Yes...We're Alive

So, we decided that after two month of no new posts and six weeks after getting married we'd let everyone know that we're still here.  So here's the Reader's Digest version.

We were married Saturday, November 8th in the Portland Oregon Temple.  Considering it was Oregon...and the middle of November, the weather was great.  It rained for about a minute while we took pictures.  Our parents and all of our siblings were able to spend the day with us.  Later that night we had our reception in Newberg where we saw how much people really like candy...especially the adults.

The next Saturday we had an open-house here in AZ at our old bishop's (Paul & Heather Sandstrom) house. The weekend after that we went to Montana to have our third, and final, reception.  The best part was when we went into Drummond to pick up some ice at the grocery store and saw our announcement and picture taped to the door of the store.  Who knew that we were celebrities in Drummond?  

Now that the craziness is over, we've been piecing together our apartment.  The best part was when we lugged our 7-foot couch up three flights of stairs, while our neighbor stood at the bottom and watched the whole thing.  I'm sure it was hilarious to watch.

Married life is good...what else can we say?  We hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a great New Year!

My sister Sara

With a week off for Fall Break, I came home to finish planning for the wedding.  My sister, being the saint that she is, planned a bridal shower for me.  It was beautiful!  Her and my mother spent a lot of time preparing, and then pulled off a wonderful  event. 

What good is a blog, if you can't use the space to gush about the people in your life.  Sara has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.  We were nicknamed "Salt and Pepper" (guess who is who from this pic).  I'm so grateful to have her in my life!  

Um...yeah, that's not water damage. It's dog urine.

Not only am I out to prove to Allison that I'm actually kind of excited to contribute to our new blog, but I also have a funny story (funny-interesting...not funny-ha ha).  So we've been looking for a house since neither of us wants to continue living with our current roommates after we get married.  With the state of the current real estate market in the Phoenix area we thought we'd try our hand at the short-sale/foreclosure market.  Along the way we've run into some interesting situations.  Houses left with refrigerators full of food, ceiling fans ripped out, appliances missing, holes in walls, etc.

After looking at 20+ houses, the beaut pictured above caught my eye in the listing so I went by to take a look.  I spent about 10 minutes in the house, called my my friend, Preston, who is our realtor, and told him to make an offer.  He submitted and the next morning the bank holding the lien accepted our offer.  The rest of the day at work I spent dreaming about where I'd finally be able to hang all of my Pokemon posters and the case that holds my genuine Captain Kirk, Star Trek suite I won on ebay.  

Preston called and suggested that he go check out the house with me since he hadn't seen it yet.  Since he used to work in the construction industry I thought that would be a good idea since I didn't spend much time in the house.  Within the first minute of being in the house he found, at least what appeared to be, water damage in about 5-6 spots around the house.  I started to get pretty down, knowing what he was about to tell me.  Water damage = potential mold = don't buy this house.  About this same time, Allison arrived to the house from work.  We were both pretty frustrated at that point, considering we'd already looked at so many houses and are getting married in less than 6 weeks.

So Preston calls the listing agent and asks what the deal is.  The agent says, "Um...yeah, that's not water damage.  It's dog urine."  Now, call me crazy but hearing those words actually made me feel a little better.  We can replace drywall, replace all of the flooring, and paint the entire house to get rid of the smell.  But if it's legitimate water damage and mold we're not so certain we want to get into that.  Anyways...we're having a mold contractor go out to assess the damages and see if we can't talk the bank down.

My point in telling this story isn't so much to update you all on the status of our house hunting, although it is a great by-product, as it is to make a point.  I'm not against having pets in a house, as long as it's not a cat since I'm severely allergic (sorry, Allison).  The moral of the story is to house-train your pets and clean up their "accidents" when they happen.  One would think that this goes without saying, but...

And now you know...and knowing is half the battle. 

We gave in...

Well... here we go.  Not that I'm against blogging.  I'm not.  I just never felt that my life was interesting enough to blog about single.  Now there are those people (aka my future sister-in-law) that have interesting lives as single people.  I don't feel that I'm one of them.  

Now that I'm engaged to be married, I figured it was time.  I'm starting to feel left out of the blogging world, so we're giving in.  Note:  when I speak in the plural, it's only so I feel justified in my blogging, though Brent may never actually contribute to this blog.  

So, we're getting married!  We're so excited, and I'm beginning to act a little more sane, as the stress slowly decreases.  The dress has been bought... the invitations will be sent soon... the temple has been reserved... we're on our way.  

Thus begins the blogging...  :)