Visiting Big Bro

So my mother and I went on a little trip to Arizona to visiting my Brother and Sister in Law and Evelyn my new niece.

On our way we had been driving for about 5 hours and we had just entered Arizona and this is what we saw



We felt like we were driving into the Apocalypse . It was kind of scary. My mom asked me if we should stop because we thought that it was a fire. I told her that there wasn't anyone stopping traffic so just keep going. We were a little nervous to see what we were getting ourselves into. Luckily it was just a really bad wind storm.

here are some pictures from the trip. I didn't take very many but here they are.






This is my newest niece Evelyn. She is the first to be born on my side of the family.




The proud Grandma hold Eve. She is very excited to be a grandma.



This is my brother Tony. The whole trip was so relaxing as you can see in the picture. We visited, took care of Eve and just had a lot of fun. I am so glad we were able to visit. Thanks Tony and Rachel for letting us come down and see you guys. Love you.

Mollie and Sierra

So Mike and I have always wanted animals but our landlord would not allow them. So because of the move we can have as many as we want. First Mike's parents are moving and they had us take their dog mollie until they can move back to Utah. I am already in love with her and would keep her forever if I could. Then for my Birthday I wanted a kitten. Well a long story short we found an abandoned one and took her in. She is so sweet and cuddly. I could not have asked for a better cat. We are so happy with the two and they get along together to. Which is a plus. Our family is now complete for the moment.




This is Sierra. She is a beautiful Kitten. We love her.



This is Mollie. Such a Good Dog. Could keep her forever.

Our Oregon Vaca

These are a few pictures that were taken at the beach in Oregon. Mike's Grandpa had an 80th Birthday party so we went and stayed in Eugene after the party. It was really fun and nice to be able to see my nephews and niece. I miss you Lynn and Kathie we had a wonderful time.













This was on the way up. We were all driving to Oregon and all the sudden we heard a pop. Come to find out the sun roof had shattered out. This is how Dave and Mike fixed the problem. We spent 3 hours and home depot for this good thing it held up.

Pioneer Crossing, eh?

So apparently all of the construction by the freeway around American Fork Main Street has a name. It's called Pioneer Crossing. I thought they were just going to re-do the freeway entrances and exits and build a bridge over the railroad (if you've driven to my house that way, you know the crappy intersection I refer to. But apparently Pioneer Crossing is way more rad than that. See for yourself: http://www.udot.utah.gov/pioneer/

House Pictures!

I finally got around to taking pictures and a video of the house. There are way too many to post them on the blog, so I decided it would be faster to just create a page on my website to show you. In my true fashion, I took much much longer doing so than it would have taken to just put them on the blog... Oh well, it looks cool. Here is the link:

http://www.michaeldeancook.com/house/

I also have a video of the house, but it's pretty big and the best way I found to upload it and show you guys was to put it on YouTube and link to it. Unfortunately, I just barely started uploading it and it takes over an hour to upload. So I'll give you guys the link tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the pictures!

[Update: I have added links to the two videos at the bottom of the page linked to above. For some reason, the page loads the images in the wrong order on my server. I did it fine on my computer, so I don't know what the deal is. Oh well.]

Mike Cook's Website Building Extravaganza

In order to help pay for our new house, I, or my company (Mike Cook's Website Building Extravaganza), am finally taking up website building on the side. If anybody knows anybody that is looking for a website, please refer them to me. My rates will vary depending on the job, but as a general rule I'll be charging $400 for a basic website and up around $800 for a site with a blog, shopping cart, and other goodies.

And don't worry, Dad, I have been working on your site. It's getting very close to being done.

My website is http://www.michaeldeancook.com/ in case they want to snoop around what I've done. Right now it's not much, but at least they can see the work I've done on my own site as well as things I've done in school.

p.s. That company name is a joke. I don't really have one. Any ideas?

Inspection

Today I went to the house so that the inspector could show me around and let me know about any problems with the house. It's worth mentioning that Shane (our real estate agent) recommended this particular inspector because of his reputation for being brutally thorough. He showed up at the house at 10:30 and inspected the place until I arrived at 12:30 at which point he walked me through.

The first thing he said to me was "you've bought a great house". He proceeded to show me all the "problems" that he found. I put "problems" in quotes because they were more or less trivial problems. For instance, the plug box where the garage door opener plugs in had come loose from the board it was nailed to... He then suggested that I adjust the sprinklers so they do not spray on the windows directly... He even pointed out that the plug stop used in the tub upstairs didn't quite seal off completely... These are the kinds of minor things he pointed out. He continued to mention that he thought this was a wonderfully taken care of house.

It's a nice feeling to have an inspector go through your house and the biggest problem he can find is sprinklers squirting your window.

Success in the Search for Real Estate

That's right. We finally found a house worthy of our hard-earned monies. We have it under contract and we are currently working through all the mucky muck of lending, inspections, etc. The house is located at 400 S 1626 W in Lehi, UT. It is on a quarter acre (which is nice, but man I'm not looking forward to mowing it...) and rests against a large park at the back of the lot (see here) which will be very nice for privacy. It has full-auto sprinklers, thank goodness, as well as central air, ceiling fans in every bedroom, a shed, RV parking, and is in a very nice neighborhood. I would send you a link to the MLS listing, but it has been removed. I do, however, still have the images from the listing to show you and here they are:











Here is other information about the house:

Lvl	Approx Sq Ft	Bed Rms	Bath			Fam/ Den	Dining				Laun dry	Fire Plc
			F	T	H		K	B	F	S
4 3 2 1 B	0 0 616 432 528	0 0 3 0 1	0 0 2 0 0	0 0 0 0 1	0 0 0 0 0	Y Y	Y			Y	Y	0 0 0 0 0
Tot	1,576	4	2	1	0	2	1	0	0	1	1	0

Roof:	Asphalt Shingle	Basement:	Daylight, Partial
Heating:	Forced Air, Gas Central	Garage/Park:	2 Car Deep, RV Parking
Air Cond:	Central Air Electric	Driveway:	Concrete
Floor Cov:	Carpet, Tile, Linoleum	Water:	Culinary, Irrigation,Pressure
Window Cov:	Blinds, Full	Sewer:	Connected, Public
Pool Feat:		Possession:	FUNDING
Exterior:	Aluminum/Vinyl, Brick
Landscape:	Fruit Trees, Full Landscaping, Mature Trees, Terraced Yard
Lot Facts:	Curb & Gutter, Fenced Full, Sidewalks, Sprinkler, Auto-Full, Terrain,Flat, View, Mtn, Private Yard
Exterior Feat:	Double Pane
Interior Feat:	Master Bath, Range Oven Free Std.
Amenities:	Cable TV wired, Home Warranty
Inclusions:	Ceiling Fan, Microwave, Range, Satellite Dish, Storage Sheds
Exclusions:	Freezer, Gas Grill/BBQ, Refrigerator
Terms:	FHA, Conventional, VA
Remarks:	Great home in quiet neighborhood. Large fully landscaped lot with custom curbing, vegetable garden, fruit trees, vinyl fence & work shed. New paint, clean and updated throughout Home backs up to a park nd within walking distance to schools.

Mike's Graduated! (2 weeks ago...)

I'm a little belated on getting this posted, but just pretend it's still very exciting. I graduated on May 1st from Utah Valley University with a Bachelor's Degree in Digital Media, and I sure am glad to be done. As I look back and reflect on school, it's hard to think of just what it is I learned after putting so much time into my studies. At times I feel like it wasn't as much as I would like it to be. But then as I start working on my work at work, or on Dad's website at home, it all comes flooding back. Then I realize I've been trained as much as taught. Enough flabble babble (just made that up), here are some pictures and videos:




Can you pick me out of the crowd? (hint: I'm the one wearing jeans.)

Birthday Presents Update

I finally got around to uploading my pictures from my camera. So here are more birthday pictures:

My brother and I once talked about how funny it would be to put "COOK" on the back of a car in huge Old English letters like mexicans do. So we went over to Dave and Megan's for some cake and ice cream and visitings. I noticed dave wasn't in the house and asked where he was. Megan lied to me telling me he was out cleaning the car or something. In reality, he was doing this to my car. It's still on there. Here's another picture:

My window with my sweet old 311 and World Rally Championship stickers (WRC has since dropped Mitsubishi and Subaru, so it's lame now. But it's still cooler than NASCAR. I'm into F1 now, so maybe I'll replace my sticker...) along with my sweet new Bob Marley sticker (which has since faded to completely yellow and teal.)

I already have a picture of this jersey, but this is a picture of MY jersey. In case you cared.

Ok, so here's the big one. One day back in January I got a text from Dave who was with Megan in Wyoming telling me that they had bought me the coolest birthday present. 3 months later, we were at their house the night before my birthday and they decided to give me my present. With family gathered 'round, I pulled THIS out of the bag:


I don't think I need to explain why this is funny. If you don't know, you shouldn't be reading this blog. And no, it's not an inside joke. It's just hilarious.

Yeah, that was like 3 months ago...

I realized today that we have not updated our blog since the Utes won the Sugar Bowl, which is what my last post was about. As much as I like looking at that picture, it's time to move on. Plus, Megan made fun of me for never updating it despite the fact that I'm an SEO Analyst.

The reason this blog is so neglected is that our lives right now are none too interesting to outsiders. Brandie is still working 3 12 hour shifts at IHC as a PCT (fancy term for a CNA). I still work at Orange Soda as an SEO Analyst. I'm still in school. This is my last semester. We still don't have kids and aren't pregnant. Yet.

I did just have a birthday. I got some sweet presents. My favorite from my wife was a Utes football jersey:


which was pretty much the only thing I really asked for. She also read my mind and knew I wanted the newest James bond movie, Quantum of Solace. She was really creative and also got me two Brian Regan stand-up DVDs (Standing Up and The Epitome of Hyperbole). I also got a couple of shirts (by the way, what's with all the different sizes within shirt sizes?? I told her to get me extra large because too big is better than too small but they were both smaller than any large I have in my possession!)

Brandie's family likes to exchanges gifts as well, so I got a gift card to Best Buy from Tony (Brandie's brother) and Rachel. I still haven't decided what to buy with it. Then her sister, Elyse, got me one other thing I asked for:


For those of you who don't live in Utah Valley, you won't get it, so here's the explanation:


I seem to remember shirts that said "for Perfection" underneath. Anybody have one? I'm not sure, but I know that "The Quest for Perfection" was their full slogan this year. (By the way, I'm pretty sure this is the only image left on the internet of this shirt.)

Brandie's parents got me a present that was a combination of a birthday present and a graduation (since they will be gone.) It's a Panasonic DVD player and 5.1 surround system. I hooked it up and it sounds really good. I was going to wait to buy one until we got into a house for the sake of our neighbors. But hey, our neighbors obviously don't care about that so what the heck. At least I set the subwoofer on a cardboard box so the bass won't travel downstairs as easily. Though it is tempting to just crank it up to spite them, I don't really want to give them an excuse to blast their music more.

My parents got me (and Dave, for his birthday) a cool "Official Allstate Sugar Bowl" celebrating Utah's perfect season and Sugar Bowl invitation. The team had a signing a month ago and Dave and I went got our hats signed.

Speaking of Dave, he gave me a couple of unique but awsome gifts. I will take some pictures soon and post them. I don't want to spoil the surprise. Words just won't cut it, so keep your eyes peeled.

Mike

2009 Sugar Bowl Champs

Man, I love being a Utah fan! You're welcome, MWC. Dave and I sure did pick the perfect season to get season tickets.