Busy busy 4th of July

This weekend was highly productive for both Kory and I, we both felt like we got so much done, with little stress.

4th of July!

We got up and went and picked up our floor from home depot. We were hoping they would have rolled it up so that it was only 5 feet, but instead they rolled it the other way and it ended up being 12feet wide. Luckily my fabulous little hatchback Hyundai came to the rescue and we were able to fit about 9 feet in the car, no problem and 3 feet out.

We dropped off our floor and then went to my sister Hilary's house for a barbecue. My parents went to lake Tahoe with my brother's family, and my other sister Liesel went somewhere else, no one really knows for sure what they ended up doing. So it was just us and the Patchett's. Brian made some good stakes, and grilled vegetables. My nieces suckered Kory into playing GuessWho and Candyland with them, while I helped with the food prep a little. The food was yummy and the whole thing was super relaxing.

Then we went to the Anderson barbecue, where we visited, and I believe Kory played croquette, rumor has it, it was pretty extreme. I however just enjoyed visiting with everyone. We then watched some killer fireworks, and then drove home, and found out that once we cut down our trees we will have a great view of the Stadium of Fire fireworks from our roof. I think our trees are blocking the WHOLE blocks view of them. I am sure everyone will be grateful when they are gone.

Kory and I enjoying the show


Justin and Mark did the lighting this year


The rest of the folks on the "Cool" side of the yard


Maggie...need I say more?
Austin, Jeremy, and Tim were all pretty excited about the parachutes

Saturday
Around 8 am I received a TEXT from my sister that said "There is a really big pig in your yard"
I read it as "There is a pig in our yard" rolled back over and tried to sleep. Then I heard this

"CCCCHHHHHHHH" and again "CCCCHHHHH" kinda like the Darth Vader noise. I look out the window and what do I see? (not popcorn popping) but a BIG GIANT pig in my neighbors backyard, which is practically my back yard as we no longer have anything dividing the two yards. SO I am thinking "What are the chances that my sister has a big pig in her yard at the exact same moment as I do!" Then my phone rings and my sister says "We are in front of your house, that pig is in your yard" And then it ALL clicked. I know I am not that sharp in the morning. The funny thing is, that the day before this, my niece told me about how this same pig air balloon landed in her neighbors yard last year, and I thought to myself, "Man, I wish a big pig air balloon would land in my yard! How cool would that be?!" and then it happens! (Its my awesome witch power acting up again)



Because of all the adrenaline I was up and ready to do something, and I decided that instead of gardening, or cleaning, or doing laundry, I was going to do something I have been wanting to do for a REALLY long time. So I set up my table and stuff and I finally started my Honeymoon scrapbook. You see last summer I finished our wedding album, and then school started, and then we bought a house, and I really haven't had time or energy to start a new book. So it felt really good to start again, and since Kory really hasn't had a chance to sleep in much since we bought this house, I decided to let him sleep.

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

When Kory woke up we went and played racquetball with Kelli and Kyle. It was fun, even though I have two HUGE bruises on my leg from Kyle. (I bruise like a peach) Thanks you guys for playing with us even though I am really sports challenged.

Then we came home and not only took down the paneling, but framed and put up the sheet rock in our family room. We are still surprised that it all went so smoothly. We like the new arrangement much better too.

This is what it looked like a few weeks after we moved in, even before we replaced the windows

See ya paneling! Hello Floral wall paper

Half sheetrock, half finished

It was a fun weekend!

Memphis

My first attempt at blogging. (This is Kory by the way) I can now understand why people take so long to update their blogs. I've been back from my trip for weeks and am now just making myself post something about it. My burst of productivity mostly due to a 2 hour nap this afternoon and now I can't sleep.

To the task at hand - Memphis! As some of you know I get to travel for work, and this time I went to Memphis Tennessee. Seeing as the only time I've been east of Denver was a layover in Texas, this was pretty exciting for me. Because of schedule conflicts and everything going so well, I had almost two days to do whatever I wanted!

Memphis you see, is the birthplace of rock and roll. I took the first chance I got and went over to Sun Studio.



This was by far my favorite part of the trip! This is where Elvis Presley lied to get in to record his first song, where Jerry Lee Lewis got his start as a musician as an in house pianist, where Johnny Cash recorded his first album, and so on. It was a really cool place. I got to handle the very shure 55 microphone that all of these greats sang into! Here's a picture I took of it with a picture of Jerry Lee Lewis, some guy, Elvis, and Johnny Cash in the background.




This studio was also where U2 recorded their Rattle and Hum album. These are the actual drums they used to record.



There were some really cool vintage equipment there too, like this tape machine and this really old mixer and patch bay.


After the studio and some other sightseeing I drove across the Mississippi to Arkansas for lunch. Mostly just to add another state to my list of places I've been.


The crappiest picture of the Mississippi ever.

After lunch I headed to Graceland! After finding out it was 30 bucks for the cheapest tour, I took pictures from the street. That's the gate and the best picture of the house I could get. (Boring pictures I know)



The other really cool thing I got to do was going to a blues bar on the famous Beale street. I was walking down the street and this guy stops me and says that I need to check out the great scene in his bar. Being cheap I asked him how much the cover was. He told me 5 bucks, just as a huge bouncer came over and shook his head at the guy. He looked back at me and said, for you, it's free. Maybe I looked like I could drink a lot or something, but they were disappointed when all I had was water. The live band was really cool. I got to talk to the saxophone player who was 78 years old and claimed to have played the sax for James Brown. He also had the raddest James Brown impression I've ever seen.

All in all it was a great trip, with minimal work and plenty of overtime pay. As a side note, don't fly northwest if you can help it, they lost my luggage both ways. There's some really cool history in Memphis. If you get a chance to go there, I'd take it.

Am I good at guessing or WHAT!

First I win the contest on Kelli's blog and now I am totally right about when our floors would come in. (not to mention my mad skills on the radio, that make Kyle insanely jealous) Maybe I have super powers, or witch like powers that make things happen? I don't know but even though this may seem like an awesome super power, sometimes my negative attitude gets me into trouble. Cancel cancel? Anyway
Sure enough I got a call today that our floors came in. Awesome. Too bad we wont be able to put them in until Monday....BAH So we STILL have two more weeks on our bathroom to go, even though, this was supposed to be the last week. OH WELL !

As for those who think I win too much, I tried my hardest to win myself some stadium of fire tickets both yesterday and today so I could sell them for diamonds and gold, but no such luck.

Waiting and waiting and waiting

We are still waiting for our floor to get in for our bathroom, it seriously has been the longest 7 days of my life! They said 7-10 days and we were hoping for more of the 7 instead of the 10 seeing how the 10 days would make it come on Thursday, the day before the holiday, and lets just be honest, we will not be spending our holiday on our bathroom as tempting as it may be, we wont.
So I am hoping that they come tomorrow, so we can pull out the toilet, lay the subfloor in one night and then have my dad come and help us lay the floor, either that night, or the next one....

That is pretty much all that has been going on this week. I am also starting the dance class this week, an am a little nervous, but I am sure it will all go well.

Filled with regret

So this morning I received my Ensign in the mail, and flipped to an article about using the internet to spread the gospel, and I came across this passage:
"As you participate in this conversation and utilize the tools of new media, remember who you are-Latter day Saints. Remember, as the proverb states, that "a soft answer turneth away wrath: but grevious words stir up anger" (proverbs 15:1) And remember contention is of the devil (see 3 nephi 11:29) There is no need to argue or contend with others regarding our beliefs. There is no need to become defensive or belligerent. Our position is solid; the church is true. We simply need to have a conversation, as friends in the same room would have, always guided by the promptings of the Spirit and constantly remembering the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, which reminds us of how precious are the children of our Father in Heaven. "

After reading that statement, my heart sank. I felt horrible for the things I wrote about in my last post, and I realized I did them primarily out of anger. And I didn't stop to consider her feelings on the situation. Yes, she made me mad, but I think in her heart she was feeling like she was doing us a favor. So I apologize to those who read it, I want our blog to be positive and reflect the kind of people Kory and I are. I hope all will forgive and forget

Thanks
Amy

To read the full article click here

Let there be light!

And a door!

For those of you who have been to our house, you know that if you need to use the bathroom, you can either A) hold it until your bladder explodes or B) Usher everyone out side you can have some privacy.

Well folks, NO more, because as of last night, we have not one but both of our doors hung in our bathroom. I know for all you pregnant ladies this is a huge relief! :)

But it gets better, you also no longer have to walk through our dark bathroom to find the lamp! Because last night we we put our lights in in too! And they look fabulous if I must say so myself. We are getting close, if everything goes smoothly this weekend we are looking at 2 more weeks until its done!

Our Vanity lights! (and paint)
underneath the lights will be a big mirror and then our sink and vanity

Our can light

Now that that's all done, we can put our sub-floor down, and lay the flooring! And say goodbye to our bathroom floor that has not one, but three different types of flooring on it. I guess four if you count the cardboard part. :)Thanks to Kory's parents for coming and hanging the doors, and helping us get the lights up!

Seafood

So last night after my enrichment activity, I came home and Kory told me he was going to make me a Seafood dinner. I hate seafood for the most part, I just can't stand the smell mixed with the texture. But I was very thrilled that he was going out of his way to fix dinner for me. He said he found this awesome recipe and wanted to try it. So I put on my brave face and said a little prayer to myself that I would be able to accept whatever he was making, and tried to be positive, who knows maybe I would like it. (But deep down I was hoping he was teasing me and really had something else planned).

When he put the dinner in front of my I just laughed and laughed! He had made "Sharks" and "Octopus" out of hotdogs, buns, grapes and chips! I couldn't believe it! I was so happy, and was so so sooo relieved it wasn't something else. :)

This is what he made

Please take note of the eyes! And the sharks even had tails!

So this post is to praise my husband, and how funny he is. That is one of the things I cherish the most about him. He is the funniest person I know, and he is always doing things to make me laugh and smile, even after all these years of being together. So thanks babe for filling my life with laughter. PS Don't give it up, you still got it! :)