Buddies

So, Alan loves to take off with his buddies and do guy stuff like dirt biking, hiking, repelling, etc. Here are a few highlights of where he's been this summer with his buddies...

Hiking in slot canyons at San Rafael Swell

I have TONS of pictures of his friends and like 2 of him... but what guy asks his friends to take a picture of him? That would be SO lame :)

Hiking/repelling at San Rafael Swell

Natural Bridge they found at San Rafael Swell when they were dirt biking on a trail called "5 Miles of Hell"... sunds FUN!

Apparently there is a whole in the side of this rock... kinda hard to see.

This is a 4 wheeling day trip they took up in AF Canyon I think.

They got lost this day and spent hours trying to get out of an impossible situation... and he missed Summer's birthday party... but we're glad he made it out ok;)

That is the back of Timp in the background.

I'm glad Alan has friends he can do that kind of stuff with... I don't think I would really enjoy 5 Miles of Hell :)

Love you Babe!

The end of a long road

Alan graduated in April from BYU (in case you cant tell from the pictures). I am so proud of him! I NEVER could have worked full time to support a family while going to school. He is an amazing guy! He is a great example to me and to my kids of the importance of getting an education. Maybe someday when all my kids are in school, I will head back and finish my degree..

Anyway. Graduation was long and boring (as usual), but we had a really fun barbeque afterward at the park by our house with all our families and Dewayne's family too. Elli and Dewayne graduated on the same day too!!

It was really fun to see them all graduate together. Elli got her Nursing Degree from BYU and just recently passed her exams so she is an RN now!! Way to go Elli! We are so proud of you! And Dewayne graduated from UVU!

It was a long hard road for all of us (graduates and families included), but so worth it!

Congratulations Babe! I love you sooo much! You are my rock.

Finally...

You won't believe it, but it's true. . . We finally closed on our house yesterday!! I am still in shock myself. We've been back and forth so many times, we just couldn't decide if we should or shouldn't. Then in December we got the ball rolling and started using a family friend as the loan officer, well... she was not working out. Let's just say she probably still thinks she's working on our loan - she was soooo slow. So the first of February Caro gave us the number of her loan guy out in Colorado and he was amazing - it was like night and day. He was so quick and upfront. We got it all done within a month and a great interest rate and payment to boot! If anybody needs a loan guy - he's fabulous. They even sent a notary to our house to close! How cool is that?

Anywho, thanks Caro!!

So the house is finally ours. Three years and 7 months later, its ours!

So now come the projects, which I am so excited about. I want to tile the master bath, paint the kids rooms and my room, fix up the basement apartment, get a vinyl fence, elevate the backyard(Alan fights me on this one, but I want it dang it!). Anyways, there are many things that will be underway as soon as Alan finishes school in April!! I can't wait for that moment in our lives!

So I guess we will be here for a while longer, but I do hope to someday settle down in a quiet little town somewhere with my best friend next door. Wouldn't that be perfect?? We can't have everything at once thought, I can be patient - I hope!

As an exciting side note - Alan has accepted an amazing offer from his former employer of 7 years - Ortho Development. Apparently they really wanted him back and he is incredibly excited to go back and be a Hip product Line Manager working in the marketing department. We couldn't be happier. He has been so stressed out lately with his current job and so unhappy. It is good to see him smiling again and with hope in his eyes. He will be starting April 1st and then graduating the end of April - so we really feel like a new and improved chapter of our life is beginning. We are so looking forward to the future.