100% huggable

Nick and I have been pretty busy the last few months, and this last week (and continuing...) we are getting all moved in, and organized. However, we had to take a little time off for Valentines day and spend some quality time together. I had to work from 6am-5pm and by the time I was off work all I wanted to do was be with Nick. I walked in the door and everything was quiet. Nick was not even home. *sigh* Well, I looked over at the sink and the dishes were calling my name, so I figured I would get started on those. About 30 min later Nick walked in with a HUGE Valentines Day Balloon, and flowers for me. Not just any flowers...but daisies! I would take daisies over roses anytime. I LOVE them. :)

After doing a few more things, before heading out to dinner at our favorite restaurant EVER, Bombay house, and a few hints from Nick I saw a box sitting on the TV in the living room. ( I hadn't noticed it, and Nick said I had walked right past it a few times moving my shoulder around it so I didn't knock it off. oops, maybe I should be more observant. :D ) I opened it up and saw Nick had gone to build a bear, and made me a Valentines Day monkey. :) They even made him kiss the heart before he put it in. :) haha! He also recorded a message for me in a sound box and put it in the monkey's foot. Its pretty much the cutest thing ever.

(had to put up a picture that showed the HUGE balloon!)

Thanks Nickel, I LOVE you!
I couldn't have asked for a better valentines day!
xoxoxo

Happy Valentines Day!

Nick,
I love you with all my heart. :)
XOXOXO

A lot of people like to look at valentines day as what they call "single awareness day". Since High School that has always bugged me. I don't think valentines day is just for people that "have a Boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse". For me Valentines day is more than that. Its a day I can shower the people I care about with love.

So, to ALL my parents (both sets), brothers, and sisters. I just want to publicly announce
WE LOVE YOU!

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!! I saw this poem on my friend Kylie's blog. I thought it was really sweet. So I wanted to share it. Thanks Kylie!

My Promise of Love to You

I promise to give you the best of myself...
and to ask of you
no more than you can give...

I promise to accept you the way you are...
I fell in love with you for the qualities, abilities,
and outlook on life that you have,
and I won't try to reshape you
in a different image.

I promise to respect you
as a person with your own
interests, desires, and needs,
and to realize that those are
sometimes different--
but no less important--
than my own.

I promise to share with you...
my time, my close attention,
and to bring joy and strength
and imagination to our relationship.

I promise to keep myself open to you...
to let you see through
the window of my personal world
into my innermost fears and feelings,
secrets and dreams.

I promise to grow along with you...
to be willing to face change
as we both change
in order to keep our relationship
alive and exciting.

And finally,
I promise to love you
in good times and in bad,
with all I have to give
and all I feel inside...
in the only way I know how...
completely and forever.

-Dorothy R Colgan

I hope you all have a great day,
and can find SOMEONE that you can give a little love to.

Happy Valentines Day!
xoxoxoxo

-Nick & Kate

Almost There...

Well Everyone, Its been 6 LONG weeks, and we are still not completely moved in yet. However, We should be all moved in sometime within the next few days.

We have definitely learned some things though this whole process. Below are a FEW things we learned.

-Doing things right the FIRST time would make life a whole lot easier for the people you sell your condo to.
- Close your mouth when texturing the ceiling.....the mud drips. :)
-6 5Gallon buckets of mud later you can have a practically new house!
-Sanding is an important part of making a wall look even. (especially when its textured.)
-"Kill" brand primer does exactly that...I'm pretty sure we all lost a few brain cells from the fumes. The only way to get kill primer out/off of anything is with HUGE amounts of paint thinner, and water only makes it WORSE.
-DO NOT paint over lights/plugs, and covers it looks tacky. If you don't like the color, you can buy new ones at any hardware store for about $70 and replace the whole house!
-Expect finding a good deal on carpet at Mr Carpet in Orem.
- When replacing light sockets, make sure the main breaker is turned off...completing the circuit on a plug, can make your arms numb for the rest of the day. :)
-Lowes makes mistakes when cutting your tiles if you don't stand over their shoulder watching them cut it... O well. :)

You can TRY to fix it....
but the best bet is going to be just buying 2 new tiles.

-Even "unmountable light fixtures" are mountable when you have the right tools.
-When replacing an old murcury thermostate, with a digital one, ALL the wires attached to the wall are important, and need to be hooked up when you want the vents to blow out more than cold air. :)
-When a rag falls out of the bucket into the toilet, sometimes the only answer is pulling the toilet off the wall to get it out. (Gross)
-Clean the bathroom with your eyes closed, and wear rubber gloves when you clean out the drain traps. (ewww!)
-Sometimes Grandma's "concoctions" work. Cleaning oak cabinets with linseed oil, and turpentine makes them look BRAND SPANKIN' NEW!
-Packing things well, and organized makes unpacking as good as it can get.
- Finding a husband willing to carry a whole storage unit full of totes up 3 flights of stairs is rare. ( I am SO lucky I found one :D)
-We LOVE our families. We would have NEVER been able to do what we have done without the help we have received from FAMILY. Everyone has given a little here, and a lot there to help us out and we really appreciate all the extra time, effort, and help.

Thanks!

PS I will post pictures of the finished product soon!

Over & Out

One of my cousins (Zac Jensen) that I am very close to is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Sweden. He only has about 5 months left! Crazy! Anyway, when I get to work everyday along with my work applications, and websites I also login to my gmail account so I am available for family and friends to contact me while I am at work.

In Sweeden right now the missionaries are unable to use the myldsmail domain for their emails. So, they have a gmail account. There have been many times in the last year and a half that I have been on the computer and I see that Elder Zac Jensen is online and "available to chat" :) However, mission rules, NO CHATTING. :) So, I ignore that he is even there. (at least seeing him online I know he is alive and doing well though. :D )

This Wednesday I came into work and logged in like normal. Zac was online, and like normal I ignored him. On gmail you have the capability to change your "status" to say what you are thinking, what song you are listening to, something that you are excited for etc. and all your friends that are online will see it. About 10 min after I had logged on and gotten all my other work applications up I tabbed back to my gmail account and saw this under Zac's name in his status message.


Although we cant chat he wanted me to see that he saw I was online, and say hi. He is such a great kid and it made my day. :) I am so excited for him to get home! This was just one of those little things that I couldn't help blogging about.

Hope you all have a good day!

Its Gettin' There...

Nick and I bought a condo in Provo at the end of December just off good ol' Grandview Hill. A Mortgage is a GREAT Christmas Gift! Ha Ha!

It had a lot of upgrades in it already when we first bought it but we decided we wanted to do a few of our own. Its been a lot of work and we are still probably about 2 weeks out before we can move in but the changes that we are making are so worth it!


Thanks to my dad, and my uncles tools we have been able to fix all the little things that were here, there, and EVERYWHERE, texture the walls, skip tail the celling, Repaint, replace light fixtures, and faucets, and replace the carpet etc.


Even though its taking a LONG time to get this all done the right way its looking great and when its all done its going to look great (I think) ha ha!

Here are a few pictures of the process so far. We still have a long way to go but its gettin' there! Thanks to BOTH of our families for all the help! We dont know what we would do without you!


A few Pictures
Before I started my REALLY expensive "Craft Project" (as Nick calls it):

The Kitchen:

The Living Room
#1 Bathroom



Ready?? Here We Go!

A full day of texturing the walls, and ripping out carpet:

He worked Hard :)

Now for The Celling
Getting the mud ready

Up on the Celling
Dad smoothing out the mud
Finished Product, now we just have to Prime it

Everything is Primed and now we are ready to paint!

Thats it for now, as we get more done I will post more pictures.
If your going to do it you might as well do it right. Right? :)

More Later!

Forever Friends

I was going through all my emails cleaning out my inbox when I came across this picture.

This is a picture from this last summer (2008). Nick and his 2 best friends in high school went fishing up Fairview. Even though its been a while since this activity Nick took this picture for me so I could blog it. ( How sweet is he?!)

When I saw this picture it got me thinking how glad I am that he has stayed in contact with his 2 best friends. Its so great to have the support of friends. I have a feeling no matter how old or busy we get Rob (and his wife Amanda), and Cory will still be around. :D
Thats just the kind of friends they are and always have been for SO many years.

(Nick, Rob, and Cory on Rob and Amanda's wedding day)

What Color are my eyes?

Alright everyone, I know this is a strange post...but there has been a controversy.

What color are my eyes?!