Checklist For Fall

I have a checklist for Fall. It goes something like this...

1. Crisp, cool air. Check.
2. Leaves changing on the mountains. Check.
3. Hang Fall Wreath (thanks Mom!). Check.
4. Find Halloween costumes. Check.
5. Have classroom Halloween party. Check.
6. Rain. Check.
7. Make Molasses Drop cookies. Yum. Check. Yum. Check. Yum.
   

Fall in Utah

The weather has turned colder.

It's time to find my jacket.

The leaves on the trees in the mountains are the vibrant colors of fall.

The air is crisp and my nose gets cold.

Tomorrow I will put up the Fall Wreath on our front door.

Wisdom Tooth Woes

Picture me eating a sandwich last Saturday. Now picture me running into the bathroom to see what all the pain was inside my mouth. 1/4 of my back wisdom tooth had broken off (I swallowed it I guess).

I can hear the questions: You still have your wisdom teeth? Why didn't you get them out? Answer: Yes and I hated having my teeth pulled. I have never had a cavity and the dentist told me that if I was able to keep them clean, then they weren't doing any harm. WRONG!

Without getting too graphic, the root was exposed and I came down with a sinus infection the next day. (It hasn't been a good week at our house). I went to the friendly neighborhood dentist and he said that it would be best if my wisdom teeth came out and put me on antibiotics for the infection.

And, next Thursday I will do what most people did in high school: have my wisdom teeth out. I won't lie - I'm very nervous. My mom was sweet enough to tell me that she would fly in to hold my hand it that would help. But, I'm lucky to have PC, my sister, and my mother-in-law here to take care of me. I will try and be brave because that's what 35 year-olds do.

Before, After, and After After

In our new house, we have a large kitchen, dining, and living area. We had planned to put our big brown couch in there for seating. This couch is so large I have wondered many times (and through many moves) what I was thinking when I purchased it. It is what it is and we love it.

Once we began moving the furniture in, we realized it was way to big for the space so we had to come up with another plan. Here was the plan...

Doesn't really go with our colors. So, I searched and searched and found an appropriate slip cover. I had to order it off the internet and so it was a risky purchase. I think it turn out nicely!

While waiting for the slip cover, I found the rugs for the house. When the slip cover came yesterday and we put it all together, I was extremely pleased with the finished product!

I would dream of having my own make-over show but it's too painful for me when it comes to matching colors and styles - just ask PC.

P.S. As it turned out, the big, brown couch goes perfectly in our front room. Hooray for that!

Monster

Let me set the stage... yesterday, mid-morning, gloves, hose, and Miracle Grow. After doing what good little gardeners do - feeding and watering - I decided to neatly wind the hose. You see, we have the coolest hose reel. It looks more like a little 4-wheeler than a hose reel. It has four all-terrain wheels, a basket to hold gardening stuff, and can hold up to 300 ft. of hose. Wow you say? Wow is right!

Back to my story... in order for me to properly wind the hose, I had to unwind most of it. Lurking (yes lurking) on the canister was one of the ugliest and most disgusting spiders I have seen to date. Next to it was its egg sack. I don't think I screamed because it was staring right at me with those HUGE green eyes. I quickly assessed the situation and decided that taking a picture was the best course of action. I was certain that it was a deadly species and would need to be identified. I didn't trust my memory under stress so I rushed in for the camera.

The Monster (notice the capital) was waiting for me when I returned. I snapped a few pictures (none of them truly show its grotesque qualities - I blame the camera), took off my shoe and promptly swatted at it. The first hit just winged it and it jumped (yes jumped) off the canister. I was quicker than the monster and smashed it with skill. It is still on my back patio in two crumpled heaps.

I collected the egg sac for further study. It is still on my counter top in a zip lock baggie. I probably should have double bagged it for security purposes but it seems fine.

I researched the monster (my heart still pounding) and found out it is called a "daring jumping spider". They can jump great distances considering their size but don't seem to be poisonous to humans. If you want some great and gross reading, check out this link:

http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/daring_jumping_spider.htm


Here is The Monster...

Finally...Almost

The floors are done...Shout hooray! You should see my happy dance and little flags fly!


Another shot...
We also did the carpet in the two bedrooms upstairs. I had not idea carpet was so expensive!! This is the master bedroom.

In honor of having my kitchen back, I made some fabulous cupcakes that my youngest sister (a superb chef) gave me the recipe for. She made them for a birthday celebration and PC loved them! I promised him that I would make them just as soon as the kitchen was functional again. Here are the photos!

I still need more practice to get them as good as the originals! I'm sure PC will be my taster.

One Year

One year ago today, I married my love, my PC. We have had a year of adventures! Vacations, a new house, daily happenings, and loving words. It has been my best year to date. He is my constant, my example of how to love and take care of someone. He says that his happiest times are those times that I'm happy. Well, I'm happy.
I love him across the sky and back.

After the Cruise (ATC), my sweet In-Laws came and brought roses to revamp the flower garden in our backyard. They are breathtaking!

To round out the madness, we are finishing our remodeling project with hardwood flooring. Our main living area is now torn up and the once beautiful kitchen is a mess.

After two days, here are the results...

Once again, pictures (+ dust) just don't do it justice.

And finally, please make sure that every time you or a loved-one ride a bike that a helmet is worn! Dan crashed on his ride yesterday and the helmet saved his head. He came away with some scratches and stiffness but is ready to get back on the proverbial horse. Pictures speak louder than words...

I truly love my many adventures and each blessing that comes my way!!

Corbels

Years ago my Mom and I took my Sister down to Moab for her first adventure as a river guide. It was a great road trip complete with talk of all the things we wanted to accomplish in our lives. I don't know where that list is now, but I do remember that one of the things I wanted to do was to learn how to work with wood.

My fascination with wood comes from one of the coolest people I know, my Grandpa. He is the greatest and most diverse people I have known and will likely know in my lifetime. Grandpa can do anything, grow anything, and fix anything. He has the garage to show it. He used to take me out in the garage and show me his saws and tools that he used to make and refinish furniture. Some of my prized things that I still carry around with me are things that Grandpa made me (my baby's cradle and my little rocking chair). I remember when Grandpa made my Grandma her quilting frames. How she loved to brag about them to everyone that came to the house.

I have just spent a couple of hours in the garage staining the corbels that will go underneath my granite counter tops which are being installed tomorrow. It is a small step towards making things out of wood, but it was fun. Someday I hope to be like my Grandpa. For now, I will be content if my creations look good in the kitchen.

Moving On

My story begins about 7 weeks ago...

PC came home from church and said that he had the impression that we should move. After much thought and prayer, we decided that we would put our house on the market and see if it sold. One of the big questions was - Where are we supposed to move to? PC is going to school in the fall, his job is in the city, mine is on the way to the city, and we like the area we are in. So, we started looking in the area around us. We drove through many neighborhoods and came upon one about 3 miles from our house. We fell in love with a house for sale there. It was even in our price range! How nice!

Our house was on the market for 6 days when we got an offer for what we were asking. There are many details I am leaving out, but suffice it to say that Heaven was a part of it. About 4 weeks later, we moved into our new house. We are doing a little remodeling so almost all of our stuff is in the garage and we are living in the basement.

I forgot to add school into the mix. During this time, I was in the process of ending school. Some think that there is nothing to do after State Testing except for party. That is quite the contrary. 2nd graders don't know where the line is so the schedule has to be maintained. It is harder, in some ways, to not have anything specific to teach and still keep the schedule. This, along with report cards, cleaning the room, and getting ready for next year kept me quite crazy. When all was said and done, the last day came and went with both the bitter and the sweet.

Now I am here coordinating the remodeling stuff, thinking about the boxes I would like to unpack (even locate in the garage), and planning to plan what I am going to take on the cruise. There is so much to be excited about!

I will post pictures of our house just as soon as I get my hands on a working camera!

I do apologize for the large font. I'm still having problems. It looks like I'm screaming at everyone but I'm really talking in a soft voice. Just think - Opposite Day.

Spring Break

We went to Grandma's for the annual Easter Egg hunt yesterday and it was mentioned more than once how I only update my blog every 4 months or so. Please know that I am trying and it will get better when summer gets here.

Spring Break has been wonderful and is officially coming to an end today. Summer can't come fast enough. I have been looking around my house and thinking about the yard that will be done, curtains that need to be sewn, and a basement that needs desperate attention.

I made the most of my days off though. I was able to go down to Provo and take my little sister to lunch, pick up the taxes (finally), do some much needed clothes shopping (side note - does anyone else out there think that there are some really ugly things in the stores these days? I have had a horrendous time finding this that will work for school! I'm still searching...), and worked a little on cleaning the house.

On Friday, PC worked the morning from home (on of my favorite things!) so that we could head out for St. George in the afternoon. We went down to do a triathlon on Saturday. It was fun. We did it with PC's dad and brother. PC's mom was the cheerleader. It was exhilarating and exhausting at the same time!

Easter Sunday was wonderful, of course, with Conference and Grandma's Egg Hunt. My egg happened to be in the peanut butter and PC's was high in a spoon on the stove hood. One of the best places this year was the egg in the hollowed out potato. Of course that potato was closed up and put back in the bag with its fellow unpeeled brothers and sisters. That wasn't the last egg found though. That one was in the plate of ham that was put out for dinner after the hunt. It was a good time for all. Hopefully someone will post pictures as I didn't have a camera. I dropped mine at my parent's house over Christmas and haven't replaced it yet. (That would also explain the lack of pictures on every post after Christmas...oops.)

The remainder or Spring Break (this afternoon - sad face) will include cleaning the bathrooms, ironing the clothes and mopping the floors. Wish me luck!

P.S. Help me. I'm not smart enough to figure out why the font keeps getting bigger and bigger!

I Should...

I should...

1. be doing the dishes
2. be ironing the mounds of clothes on my couch
3. be finishing PC's scarf (the one for his birthday...oops)
4. be grilling the meat in the fridge (to my defense, I'm not that good at it)
5. be getting the gym and work clothes ready for tomorrow.

Instead, I'm...

1. reading blogs
2. finding friends on FB
3. wishing PC didn't have a presentation to work on tonight
   
4. thinking about the cruise
5. updating our blog (long overdue)

I wish Spring Break would come faster (even though I don't know how it would help my current lack of motivation)!