GREAAAAAAAAT NEWS!

Soooooooo..............are you ready for the news???? Huh huh? Are you ready???

Well......

WE GOT APPROVED FOR OUR LOAN! Yay! All we need to do now is do an inspection on the house and then move in!!!! We officially close on the 13th (Tuesday), but we are trying to close on MONDAY, the 12th, - 4 DAYS AWAY - because Tuesday is going to be a crazy day for us! AHHH!!! I'm so freaking excited!

We got a slight bit nervous because they wanted us to pay off a student loan and something else. $8500 later, we are making sure everything is in order and that we have enough in the bank for the downpayment plus 2 months of mortgage available.....we had the right amount, plus $172! We just BARELY made it! Granted, we had some checks and stuff we need to deposit, but actively in the bank to close on time, barely made it! Kindof sucks though, because we were planning on using that extra money we had towards upgrading some things in the home...we'll have to see what we can do now! Oh well! We're getting a home! Small sacrifices for a great reward!

We'll make sure to keep you updated on our progress and when we actually close! Until then...hopefully everything stays according to plan!

OUR HOUSE!!!!!

So....we're getting a house!!!!! We haven't moved in yet, but we should be able to in 30 days or less!!!!

House specs: 2796 square feet; 17,820 square foot land (.41 acres! horses are permitted!); 3 bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It isn't much farther from where we live right now - close to the freeways, only like, 5 minutes from the strip and airport.

The house definitely needs some updating. It sat on the market for a little more than a year, so the yard is completely dead. The outside needs to be painted and we plan on redoing the whole master bath (it's not that great). Also, we want to attach the garage to the house (right now it's detached). It has a pool (which needs to be cleaned), needs new carpet (pink and purple just aren't the colors of carpet I like) and a  lot of new paint - the bedrooms have pretty horrid paint jobs, and has a lot of land!

 Here are a couple of pictures from the internet that the realtor took. The furniture inside isn't ours.

 These first two pictures are the outside of the house. The front door, something Dave and I couldn't find in the pictures until we actually went to the house, is behind the big tree on the left.

This is a patio that's on the front of the house. Above it is a balcony from the master bedroom.

Here is the garage (detached). We plan on making like, a mudroom/hallway to connect it to the rest of the house. Where you see the firepit is where the backdoor is on the house.

Spanning to the right of the yard, you see the POOL!!! I like how it's already gated (so the little ones don't have access), and it comes complete with a slide! haha. It also has a small hot tub that waterfalls into the pool.

Here is a closer look at the pool.

When you first walk into the house, this is what you see, the family room. The staircase leads to the master bedroom and bath (the only room upstairs). Down the hallway are 2 more bedrooms off to the left side of the hall. The other side is the door to the patio. I'm hoping the bedrooms downstairs don't entice our future kids to sneak out at night! We'll have to do something to change that.

You can also see the dining table off to the left. The next picture shows looking the other direction in the house.

So, here's the kitchen! It's really nice and big. We plan on installing an island in the center (in this pic, the owners had a removable island in the kitchen). Down the hall you can see the office/gameroom/maybe extra bedroom. Pictures of that room is later on.

So, here's my pretty kitchen! It's a really good size, which I'm glad about.

Here's the office/gameroom/extra bedroom. It had a fireplace and is a very big room! It has a bathroom/laundry room around the corner, also. When we attach the garage, I plan on moving the laundry room to there! It's just kinda weird to me to share the laundry room with a toilet!

Here's panning to the right in the same room.

Here's the master bedroom! As you can see, it is big enough for a bed and a little sitting area. I don't know what we'll do with all the space!

So that's our house! Yay! It needs some work, but we plan on living here for a while and can't wait for the excitement of making it better and better!!! Everyone is more than welcome to come stay with us!!! We have at least one spare room we won't be using! (That's not a pregnant announcement, just that we'll prob use the other bedroom for an office, haha).

Also, you can look on Zillow.com to see the overhead look of the house and at how big the lot really is!
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/birds-eye-view-map/7167912_zpid/#birds-eye-view

If that link doesn't work for some reason, just look up the address on there: 8725 Rancho Destino LV, NV 89123.

Let us know when you want to take a trip to Vegas!!!!!

Good News

So a couple of things that have been going on lately...

We got our $2000 deposit back from the house we thought we were going to buy. This was a big deal because the people selling the house only wanted to give us $1000 back (long story), but we weren't agreeing to it! After a while, the house finally sold and the holding company had to give us our money back, but we didn't know we were going to get the full amount! We thought they might take out fees for holding it for so long... So that was awesome!

Some more good news is that I GOT AN INTERNSHIP WITH MERRILL LYNCH!!! It is unpaid, but I get school credit for it (3 credits). So, not only is it a great opportunity, it's great to put on my resume when I graduate, and I don't have to sit in a boring class and take tests!!! That's probably the most exciting part right now! haha. I have to have 150 hours by the end of the semester, which is about 12 hours a week - not bad. So on top of taking 12 other credits (4 classes), working about 12 hours a week (which isn't much, but that's all that fits my schedule), and doing my internship about 12 hours a week, my workload is full! I also teach CTR 4 (4 year olds turning 5) at church and am on a committee to help plan the montly ward date nights! AHH!! I'm kindof going crazy with all the stuff I have to do all the time! I don't even have time to get a haircut! haha. I just take one day at a time, though! Only 4 months left of the craziness until I graduate!!!!

We did find time in our crazy schedule to take a trip to South Carolina, and it was so fun! When we signed up with T-mobile a little more than a year ago, they had a deal going for buy-one-get-one-free flights for each line added. So, Dave and I had 2 of those, and Dan and Danielle had 2 (they got the same deal). So we were able to buy 8 tickets to fly for the price of 4. Since we only had 6 people that could go (Steph and Darren went too), we all took a weekend trip there. It was such a carefree, dramafree weekend! I just wish it would've been warmer!! I'll have pictures up soon!

I got to see Lion King with my In-N-Out group last night. We reached some goal we set or something...Anyways, it was so good! I recommend it!

Dave signed us up for this thing called "House Seats". Basically you pay like, $90 for 2 people for a year and you become "seat fillers" for shows. Last week we saw Fitz of Laughter (a comedy show), and tomorrow night Dave and I are going to see Blue Man Group! We are trying to be more exciting and do things together as a couple. With this thing, we are able to do that, plus save money doing it, which we love!!!

Sorry, there are no pictures this post. I'm at school with no pictures on my computer...wait...

There you go!!!

New Years! 2010!

New Years was pretty similar to last year. We had a bonfire going in the background and Dave and I each had our own Martinelli drinks! We hung out for a while, but then I had to go to bed cause I had to be at work at 7am the next day (the same as last year!) I really need to remember to ask that next morning off. It sucks waking up so early when you've been up so late!

Me and Danielle were sitting by the bonfire. We had jackets on, but were really hot because the flames were so huge!

Just a bit of randomness...I was driving down the freeway, and this van caught my eye. It's a bit hard to read here, but it says:
"Your Family Still Matters: Paintball, Food Storage, Violins". I just thought that was a bit funny. Those 3 things don't seem to really go together to me...

Hardy Party - Christmas 2009

So for the "Hardy Party" Christmas party, the family puts on a nativity scene. Basically the kids dress up as sheep, cows, a donkey, shepherds, the wise men, Mary, Joseph, etc.

 This year, because there weren't enough kids, Dave got to help join in on the fun. He was dressed up as a wise man, but he looked kinda scary...and crazy...

It was fun watching him, haha. Santa (Dave's dad) gave us a visit, as well!

All in all, it was a fun party. I had a blast!  =)

While visiting my family in Texas this winter (when I went down for Mary's wedding), Jenny was able to show me the MOST AWESOME CHRISTMAS HOUSE EVER!!!! It's basically what I want my house to look like at Christmas time!!! It's my life long goal!!! haha. (The ending is the best - it gives me goosebumps!)



When I got back to Vegas, I was driving down a street and saw it was decorated like crazy with lights...they had music with it as well, but it was a variety of songs, not all Christmas. It was pretty crazy, but I don't think I could get THIS crazy...I like the Lubbock house better - to the TransSiberian Orchestra with simple, but awesome lights - not too much to cram it up. Nonetheless, here's the Vegas house...

Mary got Married!!!

Mary is married!!! Yay! She got married in December 2009 in Lubbock, TX, and I got to fly down to go to it. It was very special to me to be able to be there and share the whole experience with her. She was such a beautiful bride!

Here's Mary and Phillip Johnson!!! The Newlyweds! Yay for marriage!

So, Mary had THE cutest boots on for her wedding shoes!!! Red cowgirl boots! Awesome!

Mary's sis, Missy, Missy's hubby, and Mary's 3 bros: Taylor, Reed, and Austin. Such a cute family!

Adding Phillip into the picture...he's family now =)

At the reception...

With my Mema...

They're cutting the cake!! Mary had a bit of a hard time cutting it...it was funny watching her try to do it! haha

So...while we are watching Mary and Phil have their first dance, I turn around and Heather and Jenny are both all teary-eyed! haha, it was pretty funny

While at the reception, some country music came on (it's Texas, you can't have a dance without country music!). Some nice fellas asked Jenny and me to dance, so we did! They were very good and knew their dance moves! We did more swing dancing to the music than anything, but I love to dance, and it was fun! Dave and I really need to take more lessons so we can dance together, but there isn't any free places like we went to in Provo!

Mary just looked great all day! This is them leaving for the night! Congrats you two!

I took a photo of Mary's wedding picture. I love it!

We also got to spend a bit of time with Clara, Missy's girl. She is so adorable!!!

Before driving back to Lubbock from Midland (where the reception was), we took some family photos. I love my sisters! We were sad to have missed Cheri being there!

My mommy and daddy! My dad and I drove back to Lubbock together and my mom, with everyone else, drove to Dallas. It was a nice chat with my dad on the way home. We don't get to just sit down and talk too much anymore.

Birthday and Thanksgiving

For my birthday, after a long day at school, Dave took me to Melting Pot to eat dinner! It was so yummy! It actually inspired us to buy our own fondue pot for home cooking!!

 

 

  

 

  

Later that night, Steph and I went to see the "Twilight: New Moon" premiere at midnight. She made me a shirt that said, "Sorry, I only date vampires". She had one that was different style, but said the same thing. It was cute!

 

While I enjoyed the movie, I don't think I will be going to see another chick-flick on opening night. A little too much "oos" and "ahhs" when any hot guy would appear....annoying. You can bet this coming November I'm going to see the new Harry Potter movie, though - complete with all of us dressing up! I've already decided I'm going to be Luna Lovegood!

So, Dave is very good at being crafty, as I'm sure you all know. For Courtney's birthday, he created a huge Minnie Mouse paper mache head. It looked amazing! We hung it in the garage for all the kids to get a swing at it.

  

 

  

 

  

We had 2 Thanksginings this year! Actually, Dave had 3 (the 3rd with his friends when I had to work). On Thanksgiving Day, we went to the Zitzmann's house (Eric's parent's place), and had a nice relaxing day there. The next day, we went to a buffet at one of the casinos in town with all of Dave's family. After that, we went to see "Planet 51". It turned out to be quite a cute movie!