Building a Shed

I don't think I've posted about this yet.  Wow, I wonder why not?  Yeah, so Ryan is building a shed.  First he had to take down our old shed.  And now he's building a new one in a different location. 

It's taking awhile. 

Yeah, we knew that would happen.  He thought it would be a one weekend project.  Uh huh.  One month later... we're still not done. lol  Granted, most of the weekends since he started have either been rainy or taken over by other, more urgent, projects.  Still... it's taking a long time for to build this stupid shed.  But when it's done, it's gonna be great! lol

Today was a nice day!  Since last weekend Ryan spent half of his Saturday buying more supplies, he was all ready to get to work as soon as he was up and moving today.  It still was kinda slow going, I guess.  But this is the first time he's built a shed - or any other real structure - so we should cut him some slack.  Truthfully, aside from it taking so long, the shed is coming along great.  It is costing us half of what it would have cost to buy one from Home Depot or Lowes and this one is going to be tailor made for what we want.  Read: Taller with lots more storage room. :)

Here are pics so far.  First, the ugly old shed:



Demolition:


Building the new shed in a new location:


Yeah, he used a guide to determine how many of those blocks he needed... uh, he didn't really need that many.  Oops.  But man, is our foundation firm! ;)

Acadia likes to be involved and helping:


And that brings us to today (Notice how much progress our neighbors have made this month on their addition... I guess if you really want something done, you DON'T do it yourself - you hire a contractor! lol):







And that is pretty much as far as we've gotten.  He would have kept going but then it started to rain and we didn't know if it was going to start to pour or not so he took Cadi out for a well deserved Smoothie (and to buy some more nails).  Hopefully next weekend will be nice and clear so we can get this thing finished up someday!

Smiley Saturday

Things that have made me smile today:


•The sunshine; it's a beautiful day!

•Getting all of the copies made that I needed for tomorrow: newsletters, announcements, things for my lesson, VTing stuff, etc.

•Driving my car.

•Ryan working on the shed.

•Cadi helping Ryan work on the shed.

•Rori singing to The Little Mermaid.

•Getting a letter from one of the missionaries that I write.

•Getting a high score in Pinball.

•Cheating and reading the first chapter of Breaking Dawn, even though I told myself I'd wait until I could read the whole book. I couldn't help it, August is too far away! lol

•Finishing my RS lesson for tomorrow.

•Rori giving Ryan hugs.

•The way Rori always says, "Awwwww" when she gives a hug.

•Kisses from Ryan.

•Cadi playing with her friends.

•Seeing a picture of Klin's shaved cat.

•Smelling BBQ.

•Watching Rori have fun in the bath - she is such a little fish!

•Listening to Cadi laugh hysterically.

I have my car back!

Today we were able to get my minivan back from the shop. It is fixed and looks great! It was even washed and vacuumed. :)

I am so glad to have my car back! It was fun to drive an SUV for a couple of weeks but that car is just not practical for our family! I missed all the room we have in the Odyssey, I missed Cadi not begging me to let her roll down the window every time we got in the car, and I especially missed not worrying about whether or not said window ever got rolled up before being left in the rain for about 12 hours. -_-

I like my car. And though I wouldn't mind a newer model, the one we have is perfect for us. And it's paid for. lol
I'm glad to have it back. :)

Playing at the Park

Today Rori and I took a walk up to a nice little park near our house.  I took these pics (pay no attention to her hair, it just didn't get "done" today)...


















And then as we were walking home, we saw this cute little bunny right next to the sidewalk.  I wondered if it was a pet or not, it sure didn't act wild.  It sure was cute!

A first for me.

So many people are going to laugh at me for this...
Today, for the first time in at least my adult life, I mowed the lawn. That's right. I've never (to my recollection) mown a lawn before. Perhaps when I was a teenager I did a couple of times - at the most. My brother was just a couple of years younger than I was but just as big, so if I ever did have to mow it, it was not long before that became his job. lol

However, with all of the jobs I have for Ryan to do right now, specifically the backyard, he has asked me to "help out" with the yardwork a little more. Yesterday was a nice day but we didn't have enough gasoline to do the job so Ryan picked some up for me after work and then showed me how to start the engine. After I put Rori down for her nap today, I swallowed my pride and pulled the lawn mower to the front yard. I had barely started when my neighbor pulled up on her way home from the store with her mouth hanging open in shock! lol She laughed with me and told me how to empty the bag and added that she was "proud" of me. lol I'm so pathetic!

But I did it!!! I mowed the lawn! Now if I could only find my gloves, I could go pull weeds as they are taking over the rose bushes. :S

At least I'm not the only one...

Ryan and I have been reading the Twilight books together. He is the one who bought the first one, and had full intentions of reading it himself even if I hadn't read and loved them. This past Monday night we finished Eclipse. He really liked them and we've been discussing the story, characters, what we think might happen in Breaking Dawn, etc.

Last night after the girls were in bed, we were putting on a movie that he had just bought because he thought it was funny and really wanted me to watch it with him. But just as it's starting, he says, "You know, we could just start Twilight over instead." And he was serious! lol He's addicted, just like me!!!

However, my only copy of Twilight was just landing in Louisiana at the time. I have loaned it to a friend and she took it with her on her plane ride to see her daughter (also my friend - I hope they have a great visit! :)...). So, we just watched the movie. But it made me laugh that he actually wanted to start the books again the very next day after finishing them. lol

Sweet Freedom!!!

Today Acadia and I cleaned out her playroom (again... this is totally a constant thing, every few months we have to do it; she just collects too much stuff! lol) and it looks pretty good now. :) We've got it fairly Rori friendly so she has complete access to it now. I've moved the baby gate to only block the front room and kitchen now and we are keeping bed and bathroom doors closed for everyone's safety, but other than that - she's got a bit more freedom. She loves it! She's pushed her baby in it's stroller up and down the hall so many times today! lol And when she isn't doing that, she's tucked away in the playroom exploring all the fun stuff that she has previously only been allowed to play with while supervised. Of course, this means that the room is no longer clean like it was earlier today... lol

Nothing a good vampire story can't fix!

I was so frustrated last night after reading that spoiler! So as soon as I finished posting my blog post, I made Ryan ditch his Warcrack game so we could read some more New Moon. What a relief! I knew it was one thing that could totally take my mind off the whole American Idol thing and I was not disappointed. Those books are so great! I love how Ryan loves them too. After each chapter I look at him, expecting him to say it's late and we need to go to bed and instead he says, "One more chapter". lol So, New Moon did it's job last night and I feel much better now. :)

That said, I just want to add...

I really wanted Archuleta to win, I think he should have - and that's even when looking at it unbiasedly, I really thought he should win it. But I also knew that IF he wasn't going to win, it should be Cook (long before we got to the finals I was thinking that), and even after Tuesday night I knew there was a chance he would. But I totally expected it to be CLOSE. And I'm super suspicious since it wasn't.

And the thing about the phones... I have two different carriers. My home phone is Qwest and my cell is Verizon. So two completely different kinds of phones with two different carriers and neither phone has ever misdialed before, but both were having the same thing happen, so obviously the incorrect dial is totally done on the end of American Idol. That's what makes me mad.

However - I think Archuleta will do really well regardless. Just as I knew Cook would if Archuleta won. They both have a definite future. And I agree that it could work out much better for Archuleta to be in 2nd. He DOES have more say now and you know there will be plenty of labels waiitng in line to sign him - he can really choose what's best for him now. If he had won, he would have no choice but to do what AI wanted him to do. So... that makes me feel much better. :)

I read the American Idol spoiler, so if you haven't yet, don't read this!

UGH!!! Okay, so I accidentally witnessed someone slip a little and I got a very strong impression of how the results would be. They are on the East Coast so of course, they knew 3 hours before I would. I decided I didn't want to sit through two hours of fluff when all I really cared about is the end result. So, I cheated and read the spoiler on the internet. And thank goodness I did because if I had sat through 2 hours of them dragging it out only to hear that Cook had beat Archuleta, I would have been so mad! I'm glad I didn't waste my time and found out right away.

I am finding the American Idol results extremely hard to believe. David Archuleta was a favorite from the beginning and last night he totally STOMPED Cook! Even Cook fans were admitting that Archuleta should win it!

I have suspected for awhile that the producers favor Cook and I'm not the first one to voice that theory. If you look at the songs that they gave the contestants to perform last week, it's obvious that they wanted to make the others look bad and make Cook look better. They gave one of the WORST songs they could have to Archuleta and gave the perfect song to Cook. Archuleta sang his brilliantly, though it was still the wrong song to sing but he couldn't help that - he had no choice but to sing it.

Ryan was saying that on the radio they've been talking a lot about how the producers want Cook to win because he would be "more managable".

For the past several weeks, whenever I vote, I just put in the number and hit redial over and over again. REDIAL! Yet, many times I will get the voice saying, "Thank you for voting for contestant number ___" - and it was the wrong contestant! The time before was the right one, but after hitting "redial" and watching the numbers dial on my phone to be the exact same number that I had dialed before, I was being put through to the wrong contestant. Out of my hundreds of votes last night, at least a couple dozen ended up for Cook even though I had always hit redial.

I realize I am bitter right now. Honestly, if last night had been different, I would be able to accept Archuleta's loss as just the way America voted and it wouldn't really upset me. But after last night - I cannot see how it is possible for him to lose by 12 million votes. I don't buy it. I am starting to believe what others have been saying, I think it may very well be rigged after all. :S

Whew!

We just got the word... my car is not totalled! :) And it looks like repairs will be completed a week from Friday - which is perfect timing since that's how long our rental is good for! Such good news today! I am breathing a definite sigh of relief! *whew*

And life goes on...

We're still waiting on the assessment of our car, we will probably hear by Tuesday what the verdict is. I hope it's not totalled. :S

In the meantime, yes, the Highlander is fun. Cadi loves having a window that rolls down. lol Too bad for her, yesterday was too hot to go without a/c so she couldn't roll down her window much. lol However, as nice as it is, I'm glad it will be temporary. It will be fun to have it for a couple of weeks but it's really not that practical for us. For one - it has NO space! It feels pretty big but there is no trunk space. Thankfully, we don't need the back seat, so when I go grocery shopping, that's gonna have to lay down so I can put our groceries somewhere. I sure do love my Odyssey's deep trunk!

Today I'm going to be at the church most of the day, helping with a huge humanitarian project that our stake is doing. We're making a bunch of quilts, putting together new baby kits, and the young women are working on coloring pictures for missionaries to use to help teach young children gospel principles and stories from the scriptures. Later, Cadi has a birthday party to attend. Ryan is going to work on fixing his car and doing more with the shed. Though, with me being gone half the day, he may be limited in what he can do.

Ryan and I have been reading Twilight together. Of course, I already blogged about my new obsession with it. He was the one who actually went out and bought the first book and his intent was to read it whether or not I ever did. So we've been reading it together. Since he ended up not going to work yesterday, we had a lot of time to read (while waiting for the rental car, waiting for the tow truck, etc) and finished it! He really liked it! And we started New Moon last night. Good books. :)

I'm gonna be so spoiled!!!

We just got our rental car. The insurance gives us $450 allowance, so we chose a full-size car to keep it within that range for two weeks. We're really hoping my car will be fixed by then. Well, turns out, the only four door vehicle they had available was a Toyota Highlander - nice and cushy, too. :) Since it's all they had available, we get it for the full size car price! SWEET! So I get to drive a super comfy ride until I get my car back. ... Almost makes me hope it takes the full two weeks to get it back! lol

Things you don't want to hear when answering the phone...

"Well, I'm okay and no one is hurt..."

Don't get me wrong - I'm glad no one is hurt and everyone is okay. But it would be better to hear, "I made it to work just fine and my day is perfect so far!"

Ryan was driving up the road from our house (in my car since his car had problems on the way home from work last night) on his way to work and bent over to pick up something that fell off the passenger seat. Big mistake. He clipped a parked car and both cars are currently not drivable. Not good. Thankfully, we have insurance and it should be covered. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure this will raise our rates and it's going to be a big inconvenience to us, not to mention the person who's car he hit!

We're waiting for the tow truck to take our car to the shop to be assessed. We'll be getting a rental car and the insurance will pay for that for a couple of weeks, hopefully long enough to have the car fixed. Ryan's planning on fixing his car tonight.

The insurance should cover all of the damages for the other car, we're covered up to $25,000. But it's a Mercedes!!! Why, oh why, of all the cars he could hit, did it have to be a Mercedes??? So I REALLY hope the damages aren't that high!

Anyhow, it's a good thing for good insurance!!! And it's a good thing that Ryan was the only person involved, we don't have to worry about anyone trying to claim medical problems or anything. It's also good that he wasn't breaking any violations or anything, so there are no tickets involved. But let this be a lesson to everyone - if something is falling off the passenger seat while you're driving - LET IT GO!!! Or STOP your car and THEN reach to pick it up!

Friday Fives

I haven't done one of these in awhile...

1. What are the last five books that you've read?

Finished reading? I have to work my way backward... The Host, Eclipse, New Moon, Twilight, The Book of Mormon, Isaiah for Airheads. I'm currently rereading Twilight with Ryan and reading The Silmarillion on my own.

2. Name five places in the world you would love to go to.

New Zealand (LOTR tour, lol), DisneyWorld and Discovery Cove, Acadia National Park, Book of Mormon sites, Church History sites.

3. Name five people who have strongly influenced your life... not counting family. (I assume husbands count as family.)

Jesus Christ (obviously, lol), Joseph Smith, Gordon Hinckley, Barbie Hinds (one of my best friends growing up), ooh... the last one is such a toss up so I have to have an extra answer... I'll leave it annonymous because I don't want to embarrass them and I know people who read this know them - might even BE them ;) : there are a couple of women in my ward that I REALLY look up to, wish I could be more like in many ways; I think of them a lot and try to follow their examples.


4. Name five things that you have accomplished that you are proud of, big or small.

My children, running a 10K when pregnant (even though I didn't know I was pregnant at the time, lol), learning George Winston's Variations on the Kanon on the piano, the montages I've made of my family, my temple marriage to my eternal companion. :)

5. Name five things you still want to do in your life.

Run a 10K without having to walk at all this time, go to the places in #2, attend the temple with my children, finish our backyard (lol), endure to the end.

Here Comes the Sun

We are heating up here! I think it's funny that since my favorite is when the temps are right in the 70s, we keep skipping that range. We're either in the 60s or the 80s. What's up with that? lol Tomorrow we'll even be in the 90s! I am so grateful for A/C!!! :D

My Girls

My girls make me happy. Acadia is a LOTR addict and Aurora can sing along with "Into the West".
Yep, they are my girls. :)

For all the moms...

Happy Mother's Day!!!

What's Going On

This week has been kind of a blur.  It started out with my Twilight high.  Then just when I thought I'd be able to get back to my normal life, Ryan bought Stephenie Meyer's new book, The Host.  I was grateful that I didn't get so engrossed into it right away, like I had with Twilight.  I was able to read a little, put it down and take care of my other responsibilities, and just pick it back up when I had the chance.  About half way through though, that got harder and harder.  I finished it yesterday and I'd recommend it as well.  It's a totally different story than Twilight but still a good read. :)

Ryan's been working on our backyard.  On Thursday, he stayed home from work and tore down the shed.  I told him that all I wanted for Mother's Day is the new shed built.  He kept thinking (and I knew this was impossible) that he could actually build it all today.  Haha!  But he is starting.  We looked at sheds last night, we had already been discussing what we wanted, this was just to have final visualization before beginning, to make sure we both knew what the other had in mind.  We're good.  Both on the same page. :)  I really only expect for the floor to be finished today.  It would be nice to have the framing done, too.  But that might be a little too much to ask. lol

In the meantime, Ryan finished reading The Caspian Prince so now we're reading Twilight together.  He said he was going to read it, even if I had never read it myself.  So far we're about 4 chapters into it and he's enjoying it. :)  Maybe he wouldn't want me to announce that but it's true. lol 

Rori's really starting to love Princesses.  She loves to wear an old Belle crown.  She will then put it on anyone's head she can - including the dog, dolls, or dad...



And then she appropriately, "Aaahh"s.  She's starting to say "pretty" and "princess".  She kept stealing a Princess beach towel as I tried to fold it, she wanted to hold it and dance around with it. lol  She is, after all, a Princess herself.  So it was just a matter of time. ;)

Today is my sister's birthday... Happy Birthday, Miriam!  And tomorrow is Mother's Day... Happy Mother's Day to my mom, Ryan's moms, and all the other moms!  Guess what.  In keeping with tradition, Ryan is working tomorrow!  No joke.  This will be how many Mother's Days in a row that I've had to have "postponed"?  At least my presents are usually grander when they have to be given late. ;)  (Though, like I said, all I want this time is that shed to be finished!)  But honestly, for once, it would be really nice to have one of my days (birthday, Mother's Day, anniversary - any of them!) celebrated ON THE ACTUAL DAY!  He will be here for breakfast and I've been ordered to not get out of bed when I wake up, so at least I'll get breakfast in bed. ;)  I already bought myself lasagna, garlic bread, a bagged salad, and even dessert so I could have a nice meal without having to do much to get it. lol

And that's what's been going on around here.  :)

One Last Thing...

and then I'll stop... for now.

I didn't like this trailer at first.  I don't think Robert Pattinson makes a good enough Edward.  But seeing as how that isn't going to change that he IS playing Edward, I've been trying to warm up to the idea.  Now that I've seen other clips that really do look promising, I can see (for the most part) it a little more in this trailer.  Keep in mind, Edward is WAY better looking (I was gonna say "in real life"... lol) in the books than he is in this trailer.  But for now, this will have to do.

Oh Thank Goodness!

Yes, I'm slightly obsessed still.  Come on, once you're sucked into the story, it's hard to come back out.  lol

So, I've been so frustrated with Robert Pattinson playing Edward but it's too late, not up to me, he's the guy they cast, he's going to be Edward.  So I've been trying to find pictures, film, anything that will convince me this will work; that he can pull Edward off.  I couldn't find ANYTHING that made me feel good about it.  Until this.  I can almost see it now.  There are still some shots that just don't do it for me, but I could finally start feeling it, finally feel some of the chemistry, and now... now I'm totally excited for the movie.  I hope I don't get let down!

An Unexpected Trip

*Alternative Title: 3 books, 3 days
Ryan surprised me when he came home on Friday. He was sending me to Forks, Washington for the weekend. I don't think he intended to, but he did. lol

He had been reading an article in Time magazine about an LDS mom who had a dream and woke up to write it down. She kept writing. Her book was published and started a series, The Twilight Series. He was intrigued by the article and decided to get the first book. Of course, as soon as he brought it home, I started reading first. It was a series many of my friends have read and kept telling me that I should too. They were so right! I couldn't put it down. For three days, I was a teenage girl named Bella totally and completely in love with a vampire. *sigh* :)

...Oh yeah, where was I? lol...

I think I was up reading until 3:30 that first night. I read most of Saturday, finished the book, went to the bookstore and got the other two. I was only up until midnight that night, I had early meetings for church in the morning. But I stayed up til 2:30 that night and yesterday spent any spare moment I had finishing the third book. I only have to wait 3 more months for the next one.

I don't think I'm in the minority when I say, I love Edward! (I never thought I'd find a vampire so appealing! lol) I am SO Team Edward, all the way! They are making a movie and my biggest disappointment so far is the actor playing Edward. I really liked him playing Cedric in HP, and I think he pulls off a vampire well, but not Edward. He's simply not good looking enough to be Edward. At least not the way they are doing his hair and make up in all the pictures I've seen. :S

I loved the Twilight books. Maybe not as much as Harry Potter and certainly not as much as LOTR, but I really, really liked them. If you haven't read them yet - do!

Crazy 8's

8 things I’m passionate about:

1.  My personal testimony of, and relationship with, my Savior, Jesus Christ.
2.  My husband
3.  My children

4.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

5.  Lord of the Rings
6.  The New England Patriots
7.  Living in the NorthWest

8.  The ocean/beach/killer whales/dolphins

8 Songs I can listen to over and over again and never get sick of:

1. How Firm a Foundation

2. The Black Gate Opens (LOTR)
3. Return of the King (LOTR)
4. Just about any other song from any of the LOTR Trilogy soundtracks. lol
5. Live to Love (Paul Cardall)
6. George Winston's Variation on the Kanon
7. David Lanz's Variation on a Theme from Pachelbel's Cannon in D
8. Be Still My Soul

8 books I’ve read:

1. Book of Mormon
2. The Holy Bible

3. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - J. R. R. Tolkien

4. Isaiah for Airheads - John Bytheway

5. Dispatches from the Edge - Anderson Cooper

6. The Work and the Glory series - Gerald N. Lund
7. The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
8. Standing for Something- Gordon B. Hinckley

8 Things I say often:

1. I love you... Muah!
2. Rori, what are you getting into?
3. Dumb Dog
4. Fudge!

5. Flip!

6. Nigh-Nigh

7. Trust the Lord
8. Ya know?

8 Things that attract me to a friend:

1. Honesty
2. Common ground
3. A sense of humor
4. They have to like me too... kinda important, that one!
5. Someone who lifts me up instead of dragging me down.
6. Good values/standards/priorities.

7. Fun!
8. Kind Hearted

8 Random things about me:

1. I wish I had a self-cleaning house.

2. I don't like to bake.
3. I do like to cook.

4. I like singing in the choir even though my voice isn't that great.
5. I'm one of those people that Pam hates, who makes up their own harmony part in songs with only a melody. lol (But only if I'm familiar enough with the song that I know what harmony will really sound good.)  I love harmony and I usually can't hit all the melody notes.

***Correction:  Pam doesn't hate the people who do that, just that they do that.  Okay, I'm one of the people who sometimes makes up my own harmony for songs... which Pam hates. lol

6. I'm the oldest in my family... but the shortest.

7. I wear a retainer at night when I sleep.
8. I'm often told that I have "perfect teeth" and a "beautiful smile" - not just by the dentist, often by strangers. :D

8 Things I want to do before I die:

1. Attend the SLC Temple.
2. See my children grow to be worthy to attend the temple.
3. Run a whole 10K without having to slow down to walk.
4. Visit New Zealand and go on a LOTR tour.

5. Go on a mission with Ryan.

6. Learn sign language

7. Become a scriptorian
8. Endure to the End

8 Things I’ve learned this past year:

1. Trust the Lord.  God can do anything, and that means He can even help ME to do anything He wants me to do. 

2. We each have our own agency.

3. Acadia is a very patient and loving big sister.

4. Rori is extremely headstrong and I will need to be diligent in teaching her to choose to be headstrong in the right ways about righteous things.

5. I need to buy an upholstery cleaner.

6. Getting on your knees to pray really does make a huge difference!

7. I used to think that I wanted a "break" but now I'm realizing that I really don't.  I don't ever want to stand still or become stagnant.  I need to continually work to improve myself, I can always do better and I need to always strive to be better.  Challenges are opportunities for me to learn and to grow.  If I'm not progressing, I'm not moving in the right direction.  The pace I'm going isn't as important as the direction I'm headed. 

8. At the same time, I need to be patient with myself.  It is crucial to have a good balance in life.  I need to have "me time" doing things that relax and rejuvinate me so that I'm better equipped to do all the other things that I need to do.  You can't draw water from an empty well.

The 8 People I want to do the Crazy 8’s:

1. Acadia

2. Mom (in her spare time, lol)
3. Ben

4. Debi

5. Millie

6. Sariah7. Susannah

8. Alisha