Introducing Grizzly and Fox!!

Saturday morning Jordan and I drove to Albuquerque, New Mexico to meet his Dad for the Boise State vs New Mexico game.

Not only did he come down for the game but he brought us our puppies!! 

Jordan has wanted to get a dog since we were married but we just didn't feel like it was fair to a dog while we lived in an apartment to have them living in a crate all day. 

It just so happened that right around the time we bought our house one of Jordan's family friends who sales Labrador puppies had some that were about to be born.  We told them that we wanted a brown one if it was available.

They called us once the pup was born and asked if we wanted a second dog.  We told them we wanted to think about it and had a lot of long talks about how much work a second dog would be and the benefits of our dog having a friend to grow up with.  We decided it would be worth the extra work and got a second lab,a red, this one was a girl.   

 Introducing...Fox

 Grizzly (A little sleepy from the car ride from Colorado)

 After we played with the dogs we headed to the game.  Our seats were incredible!  Right on the center 50 yard line about ten rows up.

 The Broncos coming onto the field

 We were expecting 70 degree weather. 

 It was SO hot sitting in the sun.  Luckily it cooled off pretty quickly during the second half of the game. 

 One of the things that made the game so fun was how many Boise State fans showed up and how nice the New Mexico Lobos were.  We weren't taunted or yelled at.  They were actually really accommodating and let us cheer for our team and they cheered just as loud for theirs.  It was really fun.  

 We Won!

 32-29

 In the morning we woke up to hot air balloons everywhere.

So pretty!

 I was a little worried about how they would do sitting on the floor for seven hours during the car ride home but they were awesome. 

 They snuggled up with each other and slept most of the way.  We made sure to stop every few hours to let them get out to use the bathroom and run around.  They tired out pretty quick. 

We are excited about having dogs, they are a lot of work but seriously so cute.

I started a new position today with Pay Pal.  I was promoted to their fraud department!  It is such an interesting job and a little scary at how much information is out there on everyone.  At the same time it is equally as interesting at how seriously companies take fraudsters and how hard they work at preventing and stopping them.  I decided to go back to full time and my hours will be a little crazy but I was really ready to expand and learn something new. Plus extra money in your paycheck is always nice.  

I called Jordan on my lunch break to tell him how training was going and he told me that our new washer and dryer had arrived.  We laughed at how old we seem getting excited over a washer and dryer!  We looked at a lot of different stores and read reviews to find the best deal.  We ended up going back to the first store we visited, go figure, and the salesman we worked with gave us an AWESOME deal.  We ended up getting Frigidaire affinity's with the pedestals. It is so much easier switching laundry and the extra storage is very nice.  (See we sound old!)   

In addition to a new house, starting a new job and buying a washer and dryer we have decided to add to our family and have been preparing for them to join our family this weekend!!

A sneak peak........

We can't wait to meet them!!

Labor Day Weekend

I told Jordan that I really wanted to do anything other than cleaning the new house for Labor Day.  It is one of the few holidays I actually get off of work and I wanted to do something fun so I suggested camping.  

We talked to Brad and Lindsey and they wanted to come.  We also invited some new friends of theirs, Brian and Lanie.  Lindsey has been talking about hiking to Tonto Natural bridge near Payson for months so that's where we decided to go.  We were going up Sunday evening after church and then on Monday we would hike and drive home. 

Lanie said that her Grandparents had a cabin in the area and would we rather stay there for the night instead of in tents. Ummm....YES!!  The cabin was gorgeous!! We felt like we were staying in a 5 star hotel.  It was so nice.  They were so nice to let us stay there. 

Lindsey brought us a pot roast, potatoes and carrots for dinner. I brought a salad and cupcakes for dessert.  It was delicious.    

That night we played catch phrase and a card game called scum until 3am!!  We had no idea how late it was we were having such a fun time. Needless to say we all slept in on Monday.

Lanie and Brian brought us breakfast and made us lunches to take hiking. We felt really spoiled.

 Lanie and Brian

 Brad and Lindsey

 Hiking to the "waterfall".

It was rather disappointing, especially after the last waterfall we hiked to was havasupi. 

 Lanie, Lindsey and I exploring the caves in the area.

 Jordan hiking in flip flops!! 

 Tonto Natural Bridge

It was a short but beautiful hike.

After hiking we stopped by a local pizzeria and had pizza, bread sticks and salad for dinner.  Soooo good.  We then came back to the cabin, showered and played more games while we waited for traffic to die down. 

It was the perfect trip. 

Our Home

We bought a house!!

But not without a little drama.  The home we bought was bank owned and we knew that in order to close we would need to replace the air conditioner.  (The one previously with the house was taken with the bank closure).  We had been quoted $2500 and were set to have the air conditioner put in the day we closed. 

 When they came out to put in the unit they noticed that the air conditioner was way...way too small for the house and would be working 24 hours a day to keep the house cool.  Jordan and I talked it over and decided to go ahead and make our first big purchase for the house and got an air conditioner in the size that was meant to be there. (We think that the office may have been an add on. With that add on it would have changed the size of air conditioner needed on the house. Makes sense it was just really expensive.) But we got the air conditioner put in and closed on the house which was the most important thing.  

Then the bank who owned the home decided to keep the keys a few extra days.  It was so frustrating.  They had their money and we had already closed.  We still have no idea why it took so long to get us the keys. Our agent was so mad about it.  He called every few hours for 3 days trying to figure out what the deal was.  Finally on a Friday at 4:00 pm we were given the keys to our new home!!!

Once we excitedly walked into our new home we became completely overwhelmed at all the work that needed to be done.

First order of business was picking and then testing paint colors for the family room.

I knew that I wanted a grey with brown undertones so that it would work as a neutral.

Making sure it would match the tile

Look okay with the crown molding.

 And the granite counter tops

 Finally after six tries we found the perfect color!  I LOVE it!!  It matches everything perfect.

Next order of business was cleaning.

It was DISGUSTING!!! 

We have spent the last few weeks scrubbing, bleaching, and discovering the magic of a magic eraser.

It is almost all cleaned.  There are a few rooms we are still working on but over all it looks so much better! 

Every wall had food and random stuff splattered everywhere.  So sick!!

We have been living in the house for a week and a half and it is starting to feel less like a project and more like a home. 

We really like the ward and have felt numerous times through the spirit that this is where we are supposed to be.  We found out that on our street alone six out of the eight homes are members in our ward!! The entire ward is made up from our subdivision.  It is so cool to be so close to everyone. 

It is so exiting to think that this is where we are building our family, the ward that will truly become our ward family, and where we are building roots.  After moving every six months to a year it is a very exciting time for us!!