Guess what?!

We got it again!!

Hahaha! Man, life is strange!

Remember THIS? We got this beautiful house, it was in the ward, it was just the right size, it had new carpet and paint, it was exactly what we wanted.

Well, we lost it, remember that?

They realized there was a problem with the foreclosure, so they had to take the house back to figure it out.

Last Tuesday, the listing agent called our realtor and told her the house listed again. It technically went on the market on Wednesday. In my opinion, I should've just gotten it automatically, but we didn't. We had to drive in the scary fresh snow to sign papers in order to put an offer on the house again.

On Saturday, our realtor called and told us we got it again!! How crazy is that?!

The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways. I doubt I'll ever understand His methods. I do think that we were meant to learn something from the entire experience. We were meant to understand just how wonderful this house is. How great it is that the roof is new, the carpet is new, there isn't mold, and the only fixer-upper is really just gutters all the way around.

Oh my goodness, I'm sooo excited!! 2012 is going to be great!!

Closing date is scheduled for February 18th. Hopefully we will make it to then with the house still "belonging" to us. We're definitely praying that we get to really get the house this time!

I'm already decorating the interior. Every day. Almost all day. :)

That's how it's supposed to be. Not sighing sadly whenever someone brought up the house. Not worrying about mold. Not being bothered by a busy street. Not trying to figure out where we'd buy new toilets, how we'd put in tile, how we'd update the kitchen.

I think the other houses we'd put offers on were great. They were houses that could have worked, but I'm glad this one is back.

When we told the Bishop on Sunday, he said, "See? The Lord listens to a Bishop's prayers!"

Christmas!!

My sister asked if I'm avoiding my blog. Nope. Mostly just laziness. I went to put pictures up and it took forever, so I put it off.

So here's a post about my Christmas vacation.

I got a brand new, beautiful camera from my in-laws. It's big, great quality, and has a lot of getting used to... :)

Here's my sweet niece, Lu. She's so beautiful.

J and I went to the temple we were married in with my parents. It was a wonderful experience to go again. I sure did miss that temple.

Pretty much the entire family went to Hot Springs to the Garvan Gardens. It's a botanical garden that they decorate every holiday season with LOTS of Christmas lights. It was beautiful!!!

My cute nephews

This one rotated back. It's supposed to show the lights that meet the water from the weeping willow. It was beautiful.

Lollipops!!

A choo choo train!

On Christmas Eve, the kids made cookies with MMae.

J and I did the Christmas Program with the family. They each had to act out the scene I had read. It was really funny.

They made personal pizzas and then went to rest upstairs.

Once the kids were upstairs, we got to have our crab legs and artichoke dinner.

For dessert, we had Creme Brulee. Soooo tasty!!

On Christmas day, we had a little time to open presents before church.

J got the kinect he had really wanted.

This is my wonderful parents with their Christmas presents. Mom is wearing her new BCD for scuba diving and Dad's wearing the scarf I gave him.

My parents got everyone in the family the ability to go to Disney World next Christmas!! We're all soooo excited!!

Sam is now an Eagle Scout! His court of honor was while we were there. It was a great celebration for a great kid.

Sam with his brothers.

Very proud parents

I'm so proud of him. He's a wonderful kid.

He's a wonderful uncle, too. Those kids sure do love him.

It was a wonderful two weeks. I had so much fun. We had a great time.

Christmas Card

Here's our year!

January

We moved to Nampa and I started my student teaching in 1st grade. I had a lot of fun.

February

We went to Utah for my Grandma Tobler's 80th birthday! My mom and dad came to Utah to celebrate her birthday and we drove down from Nampa to celebrate.

March

I finished my student teaching and passed! I MISS these kiddos! I loved them sooo much!!

We also went on a spring break trip to Oregon. We really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to relax after the stress of my student teaching.
April

Happy Easter! We made hard boiled eggs and rolled them down a hill. This is the dead side of my angry egg. :)
May

This was a big month

We went to see Wicked. Amazing
We also got Scuba Certified! It was terrifying a lot of the time, but awesome. I'm very proud of myself. Scuba diving is beautiful.
I graduated for real! My diploma showed up in May. It was really exciting.
June was EPIC.

We went to Vegas to fly out to....
Hawaii!


July

We drove the 25 hours to Arkansas where I stayed for 3 weeks and J stayed for one. I am thankful he let me stay for so long. He is very good to me.

We went to Lake Ouachita
We went to Harry Potter 7.2 at midnight

August

I turned 22!

I drove to Spokane Washington for Janet's wedding. It was beautiful and a lot of work, but very worth it. He's a great guy and she is so happy with him.
While I was in Arkansas, I began a summer quilt for our bed when it's hot. I finished it in August. A symbol of great accomplishment for me!
September

Jolyn came to Idaho for a couple weeks, so we walked the women's fitness walk and left the boys at home.
This cute boy brought smiles with him from Texas
October

My 9th niece was born!

We had a great Halloween. Lots of candy and fun.
November

We had our 2nd anniversary. My sweet husband and I have been married for 2 years!!!

Here are the flowers he got me. :)
Thanksgiving was great. Kristin made this AMAZING pie. it was great.
We went to the 2nd Ward prom with other couples from our ward. The girls got ready together, we went to Olive Garden, and then danced at a beautiful building in Downtown Nampa.
December

We decorated for Christmas!

(this is Ty and Em's tree that we got to help choose and decorate)
J turned 26! I made him a SCRUMPTIOUS cake and it was a battle scene in...mud....
We went to Tucano's for his birthday party and had a huge group. It was yummy and a lot of fun. J is an awesome man. :)

We flew to Arkansas for a two week Christmas vacation!

It's been a great year!

We are thankful for all of the wonderful blessings we've received throughout and the great people we've been blessed to be with. We like Nampa a lot. We are hoping to move into a new house next January and see what else the new year will bring with it.

We know that the Savior lives and died for us. He knows us and loves us.

Merry Christmas!

haha

That awkward moment when, teasing me, J says, "When are you going to do the dishes? When we move into the new house?"

And I think in my head....huh...that's only 2 months.... we could probably make it...

nice.

That irritates me...

DISCLAIMER: I have been wanting to write one of these for a VERY long time. I've been making this list for a while, so it may seem like I'm having a really really crappy day and venting a lot of steam.

In reality, this post is making me feel a lot better. I'm getting it out so I don't flip when someone does one of these things next.

Don't get insulted or hurt, please. I'm mostly doing this to get it out of my head.

1. When people can't say my home state properly. It's said Ar-ken-saw. not ar-Can-zus.

I have tolerated it for a long time. I would tell people at dances I'm from Arkansas and they would say, oh, you're from arCANzus? wow. You don't sound witty, instead, you're insulting my favorite place in the country.

Arkansas was made a state on June 15th, 1836. Kansas was made a state on January 29th, 1861. So. Arkansas was first, therefore, Kansas should probably be said Kensaw!! haha That would be awesome.

So...Yes, it bugs me.

No, I'm not mad if you said it to tease me when we had first met, but if you do it again, you're not so smart, are you?

2. When I comment on something on Facebook and I say something witty, go ahead and like it. If I say happy birthday, liking it is just the same.

But when it's something like a compliment, me saying I'm jealous, I'm telling you I miss you and can't wait to see you, or even a not-so-happy thing, liking it makes me irritated. Liking it makes no sense. If I say "I miss you and can't wait to see you" and you like it, what are you saying? "I like that you miss me."

Like I said, it makes no sense.

3. Whn ppl dnt use vwls.

Oh my goodness, that was difficult!! It took me twice as long. Is it cool? Is it easy? I'm completely baffled.

4. When people take my parking space. Yes, it's on the street, but you have your own parking space half a block up. This is mine!!! I get over it rather quickly, but it bugs me when I'm coming home and want to park in my spot and someone from the next door apartments who have their own parking lot is parked in front of my house.

5. you're and your, their there and they're, to too and two. Yes, we make mistakes, but sometimes people are just careless.

6. When people laugh at my husband. Yes, he likes being laughed at when he is being silly, but if you're laughing at his expense, you're treading on thin ice with a protective wife.

7. Here's something that makes no sense. The creepy Elf on a Shelf. He's creepy. Why is everyone decorating their house with him?

Well, that feels better. I hope if you felt like I was talking to you that you didn't get insulted. I'm just ranting. And it's out now. Feel free to tell me how you feel about these things if you disagree. I put it up, I should take the responses. :)