Home Sweet Home

We are finally here!

The awful part, aka the big move, is over and everything is finally unpacked. You never realize how much junk you have until you have to move it. Thankfully we had TONS of amazing help from both my family and Corey's, and we definitely couldn't have done it without them. Our couches came last Friday, and our house is looking more like a home all the time and I finally feel like we are getting settled in.

I absolutely love my house. I love all the space we have. I love (for the most part) that Raylee has more room to explore in. I love having more cabinet space, so I don't have to store stuff on the floor. I love having a pantry. I love coming back from grocery shopping, and not having to carry all the groceries up three flights of stairs. I love having a garage, and I know I will love it even more in the winter when I don't have to scrape the car windows. I love that we have a yard, even if it is just dirt right now. Most of all I love having my walk in closet, where I can actually see what close I own.

Seriously, can you feel the love??

*Unlocking our house for the first time after getting the keys!*

I've been tagged

Sorry it took so long Linsay. I was excited you tagged me cause I think it's a great way to get some information down that I otherwise wouldn't have mentioned, but with the move I am just barely getting a second to do it.


10 years ago...1998
I was 14, about to turn 15. It was the summer between 7th and 8th grade and a time I don’t like to think about much. I don’t remember anything in particular happening this summer. I probably just spent my days reading on the porch and hanging out with friends.

5 years ago...2003
I had just returned from my first year at Utah State (and what a year it was!) where I had met Corey and a whole bunch of new friends. I had gotten a job at a day care taking care of 14 two year olds for the summer and on the weekends Corey would come down from Tremonton to visit me. Corey was also lucky enough to go to the cabin for the first time that summer.

5 months ago...February
We had started looking for houses again in January and decided to build and so on February 8th we signed all the papers to begin the process. Raylee also turned 6 months old and got to start solid foods (yum!).

5 things on my to do list tomorrow...
1. Wait for our new couches to come (Wahoo! We have been couchless for a couple of weeks now and have had to watch TV white-trash style, sitting on camp chairs. Not very comfortable.
2. Work my dreaded 5 hours.
3. Play with my baby girl
4. Go to the quilted bear to get some baby legs for Raylee ‘cause having all this room to crawl in is eating up her poor little knees. I saw them their awhile ago and hope they still have them.
5. Make dinner. Any suggestions?

5 things I would do if I was suddenly a billionaire...
1. Quit my job
2. Get completely out of debt
3. Give money to family and charities
4. Go on a major shopping spree
5. Travel, travel, and travel some more.

5 bad habits...
1. Procrastinating. I work best under pressure. In college I actually tried to start a paper a week before it was due and worked for a couple of hours and got no where. So, I put it of until the night before it was due and did it in an hour.
2. Stubbornness. Corey says I am the most stubborn person he knows, but I have to say he is definitely right up there with me.
3. Not eating my green stuff. Corey will not eat any vegetables and so I usually don’t end up making them as much as I should.
4. Cleaning, or the lack of. I am definitely not the worlds best house keeper, but I have made a vow to keep up with it in this house.
5. Eating out. I love eating, but hate cooking so whenever I can convince Corey to go out to eat, we do it. I have made a vow to cut back to just once a week. We will see how I do!

5 places I've lived...
1. Taylorsville
2. South Jordan
3. Logan
4. Brigham City
5. West Haven

5 things people don't know about me...
1. I love musicals. Not just the current musicals like Moulin Rouge, and Chicago, but the old school ones with Doris Day or Gene Kelley. My favorites are Calamity Jane, Singing in the Rain, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but the list could go on and on. Lame, I know but there’s just something about everyone magically breaking out in song and dance.
2. My nicknames include but are not limited to: Weez, Weezer, Cheese, Cheeser, Bean, and Reece.
3. I love naps. There is NOTHING like a good nap. I don’t get to take them anymore since I have to use Raylee’s nap to get as much work in as I can, but on the rare occasion that I do get to take one I am in heaven!
4. I am NOT a morning person. I hate waking up early, and when I do I need some time to myself before I deal with those abnormally cheerful morning people (that’s you Corey!). I do not hear alarms. They can be on full blast right next to my ear and chances are good I won’t hear them. In high school my dad would have to come to room every morning and wake me up, and in college my roomie would have to yell my name in order to get me up.
5. I love to read. Most people know that about me, but I can’t think of anything else. I am a sucker for a good romance novel (the clean kind) or a historical fiction. The library has always been one of my favorite places to go.

I tag Alison, Josi, Julie, Sarah, and anyone else who wants to. I won't be offended if you don't want to participate.

A Week in HEAVEN

A couple times a year my family goes on vacation to the family cabin in High Valley, Idaho. It is my absolute favorite place in the world, and no matter how many other different places I go, there is nothing that beats a trip to the cabin. It is a vacation in every sense of the word, total relaxation. It is nice to go somewhere for a week where you don't have any plans and can just do whatever you want.

I look forward to this time for months and am never disappointed with the time spent there. I was also lucky enough to marry someone who loves the cabin almost as much as me (I say almost because I am sure that no one can love it as much as I do!). Corey got to go up to the cabin with my family before we were married and now he teases me that the cabin is the reason he decided to pop the question. I have to say I can't blame him!

Our trip started last Wednesday; we were going to Caravan up with my parents and my sister Alison and her family. My fam called when they were about five minutes away and so we headed down and got in the car and headed out. We ended up being about ten minutes behind my family and just figured we would catch up to them eventually. After about 40 minutes on the road we heard a loud noise from the car, and pulled over to see what the problem was. We got out of the car and saw that a tire had blown. Since we were so close to home, Corey decided to change the tire, drive home and switch vehicles and it was back on the road again!

We got to the cabin at about 1:00 in the morning, and just the first breath I took after getting out of the car was worth all the trouble getting there. It is the best smell ever!

Since this is my first post about the cabin, I must put a picture of the cabin in all its glory and one of Leo's lake which is just a short walk away. It is incredibly beautiful there and these pictures don't do it justice.

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The thing that Corey looks forward to at the cabin is fishing, and lots of it. Leo's lake usually has some pretty good fishing if we go after they stock it, but we also usually make a trip to Tripod lake which is about 15 minutes away. Between Corey and Baylen (they were the only ones that got a license) they caught about 30 fish there. Every time we have gone there we have seen the same eagle, and it is always so exciting, but this time we actually saw it fly down and catch a fish out of the water right in front of us which was AMAZING!

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On Saturday my Uncle Randy and Aunt Caroline came up to visit and all the guys got to help fix the dock. Corey and Baylen just got waders since they've decided to take up fly fishing, and so they got to go into the yucky water (it is full of gunk and leeches and who knows what else. Definitely not a lake for swimming) to hook the end of the dock in.

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Our vacation is always full of lots of ATV rides. There is usually always someone out on a ride and we always come back caked with dirt.


This is an amazing view from one of our rides. We are DIRTY, DIRTY in this pic. You always know it's been a good trip when you come back with some battle wounds.
Raylee and Ashlyn both had their first ride on the ATV's this trip. Raylee was not a big fan.
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Although Leo's lake is not a lake for swimming it is a great lake for boating. We have a paddle boat and a canoe which is always lots of fun.

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And you can't have a trip to the cabin without lots of campfires. This time we tried smores with strawberry marshmallows and they were delicious.

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Raylee had her first ride on the tire swing and absolutely loved it. She kept giggling the whole time.

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It was really hot and so we blew up the raft and filled it with water and turned on the sprinkler and the kids had a water party to help keep cool. I forgot to bring Raylee’s swimsuit so she just wore a onsie and a regular diaper which was HUGE by the time she was done swimming.
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We also went on a Sunday walk over to the huge rock and so of course they wanted to climb it.

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One of the best parts of the trip was that we got to spend lots of time with the fam.

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The wildflowers were absolutely gorgeous this time, and so of course I had to get a picture of Raylee in them! This was the best picture from my attempt to be a photographer.

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And last but not least is the picture of Raylee and our little fam next to the bear. My sister started this tradition with her kids because its fun to look back at these pictures and see how much they've grown and so of course I had to copy.

I am already counting down the days until the next time!