The pictures!! The pictures of my beautiful home!! Hooray!!

The dining room light is just peeking out here. I love it. 

The bedrooms. They were all just the same before. Now I have a yoga room,
a "kids" room, and the cool hippie guest room. I even put chalkboard paint
 inside the closet of the kids' room!

This orange bathroom was quite a few shades brighter than originally imagined.
But I'm kind of loving it. 

The Master was just so bad....

And now I love it so much.....

And this closet makes me feel like a Kardashian. In a good way. :-)

This was not easy.

Before I post these after pictures, let's be clear. This wasn't easy.
It wasn't. It just wasn't!
So please remember, as you look at these, and I know most of you are homeowners so I don't have to explain... but getting to this point was SO MUCH HARDER than I thought it was going to be.
I thought I could get ceiling fans up in a day.
I thought I just needed light bulbs in the fluorescent lighting fixture in the garage.
I thought getting a replacement light cover and a garage door remote would be easy.
I thought ranges came with cords.

I thought you could just buy window screens. Hahaha.
I thought I could install a dishwasher by myself.
I thought my outlets would be hidden by my couches.
I thought moving my cable to another wall wouldn't cause problems.
I thought my laundry room was bigger!
I thought maybe bondo would be in stock at every Home Depot.
I thought that perhaps removing/changing out my shower head would be just as easy as it was in the eight other places I've lived! I also thought that perhaps the members of my Elder's Quorum might know more about these things than I do. They do not. They were excellent at helping me move, though.) :-)
I thought I could get caulking off easier.
And a few other things, I'm sure.
The truth was:
I just put up my last ceiling fan when Jessica was here 5 days ago. Because I needed her help. A lot.
That lighting fixture in the garage was totally burned up and I needed a new one and so I bought it and then screw anchors didn't work and so I needed toggle bolts and then I broke a set of light bulbs all over my garage floor and then I bought the wrong light bulb size (T8 not T12) and then they didn't carry a lighting cover for it, but 4 trips to 3 different Home Depots and at least it works, even though I have to order a custom cover for it. :-) It works! I installed it! And I know how to use toggle bolts.
I still don't have a light cover that fits the garage door opener. Moving on.
I actually like that I know how to install range and dryer cords now. Putting on the dryer hose was awful. I cut myself (on accident) a lot during all of this.
I cannot install a dishwasher. And neither will a plumber, in case you were wondering.
I just painted my outlets to match my wall.
The cable took 2 tries to get right, and I still have a hole in my wall.
When I am pregnant, I will not be able to fit in my laundry room.
Jonmark's niece's boyfriend was very helpful at removing the entire arm of the shower head and informing me that I should just buy a new arm since he couldn't get the shower head off, either.
Bondo took a few trips to get and smells terrible, and speaking of which, I just realized I need to paint it white.
The caulking will probably be there until my dad comes to visit.
Oh, and John came and helped me install my dining room light. And it took 2 other guys (my brother and my friend Travis) and myself to install my microwave. So I lived without a microwave for 2 weeks since I moved an hour away from all my friends.
AND. My truck battery died the first week here at 10pm. And I knew only one person in the neighborhood. So at 7:20 the next morning I had to wake him up to take me to AutoZone to get a new battery so I could go to work the next day. And I almost cried.
I did cry over the garage door at one point, but that's just a long story. I did learn the function of the "close force" knob. Let's leave it at that.
I love my home. I am grateful for all that I've learned. But wow, this was a few months of rough lessons. I still love my pink tools.

I hated this sign that day.

Purple band-aid. Check.

So many calls to the Genie company and they still can't figure it out.
How can a home built in 2006 have a garage door opener that looks like it's from 1982?

Let's Deal With The Flooring First.

So the biggest regret, trial, obstacle, call it what you will, of this entire house situation has been my flooring. Which has made me more quiet (somehow) and has probably given me a little bit of Post-traumatic stress disorder related to my house.
So here is the story.
AZ Discount flooring is a mess. They ordered the wrong amount of carpet. They forgot my tile. They didn't know I wanted white risers on my stairs. I really cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it all was.
And then. My hardwood. My hardwood was supposed to be a medium brown distressed wood. Instead they put in a smooth dark wood.
Why?
Because the sample was four years old. Because the floors I wanted were discontinued 2 years ago and the sample was never changed.
Because when Ark flooring changed the wood they still called it "Maple Kahlua," they just added a "-c" to the end of the UPC code.
And why didn't I catch it?
Because I didn't have good lighting in the house and because I saw it only at night and because they left it a mess and because I was making every decision and maybe was a little overwhelmed.
She, Marie, the owner, refuses to make it right. Apparently it is enormously expensive to rip out hardwood floors (engineered hardwood, but it's all the same). She is pretty crazy, yelled at me, threatened to put a lien on my house, made a collection company call me, and told the installer I was accusing him of sexual harassment (which I was not and never would since I have never met him) so that he wouldn't be on my side.
The Registrar of Contractors deals with things like this. They are going to work on my case for free. Their website says it will take 3 weeks, but after talking to them it's more like 6 months.
So. The complaint is in. They will come and interview me and then her and then we get to go to trial.
And for awhile, maybe a long while, I will be living with these floors.
So. I lived at Stephanie's for 3 months instead of 3 weeks because of this. And at some point I felt like my house was full of buyer's remorse and was more like someone else's construction site and less like the great house I had envisioned. And it was seriously very rough on my little psyche.
But I'm in. And it's better. But I couldn't just leave that part out. Pictures next.

Decisions, Decisions....

So recently I bought a house. Oh you didn't know that? Yes, you did.

It's all I've been talking about for like the last 4 months. 

And would you like to know what I learned about buying a house? 

That it is crazy. Crazy and terrifying and crazy and nuts and seriously? How do people make these decisions?

Bridget lovingly just told me last night, "Do you realize you just busted out like 1000 decisions in a month and I can't decide which mobile to buy?!"

Yes, I guess I did. And I kind of did it all by myself. But not really. 

What I really did was take paint swatches to work and ask everyone's opinion on warm grays versus cool grays and ask them how happy certain colors made them feel. I opted against "Classic French Gray" even though I love it in pictures- because apparently it gives me anxiety to even think about putting it in my house. (I did try it on the walls. And I did not like it.) I pinterested everything. I sent facebook messages out into the universe to decide what to paint my bathroom and how mad I should be about the garage door. I tried not to panic when they started painting while I was at work and I couldn't even go look at it until everything was done. A guy I went on one solitary date with is solely responsible for me even knowing what engineered hardwood is. Another friend is responsible for informing me what I should put in my backyard even though I had never even heard of DG a month ago. My realtor is responsible for helping me find an amazing drywall guy (Kenny) and amazing painters. Yelp and the Spirit are responsible for helping me choose the best plumber in Phoenix. And Yelp helped me pick my roofer. 

And Craiglist led me to Angie at AZ Discount Flooring which is such a ghetto-looking store (oh, you think I'm exaggerating. I am not.), but she is awesome and she drove her butt 30 miles west so I could see the carpet samples IN MY HOUSE so I could make the right decision. 

And Craiglist helped me find my washer and dryer and Brad picked up my dishwasher and he and Brea started doing my cabinets. 

And picked me up a smokin' deal on a Craigslist water softener. 

And Dad suggested Sears for my fridge and Robert from Sears matched the price of eastcoasttvs.com and we had a deal. 

And Josh McGavin told me exactly how to calculate my square footage and how many billion gallons of paint I would need (it came out to 38 I think). 

And Stephanie showed up after work with extra clothes and the box of food storage that she thought was paint to help me paint samples on walls! And instead we found the one clean corner of carpet in the house and sat on it and chatted in my new-to-me house.

And after hours looking at Home Depot and Lowe's and Amazon and overstock, I finally bought 6 ceiling fans and a kitchen sink that are not yet installed. (Sheer panic, that choosing fans situation...)

And, yes, there were plenty of times I stood in those stores and wished I was holding someone's hand and laughing or stressing with someone else. Sometimes the west side of the Valley felt like it might as well have been across the country. Those friends were too far away! (And all of you in other states and countries, too!!!)

Cabinets.....

But those same friends also told me to be glad I got to make all these decisions myself so I didn't have to compromise. And some of them even drove all the way there with their hungry , thirsty kids after work to be there with me on the day I got my keys and my house was 99 degrees. And they didn't even leave right away.
And now I have a lockbox and a house with beautiful walls and no floors and a repaired roof and new drywall and a yard that's in desperate need of landscaping. And I met my first neighbor yesterday, and his name is Randy. 

And what I'm grateful for is this: I got to make the decisions; I get to live in this house, and when I do it, I will think of all of you guys, and how excited you all have been for me, and how much you have helped me and how much I needed your advice and how grateful I am for it. And I will be so grateful to have guest rooms for my friends. You all are great. 

My brother facetimed with me to help make paint decisions.
It wasn't really that helpful...but it made it so much better. :-)

Redneck 4th of July Concert

I've had a hard time in Arizona figuring out exactly what to do on the 4th of July. I've had several lame ones, a few amazing ones (Prescott & Park City), but in Phoenix I usually am at a loss. But sometime in June, Groupon had a deal to see Brantley Gilbert for $10. And Who doesn't love "You Don't Know Her Like I Do?" or "More Than Miles?" Right?! I was so excited!
All us girls from work bought tickets and met up on the 3rd to watch them. It was so fun to sit outside (and sweat to death) and see all the fun people.
This American Flag shirt was for all the firefighters who died the week before. There were so many people with shirts like that.
It was so fun to be country again and, of course, to have another reason to wear my John Deere hat.
It was a perfect 4th of July.

 

This is my temporary home....

Admit it. Did you just sing that line?
K- so the week after Vanie got married, our lease was up (yup. It was planned that way.) But did I really have a new place to live? Nope. Not really. I was still waiting to see if my offer was approved on my house. And I couldn't exactly sign a lease on an apt until I knew what was happening.

I appreciate when people don't just assume
 they know how to spell my name. :-)

Luckily, my co-worker Stephanie (she's a phlebotomist) just bought  4 bedroom house herself. Now, she is a single mom of two kids, but one of those kids is living with his grandpa for the summer. So she had a extra bedroom. And, by God's good grace, she offered it to me.
Now, this is a win-win for both of us. I make some dinners, buy some groceries, and pay a little rent. And I get to live super-cheap about 5 minutes away from work.
Vanie, John Vizzard, Brad, and Peter all helped me move. I moved a few loads a couple days before work. I freaking loved my truck for that. And I loved my friends for helping me move (thank you!)
Even Alicia and her daughter were there at midnight waiting for me to show up.
And I got these cute little notes from Hailey (Stephanie's 10 year old) and Serenity (Alicia's 5 year old).
They were so cute.
It's been so amazing being here. Stephanie and I and Hailey all go to church together and her ward is just so sweet. It's a very Utah ward (meaning pretty much everyone hails from there. Like everyone.), but so sweet.
We've done fun roommate things. Stephanie says living with me makes her feel like she's in college everyday which makes me smile. We were up until midnight every night for at least the first 2 or 3 weeks I lived here. So much for those morning workouts I was planning on now that I didn't have my commute.
The first thing I did was buy groceries, which was a surprise to no one. Hailey has been good to tolerate some crazy dinners including chicken and artichoke heart pizza (a hit) and roasted figs on arugula (she tried, she really did.)

Tone it Up pancakes 

Stephanie rocked this.

Hailey and I are totally friends. Like aunt:niece kind of friends.  :-) She went with me last week to go pick out flooring. While we were waiting, we were starving to death. Luckily, Jonmark and I's taquito place was just down the street. So I introduced her to the glories of horchata and taquitoes. mmmm.

We didn't really have the rest of the day planned out, but she noticed an antique store across the street and asked if we could go. I honestly had kind of wanted to last time I went so we did :-) Luckily she only had $3 with her or we would have ended up with about 30 dog figurines. I fell in love with this crazy awesome fridge. But I don't know what to do with it or how much it was so it's still there. But I might still get this hair dryer for my mom. So coool.
Afterwards, I dragged Hailey to The Container Store and Whole Foods. She was a super good sport and even said I was fun to shop with, which is always nice to hear. :-) So I bought her this dragon fruit. Because the time to buy a ridiculously expensive piece of fruit is when you have a 10 year old around so she can think it's cool. (I had almost bought one myself about 5 times, but didn't- they are like $8!- this was a one time thing. ) Luckily, they are also just not that delicious. But so so pretty.

And then one night we were craving chocolate, I had my random bag of roasted cacao beans from Costa Rica, and after some chewing, slicing, and pounding, we finally decided to peel them, put them in a coffee grinder to make cocoa powder, And then made brownies. It was midnight. It felt like the good old days. It was quite exciting for all of us. Such a fun "memory-maker", and such yummy brownies.

Vanie's Shower & Wedding

Vanie got married last month. I was in charge of her shower. She said we could just grill and do barbeque, but I had just joined The Tone It Up girls, so I had a million new recipes. So instead, we had:

• Chilled carrot ginger soup
• Quinoa Shrimp salad
• Caprese Skewers
• Naughty Sugar Cookies (not a Tone It Up recipe)
• Strawberry coconut rafts
• Spring Rolls with chile ginger and peanut sauce
• Trader Joe's lemonade and limeade
• Honey Lime chicken skewers

It was such a fun little shower- at her brother's house and it was fun to get to know all her friends. 

My disaster of a kitchen!!

A week later was the wedding, my mom came into town. She was there to help with the cupcakes. Vanie looked so pretty, and it was so laid back and just nice.

Eating at The Breakfast Club the morning of! She got married at 3

Mrs. Lee!

This is Vanie's new sister-in-law. We are both nurses. We wore the same necklace. Our hair was the same.
Ok, I was a little freaked out. But I also felt like I just found a long lost sister. 

Vanie's new stepson made this sign!

All us friends looking every which way.... :-)

Don't they look so cute and happy?!