It's been a while since we've posted, so here's an update on life...
We loved our Thanksgiving break! I had Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off and Shane had Thursday and Friday off. I went out and visited Emma on Wednesday. They're moving soon so it was good to get in some more time with her while we still live in the same state (a dream we've had our whole lives that she has to go and wreck!!).
On Thursday Shane got up early and played in the turkey bowl for three hours!! Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at Tom's house with all of Shane's family (except Bart and Ashlee, who joined us for dessert) and some of Ashley's family. We had a fried turkey, which was definitely a new experience, but it was really good! Shane and I brought the strawberry pretzel dessert that we eat as a side dish. I made it with extra pretzel crust so it was extra good.
After dinner, the guys and Ashley stayed at Tom's to watch the ASU/USC game and the rest of the girls and the grandkids headed over to Shane's parents' house to watch Ratatouille. Then the rest of the family came over and we all watched Hairspray. I really really like that movie!!
On Friday Shane was ridiculously sore from his hardcore football playing so we just hung around the house all morning. We did brave the shopping crowds to buy a birthday present for Harrison and a few other Christmas presents at Target. Then we were hosts at the Mesa temple lights with Tom and Ashley. It was actually really cold outside, but it was fun to see the lights. Then we finished the night with a sandwich and zuchinni from Uncle Sam's...yum!!
Saturday we had the Bakers over for breakfast. It was so fun to see how far Andrew has come since we last saw him. He's walking and everything!! Then we went to lunch with some of Shane's friends from high school and then headed out to Emma and Kendall's for Harrison's first birthday. We had a little party for him with just us and Emma and Kendall, but Harrison didn't care. Then we stayed out there and watched a movie with them.
On Sunday, Shane got called as second counselor in the elder's quorum presidency. Tom is the president so now it's a family affair. That means that Ashley and I are now ward mission companions so it should be fun...
Other than that, I'm now in Albuquerque on a client. I'll be here for two weeks and then I'll be in Vegas for two weeks and then Shane and I will be driving to Salt Lake for Christmas!! We're really excited to come home and see everyone.
We also found out that Shane's truck is officially not totalled, so that's good news I guess, but the truck won't be done before Christmas so Shane is learning to make friends with his sweet red cobalt that he's driving... At least he has the Honda now that I'm gone!
Also, Shane just informed me that his desert rose bonsai trees are sprouting, but we're now down to only five surviving bamboo sprouts... We'll take pictures of their progress for those that are interested...
That's it for now. We'll post more later!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Is no news good news?
So we were going to have pictures to accompany this post, but we didn't take them so I'm just going to write it without them...
Last Tuesday (yes, we're a little behind) Shane was rear ended in Scottsdale. He was driving home from work and a car pulled in front of the car in front of him. The guy in front of him stopped just fine and so did Shane, but when he looked in his mirror, he saw an Explorer still going 40 so he just put his brakes on hard. She hit him without even touching her brakes and he ended up hitting the guy in front of him.
So our pretty, new truck was very mangled... The spare tire under the bed stopped the damage from reaching the tires so it was still drivable, but the initial impact bumped the bed up into the back of the cab (denting it) and basically bent the tailgate in half. Also, something caused his hood to become a little warped and his front bumper is a little dented. The guy in front of him only had a little damage to his trunk so that was good.
The lady that hit him admitted that she was looking out the window for her daughter (they were driving by a high school) and the police determined that she was at fault for all damage. So now it's just a matter of getting everything fixed.
Shane dropped the truck off at the shop and got a rental on Monday. The guy told him that just the external damage would cost about 50% of the value of the truck. So basically, if they find enough internal damage to increase the cost over 70%, then they'll just declare the truck totalled... We're hoping they can just fix it since we really like this truck, but I guess there are other trucks like it out there... So we're hoping that since we haven't heard anything for 4 days that the truck isn't totalled...right?
Also, Shane's been going to a chiropractor for his whiplash. He felt fine after the accident, but it got progressively worse as the week went on so he finally made an appointment on Tuesday. The guy he's been going to is a cousin of a friend and they highly recommended him. So far, he's cracked every joint in his body and taken a lot of x-rays. Today they analyzed the angle of his neck and determined that he does have some whiplash so he's starting treatments to fix the curve.
Anyway, that's the news for now... Other than that, we're just working and trying to have fun. We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. I get three days off!! It'll be good to have some time to just relax and spend time with Shane's family.
Last Tuesday (yes, we're a little behind) Shane was rear ended in Scottsdale. He was driving home from work and a car pulled in front of the car in front of him. The guy in front of him stopped just fine and so did Shane, but when he looked in his mirror, he saw an Explorer still going 40 so he just put his brakes on hard. She hit him without even touching her brakes and he ended up hitting the guy in front of him.
So our pretty, new truck was very mangled... The spare tire under the bed stopped the damage from reaching the tires so it was still drivable, but the initial impact bumped the bed up into the back of the cab (denting it) and basically bent the tailgate in half. Also, something caused his hood to become a little warped and his front bumper is a little dented. The guy in front of him only had a little damage to his trunk so that was good.
The lady that hit him admitted that she was looking out the window for her daughter (they were driving by a high school) and the police determined that she was at fault for all damage. So now it's just a matter of getting everything fixed.
Shane dropped the truck off at the shop and got a rental on Monday. The guy told him that just the external damage would cost about 50% of the value of the truck. So basically, if they find enough internal damage to increase the cost over 70%, then they'll just declare the truck totalled... We're hoping they can just fix it since we really like this truck, but I guess there are other trucks like it out there... So we're hoping that since we haven't heard anything for 4 days that the truck isn't totalled...right?
Also, Shane's been going to a chiropractor for his whiplash. He felt fine after the accident, but it got progressively worse as the week went on so he finally made an appointment on Tuesday. The guy he's been going to is a cousin of a friend and they highly recommended him. So far, he's cracked every joint in his body and taken a lot of x-rays. Today they analyzed the angle of his neck and determined that he does have some whiplash so he's starting treatments to fix the curve.
Anyway, that's the news for now... Other than that, we're just working and trying to have fun. We're looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. I get three days off!! It'll be good to have some time to just relax and spend time with Shane's family.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Bamboo...
I know, this is my third post today (the other two are below...), but I had a lot of things I wanted to blog about and it's hard to do any other day of the week, so here it goes.
Ever since we put down our bamboo floors, Shane has been very interested in it. He researched all different kinds and we started talking about planting it in our backyard to replace some of our less-loved plants. Then he found a bunch of information about people who grow bamboo from the seed and bought some seeds online. Then he did even more research about the best way to get them to germinate.
As soon as the seeds came, Shane went out and bought everything he'd need. The first week or so, we didn't see anything. I was beginning to worry that nothing would happen, but then one day we opened it and there were 4 shoots. Then, by that evening there were 6! And by the next morning, some of them even had leaves.
We now have 8 visible shoots and the first four have reached the top of the container they've been growing in.
I'll admit, we all kind of made fun of him at first, but it's been fun to watch their progress. The first thing we do in the morning and when we get home from work is check on them to see how much they've grown. I actually took these pictures last night, and they've visibly changes since then.
This could be a fun hobby for Shane. Once they're big enough, he's going to transplant the shoots into individual containers. It should be interesting to see how it all turns out... He also wants to try other types of bamboo (the stuff growing right now is Himalayan Candycane Bamboo).
I was also surprised to find that some bonsai tree seeds arrived in the mail yesterday, so we just might be starting a nursery!
Ever since we put down our bamboo floors, Shane has been very interested in it. He researched all different kinds and we started talking about planting it in our backyard to replace some of our less-loved plants. Then he found a bunch of information about people who grow bamboo from the seed and bought some seeds online. Then he did even more research about the best way to get them to germinate.
As soon as the seeds came, Shane went out and bought everything he'd need. The first week or so, we didn't see anything. I was beginning to worry that nothing would happen, but then one day we opened it and there were 4 shoots. Then, by that evening there were 6! And by the next morning, some of them even had leaves.
We now have 8 visible shoots and the first four have reached the top of the container they've been growing in.
I'll admit, we all kind of made fun of him at first, but it's been fun to watch their progress. The first thing we do in the morning and when we get home from work is check on them to see how much they've grown. I actually took these pictures last night, and they've visibly changes since then.
This could be a fun hobby for Shane. Once they're big enough, he's going to transplant the shoots into individual containers. It should be interesting to see how it all turns out... He also wants to try other types of bamboo (the stuff growing right now is Himalayan Candycane Bamboo).
I was also surprised to find that some bonsai tree seeds arrived in the mail yesterday, so we just might be starting a nursery!
Yard work!!
I'm a little behind on my blogging, so here's another one...
I think I mentioned this before, but Roy and Tom helped Shane put in our winter lawn. I didn't know we needed one, but now that it's here, I love it! They cut our old lawn as low as it would go and then spread the new seed. Here's the result!
Here's another one from a different angle. You can see our ugly cedar tree. Shortly after taking this picture, Shane cut off all of the branches halfway up. We're going to get rid of it soon and hopefully replace it with something else (Shane is voting bamboo...which I like too).
Shane's parents' company bought a house in our area on a huge lot and tore it down to build a few houses there. The old house had some nice rock in the yard around it so Shane and Tom decided to use it in their yards. This sparked some planning for the future of our front yard. Next thing I knew, the rocks in our yard were raked up, moved, and there were two large holes in our yard. It stayed this way for a while (and I just hoped our HOA didn't get mad at us). Then one night we went and bought some pygmy date palms to fill those holes.
These little palm trees grow in clusters and take a long time for them to get very tall (which our neighbors were happy about). Our next goal is to get a few groundcover plants and then to move the rock from the other house over to cover the dirt.
Roy also suggested we make a little garden area where we can plant real flowers! I was excited because Tom found some beautiful flowers that grow really well here. The only problem is, to plant the flowers where Roy suggested, we need to get a petition signed by our neighbors to move the mailbox out of our yard. We don't think many people will care, but it should be an interesting feat!
Other than that, I just hope to get all of the boganvia under control!! We have five of them (three in the front, two in the back) and they grow like crazy...but it's really pretty when it blooms. You can see one of our bushes fighting with our neighbor's in the last picture above. Here are the other two in our front yard. As you can see, we have some work to do!
I think I mentioned this before, but Roy and Tom helped Shane put in our winter lawn. I didn't know we needed one, but now that it's here, I love it! They cut our old lawn as low as it would go and then spread the new seed. Here's the result!
Here's another one from a different angle. You can see our ugly cedar tree. Shortly after taking this picture, Shane cut off all of the branches halfway up. We're going to get rid of it soon and hopefully replace it with something else (Shane is voting bamboo...which I like too).
Shane's parents' company bought a house in our area on a huge lot and tore it down to build a few houses there. The old house had some nice rock in the yard around it so Shane and Tom decided to use it in their yards. This sparked some planning for the future of our front yard. Next thing I knew, the rocks in our yard were raked up, moved, and there were two large holes in our yard. It stayed this way for a while (and I just hoped our HOA didn't get mad at us). Then one night we went and bought some pygmy date palms to fill those holes.
These little palm trees grow in clusters and take a long time for them to get very tall (which our neighbors were happy about). Our next goal is to get a few groundcover plants and then to move the rock from the other house over to cover the dirt.
Roy also suggested we make a little garden area where we can plant real flowers! I was excited because Tom found some beautiful flowers that grow really well here. The only problem is, to plant the flowers where Roy suggested, we need to get a petition signed by our neighbors to move the mailbox out of our yard. We don't think many people will care, but it should be an interesting feat!
Other than that, I just hope to get all of the boganvia under control!! We have five of them (three in the front, two in the back) and they grow like crazy...but it's really pretty when it blooms. You can see one of our bushes fighting with our neighbor's in the last picture above. Here are the other two in our front yard. As you can see, we have some work to do!
Happy Halloween!
We had a fun Halloween. Shane and I realized that this is the first Halloween we've actually dressed up for since we've been married. We never had any parties or anything to dress up for before, but this year we had a ward party, another party at the Guthrie's, and then we dressed up for Halloween night. We didn't really dress up elaborately...we did halloween on a budget. Here's some pictures from halloween night:
I was a sheriff and Shane was a bandito... You can see that the hat we bought me for $2.00 was made for someone a little smaller than me, but I guess it worked.
Paige was Violet from The Incredibles.
Mason was a Storm Trooper.
+of+CIMG1731.JPG)
Brody was Bob the Builder.
Hilary was a vampire.
Tom was Eric Byrnes.
Sarge was a fireman.
Bart and Ashlee were a nurse and a patient, but I didn't get a picture of them before they left, but here's Bart and his caramel apple.
And the best of all was Roy and Connie, or should I say Shrek and Fiona.
I was a sheriff and Shane was a bandito... You can see that the hat we bought me for $2.00 was made for someone a little smaller than me, but I guess it worked.
Paige was Violet from The Incredibles.
Mason was a Storm Trooper.
+of+CIMG1731.JPG)
Brody was Bob the Builder.
Hilary was a vampire.
Tom was Eric Byrnes.
Sarge was a fireman.
Bart and Ashlee were a nurse and a patient, but I didn't get a picture of them before they left, but here's Bart and his caramel apple.
And the best of all was Roy and Connie, or should I say Shrek and Fiona.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)