Home Sweet Home

No I have not been in escrow since my last post. Haha! The finger crossing (and lots of money) must have worked because I have been a homeowner since April 19th!!! It keeps me and my bank account busy, but I LOVE it and would never want to rent again. I love that it is MY space that I can do whatever I want with. I love that I don't have to answer to anyone but myself (although a maintenance man would be handy). I love living in a quiet neighborhood and listening to kids play, dogs barking (sometimes) and very few cars driving down the street. Here are a few pictures of my home sweet home.
Chance and Melanie were so, so, so nice to help me redo my front yard when they came to visit.

This was after one week and tons of water. It has grown a ton since then, enough that it got its first mowing last week (thanks for the super awesome lawn mower dad). I haven't taken any current pictures of my lawn. Sorry. You'll just have to come and visit to see for yourself:)

This is my front room. It used to have my tv in it until I was able to get some furniture for this awesome room:
I love, love my kitchen. It is actually bigger than it looks but I had a hard time getting it all in.
Just to add a little excitement (or because I couldn't for the life of me get it to turn) you'll have to turn your head for the picture of my laundry room/ half bathroom.


There you have it! There are actually two more bedrooms but they are either completely empty or used for storage. I love my little home sweet home and am so excited to be here!

In Escrow!!!!

Yes, you read it correctly. I am in escrow. I don't want to jinx myself by saying a lot, because the process has been so smooth since I put an offer in on this house. So cross your fingers that it continues to go smoothly, and if it does, I will be a homeowner on April 19th!!!!!!!!!!!

This is it! The outside needs some work and it is an older home, but the inside has been totally remodeled and is beautiful!

109 Days

Have no fear, I am still alive! In case you were wondering (Ericka) it has been 109 days since I have blogged. When life gets busy, blogging seems to be the first thing to go and boy has life been busy. Here is a quick recap of the past 109 days, give or take a few things, and hopefully I can stay on top of the blogging world from here on out!

A little hiking . . .

A trip home for . . .

going through the temple . . .

Tyrel and Chance's graduation . . .

Back to Utah for . . .

a little pretend skydiving with Melanie . . .
and before, after and in between all of that was the end of one school year, the start of another and plenty of friends, family and fun!

The End!!

All of the anticipation, waiting and hard work is over!

Although a couple of weeks late, here are a few highlights from my graduation!

If you look really closely you can see me:)

Proud Parents!

Love this one!

My favorite kid!

Soon it will be their turn!

Can't forget the great sister!

Go UTES!!!

Grandma and Grandpa!

Love my grandma!

Love them!

The best of friends!

The dignified graduate!

Reflection

*Disclaimer: This post will be cheesy and a little sentimental, but I deserve it and so do all of you!

After three and a half years, I have done it! On Friday I will walk in graduation at the University of Utah to receive my masters of education degree. As I was driving home from Ogden yesterday, I started to think about the past three and half years and all of the moments, experiences and people that have gotten me to this point. There were times when I really thought that I would never finish and times that I sincerely thought it would just be easier if I quit. However, during those times there was always someone to encourage me along and assure me that I would and could make it. So this week would not be complete without me having a chance to say a very deserving thank you to all of the people in my life who have helped me along the way, because if there is one thing that I have learned for sure from this experience, it's that I could not have done it alone!

* To my family (immediate and extended): There is absolutely no way I could have done this without you and even though I don't always say it, I do know it. Thank you for listening to me complain, being excited for me when I did well and always pushing me to be better.

*To my friends and co workers (whom I consider to be some of my best friends): Thank you for putting up with all my craziness, stressing and hectic schedule. Thank you for always listening to me whine and hearing me out on some of my crazy ideas. Thank you for celebrating my successes with me and calming me down when I would freak out (trust me, I know I did this)!

*To my school friends: I am so lucky to have gone through this experience (at least most of it) with such great girls who I am also very proud of. I am so lucky to be able to look back at this experience and have such great people in my memories.

* To all the kids I have taught over the past 3 years (even though I know they will never see this): Thank you for putting up with and unconditionally loving me as a teacher even when I was stressed, impatient and tired. Thank you for being my guinea pigs:) I hope I didn't mess you up too much!

There are so many people that have helped to make this possible for me and I can never thank any of you enough. This has been a dream of mine and I am so excited to see it come true. I truly do feel like I have grown more as a person in the last three years than I ever have before. I have learned and accomplished things that I never would have thought possible! I can't wait to put that cap, gown and hood on and walk across that stage! I am excited for what lies ahead for me, and NO it is not a doctorate!

Is there life without homework?

So as I am sitting here on a Saturday afternoon writing yet another paper and I can't help but wonder what my life will be like without homework. I am in my third year of teaching and about to finish my masters degree (26 days!!!!). I have realized that I do not know what it is like to teach full time and not go to school at the same time. What will it be like to not have to rush out of work, often leaving things undone, in order to get to class on time? What will it be like to not feel guilty for doing something I want to instead of homework? What will it be like to not constantly have the thought of what assignments or readings are due next in the back of my mind? What will it be like to be able to read something besides the readings assigned for class? What will it be like to eat dinner at a normal time instead of whenever I end up getting home from class or done with an assignment? I have realized that the answer to all of these questions is INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!

What I Love!!!!

So, I am starting to be harassed because it has been so long since I have blogged, so here it is. I thought in honor of this day of love, I would share what I love and what this day is all about, family and friends!

I love my great family, including grandmas, grandpa, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephew, etc. I sincerely could not imagine a better family and extended family than I have.

I love my incredible friends. Even if I don't see them or talk to them often, without a doubt I have the greatest friends!


*Disclaimer: If you're picture is not in this post, it is not because I don't love you, just that I don't have a lot of pictures on this computer and it would take way too long to put a picture of everybody that I love:)

I love you all and Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!