Keeping Busy...

No word yet on a dig date for the house... so to keep our minds occupied, we taught Hurley a new trick!

What a cute little guy!

It’s official… We’re building a house!

After 2 wonderful years of living in our cute little rental house, at the end of summer we will be moving into our brand new, custom built home and we couldn’t be more excited about it!  We decided that it would be fun to keep up with the progress of our house through our blog so that family and friends back home could see it and also we can later look back and see our first house coming together from start to finish!

We’re at the very beginning of the construction process; so basically we have just finished negotiating and haggling with the builders and we’ve signed the contract - it is now up to Kartcher Homes to buy the land, secure the permits and get their construction loan (which we’ve been told should all take about 3 weeks) and then they will break ground!  Kartchner says from there, it will only take them about 90 days to actually build the house and then it is all ours!!!

There are a lot of little things that I am sooooo thrilled about; like a linen closet – yup, a whole closet dedicated just to linens!!, and also, we’re going to have more than one bathroom – 2.5 to be exact!!, and best of all, a dishwasher!  No more dishwater hands!  Woohoo!  That being said, you can only imagine that I am dying of anticipation!

Half an acre of land to call our own!  Sure, it doesn’t look like much now… in fact, I may have to admit that it is kinda scary looking, but it’s nothing a little hard work can’t fix!

This will be the view from our front windows! 

This is probably the one area that needs the most work… the horrendous dirt road in front of the land.  We can barely drive Jordan’s car down it, and it would be very tragic for us to build a house and not be able to drive to it, so we are definitely going to be putting some work into that!

Spring Fever at the Smith House

The sun starts shining, the birds start singing, the dogs start going slightly crazy... all signs that Spring has Sprung!



I've never had kids, but I'm pretty sure these two are worse than a couple of bickering siblings!
Although, I do have to admit it's kinda entertaining to watch... I mean Hurley's a third the size of Roxy, but give the little guy some credit, he holds his own! And you just gotta love Roxy's big Chow smile at the end of the video... I can't help but laugh at these two! I just love them!

What was once old…

Is new again!

When I moved to Idaho there was one piece of furniture that I begged my Mom to let me have, it was an old console style table.  There is nothing particularly special about the actual table, in fact it was quite run down and beat up, but what makes it dear to me is the fact that it belonged to my Grandma Forchuk.

So I have had this table sitting in the living room since we got married and I ‘ve always wanted to refinish it but we just never got around to it… until now!

Using just a Saturday, a few different sanding tools, black paint and some stain, we transformed this dated table into something modern and cute looking that will always mean a little more to me than an average table.

When did I ever think getting this was a good idea...?

So the other day while we were at PetSmart, Jordan and I got some squeaky tennis balls for the dogs to play with. I have regretted that decision ever since.

Hurley plays with that thing 24/7! You would think his little jaw would get tired... but no. You would think that even he would eventually get annoyed with the squeaking... but no. I've tried taking it away but it's hard when he's so cute and happy when he has it and then when I did take it away one time, he looked so sad and got all pouty so I had to give it back to rid myself of the guilt!
So lesson learned... always think twice before buying dog toys.

Christmas has come early at the Smith house!

Behold! After waiting a year and a half, I finally got my coveted Dyson vacuum!

It is everything I imagined it would be... I am a very happy girl right now.

I'm a grown-up now.

Lately there has been a reoccurring theme in my life and that is the realization that I am getting older and becoming a grown-up.
I always knew this day would come...
and I think I have been a grown-up for awhile now, but it just seems that recently more things have been bringing this fact to my attention. Such as:
- It snowed for the first time this year and so that means it was Hurley's first time out playing in the snow... well, it was all cute until he wanted back in and I realize that he had snow frozen to his leg fur (as seen in the picture). I kept looking around and hoping that there was someone else there who would sit there and free him from the snowballs adorning his legs, but nope, there was no one. I'm the grown-up now, so I worked the snow out of his fur.
- Jordan and I were given tickets to see the new Harry Potter movie this weekend, but it was a private showing that started at 12:30am! Despite the fact it was a really good movie, I totally fell asleep. If it had been 3-5 years earlier, that never would have happened!
- A teenage friend of mine was telling me how heavy it was to carry her books from class to class and I asked her why she doesn't use a backpack... I was quickly informed that backpacks aren't cool. Then it dawned on me that I didn't use a backpack when I was in High School, I knew they weren't cool - but it's been so long that I had totally forgotten!
- On Friday afternoon, I cleaned my oven. Only grown-ups clean their ovens!
- Jordan just bought me a Dyson Vacuum. I am more excited about that vacuum than you could ever imagine!!!
Despite the fact that sometimes being a grown-up makes me miss the carefree days of no responsibility, I would never go back. Life just seems to bring better cooler things the more grown-up you become (ie: college, marriage, careers, eventually kids, etc. So bring on grown-uphood, I am ready for it!

Reason #8,439 why I love my husband.... Thai-Giving!

Monday is Thanksgiving Day back home in Canada... I can just picture the scene now - my Mom is mashing the potatoes, Dad is carving the turkey, Alana is playing with Ava and Logan, Mom is telling Jeremy not to eat all the olives and pickles before Dinner... *sigh* I miss that.  But being the wonderful husband that he is, Jordan wouldn't let Canadian Thanksgiving pass-by without having a dinner for me.

But seeing how I don’t really like Turkey, well, I like Turkey, but only sometimes.  It’s just not something that I would ever choose to eat if there were other choices for me… anyhow, so Jordan decided to be super ambitious and make Thai food for our mini Thanksgiving celebration, thus making it Thai-Giving! 

Jordan did an amazing job; we had Drunken Noodles, Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce and Fried Rice!  For serious!  And it was really, REALLY good!  (and he made lots so we have leftovers to eat tomorrow too!  Nice!)  So this Thanksgiving, Thai-Giving, I want to let everyone know that I am so thankful for a loving husband who travels to 3 different grocery stores to find all the particular ingredients and then spends hours making me a delicious Thai-Giving dinner!

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We're alive...!

Hello everyone, sorry it's been so long since our last post... and to all those who thought that Jordan and I had died due to our lack of communication, we appreciate your concern - but we are very much alive. So if you didn't hear much from us, don't be offended, life got a little crazy near the end of the summer and after basically 2 months of working super hard, I kinda decided to just take a month off. And it was wonderful! But now we're back and ready for the rest of 2010!
Like I said, our summer was jammed packed; besides the usual taking care of the house and yard and summery type stuff, both of our jobs have been insanely busy and we also had some of our biggest orders ever for our side business - a few weddings that ordered over 1,000 items each! And then it was time for the Fair and being a man down with Tyson out on his mission meant that everyone had just a little bit extra to do this year. But the fair went great, it's been an awesome summer, and we are already gearing up for it to be a busy Fall - which will mostly be centered around the fact that Jordan and I have offered to chair and co-chair the annual Snake River Education Foundation's Halloween Carnival Fundraiser. And we expect everyone in the Blackfoot area who's reading this to attend!
Anyway, yes, we are alive, and if anyone has any costume ideas for what Jordan and I should be this Halloween, we would love to hear them!

Creamy Creations - The Fair Has Begun!

The burgers are cooking, the fries are frying, the cheesecakes are being dipped....

Come down and visit us at the Creamy Creations Booth at the Eastern Idaho State Fair!