Pool Man

This is the kind of stuff Mark is into these days.
We've had several big jobs with plumbing, mastic, and electrical panneling. Mark is learning a lot! We appreciate Dave and his efforts in coming out to teach us so much! What a giant learning curve this business has been. But things are going great. Being your own boss is such a different life then what Disney was providing.

Cook Book Craze

I made a goal at the beginning of the year to cook every recipe out of a cookbook. I've struggled finding the perfect book to do this out of mostly because all the books I had weren't exactly what I was looking for.

Then came this. With the suggestion of my Brother-In-Law; we purchased the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook to try some of their ideas. And what do you know - it is amazing. We've made about a dozen different random recipes (even some that didn't have pictures) and we LOVE them. I couldn't choose a favorite but I just love the Mango Smoothie Surprise and the Pork-Pineapple Tacos.

D'lish. Pretty sure we will be fixin' out of this book for a while.

Favorites

I love the laugh of my little nephews. I love these summer evenings with my husband at home. I love my little car Edna. I love living close to my mom. I love living close to Winco. I love that my friends want to visit me. I love that my new friends have the last name of Wright. I love my new calling. I love my husbands new calling. I love planning vacations we might be taking this fall. I love road trips. I love talking on the phone to distant friends. I love babies. I love family reunions. I love playing the Amazing Race at family reunions. I love fine tip pens. I love ice cream. I still love grocery shopping. I love trying new recipes. I love my husband. I love being his wife. I love reading "self help" books with great ideas to organize your life. I love the Food Network and HGTV. I love unpacking my boxes that have been in storage for months to find goodies I've lost inside. I love fancy cameras with effortlessly splendid photography. I love the word Splendid.

Look at my Baseboards!

Who knew that baseboards were such a project. I can not say I have ever really paid attention to baseboards in my life. Well, now I will. After having our floors installed, the next step was to do our baseboards. To save us some money, we opted to install them ourselves. Now it is just another on going project that may take us the rest of the year to complete. Although my mom was a trooper and cut almost the entire house, and they are all nailed in, I still have to go around and putty the tops and nail holes as well as touch up with paint.

They do look nice though, don't you think?

Newer Home

As promised, here is a very overdue update of our home. We finally had our new floors laid about 3 weeks ago and what a beautiful change it has been You remember when the room looked like this?

And when we had to pull up the old floor. That was a treat! I threw my back out on this chore just before the Morrell reunion; therefore I will always have a special disliking towards peel and stick tiles. No matter how often HGTV tries to sell me on them.Well ladies and gentlemen, our home now looks something like this. (Pardon the random bits and pieces. This picture was taken while the project was still in process.
We just love them. The only thing I need to learn now is how to care for dark laminate floors. They show everything! Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE my choice and wouldn't go with anything different, I just need to figure out what product I can use to clean it; keep it shiny; and yet doesn't require a ton of money. Any bloggers out there know of anything?

Love!

I just love acrylic nails. I love how they make me feel more put together. I love how thin and pretty my fingers feel. I HATE how they ruin my real nails underneath and it'll take me years to get strong natural nails again. But in the mean time, I LOVE my new fingernails.

Thanks honey for the extra cash that made this indulgence possible.

I use to be a blogger

It is true. I use to be a really good blogger. And several times these past weeks I have thought about needing to blog about this or that. But alas, with no Internet in our house until yesterday and a busy life in between nothing has been documented. Here are a few random things that have been going on with more pictures to follow. (This way I keep you hooked...)

--I hate to admit it but there is a Baskin Robbins shop just down the road from my office building. A perfect walk during lunch ends me right at their doorstep which isn't entirely bad in my opinion. One particular day last week I stopped in just after a rather large group of summer camp kids; all now sitting outside the door with their one scoops of ice cream. I proceed to go inside and order 2 scoops of heaven on a cone and leave to saunter around the square with my treasure. As I leave the building, one small group of little ones stare with amazement and exclaim to the adult standing near "She has TWO". to which the adult responded, "she's an adult so she can have two." Yes, I love that part of growing up. I now can have 2 scoops of ice cream if I want.

--Mark has had another tragic phone episode. This time it has mysteriously disappeared. Not sure where it went to but somewhere between the movie theater and home it has vanished. Now we are sharing my phone between the 2 of us until we decide what step we want to take next. Ug!

--Biggest news: WE HAVE CARPET! We moved into our new house 2 weeks ago and have been slowly getting stuff actually inside the house. I use to be really good at moving in a day or two but I still have a ton of boxes in my garage. Reminds me when my friend Lauren moved and she talked about boxes in her garage. For whatever reason, I just leave them there. It is easier then going through them and finding homes for everything. The master bathroom is still a wreck, we are mostly furniture-less, and the kitchen cupboards under the sink have a rancid smell that I can't get rid of. But its home and we love it.

--The hill behind our house appears to be a genuine wildlife preserve. We've seen coyotes, rabbits, a myriad of birds, and field mice galore. A perfect compliment to our dinner time.

--America's Next Top Model was holding auditions in our city. While going to the movie theater the other day, the swarm of young laides with packets and high heels were causing quite the stir. I jokingly said to Mark my assumption that Tyra Banks was there and although she herself was not their, casting agents for the CW were! Fantastic!

--Work is going well. I continue to work on the staffing for the BP Oil Spill response. They have put me on point in the Health and Safety department which I really like doing. The Pool Service company continues to do well. We've added several more customers and Mark just keeps on keeping on. He has become quite the fix it man which will come in handy when we go to redo our bathroom.

Life continues to move forward with good things. I will try to update with photos soon. I know I've been terrible-here's to doing better.

Together-ness

Family Reunions are just the best thing. And nothing beats a crowd of people that will laugh at your jokes and love you even if you haven't showered in a few days. Burley, Idaho was just the place for such a gethering of the Morrell clan. And - double bonus - everyone made it! All 7 of the original Morrell Bunch and all 9 of the Morrell Bunch 2.

We enjoyed a slip-n-slide in the only way Idaho can provide. One long tarp down the side of a hill. It all started primitive until the boys got more grandiose ideas on how to go faster and get every tube in the train. The poor little boys took quite a beating that last run. I guess that is why it was the last run.

The Amazing Race - Idaho Edition couldn't be duplicated any more fun. Dan and Krista had us all over Burley with a GPS and our Racing skills. The Blue team (Kay's team) may or may not have won. And Mark's team, the Red Dragons showed a good effort. We threw hatchets, milked cows, tasted cheese curds, ate at Dairy Queen, and hunted for answers at the local Historical Society Museum. What a game it was!

Good Highlights to remember:

--Kaden ran up and down that hill probably 40 times more then all the adults.

--How many soda's did the little boys consume?

--The White Dragon

--The Red Dragons

--The flat air mattress vs the teeny trailer beds

--Food, Food, Food, Food, Food

--Mike's Amazing Race interview. (of course that's on video forever now)

--The car ride games. Licence plate states (only missing 14); Construction cones and train cars guessing game.

--going grocery shopping in the den.

--Malissa's job interview story

Newer Toy

These past couple weeks have been hectic to say the least. We've been driving back and forth from the new house to my mom's house as we wait for the carpet to be installed; mostly just taking care of loose ends and picking up the mail. On a routine trip out to the house one afternoon, Mark found a not-so-friendly welcome to the neighborhood in our mailbox. A white piece of paper on which was typed: "PLEASE MOW YOUR LAWN. THANK YOU". I guess they thought this was getting unacceptable.

Although we were planning on this purchase as soon as we moved in, we were somewhat forced to make an early purchase. So-happy-new-house-and-therefore-need-a-lawn-mower day. I hope our neighbors forgive us and still want to be friends. Whoever they are.

First Day of Summer

Ahh..summertime. I can't say summer is my favorite season, but it is my favorite time of year. As a teacher, I have carried on the traditions of my youth having oodles of free time during the summer months. Although this year is a little different as I am sort of between professions right now, we are still looking forward to a great summer season. Highlights this year will include:

--Family Reunions: both the Morrell's and the Wright's will be getting together for several nights of fun! I can't lie, the Candy Cannon has been the talk of the town for some time now. Bring it on!

--Moving In: We will be officially moving into our new house this summer! We've been working on it for what feels like forever, but now we are officially moving in. (sans Master Bathroom but lets hope that is finished soon)

--Camping Time: I certainty want to make a trip to the Calavaras Redwoods and show Mark the splendor there.

--Gold Country: Nothing like a good history trip to see Sutter's Mill and do some panning ourselves.

--San Francisco: The coldest winter I've ever spent was the Summer in San Francisco. (Mark Twain) There will be a few trips here. Hopefully we can bribe some friends to visit us for this highlight of a city. Pretty sure we eat an entire loaf of SF Sourdough Bread daily.

--California Academy of Sciences: Great exhibits of extreme and unique animal life.

--Sun Bathing: Okay, so Mark is already ahead of me in the tanning department. But I am hopeful I will get some exposure so I don't have to rely on the tan-in-a-can method. Don't judge. Some of us pale girls just have to go to extreme measures.

Now that Mark and I have nights and weekends together it's almost like we get to date for the first time. It is delightful to have so much time together. Having a companion to spend moments in life with really is such a blessing. So bring on the summer and all our summer plans.

"Did you Poop?"

Yesterday we were in WalMart picking up your usual Essential Purchases. While searching the Shampoo aisle for the perfect bounce and shine combo, a young mother with her 2 boys who looked like twins joins us. Before too long, she is frantically hustling her boys asking each of them several times "did you poop?...Are you poopy?" and smelling around to see who the culprit was.

Mark responded "Hey, lets go look at BBQ's" Quickly guiding me away he whispers..."I may have farted"...

I am still laughing. That's my life. And I love it.

New Job

Since school has ended, I have been up in the air as to what I was going to do next. I took about a 2 week break and decided that I wanted some more money to spend!

Hence, the new job.

I now work at an Engineering firm in the Health and Safety department. It is only 15 minutes from my mom's house which is a perfect commute! The company is currently staffing hundreds of people to work with the oil spills in the gulf and it is my job to process all their training and health test clearances. I get my own cubical, which I love, and am already making plans to spruce it up.

I've always had a knack for office work and I have always loved working in the glamorous-multi-story-office-type-building downtown. And that is precisely the type of office this is! It is only a temporary position for now until the hiring explosion calms down a bit but I'm in full swing for at least a few months until they decide what they want to do. Overall, its a great gig!

Recent Renovations

Our floors are taking a whole lot longer to get installed then we hoped. Sadly, we are still waiting. In the process of getting things ready for the installers, we are pulling up the old and getting ready for the new. The fun part is the snazzy stuff underneath the even better fake tile. Mark was a good man to pull these up in the 95 degree heat.

My favorite recent project was the nook above the cabinets in the hallway. With the inspiration from a model home, we painted it a dark brown color and then my carpenter of a mother cut and installed these bookshelves. I haven't got them quite finished, but I just love the new look. And it so much better then before.

I got the books from Goodwill for a steal of a deal and it left just the right touch. LOVE IT!

We are sure hoping to get the carpets laid as soon as possible. We hope to move in officially this weekend.

Craigslist Connection

If you haven't used Craigslist before, it is amazing! People selling good stuff to good people. We've just acquired our fridge, washer, and dryer for a steal of a deal price. All appliances come with warranties and are only 2 years old. Nice!

We had the best Craigslist encounter with the purchase of our Washer and Dryer from a couple just the next town over. They were moving out of their house so most of their possessions were in boxes and scattered on the floor. As soon as the door was opened, Mark had gathered enough information to know that they too were LDS. We had a great little intro conversation and warm fuzzy's knowing the appliances were being adopted into a good home.

It gets better.

As the conversations progress, we cover the "where are you from" question! And to our SURPRISE, he was from Orem Utah. What? He graduated from the same High School as Mark, the year just before. Crazy enough they remembered each other and knew the same crowds of people.

Funny eh? It is in fact a "small world after all".

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

We've been busy renovating our new house and boy has it been a ton of work! So much we want to get done before we move in. To start we filled in the hole that was in the middle of our entertainment center to create a more divided look. Big thanks to the Doman's from my old home ward for their expertise in this adventure."Hit it Brother Doman!"

After a little texture, this wall was new and very much improved. We have also spent hours painting the blood red room, orange room, purple room, yellow office, green family room, and brown living room into a nice base color of Sand Hills Bluff. I then had to repaint all the window sills and doors since the previous owners had left them so nasty. Not to mention that red and brown took 2 coats each. And in the kitchen it took 3. That was awesome.

A shout out to Mike and his mad painting skills. He had most my house painted by Saturday afternoon. That man paints like it's his day job!
Our largest renovation is in the master bath where Mark has taken it upon himself to rebuild the tub and shower area. And while we're at it; why not replace the vanity as well. What a job this has turned into. Right now it is mostly in pieces all over the floor but bit by bit we will put it back together to create a perfectly luxurious bathroom.

Waiting for the floors to be measured, delivered, and installed seems to be taking longer then I thought carpet took. But in 2 weeks we hope to be moved in. My last move for a very long time! Love that thought. We sure hope to see many of our friends in our new place once all it said and done. We may not have the Disney magic to lure you all in, but I promise to give you a free tour of Antioch, California.