After months of searching, David and I are pleased to announce that we finally found a beautiful home that is close to our families!! Our inspection went well and we are waiting for our loan to go through...hopefully closing in the middle of April. It's so strange how things work out. I was ready to throw in the towel after putting so many offers out, having to back out of a house, and running out of time. I feel like we look in areas that were not ideally where we'd like to be, just so we could make this tax credit deadline. I know the Lord truly was just waiting for the right house to open up and in a location that would be close to our families. Its a 4bed/1.75 bath in East Mesa. I must admit I am highly nervous about having to pay the extra bills while not knowing what my job situation will be like next year, but again I know that as we are doing everything we can and paying our tithing...things will work out. Here is a picture of future home:

I did end up taking my huge Praxis exam two weeks ago and am now anxiously awaiting my test results. I feel like I did ok, and I studied for several months...so hopefully my good guessing and gut feelings were enough to get me the score i needed to pass. I believe in miracles :) David is in the process of filling out his CASPA application to try to apply to PA school. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work. He will hopefully graduate in December with his Bachelors.

This past week was spring break and I had such a great time. I have never had a full week of (and several days with David off too) to just go play, usually spring break with the public schools and ASU are on seperate weeks. We got to go to the Zoo with family as well as hiking, potlucks, and games. It made me realize just how much I miss out of living life because I work so many hours and when i'm not working i'm in school or doing homework...its rare that I get a break for more than a few hours everyweek. Only a few more weeks til this semester is through...like the little engine that could "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!!!"

These last few weeks, and this one especially have been filled with sleepless worrisome nights. This week alone I have had 3 midterm exams from yesterday until tomorrow (saturday through monday). The first exam took me roughly 9 hours to complete, the second about an hour and a half and who knows what tomorrow holds. I knew getting into this semester would be by far my most difficult one as I'm taking three graduate courses, working 3 jobs totalling 42ish hours a week and trying to buy a home. Little I know just how hard it would be. My grades have not been the best and I feel like this is because there is SO much going on that I can't be the best at any one thing.

Last week we got the inspection completed on a home that we had looked at (offer was accepted) and the inspection came out really really good. We would be getting a killer of a deal on the house but the stresses come with me not having a job over the summer (as I work for the schools) and thus no income, draining most of our savings to pay for the costs of buying a home, and not knowing what the next school year will hold financially. This house is in a great location close to both of our families its just that the bills will be rising..stress, stress, stress :) I think that has become my most used word!

I have my HUGE exam called the PRAXIS that I am taking this upcoming Saturday and this is the mega test that determines (along with me passing my last few classes) whether or not I will get my masters degree. So for any and all out there, i could use several prayers on my behalf and lots of miracles. This week I also have an interview with the lead speech pathologist in my gilbert school district to try to apply for a job as a speech therapist in the district...right now i am only an assistant. Now normally most districts would have tons of job openings but in light of all the budget cuts, we have only a few positions open and again i need prayers that I will get one of these positions.

The one big relief is that Spring Break is next week and I will have a full week off of work and school. We're trying to hold onto our hats as the wind is blowing at full force these days!

And the search goes on.....

and on and on.....Exhibit#3:

So to update on our house search....we put an offer on another house 2 weeks ago, got accepted went through the inspection and the house had termites, roof needed replacing, ac unit wouldn't start up etc etc. And we had thought that after all the houses we looked at that this one was pretty amazing. New paint, clean, nothing visibly broken. Well the inspector proved that wrong and i'm so grateful we had him. And so, this morning we put another offer in for the house pictured above. It is way out on Crismon/University and quite the distance from where any of our families live. But I have learned that if you put in an offer around the parts of town we want to be in for the price we can afford, you end up with older houses that need some fixin. This house above was built in 98 and so i'm HOPING that no roof repairs or crazy fixups will be needed. Its got a nice little build in seats and fireplace in the backyard and the freeway is close enough that the distance shouldn't be too bad.

David said that he wished we would have never looked at house#2 and put an offer and wasted money on an inspector, and although I wish we could have saved the money, i definitely learned quite a bit. Looking at things with a naked eye is only a fraction of a houses story.

For valentines day this year, we were bums and went to see Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief. I just finished the fifth and last book this morning and David finished last week, so we were both excited to see how the movie of the first book played out. They completely changed the plot and took out a lot of the story ( I guess thats to be expected with how much was loaded into the book). My sweet David also suprised me with red roses yesterday morning and a box of chocolates and then this morning I found some white roses added to the group. Valentines Day with David has been so neat every year....he is always suprising me! Our first valentines day three years ago, he unexpectedly proposed to me. The second Valentines Day we ate at Cafe Rio and did taxes (ok, so that wasn't the coolest). The third Valentines day we went out to dinner, came home and i discovered balloons and heart all over our room. This year i was suprised with some chocolates and roses! Sorry for no pictures of valentines day!

Its the end of January...

And I apologize for neglecting my blog. Since school has started, I am rarely home and when I am home, all i want to do if veg-out and watch t.v. This semester is pretty much the last full semester before I graduate and it is the climax of everything. I am taking a class Monday-Wednesday-Friday for three hours each night, working in the schools 35 hours a week, working at Save the Family TUesday nights, babysitting every Friday night, and cleaning/doing laundry every Saturday..meanwhile my apartment continues to fall apart and we're still trying to find a house. We are putting another offer in on a house tonight and hope things work out because we're tired of searching along with everything else that has to be done. Wish us luck!

On a fun note, my wonderful sister in law is so talented and last years christmas she made me a stocking. She has made stockings for everyone in her family as well as her parents and I thought what a great idea! So i ordered one that I wanted to make for my mom (figured i'd start with her as she's had the junkiest stocking the longest and i knew just what stocking i wanted to make)...this one:

You see, my mom makes a few HUNDRED dozen of cookies every Christmas time and sells them to her customers. So when I think of Christmas and her, I think of the 4a.m.-1:ooa.m(the next day) hours that she does for about three weeks in December. When i opened the stocking kit i was pretty shocked at how much there was to do. I should have known that I have never even completed a cross-stitch kit, let alone a stocking kit. Sure hope I get help on this (hint hint Fawn :))

Weddings and Blackouts oh my!

Life has certainly not been dull over the last few weeks as school has started again, or atleast the elementary through high schools where I work. My first day back I realized just how much I missed being busy ALL day i mean literally working from 7:15-7:30p.m. I am crazy for wanting to stop my break early...i know.

About two weeks ago my sister in law Natalia got married and is now living up in Utah! Finally some sane relatives we can go visit up there and enjoy lots of wonderful trips to the quilted bear (a store filled with adorable home decorations in Provo). Here are some pictures from the wedding:

David with our niece Hailey...who has certainly acquired a piratey smile :)

Above: Rhys and Natalia leaving the building to start their honeymoon ;)

Below: the lady who designed the flowers and boquets professionally said that this cake is estimated to be around 2,000$. It was made by Fawn (my sister in law, brides sister) who has never made a fancy cake like this before. She is amazing needless to say.

Natalia with all of our nieces...so adorable

First Kiss as Husband and Wife

An another interesting note, last Tuesday I went to an ENT clinic in Mesa to do some voice evaluations where my supervisors sticks a camera down the throat of patients to look at their vocal folds and get pictures which the ENT doctor then diagnosis what the problem is. Mind you this is my fourth or fifth time going to this office and nothing grosses me out. The third patient came in with her family and I was in the doctors room with them, the doctor, my supervisor, and my friend who was another student clinician. I was leaning my back against the wall with my legs straight out (so i looked like a triangle) and listening to the docs feedback. After a few minutes the room started getting a darker tint and I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me with the weird lighting and warm temperature in the room. The room kept getting a darker blood red color and almost black and I thought to myself "I should go step out of the room and walk around...this is weird". I then thought "nah, you would look silly...your eyes have played tricks before (although never gotten this dark in a room)...you will be fine). The next thing I remember is my left cheek hurting a lot and me lying on the floor in a crumpled position with the doctor in front of my face asking if I was alright. SO EMBARRASING, right? So i was escorted to another room and drank some juice. First time passing out ever and it was the strangest feeling. I do have high blood pressure issues but this has been dealt with by medication. Only other conclusion I can draw with the help of others was that my legs were locked to long. Because I didn't know I was blacking out, as it had never happened before, I didn't know that I should have acted on that first thought to get up and walk around. My elbow was really bruised and still hurts and the back of my right need where i think the blood supply was cut off continues to throb and hurt. Hopefully there isn't a blockage forming there and thats whats been causing my high blood pressure!

Just thought i'd share a tidbit of my interesting last few weeks :)

L.I.F.E

The choice game for this evening was LIFE which David and I have never played together-and boy was the whole game hilarious. David chose to start the career path immediately (which you only get to choose lower paying careers). The first card David drew was a 30,000$ salary, and moments later, he landed on a "change career" spot. He was overjoyed at the thought of drawing a higher paying salary card and he said "wow, things couldn't get any better", but i laughed and said that would be so funny if you drew 20,000$ (the lowest paying amount)...to which he immediately picked up the 20,000$ card and we both laughed hysterically.

I however, the college girl that I am, proceeded to pick out (without looking) the lawyer card which makes 90,000$ (the second highest paying card you could get). I ended up only getting one baby along the way, and I bought the highest priced house for 800,000$. I maybe landed on 2 spots where I had to pay something and had three lawsuits in a row to which David owed me 100,000$ each time.

Lesson: Go to college! :)

The game was so funny as everything we landed on was so stereotypical of life with the paths we chose. David ended up only 40,000$ less than me in the end which was pretty good. Here are some pictures from our night :)

Notice all my 100,000 dollar bills (yellow)

Notice David's stack of loanes and little cash

These are a few of my favorite things

Christmas, as usual, was wonderful. I got many presents that I don't feel like I deserved. My wonderful mother bought me a sewing machine. When I was around 8 years old, my mom had me take sewing lessons from a lady down the street, and I learned how to sew jumpers, and all kinds of clothes. Since then, i've made shams and a quilt but little else and I have seen how so many people my age have sewed their own curtains, baby bedding, and quilts. Given that I once had sewing lessons, i feel like i'm able to do the very basic things and so I asked for a sewing machine, totally not expecting it. Thanks mom! I will definitely put the machine to use, especially as I move into a house in the next few months and try to personalize my house.

My sweet David got me a nice saute teflon pan (since our other once was getting so scratched up and we were probably eating flakes of poison), a beautiful rotating spice rack, swaroski crystal necklace and with his brother an ipod (to name some of the things).

David got a 26 piece knife set (since our knives that we "borrowed" from his moms house after we first got married are so dull that they work about the same as a butter knife....needless to say, we really needed knives), a paintball mask, glove, and computer chair.

We spent the morning opening presents with my siblings and then spent the late afternoon and evening at David's parents house with his siblings and their kids.

Thursday (Christmas Eve), we spent the day up near strawberry/payson, enjoying the abundance of snow that was up there due to a major storm they had two days prior. We loaded up trucks of snow to suprise David's brother's family with their six kids, and built a snowman and snow slide for the kids. We spent a little time going sledding but this year, was somewhat disappointing as all of the areas we usually sled at were closed off. It was so wonderful to be out in the forest with such clear air, and to see the beauty of Arizona outside the dirt hills and cacti. Thanks Dad Bunzell for throwing the trip together.

Sorry its been so long since my last post, haven't had much besides finals, finals, and more finals going on :) David takes his last one on Tuesday and I take my last one on Wednesday and am definitely looking forward to that.

This past sunday some of my inlaws got together and we made cakeballs and little candies that you make with melted rolos, pretzels, and pecans (if you want the recipe, let me know). Both things were so easy to make and turned out delicious!

The housing search continues to be frustrating as we've been dealing with a good broker but a realtor who has been taking an abundance of time getting back to us. We are praying that the timing will fall into place as we don't need to be out until the end of march but must purchase a home before the end of april to get in on the tax credit.

Lastly, I want to mention how grateful I am for my calling in nursery. This was a really tough change for me to leave the kids in the 13-14 year old sunday school class who I grew to love immensly. But it has been so fun to be with the little ones, to see their love for learning and the energy that I wish I had :) They are the ones that have been away from heaven for the shortest amount of time and you can't but help love their quick to forgive abilities. I guess Heavenly Father knows we all need changes, as much as we don't want them. He knows that we need help from these little ones to soften our nature, as much as they need us for food, love, warmth and shelter.

Thanksgiving 2009

This weekend has been a long awaited, VERY much needed one. I feel so burnt out from school and work and school and work etc etc. Part of me dreaded Thanksgiving this year for one reason: I knew my husband was leaving with his dad and brother to go elk hunting and there was a large possibility that they wouldn't return until Monday if they hadn't caught an elk. I hate being home alone at night, and 4-5 days of that wasn't all that appealing. I kept my fingers crossed and I know others did too that they would come back the next day (friday) and they did!

On Friday I got a text from my mother in law saying that they had shot a 6 point bull (male) elk, and aside from the great deals I got during black friday, that was the best news i'd heard ALL day. The boys returned around 1a.m. and have 350lbs of meat waiting for them. Here are some of their victory photos:

As you can see, even the elk was so happy it was able to offer itself for sustenance that it stuck its tongue out! Great job boys!

Thanksgiving itself was great.....enjoyed a wonderful meal at my inlaws house and got to eat some yummy pumpkin pie at my mom's house.

I got up with my sister at 4a.m. to go black friday shopping and there was one gift I wanted SO badly at Walmart and a lady snatched the last kind of what i wanted literally 10 seconds before I got there. I was a little distraught and there were SO many people in Walmart that i was frustrated and ready to leave. Luckily, my mom was at a nearby Walmart and was able to snatch exactly one of what I wanted-thanks for saving the day mom! I would say what I got but "Santa" is giving us this gift and incase my husband decides to read our blog, I don't want him to find out. Needless to say our black friday wasn't as productive as we thought it would be, but still had a great time enjoying the early morning tradition.

Finals are coming up between now and the next three weeks. One class I am especially concerned about passing (getting a B) and if i can't pass this, I will have to retake the class next year, and won't be able to graduate this summer as I had planned. Please keep me in your prayers! Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving!

Christmas things and Phantom Sings

So this weekend was a fairly eventful one. My sister-in-law Natalia had her bridal shower and it was so fun to see all the cousins, aunts, and new babies that everyone had. Congratulations Natalia!

We also went with David's brother and his wife Sarah along with his parents to the Texas Roadhouse (steakhouse) for dinner before the play. I haven't been to Texas Roadhouse since I was in 9th or 10th grade with my friend Sharianna.....and my goodness, i have been missing out! They had so many things to choose from on their menu and the food was absolutely delicious. Unfortunately the restaurant took so long to bring out our meal that we had to inhale it and leave half of it with Ryan and Sarah to take home.

David's dad surprised his mom about going to texas roadhouse and she also had no idea that she was going to see Phantom. The play was fairly good, just not as good as i had expected, especially compared to Wicked. The music was so quiet that you couldn't feel the power behind the singers voices. Towards the end of the play, my legs decided to uncontrollably spasm...for like the last 20 minutes of the play. David said 'stop doing that' and i told him i couldn't stop....it was really weird as my legs have never done that before. Hopefully i don't have a clot or something in my leg (the thing thats making my bloodpressure spike)....my legs have been completely numb also one other night this week as i was watching t.v., and again, that has never happened before. Anyways...on to more fun stuff.

I have spent way more this week than i should have, but I was so excited to get my christmas decorations up to enjoy the spirit of christmas a little longer (plus i need a place to put all the presents i have gotten already). Here are a few pictures of the decorations i bought at Hobby Lobby (kind of like a Michaels craft store, but half of the store is just seasonal decorations that are Adorable). I can't wait for Christmas this year, and I know of so many who are in need financially this year. I know my own family has and continues to struggle financially. I am looking forward to finding a way to spread a little christmas magic to them and hopefully another family who i know does not have a job. I am so grateful right now for all that we have. We still live in our tiny apartment, but we have jobs and we are still able to put food on the table and have a little fun by going out to play and getting fun decorations. I hope and pray that there will be many this season who are extra willing to give, as so many people have nothing. I know there have been angels in my family's life, so many times when people have left christmas presents and christmas trees with money on it, and many other miracles on our doorstep when we had so little. I think the Savior himself would want us to reach out to these families and show them his love by doing service.

Nothing too exciting happened during these very quick week. I found out that I should be able to graduate at the end of this upcoming June (although technically I was supposed to graduate a year after that). I am taking several extra courses so that I will not have to pay more tuition (as they are raising the rates again), more 300$ parking spaces, and mostly so that I can have time to be more of a wife and concentrate on starting a family and putting together a home. Yes, David and I have decided to start trying to have a family next year, along with trying to purchase a home and graduate. I may not be home for the first six months of the year, but after that I will be a little more available.

We are very excited to go see Phantom of the Opera next weekend and it will also be my sister-in-laws bridal shower...and lots and lots of shopping :)

Halloween of Course ;)

So here is a picture of all the haunted house crew who helped design, set up, or simply were actors (like myself :)). I am the one on the front row kneeling in a nurses suit. I know its a pretty tiny picture.For Halloween this year we went to David's paren'ts ward party where they had hot dogs, nachos, and ice cream cones...plus we got to see all of our cute nieces and yes, nephews with a plural /s/. Two of the boys were born about a month ago. Later in the evening we got to watch young Frankenstein while David's sweet mom roasted some chicken, made salad, and rice-a-roni, even as tired as she was! Here are some pictures from the evening:

Camping

Two weekends ago, my family had the chance to go up to an area around Christopher Creek AZ to go enjoy some fresh air and camping. Yes, this was an unusual suggestion of mine as I typically despise camping (I don't like waking up to no showers and sleeping on lumpy beds, even with air mattresses). The boys got to do some fishing and David was the only one that caught one fish the entire camping trip. The rest of us enjoyed hiking and catching crawdads which David, my brother, and sister-in-law happily ate (yuck). Here are some pictures from the fun weekend:

This last Saturday David and I got to play active roles in a family/friend haunted house that was well attended. David made me dress up as a nurse with bloody (cornsyrup) bandages, facemask...the whole speal...while he was a vampire working the guillotine. I hid behind part of the passageway, jumped out when people least suspected it and screamed at them.....it was pretty fun and I got a lot of scares.