Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Full House... Literally.

My past few posts have been about traveling and playing catch-up. It feels good to be up to date with our trips and what not! Haha now we all know I'm no good at blogging, BUT I do think I'm getting better!

I thought I'd go ahead and update a little on what's going on in our little family life lately, since last I updated was in May.

Sooo right now we live in a pretty crowded--but filled with love ;)-- house. This includes, Eric and I, my mom and dad, my 7 year old sister Emily, my 19 year old sister Chelsea, and my grandma Noni, and an abundance of furniture.

I'll explain how this came about.. We decided, along with my parents, to rent a house together and split the cost of utilities/groceries/etc for a little while, to hopefully help us both out financially. We found a nice spacious home in San Tan Valley and moved in, in March. My mom sold basically everything they owned when they were moving from Holbrook so they don't really have too much furniture or anything, and Eric and I- being newlyweds and coming from a small apartment- didn't have too much furniture to our name either. The house seemed really big and spacious, and fit our needs as far as who was living there. So it was Eric, myself, my parents, and Emily in the big house.

In November, my Noni's husband passed away and so after a while visiting her sister out of state, and having her brother stay with her in her house for a few months, she decided to sell her home since she didn't want to live alone and her brother wanted to return to California to be around his kids. In June was when all this took place. We, of course, welcomed her into our home with open arms and are grateful to have her close to us! (So close, in fact, that I can step three steps from my bedroom door to hers.) Along with Noni moving in, so did her houseful of furniture. We thought our house was big and a little empty, so we were grateful for the furniture. Once we got everything moved in, we realized we had wayyy more than enough furniture, and the house suddenly felt too small. I volunteered my new couches to be put in the garage, along with anything of mine and Eric's that could be packed up, and about 50 or so boxes of Noni's packed this. Needless to say, our garage is completely stuffed, floor to ceiling. Our house is stuffed wall to wall. So then it was Eric, myself, my mom, my dad, Emily, and Noni in the not so big house.

In the end of June, my sister Holli decided to move back to Thatcher from San Tan Valley, so that her and her hubs could actually see each other more than a couple days a week. Sad for us, but, heck, who could blame her?! Now Chelsea, my younger sister, lived with Holli... with Holli and her family moving, yep, you guessed it! Chelsea needed someplace to stay. She got engaged in May and is getting married the end of August, so she came to live with us! Woohoo!! Chelsea, luckily, doesn't come with a ton of stuff, just her clothes and her bed and a few other things but that's about it. So now it is Eric, myself, my mom, my dad, Emily, Noni and Chelsea, in our gradually shrinking home.

So our house is stuffed to the brim with people and furniture, and yes, it can be stressful at times, but I really do love being close to family. I loooove having Chelsea around again- she is so much fun and I just enjoy being around her. Emily is the same little handful as I remember when I was living at home before, but she is a funny little thing and enjoys helping others. My parents are as easy to live with as I remember, and are fun to be around. Having my sassy grandma around is a riot and I'm glad to have this time with her, and to be able to grow such a wonderful friendship.

Noni and my parents have put a down payment on a new house that is being built that will fit everyone's stuff and will fit my parents' and Noni's needs better, for a long term living situation. It's big enough for Eric and I to live as well, for however long that time will be. (This depends on a few different things. We've decided that I won't go back to work for now so that someone can be here with Noni. If Eric and I were to move out, my mom would probably have to stop working to stay home, so we agreed that we'd stay for the time being They're also still waiting for their house to sell in Holbrook, so us moving out would probably cause financial hardship on them at this time. Buuuut Eric and I are ready to have our own space again, whenever the time is right.)

My parents and Emily went back to school this week, both Eric and Chelsea are gone during the day working, so Noni and I hang out together all day. I get to visit with her and listen to her stories and experiences, we read and watch TV, we go shopping and to the movies, and we cook together. I'm so grateful to have this special time with her!

Well... This post is way longer than I anticipated, but since I don't write in a journal, I want to be able to look back at what was happening at different points in our marriage and see what I was thinking and feeling at the time. This blog is kinda like a journal for me I suppose, and more for my benefit than anyone elses, so I'm not apologizing! :)



Monday, July 2, 2012

New York! (State Trip- May 2012)

In the end of May, Eric and I went to New York for our state trip. It was nice to get away for a bit, and I think Eric definitely deserved it after working so hard with work and school and it was wonderful not to have to think about having to do homework or work when we got home. Anywhooo.. Here are our pictures of our New York trip! :)

(As a side note-- I realize in the majority of our other vacation pictures, I avoided being in the pictures- mostly because I'm uncomfortable with the way I look and my weight- but I do want to remember being there and have proof I was there haha so I did make an effort to be in more pictures for this trip... Plussss I'm working on losing the weight so it'll be nice to see where I was compared to where I end up:) okay, end of side note!)


 These next pictures are of a submarine we got to go into.. I definitely could NOT live in a submarine even if someone gave me a million dollars..


 Can you say claustrophobia?! Those doors were sooo tiny. Everything in the submarine was just so compact and close together. I'm surprised I made it out alive!


 Eric was totally in love!




 New York skyline!
 The new Word Trade Tower, Tower One








 The 9/11 memorial was absolutely beautiful. The ground felt so sacred and the feeling of gratitude to those who serve our country and those who lost their lives, was overwhelming.





















 Oh Carrie... One day I'll have your body and hair! :)






 I had to stick my camera out and take a picture of how high up we were.. It was awesome!







Goodbye New York! :)