what i am learning...

through this whole moving-in process is:

1. when we decide to move out of this home in like 15 years, i am going to make sure either to recruit our family to clean every inch of the house before we hand over the keys to the new owners, or at least hire Merry-Maids or something! we have spent the last 4 days cleaning up after the owners who lived here before us, and it has not been fun. it's been frustrating, irritating, and more disgusting then i ever thought it would be. cupboards literally had leftover crumbs, cheerios, and spills. i spent 4 hours last Thursday cleaning out the fridge and freezer that had ice cream caked on both walls of the inside and i spent the entire time gagging. these are just a few examples. they also left a ton of their junk here for us to clean up and take to the DI or dump (but in their words, they left it for us because they thought "we could use it." yes, we definitely needed your broken swing you left in our backyard along with a massive compost pile, and your nasty deep-fryer that you hadn't cleaned for a decade and that leaked all over our cupboard, and the 3 broken windows you left for us. and that's just a start. how did you know we could use all of those? how generous! thank you for making moving in an even more annoying experience then it already is! word to the wise: clean your house before you move out. it's polite and will make the people moving in very happy and still keep a high opinion of you.

2. re-doing your own house is a lot more fun then doing it when you live with your parents. it actually means something to me now. i am super anal about my freshly painted walls and nothing can be touching them, and our brand new carpet has a new no-shoes rule. it's weird. i never thought i'd be like this. i am sure it will wear off, but for now, the rules are staying.

3. i can't wait to get out in my yard and clean it up! if you have ever known me in your life, even for 5 minutes, you know that i would rather eat rocks then do any sort of yard work. that has now gone out the window now that i have my own yard. i can't wait to get in there and weed, plant flowers, mow the lawn, garden. it will be so fun to do that with Brett every week! i can't wait!

4. picking out colors for my new bedroom is a lot harder then i thought it would be. i have been spending the last week looking at thousands of bedroom sets and bedding sets. i have been looking at pinterest for inspiration, and i vowed that i was going to make one of the super cute and crafty headboards i have seen on there, but after doing a ton of cleaning and still moving, we just went ahead and bought a bedroom set instead. i decided i will get crafty later on because this one we found we both agreed on and it's gorgeous!  i  have had a little trouble with the bedding part but think i finally found one that i want, but it took forever!

5. it's nice having our house only 5 minutes away from my mom's. i already knew that, but since we have been taking our time moving out, going back and forth hasn't been a chore. and it's nice that i can just run over there quick if i need something or to hang out. i am really going to love it. i already do:)

6. there is a never-ending list of things we want to change or do to our house, but i know it's going to take time and more importantly, money to do those things. we are just doing the essentials right now, but it will be nice to save up for those little things we want to get done too. don't get me wrong, we love our house so much, but i am sure all you homeowners out there can agree there is always something you want to do to your house. i feel that way and we have only been living here 4 days.

7. we got seriously lucky when it came to our ward. we have been one week (since last week was general conference) and we both just love it so much. the relief society was SO welcoming, i had about 10 women come up and introduce themselves and they were just so welcoming. and Brett really liked the guys in Priesthood. and our bishopric is amazing! they came over last night to visit us, and they are wonderful! they told us how about 1/3 of the ward are young families like us, and more just keep showing up. that made us so happy! i am glad there is going to be a good mix of both older families and younger families! we are just so blessed to have found such a wonderful house in such a great ward. we can't wait to meet more people and make lots of friends!

i keep learning lessons constantly through this experience, and since we are moving the rest of our stuff over tonight, we are still in the process. it's been one of patience, reflection, and learning a lot about ourselves, and seeing how truly blessed we are to live here and be surrounded by a great group of neighbors.