Quincy!

I was thinking about my baby this evening and I wanted to post a couple of things :)

Some Pictures of the House!

When we first signed on our new house, I was going to get on the listing website to post the pictures from it for everyone to see, but the listing had already been removed since it was off the market. However, I just did a google search of our address and found a listing that still has pictures!! So here are some pictures of our new house!!

^Front of House^

^Master Bedroom^



^Master Bathroom^

^Living Room^

^Kitchen^




^Family Room in Basement^



^Bonus Room in Basement^



^Unfinished Part of Basement^




^Back of House^

You can also view a birds eye view of our house at http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=qf2wkn7h60p7&style=b&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&scene=26722106&encType=1
Our house is in the center, right underneath the word "Chamberlains" :)
Wish I had my own pictures to share... I'll definitely post them when I have them though!

Janae's Birthday and New Smile!

April 17 was a good day, as it tends to be every year :) I started off a little bummed about turning 21, but Aaron was very sweet and I got out of that funk really quick! We went to Ihop for breakfast where I ate WAY too much! Aaron went to work and I sat in my car in the parking lot getting phone calls from family and trying to digest my huge breakfast! Once I felt I could actually move again, I went out shopping! Mostly window shopping at thrift stores, but I had a good time! I spent some birthday money I'd gotten from my grandparents on a couple of shirts and a pair of black stretch pants from TJ Maxx (Shirts were 7.50 and pants were $6! Good deals always put me in a good mood!). I also got a thigh master ;) and picked up a birthday gift for my little brother Kyle. I'm almost all stocked up for all my siblings' birthdays this year! The sad part about my TJ Maxx experience was in regards to my jeans search. I've been looking for the perfect pair of jeans for MONTHS now and I finally found them! The fit was perfect, the coloring was perfect, they were comfortable, they made me look good in the caboose section ;) and all the things a great pair of pants should do. But TJ Maxx has a very strict fitting room policy of only taking in 8 things. So when I brought my perfect jeans out and still had more to try on... the fitting room lady decided to hang on to them for me rather than let me take them back with me. I told her to guard them! Yah... when I came out they were gone! Apparently the "take backs" person had grabbed them to put back on the rack. I looked for them for almost an hour with no luck!! :( Anyway, enough of my sad jeans story... Around 1pm I went and had lunch with Megan! We picked at our Chinese food and chatted away until 3:30! Then we browsed a new local store called "dots" and Megan gave me my Aldis orientation! Then I browsed Gordmans where I picked up a cute sign to hang on the wall by Quincy's crate in our new house that says, "Never underestimate the warmth of a wet nose" :) I thought it was cute because Aaron always complains about Quincy sticking his wet nose on him and I always tell him that he's just giving kisses :) That night I had a vegetable pizza for dinner! I always have to pick off the sausage or pepperoni from the pizza that we get for pizza night (every Friday!) and this time I didn't have to!!! It was awesome :)
Trevor and Carolyn came over to celebrate with us!
We played Life and ate the cake that Aaron made! He did a great job!!

I got some really nice things for my birthday too! My family called and sang to me as always! Both sets of my grandparents sent me a card and little cash (that I'm not going to spend on groceries!) and my Grammy and Papa called and sang as always! Megan got me some gardening supplies so I can have a garden in our new yard!! I'm so excited!!! Carolyn got me an awesome scented diffuser - which I actually almost bought at Gordman's that day too! Poor thing got a headache trying to find the best scent! Aaron was great with gifts! He got me a really nice mouse for my laptop, a book I've been really wanting called Plato and a platypus walk into a bar (it's a humor approach to Philosophy), Age of Empires!! and a Furminator so we can brush Quincy better! :) It was a nice birthday :)

Some other big news... for those of you who don't know yet... my dentist was working on some continuing education and contacted Aaron about being his patient for his class! My amazing husband passed the opportunity over to me and I got to get the smile I've always wanted!!!! My teeth have always hindered my confidence and I am SO thrilled with this new change!!!
I got temporaries put in a month ago and I got my permanent new smile on April 18 - a day after my birthday! (Talk about a birthday present!!)

Here's a picture to show you the differences from original, to temps, to final!


Quick update on the house... we have a moving day! MAY 16! So if you're in the area and available to help us out, we're thinking 8am-12pm. We'll meet at our apartment...927 Bradley St Apt 2C.

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

We signed papers last Friday and made it official!!! Our closing date is MAY 8th! We'll probably have a house-warming party sometime in May for all you guys in the area! :) We are SO EXCITED!!!! We purchased it way under market value and it's in a really great neighborhood! It's a ranch style home with a partially finished basement! It's 2200 sq ft (!!!) with 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms! Actually there is a fourth bedroom in the basement, but we can't legally call it a bedroom because of the fire code (no egress windows). But there's plenty of space to expand so I think we'll be in this home for a really long time! I love the kitchen layout and the pantry is HUGE!! The yard isn't fenced, but it's fairly small, which we like because we just want a place for Quincy to run around, for me to garden, and for Aaron to not have to mow too much. :) We're VERY excited and happy and can't wait to move in in just a few weeks!! Oh and fair warning to our friends... if we seem stressed out, blame it on the mortgage payment! :)

My Grammy and Papa came up to see us yesterday (it was SO SO great to spend time with them! They seemed like they were doing really well!) and we were able to take them to see the house! It was the first time being in it since we signed the contract and felt so good! Sorry I don't have any new pictures to post... but in case anyone is curious... our new address is 213 Chamberlains Crossing! Oh and don't worry all of you O'Fallon 1st Ward people... we're still in the same ward!

House update and FHE fun!

Okay so here's a quick update... I talked to our realtor today and apparently the guy who owns the home IS out of the country on a special assignment and he'll be back in town on the 10th -- so hopefully we'll hear back this weekend!! Actually this weekend should be really fun! Aaron's family is coming down to visit for their spring break!! We're so excited!

Tonight for FHE Aaron and I played a new game we got at WalMart - it's the new version of LIFE! (LIFE: Twists and Turns) It was so much fun! I highly reccommend it! The only downside is that you can only play with four players, so that kinda keeps it from being a fun family game, but it's still a good time. I actually got the $30 game on clearance at WalMart on Friday for $8!!! So anyone near the O'Fallon WalMart... they might still have some!! :)

I also cleaned the carpets today with Megan's new carpet cleaner -- thanks Megan!! -- and the apartment smells so much nicer!!! I love it! Quincy has been banished to the kitchen for the rest of the week to protect my clean carpets until the in-laws come! Not sure he's liking the new arrangment too much... but he'll be alright.
Hopefully I'll have more news on the house in a few days!

....Home Owners....??!?!?

Well it looks like Obama may be dishing out $8000 to us next tax season... we've been house hunting since the end of October last year and I think we finally found something we love! On Thursday we went out with our real estate agent (and our friend Megan!) for THREE HOURS and looked at about 10 houses. The very first house we walked into just blew us away! We just kept thinking, "Wow, this is IT!" But we still had a big list of houses to look at, so we pressed on. All the houses we looked at that day were really great houses; some of the best we've seen since we started looking! I kept comparing them to the first house and in my mind they just didn't compare! Then we got to the last house and it was really awesome... it was actually very very similar to a house we almost put an offer on a couple of months ago but ultimately decided against it because of the price and other factors. Having Megan with us made house hunting SO much better! It was so great to have someone to chat with about potential updates and uses for the houses - as well as someone to get excited about the kitchens with me!! :) Anyway, we walked out of the last house thinking it was between that one and the first one. I asked if we could go look at the first one again and we all jumped in our cars and headed back over there. When we first walked back in I wasn't sure... but after we went down in the basement and I started picturing the house furnished and mentally moved myself in to both houses... I knew which one I wanted! Aaron and I talked about it in the car and we both loved the first house!


So.... we gave our agent a call the very next day and set up a time to meet with her and on Friday night we spent another three hours writing up an offer!!! We were supposed to hear back by 5pm on Saturday, but the other agent hasn't been able to get a hold of the homeowner. He lives in VA and works for the Pentagon so his agent thinks he's out of the country for a little while. We should hear back soon though - so stay tuned! I'll post more details soon :)