Our new home in photos

It's the moment you've all been waiting for (OK, not really, but some of you are actually curious)! I finally got around to taking pictures of our new home! Don't judge me -- I know better than to take photos at night instead of using the natural light that filters through the window, but that is the only option when you work full-time and it's dark by the time you get home. :)

Our little kitchen (complete with Valentine's Day lights).

Living room

Office/craft room

Guest room (with my grandma's handmade quilt)

Bathroom. There's just one, but it's big and has double sinks!

Master bedroom

And there you have it! I am wishing the pictures were better now, because we absolutely love the paint, carpet and tiles in the condo. Everything is a nice neutral color, which allows me to feed my obsession with RED. :)

Also, did you notice my amazing Christmas present from Andrew in the pictures above? That's right, it's a digital piano -- and I absolutely love it. When we made the offer on the condo, I told Andrew that we had to get a piano now that we had our own place. Unfortunately, a piano would never have made it up the three flights of stairs without being seriously damaged, so the compromise was a digital piano.

I tried out several, but this one was the right price and has a wonderful sound. It also has weighted keys like a real piano and can be hooked directly to Garage Band via a USB cable -- which means I could record a song directly onto my laptop! I'll be trying that out soon.

Thank you again to those of you who came to our housewarming party last weekend! We loved seeing you and sharing our new home with you. I was overwhelmed that night by the love I felt from so many people that stopped by. We have some really amazing friends and are incredibly blessed.

For the longest time

This has been one of the longest and shortest weeks of my entire life. How is that possible, you might ask? Here's how:

I spent eleven hours at work on Tuesday putting together a website that is supposed to launch January 19. That website has now undergone major changes, which kind of freaks me out, but I can do nothing about it until I'm back in the office next Tuesday.

I got about five hours of sleep on Tuesday night and was extremely exhausted at work on Wednesday. When combined with a sore throat and no food, I was basically a wreck. We signed all the documents and made the condo officially ours at noon. After packing two trucks, an Explorer and my Accord full of our stuff, we drove over to the condo and started unpacking. Andrew sent me home soon after because I hadn't eaten anything for hours and had to start fasting so I could get my wisdom teeth out the next day. Then Andrew, his mom and our good friend Anthony made several more trips and got almost everything into the condo.

I got my wisdom teeth out on Thursday morning and spent the day in and out of sleep. Andrew finished picking up the odds and ends left at our old place and started putting things together. Fortunately, we were able to spend Wednesday and Thursday night at his parents' home since nothing was together in our new condo yet. We planned on officially moving in last night, only to find out that the gas company had turned off the gas on Wednesday until we put the utilities in our name. By some miracle, though, the gas was turned on sometime Saturday afternoon -- which means that we can actually start living here now! :)

The good news is that it is FINALLY ours. It seems surreal. Andrew's done a great job of putting things together, and it's looking great. Once I stop swelling and feel a little better, I'll be able to organize things and we'll get some pictures hung on the walls to make it feel more like a home.

I know I've been promising pictures, but the camera is too far away from the couch and I don't feel like getting it and uploading a bunch of photos. More to come soon!

Home sweeter home

**Not a current photo. We haven't taken pictures lately.

As promised, I am spilling the beans about one of the opportunities I mentioned in this post: We're moving! After our landlord decided to raise our rent beginning in February by quite a significant amount, we decided it was time to start looking for a house.

Unfortunately, we didn't find a house in the Murray/Holladay area that we liked and was in our price range -- but we did find a cute little three-bedroom condo in Holladay that we fell in love with! We made an offer and it was accepted about a month ago, but since then it's been wait, wait, wait. We should close this week or next, however, and then we'll be moving into our own place! Andrew and I are super excited for this new opportunity and so happy to have more room.

It's bittersweet, too, of course. I cried at church today when they released me from my calling as the primary pianist, and there are quite a few people in our ward that we've grown to love and are really going to miss. Andrew is also sad to leave his calling as elder's quorum secretary, and we'll miss the neighborhood we live in and how close it is to Murray Park.

Our new home is going to be wonderful, though. We know the neighborhood well, and we'll be close to I-215 and a bit closer to work for both of us. We'll also have our own washer and dryer, so we can avoid the moldy laundry room here, and big walk-in closets to store all of our stuff.

Photos of our new space will come soon. I hope you're all having a great December. We are just counting down the days to Christmas now. It really is the most wonderful time of the year!