Thurm & I snorkeling!

Cruisin'

Thurm's family reunion this year was a Mexican cruise with just the adults. It was VERY fun. We loved the ship. I have never slept so good in my life. The short version is we went to Catalina Island and snorkeled, kayaked, tandem biked. Then to Ensenada where we took a tour to La Buffadora (sp?), an awesome blow hole that is one of three in the world. (I've seen the one in Hawaii as well). On the ship we ate and ate and ate. DELICIOUS! My favorite food was strawberry bisque. And it was a good as it sounds. We hot tubbed, went to a few shows. I learned how to make an elephant out of towels, Quinn now has one in his bathroom. We sang karaoke! I'm a huge chicken. I only sang once with Thurm, "Don't Stop Believing." Our family assured us it was great :) Thurm, being the secret exhibitionist that he is, got up a number of times. He did an Elvis solo, "In the Ghetto" that was excellent! He and his brother also entertained the crowd with "Ice, Ice, Baby." Even though after three years of marriage, and I know Thurm has this side to his personality, it still surprises me that he will perform like that! He is such a great singer!
I would absolutely go on a cruise again! It was so much fun to be with family too.

Here are some "After" photos of the house. The day we moved in Thurm did a great job document and taking a picture of every part of our house. Every tree even. But somehow, he missed the basement bathroom. It doesn't look that much different except we tiled and installed a shower. A little boy I was babysitting ran by, stopped, pointed, and said "CLEAN!" It's very white. But it'll look good with a shower curtain.
I also painted my kitchen cabinets white this week. I did a horrible job and just hope we replace them if we ever sell the house. I told Thurm I was going to take my time and do it right. But no, I have no patients. So I laid them all in a row on our drive way and did them all at once. Of course every particle of sand, dirt and bug on the driveway ended up in the paint. Oh well. My friend, Marie, came to look at them and had the brilliant idea of spray painting the hardware black! Looks awesome!
I still need to paint the walls blue, but we are leaving for a cruise today and it will have to wait!~
Bon Voyage!

I have to post a retraction on my ward missionary post and the bad attitude I had. Yesterday at church I felt so strongly that we were really called by God to be ward missionaries. And when the bishop set us apart he said some amazing things that I know are true. My attitude is gone, I'm excited to get started.

Kitchen

I want to paint my kitchen cabinets soon. But I can't decide on colors for my kitchen. I have my dark gray wall right next to the kitchen so I want the colors to compliment each other. I like the idea of a white and yellow kitchen because its so bright and airy. But it doesn't really jive with my damask living room. What do you guys think? I like the white cupboards with blue too.

White cupboards seems like the safest bet right? I saw some cool blue cupboards, but blue could go terribly wrong.

Everyday I have a two hour window in which to get things done that I can't do with Quinn around. And yet, I'm blogging instead of mudding the basement walls in preparation for painting tonight. I have been dragging my feet on getting our basement done. Ugh.
Saturday, Thurm & I canned peaches, jam, salsa, apple pie filling, and dried apples. It was fun, but I can imagine it not being as much fun next year when Thurm grows a huge garden. A HUGE garden.
Thurm has been called as ward mission leader and I as a ward missionary. I'm intimidated. I specifically didn't go on a mission because I don't like talking to strangers and I don't like selling things. I know that's the wrong attitude. I know that I'd be doing someone a huge favor by telling them about the gospel. Not just a favor, but the single most important information they need to know in this life. That Jesus Christ died for their sins and if they live a righteous life can live happily with Heavenly Father in the afterlife. I think its just the "cold call" way of knocking on some one's door saying "would you like to hear about the gospel of Jesus Christ?" that turns me off. I just know if I was on the receiving end of that knock, it wouldn't matter what was being offered, I wouldn't want to hear it. I know it will be different as a ward missionary. These are my neighbors, people we will become friends with. But even after giving myself this pep talk, I'm still intimidated.
We are going on Mexican Baja cruise at the end of the month with all the adults in Thurm's family. I'm getting really excited. I'm not sure if I'm more excited for the "mid-night all chocolate buffet" or laying on sandy beaches. We have plans to go snorkeling and kayaking at Catalina Island and taking a tour in Ensenada. I'm not as nervous to leave Quinn for a week this time because the last time we dropped him off for 3 days, he acted like he didn't even miss us. Like he didn't even realize we had been gone. Little bum. I would have appreciated at least a hug of joy or something.
Alright, off to mud the basement : (

Before Photos:: Attic & Bedroom

After Photos::Attic Room & Bedroom

This is our bedroom till we can build a master bedroom upstairs. I don't take any credit on this room. My mom came down the 2nd day we were here and painted it from blue to tan. She also made the quilt on our bed. She pieced it together and my aunt quilted it. Lots of work!

We painted this attic room white, from pink. And I also recovered the bench. I want to paint one wall, but couldn't decide on a color until I got fabric for the bench. What color do you think?

How come no one is commenting on how adorable my baby is playing the harmonica and dancing?!? He's ADORABLE!

Seriously, so blessed ; )

Thurm & I have been working on our house trying to get the basement ready to rent. We were hoping to have it done by September, but we were kidding ourselves about our remodeling skillZ. We tried tiling the basement bathroom on Saturday. Its a huge mess, I don't think I measured one tile right and chipped the corner of every tile I cut. I caused a huge fight because I was so mad and frustrated over how completely lacking I am at something I thought looked easy. I hate tiling. And we still aren't done. There are a few more tiles to lay and grout and caulking to do. Oy Vey! After that is done we just have a bit of painting, installing some flooring in the kitchen, and carpet in the bedrooms. My sister-in-law scored us a free fridge so we will be good to go. Shauna is amazing when it comes to hunting up cheap or free stuff. She is the one to go to if you are looking for ANYTHING. Thurm needed a job a few years ago, she found him several to apply to. We recently needed a mattress...done. Want tickets to Disneyland for 75% off...done. Ask and ye shall receive. Its an amazing gift. I've been racking my brain for more things we are in need of.

We have been feeling the love from all our family, friends, and neighbors. Numerous people have brought us welcome gifts and told us how glad they are to have us in the neighborhood. Our neighbor Jim tilled our garden with his tractor and brought us 25 pounds of ground beef from his cows. Our new friend, Marie, a horticulturist came over and told us what every plant in our yard was, which was no small task. My brother did an inspection on our house and went through every nook and cranny and told us what was wrong and how to fix it. My mother has spent many, many days here helping us paint and taking care of us. My dad brought us supplies and is drawing plans for our attic. Thurm's parents came and helped us plumb two shower heads, fix some electrical, and hang wallpaper. My friend Danalin, knows how much I love her bathroom, so she bought me everything it will take to copy hers...the shower curtain, towels, rug, even the wall paint color!!! And Shauna is going to hunt down everything we need and get it for free. Thank you, thank you!!!! We love you all.

Quinn playing the harmonica

Doesn't everyone have a picture of their kid in a drawer. But its so cute every time.

My little Calvin and Hobbes

Marriage Advice (in the Sept Ensign)

-Never say anything negative about each other in public.
-Put your spouse's wants before your own.
-Never let a day go by without saying "I love you"
-Never let a day go by without praying together
-An accomplishment for one person in the marriage is a victory for both.
-Don't discuss important issues after 10pm (I can testify to this!!! arguments escalate when your tired.)
-Do common household tasks together (cooking, dishes, making the bed)
-Attend the temple as often as possible
-When you can either be "right" or have "peace", choose peace.
-Keep the marriage within the marriage (don't turn to others before you turn to each other)

Our stake president's advice when we got married was "don't put anything but the Lord before your spouse, not even children."

What was the best marriage advice you received?

Today I fixed a leak in our main water shut off valve. I'm so proud of myself. I'd like to thank my father and brother for their knowledge and example. I'd like to thank the helpful people of Home Depot. And lastly I'd like to send a shout out to the world wide web, without which, I'd have no idea what a main shut off valve was.

Thank you.

just figured out how to use iMovie...

Dancing must just be inherently human because we never taught him to dance. He has amazing rhythm and sings on tune. This is Thurm & I's new favorite song.

Big Ol Bear

Quinn went to his first concert last night, Iron & Wine. He stayed up the latest he's stayed up since he was born, 10pm!!! I have to admit, I was trying really hard not to think about him getting off his schedule and to just enjoy the concert. It was an awesome concert, I love his music. But I think Thurm & I both felt like that scene isn't as appealing as it once was. It made us appreciate that we are happily married and living the family life. I think we got our fill of being single, hanging out with all the hip people of SLC. But I do love a good concert. Especially at outdoor venues.








I went to Thurm's school a couple times this week to help him set up his classroom. And I realized that I'm a little disgruntled that his occupation requires me to forever be apart of high school. I couldn't wait to be out of high school and never looked back when I left. Only recently have I even been in contact with friends from high school. Not that I had a bad experience, but I was just biding my time till I could forever be done with petty girls, popularity contests, flirting with silly boys. A few years ago in college I ended up hanging out one evening with a couple of football players from high school. They both reminisced about high school being the "best days of their lives" and how they wished they could go back. I laughed out loud. That's just crazy. Thank goodness there are good teachers out there that are willing to put up with the silliness and arrogance of teenagers.

AFTER photos::Living Room

We had this room done the 2nd day we moved in, I don't know why it has taken me so long. I have been meaning to order pictures for our walls, but haven't. So I guess thats why I didn't want to post pictures yet. Oh well, just imagine a huge, gallery wrap family photo in the middle of the dark wall.

I had this room planned out long before we moved in. I knew I wanted walls in silver, dark grey, and damask wall paper so I could use them as photography backdrops. This room has lots of light so it'll be great. The rest of the house I have no ideas and no money for, so that will be for later. Oh, and I even have a wreath for our front door to make it officially our home.

Tonsil Update: Still sucky, not sleeping as much, the scabs are supposed to be falling off any day now (gross!!!!), one week of recovery down, possibly three more weeks to go : (