“A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built with love and dreams.”

2011 is already blessing us more then we could ever imagine. We both are expecting this to be the greatest year of our lives and so far we have not been let down! 

I am so excited to be posting a blog tonight. Kevin and I signed our first Lease together for the apartment we will share when we get married in March.

We are both so very excited and anxiously await the day we will get to BOTH live in our home.

When we originally talked about finding a place to live we both agreed that a basement apartment, not in Provo( Kev wants out of the college scene), close to where Kevin works would be our ideal  first home.

I was told not to start looking because new places would come available the closer we got to March, well of course I was excited just thinking about the first home I would share with my future husband so I started poking around. 

I probably emailed Kevin 20+ possibilities over the last two and a half months and none really felt worth our while. After coming home from Christmas vacation and wanting to find a place before we were married so we didn't have that stress added to everything else, I started looking a little bit more closely for specific things of an apartment.

.......

Long story short (for my Dad's sake), Sunday we stopped by a basement apartment we found in Alpine and it was terrible. Really felt more like a dungeon. On Monday afternoon however I found a listing on KSL for a basement apartment in American Fork. Kevin said he would go swing by on his lunch since it's only 5 minutes away from his office. I got a text saying he really liked it but he was concerned about the storage, not being enough space, so he thought he would take me back and see what I thought.

I know your not supposed to fall in love with something right away, oh boy, I did. I absolutely loved the apartment from the moment they opened the door for us. Now maybe Kyle and Carly (the current tenants and future neighbors) did THAT great of a job showing us around and explaining how to make the storage great but I also think I just knew... I'm being honest here. I really felt that whole warm, tingly, this is my first home with my husband firework of emotion overcome me!

It is perfect for us. It's in our budget. Its in an incredible neighborhood close to church, temple, schools, freeway, shopping, etc.... We feel so blessed to have found something. We are also glad that we clicked so well with Kyle and Carly because they were really the ones choosing the new tenants for the Landlord. Kyle and Carly are so great. They were easy to talk to and have great personalities. Both Kevin and I are excited to be their neighbors and have a new friendship!

Oh, I almost forgot. Another part to this story that makes it even more "this is the place" type feeling: Kevin listed my apartment on KSL for sale, our thought was since I paid of my lease I could get that money back and put it towards our new place, to see if anyone would be interested. We didn't get any serious responses about it before Christmas but in the two weeks we have been home we have gotten 10 or so! Well on Monday (the day Kevin first looked at our new place) I had two girls come and look at my place and both were still wishy washy and said they'd get back to me. That same night is when I also saw the place for the first time and got that "i have to have it" feeling. When we left I was really hoping that one of the girls interested in my place would follow through because I would be so sad if I had to pass up this new place because I hadn't sold my lease. Just 20 minutes after we left the tour of the place a girl texted me and said she was very interested in my place. I told her I had 4 other people interested who had come toured it so it was whoever was willing to commit that would get it. She told me after three text messages that she would be over the following evening to sign the lease! 

I couldn't even believe it! Seriously we have a Heavenly Father who is looking out for us and knows our desires and makes sure we are taken care of. 

Carolyne came over the next day and signed paper work. 

In a whirlwind of 72 hours we found our place online, toured it, fell in love with it, sold my lease, moved me out of the apartment and into Grandma and Grandpa Goold's house and signed the Lease for our First home!

Well, that's the story everyone. I am beaming with happiness right now and I could probably ramble on about how excited I am and my plans for decorating and dinner parties with our new neighbors etc.... But it's late.

I'm so tired after these last three days and am gonna say my prayers, thank my Father in Heaven for the amazing blessings he continues to bless us with and go to sleep.

Here are some pictures of how we saw it online(at the bottom empty) and then also have Kyle and Carly have it decorated. They did such a great job with it and it looks amazing! I'm little excited I get to move in first. Gives me a chance to put the women touch on it and make it homey for when Kevin moves in later) Be looking for those pictures soon.

 Kyle I stole these photo's off your Facebook Page. Hope you don't mind :)

 Living Room

 Kitchen

 Bathroom

 Bedroom

 Laundry Room (Yay)

View from the corner of living room.

 Empty Kitchen.

 Living Room.

Bedroom Closet.

twenty.eleven

We are so excited to be welcoming in the New Year together as Future Mr & Mrs Kevin Ford.


This past month (December) has been filled with a whirlwind of emotions, memories and journeys for our still growing relationship.
At the beginning of the month Kevin's brother-in-law, Jeff Turner, unexpectedly passed away. It was a very hard time for all of Kevin's family and our hearts and prayers continue to be with Marianne, Kevin's sister during this time. Both Kevin and I are so grateful for our knowledge that families can be together forever. With the passing of my brother in June and Jeff this month we have absolutely come to appreciate the time we have with our family members here on this earth and for the relationships that can continue on the other side of the veil. 
We made a quick two day trip to Seattle to be with Marianne, the Fords and the Turners as we attended a lovely service for Jeff and remembered him. 
December 10th was my last day with AT&T so I could be home for the holidays with my family. Mid December my mom and Aunt Rene flew to Utah for some birthday, wedding dress shopping fun! I was so happy to be with my mom on my birthday and finally start doing some wedding planning.
December 16th I celebrated my 23rd Birthday. I can hardly believe it, 23 snuck up on my faster then I imagined! 
I complain that 23 is old (not as old as Kevin of course) but its up, there and I am so blessed to have amazing people like Momma Ford who inform me that 23 will be the most amazing year of my life. I am truly looking forward to all of the things twenty eleven has planned. 
Kevin took me to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday. My absolute favorite place to eat and then we attended the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert with David Archuleta. It was incredible. Amazing music and talent and an absolute tribute to this holiday season.

On the 17th of the month, the Goold family welcomed the newest member. Amee Dewey married Kenneth Goold (my uncle) and a huge party was held in their honor in American Fork, Utah. After this party Kevin had officially met ALL 6 of my dad's brothers and their wives. Kevin definitely has a skill for remembering names and faces. In a family the size of mine that is a great skill to have!

On Sunday the 19th we began the first of hopefully many road trips together! 

With rain the whole way, a three hour stop in Vegas to visit cousins of mine, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California we finally made it to our Anaheim CA destination. A 13 hour car ride for two days in Disneyland in the pouring rain: totally worth it.

Now, Kevin and I have been planning this trip for months. Literally from the beginning of our courtship since Kevin had never been and I wanted to go for my birthday. 

Disneyland was a blast! Even though it only stopped raining for 2 or so hours the whole 2 days it was so fun. We spent the entire first day in Disneyland and the second day California Adventure and Disneyland. We got awesome Disneyland poncho's to keep us dry (sorta), ate churros, took tons of pictures and walked miles and miles around the park. We were a little bumbed we missed the Fireworks and the Parades due to the rain, but just an excuse to go back soon. Kevin can't have a "TRUE" Disneyland experience until he gets to see the fireworks and parades. Southern California was a blast and we can't wait to go back! 

We drove up to Sacramento after Disneyland. We stopped and had ice cream at a great little shop in Bakersfield with Kevin's sister Melissa. This was supposed to be the first time meeting Melissa and Doug, but we all met the week before after Jeff's passing. I absolutely adore Doug and Melissa.

The night we got to Sacramento we went to the temple with my parents and it was an awesome experience to be in the place Kevin and I will be sealed for Time and all Eternity. A reminder that no matter what obstacle Satan tries to toss at us to slow us down, ultimately God wants Kevin and I together and has great things planned for us and it will all start there at the temple. It was a great session. 

I was so happy to be home this year in Sacramento with my family. A little nervous honestly because it was the first Christmas without Hunter but I think we had a lovely holiday.

In Sac we did a lot of neat things. Lots of sleeping in of course, amazing breakfast's, sushi dinner, Christmas lights, Old Town Sac tour, San Francisco, New Years and Engagement photos. Kevin played Golf with my Dad and Uncle Blain and we had a big Goold family game night.

I always love coming home. Especially after moving to Utah and being so far away, there is no place like home and I was so glad to bring Kevin to my home town. This Christmas season was incredible and we are both so happy to have spent it with family. Next year: Seattle for Christmas :) 

For the first day of 2011 we couldn't have asked for a more exciting day. We took engagement photos today and it was a blast! Stephanie French, a girl I grew up with, is doing both our engagement photos and our wedding day. She is so talented and wonderful and we are so lucky that she is able to use her talent and capture our magical moments. We tried to do our photos on Wednesday last week but the rain prevented us from doing it. This morning it started raining again but we wouldn't let it get to us. Luckily with just a slight sprinkle and an umbrella we were able to get some great photos.

You can check out other photos from today's shoot at Stephanie's website: http://frenchphotography.blogspot.com/2011/01/future-mr-mrs-ford.html

Look forward for lots more to come!! 

Well, I think that's it. I know I was going to try and be better at this blogging thing but as you can see December has been kind of a crazy month for Kevin and I. 

It kept us busy, we made it through and here we are in twenty-eleven. The year that we know will be the best year of our lives and we cannot wait for each day together.

We hope our friends and family had a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year.