Saturday, April 7, 2012

Here we go again.

John: I don’t even remember how this whole fiasco got started.

Haley: It was your idea.

John: Are you sure about that? I seem to remember you wanting to have a garden and a bigger kitchen…

Haley: Whatever. You don’t even know.

John: I say we agree to disagree about this being your idea.

Haley: …

John: Just get on with it and tell the people what this is all about!

Haley: We’re moving. To a house. With a yard. And cupboard space. And bathrooms. Two of them. J

John: Um you forgot the garage. The big garage!

Haley: And a garage. A big one.

John: That’s better. Now tell them about all the other houses we looked at.

Haley: Well let’s see…there was the bacon house…

John: And the China Star!

Haley: And the axe murderer basement house.

John: There was the only one we almost bought… okay so it wasn’t even close was it?

Haley: Yeah not really, we got beat out big time. But that’s ok, cause we found something even better for us.

John: This is true. Welcome to our new home.


John: 1819 sqft on .3 acres that is ours and only ours, perfect location on a corner lot, in a great neighborhood.

Haley: It has a doggy door.

Blue: Woof!

John: That should read “Haley for Blue”

Haley: So here’s the story. We had just gotten back from our trip to Hawaii, and we were pretty sad about losing the house we first put an offer in on. John started looking through the new listings that had showed up while we were gone. He found a few good ones, and even one with a porch swing.

John: Paul, Haley’s brother and our dedicated long suffering Realtor, set up appointments for us to go and take a look these houses, including the one with a porch swing.

Haley: Do I hafta tell them about all the other houses too?

John: No I guess not. We pulled up in front of the Porch Swing house and Haley said, and I quote, “ooo I’ll take this one!”

Haley: It’s cute okay!? And it helps that it has everything we were looking for. It just felt like Home.

John: Ya I guess you are right. It is a great house for us to start out in.

Haley: We made an offer that night and received a counter-offer back. We were happy with their counter price and so we took it! …Then came the not-so-fun part.

John: The not-so-fun part? Okay so it was pretty frustrating but it was all busy. The sellers tried to verbally negotiate and then tried to penny pinch when we put things on paper. Which I can’t blame them for I didn’t want to give up any money I didn’t have to and neither did they. All in all we learned quick to get it in writing before you actually believe it to be final.

Haley: When all of that negotiating was finally over, we had an inspection done, and the results came back pretty well. There were a few things that we asked the sellers to fix, but we didn’t expect them to do much after their previous penny pinching.

John: It is just business. Don’t forget it’s not personal!

Haley: I know, I know. To our surprise, they actually agreed to fix most of the stuff that we asked them to. Now we’re just waiting for closing day! We are SO excited to finally have a place that is our own, and not have to share walls with anyone else.

John: And if we want to watch a movie late at night we don’t have to worry about it being too loud. There will be more than 4 inches between our house and our neighbor’s house!

Haley: We have been spending lots of time at Home Depot and Lowe’s planning out exactly how we’re going to paint and decorate. Our first purchase will probably be a lawn mower, since we have .3 acres of grass to mow.

John: Well that’s about all there is to update you all on for now. More to come after closing!

Here we go again.

John: I don’t even remember how this whole fiasco got started.

Haley: It was your idea.

John: Are you sure about that? I seem to remember you wanting to have a garden and a bigger kitchen…

Haley: Whatever. You don’t even know.

John: I say we agree to disagree about this being your idea.

Haley: …

John: Just get on with it and tell the people what this is all about!

Haley: We’re moving. To a house. With a yard. And cupboard space. And bathrooms. Two of them. J

John: Um you forgot the garage. The big garage!

Haley: And a garage. A big one.

John: That’s better. Now tell them about all the other houses we looked at.

Haley: Well let’s see…there was the bacon house…

John: And the China Star!

Haley: And the axe murderer basement house.

John: There was the only one we almost bought… okay so it wasn’t even close was it?

Haley: Yeah not really, we got beat out big time. But that’s ok, cause we found something even better for us.

John: This is true. Welcome to our new home.


John: 1819 sqft on .3 acres that is ours and only ours, perfect location on a corner lot, in a great neighborhood.

Haley: It has a doggy door.

Blue: Woof!

John: That should read “Haley for Blue”

Haley: So here’s the story. We had just gotten back from our trip to Hawaii, and we were pretty sad about losing the house we first put an offer in on. John started looking through the new listings that had showed up while we were gone. He found a few good ones, and even one with a porch swing.

John: Paul, Haley’s brother and our dedicated long suffering Realtor, set up appointments for us to go and take a look these houses, including the one with a porch swing.

Haley: Do I hafta tell them about all the other houses too?

John: No I guess not. We pulled up in front of the Porch Swing house and Haley said, and I quote, “ooo I’ll take this one!”

Haley: It’s cute okay!? And it helps that it has everything we were looking for. It just felt like Home.

John: Ya I guess you are right. It is a great house for us to start out in.

Haley: We made an offer that night and received a counter-offer back. We were happy with their counter price and so we took it! …Then came the not-so-fun part.

John: The not-so-fun part? Okay so it was pretty frustrating but it was all busy. The sellers tried to verbally negotiate and then tried to penny pinch when we put things on paper. Which I can’t blame them for I didn’t want to give up any money I didn’t have to and neither did they. All in all we learned quick to get it in writing before you actually believe it to be final.

Haley: When all of that negotiating was finally over, we had an inspection done, and the results came back pretty well. There were a few things that we asked the sellers to fix, but we didn’t expect them to do much after their previous penny pinching.

John: It is just business. Don’t forget it’s not personal!

Haley: I know, I know. To our surprise, they actually agreed to fix most of the stuff that we asked them to. Now we’re just waiting for closing day! We are SO excited to finally have a place that is our own, and not have to share walls with anyone else.

John: And if we want to watch a movie late at night we don’t have to worry about it being too loud. There will be more than 4 inches between our house and our neighbor’s house!

Haley: We have been spending lots of time at Home Depot and Lowe’s planning out exactly how we’re going to paint and decorate. Our first purchase will probably be a lawn mower, since we have .3 acres of grass to mow.

John: Well that’s about all there is to update you all on for now. More to come after closing!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

For Aunt Gayle and any other blog stalkers out there

Aunt Gayle this one is for you...

So its been a while since Haley or I have taken the time post an update. And to be honest a ton of things have happened since then. I honestly don't even know where to start. Lets make a list...

1 New Job (Haley)
2 Promotions (Me & Haley)
1 New BBQ
2 Trips to AZ (1 in August, 1 coming in November)
1 Major Change in Life's Plans
3 Callings (1 Haley 2 John)
1 Sewing Machine
1 Taffy Puller
2 New Tricks (Blue)

So this list is not cronilogical or in any order... so here we go...

Haley started working at Conservice with me at the end of August. She started as a "Utility Processor" which is just a fancy name for data entry in the SyNERGY department. She didn't love the job or having to work Saturdays but we did enjoy the added income. She was quickly promoted to the Exceptions Team where she gets to use her math and stats background to help analyze variance in utility expenses for apartment communities. (Just smile and nod like you know what I am talking about). She has really enjoyed the change in routine and best of all not having to work Saturdays. Oh and she got a raise, we both love that!

Sometime around the same time Blue came to live with us I got promoted as well in the Billing Department to Team Lead. I originally had 4 direct reports but that number has grown to 6 which for this job is quite a few. I also was transitioned to a special team dealing almost exclusively with one of our biggest clients. This has meant a lot of overtime and late nights at the office but has been a great experience for me. One I have really enjoyed being part of some changes that have made the team work more efficiently but also it helped open my eyes about not loving overtime.

So why is it a reward that I figured out how much I do not enjoy overtime? Well I have spent the last 10 or so years planning to be a Doctor. While I didn't always make the best choices to make this an easy road I was on the road none the less. And 3 years ago I didn't think I would mind working 60-80-100 hours a week as long as I got to be in the OR. Well those of you that can do the math 3 years ago is when I met Haley and started thinking that maybe there is something better than being at work all day everyday. This job as a TL really opened my eyes to my not wanting to be away from her all the time. SO I made a choice, I am no longer planing on being an MD. I now am planing on being a DPT. That's a Physical Therapist for those of you that aren't up on your medical abbreviations. Its a three year doctorate program that I hope to start in 2012. More updates on this will be coming soon. (And by soon I mean someday in the next 6 mths ;-) sorry Aunt Gayle)

Where are we on the list? Oh somewhere in there I got a new grill. I opted for a charcoal grill this time. Mostly because it was cheaper to start out with that than a gas grill but its been a ton of fun this summer. I am in the process of perfecting BBQ Ribs. I think they are getting pretty good.

We went to AZ in August to pick my sister up and bring her back to USU where she started her Grad program in Audiology. I also visited AT Still and Midwestern University to check out their PT programs. We will be making the drive back down in November for Thanksgiving, which I am excited about given the recent spell of cold weather around here.

Haley and I were called to be Primary Workers back in May and have been teaching the 8 and 9 year olds. I recently was called to the Elders Quorum Presidency as the 2nd councilor. Both callings have been a great blessing and we have learned a lot in both positions.

Haley just got a new sewing machine this weekend. A Brother Innov-i's 80. I will let her post about it on her own. Needless to say she is playing with it right now.

Tonight I built a Taffy Puller. More to come about that I have no doubt. Christmas Candy is coming soon!

Blue also has learned a few new tricks. Bang and Knuckles. Videos will get posted eventually as well.

Well I think that covers the list and its dinner time so I'm going to cut this short. Hope this fills the urge to blog stalk us. Leave us your comments we love to know people are reading. It will probably nudge us to post more often.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Puppy Love

It's official, I'm a horrible blogger! I successfully (and finally) finished my college degree! I really can't believe that I never have to go back to school again, since school was pretty much my life since I was 5. After learning all I did in college, I keep feeling like there is so much more for me to learn, and maybe one day I'll end up going back to school.

A few weeks after graduation, we went to pick up our puppy! We were so excited to be able to help Spencer surprise Candace with a puppy of their own! It has been so fun to be able to swap stories, and watch both puppies learn. We have learned a ton of patience from our Little Blue and only lost a little sleep. He is finally getting to the point where we can trust him not to pee on everything (thank goodness!)

It was really rainy and cold the first weekend we brought him home, and even though we both swore we would never put clothes on our dog, we had to buy him a sweater so he would stop shivering when we took him out...Let's just say we didn't have much of an emergency-sweater selection...

He HATES having baths, but having a white dog makes it hard to avoid them.

In the past 6 weeks, I may or may not have googled all of the following:

  • how stop a dog from chewing carpet
  • dog scared of vacuum
  • dog barfing
  • dog crying ALL night long
  • how to make a dog drink more water
  • how to stop a dog from humping
  • homemade dog toys
  • Greenie's dog treats
  • how to keep a sleepy puppy awake
It's been a good 6 weeks :-)


Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day

Haley got an early Mother's Day gift last night from Blue. She wanted me to put it up here for all of you to see.


More pictures of Blue

Hey everyone we got a few new pics of Blue. We are planning a trip down to Mona for next weekend so hopefully we will have lots of pics and vids to share soon!




Saturday, April 30, 2011

Puppy Update

Hey everyone! Just a quick update on the puppy. We have decided on the name Blue. Yes in honor of our Aggies here at USU. Below are some pictures that we got from Jeannie, the breeder, of Blue with his eyes open. Kind of an awkward gangly stage in my opinion but Haley will probably smack me for saying so :-). She is still in love with her little puppy and talks everyday about how she wants to bring him home!