Welcome to our Humble Abode

Our apartment lease has officially begun!
We picked up our keys this morning and stopped by the apartment this evening to check things out. I'll attach some pictures for your viewing pleasure... and also because I need some help working with this small space. We are both excited to move and are looking forward to the day when all of our things are in one location.

The good: It looks like there are lots of nice people in our quad (I guess they always seem nice at first). The location of our apartment in particular is perfect - on the corner, next to laundry, garbage, mailboxes, parking and best of all - shaded by a large tree. Today, while the rest of Provo was experiencing not-so-awesome-icky-hotness... our apartment was chillin' in the shade, maintaining decently cool temperatures. Maybe the cinder block walls aren't so bad after all.

The bad: The apartment is pretty small, old and has a bit of a I'm-a-really-old-apartment funk to it. The living room is downright tiny. While the size of the apartment itself isn't completely bothersome, figuring out how to fit my furniture in the small space is. We may have to go through lots of trial and error before we get things to fit just right.. or at least in a way we can tolerate. The lighting is also really bad. All of the rooms and especially the bedrooms are very dim. The front window is nice and big with a great view of the courtyard area, but also gives our neighbors (a.k.a. the ward) full viewing access into our living room.

Without further adieu, here is our place - we're hoping it actually feels like home once we get our things moved in. I figure by showing you the before we move pictures, it will look amazing once it's furnished - or at very least, improved upon.

This is the sidewalk going toward our unit. Our stairwell is off to the right - our unit being the one directly behind the recycle bins, in the shade of my new best friend, that large beautiful tree!


This is a view from the apartment looking back toward the recycle bins. The mailboxes are just behind on the back wall of the laundry facility. While I'm sure I'll miss the convenience of having a washer/dryer down the hall, this isn't much of a walk.


The patio and our front window. The front door is located around the corner in front of the stairwell.


This is our "living room"... it also happens to be the most problematic area - so tiny! That's our front door on the left. Somehow we need to fit our couch, TV.. and maybe even a small table in here... and still have room to move. P.S. This carpet is McNasty, but there is hope. One of our neighbors stopped by and said the complex is planning on replacing all of the carpets in the near future. I just need to find out when. Maybe they can do it before we move everything in..?

Quick trivia: This picture contains the one and only item we moved to the apartment today. Can anyone tell what it is?


View from the living room window.


The other side of the living room, also known as the kitchen/dining area. I'm not sure where one could possibly fit a dining table in this space, but it's going to involve some serious creativity. Or something ghetto fabulous, like a card table.


The kitchen. Small, but cute.


Our wicked awesome kitchen countertops.


The Bathroom... it's very... blue.


The bedrooms look identical to the living room with the addition of these - closet doors and built-in dresser drawers. One of the rooms has a second closet, which pretty much makes it the "master bedroom".

Spare bedroom closet.


Master bedroom closet, which doesn't have a door. Again, we'll have to resort to something ghetto fabulous, like a curtain. The second closet has an accordion door... much like the divider walls you see at church.


Linen Closet?


And lastly (again) my friend out front, the big beautiful tree. I love him.


As always, we welcome any company (minus the "house guests" I referenced in my previous post) and will do our best to accommodate anyone willing or wanting to stay in our humble digs. We'll post new pics once we get the place furnished to make it a little more enticing.

"It's a nice day for a White Wedding..."

This last weekend we drove to Portland for Alicia's wedding. We had a great time. I'll start from the beginning.

Alex and I started the weekend adventure on Thursday. We drove 5.5 hours to Boise, Idaho and arrived just in time for some dinner. We ate at a place called Chicago Connection as suggested by Terry (Jones), a former Boise resident. Chicago style pizza + salad bar = Yum! Our pizza looked something like this, with some extra veggies and meat hidden under the cheese. It was good, but we both only made it through 2 slices before we were full. No problem, the leftovers filled the void nicely when I woke up hungry at 3 a.m.


The next morning, Niklas and Karen met us at our hotel and we continued the journey to Portland. I offered to drive so they could sleep and ended up driving for most of the time. Did I mention I'm a control freak and do much better as the driver rather than the passenger? It worked out nicely and somehow I was able to do all of the driving without too much discomfort. We got to our hotel in Portland with enough time to freshen up, change clothes and hop in the car. We gave ourselves an hour to get to the wedding and thank goodness. Portland traffic is awful! It must have taken us a half hour to get on I-5, less than 1.5 miles from our hotel. Luckily, we made good time once we got on the freeway and arrived just in time.

Alex meeting Alicia's Oma, just before the ceremony.


Bridesmaid and Maid of Honor.


I love this moment in the ceremony when the bride makes her entrance. Alicia did not disappoint, she looked beautiful.


Saying their "I do's".


I wish I had video of the next part because you'd really have to have the audio to appreciate it. After they the pastor pronounced them husband and wife they totally walked out to Billy Idol's "White Wedding". It was awesome!

The now official, Mr. and Mrs. O'Hara.


We had a minute to chat before the reception. Alicia was telling us about everything that hadn't gone according to plan. Here she was showing us her "white" roses. Personally, I thought they looked great. I would have preferred them over white for the contrast factor, but that's just me.


Next, upstairs for the reception.


We ate. We mingled.


The men bonded.
(What's up with the "rose" reflection in the window? What is that??)


... and the girls... sat.


Later we did some people watching by candlelight. It was so romantic.


The newlyweds first dance.


Father/Daughter Dance.


Cutting the cake. I don't know what flavor it was (raspberry and vanilla??), but it was way good. Like so good that I may have asked Alex to take a piece knowing that he couldn't eat it and I would have to eat it for him. Just trying to help the guy out.


The bouquet toss. Or should I say bouquet toss fail. The bouquet landed on the ground and all of the girls just stared at it...


I can't say what happened next since our clan pooped out, but I'm sure those that stayed had a great time.

The next morning came early and we did our last little bit of hanging out with Mom and Dad before it was time to head back.

Karen and Dad at the hotel.


Sportin' the 27 week belly.


Giving you all an illustrated example of why my picture should not be taken on little sleep, no makeup, and a prego belly to boot. The inner hotness is there.. I just haven't found it lately. Or maybe it's reinvented itself as the literal hotness I feel everyday. I swear my body temperature is like 100 degrees!


We had lunch at Azteca. Here's one of my Mom's classic let-me-take-your-picture-while-you're-eating photos. Not flattering! I wasn't willing to pull myself away from the chips and salsa long enough to get a decent photo. They were so good!


One last group shot, minus dad who was playing photographer.


All in all, we had a great weekend... and now I am sufficiently homesick for Washington. As if I wasn't before.

Almost Married!

I can't believe it's almost here - Alicia's getting married!!
Our family has known Alicia for 20+ years. She was the quirky little kid next door that became Karen's best friend and has since become "the other sister" in our family.

Alicia then:


Alicia now:


We can't wait to see you and share in your special day.
Pics to follow soon!

Dear House Guests,

When you called me two days ago and said you were on your way to my house to stay and hoped I was aware of your visit, I was fine. I didn't mind that you brought an extra guest with you. Or that you failed to communicate your travel plans with me ahead of time, even though you had my contact information for that purpose. I told you to make yourself at home and I can see now that you've taken me quite literally.
I didn't mind that you ripped my kitchen apart to make a salad, making sure to leave your dirty dishes and vegetable carcasses for me to clean. Or that that you borrowed some salt and a Ziploc bag or two. But today you've outdone yourself.
I don't appreciate that you've eaten all of the lettuce I had set aside for dinner. Don't worry, we made due with bean burritos, even though I was craving Chef salad all day. I notice that you've filled my garbage can and left me with a sink full of dirty dishes (for the second time). I'm glad that you think I'm your personal maid. Let me clue you in, I'm not.
Oh, and thank you for using the remainder of my Febreze, I'm sure I didn't need it anyway.
I have to say though, the real topper was your "creativity" with my white kitchen towel. See, I've always worked hard to keep this specific towel white because I use it solely for baking rolls. I can tell that the white wasn't working for you and I'm sure my rolls will taste just as good with the grease-stained, blotchy, black towel you've left me with. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to try something new, and for not wasting the paper towels I had sitting on the counter just above the drawer you pulled this towel from. After all, I wouldn't want to hurt the environment. I hope you continue to enjoy your stay.

Sincerely,

Kristine


P.S. If you'd like to ruin anything else of ours, please help yourself. It's not like we're poor college students about to move and have a baby or something.

Retail Therapy

I LOVE a good sale!
Especially when it's stumbled upon unexpectedly.

The Story:
Several weeks ago I purchased a pair of new maternity pants for work from Macy*s. I tried them on in the store and they were perfect - just snug enough to stay up, but not so tight as to cut off circulation. I got them home and wore them for a day and quickly realized they were awful. I had been deceived. By the end of the day they were stretched out and falling down around my ankles. I thought drying them hot-ish might help, but this is one stubborn pair of pants. I had to resort to brute force (binder clips) to keep them up. Super ghetto, I know. When Alex saw the binder clips, he told me it was time to go buy some new pants. I'm rarely told to buy anything (let's face it, I don't need much encouragement) and ran out to the store immediately. I knew I didn't have much time before he'd come to his senses.

The Replacement:
I bought the same pants in the next size down and brought them home. Since I was certain these had to fit I purchased them without trying them on first. Bad idea. These pants were WAY smaller. Like spandex. Of course Alex thought it was hilarious and tried to reassure me that I didn't look like a pork sausage, but I knew he was just being nice. So, the pants went back in the bag and I reverted back to the fatty pants with the binder clips.

The spandex pants sat on our desk for weeks. A constant reminder of shopping fail, disappointment, and my growing body. I knew they needed to go back, but I just didn't feel like dealing with them. Until yesterday.


The Super-Awesome Sale:
Yesterday the pants were returned - $32.03 back in my pocket. Sweet! I was happily walking out the door... and then I felt the pull. I've felt this before. Many times. It was the clearance rack beckoning to me. This one happened to be in the baby section. I knew I didn't need to be buying more baby clothes, but figured a little glance couldn't hurt. Well, it did hurt, but not too bad. I found some great deals! The best one being a shirt/pants outfit originally $32, marked down to $4.79. Love that. Overall I spent $27, saved $96 and got some very cute things (mostly Carter's brand) that I had been eyeballing a few months back. The most expensive items were $4.79, the cheapest $2.39. Since we've recently accrued several of the smaller sizes, most of what I bought yesterday was 18 and 24 month size. I wish that was the end. It's not. Later in the evening, Alex and I returned to the scene of the crime and bought a few more things - a gray hoodie for $2.39, 2-pack of t-shirts for $2.39, khaki shorts $3.79... and some very cute overalls for $7. The overalls weren't as cheap as the others, but they were still 75% off and Alex really liked them. Mission accomplished!

We spent the rest of our evening installing garage keypads. Not too exciting, but semi-difficult to do together with our nit-picky personalities. We have one left to install today and hope to get some yard work and packing done as well. We'll see how productive we can be. I woke up at 5 am this morning after tossing and turning all night. Alex just found out another one of the Elders in his group (he actually works directly with this one) has the swine flu. I'm convinced we will both end up with it before it's over. For all I know he could have it already. We just don't know, but continue to pray that we can both stay healthy.

Christmas in May

It's Christmas in May at the Booth household...
Alex came home last Sunday after spending a few days in Bellingham. I couldn't wait to see him... or the fatty bag of baby loot he brought with him, courtesy of Teri Booth who has some serious talent when it comes to shopping garage sales and thrift stores. Every item of clothing in that bag was in great condition, totally passed the cute test and was priced ridiculously low. In addition, she included several items she made recently during, what I refer to as, the week long "sew-a-thon". A blue and white knit sweater and three baby sack/sleepers with matching hats. I love them all and will definitely be posting some pics when I'm not so tired. The fact that they were made by Nana Booth makes them that much more special.
In an effort to get organized, I did an inventory of everything clothes related we have so far. I couldn't believe it. This kid is already spoiled beyond belief and he's not even here to enjoy it... at least not yet. 3.5 months to go before he's ripe.

Until then, we are going to be busy, busy, busy. In a couple weeks we get keys to our new digs - a two bedroom apartment in the rabbit hutches (Wymount Terrace) and will begin our move little by little. The bulk of our move will be completed mid-July, just before the home owner's return from their mission. They are due back around the 28th. I'm actually looking forward to the move. Aside from being psycho-crazy stressed with the timing, living in something smaller is a welcomed change. Cleaning will be much easier and possibly even enjoyable again (it was my therapy back in the day). I don't know if I'll warm up to the cinder block walls, lack of A/C, dishwasher and washer/dryer, but the experience should give us some parental ammo we can use later in life when we're having one of those typical parent-kid conversations. You know the ones.... "When your father and I were first married we roughed it in an apartment smaller than this living room in the dead of summer without air conditioning. You've never had it half as bad..." Scary to think we could be those parents having that conversation, but I'm sure it will happen.

In other news...

Karen and Niklas came over this last weekend for a visit. They got here Friday night and stayed through Sunday. Most of our time was spent doing the usual - hanging out, eating and playing games, but we also made time Saturday to see this:


Star Trek! I'm not a trekkie. Never was, probably never will be, but the movie was excellent. It had a great plot. So great that it managed to get Alex's approval, which is near impossible. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it. Just beware, the first 15 minutes might make you cry.

Today is...

... my Mom's Birthday!!!


Enjoy!