Merry Christmas Everyone!!

We hope all of our friends and family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks to all for your continued friendship. We Love You!

Just in case the postman lost the Christmas card I sent you ;) Here is a link:
http://www.heritagemakers.com/projectBrowserStandAlone.cfm?projectId=1133958&productId=19&projectSponsor=240887

My BiRtHdAy!!!

I celebrated my 32nd Birthday on the 11th!! Hard to believe I'm so old...but so happy where my life has gone in the past couple years. I have the BEST husband who is so good to me. I have the CUTEST puppy in the whole world that I can't imagine my life without. I have a GREAT family who make me so happy. Life couldn't be better. This year I took my birthday off from work and got some things done around the house. That night we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with my mom, Jenny & Zoey. Since Jenny was there we got a little camera happy.

Macey is 9 months (as of yesterday)

Here are some recent pictures of Macey. She was groomed yesterday so she looks and smells SO good. She has been so tired tonight that she was just sitting on Steve's shoulder and leaning over his chair. She is too cute and we love her to pieces!!!

Halloween!!

We had a fun Halloween!! Macey was so darn cute in her cow costume. She is our little Macey Moo. We spent time at my Grandma's house in Bountiful that afternoon. We came home and watched the Utes win while passing out candy to the cute kiddos in our neighborhood. Our niece Zoey was the cutest Little Red Riding Hood. Grandma was all dressed in her orange. Steve was sporting the HOT Halloween hat...he reminded me of some tough guy in the mafia or something. It was a fun day!

Pumpkins

A few weeks ago, Steve and I had a date night with Zoey. Steve had gotten her a huge pumpkin (60 pounds) from a co-worker (Thanks Ed!!). We made a trip to the store to buy some paints. She had a slight melt-down when the paint didn't work the way she wanted. Needless to say, we weren't able to accomplish the painting of the pumpkin...but we still had a fun night with her!

Macey's Cute Coat

So many people think dogs don't need clothes... well, she looks really cute in this coat! It does serve a purpose - she has used it out in the rain and helps protect against wet-dog-smell.

Our 1st Anniversary

Steve and I celebrated our 1st Anniversary a few weeks ago! We kept it pretty low key because we have planned a trip in January. There is part of me that can't believe we have been married for 1 year... the other part of me feels like I've been with him forever. I am SO happy. Steve makes me as happy today as he did on our first date. I remember when he picked me up for our 1st date...he was so nervous. The main thing I remember about our first date is how comfortable I felt with him. Most first dates can be so awkward but not with Steve. It felt like I had known him forever and it was just like old friends hanging out again. Our first date consisted of dinner at Cafe Rio, Laughing Stock, dessert at Chilis (with his niece and husband who happened to be at the same Laughing Stock show), and a Hug! The next weeks and months we spent a lot of time just being together. Steve would drive to West Valley after work or I would drive to American Fork after work. 6 short weeks after our 1st date we were engaged... yep engaged! I knew after 1 week that I wanted to be with Steve forever but we waited to make it official. We had a lot of fun times together while we were dating/engaged. That period of time brought a lot of stress as well. While we were planning our wedding we were also waiting to receive clearance to be married in the Temple. We are grateful for faith and prayers that helped us to get through that time and made it possible for me to have the wedding of my dreams! About 1 month before our planned date, we received word from the church that clearance had been granted! We have seen so many blessings in our lives since that time. I'm so grateful for perfect timing. I remember often thinking how anyone in this life ever gets married... how is it that you find that perfect person in this big gigantic world to dedicate your life to. All I can say is that everything happens for a reason. At times Steve and I often wish we would have known each other 10 years ago...maybe we wouldn't have had to experience some of the harder times...but obviously our past helps form who we are today. So for that I'm grateful because I know I have the BEST Steve I could have and hopefully he feels like he has the BEST Kim he could have! I look forward to many more years of happiness!

Utah State Fair

We decided to try out the Utah State Fair this year. We were pleasantly surprised with a fun evening. We watched part of the rodeo, checked out all of the animals, watched Zoey and her cousin go on all the kiddie-rides, and ate some yummy fair food. I don't know that I'll be overly excited to return year after year but it was alright. Of course, the best part had to be the people watching...HoLy CoW pEoPlE...put on some clothes! No, it really was a fun night. Here are some pictures:

HOA's pretty much SuCk...

Ok, so I'm supposed to be so happy and excited that Steve and I are celebrating our 1st Anniversary tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I am...and hopefully tomorrow will be the best day ever. But, I have to vent my serious frustrations with my HOA. I came home from work today to find this in my front yard:

They take no consideration on putting things back the way it was when they have to dig up someone's yard to get to the sprinkling system. I also have complained 3 times this year about our landscaping. Here are some photos of our current plants that should surround our home. I counted tonight and 13 of them are completely dead.

So, here is the email I just sent to them:

To Whom It May Concern:

My husband and I live in the new Townhome Community in WVC (i was more specific in the actual letter). I have made at least 3 formal complaints this past spring/summer by phone. On the 3rd request we finally had someone out to fix our sprinkling system. Since then, we have put a lot of work into re-growing our lawn (my husband bought seed to replace it). It was completely dead. Along with several plants on the South side of our home. In late Spring, all of our dead plants were replaced...but as you can see from the attached pictures we have 13 plants that surround our home that are completely dead. Our drip system has never worked properly which has made it very difficult to keep anything alive. My husband has taken pride in repairing our lawn and bushes that he could save, however, I'm completely frustrated wiht the manner in which our landscaping has been taken care of this summer.

To top it off, I came home today from work to find that they had dug up our sprinkling system again...this wouldn't be such a big deal (especially if they were fixing a problem for a neighbor), however, they put the lawn back with dirt clumps spread all over our lawn. They take no pride in putting it back together the way they found it. It is very frustrating when you take pride in your home and your surrounding areas to have it trashed by some individuals hired by you.

Please see all of the attached photos and you will see what I am referring to. I understand that there isn't a whole lot that can be done with regards to the plants as we are approaching Fall/Winter again, but I will complain daily in the Spring if there isn't some attention directed to the area surrounding my home. I will also be voicing my concerns in our planned HOA meting that is taking place later this month.

Thank you for taking the time to "hear" us and we hope that changes can be made in the future to not be this disappointed with our HOA community management.

Sincerely,

So... too soft, too harsh?? What do you think???