Our House is Warm

This weekend we had our house warming party. It turned out really well but I am glad it is over!

The invitation I made and mailed out to our guests. 

I had all of last week to prepare and I waited to do the grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, and cleaning on Saturday. I did a little on Friday but I did most on Saturday and just about died!

I made this checklist in Excel to help me remember everything. This does not make me OCD, just organized. :) 

Friday I did a little cleaning and tested out our new vacuum. That is a whole other story...note to self, never buy a needed item last minute like that again because you will end up spending too much money impulsively out of desperation. BUT, I do LOVE the vacuum and I look forward to using it often because it is amazing.

Saturday morning I woke up later than planned, ran to the gym and the grocery store and then got home at noon. I figured I had enough time to clean and cook considering I had like 6 hours---all the time in the world, right? NOT.

Luckily my mother-in-law came over and helped me cook and clean. She was the BIGGEST lifesaver, ever! Seriously I could have not pulled it off without her. We cooked and cleaned dishes together and then I ran upstairs to clean and organize and she dusted, swept and mopped my whole kitchen! I was shocked! I just asked her to dust but by the time I came down an hour later she had done it all. I was so relieved! If she wouldn't have done that I would have not gotten everything done in time. THANK YOU CONNIE!!!!

So I finished my room, 3 bathrooms, vacuumed the stairs and all floors, and organized our crazy 2nd bedroom in like 1 hour. (AKA-I threw everything in the closet.) I will be finishing that room up this week...esh.

I ran downstairs, literally sweating, and threw in some loads of laundry and cooked a few more things and while they were baking did some last minute crafts. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do along the wall of the stairs. It's a small space but the walls looked weird with nothing on them. I know what I truly WANTED to do, but I didn't want to spend that much money. My original idea that I had and bought all the supplies for ended up not working the way I planned so I improvised. It turned out AWESOME and I can't wait to show you the pics. I did that in like 30 minutes and quickly hung it on the wall and then got back to cooking.

Nephi got home and I had him do a few things and then Neal and Angie came over to help. I had them do stuff but I still had other things to do!  It was 6:45 and it started at 7 but I still had things to do. I figured people wouldn't show up until 7:30 so I thought I was fine--nope. Some family showed up at 7 and so I was still in my gym clothes all gross and VERY sweaty. *Yeah, I sweat in my own home.* I didn't even get to make name cards for all the food! Bummer :(

At 7:15 I put them in charge and I ran upstairs to take the shortest shower in record history. Literally I was showered, dressed, make-up and hair done, by about 7:30. I was still sweating because I was rushed but I ran down stairs and more people were there but everything looked great and I am so thankful Neal and Angie came to help. Again, couldn't have done it without them either. I have great family.

We ended up having about 25 guests. I planned for 40 but I was happy that we had so many come and support. There were a few people who didn't come that upset me. I didn't ask for RSVP's but really, I expect too much out of people so I always get let down. Oh well.

Here are a few pics that I took with my phone. Since the house is all clean, I plan on taking legit pictures this week and having a post done soon with the tour. I am going to change our blog a little bit to have more features and our home will be one of the new features. I am excited.

Here is some of our family in the family room. Nephi's uncles are so savvy and turned our pilot light off in our fireplace. Whew! That will save us money on our electricity bill AND not make our house so warm.

Nephi eating some snacks. I made these awesome dips that I will blog about later. They were a HUGE hit and will be a must for all our parties in the future. 

The desserts! This photo was taken about an hour after the party had started so people already dove into the treats but I think we had a pretty good variety. Thank you Pinterest for inspiring our how food spread. I could not have done it without Pinterest!

More desserts!

The drinks and candy table. We had water with lemon, limeade, and then this other drink that is amazing. It's white grape juice and fresca. It was a huge hit! I even put some whole fresh apricots in there for appeal and it ended up adding some great flavoring as well. This will be a new staple for all our parties. 

The party went very well and our house is officially "warmed" by our friends and family. Maybe that is why I hardly slept last night because I was so hot? Probably.

We're "Hungry"

Lately...we've been a little "hungry"...

1. We are BABY Hungry

Exhibit A- 

Ava Belle McLane

Born March 28th

7 lb 12 ounces and 20 inches long

SHE IS BEAUTIFUL! 

I called it! Kendall's nose and Chase's mouth ;) 

We are more than sad that we couldn't be there but we will see her hopefully soon! Kendall did very well and they are all happy and healthy. I have 2 nieces already but I feel like it will be different with Ava. I am not the greatest with kids and get scared to hold little babies but I am ready to be with Ava and love on her lots. I told Nephi, "Yes! Now I have a niece that will like me more than you!" (His nieces adore him). Haha! With my luck, Ava will like Nephi more than me. Most people do. 

Yes, this makes me a little "baby hungry". (I really do hate that term. It seems superficial.) But, nevertheless, I don't know how else to describe it. Maybe my feelings are superficial. Maybe I think having a baby "looks fun" or that I just want to decorate the nursery, etc. But, I am excited to get there so Ava can have some cousins to play with. 

2. We are FOOD hungry:

I have been trying to lose weight this year because last year was rough. So far, I have lost 10 lbs! It feels amazing. You can sort tell but it's just a small step towards a big goal. For the past week, I have replaced my breakfasts and dinners with a shake. (My company has this AWESOME weight loss program. Let me know if you are interested.) I love the shakes! They fill me up and I have been having them for breakfast for the past few months but replacing them for my dinners is making a huge difference.

Yesterday, we had a date night and went to Olive Garden. It was amazing! Nephi told me that it was worth it and since I didn't gain any weight (I weigh in everyday for motivation) I feel fine about it. It can't hurt every once in a while but it made me miss eating dinner...That gorgonzola alfredo with steak is TO DIE FOR!

3. We are HUNGER GAMES Hungry:

We saw Hunger Games last night...finally! It was really good, of course, but I am wishing I would have read the book again. I just read it a month ago but since I am reading the second book but I am getting things confused. There were a few things that were different but other than that I wasn't very surprised. It wasn't as "dramatic" as I thought it would be but more realistic and to the point and I really liked that!

Obviously, like many of you women out there, I wish Gale was in it more. His time will come in the other movies I suppose but every time they showed his face I gasped and Nephi smirked. Ha!

4. We are HOUSE Hungry:

We are moving in 2 weeks and we STILL don't have a place! We went to a few places yesterday and what an experience we had.

The first place we went to we had to go to through the rental property company. The place was small and literally had no place for a kitchen table and had this huge stain in the carpet! What made it worse was the lady who showed it to us was genuinely boring and had no desire to be there with us. Really? I felt like it was a joke. This was motivation enough for us NOT to work through a rental agency. Not. Gonna. Happen.

The stain. It took up almost the whole living room/kitchen. What a joke.

After that, we went to the west side of Idaho Falls. For those of you who live there, know what I am talking about. Wow. It was rough. We looked at a place out there a few weeks ago and this was only a few blocks from there and SO much worse! 

First of all, we get there and Nephi and I both start having flashbacks from the mission. That is when you know it is going to be rough. Then the guy gets out of his car wearing a white shirt, trucker hat, tinted sunglasses, his arm in a sling, and orthopedic shoes....Uh, okay. So he says to meet him out back in a raspy voice so we do. 

He is a nice old man and turns out he has been living on that property for 70 years! (It's old, people.) Then, we walk in the hallway and this whiff of smoke hits me. Immediately I say, "are these smoking apartments?" He said they weren't and that they had to smoke outside but then pointed to the ashtray on the table in the hallway. Geez. 

The apartment was huge! 1000 square feet and he put new carpet in the living room, newer cabinets in the kitchen, and new light fixtures. The carpet was different in the rooms but again, it was huge! He used a flashlight to show us the bathroom and I was pretty convinced...not. When I asked if the neighborhood was safe he said, 

"Yeah, well, a few years ago, there were some boys that would cause problems. I don't know if they died or moved but we haven't had problems since." 

Uhh, died? He said is so causally. Nephi cracked up. 

We got an application and left asap because we couldn't hold back laughing anymore. We were in shock! He was a nice guy but as soon as we pulled back on to the road and noticed the liquor store...we decided to toss the application. We drove a little longer and noticed our favorite pizza place and were tempted...but then kept on driving to our next place.

The last place we went to was a house. Nephi grew up with this girl in his ward that I knew her from school and her and her husband were moving out of their house and she messaged me and asked me if we were interested. The neighborhood is over by the temple (for those Idaho Fall residents you know where this is at) and we have had a few people tell us not to move over there because it is shady. As we pulled up we noticed that is wasn't in a bad neighborhood but the house didn't look that amazing on the outside. We walked in and WOW...

They completed gutted it and rebuilt it and it is amazing! About 1200 square feet, 3 bedrooms, laundry room, finished basement, dishwasher, microwave, etc. We were SO excited! I was in love with the kitchen and my wheels were turning just thinking of all the ways to decorate. 

It is a good size for a family and a descent price if you have one, but we don't...so do we do it? It's about $200/month out of our price range but I really fell in love. We will be saving money on other things but we are trying to save up for a new car and put more money into savings in general. And since we are renting it's not really an investment. We are torn! And of course, driving home last night I am listening to Dave Ramsey and he says his usual "rice and beans, beans and rice" spiel. But, we don't have any debt, we both have jobs, and we just got our tax return...

AH! Decisions, decisions. Goals. goals. How do we meet them? 

The hunt is still on...

Us, lately...

Here are some pictures from the last week! (If you follow me on instagram, this post may be boring.)

Nephi has been putting '"r's" on "lady" (his nickname for me) and "love", lately. It's pretty fun. Occasionally, Nephi gets super lovey dovey and it's really funny. Note: "If your a bird, I'm a bird." (We watched 'The Notebook' last week.)

Had my good friend J come over to help us make some fried chicken! (I've never made it before so I was clueless and scared of a grease fire). This is a pretzel chicken recipe I found on Pinterest! It turned out AMAZING! Dip it in sweet 'n sour or ketchup and you will be in heaven. I even had it the next day for lunch heated up and it was just as good. 

I started journaling again last week. I have major updating to do and it reminds me of the mission so much. I would get  behind like a week and then I would just type it all up when we were at the visitor center to catch up and then glue it in. I will be doing that on a few things.

Funny story: So I started my entry as you see above with "Hi...so it's been awhile...". After I finished, I turned the page and notice I had tried to write in it again last year and it said the EXACT same thing! And the date was 2/2/11. Crazy, right? Must be the month. 

Got a little crafty. I am not a major craft person because sometimes I think it looks more tacky than creative but I like how this turned out. I brought it to my office to hang up, and I still need to do that. It was way easy. Just painted the canvas cream, went to the gym, came back and cut out these petals out of fabric swatches that I used to find my wedding colors and glued them on. I like it so much that I want to make another when we move into our new place. 

Got an official office chair! Since I have been here at work I have been using a lame conference chair. I think it was the root of my back problems I have been having and then it got progressively worse with letting Nephi crack it and then getting those massages. I actually ended up going to the chiropractor on Friday and that helped so much. He said that my ribs had moved and that my left foot was crazy out of place. So he did a lot of cracking and even Nephi was cringing watching him. Ha! It felt sooo good and he taught Nephi how to adjust me at home. So this weekend I heated it and took ibuprofen and it helped so much. I literally have zero lower back pain and foot pain but my right upper ribs are still a little sore. It comes and goes but it's not sharp and I feel so much better. I am going in on Wednesday for a follow-up appointment and I am excited. I am so grateful for modern medicine. 

We went and saw "The Vow" this week! It was really good. I am pretty sure I wouldn't have cried as much if I wasn't married. Being married made it hurt so much more but we both liked it. I even went again with some friends on Saturday and her husband admitted that he liked it! So ladies, you can convince your men because 2 tough guys I know said they liked it ;). 

Friends! We have been hanging out with different friends on the weekends. Last Sunday we had 2 couples come over to play games and I dipped some stuff in chocolate. It turned out so good! The pineapple and marshmallows were my favorite.

Can I just say that good friends are hard to find? I have had such a hard time since we have been married finding good girlfriends. You know, the one's that you can just call randomly and go do stuff,  shop, organize your house with, or vent to when you are upset. My best friend in AZ is all of those things AND MORE! I really miss my Emily! But I need to find an Emily in Idaho and it's not working. Oh well. Maybe one day. 

Yuuuum. This was the last piece of bread I ate before I gave it up. (No, I didn't give it up for lent. I gave it up for my hips.) So I have been off bread for a week! Nephi has been SO helpful! Even on Saturday I had the worst temptations: bagels at a breakfast, lunch at Great Harvest, and hamburgers for dinner. It was pretty deadly, but I resisted and I didn't feel jipped. So far, so good! 

This is my usual weekend treat and I gave it up this weekend. It was hard, but I am making progress. 

Other than all of this, we have been searching for a place to live in Idaho Falls. I work in Idaho Falls and it's about a 30 minute commute and it's killer on me and our wallets. I feel SICK when I have to fill up the tank. So basically I get sick almost 2 times a week. Blah. And gas is over $3 now. I know Obama is working reeeallly hard to lower those prices. NOT.

Anyway, Nephi mentioned as soon as I got the job that he wanted to move to Idaho Falls. I was kind of shocked but it's actually going to be better for us. Come July, Nephi will be done with school until January and then he will only have two semesters left. He can set his classes to later in the day, have an easier time finding someone to commute with, AND rent and groceries are cheaper in Idaho Falls. We hope by October to have a new car that will be more gas efficient and then we will be spending a lot less in gas when he commutes. I am sad to leave our ward and just Rexburg in general but in the end, we are going to save SO much money!

And no, we are not going to buy. I feel we are too young...and transient. Mostly transient.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Found our battery pack for our nice camera, finally. Just in time to decorate my first REAL Christmas tree!

 Made our own ornaments. Why do I love pink so much this season?

Only a few ornaments but we love it! 

 

And the night ended with some cute cuddling.

He's A Quarter of a Century

On Sunday, we threw a little birthday bash for Phe-Phi (fee-fi). I decided to make the theme "Quarter of a Century". A hour before the party started, my oven literally exploded! I was throwing in some dinner for Nephi and I and his parents so we could eat before the party and I had water boiling and the oven on and then I heard this huge noise. It was almost like a radio frequency sound but very very loud and it kept going. I was standing at the counter, right in front of the oven, so I looked to the side and then turned around and saw the oven and it was NEON orange!!! I screamed and it started sparking so I ran out of the kitchen and started yelling Nephi's name and he was vacuuming so he threw down the vacuum and ran over. He turned off the oven, avoiding the sparks, and opened the oven. Smoke came out as he opened it but it was not on fire. The element inside of the oven exploded! Here is what it looked like...

I was freaking out because I was running behind and I have to use the oven to cook the brownie's, apple crisp and meatballs! I called our landlord, who is awesome, and she reminded us that we could use the upstairs oven because it is currently vacant. So, I used upstairs oven which was awesome because I didn't have to cook in our apartment and make it smell. It put me a little behind and but we ended up getting everything done just in time, thanks to my good friends Jordan and J who saved me! They are amazing.

So, here are some pictures from the party! (They are not edited and I took them with my simple point and shoot camera so they aren't the best.)

Appetizers: Turkey Meatballs, Cheesy Bean Dip with Tortilla Chips, Veggies and Dip and Wheat Tortilla Roll-ups (chive cream cheese and swiss cheese).

Desserts: Homemade Hot Chocolate and dipping sticks, Apple Crisp, Cream Puffs, Brownie Bites with whipped cream and raspberries and cookies that a friend brought.

I made this cute sign and put it next to our piggy bank! Notice all the nasty dishes in the sink? Tacky? Nah. 

These turkey meatballs were a hit! They went so fast...I should have made more!

We don't have a lot of space to sit so we set up chairs around the room and put a football game on and that kept people entertained. 

We ended up having a lot of people show up! It was really fun.

We got a little ghetto with the hanging quarters and used dental floss. It was creative, right?

So that was the party! I am really glad we did it on a Sunday and basically our apartment still looks the same because we haven't cleaned a thing since. Good thing I am done with classes this afternoon!

Tonight for Nephi's birthday we are going to dinner (after I take and 'pass' my econ exam) and then coming home and eating cake, opening presents and then the greatest gift, sleeping in Wednesday morning :)