We Frolicked About in Our Summer Skin

Since today is the last official day of summer (I won't pretend I'm sad...I absolutely love summer...but fall is my absolute favorite season) I thought it would be appropriate to finally show you our summer pictures.

So, do you want to see what we've been up to all summer (besides working on the house)?

Please prepare yourself for a picture overload.

BEAR LAKE

 That little guy in the Karissa bread sandwich is my nephew Mackay. He is OBSESSED with the tube. Which is kinda suprising, because he's only 4. Usually you can't even get such little guys to get on these things, but everytime we'd stop the boat he'd exclaim, "I am not getting off this tube!" Everytime we were at camp he'd say, "Let's have more fun on the tube." Such a cutie.

 Knee boarding is kind of my new water sport obsession. LOVE IT.

 Baby Joshua. Isn't he the cutest?! Oh man I love this picture.

STARVATION (the resevoir)

This is the view from my Dad's property. Pretty amazing, no?

And what summer is complete without going to a baseball game with awesome friends? (photos taken by Nick and Kelly...thanks for letting me have a few!)

Jordan and Kelli

 That's Kelly, on the far right

 And this is Nick.

Riley and Cassidy

And we did lots of other fun stuff with super cool people that I neglected to take pictures of. So, if you were a part of my summer, you helped make it super awesome.

Summer was good to us. My favorite part of the summer is doing things outside!!!

And now, it's time to peel the freckles from our shoulders.

Peace out, Summertime.

The Happiest Place in Utah

On Monday we went to the coolest place in Utah.

Seriously, I don't know why we waited so long to go there.

We meant to go earlier, but we kind of just kept forgetting about it.

Luckily, one of my friends (thanks Kelly) went there and blogged about it, and I was reminded that I HAD to go there very soon.

Seriously you guys, this place felt like a little slice of Disneyland...

 That's right. We went to the UP! house. Oh my goodness you guys. I'm in LOVE with this house. It was SOOOOOO cool. Go there. Right now. Turn off your computer and go.

 If you look closely at those pictures you will see that they are scenes from the movie! Sigh.

 The Adventure Book was even there!

 We were super lucky and got to get our picture taken in the chairs! The Bangerter family (who own the company that built the house...and it was Mr. Bangerter's idea to build it) was there taking family photos, so they let us take one too.:) Yes, I know it's kind of blurry. We're going to look past that.

 Remember this?

 Cool bookshelf, right?

 Well, that cool bookshelf definately opens up into this little play area!!! SO cool! I'm glad Jayson saw the hinges and gave it a pull.

 I'm pretty sure this kitchen isn't in the movie, but they added it in (along with a few other rooms) so that it could be a fully functional house, as they are trying to sell it. They did do it in a 50's type style, which is around the time Carl and Ellie remodeled their house.

 I can't get enough of those blue appliances! I'm currently in the process of convincing Jayson that we NEED them.

 This is another room they added in the basment...a Toy Story room! How cute is that?!

And yes, of course, the mailbox.


While we were there they were playing a little slide show of still shots from the movie. When this one came on it made me smile:

Look familiar much? Minus the wedding dress and tux of course...

Seriously...IT'S AMAZING!!! I kept trying to tell Jayson we needed to buy the house (seriously, I would live there in a hearbeat), but he kept saying it was too expensive or something silly like that.

We also got to meet Mr. Bangerter himself! He told us about how he had to actually get permisson from Disney and how Disney actually seemed pretty excited to see it done. He did have to give the floorplan to Disney once it was finished, but how cool is that?! Also, come to find out, Mr. Bangerter knows my grandparents and actually built their house too (which is incredibly gorgeous). Maybe with these connections he can built me a house some day....

Did any of you go to the parade of homes? Did you see an old fashion truck in the garage of the UP! house? That was totally my grandpa's truck.

I absolutely love this movie, so seeing this house in person was absolutely amazing and inspiring. It really got me thinking about my relationship with Jayson and how I hope we stay in love for our whole lives and beyond...just like Carl and Ellie. We're totally going to.

Master

After much hard work our master bedroom is FINISHED! I thought you might want to see pictures.

First, let me remind you what it looked like before...

 Remember the gross and nasty carpet? This picture doesn't even do the nastiness justice. Seriously. It was yucky. There was a bright red punch looking stain (don't worry, it wasn't blood...blood stains are usually brownish) that was soaked clear through the carpet, pad, and stained the wood beneath. I think someone knocked over punch and never bothered to clean it up. There was also crayon all over one of the walls. Oh, and when I washed the walls before paint...EW EW EW. They were way worse than the others in the house so far.

 Our ceiling had a gigantic patch job. They had patched, taped, and mudded, but that was about it. They didn't even sand the mud! It was just chunks of dry mud haning from the ceiling. I didn't get a picture of it like that, but this picture is post textruing, pre painting. My dad did an awesome job with the texturing!

Here's my dad, helping Jayson tear off one of the baseboards that was very broken. Luckily, Home Depot had some that matched exactly!

Here is Jayson's art work.

Here Jayson is doing the edging for the brown wall.

I promise I worked on the room a whole lot too, but apparently I didn't get any pictures of it. I painted the brown wall, while Jayson edged. He's great at eding. He's got a painter's steady hand. I, on the other hand, can't paint a straight line to save my life...hence, he did the edging.

P.S. That paint looked EXACTLY like melted chocolate when we opened the lid. It's a good thing it smelled really bad or else I might have had to taste it....

Drum roll please......

So, I'm kind of in love with doors. That's normal, right? Just look at what they add to this wall! I really dig the light walls with darker trim and doors. Love.

On the wall to your left is where we replaced the base board. You can't even tell, right?! Amazing. Jayson actually did all of the replacing. He's becoming even more of a handy man everyday! I love it!

And now with furniture....

What's the point of having a reversible bed spread if you don't take pictures with both sides, right?

As you can tell we haven't really decorated yet. One day I will do that. We still haven't exactly decorated our basement yet either. We're getting the big stuff done first, and then this fall I'm going to be a decorating fool!

We're getting SO close. As far as interior stuff goes all we have to do is paint our main level and a paint a few doors (two of these doors are interior and exterior. Other than that we just have to get that swamp cooler off our roof, put the rest of the ice sheild on the roof, and insulate some pipes. But, while the men are doing those things I will be contently decorating. Hurrah!

Think of a Wonderful Thought, Any Merry Little Thought.....

There are quite a few things going on these days that put a smile in my heart (get it? It goes with the title...if you can name the move you get ten cool points in my book.).

Yup, time for bullet points.

• We got a new/used car!!! Exciting, right? She's silver and we named her Toph, and rightly so, because this girl's got power. (You get ten more cool points if you know where that name came from.) She's got A/C, automatic windows, automatic locks.... I feel spoiled.
• Our master bedroom is FINISHED!! I'll post pictures of this soon...we still need to add the blinds and closet doors, so I guess it's not TECHNICALLY finished, but close enough. It looks fantastic. Seriously, it turned out even prettier than I imagined.
• I still get super giddy about my house. When I drove home from work I just think about how lovely the area is that I live in and how perfect the location is. When I pull in my driveway I'm filled with happiness and I just sit there and beam at my little house. I still don't really believe it's mine. I still have those moments, pretty much everyday, when I think to myself, "I own a house. Seriously? That can't be real. There's no way." Today we were in our backyard, talking to the neighbores and I was just in awe. Is all that yard really mine? It really is. I can't even believe it. I felt so happy and peaceful back there. Sigh.
• Menchie's frozen yogurt is fantastic. It's my new obsession. It's my favorite frozen yogurt place so far. It's got such a fun atmosphere and there are always tons new flavors. Frozen yogurt toppings are probably the best things ever. Usually my bowl is half frozen yogurt and half topping. I'm in love.
• My Dad and his lady are FINALLY getting married in October. I am pretty stoked. She is totally awesome.
• I'm getting two neices/nephews (we don't know the genders yet) in February!
• There's still a bit of summer left and I'm soaking it up every moment that I can. There are still so many summery things that I want to do. I love summer evenings especially. I never want those to go away. I find myself clinging to what I have left of it.
• On the other hand, I also find myself beckoning in fall. I LOVE fall. I think it might be my favorite season. It's so nice and calm, a good feeling after a busy summer. It has pumpkin flavored baked goods, carmeled apples, Halloween, cool, crisp air, gorgeous leaves, cider, hot chocolate, sweaters....I could go on and on. I LOVE it.
• General Conference is in ONE MONTH. I love General Conference.
• People. The people in my life are amazing. Seriously, I never cease to be amazing and humbled by how many wonderful people I get to have in my life. If you're reading this and I know you, I probably think you're incredible.
• I think I finally feel ready to go back to school. I'm not in school and I don't know if I will be next semester, or the one after that... but I find myself genuinely missing school. Just the mere fact that I feel like I could go back to school makes me happy. I wondered if that feeling would ever truly come again. I find myself thinking about my favorite classes and how cool it was to learn all the things I did from them. I miss that feeling of learning so many new things all at once. I feel like this bullet point should end now because I can feel it turning into it's very own blog about how I miss school and how I miss Logan, UT with all of my heart.

So, there you have it. Life is good.

As We Sat Beneath the Willow Tree...

Waaaaaay back in kindergarten I met a girl named Vienna.

At least I'd assume we met in kindergarten, but I don't actually remember it clearly. My first clear recollection of her doesn't come until second grade. We were both in the same class and we sat at the same table. The teachers just announced that boys and girls would be paired off and would learn a couple's dance. I was completely mortified. They wanted me to dance with a boy? Gross.

But, I did have one friend that was a boy, that I really wanted to be my partner. They let us choose our partners, but I was too shy to even attempt asking him. Thus, I was both insanely embarrassed and very grateful when Vienna piped up and said, "Hey Kenny, you and Karissa should be partners!"
Ok, so I don't remember the exact words, but you get the picture.

Oh, if only I would have known then of the adventures we'd have in years to come. I could have never known that we would attend ever single year of school together (kindergarten all the way up to graduating from USU). I had no idea of the great friendship that would come. In fact, I don't even remember a whole lot about her from our elementary school days, just bits and peices here and there. I remember she was super tall. I remember that in the later elementary school years I was jealous of her butterfly shirts and accessories. That's really about it.

Fast forward to middle school. That is when our friendship really started to grow. I don't even recall how it happened. I think I started eating lunch with Cameo, who ate lunch with Vienna. Or maybe I started eating lunch with our mutual friend Ariel, who also sat with Vienna. I don't really know, but I'm pretty sure it's because we started eating lunch together. And maybe gym class? That and a whole lot of MSN messenger. I  wish I could remember more (she probably remembers because she has the best memory of all time). All I know is that it happened and we stuck together through the middle school years, high school, and college.

I have a hunch though, that part of what really bonded us was our strangely parallel lives. Please observe:

• We were born just a few days shy of a month apart. I don't know if that really counts, but I feel like it does. We were both winter babies. That's gotta mean something, right? We wer both on the olderish end of the people in our grade and we learned how to drive together, we were allowed to date at the same time, etc.
• We liked the same boy in Middle School. that usually tears girlfirends apart, right? But, it didn't for us. I think it was because he wasn't really interested in either of us, (though I think he took quite a fancy to Vienna at the end of high school...haha) so we talked and gushed about him pretty much all of the time and we never reached that crossroad of one of stealing him from the other.
• In high school we liked two different boys, but our relationships to those boys were uncannily similar. It's kind of hard to explain what I mean, but just trust me on this one. They were both those kind of relationships where you like the boy so much, but they are also your greatest challenge in life, ya know?
• Freshman year of college we both got our first boyfriend. Both of these boys left on a mission. We both sort of did the waiting for them thing, but then we both decided not to wait while said boys were still on their missions.
• The summer after our Sophomore year of college I met Jayson, who just so happened to be friends with Vienna's husband Rob. We set them up, and thus our second date became their first date. 5 1/2 short months later we got married a day apart from eachother, Jayson and I on the 18th of December, Rob and Vienna on the 19th.
• We also graduated from USU on the same day. I guess this is not that shocking or strange, since we are the same age and we both finished in the standard four years, but it seems like a lot of people don't finish in the standard four years anymore, so I thought it was pretty awesome.

Vienna and I have also had some amazing times together.

• Youth Conference when we were in middle school. Vienna was the only one her age in her ward, so they let her bring a friend. It was a rockin good time.
• That time when my bracelet broke in French class and scattered VERY LOUDLY all over the floor, past the door and into the hallway and not a soul noticed but us.
• When we played baseball with our French books, in French class
• Pretty much just French class all around
• When she introduced me to Death Cab, for which I will always be grateful.
• Our first Death Cab concert
• Driving home together from working at the Desert Star. She's always inspired the crazy in me on those drives.
• Ogden lunches
• Cross Country running/singing of Disney songs/Best summer of my life spent with her and our friend Marni
• Many many many Jamba and Cold Stone nights
• Watching A Cinderella Story on Prom night
• Driving to California together

...to name a few. A very few.

Vienna is the classiest person I know. She's hilarious. She's brilliant. She's gorgeous. She's kind. She's super crafty. She's passionate. She's an AMAZING story teller (seriously, like the next Jim Dale good). The way she explains things and the way she talks about things that she loves is contagious and it makes you want to love those things too. She's fantastic friend. I just love her.

But, do you want to know my very very very favorite thing about her/memories with her?
Talking to her. Seriously, she's like the easiest person to talk to. I absolutely adore talking to and being with this girl. I do not stay up all night. I just don't. I've never ever pulled an all nighter doing homework. The times I've stayed up all night are far and few between and do you know what was the cause of every single one of them? Talking to Vienna. Though we hated life in the morning (and the whole next day, really), those late night talks were the absolute very best.

She truly is one of my dearest friends in the whole wide world.

I know, there are significantly less pictures than you'd think for how long we've been friends, right? Well, let me tell you a secret. Despite the fact that we are both pretty attractive people, (I think so anyway) we are notorious for taking really ugly pictures together.

It's so surreal to think of the crazy times we've had and then to realize that in about a month she'll be having a baby. Surreal, but wonderful. I'm so insanely excited for her. She is really going to an AMAZING mom, like seriously amazing. Little Magnolia will be so well loved, educated, and nurtured. You should see how excited she is, it's fantastic.

Baby Nolie, you're one lucky girl.

Nennie,
LOL

Challenge

Ok my wonderful and creative friends. I have a challenge for you. I have this little space on my main level ...

...and I really want it to be a living room/dining room. I want to have sofa/chair space for at least 4 people and a table that will fit at least four people.

I just know it can be done. I even have this awesome bay window to work with. Behold:

I've been cramming my brain about this problem since we first looked at this house and I keep changing my mind about what would look the best.

Then today, as I was browsing a furniture website, it hit me. I need other people's opions. I mean, really, the more people working on a problem the better, right? The more inspiration I can get the better. Plus, honestly, some of my friends are some of the most creative people alive.

I even have a little wooden booth that I can work with that looks a little something like this:

Except it's wood color and not white. But, I suppose it could be white. I think the table is also square.

But, I don't have to use the booth either.

So, any suggestions? Use your imagination. The possibilities are endless.

But, try to also keep in mind that my budget is not.

How the House is Going

So, are you sick of hearing about my house and all of the fixing up projects yet? If you are, you should probably just stop reading my blog for the next couple of months, because that's pretty much all I do, besides camping on the weekends with the fam. I'll post pictures of that one day.

A lot of people, and by that I mean pretty much everyone I talk to and see, have been asking how the house is going, so I'll just tell you.

When people ask me this I always reply with a sigh and I say two words: slow and good.

Let's talk about slow. Well, it's really pretty self explainatory. Things are going a lot slower than I imagined they would..like, A LOT slower. I didn't really take into account that I would have to do things like the dishes, laundry, vacuuming, grocery shopping, etc. whilst working on the house. woops. We keep hitting little sangs that drag things out longer.

Plus, our Saturdays have been pretty much taken up by various things, camping, boating, working, and that sort of thing. So, only having week nights after work to work on the house makes things a little bit more difficult as well. But, I really can't complain. We decided that vacationing with the family is really important and we wouldn't be able to get those vacations back, but the house will still be here to work on when the family is not going camping and such.

And, the other day Jayson's car finally died. It's probably just a battery and wouldn't be that much to fix, but we decided it's probably time for a new/used one, so now we're focusing on that because shuffling cars is kind of a pain. So now there's looking, test driving, inspections, licensing...etc, which will probably set us back another couple of weeks on the house. But, getting a new car is pretty exciting.

So, really, the reasons that things are going slowly are really pretty good and exciting reasons, but still I get majorly stressed out about it some days. I just want my routine back, I want to have time again to do other things, to go running, etc. I know a couple of other people that have been fixing up their places and they've gotten done way faster than we have, so I get frustrated. Maybe we're just slow workers?

 I just have to remind myself to have perspective. It will proably only be another month and half, but then I'll have a beautifully fixed up home (except for maybe the basement bedroom and bathroom). Not that much time when you consider how long we'll probably be here. I don't really know how long that will be, but I'm pretty sure it will be longer than anywhere else I've lived in the past five years.

Now we'll move on to good.

The things that are done look fantastic. I just love everything about the basement family room. The finishing touches aren't done, but for the most part it's great. I love the carpet, the wall colors...everything.

We got a new front door and it makes our house look ten times better. I am in love with it.

We've done a lot of repairs that you can't see. (This might be another reason I get frustrated. I don't SEE the improvement or progression.) We have running water and our house is leak free. We have a lawn mower. We've done lots of other things I can't even remember right now.

The ceiling on the main level is painted, so the worst is over. (Serioiusly though, have you ever painted a vaulted ceiling? I don't recommend it. Talk about a pain in the neck. Pun intended.)

Anyway, onto something more fun. Do you know what I do meanwhile? I day dream of how to decorate. Most particularly my main level. I just want to make it look incredible. I want there to be a cozy, peaceful feeling when people walk into my house. I want people to love being here.

So, do you want to see pictures of my main inspirations thus far?

So, what do you think? I have no idea how all of this is going to come together and it probably won't look near as nice as these rooms, but I hope it looks fabulous.

Do you guys have any brilliant decorating ideas? I'm all ears. I really want to do something cool with my angled wall...any suggestions? I have a picture on Pinterest of an idea where the pictures are set up so that there's one big picture in the middle and then one above and to the right of it and then on below and to the left of it...so, sort of a stair formation. I really like it, but Pinterest is being rude right now, so I can't post it.

Anyway, I hope I didn't come off as a complainer too much. I really am so incredibly grateful for this house and I wouldn't trade it and it's slow moving fixing up for anything. Everytime I see the beautiful hard wood floor I get giddy. I still wake up in the morning and can't believe that I have a house. It still feels so incredible and so surreal. Our very own house.
So much happiness.