We are Buying a HOUSE!

This whole house hunting extravaganza has been quite the drama. We originally submitted bid for a bank owned home on the market for one day. After resubmitting and competing with our highest bid secured this home. The bad news was upon a second visit and investigation we realized there was some serious roof damage that had previously occurred and could probably happen again. Lucky for us Brendan's parents were in town and also pointed out some other issues with the home that we really had not seen before. After talking it over we decided the best decision was to walk away and let it be a money pit for someone else. So we continued looking at houses. At this point we had seen over 65 houses and were still just not in love with any of them. This past Saturday our luck changed, we found our house. We found a gorgeous 2005 newer home in Draper in the Suncrest neighborhood. This area you have to see to believe it is incredible. Literally overlooking the whole city and tucked up in the mountains. The views are spectacular but the house is stunning. The only down side to the house is I would still have my hour commute to Ogden. I don't mind this too much since I listen to a lot of audio books and I absolutely love my job. For this house, I would do it. We put our bid in on Monday, Tuesday we received a counter offer to which we counter offered. Today they have accepted the third addendum and we will be moving by the end of June! I am so excited and thrilled about this house and location, it is a good size house with five bedrooms so start booking your Utah vacations! Love Alyssa and Brendan

Zion Angels Landing

Zion as always was gorgeous. Stunningly clear blue skies and perfect mid seventies temps. Brendan and I decided that we would hike Angels Landing to do something different this time. It is a 5 mile total hike with a huge elevation gain. The last half mile is holding on to a chain that is against the mountain. Brendan and I got freaked out because if you let go of this chain you really could die it was steep and sketchy. It was still a gorgeous and awesome hike. Here are a few pics we took from Zion and Angels Landing. Our next bike hiking, mountain biking adventure will be over Memorial day we are planning on checking out Flaming Gorge in Wyoming, should be awesome!

Graduation Video

I couldn't get the video to work but here are some more pics from his graduation, enjoy!

MBA Graduation

He finally did it! Yooooohoooooo! Schools out for ever! Two weekends back Brendan finally graduated with his MBA and also getting a GPA of a 3.5 which is awesome. It was a great weekend, Wednesday our cousin Karen from Ireland came to town, Thursday his parents got here, friday he graduated and Saturday we went down to Zion. It was a whirlwind weekend from start to finish. The graduation itself went great and I could not have been a more proud wife, he worked so hard to get into graduate school and then finished with a great GPA and a new career he loves. I am going to upload the video of him actually walking. Proud wife, now onto the next adventure...

House Shopping or Hunting?

The month of April so far has been pretty exciting. We started house shopping which is very interesting. I always assumed house shopping would be really fun seeing all sorts of different houses and picking one that pleases us. Instead I have changed my stance and now I call it house hunting. That is what it is looking through a bunch of outdated floor plans, seeing potential through ugly carpets and paints, finding the right house quickly and pulling the trigger. After seeing more then thirty houses already we have about three that have a possibility and one we really like. Here is where the hunting part comes in its been on the market one day and is bank owned. We are hoping to get a bid going by Monday and in hopes that we get the place. Crossing the fingers and now we wait... At least we will have good distractions this week, Brendan graduates with his MBA. Which is crazy how fast two years has come and gone. His parents will be coming to town and we are all planning on heading down to Zion to enjoy a nice weekend away. I am excited and hopefully being busy with all of that will help keep my nerves about house hunting at bay! Love Alyssa and Brendan

video from Moab

Moab in March

March is just kind of a big blur to me. It was a crazy roller coaster month of emotions and a lot going on. We had family in town and just a crazy month so for the last weekend Brendan and I decided on a whim to go to Moab. We had never been there and had been told the best time of year to go is spring and fall. I looked up the red cliff lodge and got a great deal on a hotel room. So we woke up early Saturday morning and drove down there. It is about a three and half hour drive and actually kind of pretty. We started by going to the Arches National Park, it is incredible. Utah seriously has all these places we visit that I just an in complete awe of its beauty. Arches is really pretty with some great hikes. I have posted some pictures of delicate arch which is a great hike and an incredible sight. Saturday late afternoon we hung out at the hotel which is also a winery, did a wine tasting and just enjoyed sitting outside. Dinner there was fantastic and we had a great time, I would definetly stay there again. After a great breakfast in the morning we did some more hiking and then had our first mountain biking outing of the year on slick rock. We only did the practice loop but got to experience what it is to ride slick rock. Not my favorite because it is not very forgiving. All in all we had a great trip and feel ready to tackle April now. I am hoping to upload a video I took on here, stay posted!
Love
Alyssa and Brendan