We're getting a house!

Hellooooo!  Its been a long time since I've updated. School is kickin my butt, but I'm doing my best.  Say a little prayer that I make it through this quarter and get to stay in PT school.  I'm learning a TON, but its exhausting!

As I've mentioned before the hubs and I have been looking for a house. Since February. The first house we loved was a total nightmare when it came to trying to buy it. Everything that could go wrong did. So we walked. We then found this one in July just down the street from the first house:

Pretty nice right? Well this one turned out to be a little bit of a nightmare too.  The owners wanted to short sell, but they wouldn't stop paying their mortgage...  ???  SO FRUSTRATING.  At this point, I couldn't watch house hunters anymore, shop at home goods, or do anything else that reminded me of being a homeowner because I would just get angry!!

Enter this cute place:

We should be closing on it by Christmas!! WE ARE SO EXCITED!!  It is here in Goodyear, not too far from parent's house and Home Goods is only about a mile away!!! =)  And, did I mention that there will be a mall really close in just a couple of years!  Again, so EXCITED!  Here's a few more pics from the house.  I also have a few dilemmas that I could use your creative help with.  Please leave me comments with your ideas!



Part of our master bedroom. Aren't the windows sooo cute? I can't wait to find that perfect chair for this little sitting area.

More of those cute windows!  This will be our guest room.

Okay, here is the beginning of the dilemmas.  1) the kitchen:

Gah. not so cute...... We are planning on putting lots of tile in, that is sheet vinyl that you see here. We also want to try to sell those (brand new) appliances and get some stainless ones. And I want to paint the cabinets.  Which makes me super nervous!  Has anyone ever painted their cabinets before?? I eventually want my kitchen to look a little like this (this girl is an interior designer in Dallas and this was her own kitchen remodel:

http://awelldressedhome.com/our-kitchen-remodel-is-complete/

Isn't it gorgeous??  Maybe someday when I finish school AND have my loans paid off we can do something like this!  Okay, and REAL dilemma is this space:

See that area below the staircase??  That is where the 52" tv HAS to go.  I don't want to just mount it on the wall. I want shelving and a type of entertainment center... So, help!  I've come up with a few ideas, but I am not very creative so I need lots of input!  I would like do a cross between something like these two units:

Tell me what you think of everything!! And give some more ideas!



Prayer

One of the sisters in our ward used this poem in her talk today.  It really struck me, because I am guilty of doing this A LOT.

Live The Way You Pray

 

I knelt to pray when day was done

And prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone,

Lift from each saddened heart the pain

And let the sick be well again."

And then I woke another day

And carelessly went on my way,

The whole day long I did not try

To wipe a tear from any eye.

I did not try to share the load

Of any brother on the road.

I did not even go to see

The sick man just next door to me.

Yet once again when day was done

I prayed, "O Lord, bless everyone."

But as I prayed, into my ear

there came a voice that whispered clear,

"Pause now, my son, before you pray.

Whom have you tried to bless today?

Gods sweetest blessing always go

by hands that serve him here below."

And then I hid my face and cried,

"Forgive me, God, I have not tried,

But let me live another day

and I will live the way I pray."

~Author Unknown~

It seems like I always remember to mention all those that are in need of blessings, but I often forget that we are His hands, and those blessings we pray for are often fulfilled through our service to others.  I was reminded today (as I am most days) that I need to be a little better.  My dad has been such a wonderful example of service to me lately.  Since he is in the bishopric he often has the opportunity to serve so many people in our ward.  Just this week he received a message on our answering machine from a sweet older lady in our ward whom my dad had helped move in just a few weeks ago.  She left the message saying that her husband had suddenly passed away just 4 hours prior and that she needed help planning his funeral services.  I have been impressed by the simple kindness he has shown her by calling or visiting on a daily basis. It isn't hard to do these small acts of service, but I often find myself feeling inadequate or too stressed about things going on in my life. I'm going to try harder to "live the way I pray", because that's what this life is all about anyways right?

Life Lately

Things sure have changed in our lives lately! With the exception of living in a new house that is. The house we REALLY wanted ended up going into foreclosure because the owners declared bankruptcy.  Unfortunately, we didn't we have over $100,000 in cash to buy it at auction. Bummer.  So, we took a break from the house hunting mostly because our financing changed.  Our financing changed because I quit my job to go to PT SCHOOL!!! And, Steven got a NEW JOB! He is the new assistant manager for a Bank of America branch.  He finally has Sundays and every other Saturday off.  We are so grateful for his new opportunity considering the current job market.  We went on a few shopping trips and bought him a bunch of new suits and new dress clothes.  It was so much fun shopping for him. He wasn't very thrilled when I insisted on taking this picture of him on his first day of work.

I am now halfway done with the first quarter of school and it is kicking my butt.  I have never studied so much in my life!  For your information: Grad school gives you acne.  Seriously. I have not broken out like this since I was a teenager.  I am 23!!!  Its ridiculous.  Hopefully I will get used to the fast-pace and crazy stress very soon.  I spend about 4 days a week in the cadaver lab.  By the time I get the formaldehyde out of my skin/hair/clothes its time to go back into the lab.  My poor family just cringes when they catch the scent or when I tell them all my cadaver stories over dinner. Like that time that we had to flip my body (who was a very tall and broad guy that died of head trauma) and the juice splattered ALL over me. Yeah... The bodies are so cool, and I love what I am learning I just wish it wasn't so fast-paced.  Another thing I love: We have a lot of T.A.'s who just finished their first year of Med School. In order for them to be T.A.'s they had to get over a 95% in Anatomy which is no easy feat.  Nearly half of our T.A.'s are LDS.  I think that says a little bit about the work ethic a lot of LDS people have! I love Midwestern and I am so so grateful we didn't have to move out of state! 

Life Just Sucks Sometimes

Sooooooo if one more person asks me when I'm moving I will probably scream.  So consider yourself warned!

We found out last Thursday that the current tenants in the home that we have been waiting to get into for about 3 months took out a second loan which makes the short sale process more complicated. Again. (I'll spare you the short sale mumbo jumbo.)  Its not looking too good for us, so we started looking. Again.  I liked one house, so Steven and I drove out to check it out last night.  It looked alright the first time we drove by so we decided to circle the block and pass by again.  The second time we drove by there were 3 cop cars with cops running out of them to a house across the street.  Scratch that one from my list.  So today, I spent a couple of hours sifting through more houses on the Internet.  This is about the extent of what I found:

SERIOUSLY?!

OH! And, the boat decided to conveniently stop working.  So scratch our 4 day lake trip off the list too.  I won't be spending the week here anymore.

Life just sucks sometimes.

3 YEARS!

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary this past Monday.  Steven got me this:

Now if only I had my own counter top to put it on...

I can hardly believe that it has been 3 years already!  I wish I could press the pause button; time goes by way too fast.

In honor of 3 years with my man here are a few of my favorite things about him:

1. He is always so happy and even tempered.  I really have to push his buttons to make him mad.
2. He falls asleep spooning me everynight and always says in my ear: "this is my favorite part of the day".
3. If he could, he would live on the lake either fishing or playing with the boat.
4. He LOVES babies.  We were at the Easter Pageant the other night and a young mom passed us (a total stranger)with her arms full of stuff and a baby.  Steven asked me, "do you think she would let me hold her baby until she puts all of her stuff down?"  I can't wait to give him his own someday!
5. He loves clean sheets once a week just as much as I do.
6. Everytime he comes home from work he finds me to kiss me hello before he does anything else.  Once I sat in a chair in the living room and he never saw me and he went up and down the stairs, in and out of our room, in the kitchen, in the laundry room, passed me 3 times and finally found me when I couldn't help but laugh.
7. He's frugal, but not cheap. 
8. He always has his priorities straight, and works tirelessly to make sure they stay that way.
9. He knows what my potential is and never lets me forget it.
10. He truly is my best friend.

Same Jersey

I love this! Mostly because its about Thatcher (my mom's hometown, where I went to junior college, where I met Steven...) And, my cousin Spencer is mentioned at the kickoff! Listen for the quote by President Uchtdorf at the end. I wish I kept that in mind as I come across people on a daily basis. I'm grateful for the youth in the neighboring town of Pima who years ago were a great example to Steven and helped him get baptized around the same time in his life as the kid in the video. It humbles me to think that a whole generation (our children) will have the gospel in their lives because of his decisions. I know his family has always been very supportive of his decision to become a member of the church because of the goodness they see in Steven. Its our prayer that they will some day make the decision to be converted as well.

Numb3rs

39: Days till graduation
69: Days till I start PT school
30: Days inbetween graduation and PT school =(

∞ :Days till we get into our house (thats what it feels like anyways!)

$11.00: Dollars per hour that I will no longer be bringing into the Conners household come May (yikes)
$1,000ish+: Approximate amount that it would take to redo all of the windows with plantation shutters so I don't have to learn how to sew curtains... I highly doubt this will happen anytime soon; a girl can dream right?! But, I am stoked about the cornice I am going to make.
$864: price of the entertainment center that I REALLY want...

I dream in furniture and decorating lately.  I can't wait to get started.

2: Number of diet cokes I have had today.
0: Number of times I have showered today.  HA!  Yeah, I woke up late. Again.  I did shower before bed last night if that counts!
17: Number of friends/family members that are prego/have had a baby within the past few months.
3: Number of years Steven & I have been married come April 18th.
6: Approximate number of HGTV shows I watch per week.

October-November-December-January-February =)

Its been awhile!  Here's the past 5 months in quick (not really!) detail: 

October brought my BiRtHdAy!!!  I had such a great day thanks to my awesome family and super sweet husband. Steven got me my very own Blackberry which I ABSOLUTELY love AND let me pick out an awesome bracelet at Brighton.  Looove him! 

Thank you to whoever left this all over our front door.  It was so sweet and made me feel super special.  I'm pretty sure I know who it was *cough (CRYSTAL) *cough.

We ate at Texas Roadhouse (of course) and Ami and Matt came by to visit later that evening.  I had an awesome day which helped with the horrible "getting old" feeling...  I'm already 23!  I'm getting so OLD!

 We did the MS WALK 2010 at the Phoenix Zoo at the beginning of November for my mom.  My mom was shocked at how many people were there! We are SO grateful for EVERYONE that came out to support her and donated.  We exceeded our donation goal even though we organized everything just a week before the event.  My mom is such a champ!  I'm amazed everyday at the way she doesn't let such an ugly illness stop her.  I totally forgot the camera that morning so I didn't get any pictures...

My cousin Jill and her two girls came to stay with us so she could come to the walk.  We had so much fun with her here! It was great to have kids running around our house. She has the BEST kids ever.  Thanks to her and this adorable girl I have become SUPER baby hungry.  This girl didn't cry once the whole three days they were here!  Best baby ever! 

 
Thanksgiving brought a MUCH NEEDED break for me and a super busy weekend for Steven.  This year was our first year alone.  I spent my first Thanksgiving away from Thatcher and it turned out pretty dang good! Steven played football that morning with a bunch of guys from the ward while I scoped out all of the Black Friday ads with one of the wives. We cooked our first turkey and enjoyed the quiet day together.  Steven was at work (Best Buy) at 3AM Friday morning and I went to Target where I failed miserably.  Black Friday is NOT for me.  That was my first time and I will NEVER do it again alone.  I definitely needed a wing man. But, I did just fine alone at Hobby Lobby later that day.  =)  Shout out to Steven's store who did AWESOME Thanksgiving weekend.  They outsold every other store in the Phoenix valley between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Steven also got promoted to Sales Lead in January!


December brought some great friends of ours to visit.  We met Jud and Michelle when we worked in Seattle 2 summers ago.  These two became instant friends, and I hope they always will be.  Jud was doing a show in Tucson for the weekend so they stayed with us on the way through.  They came back in January, brought their little boy, and stayed for almost a week.  We had a blast hanging out!

Check out Jud's work. Its super creative!http://www.etsy.com/shop/ForkedUpArt

December also brought STEVEN'S gRaDuAtIoN!!  We had such a great day with our families.  Steven's parents, brother Wes, his grilfriend Shawna, little Miss McKenna, and his grandma and her husband Bill came along with my whole family.  We later grilled out at our house and celebrated.  I'm so proud of Steven and all of his hard work.  This day was a huge step towards our future! I contributed by bringing home 6 A's for the fall semester.  Yes I'm totally bragging, but I worked really hard and none of them came easy.

January brought a new semester of school for me. The last one of undergrad!! I also started hearing back from some of the schools I applied to.  NAU and the school that was our #1 choice in Spokane, WA gave me the ax.  The Spokane rejection was a hard one to process; we were really hoping for a new adventure up in Washington.  BUT, after a few tears and feeling like a total loser, I'm so happy I won't have to deal with the frigid temps. 

I was offered an interview at Midwestern here in Glendale, and found out 4 days later that I GOT IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, its that exciting.  So exciting that I cried. Again.  Are you starting to notice a trend?  I am 1 of 50 accepted out of over 700 applicants. We hurriedly contacted some favorite realtors of ours and started house hunting.  Last week we put an offer on a cute house in Tolleson (yes, Tolleson) haha.  Cross your fingers that we get it!
  
                  

The next day UNLV in Vegas called me at 10 pm to ask if I could be in Vegas in 24 hours to interview.  I told them no thanks, I've decided to stay in AZ.  And, then I cried all the way from Ahwatukee.  Yep, again.  I worked SO STINKING HARD to get a positive response from any school that would give me a chance, and I kinda felt like saying no in less than minute was me failing to see every opportunity through.  But, I'm confident that Arizona is where we need to be right now.  This whole process has been very challenging emotionally and I couldn't have done it without Steven.  He has been such a wonderful source of love and support, and constantly insists that I'm not a loser. =)  What a keeper.

AMEN

Church Responds to HRC Petition

Oct 12 2010 — Salt Lake City
News Release
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement through a spokesman following the delivery of a petition by the Human Rights Campaign.
My name is Michael Otterson. I am here representing the leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to address the matter of the petition presented today by the Human Rights Campaign.
While we disagree with the Human Rights Campaign on many fundamentals, we also share some common ground. This past week we have all witnessed tragic deaths across the country as a result of bullying or intimidation of gay young men. We join our voice with others in unreserved condemnation of acts of cruelty or attempts to belittle or mock any group or individual that is different – whether those differences arise from race, religion, mental challenges, social status, sexual orientation or for any other reason. Such actions simply have no place in our society.
This Church has felt the bitter sting of persecution and marginalization early in our history, when we were too few in numbers to adequately protect ourselves and when society’s leaders often seemed disinclined to help. Our parents, young adults, teens and children should therefore, of all people, be especially sensitive to the vulnerable in society and be willing to speak out against bullying or intimidation whenever it occurs, including unkindness toward those who are attracted to others of the same sex. This is particularly so in our own Latter-day Saint congregations. Each Latter-day Saint family and individual should carefully consider whether their attitudes and actions toward others properly reflect Jesus Christ’s second great commandment - to love one another.
As a church, our doctrinal position is clear: any sexual activity outside of marriage is wrong, and we define marriage as between a man and a woman. However, that should never, ever be used as justification for unkindness. Jesus Christ, whom we follow, was clear in His condemnation of sexual immorality, but never cruel. His interest was always to lift the individual, never to tear down.
Further, while the Church is strongly on the record as opposing same-sex marriage, it has openly supported other rights for gays and lesbians such as protections in housing or employment.
The Church’s doctrine is based on love. We believe that our purpose in life is to learn, grow and develop, and that God’s unreserved love enables each of us to reach our potential. None of us is limited by our feelings or inclinations. Ultimately, we are free to act for ourselves.
The Church recognizes that those of its members who are attracted to others of the same sex experience deep emotional, social and physical feelings. The Church distinguishes between feelings or inclinations on the one hand and behavior on the other. It’s not a sin to have feelings, only in yielding to temptation.
There is no question that this is difficult, but Church leaders and members are available to help lift, support and encourage fellow members who wish to follow Church doctrine. Their struggle is our struggle. Those in the Church who are attracted to someone of the same sex but stay faithful to the Church’s teachings can be happy during this life and perform meaningful service in the Church. They can enjoy full fellowship with other Church members, including attending and serving in temples, and ultimately receive all the blessings afforded to those who live the commandments of God.
Obviously, some will disagree with us. We hope that any disagreement will be based on a full understanding of our position and not on distortion or selective interpretation. The Church will continue to speak out to ensure its position is accurately understood.
God’s universal fatherhood and love charges each of us with an innate and reverent acknowledgement of our shared human dignity. We are to love one another. We are to treat each other with respect as brothers and sisters and fellow children of God, no matter how much we may differ from one another.
We hope and firmly believe that within this community, and in others, kindness, persuasion and goodwill can prevail.

Hilarious

Came across this blog.  I think its hilarious and dead on for all you (and me) Mormon wife/mommy bloggers out there!
seriouslysoblessed.blogspot.com

Summertime and the Living WAS Easy!

I have been a horrible blogger lately!  Oh well, I'll never be able to keep up with everything!  Steven and I had an awesome summer.  We worked and worked and worked, but it wasn't selling alarms!  This was our first summer together that Steven didn't do alarm sells and we loved every minute of it.  Yes, we missed out on seeing really good friends and living in a new place again, but it was so nice to stay home! 


We didn't go on our big Mexico vacation because of all of the violence, etc.  Instead, we stayed in awesome AZ and visited quite a few lakes in the process.  We spent almost a week at Apache Lake and had a blast.  Unfortunately, the camera didn't make it out alive.  It accidentally ended up in the cooler and lets just say water + our Sony touch screen camera don't mix well.  So, needless to say I don't have any pictures from that trip!  Here are some other lake pics including my work "lake day".  Yes, my job IS that awesome.  

  I LOVE THIS GUY!

My first time trying wake-surfing and I loooved it!

Steven's bro Wes.  He thinks he's all that and a bag of chips on the wakeboard!  He's really not he's just better and stronger than the rest of us... ;-)

We bought this new tube at good ol' Costco and it is AWESOME. It launches everyone so high.  (All of those pictures are on the old camera; bummer!)

These two are FINALLY married!  Congrats to Jacy and McKay! We love you!

I fell in love with DVR this summer!  Isn't it the greatest thing ever?  I finally relented and let Steven use his awesome discount at Best Buy to buy a new TV and he quickly got cable hooked up. It has been worth every penny. I love snuggling up and watching movies in bed!  Speaking of bed we also took the plunge and finally bought a new one!!  A new mattress, headboard, and footboard.  After one long night of getting hardly any sleep I nicely told Steven that I was not going to bed again until we had a new one. We had been sleeping on Steven's old bed which was a FULL!!  It was super hard and way too small.  We now have a not too hard, but not too soft QUEEN mattress.  Yes, it was worth every penny!

So, now that we have no money left (we also bought a new car!) we get to spend it ALL on school and gas to get to school.  Joy.

School.

Here's my guy after his first day of his LAST semester!  (of undergrad that is.)  He wasn't very thrilled about me taking a picture, but after I backed him into the corner he didn't really have a choice.

He is thrilled to be almost done and can't wait to finally have a degree he can do something with!  I'm so proud of him eventhough he beat me by a semester!  May, here I come!  Can't wait!

Wishing...

I'm wishing that I had some MOTIVATION.

I can't seem to find any.

I've had the 2 inch study book for the GRE for 2 months now.

Do you think I've cracked it open?

NO.

I only need 20 hours of hospital PT experience.

Do you think I've made a single phone call in order to get those 20 measly hours?

NO.

I made a bet with the silly boy at work that thinks he can loose weight by drinking red gatorade for breakfast & eating Panda Express for dinner that I'd loose more weight than him by Aug. 1st.

Do you think I've been to the gym in the past week?

NO.

Do you think I resisted the $20 Costco mammoth Father's Day Chocolate Cake on Sunday?

NO.

Do you think I resisted a piece on Monday?

NO.

Do you think I put the rest of it down the disposal today?

YES.

I guess thats a start, but I need a whole lot more motivation than what I got listening to that amazing cake being destroyed.

I've made a list of everything I need to get done this summer so I could cross things off as I've gotten them done.

I lost that.

I guess I've caught that summer bug that makes you think life should be lived on Easy Street.

I only have 2 months of summer left...

Help, PLEASE!

LOVE HER!

Caitlin graduated!  We are super excited for her, but not excited for her to leave...  She's decided to go up to Thatcher for school.  She'll have a blast there, but we will definitely miss her here!  Here are a few of my favorites from her senior pic session!

Congrats Caitlin!!

Lets go SUNS!

We were lucky enough to go to the first Suns vs. Spurs playoff game on Monday.  I HATE the Spurs!! I'm so so glad we beat them that night!  And, Wednesday night!  And, Friday night! Woohoo 3-0!  Hopefully we sweep 'em.

We had a blast Monday night.  Thanks Dad!

Tip off. Go Amar'e!

These were the 'Golden Grannys'.  Seriously hilarious dancing.

The arena was PACKED with ORANGE!

ehhh the hair looks a little dowdy...!  Must be from all that cheering.

SUNS WIN!

P. S. Suns just keep focusing on winning.  We don't care about your stupid political perspective that most of you know nothing about anyways.  Keep the 'Los Suns' jerseys at home. 

Two Years Down, Forever to Go!

Its hard to believe that it has been two years since this cRaZy, LOVE filled day!

I'm so happy I found such an amazing person who is PERFECT for me!

I'm so grateful that with the blessings of the temple, Steven and I have the opportunity to be together forever.  After two short years, forever still sounds pretty dang good!

This year for our anniversary we stayed in a resort up in Carefree.  We spent the day on Saturday shopping around in Scottsdale and ate dinner at PF Changs!  The resort was beautiful and were able to have the hot tub, pool, and fireplace all to ourselves later that night. 

 

We had an awesome relaxing weekend that was REALLY needed.  Thanks Steven, for the best 2 years ever!

Bright Lights. Big Party.

Last Saturday NASCAR came to town so naturally Steven's parents came too!  They are HUGE NASCAR fans and invited us and my little bro Neil to join them.  We had a blast!

My little man while we were in the cab.  Steven talked the cab driver into taking us from our car waaay out in the dirt parking lot to the front gates for 5 bucks.  My feet thanked him.

Woo!  Theres nothing like the sound of 40+ stock cars going all at once!

Ann and Steve!

The boys insisted on having huge hot dogs.  I think they were each a foot long.  Sick.

The headphones saved my ears, and they helped me keep track of what the heck was going on the whole time.  They broadcasted the guys commentating about the race.  I kinda felt like I knew what was goin on!

And, this big guy was right in the middle of all of those thousands of people as we were walking out.

Welcome to Arizona NASCAR!

                       

And, I'd also like to mention that this was my second NASCAR race.  The first one I went to was while we were living in Indianapolis.  Arizona rednecks are NOTHING compared to midwest rednecks...