April Madness

This April has been an absolutely busy, but exciting and wonderful month for Cody and I.  We had general conference, We closed on our house, we celebrated Easter, I finished my last exam, ever, today and will graduate soon, and Cody finishes his last exams ever next week!  I have a big job interview tomorrow and by the end of this month we just might be moved into our new house!  Such an exciting time for the Engmans!   

As we celebrate this Easter, as with any holiday it is easy to get sidetracked with the fun and the frills of the holiday and forget the whole meaning behind the celebration.  The little bunnies and chicks are cute and fun to decorate with and dying eggs is one of the highlights, but where did these symbols even come from?  Spring is the time for new birth, this is the season where flowers bloom, trees blossom, and new baby animals are born in abundance.  Easter is the time to celebrate the re-birth, if you will, of Christ our savor.  After he gave his life so that we could be "re-born" through baptism and repentance and made pure and clean like a new-born, he then rose from the dead and was re-born, in a sense.  Thus the fitting symbols of eggs, bunnies, and chicks to represent this miraculous event that literally saved us all.

Easter is my grandma's favorite holiday and she throws a huge Easter party for all her grandchildren every year.  My grandpa gets in on the fun and creates a game every year where money can be won.  The game is usually some variation of a target and a golf ball where the winner gets a $100 bill and the runner up gets a $50.  He also hides money around the garage for the grandkids to fun. 


All the grandkids searching for the hidden 20's.  This is the first year I actally found my own $20.

 

This year my grandpa put up a cardboard sheet with two holes and three clothespins.  Two of the clothes pins held $10 bills and one held a $100.  Then the holes each had a $50.  The first two people to get the ball through the hole got a $50 each, and the first person to knock the clothespins down got the cash! 

 

This year the game took about twice as long as it has any other year because the game was so challenging it took a long time for all the money to be won. 

 

Here's my brother Taylor attempting to win some money.

 

And here's Cody taking his turn.

The 6 year old won the first 50, so everyone decided the trick must be to crouch down low and throw upwards, turns it that only made it harder.

First Load

This weekend my brother Taylor and I drove up to Grantsville to get the key and take the first load of boxes.  We also had the fridge delivered, which I never though is something that would get me this excited.  Funny how life changes.  I still remember when we got new couches as a kid and my mom was just so excited.  I specifically remember thinking, how is this at all exciting? I guess some things just change without you realizing it.

It was really exciting to start moving things in and getting stuff put away.

When we got there my realtor Barb Wittwer, who lives in Grantsville had left a large birdhouse she had special made for us on our porch.  Later on she stopped by to bring us flowers and some snacks to snack on during the move.

 I love how caring and helpful the people in Grantsville have been towards us already.  One neighbor offered to drive the hour and 45 minute drive to Provo to grab a load and drive another hour and 45 minutes back to Grantsville to help us move, and another neighbor made a special trip over to tell us that during a wind storm that week they saw a few shingles blow off our roof.  I can't wait to move there.  I already know my neighbors in Grantsville better than my neighbors in Provo where I have lived for 2 years.

 

 Here is a better picture of cabinets, without the cleaning guy and his mess in the way.  I think the kitchen turned out pretty well. I especially love that huge walk in pantry.

 And the fridge.  Biggest fridge I have ever seen, it barely fits in the kitchen.  The Icemaker is LED and has child lock.  I never thought I could be so excited about a fridge.

     

New Beginnings

This past November my husband and I took a big leap and bought ourselves an acre of land in Grantsville UT.  We then found a builder and by January our brand new house was under weigh. 

 5 months later, the house is done, we are both graduating from our Universities this month, and in the process of moving our entire life to a brand new place where we know no one.  It's a little scary, but mostly just exciting!  I see this move as a new beginning for us.  The start of the next stage of our lives.  I am just so excited to see what this next stage brigs us! 

We have such big plans for our property and house, and I can't wait to get started on it!  For the next few weeks we will continue to live between two houses, which has been and will continue to be a huge pain.  It has been interesting however, trying to group all our possessions into categories based on" essentials", "nice to haves", and "did even know we hads" when deciding what stays here and what goes there.

    Designing the house I have to admit was very daunting.  I kept imaging coming home to the final house and being distraught to see my cabinets, countertops, floors and wall colors looking absolute horrid next to one another.  Luckily for me, everything came together pretty well and I can not wait to turn my beautiful house, into a beautiful home! 

The whole house was built in 3 painfully slow months.  It was so exciting to drive up to Grantsville on a day off and see the progress as the house came together.  Now the next step is putting in a yard, a fence, a vegetable garden, planting flowers, putting up a porch rail, building a barn and correls, buying horses, buying chickens..etc.. you get the picture ;)

I don't have any pictures of the final house after closing yet, but the end pictures here pretty much show what it looks like. 

 

My laundry room / Mudroom. I love it!

Two sinks in the master bathroom. I can't wait to brush my teeth at my own sink and not have to try to share one sink. 

The True Meaning of The Season

The other day my husband went outside to shovel the snow off of our driveway.  Dinner had been ready for a while and I waited patiently for him to return, but it seemed like he should be done by now, and so I went outside to check on him and see what was taking so long. 

Our neighbor is an elderly lady who lives by herself.  We don't her story or if she has any family near by, but we do know she lives alone. My sweet sweet, wonderful husband, after finishing our driveway, noticed hers was still covered in feet of untouched snow.  Being the wonderful, generous, service oriented man he is, he went over there and shoveled her snow. 

She will never know it was him, he will never be given praise or thanks for his caring act of kindness, but he did it anyways.  This, is the true love of Christ.  This is what Christmas is all about.  This is why we celebrate.

I love my husband more than words can explain, and ever single day he reminds me of why I fell in love with him.  This is the man I want helping me through life, this is the man I want raising my children and setting an example for them.   

If you are tall enough to reach that high...

Cleaning the isles at work today I came across this lovely mess someone left for me.  Someone emptied out the entire contents of a bag filled with moss all over the floor and the bin below where the bang hangs, and then hung the bag back up.

I would find it less vexing if I thought it was a young kid, probably bored while his/her mother shopped around and paid no attention to him/her.  However, the bag was hung about 5 feet high, whether a kid did it or not, someone capable of reaching 5 feet was aware and involved...and left the mess there- probably assuming someone else will clean it up.  Ye buddy, someone else will clean it up...ME!

If you are tall enough to reach that high, you are old enough to know better than leaving it there.

Thank you, Michael's customers, for the courtesy

Sincerely, Annoyed.