Cleaning time...

All of our stuff is moved out. 

We have four days left in our beloved apartment. 

What does that mean? 

Cleaning time. 

I just have to say... I HATE cleaning blinds (and windows)!

They are sticky and dusty and yucky.

Even when you finish tediously cleaning each blind and every corner - they still don't look clean.

5 solid hours into the process and I only have one window done and two other windows started. None of them look clean or even remotely better than when I started.

Heaven help me!

Moving time!

The first big move day. The day that all of our stuff had to move from our little apartment into an even little-er storage unit to await the day that it will all be able to take it's final place in our big new home!

I'll be honest. I was a little nervous about today. We contacted a ton of people to come and help us move our stuff but you never actually know how many people are going to show up. We don't own a ton of stuff - but there were still several heavy pieces of furniture and bunches and bunches of boxes. I don't know why I was so nervous, but I really, really was.

We did our very best to prepare. We are still going to be living in our apartment until the 31st, so we didn't have to have everything out - but we wanted to get as much moved as possible. Our rule was that when people started showing up, there would be no more boxing. If it was in a box, it went - but if it wasn't, it stayed.  Friday night was spent finishing packing up everything that we could. I'd done a really good job at pacing myself, so it wasn't so terrible - but I did have to go to sleep before David was done packing because I had a pretty bad headache. We all got up early this morning and finished everything up. (The tape would wake Lydia up, so David had filled a bunch of boxes that needed finishing up.) Our house was absolutely crazy. Organized chaos though. Organized chaos. See?

Ten o'clock in the morning rolled around and people started showing up. My dad and mom, Kyle and Chelsea Griffin, David's dad, our home teacher Tyler Hall, a fellow ward missionary Gary Child, a couple of men from the ward Curtis Barlow and Reed Anderson, several family members: Amy, Jeff, Kaylee, Josh, and Sam, and even my dearest friend Ashley Cooper, her husband Scott, and her sweet little kiddos. It was amazing to see how quickly everyone was able to pack up the trucks downstairs. (We didn't have a big moving truck, we really just counted on several people who said that they would bring trucks. I was a little worried about this, but we had 5 trucks and a van show up. It was amazing.) Within 35 minutes, all of the vehicles were loaded and we were ready to head over to the storage unit. It was amazing. I didn't have to carry a single box down the stairs. I was able to hold Lydia and direct traffic. It was such a blessing to me. Just a few minutes later all of the trucks had been unloaded in the unit and were headed back to the apartment to pick up the last round of boxes. Less than an hour and a half after we started hauling things downstairs our apartment had been cleared of pretty much all of our belongings. The change was like night and day. 

Of course we celebrated (and tried to show our appreciation) with some yummy pizza! Isn't that the rule? Pizza as payment for helping a person move?  

(This is David's "Will.i.am" pose.)

 

We are SO so grateful for all of the people who gave of their time and energy to come and help us. We really are so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful people. Just a few more weeks and we will be moving into our house and hopefully we won't have to move ever again! 

House Progression: Cabinets and Counters

We have cabinets and counters. Hooray, hooray! I think that this is the biggest step since the sheetrock. It makes the most difference in making our house look like, well... a house! I think that the next biggest difference will be the carpet, and when that goes in we will be almost completely done! 

We absolutely love the dark cupboards. I'll be honest, I'm a sucker for a white kitchen. I think that they are beautiful. Really, just gorgeous. But it was a huge upgrade and we couldn't really justify the $$$. Plus, I think that the dark is just as pretty. I'm SO happy with the way it turned out. I think that it will be pretty for a really long time. At least, that is our hope. 

Our tech center. 

I love the way the grey counters and the dark wood work with the grey/tan floor. It looks so pretty in person. 

Kids bathroom. 

Laundry room. Yay! A counter, a window, a sink, and a dividing door. I'm in LOVE!

Master bathroom.

All of the lighting is now in as well. Actually, not all of it - but most of it. Just the hanging lights like the dining area and pendent lights are missing. 

A closeup of the grey counter. 

A closeup of the pretty floor. 

There are some big changes coming soon! We are SO so excited about the way everything is coming together. It's always a little nervewracking because you pick out the colors and patterns from these little 12 inch swatches and it's hard to imagine how everything is going to look when it is all put together. I'm really glad that it's coming along so well. We will be living there within the month! 

And here is another cute picture just for the heck of it. Can you believe our house used to be nothing but a hole in the ground? 

Five Things

 Here is our week wrapped up in just a few words (and one video.)

1- Lounging around in our pajamas. (And in Lydia's case, putting everything within reach into her mouth. Which, now that she is crawling - pretty much anything is within reach!) We didn't leave the house pretty much ever - and so that meant a whole lot of hanging out in our pj's. 

2- Packing, packing, and more packing! Our big move is tomorrow and so this week has been the final time to get everything into boxes. Our house has gone from messy, to disaster, to catastrophe. There are boxes everywhere! Taped up in stacks, half full, empty. I just keep telling myself that things are going to get better. 

3-Girls afternoon out. Things got pretty cramped in our apartment and I was really hoping for the chance to get out and breathe some fresh air. Thank goodness for a wonderful husband who came home early today so that I could get out of the house for a little bit. He watched Lydia while I went to a local cupcake shop (The Sweet Tooth Fairy) with my sister-in-law Kaylee. I totally forgot our camera, and turns out - I don't have any pictures of the two of us on my computer! So, I raided her facebook page for a couple of good photos. 

Is it sad that this is the only picture I could find of us? Yeah. She is the one in the wedding dress.

A photo of Jeff and Kaylee that I stole off her Facebook page.

4- Cabinets and Counters! Our house is looking awesome. I'm in the process of putting together another House Progression post, but I couldn't resist posting this picture. We have cabinets and counters!!!

5- No closing date. Yep, you read that right. We are moving out of our apartment tomorrow and we still don't have a closing date on our house. Originally they said February 7th, which is why we decided to move out of our apartment (our landlord wont prorate the rent). Then they said February 12th, which lets be honest 12 days is much longer than 7 days. Then they said that they really can't give us a date because it is too cold to pour the cement. So here is hoping that it warms up soon so they can pour our driveway - because as much as our parents love us, we certainly don't want to overstay our welcome. Through the whole thing, David has just been so wonderful. He has been on top of the paperwork, the loan applications, the phone calls, the everything. We make such a good team. There is no one I would rather be having this adventure with. And so here is a picture of the two of us. It's not super recent, but I love it and wanted to post a picture of my darling love and I at our wonderful apartment. 

Sickies and painted toes

Friday morning we woke up not feeling very well, Lydia had a little cough and David and I had sore throats. We were planning to move our first load of stuff to a storage unit on Saturday and decided that even though we weren't feeling top notch - we would still plan on making the move. However, Saturday morning we woke up to both Lydia and I throwing up. David was close behind, and we knew that we wouldn't be able to make it happen that day. We spent the rest of the day cuddling, being sick, and watching Netflix. Poor Lydia, you could tell she was so sick and she just wanted to be held - but even after such a sad little cough, she would look up at you and smile just because she loves you.

Sunday, David was feeling slightly better - but I was way worse. I actually remember very little about that day except that we didn't go to church and I vary rarely left the bathroom. (At one point I brought a blanket in and fell asleep leaning up against the bathtub.) David was so wonderful to care for Lydia who also still wasn't feeling very great.

This looks like it is gross spit up or something. But it's not, it's a little wrapper. Lydia seriously loves the crinkle noise that wrappers make and she always has. I'm super careful to watch her so she doesn't stick it all in her mouth, but she loves to put it halfway in her mouth and just suck on it. Such a funny girl, even when she isn't feeling well. 

I woke up Monday and felt so. much. better. It was like we had returned to the land of the living.  My parents both had the day off work, so Lydia and I packed up and headed to Morgan to spend the day with them.  My sweet Lydia still wasn't feeling her best - but you can tell that she is feeling better. She still won't eat solid food, so we are sticking to a strictly nursing diet - but her little cough is getting better and she will let me set her down for small periods of time. It was super fun to see my parents. We just snuggled up and watched some Studio-C on their awesome new Apple TV, chatted about life, planned fun home decoration renovations, and ate some yummy food. I had such a good time! I love my family, and I am grateful that I live close enough to pop by for a visit on a whim. (Oh, and the trip might have been needed due to the fact that we don't have a washer and dryer. Not a huge deal on a regular basis, but after at least six outfit changes, three sheet changes, and lots of lots of yucky blankets - we desperately needed some good washer and dryer time. Thanks mom and dad!)

All of our laundry (plus another small basket of just Lydia's clothes.)

My dad thinks he is so funny. I told him that our new camera is awesome because it takes a ton of pictures all at the same time, and that guarantees a good picture with everyone's eyes open. So he closed his eyes. Got me there, dad!

Thanks again mom and dad. It was great to see you, and we desperately needed to escape our sicky house for a little while. 

Tuesday and Wednesday we stayed pretty close to home. I've heard reports that the flu is a really bad one this year - and that everyone, everywhere has it. I'm not a huge germaphobe, but I have been avoiding leaving the house and going to public places. I don't want to take Lydia out into the cold (it is SO cold) and I don't want to expose her poor immune system to those flu germs. Especially as we are still recovering from our little sickness here at home. Yesterday (Wednesday), we were running out of things to do. (We have packed up lots of toys, and all of her books - so we only have a few books from the library laying around.) I was feeling a little bit of cabin-fever and so I decided that it was high-time for Lydias first pedicure. So we broke out some toenail polish that I nicked from my parents house on Monday. Lyd wasn't sure about letting me get so close to her toes, so it's not the best job - but it's pretty much as good as the job I did on my own toes. (I've never been an avid nail-polish kind of girl.) I took pictures as documentation. I really had a lot of fun, and I look forward to doing fun things like this with Lydia more and more as she grows.

I love this girl, she still isn't feeling her best (still no solid food - she just can't handle it), but she is still so silly and I find myself constantly smiling at her little personality. 

Today I woke up and feel so crappy again. My nose hurts, my throat hurts, my head hurts, and my back hurts. I didn't feel bummed out, or sad, or disappointed - I was mad. Seriously. I had big giant anger feelings and I started grumping around the house. (I think, because my book club is tonight and I really really want to go. But I don't know if I should go and possibly get other people sick.) But my darling David cheered me up. He wasn't feeling super well either, but he was so kind to me and he made me laugh. I love him so much. He even promised to bring home ice cream on his way home from work tonight. It's afternoon now, and I'm feeling a little better. I hope that we can kick this out of our systems soon. Either that, or we aren't going to leave our house until June. (What? We are moving next week and will be homeless for several weeks? Well... you know what I mean.) 

Oh also, if any of you are in the Lehi area on Saturday - we are going to be moving our stuff at 10 am. We are in need of some strong men and some pickup trucks. Pizza and much gratitude will be provided!