Have you heard about the Harpers?

So much has happened in the last several years (yes, years!) since I blogged.  I want to take a quick minute to let you know that we are indeed alive and well!  Here's a brief synopsis of what you've missed while we've been gone:

John graduated from BYU with a Bachelor degree in Nutritional Science. I graduated from the University of Utah with a Masters degree in Social Work.  I'm now a real live therapist. And I never have to go back to school again!

We found out we were expecting a baby, I had an emergency appendectomy at 16 weeks, and while at the hospital we learned that the baby would be a boy!

We moved...to Kirksville, Missouri.  Kirksville is a tiny town in the Midwest with a great deal of charm.  We are in the Nauvoo stake for our church and are just up the road from Amish country.  A trip to Walmart (one of the only stores in town) typically means running into a few Amish families out doing their shopping; it's kind of fun.  We have learned that people out here are VERY friendly.  Everyone wants to talk to you and get to know you.  There were even checkers at Wal Mart who remembered my due date and that I was having a baby boy.  On the outskirts of town is a beautiful state park called Thousand Hills.  It's set on a gorgeous lake with the forest in the background. Whenever we take the stroller out there to go for a jog, we always run past a herd of whitetail deer.  It's one of our favorite places to go here.  And we can still go as often as we want, because we don't have snow yet (or cold weather for that matter).  One of the great perks about Missouri is that we actually get a fall! It is beautiful and we are really enjoying it!

John is attending A.T. Still University.  He is currently working on his thesis about periodontal disease.  He loves his program, the faculty, staff, and university.

On August 31, 2012, after a tough time getting here, we welcomed Colt Marvin Harper into the world. We feel so blessed to be his parents and to have his sweet spirit in our home.  He is a very good natured baby and a great sleeper! It really doesn't get any better than this.

I would like to think that this post means a return to blogging on a regular basis for me.  However, that is probably not very likely as I am busy with a new baby, and John and I are also on the fence about blogging in general.  For us, the goal has always been to use our blog to keep family members and close friends abridged of the general happenings in our life.  I think this can be very positive.  But we also know that blogging can sometimes paint an inaccurate and too perfect picture of someone's life, making others feel bad and magnifying the problems in their own lives.  Or sometimes it becomes a tool to promote "keeping up with the Jones."  (If you have a blog, I'm not necessarily implying that this is the case with yours.)  I'm just simply saying that we would never want to be a part of these things and are fairly private people anyway, so our posts will probably be few and far between.  Just a few quick updates about how we are doing generally.  I hope you will still want to read them and hear how we are doing from time to time...which reminds me, please leave a comment if you are reading this at all.  Anyone?

Lastly, to our friends and family members in Utah and Idaho:  we miss you!  I am so grateful for google+, Facetime and other modern technology that helps us stay in touch.  We absolutely love our life in Missouri and know that this is where our family is suppose to be, but we really wish we could have brought all of you with us! So just remember that we are a mere 90 minutes from Nauvoo, the Mark Twain Museum, and more amish country that you can imagine....and we love having visitors!

What's your secret?

Have you ever stood in the middle of the make up aisle, completely panicked by all the choices? I definitely have. I mean, for some girls, a big store like Sephora is heaven on earth but it's enough to send me into a panic! So last week when I was scraping the bottom of the foundation bottle, I had that old familiar feeling of dread about having to select a new foundation. Thankfully, it was facebook to the rescue. Great friends responded with their favorite foundation choices and I was saved! The field narrowed from hundreds of possibilities to a few manageable choices- that I can deal with. Seriously, it saved my life that week! In fact, it was such a success that I want to try it again- but not just with foundation. So I'm asking you: What are your favorite beauty products? Post your top choices in the comments section, so we can all enjoy a little friendly girlie advice!

On Thursday, I had so much fun serving as a judge for the Miss Idaho Falls pageant. This was my first time judging and it was pretty exciting to be behind the scenes, rather than being a contestant! There were so many talented contestants and they were really fun to watch! I was also able to see Ali Christensen give up her title that night. This was really special, because I have helped Ali prepare for pageants; it was nice to be able to see her finish things. She is an incredibly sweet, beautiful, and sincere girl and I wish her good luck in all her future plans! Along with Ali, I was able to see lots of old pageant friends that I don't run into as much as I would like to. And of course, I helped choose the new Miss Idaho Falls- Kelsie Roper! Kelsie was an absolutely AMAZING contestant and will represent Idaho Falls well throughout her year and at state.

We need a vacation!

Help! We need a vacation so badly! Life at the Harper house lately has been busy, stressful, and totally monotonous at the same time. Basically, we are looking to get out of dodge. Just a quick trip over a weekend that we could easily do without jumping on an airplane or driving for hours and hours. And it would be nice if it didn't break the bank either. I'm sure you all have way more exciting lives and have taken some fun little weekend getaways in your time- so I'm asking you, any great ideas???

Condo-Mondo!

Big News: As of this week, we are officially home owners! Thursday night we closed on a great condo in North Orem. We are SO excited to be getting our own place. We love the complex and its great location! Not to mention, we're excited to be staying in one place for more than six months! The plan is to live in the condo until we head off to graduate school, and then we'll hang on to it as an investment property.

Right now, we're set to move in December 1st. We're doing a big round of home renovations before we move in. The condo is in great shape, but we have some things in mind to make it a little more 'home sweet home'. And we've had a blast doing "grown up stuff" like picking out new appliances, shopping for paint colors (no more white walls!), new fixtures and flooring. We're got some great plans for the place and I think its going to turn out fabulous! The not-so-fun part has been haggling with realtors and dealing with the ridiculous utah county real estate market! It's been a long month and a half, but it's all been worth it in the end.

So, no pictures to post yet. But I'll definitely be giving lots of updates over the next month and pictures will be posted once we are completely settled and decorated. At that point, you are all welcome to come pay us a visit!

I LOVE FALL!

Conference Weekend

What a crazy week! Between work and school, John and I have been kept pretty busy. Casey and her friend Brittany spontaneously came to stay with us this weekend. We were so excited to have them come visit and hope they come again soon. While they were here, of course we did lots of shopping and hit up a chick flick! Saturday night we had a lively dinner with Joey, Hunter, Casey, and Brittany. We had homemade Cafe Rio burritos and the college girls even learned how to make them. They were in awe of my newlywed domestic skills the whole weekend; it was pretty funny. They both have missionaries they are waiting for, so they loved seeing a happy ending. Sunday John made us yummy crepes for breakfast while we were watching conference. He is getting pretty good at crepes; especially considering we don't have an actual crepe pan. We all just lounged in our pajamas watching conference together before we put the girls on the road. In between sessions the Parks stopped by for a quick visit. We didn't get to talk to them for long, but we are super excited because we are going to a football game with them in a few weeks! Tonight we have a pot roast in the oven (smells amazing!) and we're having Joey over for dinner. He called and said he's got bunches of laundry to do. All in all, a pretty good weekend!

Where we are NOW

Wow- So many things to catch up on. I have been a total blogger slacker, and now I hardly know where to start with an update...We have had an interesting and yet, amazing summer. Right before graduation in April, we moved to a little duplex in American Fork right up by the temple. John started working building houses with his Uncle Matt, and I took a much needed break. We planted a great little garden and started teaching a little primary class. We absolutely loved being in American Fork and had so much fun discovering new places and fun things to do. Mostly, it was just nice to get out of Provo! We especially loved the cute little movie theater in AF- aka "the sticky." We spent quite a few nights there grabbing a movie with friends. We also spent time cooling off in the fun pool at the AF rec center. Oh- and we made probably a dozen or so trips back to Idaho to see our families and do lots of boating!

During this time, I was looking for my first real job out of college-not an easy thing to find in this economy. Anyway, the plan was for us to stay in American Fork and for John to commute to Provo for school in the fall. In July- two things happened. The first is that I received a couple of job offers. Finally! I decided to take an offer with Wasatch Mental Health working in Youth Outpatient. The second is our great friends, the Harrisons, announced they were moving to Atlanta, Georgia. We were seriously bummed to see them go...but they did have a great apartment in Orem. With John going to school at BYU and me working in Provo, it only made sense for us to shorten our commute. So we packed up our stuff, said goodbye to AF and headed to "The Harrison House." Luckily, the Harrisons had been kind enough to leave behind a great garden for us. Thanks guys!

We love our new ward and our close proximity to Krispy Kreme! So for now, we're settled in with school and work and trying to enjoy the little time we get together. John goes to school around 7 am and usually comes home around 10 pm. We try to at least take a quick dinner or lunch break together once or twice a week, which just means we've been eating way too much Costa Vida. I'm working full time at Wasatch and enjoying putting to use the things I learned at BYU and in my internship. It's nice to have all that schooling finally pay off! Well, that pretty much sums things up for now...

The Stone Age

We don't have internet at our house right now. We're looking in to getting some carrier pigeons but they are extremely difficult to find this time of year!

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty pleasures. We've all got them-life's little indulgences. Don't ya just love 'em?
My Guilty Pleasures:
1. Sleeping in
2. Gilmore Girls
3. new mascara
4. Red Mango
5. Girlie magazines
6. old school rock songs
7. Twilight (oh Edward!)
8. painted toenails
9. CNN
10. Anything from Chilis