Busy, busy, busy!!!

It has been well over a month since we've made any posts, but man have we been busy! Since our last post we have packed, driven to Idaho for a weekend family reunion, I turned another year older, we moved, unpacked, survived a forest fire, and Nate officially graduated from BYU! Seeing as how I've been sitting here a while and we don't have anything comfy to sit on in the tv/computer/everything else room just yet, I might tackle pictures and such one event at at time.

We'll start with the packing and moving. We got the keys to our new place on July 23rd and started moving in that very next day. We didn't get all moved in until August 2nd, but it was nice to move stuff in slowly and unpack as we went. Now we're down to a maybe 6 boxes. Not to shabby, if I might say so myself!

The night before our major move to Payson (August 1st) we came to our new home, only to see a huge fire up on the mountain by our house! When we first got there it actually wasn't too bad, at least for us. It was big, but under control and a few miles from our house. We went and watched until we decided that we had lots to do and just needed to go unload the car. Well, by the time the car was unloaded, the wind had picked up and pushed the fire in our direction. It got kinda close to our house. We weren't too worried about it taking out our house, but it was only about half a mile away and quickly reaching some homes. Many people in our ward were evacuated. The local fire fighters were amazing that night! They really worked hard and for long hours to save so many homes. Thanks to them, and I am sure some divine intervention, all homes were spared. It's amazing to see where the fire went and how close it came to some homes. You can see where the fire went around some homes and an orchard, only to go through abandoned lots that had homes on each side. The only structure that was claimed was an old shed that was about to be torn down. That really was amazing!

I'll have to finish up later and I'll make sure to upload a bunch of pictures from the last month. Eventually I'll get all caught up!

We're Moving!!!

So, we're moving. Not as far as we thought we'd be moving, but we're still really excited! We found a town home down in Payson. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, and almost triple the space we have right now! The offer was just accepted yesterday, so assuming everything goes through, we should have a new set of keys by the end of the month!

Cute little bay window!

I think the floors and the trim work are 2 of my favorite parts!

Ceiling fans are great!


I love the floors!


Granite counters, a nice fridge, and a mini double oven!


The half bath


The falcons stuff was not a selling factor (despite popular belief) nor were they asked for as part of the offer.


The back bedroom


The lovely upstairs bathroom!

There is also a small back yard with lots of open space behind and in front there is a brand new baseball complex, so we won't be having anything built over there. We are VERY excited! Anybody feel like helping with a move?

Happy 4th of July!

This weekend was rather busy, but pretty fun! My entire family came down for the weekend! On the 4th we didn't do the typical 4th of July stuff. We did go get some pizza and found a nice park by our apartment and watched various people and their fireworks. We were all glad that there were so many people willing to send their own money up in flames. Thanks to several people in the North Provo/South Orem area and to the Stadium of Fire, we had a pretty nice little show! That night Chelsie and Caleb camped out in our living room while Mama, Daddy, and Emily went up to Sandy to stay the night. It was kinda fun to have them over for the night. Nate and Caleb played a game called Field Command while Chelsie and I watched a nice chick flick (I actually fell asleep pretty quickly).

Saturday we got visit with all sorts of family. We saw most of the Nances before they head off to Josephs wedding and then their new tour of Germany. After a couple hours of visiting with them, we spent some time with Dusty and Bill. Bill made his very yummy burgers. Yumm!!! It was nice to be able to see so much family! The weekend went rather quickly, but it was nice to spend a little time with my family.

The Joys of Google Reader

I am confessing to a slight problem I have with spending time on the computer. After an entire day of looking at a computer, I come home and spend hours on end staring at my own computer checking email, Facebook, friends blogs, and other such things. But now, I am happy to say, I have been spending MUCH less time on the computer. I found this wonderful little thing called Google Reader. I have it check for updates on all of the blogs and news pages that I read, so instead of spending hours checking several different sites, I just check Google Reader and it tells me who has made any changes. I love it!!! I'm not trying to sound like a commercial, I'm just saying that I am happy to be breaking my computer addiction. I can now keep up on everything online and spend time on different and more important things. I feel so free!!!

Happy Birthday Emily!!!

We haven't posted anything in a while but we have been very busy. One of the more recent exciting things was Emily's visit from Rexburg for her birthday! She came down Friday then headed home Monday morning. While she was here, we probably spent most of her visit making a birthday cake. Not really, but we did spend a few hours Friday night then ALL Saturday morning. It was pretty fun! This was the first attempt at using fondant for both of us, but I don't think it was too bad. Here are some pictures from the fun weekend.

Emily mixing our triple batch of yellow cake.


Cake with yummy raspberry icing.


The frog beginnings.


The finished product!


Happy 20th Birthday Emily!

Not to shabby for our first attempt at fondant and all the special cake carving we had to do. After the cake was done we went to Nielsons Grove park down the road for a little party with family and friends. By the end of the day we were all exhausted, but it sure was a fun day!

The Growing Chives

A quick update on the baby chive. The one little chive got pretty big, but then I went on vacation and neglected it for a week. It is coming back to me now and has been joined by a few other chives that are growing quickly. I'm not holding my breath, but as for now, they're they're still alive!

The Lovely Carolinas

Yes, it has been a few weeks since we've given any kind of an update. I blame this mostly on our wonderful vacation to the Carolinas. It was VERY nice to get away for a week. In an attempt to be cheap, we had separate flights from Salt Lake to Minneapolis then we were supposed to hook up in Minneapolis and be together for the rest of the trip. Not bad, yeah? Well... Due to technical difficulties, Nate ended up getting stuck at the Salt Lake airport for 10 hours! After a very long day, Nate did finally make it to Charlotte only 5 hours after I did.

The rest of the trip went rather well, except for the one time I misheard the hotel lady tell me what exit we were supposed to get off at...oops. On our way down to Charleston from Charlotte, we stopped by the lovely and historic University of South Carolina. From there we drove on to Charleston and due to my little directions mishap, we took the scenic route around Charleston to the hotel. We got to play around downtown Charleston and go the the beach on Isle of Palms. That's the second time in a year that we've been to Charleston. We love it! What can I say? I do have to say though, that we did different things this time. It was fun!

"Will I be going to school here in the near-ish future? Who knows!"


Nate shooting the big cannon at Ft. Moultrie

After a few days in Charleston, we drove up the coast to Carolina Beach, NC. We got a good deal in a new Marriott Courtyard, with our room overlooking the beach. That was lovely!!! Even when we were sitting in the hotel, we could watch and listen to the ocean. Oh! If only that could be a regular thing. I miss the sound of the ocean! The Carolina Beach experience was mixed. The area is a little depressed, but the hotel was very nice! The depressed area did force a local fresh seafood place to cut all prices by 40%, which meant that we got some very yummy seafood for a very good deal.

The beach and one of the pools from our room at Carolina Beach


Annah from our balcony

After a few days at the beach, we drove up through Raleigh, Durham, and Greensboro to Winston-Salem. North Carolina is a beautiful part of the country! It was nice to see lots of green trees again!

We drove back to Charlotte on Saturday and flew back to Salt Lake. It was a long week, but it was a lot of fun! Now we're back to Utah and back to the routine. We're getting excited to see where we're going to end up this summer. For now though, we're glad it's warming up and enjoying having school free evenings together.

Chillin' at one of our favorite sitting spots in Charleston