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 :)

Happy Birthday Aaron!!!

Well today has been weird. I haven't been feeling 100% and so Aaron and I decided to take a nap right after dinner (around 6:30) and I fell asleep until 10:30!! I think Aaron slept until about 8:30. So we're both awake now (11pm) even though we usually try to get to bed by now. So I decided to update our blog, since I haven't touched it in so long!

Aaron's birthday was on Tuesday and it was a WONDERFUL day! We got up early and went to IHop for breakfast and then Aaron went to work and I went home and CLEANED. I was exhausted from working until 2am the night before and then getting up early, but love is all about sacrifices, right? So the apartment was spotless and his presents were wrapped really cute when he got home. He wanted a sausage pizza all to himself for his birthday dinner so that was waiting for him when he got home too. He got a card and some money from his parents and my family called him sang Happy Birthday to him. And I got him a few things too of course! He's been trying to get me to watch the Simpson's Movie since we've known each other, but I was raised thinking the Simpsons were the devil, so I refused. But I caved and got him the movie for his birthday. I also got him Orange Box, some computer game he asked for. Also, the other day he needed to take Quincy out really quickly, so I told him to just wear my slippers since he didn't have time to put his shoes on. The catch was that my slippers were pink! I took a picture of him wearing them and he wasn't too fond of that...so his other birthday present was some manly blue house slippers! :)

His last (and biggest) present was.... *drumroll* .... a trash can!!! Haha, let me explain. Since before we were even engaged, Aaron has been wanting a (hold on, I have this memorized...) SimpleHuman, semi-round, step-on, fingerprint proof (don't ask me why!), stainless steel trash can. We actually registered for one too, haha. But they are $100-130....we had one of those 20% off coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond so we could've gotten one for $80, but that was still too much to spend on a trash can. So I've been keeping my eye on ebay.com and craigslist.com for the last few months in hopes of getting it for him for Christmas, with no luck, but a few weeks ago craigslist.com came through for me! So after driving out to the middle of nowhere in Missouri, I got him his trash can for $45! It came with liners and so I wrapped the liners and had a ribbon leading from the present to the closet. So when he opened the liners, he was confused, but then I grabbed the ribbon and did the whole, "Wow! Where does this go?!?" And he went to the closet and found his trash can! haha, I'll bet you've never heard such a big deal made about a trash can. I should post a picture of it...


(6/26/09 - Here's the picture of the trash can, finally!)

We ended the day with his requested birthday brownies with a mini-bonfire of 27 candles on top! Oh and we learned that if brownies are hot and you put candles in them, the bottom of the candles melt into the brownie... So we had waxy birthday brownies with vanilla ice cream! Yum! Anyway, it was just a really good day.

Happy Birthday Aaron!

Well maybe we'll try to go to sleep now so our schedule isn't too thrown off... Hope everything is going well for everyone! Especially Megan and Joel and Alice!!!

Locked Out!

So a couple of days ago Aaron and I had a really funny experience. I got home from work around noon (another 5am shift!) and Aaron was home! That was a nice surprise! :) He had come home to let the dog out on his lunch break because I wasn't supposed to get home until about 2pm, but we finished inventorying Kohl's a little early. So anyway, Quincy had already eaten and everything so I went ahead and took him out one more time and Aaron followed me out the door to go back to work. Then I headed back into the apartment...only find the door LOCKED! Out of habit, Aaron had locked it behind him. I had been on my feet since 5am and I was tired. I was still wearing my work clothes, badge and belt included, but of course I had set down my keys and my gloves inside. I turned around just in time to see Aaron drive off. So... I was totally locked out in the snow with the dog. I wanted to be frustrated, but I could only laugh. It was a pretty funny situation! So I walked a couple blocks over to my friend and visiting teacher's house. I called Aaron and told him what happened. He not only came back immediately, but picked me up at my friend's house so that I wouldn't have to walk back and wait for him in the cold. I have such a good husband! :) So that was our entertainment for the day, haha.
Ok I have to take a second to brag a little... last night I made my homemade Portuguese soup and I made homemade bread for the first time!!! The apartment smelled so good and dinner was so tasty :)

Five Months Today!

Well as of today Aaron and I have been married for five months. Sometimes it seems longer than that, and other times it seems like we got married yesterday! We're still figuring each other out and figuring our future out as well. We're trying to decide if we should buy a house and that and taking care of Quincy have been the dominant topics of our conversation lately. It will be nice when we have a better idea of what the next few years will look like! I feel like we're kind of in limbo right now. So just FYI, Angels Brought Me Here is a really great song and definitely the perfect song from me to Aaron. I really love it. :)
There's a really good chance that my family will move here this summer and I'm REALLY hoping that happens!! I miss them so badly. I think this is the longest I've ever gone without going home to visit. Modern communication is my favorite blessing lately since I can keep in touch with all my brothers and my parents and sister all the time. Those Andrus people are my best friends :)

Janae is sick and Aaron gets stuck with needles

Well I woke up this morning a little before 5am and got all ready for work. I had my belt and badge and everything, but before I could get my shoes on, I got really nauseous and had to run to the bathroom. This repeated itself twice before I could get out the door, so I called my team leader and asked how badly they needed people. He said they were fine and I should just come back in next week. So I did some homework for an hour and then crashed back into bed until noon. Aaron is working from home today because he got cavities filled this morning and needed to get immunizations this afternoon (he's getting stuck with all kinds of needles today!). He came in to tell me he was leaving and that the dog needed to be fed. So I got up and took the dog outside and fed him and took him outside again. Of course, the resident manager walked by and played with the puppy and asked me what apartment I was in. I heard myself telling her our apartment number before I could think of a way to avoid saying it. (We haven't paid our pet deposit...) So that stunk. I've spent the last hour or so thinking of different things I could've said or done to avoid the question.... Too late. :(
So then Quincy decided it was playtime instead of potty time and I tried taking him out four different times, but he didn't seem to the need the trip even though he just ate, so I've stopped the treks down the stairs and now he's napping in his crate and I'm blogging before I start more homework.
Being sick is pretty miserable. My stomach is really hurting and this nausea won't leave me alone. So I should probably be on the BRAT diet that my mom taught me: Bread, Rice, Applesauce and Toast...well I did have one piece of dry toast this morning, but I'm about to have a sweet potato with butter and pepper for lunch (best meal EVER). Sorry mom! It's so yummy...I can't help myself... :)
Oh I feel that I should clarify...I'm not pregnant! Sorry to raise any hopes with my sickness story :) Ok, time to prep for my midterms.