Our Lucky Seventh Place to Live

We are finally going to get a house! A real house. No landlords, no loud or stinky neighbors, no more overpriced rent. We even got to choose the location, the flooring, the cabinetry, the bathroom layouts, and the exterior and floor plan. Yep, we're building it. Well, we're not; we wouldn't even know how to put up the first wall, but you know what we mean. So, hopefully, you'll check out the pictures below.

Below is the house that we'll build on the lot above. We will have this same layout (not flip-flopped).

This is a view of the entry way.

This is a view of the living room. BUT, imagine the ceiling being ten feet higher and 3 matching windows above the 3 shown here. That's how our house will be. Also, no sliding glass door; we like the normal glass door better.

Looking into the dining area from the living room. Perfect area to set out a huge game of Settlers or Carcassone or Ticket to Ride. Oh, and we'll eat there, too.

Whoever's cooking can watch the activity in the living room, so she (he?) won't feel left out.

We're not sure what color cabinetry/counter tops we want yet, so let us know your thoughts. (Stainless steel appliances are available, but we like the white best anyway.) Also, we'll have another window on that big empty wall in the corner.

Upstairs, there are 2 'so far' spare rooms (which share a bathroom) and a master bedroom with a vaulted ceiling, a master bath (with a garden tub, a stand-up shower, and TWO sinks).

These are the exterior color choices. The jury has yet to reach a final verdict in this department also, so tell us what you think.

We will be going with one of these brick colors, though.

This is our "cool-feel" color scheme. Cabinetry color may change. But, we only like the flooring colors shown in these two pictures.

This is our "warm-feel" color scheme.

Ok, now let us know what you think! We're expecting emails from all of you. Hopefully, you'll come visit us even if you don't get the colors you're hoping for. (We close June 15, so any moving help is appreciated.) Visiting reservations will be kept to a 'first come, first served' basis, well, unless you prefer the 'more the merrier' option. :)

Shining Stars

All day yesterday I helped set up for enrichment. I was in charge of decorations. The activity was a presentation where we spotlighted each sister. (Shining Stars) So we gave awards to each sister and told a little bit about them. In order to find out unique things about each of them, four of us called friends and husbands of the girls. It took a while, but they were surprised when they received their award. I got the surprise symphany award. Nels told them that I play the violin and french horn. HA, I haven't played the french horn since high school! Oh, well. Everyone dressed up...Sunday best to Black tie. This picture is a little blurry, but as you can see some girls did wear their prom dresses!I think overall it turned out pretty well, and of course we had a nice dinner that was served by our Bishopric.

So here's how the decor turned out. We used red paper for the "red carpet." We made a huge balloon arch and then hung stars from it. The balloon arch looked better 6 hours before. I believe some of the helium leaked out.

The center pieces were floating roses, hershey kisses and star confetti.
One of the highlights for the evening was the relief society presidents lip sync. They really got into it. The video doesn't have the best lighting, but at least it will give you an idea of what they did. We were laughing the whole time.



So Mom, now you know what to do with your presidency for the next enrichment. :)

Oh, by the way, even though it was a busy day, Nels and I voted early in the morning. Indiana State Senator Brent Waltz was there to greet us at the Murphy's Landing Community Church. It was pretty cool, and he got re-elected.

How To Host a Murder

On Saturday we hosted a "How to Host a Murder" party. The theme was western... the good, the bad and the guilty. We had sent the invitations with their character and suggested costume. So everyone came dressed up and really got into their character. We laughed and had a great time. The character's names are pretty funny. One of my favorites was Elias Truist-Heath interpretation: He lies through his teeth. Nels and I kept switching our accents back and forth on accident. I would speak like the Indian Chief and he would speak like a cowboy and vice versa. Everyone would just laugh. We served salsa and chips. Nels grilled 8 chicken breasts. We had baked potatoes, salad and green beans with pink lemonade. I think everyone had a good time.

Check out the mustache! Haha, he couldn't eat with it on so it came off pretty quick. Pretty funny though.

Happy Birthday to Nels!

On Wednesday we officially celebrated Nels' birthday. Nels thinks the whole month of October should be dedicated to celebrating his birthday. He did end up with two cakes. He's pretty tricky. I made him a death by chocolate cake to take to work. Nels said it was because "no one in the office will make the cake as well as you." Then he requested a double layer chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I tried "decorating" the double layer cake. I'm such a beginner. I just bought the icing in a can. It came with different nozzles for writing and making decorations. So here's a picture of what it ended up looking like. As you can see there's a lot that I can improve on, but Nels thought it was awesome. I suppose that's all that matters. :)

Yep, I managed to fit all 32 candles on the cake. We lit them three times. The first time Nels didn't blow them all out with one breath. (He was probably distracted with my beautiful singing. haha) The second time I blew them all out with one breath. So Nels had to do it again, and he did blow them all out. Anyway, it was fun!

Happy Birthday Nels!

PF Chang's

Friday night our friends invited us to eat at PF Chang's to celebrate Scott's b-day. I have never eaten there so I was very excited. We ordered the chicken lettuce wraps, lemon chicken and of course I had to order the Great Wall of Chocolate for dessert! The lettuce wraps were interesting. I've never had anything like it. Kind of crunchy, but good. One thing that I did not like about the restaurant was that it is really loud. It was hard to have a conversation because you felt like you were yelling, even though you were only 2-4 feet away from each other! But it was still a great time and I loved going downtown Indy.

From Left to Right: Russ and Elizabeth, Scott (it was his b-day) and Aleece, Becca and Jeff, Nels and Becky (All of the boys are 2nd year dental students, except Nels of course.)Close up of the Great Wall of Chocolate. It had a delicious raspberry sauce drizzled on it. Mmmm. Good!

Saturday the Relief Society was doing a yard sale. So I was up bright and early helping set up tables and sorting through the things people donated for the sale. I was there from 7 a.m. until we were done cleaning up at 3 p.m. It was a long day. I think we did pretty well, especially for doing it so late in the season. We had originally planned it in September, but it rained so we had to cancel it. When I got home I took a really long nap.

While I was napping my sweet Nels made me an apple pie! He cut the apples and made the pie crust from scratch. He even wrote N + B 4 EVR on the top. How cute is that?! He definitely earned brownie points.

Coffee Creek

We had a wonderful weekend listening to conference. We went up to Valparaiso to be with Nels' family. In between sessions we went to Coffee Creek Park and hiked around for about an hour. I took some "artsy" pictures. I really like taking pictures. Maybe I'll get a more expensive camera for Christmas (hint for Nels). :) Anyway, we ate a ton of great food and we just enjoyed talking and being together.

Finally Finished!!!

I finally completed this baby blanket. After working on it, on and off for two years, it's finally done! I think it turned out pretty cute. I like the ruffle around the edges and the ribbon.

Brian Regan

Last night our friends invited us to go to a comedy show by Brian Regan up in Lafayette. So we headed back up to Lafayette and laughed our heads off! It was hilarious. Our friends Clark and Linda were the first ones to introduce us to Brian Regan a few years ago, and we have loved his jokes. I don't know how many people know this about Nels, but he loves comedy. We have XM radio and one of the stations does 24/7 comedy. So on his way to work he'll listen to it and then calls me with the "morning jokes." So needless to say, Nels had a blast listening to Brian. I don't think I've seen him laugh so hard! If you've never heard him before, here's a small clip from YouTube.






There's a lot of funny ones on YouTube. We like this one though and ever since we heard it we always say "Take Luck!" when we say good bye to each other.

Anyway, take luck and have a good laugh on this happy Friday!

Anderson's Orchard

Nels' parents came down for a quick visit. It was so great to see them. We took them to a fun place called Anderson's Orchard. We picked our own apples and even climbed some of the apple trees to get the huge ones at the top. There was a storm that was coming and we thought we might be right in the middle of it. But luckily, we finished up and went to Outback Steakhouse before the rain came Pouring down. Now we have a whole peck of apples, so we're going to make yummy apple pie!

That's Nels in the tree.

Lately, I have been keeping myself busy with substitute teaching, helping a friend with her kids, reading lots, and trying to decorate our house. So I finished making the frames for the Living Christ and Family Prolamation. Here's what it looks like:You can't really see the pictures in this one. But for the Family I put pictures of me and Nels and for the Living Christ I used pictures of Greg Olsen's paintings of Christ.

I also made a collage of pictures of Purdue and put that in an 8 x 10 frame. Here's the jpg.

I had originally gotten the idea from one of the Purdue gift shops and decided to just make my own. It was a fun project.

Vacation to Idaho and Utah

I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Idaho and Utah. I was able to visit all of my family. I loved every minute of it! I went from house to house and became reacquainted with my nieces, nephews and siblings. One thing that I learned quickly is that they all have busy lives! I got to observe it firsthand. It was the first week of school. So I took some of them to school, attended 3 different soccer practices, and went to different activites throughout the week. I loved being a part of everything and seeing what they do.

In Idaho I was able to attend the Twin Falls Temple dedication and I went with my parents to the Rexburg temple. It was awesome. My younger sister Jenny, my mom, dad and I went on a drive to the Teton Dam or what's left of it anyway. My parents talked about how the dam broke and what they did. It was really neat to hear their story.

My trip was a blast as we played fun games, talked, laughed and ate delicious food the whole two weeks! Thanks everyone for making my trip fun and memorable!

Here's a few pictures.

Teton Dam

Rexburg Temple

Beautiful Idaho...you can see the Teton Peaks in this picture.

Crafts I did in Idaho:

Popsicle cards--I first saw these cards at my sister Melissa's house and loved them. So I was very happy when my mom had all of the stamps to make them. I think they are so fun, cheerful and cute!Journal--I also made this journal which is basically paper glued to a tablet, but doesn't it look so much cuter than a plain old tablet?!

Post-it note holder. This was fun and easy to make. The back is actually a coaster, then you put pretty paper on it.

That's all for now!

Great Weekend

Last Friday night we went on an awesome date. We went to downtown Indianapolis. There is about a 2 mile long canal that runs through the city. It's really pretty and there are a lot of people that go there to walk and hang out. Also, there's a store that rents kayaks and pedal boats. We rented the 2 person kayak and it was a blast. At first I was trying really hard not to get wet. So, I would very carefully put my paddle in the water. Nels made so much fun of me. Since Nels was doing all the work, he would run us into the sides and he almost paddled us into a fountain. We laughed our heads off. By the end, I was wet and gave up on staying dry. So I actually paddled. When we were sychronized we went pretty fast. We even got a compliment from some people in a pedal boat. :) On the canal there was also a gondola which was cool to see. We noticed as we were kayaking that they play old movies in the "park." So we'll have to try to do that sometime. It was a great way to see what there is to do in Indianapolis.

Here's a few pictures:

The batteries in my camera died so I barely got this picture taken. It's not very good, but if you look really, really close you can see the gondola. There were lots of pretty bridges that we went under too.

Here's us in our plastic kayak. :) Here's one of the fountains Nels tried to run me into.

Saturday we drove 2 hours to Louisville, Kentucky to go the temple. It's a beautiful drive. It's so lush and green with lots of trees. I enjoyed this drive so much more than Lafayette to Chicago. Especially since there was very little traffic. The temple is really small but very beautiful. When I was there I recognized a girl and she recognized me. We talked to each other for a while and then I remembered we were in a communications class at BYU-Idaho that was six years ago! It was fun though to see a somewhat familiar face. We had a lovely time in Kentucky and the temple.

See how the trees are surrounding the temple.

It's so green there! I loved it!