December 2011

What a month is has been...

The month started off like this...

packing up out apartment.

It was a pretty scary thing to be honest, we has to start packing up our apartment with out truly knowing if we were going to be able to get our house. I know there are always bumps in the road of home buying but I thought we had passed all of ours with the actually making offers and getting acceptance road... I was wrong!  The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we got a call that changed our whole process... We had to scrabble last minute and change our whole plan with the house. With a week away from what we though was closing on our house, we were left looking for solutions and wondering where we were going.  We had to change lenders to get the deal done and even that was kind of iffy.  We started the loan process with a completely new lender that Wednesday and had to wait through the long weekend to figure out where we stood with them.  I joked we always find out bad news on Friday then have to wait for an answer on Monday that we actually get on Wednesday. So waiting even longer due to the holiday weekend was rough!

Monday came.. no answer.. Tuesday came and this was our very last day of due diligence with financing.. we had to either walk blindly into the future and hope that everything works out knowing that if it didn't we would loose all the money we had put down for earnest money (not to mention the money for appraisal and inspection), or walk away today and know we were out. We had already given our notice to the apartments we lived in that we would be out by the 5th of December so we couldn't even stay put we HAD to move that weekend somewhere.  We decided to put our faith in the new lender and go forward blindly knowing we could loose a lot. It was super scary but we knew it was the house for us and we had already fought so much to get it why give up now? Friday came and we got the call that our file had been submitted to underwriting and came back already! WE HAVE FIRM APPROVAL!  What a great day.!

On the 3rd we  had our Thompson Family Christmas Party, then it was back to the apartment to finish boxing up to move to my parents the next day. We had set to close on our house on the 9th so we knew we only had a week of living at my parents. Knowing where we were going to really end up make it a lot easier to pack up the apartment. 

Sunday the 4th we moved out of our apartment and in to my old bedroom at my parents (which they had just begun making into a project/craft room, I guess they didn't plan on me coming back ever lol)

We had setup a time for Thursday the 8th to go sign our life away! However on Monday we got a call asking if we would like to sign earlier, so we signed on Tuesday and it was not as scary/dreadful as I thought it might be. It was actually pretty low key.

The rest of the week went by kinda slow, we knew the weekend would pass by so quickly. Thursday we celebrated my mother in laws birthday with some cake from none other than coldstone! After doing cake we ran around getting cleaning supplies and getting tile for our master bathroom (seriously who still puts carpet in a bathroom? Our house had it and it was built in 2006... )

Friday Morning came... Today we get our keys we were told they were going to get our keys to us as early as possible they had set up a wire to be there first thing that morning to fund the loan and they only needed to record it that morning.  We ran around all morning getting paint/ setting up delivery of our washer/dryer and loading up supplies to take to the house... after that was done we still didn't have keys... GRRR I wanted to get in and get done.  Around 3 pm we got a text message from our Realtor telling us the code to get into the house :)

We  got to the house about 3:30 and got to work painting that walls and trim, and cleaning the bathrooms and kitchen.  We were lucky to get the sellers to pay to have the carpets shampooed before we got access to the house.  We spend all afternoon and night at the house painting and cleaning. I was so sick, ( I love how just as your stress level can lower, BAM you get sick!) We painted pretty much every wall in the house and painted 3 accent walls. Kasey had made it out to rip our carpet in the master bathroom and begun the tile process.  We finally finished about 11:30 that night.

The next morning was Moving day!

This wasn't too bad as we had just loaded all of our stuff onto my parents 4-wheeler trailer that weekend before so it was just pulling it to the house and unloading. Everything was in pretty quick and we began unpacking boxes and finding every things new home.

That night we had yet another family Christmas gathering, we went to dinner at Fuji and to see the lights at temple square. Seth and I went to temple square and then realized it was too cold to walk around with me being sick, not sure where my coat was and really tired from the last couple of day so we say goodbye and went home before walking around the temple grounds.

On Friday the 16th I came home to 2 little elf's in my house putting up a Christmas tree and decorating my house for the holidays, I wasn't sure I was going to decorate as it had been so stressful already and I didn't know how much more I really wanted to do... So my mom and dad decided they would do it for me. I loved it! It was very kind of them and Seth and I really appreciated it!

On Sunday we went to the Paxman Family Christmas party, we had fun and it was nice to see everyone and relax for a few minutes.

Christmas Weekend

We spent Christmas Eve over at my parents house with the traditional turkey dinner and playing games. Presten had bought a new game to play called Killer Bunnies... its fun but SUPER LONG! I think we spend 3 hours playing that night just 1 game and we had to escalate how quickly we ended the game.

Christmas morning we headed over to my parents to open presents and see my family for a little bit. followed by going over to Seth's parents to see them for a few and opening presents there.  When we left his parents we picked up Seth's friend Gary and went home.

Later in the day we had both families over for dinner and games... again we played killer bunnies and it was super long again. Playing a long game while trying to host everyone is really hard, but in the end I think everyone had fun and it was nice to have everyone over. We love that our house is great for hosting gatherings and being able to get together with our friends and family.

Here are some pictures of our new home... Enjoy

Living Room

 Master Bathroom

 Kitchen

 Dinning Area

 Office with Purple Accent Wall

 Guest Bedroom

 Master Bedroom with Green Accent Wall

 Our Washer and Dryer and Laundry Room

 Awesome tile work by my brother Kasey

 Guest Bathroom

Holiday Dogs :)

Thankful

So Everyone has been doing posts a day for things they are thankful for, I am Thankful for many things but I will never be one to blog every day, so in wanting to express my Thankfulness I give you my 30 days of thankfulness in 1 post… yup no need to check back every day you get it all NOW! That you can be thankful for.

1. Seth- I know its kinda clique but I am so Thankful for my husband, he loves me unconditionally and is always there when I need him the most. He has been an amazing partner to go through so many life changes in 1 year with. Although we have only been married a little over 7 months he is totally my rock and the one I love with all my heart!
2. My Mom- My mom has taught me so many great things, she taught me to cook and to be the great wife I am aspiring to be. We have had our ups and downs but what mother/ daughter doesn’t have those? My mom is always there to help all her kids when they need help and she doesn’t ever let them give up on their dreams.
3. My Dad- My dad has truly shown me what hard work means, he has done so many great things and has always worked so hard to give me and my family everything we ever wanted. He is my hero and someone I truly look up to. He has helped me grown and learn in so many ways and for that I will always be thankful for. I know I will always be daddy’s little princess.
4. My Brothers- I am grateful for the teasing and playful times we have had growing up, I am thankful for the different qualities each of them bring to my life. Jesten is awesome in figuring out techy stuff and is someone I can always count on to give me good opinions of gadgets, he is also awesome with cars. Jesten has taught me how to take care of those things that are important to me whether that be my car or loved ones. Kasey- is kind of a jack of all trades, he is very handy and does amazing tile and construction type work, kasey is someone I can go to when I am not sure how to fix things. He is also someone who has taught me no matter how hard things get, you gotta keep moving forward. Presten- is crazy! I think that’s a great word to describe him, he is all over he has many friends in many different types. He has so much energy and is so fun to be around. Presten has taught me to go with the flow, and have fun don’t worry what people think about you.
5. My In- Laws- I really am pretty lucky with my in-laws, they are always there for us and willing to help in any way they can. They don’t ask much of us and understand that we still adjusting to married life and working out the kinks of having 2 families to include in life now.
6. My Friends- I am so thankful for all my friends the ones who live close and the ones who live far away. I am thankful for them always being there for me and picking me up when I need a boost, for giving me a kick when I needed a fixing. I am glad that with so many of my friends that even though we don’t talk every day or even every week, that when we find the time to talk that its like we never missed a beat. I really do have the best friends
7. Zoie- I truly love my dog, she is a great pet. She has quiet a personality and is very jealous, but she has always been there for me when I just need her to be. She has been by my side through so many ups and downs and has been very loyal to me.
8. Huk – He is a new addition to my family, but we are so happy he is with us. We weren’t really planning on getting another dog when we got him but he is perfect for us. I love seeing how happy Seth is to finally have a dog of his own that he gets to raise from a puppy. He is great to play with and is always there to give loves. He is full of energy and always wants to play. He is a good dog.
9. The Lakes/ Wave running – I am so grateful that every winter I have something to look forward to. I have told many people I feel most like me when I am out on the lake alone than anywhere else. It’s a very special feeling and place for me and I am so thankful for that.
10. Running Water / Flushing Toilets – I think this goes without saying much… So thankful
11. Prayer- I am so thankful that I know the power of prayer, and although I probably don’t pray as much as I should, I am thankful that I learned at a very young age the real power of pray and that he is listening.
12. Life Lessons- I wouldn’t be the person I am today or doing the things I am doing today with out the trials I have been through. I am so glad that I was able to look at the lessons and learn as much as I have. To look back 10 years and see myself just graduating high school and look at where I am at in life now I am so thankful for all the hard times that built me.
13. Dr. Pepper- I love this stuff, I am so thankful for it and the boost it gives me when I need it.
14. Education- I am thankful for my education and all that I have learned, not just in text books but the underlying knowledge from doing my homework and attending classes. I am thankful to know how to do many things and be able to problem solve, to think clearly and to understand what I read. I am thankful that I was able to attend college and push to get my degree.
15. Facebook- I know this seems kind of odd, but I love facebook not because I can stalk people I went to high school with or see what so and so is up to now. But I am thankful with all my friends throughout the world that even though we don’t talk because of costs, time zones and busy lifes that I am still able to know what is happening in so many of my friends lives, even if it’s just a snapshot.
16. Lotion- I have such dry skin especially this time of year that I am so thankful that there is something out there to soothe my dry itchy skin.
17. My Job- My job is just like any other jobs, I have good days and bad days, but in the end I am so thankful for what I do and knowing that I am here to help the employees with their questions.
18. Insurance- Yes I hate paying it, but I am thankful for it when I see doctors bills or claims. I am glad that I can make someone else pay for the majority of my medical bills or car accidents.
19. Music- Sometimes there is nothing better than cranking up some music and just jamming out. It can help with so many emotions and to clear my mind.
20. Family Vacations- I am so thankful for the many great times that I have been able to spend with my family, not having to deal with the hassles of everyday life and being able to see and do new things together. To learn the best type of history lessons and to test our nerves on new and thrilling rides. I have so many great memories of vacationing with my family. I hope that I am able to give my future children some of these great memories as well.
21. Online Banking- I am so thankful that I don’t have to go to the bank anytime I want to know something or pay a bill. I am glad I can manage my life with just the click of a mouse and know where I am at, at all times financially.
22. My Sense- You know Sight, Hearing, Touch, Smell, Taste… I am so glad that I am able to do them all, that I can take in all that is around me and the beauty that comes from that.
23. My Health – I am overall in good health, yes I could lose some weight and would be better, but I am thankful for where I am today. I have no major medical issue and I am able to live a normal day to day life.
24. Heat- I am so thankful that on cold days I can be warm.
25. Electricity- I use so much of it every day and it would be so easy to take it for granted, but from the time I wake up in the morning until I go to sleep at night, and even while I sleep it’s there making my life run smoother.
26. Sleep- I am thankful that I am able to re-energize my body to keep it going, as well as the many fun and interesting dreams that happen while sleeping.
27. Those that serve our Country/ My Freedom- I am so very grateful for those that serve and protect us, for the sacrifices they, the family and loved ones make for our freedom. I have many great friends who are in the military and I appreciate them so much. I am so thankful that I can go
to sleep at night and not worry if my home will be under attack in the night.
28Sunsets- I love them, they are BEAUTIFUL .
29. Water- I am thankful for something so pure and natural that we all need on a daily basis, I am thankful to be able to drink it, play it in, and clean with it.
30. Life- I am so thankful for this journey, though its truly just beginning I am thankful that I am here and that I am able to enjoy every minute of it.

Home sweet home

I tell you once you get your hearts set on a house you fight to get it…
This time fighting paid off. We got our House but it has not been without many hoops and obstacles to overcome. I have 2 other posts on here describing some of them but let me tell you the rest of the story of us getting our home.
After the house went to foreclosure Bank of America bought back the house then gave it to Fannie Mae, I started to think that this might be nice because the majority of fannie mae homes we looked at were newly painted (one less thing I would have to do J ) and in some cases they replaced the carpets, the carpets in the house are not bad, they need a good deep cleaning though. So I thought, maybe that’s why we are going to have to wait even longer to get our home, because that’s they way life works right??? Not so much…
Our Agent had set up a search that tracked any changes on the address of the house we love, every hour of everyday so that when it did come back on the market we could know ASAP. Well it came up one Monday night while Seth and I were relaxing at home, I didn’t have my phone on me for a few hours and as soon as I looked it I saw the email “ Something has changed with 2288” I quickly clicked on it to see if it was true. It was, the price was still in our price range and we were super happy. We logged onto the computer and read the description and looked at the new photos to see if they had done anything else to the house, all they frantically calling and texting our agent. We didn’t want to risk not getting our offer in as soon as possible.
In reading the new listing we didn’t notice anything that said they were accepting offers for x amount of time, so we assumed it was the first good offer would be accepted…
While talking to our agent he said that we could get our offer in that night, but that he didn’t think anyone would jump as quickly and we would probably be okay sending over all the documents in the morning. I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep so I instead that it get done that night. While our agent drew up the documents Seth and I ran to my parents house to use their printer / fax machine.
We got the documents and printed, signed and tried to fax them back, my parents fax machine was not working and kept faxing blank pages (yes I had the pages the correct way.) So we ran to Office Max and faxed them there.. I still can’t believe it cost $18.00 to fax 12 pages. Whew it was in and we should hear back in the next day or so on whether it was ours.
The next we found out that the listing agent had decided to accept all offers on the house until Friday at noon and then they would choose the Highest and Best offer, rather than doing what 99% of agents do and just accept the 1st acceptable offer. So again we got the lame agent who wants to complicate everything, I was so bummed! We had done everything right and yet still more hurdles to jump over.
We talked to our agent and he told us about what’s called an escalation clause, basically we say our offer it $1000 over the highest offer received. With that in place we felt good but scared that the price would go over what we really wanted to pay for the house.
On Thursday the listing agent came back and asked for Highest and Best offers from everyone, he asked us to resubmit our offer with our escalation clause with and up to amount, something like we will pay $1000 over highest offer up to XXX dollars. This became more scary in the fact that we has to name an up to amount, we didn’t want to go too high for fear it would drive up our price, yet not low either cause we wanted the house to be ours. We submitted our offer and was told that on Friday at noon the listing agent would choose the offer he would submit to the bank.
Mid morning Friday I got an email from our agent telling me that all offers are being submitted to the bank and they will choose what offer they are going to accept, so we weren’t looking to get an answer back until Monday or Tuesday the following week at the earliest.
Around 4pm, I was with Seth at a Chocolate Festival that ColdStone was participating in at South Towne Mall, it was noisy and I didn’t hear my phone. Something told me to look at it and I have a missed call, voice mail and a text from our agent saying CALL ME!
I quickly called our agent to see what was going on. WE GOT IT! Well that’s if we wanted to pay the higher price on the home… it was something that we weren’t sure we wanted to do and it was very stressful/ heartbreaking to deal with. On one hand we GOT IT! It was ours if we choose to accept the offer from the bank, no one else could get in the way and we should have a REAL approval letter early next week if we accepted. On the other hand, the price came back higher than we had thought we wanted to go, not much but a little, we worried if we could afford it (then again I worry about money crap all the time). We talked to our mortgage loan officer and asked a lot of questions and realized that it wasn’t that much different than when we thought we had it a few months ago. We knew this was the house we wanted, great location, and great house!
We called out agent and told him that we were pretty sure we wanted it but would let him know 100% Monday morning.
On Halloween we officially signed and accepted the banks offer. We are set to close on December 1st and move December 3rd.. We thought!

Summer Lovin... Summer 2011

Our Summer... In Pictures

Waitng for Andrew and Jen outside the temple..

 Our New Tent..

 Planking at the Lake

 After the "Festival of Colors" at Bear Lake

 Marysvale Mudd Bath

 The whole Group in the Flash Floods!

 BFF Kyle and Presten

 Drive Up by Kamas with Mom and Dad

 

Oktoberfest...

... And My Heart is 1/2 Broken

So I promised that I would let people know what happened with the house...


I am not sure the story is completely over but here is where things stand right now.

Around the end of August I got a call from our Agent telling me that he had just got off the phone with the agent and that the deal had been approved! I was super SUPER excited about it, I called Seth immediately and told him. We thought about not telling anyone until we had the official approval letter (Probably should done that in hind sight) but we were too excited so we told some close friends and family.

In an email we were told the file just had to do one last check through QC and that we should have our approval letter within 72 hours...
Fast forward to the end of September now, NO approval letter, we keep asking where it is at, getting no answers. Our agent starts to do some digging around only to find out that a week prior the bank had ordered a BPO (Brokers Price Opinion, basically a cheap appraisal done by a real estate agent to let the bank know where the house should sell at.) They DO NOT order BPO's to be done on a home that is already approved so why was it ordered? Come to find out we never had approval, The BPO came back at a higher amount than our offer which meant the bank would not approve the sale. Meanwhile the house was set to go into foreclosure in a week from that day.
We talked to our Real Estate Agent and decided we would try to get a postponement on the home from going to foreclosure... We had tried to cut the emotional ties we had to that home, but it was hard. While looking at some other no so great homes our agent got and email from the listing agent asking us to provide proof that we were 100% serious about the home and showing we had "our ducks in a row"... That secretly gave me more hope that it would pull through... 2 days before the foreclosure date we were told that the bank would not approve the postponement nor the sale of the home at our offer. We decided to submit and offer at what the listing agent said where the BPO came back at... This was higher than what we really wanted to go but our thoughts were, we would submit the offer, get it approved and keep the home from going to foreclosure, then tell the bank our appraisal came back less than the offer therefore needing to come down on the price of the home.

Jump back a little, with all the craziness going on with the home my mom called the listing agent (since we were never getting a great idea of what was really happening with the home from him) and pretended to be interested in the home. He had told her that there was an offer in on the home but that it was going to foreclosure next week.

My mom got a follow up call the day the home went to foreclosure... WHY? Because the listing agent got sidetracked and forgot to submit our offer into the bank to keep it from going to foreclosure. Talk about being pissed! Had the agent done his job I probably could be one step closer to having my house.


Since the house was sold at auction we will still have a chance to pick it up when it comes back on the market as a bank owned home, We don't know when it will come back on the market it could be anywhere from 30 days to 3 months. We are still looking into homes as they come up on the market but it’s so hard to see the good in the other homes when my heart is still tied to this house...

Making the Cut...

This is my cute baby boy Huk last time he came home from the groomer.... so cute and fluffy!!!!

This is how he now looks, :( its kinda sad, but I am getting use to him and the time it will take to keep him combed is not worth the fluffyness he was before. He also goes in to be nuetered tomorrow so he needed to be cut shorter for surgery. 

We love our Huk no matter how fluffy he is or isn't.

Home is Where the Heart Is

In June we decided it was time to start looking for a place to call home. This was something we had been talking about how we want to do since before the wedding. Our initial plan was to stay put and pay down our debts so that next year we would be in a better spot and then start looking, but the more and more we talked about it we thought it was the right time to being life’s next little adventure and start the home buying process. We thought a yard would be nice for the dogs; living in an apartment with 2 (even though small) dogs is crazy. Also the market seems to be a good time to buy right now. Seth had a friend who knew a good agent (or so we were told.) He came over one afternoon and we login onto the MLS with the agent’s login, and began looking at homes.


Our first thought was let’s not go too crazy and let’s look at smaller less expensive home and townhomes. We found a few really cute townhomes but none seem to fit just right, my parents told us don’t buy a townhouse you will hate it, and although I still like the idea of a townhouse it just doesn’t meet our needs. (We need a yard for the dogs.) The first night we went out looking at houses we were a little disappointed in what we saw. It was tough we really want to just find a place that we like. We realized that some of the homes are going to need work and that was our mindset. We had been pulling the lists ourselves and going based only on what we saw in pictures on the MLS listings. We went out again and found a home we thought would work well for us, it was at the time priced where we felt good and although it needed work we felt comfortable with the price and the money it would take to fix up the home. We put our offer in… a few days later the bank came back wanting 15k more, I wasn’t sure what to do, I asked my parents to come with us to look at the house because I was not sure. I think it was then that we realized this was not the home for us especially when the bank now wants more money on a home that really needed some TLC. One thing that my parents really pointed out to us was that our Realtor was not really helping us make the right choices; he was almost pushing us into buying this home, even when we brought up our concerns with the home, and he basically just played them down like it wasn’t a big deal.

The next day we changed agents, and looked at a few more homes with a lovely agent, she was nice and was pulling homes for us to see which was a lot more than what the previous agent had done for us. Then my mom was looking on KSL and called on a home she saw that she thought we would like. The agent called my mom back and talked to her for some time and my mom told me to look at the house on KSL. When I pulled up the ad, it was a home that I had seen on the MLS several times and kept asking to go see. I talked to the agent and he set us up with a time to see the home he was selling the next day. The following day I had several email exchanges from this agent asking me so many questions about the home I really want not just what I think I can afford at this point in my life. I listed the basic’s 3 bed, 2 bath, yard for my dogs to play in, good neighborhood, told him the area’s we like. He came up with a list of about 10 homes that he thought matched what I was looking for and sent them to me and told me to tell him all the things I liked vs. hated in the homes. From that list we saw about 6 homes that night. We saw 4 homes we just loved and knew matched what we wanted. 3 of the homes were short sales, 2 of the homes were really nice and we didn’t think we could ever really get them, but we decided to make offers and see what happened.

The non- short sale home, came back quick and the agent wanted a lot more than we were willing to pay for a home we had an offer in on an identical home 2 doors down. So we walked away. A few weeks last we learned that on our Favorite home we were in first position and that the bank will be countering but we heard the counter, however before they officially counter offer us they needed to run the offer by the investor of the home, we were told that in 2-3 weeks we should hear back from the investor and could very well be on our way to owning this home. We got super excited… That was July 18th, it’s now Aug 26th and almost 6 weeks later we are still waiting to hear on the home. We are still very hopeful that this home will be ours, and have fallen more in love with the home during this waiting phase. WE HOPE THIS IS HOME! However if it’s not we still have offers in on the other 2 homes, and we continue to look at what’s on the market. So far nothing compares to this home… Stay tuned for news of when we get an answer now.

Huk

A few weeks after we came home from our lovely honeymoon in the Caribbean, my parents set off on Vacation to Europe. One day while they were gone I got bored and for some strange reason I looked on KSL at dogs, I don’t normally do this but I was bored and I looked. I was looking mainly at Shihtzu puppies as I knew that when we added another dog it would be another Shihtzu to our family. I found this cute little black/brown shihtzu with the cutest white front paws and send a picture to Seth saying… “Can I have him?...” from there we talked about it… I called the guy to see if he still had the cute puppy with the white paws, he did. We said we were going to go look at him that night but decided we should wait because we knew once we went and looked he would be coming home with us. The next say Seth called and said he wanted the puppy so we called again; yup he still had our cute little boy with the white paws. I drove to meet them in Provo and came home with our new puppy that day. He was so good on the ride home just slept in my lap. When I took him to ColdStone to meet dad, since Seth was still at work for the day he woke up and ran around a little stumbling all around. It was adorable and he melted both our hearts.

I made the deal with Seth that this would be his dog and he could name him, since I have my Zoie. Seth decided to name him Huk; I thought ok that’s not bad right? Well a few days later I find out the reason behind the name… It’s one of Seth’s favorite Pro- Star craft players… (I know… Really they have pro players who would have though?) So now I told him fine... you named a dog after a video game player, you can’t be trusted and I will be naming the kids. (I already have names picked out)

When we first brought Huk home, Zoie was pissed; she wanted nothing to do with him. We knew she would be this way going into it, it was hard but now they are best friends and play all day and sometimes all night. I really hope that Huk will help to break Zoie of her Jealousness before we have kids and she acts up because of them.

The Paxman's Est. 4-7-11

I am not a good blogger! I realize that Sorry.


I have been thinking I needed to write about the wedding pretty much since it was over but for some reason or another I just haven't, you know something is always happening.
My Special Day was just that super special and FUN. I didn't want to have the typical Utah wedding where I spend the majority of the night standing in a line. It’s my party, I want to Party! Here is a Run Down of how I recall Our Wedding Day.
The night before we had our rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at Thiaphoon, one of my favorite restaurants and it happens to the place Seth and I went on our "First Date". We had hung out before but this was our actual real first date. The food was delicious and the company was awesome we were surrounded by our best friends and family.

After the dinner I was told I was sleeping at my mom’s house as to not allow Seth and I to see each other the day of the wedding. So in keeping with tradition I slept at my mom’s house, in Presten's room because I wasn't going to sleep on the concrete guest bed they have the night before I get married... I need my Beauty rest!

That morning I got up, Showered and it was off to the Salon to get our hair done. At the Salon we had my mom who also had her hair done, Maddy Kasey's girlfriend to document all the action she is a great photographer! My Flower girl Katelyn and her mom Heather (some great family friends). In the end we all had our hair done and it was off to Heritage Gardens to complete the Bridal look.
When we arrived at Heritage Gardens, Cindy the Cake lady was just assembling my beautiful cake. When I saw it I got teary eyed it turned out better than I imagined and it was BEAUTIFUL. My mom did well in showing me the cake she found on Amazing Wedding Cakes, and Cindy matched it exactly how it was minus the few changes we had made. I loved my wedding cake it was one cake the was stunning to look at and incredibly delicious to eat, not to mention I got to choose 6 flavors (Key Lime, White Chocolate Raspberry, Chocolate Raspberry, English Toffee, Strawberry, & Orange Cream with Choc Chips).

After we saw the cake we snuck to the basement to see what Lori the Florist had created based on our short meeting with her. She had finished the bouquets and was working on our centerpieces, they were beautiful as well. I loved all the bright colors coming all together and just looking so perfect!
After looking at the flowers we headed to the Bridal Suites to finish getting ready. I sat around while my mom did her makeup then it was my turn. My mom did such a wonderful job making me look the like princess on my wedding day. She is much more talented than I am when it comes to applying makeup plus it was super nice being pampered on my wedding and not really having to do any part of the get ready lol. While I was finishing getting ready my bridesmaids started to show up at Heritage Gardens and it was so nice to see all of them in the dresses and how everything just seemed to come together so well. It’s hard when you are out shopping for your wedding and you have this idea in your head how you want things to look but never really know how everything will turn out until you’re in the moment. I was finally ready to take my walk down the aisle. I had my something new (a new wedding dress :), remember I have been engaged twice before, but I also had new shoes. Something old (my veil) something Borrowed (diamond earrings from my maid of honor Ali) Something Blue-(My Garter) and a six pence on my show (Thanks you Daddy for finding me one it was very special!).
The processional music started to play and the wedding party walked down the aisle as I peaked from the bride’s room as to how things were going... Seth walked in with the stake president who married us (Curtis Dahl.) Then his parents followed, then my parents with my dad turning around to wait for me. Followed by my brothers. I was told that Jesten even did some kind of jig down the aisle but I haven't seen it. After the family was all in the chapel, the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked in first Kaleigh and Brian, Andrew and Jen followed then Ali and Gary. Time for the flower girl, Katelyn walked Zoie down the aisle. I was told that people were a little thrown off with my dog being in the wedding but she is special to me :). Then it was my turn to walk in. I walked down the aisle to The Butterfly Waltz. I didn't want to walk to the Wedding March it’s never been one of my favorite songs so I looked and found an alternative.

The Ceremony went great, I don't remember all that was said but what I do remember was the Stake President was trying to give us some advice and was stating statistics of married people who divorce and I remember thinking this was a little odd to tell me how many people don't make it on my wedding day right? Then it was time to "Kiss the Bride" Aww a kiss yeah! Then we exchanged rings, and were pronounced Mr. & Mrs. Sex Seth Paxman" Yea the president actually called my husband Sex lol. It was hard to not laugh, I am pretty sure he was embarrassed as he didn't stay for the dinner.

We turned to walk out and I totally forgot to grab my bouquet back from Ali until I was half way down the isle lol. We walked out into the hall and everyone came to greet us. Lots of Hugs and Tears, Seth cried he was happy, as was I but I wasn't crying lol. We started to take some pictures with family as everyone was sitting down for dinner. Then we were asked to sit down so they could begin serving dinner. We had Homemade Rolls, Salad with Ranch, Chicken Cordon Blue, Roasted Potatoes, and Asparagus with wedding cake and ColdStone for Desert.

When we were finished with dinner, we started the toasts all our parents, bridesmaids and groomsmen all gave a toast and it was very sweet. Seth and I finished the toasts with thanking everyone for coming and announcing that we had ColdStone and a Photo booth that we had rented for the night.

Seth and I ran to take a few photos in the Photo booth and then started mingling with our guest. We went outside to take a few photos with my Grandpa Gordon's Old Caddy that my uncle Denny now owns. It was something special, I had always told my Grandpa Gordon that he was going to be at my wedding sitting on the front row, When I visited him in the hospital I told him this many times. Unfortunately he wasn't there in person but I know he was there in spirit and I kept my promise to him that he would be Front row. In the Ceremony I placed a picture of my Grandparents from the Gordon side, along with a Bird of Paradise flower for my grandma and an A&W bottle of Root beer for my grandpa. It was sentimental to me; I also requested a bird of paradise in my bouquet to honor my grandma.

We took pictures with the bridal party, and then it was time to cut our cake so our guest could eat some of the cake. Before this point Seth didn't know what flavors the cake were, When I met Cindy and tasted her Key Lime Cake I knew Seth would love it! He LOVES Key lime, but I had never heard of it in cake form. So I kept a secret from him the whole time about the main cake flavor. When we cut into it I told him what it was. He was surprised. He fed me cake first and was kind... Then I had my turn and he got the cake on his face!

After the cake was cut, we had our first dance to "Marry Me" by Train, followed with the Daddy Daughter dance to "My Little Girl" by Tim McGraw. Following that was supposed to be the Mother Son dance to "Perfect Fan" by Backstreet Boys, but someone changed the music to something more party like so my brothers and Seth could get their freak on lol. It was only after we got home that night that I realized that Seth never got to Dance with his mom. :( I felt bad.

From then on the night was full of dancing and partying. Maddy Kasey's girlfriend got out the Sharpe and started giving everyone mustaches and we had a mustache party at the wedding. (The mustaches were drawn on people’s pointer fingers and you hold them up to your face to have a mustache.) Almost everyone had them by the nights end even our videographer and photographer. It was a blast.

Soon the clock struck 10 and we got ready to leave. We walked out to our car covered in Peeps, Easter basket confetti stuff, Oreos, whipped cream, condoms and SNOW! Yes it snowed on my wedding day. The one thing I really wanted to avoid, but it snowed. It was pretty and really created a mood though so I was happy.

We drove off into the night and lived happily ever after...

Here are a few pictures to show you a glimpse of the wedding. To see all my photos please see http://thepaxmanssethlacey.shutterfly.com/

New Job

So as some of you are already aware, I am not longer working for DMC! This has been something that I have been looking forward too for at the very least a year. I have been sending out my resume and not really getting many responses. I am going to blame that on the bad economy (its blamed for everything else I figured I would just add one thing.) Well shortly after Christmas I was looking at jobs online and sent out my resume to a handful of companies… a few weeks later I seriously got 3 interviews in a week.. I was so happy and just knew something would work out for me… I had 2 phone interviews.. Which I really like you can be so much more relaxed… Then I was asked to come in for a face to face interview on Jan 20th… I took the day off to do some wedding planning.. Which I will get to in a new post… I went to my interview, I was nervous and felt like I stumbled over my words with my super dry cotton mouth, but still felt hopeful. I went into work the next day and I sit down, I get a phone call from one of my friends telling me my references that I had given the day before were being checked. I heard from all 3 within 30 minutes… Does this mean I got the job?.. I was super hopeful but didn’t hear anything all weekend.. Come Monday morning I was nervous and anxious to get the call. It came in around 9 am! I got the JOB! I was super excited! I was so ready for a new adventure. I held off until after Lunch to give my 2 weeks’ notice, something I wasn’t sure I wanted to do but something I knew I needed to do.


I sat down with my then boss and told her I was giving my 2 weeks’ notice, I didn’t feel too bad, I mean this was the company that totally forgot my birthday last year until I was sent flowers from Seth. If that doesn’t make you feel unimportant I don’t know what does. Anyways as soon as I told my boss I was leaving her immediately gave me a huge list of things I needed to write down on to do so that my replacement could walk into the job and know how to do everything.. I thought shouldn’t my boss know how to do what I do?? She is my superior right?? Oh NO she doesn’t have a clue how I did the most basic of my job duties. I thought about just putting off doing the manual but I was really trying to be nice, so I typed up something basic to use as a basic guideline leaving off my special techniques. Well the end of my first of 2 weeks comes to an end, we bring in lunch for my “going away” party? I felt somewhat special. They did interviews for my replacement on Friday, and come Monday they hire a lady who is old enough to be my mother, has no HR experience, and according to her resume has extensive administrative experience, but when I ask her if she knows how to do the things I got questioned on the most, she had no clue. On Wed. I was teaching her how to enter a new employee into the HR system, she was the only new employee so we were going to enter her into our system, and she completed the new hire packet. I glance down and notice that they have hired my replacement the one with NO HR experience making more money than I was, this to me felt like a huge slap in the face! I had talked to my boss several times about me not getting paid what I should and how I felt that I was being somewhat discriminated against because I refused to go drinking after work with the girls, because I was the only LDS girl who worked there, and because I didn’t dress slutty in the office like the other administrative assistant who made $3.50 an hour more than I was, yet had less education and job responsibilities. So needless to say I was hurt. I didn’t feel like I wanted to stay and help them anymore. I was already close to the end of the day anyways. So I asked to speak to my boss told her how I felt and walked out. .. I spent the next few days trying to get ready for my new job, wedding planning, and cleaning up my house.

On Monday I flew to Seattle to start training for me new job. I was met at the Airport by the girl who interviewed me, she showed me around the town a little and we went to the office and I met my new boss, we went to lunch, and I can already tell I am going to really enjoy this new adventure! After work I decided I would try to go to the mall and walk around since, well my hotel is not exciting at all… I knew how to get to the mall.. I didn’t realize that the road was not the same coming home… I totally got lost and it was dark and not fun, but eventually I found my way back to the hotel. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out and explore again, but I decided I would Google maps and print them so I could find my way without having to play with the Google maps on my phone.. This works A LOT better! Tonight I drove into Seattle ( I am staying about a half hour out of the city.) I wanted to go to Pike Market Place since I have always heard so much about it! Sadly when I got there it was pretty much all closed up , so I went on another adventure.. I went to dinner at a real restaurant all by myself, I never thought I could be the girl to eat out like that but it wasn’t too bad, but I don’ think I will make a habit of it! Anyways I am sure I will experience more and more while I am here. I am just super excited! And it’s always nice to come to work and find out that you were specifically chosen out of 300 resumes, and 10 face to face candidates! Way to go me! Here are a few pictures from my journey today. ENJOY!

The last few months..

I know I am a slacker when it comes to blogging… I need to get better, I need to get better with taking pictures as well so I have something fun to share on my blog. A lot has happened since I last blogged so here is a rundown of the last few months…


So Early November you remember I had my engagement pictures taken, following that I went it for a “Nose Job” I had surgery the day before Thanksgiving up at the University Hospital. I can’t say it was a great experience but certainly not like my last! My surgery was scheduled for 1 pm and I was told to arrive at 11:30 to get paperwork and all the jazz done beforehand. I arrived a little before 11:30 took care of the paperwork and went to sit in the waiting area. Soon I was taken back into my room and give a lovely nightgown to wear around. Around 3pm I was told that surgery is pushed back and I should be taken in sometime before 5pm… Remind you that I haven’t had anything to eat/drink since midnight… I am a little dehydrated by this time, so I remind them of that and tell them they probably should put my IV in. It was a little tricky being my veins had went into hiding from not being nourished properly. About 4:30 I was wheeled back to have my deviated septum fixed. I was out of surgery in about 45 mins and I remember waking up and still feeling the breathing tube down my throat. I really don’t like that feeling. I pretty much went right home, ate some soup and went to bed.

Thanksgiving day we spent the majority of time over at the Thompson house, we made a pit stop by the Paxman family dinner as well. I felt pretty good considering my nose has just been broken and fixed the day before. 2 weeks later my brother Kasey went in to have his tonsils removed. He really didn’t like the experience at all, Thank goodness we know someone in the ice cream business and he was able to have some soft cold foods to get some kind of food into him. About 2 weeks following Kasey having surgery my Dad went in for a Knee Replacement; this is something he has wanted to get done for at few years now but Doctors just kept pushing it back because of his age. They thought went they went in that he would need to have a FULL knee replacement, however once they got in and truly assessed the knee the decided to only do a partial knee replacement. My dad spent basically 2 days in the hospital, and came home early on Christmas Eve, what a great present to have my dad home for Christmas and not having to spend Christmas day at the hospital. I am happy to say my dad is home, walking around and even begun driving again this past week.      

Christmas we great! Seth and I were both very spoiled. Seth has bought us a couch on black Friday, so that we can entertain more people at our place and have somewhere to relax and snuggle together. We love it!



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Our First Christmas Tree :)



So that was obviously out big Christmas present. I had been a snoop and figured out that Seth was going to sign us up for Netflix, which we were going to have to stream through our Wii and only be able to stream in SD, so I bought Seth a Blu-Ray player with Netflix capabilities, funny thing is Seth was going for the same thing a bought a Blu-Ray player for us as well.. So I made him take the one he got for me back before Christmas and figure something else out, cause I know I am a lot easier to shop for than he is. But hey at least we both know the other was thinking about it right? My parent gave me a new pots and pans so I don’t have to use the misfit pots and pans anymore , they also gave me a blender so I can make smoothies, or as Jesten would like to call it a Margarita Making Machine. I love having new kitchen gadgets, they are so much fun and I love thinking of new things to make in/with them. We also receive a few(4 blankets), but I love my blankets and they are so so so snuggly! Zoie got a big bone and a pink hoodie plus lots of treats throughout the holidays.

For New Years we didn’t have really any plans and ended up at my parents playing games and watching a movie.

Right after the Holidays comes Seth’s Birthday… It was actually on Monday! For his birthday I surprised him by only working a ½ day at work then sneaking home to surprise him. We went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory, Did a little shopping at the mall, where Seth got a remote control helicopter, he is such a kid at heart! After hanging out all day we went over to my mom’s for Cake, she has decided after watching many cake shows she wants to decorate cakes.. so this is the cake they made for Seth. This is the first time she has ever made a 3 tier cake, let alone used fondant to cover the cake. I think it turned out pretty good!

Now it’s on to planning the Wedding! As of right now we have chosen to go with April 8th , the only thing that might make that change is if the venue we select doesn’t have that date, then we may change slightly. We will see… The wedding is going to be in Salt Lake rather than Mexico like I was previously planning, because I am super scared of not knowing my vendors and everything not working out like I had planned. Plus it will allow more of our friend to make it to the reception and wedding. So… If you would like and invite you best be emailing me your address either through my blog, facebook, or my email.

That’s pretty much the news from my end. I am going to try and do better about keeping up with things, and posting more about the wedding as it gets planned, but you know life gets so busy!