Our First Home

When Dallen and I were house shopping before we got married, we searched and searched for apartments and basements available to rent. We found many rentals close to UVU's campus which we thought would be convenient for my schooling, but none of them worked out. We found this duplex house in Lehi and with just one quick look we decided that we wanted it. It has been a great first home..... a perfect starter home for the two of us!
There are some unique things about the house and the yard.... a.k.a. the trees in the front yard. We're not so sure how two different species of trees merged into one, all we know is that they're going to be gone next spring when we work on landscaping.

OUR SIDE....
Here are some pics of the duplex that we have been living in
Kitchen...

swinging doors leading to the kitchen

Living room....
Bedroom...Spare room/ officebathroom.......and the back yard which had a garden planted earlier this year


THE OTHER SIDE...
This is the side that our landlord was living in. We have plans to remodel so look forward to seeing more posts of the progress we make. Something different with the kitchen on this side compared to the other is that it doesn't have sliding doors to go back yard... It'll be a big help when trying to keep the heat in :)
As you can see, the floor in the kitchen could use some tile. I have to laugh at all the different patterns that were used to fix squares that got damaged or came off the floor.

...and the awesome lime green couches that fill our living room! My mom suggested that we make some blue pillows to go with them and they'd be "close" to our wedding colors... haha I hope our wedding looked a lot better than this lol

These are the two bedrooms.... We're going to love the new carpet when it gets installed.

Our landlord didn't like dealing with the yard work so he laid down plastic and cement blocks. Kind of funny how he handled some things.

Anyways, we are super excited about our purchase and the improvements we are going to make on the house. Once we remodel the south side we are going to move into it and then rent out the north side. We feel very blessed to have what we do and to be where we are in life. We have some fun projects ahead of us!

Miles of our Travels

Since Dallen and I have been married, we have kept the road hot to say the least. While I had a break from schooling I was able to travel with Dallen everyday for about 22 days! It was great to be able to have that much time to spend with him and to spend quality time with our families as well. Lately, Dallen has been working in Oregon and that is where we spent this past week for new years. It is nice that he has a job that allows me to travel with him and pays for the both of us to stay in a hotel. While we were in Oregon, we played racquetball, went bowling, ate out for dinner, looked for derby cars, and had a great time. When we arrived back at our house in Lehi, our odometer read 99,999! I think we have put about 30,000+ miles on our Suzuki Forenza car since we bought it in February 2011. Our trips have been fun especially when spent together. Each mile holds a memory and we hope to only continue making memories on the road.

Christmas with the Proctors :)

Christmas with the Proctor’s was a great one and some very exciting things happened. First of all, Briar was able to call home from his mission in Argentina and was able to talk for an hour with the family. He is doing great with the work and his Spanish is sounding good (according to Dallen). It was awesome to be able to hear him talk to Dallen in Spanish. In this coming March he will reach his one year mark. Kind of crazy how fast time has gone by.

Another very exciting thing that happened is that Kaitlin and Spencer announced that they are expecting! It was unique how they told us. They got an empty candle jar and put the pregnancy tests inside and then wrapped it as a gift for us to open. When Dallen and I opened it we thought they were playing a joke on us as if they wanted us to use it to check if we were pregnant. Haha We figured out what it really was though and we are really excited for them to be having their first baby sometime next August. They found out on Christmas Eve so it was a fun surprise for everyone!

On Christmas Eve Dallen and I stayed at Ed and Christine’s house. We played a lot of games, made Christmas trains, opened one Christmas Eve present (PJ’s), and had fun in each other’s company. The next morning we opened our presents from each other.

Later Christmas day we went to Grandpa and Grandma Proctor’s house for a family party. We had dinner together, watched some family videos, played games, and exchanged gifts. It was fun to be able to see so many family members on both sides of the family for the holidays and to make fun memories!

After the party Dallen and I went back to our house and this is what we found when we walked in (Thank you Tyler and Katelyn for helping set it up for me) Now we have some snowboarding trips to try out the new gear!....hopefully it’ll snow so that we can! Merry Christmas to everyone!

NOT LONG ENOUGH

On Christmas Eve Dallen and I left Monticello to go to Nephi for Christmas. Before we left my family wanted us to open our presents from them so they could watch us. We decided we would (although I wanted to wait until Christmas day) and afterwards I was glad that we opened them.

This year we started a rotation of siblings getting each other gifts and we got Hunter’s name. We got him a goofy snowboarding hat and made him a shelf for his bedroom. Dallen and I had a lot of fun building it for him and I think Hunter had fun opening it as well. We love him!

My parents spoiled us and as you can see Dallen had a big surprise from them! He got a 7mm rifle with a camouflage stock. My parents have given each child a rifle throughout growing up and they said it was Dallen’s turn to get his. It was way fun to watch him open it and that big smile never left his face all day. My parents gave me some nice pampered chef cookware, cooking utensils and a couple of shirts. Davi had our name for the sibling gifts. She gave us some 7mm
bullets to go with the gun, some body wash and a necklace for me. Thank you Davi!

Since Hunter opened his sibling present and we opened ours from Davi, we decided to let everyone open the sibling presents. Easton had Davi’s name and he got her a snowboarding had that looked really similar to the one that we got for Hunter. It was funny that we both picked out hats that looked the same.

Hunter had Easton’s name and he wrapped his box with duct tape so it was a challenge for Easton to get to his present. It was quite funny to watch him as he spent a long time trying to open it. Eventually he got down to the box and was able to find his present.

Haha.... I love this picture. It puts a smile on my face every time!

It was a great Christmas Eve but NOT LONG ENOUGH! Time always seems to fly by so stinking
fast when we’re having fun in Monticello! Love you guys!

Fondue Party 2011

Dec 22nd
Every year around Christmas the Bowring’s have a get together and we fondue with oil. Everyone pitches in with the marinated meats, cheese balls, mushrooms, toasted bread with a homemade cheese sauce (one of my favorite), finger foods, and desserts. We load up our plates with the food that we want and then let them cook in the fondue pots as we talk and spend time with one another. It’s not the most healthy meal but we love it! This year Amber and Daniel’s family, Rob and LeeAnn’s family, Grandpa and Grandma Fullmer, and my family all came. We had quite the crew at my parent’s house. It was a fun night!

On the 23rd we had another party with the Bowring’s and Sonderegger’s at my Great Grandma’s house. We had dinner and then played games in the basement with everyone. That night we also did a tradition that my family has every year for Christmas… Secret Santa gifts….. Our family finds 2 or 3 families that are struggling and could use some help especially around Christmas time. We go shopping for them and buy some toys, food, clothes, games, or whatever we feel they would like. Our family wraps all the gifts and then we put them in a big box to put on their porch. My favorite part of it all is when we get to leave the box in front of their door, knock, and then run and hide with the intent of them never knowing who it is from. This year we did the secret Santa to 2 families and it was so much fun! I love the Christmas spirit that it brings and the lessons of giving that it teaches each of us. It is a tradition that I want to keep alive with mine and Dallen’s future family.

1973 Chrysler Newport

When we went to Monticello for the holidays my dad showed Dallen this car that he found in Eastland (a small town east of Monticello). As you can imagine Dallen was pretty happy with this car and we went on a search to find out whose it was. It took some chasing around between people before we were able to get a hold of the owner but eventually we did. We made an offer on the car and she said we could buy it so it looks like we’ll be adding to our collection of derby cars at the house…. It’s a 1973 Chrysler Newport (aka the 3rd best derby car according to Dallen)