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.