Oh the Joys of Owning a Home....

About a month after Jeff and I moved into our home we started noticing a water leak running along the bottom of our steps and down the sidewalk . I really didn't think too much about it until a week or so later when our neighbor knocked on our door to inform us that he thought our sewer pipe might be leaking... because it was starting to stink! Awesome. That explains why it stunk so bad the night before while we were standing at the bottom of our steps talking to some friends... instead I falsely accused Jeff of lettin one loose! Sorry Jeff! Our neighbor wasn't sure whether the leak was coming from his pipes or ours so we both ran our water at different times... only to come to the conclusion that it WAS in fact coming from OUR pipes. GREAT! Now what??

Well we actually didn't do anything for a while hoping that maybe the problem would fix itself. Or more like, we weren't prepared to find out how much it was going to cost to fix the problem. We are after all poor dental school students! And when our neighbor told us we would more than likely have to tear out our steps (that were just redone a few years ago) in order to get to the pipes, we REALLY weren't prepared to find out how much it was going to cost us. So... of course... it continued to leak... and leak... and leak... until we decided we should probably get this fixed before winter and it becomes more of pain to fix... On top of that, the 90 year old lady who lives next door to us kindly informed us that she stays awake all night worrying that the water from the leak might freeze... causing someone to slip and fall on the sidewalk... which would result with a knock at her door in the middle of the night... and someone demanding to sue her. Wow! I'm gonna be honest and say, that was the last thing we were concerned about! We then KINDLY informed her that we are poor students and we will get the problem fixed and IF someone so happened to knock on her door in the middle of the night demanding to sew her to send them our way! I then realized that the water pretty much stopped running on the sidewalk in front of her house forming a large puddle at the bottom of her steps. So then I felt bad for the poor old lady and realized that we probably SHOULD get this taken care of ASAP, so we don't have HER knocking on our door wanting to sue us because SHE has slipped and fell!

So... we called the plumber. Keep in mind that we tried everything else first to see if there was some way our homeowners insurance might cover this or maybe the previous owners would be responsible for paying half, seeing as though it happened just a month after we moved in. But we got nowhere with that... Hence the fact we put it off for so long. Anyway, to make an already long story short... the plumber came and put a snake down our pipes from our basement and discovered that our pipe was broken. (He also discovered "other stuff" that was clogging the pipes, but I'll spare you the details on that.) I will tell you that Jeff was the lucky guy who got to clean it all up! What a man! :) The plumber told us there was a good chance they may have to rip out some of the steps to fix the pipe but they would would avoid having to do that if at all possible. He told us to go easy on our water until they could come back and fix it. (They dug a hole in the dirt to the side of our steps to see if they could get to the pipes, which opened up the leak even more) So for the past week and a half I haven't been able to use my washer or dishwasher, and Jeff and I have been trying to take short showers (which I discovered, am not very good at). And let me just tell you how much you learn to appreciate things when you have to go without! Luckily Carlee and Brett were kind enough to let us use their washer. Thanks guys! Finally yesterday they came and fixed our pipe, and were luckily able to avoid tearing out our steps. The good news is we can now use our water to our liking... the bad news is we have a fat bill of $2700! Like I said... the joys of owning a home!

I took pictures while they worked.. I'm sure they loved it!

Sick! I really don't want to know what that all consists of....

They ended up finding roots that were completely wrapped around and clogging the pipes... that's what that black stuff is... so they had to completely take out the old pipe and replace it.

And here is the new pipe. To the right of the stair railing is where the leak was initially coming out, running out in front of our steps and down the sidewalk... there was a huge hole in the pipe right underneath the steps, but they said that wasn't even the root of the problem. They said it was probably a good thing there was a hole because if not the water would have had nowhere to escape because the roots had completely clogged up the pipe (right where he is standing) and it would have eventually backed up into our basement. Thank heavens for the hole I guess.

They came back today and layed cement so hopefully in a day or two it will be good as new. Let's hope anyway!

Besides having to stress about getting our sewer fixed, we have also been having some fun! We had another Office party at Devin and Nicole's last week and had some yummy mexican food that everyone brought to share! We also went to a pie party on Sunday at Joseph and Lisa Westover's house. I even made my first ever banana cream pie, okay really it was my first ever pie... sad to admit I know. Thank heavens it was a hit and Jeff couldn't have been more impressed! He was hoping no one would eat it so he could take it home and eat it all himself! Too bad I forgot to take a picture of my pie! Not to mention all the other delicious pies everyone brought!

All the couples at the pie party... most of them anwyay!

And the girls....

Jeff and I stopped by a halloween party Saturday night that one of the dental school students had for all the people with kids. I know, we don't have kids, but we thought it would be fun to see them all. Anyway, this was Brett's wig. I had Jeff put it on so I could get a picture... Doesn't he make that wig look good?? hahaha

Life at the Wegeners

I haven't posted in a while because to be honest there hasn't been anything exciting to post about... (shocker, I know!) Jeff finally hit the reality of school and has cracked down on studying. And I... well I am still looking for employment. So while Jeff is at school all day, I sit home feeling like a lazy peice of you know what. We were joking the other night after dinner... I told him to leave all the dishes in the sink so it would give me something to do the next day. Pathetic I know. As much as I'd like to feel sorry for myself because I sit home all day cooped up in our house with not a whole lot to do... I really can't complain. I think my husband would switch places with me in a heartbeat. Jeff has literally been studying his head off. Literally. He comes home at night with his eyes all red and glazed over... poor guy. I really don't know how he does it. I've certainly not seen anyone study as much as he has the past couple of weeks. Let me enlighten you with a typical day in the life of Jeff.... wake up at 5:30 (barf)... catch the bus at 6:15... study until class at 8 or 10 (depending on the day)... class from 10-12... lunch... class from 1-3... study, study, study... home by 9:30. Okay so sometimes he is home by 6 or so but when he comes home and studies more, it might as well be 9:30. And by that time I am bursting with excitement for someone to hang out with... and all he really wants to do is go to bed because he is mentally and physically exhausted, not to mention he has to get up and start the same day all over again. Of course, I don't blame him, but I do have to remind myself often that he is doing this for us. We both signed up for this knowing it was going to be tough. And I can't lie, it really hasn't been bad until just recently. He had a test Friday, Monday, Tuesday and another one this Friday. Talk about overload! I am so proud of him and the fact that he has gotten this far, I know he is going to do great! And once I get a job... if I ever get a job... things will hopefully be better.

On top of that I hurt my back/neck Friday night due to stupidity on both mine and Jeff's part (that's as much as I'll try and explain it...) which left me immobile for a good three days. Not fun. That may have been good for Jeff because he could study without feeling the guilt of having to hang out with me. Although I did have to boss him around quite a bit considering I couldn't move other than to get up and go to the bathroom. Even that was an experience... Thank heavens it happened on a weekend so Jeff was able to stay home and take care of me. He was an excellent help. Seriously... who needs a doctor?? I have Jeff! :) I think he may have been a little worried that I might take advantage of the fact that I couldn't move, I should have drug it out for a few more days!! Luckily I am feeling much better and will hopefully avoid having to see a chiropractor... we'll see.

On a lighter note... my friend Carlee had her baby a little over a week ago. He is so adorable... and has so much hair! Last week when all of our husbands went to priesthood, me and Nicole went and hung out at the hospital with Carlee and baby Hayden. Nicole cut (talk about a true friend) and painted Carlee's toenails while I.... held the baby. :) I'm so glad to have made so many nice friends out here, they really have been a great support and have made it so much easier to be out here away from family.

They also have so many girls nights here which has been a nice way for me to get to know so many awesome girls and to get out of the house for a while. I went to a craft night Wednesday and we made magnets. Here is the extent of my craftiness...

I've also joined a book club which I thought I'd never do but I really like it. Our last book we read was called, "Live To Tell," by Immaculee Ilabagiza. This is a sad but great inspirational book. It's about a story of a lady who survived the Rwandan Holocaust. I highly recommend it. I just finished reading October's book, "The Secret Life of Bees," by Sue Monk Kidd, which is also an excellent book if anyone is looking for a good read.

And last but not least I finally took a few pictures of our house...

So there you go. I didn't post pictures of our bedroom because I haven't made the bed yet... so that will have to come later.

Super Sports Weekend

This past weekend a bunch of Jeff's friends came and visited us. Caleb came Tuesday night (he had issues with his flights and had to come a few days early due to the hurricane in Houston) and Ryan and Taryn and Jeremy and Chelsey drove here Friday morning from Ohio. Jeff and his friends have kind of started a tradition of getting together once a year and having what they call a "Super sports weekend." Meaning they go to as many sporting events as they can in 3 days.... so that is what we did. Only this time, the girls got to tag along, I'm sure the guys loved it! :)

Friday night we went to the Pittsburgh Pirates game. The Pirate's unfortunately lost 5-1 to the Houston Astros, but the fireworks after the game definitely made up for their loss. They put on an AWESOME show, probably the best I've seen. (I will post a short video of it below.) It felt like it was the finale during the whole show. Then Saturday we went to the University of Pittsburgh football game. They played a good game, winning 21-20 against Iowa. This time it wasn't near as hot, we learned our lesson last time and found seats in the shade. After the game we came home, packed up our stuff, and headed to Washington DC. Jeff and his friends got tickets from Chris Cooley (they went to high school with him) to go see the Redskins game. For those of you who don't know who Chris Cooley is, he plays tight end for the Washington Redskins... he's pretty much a big deal. :) The boys were pretty stoked. We got to our hotel, just outside of DC, late Saturday night and the next morning the guys headed to the football game while the girls got on the metro to go see the sites in DC. (Thanks to Chelsey for being our tour guide) I have never been to DC before so it was an awesome experience. We covered a lot of ground in about 7 hours. By the end of the day, we were all pretty pooped from walking so much. I think Jeff and I will for sure go back when we can spend a few more days there, since there is so much to see and only so much you can do in one day. We walked around to a lot of the memorials and monuments. My favorite was the WWII memorial and the Lincoln memorial. I also thought it was so cool to go into the National Archives building where they have the original copy of the Declaration of Independence. We also went through the Natural History museum. I think kids would be in heaven in that museum. I remember learning all about that stuff when I was in elementary school, and would have loved it as a kid. Not that I didn't find it very intriguing myself because I did...

After the game we got back on the metro and met up with Jeff and his friends at Chris Cooley's house. (Thanks to the Cooleys for their hospitality.) Jeff said Chris played a good game and they won 24-17. Go Redskins! The drive to his house was so pretty... lots of victorian homes with beautiful yards. I loved it. We got home that night around 1:30am... just in time for Jeff to get back for his 8:00 test Monday morning. He was exhausted... a weekend with no sleep and every spare minute spent studying. He had another test Tuesday so he didn't get home that night until close to 10. Poor guy. Although, you shouldn't feel too bad for him, he had an eventful weekend full of sports... he couldn't be happier. Here are some pictures from our weekend…

Here is a brief clip of the fireworks... I wish I would have got a longer one. The view was amazing.

The guys at Heinz field.

The girls...

Before the game at FedEx Field.

At the Redskins game.

Jeff is proud of his action shots. (That's Chris Cooley)

FedEx Field

Caleb in front of Laron Landry's Hummer. They were able to hang out before and after the game in the player's parking lot with Chris and his family.


Jeff barely snuck into this picture with Caleb, Jer, and Jason Taylor. He plays for the Redskins and was on Dancing with the Stars last season.

Chris's great dane George.

Chris's jerseys. He recently acquired his Logan High jersey. (bottom right)

Just leaving Chris's house... thanks again for dinner and a tour of your house!

Me and Taryn in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

Korean War Memorial

Capital Building

National Archives Building

Washington Monument


WWII Memorial... my favorite.





WWI Memorial.. they made quite an upgrade with the WWII memorial.


Back of the White House, that's as close as we got.

Party at the Wegeners!

Jeff and I had a barbecue at our house last night... we had close to 30 people in our little home. We had planned to do it outside until it decided to rain all day. So.. we all crammed inside... it was a bit squishy but we still had a blast! Thanks everyone for coming and helping out with the food!

These pictures were taken AFTER half the people had left... I wish I would have gotten one sooner to show you how many people we crammed in our house!

We had so much food... we could barely fit it all on the table! (this is even after people had taken home a lot of food.)


Isn't Carlee cute prego??... she's about 2 weeks away from her due date... hopefully she'll have it sooner though, right Carlee? :)

WICKED!!!

Wednesday night Jeff and I and 6 other couples went and saw the Broadway show "Wicked." We went 2 hours early to the lottery drawing where they will draw out 10 names before the show and give each person who gets there name drawn 2 tickets. 7 out of 10 names drawn were from our group. We ended up having tickets to spare!! How lucky is that?? And did I mention they were front row seats!! The tickets weren't free, we had to pay 25 bucks a ticket but that's way better than paying 75 bucks for back row seats! The show was AWESOME. I absolutely loved it. I have never been to an actual broadway show before and I was so impressed!! They all have the most beautiful voices. Not only was it entertaining but it was funny too. I caught Jeff a few times laughing pretty hard. I think everyone really enjoyed it. How can you not enjoy a Broadway show for 25 bucks?? I mean seriously!