Ringing Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus!

When I was little, the circus would come to town (Baltimore) every year on my birthday weekend. I was obsessed with animals, especially my "ellie-pants" and going to the circus was the best treat I could have ever asked for on my birthday. I kept up with this tradition until I was 14 or 15, until I thought it was uncool to go to the circus for your teenage birthday.

I've decided it's not too uncool for me anymore.

About a month or so ago, I heard the circus was coming to town on the radio. I immediately freaked out and told Brian about it and said we should get tickets. Like everything else, if we don't buy tickets immediately, we forget about it and then when we remember, the event is over.

After a week or so I forgot about it and if I had remembered, I probably wouldn't have thought to still try to get tickets.

On Thursday night last week, Brian called me and asked if we had plans for the next evening. A few friends had asked us if we wanted to do something, but I knew he was asking if I had secretly planned any other urgent wedding events that he had to attend (which I don't make him do frequently) and when I said no, he said "good, because I got us tickets to the circus if you still want to go."

OF COURSE I DID. So we went and we were probably the only people (besides the couple that sat directly beside us) that didn't have children. But that's okay, because I'm sure the way I squealed when the elephants came out led everyone to believe I was a child.

There were camels, horses, elephants, tons of clowns and dancers, trapeze acrobats, a clown cannon, a guy in this spinning salt & pepper ride shaker thing (I don't know what it was but it was cool as he ran on the top of it as it spun in circles 50 feet off the ground), and lots of lions among other things. I admit it was slightly cheesy, and I won't make Brian suffer through it again until we have children, but it was a blast nonetheless. And since he had NEVER BEEN (....how is that even possible....), I'm super ecstatic he surprised me with tickets. 

Saturday, Sabra, Kate, Jessica and I went to the South Towne Bridal Show. We left in a sugar coma after incredible cupcakes, hours d'ouvres, drinks, and desserts. I was almost sad that I'm such an avid planner because when we got there, my accompanying bridal party looked at me and asked "what do you still need...?" To which I realized....... nothing. Well, except cake. But we have a consultation appointment for that on Wednesday night. So yeah, nothing.

It was nice to go and see everything, including the store where I bought my dress. I oohed and ahhed, but still appreciated that my dress was more beautiful than all the ones there and I have successfully planned everything as perfect as the examples, for about a quarter as much money ;)

Sunday, Brian and I went back to visit my ward and give out some invitations! I can't believe it's less than 7 weeks away now. It still seems forever away, but the fact that this week starts the beginning of October makes it better!

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House Photos: Because I Don't Have a Creative Name for this Post

I'm shocked I'm even allowing myself to post these photos since so much of the home is undecorated.. But here it is: our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, first home!

#1: Brian took down the outside ivy for me on Saturday and the house looks so much better without it!

#2: Backyard view from the corner of the back patio.

#3: Cute little storage shed in the back yard.

#4: Our new patio furniture that we love. Not pictured: on sale umbrella and free canopy ;)

 #5: The part of the master bedroom that's clean. We painted our bedroom walls a bright blue like the ocean and love it. Pictured to the right: my walk in closet. Brian's clothes may end up in one of the spare bedroom closets...

#6: The side of my closet that's somewhat organized. Love having my walk-in closet, I wasn't willing to part with that when I moved out of my last apartment :)

#7: Master bathroom. Not pictured: the big storage closet on the left when you first walk in to the bathroom. I love having my own bathroom inside the bedroom. Makes me feel like a real adult.

#8: Spare bedroom number one. As you can see, the paint on the walls makes the room extremely dark. I'll be painting that in the near future... But both spare bedrooms have full, double-door closets!

 #9: Spare bedroom number two. I'm threatening to leave the walls pink and make this room Brian's man cave :)

#10: Spare bathroom. Undecorated... probably for the next month and a half until it needs to be prepped for wedding company!

 #11: One side of the kitchen. Future projects include adding tile backsplash above the oven, painting the walls and cabinets, and replacing the floor.

#12: Other side of the kitchen. They built on to the kitchen and added extra pantry storage which is very nice. The door on the right leads to the back yard.

#13: Front view of living room from the front right corner of the house. The kitchen is in the back of the downstairs. The front door and steps leading upstairs are to the left. Gray walls were painted by us.

#14: View of the living room from the front landing of the stairs. (With lots of unpacked items)

 I'm so excited to continue painting and decorating. The home isn't huge, but is very spacious and it seems there is a place to put everything! I'm loving decorating and planning :)

Not pictured: interior of our garage.

Please contact me directly for our address!

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The Changing of the Seasons... and Residences

A lot has happened since my last post… We officially closed on our house and I moved in on Sunday, September 13, exactly two months before our wedding date! The previous tenants didn’t have to be out until Sunday, but we lucked out and they quickly moved their stuff and were out of the house on Saturday night. Saturday morning, Brian’s amazing friends Zack and Tyler came down to Salt Lake City with him and loaded my entire apartment into his uncle’s enclosed trailer. Brian joked that returned missionaries are basically professional movers, and he is totally right. We could start a business…

At 8:30 PM, Brian and I, along with the greatest friends ever Randy and Sabra, started painting. My goal was to have the living room and master bedroom painted before I moved my stuff in, everything else could wait. Thanks to the help from Randy and Sabra, we had everything painted by 2:30 AM. Sunday after church, we did some light cleaning and then Tyler and Brian’s friend Glen came over and helped move all my furniture in so I was ready to go! It’s been 3 days and I’m already loving the reduced commute time to Ogden. 

I have a million things I want to do before the wedding, like paint the spare bedrooms before company comes and decorate the spare bathroom. It’s so much fun to have your own home to decorate! It is so nice because the house was ready for us to move in, nothing HAD to be done before we could. But I’m having fun planning how I’m going to redo the kitchen and all the ways I want to make the house ours over the coming years… which includes putting hard wood flooring in the main level and redoing the kitchen tile floor and adding a tile backsplash aha.

With the house out of the way, we have time to focus on the wedding again. It feels like there’s still so much to plan, but really it’s just scheduling last minute details and a few minor purchases! 

I’m holding off on putting up other pictures of the home until I can get it better decorated and organized… and until Brian rips down the massive Jumanji-like ivy growing up the front of our home! 

 We were so lucky to have such an easy home buying experience. Our realtor, Ruth Ann Beardsley, completely helped us through the process, recommended the best home lender, was thorough in showing us a billion homes, sending us tons of listings, and negotiating with the other party when the appraisal came back. We highly recommend her to anyone looking for homes in the Ogden area!!

Our home inspector was a friend of Brian’s who did an amazing job, was completely thorough, and gave us valuable recommendations. Our title officer is my manager at work’s wife, Carrie. I love Carrie anyway, but she went above and beyond to make sure everything was taken care of and closed quickly in our settlement. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends who helped make this purchase and move go so smoothly.

If someone had told me a year ago that I would be a home owner by the end of summer 2015, I would have said they were crazy. But here we are! I can’t believe how incredible things have turned out for us. This has truly been the greatest year of my life so far.

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