Easter and Moving Onward

We are very busy these days. To make it worse we were both sick last week and now my dear Watson is sick again. 

My dear Watson decided to major in Exercise Science. I'm really excited about that. I had been hoping all along that ES would be his choice.  I think he will really like it and he'll be so good at it.  He's not sure yet the exact direction he wants to go, but we'll figure that one out a little later. 

I got a temporary calling from the Stake Presidency to be a Stake Girls Camp Specialist. It should be a really fun,  busy calling. Girls camp is the first full week in July and they go to a place in the mountains nearby called Camp Shalom. I went there when I was a Young Woman every year for girls camp.  I never loved girls camp, but I'm already feeling like I'll have a much better experience as a leader.   

We decorated some Easter eggs with our nephews and we hid each other's Easter baskets around the house to celebrate. We also attempted to give a really great lesson about the Resurrection in primary, but our 3 year old Sunbeam's must have eaten way too much candy because they were definitely NOT interested.  

I'm ready for a vacation. Hey! We've got one planned a week from Tuesday. Washington D.C./Maryland: HERE WE COME!

This is what we look like.

These are monsters. 

Luke made a really scary monster.

Being a little weird.

Have a Dream

I had a strange dream last night. 

I was with my mom, dad and little bro in Pocatello, ID visiting my sister Hannah and her family (who actually live in Logan, not Pocatello). For some reason I was driving back early with my little bro in our Toyota Corolla. I came to a fork in the road and realized I forgot to ask mom and dad how to get home.  There were two signs at the fork telling where each road led. I drove past the sign and couldn’t see it good enough so I just backed up on the freeway so I could get a better look.  Provo: Left.   So I turned left, only to find another fork in the road about 100 feet ahead.  This one said Ohio on the right and something else on the left. I didn’t know what to do so in a panic, I took the road on the right (thinking maybe Ohio was the final destination and Provo was somewhere along the way).  It was dark and snowy and I was having a hard time seeing the road. There was a lot of construction that completely altered the normal road-path.  Finally I got into a situation where I could NOT see whether the road curved or went straight or anything, and I couldn’t see the cars in front of me to just follow them.  I let go of the wheel and drifted in to the middle of the road and hoped I wasn’t in the way of oncoming traffic. I heard semi’s honking their horns, but I didn’t get hit.

I was anxious to find out the end of the dream, but then I woke up.

I’ve been thinking about this ALL day long and what it might mean. My dear Watson and I are kind of, well, directionless right now. My dear Watson is trying to decide on a major and possible career path and it's a slow process. We’re not sure which way to go or what our future will hold. Sometimes I feel like I’ve had enough; I can’t possibly keep my foot on the gas pedal any longer because I CAN’T SEE what’s ahead. That’s all. I’m just frustrated I can’t see what lies ahead for us. I really believe it’s something great, but I’m impatient to know the answers.

Like I said, I wish I could have seen the end of the dream to know if I was able to gather myself and keep going and eventually find my destination.  But I guess maybe the lesson in this is I need to press forward even though I can’t see—because that’s  the very definition of faith and hope. We had a family night lesson on hope and the thought came to me that faith is knowing the Lord can do something—knowing he has the power to answer prayers, make miracles happen etc..; hope is believing and having an abiding trust that He WILL do those things we ask of Him.  How many blessings have I missed out on because I didn’t have enough hope that if I asked for it, Heavenly Father would really give it to me?

Just some thoughts.  On another note: I got a sewing machine! Isn’t she a beauty?

My machine and the 'start-up' kit my mom gave me from all her extras!  I've already used it 2 nights in a row!

Everyone's a Fool in April

Some of the fam came into town to hear dad speak last week. Betsy and Russ stuck around for a whole week! It was really fun, because of course, they are really fun. Everyone knows it…and so do they.

This is their little girl, Afton. She is so cute I couldn’t stand it.

These are Afton's older brothers, Porter and Reid.

 Everything she said or did just made me want to keep her forever. She is 2 and although her vocabulary is small, she can repeat anything and give you a clear understanding of what she wants or doesn’t want.  A dorable. One night while Betsy and Russ were here, we followed my 16 year old brother around until he parked our mom’s Mazda Tribute at a friend’s house. Then we turned the car on as far as it would go with the spare key mom hides on the outside, put it into neutral, and I steered while my dear Watson and Russ pushed. I thought we were going to die when they pushed me into the road and a car was coming. Don’t worry though, I honked my horn several times to make sure they saw us J.

We pushed the car to a neighboring cul-de-sac and went back home to wait. Maybe 20 minutes-ish later, little bro comes home and says (as worried as we’ve EVER seen him), “Um, I’m pretty sure someone stole the car.”  We played around with him for a while and told him we should probably call the cops, but the call should come from the place the car was last seen. Mom and dad were in Vegas with Donny & Marie so we couldn’t call them at the moment—and that made little bro very happy. My brother-in-law took little bro back to his friend’s house so they could call the cops.  When given the direction to turn at the cul-de-sac “up here”, Russ turned the opposite direction “on accident” and they drove right passed the car. It took little bro a minute to catch his breath and settle in to the fact that the car was NOT stolen, just moved, and by us.  He was relieved—to say the least—and we all had a grand ole’ time.

For April Fool's day I put honey on the doorknob, saranwrap on the shower head and candy in my dear Watson's medicine bottle. He fell for the honey, saw the saranwrap and I had to show him the medicine bottle because he forgot to take his medicine. It was a fun day. This is a picture of my second cousin and I waiting to say the prayers when my dad spoke at devotional!

Watch TV

I just wanted to let everyone know that Tuesday, March 22 at 11:05 A.M. (Utah Time) you can tune in to BYUtv (channel 11) and see my mom wearing a really cute outfit. She’ll be sitting next to my dad when they introduce him as the speaker at BYU DEVOTIONAL!!!

That’s the real news (although mom will look really great). Dad’s speaking at BYU Devotional – isn’t he famous—kind of?

I’ll be watching dad speak from the front row, or there abouts, but you can watch from anywhere you want! It will be broadcast live on BYUtv (channel 11 on normal non-cable TV). OR, watch it on the internet, byub.org or byutv.org.  Later (in about 2 weeks ish), you’ll be able to read his talk at speeches.byu.edu.  I’ll probably do all of the above…a few times.

We’re all real proud of our dad and can’t wait to hear his talk! Check out this link to learn more about his talk: http://news.byu.edu/archive11-mar-portdev.aspx

On another note, my dear Watson proposed to me exactly one year ago today.

Fungus in the Bathroom

Have you ever smelled mold every time you walk in your house? It's disgusting. Have you ever seen fungus growing out of your bathroom floor that looked like wide egg noodles? It's disgusting.  Both of these nightmarish species were filling our lives with turmoil since we moved in in December.  The bathroom floor was squishy under our feet and when I started seeing the wide egg noodles coming up out of the floor, that was it for me.  The landlord didn't seem to think it was a big issue, so we worked out a deal where we would fix it (we meaning my dear Watson) and he would pay for the materials.

We started the Saturday before President's day with a mighty plan in place. Tear up the flooring on Saturday, let the mold dry Sunday and then start rebuilding Monday. We didn't have school or work on President's day and had access to a lot of help. Perfect plan.  Well, we DID tear up on Saturday, but due to more mold than expected (including Black Mold) it wasn't dry until the next Wednesday, and the new plywood flooring didn't go in until the next Saturday. Then all the sanding, patching, sanding, patching, painting etc.. Finally, 2 weeks later, the toilet went back in and the lenolium went down. My dear Watson worked so hard for those two weeks to get it ready. I'm really proud. Big thanks to Wayne and Seth (the FIL and BIL) for helping us out.

We slept at 3 different houses in that 2 weeks and by the second night, I was already ready to go home.  It was a long 2 weeks.  But now we have a beautiful bathroom that does not squish under our feet, smell like mold, or grow noodley fungus.  Thank you Thank you Thank you to everyone who helped us out!

This is what it looked like under our floor. No wonder it was squishy. See the black mold on the back wall? YUCK

Half of the first layer of plywood is down. Making progress!

Getting closer!

Ta Da! We even got a cute new shelf!  We still need to paint the shelf and add baseboards, but at least we have a toilet!

Just some free stuff I've gotten the past month. Most of this is because I like to write nice letters to companies about their product and they send me free stuff!  That's coffee creamer you see, and it is DELICIOUS in our hot chocolate!

Hearts are Cool - so are GIANT Hearts

Well gosh, everyone has been posting about Valentines Day so I guess I will too.  Valentines Day this year was on February 14, 2011.....ha ha ha. I asked my dear Watson to get me one of those little heart shaped boxes of chocolates (the ones that have 4 chocolates in them), and instead, he got me a GIANT heart shaped box of chocolates, a microwave cover and a six pack..... of Propel - AND he stayed under our budget.

We have been married for almost 9 months now, and although the adjustment to us and we has been difficult for this independent and stubborn girl, I keep having these moments where I look at my husband in utter amazement and think ..."you married me?" I wish I could articulate what I want to say about my dear Watson in a way that wouldn't go too deep for all you weak stomachs out there, but would still do him justice.  Basically, I'm so glad it was in Heavenly Father's plan to bring my dear Watson and I together again, because I think with him by my side I might actually become something close to the person I'd like to be.  I live with the most Christ-like person I've ever met, and I hope to be able to equal him in greatness. I mean, I think even if a person searched and searched, they would never be able to find something mean to say about my dear Watson. He is just good.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: my husband's better than your husband :).

Anyway, I made a Valentine decoration out of candy canes! Ha! Isn't that funny? I just glued them right on to some white paper and cut it down to fit this frame. Then I hot glued some ribbon on the frame (actually that was already done from a previous project), I pushed some pins in the wall (because we don't have nails), and I hung them up!.  How's that for a tutorial?  Even though there is an earthquake in our house 4 or 5 times a day (from our construction neighbors) the pins have held their own - my candy cane heart frames haven't fallen off yet!  Happy Valentines Day!

Ugh, I'm too lazy to rotate this then re-upload it. This is why I'll never have a famous blog - famous bloggers would never post an un-rotated picture. That's the ONLY reason :).
 I put a chocolate kiss on it so you could get an idea of how GIANT my  heart shaped box of chocolates is! 

Copy-Cat

I have been copying other blogger's ideas lately. We all do it: and even though we didn't come up with the idea ourselves, we feel really happy when we see the finished product. Am I right? Tonight I made Chicken, Bacon, Avocado Quesadilla's from kevinandamanda.com.  Even though I was mortified as I cubed the raw chicken, and then disgusted when I cut the avocado, and then almost threw up when I tore the bacon in pieces, and gagged when I sauteed the scallions - they turned out pretty good.  There were just WAY too many smells going on for me to enjoy the cooking process. I have an extremely sensitive nose - I can smell things from miles away. In the end the only thing that grossed me out about eating the quesadilla's was the avocado. That squishy texture was just not doing it for me tonight I guess. Click Here to see Amanda's recipe and a lovely picture.

I also made these cute yarn pom-pom's. I think I love pom-pom's. When I decide to get rid of a few more of my shirts I have great plans for a t-shirt pom-pom which idea I also copied from someone else.  I hung these little guys in the bathroom and when my dear Watson informed me there was something growing in the bathroom, I thought he meant fungus (because that IS growing in our bathroom). He said "no, fuzzy colorful round things." I can't remember which blog I got these from - sorry. 

 This is my favorite. I have always DREAMED of making a wreath and today it is finished. I copied this idea from my sister - in - law over at poppiesatplay.blogspot.com.  The rosettes are made out of red duck tape (duct tape?). I purposely wanted to include some silver roses, but the original plan was to have the silver bunch on the bottom left hand corner of the wreath. I got a hot-gluin' and before I knew it I had already glued red rosettes where I wanted the silver ones. So I had to change my plans. Cute don't you think? And talk about easy! Click Here! to see Andy's tutorial about these awesome duck tape wreaths.