Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Our first house!!

After renting an apartment for 2 years and realizing we'd be in Utah awhile longer with our jobs, (psych....about a month after buying the house Andrew got a promotion and we might have to move out to Massachusetts next year!!) we decided it would be a good idea to buy a house before the market goes up. Originally we were looking at a house that would be really cheap each month but we just couldn't find good quality, obviously. So we raised our budget quite a bit and had a few more options to look at. Looking at houses was fun but very overwhelming. It was a lot to take in during just a 20 minute showing. There was always something that we just didn't like about the houses we were looking at in southeast Provo so we decided to look into Orem as well. Finding our house was kind of amazing! We were on our way one day to look at a model home for new townhouses by the Sleepy Ridge Golf course. We got there at 12:30 and they didn't open until 1 so we decided to just drive around. We went into this beautiful neighborhood and saw one house that had a for sale by owner sign. We couldn't believe it! I called the guy and asked about the house a little bit. He said we could come look at it so we went in and LOVED it. It was the only house we looked at that felt like home already! We knew the house was the one for us. The guy we bought it from also served his mission in Colorado Springs and knew our family and everything just seemed to work out! So our next step was to make an offer but we needed to find a real estate agent to do it for cheap. Turns out, as we were driving out to look at the house one day we saw Andrew's lacrosse friend driving and talked to him a bit. The person he was with was getting her real estate license and her dad also worked as one! So we used him to help us. Everything seemed to work miraculously together! We felt like it was all a blessing. After a few offers ours was accepted and we couldn't wait to move in! We have loved living here so much. As I was walking our dog the other day, I couldn't believe how beautiful of a place we live in. I love the view of the mountains everyday. In our stage of life and marriage, this really is our dream house!

Lots of our friends and family have been asking for a tour of the house. We still don't have lots of the rooms finished and we have tons of blank walls but it'll do for now! It's so expensive furnishing houses my goodness! 

This is the view coming out of our street. Love the view! 
front of the house
gotta love the first new house picture!

entryway from the front door. We still need an entryway bench but we haven't really found one we like that's not over $400! 
I'm so glad I married a handyman!! Our cupboards didn't have knobs on them so Andrew just ordered some and put them on himself. Really easy actually! 

pantry
kitchen--love how much natural light comes in the kitchen especially after coming from a basement kitchen with no windows!



the tile is his favorite spot after long runs!
living room


laundry room--Can't even describe how great it is to have our own washer and dryer finally! Our room actually stays clean now since we can do laundry when we want and not every 2 weeks!!

storage closet on the main floor

half bathroom on the main floor
We didn't love our bedroom walls when we moved in. 3 of the walls were white and 1 was black...so this is a before picture of our bedroom: 
We decided to paint it a light gray and get new white bedroom furniture as well. Painting was fun for like the first hour...not so much the rest of the time. Takes so long. 

finished bedroom--except for the walls!
panoramic view of the room
master bedroom closet
master bath

one downside is still having one sink :( atleast the long counter space is nice.

shower/tub
Finally my own jacuzzi tub!
stairs to 2nd floor 

Bonus room-this isn't considered the 4th bedroom because it doesn't have a closet. The people we bought it from made it into a theatre room so we aren't sure exactly what we are going to do with it...especially if we are just moving in a year! 
another storage/linen closet

upstairs bathroom
hallway upstairs
smaller bedroom upstairs
bigger guest bedroom

guest bedroom closet
back of house
it's so nice having the golf course separating our houses from the other townhouses on the other side of the fairway. Bryant loves all the room to play outside!
We love this house and are going to be so sad to leave it next year if we have to! Come visit us! :)

Monday, June 3, 2013

Complete little family with Bryant!

Our little family is finally complete (for now)! We weren't able to have Bryant with us in our apartment in Provo because our landlord was allergic to pets, but since we have our own place now we flew Bryant out as soon as we could! 






my loves in 2010 and now complete again in 2013!

We were so excited for him to come out! We were a little worried about how he would do on the flight, but of course they said he was awesome. When Andrew went in to get him, he was wagging his tail so hard he was so excited to see him! 

playing around in the parking lot to get some energy out
loooove this dog!
first night we got home we took him out to the golf course--it was such a perfect night and he was loving all the open space to run and play!

We didn't tell Andrew's brother Michael that we were picking up Bryant from the airport because we wanted to surprise him. His face was hilarious when he saw him sitting in our living room!!


So far Bryant has been the ladies man on the street. Everyday that we go for a walk, all the little girls come up and get so excited to see him and pet him! He is so good that he just lets them pet him all over. It is so cute. He is also loving all the space in the house to stretch out and sleep.


eating a chip from Andrew! haha
both boys in heaven playing at the park
how amazing of a view do we have?! never gets old!

The other day we were watching Anchorman and Bryant was sleeping on the floor until he heard the dog Baxter speaking (barking) to the bears. Bryant immediately woke up and started watching the TV. It was so funny!
understanding dog language!
We have had so much fun with him out here. He is loving it too! I'm especially glad we brought him out here when we did to have him keep me company over the summer since I'm not working. Especially because Andrew is going to be traveling to Massachusetts every Monday-Thursday starting this Sunday so I'll need my Bry man here to love and protect me!!