Sunday, December 16, 2007

Part One: The Outside!

Well, here are the pictures of the new place we bought. They're not actually of OUR place because I haven't taken any pictures yet. I need a wide angle lens to actually get shots of the bedrooms that aren't just the corner of the walls. Anyway, here they are:


First off, here's the exterior of one of the units. Ignore the green grass- it's snowing here. I don't want you to feel misled; it's actually quite cold and I don't care for it.

Next up:the floor plan. Once again, this is ALMOST what our place looks like. You need to flip it to get the full idea.

Here's a porch. This isn't our porch, but it's close. OUR porch has a little wall so it feels more enclosed. I like it better, but didn't take a picture of it yet. This picture was online, and online is better than standing outside in the cold taking a picture of a door and a concrete slab.

The BIG, Exciting News!

So I thought it was probably time to let everyone know what Chris meant when he said "Man... life is busy at the moment. I won't go into details just yet cause I don't want to jinx anything. I'll just say that the absence of posts is for a good reason and leave it at that." I thought that was kinda mean. I would have been so curious. So, here's the story.

The weekend right before Thanksgiving we started talking about owning a place to live. We've been renting for two years and plan on living in Utah for at least 2-3 more years. Though we have casually talked about how nice it would be to own a place before, this was the first time we felt strongly that it was a good idea to start seriously looking, actually prepare to buy our own place, and act sometime within the next 6 months or so, no hurry.

That was Sunday. Monday we talked to my boss to get some advice about the market and homes vs. town homes, etc. The following day, he told me he found an amazing deal on some condos and that we needed to check them out. So we did. At first I was so shocked at how quickly this was happening; I wasn't sure if this was the place for us. The only problem was because it was such a good deal, they were selling fast and there were only a few left. So, we looked at them again the next day, and the next day after that.

Thursday night we received a strong confirmation that this was a good thing and we needed to move forward with it. We started the process Saturday, November 17th and closed Dec. 6th and moved in Friday, Dec. 7th.

So, the big news is that we finally have a place of our own!!

Our last place was around 800 sqft or so, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom. Needless to say, we had grown out of it about 3 times over. Poor Chris (who works from home) had to have his office set up in the dining room/kitchen. Our new place is the perfect size for us: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 1340 sq ft. and an actual laundry room, not just a closet off the kitchen. Anyway, we are so excited and love our new place. It took us a while to get used to the fact that we don't have to ask anyone for permission to paint or do anything.

I found some pictures of it online. Chris will put them up on a different post so this one doesn't get tooo long. We are almost completely finished moving in, which is nice since I have surgery this Thursday and will be out of commission for 2 weeks. We still need to decorate for Christmas though...

Friday, December 14, 2007

The History of Chris & Cindy, according to Cindy

Thank you Ginger for this cute little questionnaire

1. Where did you meet your husband?

We met after sacrament meeting in the BYU 136th ward. It was on mother's day because I gave a talk that Sunday, and I had a nasty black eye. I'm amazed he talked to me. :)

2. What was the first thing you said to your husband?

I don't remember, probably thank you, or nice to meet you. He either said he loved my talk, or someone introduced us.

3. Where was your first date?

Well, we saw a movie together, a big group of us, but it wasn't really a date setting so I don't know if that would be considered our first date (we saw League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), or if it would be when we got horchata's late one night and hung out at the park.

4. Where was your first kiss?

It was in the back yard of this really cool house for sale, overlooking Provo. This was the first time I had ever initiated a first kiss. Poor Chris had to wait for me to get over post mission shell shock. Thank you for being patient honey.

5. Did you have a long or short engagement/courtship?

It was pretty short. We were engaged in May, married in August, but we had met 2 years before. I left on my mission a few months after we became friends and we wrote while I was gone.

6. Where did you get engaged?

We got engaged in Portland (or was it Vancouver), anyway, it was on top of a hill that looked out over the city. It was beautiful, but freezing. I didn't know he was going to propose, I thought we were just hanging out, freezing for fun, so I kept saying how I was ready to go. Poor Chris.

7. Where did you get married?

Mt. Timpanogos Temple in American Fork Utah.

8. How did your reception go?

Perfect! It was in such a beautiful garden, with amazing food, and we had so many friends and family there to enjoy it with.

9. The Honeymoon!

That's a funny story. We went on a cruise to Alaska, and on our fourth day, (it was our stop in Skagway) we missed the boat. Yes, that's right. We watched as our ship sailed away, so we had a wonderful excursion as we made our way back to the boat. We flew on a tiny little plane, slept in an airport, flew on another plane, tried to get into Canada without our passports, got on a ferry and hung out in Victoria. It was actually really fun. I think that little trial was such a great experience for us and a funny story to tell our kids.

Who's turn is it next? YOURS!! I would like to know how all my friends met the love of their life.

Thursday, December 6, 2007

Busy Busy Busy

Man... life is busy at the moment. I won't go into details just yet cause I don't want to jinx anything. I'll just say that the absence of posts is for a good reason and leave it at that.

In the meantime- here's more Carter pictures:


Trick or Treat?

It's Halloween in December! Well, that's what happens when your computer fails and you're just plain lazy when it comes to posting outdated pictures.

BUT- Carter had his first Halloween. And, boy oh boy, it was a blast! He was sick, Cindy was sick and I wasn't. So, these pictures, though definitely show Carter in his super-cute Halloween costumes (yes, plural), are actually "recreated" photos a week or so after the fact. Don't be disappointed though. This just gave us a better chance for him to accept wearing costumes and actually seem happy about it.

First off: Pumpkin Time!

And... the crème de la crème: Carter- the turtle.

(he didn't like the hood. At all.)