A really BIG purchase....

As of March 1, 2011, Josh and I will be homeowners.

I can't believe it!

I am so excited about it, but I'm not gonna lie, I'm also scared out of my mind!

Owning a home is such a HUGE responsibility, but it's a good responsibility, right?

The realization that this is really happening has brought up all sorts of mixed emotions -mostly good ones though.  I think I am past the freaking out stage(fingers crossed).

When we first found out our offer was accepted, we were absolutely thrilled!  But a few days later, we started thinking about everything that goes into owning a home, and I had a few little breakdowns.  Not that I didn't want the house, it's just a big commitment and kind of overwhelming when you take everything into consideration.  No more calling the apartment manager if something stops working.  Now we are responsible for anything and everything that goes wrong with our home.  Our monthly rent will soon turn into a monthly mortgage, which will definitely be more than our rent, Etc, Etc. Having a home will be dang expensive!

Lucky for me, Josh is a very rational and levelheaded person.  He calmed me right down and reassured me that this is the right thing for us - and it is.

I don't know if you remember my post about 2011?  This one?

Anyway, the first goal listed has been accomplished.  We are staying in our current ward and we couldn't be more excited about it.  We love our ward, love our bishop and we already know we are going to love our neighbors.  The families that live on our soon to be street have been so supportive and excited for us.  Several of our former Sunbeams live on our street and one of them has already told his mom that he's going to come over and play with us all the time.  How cute! 

It all came together much faster than we expected, but everything just fell into place.

Our bishop, who is also a realtor, knew we were looking and was going to help sell a home in our ward.  He gave us a call to come look through it before it would go on the market and we both fell in love.  We went through it again the next day with our parents, and they liked it as much as we did.  Five days later we made an offer and two days later, it was accepted. 

The house is definitely a bit of a fixer upper, but we're excited to make it how we want it.  Sure we could have bought a newer, nicer home out in the boonies for the same price, but location was something that was very important to me.  If I knew I would be a stay at home mom as soon as we have our first baby, then I wouldn't care where our house was, but since I know I'll still have to work when that time comes, I wanted to be close to our families.  Both of our mom's love babies more than the average human being does, so I know they will want to see their grandbabies as much as possible.  :)

I am looking forward to this new adventure.  I love this little house.  It's a house I see us starting a family in.  A house I totally picture us in.  I know it will take a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice, but I wouldn't want it any other way and I wouldn't want to do this with anyone other than Joshua.

Pictures coming soon!

Nate the Great

A couple of weeks ago, Josh and I had a date night with some of my co-workers.  To give you some background on my job,  I work for a wonderful place called The Wood Connection.  I started working there about six months ago and it has been such a blessing.  Even though it's not what I pictured myself doing after getting a degree in Broadcast Journalism, I am so happy there and for the time being, I know it's where I belong.  I love what I do and I work with wonderful people. 

One of those wonderful individuals is Nate - also known as Nate the Great.  I can't think of a better nickname for him.  He really is one of the greatest guys I know.

Nate is 32 years old and autistic and has the best attitude about life.  It's impossible to be around Nate and be in a bad mood.  He always puts a smile on my face and is a joy to be around.

For the past few months, Nate has been wanting to go on a "date" with some of the girls at work.   Per Nate's request, a few weeks ago we all went to dinner at Hire's, bowling at his favorite bowling alley, Sue & Rich and got his favorite ice cream from Nielsen's Frozen Custard.  We had a blast.  I took my camera to capture the fun.

 Nate asked me to take a picture every time he got a spare so that he could see how happy he was. 

He told me he was so good at bowling because he took a bowling class in March of 1993.  He has a GREAT memory!

Also, please take note of his Biff shirt!  haha!  I love it!

Another fun thing you should know about Nate is that he LOVES to have his face painted.  I think he has it painted at least once a week.  He brought his very own face paint so that we could paint his face.

He had Rachel paint his bowling score on one cheek...

Then he asked Lieca to paint his nose blue.

He had me paint his favorite NFL team's name on his forehead

He also had me paint a "5" on his cheek because that's his favorite number.

The girls with Nate the Great

As you can tell, Nate really is Great! 

One of the highlights of my day is saying "hi" to Nate when he gets to work.  Whenever I say, "Hi Nate.  How are you?" he says, "I'm great!  I'm happy."  He says that every time.  

I want to be a little more like Nate.

Claire Bear

This week our cute little Claire turned ONE!

I really can't believe it has been a whole year since she was born.  It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming this sweet little girl into the world. 

Claire is the sweetest baby on the planet.  She has such a cute personality and the sweetest disposition and I love her little grin.  I can't get enough of her.

I stole this picture from my sister-in-law's facebook- look at that face!

One of my favorite things about Claire is watching her suck her thumb.  That baby loves her thumb.  Every time she sucks it, she puts her cute little finger over her nose.  She is precious.  I could kiss her little cheeks all day long.

She even sucks it when she's asleep...with a curler in her hair

Another thing I love about her is that she has the perfect amount of "chub" on her.  She has the cutest thighs...it's the only time rolls can be cute, and they are :)

If that face doesn't make you baby hungry, then I don't know what will!

Oh and check our her "jeggings"  Love it!

On Sunday we had a birthday party for Claire Bear.  She got spoiled as usual and got to experience cake and ice cream for the first time.  And like a true Bringhurst, she went straight for the ice cream and couldn't get enough.  It's in our blood to love ice cream.  

Here she is in all of her cake and ice cream glory

I love my nieces so much!  They bring so much joy into our family.  I can't wait for them to have cousins someday...