Sunday July 25th

 Let's just ignore the amount of time that has gone by ok? Ok.

What's up with me lately?

Frank is super obsessed with Pickleball. This affects me mostly because I am the one he has available to play with. He has actually reached out to people other than me to play, so that is a HUGE thing. I'm always trying to get him to have a friend.  And it is just proof of his obsession.

I do enjoy pickleball overall but mostly just when we play doubles with someone else. When I play singles with Frank, I just lose a lot and don't have much fun. Luckily we often find another couple who is willing to play.  So overall, it's been a fun new hobby.  We play almost every night after work which is a big change from my usual -come home from work, sit on the couch, go to bed.

I am sweating way more than I like everyday though. And doing so much laundry.  I finally went and bought myself a few pair of shorts/skorts for playing because I was having to wash my one pair of workout pants every single day. haha

We even went so far as to take a lesson. I'm sure Frank would like to start doing that regularly but we'll see what the budget says about that.  The lesson was fun and very informative. He basically told us we were doing everything wrong, which we were not surprised to hear. haha

I have started using YNAB for budgeting and I love its guts.  I want everyone I know to use it.  It's so different and makes me feel much more in control of my money. It took me awhile to understand it, because it does require a mindset shift but once you understand how it works, it's magic!

Frank and I went to Bryce Canyon a couple of weeks ago and did some great hikes. I'll have to upload pictures sometime. I promise, I will.  We were there for the 4th of July. Saw the little town's fireworks show, did some stargazing (even went to a night time sky tour sort of thing which was fun but sadly, a bit overcast) and just enjoyed the nice weather. It was still hot there but not nearly as hot as back home where it was in the 110 type range. No thank you.

Last weekend was the Larson Cup. I participated in a team with Diane and Julie and I did the swim. I enjoy swimming generally but am definitely still out of shape. I knew I could finish but perhaps not quickly. We decided last minute to do the "mini" tri which meant I only had to swim 200 meters. Yay!  No problem.  It was a super fun day with my cousins and siblings. I always love the Larson Cup.  This year we spent a little time at my grandparents grave and had each of the living siblings take a bit (all on the phone--it was the first year with no one from that generation attending). It was really awesome, inspiring and made me love my family even more. 

Sunday June 6th

 I have a good excuse for missing last Sunday...I was on vacation! 

May 28th was our 33rd anniversary so we took a 9 day trip to Oregon to celebrate. It was relaxing and beautiful and pretty much perfect!

We spent the first weekend in Hood River and Cascade Locks which are both on the Columbia River.  Our hotel was right on the river and had an amazing view. The mattress was super comfy and wee had blackout curtains too so we found that we slept in every day. It was awesome.

View from our balcony

We drove to Hood River and spent some time watching the wind surfers/kite surfers. It was a lovely sunny day. I kept thinking that I could live in this beautiful place. Then I remembered that it's a place for wind surfers for a reason...it's always windy! I hate wind especially in the winter so probably not the place for me! But it was a lovely day. It made me want to be more physically active, that's for sure. Those people are strong.

We did a bit of hiking also and just enjoyed the beautiful weather.

Then we went to Diana and Rob's house and spent the rest of the time with their family also. We had Sunday at their house and then the rest of the week we spent in a beach house in Yachats, OR.

The house was right on the beach (though up higher) and had amazing windows and views.

The weather was practically perfect too! We had over 60 degrees every day and only one day that was overcast and sprinkled a bit. Overall, perfect!

We walked on the beach, hiked, saw weird plants, ate yummy food, made s'mores, saw a lighthouse, saw a whale playing in the water and played lots of games.  

Generally, it was extremely laid back and relaxing.

Diana and Rob were a good influence on us and we ate out way less than we would have if we were on our own!  (Though we still had quite a few good meals out) Cooking together was actually quite enjoyable too.

I love chicken and waffles and this was a really good one!

These weird looking plants are called Darlingtonia and they eat insects. They are huge...like 2 feet tall!

S'mores by the fire pit!

S'mores over the stovetop when it was rainy.  Worked really well! ha!

Our most exciting (non-whale) moment: had a toilet/water disaster that James was home to find, thank heaven..we were out hiking but he had school.  Water dripping from the light fixtures in the basement and everything. Luckily, not our fault, just a random water line leak. And he caught it pretty quickly. If it had gone on for the hours of our hike, it would have been really bad. 

We spent the last afternoon/evening back at Diana's and we helped remove some wallpaper they've been meaning to remove for, oh, about 11 years!  It's always nice to work on a project with family.

On Saturday, when we returned, I went to a big family dinner at Diane's house to cap off a wonderful week. Daren and Berit's family were in town and so were all of Doneen's kids so it was a really great time with family and good food.

Life's good.

Sunday, May 23rd

 Somehow I thought I had only missed two weeks of blogging but, alas, an entire month has passed!

A lot of stuff happened, probably. I don't remember.

Dion had a heart attack (!) and worried us all sick! He's going to be ok, thank heaven. I reacted much worse than I would have expected but it took me right back to a bad place mentally, where I lived for some time when Frank was fighting cancer. I had to leave the house because I was feeling so full of anxiety. What I wanted to do was to go buy the biggest dessert I could get my hands on plus a few bags of chips and go eat them alone in my car.  I realized that this might not be the best reaction to a heart attack so instead I bought a diet soda and drove to a nearby park to read and feel the breeze on my face. It helped.  The waiting for news was just awful and I kept thinking of how stressful it must be for Summer and the kids. We were all very relieved to hear the positive results and that he will be just fine.

I had a nice mother's day although it didn't really include any of my kids. Weird. Branden sent flowers and a card. So nice...I'll include a picture. Austin, being in Wales, sent a text. Ryan and Kristal stopped by with flowers and balloons but I was out visiting my mom's grave so I missed them. Sad, but a super nice gesture!  Carter was out of town (running a half marathon with his wife...crazy kids!) but they stopped by later in the week with a cool, illustrated version of the first Harry Potter Book (which I did not take a picture of, sorry. Google it). Frank made me chicken and waffles for dinner and it was amazing.

As I mentioned, I went to my mom's grave (with all of the Utah siblings and families and Daren and Berit were here in Utah too!). It was a really nice time together and I'm so glad we did it. Although I had recently gotten a second chemical peel and my face looked awful. Of course everyone wanted to take a group picture. I looked like I had elmer's glue dried all over my face, seriously. I tried not to smile for the pictures to keep from having too many weird wrinkles.

I planted some flowers both in the front area and rear of the house. I tend to see the ones in the backyard more and they make me quite happy. I always feel like the front of my house looks worse than the neighbors but I do get my gorgeous peonies so that makes up for it. ha!  I planted quite a few flowers out front but most of them seem to be struggling currently. We shall see.

My new favorites and they are perennials!

Yesterday I finally painted our mailbox. I've been meaning to do it for years!  It was very rusted and looked awful. And then sometime within the last year, someone banged into the little handle to open the door and it was all twisted. I forgot to take a before picture though.  I figured that since our mailbox is encased in brick, I better stop the rusting before I end up having to knock the whole thing down. I have no idea how people replace the mailbox in this situation!

Frank used a wire brush to get all of the rust off and I taped it off and spray painted it. Frank also straightened out the handle so I'll reattach that once everything is dry.  It looks much better!  I hope it holds up.  Of course right after painting, the wind picked up and so now I've got a bit of pollen and fluff from the cottonwood trees sticking to it. Sheesh.

Next thing is to add new numbers to it so people can find our house when needed. I am probably also going to add them somewhere on the house itself. Just have to decide where and what style of numbers. That could take another year...

Couches and Carbs

I recently decided to take the big step of hiring an interior designer to help me with my front room. I cannot figure out how to do this room!  I need more seating. I want it to be comfortable. I want to know what to do with my huge empty wall!  I'm over the striped wall and want something new for the entryway. I've hated that light fixture for 7 years. I've been trying to pick a rug for like 3 years and still don't have one for Pete's sake. Anyway, after much hemming and hawing, I hired someone. 

Clearly I have watched too much HGTV because what I wanted and expected was some sort of meeting followed by a drawing or computer sketch of the possible design. That's not exactly what happened. The designer did meet with me here in the house and we talked a bit. I showed him the things I do like in my house. He commented on changes he would make (which all aligned with what I was imagining).  I  told him that I have no idea how this is supposed to work, but what i wanted was a drawing or something so I could gradually make the design come true. I don't have the money to just *poof* redecorate/furnish a room. He said he could do that but first we need to decide on the basics so we made an appointment to meet at a furniture store to look at couch styles.  Ok, moving forward.

The furniture store meeting was fine but in the end I was picking out couches and chairs for my room and getting quotes for cost. And the cost was A LOT. (To me. Don't go crazy, it's normal people furniture) These are good pieces of furniture, which I like. But also, this is the least used room in my house. Is this where I should be spending big bucks? I left telling them I'd ponder it.  I worry a bit that I'm going to end up with something that ends up looking like a showroom living room, rather than the eclectic vibe I like.  Though, to be honest, this could all be in my head because all we did was look at couches. I've been known to overthink.

Fast forward a week or so and I'm figuring out how I can pay for the couches but perhaps put off any other designing until I save up some more. I still don't have an idea of what the end goal is. I need a picture! I'm panicking a bit also because I DO NOT want to get into any debt.  I make very little money and at this rate, the room will take me years to fund.  I mean, it's been years already I guess, so what's the big deal?

So, the day that I was supposed to order the couches, I whined to my friend in AZ and worried that I was rushing into something I'd regret. She had some of my same concerns. And so...I just called off the whole thing. Quit the designer and asked for a refund of my deposit. Told the couch folks that I wasn't going to order right now.  And ate some carbs. Because that's how I deal with emotions.

Now it's been another week.

I've commiserated with said friend who is good at this stuff. I've looked at lot of pinterest pictures. And I've eaten more carbs.  And I've decided to try an online designer.  This way they HAVE to give you a picture because you are never actually talking to them!  It's way cheaper than a real life designer so I figure it's not much to lose if it doesn't work out.  I submitted my info and pictures and now I wait for results. 

All this for a room that I use for reading and talking to plants.

Sunday, April 25th

First matter of business: I worked out several times this week. Not as much as I should have, but it was a start. Now to do even better next week!

Tuesday I got a haircut from Harley. She always does a great job and I like my hair so much more these days. Stopping coloring it was a good choice for me, it turns out. I made the mistake of petting the kitties and not washing my hands though. Of course I ended up rubbing my eye and it was all downhill from there. haha! I was so itchy! I'm usually super careful about that. I hate being itchy.

I took Friday afternoon off for a family activity. We went with Dion's family, Doneen's family, Jared, Heather and Jansen and Sara and Kaleo to the Tulip festival as part of a celebration for Heather's graduation from BYU. It was a lovely afternoon and the gardens were, of course, beautiful. I was glad to be there. When Dion originally told me about it I just said, "sorry, I'll be at work" but he texted later and said that life is short and I should just take time off to be at this family thing. So I turned to my coworker and asked if she would cover for me and she said yes!  It was definitely the right choice.  We then went to Dinner and ice cream after where Kari and her fiancé also joined us . It was totally fun.

I got my first ever chemical peel on Thursday. It's supposed to help with age spots, which I am getting lots of, and keep your face looking nice. My coworker, Lori, gets them and so I was intrigued. The rules are: no picking at flaking skin, wear sunscreen and stay out of the sun. So, going to the Tulip festival the next day might not have been the best choice. I did wear sunscreen but I was definitely IN THE SUN. Anyway, it just started peeling today. I was hoping to be done peeling by today so I don't look freaky at work. Alas, that is not to be apparently. Guess I won't mind wearing that mask as much as I usually do!

Now some complaining: Saturday I felt very down and very lonely. I cleaned house and did stuff that I needed to do but just kept thinking about how freaking ALONE I am here. I really missed my family when I lived back East and I am so glad to be near them now. But I think back East, people knew they needed other people. Most people didn't have a lot of family around and so they looked for friends and made close friends. Here, it seems like everyone has all their family around and so they don't need anyone else. I used to have friends. And I've complained about this before I'm sure, but if I don't reach out to others to do stuff or play games or whatever, no one reaches out to me. I constantly reach out to others but get no reciprocation. Why is that? Am I annoying and I don't know it?  Well, I realize that I'm annoying at this moment but I'm not always like this!  Anyway, I'm lonely and I don't know how to fix it.  So I ate junk food.  That's still going on today actually.  Back on the wagon tomorrow...

Weekend in Michigan

I didn't blog yesterday but it wasn't because I forgot!  I was in Michigan for Isabelle's baptism!

We were so grateful that we could go to Michigan for Isabelle's baptism and to visit for a few days. Michigan is having a spike of Covid cases so we were extra grateful that we are both vaccinated. We were also grateful that Delta is still blocking out the middle seat because of Covid. It makes traveling so much nicer!

We stayed in the same airbnb that we had at Thanksgiving. It's a quirky and old place but it has the plus of extra bedrooms so the girls can spend the night, which they love.

Isabelle is all packed up and ready for a sleepover!

We had two sleepovers and played pretend church again. haha. They love that and it's funny to see the little things they do to pretend church. One of them is in charge of wiping down the "microphone" and lectern after each speaker. ha!  Covid. This house just happened to have the perfect little side table for a lectern and a desk lamp that looks exactly like a microphone. I'm impressed that these girls assign talks to each other with real gospel topics and then give a pretty darn good talk at their little microphone with no preparation or help from an adult. I will admit that Frank and I weary of pretend church because it never has an actual ending!  After our first time doing it, he said, "That felt as long as real church!"  He is not wrong.

Isabelle's baptism was very nice and I teared up watching Branden being such a loving and kind Dad to Isabelle as well as watching him use his Priesthood power to baptize his daughter.  Isabelle was pretty nervous and once in the water (which she said was too hot) she was a bit overcome with nerves. He was so sweet and hugged her and told her to look just at him and that he would take care of her. She did that and was baptized with no problems. What a sweet moment that was.

Isabelle isn't actually a fan of getting her picture taken and she was cold so we had trouble getting a good picture! But we tried! ha!

We followed the baptism with a nice afternoon at the Finch house with lunch and treats. The girls love their cousins so much and I'm glad they have all these younger kids to hang out with and bond with on a regular basis. I do worry about becoming the "forgotten grandparent" but it doesn't mean I begrudge them the wonderful relationships they have with Amber's parents and siblings. It's really fun to watch.

The weather was beautiful while we were there. My allergies were nuts but otherwise we really enjoyed the nice weather. We spent a fair bit of time in  Branden and Amber's backyard playing with Riley and the kids. Frank was super good to do a bunch of playing on the trampoline. I don't do trampolines anymore but it was fun to watch them. They really love wrestling grandpa!

Finished Bathroom

 Just realized I never posted the final pictures of the bathroom!

It is basically done now. We are waiting for the cabinet people to come fix a couple of things but haven't heard from them in like 2 weeks so we are just not worrying about it. We were being the squeaky wheel but now we are just too tired. We've only paid half so if they want the rest, they'll come fix it. If not, we got a good deal on cabinets I guess. So odd.

But generally, it is done! Totally functional once again.

Countertop is Corian and I'm really happy with how it looks. 

I also like integrated sinks. So much easier to keep clean!

I searched and searched for mirrors and lights. 

Ended up getting both from Amazon after my friend sent me the links. 

I even bought a new plant to kill. It looks very cute for now though.

I attached all of the hooks and toilet paper holder with 3M tape. I hated the thought of drilling through the new cabinet or the tile!  So far everything is holding up perfectly well!  And this way, I can change things out easily if I get sick of them (or if 3M comes up with cuter command hooks).

The hooks that hold up the hand towels aren't from 3M but they had a flat back so I attached them with the command strips to see how it would work. So far so good!