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!