Anybody want my Dream Home?

As some of you know, we started building a home in American Fork a few months ago. We had originally purchased the lot as an investment, but decided we loved the area and that we would build our next home there. So we started building in January. In March, we decided to move to New Mexico. So now we are selling my "dream home". We met with a nice lady yesterday who is quite interested. We are expecting to receive an offer from her any day. (Oh, I hope! That will take a load off my mind!) It was kind of sad, though, meeting with her. She was talking about all of the things she wants to do with the house...some things we would have done had we lived there...and I have to admit I am very jealous!! This home has such a great floorplan, and I think it will be so beautiful when it's finished. Anyway, for any of you who enjoy seeing the building process of homes, here are some pictures of the progress we've made so far.

The exterior will be a mix of stone, brick and stucco.

The landing half-way down the stairway splits down one side to the kitchen or down the other side to the entry.

View from the Living Room to the Dining Room. We will possibly be trimming the archway between these two rooms with stone that matches the exterior of the home.

Family Room. I love all of the large windows that allow for great views of the mountains and Utah Lake.

Moo, Neigh, Quack, Quack!

My brother Nate, his wife Annie and their daughter Elle were in town this last week, so we went to Thanksgiving Point's petting zoo on Friday.

Cecily, Ashley & Elle

We tried to get them ALL to hold hands, but of course they don't want to cooperate for pictures!

That's a big horse!

The rabbits are my favorite!

Please, Mom?

A soft baby sheep.

MMM, the perfect end to my day at the farm!

Cecily enjoyed this trip to the zoo a lot better than the last time we went, on her first birthday. That time, a cow came up to her and scared her right at the beginning, so she wasn't too thrilled the rest of the day. This trip, however, she was very interested in seeing all of the animals, and especially enjoyed talking to them in their language (she is a big fan of animal noises)! She still didn't want to go on the pony ride, but she was daring enough to feed some corn to a goat. But then we had to get her away from there, because she kept trying to pick up corn from the ground and put it in her own mouth! GROSS!

Quick Trip

Well, we did it. We moved out of our house. And I am NEVER DOING IT AGAIN!! Yes, I say this every time we move. And yes, I am already planning our next move. But can I just say I'm tired? We loaded up on Friday, took off Saturday and were back by early afternoon Sunday. A VERY quick trip! This move has been a lot more emotionally straining on me than I thought it would be. However, it didn't even hit me until we were moving our things into the garage of our new home (the house isn't quite finished yet, so we were only able to move our things into the garage). Don't get me wrong--I am VERY excited about this move, and I know it is the right thing for our family, but it finally hit me this weekend that this IS a big deal! As we ran a few errands while we were there this weekend, all I could do is just look around and wonder if I would ever think of this place as home. The people seem nice enough, and they seem to really enjoy living there. I don't know...I just came back this weekend wondering what the heck I was doing!




Anyway, Cecily was a great help as we moved. She just hung out while we packed the truck--actually, TWO trucks. She is so good. I never really have to worry about her. But I can tell she misses her bed in her old room. She doesn't want to go to bed or take her naps as well as she was before we uprooted her.

This is a shout out to my awesome brother-in-law Kimball who stepped up at the last minute to drive the second truck that we didn't think we'd need. We were moving from a 3600 sqft home to a 2600 sqft home. I totally thought we had downsized enough on all of our belongings, but man, we have a ton of stuff. And that is exactly what it is...STUFF! Nothing real exciting, but things we apparently need! But to any of you who need to get rid of any of your stuff, we had great luck with Craigslist.com. We sold a ton of stuff in the last few weeks, which we advertised on Craigslist. It is better than a garage sale because you make a lot more than you would at a garage sale, and people schedule a time with you to come pick up the stuff. No sitting outside in the sun all day long!

So for now, we are back in Utah, staying with Janice Kay (my mom) until our house in NM is complete. I'm hoping this won't be too long because, no offense Mom, but I think we will drive one another nuts if this becomes long term. I love you!

SERIOUSLY! Where did all this crap come from?

Yes, we are STILL packing. If I could just stay motivated, it might help. But there is only so much cardboard you can stand touching! We're getting close, though. I am finally starting to see the end of it. Cecily is into climbing on EVERYTHING lately. She can find pens and markers no matter where we think we put them out of her reach. The other day she climbed onto the kitchen bar and found one of the black magic markers we have been marking boxes with. These pictures show the results of that. Do you think she was going for the fishnet stockings look? (And yes, the marker is still visible today).

Where did all this crap come from?

Derrick and I spent all morning packing up our house and trying to move as much as we could to the garage so that we will be prepared for moving day, which is this coming Friday. I have no idea how we have managed to accumulate so much stuff! It's ridiculous! The worst part about it is that I cannot get myself to get rid of things that I know I will absolutely NEVER need or use! I will just continue seeing it and making the decision to keep it every single time we move. I went through a box today that I actually remember packing up in my old bedroom at my mom's house before I got married. Apparently, an autographed poster of Duncan Sheik is not something you keep taped to your wall when you are married.
Anyway, once early afternoon came by, Derrick and I were both "done" with the packing thing. We took our present load of boxes to the garage and decided that our workout equipment looked pretty good on the front porch and could stay there until we got the energy and desire to move it later! Poor Derrick. Reading the above, you would think that I did some heavy lifting today. But I actually had the conversation with Derrick that I hadn't had to lift more than 10 pounds since I met him. He's one of those naturally strong men who is also a gentleman, and I have REALLY taken advantage of that over the years! If something even looks awkward or heavy, my voice immediately turns to sugar as I call my sweetie over to help me. Man, how did I ever fool this guy into marrying ME?
Cecily got to go play at Grandma Thomas' tonight as Derrick and I had a date night. We went to see some of the Parade of Homes, then out to Bombay House for dinner. We weren't all that impressed with the homes we have seen so far this year. The St. George Parade, which we went to in February, was much more fun. A lot of new, fun ideas. But we still had a good time. We rarely go out together without Cec, so it was a nice little escape. Not that she cared--She has such a good time with other people, I'm surprised she will even come home with us! We are so lucky to have such a good-natured little girl. I am scared to see what our next kid will be like!

This is Us!

Derrick and I were married September 5, 2003. We have a daughter, Cecily, who was born July 16, 2005 (see picture). We currently live in Pleasant Grove, UT, but are just about to start our newest adventure in New Mexico. Derrick has been in the real estate business for the last several years, and is ready to move on to something new. He will be opening Costa Vida franchises in New Mexico. This is a fresh-mex restaurant. He is having a lot of fun with his training and getting things all prepared. We will be moving down to New Mexico in a week and a half, but will be back and forth for the next few months until the first restaurant is opened. We hope that this blog will be a good way for our wonderful family and friends to be able to keep up with what is going on with us, as we will miss being away from them so much!