Oh the joy of being a homeowner..

Before Derrick and I got married, he decided to buy a house. He was ready to move out and start our life together. We found a townhouse on 800 north in Provo. Our house is around 1,200 Sq Ft. with 2 bathrooms and a second floor. Although this house needs some work (new cabinets, carpet, doors, base boards & bathtub) but we've enjoyed it so far. We have super nice neighbors who are super quite and pretty much keep to themselves. We were a little worried about noise since both sides of our house are shared with other people, but to much surprise our house is made of cinder block. Which blocks out EVERYTHING. I have NEVER heard our neighbors and hopefully they've never heard me (ha). It's a very great, secluded area that is surrounded by trees. Although, the train tracks are only about a half mile away but we've lived here so long the train doesn't even faze us.

Along with the joys and benefits of homeownership, comes EXTREME stress. Since our home is older we have some updates to complete and some things to fix thanks to our bulldog who decided to make door frames and base boards his chew toys. Recently with all the rain, we discovered a leak in our upstairs bathroom vent. One day it rained so much and it leaked so bad that we had to put a gallon bucket upstairs to catch all the rain. By the time I got home from work the next day it was COMPLETEY full. Once the rained stopped, our HOA came and fixed the roof but we noticed that the ceiling in our bathroom was starting to bow. We told our HOA what was happening and the DENIED that it was their responsibility to fix even though it was caused by an exterior issue. It has taken almost 2 MONTHS for the HOA to finally admit that it's their responsibility. We have had the same issue with a pipe connected to our cooling. Once again, since our house is old the heating and cooling system is as old as the dinaours themselves. At the beginning of summer, we had ZERO heat, why? Because the previous owners jacked up the wiring so we had to have someone come in and re-wire the thermostat. After that, we had the cooling on FULL blast (even then our house was still an average of 72-76 degrees) and after about 2-3 months we noticed water was on our downstairs bathroom door. Derrick did some investigating and found that a pipe up in our cooling was leaking and had totally warped our door to the point that it barely even closes. Once again the HOA denied it was their issue and ignored us. Finally after what seemed like forever they said they'd have it fixed. Well, it's been about 2 months and we have heard nothing from the guy who's supposed to fix it! I am an extremely anxious person, so having all these issues has been super difficult for me. BUT! that's the joy of being a homeowner, right?

Among other things, Derrick and I are still working full time, we got our $8,000 tax credit last month and decided to buy me a car! I've been searching and researching tons of different cars for months now and finally had narrowed it down to 3 cars I could 1: afford 2: commute in & 3: look cute in. Yes, cute in. I know that's a totally ridiculous factor to add to buying a car, but HEY I'm a girl, a very girly girl. We decided on a Kia Soul aka The Hamster Car. I LOVE this car. It is SO great. AND I got rid of my Olds, HALELUJAH. We traded it in for $750 and got a $500 credit because Derrick owns a Civic. SAWEET!

Wilson is a year old. He still acts like a puppy which is cute and annoying at the same time. He enjoys watching T.V, chewing on EVERYTHING and loves to run in circles in our living room. I'm sad that he spends all of his time in the kennel all day long and doesn't have someone to play with but I guess that's life. His recent naughtiness is to sneak the kitchen run and chew on it. This makes me SO ANGRY. Derrick and I have gone over this hundreds of times but he still can't quite grasp it. Derrick keeps telling me that it's "all in preparation for babies". I guess my patience-o-meter is really on the low side recently.

O my aching womb.

It's been a LONG time since I last posted a blog. To update you all, Derrick and I have officially been married for 7 months. Yay! Marriage is so much more exciting and rewarding than dating. But all in all I am very glad that Derrick and I dated for 2 1/2 years before getting engaged. This July was our 3 year dating anniversary. It's crazy to think that I have been in love with the same person for 3 years, and now I'm married to that person. I get Derrick for forever. Which, some days can seem a little daunting and overwhelming but hey, someones gotta do it.

Although these last month or two of marriage have been fun, they've also been really hard for me. I admittedly have a little bit of an 'achin womb'. I love kids, always have. I've always wanted to be a mom and have a baby of my own & the last couple months this idea has just polluted my mind to the point where it makes me crazy. I seriously cry during every commercial about babies. We were watching Hook last week and when Robin Williams see's his son Jack for the first time and says he's a daddy, I was BAWLING! Pathetic, I know. So finally after all this emotion and finding out some of my friends are having their SECOND child, my husband sat me down.

My husband is an extremely controlled person. I don't think I've ever seen him mad or stressed out. He just can control himself very well. I, on the other hand, cannot and he knows when I am struggling with my emotions. After lots of probing me for why my mood was so up and down. I explained that I am 'baby hungry'. Although the idea of having kids totally freaks Derrick out, he was really calm and explained why this step in our marriage is just not a reality right now. Derrick would like to provide for our family comfortably, he would like me to stay home (which he knows is where I want to be), and he would like to be emotionally prepared himself. He cannot imagine having a baby without going to school, and making substantially more money.

My biological clock is not running out. I am 21 years old and simply not ready for that kind of responsibility and that is something I have to keep telling myself. This time in our marriage is about creating and building a family together that will one day be a stable and secure atmosphere to bring children into. It is also about each of us learning and growing together, and as separate individuals. We live in a culture that thinks we must immediately replenish the earth and that 'Hey, anyone can have a baby'. Whatever happened to the good old fashion 'Go to school, get a degree, buy a house and a dog and THEN have a baby' thinking? And I'm not saying this is my thinking now entirely, it is definitely going to take some time, but I would like to have goals and dreams and accomplishments before my life becomes someone else's.

So that's the end.

5 Days Till The Big Day

The countdown has officially started!! Today I ordered the flowers, got the ties, the guest book and Thank You cards. It is going to be a VERY busy week! But the awesome thing about it all, is this is the last and only time I'll have to do it! That, to me, is pretty great. We've kind of settled into married life (even though we're not yet married). We still have to get our marriage license. Other than that just a lot of trips to Costco for the luncheon and reception. GAH! It still hasn't really settled in yet but it probably won't till Saturday when we realize that "Hey, we're married, I can see you naked....sweet."