My first lemon tree.

I really love how California has great produce all year long. And yes, I just gave California a compliment. I have been wanting a citrus tree ever since I moved here and Costco had a bunch for sale a couple of weeks ago. Here he is! He's an Italian lemon tree know for it's Sorrento lemons. I love the way it looks and am hoping it will bear fruit in a couple of years. After a few calls to friends who have just planted some citrus, I potted it said a prayer that it will stay alive. 

Design Center

Gee, which color of beige should I choose? They're all so different.

Okay, for those of you who don't know, Dan and I just bought our first house. I feel really lucky to be able to say that. We have been looking for a really long time and decided that we would expand our search to an area where a lot of Dan's family lives. It's about 45 minutes north of here and in a lovely community called Lincoln on the I-80 side of Sacramento. We went out with Realtor  a couple of months ago and looked at a house that had a really nice floor plan, perfect size, in a cute neighborhood and more importantly-in our price range. We got home a a couple days later we were still thinking about this home. We contacted our Realtor for more information and later that day we found out that there were a couple of offers on it already and going for $30,000 to $40,000 more than the asking price. Oh well-right?! Not for Dan. He contacted the builder and found out that they were still building in that neighborhood and the model we looked at was very closed to our price range. So we decided to put in an offer $10,000 lower than asking price plus $8,000 toward closing costs. I really didn't think they would even consider this but about a day later they accepted the offer and before we knew it we were signing about 1000 papers on our first home.  

So...there is one problem. The sales guy has to sell one of the speck houses already built before they can start construction on our home. Seems a little weird-I know! What if this guy takes a year before he sells anything. But that was the deal and now we are waiting. Our house will take 18 weeks from start to finish so I hope this guy sells soon. 

The good thing when you buy a house like this is you get to pick out what you want, sort of. Marston, Darlene (my mother-in-law) and I went to the design center yesterday. I knew everything was going to be overpriced but I was floored when I got there and saw the price list. I thought "okay I know I won't be able to afford all the upgrades but I'm sure I could get 2 or 3 really nice things". Yeah right! For example, for the lowest upgraded wood floor they were asking $15 a sq. foot. I could get really nice hardwood flooring for $4 a sq. foot. Do they really think that people are that stupid. So I got to choose a few things that come standard and I think that it'll look okay until we can rip it out and put in our own stuff. 

 

San Francisco Treat

We got to head out to the bay this last weekend with our friends, Jared and Amy and their adorable little Tavin. Amy got tickets to Wicked so we made a weekend out of it. We stayed in a hotel right on Union Square, the location was perfect. We rode the trolley to Fisherman's Warf, saw the sea lions, ate clam chowder and people watched. Amy and I went to Wicked while the husbands stayed with our little ones. It was an amazing show. One I would recommend even if you are not into musicals. The music was beautiful, the scripting was clever, the stage and costumes were incredible. The next day we went over to Golden Gate park. It was a great weekend. 

2 Weeks of Fun

My parents came out for my cousin's wedding and I decided that I needed some time with the Taylors so I hopped in the car with them on their way home. It took 12 hours to get to Preston Idaho and I must say, Marston did very well. We watched about 10 hours of Baby Einstein but all in all he did great. We spent the first couple of days at the ranch in Preston, playing with the dogs, the cat, watching the chickens, getting chased by the rooster, and petting the horses. It was a grand time and Marston loved all the animals. That weekend we went to SLC to see my brother Adam's band play. It was pretty cool. He played in a very small venue in SLC. It is probably the best band he's been in-and he's been in lots. I think they are going to have success with this one. After the concert, we went to Cedar Hills to visit my brother and his family. They have 4 children who are just wonderful little creatures. The youngest is only a month older than Marston. I think Marston loved watching all the kids play and having someone his own size. While we were there he got really good at crawling. It's amazing how fast they learn. We went back up to Preston for general conference weekend. After a couple of more days hanging out with my parents Marston and I went up to Rexburg to visit my sister Beth. We moved from there only a year and a half ago but that place has sure changed. I really miss it but I think it will always be romanticized in my mind because I met Daniel there and we started our lives there together. Anyhow, I got to visit with some of my old roommates, meet Bethy's roomies and even her new man. From there we meet up with my parents, Zack and Bianca, Beth and Lance and Jenn and Isaac. We all drove up to Washington for my cousin Kylie's wedding. We left at about 9pm and drove to Spokane to stay at my grandma's house for the night. Marston again did really well. He slept the whole way. We got to my grandma's house at about 4am and we were all really tired. I love Spokane. Especially where my grandma lives. It is so beautiful. It's green and there are huge trees everywhere. I love to go there. We only spent a couple of hours there and before I knew it we were back on the road to Seattle. It only took about 4 hours to get there but once there I was relieved to know that that was our finial destination. My brother Nathan works for Microsoft so we went straight to the Microsoft store. My brothers and dad picked up software at a fraction of the price and we headed out. We got to stay at a cool hotel in downtown Seattle. It was right on the water. The next day we went to Kylie's wedding at the Seattle Temple. It was beautiful! She looked really happy. Reception was one of the best I've been to. Simple, beautiful and fun. The next day, Marston and I flew home. It was a great trip. I could have spent a couple more weeks like that if my husband was with me. It was a long time for us to be apart.