January is almost over!

This past week has been kindof a blur of not-so-interesting things. I've worked for the past three nights and then again this morning and will continue to do so until next Tuesday when I'll FINALLY get a day off. So I have not been seeing much of Justin. I stay home and clean during the mornings and play with the dogs, exercise, do computer work, cook then get ready and come to work.

Justin has been doing various things while he's been at home in the afternoons. Mostly helping me get the house cleaned up. He went and practiced basketball Wednesday night, then played Church ball thursday night. I believe that they have not lost a game yet. Yesterday's was a forfeit, so they won, but didn't have to play for it. Pretty exciting.

I have been really wanting to go to the rec. center more lately. We have memberships, I just need to GO. I printed off some schedules online the other day so now I know what' s happening when. Just need to do it.

That's about all that's happenin in our little world. I finally have a morning shift so I'll get to go home at 3 today. Then I get to go to Jess' baby shower, and Jensen to do my parents chores, then back up town to go to the temple.

Busy Busy...

Dan, Wendy and Kyler

One of the things I like about working at the Marriott is that I can usually twist Trish's arm into giving me the same four days off that Justin usually has. It's only once a month (mostly) so it's not THAT hard, but I do have to say that I love it. This four day weekend Justin's cousins from Taylorsville came out, Dan Wendy and Kyler, and spent Friday - Sunday. It was lots of fun! They went swimming Friday night at the Rec. Center while I was at work then Saturday we got up and had a big breakfast with crepes, hash browns and bacon then we went to Jensen and my Dad took us on a wagon ride! Kyler found a chin-rest
Hookin up Sparky.
Dan caught a baby pig for Kyler to pet. He wasn't too sure about that. It was cute though.

Then we went to Melanie's house and had lunch and hung out upstairs til about 5 while Kyler napped. After that we went home and got our clothes changed and went bowling. Super fun. I was in second place which was surprising because I only got 95... Kinda embarrassing. haha.

Mine and Justin's awesome bowling shoes
Mine and Wendy's awesome bowling shoes.

Then we went home and played cards and watched movies til about 1 am. That's late for Justin and I, lol we're bums :D

Sunday we got up and went to CAL Ranch and got some dog food and got Kyler some awesome John Deer boots for his birthday next week, then we went to Lowes and bought all the lumber to frame in the office/ gun room in the basement and Dan went and helped Justin haul it all in the house while Wendy and I went and picked up Cafe Rio for lunch. After we were finished eating they headed home. It was such a great time! Thanks for coming out guys!

Life with the Pratt's....

We've been quite the little "partiers" lately. Well...Sunday night my WHOLE family came over and we all made a different kind of Chinese food. I made Teriyaki Stir-fry and Rosettes (chinese cookies), Tiffany made home made egg rolls and my mom made Orange chicken. It was soo good. We had a lot of fun. They guys went to shoot Justin's new pistol while we were cooking, they had a good time.

Yesterday night we had Family Home Evening at our house again and this one was a little different. Taylor left town yesterday morning to move out to Ogden for POST. So he didn't get to come. I'm excited because it'll give me more girl time with Nichole. Also Justin's mom came for the first half and just as she was leaving, my parents were there for the second half. We read a really great lesson out of the November Ensign on bearing one another's burdens, we played rummy and ate lots of {yummy} cupcakes that Trish made.

We had lots of fun :D

I am also glad to announce that Justin lived through his wellness exam yesterday. We still have to go to some bloodwork and X-rays on Friday (that's the part he's nervous for) . I also lived through my Dental check-up and cleaning. I'm so glad everything went well. I tried out a new dentist, the one Justin has been going to. Dr. Shiner. I liked it. They did a really good job, plus they have TV'S on the cieling so it's a GREAT distraction!

I got the usual (and much loved) "You have beautiful teeth," and "Looks like you take great care of your teeth." I shouldn't really take the credit for it. I got hereditarily lucky with that one, but I'm NOT complaining.

(Me being brave right before my appointment. I wanted to just keep sewing and not go...but I did it and I'm so glad it's over with!)

I also got ambitious and made new pillows for our living room. I posted pictures of them on MY Blog, if you want to see them.

So far, that's life :D

http://www.habituallybliss.blogspot.com/

Growing like a weed...

I had to share a picture of the dogs. Bailey is growing so fast. She is almost the same size as Liddy now. She hasn't quite filled it all out yet, but she's growing :D

Patience...

Mortgages are difficult. Haha. It seemed to take forever to get the loan to finally close. Then, our mortgage got sold from Mountain America to Bank of America. We got a letter saying we should still make our first payment to Mountain America and the 2nd one and on would go to Bank of America. So....That's what we did on 12/1 just like we were supposed to. Sent it via Montain America online Billpay...so a little while ago we get a letter from Bank of America saying that they never received our payment. What!? So...we've been in communication with Mountain America, Metavante (the bill pay company), Doven Muhele Mortgage (the payment processing company) and Bank of america for 1 1/2 weeks now we've been fighting this. I finally got so fed up with it that I spent 3 hours at Mountain America yesterday trying to get it figured out.

Problem: They LOST our mortgage payment.

Super convenient. So now they're trying to find it. Between four different companies, none will claim they have the funds, and all four are looking for them. What a Joke.

I'm starting to question using Billpay online anymore. Does this happen frequently? It's the first time it's happened to me. Should I just keep using it for my utilities but hand write and mail my Mortgage check every month? (What a pain!)

Hopefully they find it soon and get it fixed. So for the first times in our lives, Justin and I are Delinquents :P and it's not even our own faults.

Stinkers. haha

I am also SO glad to report that Liddy and Bailey finally finished off their perscriptions for their colds. It's hard to remember to give two dogs one pill twice a day for eight days. Plus up to an extra 3 pills per day each depending on how bad they're coughing. WOW.

As far as i can tell they're both totally over their colds. They're acting much better, the sweet little things!

Also, My mother in law sent me the URL for the website from this AMAZING painting in an E-mail. You should check it out. It is TRULY an interesting piece of work. It is called One Nation Under God.

http://www.mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom/?artpiece_id=353#

Happenings

I have always tried to keep a pretty close tab on what we are doing on our blog, because I print out all my posts every so often and use them as our journal. It might be boring for everyone else, but I enjoy having some sort of a journal.

Justin has been wanting this certain pistol ever since he got his concealed weapons permit. Well he finally got enough saved up to go buy it the other day. I swear he was like a kid on Christmas morning. He was so excited. He had the next day off (luckily) so first thing he went out to the shooting range to try it out. He loved it. I swear I'll never have an Unarmed husband again, unless he's naked :D haha. He takes that thing everywhere. I don't really care that much, but I know he feels a lot safer with it on him.

(Pretty sure this is the right gun)

I have always had an obsession with lists and cooking and the other day I combined the two. I made a list of dinner Ideas. This is something I've done many times before, but I was more proud this time because I filled an entire page, two columns size 10 type. That's not easy! However I'm very glad I did it. It really made me think and whenever I'm stumped on dinner ideas lately, I just pull it out and I always find something good to make. Lovin the dinner list :D

So I haven't gotten pictures yet, {will soon} But I finally went and bought my matching love seat to the couch. I love it. It finishes off the living room perfectly. It fits perfectly and is SO comfy :D. Now all I need is to order those cute lamp shades and we'll be set :D

(Our set, but not our house)

I am proud to say that we are continuing to have consistent "friend" home evenings. It's been a really fun experience for me and is one I always look forward to. I appreciate having friends that will participate in it with me too, It would not be as fun without them.

Last Thursday Church ball started. Tonight at 9 is Justin's second game. These last two weeks he's gone and practiced on Wednesday nights with some guys from his work then plays church ball on Thursdays. I really enjoy watching him lately because of this. He is such a busy body and when he has something to take up his energy, like basketball does, he is such a happier person. He struggles through the Winter most times because he's not very good at being Idle. He always finds things to do of course, but he definately does better when it's a sport related activity.

He has taken on a big challenge lately to exercise daily. He has done well so far and seems to really be enjoying he. He is such an example to me. I have struggled to stop drinking pop lately again and he {very nicely} discourages it and always invites me to come exercise with him.

I love that we are such good friends that we can enjoy doing almost anything together. We can be exercising, painting, cleaning, cooking, reading etc. together and always have a good time! That's what being married is about to me. Having not only a best friend, but an eternal companion who makes me want to be the best version of myself for God, Myself, and Him.

What a great little family we have. The girls are getting over their colds. It's pretty funny because Bailey has learned that whenever we get out the little red bottles (the pill bottles) she gets a treat, because we usually wrap the pill in some kind of food so she'll actually swallow it. So the other day we caught her trying to sneak the pill bottle off the shelf. Luckily we caught her and moved them to where she can't reach them. It's just a testament of how smart they really are.

We have also been trying to get all our medical responsibilities taken care of for the year. We're trying to get Justin caught up on all of his dental work, as well as getting him in for an eye exam (for the first time since 8th grade, I think he said!) and taking him in for his first physical in a while too. We're going to do the blood work and the whole sha-bam, Just for the sake of it. Haha, he's pretty scared of the blood work part, just because he hates needles, but I know he'll be okay. So far he is down to two cavities left out of seven I think. Poor guy. The dentist says they are probably just left over from having his mouth wired shut.

I also found out yesterday that I didn't get the job I interviewed for at EOG. It's amazing how the lord is so aware of what we feel and what we need. He knows best and I know and trust that. So I still work at the marriott. I enjoy it, It's a good job. I have years of experience in this field and there are career opportunities in this field and with this company. If that is what the lord has in store for me, than so be it. Il'l do my best to follow his lead.

The Kitchen Makeover

Justin finally gave me permission to post what we've done to the Kitchen :D hehe.

This is them BEFORE.

Just Starting...Very Scary :D

Everything Primered

What a mess...haha

Almost There....

This is the half that is finished and I LOVE IT! I was a little scared there for a little while, but it turned out great!!!

It is a huge difference, but I'm so glad we did it. This is much more US. It matched our dining room now too. It was a little Cold feeling before we got the stuff put back on the counters, but It's great now. For my birthday I'm asking for Pulls for them too. So just imagine these on the cabinet doors, It'll be great.

Ice Skating

For the past few days Justin and I have kept ourselves fairly busy. On Monday we had our usual family home evening at our house. Justin and I were in charge of the game this time so we went to the store and found the game Catch Phrase. I used to play it at my mom’s house all the time and wanted to play it. So we found it and all had a great time playing. Super fun game.

Tuesday Justin got to go to the rec. center and shoot some hoops with Colt while I worked. It wasn’t very eventful, but Wednesday night was really fun.

I applied for a job as a Secretary at EOG and got called for my first interview at four that day. I went to my interview and everything went wonderfully…except that for the first time in my life I locked my keys in my car. Quite embarrassing. I called Justin, who had just taken the dogs to the vet and he came and got me. The poor girls have been coughing lately so when he took them in Shiela, the vet, said they had upper respiratory infections, which they probably caught from Justin. They’re on antibiotics now and doing much better. When they were there, they weighed in @ Liddy=60lbs and Bailey=42lbs. Fairly healthy weights, which was good.
Anyway, after Justin came and got me, we called Swains to come unlock the car, then went strait to Ace Hardware and had spares made for both the car and truck. Should’ve done that a long time ago. After we got that over with, we went to our new ward’s Ice Skating party. I invited my sister, brother in law and neice to meet us there. It was Hailey’s first time skating, but she had such a great time! She grinned the entire time she was on the ice. She didn’t stand up for a second…she just hung from whoever was holding her hands. It was quite the experience. Justin and I are not exactly professional Ice skaters, but neither of us fell even once so I was fairly proud. We had a great time.

After Ice skating Justin went and practiced basketball with some guys from work for the first time in almost six months. He had a great time but was really sore.
Thursday I had the day off and Justin worked. I got called back for a second interview with EOG, and I believe things went fairly well. There was one question I know I could’ve answered better. I stumbled around it a little bit, which was a lot more than I hoped to do, but I do feel that I still made a strong impression. They said they would decide as quickly as possible and let me know. I am now just wishing that patience was one of my stronger suits! Haha. I am excited though. It would be a great opportunity for me and for us!
After my second interview, I came home and started sewing kitchen curtains. I’m not really a seamstress, but I got at least one done before I broke my needle….and lost patience and interest. Afterwards Justin had his first basketball game with our new ward. It was super intense, especially because I was already a case of nerves, lol. They ended up winning by one point in overtime. Really close game!
Friday Justin and I both worked. When we got off work we went to Jensen and checked on Melanie’s dogs while her and Monty are in Hawaii. They were doing great. We then went to visit my mom and brother for a bit before we came back into town. I’ve got some quirky ideas rolling around about some Kitchen changes I want to make. It’s mostly just to take my mind off of the job at EOG, but surprisingly Justin jumped on board as soon as I started telling him my ideas, which usually isn’t the case.
Details will not be disclosed at this time due to Justin’s desire to SURPISE everyone. Haha, he’s so funny! So…Details…and Pictures…soon to come :D

New Years

For New Years Eve this year I had to work, but we just got the new gas firepit going at work so I talked to my boss and he said I could have my family down to roast hot dogs over the fire for dinner and we could play card games and such as long as I kept an eye on the front desk. So that's what we did. We had a pretty good time. It was pretty cold outside to be roasting hot dogs, lol, but it was good to spend time with my family. The funny thing was, I got off work at 11 so we all just went home and went to bed, we didn't even watch the ball drop.

This is the third New Years I have spent with Justin and I can hardly believe it.

I didn't get to take any pictures, sadly, but it was a great time.

Other than that we've just been enjoying the calm that always comes after the Holidays. Justin had his 4 day weekend over the new year and I got to be off with him, so that was a great time. We got to relax and work around the house. We got the plan drawn out for the basement, went and got prices and are going to start working on it Monday. It's going to be so great I can hardly wait.

Liddy and Bailey have caught, what I think, is a cold. Liddy has been coughing for the last two days and Bailey....is so weird...but has the sniffles. We are taking them to the vet tomorrow just to be sure, but I hope everything is okay. I have learned that Samoyed's have a very gentle immune system. They catch almost anything and everything that is going around, and it not only wears them down physically, but there is an instant change in their attitude. It's so sad to see my babies sick...but that doesn't keep them from doing their own silly things.....

Like sleeping On Top of the dog house....Weirdo!