inspected

We had the house inspection today. The inspector said he had never seen a house that age (7 yrs) that was in better condition. There's absolutely nothing that needs to be fixed before we can move in. Hooray!

We do have a little list of things we'd WANT to change (paint, lightfixtures, sink faucets, add tile, etc.) but nothing that has to be changed before we move in on June 26th. It's a happy day!

looking forward

Yes, Kent and I are definitely looking forward to moments like this with little Nicholas:


I found this clip a few days ago. No matter how hard I try, this video makes me start to smile, chuckle, and then join in the laughter. Who knew that a newspaper could be so much fun?

double deuce

On Sunday I turned 22. Or "Double Deuce" as Kent calls it. He put streamers on 2 (two) doorways for me to represent it.

I had a really nice birthday. We celebrated by going to my favorite restaurant here, The Guenther House, on Saturday morning. I love that place. Love. Kent got the eggs benedict and we nearly died. So yummy.



After the restaurant we were out house searching again with our Realtor--we put in an offer on a house, and it got accepted(!), and now we're going through all the work to make sure it works out. It's a lot of work.

We also met up with a guy at the Pro Bass Shop parking lot who sold us this beautiful TV cabinet. How did people find awesome deals like this before the internet?On Sunday I turned both 22 years old and 26 weeks pregnant. Some days I can't even imagine my belly getting any bigger than it already is. This boy is growing so fast! (At least I hope it's the boy growing and not just me...)

After church Kent treated me to a delicious brunch of stuffed french toast and whipped orange juice. It was delightful! Later that night we had Dallin and Cindy over to help us eat my cake, which Kent made all by himself.

My little boy celebrated by hiccuping so hard it tickled me during church. I couldn't have asked for a better gift.

ninja turtles

It's fascinating how much happiness can come from $1.50 and an ice cream truck.
Yep, my husband likes these. Gumball eyes and all.
I had a neapolitan ice cream sandwich, or a "boring ice cream." We went to Woodlawn park on Friday night. They have a sailing club there.
And a really nice walking trail.
And three ice cream trucks.

Maybe we can get used to this place after all.

motivation

Are you looking for a good reason to vacuum the floors? Have you left your vacuum in the middle of the floor for the past three days hoping you'll find a reason to want to use it?

I've found the solution.

Spill half a box of laundry detergent on the floor right next to the front door.
It'll work wonders.

I promised

and although it was over a month ago, I always intended to keep it! I promised you that I would post the creative nonfiction peice that I read at graduation.

I never did figure out how to add it to my blog.
So I did it a little different way.

If you go to this link here and then click on the pdf logo that's there on the page, it should pull up the peice I wrote.

And now I can cross that off of my extended to do list. Whew!

week's end

I'm so glad it's the weekend.
It means Kent is home and he can fight off the cockroaches for me.
It means we made it through another week. And it's been a rough one-- having mortgages loans declined (we're four months short of two years credit history), going to our ward on Sunday that can only be described as...strange, budgets worked and then reworked and then reworked again, realizing we might be in this apartment in until September (bleh), discovering we have to find a cheaper house than the one we fell in love with, an insurance fiasco at the doctor's office, learning that the old lady who lives above us likes to listen to music with hard bass beat until 1 am, multiple instances of police right outside our apartment settling domestic disputes with other tenants, paying for the dryer at the laundry and it being broken, and after not seeing one for a whole week and a half discovering a GIANT cockroach on the kitchen counter last night when we were trying to make chocolate covered strawberries.

I hope you didn't read all of those. I just needed to vent. Please forgive me. I'm pregnant.

I read this talk on Thursday.
"The next time you’re tempted to groan, you might try to laugh instead."
That is tough, but I'm going to try it. Hopefully I'm learning to follow the counsel of Elder Wirthlin's mother:

“Come what may, and love it.” It's a new week next week. I'm going to look for things to love.

because

sometimes we all need to be reminded to not fret about life.

10 (ten) very little things that make me smile:

1. blue sky between green-leafed branches
2. the lines on people's faces when they wake up from a nap
3. clean windows
4. drippy popsicles
5. finding a new favorite song
6. babies who have dimples where their knuckles should be
7. soft carpet
8. riding in a car full of friends
9. when Kent puts his hand on my back as we fall asleep
10. bouquets of dandelions in a little glass cup on the windowsill

grandpa's turkey

No one in the world makes turkey better than my Grandpa Murray. On Thanksgiving morning (and sometimes other special occasions througout the year), we wait by the phone. And sooner or later we get a call from Grandma. "Grandpa needs some helpers." Helpers= tasters. Moist, juicy, marinated turkey breast hot off Grandpa's grill. Grandpa made some turkey for my baby shower last week. His turkey gets yummier every time he makes it.

Thanks, Grandpa! We love you!

buried

We're here in Texas now.

But we're a little bit buried. (Can you find my husband in this picture?) We're waiting for a storage unit because we have too much stuff for a one bedroom.

We're also waiting for a pest control person.

Because I don't like cockroaches. Or mice.

I do like the tree outside my window, though. We've never had a tree before. It makes me feel refreshed, which is really important here in the Texas heat. We're making sure to find other ways to cool off--ice cream breaks work wonders.

But I'm wondering--do you have any suggestions for dealing with cockroaches? I think my 3 am potty break last night was the first time I've even seen a cockroach, and I have no idea what to do about it. I put all the dry food we bought in our microwave so the cockroaches can't get it, but it can't stay there. It's just not practical.