Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Addendum

And when I say honeymoon trip, I mean anniversary trip... ANNIVERSARY. Oops. Can anyone believe it's been a year that we've been married? I most definitely cannot! Wow wow wow. A lot has happened for us in just a year. We are so blessed!

Meet the homeowners!

It's official-Jeff and I are now homeowners! (Or at least severely indebted to Wells Fargo.) Everything went super-smooth and the whole entire process only went from June 29-July 24. We were incredibly blessed with all the right help and connections. We are very grateful. Our little place is perfect for us and we have absolutely loved being there. (Especially being out of the 3rd floor, 500 sq ft apartment.) We got a lot of help with moving and cleaning from our families and a few friends. Thanks guys! (I don't have any good pictures yet, as we still haven't had time to get batteries for the camera.) This is one poor view from our inspection report. I promise it's cuter in person.

With all the closing details and moving amidst Pioneer Day events, we have been pretty unbelievably busy and you guessed it-exhausted. It has been literally inpossible for me to get enough rest formy body and the baby. I've started looking into my liberties of taking days off. I don't really have any in my contract, but if I'm sick, I'm sick, right? I'm down to the last week and a half of my internship. I've enjoyed it, but its end will be a huge relief for me. It's about all I can make myself do in the day. The ambiguous deadline for my capstone project also looms very very close, and I'm not much closer than, say, a month ago. Eesh. That will actually be the number 1 stress reliever, getting that off of my hands. Hopefully soon. (It's just so hard when all you want to do is set up house, prepare for baby and sleep!)

I'm one week away from trimester #3, which makes me happy and sad. Happy cause we're getting closer to being done. Sad because I know I will only get more worn out. I really just need to quit focusing on it and just focus on my project right now. :)
Jeff's plugging away in the Academy, loving every second. Well, most every second. Some classes sound much more exciting than some others. He's been kicking butt on tests, usually in the 93-100 range, as well as mastering physical training. He also loves defensive tactics and says he's good at it. :) We think he will be undergoing his pepper-spraying the day we want to leave for our short honeymoon trip. That will be exciting, since the after-effects last for dozens of hours, and he has to do all the driving! We're going to Denver for the last weekend in August-its still away, but not too far for my poor pregnant body. We're pretty excited, we really enjoy just getting away, no matter the place.
Finally, only 3 days until my birthday! Normally, I would have had a 3-month-by-the-day countdown or something going on, but I've been so preoccupied lately, I barely got in 2 weeks of counting down! I'm pretty excited. I'm debating taking the day off, and Jeff and I are going to the Melting Pot that night. I can't wait! I've been dying to eat there for years! Not much else is going on this weekend. Hollah!

Monday, July 14, 2008

Does it ever slow down?

So, remember how in my last blog I mentioned we wanted to start looking for a house soon? Yeah, well, it turns out that this comment now turns into a little story. We were told by our office that our lease would be up at the end of August. Then, just a few days before June ended, Jeff gets a call from them saying-your lease is up in a few days and we haven't heard from you. What will you be doing? ...What?! Not only did they tell us that our lease was up in August, but they never gave us the reminder asking for our notice (which I have seen numerous times on neighbors' doors.) Jeff was pretty unhappy and asked them if we could stay 'til August... that was a no. Luckily, he was persistent and convinced them to let us stay until the end of July on our current terms.
Well, that got us immediately started on looking. We had exactly one month to figure our budget, look at houses, make offers, get loan approval, go through the entire process (inspections, appraisals, disclosures, PAPERWORK,) pack and move in to our new place. What's even better, is this one month we had to do it all also was the same month that there were TWO holidays that gave our realtor and lender long weekends off, Jeff was starting a new job, I would be finishing my internship and also the 30-page paper that goes along with it to allow me graduation... Oh, and let's not forget that I'm already exhausted trying to create another human being. BUT, even though it sounds like I am, I don't have much to complain about. Aside from being constantly busy and exhausted, the process has been pretty fun (and a little scary.) Luckily, we got some good referrals of people to work with - otherwise I think we would definitely have been easy prey! (My home buying advice: start early. Very early. Do lots of homework.)
So, as it currently stands, we are under contract with a house in West Valley (don't worry, the area's not too ghetto,) and if all goes well, we close next week!! Today is our inspection-I'll see if I can't snag some pictures. It is a one-story, 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bath. The home was built in the '60's but has had lots of work done in the last few years. New roof, brand new floors and carpets, new furnace. It's on a corner lot with a big yard and a swing set. It's also painted... and I actually love all the wall colors, so no worries of lime green or purple walls to hide. Really, we just need to know if it will appraise for our loan amount-that's about the only thing that is pending for us. We couldn't be more excited. Things have really fallen into place in the shortest amount of time! We definitely have to recognize some celestial help in the matter.


Jeff began the SLC PD Academy this past week. He came out of his first week with about $1000 worth of new gear and the biggest blister I've ever seen. They do a lot of physical training and he's just as tired as me these days. (Even in spite of that he has still been excellent with helping around the house-making the occasional dinner and doing some dishes. What a great guy!) The training process is long, but he's already enjoying it. He's looking forward to things like Night Driving, Defense Tactics and don't forget-he'll have to be tazed and pepper sprayed!


I am coming up on the last leg of my internship at the VA Hospital. It has been a good experience overall, but I have to be honest-I'm looking forward to its end with everything else we have going on. They are opening a part-time job there in Rec Therapy soon, and I'm still unsure as to whether I would want it or not. I definitely don't want full time, and right now, the break that lies ahead of me is the glaring, blinding light of my life. We'll see how that goes. I think I will revel the free time to set up house before baby comes.

That reminds me, in case you haven't heard, we decided on a name for our girl. It will be Amelie Josephine. The name Josephine runs in my family (I'm middle named Jo) and we though the two French names were beautiful together. Things are moving along just great with her. All of our measurements and ultrasounds still tell us things are right on track. I've got another appointment this Wednesday. Sadly, it will be the first that I have to go to alone-no taking off of the Academy whenever Jeff wants! I'm accepting volunteers who want to accompany me and hold my hand in the future, as Jeff will be training the entire rest of the time. :) I'm now at week 24, and I've got 5 1/2 good months behind me. Almost to third trimester, and I can't lie, I'm pretty happy that we're getting closer and closer. (Due date is still Nov. 5th, but we're sending out last-of-October vibes...)

And now, because 1) this post has no other pictures, and 2) somehow Jeff's birthday weekend never made it to a post, I've included some pictures of his birthday weekend when we went with friends to the lake house in Delta and went golfing.

This one might perfectly explain each of their golfing (and life) personalities. (Jeff, Anton, Bry)


Hello Tami! Us girls manned the golf carts.


Didn't you know golf is a team sport? (Anton's sacrificing his beautiful clothes for the perfect digital video shot. No pressure Bry.)



Yeah... it's blurry. But I love him blur or not.


And, the final news for today's post-only 18 days until my birthday! I really almost completely forgot in all the hustle.