Summer Lovin!

I was reminded today that it's the last day of summer and I started thinking about what an awesome summer it was! Summer isn't my favorite season. I LOVE fall and the holiday season, but I really did have an absolutely amazing summer this year! First of all, I was in the process of building my very first home this summer. Really, it doesn't get more exciting than that! In May I went to Boston and New York for the first time ever. In June, of course I turned 30 and had a fabulous birthday party! In July I headed to Las Vegas to work for 9 weeks. It was so much fun to hang with all my Vegas friends and my family down there. I mean, really! Who gets an opportunity like that? I basically got paid to go on vacation! And of course I have been staying with my AWESOME cousins while my house is being built. It has really been perfect and I am going to miss them a lot when I finally move into my house. Good thing I am so excited for my new house or I might really be sad! So thanks to everyone who made my summer so great and memorable. Hopefully things will only get better from here! Of course I have new pictures of my house. Hopefully blogger will cooperate and let me post them properly...

I finally have a driveway! The outside is almost all the way done!
I'm pretty excited about the cookie sheet divider in my cabinet!

They finally took the packing off the "logs" in my fireplace! I even turned it on!

My kitchen with the light fixtures and appliances in! Gotta get a new kitchen faucet, this one is pretty ghetto! But other than that I LOVE it!

As I'm sure happens with every new home, the dates that I am supposed to do my final walk through and closing keep changing. Right now, my walk through is supposed to be on October 2 and closing on October 6. But of course that could change! In any case, I am so close I can almost taste it!! I can't wait to sleep in my very own bed again!!

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Amber and the birthday boy!

Kind of blurry, but the whole crazy group! And some guy with a Michael Jackson glove!

Check out my new tattoo!!!

Brycie got a new tattoo as well!!

Mike and Amber.

Amber, Sandee and me.

Again, I am having some issues with blogger and my pictures going in the right place. Anyway, Amber's little brother Bryce turned 21 on Sept. 1. And no 21st birthday is complete without a trip to Las Vegas, right? Conveniently enough I was already here! There ended up being a group of about 15 of us. Gladhes joined us for a lot of the fun as well. Everyone arrived on Thursday night but since I am an old fogey, I was way too tired to join them for any sort of action on Thursday night. We did a little bit of everything the rest of the weekend...soooooo much fun! Some of the highlights were a trip to Pure, Fremont Street, and the Stratosphere where everyone but me rode all of the rides. This is definitely the funnest group of people I know! I can't wait to hang with all of them again!

Moving in the Right Direction!

First and most importantly, I have cabinets and countertops! It is starting to look like a real live house! Well, at least from the pictures. I have yet to see it in person.

I don't know what the deal with blogger is, but I am having trouble moving pictures into the proper position....is anyone else having issues? Anyway, I will be heading back to Salt Lake on Monday and of course Eagle Mountain will be my first stop! I have a tentative closing date of October 7. I can't believe it is that close! I will potentially be sleeping in my very own house one month from this very day. So exciting! Notice in the top picture my drop in sink! I am beyond excited about it. It might even be my favorite option that I picked out. It wasn't cheap but I think it will be more than worth it!!

I Love Color!

Colored stucco, that is! Not much was different when I was out at Eagle Mountain on Sunday. I did take one picture because I had to get one of the AWESOME rental car I was driving! ha. Try not to be jealous of my sweet ride! haha. I was so happy to get home to my own car. It actually goes when I push on the gas. I got an email from the community manager today and I have colored stucco! They always do things the day after I am there! Oh well.

Woo hoo! Pretty exciting! Cabinets should be going in any day now! At that point I will be 4 weeks out. It's so close to being done I can almost taste it! I don't know how I am going to wait until it's done, I'm so excited!

I went to a boring orientation class at the U yesterday. What a long day! I am back in Las Vegas now and working the next two days. My friend, Marija, went to Italy with her boyfriend for two weeks so I am staying at their condo while they are gone. It is so convenient! Not to mention it is on the 28th floor with a fabulous view of the west side of the valley.

This is the view I'm forced to look at. It's a tough life.

I have extended again, but this time just for a week. So I will be back in Salt Lake two weeks from yesterday. The 15th, I think. It's definitely bittersweet. I am excited to get back and hang with all my Salt Lake peeps again, but it has been so fun to be here in Vegas and hang with all my friends here. I have missed them so much! And the time has flown by. I haven't had nearly enough time to do as much as I want to do. Oh well, my house will be done within weeks of my return!!! And I will be back in Las Vegas at the end of October for the U2 concert! I can't believe it is less than two months away! A bunch of friends are coming to Vegas this weekend for one of their 21st birthdays. It is sure to be a fun and crazy weekend!

Rock Solid!

I have sheetrock and the beginnings of stucco! I was out in Eagle Mountain yesterday and they had just put a fresh coat of mud/tape on the walls. How exciting!! Then I got back to Las Vegas today and had some new pictures from the community manager....they painted today!! Yah! It seems like my house might really be done some day!

I am really happy with how the fireplace mantel and "art niche" turned out!

The view from the front door.

Start of the stucco!

I am already back in Las Vegas. Working tomorrow and heading to SL for yet another quick trip on Sunday. Hopefully this will be the last one! The Poison/Def Leppard/Cheap Trick concert was awesome!! I just love USANA! Traffic was ridiculous so we ended up being late enough to miss Cheap Trick. Poison's bass player was sick so their set was pretty short. But Def Leppard played almost all of the good songs in a really long set. They sound awesome live! We met up with some IHC friends Heidi and Allyson and also Levi and Amanda were there. It was so fun!

Allyson, Heidi and me.

Me, Amanda, Erin and Levi

Def Leppard!!

Party on Amanda!!

I am on call at 5 am tomorrow so I am off to bed. More pictures to follow after my next rush trip out to Eagle Mountain.

Put on a Happy Fascia!

I know it has been a while since my last update. I guess I have been putting it off because the internet here is HORRIBLE! But, here I am. I decided not to put it off any longer. And I know everyone has been dying for an update! Right?? In the house department, I now have a roof and fascia. My fireplace and bathtubs are installed! The HVAC, plumbing and electrical are all done. Sheetrock was supposed to be done at the end of last week, so we shall see. I am heading to Salt Lake to see Poison/Def Leppard/Cheap Trick on Tuesday so I will of course take a trip out to Eagle Mountain to see how things are progressing. I suspect they have started the process for the stucco on the outside as well. Here are a few pictures from the last time I was up. Shingles and fascia are done! Looks like they are getting ready to start on the outside. The community manager sent me this picture on Thursday. The fireplace!! I can't wait for winter and sitting in front of the fireplace!The tub/shower in my bathroom. One thing I do not like about this house is that the bathrooms aren't nearly big enough. However, my closet is the same size as the bathroom! I guess you can't have it all, right?

This is looking from the front door down the hall into the living room. I LOVE that big window.

Like I said, I am headed to Salt Lake on Tuesday for the concert and I am coming back to Las Vegas on Wednesday. Unfortunately, there is an orientation class for University Hospital on the 31st. I would just say screw it but I have to have this class to work at the U and they haven't had one since January! SO....I get to fly to Salt Lake again on Sunday the 30th and back to Las Vegas the next day. UGH! Too much airport time! Oh well, hopefully I will be assured all the shifts I want with so much variety of where to work.

I also had a family reunion the weekend of the 15th. I was able to take Amaria with me and she had a blast! The reunion was in the mountains up near Lehman Caves. It was actually a really nice place with plenty of room for the entire family. We did a tour of Lehman Caves on Saturday. I had been there once before but I think I was maybe 5 so I don't remember it. It was really cool! Here are a few pictures...

This is a picture of some aunts, cousins and Amaria swimming. I think this was probably her favorite activity of the weekend! These two were joined at the hip pretty much the whole weekend. Amaria and Josie at the entrance to Lehman Caves. Me and Amaria in Lehman Caves. Amaria, grandpa and great grandpa inside Lehman Caves. Inside Lehman Caves. Pretty freakin cool!

This is the teepee that we slept in. I think Amaria thought it was about the coolest thing ever to sleep in a teepee! It was a good weekend and fun to catch up with the family, some of whom I hardly ever see.

Well, now that it has taken me the entire morning to upload all those pictures to this blog, I am off to pack and get ready for the week of work and travel. I'm sure I will have some more house photos to share when I get back from my latest trip to Salt Lake.

A Roof Over My Head!

Wow, I went from nothing ever being done on my house (or at least that's what it seemed like!!) to the whole thing being framed in like two days! Woo Hoo!!

I'm thinking the guy standing in the garage needs to get off the phone and get back to work! Right? Anyway. My pre drywall walk through is on the 10th of August. Yes, that's a week from Monday! I'm so excited! Of course, that meant that I had to book a last minute flight to Salt Lake on Sunday. Not cheap! Oh well. I am going to the Lion King at Mandalay Bay with my mom and Amaria on Saturday. I can't wait! I think it will be a lot of fun! I guess that's it for now. More updates to come soon!!