A few minor changes...

So, in my blogging absence, a couple of changes – ranging in importance from very to insanely – have occurred in my life. Allow me to catch you up.

In January, my long-time significant other and I became engaged. The proposal went as follows: One snowy morn, I awoke to find our cars buried in snow and ice. I called my boss and said something along the lines of, “Hey, is it cool if I come in later? I’m gonna get engaged.” He, of course, granted permission. Next, I kissed Steph “goodbye” and headed outside. I hid my car on the side of the house so that when Steph came outside to leave for school, she would think that I was, in fact, at work. I then called Steph and said something along the lines of, “Hey babe, I scraped your windows, but they’re still a bit iced over, so you might want to head out about ten minutes before you have to leave so you can run your heater. Also, you should leave early because the radio just said that traffic sucks.” I then proceeded to scrape her windows… sort of…

I hid behind Steph’s car, ring in hand, waiting for her to come outside. And then I waited some more. Keep in mind, it was about 3 degrees outside… Steph was supposed to leave for school at about 7:30am. I waited behind her car until 8:10am. You see, after I talked to Steph, her mom had called her and mentioned that traffic wasn’t bad at all, so Steph no longer needed to go out to her car early. Perhaps I should have given her mom the head’s up about what was going on. Anyway, Steph finally came out, I walked out from behind her car, got down on one knee, and she said hell yes.

Major event #2:

This morning, Steph and I bought a house. Sort of. We’ve been looking for houses for about three months now with our AWESOME realtor Bryan Hurd. (If anyone is in the market for a house, let me know. You need to call Bryan.) Anyway, we looked and looked and looked, and we saw a lot of houses we liked, but nothing that we really loved. We looked at countless short sales, a few bank-owned properties, and a handful of good old-fashioned private seller homes. There were some good deals on some short sales, but almost all of them needed work – everything from new carpet, to sheet rock patchwork, to paint, to yard work, to all of the above. The bank-owned properties were mostly disasters. None of them were great houses. Then Bryan, having a feel for what we were really looking for, brought us to Sunset Hills. Sunset Hills is a new community way out on the west side of the Salt Lake valley. 6600 South and Bachus Highway. We wandered through the two spec homes, saw the pricing, and Steph and I knew we were home. We realized that we could build our home our way, for dang near what we were planning on paying for some short sale fixer upper. So, this morning, we went under contract on our new home. This isn’t our exact home, because it’s not built yet, but this is the exact model and layout. I give you, the Canyon at Sunset Hills:

That will be our home by the end of November! (If all goes as planned…) So basically, life is moving really fast, and I'm just trying to keep up with it!

So, there’s a little update. Sorry for the delay!

Yes we did!

So, others have said it much better than I can, so I won't waste your time. But I still wanted to say it...

HURRAY!!!

Look what I found!

After a bit of rain yesterday, we woke up to this today. It was even better first thing in the morning, but I didn't take a picture until after the kids had a chance to have their way with the first real snow of the year. Nothing's quite as awesome as the first snow. I was actually excited to sweep the mounds of snow off of mine and Steph's cars this morning. This snow was a little unexpected because it hit so hard so fast, but that's part of the fun! It's even better when you have a couple of eight-year-olds and an eleven-year-old to use as an excuse to act like a kid in the snow again. 

We built forts, threw snowballs, and even spent a little time just rolling around. My dog, Tucker, has always been a snow dog. I think he even gets more excited than me!

He made the girls pull him around on that sled for hours! I wish I could have filmed him. He's nuts. So I guess this is kind of a continuation of my thanks to Utah. However, a big, unexpected snow storm isn't entirely a good thing...

Maybe I needed to be a little more prepared...

Thanks Utah!

So, anyone who's ever lived in Utah knows that quite a bit of Utah-bashing goes on - both by residents and by the rest of the world. Other states see us as "Mormons," and I put it in quotation marks because I'm not referring to actual Mormons, but rather, I'm referring to what most of the world thinks a Mormon is. Interpretations vary greatly, but I've found that, more often than not, outside interpretations are a far cry from realistic - anywhere from polygamists, to horn-bearing beasts, to cults of anti-Christs. But I digress; any interpretation would be unrealistic, as we all know that to define a person by their religion would be ridiculous. Anyway, I've gotten off topic, but you get the idea about outsider opinions of Utah.  And those of us who live in utah often have complaints about the state. Granted, many of these complaints have bearing - liquor laws are unnecessary, life comes to a hault on Sundays, and winter can be pretty terrible - but I'm afraid that we quite often overlook the wonder that actually is Utah.

Now, this crappy camera-phone picture cannot begin to explain what I'm talking about so much as the story accompanying it can. In the midst of one of the worst days of work yet in my life, I caught a quick glimpse of the view that I take for granted every single day. The giant mountain overlooking my carwash was covered in red, yellow, orange, green, and brown - yes, even the brown was somehow breath-taking. Tiny snowcaps on the peaks stirred excitement for winter, drawing nearer everyday. Cheesy though it may seem, the subtle realization that I like where I live was enough to turn my entire day around. 

Steph and I have discussed on many occasions where we want to end up when she finishes school. We've toyed with paradise locations like Santa Barbara and Hawaii, and city-life areas like Washington DC. But the more we talk about where we want to go, the more we've realized we're happy right where we are. No doubt, this winter will piss me off on several occasions, and scraping the ice off my car windows will grump me up more than once, but I don't know what I would do without the contrasting seasons, extreme hots and colds, and unpredictable weather. Halloween wouldn't be Halloween without the chili nights, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without the snow and cold, and spring wouldn't even be gratifying if it weren't taking the place of a bitter winter that has worn out its welcome. I wouldn't mind a pina colada with more than an ounce of rum in it, but I think the pros definitely outway the cons. So, thanks Utah.

Resemblance?

Okay, I'm not saying that they're twins separated at birth, but the resemblance is undeniable.

And the similarities run deeper than physical appearance. Tony Dungy: The first African-American coach to win the super bowl in the National Football League. Barack Obama: (will be) the first African-American president of the United States of America. Also, both have been accused of not "really" being black, or not being "black enough." (Obama more publicly than Dungy, but I definitely heard people question Dungy's "blackness," especially when comparing him to head coach Lovie Smith - head coach of the Chicago Bears - the team beaten by Tony Dungy's Indianapolis Colts in Superbowl XLI.)

Okay, so those are the only real similarities I could dig up, but I think it's still pretty rad. And if their similarities are any sign of things to come, then we can get even more excited about Obama's upcoming success as our president. As head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, Tony Dungy's regular season record consists of 76 wins, and only 26 losses. That means that Dungy's Colts have won 74.5% of their regular season games. That's pretty spectacular. Dungy is currently in his seventh season with the Colts, and of the six completed seasons, the Colts won their division five times, taking second only once. Also spectacular.

So there you have it. Tony Dungy proves hands down that Barack Obama is the correct choice for president. :) Just ignore the fact that Tony Dungy is socially conservative...

My baby!

K, so she's not really mine, but I claim her anyway. Gizelle Tiana Serrano is the cutest little thing in the world, and for those of you who have never met her, you need to, and for those of you who have, here's some pictures so you can remember how much you love her! Gizelle is Steph's cousin's baby and Steph and I have had our hand in her upbringing. When Gizelle was little, me and Steph watched her every weekend. We don't get to see her quite as often these days, but we certainly spend as much time with her as possible. Anyway, on to the good part: the pictures!

When she was still tiny:

Rare moment for this ball of energy.

Nothing beats bath time with Jeanne.

She LOVES playing with Ainsley!

She is obsessed with "him bike." She just had to go for a ride.

"Westside!"

Gizelle wants to be just like Steph :)

And there you have it! Sorry if I just made all the other little ones look a little less cute, but I just had to share my baby with all of you!

Blogging, eh?

So, I created this blog a long time ago. I needed to create a blog for a class at the University of Utah and I set this up to try it out. I didn't really intend to ever have anyone read it, but from what I understand, it's been read a time or two. So I guess if it's going to be read, it should probably be written. But anyway, don't take those first two posts too seriously (notice I'm the first comment on both posts...)

So, I blog. Don't expect too much from me, as my life is rather run-of-the-mill these days. I don't live in a cool exciting new city, I don't have an exciting job, I don't have any interesting hobbies, and I don't collect stamps. If I collected stamps, you bet your ass I'd blog about it. I do, however, have a phenomenal girlfriend, a rather entertaining dog, an adorable God-daughter-to-be, and a desire to keep in touch with all of my long-lost loved ones stuck in various corners of the country. 

So, the first thing for me to talk about: Football. The Dallas Cowboys. It's the most wonderful time of the year: the beginning of football season. And the wonderfulness of this time of year intensifies when your team is projected to win it all. I've been projecting the Cowboys to win it all since draft day when they acquired Felix Jones, and now, with the season-ending injury sustained by Tom Brady, it seems that the rest of the nation is finally backing me up. If you didn't catch the Cowboys' domination of the supposed-to-be-good-this-year Cleveland Browns, you missed an amazing performance. So may I recommend that you not miss the game against the promising Philadelphia Eagles this coming Monday.

Okay, that's it. It's out of my system. I know that football is probably not a worthy blog topic, but the NFL occupies my mind this time of year. Don't let your hate for this post deter you from reading future posts. I'll try to fill my posts with some substance from here on out. Thanks for humoring me. See ya!