Update on House

Hi All!! Sorry its been a couple weeks since I updated. I've been doing the wiring in my house over the past couple of weeks. But it is finally done. The roof is almost done and they are putting up the drywall as I type. I realized that I didn't tell you were I was building in my last post. We are building in Lehi, a Patterson Construction Subdivision called Willow Brook. Its just off Main Street and 1700 West in Lehi. Its awesome we are the only house on our street right now. Anyway as I was saying we finished up the wiring in our house today. I think it may be the most wired house for its size in the state of Utah. I have never seen so much wire in one place. We have places (4 I think) for Plasma TVs on the walls for our pictures. They will be hooked to computers so that we can just have a slide show going on. We have our multi-room sound system that also links outside to our covered deck. This sound system is also hooked into the security so that when the door bell rings the camera by the front door will turn on and show who is at the door on every color keypad in the house. There are 4 keypads in the house. I can also put a camera in one of the bedrooms so that when we have a baby I can check in on baby from anywhere in the house. I think that rocks. Anyway I guess that is all the updates for now. I'll take pictures as they sheet rock and get some more stuff done and post. Hope to hear from you all soon.

Our House is a Very Very Very Fine House (Sorry couldn't resist)

So as some of you may know we decided to build a house. It all happened kind of suddenly. We went to our good friends at Patterson Construction and they decided to help us out with our goal. We looked at floor plans and found one that we really liked (pictured below)and then decided where we wanted to live. We found a sub-division that wasn't too far out there and the lots weren't too expensive. Turns out that they already had the foundation of the house we wanted poured in that location. So a week after we went in to talk about building a house we had a floor. Luckily it has been great weather and they have been able to work everyday and now after a week of actually working we have walls!! In the picture I am standing in the master bedroom. It looks like they are starting to put the roof on Monday and will have it done by the end of the week. I will keep you posted at least once a week. Lots to do so I will do my best.

Big News!!!

So I know its been awhile since I have written a new blog, but nothing really exciting has happened until now. So here is my big news. Everyone has been asking me about this since I got married and finally I can say "Yes! We sold my condo!!!" Ok I don't know how many of you thought I was going to say I was pregnant, but sorry, not for a while. But we are very excited to have that little addtion out of our life. I just wanted to let you all know so you can do a mini-celebration for us!! Let's see what else is going on with life? Oh yeah my sister in law got married yesterday, and it was beautiful. I caught a cold from standing outside in the snow taking pictures though. But all in all it was a good day. I guess that is all that is going on in my life right now. Hopefully I will be able to find more stuff to talk about sooner than later.

Our Trip to Big Hat Country

Brandon and I decided that we were bored so we decided to take a trip down to Texas and see what this whole Hurricane Ike thing was all about. Ok it probably wasn't the best idea to take a vacation to Houston during a hurricane warning, but we had been planning on visiting our friends Coley and Jason down there for months. We didn't have any other time to go, and we figured 'How bad could a hurricane be...?" It was a very interesting vacation. For another side to this adventure please check out Nicole and Jason's blog that is linked to mine. Anyway here is our version. We had a slow start last Wednesday. We planned on leaving around noon, but we didn't get on our way until 9:30pm. Ugh! Anyway we drove down there straight without stopping. We made one stop to eat lunch. We made it to there by 10 pm Houston time. I had a deja vu feeling of being in an alien movie, everyone was on the other side of the freeway evacuating the coastal cities. I felt like a storm chaser. But we arrived safe and sound, a little sleep deprived, but nothing that we couldn't catch up from.

Houston Temple

Playing at the Park

Preparing for Ike

Downtown Houston

So after catching up with our friends we went to bed. When we woke up the next morning they drove us around to see Houston. Turns out everything was closed, but we went to see the Houston Temple and the nice houses around there. Then we went downtown and played in what I think was Memorial Park. Then it started raining and got really windy. So we went back to their apartment and played The Wii and watched the news about the hurricane. Wii Fit is pretty fun, Brandon really enjoyed it, I have a feeling we will be owning that game at some point in time. It was really funny on the news, they had evacuated Galveston Bay, but there were still some people hanging around, trying to surf and stuff, the idiots. But they ended upinterviewing this guy they asked "Why are you still here?" and his response "I am here to feel the elemental energy. Can't you just feel that in the air?" Yeah, I can feel that its called wind and rain and your impending death if you stay there much longer. Dumb, anyway we went to sleep that night and listened to the wind and rain. The power flickered on and off a few times and finally went out around 3 in the morning. We woke up with no electricity and no water. All in all where we were the storm was no worse than a bad Utah wind storm. So we ended up playing card and board games most of the day. Eventually the heat and mugginess got the best of us with no AC so we left to find real food. We had to drive about 30 miles West to find stuff that was open, but we finally did. We had fun spending time with our friends, but that night was one of the worst I have had. It was hot and muggy and gross. Luckily during the middle of the night there was a huge thunder storm.

Be glad you were parked in any of those spots

Flooding of the Bayou

This was what I was expecting from the hurricane, bright lightning, loud thunder, and massive amounts of rain. The best part was the slight breeze that was coming through the open window. I finally fell asleep. The next day we decided it was time to leave Houston. Jason's work sent him to San Antonio so that he could continue working during the clean up efforts of the storm, so we all packed up and went to see San Antonio. Jason's work put him up in a nice extended stay hotel for the week, and so we had AC and a mall across the street.

The Riverwalk

The Alamo

More Riverwalk

The first day we were there we went to see the Alamo and walk the Riverwalk. The Riverwalk was really nice there are nice hotels, shops and restaurants all around. Jason and Coley decided to go a a tour boat ride while Brandon and I decided to walk the river. We stopped to rest on a island which turned out to be Lover's Island. It is a naturally formed heart-shaped island where there is at least one marriage performed a day. We were just sitting there chatting, when he gave me a kiss on the cheek and people on the bridge across from the island started clapping. Um..thanks. Anyway we went back to the hotel for more card games and a good night sleep. Jason had to go to work the next day so Coley came with us to the mall. We got a few new clothes and had some ice cream. Then we were on our way home. Nonstop we made it in 18 hours. Then we crashed on the bed for a couple of hours. But that is our adventure with Ike. He actually had a very small appearance in the whole thing. I'll keep you posted on life happenings.

Welcome to Beaver...

Brandon and I decided to take a short trip down to St. George to see a play at Tuacahn. We wanted to get away and Les Miserables seemed to be the best way to do that. So after a long 3 days of work we decided to get on the bike. We didn't take Dave this time we are adding a new addition to our family, but its going to be shared custody with Brandon's brother. I don't have a name for our newest bike, but its a Harley Davidson Ultra Classic, so I'm sure I will think of something. Maybe this one is a girl... Classy??? I don't know I'll get back to you, anyhoo back to the story. We have an uneventful trip down to St. George except for the fact that I was freaking on fire!! I thought I was going to burn alive on the bike. But it was a very nice ride, my butt was very comfortable on the seat, and we had radio. This bike had everything but cup holders. We made it the entire 4 hours with only one stop for gas and to get a drink. When we got to St. George we stopped to eat at In-n-Out Burger, very tasty and then went to check into our hotel. The Country Inn and Suites. It was brand new and very very nice. I highly recommend it. So we chill there for an hour or so and head off to our show. Its a beautiful drive out to the amphitheater. We get there and we had paid for dinner so we go to fill our plates with pulled pork, chicken, salad, fruit, rolls, carrots, potatoes, and yummy raspberry lemonade. The biggest problem were the stupid bees!! I think they got mad because I tried to shew them away from the pork I was trying to dish up and so they followed us and harassed us while we tried to eat. I think we moved 4 times outside before we let the bees win and went inside to finish dinner. Finally it was time for the play! We actually had really good seats for a good price. I could actually see the actors spit, crazy! But it was great to actually see Les Miserables the full version, I mean. I had seen the concert version and the movie without any music(boring) so it was nice to see it all together. I thought all the actors were very good. Brandon liked it too, even though I thought he wouldn't with it being a pretty sad story. Leave it to Brandon to make that story happy. I would try out for the part of Eponine if I was going to do that kind of stuff. On a side note, on our way out I saw this really cool waterfall that went all the way down the stairs and through the parking lot. It reminded me of a similar water feature I have seen in down town LA. I think near the tar pits. So it was an uneventful evening and morning. We checked out of our hotel and start heading home. Brandon wanted to stop in Monroe and have lunch/dinner at his favorite place to eat so we decided it would be good to be on our way. I told him that we should probably stop for gas in Cedar City because I didn't think we would make it all the way to Beaver for gas. He decides that he is going to stop just outside Cedar at Summit, but he missed or forgot to take the exit and we ended up drifting off the next exit into Parowan. We pull into the first little community we see to ask for some help to get gas for our now useless bike. There we met Bonnie and Loraine. Nice ladies. Bonnie took Brandon to get some gas while I hung out with Loraine. People have interesting stories. About 10 minutes later we were on our way again. In between the 2 Beaver exits all of the sudden the bike starts fish tailing while we are going 75 on the freeway. Luckily he was able to get us safely to the shoulder and stop the bike with out it tipping over. I was really scared for about 30 secs. Turns out, we have a flat tire. What do we do about a flat tire in the middle of nowhere Utah. Its not like we can just pull out the spare and be on our way. Luckily we had rented to bike for the day to try it out before we buy it, so all we had to do was call Harley and let them know we had a flat tire. Their answer to this... "We will send someone to pick you up." Ok we are down in Beaver and they are in Lindon, 3 hours away!!! What do we do? Start walking down the freeway to the rest stop at the next Beaver exit. Luckily we were not walking long. A nice guy stopped and gave us a ride to the station. He said we didn't look too threatening walking hand in hand down the side of the road. We get there and realize we have 3 hours to occupy ourselves. We realize we left the book we were reading back at the bike. That sucks. Well I guess we are going to take another little walk. We start on our way back to the bike where we are meet by Mr. Highway patrol. So I finally got to ride in a cop car. How cool is that? It was one of the nice Chargers. Very cool. So he takes us to the bike. We grab some stuff, and he drops us off at the Subway to eat fresh. He tells us that he lost 35 pounds by drinking Slimfast and eating Wheathins. Hmmm what an endorsement, maybe I should give it a try. We spend the next few hours in the lobby of the Best Western reading. Finally the guy comes to pick us up. I slept most of the way in the back of the truck. But we finally made it home in one piece, but with no Monroe dinner like Brandon had wanted. So that was our most recent vacation. I'll try to keep you all updated with my interesting stories.

Husband Tag... My First Tag ( so special)

Ok so Coley tagged me to do this almost a month ago, and I'm sorry but I just found time to read your blog so here it is...

1. What is his name? Brandon Timothy O'Keefe

2. Who eats more? Him, definitely him. I've never seen someone eat so much food and stay so skinny.

3. Who said I love you first? He did, although he slipped a couple times while we were dating, he says he was just thought I was being cute (uh huh).

4. Who is taller? He's got about 6-7 inches on me.

6. Who is more sensitive? I'm pretty sure he is, I'm such a robot!!

7. Who does the laundry? Me, even though I barely have time to do it. It usually gets done every two weeks, as soon as he runs out of clothes and reminds me that he doesn't have as many as I do.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, it feels weird if we switch, he just thinks I'm crazy.

9. Who pays the bills? I pay the utilities and stuff, but he takes care of the rent.

10. Who cooks more? We split that, whoever gets home first usually starts dinner.

11. Who is more stubborn? I am definitely more stubborn. I try not to be annoyingly stubborn, but if I want something bad enough, I will get it.

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? We are both pretty good about admitting when we are wrong, but I'm never wrong so there isn't much of an issue. :)

13. Who is more clean? We are probably equal on that. I probably clean up around the house more, but he helps out a lot.

14. Who has more siblings? Brandon wins, 2 brothers 1 sister. 1 sister for me.

15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? He wears the pants, but he will almost always give me what I ask for.

16. What do you like to do together? We usually just stay home and veg after work, watch TV or movies, read a book, but we will go out to eat on occasion.

17.Who eats more sweets? Neither of us have much of a sweet tooth, but probably me.

18. Guilty pleasures? Computers, motorcycles, movies, electronics, video games, and just about anything that will get your adrenaline going.

19. How did you meet? We met through mutual friends at the Ogden Institute.

20. Who proposed? He did, as only Brandon could, the best and most spotlighted way possible.

21. What is his best feature? His eyes are the best thing, the color changes from golden brown to greenish brown, depending on who knows what (I haven't quite figured that out yet) and he has these 3 little flecks of dark brown is his right eye, its pretty cool.

22. What is his greatest quality? That he loves me and wants to make me happy, also that he is so fun loving and acts like a kid sometimes. It makes life fun and interesting.

Now, who to tag?... Amber, Mel, and Bren.

Ah a theater... a lovely theater

So we took this trip to Cedar City awhile ago, but I am just getting time to blog about it now. I thought life would calm down after the wedding and stuff, turns out...not so much. But anywho here is our trip to Cedar City. It wasn't too eventful. We left Friday around 7 or so (on Dave the bike, of course) and took a "small" detour to Monroe so that we could eat "the best steak on the planet" for dinner. But by the time we get to Monroe the restaurant is closed and Brandon gives them this sob story about driving down from American Fork just to eat their food, so they gave us free cheesecake, which was pretty good. And then we didn't have any cash to tip them, so I felt like scum. Next time we stop by Monroe we promise to tip really well. Anyway we continued on our journey south. Now it was dark and cold. We have both decided that we do not like riding on Dave at night, its very cold and very scary. No more night trips for us, thank you. So we finally arrive at our hotel in Cedar around midnight. Brandon goes to park the bike and unload while I check in. The girl at the counter looks up at me as I walk in and says "Wait a minute while I count the till." Ok no problem, I've counted a till before, it takes what a minute or so...no no this girl is counting going on 5, 10, 15 minutes now to count the stupid drawer of a register. Oh Come On!!! Finally she finishes with that and attempts to check us in. She messes something up on the computer and has to call her computer guy to figure it out. We are on hold for 10 minutes while she fiddles around and fixes the problem herself, finally checking us in. We go to our room and die for the night.

The next day we hang out in Cedar eat some yummy Godfather's Pizza and read a book. Just passing time until the main event. Fiddler on the Roof. Cedar has this great thing called the Utah Shakespearean Festival that goes on every year and we decided to go down. The Green Show was entertaining and the play was awesome. We loved it. After we were done we were starving so we found the one place that was still open in Cedar to eat, Taco Time. They were practically closed when we pulled up, but we still got food. Its fun carrying a bag of food on a bike, BTW. Anyway we head back to the hotel for our banquet of tacos and burritos and then sleeping. The next morning it was home we go. This time it wasn't so cold, but we did have to dodge some rain storms. All in all not too eventful of a trip, but fun none the less.