a friday night date

Usually our Friday night dates consist of dinner and a movie {inventive, I know} but a couple of weeks ago we decided to mix things up and try something new!! Nic's co-workers have been talking about getting into golfing on Friday afternoons so he inherited his dad's golf clubs and a couple of golfing magazines from his mom to learn "correct technique"... because lets face it, neither one of us has really ever been golfing aside from put put of course. ;)

We spent the evening hitting a bucket of balls on the driving range. I was an amateur who...
a) hit the green without making contact with the ball 
b) actually made contact with the ball which proceeded to plop approximately 2 inches in front of me 
OR
c) missed the ball entirely.
Strike 3, you're out!!
Oh wait, wrong sport! ;)

Nic on the other hand, he's a pro that one! So glad we decided to risk making fools of ourselves in front of not only the adults with the perfect swings but the 10 year old kids that proved to be the next Tiger Woods. We laughed at ourselves.... A LOT. And loved every minute of it. You can bet that we will be going again and soon!

and now we wait

Today was supposed to be our close date for our house but based on the evidence of a large pile of boxes consuming our kitchen floor in our apartment, it is pretty obvious that it didn't happen. This whole process has been a whirl wind of emotions for me and I can definitely say, I am now much more emotionally prepared if I ever have to do it all over again someday.

I began the house hunting process excited and hopeful that we would find the place where we would start our family. When we did find our perfect home I was elated! In fact, I don't think I slept a wink that whole first night. Then when we sat down to write the offer I felt bummed that we had to give at least 4 weeks for the builder to finish the house and the bank to process our loan. 4 weeks until I can move into this beautiful house?! Meh. But, I understood and we picked August 13th as our closing date.

I have been anxiously anticipating this day. Early last week I began packing boxes and preparing to move. We were scheduled to leave town Friday to Monday for a family reunion in Seattle so I wanted to make sure everything would be packed and ready to be moved stress-free {or mostly anyway} by Thursday before we left. We waited and waited for the builder to give us the go-ahead that the house was complete and it could be appraised. All the while, Nic and I have been driving over there to see their progress every few days. That right there was a rookie mistake!! We'd leave disappointed each time because they hadn't made any progress since the last time we were there. When last week finally came, week 3, we were feeling very discouraged. They had 3 weeks and all they had done was added carpet and put on the doors for each room. Those TWO things in a whole 3 weeks, AH! But we were pleasantly surprised when we got a call from our realtor saying the house would be "finished" and ready for appraisal by Tuesday afternoon. Back came the excitement.

Wednesday we had an inspection scheduled for the afternoon. We anxiously drove over to the house to meet with our inspector and have a walk through. SOOO many things weren't done. A list of 21 items to be exact. Ugh. This was not looking good considering we were supposed to be closing in less than a week. BUT, my hopes were still hanging in there. Then Thursday came and everything seemed to be falling apart. We were supposed to leave for Seattle the very next morning but we couldn't find anyone to watch Rue, we still had to meet with our Realtor and write up an inspection contingency and sign it, and Nic had a bunch of changes at work where he no longer could take Friday off. It was a mess! So, as disappointing as it was, we made the hard decision and decided it wasn't the right time to be leaving town. On Friday, things only seemed to get worse. That day I got a call from the bank saying that, because they had just barely received the appraisal, our loan wouldn't be processed in time to close today and that it would be pushed out until Friday. Boo!! :( I was a mess of tears and struggling to see anything positive in the situation because it felt like everything that could go wrong, was.

When today came I expected to be feel as disappointed as I did when I got the news on Friday but I wasn't. In fact, I was so busy today that I didn't spend much time thinking about it all until I got a call from our Realtor this afternoon. She said that our house was finished today and that we could do our final walk through this evening. I tried not to get my hopes up in fear that they would just get shut down again. When we were pulling up to the house, I grabbed Nic's arm and pointed, "Look! The third light is up by the garage now!" Followed by, "Ooo! And they covered the exposed wood around the garage!" And then, "Oh my goodness, look, it has house numbers!" I had a good feeling and that feeling stayed with me as we toured the house inside and out. Everything on our list had been finished. There were only a few new things that needed to be addressed but they were SO miner compared to the unpainted baseboards, no third garage door opener, no door stops, etc. that we had seen and made note of just last Wednesday. It was a miracle! See what I mean about the whirl wind of emotions?!

And so here we are tonight. Now it is just a waiting game for the day that our loan will be processed and ready. Fingers crossed that it is sometime this week but I suppose I can survive if it is the beginning of next. :) After all, it seems soo much closer now.

the month of july :: in instagram pictures

Man is this summer going quickly or what?! I can hardly believe that I only have a week left of summer vacation before I start my first year of teaching, eep! Lots of emotions over here.

We celebrated the fourth of July just the two of us, walking to the fair grounds for the fireworks and playing Uno before the sun went down. It was a perfect day.

Of course I took a million and one more pictures of Rue this month because she is adorable. She turned six months old and had to get spayed. It was NOT a fun a day for either of us. I felt so terrible that she was in pain and she wanted nothing to do with me. haha

My mom came into town for a couple days on a work trip. I got to watch her do her thang. She works for Idaho Power and they are getting ready to celebrate 100 years soon and so she is in charge of a project where she has been interviewing retirees about their funny and memorable experiences with the company to share at that event. This sweet couple I watched her interview in Pocatello were so kind and incredibly involved in our community even after retirement. It was really cool. And my mom is awesome at what she does!

We made an offer on our first home and couldn't be more excited to move in!!! We went fridge shopping for our new home and realized you are definitely a grown up when fridge shopping is exciting! HA

I spent a couple of days starting to get my classroom put together. Four large blank walls are very intimidating for a person who has a hard time with decision making! While most everything is organized and in its proper place, I still have yet to hang anything up on the walls.

Late one evening, Nic found a spider on our living room wall. Naturally, it required whipping up what he called the "spider slayer 500" {a.k.a. a knife sharpener wrapped in a paper towel}. Ha Distance is key with this one. Can you tell he has just a little bit of arachnophobia?! In fact, you've GOT to hear the rest of the story! After making this large stabbing utensil, he lunged at it with the quickest stab you ever did see and the spider dropped straight to the ground... alive. He spent the next 20 minutes trying to scout out the perimeter {from a far distance} but could not find the spider again. In order to calm him down, I vacuumed the area where it had supposedly fallen. He still wasn't convinced it was gone but I finally got him to give up and call it a night. As we were walking out of the room, he reaches up to shut off the light and the spider was sitting on the light switch and touched his hand. Cue COMPLETE hysteria in my living room! It was truly hilarious!

I tried washi tape for the first time and I can seriously see how people get addicted to that stuff. I probably spent a good hour getting lost in various etsy shops trying to choose my favorite patterns and colors. There are just SO MANY options to choose from, it is insane! You can do so many things with it. I used it to color code labels for files in my classroom.

I made a day trip up to Idaho Falls to visit one of my best friends Alli who I met while going to school at ISU and her adorable newborn baby Henry. I just wanted to scoop him up and take him right on home with me! ;) We had a yummy lunch at a local restaurant. Then she gave me a tour of the elementary school where she just got hired. Wish we were teaching together! It was a great day!

And saving the best news for last {just kidding} but seriously!!! Kate Middleton and Prince William had baby George! Oh, you already knew that?! Well... just thought I'd keep you caught up on the royal news because I think it is fun to hear about their love story and new family. And I think she is so gorgeous.

See ya next year July!!

this afternoon

During half of our dating days, Nic and I were both living at the same apartment complex which was a couple streets over from the largest cemetery in Pocatello. It may sound strange but we used to go there all the time to exercise or go on long walks together. We spent a lot of evenings there, dreaming up our future together and trying not to get attacked by a million squirrels. Seriously, these little guys DO NOT hold back and get crazy close to you. See for yourself...



See what I mean! ;) I honestly felt bad we didn't bring a treat along to feed them.

Anyway, we don't make it over to this area of town very much anymore so it had been a while since we visited this place. We spent this afternoon walking the same paths we used to together only this time, we spent most of our time talking about the present instead of the future. Because honestly, when you are married to the one you love, it feels like every moment you are living in a dream.




The cemetery has this very old church-looking building on the grounds. Well, up until today we thought it was an old church anyway. Turns out, it actually has an entire family's caskets inside. Lovely! haha And it is lit at night. Could be straight from a horror movie! But it sure looks pretty from the outside... during the day!

hello, august!

Happy first day of August!

We have been excited for this month to come. :) 

via 

{A look into what this month holds for us...}

1 :: We put in our 30 days notice for this little apartment of ours. While I'm beyond excited to move into our first home, I also know that I'm going to miss this place. A bittersweet goodbye! After all, it was the first place we lived together and for that alone it will always have a special place in our hearts. 

4 :: Our best friends Beau and Mindy and their daughter Ari are coming into town to visit! They recently moved to Arizona for PA school {boo} and we sure have missed them!

6 :: I am starting my second professional development class for the summer! It is a classroom management slash prepping a classroom for first year teachers class. I'm hoping that I walk away from it that much more prepared to start the school year. 

9 - 12 :: We are headed on a family vaca to a family reunion on my mom's side in the lovely state of Washington. A vacation with my husband who really loves Washington but but has never spent any time in Seattle. What?! Pike Place Market and the Pier, here we come! It will be wonderful seeing extended family that we only get to see about once a year.

13 :: The date that we are supposed to close on our house!!! :) Which also means it is moving day!

15 - 17 :: Road trip to Boise for my step brother and his fiance's wedding! We are very happy for them. He definitely picked a sweetheart!

22 :: Staff Orientation Day which means back to school for me, ahh! How did that get here so fast, yet how did it take SO long! I've mentioned it before but it is a crazy situation when you are hired for a new job in May but don't start until August. The anticipation is full of excitement and nerves for me. 

28 :: The first day of school!

Look at that crazy, exciting month! Hope I'm still standing on two feet by the end of it. ;)