Sometimes you just need HOME!

I was having a rough day a couple weeks ago and I called my mom crying saying I just wanted to come home. I quickly booked a ticket home for a few days. It was much needed! I was so happy to just spend time with my family. They all took very good care of me and I felt much better by the time I left. 

My first stop of course was to see these 3!

 Parker decided he liked me! FINALLY! He never will take a bottle or snuggle with me. Well no one else was around so he really had no choice! We got in two naps together that day.

 Haddley had her tonsils and adenoids out and tubes put into her ears. She was so good about it all. I would have been complaining for days, but here she is day two being a silly monkey. He said her mouth hurt and she needed a band aide!

 By that afternoon she was skateboarding in the hallway!

 I got to spend lots of time being Auntie which is always my favorite part of going home. Cami can always use the help and I sure do love those kids. I took Camden to a friend's birthday party and learned very quickly that 6 year olds in a small space are SCARY! 

Mom, Dad, and I had date night to go see The Fast and the Furious! Who doesn't love Sexy Paul Walker and fast cars??? We also went to my favorite restaurant, Sea! The best Thai food ever! Can't get enough of their yellow curry. We also watched Taken 2 and The Impossible. 

Sunday was church time and apparently nap time for this old man! Somethings never change!

It's always never long enough, but it was nice to get to go home and relax. 

Sure lucky to have the family I have! they are so good to me!

A Day of Service

My stake had the opportunity to help another stake down in Salt Lake this weekend. This stake was in much need for some service. We kept hearing about this great service project that would be happening, but I had no idea how truly great it would be. 8am on Saturday morning my ward showed up to help the Arbor Spanish Speaking Branch. They are incredible people. They were so kind to all of us and you could tell how much they appreciated our hard work. I wish I had taken before and after pictures of some of the projects, but I was working and moving between houses so I didn't get a chance. We did yard work, planted flowers, mowed, built patios, fixed roofs, bathrooms, painted interiors, removed trash and old appliances, trimmed trees, etc. I was assigned to the "trashy" group as Jake called it. Brother Anderson, Jake, Patrick and I would go to each house and load up a trailer full of trash, weeds, dirt, appliances, etc. and then take them to the large dumpsters. We would often stop and help with random projects as well. This sounds like a simple job, but we did it from 8 am until 6pm. There was that much trash! We had a blast doing it though and in the end I was so grateful to have spent the day with those 3. 

No idea what this large chunk of cement was at one point, but we had to get rid of it. The boys went to town at breaking it down. At this house we fixed a leaking roof, painted 3 rooms, cleared out room for a garden, built a stone patio and walkway, planted flowers, mowed, cleaned out trash. We gave them a lawn mower as a gift and the older man said this was his first new law mower and was so grateful. As we left we saw them continue to work and clean and take pride in their "new" home.

 We cleared out a lot of green waste. This sometimes meant we had to break down the bigger tree branches before we could put them in the trailer.

 Brother Anderson, Patrick, & Jake (the trashy group). 

At the dump! We probably had too much fun at the dump. It was nice to laugh and throw things away hearing the breaking glass. We also saw a great fridge that someone had trashed with the food still in it! Classy!

Ashlee and Megan enjoying the much needed oranges. It rained all morning and at times got chilly. Oranges were a highlight that morning.

Beethoven! This dog was HUGE! Luckily stayed tied up the whole time we worked in the yard.

At one house we were working in the yard and one of our guys Carl who was in charge of the construction said, "Hey I need someone who isn't afraid of heights to go on the roof and in a tree!" I volunteered very quickly! He had me get on the garage roof and tear off shingles then cut back and trim a tree so that he could then get up there and lay down some new shingles. It was one of my favorite parts of the day. I love climbing things!

It was a long hard day of work, but so worth it! I needed to be there and to forget myself and just serve these wonderful people. I hope that we get a chance to do something this great and this big again. 

It's amazing how truly happy you can be when you forget yourself and just serve those around you.

Helpful Reminders

I love Pinterest for lots of reasons, but lately when I am having a hard time I click on my church board and read through some of the talks, quotes, thoughts, etc. It usually helps to calm me down. These two are ones that I keep reading over and over again. 

I need to be true to the faith that I do have and not focus so much on the faith that I feel I'm lacking. I need to remember to continually try and do the very best I can in that moment.

Sometimes you just have to keep pushing through all the crazy, hard, and overwhelming things to get to the really great things in life.

 

The Missing Mail Key

I live in a great 6 bedroom house! This also means there are 6 people living in this house...overwhelming at times. For the most part all has gone pretty smoothly with living in this house. No real major problems except for the neighborhood kids thinking it's fun to slash tires, flood our basement and break into our car (yes...all have happened and I live in Daybreak with at least 4 cops living around the corner.) 

Well recently our front door has been VERY difficult to lock. I'm surprised with how much we have left it unlocked that we haven't been robbed! It's that difficult. Then I went on vacation to sunny California. When I got back our mail key (we use to have 3...now we have 1) went missing and the back door suddenly wouldn't unlock. WEIRD! Well we haven't been able to check our mail in a month because we can't find the mail key and it's a long process to get a new key. Aka I need my rental contract and they won't email me a copy. 

Megan, my lovely roommate decided to try and fix the back door. While doing so she figured out that there was something GOLD stuck in the backdoor.... hmmm... GOLD??? Yes that would be our MAIL KEY STUCK IN THE BACK DOOR!!!! In case you were wondering, no your mail key doesn't work in your back door. The key was forced in there and then broken off. PERFECT! Megan being the handy lady she is youtubed some videos on how to get the key out. Well we tried that...no luck and actually broke the lock even more.... but we tried! Oh and in this process we decided to spray WD40 on the front lock and like magic it now works! 

Yesterday Megan and I went to Home Depot to get a new lock. We were worried that we might have to get a new key and then we would have to tell the landlord and really we are trying to avoid that at all costs. Well thank you Home Depot for having a special lock that you can just use your original house key on! WHOOT WHOOT! A little Christmas Miracle for us. Well we finally got home and started the process. We put it on wrong. Unscrewed it all. Put it all on again...put it on wrong again! Unscrewed it all and put it on AGAIN! Third time is the charm! Now we have a beautiful new lock with NO MAIL KEY STUCK IN IT! 

The funny part about all of this.... Megan and I did NOT put the mail key in the back door, nor did we break it off in the back door! No one yet will step forward and admit that they have done it so for now Megan and I have flipped the bill on this one. Oh the joys of living in a house with 6 people! The great news is that Megan and I are now Champs at locks and could start a side business!

Lock with key in it. Trying to get it out with a special tool. Took the lock off and still trying at it. New lock. Third time! FINISHED!

NOW ALL WE NEED IS A MAIL KEY!!!!

Another Adventure!

Wes came for a visit this last weekend. It was nice that I didn't have to make the 3 1/2 hour drive this time! We had a busy and fun weekend mostly spent in Salt Lake. We had beautiful warm weather all weekend, which made me pretty happy too!

Saturday morning we decided to head up to Temple Square. We realized once we got there that we hadn't been to Temple Square together since 7 years ago when we first met. (The night we met, our ward was going to Temple Square to look at the lights.) It wasn't super busy, except for right near the temple where all the couples were taking their wedding pictures. We avoided that section! We walked the grounds, headed over to City Creek for breakfast and then finished up at the visitor center. I maybe asked Wes if he wanted to go see the chrysalis...oh the life of a second grade teacher who has spent all week studying butterflies :) We got a pretty good laugh at that when he called me out on it. I was hoping he hadn't heard me, oh but he had! 

This temple amazes me every time I see it!

 Spring has sprung! Even Wes could appreciate the beauty and smell of the flowers.

On the way back to the car Wes pointed out all the people at the conference center. I noticed the people on the roof and commented that I had never been up there. He suggested we try and go see it. I'm so glad we did because it was incredible! The people who built it thought of EVERYTHING. 

It was the perfect way to spend our morning!

After the temple we switched into Supercross mode! Wes had gotten tickets from work that we couldn't refuse to use. Wes loves supercross and has been really good about teaching me about it along the way. I'm not an expert, but I've asked enough questions now that I am starting to understand more. It's been really nice to have something that he loves carry over into something we can do together. 

We got there early enough to watch practice.

 Millsaps...#18! My favorite!

 Millsaps riding the rhythm section

 450s Main Event

Millsaps didn't win, but he did get 2nd. Unfortunately Villopoto did win and made it so that he is the winner for the season. Kind of bummed about that because he is our least favorite.

 We had sunshine which led to sunburns, but we had a lot of fun!

It was a great weekend and can't wait until the next time we get to have another adventure together!

So I bought a....HOUSE!

I woke up about a month and a half ago and decided I was going to buy a house. That same day I got in contact with the greatest realtor (Matt Scott) and we started the process. It all has happened pretty quick, but I have found a house that I love and am really excited! It is a Fieldstone home being built in Herriman, Utah. Yup...I'm going to own a house in Utah. I NEVER thought that would happen...ever! The great part about this is that I have been able to pick out the things that I want in the house and make sure it is all stuff that I really like. I can't wait to finally have a space to decorate all my own and not have to move every year. 

The process has been a bit overwhelming, but I have lucked out with the help that I have received. Realtor, banks, loan guys, parents, etc. have all been so good to me! I would be 100% lost without everyone's help. 

Here is a sneak peak!

This is the model home (garage will be normal). These are the colors and the exact look of what my house will be like on the outside. Above is basically the materials/colors for the kitchen.

Outside of my house!

 Flooring, counter tops, cabinets, bathroom

I chose stainless steal gas appliances!

 My mom and I have started getting ideas for some curtains/pillows. I really want blues in my downstairs kitchen, dining room, and living room. I might do a fun roman shade in the middle chevron fabric and then do curtains in the living room with one of the others? That is all very up in the air. It is fun to start brainstorming though!

This is a big scary grown up step, but it is happening!

California Fun

I've posted a lot about California, but here are the last pictures from my latest adventure there. I love being able to go home and spend time with my family. Clearly most of my time there is spent with my sister's kids. We have a good time!

Haddley called me one afternoon and asked if I could come swimming. OF COURSE that was a yes! We had a great time playing at the pool, but boy do they wear me out!

 Camden is becoming a great leader reader! (Haddley is too!)

 I love all the green and yellow fields this time of year!

 Grandma spoiling Parker

 Went for a run one morning! 

So nice to have this as a view and for it to be warm enough to run outside!

 Cami had me watch the kids one day and I picked Haddley up from school. There are ducks/geese everywhere. We couldn't resist a quick photo with them.

 In the middle of my California trip I went on the cruise. I wasn't able to see Camden before I was going to leave, so I decided to surprise him at school. Cami told his teacher I would be coming to take him to lunch. She packed him a snack in his lunch box, but nothing else. When I got there his teacher said Camden look whose here! He came right over with his lunch box and a sad face. I asked what was wrong and he said, "but mom didn't even make me a sandwich!" I thought he was going to cry. I quickly told him it was because I was there to take him OUT to lunch. We hit up McDonald's and had a great time hanging out. Of course we had to get ice cream too! It was fun to just have a little time with my sweet boy.

As always I had a great time visiting. It's been nice that I can go home so often. I can't wait until (hopefully) Kyle moves close by and I will have all my kiddos close by to spoil!