I'll be back soon....

Ok, so I realize its been FOUR MONTHS since my last post.   Lets face it, I finished school and then had so much to catch up on.  I'll do a quick recap on the last lil' while....  :)

I took an eyelash extension certification class the end of May.  It was offered at my school for a really good price and I knew that would be something I could do from home.   I love giving facials but to have the high end product, a steamer, hot towel cabbie and a relaxing atmosphere is harder to pull off at home. ;)  For lashes, their eyes are closed the entire time, you can listen to any type of music (I let the client choose whatever they want) and most of the money is pocketed.  The lashes and glue aren't very expensive, its just time consuming to do them.

A full set of lashes should take 1 1/2 hours-2 max.  I'm finally down to about 2 1/2 hours but sometimes close to 3. I charge $50 for this service which sounds like a lot but lash extensions are quite pricey.  Running from about $75-$150 in Vegas!! Craziness!   You need a fill to keep them looking full, so every 3-4 weeks I charge $35 for a fill.  

It has been harder to learn than I expected, but now that I finally have the hang of it, I really enjoy it and its been rewarding.  I have 1-2 appointments per week which is good side money.  Now that school is back in session, and we will soon be settled in a new house- I will start to schedule more appointments to make a little more. :)

We got season passes to Wet n Wild this summer and it was so worth the money. I broke it down from what we paid to how often we went.  I figure it cost us about $7 each, (Mya free) to play all day. (swimming at the YMCA is $5 a piece and there's no rides!)  I think we'll do it again next summer!!  We just LOVED it!

Carlaya began sewing classes and LOVES it.  So far she's made a lil' tote bag (which she keeps her sewing supplies and material for her next projects in to carry back & forth in), a top secret project for her brother for Christmas, a cute head band, and now she's 1/2 finished with a very cute trick r treat bag!  She took a break from Piano during the summer but has started back up this past week.  She did have  her 1st recital in June and did very well.  I'll post a video of part of it :)

I went to YW's camp this summer again with girls from my ward, and as usual- I LOVED IT!!  Girls camp is always full of fun adventure.... I did the zipline (upside down!), the rock wall, a 2 hour hike, and countless silly time with the girls.  Not to mention the most amazing spiritual experiences throughout the week.  This year we camped Saturday-Thursday to be home by the 4th of July.  It was different for sure, but awesome to have Sacrament Meeting on the mountain, passed by the 9 Bishops in our stake & blessed by the Stake YM's presidency! :) We then had YW's in ward levels with our own Bishop.  The Stake Presidency was also there all day Sunday.  It was awesome to have so many great men there to make our Sabbath special!
Then Monday night the whole Bishopric came back up to do FHE with us. How fun?!!

On June 11th, our 3 year wait was finally over!! Time to buy a house! (short sale back in 2010 wouldn't allow us to purchase a home again for 3 looooong years, specially when the prices have been crazy low!)

We thought we'd start looking IN homes right away (after a year of looking at homes online), find the one we want within the month, put offer, win bid and move all before school started back up again!   Ha!  Not happening....by the time June rolled around, most houses we'd had our eye on were taken!    :( We were hoping to find a custom home on at least 1/4 acre if not a 1/2.  Which is normal is most places, but a true gem in Las Vegas.  ha ha......  There aren't a ton like that but plenty.  Unfortunately all were in contract by the time we were approved by a lender.  We waited and waited for new houses to be listed.  In the entire North West side of town there were never more than 4-5 houses for sale that met our criteria.  That is frustrating!!  Literally NOTHING on the market!  If it had a big yard, the house was in poor shape & needed too much work for the price.  If the house was fabulous, it was on a tiny lot with almost no yard.  If I loved it, Jonathan hated it.  If Jonathan loved it, I hated it!

The excitement of home buying was long gone by late July.  It was starting to feel like we'd never find a home and the prices were rising.  They had gone up at least $15-$20,000 just in a few months.  We were nervous about getting priced out or having to really settle for something much smaller than we wanted.   We finally both agreed to compromise a little and find the best home we could for the best price.  There still wasn't much to buy.   Out of the blue I found a house on another website not the MLS through our realtor.  He got us in to see it right away.  (most houses are selling within one week and this one had been listed for 2 weeks)  Right away I loved it. The floor plan was just right & it met all my "requirements", I also loved their kitchen table. :).  Surprisingly Jonathan love it too?!!  How do we Finally AGREE?!! We had our realtor call to see what the deal was, how many offers had they got already? "Only one cash offer way below price, anxious to sell and will get back with 24 hours of an offer."   So we wrote an offer and asked if they'd throw in the table.  LOL
Sure nuff ,the next day we got the call, our offer was accepted and we GET THEIR TABLE!! LOL
This was our 3rd offer and on the others we had to offer way over asking price & was one of many offers submitted.  This time we offered asking price & were the only ones. Everything from the offer, to the lenders paperwork has just gone so smoothly. This house just feels meant to be.

We hope to have our apt with the title company tomorrow. If that's the case we should have keys within a few days!  We're doing the whole Uhaul thing this Saturday, but I want to get in there early to clean well, shampoo carpets and maybe even start to paint a little.  I love color!!

Pictures to come soon........