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Its about time!

So we have had a few people ask us if we got our house.  The rumors are true!  After a year of battles between ridiculous requests and monotonous paper signing, its finally ours.  We are putting some finishing touches before we move in but everything turned out great… except for the roof.  We got quite a surprise to find out the back patio roof had blown off.  I think its safe to say its time to replace it.  I’ll put up pictures later today for everyone to see the inside.

Birthday

So, Kelseys birthday was on the third, and its now the 5th. I got her a limited edition mountain bike that just came in today. Limited edition meaning after april there will be no more. I got the last small that the company had in stock. As of now she doesnt know anything about it but when she gets home from work this is what she will see... Its the Breast cancer version of the bike and 25% of the price goes to the foundation. I figured thats a good way to spend that much money.

Hurricane!

So here is a nice getaway from all the house stuff which has been dragging on for a long time.  I had been wanting to go on this mountain biking trip for about a month when my uncle told me about it.  Last minute, and I mean extremely last minute, Kelsey decided she wanted to go.  One of the girls in the group meeting us there said she could use her bike.  So we had bikes all set and we were on our way to St George.  When we got there we spent the night at a cheap hotel for St George.  Got up the next morning, took pictures of the temple and headed off for Hurricane.  The MTB trail we went to is called Gooseberry Mesa.  For those of you who know Mountain biking, this trail is real similiar to Slickrock @ Moab.  Its on a plateau real close to Hurricane, UT.  Kelsey did pretty good for only MTB a few times.  I think it was a bit too technical for her.  Overall, it was a great trip.  Hopefully I’ll be able to do that trail again in the future.  Oh yea, I gave Kelsey a taste of Vegas since that was on the way to St George.  She wants to go there again for my birthday.

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Cake Creation

So I have started a new hobby!! I made this cake for my sisters 18th birthday. I think it turned out pretty good. It sure takes alot of time but so worth it fondant cakes always look so pretty!! FYI - the whole thing is edible

Family

Just wanted to share these pictures, we took them for my parents for Christmas. I think they turned out so cute, love them!! Jeff was the photographer, he is so talented and I really appriciate that he is always willing to take our pictures even though it is sometimes crazy trying to get everyone together. Anyway I am really pleased at how they turned out. Hope everyone had a great Christmas!!

Houses and houses again, again and again, oh, and again....again, and hopefully/finally again!!

So we have been through so many hoops trying to get into a house in this tough economy.  We started back in April 2008 just browsing.  By June we found a house we liked, put a bid in but got outbid by someone with cash.  Started browsing again only to find a house we really liked just next door to the first one.  Put an offer one the house, got approved by the mortgage underwriter for 190,000 only to have the offer sit on the table for 5 months until finally the house went into foreclosure.  That's not all, we were the highest bidder the whole time asking them what they wanted.  Think I'm done?  Only getting started!  The offer conditionally expired (if we wanted to withdraw) so we decided to continue our search.  Kelsey was disgusted at this point and didn’t want to look.  I was determined to stop wasting money in an apartment.  I found a house around brown & recker, great home.  It had a pool, Jacuzzi, 3 bed 2 ba home in a great neighborhood.  Go on a Saturday to look at it and bam!  Already have an accepted offer.  So I find a house down the street with an older gentleman trying his hardest to persuade us to buy his home.  Kelsey wanted nothing to do with it, so it was pretty much just me.  After a few days of bidding wars it went to high and I backed off.  That made kels very happy.  So we tried for another house that was off of Power & McKellips.  It was bank owned and I actually went to school with the person that was selling the property.  Did I mention that our realtor was my senior class president not to mention my age and I grew up with him?  Anyway,  there was another bid on the house so the seller said he would allow us to get the last say, meaning we would have the highest bid in the end.  So what happens next?  The bank decides to accept the lower offer?  That's messed up I tell you!!  So, keep on trudging is the advice I give Kelsey, be persistent and we will reap the rewards.  Next we find a house that is down the street from our apartment in the Val Vista Lakes area.  It was a nice 2 story house ready to move in.  Shoulda been a shoe-in.  Should have!!!  The bank accepts our offer (another bank owned) and takes our 2,500 earnest money for a deposit.  What happens next just makes things even worse.  The bank decides they dont want to loan us any money.  They drag us around for weeks to months because they "need more paperwork".  For heaven sakes, they know how many times I got pizza for the last 2 years!!!  What more paperwork do you need?  So  we pretty much get the "advice" to wait for two years before applying for another mortgage.  I dont think so!  Bag That!  So as a last ditch effort for this year,  our realtor has a guy in his same building renting that can do quick mortgages.  So we are currently with him working on the second house we put an offer on.  Hopefully we will/can close end of this week or beginning of next (around the 15th of Dec).  Stupid housing market.  Can't complain though, we are getting a smokin deal on a house around the corner from Mountain View.  I spent a few hours last night installing a sink and stove because the prior owners that got foreclosed on took all the cabinet doors in the kitchen as well as all the switches, light bulbs, stove, outlets, and... I think thats it.  So if we get the house I'll let you know after we sign the papers and have the keys.