Friday, April 25, 2008

The House That Almost Was...

In the beginning of March, Jeremy and I started looking for a house to buy. Our very first house. The house that would always be thought of fondly as "our first home," and the one that we'd spend hours and hours fixing up and doing little projects to make it "ours." Well, shortly into our search we were lucky enough to find that house...or so we thought.

From the get go of the house buying process, things were rocky. It was one issue after another and you'd think that we'd get the hint, but I guess Jerm and I aren't the type to just give up on something that we want.

First, there were issues with the loan amount and items that were told to us one day as being alright and approved, were suddenly not okay the next day. Then, there were issues with loan documents being sent to us, but never arriving. When they didn't arrive we asked that a new set of documents be sent and that the old packet be tracked down. We received the new packet, but had no news on the first one. So, we called to check on it and was told that the first packet came back undeliverable, was shredded and disposed of, and there was nothing to worry about. Hmmm, funny that we received that original packet in the mail the next day. Third, we had issues with repairs on the house not being made, after we were repeatedly told that they would be. Next, there were issues with the title papers that we needed to sign. Though we'd corrected everyone involved, multiple times, they still seemed to think that my name was spelled, "SARAH." Having your name spelled wrong on legal documents is a big no-no! We were there for about two hours getting the papers revised and signing all one million pages of them. Lastly, there were issues closing on the house. We were supposed to close on either Thursday, April 24th or Friday, April 25th...well, guess what happened? Empire, the builder of the house, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday, April 24th; therefore, cancelling all contracts = no house for Jeremy & Sara!

Though we are now left with a very bitter taste of the "buying a house" experience, we learned a lot during this process and are still hopeful that our first home is out there somewhere. Yes, we're disappointed. Yes, we're ticked off. But everything happens for reason and we just keep saying..."Stupid house! We didn't really want you anyways, so there!" :)

Monday, April 7, 2008

We Got Our Wedding Album!

Yay! After about 5 months of waiting (mostly our fault because we couldn't decide on what pictures we wanted), we've finally gotten our wedding album! It's gorgeous and we're very pleased with the outcome.

Our photographer did such an awesome job taking the pictures on our big day and designing the album. He's also got some of our pictures up on his website and his blog: http://www.romebeautyphotography.com/.
He's posted a blog about our album and here are the pictures of it.




















Jeremy's 24th Birthday



As 2008 continued to fly by, it was Valentine's Day and Jeremy's birthday (February 15th)before we knew it! Since it was the birthday boy's special day, we decided to go to one of his favorite places...VEGAS. Joining us in the festivities were our friends, Greg and Britany, who flew out from California for the celebration.



We stayed at the Luxor for our three day vacation and enjoyed spending time hanging around the "city that never sleeps."

On Jeremy's birthday, Britany and I planned to take the boys out to a "fancy" dinner. Greg's birthday was a few weeks earlier, and what better time than to celebrate with his good buddy, Jeremy! We enjoyed our great meal at the Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian, where this cute photo opportunity occurred.


Another highlight of our vacation, was when we saw Phoenix Sun: Sean Marks, San Antonio Spur: Manu Ginobili and Golden State Warrior: Andris Biedrins! While perusing the shops in Caesar's Palace, we first came across Biedrins doing some shopping with his wife/gf/whatever. Then, as we continued on our way, we noticed two other extremely tall guys walking around the shops...before we realized it, Marks and Ginobili were walking right past us and Jeremy was completely starstruck! None of us had the nerve to go up and ask for an autograph, but needless to say, Jeremy spent the rest of our time in the shops searching for more NBA stars.

Overall, we had a really great trip, and enjoyed spending time with each other and Greg and Britany. I'd give you more details about our trip, but you know what they say...

What happens in VEGAS, stays in VEGAS! :)