Elko Trip, Family Visit, House Updates, and My 23rd Birthday

Thomas likes to wear Mommy's shoes!

Well, hello! It's been a few weeks and time for a new update! Quite a bit has happened recently...life is just moving right along!



Sweet Smiles



John has had several work meetings in Elko lately (about 1 hour and 45 minutes' drive, also where we spent last summer for John's internship). When he found out he would have a meeting Monday (19th) through Wednesday (21st), we decided we'd all go and make a trip of it! The company paid for the hotel, most of our food, and will even reimburse us for miles put on our car. It was a chance for us to visit with our friends, Zach and Dixie Hessing (and their daughter Mel, who's just older than Thomas!) and Edgar and Laura Vargas (and their son Markus, just younger than Thomas!). However, somehow we all got sick with the "Nevada Flu" that's been going around and felt terrible...luckily it only lasted around 24 hours.



Thomas hanging for dear life onto the edge of the bed!




Thomas gives lots of sweet kisses!

It was a fun trip! (Minus getting sick...)

Then on Thursday, John's parents drove the 5 1/2-hour trip from Layton, UT to come visit us for the weekend! They were able to use their shnazzy new car for the trip. The house we're renting has plenty of room for company (hint, hint, wink, wink!), so we were able to host them easily. While they were here, we spent time playing, talking, putting offers on the house (more on that to come!), visiting Lovelock and having a picnic, hiking to Lovelock Cave, eating good food at Ormachea's (a Basque restaurant in town) and the Winnemucca Pizzeria, going to church with our ward, and visiting the Winnemucca museum. Thomas (and both John and I!) really enjoyed having them here!



Grandma and Grandpa Kimball

 Now for those house updates I promised! John and I have been looking at a lot of houses out here. The housing market here (unlike Utah and almost everywhere else) is actually still booming (due to high gold prices) and there is not nearly enough housing for everyone. Houses get bought up really fast (as we painfully experienced) and the prices are a lot higher.

In all of our house-viewing, we really liked one we didn't think we would. It's 1632 sq. ft. (smaller than what we were hoping for) but really utilizes the space well. It's all on one level, has 4 bedrooms and 2 baths, 2-car garage, and a .35 acre lot. The backyard is completely undeveloped besides the 10'x10' patch of grass with a tree that they oh-so-conveniently took a picture of for the listing. (As my parents said, it's "accentuating the positives!") Although it's sloped and will require a LOT of work, we like that we can do our own landscaping/gardening/etc. We're bummed that it's just BARELY over the line splittng the town into two wards, so we'll be in the other ward. :S Here's the real estate listing with more pics and info:

http://visionwestrealty.com/property-search/residential?view=property&id=1371



Our own picture of the front of the house



So we put an offer in Friday morning, quite a bit lower than the asking price (considering all the work to be done in the backyard and what we found the sale price to be 2 years ago according to public records....oh yeah, we're stalkers). The seller (also a real estate agent) countered, we countered again, the seller countered back with almost the same offer as before...but we finally accepted. (This process took all day with lots of discussing and thinking in between! You get the shortened version). We still think we're getting a reasonable price for around here. So that's where we are! We've signed the papers so it's official, but contingent upon the house inspection which is scheduled for Friday. We get to be there for that and will do some serious sniffing around. We'll also take more pictures to post for you! (Including pics of the PURPLE master bathroom) :)

On another note....Monday was my 23rd birthday! John's parents and Thomas and I went to see the museum in town before they left for home at about noon. It was fun having them here--Carol and I actually share birthdays! (As well as John's oldest sister Amy!) The rest of the day, I cleaned up, did laundry, and cooked dinner. Sounds like a birthday, huh? :) Well John came home from work and relaxed for a while, then headed out to get my gifts. He did his best to try to get me Hunger Games movie tickets (too bad our local 2-screen theater requires cash payment and won't let you buy tickets in advance!). He also got me a rice cooker (really--I've been wanting one!), a bag of Kit-Kats (yum!), and this yummy Reese's pie. I also kind of bought myself tickets to see Wicked in SLC in July (during a pre-sale in December), so that kinda counts as the rest of my present. :) I'm excited for that!



Yep, it was yummy!



I also got phone calls from my Dad, Mom & little bros, and sister Candace! It was fun chatting and it brightened my day. I got cards from my Grandma Whatcott (promising her amazing hand-embroidered pillowcases!), Opa (in Virginia!) with a generous check, Mom and Dad also with a generous check (and graduation gift, woohoo!), and Mom- and Dad-in-law with a generous cash bill. :) I look forward to getting some fun things I've wanted for a while in the form of kitchen tools, jewelry/accessories, and things for the new house we'll hopefully have in about a month!! (I also got about a million birthday wishes on facebook, haha). Thanks everyone!

Thanks to all of you for your love and support! We are excited for the big life changes coming up! Here are a few videos of cute Thomas that I have to share. Enjoy!!