Summer Storms

In case you haven't heard I love the summer storms that we get here in Utah. The last two days have been great. We've had rain, thunder and lightening. As I was walking out of Kohl's I noticed a bright, beautiful, double rainbow. Here are some of my pictures that I took. I know they aren't great, and a lot are very similar, but they help me to remember how beautiful it really was.

Number Eight

I was tagged by Mary a day or two ago. I will be honest, I considered not doing this, but then I got bored. Thank you Mary for thinking of me! I feel honored.

Eight things I did Yesterday:

1. Showered twice
2. Packed up the ice chest
3. Went to the canyon for dinner
4. Dropped two cheddar brats on the ground.
5. Fed one dropped brat to my son.
6. Packed a couple boxes. (This one was Mary’s but I did it too so I’m leaving it)
7. Photographed a bat
8. Hugged a Chihuahua


Eight Favorite Shows (This is tough because they cancel all my favorite shows. Samantha Who? and Lipstick Jungle are two that come to mind)

1. So You Think You Can Dance... But, I'm not that thrilled with the winner this year. (Once again Mary’s answer but I feel the same way so I am leaving it) I do LOVE the show. I am so stoked that it is on this fall also but Kayla should have won. I don't care that her personality wasn't the best her dancing was. So there.
2. The Bachelor/ Bachelorette
3. The Amazing Race
4. Survivor
5. Dancing With the Stars
6. America’s Next Top Model (Unlike Mary I own it!)
7. E! News Weekend
8. Days of Our Lives


Eight Favorite Restaurants

1. Zupas- I going to have the try two combo. Caribbean salad with Hawaiian chicken panini. Thanks!
2. Rubio’s- Chicken enchilada’s, with black beans and rice. I would like it with the chips on the side, thanks.
3. Texas Roadhouse (Mmm, the Steak. Mmmm, the rolls. Mmm the loaded mashed potatoes.)
4. Café Rio- Chicken burrito with black beans and rice, mild salsa (I can handle the heat, I swear I can, but the mild has the best flavor) Smother that for me. Thank you!
5. Taco Amigo-Since trying to lose weight I have started ordering a chicken enchilada instead of the meat and bean burrito. I still have to have the fries. (Have I mentioned I think they sprinkle crack on their fries?)
6. Red Iguana- May I have the tacos de carne asada with a pina colada? Gracias.
7. PF Changs-Lettuce Wraps and Mongolian Beef with steamed rice. Thank you.
8. Noodles- Japanese Pan Noodles please with grilled chicken breast, may I sub the mushrooms for more carrots? Awesome, thanks!


Eight Things I look Forward To: Oh there are so many to choose from

1. School starting
2. Lunches with girlfriends
3. Lunchtime alone with Paul
4. Getting my quilts quilted
5. Disneyland in September
6. The color of autumn leaves popping up on the side of the mountain.
7. Halloween
8. Quiet time around the house and running errands alone because the kids will be in school. Did I mention I was looking forward to school starting?

Eight People I Tag... Eeek that’s hard. If you read this and want to play please do!

1. Emily
2. Becca
3. Rees
4. Michelle
5. Angela
6. Wendy
7. Kris
8. Cindy

I Needed This

Monday night we wanted to go to the canyon but we weren't prepared so we scheduled it for tonight. It was just what I needed. It was cool and beautiful there. I love that we live just minutes for this little piece of heaven. We picked a spot that we have been to many times. We decided to look around and found out that we were going to be real close to some friend/ward members. It's a small world!

Paul and Andrew got the fire going for us.
Then the kids ran all around and explored. This area is cool because you can get to the other side of the stream and out to this rock.
We had a very nutritious meal, as always.
As far as I'm concerned this is the only way to eat a weenie.

I love my Paul.

It's bad to be in the foreground. It adds at least 1oo pounds.
I caught Emma with food in her mouth.

After dinner the kids played with fire for a while.

Then it was time for dessert. I know I sound like a broken record but please people. Try smores with Reese's cups. It kicks serious butt over plain chocolate.

It was a shame. Our graham crackers were from last year and were a bit "bendy". It kept me from overindulging though. Andrew didn't seem to mind the stale crackers.

On her second round of dessert Emma opted for just marshmallows.

We had a visitor in our camp area. The kids chased it over to the outhouse where it rested a while. I think the flash recharging and the auto focus sound from my camera was wiggin' this little guy out. He was cute though.
We played some more around the water and Paul helped Andrew cross the log. No I didn't try it. I know my limits.
We found a nice, friendly fisherman with a super cute and social Chihuahua. I didn't think such a thing existed either. (A social Chihuahua that is) He caught a couple of little bitty brown trout while in our picnic area. He let the kids hold them and put them back in the water. They thought that was so cool.


Here is Sebastian the Chihuahua.
Andrew got several kisses from him.
We stayed until 8:30 and then headed home.
I'm the only smokey one left and I'm being told the smell is pretty strong. I guess I better go get in the shower.

Traditions

Gennifer just sent me some pictures taken with her camera. Isn't that sweet!?! Here they are.

This is me with Helen and Kara. We all rode up to Salt Lake together. They were so kind. Not once did they tease me about my terrible sense of direction. 

A slightly better picture of the whole group.

I had ordered a side of caramel but by the time it came my ice cream was gone. What else can you do beside caramel shots? Is that a dare?

Here goes nothing.

Kara got in on the shots too.

Back to the original post.

This is what I'm talking about!

I should have sucked it up and taken in my big camera but I didn't. These were taken with Paul's camera so they are...well you have eyes...not great. LOL!
My friends Jeanette and Jo. I haven't seen these ladies in years. :(
I suppose Leatherby's could be called a Pea tradition. We like to go to there and gorge ourselves on cheese fries and caramel when someone comes to visit from out of town. Yesterday the guest of honor was Jen Allyson, digi-designer extraordinaire, who returned to Utah for a visit from her new hometown of San Francisco. (No fair!) I got to meet a few pea-ple I haven't met before and got to see friends that I don't get to see nearly enough. These women are sweet and funny and amazingly talented. I love spending time with them. I hope that we can do it again sometime soon. We will have to let our poor poor waiter Nephi re-coup though. We ran him ragged I'm afraid.

Hodge Podge of Randomness

Warning there will be pictures of creepy crawlies at the bottom. 

Lately we have been selling off the old furniture from Andrew's room. He had an oak dresser that dated back to when I lived at home! He is getting older, his tastes are changing and we figure it was time to give him a new look.  This idea all started with a Bed Bath and Beyond sales catalog. They had the coolest Quiksilver bedding. I swooned. It was way to expensive though. We decided to do his room as inexpensively as possible since his taste changes all the time.

The boy has gone through many a beds in our six years here. We started with him in the crib. Then we got him a cheap ShopKo headboard with a "bookshelf" that he crammed too much junk in so we got rid of that and we bought him a loft bed. (it was up too high, he hated it, we still need to sell that)When found out that wasn't working we left it up and put his bed below it but that just took up way too much space so we took out the loft bed. Lately he has had no bed at all. Just the mattress on the frame. 

We still have a lot of clutter to deal with. Tons. We want to take down the primary colored shelf in the corner and replace it with some cool art. He also has a primary colored ceiling fan that we will replace with a brushed silver boobie light. We are on the lookout for cheap back curtain so we can get rid of the Delta "blanket" that we have over the top part of his window.We are going to try and introduce a little orange here and there but want to avoid the look of Halloween. The toy boxes will be moved to storage and/or painted black. 

For now it's a good start and he is really happy with the changes. Both kids have been in his room playing with legos the last couple of days because there is more space in there since so much fit under the bed.

For the budget makeover we took advantage of the cheap dorm stuff that is everywhere right now. We got the TV stand at Wal Mart for $20 and the bookshelf at Ikea. We had some silver hardware for the drawers we think will look cool. He loves his super, duper, cheap reading lamp. 

We need a home for all the Webkinz and a new garbage can.

His new Ikea bed frame and bedding that cost about 1/5 of the price of the Quiksilver stuff. 
The blanket grandma Renee made for Christmas matches perfectly.
He's not the only one with a new bed. I know I mentioned this on my other blog but it is worth mentioning twice. Trust me! We love our king bed. We didn't think one would ever fit in our room but it does. I feel like princess in the pea when I climb up on it. It is so tall. Did I mention we love it?
I ate the first green pepper out of our garden. It was a weird shape but still tasted good.
My squash has been suffering this year. If this little guy makes it it will be the first one. The others have started to whither away when they get about this size. We are still packing up stuff here and there and taking it to storage when we have a chance. It is creating a lot of emotions. Part of me hates it, another part can believe all the crap we have that we technically don't need, part of me worries that we will never be able to sell and we will have to haul it all back here and try to fit it back in this house and then a tiny part of me is hopeful that it means we are moving toward bigger and better things. I will admit that it is creating a lot of anxiety within me and I am not dealing real well right now. I feel like I am on the verge of losing it. Paul keeps assuring me that we can have access to anything we need. It isn't gone, it's just put away. It isn't even really that so much as just stepping off into the unknown.

Now the ickies are coming next. You've been warned!

One of these horrifically, disgusting, yet amazingly cool spiders takes up residency each year somewhere on our porch. (They are about the size of a quarter) I like to let them be because they almost always have bugs in their webs. Last year Paul killed it and I was upset. This year we had two, maybe more. He was begging to kill it because it was on the stairs where he has to carry down garbage. After I took this picture we sprayed it but I don't think it died. It's pretty gross but way cool at the same time.

On Monday night, as we were getting close to home, we see something in the road. Then we see it move. I had my camera so I asked Paul to pull over and asked the kids if they wanted to play with a snake. It got spooked and started moving much faster so I only got one picture of it. It went up into out ward members yard and into a bush. 

Now I can't be for sure, but it looked like it had a rattle on it's tale. We didn't get close enough to find out for sure because that would just be stupid. Can anyone tell by this picture if this was a little rattle snake? 

Last Week

Last week could be called the week I didn't see my kids. Okay I did see them but they spent a lot of time with both grandparents doing a ton of fun stuff.

David and Nancy took Emma, Andrew, Megan and Matthew up to Salt Lake two days in a row. (Wednesday and Thursday) While they were there they ate at the Lion House, went to the Planetarium, Discovery Gateway, played the in the dancing water fountains, saw the baby giraffe at the Hogle Zoo and saw the dinosaur museum Thanksgiving Point.

Thursday night my parents took them home so they could got o Chuck E. Cheese with their cousins Abby, Lowell, Cora and Talon. After CEC they went and played the day away.

Saturday Paul and I had our time share presentation so our kids went back to David and Nancy's for mud day. They also got breakfast food for lunch and hot dogs for dinner. I will be getting pictures of mud day soon. I did get to peak at them and they were great! The kids were absolutely filthy.

I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For

Is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all? We have found two houses that we loved and lost out on them both. Today I was hoping the third one was going to be the charm, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

On paper this house was fabulous. It exceeded all of our wants, it was in the location that we really like and the price is sort-of right. The reason I say that is, it is a short sale. No one knows what it would really, actually, sell for. Only 10% of short sale offers are accepted so that leads me to believe that it wouldn’t actually sell for the good listing price.

Esthetically the outside of this house is close to my ideal, or at least it was in its heyday. As it is right now the rock is crumbling, the beams need painting and the front yard is in need of a lot of TLC. The backyard, well there is no backyard. There is a lot of space however that would cost a lot to landscape. Right now the cool thing is they are growing some of the most ginormous weeds we have ever seen. They were quite remarkable actually. If one was so inclined one could possible build a tree house in them.

The inside was not at all my taste. Could I live there? Sure. Would it be an improvement? Of course. I would want to make changes though and that wouldn’t be in the budget. The colors were too dark, the finishes were not good in my humble opinion (I don’t need a compass rose inlaid in the tile entry), and the attention to detail was poor to say the least. There were several holes in the ceiling, gaps in grout, holes in finished walls and one room had so many cords vomiting out of the wall it was unreal.

There are renters in it now. They have left their mark in the form of Sharpie on the walls, stains on the carpet and an unidentified stench coming from the kitchen that was permeating the whole house. The children were really enjoying their game of soccer in the finished basement. There’s nothing like doing a walk through while dodging soccer balls that are bouncing off the walls. While the place is huge, and I do mean huge, it doesn’t seem to flow as well as the other houses. There were awkward cubbyholes of wasted space here and there.

Getting back to the fact that it is a short sale. Because of that we can’t make a contingent offer. We don’t want two mortgages so even if we could afford both houses we wouldn’t make an offer yet. (We may or may not be able to qualify for both. We don’t care to do the research to find out since we don’t want to find ourselves in that scenario.) That leaves us only one option before we can do anything else.

We are back to thinking that we are going to list our house for sale. The numbers our realtor throws out are not in our favor. He says that the houses that are selling are the ones priced at $60-$70 a square foot. That means we would have to price it below what we paid six years ago. We still can’t do that. We are going to have faith and follow the feeling that this is the time to do something. Only time will tell where that will lead us.

A Few More Pages

Slowly but surely. I will be making a few adjustments. I will clean them up before I get them printed. The bottom one for instance, the bars will line up. The pink cording is bugging me too. I'll have to play with that. For now they are done and I am almost finished with the whole trip.