The Goings On

It's been so nice having summer here and being able to enjoy the warm weather. Devin informed me when summer started that any money spent on our home would go towards the yard during the summer. That was fine by me. I know he was anxious to get stuff done in the yard and he's been working so hard on it. He keeps surprising me with what he's able to do.

Devin pulled out everything in our front flower beds and we put in new plants. It looks about a thousand times better now that they're planted.

(Like our shower curtain window cover? Since it's summer we can't buy any more blinds - since that's not the yard. We have 4 more we need to buy before all of the windows have blinds. So for now it looks a little trashy. Ha ha.)




The big rock was in the front right corner of our grass. Ryan was nice enough to come over and help Devin move it into the flower bed. It looks so much better in there - and it was nice we could use that one instead of having to buy one.

Devin's also been working on his garden. He's always loved to garden and our house didn't have a garden spot already marked off so he could decide where he wanted it to go. He poured the frame out of concrete. It looks really good.




We still need to get some dirt to put in it, so unfortunately he hasn't been able to grow anything yet, but it's getting there.
He's also decided to have a mini orchard in our backyard. He's planted an apple and a cherry tree and then we got a peach and an apricot tree last night that he'll put in this week. He also wants to get a pear tree. Here are the apple and cherry trees.




It will definitely be nice to have all of the fruit. It also means that I'm going to have to learn how to can... We'll see how that goes...
Devin's done some awesome things to our yard though and it just keeps looking better and better!

We've also tried to have some fun this summer. We went fishing and plan to go ahead soon. It's always so relaxing to go spend a day at the lake. We also hiked up to Stewart Falls with Kara and Ryan and Mark and Lindsay. It was a really pretty hike.






It's amazing to me that we live so close to so many awesome places. Hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of the mountains around us!

Happy Summer! :)

It's Been A While...

I've decided that I'm really good at posting every 6 months or so. And it's funny because I always say I'll try and do better, but who am I kidding! :)
Quite a bit has happened for us since last 4th of July and the biggest thing is that we are now homeowner's!!
Our contract for out apartment was up last August so instead of paying more money in rent we decided we'd start looking for a house. We started looking in like February ish of last year and when our contract was up, instead of going month to month (and paying an extra $100/month) Kara and Ryan were nice enough to let us move into their basement.
We looked at probably 20 or more houses and had put a couple of offers on houses but none of them worked out. That was definitely a good thing! The house we ended up in had been on the market for a while and the bank that owned it dropped the price $10,000. As soon as they did that they had 15 showings in 2 days. After we looked at it, our realtor told us that if we liked it we had to put an offer on it pretty much that day. Luckily they were still taking offers. We offered and it came down between our offer and another offer. We beat theirs out by $200. So I would say we got pretty lucky. And then due to a low appraisal we got it for even less than we offered! We were both excited about that!
The house has everything we want for now! It's got a big yard (.33 acres). It's got 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and a decent size kitchen (that was definitely a must for me - the kitchen in our apartment was tiny!) We were able to move in mid October. And it was really nice because the bank that had owned it painted all of the walls and put in new carpet throughout the house. They painted the walls a beige/tan ish color and I'm so happy they aren't white!!
So here's what our house looks like.

I haven't taken many pictures of the inside with our stuff in it because we're still getting everything set up the way we want it. But it's all coming along! And even though the process was a lot more stressful than I thought it would be, it's been so fun having our first house! We love it!

4th of July Weekend

We had an AWESOME 4th of July weekend this year! It's definitely one of our favorite holidays. We had the annual party/mini family reunion at the Lewis household. Always good times. It's always fun to see the cousins and catch up.

Devin with fireworks is like any little kid at Christmas time with their presents. If fireworks were legal year round he'd probably light at least one off every night. He had to have a preview night on Friday so he could figure out some things and "test out" a couple of fireworks.

We spent the actual 4th of July at the parade with the Gardners - thanks for letting us go with you guys! Usually it's not that great, but this year was definitely better than prior parades. Then we went to Devin's uncle's house for a BBQ and fun on the blow up toys. I think Devin is still 12 years old at heart. He was definitely one of the kids again.

Devin was so excited for aerial fireworks to be legal in Utah. He scouted out a few different firework stands to find the cheapest and best ones. He ended up with quite the collection.

Don't worry, he's not selling fireworks out of our Jeep, he was just keeping them dry while it rained.

If you ever want some entertainment, watch grown men light off fireworks together. It's like they're all trying to prove their manhood. There were some close calls, but I'm glad no one got too seriously injured (just a couple of burns) and that nothing caught on fire! We got quite the firework show though, both from the ones we lit off and from the neighbors'. It really is cool having aerial fireworks be legal now.

I am so grateful that we are able to live in America and for all of the blessings and freedoms that we enjoy because of it!

We originally thought that the Stadium of Fire was going to beon the 4th, so Devin thought it would be nice to take today off so he wouldn't have to wake up so early for work, and since he was going to take it off I figured I would as well. We enjoyed a nice relaxing day fishing up at Silver Lake.

And check out this awesome scenery!

We ended up catching a total of 6 fish but we let 2 go.

They made for a delicious dinner!

And the aftermath from a weekend full of a lot of sun.

On a side note, this weekend marks 3 1/2 years of marriage for us. That, to me, is really crazy. I can't believe it's been that long! Definitely 3 1/2 great years though.

We couldn't have asked for a better weekend! Great food, great company and great fun! Thanks to everyone who made it so awesome!

A New Blog to Visit

I wish I was one of those really creative people that always has fun recipes or ideas on their blog. But I'm not. And until I can be, I admire other people's creations. I found this new blog: Be Different Act Normal. I think I'm obsessed with it. Now I just want a house to decorate and make cute things for. Especially all of her 4th of July decorations. They're way too cute! Just thought I'd share this fun discovery. Enjoy!

Shooting With the Boys

The boys decided they were going to go shooting on Saturday and they let me tag along.

We did a little skeet shooting. That was a lot of fun. It was my first time ever shooting a shotgun. I would like to brag and say I had the best shot, but I think I may have hit maybe 3 clay pigeons... maybe... These boys are pretty dang good though.

When we were done skeet shooting we went and did a little shooting at the range as well.

I just realized that I am such a good wife. I didn't get any pictures of my husband shooting in the range. Bummer. He took his Mosin Nagant that he got for Christmas one year. And they all had fun shooting at this bowling pin.

It was definitely a fun way to enjoy a nice day!

(Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, Mark didn't really get a tattoo. He just wanted to look tough for shooting. Ha ha.)