We are in!

Good news, bad news. We are finally in our home. Bad news...no internet. Our updates may be limited, but we will try to do our best. We decided to go with television rather than internet. Who knows how long we will last before going crazy.

Well, we were able to officially move in on December 23. We absolutely love it. There are still a few things the builders are finishing up and/or fixing. Yesterday as the satellite was being installed, we found out they failed to put any insulation in our attic. There are a few more things such as missing light bulb, chipped cement, and our mailbox.

Last night for New Year's we broke in our house with a little party, kids included. it was fun to entertain a little bit with comfortably fitting 15 people where our previous limit was about 4. We will work on getting some pictures taken and get it posted.

Until then...we will start enjoying 2009!

Just a Night in the Hospital

So we had an adventuresome little Thursday night. Brett started having a little stomach ache while at work on Thursday. After a couple hours he ended up going home to see if he could sleep it off. It just kept getting worse and by 4:00 his parents called the family practice. The practice is closed on Thursdays but the PA, or Dr. Darin as everyone calls him, met Brett and his mom at the clinic. His best diagnosis without blood or CT scan was appendicitis. Since Dy was working at IMED, Brett got a shot for nausea and headed to Salt Lake. It was nice to head to the same hospital Dyana was working at and eventually ended up on her floor with a few recommendations. While sitting in the ER for several hours Brett's temperature was 103 with uncontrollable shaking....even with 7 warm blankets heavily resting on him there was nothing that could make him comfortable. Thanks to Morphine Brett was resting comfortably before entering the operating room. After receiving a blessing from Uncle Bruce and Andrew, by about 11:00 Brett was in surgery and had his appendix removed. While not technically his nurse, Dyana pretty much did all of those duties. After a long night with many interuptions and little sleep we checked out of the hospital by about 10:00 on Friday morning.

Great timing as the Holidays approach, wrestling tournament, a busy week at work, and not to mention an upcoming move. We are still blessed that everything went so smoothly and there were no complications with the procedure. Brett is doing pretty well and is anxious to get out of the house and attend a few Christmas parties.

That brings up another point, we can especially use a few more hands now that lifting is limited for Brett. As things look right now, we hope to move into our new home next Friday and Saturday (Dec 19-20) with most of the big things on Saturday. Our walk through is scheduled for Tuesday and we hope to close Thursday or Friday. It all depends on how fast the appraisal and insurance stuff will be finished. Regardless, Castle Creek said they would work with us so we can move in next weekend.

Happy 1 year!

So I just had to write a post letting my wife...and all of you...know how much I love her.

At the risk of sounding too sappy and gushy for a blog, I will leave out most of the details for in person. But she is my everything and makes life so mush easier and enjoyable to live each day. Thanks for making me feel so special and loved.

You are the best and I love you.

Temple Square

This weekend we celebrated our first anniversary. It seems hard to believe it has been a year since we got married, but at the same time neither of us can imagine life without each other. It seems like we have been married for years.

To celebrate we went back to Little America were we stayed to start our honeymoon before heading off to Cali. Brett was able to get off work early so we checked in around 4:00. Just a relaxing evening of vegging in our rooms, checking our the temple square lights, and a great dinner at Olive Garden. Nothing too fancy, but we had both been dying to go there for months. It was also the place we went to eat the afternoon we got engaged. For our good deed we even gave our tasty leftovers to a couple guys on the street.

We loved this new feature in the middle of the reflection pool.

The camera on Brett's new phone actually takes pretty decent photos.
(We still should probably find the battery charger for our camera.)

Gas for $1.51!

That is right, we paid $1.51 for gas. So we had some actual proof, we figured we had to take a picture blog about it. Plus it has been over a month since the last post and were desperate for a new entry.

Even though we love the house, we didn't want to put another entry about the house. It seems like that has pretty much been all we have done for the past while. For a quick update, we hope to move in the week of December 15. I am sure there will be a separate blog soon with an update.

House Update - Video walk through

Here is a walk through of our home. As you can see, virtually all of the framing is done besides a few touch ups. Other than playing around at the apartment, this was also the first real use of our new camera.

There were a few problems with editing this video since the camera saves files in a pretty new and not popular video file. Thanks, Cody, for helping us out. It is really coming along and is fun to actually envision where things are going. We should be pretty close to moving into the house in just over a month. CRAZY!

Do you really know who you are voting for?

We got this link from a friend (thanks Mark) and find it pretty interesting. A man asks people on the street who contest they support Obama if they agree with his political views...but they are actually McCain's.

This is only a small sample, but I bet many people would answer this very similarly...for both candidates. Check it out.

Link: Obama or McCain

If you are tired of these posts, we are working on a video walk through of our house that we hope to post soon. We are getting pretty close.

Vote for Righteousness

Many of you may have seen this, but we watched it at Dyana's family's place tonight and thought it was definitely worth watching. We also received this email about the same sex marriage issue in California. It is imperative we all vote for righteousness. It is a little scary to see where the country is headed if we don't take a stand and draw the line somewhere. 50 years ago some of these issues wouldn't have stood a chance. The line keeps getting pushed back. If we don't stand up for it now, who knows where we will be in another 50 years.

Vote for Righteousness

Proposition 8

Sorry for the political posts. We should have some more pictures of the house soon. :)

Our Freedom To Vote

I thought I would venture out and create a post with a little different twist. As Dy and I were watching the presidential debate the other night, we both expressed general frustrations with the process. While it is great to have each side share their views, I get so frustrated with the 2nd grade name calling that goes on. Rarely do they actually answer the questions posed and it seems to be more about the bad the others are doing rather than the good ideas of their own. Having worked for a public policy think tank for a couple years, I definitely appreciate all of the time public servants put in...and most of their intentions. But I still have a hard time with antics that go along with politics.

While I tend to lean towards one candidate, I have not entirely made my decision yet. While Obama tends to be very polished as a speaker and presenter (which I agree is an important characteristic for a president), he seems to spend most of his efforts ripping on the current administration and trying to tie McCain to it all. However, last I checked most all of that legislation is voted on by congress controlled by Obama's party. In fact, many of his votes in the Senate are in support of the very pieces he rips apart. It sounds to me like he often is trying to just say what will best get him elected and not what we need. I do get leery about McCain's age and he definitely isn't as smooth an orator as his counterpart. Although their views are different, his personality is too much like Bush's...plus, what is the "Maverick" campaign about. Should we elect Mel Gibson instead? I also don't like his *health* plan as much as Obama's. However, I do like his experience and feel he and Palin would bring sincerity and integrity to the Whitehouse.

The point of the post is not to create a debate or argument about the candidates, rather to see what some of your thoughts are about the election/debate process in general. I am opposed to those who blindly vote straight party tickets. I get annoyed by people who are so polarized and irrational in their views they don't listen to a word you say (i.e. - environmentalists and PETA). To be honest, my vote is largely influenced by simple integrity and sincerity.

If you have any comments about the process I thought it would be fun to see your thoughts. Most importantly, though, I am grateful for the right to vote and for a country that really is a great place to live. Too often we forget the freedoms we are blessed with and such a positive overall quality of life we live. Be sure to get out there and exercise your right to vote on November 4.

House Update - Exterior Framing

So, here is the latest update. Almost all of the exterior framing is complete.





Back of House



Moving wall and window.




Kitchen from the family room.




Master Retreat