FINALLY HOMEOWNERS!

Yep! You heard me correctly! We are finally homeowners!!! We put in an offer on a short sale home on October 5 and as of Friday, January 14, the home is ours!!! For those of you counting that is about 102 days to close....Let me explain...

If you don't know what a short sale is a short sale is when an owner basically has one option before being foreclosed on...also since it is a short sale it is listed as low as the bank will possibly let it sell for...also since it is a short sale the bank makes ALL the major decisions....

Okay so we put the offer in on October 5....about 2 weeks later we signed some more "offer" paperwork with the sellers real estate agent...the next day the paperwork was shipped off to the "decision" maker...THE BANK....we heard from our Real estate agent the week of Thanksgiving letting us know that the right "person" at the bank had the offer and hopefully we would have a decision soon (Did I mention the current "owners" agreed to the offer but once again since it is a short sale the bank has all the decisions) then we waited some more and waited some more...the week prior to Christmas we got the call...THE BANK APPROVED IT!!! OUR WAITING PAID OFF!!! WE GOT THE HOUSE!!!! So we immediately start talking closing dates with the bank...well apparently, once again, since it is a short sale, the BANK has the final decision on the selling date and it is not negotiable...SOOOOOOO we closed 102 days after we made our initial offer!

We got the keys on Friday morning and immediately went into the house and washed the walls.  Saturday was our paiting partay! :) Kim, Jen, Josh, Tews, Jaydyn and Randy all came over...I will have pictures later...but the basement was BRIGHT orange...so Kim, Jen, Tews, Jaydyn, and I tackled the basement...one coat of primer...lunch break...then first coat of paint :-) While the girls were painting queens (Did I mention that we also primed the bathroom and got it ready for painting?) the guys had their own projects going on....they changed all the door knobs and locks on the front door, back door and even garage door...then the kitchen had a random "L" shape counter that the previous owners had put in...it needed to go! Soooooooooooooooooooo the guys took that counter OUT :-) Then Sunday (today) Pete and I went back to blair and put the 2nd coat of paint on the basement, painted an accent wall in the office, starting priming the bedroom, and then Dad helped Pete Rake the snow off the roof...yep...lots of snow on the roof!   So in the last 48 hours we have completed the basement, the office is 3/4 completed, the bedroom is 2/4 completed, and the bathroom is 1/4 completed....and when I say completed I mean painted :-) Now all the rooms were painted but the previous owner had ALOT of colors that just weren't our style! So we are painting machines!!!

Watch for the before and after pictures which I will post soon!!!

YEA FOR US BEING HOMEOWNERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome 2011

2010 was a great year!! I married my best friend, gained an amazing extended family, and was able to go on many trips including Mexico for my sisters wedding, Hawaii for the best honeymoon ever, and of course Arizona to see the family--which is always a GREAT time!!!

We celebrated the Christmas holiday in Marquette, NE, at Grandma and Grandpa Kirby's house...which is always a very relaxing good time.  We spent Christmas day with family and taking walks around the camp and country around grandma and grandpas house.  Here is a picture to show you how awesome and peaceful it is at grandma and grandpas house:

We spent this past weekend at Derek and Martas for Christmas Saturday night and then Grandma and Grandpa Hultgrens house on Sunday.  Always a good time to go to their house and relax and hang out with the awesome family.  Saturday at Derek and Martas I brought the Wii game Michael Jackson: The Experience...here is photo of my mom, sister, sister in law, and I doing the Michael Jackson dance off the tv...it was so much fun! But man it was a crazy workout!

We rang in the new year in Blair at our good friends house, Jen and Josh.  Every year we have a Christmas party and this year we decided that New Years Eve was about the only day that would work for everyone...so it was a Christmas/New Years Eve/Christmas Sweater Party....it was a great time!! We also played "Minute to Win It" almost all of the night...it was SOOOOOOOOOO much fun!! It was a great night full of laughter and great friends.

This is at the beginning of the night posin with the Dana College Blanket :-)

Welcome to 2011!

Who knows what 2011 holds for us but we know it is going to be a fantastic year!!

Phoenix for the Holidays

Pete and I had the great pleasure of being able to go to Phoenix for Thanksgiving this year! Pete was especially excited, as he had not been home for about 6 years so he was very excited for his mom's cooking!

We spent the actual Thanksgiving holiday with my family in Sioux City at Melissa's house and then this past weekend, December 2-6, we went to Phoenix and spent the holiday with Pete's family.

While in Phoenix we also had a chance to celebrate a little bit of the Christmas holiday as well.  We went to the Phoenix Zoo and saw the zoo lights and we also went to the Morman Temple and saw the lights they have.  Both locations are covered in lights and quite a sight!  We loved all the lights and the time with the family. The kids especially loved the lights!  Uncle Pete and Aunt Becky were in full force this weekend...Kady and Brent wanted to spend as much time with us --- as we did with them --- since they only see us a few times a year, if that.

One of my favorite parts about traveling is walking up the ramp from the terminal and seeing your family standing at the top of the ramp waiting for you.  We were greated by Mom, Dad, Kady, and Brent.  Kady and Brent were so happy to see us...they even pointed out quickly "I SEE UNCLE PETE AND AUNT BECKY!!" They were so excited and so were mom and dad.  Its great seeing everyone!

We had Thanksgiving on Sunday with all the family! Cousin's Crystal and Paul and their son Matthew, Cousin's Melissa and Fernando, Aunt Carol, Grandma Baker, Mom, Dad, the kids, and Brad (Pete's oldest Brother).  The kids and adults all enjoyed the Wii.  We usually were playing Wii Sports but we broke out the Wii fit for Thanksgiving...haha...it was fun to watch everyone interact and to spend time with the family outside of a wedding atmosphere.  (I met almost all these relatives at the wedding in June!).

Here are a few pics from the weekend.  I hope you enjoy! We sure did and can't wait to go again and spend time with the Casarotto's in Phoenix!

Kady and Brent at the Zoo Lights

Pete and I at the Zoo lights

The kids LOVE their "Blankies with Sleeves!"

The Casarotto Men

The Casarotto Women

Pete and I with Brad, Pete's oldest Brother

 Uncle Pete, Kady, and Aunt Becky doing a little shopping before school!

Uncle Pete and Brent throwing the baseball a few times

The Casarotto Clan! Great times!

Thanksgiving is a time to be Thankful

Thanksgiving is 2 days away...you know what that means right...????? If you guessed Turkey and great food you are partially right but the main excitement is a few days off work!! WOO HOOOOO!!!! Wow...what is the world coming to when we get that excited for a day off...when we used to get excited about no school! Snow days! Cartoons! woo hooo!! Anyways, I work a half day tomorrow at my full time job and then a shift at my part time job and then I am off from both jobs for a few days! So excited!

This year we are all going to my sisters house in Merrill, IA, for Thanksgiving! I will be a great time with family and lots of food! It will definately be a good time! My mom, sister, and I are braving the elements (elements being CRAZY Shoppers) and going to do some black friday shopping in Sioux City Friday...I'm sure there will be a post about that later!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for people and things in your life.  I have alot to be thankful for this year.  Instead of just reciting a list of people and things to be thankful for I thought I would do a small little picture slideshow :-) (In no particular order...) Enjoy

     

My Grandparents -- truly blessed to still have all my grandparents in my life!!!

 

 My Brother and Sister In Law :-)

 My Sister and Brother in Law :-)

My Mom and Dad --- are they just the cutest!

My Mother and Father In-Law :-)

Debi and Kim - my "extended" Family :-) They are the best!








Friends, Friends, Friends ... I am truly lucky! I have some great friends in my life!  Obviously I could list 100's of photos...but here are just a few :)

 

 

Last but definately not least is my great husband! I am so blessed to have someone love me as much as he does :-) I love him just as much too!

 

 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving with Friends and Family!!

Update on the house....

................................THERE IS NO UPDATE..........................WE ARE STILL WAITING.....

HOPEFULLY BETTER NEWS TO COME SOON! STAY TUNED!

The Zambonie and some Chocolate Cake...

The month of November has started with alot of laughter, friends, and family.  Mom's birthday was Friday and it started with surprises...I made mom a big chocolate cupcake, with chocolate filling, and homemade chocolate frosting...I put some candles on top and it was perfect....

Then later on that night we all went to the UNO hockey game where another surprise was in store for mom....dad was able to pull some strings and get mom on the Zambonie between the first and 2nd period.  Mom had no idea it was coming and she had so much fun! See the pics below!!

It was a great surprise for mom's birthday!

More of October...

October has been a month of alot of fun. Last weekend my sister, sister in law, and I all did trash the dress pictures.  If you google trash the dress you will see girls doing anything from paintballing in their dresses to jumping in mud pits...well my sister, sister in law and I did one of these photo shoots but we didn't completely trash our dresses...the worse we did was stand in a fountain...but did I mention it was about 45-50 degrees out and cloudy NO sun....so the fountain was COLD...but man was it fun...here are some teaser photos for you to enjoy :-) More to come later

More to come later :-)

Which brings us to HALLOWEEN 2010.  We had a great time at the Annual Halloween Party at our friends house...every year it is lots of fun and friends.  Here are some pictures below....

Shannon, Karie, and I were the "Black Eyed P's" aka Black Eyed Peas :-)

Pete was "KeithStone" aka KeyStone (The guy from the Keystone Light commercials!!) Fit him well :-)

Me and my Keith Stone :-) Love him!

Hope everyone had a Spooktacular Halloween! We had another night of memories! Bring on the next holiday!!!