Tag Archives: house

Our courtship story, and a special surprise for me

Just Life, Other, , ,

I don’t know who knows the story of how Josh and I met, but here it is:  Our senior year of high school, Josh and I both went to something called Y Weekend at BYU. We went to the campus, got a tour, attended some sporting events and classes, and got to know other seniors from all over the States. I think there were about 40 people in our group.

Josh and I didn’t really talk or get to know each other during Y Weekend, but we recognized each other enough so that, flash forward a few months to the first week of our freshman year at BYU, we recognized each other when we were put into the same New Student Orientation group. After a fun weekend at orientation, with more campus tours and a dance, Josh and I knew each other, had talked, and started to be friends.

During freshman year we hung out a few times, and went on a few dates (including Preference, so I’m a supporter of girls’ choice dances), and really had fun together. But Josh was only at BYU a semester before he left for his mission, and he lived in the Heritage dorms and I lived in Helaman…you know, long distance. ;-) So we stayed just good friends. But as a Christmas gift for me, right before Josh left, he surprised me in the lobby of my dorm and gave me a super nice card (still have it and love what it says) and a framed picture. It was a photo that I had taken a few years before on a vacation, one of a pier and an old boat at sunset, that Josh really liked and had put on his photography blog (and you probably know that Josh is awesome at and loves photography). So the picture had special meaning. I loved it and put it up in my dorm room, and then each other room I had the whole time I was at BYU.

Flash forward two years to when Josh got home from his mission, and really, things just clicked. He started writing me (I was in Spain) when he got home, we exchanged emails, we both ended up at BYU in the spring, we saw each other for the first time, we went on our first post-mission date (an amazing magical date – a photo scavenger hunt, of course), and pretty soon after that we were seeing each other every day, then dating, then in love, then engaged, then married. :) BYU in the spring and summer was a wonderful time to date and fall in love. :)

Anyway, flash forward to yesterday, a few years later, when we’ve moved from BYU, married for three and a half years, with a ten-month-old baby and a new life, and we’re hanging up pictures in our new house (our last big move-in task, yay!). I found the framed boat picture (which I’ve always kept on display in our house), but I needed a frame for a picture of the Savior that we’ve never hung (and I was starting to feel guilty). The boat picture frame fit the print of the Savior perfectly and even matched, so I figured I’d put it there for now, just until we get a new frame, and then the boat picture goes back to where it was (it’s still very special to me). But when I was changing the picture, I was shocked to find, hidden behind the boat picture, a nicely matted picture of me and Josh during our preference date, with a short hand-written note from Josh on it. Wow! I had never even seen that before! It was so crazy to think that Josh gave that to me almost seven years ago, and I had that picture and note the whole time, but never found it until we were married with a kid! Crazy! I started shouting with so much excitement when I found it that Josh (who was hanging pictures upstairs) thought Carson had taken his first step.

It was a really neat experience. Kind of felt like something from a movie. Thanks for letting me share. :)

We got iPhones

Big Events, Just Life, , , ,

And I’ve decided the new iPhones are responsible for the lack of posts lately.

See, now that Josh and I have iPhones, we use them as our cameras. And we just haven’t emptied our phones and put the pictures on a computer yet, so I don’t have access to pictures to blog about. Oh, and we’re trying to sort out computer stuff and set up a family computer so we can have all of our pictures in one location, but we haven’t gotten around to that either. But we’ve been taking lots of awesome photos over the past few months, don’t you worry.

For now, as far as pictures go, the only thing I’ve got are these pictures from Carson’s 9 month photo shoot during our stay in Texas (thanks, Mom!). But these pictures are so adorable, you shouldn’t need anything else. ;-)

As far as updates, life is good! Josh and I have felt all grown up lately, leaving BYU and getting a real job and moving and all. It’s exciting, but admittedly kind of weird sometimes. But yes, we’re doing all kinds of grown-up things like moving into a bigger house (in a nice neighborhood, though 15 minutes from just about everywhere), buying a second car (with no good public transportation options for Josh and our house 15 minutes from just about everywhere, a second car became a necessity), and even having the missionaries over to dinner (being called “Sister Lyman” by the missionaries probably feel the most grown up of all).

Carson’s been doing his fair share of growing up, too! This week I cleaned through his toys for the first time, packing away all the baby toys he’s no longer interested in. Aw, growing up! He loves exploring the house, climbing up and down stairs, and walking – with assistance. He’s not quite walking on his own yet. He’s still eating really well, and his latest favorite food is toast. He loooves it and once he sees toast, he won’t eat anything else (even his old favorites, like bananas) until the toast is completely gone.

We can’t believe Carson will be 1 in August! This past year has been amazing and incredible; we’ve been so blessed to have Carson join our family, and we’ve been blessed in numerous other ways, too.

Well, there’s a small update, but this week my goal is to get the iPhone pictures onto a computer somehow, and then I’ll have no excuse reason not to blog. ;-)

Mice are not nice

Just Life, ,

Grr. Mice. We’ve had some episodes with mice lately, most likely because our backyard used to look like this:

But now it looks like this:

We’re happy to have the weeds gone, but apparently a few mice who had their home destroyed aren’t. Or, who knows. Maybe the mice are happier inside our cozy house.

Incident 1 happened on Sunday, when we had the big group of people over for dinner (don’t you just love mice incidents during your dinner parties)? One of our guests pointed out the furry intruder as it ran into our bedroom. Luckily we got the problem taken care of that night (and don’t worry; at least the mouse died full; he ate the peanut butter and cheese off of three traps before we got him).

We thought that was the end of it, until I was at home yesterday, just reading while Carson was down for a nap, when I heard something rustling in what sounded like the bathroom. At first I was scared that someone was actually inside the house; it was kind of a loud noise, and I had forgotten the mouse traps. But then I remembered. I figured that’s what it had to be: a mouse caught on the glue trap we had left in the bathroom. (Yes, a glue trap. Which have proven to be effective, but not our favorite, because they don’t actually kill the mouse and it’s left struggling and rustling in the next room, scaring you.) I called Josh, let him know, vented some of my fear, and mustered up the courage to at least go by and shut the bathroom door.

But when I went to shut the door I saw…(dramatic music here) the empty trap lying in the middle of the bathroom floor! Eek! The mouse had escaped! It totally could have been something from a horror movie (well, if the mouse were…like…ten times bigger and actually posed a real threat). Still, scary. I yelped and ran into Carson’s room, where we hid out until Josh came home shortly thereafter. But…no mouse.

So I made do with the downstairs bathroom until I eventually got over my fear, after Josh put out more traps. But every time we checked and there was nothing, I got so dejected.

I had just kind of forgotten about the mouse and regained enough courage to walk around the house again when today I walked into the kitchen for a snack and HORRORS: it was running on the counter! Ick! Ick ick ick. Then it hid in some crevice behind the dishwasher and I hid, once again, in Carson’s room, where we stayed safe and scared. Until I talked to my mom, the bravest, most go-getter person ever, and she gave me a pep talk into protecting my house, my domain, my food, my kitchen. I mustered up my courage, set another trap right by the dishwasher, and hid again until Josh came home. :)

That was all this afternoon. Now, after an excellent date night and dinner out, we’re home and all of our traps have yet to catch that darn mouse. :( Now I’m wondering how long I can go without using the upstairs bathroom or kitchen… Ick. Mice. This has definitely been one of the drawbacks to living in a fifty-plus-year-old house.

Still Here (and with a heater, too)

Holidays, Just Life, Vacations, , , , ,

Hello! We’ve neglected posting for the past little bit, and now we want to catch up. Overall, life is good! We spent Christmas and New Year’s with the Lymans in Parker, and it was awesome. Some of my favorite activities were watching Zach play Dangerous Hunts, listening to Chris and Caleb jam on the guitar and piano, playing Mastermind with Luke, playing Just Dance with Heather, and eating delicious food with everyone all vacation long. Great vacation!

Josh started a new semester and is enjoying his classes, and work is going well for me. We still love living in the house we’re renting. Last week we came home from work and school, walked in the door, and noticed right away that it was cold – about 60 degrees cold, our thermostat told us. Our heater had somehow gone out that day. But after looking at the heater, looking up fix-it-yourself instructions online, not fixing the heater, calling the landlords, and waiting a bit, an electrician finally came and, hooray! fixed the heat that night. Our landlords were awesome and very helpful, so thank you! While we waited I did a lot of cooking in the kitchen (it was warmest by the oven), and then we wore our hoodies and laid under lots of covers and played iPod games. Not a bad night, really.

So, life is good! And since pictures are more fun than paragraphs, here are some recent pictures, in in no particular order. Enjoy!