejudice since that is his favorite movie.

What a great month this has been!

The End of 2012

I know this post is a little late, being that it is now the middle of January, but I have been meaning to get around to blogging for over a month now, so here we go...

 This past year has been absolutely amazing for us! I moved to Utah, Marshall has now owned his company for over a year, we were sealed for time and all eternity and we have had the most fun starting our lives together. Not to mention a ton of fun trips we have been able to take this year. 

Since the last time I blogged, Marshall and I have been to Cameron Park, CA to visit his family for Thanksgiving, then we had the best December ever here in Utah and Christmas with my family in Vegas, and finally ended the year with an awesome New Year's Eve party with great friends. We have had a VERY busy holiday season (hence the late blog post) but every minute of it has been the best. 

The week before Thanksgiving was my last week working as a dental assistant. Since then, I have started working with Marshall to learn how his business runs. On my last day of work, my sweet husband drove all the way to my office and brought me two dozen pink roses. I am the luckiest girl!

Thanksgiving in Cameron Park 

For Thanksgiving, Marshall and I were fortunate enough to take almost a whole week to visit his family in Cameron Park, California. We had a blast! I really lucked out in the in-law department and had so much fun getting to know my new family better. This was the first time I had ever been to where Marshall grew up, so it was fun for both of us to take a trip down Marshall's memory lane. While we were there we went with the whole family to Apple Hill to pick out a Christmas tree, and to enjoy all of the fall festivities. Marshall and I were also able to spend a day wondering around San Fransisco. This was such a fun trip and we can't wait to go back again this year.

Our First Christmas

This was our first married Christmas, so we were really excited for all of the fun the holidays hold. We picked out our first Christmas tree together, and had so much fun decorating our house. We did as many Christmas activities we could think of and were able to spend a lot of time together and with family. For Christmas, we went down to Vegas for a week to spend time with my family. This was the first time Marshall was able to spend any quality time with my brothers (which I think could be kind of scary), but by the end of the week, I think Marshall was having more fun with them than he was with me. Our first Christmas together was amazing and I hope all of our Christmas' together will be the same. 

 This Christmas ornament is filled with dried rose petals from my wedding bouquet and the bow is the ribbon that was wrapped around the stems of the bouquet.

 This is a tree skirt that I saw on Pinterest and decided to make. It turned out better than I imagined and look so pretty under our tree. 

Buying our first Christmas tree together

 We loved our first tree together! Our condo looks so empty without it now.

Below is a picture of our first Christmas ornament.

 Our wreath was also a craft I saw on Pinterest. I made some changes to their design and love how it turned out!

New Year's Eve

On New Year's Eve, Marshall and I hosted a party at Marshall's home theater store. We had some great friends over and a ton of fun. We all watched the ball drop at midnight and toasted with some Martinelli's. This was also the first New Year's Marshall and I were able to smooch at midnight. :)

 We made a really fun photo booth, so everyone was able to take funny pictures to remember this New Year's Eve with.

  We are so excited for all of the adventures we already have planned for 2013. This is going to be another big year for us. We are hoping to buy our first home, go on a fun vacation to Jackson Hole and Yellowstone, visit our families again and start our own little family. We really have been blessed beyond measure this past year and feel so grateful for all that we have. 

Happy New Year!!