Our First Home In Pleasant Grove

Last September Steve and I started realizing that we could possible buy a home. We were tried of renting and knew we wanted to raise our family in Utah. Steve's job lets him live anywhere he wants so why rent when you can buy and make an investment.

We just started him doing conventions in September and have been trying to do at least one a month. That brings in some great money and he makes pretty much as much as I do and sometimes more in 3 days at a convention. But these conventions are not as easy as they sound. They are exhausting! You wake up early in the morning every day, you have to set up, take down, have good energy even if you having a bad sales day, you eat granola bars and Gatorade all day, you can't really leave your table (and these are 8 to 11 hour days), and you are fighting not to fall asleep. The thing that gets me through when I go is knowing we get to go out to eat after. I use to try to go to all of them with him but they are out of state and I don't want to take the time off work and it cost us more money for me to go too. So I just go to the Utah ones and there are three of them and that is more then enough for me. I don't know how Steve does them, but we did just get him a portable tablet so he just works while he is there and brings a monitor so everyone can see how he does his work.

That being said in November we put in an offer and was accepted on a townhome before we had all the money we needed thinking we would get it by the time we closed. That didn't happen so we had to back out. It was hard but there was no way it was going to work out. I wasn't as sad as I thought I would be but we decided we would try again in about a year from then. We did our calculations and decided on September as the time we would have the money we needed to buy our first home. I never stopped looking at homes. I kept watching so I could get an idea of the market and what was a good deal.

In March this townhome in the same place as the last one came on the market. I had a list of homes I liked as they came up just encase any would be for sale when the time came for us to buy. I liked this home but I knew it would most likely sale before we had a chance. As time went on they started dropping the price. Then in June it went down the lowest I had seen for that area. That day I showed Steve and asked if we should go see it, maybe they would take a 90 day contract. I called them Monday June 16th to get a time to see it and told them what are situation was. We got there and loved it and the lady gave us different options to help us see if we could close in 30 days. The seller wouldn't accept a longer contract. So I talked to my family friend Julie. We spent all night trying everything to make it work. Finally after making some calls we where able to find I way to get our money in time. We put in our offer that night. We found out the lady selling it was 92 years old and didn't want to sell it but couldn't use stairs anymore cause of surgery and a heart attack. They had 3 offers come in in the beginning but she wasn't ready to sell. When they finally found her a place and moved her in, she finally was ready to accept an offer. The only thing was the other offers had expired. She had dropped the price 5,000 dollars so she could sell it as soon as possible. The day my realtor took our offer for the seller to look at another offer came in offering the same amount as us but she had already left so it was too late. They had just barely missed their chance for her to take their offer with her to show the seller.

As we started the process working towards closing everything went so smoothly. Our loan got approved in 2 and a half business days with no conditions! That is very rare! In all it took us 3 weeks from the day we saw it to close. That didn't stop me from stressing or not sleeping good at night lol. The only problem was Steve was going to be gone during the weekend we were to move in. So I called up all the people I could and got 9 people to load the truck and 4 people to unload it. I was really scared to drive the truck and leave others to organize it, but it all worked out. Then my family came over and we got everything unpacked and in it's place that day (I can't stand having things in boxes and would have stayed up all night until it was done). We know we are meant to start our family and life here in this home. There has to be a reason why everything worked so smoothly.

So far we are loving every minute of it and can't wait to make some upgrades. Just knowing it's our makes all the difference! It amazing how much better you take care of a place knowing it's yours vs. renting. I also learned that moving in 95 degree weather isn't my favorite thing.

In memory of my Aunt Jeanna...

On May 19th my dear, sweet Aunt Jeanna passed away from ovarian cancer. She had fought the disease for almost 20 months. She tried with everything she had to beat it and thought she could but the disease took over. It surprises me how many people aren't very close to their extended family, but in my family we are together pretty much every holiday and it is always a party. My Aunt Jeanna was without a doubt my best friend and someone I could always talk to. She didn't get married until she was almost 38, so at times I felt she could really understand a lot of things I was going through. It was fun to talk with her about boys and she would always joke about how dumb they were if I needed cheering up or just a laugh. Every once in awhile she would bring a boyfriend to family outings and I would always remember evaluating them to see if they were worthy of my aunt. No one really was until Lou. The second I met him I could see how caring he was to Jeanna and he just fit with her so nicely. Lou was by her side every moment while having cancer. He never left her side. The tender way he was there for her amazes me and makes me so happy she had someone to be her rock and love her till the end. At my grandma's house there are only two queen beds and when we visited, my parents would take one and if Jeanna was there she would take the other. I never liked sleeping on the floor or on an air mattress so one day I asked if I could sleep next to her. From that day on every time we were all over it was a known fact I would be sleeping next to Jeanna. We both liked sleeping in so we never woke each other up.
A year or so before she was diagnosed she traveled the world with Lou. She loved to travel and experience new things. She was strong and brave and could conquer anything. She lived her life to the fullest every day. I still think she is just some where around the world and I will see her the next family outing. Her funeral was so spiritual, I wanted to sit there all day just to feel her close and hear stories about her. I didn't want to let her go, I didn't want to finalize the realty that she was gone. Before she passed away I was looking for a 5k

to sign up for to keep me motivated to exercise. That is when I found the Susan Komen breast cancer run. Knowing breast cancer is linked to ovarian cancer, I decided to run it for her. I was going to make a shirt and send her pictures. That day came and it was wonderful running it with my cousin. I called my mom to see if she thought Jeanna would see it, she said that she hadn't been very alert in awhile so she may never get to see the pictures, my heart broke. Then as I was still on the phone my grandma messaged me and said she would show Jeanna when she woke up. The next day she did and got to see the pictures and it made her smile. A week or two before she passed away I wanted so much to call her and talk to her one last time. I never got to because she couldn't talk to anyone on the phone cause she was so weak. I just had to trust that she knew what was in my heart and how much I loved her and all she meant to me. I only got to see her once after she was diagnosed and that was in February. I hadn't seen her in over 2 years and I am glad I got to see her one last time even if it was only for a couple days. When I walked in the door and saw her she hugged me close and told me she never wanted to be away from each for that long ever again. It's bittersweet to think of that because yes it will be longer then that till I see her again but in a way she will always be with me by my side in spirit.  There are so many things I wish I would have done more of before she died. I miss her so much words can't explain. No one will ever take her place. I will never forget her playing with my hair making it look silly and telling me how pretty it looked and just to keep it the way it was as we laughed together. I will try to think of her just on another adventure traveling the world and I will see her soon. I know that she will be such a help to me in my life. I often think of what her life could of been, if she had kids, what other travels would she have went on, where she would have settled to buy a home. I wish so much she got to experience more in life, but I know she lived her life to fullest for as long as she had. It's like she always knew she needed to live life more fully than most. If I am blessed with two daughters one of them will be named Jane Mae, similar to Jeanna Mae and I will raise her to be just like her. I love her so much and will always remember the good times we had.


Forever and always Jeanna, you will never be forgotten or just a memory!

"You will not get over the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will heal and you will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same again. Nor should you be the same nor should you want to."

I love you Kyla!

    Hi all, this is Kyla's husband Steve. Today marks our 2 year Anniversary! I wanted to tell her how great she is and how much I love her.



Dear Kyla,

I never imagined, that I would not only have a beautiful woman who shares my values on so many things and works hard to keep our family strong, but also supports my dreams.
I think many people might talk about supporting their spouses dreams especially before marriage  but I am so lucky to have a woman who actually does it.
More and more I see that I made the best choice in asking you to marry me. It takes a special woman to be married to me.
As you may remember the most important thing to me in choosing a wife was finding a woman who I wouldn't just love for a few years, but one I could love forever. I knew life would throw us plenty of curve balls through time. It was a complete necessity that I find a woman who would grow in the same direction with me.
I believe much of divorce and unhappy marriages come from couples giving up and not walking on the same path in life. We have stayed constant in our path as we have changed for the better. I feel we are more alike and better to each other now than we were during the time of dating and beginnings of our marriage. We treat each other better and are more patient with one another than we were before.
That says something.
We have had to make hard decisions in our marriage, and endure many hardships new to our previous lives.
That one choice was so powerful. The choice to marry not someone I just had an infatuation with, but someone who would stay on the same track I would.
You are a remarkable woman, you do so much to keep our marriage alive and you always put me before anyone else. I struck gold!
I love you so much and truly look forward to celebrating many more anniversaries to come. This year was better than the last and may things always look up!


Love eternal,
Steve

Our Adventure In Moving To Utah

Every since my husband and I got married we wanted to move to Utah to be close to my family and get out of boring Rexburg. The sooner we could get out of there the better. There was hardly any work up there, it was cold, and there was nothing to do. I had been working at Albertsons and it wasn't a bad job, but I wasn't even making $8 an hour. So I started looking at jobs in Utah and hoping someone would be ok with doing a skype interview or give me enough notice to drive down to Utah for an interview. For a little while we really didn't have much luck. I did have one skype interview with being a nanny for 6 kids in Orem, but that didn't work out. I kept applying thinking if the lord wanted us in Utah he would find a way. Then I got a call from a Chiropractor's office while I was at work. We only have one phone so my husband answered and set up an interview for the next day. When I got home and he started to tell me about it, I looked up the number and noticed it was a Utah number. I laughed and told him there was no way I could get to Utah tomorrow on a work day. I called them but they where closed, luckily they had emailed me more information so I emailed them back telling them about how I was in Idaho and could maybe come down on the weekend or have a skype interview. They where very desperate and went ahead and had a skype interview with me the next day. The interview went well but when they told me I would be making $8.50 an hour I knew that wasn't enough for us to move to Utah. I had to call them back and tell them I couldn't take the job. I was sad because I really wanted to move down to Utah and wanted to get some front office experience for the future. After I had told them I had to make at least 10 dollars an hour for us to move down there they told me they would talk about it and call me back. So I went to work and half way through they called me and told me they would start me at $9 and then within a month and half have me at $10. I told them I would happily take the job and asked when they wanted me to start, they said that Monday. Keep in mind this happened on Halloween on a Wednesday. I had 4 days to find a place for us to live, pack, move, and sell our contract. I had no idea how we where going to do this but I knew it would work out even if we had to live at my parents for a little while.

We started packing that very minute I got off the phone and want searching for boxes. My wonderful parents started look at apartments for us in Orem but none of them my parents liked and they where in sketchy neighborhoods. Then my mom came across a one bedroom basement apartment in Alpine 1.6 miles from my parents house. It would require us to help the man up-stair by taking him to church, doctor appointment, yard work, and any other errands he would need. I was ok with that even though we wanted a 2 bedroom apartment, the place was big and VERY nice for the price. We still couldn't decide but my mom scheduled us an interview with him anyways for Saturday at four.  We scheduled a rental truck for Saturday before my mom set up the appointment and then realized we would need two days to load all our stuff in the truck. When I went to change the date they told me they had no trucks available. Then I started to panic because we need to be in Utah for the interview. We called many different places but they all where too expensive. We ended up calling the same company but the one in Idaho Fall's to see if they had one for us. They only had one left so we raced up there and got the rental truck. Thanks to four of our great friends we barely made it out in time to make our appointment. We met with Monroe for the apartment and we LOVED it. The next day he called us on Sunday to let us know we got the apartment and we moved in Monday. All we had left was to sell our contract and we only had till that same Monday to sell it or we would have to pay that months rent. Again by some miracle we sold it that very Monday.

Looking back that was one of the biggest blessing and a complete miracle that that all worked out so quickly. I know with out a doubt my husband and I where meant to be here in Utah. After finding out my aunt and then not to long later my grandpa have cancer I am so glad I can now be a support for my family. I am glad I get to be more involved in my sister's lives as they grow up. I can now help my family with anything they need. Now more then ever I need to be near my family so we can get through this together. I also have an amazing job now in American Fork, the perfect home, a cat, along with my amazing husband of course.

Life Is Good!! :D

Thankful!!

Today I am so thankful for a healthy husband! I see many people around me where their husband is sick or has passed away. I always want to have my husband with me till we are in our 80's. I'm always scared of losing him (all thanks to my wonderful anxiety). I get scared he will die in his sleep or get hit by a car or in a car accident or get cancer. Sometimes I just have to tell myself to calm down and know that everything will be ok. lol there was one time in the middle of the night I didn’t think I could hear him breathing so I shook him awake to make sure he was ok. If he seems to be out to long when I know he should be home I call him to make sure he is ok. Maybe this is all a newlywed thing (hopefully). Luckily he is not a worrier at all so it helps me a ton.

So update of what has been going on. For Valentine’s Day I didn’t think we would do much but go out to eat but we also ended up doing to a movie and out for ice cream. We didn’t get each other anything because we don’t have a lot of money so we just made each other cards and that was just as good. When we went out to eat we were very glad to go to Idaho Falls because gas is so much cheaper there. So we looked for the cheapest place and got gas. Well after we saw the movie my husband see's this car with its gas door open with the top off. So he very kindly puts the top on and closes it. Well as I looked closer at the car it was our car and I had drove 30 mins with it off and then had it sit in our parking lot and the movie theaters parking lot all day long since then. I was laughing so hard and he kind of wasn’t lol.

Today we went on a wonderful walk to our favorite park that we haven’t been to since summer seeing the pond frozen and expecting no ducks but there were just as many ducks as there where in the summer. It was so much fun watching them walk on the ice and slide around on it. Then a couple brought pizza and fed it to them and we laughed as the ducks chased each other around when one would have the whole slice in his mouth. Some would get as far as to the pond and on the ice but then they couldn't run so they would just slide around. Also when we first got to the pond Steve went down and started walking on the ice and I started yelling at him to get off the ice cause I was afraid it would break and he would drown he laugh at me but I stomped my feet and begged him to come back. Finally after a while he came back but not after he told me I was worse than his mom. lol but hey I was only trying to keep him safe. then as we were walking back I saw this big puddle that had frozen over and decided to walk on that and he laughed at me saying well now that it’s not deep you want to walk on the ice. lol I ended up spending around thirty mins playing on the ice. Have to see it was one of the best walks I have been on!! I love being with my husband, life is never boring!!

Grateful for Him!!

I am SO grateful for my husband today!!! He is always the rock I can lean on. When things are hard he always knows the right things to say. Today after almost a month of having a hard spot financially. We are finally seeing the light and we are very excited to get back on our feet again. The lord has blessed us so much since we have been married it overwhelms me! I love now that my husband and I now work at the same job together and have the same schedule, so I even get to spend more time with him at work. When my husband got back from depositing his first check from our new job this morning he came into our room and told me that we needed to do everything we can to thank the lord for all his help. Hearing that from my husband made me admire him so much for always making the lord the center of our home. He is so strong in the gospel and such a good example to me. He amazes me every day. I know without a doubt in my mind he was made for me.

Last night I was talking to him about how the beginning of my junior year I decided to really change my life around and make the gospel fully the center of my life. Not that I was doing anything wrong I just didnt feel like I was being the best I could be. So from then on till I met Steve I never had boyfriend or any serious relationship. I wanted time just to better myself, be stronger in the gospel and truly love myself. I made it a goal to read The Book of Mormon in at least a year and it turned out I read that and D&C in that year. I realize now that I was preparing myself for him. I'm glad I spent that time to work on me so I could later meet the most incredible man as soon as I got to college. I owe the lord everything for blessing me with being married to him for time and all eternity. I knew the second I met him that he was the type of guy I wanted in my life. Every day I love him more and more. I see now how everything in my life guided me to him all this time. I would happily go through it all again if I knew that I would end up with him in the end. I can’t wait to grow old with him and start a family in the future.

Birthdays!!

For Steve's birthday on July 2nd, sadly I had to work that morning so I woke up a little early so I could decorate the apartment so he would at least wake up to something. Then I was able to get off work early and make him a special breakfast. Then for luch we went to Texas Roadhouse for his very first time and he loved it. Then we went and saw two movies first was X-Man: First Class and then Transformers 3. After that we came home late and ate sex in a pan, his favorite cake he has had for most his birthdays in the past. The presents he got where two comic books he picked out and then I got him Superman pjs. I was very glad we could do everything Steve wanted to do.

For my birthday August 22, my husband brought me my favorite breakfast from McDonalds and then when we were done eating he left our bedroom and then a couple mins later told me to get him some toliet paper and when I came out he had decorated the whole apartment with balloons and streamers! After that we drove to a civil rights cave. I had never been in a cave with no lights so it kind of freaked me out and I had a hard time with it but I made it through but felt bad that I wasnt braver. Then as we were driving home we pulled over cause I wanted to see the sand dunes but in the end got our car stuck in the sand and couldnt get us out for 30 mins until finally someone pulled over and helped us. Then I went and got my DQ cake cause I hadnt had one since I was little and ate it when we got home. Then we went to Texas Roadhouse and had dinner. It was a very good day and was very happy to just be with my husband.