.:back to normal:.

okay, so maybe not completely back to normal, but close. we were able to come back to our apartment one week after the incident happened. but it wasn't an easy transition back to our normal routines. i'll tell you why.

tuesday night was our last night in the hotel since we had to check out wednesday by 11:00. alisa and i stopped by our apartment after our weekly hot tub club, and NOTHING had been done with the carpet. let me remind you they were supposed to replace the carpet in three rooms. all of which were full of furniture. alisa and i knew it was not going to be an easy task since they would have to take everything out, do the carpet, put everything back in, and repeat two more times. we informed the owner about the lack of work and went on our way back to the hotel.

wednesday after work we were able to come home to our apartment, finally. but that sigh of relief when i said finally was not really a sigh of relief. we came home to a mess. alisa had a small bookshelf in her room that was completely destroyed, and i mean completely. our wall, which had just been fixed, was damaged, and my dresser was dropped and broken in several different places.

i was in shock that this all happened. i could not even imagine how someone could be so careless with another person's belongings. the next day we were on it to get things taken care of. ange called the carpet company and they apologized and said they've never had anything like this happen before. [yeah, that makes us feel better.] but he said he would replace alisa's bookshelf and my dresser. which, is good because my dresser that they destroyed costs $300. by friday they had brought and assembled my new dresser and things in the simpson house were pretty much back to normal.

enough about our crappy apartment though!

great news, karen had her baby! she came 15 days early, on january 19 at 12:47 am and weighed a whopping 9 lbs. 4 oz. they named her mckenna jane. i think she is absolutely beautiful and i love her so much already!

karen, mckenna, and aunt kami

me and baby girl, mckenna

me, mckenna, and kaleb. "say, monster trucks"

a {CRAPPY} situation

This week has been an interesting one. It all started on Tuesday evening, when I got a text from Alisa, saying, "Where are you? I'm freaking out!" I quickly responded when I saw the message and asked what was going on. She responded, "We had a sewage leak in our apartment." Umm, can you say GROSS?!? I was still in Farmington, so there was nothing I could do but think about the damage that had been done, on my drive home. When I got home, the door was open to air out the awful smell that filled the tiny apartment, and this is what I saw. Alisa had covered most of it with some towels, but the little that remained was disgusting. Just thinking about what it was on our floor makes me gag, along with the awful smell!

Alisa called our landlord right away and they sent their emergency maintenance people up. When they got to the apartment they checked out the damage and tried to figure out what was the cause of the leak. One of the guys thought something was probably flushed down the toilet that shouldn't have been. He said he wasn't able to get passed it with his equipment he had. I don't know what it could have been, but we do have a two year old living above us, who is in the process of being potty trained. We think he may well have been playing and flushed a toy down.

They started working right away, and our apartment became unlivable. Not fun. The owner said we would probably have to stay in a hotel while they were fixing it up, but they would have to figure things out in the morning when the office was open. So Tuesday night we got an apartment downtown through Ange's company. It was free, which was great. By Wednesday afternoon I got word from Alisa that the owner had got us a hotel for the next week and to plan on packing my bags when I got home. I got home and did just that.

We are now staying at an extended stay hotel, just a few miles away from our apartment. It has a kitchen in it, which is nice so we aren't having to eat out for every meal. It's not the nicest place I've ever stayed, but it does the job and doesn't have any leakage on the floor. And for that I am grateful.

We have been here since Wednesday night and have the room booked until this Wednesday. They are fixing the drywall and replacing the carpet. Let's hope it is done by Wednesday. If not we will have to find a new hotel, because this one is apparently booked. Oh the joys of life. :)

..december at a glance..

when i started my Christmas break i had great intentions of posting on my blog and updating it. yeah, that never happened. these last two weeks have flown by like a race car, a fast one. i decided that i will just post some photos and tell about some highlights from the month. :)

one of my best friends got married! jackie and justin were married on dec. 9, 2011 in the salt lake temple. i couldn't be happier for them. jackie was my roommate for a little over a month, before she moved home to save money before her big day. i met jackie almost two years ago. she and brittany are besties, and they went on the fun bus to wendover with the big group of people. alisa and i chatted with them at dinner and kind of got to know a little about them. but our friendship really evolved on our road trip to st. george/vegas in may 2010. i tell ya, road trips are the best way to get to know people! anyway, a year and a half later, jackie is a married woman! she looked absolutely gorgeous!

..jenny, britt, jackie, alisa, and me at the reception..

as you know, december comes with parties, lots of parties. and of course, what else is there to do on a weekend in salt lake city, except to attend these fine parties? my friends and i did just that. our friend jenny, (pictured above) and her roommates have a great house for having parties. they threw a great, black, silver, and gold party that was a blast! we got all dolled up in our black & gold and had a great time mingling and dancing.

..me, beth, britt, and alisa before the black, silver, & gold party..

and of course, you can't go through the month of december without attending at least one, or four in my case, ugly sweater parties. tis the season for ugly sweaters, right? yes, yes it is. thanks to alisa's mom for letting us borrow her sweaters. they were a hit. :)

..cheers! grinch punch at the party..

and last, but not least, decorating and getting in the christmas spirit. unfortunately, our apartment is far too small for a tree, but, our friends jake and shad have a great spot. we spent an evening decorating the tree and their living room with christmas lights. it looks amazing, i must say.

..brittany & i decorating the tree..

looking back at the month of december, i am happy to say that is was a great month filled with great friends and lots of laughter! i hope everyone else had a great december as well!