Grandmother's Passing

Three weeks ago my Grandma Ivins passed away. It was very sudden and unexpected but we were grateful that she went quickly and was able to live her life right up to the minute of her passing. She was a wonderful person and I was extremely close to her. Her passing was difficult because of how much we relied on Grandma Ivins to always be there for our family. She was the center of our family and she will be missed.

Even though her passing was sudden, David and I were fortunate enough to be able to get off work, get a last minute flight, and fly to Utah for the funeral.

We were able to walk through her home one last time as a family. It was bitter-sweet with all the memories that are present there.

It was fun to see all of the family together. At the funeral it was mentioned that Grandma Ivins had 147 progenitors. WE LOVE OUR FAMILY! I loved growing up with a support system that was so large and loving.

Here's a picture at the luncheon of me with the cousins that are my age: Sydney, Nick, and Nicole.
Here's some pictures from the graveside service.

Hello!

I haven't posted here in a while so I figured I'd give a brief update on our lives.

First, I now work from home (yay!). I'm still working for United Guaranty and doing the same job as I was previously, now I just get to do it in my pajamas.

Second, David got a new job. For the past several years he's been working as a manager at PF Chang's. He recently graduated with his degree in accounting and was able to do an internship for a trust company this past tax season. Once that was completed he started working for Disaster One in their accounting department. He enjoys the people he works with but mostly we are just grateful for an 8-5 job where David is home at night and on the weekends.

Since David is now home for dinner most nights, we've begun to actually cook meals. And when I say 'we' I mean 'David.' One night he made delicious lasagna rolls and another night he made a beautiful apple pie.

David also had a birthday recently (we both turned 26 this year....so old!). David's sister, Courtney, who is an AMAZING cake maker, created this kit kat creation.

Projects and Parents

It's always wonderful to have my parents come for a visit. I wish we could have them around all the time but I'm grateful for the moments I do get to spend with them. This year they came out to North Carolina at the beginning of May. We took a few days to travel into the Appalachian Mountains to Boone and Blowing Rock and to the "Summer Home" of...some rich person I can't currently remember.

Summer Home? Really?

We also visited the Guilford County Courthouse where one of the decisive battles of the Revolutionary War was fought.

Next to the large statue of Nathaniel Greene, after whom Greensboro is named.

We also had the opportunity to go to the Raleigh Temple while they were here. We did sealings, which I had never done before, and it was a very special experience to have my dad there since he couldn't be at my own sealing.


And, of course, no parental trip would be complete without a few projects! My dad helped David and I plant our garden.

Here's a picture of how it currently looks with most of the plants coming up and our new wire fence around it to keep the critters from eating our food.

Our peas, zucchini, and squash

David and dad also decided to tackle the deck. We felt it was too long and was taking up valuable space. David and I had talked about removing part of it and I told David to ask my dad what he thought. So my mom and I leave to go shopping one afternoon and come back to this.


Apparently they had been very busy while we were gone even though every time we called they said they were napping. :)

In the middle of taking apart the deck, I forced the men to take a break and go to a Greensboro Grasshoppers baseball game.

Dad had a really amazing time, apparently.

After the game they went right back to the deck and finished it around midnight.


But look at the great results. I think it looks so much better! (See our main blog picture for the before). Thanks Dad and David. You guys are amazing!


My parents visit and the projects we did with them made David and I want to finish some existing projects that needed to be taken care of. So, we graveled our driveway (look familiar, Dad?). After the gravel was dropped off, David smoothed it all by himself....11 tons of gravel! It took him all day but it's very nice to no longer have a muddy drive every time it rains.


Our neighbor decided to help us out one day and he and David pulled a clothes line out of the ground. Notice the two feet of concrete they had to pull out in the background.


David, being the amazing person he is, also changed out some of the lighting in our house. He removed the (ahem) slightly dated kitchen fixture...

...and replaced it with the fixture that used to be in our dining room.
He then put up a new fixture that we got on CLEARANCE at Lowes. Yay! Isn't my hubbie amazing?


And here's just two random pictures. The first is of David playing video games with his friends. They played the same game over and over again for hours and loved it. I'm not going to lie, it was a little ridiculous.
My wonderful sister sent me flowers the other day and I wanted to share how beautiful they are. I received them almost a week ago and they are still blooming. Thanks, sis!