As Of Late

Since it has been a while since I last blogged, of course, here is what has been going on lately.

-We are all moved in and pretty much settled in the house, and it is great! I do miss the old Finch company, but enjoy having our own place again.

-Tyler's big hunt he drew out for in Southern Utah went great, he got a really good buck, and had lots of friends and family that were able to go down and enjoy the time with him as well.

-I had yet another birthday, and now I am closer to 30 than 20 which is scary. I still feel 19, so I guess that is more important right! I can't believe how fast time goes by.

-Speaking of time, Tyler and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. This is another scary thing, but time that we have enjoyed very much. As much as we know each other, the same goes for the opposite. Which I hope it is always like that, keeping each other on our toes!

-As that fourth year itch was coming, we decided we wanted to start a family. We are expecting a little Tyler or a little Rachael around April 19th. We joke that no matter what it is we are in trouble, because we were both quite the difficult children, and still today we are both pretty stubborn (Something still only I have admitted). We threw around the idea of not finding out what it was, but I am too Type A for that. So as of right now our first present under the tree is a box with a paper in it telling us whether it is a boy or girl (I am putting my money on a girl, but Tyler is putting his on a boy). We thought that would be a fun way to find out, and it is only 4 wks later than when we would have found out if we just did it at the Dr. I made Tyler drive home with the box, and wrap it right away. I thought it would be too hard having it just sitting there right next to me the whole drive home. My older sister is pregnant as well, and is about 2 1/2 wks ahead of me. It has been fun for both of us experiencing our first pregnancies together.

-I was able to escape the cold for a bit, and go with my parents to Southern California. We stayed a night in Vegas on the way out and ate crepes at the "Paris" which were very yummy, and worth walking the strip for. The next day on our drive to California, we just stopped at the grocery store to find something for lunch. Both my mom and I don't do well with or like fast food so we thought this would be a good idea. My dad couldn't find anything, so he just got a Subway sandwich. We got in the car and started driving to find a place to eat. It was very deserty and desolate with not many options. We finally found a sign for an RV park so we decided to try it. It wasn't much of anything but a dirt road, but there was a little grassy spot with some trees so we drove over there and got out to eat. On our way in, we noticed about 4-5 donkeys grazing there. I really like donkeys and think they are pretty cute, but probably not very nice?? I don't know. Anyways, we sat on the grass, and of course my dad cracks this joke that "he has never eaten lunch with donkeys before, but he sure has eaten lunch with a lot of asses!" I don't know if they took this offensively or as an invite, but 2 of them started heading straight for us, and fast. Well not for us, for my dad! So we decided that we weren't going to be able to eat there. It must have been my dad's sandwich they smelt, because they both followed him to the car. At this point my mom was laughing hysterically, and my dad was yelling at the donkeys to go away while just barely making into the car before they got him! I thought my dad would be mad at us for laughing, but he started to laugh as well, it was pretty funny. Other than that, it was just a typical vacation. Lots of laziness and relaxing at the pool.

Well that is pretty much up to date, I know our lives our so exciting. We are very exited for our new little addition and can't wait to find out what it is!

Final Stretch

Well I can't believe that the house is almost done! Just a few final touches and we will be official residents of Springville. I can't wait to start this new chapter of our lives, and hopefully we will have lots of family and friends who will come share it with us.

 

Can't wait to get a swinging chair for my porch!

Making Progress

 

Welcome to our home!

Backyard (The dogs like all the space)

 

 Fireplace

 

Where I will be spending all my free time

 

Backyard and deck

The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock

Tyler and fam have been over working on the underground for the plumbing on our house for the past 2 nights. Apparently the ground is super hard, like really dense clay. It has taken them a bit more time, but at least we know we are on solid ground!

Finally.... A Hole!

I can't believe it myself, but the house is officially under way! It's been a long time coming.

We had to take the dogs down to get familiar with all the smells of their new home, although until our yard is done, they will sure miss Al and Diane's Dog Resort!

Cal-i-for-ni-a

This past week we were lucky enough to escape life, and enjoy a relaxing, well needed, vacation. Destination: Palm Desert, CA. I know...Southern California...mid July...we must be CRAZY! Yes, it was hot, like 110-114 degrees hot, but the best thing about the west, it's dry heat. Unlike the east, where it is humid and miserable. The heat was actually not bad, and for the most part we enjoyed it, soakin in all that Vit D!

My parents have been very generous with their timeshares, so the accomadations were fantastic. We were in a condo, so we had 2 bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, laundry, balcony, you know the drill. We enjoyed cooking our own meals, and didn't have to eat out. We were surrounded by multiple pools, golf courses, and great desert views with lots of palm trees.

Most days went like so: I would get up around 8-8:30 and go exercise for an hour or so. I would get back, Tyler being still asleep, and get ready (put my swimsuit on), then read my book for about an hour until Ty finally arose. We would then spend the rest of what was left of the morning and early afternoon doing this:

Once we would get hungry we would go eat some lunch, and spend the hottest hours of the day in the AC. This usually involved reading, taking a nap, whatever. After about 6 or so we would usally go out to local shops, or just spend time out in the city. Then eat dinner, watch tv, more lazy stuff like that. My favorite part of the day was around 10 when we would dish up some pineapple sherbet, and eat it out on the balcony. I could definitely get used to this schedule!

Highlights:
Of course we couldn't come to California for the week and not meet up with miss Shanny Panny. We decided on Venice Beach for the day, that was about half way (little more for Shan :) I had been to this beach once before about 7 yrs ago for our girl friends senior trip. I loved it then, and I knew I would love it again. We spent the day just being with each other, laughing, laying in the sand eating ice cream, people watching (beach people are so entertaining), Shan even treated us to this personal concert from this Johnny Cash guy for $1 which was awesome, walking the boardwalk, swimming in the ocean, ending the day with an amazing mexican meal at this restaurant we stumbled upon, and hugs goodbye. I wish we could have spent more time together, it went by way too fast.

Thursday nights in Palm Springs, which is the next town west, they have this little street fair. The streets are filled with vendors with local fruit, food, art, jewelry, etc. I love these things, especially in other states, because you get to enjoy the local flavor, which is always different. We ran into this vendor selling Guatemalan food so I had to snap a pic for my little bro, who is in Guatemala serving a mission. For you Ben:

My mom bought this cute wood carved frog with scales on its back and it has a wooden stick thing that you roll down the back and it makes a sound like a frog, pretty cool. I gave in and bought some earings made out of malachite, sucker for jewelry.

All in all it was a great way to spend a week off. Hard to go back to reality.

13.1

Yesterday, 7/10/2010, I ran my first half marathon! It was the Hobbler Half down Hobble Creek Canyon. I ran it with two of the most amazing girls. First, one of my best friends, Allison Duncan, who just had the cutest baby boy 2 months ago, and is always someone who I have looked up to and has always pushed and motivated me. Second, her mother, Kim Chapman. She is in her 50's, and I was so impressed by how strong she ran. I hope I can do that in my 50's! It was a first for all of us.

My personal goal, was not for time, but for endurance, to do it without stopping. I did it, but it was not easy. The longest that I had ran ever was about 11 miles. The Saturday prior to the race, we did a training run down Provo Canyon from Big Springs to the mouth. This run was not bad at all, we started around 8 or so, and the majority of it was down hill, and we had the shade most the time as well. The actual race, was not as comparable as we thought it would be. It was down a canyon, but it had a lot more up's and down's than Provo. Also, the sun was beating down on us starting around mile 8 or so, which is very draining. Our saving grace was the sprinklers and the drink stops during the last few miles. At mile 12 I hit a wall, and the rest of the race was pretty much up hill. I had to talk myself through the last mile and made it without stopping! For me, running has always been more of a mental thing. If I can talk my way through it, I am golden. I have never been motivated by strangers, or friends cheering me on, but only by myself and the mental game.

It was the best feeling to see the finish line, and Tyler waiting there too. I have always respected marathon runners, but this experience definitely increased my respect. Even the thought of only being half way done if I were running a marathon, made me sick. Running a marathon has always been a lifetime goal for me, but half  sure is satisfying for now!

Blogging: Obviously Not My Thing!

So today I was reading up on some blogs, and you know how you can see in the margin if your blog is on their page, how long it has been since you last blogged? Ya, I saw mine was 4 months, and thought that was pathetic, because so much has happened in the last 4 months! My last blog was about the lot in Lehi that we were going to build on and that is way outdated, so here's the update!

The Lehi lot is no more, and we are building in Springville. To make a long story kind of short, when we first started looking at lots, we were very interested in this subdivision in Springville. We made an offer and apparently the investors where 3 yrs behind in taxes, and the lots were in the process of getting reposessed. This was back around Thanksgiving/Christmas 2009. After waiting week after week we started losing hope and looking elsewhere. That is when we found the lot in Lehi, so we put in an offer and it was accepted. Then the long process started of drawing plans, financing, and tons of  hard decisions. Along the way we had a couple bad experiences with the guy who actually developed this subdivision, and one that I won't get into that just topped it all, so we backed out. It is really sad what this economy has done to people's morals. All during this time, I was always still trying to find out what was going on down in Springville. I had talked to the city, multiple banks, trying to find out now who owned the property. No one could help me, one dead end after another. Then, one day I saw online, that someone was building there! I was shocked, and called him immediately. I explained that we had been trying to find out anything about these lots, and here he was building there. I already knew our first two picks, and they were already gone, one by over 1 month! So we went and checked out the area again, and found the perfect one! We liked it better than our other picks. The process began all over again! Now we have our final plans, and should be digging a hole in about 2-3 wks if all goes well. Which with our luck I am not holding my breath, but we will get there. We are also exited to be close to Cody, Emily, and Milo Monster! Here are our plans!

                       

On another note, Summer is finally here!! We have already made some fun trips out to the Green River, and to Zions National Park. With Tyler being assistant scout master now, he has been on some other fun weekenders as well. It is fun to watch him with the 12,13 yr old boys, they have already really latched on to him. He is always getting them all wound up, and I know they will miss him when we move. It is funny to see all these younger boys running up to say "hi" to him in church, and to see if he will be at scouts that week. In July, we will be going to southern California for a week, which I know will be crazy hot, but I don't care because all I went to do is spend all my time in the water, and visiting my sis Shanny Panny!

Tyler also won the hunting lottery earlier this spring, and drew out for a deer in the #1 unit right now in Utah. It was only his second year putting in, and he could hardly believe it when I told him over the phone, while hunting turkey in southern Utah, that he had drawn out! Even one of my patients has been putting in for 14 yrs, and still has not drawn. It is his claim to fame right now, and besides the house, pretty much all he talks about. He told me the best time to scout for deer, is July-Sept, so I told him "see you in October!"

This post is kind of boring with not many pics, sorry!

Home Sweet Home

     So for those of you who don't know, since we have moved back from Idaho we have been living with Tyler's parents in the basement. We have been so appreciative of this because we still have our house in Idaho that we didn't know what we were going to do with. Eventually we may sell it, or we may keep it as an investment, who knows, but by living with them we have been able to pay a LOT more towards my never ending student loans, and save up for a LOT more for something here.

Well the time as come and we spent a LOT of time thinking about what we wanted, and where we wanted to be. We looked all over in Utah County. We wanted to stay close to family, and jobs. With Tyler never working in the same place, and me always working at the same place we decided to look around Lehi where I work. We did not want to go west of I-15, or to Traverse Mountain. We liked Cedar Hills, but it was just too far from places we would spend most of our time (the freeway/grocery stores, that type of thing). So, after a LOT of thought and weighing all the options, we purchase a LOT in northeast Lehi!

We fell in love with the location, and with with both of us being so picky, we decided that in order to satisfy both our wants we would just have to build it! With Tyler's mad skills as a plumber, and many others he knows in the field of construction, and materials and labor being cheap we figured we coudn't lose. So I apologize if my blog is boring for the next 6 mo, but I think we have no idea how much this will consume our lives, therefore leaving it the only thing to blog about. In the meantime, here are a few pics of our soon to be place we will call home. 

Holidays O' Plenty

Not much to say, just many pictures to share. We had such a fun holiday season, hope yours was just as wonderful, enjoy!