Big News!

I've been holding back on this but word is starting to get out so I might as well make sure everyone gets the right information.

We just bought a house.

Yes, that's right.  We are homeowners.

We aren't living in our house yet.  We still live with my darling Grandma who may live another 10 years, she is so awesome!

Why do we have a house, then?  I'm not 100% sure.  Tyler saw it, liked it, and couldn't stop thinking about it.  I saw it, liked it, but thought nothing of it.  Tyler kept bringing it up until we finally prayed and took it to the temple.  The peace I felt in making this decision has been...amazing.  I'm trying to decide if I've ever felt this calm and put together about a decision before.  We were meant to buy this house.

We can't have an empty house though.  And we won't be moving in until Grandma no longer needs us.  So we have offered the house to our sisters who are going to UVU.  The house is in Provo but right off the interstate so the commute to school will be quick and easy.  They both have cats and have had a hard time finding housing that is affordable and lets them keep their pets.  As long as they help take care of our house, we are letting them keep the cats.  (though if anything gets ruined by the cats, you'd better believe I won't be the one replacing it!!!)

It's crazy and exciting and scary and...just awesome.  The overwhelming feeling I have is still peace.  I have some doubts and fears and worries and things as well but...God isn't letting me forget that this is right.

And we love our new house.  Jamison wants to go visit it every day.  (I think he mostly just likes the trampoline in the ground out back).

Side note: If you are looking to buy or sell in the area, our realtor was seriously the best (and also my cousin, but still the best).  Angie Evans.  And our loan officer was amazing too.  Bliss Sawyer.

We made it!  We are now moved in to our new place in Utah.  Well...all our things are here, but I guess I won't feel REALLY moved in until there are no more boxes stacked around the house and we have living room furniture.  All ours was falling apart so stayed in Idaho.  Sigh.

Compared to our other trips, this one was a breeze.  No trucks broke down, we were able to get a moving trailer without a hitch....but we still had some adventures.  Like the manager of our apartment in Idaho forgetting that we were moving out.  We had to get him out of a meeting to come check us out.  And the trailer didn't have breaks so if Tyler went above about 63 mph, the trailer swung around like crazy and I thought he was going to die.  And then Jamison got mad and screamed on and off for the last two hours.  It could have been SO much worse though.  And the nice thing is that when we got here?  My whole family (minus my sister who had a play performance...Little Women...you should check it out in Springville....) came to help us unload the trailer.  And they brought dinner.  And as a reward we let them play with Jamison. ;) And Tyler played his guitar for them.  Which was fun not only to hear him play, but to watch Jamison dance!

Since getting here, I have had some fun/crazy adventures.  And we're only on full-day number two.  Are you ready?  Don't worry, I have a few pictures too. 

~The two teenage boys of our landlord were the previous tenants.  They didn't clean before moving out.  Like...didn't even vacuum the floor or clean the nasty ring out of the toilet (no pictures of this...but you're probably grateful for that!).  And they left a bunch of stuff.  Yay teenage boys. :s

~Yesterday Jamison took a three hour nap...I think the move has been even more exhausting for him than for me!  Tyler and I sat out on the back porch (and my sister joined us when she got off work) and just enjoyed the fact that we have our own backyard.  We also discovered that we have 7 different fruit trees around the house...well, we assume seven.  There is one we haven't actually identified yet but it looks like a fruit.  Here's the list:  Peach, Apricot, Cherry, Apple, Plum (two of those), Blueberry (alright, those aren't actually trees...they are bushes...), and our mystery fruit.  We also have two walnut trees.  And lots of "privacy trees" around the perimeter.  Leisl now refers to our backyard as the secret Narnian fruit salad garden.  It's the best description I can come up with.  Especially because it hasn't been taken care of.  We have a lot of work ahead of us but I'm also a little excited by it all.  Check it out!

 (The entrance to our basement apartment)

 (P.S. We have a view of a new temple now...Provo!  Yay!)

~This morning Tyler starts his new job.  Which he got when we rushed down last week for a job interview.  So glad it was worth the trip!  He's working for the Provo School District doing computer-y stuff...if you're wondering.  But that actually wasn't my point.  My point was that when he tried to take a shower...the nob broke off.  He can fix it but not until after a trip to the hardware store that isn't even open that early.  So no showers for us today.  At least not until AFTER work. 

Once I get more put together (and we have furniture) I will try to take pictures of the apartment for everyone to see.  We've got a lot more space than we've had in a while and Jamison absolutely loves it.  :)

Memorial Day 2010

Tyler and I had a very eventful Memorial Day. Sunday night we tried to find the Rexburg Cemetery so that we could at least walk around some graves. We drove and drove and googled and drove....and never found it. Eventually we ended up at a cemetery in Menan...but I sure would like to know where the Rexburg Cemetery is!

During our wanderings, we drove by North Menan Butte (known locally as "R" Mountain because of a white "R" painted on the side). We decided it might be fun to hike up. So first thing Monday morning...that's what we did.

This is a view as we were hiking up the side of the butte.

That's what the top looks like.


We climbed up some of these rocks. I didn't have the best shoes for it though, and it made me nervous!


We met a little bunny friend along the way. I don't think he knew we were friends though...the poor thing looked terrified!


And we found some really pretty flowers growing out the side of a rock. All the other flowers looked like wild flowers. These ones surprised us because it seemed like something you'd find planted in someone's front yard.


Here is a little bit of history about Menan Butte. It is an extinct volcano. The only one in North America to erupt in a freshwater river. It erupted in the Snake River and hardened super fast because of that...also changed the course of the Snake River. This picture is looking inside its...whatever you'd call it...where the lava would come out if it wasn't extinct.


Tyler somehow convinced me to let him buy some super cheap golf stuff at K-Mart. He couldn't wait to use it...so started putting in our living room since it was raining outside.

And later that evening, after eating fried chicken and southern mac and cheese with two of Tyler's school buddies, we finally hung the pictures we bought at Ross about a month ago. What do you think?

This was the first Memorial Day I spent without my parents, siblings, and extended Cope family. I missed being able to visit the graves of family members, but enjoyed being with my husband. We had fun, and maybe next year we will actually FIND the cemetery.

A Fresh Look for the Living Room

For the past few weeks I have been feeling like a crappy home decorator. I don't really have a talent in that area, and sometimes when I walk inside our apartment...it just seemed so dull. After talking it over with Tyler, we decided it would make the apartment look a lot nicer if the walls had a new coat of paint, and if we had drapes.


We talked to the manager of our complex, who said it would be fine for us to paint the walls...just as long as we got the exact same paint they had originally used. That was easy enough. The paint store they used was right next store!


So this weekend, Tyler and I ventured to Idaho Falls with our trusty wedding gift-cards to look for the perfect drapes to spice up our apartment. We were successful, and didn't have to use a cent of our own money. So thank you to all the people who gave gift-cards for our wedding!


Back home, Tyler had a lot of homework to do. But in between reading books and writing papers, he painted two of the walls and hung the drapes.


There are still a few more things I have in mind for the living room. I'd like some bigger pictures by the clock, and I want to hang The Family proclamation as well. But for now, I think the drapes add A LOT!

We also put drapes in the bedroom, but I'm not ready to take a picture of that yet...I still have more work to do in there...it lacks color even with the drapes!

Touring the Dennis Apartment

Welcome to the picture tour of the Dennis apartment!

Here we are, Stonebrook apartment complex, building six.

Are here's our apartment, number 606. Come on in...

(that's the front door, if you didn't guess)

A lovely view of our green couch sporting a very soft blanket we got as a wedding gift. On the wall above the couch are the mirrors my sister turned into picture frames for us. We displayed them at the reception as well. And in the corner you can see a picture of Jesus...very crucial to our home.

Here is our lovely "entertainment center" consisting of a computer monitor, an xbox, and speakers.

Welcome to the kitchen! Eventually my apron won't be hanging on the fire extinguisher...Tyler just hasn't had time to get me a hook yet.

Another view of our kitchen. It's a pretty decent size, but we've quickly run out of counter space with all the appliance we have!

You can see part of our dining room table, and the closet where we keep the washer and dryer.

Hmmm I don't know why this picture is sideways...just tilt your head. lol. That's a view of the hall, and our bedroom is at the end.

Ew, another sideways picture. I apologize...I've never had this problem before. This is what Tyler has christened the "man closet". It is home to our games on the top shelf, and his tools take up the rest of the space.

Alright, here is our bathroom. It's the only part of our house that actually matches! It's kinda cute.

I noticed the other day that even our soap and our toothbrushes and...the kleenex box...match!

The second bedroom in our apartment is currently the storage room. It won't look this messy once we fix the bookshelf. Right now it has no shelves...which defeats the purpose a bit!

This is our music corner. Home to two of Tyler's guitars, my little guitar and the dusty violin.

And now...our bedroom!

I have to show off our awesome closets. Yes, that entire wall is closet space. And with two sets of doors, we can treat that one giant closet as a "him and hers" type closet.

And last...a view of the hall from the bedroom. We could watch for intruders from the bedroom if we wanted. :p

And that's it, our little home sweet home.