BUSY BUSY BUSY

Sorry...no pictures with this one...just wanted to update really quick and add pictures later :)

Nate and I finally tied the knot on October 17th...yay!!! We also bought a house. Nate found a new development in Layton on the internet the week of our wedding that we decided to go look at. We fell in love with these homes...they were basically everything we'd been looking for...perfect size, perfect layout, great neighborhood, in our price range, and brand new! We got in touch with the real estate agent selling these properties, went through one that was finished already and decided to put an offer in on one that was in the process of being built. We didn't want to lose this awesome deal while we were gone on the honeymoon so ended up putting the offer in the night before the wedding and they accepted the same night! The house is 1740 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, 2 car garage, HOA takes care of lawn but we are allowed to plant whatever we want as long as we take care of it, and located in Layton (east of Hill Field Road and south of Antelope Drive).

The wedding day was perfect! It was 70 degrees and sunny that day and everything turned out awesome! We were very impressed with Heritage Gardens and had tons of fun getting to see everyone that came :) We took off on the honeymoon the following day...stopped in Dallas over night Sunday and then continued our trip to the Dominican Republic on Monday. It was beautiful at the resort we stayed at...our resort was gigantic (just under 1800 rooms)!!! We had tons of fun just relaxing on the beach and at the pool...went on one excursion off the resort where we got to snorkel and see fish and coral and then swim with nurse sharks and sting rays (we actually got to hold the sting rays...pictures to come :) All of our flights were on time and we were able to fly first class the whole way there and back (thanks to my grandma and mom's family for the whole vacation!) I would love to never fly coach again...first class is quite nice :)

The minute we got back to Utah we had to meet with the builder to get a list of everywhere we needed to go to pick out things for our house (flooring, paint, cabinets, countertops, stucco colors, lighting, appliances, etc). That first week we were back we basically spent the whole week picking things out...sounds fun, but I wasn't a fan. It will be nice to have it all done, but having to pick everything out in one week is a little stressful! We decided to tile the whole main floor and the bathrooms and laundry room upstairs (normally the builder puts a cheap, ugly wood floor laminate and carpet on the main floor and then linoleum and carpet upstairs). Since Nate has done tile in the past we decided to use our flooring allowance for the tile and have him install it...I have to say, I know we'll be in love with it when it's done and especially when we go to resell, but the builder needed us to install all 830 square feet of it this week...holy crap that is a ton of work! Poor Nate has been up by 6 am everyday this past week and working on it until 9 pm...he had to call in sick for 3 of his shifts this weekend so he could finish everything. I've tried to help as much as possible, but it's really not very much compared to what he's doing. It will be SO nice to have it all done!!! The house is supposed to be done in about 2 weeks so we'll probably be moving over the Thanksgiving week (apparently our family likes to move over the Thanksgiving week...Nate and I moved into our apartment the same time last year and my parents moved to Colorado at the same time as well). We're not too excited about the moving process...but we are super excited about a brand new house of our own! Hopefully next week things will settle down a little and I will be able to post some pictures :)

August

Wow! It's been almost a month since our last post! We've been a little busy this past month...Nate finished up his summer semester a couple of weeks ago, had 1 week off and has just started the fall semester this week. We've been finishing things up for the wedding...got all the invitations addressed and sent out, went and got registered, and met with Heritage Gardens to finish up plans there. Then on Nate's only week off we basically spent the whole week looking at townhomes. We haven't found one we absolutely love yet, though. Other than all of that, we've just been working and hanging out with Zoey :) I haven't really been taking pictures this last month...I just have a few of Zoey below.

We had to move Zoey's water bowl into our bathroom because this is what she does. She loves to stick her feet in water...so she'll splash her feet around in her water bowl and cause the area around it to be soaked!

One of our plants died so the pot it was in is empty now...Zoey has decided it's fun to play in :)

Soaking up some sun after her bath

Life Without the Cone

We were FINALLY able to take that stupid cone off of Zoey last week and she is lovin life! She runs around like a crazy cat again and is much happier :) These are some photos I caught of her playing since the cone has been off.

She loves to sit on the computer...warmth is our guess :) This time, though, she totally looks like she workin on something! It's pretty hilarious!

It started making a noise because she was holding one button down continuously...she wasn't quite sure where the noise was coming from :)

Another place she loves to be...inside an empty bottled water case. She will sleep in these for hours sometimes...again, warmth is our guess :)

The Fray Concert

We were able to see The Fray when they came into town on July 18th. They played at Usana Amphitheater...probably one of our favorite venues! The night started out a little warm, but there were clouds that ended up blocking the sun and it cooled down making it a fantastic night to be outside at a concert! Jack's Manequin opened for them and they were amazing and then the Fray put on a fabulous show as well! The only thing we don't like about Usana is their parking...it takes FOREVER to get out of the parking lot!!! Oh well, though, it was still worth it! The pictures aren't the greatest, but picts from concerts never are...

Zoom Zoom!

Yep...it's ours as of July 9th (we weren't really planning on buying it on my birthday, but that's the way it worked out and what better day to get a new car than my birthday) :) We decided to trade Nate's truck in for something newer and a little more reliable. Nate's truck was starting to make this aweful noise and nobody could figure out what was making it. We really didn't want to chance having something major break and spending thousands to fix it...so we bought a 2010 Mazda 3. Even though Nate was the one who traded his car in I am actually the one who gets to drive it most of the time :) (I know...I picked a good one to marry!) You might be wondering why it's white? Both Nate and I are suckers for black cars, but Mazda uses this white paint that is absolutely beautiful so we decided to try out a white car for a change. It's so much easier to keep this car clean!!!

Happy 23rd!!!

July 9th was my 23rd birthday :) I was lucky that both my sisters were here to celebrate with me this year. We decided to spend the day together in Salt Lake. We started our day out by going to lunch at the Sky Box restaurant at The Gateway. It was really yummy! These are some picts we took while we were waiting for our food...

Me, Marlee, and Melanie

Me and Marlee

Later that night, Mel and Nate made me a delicious steak dinner and then we had an even more delicious carrot cake that Mel and Mar had made for me! Zoey is eyeing the cake in this picture...she got to lick some frosting that fell on the table :)

Hangin at the Pool

My sister, Mel, is staying with us for the summer until she can move back into her sorority. So, while my other sister, Marlee, was still visiting we decided to spend a few hours laying out at the pool one day. Pretty cute sisters, huh!?

Bye-Bye claws :(

We decided to have Zoey de-clawed and spayed at the same time. So on July 6 we dropped her off at the vet and later that afternoon Marlee and I went to visit her (she had to stay overnight). She was doing really well...up eating and drinking when we got there. The vet tech told us that before they gave her the anesthesia that morning she and another kitty (male) the same age were reaching through their cages and trying to touch paws :) Wish I had picts of that...

As you can imagine, the cone was not her favorite thing...a little hard for her to coordinate ;) I don't have many picts of her with the cone on...but she would just lay around most of the time and when she did get up she would mope around with her head down (it probably felt like she was carrying this 20 pound thing around her head). It was pretty funny and pretty sad too :(

We were able to bring her home on Tuesday morning...she was still getting morphine and pretty sleepy. We found her trying to soak up this little sliver of sun on the floor...

We were told she had to keep the cone on for, at the very least, a week. And the day before we could take it off, I came home from work and noticed one of her stitches had come out and I could pull back her pad. So, we had to take her back to the vet the next day so they could put another stitch in. Unfortunately, that meant another week of wearing the cone (a longer one this time) and a week of antibiotics as well :( Lucky for me she is awesome at taking medicine!

Aunt Marlee

My sister, Marlee, came to stay with us for a few weeks and visit her friends. Zoey enjoyed having Mar around...she spent a lot of time hangin with her :)

This pic was taken after Zoey had her surgery...hence the cone around her head :)

mmm....ice cream!

Zoey doesn't care what she has to do to "share" my ice cream :)

Miss Determined :)

Zoey was playing with my sister's toothbrush so I put it inside her makeup bag...but she was determined to get it out! See what happens :)

Celebrate!

Both Nate and I were promoted this month! I was promoted to a Charge Nurse on my unit earlier this month and Nate was just promoted to a Level 2 Technician at Dish Network. Both promotions came with pay increases :) We decided to celebrate at Sonora Grill...a yummy Mexican restaurant in Ogden!

They make fresh guacamole at your table...it is delicious!

My new painting!

My sis, Marlee, painted this for me :) She is an amazing artist!!!

Flowers :)

Marlee and I met with the florist doing our wedding today. We decided to go with a bouquet of pink gerber daisies (my favorite!) and white calla lilies. There will be several different pinks...these picts are just to give you an idea :)

My wedding dress

Here is a pict of my dress :) I will most likely have a colored sash at the waist line (chocolate brown or light blue-turquoise).

Colorado

This is Jake! My parents have two chocolate labs...Jake and Max (doesn't take photos very well, hence no picts of him) Jake couldn't care less about anything other than his ball...Max is a very intelligent dog, but is a little schizo :) Zoey wasn't a fan of either one at the beginning of our visit, but she seemed to be a little more tolerant of Jake as the days went by. Max, on the other hand, tried to eat her tail a few times so, understandably, she never really warmed up to him :) Unfortunately, no picts of Zoey and the dogs together (it rarely happened and I, of course, never had my camera at those moments).

Throw the ball please...it's right by your foot :)

Road Trip!

We went to Colorado this last week to visit my parents...Zoey has a favorite place in the car :) Can you tell where that is???

Feisty little one!

This is what happens when Nate wants to cuddle but Zoey's not quite in the mood :)

Zoey usually lets us give her kisses on her nose...but when she's feisty she's pretty good at blocking those kisses :)

Just funny :)

Mmm.... :)

Nap time :)