Bedroom & Office Updates

Just have to say, I'm getting a few of my 2012 "to do list" or goals done.  Yay!  We found some furniture for our bedroom, agreed on it, and purchased over the last month or two.  David even negotiated the price down on our dresser since we had a budget to stay within.  We didn't buy the bed or the dresser at the same time, but we lucked out because they are pretty much exactly the same color of dark wood.

I'm learning a lot about interior decorating and colors and how NEXT time I'll start our bedroom update.  We found a picture for our bedroom first and that's what I've been basing a theme or color off of, but then we weren't lucky at finding a duvet in blue like we wanted.... and of course if you've decorated a room I'm sure you know how the issues tend to come up.  Or maybe its just me and how I stress about wanting everything to look good etc.  And on a budget, I'm just not as good at pairing different clearance items up and making it all "work".  We went basic this time.  Finally it dawned on me, we just need a duvet cover so we can use the comforter we got - and we need furniture so we can stop living out of plastic tub drawers...  We hadn't planned on living where we are for as long as we have, so living w/out most bedroom furniture was working for us.  But since our timing changed, we have the opportunity to get some furniture.  And someday I'll be able to add more and change the duvet and drapes and start over on a new look and feel.  And so I'm not as stressed because before the pressure was on to find the perfect bedroom stuff so that we could have it forever.  The silly stress that I add to my life and make such a huge problem.

And one other thing I can't take for granted - David is so supportive even with my silly stresses.  When I go and take 100 pictures of duvet's, curtains, sheets, decor - he looks at them all with me.  And when he finally heard that I could live with the cranberry/wine colored duvet - we drove straight to the store to get it that night (even during finals week! so if he failed, it was my fault i guess).  And then he's also learned of my buyers remorse and can help me get through and it and eventually like the things we bought.
Here's the room so far....  We still have curtains to get, nightstands, and some cute pillows to bring it all together, but for now I'm happy.  And I'd like to paint the room, but maybe we'll save the painting for the next home whenever that comes.

And then we also updated our office, thanks to Ikea!  We checked out a ton of bookcases and eventually went with the one below.  Practical and we have a little room to grow, yay!  David put it all together one night and we had it all filled within 20 min.  I guess we have a lot of books :)  We're still organizing it, but so far, we're happy.

4th of July

For the Forth of July, we packed our Wednesday full!  It was actually very refreshing to have one day off of work mid-week.  Most everyone at my work took the days before or after the holiday off, so I had extra time to catch up from all the busyness.  It finally started to slow down at this point.

We followed our tradition for this day, mostly, as below...
1) Murray Parade - this was great!  It was extra hot this year, but we enjoyed Jeff announcing and hanging with the Evans and kiddos.  I was able to hold Izzy for awhile :).  And we invited our favorite Clark crew, Jon & Annie + kiddos.  So I got lots of Sophie and Sam time too!  It was fun watching the kids watch the parade.  But really I forget each year how the parade is mostly about the free candy that comes flying into the crowds.  And if you're lucky, you just might get nailed.  (Poor Sophie did and I tried to save her even!) My favorite are the jeeps that drive on top of each other.  My least favorite was some random entry, a spook house, where all the half-dead bloody crew came walking (very slowly and spread out) down the  parade.  And they were in costumes such as the statue of liberty, with blood, or some of our founding fathers, with blood, gore, etc.  Random!  And really odd with all the kiddos wanting candy and then they see (or get distracted so they don't see) this!  Anyway, here's the crew below:

2) Next up, we ran home and had 2 hours to chill before a few BBQ's (Evans & Clark)  While David chilled, I really wanted to get this Fourth of July craft done!  I started like Monday, and had 1/4 left and finished it in the two hours.  And proudly hung it outside right then and kept it up all of July.  I'm pretty proud, and think it looks awesome for my first yarn wreath!  The hardest parts are not being o.c.d. about the lines and also just wrapping the yarn around and around with the yarn ball going each time too.  Didn't think that one through totally.

3 & 4) BBQ with Evans and BBQ with the Clarks - one right after another!  David was volunteered to cook the beef so, as he was wearing khaki pants, they got totally covered in meat grease!  (Luckily I used dish soap, then baking powder, and more dish soap after dried, and its not visible, yay!)  We ate what we could and then headed to my in-laws to repeat the BBQ.  David kept eating, while I just snacked a little.  We brought our suits and swam with the kids in the "pop-up pool" as I call it.  (Its the 5 foot on top of the ground framed pool).  It was interesting, but after awhile I didn't think about it being dirty and just had fun playing with the kids.  There were too many of us in there but we got a good whirlpool going so that was fun.  Didn't get pictures of these...
5) Lastly we came home, watched a movie, and instead of watching the Murray fireworks as usual, we just stayed home, did a few sparklers, and watched the fireworks from the street.  We were so exhausted from swimming and the sun all day, we just needed a rest....  Below is my cute Davie.  The first was an attempt at a smile, but our camera is a little slow.  The next I really love, showing his silly side as always :)

Happy Fourth of July everyone!!!  (even if I'm a month late... ;))

Grad dinner date

Graduation dinner date - a little late :)

Mid June I took David out to dinner for our own family celebration of his great accomplishments!  Yay David!!  Here we are at Rodizio Grill - yum!!

It was fun getting out together!  Also I gave David a few things for Graduation, mostly food or future eating out as he wished to get Sushi :)  And then David was sweet and got me a little present too, it's below.  He said we both were graduating.  What a sweetie.

Lagoon with work

Continuing the blog posts somewhat in order...

Before the work craziness hit hard, June 13 we went to Lagoon with my work!  Actually the work was just at the beginning of busy, so it was nice to have a break from all our worries.  And Lagoon, for all the non-Utahans, is just a local amusement park.  As I walked through the park I couldn't help compare to the infamous Disneyland or Six Flags and continued to ponder why Lagoon couldn't step it up a little bit?!  But we decided to enjoy what we had and flocked with all the pre-teens at the park that day (or Moms and kids would be more appropriate if we had hung out in the kiddo section).  I don't remember myself being one of those teens to just be at a park with friends causing havoc, loudness and annoyance... but I'm pretty sure I have lost those memories, so who knows!

The one thing I was excited for at Lagoon was the "Rocket" that shoots you up or drops you down depending on your preference.  We did both, several times :-)  We also did a few roller coasters and walked off feeling dizzy and light headed.  Am I really getting that old?!?!?  I will say no and stand by my thought that Lagoon rides just aren't up to par with the bigger theme parks that we all love.  I think I'll just have to go try those "real" parks sooner than later huh? wink wink...

Above is a far off picture of the rocket (in white) and us taking a picture from the air chairs.  I think some people consider those air chairs as rides, especially the teens in front of us who were trying to bounce all through the ride and cause us to bounce too, so not cool.

Here's the awesome picture that one of my co-workers emailed to me the day after.  We didn't know anyone was below snapping a picture as we were flying up and down, but I am VERY excited to have it!  Those of you in a small 1-2 person family would understand how hard it is to get pictures of the both of you, besides the ones you take with the arm showing in the bottom corner...  I always want better pictures.  Thanks random co-worker for finding us on that ride - how it could have been construed a little odd/creepy, I'm not going to think about that.  Yay look at us!!

And another of our favorite rides below... the swings!!  Cute David...

After a quick dinner with the work at a pavilion, we headed back out for a few more rounds of the rocket, spook houses (and I was totally jumpy) and then to the old country town area.  We found the log ride (smaller version of Splash Mountain) and had fun going down that in a log all to ourselves...  And didn't really get too wet!

While in the old town, look what David found?  It's a huge tooth outside of the old Dental office in the "country" of Lagoon!  A definite sign for him/us, right?!?!?!

Oh Lagoon, even though I'm not as fond of you and made fun of you a bunch - I shall visit you again someday.  You're all we have close by.  Just remind me early on not to venture on the roller coasters as much for my little queasy stomach may not handle it.  Next time, just the rocket over and over. :)

Gardening & Weeding

Months ago, early Spring, we did some gardening.  And we hired David's little sister Brooke to help do the weeding with us.  Well, she brought 2 younger siblings so we had a whole crew helping us get our yard back in order.  It was great to have their help, and also fun to have them over just to hang out.

Since May, we had some sort of fertilizer all over (thanks Grandpa!) but we did get a lot of weeds right back!?!  But the flowers/plants are still going strong, except for the Cilantro which only lasted 6 weeks if that much!  But we still have chili peppers, basil, cherry tomatoes.  And then for the plants we have a few flowers and then hostas that we planted in the other bed a few weeks after this one event.

Below is the during and after pictures...  Don't worry the siblings wanted to be tossed in the trash.  We were running out of room and they got it back down. :)

The crew attacking the trees after the weeding was done!

David teasing his siblings, me just planting...

Finished results - flower bed, 2 spice pots, and no more weeds/trimmed trees

Relatives Visit to SLC

I know I'm behind but I wanted to post about this so if any of my relatives check our blog, they get to see their faces or their kiddos :)

My cousin Brandon got married on June 2nd to his fiance Alvhild and we were lucky enough for them to have their celebrations happen in Utah!  We were able to see them sealed together for time & all eternity in the SLC temple, and then have dinner with the Evans' and all their guests at the Lion House.  It was a perfect day outside and so fun to see everyone who was in town.

 Love the crazy before and very posed after pics below - so many kiddos!

Here were some candid shots outside the temple.  I love attending marriage/sealing ceremonies in the temple.  It's the best part to a marriage because you get to share such an important event with them.  I love when a bride and groom enter the sealing room and get to see all their family and those who play an important role in their life.  (This was my favorite part 2.5 years ago too!).  And since it was my cousin's wedding, a lot of my extended family was there too and brought good feelings to me.  It was great to watch how in love they are, just adoring each other and wanting to serve the other person.  New love is so pure.  And actually older love can be too, so I wasn't saying those of you who've been married forever aren't as sweet.  But new love is just wonderful.  I know they deserve the best and I'm so happy they found each other even if it took awhile to find.  No matter how long it takes to find that right person, when it happens it is the best and the right time.  And for those of us who it has taken a long time, or hasn't happened yet, I think our love grows much more for our future spouses because we won't take them for granted, but really treasure them everyday.  Waiting for my spouse, it was hard, but I knew once he came I'd be so grateful everyday.  Sometimes there's a moment I forget but I can easily remind myself and any hard trials we have together still are okay because we have each other to lean on.  Not trying to brag about marriage, just explaining my situation - I know how it is to want to be married, and now I know how it is on the other side after waiting for a long time - I hope everyone gets to experience the joys of marriage and having a best friend forever.

So I got caught in my thoughts.... back to the wedding...

After the wedding, the Evans' cousins stayed in town for a week and we were able to see them one more time at a BBQ at Steph's home.  David had a EQ meeting so he only stopped by for a few seconds and then left me to hang and spend time with them (Nancy, Brooke, Courtney and kids and also Lindsay's kids since she was sick herself... as well as my mom and the SLC Evans' Andy, Steph, Richard and Jan and family).  I had a couple hours to experience LOTS of kids.  Between all those cousins above I think there were at least 15 little ones there.  This is how all of their family vacations are, wow!  And from a small family, that was so new for me.  And having an in-law family that is the opposite of small (9 kids), I had a small glimpse of what the future for the Clarks looks like.  And I say "small" because 9 with 3-5 kids is a lot more than 15!  Anyway, everyone had about a 1 year old, so there were 4 of them who were just walking barely.  It was cute to watch them interact with each other as well as they were given a corn on the cob that they just walked around with.  All the other older kids are cousins themselves and you could tell that they knew how to play together, get in fights, and just have fun!  While there was a lot of chaos it was fun to watch their parents as they got out the bandaids or put someone in timeout or just use those parenting skills they have developed over the past 5-8 years.  A long time ago, as cousins, we were all in that stage of playing together at reunions or trips - crazy it has been so long since those times.  You Evans', remember us visiting Alabama and all the fun we'd have: boogie boarding on the beach, boating, baseball games, the kids playing in your home together, swimming, finding a bat under the balcony, driving the doon buggy...  These are just some of the fun times I remember.  Brandon and Eric ganging up on Courtney and Andrea... Well, my memory isn't the best, but I can remember some of it right?!

Here are some BBQ candid shots, thanks to everyone for coming and to Steph for putting the invite out there and throwing a fun party!  Let's do it again soon!

 All these cousins playing together! How fun!

 She's adorable!