We bought a house!!!

Yes, we finally found a house to buy! We are so excited! Actually, this place feels so right it's almost like it's not as big of a deal as I imagined buying a house would be. Everything is going so smoothly so far, our offer was accepted at a great price. I know many people have asked for pictures, but here is all we have since it's not officially ours yet (we close Sept 27th....just in time for birthday month!) :) 

Our home - not quite finished yet! 

Open Kitchen

Because it is a brand new house we got to pick the countertops, flooring, etc! We went with mostly the standards for now, but upgraded to nice laminate wood flooring throughout the bottom floor and nicer carpet for upstairs.

I also included a picture of the same house ( right next door) that is finished so that you can get an image of what the landscaping and finished look is like.

I'm sure you'll all hear much more about the house later...for now we're off camping (again!) with Jeff, Eddie and Leila.

Pictures of camping at the coast and a week at Yellowstone to come!!!!

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And then there were three...

Meet Lily! Our new pup! She's been part of our family for barely 3 days now, but we absolutely love her! We adopted her on Saturday from the Oregon Dog Rescue. She is SO sweet! She is 4 months and came from a not so great puppy breeder home and wasn't socialized properly. She's shy. We are working on building her confidence and she's already learned A LOT! She didn't even know how to play fetch - but she learned in a quick 24hrs. She can also now climb up and down our stairs...mostly go to the potty outside, but not always... :( and has already learned that the couch is the cool place to be! She loves leaves. She is also pretty quiet, not the barking type. We are loving taking her for walks in our neighborhood and so love that the villebois area has lots of parks! We're not quite sure what type of dog she is, her paperwork says spitz/dachshund/chihuahua. ODR says that the adults in the home looked like American Eskimos (a type of spitz) which is where she probably got her white coloring. Either way, she is a doll and we are having a good time teaching her how to be a good puppy.

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Our cute friends and family!

 Here are a few of our cute friends and family! We've been trying to spend as much time outdoors with friends and family as possible and we're loving it!  

Calvin 

Hudson

This is Eddie seconds before Jeff's iphone was accidentally thrown over our 2nd floor patio rail! Luckily it landed in a bush, but the look of pain on Jeff's face once he realized what had happened was hard to watch!!!

Loving the root beer floats in the park!

Leila and Grandma!

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Divine Drop Donuts

Look at these! Dan made drop donuts twice this past week! 

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Wusthof!

Finally Dan and I have bought some amazing knives! :) Silly to blog about, but I've got so much time on my hands! Now that it's summer we've had much more time to relax and enjoy the things we like to do...like cooking! We've had the crappiest knives for years, so finally we splurged on a set of german-made Wuesthof knives. Now we can chop away....!

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How we met Tom Dick and Harry [Mountain]

 Yesterday was one of the best days of summer! Dan and I went on a hike with Marla in the Mt. Hood area. It was such a gorgeous day! While it was 90+ in the city, it was just a bit cooler in the shade of the mountain trees. :) The views were breathtaking, Mirror Lake (aka dan's "secret" lake) was refreshing to swim in and we definitely got a good workout in! We love living in Oregon!

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I can help others be happy by sharing!

Today my lesson for primary (I teach the 7-8 yr olds) was about sharing. When I first looked at the lesson I was a little nervous because I know that my 7-8 years know what sharing is and how to share. How was I to talk for 45 minutes about sharing? Surprisingly this really great story came to my mind from President Uchtdorf during General Conference (find it here). I hardly ever remember conference stories or stories that I read about in the Ensign, so just remembering this story and being able to actually use it was really neat for me.

You may have already heard this story, but here is the longer version I found online:

"Abram and Zimri owned a field together – a level field hid in a happy valley.  They plowed it with one plow and in the spring they sowed.

In harvest, when the glad earth smiled with grain, each carried to his home on-half the sheaves.  And store them with much labor in his barns.  Now Abram had a wife and seven sons.  But Zimri dwelt alone within his house.

One night before the sheaves were gathered in, Zimri lay upon his lonely bed.  He counted in his mind his little gains.  He thought upon his brother Abram’s lot and said to himself, “I dwell alone within my house, but Abram hath a wife and seven sons.  And yet we share the harvest sheaves alike: he surely needeth more for life than I.  I will arise, and gird myself, and go down to the field, and add to his from mine.”

So he arose, and girded up his loins, and went out softly to the level field.  The moon shone out from dusky bars of clouds.  The trees stood black against the cold blue sky.  The branches waved, and whispered to the wind.  So, Zimri guided by the shifting light, went down the mountain path and found the field.  He took from his store of sheaves a generous third and bore them gladly to his brother’s heap.  He then went back to his sleep and happy dreams.

Now the same night as Abram lay in bed, thinking upon his blissful state of life, he thought about his brother Zimri’s lot.  He said to himself, “He dwells within his house alone.  He goeth forth to toil with few to help.  He goeth home at night to a cold house and hath few other friends but me and mine.  Heaven hath blessed me greatly with my wife and seven sons who aid me in my toil and might it light.  And yet we share the harvest sheaves alike.  This surely is not pleasing to God.  I will arise, and gird myself, and go out to the field, and borrow from my store, and add unto my brother Zimri’s pile.”

So he arose, and girded up his loins, and went softly down to the level field.  The moon shone out from silver bars of clouds and the trees stood black against the starry sky.  The dark leaves waved and whispered in the breeze.  So Abram, guided by the doubtful light, passed down the mountain path and found the field.  He took from his sheaves a generous third and added it unto his brother’s heap.  Then he went back to his sleep and happy dreams.

So the next morning with the early sun, the brothers arose and went out to their toil.  When they came to see the heavy sheaves, each wondered in his heart to find his heap.  Though he had given a third, it was still the same.

Now the next night went Zimri into the field.  He took from his store of sheaves a generous share and placed them on his brother Abram’s share and then lay down quietly behind his pile to watch.  The moon looked out from bars of silvery clouds.  The cedars stood up black against the sky.  The olive branches whispered in the wind.

Then Abram came down softly from his home.  Looking to the left and to the right, went on.  He took from his ample store a generous third and laid it on his brother Zimri’s pile.

Then Zimri rose and discovered Abram and took him in his arms, and wept upon his neck, and kissed his cheek.  And Abram saw the whole, and could not speak: Neither could Zimri, for their hearts were full of love and gratitude."

I also shared :) this great story, about what happens when we're not willing to share.

While sharing is such a basic concept, it really is something to think about. I know I could do better about being more compassionate towards others, even to my own husband.

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Help!!...We're house hunting!

Buying a house is a difficult decision. We don't have too many options right now due to our places of work/study being so far apart and the ridiculously low salary educators make. :( 

We've found one house we really like in Woodburn (see photo below), but we're not sure if Woodburn is the city for us. We've never really imagined ourselves living there and would prefer to be farther north (closer to Portland). However, we're not sure if we can pass up such a great deal?!

So help us out...by participating in our poll (top right of our blog!). Buy the newer house in Woodburn that is a great deal? Or wait for a house to go on the market in a more ideal location (it will mostly likely be older and smaller due to our price range). Or a townhouse? Or should we just wait it out in apartment for awhile longer?

Decisions, decisions!!! 

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