First blog!

With the suggestion of my cousins Linda and Liz, I've decided to create a blog. I have one already on another networking website, but while those are personal blogs, I figured "Why not create one for the whole family?" So, here I am creating one for the family! So where to start?

I guess I should start at the beginning. It all started on the first Thursday -or Friday- of November in the year 2002. And as with this, I was on LDSchat because I was introduced to the chatrooms by Linda and Liz. (There's starting to be a pattern forming here actually) I was a just-turned-seventeen year old embarking on her senior year of High School. And I was bored one night, and frustrated with the immaturity of the boys in the older teen chatroom, and with their immature and inappropriate questions.. won't go there! So I thought to myself, "Well, I'm in my last year of high school, I could almost be considered a young single adult so I'll just go over there and see what there's to see!" And so I did.

There were two guys named "Noot" and "Fibb" being annoying to the general public by using Spanish in the chat room, and since I knew some Spanish, I decided to be funny and join in with my rudimentary Spanish. Eventually, our antics caught the attention a moderator, and we were all booted off. So beacuse of that, we went and chatted on MSN messenger. "Fibb" who I later found out is named Nate in real life got off shortly after that to go to a Young Single Adult dance, and then I sat up for the remainder of the night and chatted with Noot, getting to know each other. Now, I should clarify just to let you know, I had gone into LDSchat around 7pm, maybe around 8pm, EST of course. I had learned that his name was Jeff, and that he had just come home two weeks previously from serving a mission in Honduras for the LDS church for two years. Anyway, by the time we got off the internet, the sun was rising, and at that time of the year it usually came up between 6 and 7 am EST. And as we learned and never having seen again, if you chat long enough on MSN messenger -and probably other messenger services as well- the window stops self scrolling, which at that point you either have to manually scroll down, or you close the chat window and start a new one. It was a fateful night, and here we are, 5 and a half years later, we're happily married with two daughters. It's interesting how people meet, and I'm not embarassed to admit that we met online, however I don't condone the practice because more often than not, you'll find some very unsavory characters. I had the fortune to have met an honest guy -saw him on the webcam even though I didn't have one, plus I had called his home several times and spoke with his parents- and have had a very happy ending. We're still living our happy ending too!

Anyway, more recently we've moved into a new apartment! We're probably going to be here for a few years only until we're able to buy a home, which will be when we've saved up enough money for a down payment and closing costs. Anyway, I'm happy with our new place; it's in a great neighborhood, we're close to my inlaws -roughly 6.3 miles away actually- and we for the first time since we've been a couple were able to afford new furnishings and other home goods!

Here's our living room when you step inside from the front door. You'll notice there's no artwork or pictures on the wall, that's because this was taken right when we first moved in. There's still nothing on the walls, but that'll change once I get recent pictures of Ruthie printed. You can sort of see her in the swing there.







Here's our laundry room. You can see the door directly across from the front door when you walk in. This door is closed most of the time -for very obvious reasons- but it's opened for the picture. Since this picture was taken, there has been a plastic shelving added in for my convenience while I'm doing laundry. I find it easier to sort and fold a couple of loads of laundry -I usually do two or three loads a day when I do laundry- away at a time. Saves time and I can sort for them to go to their respective places. This room also serves for the furnace and water heater room as well.





Here's little Miss Zoe in front of my washer and dryer! I'm so happy about having a Brand New set! They are both Kenmore and we got them from Sears. It's not a matching set obviously -the dryer that goes with the washing machine looks identical in the front- but it's okay. We saved money this way.



After leaving the laundry room and walking about 15 feet or so, you'll come to the kitchen. Here's our living room from where the kitchen is located. There's our TV with it's rabbit ears; we've gotten rid of satellite TV after having it for 18 months, since we don't really watch that much TV, and with the internet and many of the local broadcasting channels having TV on demand, we can easily hook up our laptop to the TV, and wirelessly watch TV shows over the internet to get a good quality picture. We also rent DVDs for Zoe, and then she can watch her favorite shows on the laptop as well. Besides, she's not really a TV watcher herself, she only likes to have it on for the noise factor; however she will watch it on occasion. And there's cute little Ruthie in her swing, a place she thoroughly enjoys being as long as she has her blanket. Yes, my two month old daughter has a lovey! Heaven forbid I have to wash it when she poops on it because she's angry for the 1.5 hours it's in the washer and dryer. I'm dreading the day that it falls apart and she'll need another one.
Here's our small kitchen! And Zoe. I dislike how small it is, but that's the sacrifice we made when picked this place. I do LOVE how we have a dishwasher again! I know most people have dishwashers, and probably take them for granted. I have to tell you, not living with a dishwasher for 18 months was pure misery. I can't even begin to tell you how beautiful of a luxury they are to have. If you have one, you should take a break from reading this blog, walk over to it, say thank you to it and then come back. My other slight issue with the kitchen after moving in the rest of our stuff is the lack of storage space for our larger pots and pans, and also the lack of counter space for a microwave and toaster that we now have. I have to sort and figure out where things are going to go, but until then, my kitchen is somewhat cluttered. That's okay though, I'll get it sorted out soon. And I'm sure you can see the fire extinguisher! That's a purchase we made ourselves, can't be too cautious about fire safety! And also I have to pull the knobs off of the front of the stove for the same reason.















Here's our mattress in the packaging, and after we unrolled it! And I'm not kidding, this is a SPRING mattress! It's got to be the strangest/coolest thing in the world. Zoe tends to stick herself in alot of pictures, and she's usually pantless -mostly because it's a hassle to keep her in pants after changing her diaper- but that's okay. Anyway, you'd think our mattress would be uncomfortable but it's NOT! It's arguably the BEST BED I've ever slept in. And it wasn't even that much either! Just to let you know, it's a KING sized bed, and we only paid about $380 dollars or so for it. We heart IKEA and their unbeatable prices.
Anyway, here's the bed after it's all put together and made! I love the bedspread, it reminds me of Tetris.. and considering Jeff and I love to game, it totally suits us. I need to get new pillows of course, since with a king sized bed, you have to buy king sized bedding and you get king sized pillowcases. And there's Shrek, Jeff's cuddling device, it's easier for him to sleep with his arm around something. I love how the bed takes up the whole room.




One awesome thing about our new place is that we have two bathrooms, one is located in our bedroom, which is one of the reasons why we took the apartment, it has two bathrooms. Anyway, this picture was taken from the little hallway leading into our bathroom. And there's Ruthie's crib! I made the bedding -well bumpers and blanket myself. I'm really blessed with sewing skills, and I've used my skills to make bedding for my Sister in Law, and will be making some for my friend Ngaire who's expecting her and her husband's first child in November. I can't wait to get started on it.

That concludes the tour of our new apartment! Hope you enjoyed it. I may post pictures later once we put up pictures and stuff in our living room. I know I missed Zoe's room but it's not done yet either in terms of decoration and whatnot.. I would love to get her some posters and put them up in frames.