Say What??

As I was Christmas shopping this evening, I pulled into this strip mall and guess what I found ...  

NOTHING BUNDT CAKES!!! 

Seriously, I've been missing this place since the second we left Sandy last year. But I'm gonna make sure I make good use of it while I'm still here!! 

I've been working hard!

I've been working on my new recipe blog lately ... 

http://www.despaindinners.blogspot.com

... Have I ever mentioned that I love designing websites? Well I do, it's what I do for work, I wish I could just do it forever, it's truly what I love to do, if I were to go back to school, website design would def. be what I study. 

Anyway.. Please check out this new blog, leave me suggestions and feedback, because I want this baby to do really well. 

:) Thanks guys!

Fall Festival

Boy am I glad that the Fall Festival is over. It has been a big stresser lately, especially today, but I've never been so relieved!

We had a fun time, ate lots of junk, and now we're home watching the World Series. 

We are burglars. Zoey being the cutest burglar you ever will see :)

Casinoooo!

My friend, Mary, invited me to go to the casino with her now that I've turned 21! So we did! We went just last night to the Grand Victorian Riverboat Casino ( I think that was the name ) ... I played the penny slots and drank Coca Cola. We had a lot of fun. Thanks Mary, for showing me a good time! :)

Sale Pending!

We are under contract with a buyer for our home!

I'm so incredibly excited! Now we just have to wait for the inspection to be done and see if there are any conditions that the buyer gives us. Which is doubtful since our home is only 1 year old!

Our closing date is December 3rd, and we'll be moving everything to Omaha right around Thanksgiving! It's going to be a crazy holiday season -- but it will be worth it in the end and we will definitely get through it! :) 

Keep us in your prayers, because we're definitely in need of comfort and some calmed nerves on our end of things. 

We got an offer!

Finally! We got an offer on the house! Keep us in your prayers that everything will continue to go well! I've never been so nervous / nauseated in my whole entire life .. this is seriously difficult.

I can't handle all of this stress! It's insane! 

My taste buds are exploding.

I made the worlds best chocolate chip cookies last night -- and then proceeded in eating them all. Mmmmmm .... 

I'm starting a recipe blog..

I'm going to start a recipe blog, so I can keep track of recipes rather than having to search for them all over the internet, all over my kitchen, etc.

Check it out, and share your favorite recipes :)

http://www.despaindinners.blogspot.com

Pumpkins

The pumpkins last night at Heaps were seriously probably bigger than me. Like 60 pound pumpkins. And I know, as you read this you're like, "Whatever, she's exaggerating" .. but seriously, they were giant, and they were beautiful, and probably a million dollars apiece. 

However, they reminded Devin and I that we needed to go buy pumpkins to carve/put on our porch for pretty decorations .. so we went today, and we brought Zoey a baby pumpkin back :) 

She really wanted to eat the pumpkins 

Heaps Giant Pumpkin Farm

Devin, Mary and I went to Heaps Giant Pumpkin Farm with the youth in our ward and Joliet 1st Ward last night. They had a giant pumpkin patch, hay ride, haunted corn maze, and a flashlight corn maze. 

We had a blast! The haunted corn maze was seriously so fun - though I was worried that, because it was so muddy, I was going to get scared and slip on the mud and fall on my butt. :) But I didn't. The flashlight maze was pretty rockin' too, we just walked in for a long time until we got lost, and then we followed the left wall to get out - and we made it! Devin and Mary are the ones who came up with that cool strategy, I was totally cool with just wandering aimlessly for hours.

We then got hot chocolate, laughed with others who peed themselves in the haunted maze, and had an awesome night. 

 

Loves&Cuddles

Devin on his knees praying and hugging our sleepy little puppy the night we got home from Omaha. She sure missed him, she was exhausted from playing with the Nielsen Family all weekend. They loved her, and she sure loved them .. So much that she gave up her naps to play all day! :) But we're sure happy to have her back :)

Bosses Day

Today was Boss' day and I have some pretty awesome ones. They're kind and helpful, and full of jokes, we all just love them to death!

You're boss-some. Hahahaha get it?

I'm an old lady!

This is how I feel about turning 21 - Devin and I are going to the casino this weekend to celebrate. Hahah, probably not actually, but it's fun to know that I'm allowed now :)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes from my sweet friends and family - I love you all and I'm absolutely positive that each of you have contributed to my life and to where I am today. 

And a quick shoutout to my sweet, handsome husband who woke me up this morning with singing happy birthday and dancing along to his singing with my puppy. I'm excited for my birthday date with that cute guy of mine tonigh! :) Love you Devin, you're the best!

We bought a house! Again!

Devin and I are now proud owners of two homes!! (Well, technically only one still)

As you know, we're moving to Omaha in January, and we've been looking at houses all weekend. 

We put in an offer on a home last night, they counter-offered us, and we counter offered back, then they accepted! 

Sooo .. now to start the process of inspections, closing, and all that fun stuff! 

Here she is !! 

Put in an offer!

Well we just put in an offer for a home here in Omaha - with an expiration time of noon tomorrow, so we should hear back soon! I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep tonight .. Our last home buying experience was so much different than this! We just went to the builders office and signed a bunch of papers ... Didn't have to wait for anybody and do the counter offer stuff ...

THIS IS NERVE WRACKING!!!!

ConAgra World Headquarters

So for those of you who didn't know - Devin is being transferred in his job to Omaha, Nebraska. He'll be working in the financial department of ConAgra Foods (They make yummy food you've all probably got in your pantry or freezer) .. So today we went and toured the downtown campus that he'll be working at. It's beautiful with a huge lake in the middle with hundreds of ducks and geese and a ginormous fountain.

Such a beautiful place to work - lucky Dev! 

Day one is in the books!

Well we spent from 9am to 3 in the a afternoon looking at houses. We looked at around 14, and we've narrowed it down to our top 4 homes that we love. Lots of great possibilities, and lots of beautiful homes! Omaha is a beautiful city and so much smaller and slower paced than Chicago!

We drove downtown for dinner and to check it out tonight, we left AT rush hour and got downtown in 20 minutes. Seriously, that's like how long it takes to get a mile (if that) in Chicago rush hour. 

I'm getting really excited for this new transition/move, and I think that this will be the perfect area for our next adventure! 

Heavenly Father must know what's best for us, because this seems perfect! :) 

... And tomorrow we are going to check out some new construction homes and start narrowing it down to put in an offer hopefully tomorrow night! 

Ahhhhh!!!

Look out, Omaha!

The Despains are coming into town, so better look out! :)

We're so excited to buy out next home!! 

Also, we are putting our current home up on the market tonight!! Wahoo! :) 

So peeps -- buy our home. Kthanksbye:)

It's only a day awaaaayy!

We are going to Omaha TOMORROW to start hunting for our next new home! It feels like the seconds are creeping by, but I'm seriously dying of excitement!

We barely even got Zoey a puppy sitter in time for our trip! Thank you Nielsen's for watching our pup while we take our trip! I don't know what I would have done without them volunteering! 

I'm so excited to find the next home we'll be living in, making memories in, and hopefully staying for a while! :))

PuppyEyes

I moved the tv last night to 'stage' the house for showings, apparently I didn't put the cables back together right or something .. After an hour or so of trying to get it to work, these are the faces that I got.

They're adorable 

Clean til you drop?

Devin and I just spent the entire evening deep cleaning the house to make it look beautiful for our photographer to come out tomorrow and take pictures of it for our listings. I can't believe this is coming so quick, and I can't believe that my house is going to be for sale in like a week!

See how pretty my front door looks for potential buyers?

Yes, that's a Utah Jazz gnome by the front door. 

It's seriously killing me thinking about all the changes coming up in life soon. We're moving out of the new ward that I just absolutely love, leaving people that I've grown to love and care for, and going somewhere where, once again, I won't know anyone but my cute husband.

It's definitely been a challenge moving so much the past few years, and I'm surprised that I'm still sane through it all, but I'm also very grateful for the people that I've met, the experiences I've had, and the things that I have learned as I have gone through this.

Oswego is an incredible city, filled with amazing people, I absolutely love it, and I'm so very grateful for the opportunity that we've had to be here the past year. However, Omaha is also an incredible city, it's filled with amazing people, I just have to find them.

So here are my goals for when we move to Omaha (these are not in order)

1. Take each of my neighbors a treat so we can meet them
2. Introduce myself and Devin to 5 people the first day at our new ward
3. Offer our home for meetings, activities, and events 
4. Go visiting teaching. Not just the 1 time a month visiting teacher, the friend.
5. Encourage Devin to go home teaching - make his families treats

Any suggestions on how to become more known and social in a new ward/town? After all these moves, you'd think I'd know what I'm doing, but I feel like I'm still pretty deficient on that knowledge.

It's good to set goals - it's even better to achieve goals, and I'm determined to do just that!

Robberssss.

The Despain family is going to dress up as Robbers for Halloween. We even got Zoey a fun costume to go with us :) 

It's obviously cuter when she turns around and her butt is super fluffy, but for now - this is a sufficient enough picture. :)

That's what happens when dads gone and mom goes shopping by herself! Hahahah :)  

Happy birthday!

At bookoo, one of my coworkers is having a birthday in a few days. How do Mary and I celebrate birthdays? By being stinkers! Hahah ... Love it!

Happy birthday James!

My friend Mary --

Meet my friend Mary.

As seen above, she's a blast, and she's reading my blog right now and doesn't know this is coming. 

Teehee. 

Hi Mary.

Oh boy.

I think I'm coming down with the flu, or something.

Just about every part of my body, except my stomach, hurts.

But the good part of it is, it's pretty obvious that Zoey knows that I'm not feeling well, so she's been giving me lots of cuddles. Like person cuddles. She'll sit UP beside me in the chair, and she lays her head on my chest, and puts her arm around me like she's hugging me.  I've never seen a dog do something like this. Definitely makes me feel a lot better.

Also, I've got an incredible husband who has called me multiple times to check up on me throughout the day, and he offered to come home, after his long day at work, and cook my dinner. I asked him, "Well, I don't even know what you could cook" .. and he said, "Don't worry about it, I'll figure it out and you can just relax and get feeling better"

Again, as I look at the details of my life, I have an immense number of blessings and I just don't know what I've done to deserve them. I love my Heavenly Father for blessing me with such a wonderful husband who thinks of me, loves me, and helps me all the time.

Love you Devin, thank you for taking such good care of me!

Candy Apples & Good Works.

Tonight we had Young Womens, and I was in charge, we had caramel apples and we studied a little bit about the Good Works section of personal progress - Sister Rowe prepared this for me, but there was a story in the midst of it all that touched my heart deeply. 

It was about a woman named Carol, she could hardly walk, hardly talk, and barely even take care of herself. She saw a boy jump off the diving board and hurt his neck at a party, so she took him food and asked if he was okay .. With much difficulty because of her disabilities. A group of her friends decided to do a marathon together for a cause, and she didn't want to be left out - so she started training, day by day, to build up her endurance .. Everyone had finished the race and suddenly remembered about Carol and ran back to check on her .. There she was, huffing for air, but still chugging along. 

This woman could hardly even take care of herself, but she was entirely selfless. She gave up caring about her disabilities, she did what was hard, just to take care of someone who was in pain and just to fight for a cause. 

I want to be more like Carol - I want to put away my easy life an help those who need my help. I want to learn how to share the light of the gospel through my actions and service like Carol did. 

It's amazing that when you pay attention to the details of life, Heavenly Father is literally in every single detail. 

But back to Young Womens -- they're super goofy and just a ton of fun, here's a few pictures of them playing "The Awkward Game"

What would I do without the example of these beautiful, strong, incredible daughters of God? 

Dev and I love General Conference :)

The prophet

Tonight we had the elder missionaries over for dinner. Elder Horkley and Barrett. It was a lot of fun having them over, I think Devin especially enjoys it because he can really relate with them concerning his mission and usually living in Utah and BYU - so it's always fun to hear about their lives.

I made chicken cordon bleu for dinner, oh boy was it delicious. I'll have to post the recipe for future reference. 

The message they left us with was about having a prophet on the earth in our day. I just want to express how incredibly grateful I am to have a prophet who leads and guides us, who loves us and prays for us, who serves us and who is close enough to Heavenly Father to receive revelation concerning every member of the church. 

I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows what I need, who blesses me and answers prayers. 

I truly have been blessed by my Heavenly Father - He knows exactly what I need, when I need it, and how to do it. 💜