The Adventures of Our New Home

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Friends,

Forgive me for being so terrible at blogging! Life with Thomas is so full of fun and adventures that it's hard to sit down and write about it. I wanted to update you all on our recent happenings.

(I have another post that is much more detailed, but I wanted to get one out sooner!)

October was full of Halloween parties, birthdays, and FALL! Even though Utah doesn't believe in the wonderful Fall weather, we had a couple weeks of cool, crisp air.

The leaves were absolutely gorgeous. I always love to drive up the canyon through Alpine Loop to see all of the beautiful Fall colors, but unfortunately life is just too busy.

November was full of school, work, and finding our first home! Thomas and I had been anxiously searching for married housing for quite awhile and nothing was turning up. Advertisers were not responding to our inquiries and available spaces were quickly filled. We both knew something would work out eventually, but I was still nervous.

On November 9th, a friend of mine posted on Facebook that the apartment next to them was available! I quickly contacted her and made sure to lock in my interest. We were desperate at this point.

As Thomas was overhearing my conversation, he wanted to make sure it included minimal things: private entrance and a washer and dryer. TAH DAH! It did. I love that it is close to good friends of mine (who I happened to accidentally set up during a ward talent show which resulted in them getting married! Hooray!), that it is so close to BYU, and that it is just a mere $400 a month! What a steal. The landlords are wonderful and have made us feel very welcome.

We also discovered that one of my best friends and her husband live right across the street from us! And my roommate freshman year lives just down the road with her husband and son. This new house has been such a blessing!

Our little home (not so little, actually) is a two bedroom, one bathroom apartment that is a section of a house. We have an upstairs and a downstairs! The previous tenant had lived there for almost 20 years and was very private, so this little place definitely needed some upgrading. She wouldn't allow the landlords to upgrade or renew anything in the house.

I took a few "before" pictures, so I'll be sure to post them next to the "after" pictures.

Right now I am spending most of my free time cleaning, soaking, scrubbing, gutting, planning, and BLEACHING everything in sight. I've even succumbed to researching cleaning blogs and Pinterest for a little bit of inspiration.  If anyone has any good cleaning tips, let me know!

Thomas is busy with school, finals, work, papers, and being a fiancé! I am busy with work, getting ready for school next semester, selling my contract, upgrading the house, and being a fiancée! Any time spent together mostly consists of Thomas writing papers and studying while I map out our budgeting plans, house plans, etc. He is very patient and helps me design the Excel doc correctly :)

We are Excel document geeks. Whether it is budgeting out how much we are spending on Christmas, making lists of general expenses, or which songs we will have on our wedding playlist, there WILL be an Excel spreadsheet to go along with it. I love us.

Thomas' dad will be visiting us the weekend before we fly out to be MARRIED! It has come so quickly! All three of us will lay down hardwood and tile flooring. Upgrading the bathroom will be Part Two of this renovation adventure.

Just to give you an idea, this house was built in the late 1800s. It is currently sectioned off into three parts; our apartment, my friend's apartment, and the landlord's main part of the house. It really is absolutely perfect for us.

I just got done detailing the outside of the fridge. Yes, the outside. It's amazing what umpteen years can do to an innocent appliance. Now, it's just time to do the inside! Luckily, the sweet landlady cleaned out most of the inside, so I won't have too much to do.

As out little home comes together, I'm reminded of how truly blessed Thomas and I are. We have good jobs, our growing education, the gospel, each other, loving families, and work ethic. I could go on and on!

We are so excited to share our lives with you all.
Pictures soon to come!

Love,

Jenny and Thomas

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