No, I have not enrolled into clown college to pursue a career in a circus. I want to express how I have mastered the art of juggling life. If you know me, you are not surprised that I work 3 jobs, clean obsessively, craft and design my home with tons of projects, and try to write a blog. As well as being a wife, daughter, and sister. I helped teach a lesson in Relief Society a few weeks ago ( they asked me to co-teach my second week in the ward) and it sparked my interest of what is really important.

The lesson was Lamentations of Jeremiah: Beware of Bondage by Elder Quentin L. Cook from the April 2014 General Conference. Elder Cook talks about things that can lead to bondage, he talks about the obvious ones such as drugs and pornography, but he also talks about the things we don't think about that bind us.

"Second, some addictions or predilections, while not inherently evil, can use up our precious allotment of time which could otherwise be used to accomplish virtuous objectives. These can include excessive use of social media, video and digital games, sports, recreation, and many others.¹⁶

 

How we preserve time for family is one of the most significant issues we face in most cultures. At a time when I was the only member of the Church in our law firm, one woman lawyer explained to me how she always felt like a juggler trying to keep three balls in the air at the same time. One ball was her law practice, one was her marriage, and one was her children. She had almost given up on time for herself. She was greatly concerned that one of the balls was always on the ground. I suggested we meet as a group and discuss our priorities. We determined that the primary reason we were working was to support our families. We agreed that making more money wasn’t nearly as important as our families, but we recognized that serving our clients to the best of our abilities was essential. The discussion then moved to what we did at work that was not necessary and was inconsistent with leaving time for family. Was there pressure to spend time in the workplace that was not essential?¹⁷ We decided that our goal would be a family-friendly environment for both women and men. Let us be at the forefront in protecting time for family."  -Elder Cook

 

I was in charge of teaching this particular section to my fellow sisters and realized that I am too a juggler like Elder Cooks co-worker. But, I have mastered this art, so this is no concern of mine to change my ways right?

 

Wrong-o! while I am juggling all my "important"things, some of my balls are laying on the ground un-touched. Such as my spiritual well being, I pray when I'm suppose to pray (On the rare occasion I cook dinner, I read my scriptures when I need to teach a lesson, and I go to the temple when I'm invited to a sealing. I realized my spiritual balls are no being juggled with the rest of them.

 

I have made a decided to replace some of the non important ball (cleaning the floors twice a day, recovering every piece of furniture in my house, and re-organizing every cabinet and drawer daily-I may be a little OCD )with the really important ones.

 

Now this wont be easy because habits are hard to break and start. But I know if I add one ball at a time, I will be back to being the master juggler of the year.

• How to properly put on a winter jacket with long sleeves on. If you have ever tried this, it's not an easy task.
• How to put contacts into my eyeballs. He work at an eye doctor for many years and was very knowledgeable in this subject.
• How to be fully converted to the church. He baptized me at eight and by example shown me how to be a true member of the Church.
• How to make him some homemade ice cream. Lol!
• Lastly, How to live your life. He was never scared to get out there and make someones day.

My plan this whole time was to get a dog. But, Will said we need to get a house first (check), then it was we need a block wall around the house. Saturday our block wall finished (check) and not a minute later we had Scooby walk into our lives. It must have been fate!

One of our goals this year was to get in shape and starting small Will and I have been taking a walk around the neighborhood every morning and evening. Saturday morning around 6:00am we were off to take our morning scroll. We take a different route around the neighbor everyday, we are new to Mesa and like to explore. We had to take a short walk this morning because I had work early that day. Maybe 5mins into our walk I notice a little dog who was trying to slip under a chain link gate into someones yard. I got closer look and her head was stuck and could get out. She was so scared that she peed herself. Will and I got her out and I was in love! She was groomed and have a collar but no tags. We assumed it was the owner the house's dog. But that house was vacant. We spend the whole morning going door to door looking for her owner, but nothing. I posted on my local Facebook Pages and checked on Craigslist, still nothing. So, we took her home. Will was so against having her in the house while we found the owner, but by noon I got a picture of her laying on our carpet. Will was in love he just didn't know it yet. Will named her Scooby because she is such a spaz.


You might say we a little obsessed with Scooby (okay so my instagram is on scoobygram overload) but she has saved us. I had been struggling with anxiety for the last several months and it hasn't been easy on us. But she has brought us both so much joy in the 5 days she has lived with us.
Scooby 100% adores Will, she sleeps next to him all night and always picks him over me.

Now for the photos. You'll fall in love with her too!

It's February and our apartment lease is up at the end of March. I loved our apartment and wouldn't mind staying another year there. I was all done decorating, it was close to both our works, and it was in the city close to everything we could ever need. Will kept slipping in the buying a home and we had been "looking" at homes  for a while but nothing we really fell in love with. Mid February we decided its now or never and we jumped in head first.

First, Get your crap together. Our first mistake was we didn't have all our papers in hand. When your applying for a loan or a loan program like we did they want all the paper information on you. They will ask for pay stubs, bank statements, past addresses,W-2's and Tax returns from the last two years, and tons more. I didn't have last years tax return done and I had no idea where to even start looking for my old W-2's and returns. It takes 2 weeks to get the mailed from the IRS and they do not give you copies at the IRS office. Luckily, my mother had all the papers but it took us a good two weeks to get everything gathered to give to the loan company. If we have it all together we could have gotten into our house sooner!

Next Find an amazing Realtor. Everyone will tell you use my mother, cousin, or friend to help you find a house. I have found that you keep friends/family separate from business, it makes life so much simpler. No ones feelings get hurt and you need to hire a Realtor based on their skills and knowledge and not because you know them. We got SUPER lucky with finding our Realtor. Will was driving down a street and saw a house for sell he really liked and called the Realtor to see how much it was going for and if it was still up for sell. The house wasn't in our budget :( and the house was getting ready to close. But the Realtor asked what and where we were looking for houses and got to work looking for homes for us. You can buy a house without a Realtor and save a few bucks but if your a first time home buyer like we were you have no idea what is a good deal or not. Also with our budget we were looking at fixer uppers and we had no idea how much work and money it would cost to fix up a house. Also after looking at 10+ houses and finding nothing we liked, we got really discouraged and thought about giving up,but our Realtor gave us motivation to keep looking. Things to look for in a Realtor:

1. Can you trust them? and do you feel comfortable with what they are telling you? This is very important, your buying a HOME not a pair of jeans. You cant return it if you find out they don't fit. You should get the truth about the home and your Realtor should want to find the perfect home for you in your budget.
2. Knowledge! Our Realtor knew everything. He is also a contractor and he and his son flip houses together on the side. He could tell us how much things would cost to fix and also tell us if the flipper did a good job on the house.
3. Not Lazy. Our Realtor make sure everyone is getting the job done. From the Loan Company to the repairs. We could get a hold of him whenever we had a questions and when your looking to move into a home in 4 weeks, you need someone that's on top of things.
4. More Knowledge! First home buyers are stupid. We are! Our Realtor knew of all the programs we could take advantage of because we were first home buyers and we saved tons of money.

Next because we were First home buyers there was so many programs we could take advantage of. Our Realtor and mortgage company knew about all the great programs out there. We had to put next to nothing down on our house and actually got money back on our loan. Crazy I know. This is the important part, the city wants people to buy homes. Because....home owners take better care of their homes then renters. Home owners have more pride in their homes therefore neighborhood looks better and more people move in. I cant stress enough we would not be home owners if we did not to a first home buyers program. So get some research done and ask your Realtor and loan company about of any First home owners programs.

Be Realistic! We had been looking at homes for awhile and were looking at homes that where no near our price range. When we started looking at homes in our price range we got real discouraged.  Your not going to get your dream home on a starving student budget. We were looking for an investment property, a house we could rent out when we move to our dream home. If that's your plan too, these are the thing you need to look for:

1. Location, Location, Location. People will not want to rent a house in the middle of no where or in the middle of sketch town. We looked for homes close to schools, universities and freeways. Why? Because people will always need to leave close to those and it will be a snap to rent out.
2. We knew we were going to have to get a fixer upper, but we aren't so handy. Find a home with the BIG things done and the little things need work. We got a home with new floors, windows, upgraded kitchen and bathrooms. We didn't get a home with a block fence, old doors, older roof, and no garage. These are things we can slowly upgrade later and not crucial to us everyday. If your handy by all means go for it, but for us we needed the big things done.
3. Like I said this is your first home not your dream home. Your indoor swimming pool and theater will have to wait. Make sure that this house meets the basics and the basics only. This was our basic list: finished kitchen and bathrooms, at least 2 bathrooms and 3 bedrooms, outdoor space, livable. That's it! Don't sweat the small stuff. It would be nice to get a laundry room but I got a laundry closet but that's not worth giving up on the house all together. Your dream house will come with a maid so you can get through a few years doing your laundry out of a closet.

The big old awful Budget. Your loan company will tell you once your approved that you can afford so and so amount and your like Yes! we can get a close second to our dream home! Nope, remember that car payment and the groceries you have to buy everyone oh and all the bills you have to pay that come with owning a home (water, trash, electric, and Internet). Yeah you add that all up and your broke real fast. Your mortgage should be no more that 38% of your annual income and if not lower. You'll be less stressed out and you can afford to furnish and upgrade your new home.

Be Happy! Your buying your first home this is an exciting time! I got super stressed out about the whole thing and didn't get to enjoy the process. Your never going to get this moment back. Also take lots of pictures. Remember those old photos of your great grandparents in front of their first home  and your thinking they are so young and that house is so sad how did they do it! You will be a great grandparent one day and you don't want your grand kids to miss the chance to make fun of your first home.

P.S. Don't care what anyone has to say about your first home. If you love it that's all that matters.