Another Home Project

I guess its time to come clean to the Internet. You know when you start with a secret and its hard to keep, and then after some time it is really easy to keep, and then there comes a point when someone needs to remind you to tell your secret sometime. Yeah-maybe that doesn't really ever happen, but-I've sort of been keeping something from y'all. Until now.

We've been remodeling one of our spare bedrooms. Making it not so "spare". It started like this:

and then became this.
all in preparation for this:

So-surprised? I can tell you we were! He is expected to join us the 1st week of July. Yeah!

**The words you're all wondering about but aren't totally necessary to read. No-this hasn't been the longest pregnancy ever recorded. Many of you may remember our first announcement back in June of last year. And then missed the memo that that wasn't happening any more, mostly because I didn't announce it. So-here is the short of it. Because of some serious hormone imbalances on my part-we were unable to get pregnant without the help of a fertility specialist-who I just fell in love with. After our first treatment, we successfully got pregnant and were awaiting our first. Sadly, the pregnancy turned out to be a partial molar which had to be removed by D&C. We were told our chances of getting pregnant again were slim-and would probably need another round of fertility treatment in one years time. Heart breaker. Then, the Lord came through again and proved medicine wrong. We were surprised with the news that we were expecting; giving the doctors a bit of a scare that perhaps my partial molar was growing back. Weeks of testing, and now here we are, halfway done and things are looking great! We are so excited and feel very blessed. And above all, know that this little spirit has been waiting to join our family for quite some time. I am sure my dad is patting him on the back, letting him know how good he has it coming to us. (kidding) He sure has been working overtime, my dad. Love him. Love our growing son. So in love.**

The City

In an effort to make our weekends more exciting than house chores and hours of TV, my mom and we decided to take a trip to Oakland to get some fresh air. Mom found that there were some old 1800 replica ships in port so we headed out for a little salty sea air.

The 2 "tall ships" were replicated from old war ships from...a long time ago. Which was fun to get to board and walk around their tiny decks and quarters.

There were several seamen getting the ship ready to sail, so we were lucky enough to get a shot of the 2 of us together! And yes, we are both supporting the cougars. Only because it is the BYU bookstore where our yearly clothes purchase occurs. We're those people.

And as a sidenote-the seamen were a very interesting crew of people. Talk about rough and toughin' it. They looked (and smelled) like they had been in the open waters for ages. It made us wonder at what junction in their lives they decided this was going to be their line of work. Interesting.I was particularly interested in just the architecture of the vessel. Just really neat all the rope work and the masts and sails. Although the clouds were grey and gloomy, it was really nice weather.

A stop at the Oakland Temple on our way home rounded out this rather wonderful day!

Stay tuned for our recent home renovations that has taken us this long to be able to do!

Re-purposing

I am really quite proud of our thrifty new headboard. We've never been real adults with an official bedroom set. Mostly we've just made do with what I've skimmed together from my college days. So - I put my resources together and made us a fancy new headboard. Ideas compliments of "Design on a Dime" from HGTV. (a station I am obsessed with).

I took our old door from off the closet that was causing more harm than good=Free.

Repainted it so the pink crayon marks and black smudges from the previous owners was gone=Free

Attached it to some 4X4's which I had also painted white-and topped them off with some fence post toppers for the final look=$20.00

Add a new wall color and we're mostly done with my new room. I still need some artwork above the bed which I am in the process of getting together. But overall - I like it!

So there you have it. My twenty dollar headboard made from a door! Thanks to Design on a Dime.

Teenagers and Ice Cream

Teenagers should not be teachers. I'm telling you - in my experiences in the education world - teenagers aren't the best at explaining things clearly and getting things done. I would have to say the fine arts classes are the ones that test my patience the most. Like today - watching the "team captains" try to get the kids started on their new dance was like watching a group of people who have never ice skated, step onto the ice for the first time.

Also-my husband is amazing. While driving home, we were chatting about my upcoming birthday plans, which will include a trip over for some delicious Thrifty ice cream. To which he asks "does that sound good right now?" I said heck yes. And then we missed out turn to our house and went to get ice cream as a spontaneous date day! Oh delightful. And I got Bubble Gum flavor. Because as a kid Lord's Ice Cream parlour had it and it was so delightful. Except I don't like the gum balls in it so I ask for as much ice cream and as little gum balls as possible. And they oblige. And it is delightful every time.

Happy Monday.

Hot Chocolate & Toast

I've been thinking about hot chocolate and toast recently. Weird I know, but being that the temperature of my house equals the temperature of the average refrigerator, anything hot seems delightful. Hence the thought.

So I had some for lunch today. And, as I always do, I dipped my toast into my chocolate. And I was reminded; I grew up with this delicious combination and it has only recently come to my attention that this is not accepted as generally as I thought.

As a younger kid, I remember our babysitter making fun of our family because we did this. Later, my roommates in collage thought I was super weird. And when I married Mark and ate my little snack this way-he too was surprised.

Which made me think it was about time I was public about this. Seriously, dip your toast into your hot chocolate. It is so good. Thats all.

For real?

As I mentioned before, my job assignment is to fill in holes on campus that are last minute needs. Today, a sub didn't show up for a particular assignment; so I was called to the classroom. No biggie-right? Wrong!

How does this teacher even have a job? I have subbed this class before. How do I know this? Because the agenda I wrote on the board from Nov. 7th was still there! For real? His classes have NO respect for the classroom or any adult for that matter. Several stood by the door the entire 100 minute class; eating, texting, and chatting obscenely loud. Many "went to the bathroom" and didn't return. It was the most insane class with no real lesson plans, and no real direction given at all! I just hate when I have to sub in rooms like this. Not so much because it is a bad experience - which to tell the truth it is a nightmare - but more because I don't understand why this type of person has a job teaching and one such as myself doesn't. Really?

Six Tid Bits

1. I am super excited about my new year's resolutions. People who are not resoultion makers I do not understand. It is one of my greatest passions. One of my goals is to tidy up every night before bed. I realize this is a common practice among most family oriented ladies in the blog world. Not so much in the Morrell house. But now my friends - we are new people. Dishes clean and put away, blankets not strewn all over the couches, leftovers actually put away rather than left to spoil. Its going to be a steller year.

2. This time next year I will have completed the Walt Disney World Marathon! Probably not in the 2:40 that the female winner this year did, but I tell you what, me and Katie, and maybe Michelle if I can lie to her about how fun it is going to be enough to make her think I'm right. (cuz lets be honest, the disney part will be smashing fun, the vacation part irreplaceable, but the running part, eh...not so much)

3. My job is AWESOME! I am like a "filler" sub. I go to the high school campus every day, and then fill in whatever holes they may have. And when they have no holes, which is often, I sit in the teachers lounge and scrapbook, read, craft, play games, sleep and get paid. Its awesome.

4. I love the Duggars. Seriously - love their show. I asked for their book for Christmas, and my superman husband got it for me. And I cried. Do you think I've crossed a line?

5. I started bringing my calculator to the grocery store - product of another resolution. And TWICE I had the total bill not only under budget but EXACT! That was a pretty proud moment for me. I've said before, I LOVE grocery shopping, and I am really good at filling up a cart. So - to show some self control and then to be right on the price, it was a big moment.

6. My older brother is kind of my personal rock start. I just love spending time with him. Cuz he is just that amazing.

New Year: New Everything

I can't really say I have a reason for my neglected blog this year. I just...didn't do it as much as I wanted to. So-I'm going to make it better.

If you were hoping for me to "catch up" on all our going and doings, I'm sorry to let you down. But let it be known that with this new year - I'm going to increase my blogging by at least double. This doubled increase will most definitely include several random thoughts, quick quips, boring rants, and a few tid-bits accompanied with delightful photos of our faces. You can bet it won't all be interesting, but at least 2012 will be documented twice as good as 2011.

Its going to be a good year. I love New Years. I love new calendars. I love new year resolutions. I love renewed commitments. I love fresh, clean, full-of-promise new years!

Happy 2012 World.

Vegetables

A conversation we had just the other day.

M: We really need to get more vegetables into our diet.

K: Yeah, you're probably right.

M: So what should we get. What is your "go to" vegetable.

K: Salsa?

Um...not exactly what I was going for. But at least its a start.

Washington DC - Part 1

As promised, although slightly delayed, the remainder of our trip to Washington. We were very lucky to have such great weather the entire week we were there. Missing the rainstorms almost entirely. And let it show that this picture was taken at the end of a very long walking day, and Mark made me jump way too many times. It is only a thousand times harder when you're super tired. So...there you go.

On our first day, we went to see all the sights on the Mall. Naturally. Having always studied the great history of our Nation, I was thrilled to see the Declaration of Independence on display in the National Archives Museum. Although it was a lot more faded then I would have expected, it was still neat to see!

These were the original entry doors. Since increased security, guests now enter through small side doors, which make the photo op in front of the big doors that much more exciting.

How impressive the structures were. Both in size and in details.

Mark's highlight of the trip also came on our first day. Having tuned into Top Chef for several seasons now, he had researched which of the contestants had restaurants open in the DC area.
Just our luck, Chef Spike had 2 located on top of capital hill. So we walked up there to feast at We the Pizza and the burger place next door. After we had ordered our food and sat down outside Mark saw Chef Spike himself walking around checking on his restaurants. Trying not to be paparazzi, we just watched from a distance. That is until my celebrity magnet was overwhelming. I tried the I'm-conveniently-going-to-the-bathroom-and-passing-you-and-wait-i-can't-believe-its-you tactic but to no avail. I then ordered another shake to stall our departure. And then my moment presented itself. I was waiting for my shake, he was waiting for his burger, and BAM-"Excuse me Chef Spike, would you mind if I took a picture with you?" Embarrassing? perhaps. Pushy? maybe. But my philosophy is, if you're going to sign up for TV, be prepared for a little invasion of your personal life. Ya know? So here you go...we saw Chef Spike in DC.
We then walked over to capital hill. To see the capital building naturally. Although we did not take a tour inside, mostly because I was too stubborn to give up my water bottle, it was neat to see outside. We even cornered a small group who fell for the old I'll take your picture swap.

Here is my I'm-too-lazy-to-edit-my-pictures picture. With my friends who we weren't quite sure if they were celebrating a wedding or a quinceara. But enjoy their celebration as well would you?

With the Washington Monument closed , we made our way to the old Post Office to see the skyline view. A slightly unknown place, we enjoyed no lines and a quick ride up for a 360 degree view of the Mall and DC area.

Our first few days, we had the Jeep Liberty with us, so we took advantage and drove up to Gettysburg National Park. Again, with the fall colors. Gettysburg was absolutely beautiful. Although we didn't really know what to expect, it turned out to be one of our favorite memories. If only we had a little more time to really enjoy the battlefield. It was really remarkable.

Gettysburg National Cemetery was also very cool. The monument was not finished when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg address, but it was so cool to see the spot where he stood, and tread the words of the address more carefully. So very cool.



Not exactly a stone throws away, Philadelphia was the next stop on our list. We had to ditch out on Gettysburg earlier than we wanted to ensure we made our afternoon tickets.

We got there in plenty of time, so we went through the Liberty Bell exhibit first, and then walked the 3 blocks to Benjamin Franklin's gravesite. Much to our dismay, there was a 2.00 charge to go in the cemetery!Unacceptable. So we peered through the iron fence to get our glimpse of the stone. Trying to be clever, I said, "why are they throwing penny's on his gravestone. This isn't Lincoln!" Mark's response, "did you expect a bunch of Benjamin's?" Why yes smart Alec-I did.

Independence Hall was really small. But neat to stand in such a notorious place. The building itself was under restoration so our outside pictures are not that exciting. But the inside was grand. And it was here I realized my dream job would be a tour guide of a place like this or at Mt. Vernon.

Now, of all DC, Mt Vernon is probably the only place I would want to revisit. Well, this and Gettysburg. But I am IN LOVE with Mt. Vernon. If I lived near there, I would have a season pass. It is just a fantastic estate and I would say it is a Must See when visiting the area.

Almost everything on the estate is original to Washington's time. And the views are to die for!

I was most astonished by the portrait of Martha Washington when she met George. I've only seen pictures of her old, frumpy, white haired self. But she was a beautiful woman! And it was really fun to hear the stories about their lives together and her cute little personality.

And our last stop with our car was to the Washington DC temple. This was just beautiful. No crowds, no noise, no hustle and bustle of the world. Just fabulous as always.

Once again, we feel so lucky to have the chance to take this trip and see such marvelous things. I would highly recommend it to anyone considering the trip.

Walking in History-Part 2

Being that it is taking near a millennium to upload all these pictures, I'm going to just start with the second half of our trip so at least I can say I've started. And it doesn't really matter what order you get it all in, right?

I have always wanted to visit Washington DC, ever since I was in high school and learned that I had a love for History. Lucky for us, we were able to take our trip there just a few weeks ago. And top off the perfection of it all, we went during the peak of "fall week" when the leaves were perfectly changing, and the weather was really quite lovely. My 2 of 3 favorite parts were done in the first half of the trip (so you'll have to wait in suspense for those) but here is a good sampling of some other thing we did!

The first half of our trip we had rented a car (to facilitate in driving to locations where the metro didn't run). And don't you just love it when the rental car company runs out of the size you reserved, so they have to upgrade you for free? And I love that? We rented the cheapo economy car-but ended up driving the Jeep Liberty. Perfect selection given the topic of our trip. We decided to take the car and drive over the the Iwo Jima memorial and Arlington Cemetery. Although Iwo Jima was well worth the drive, the parking fee at Arlington was a little steep.

And Might I just point out-how awesome were the colors? I know right? ok - proceed.

We did as any tourist would do and stopped to watch the changing of the guards. An interesting tradition. We considered jumping the rope just to see what would happen, but decided a safer bet was the Internet. (from our research, it appears the guard only yells at you and slaps his gun, fairly anti-climactic in my opinion). But it was neat to see the symbolism of everything, and how very serious they take their positions.

Once we dropped off the car, we took the metro back to the Mall and started our grand tour of the memorials. Starting with the white house. It was a lot smaller then I had anticipated, but it was still white and still there. Which was neat. I was disappointed that in all the literature they say the white house belongs to the American people and yet you can't do more than take a distant picture. We even tried to procure a tour 3 months earlier, but to no avail. This is the back side of the house which personally I thought was more exciting than the front.

We did venture around to the front, and then around again to start the monument tour, which in hindsight was a big commitment! Its about a mile all around that whole thing! Wow.

We were disappointed to see the reflecting pool was drained. I really was hoping to be able to see what Dr. King saw when he and the protesters marched to Washington. Alas, another time.

The "Black Wall" in memorial to the Vietnam War veterans. Again, with the fall colors, insane.
WWII memorial with the Washington Monument in the background.
President Lincoln. I think that he is probably 1 of only 3 presidents I find the most interest in. Probably because he was killed during his presidency. Cuz I like Kennedy as my third-and he was also shot dead. I see a pattern. anyway - i digress. Seeing the monument wasn't anything like I anticipated. It was HUGE, that I did anticipate, but I did not expect the enormous crowds that clog the stairs, and the monument itself. Its not like that in the movies! So, although it wasn't like you couldn't get the grandeur of the structure, the crowds of young people was a little distracting. But it really was inspiring. Just a really neat thing to see.
After Lincoln, we walked all the way back up capital hill to hit up "We the Pizza" - a restaurant opened by one of our favorite Top Chef contestants from a few seasons back. By the time were were done walking, we calculated we had gone near 11 miles that day. Holy goodness. But the pizza was well worth the additional 2 miles. I'm just saying.

On our 5th day on the East Coast, my Aunt and Uncle were kind enough to take us into West Virginia to Harper's Ferry. Although I knew very little about this particular spot, by the time we left, I knew more about John Brown's raid than I ever knew even existed.

One reason we enjoyed the town was the Morrell's were mentioned!

And in following in their footsteps we would happily host vacationing boarders and provide a lively center of dance and music here....I digress. More fall. Seriously, I couldn't get enough.
And some fantastic authentic 1800s stairs, carved by 1800s people.

This is John Brown's Fort. Where he was finally captured. This building has been moved a few times, and so it doesn't sit on its original location, but it does sit so there you go.
After we had taken in all the John Brown museums our brains could take, we headed back to the Mall for our much anticipated Segway tour. Compliments of Aunt & Uncle again as Mark and I are too cheap for such a tour. However, you may see us on one again in the future, as Mark really enjoyed them. I was never super comfortable on them. It always just felt really unnatural even though I look like a pro as we practiced in the dark, abandoned ally way. That wasn't creepy at all.

If for only this reason - the segway tour was amazing. The Lincoln memorial at night. Just as majestic as I always knew it would be.We spent the entire next day touring the Smithsonian Museums. The American History Museum had a ton of neat things that are a part of our history. My favorite was the original Star Spangled Banner and the first ladies exhibit with many of the first ladies fancy gowns. We were again bombarded with the loads of buses of school children which made me realize why I get the response I do when I tell people I teach high school. Yuck. Insane. I hate kids on tours. The end.

Our final stop was to Ford's theater. One word - delightful. It has been restored to the date that Lincoln attended that fateful night. And, as you can imagine, I just loved it.

I took about 30 pictures of the presidents box, assuming my next picture will show something different. (strangely enough they all look identical) The seats inside are original, with the exception of Lincoln's which is now at a museum in Illinois-where he is buried. The curtains are reproductions, but THAT painting of Washington was in THAT exact spot when Booth killed Lincoln. How can people not be interested in this kind of stuff!!! And then downstairs they have a museum with all kinds of cool stuff - including THE ACTUAL GUN THAT KILLED LINCOLN!!! We saw that hat he was wearing in the Smithsonian the day before, and his suit is also in the basement museum of Ford's theater.
For those who have forgotten the story, Lincoln was shot point blank, the bullet traveling behind his ear, and stopping just behind his right eye. Following Booths escape, a surgeon on attending the play that evening rushed to the box to help; and soon knew the president would not wake up. He was then carried out to the street-in an effort to find a comfortable place for him to rest. The boarding house owner across the street was outside to see what was going on and motioned the men with the president inside. This back bedroom was the vacant at the time-the tenant out for the evening-so it was here he was brought and died the next morning.It was awesome. All of it. Totally awesome.
And hopefully before the week is out I can catch you up with Part 1 of our trip. Including Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Mt. Vernon, and the temple.

Breakfast Fave

Oatmeal. I eat oatmeal for breakfast 5 out of the 7 days. Its really boring and I sort of hate it. UNTIL...I got a brilliant idea from the "little corner bakery" restaurant. And it is DELIGHTFUL. Now I love my morning breakfast oatmeal. Its simple.

One Serving

Cook 1/3 C. oatmeal as usual. I microwave mine for 2.10 minutes.

Add for deliciousness-

+ or - 1 pinch of dried Cranberries.

+ or - 1 pinch of chopped walnuts

+ or - 1/2 sliced banana

Fat Free French Vanilla Coffee Creamer

Enjoy with your morning magazine/newspaper/scriptures. Whatever suits your fancy.

It makes me happier

--My wood floors. When they're swept, and dusted, and washed. Which only happens about twice a month.

--Phone calls with my distant friends.

--Fall! We enjoyed the New England fall like it is photographed in National Geographic. {a later post} Ahh leaves.

--My 3 all-time-favorite students. Had them in my class every one of their high school years. Still love them even though they've long since graduated.

--Pasta. my vice. Delicious. I once ate an entire box of Mac n' Cheese. wow.

--Freshly vacuumed floors.

--A days to-do list completly checked off.

--TV. A guilty pleasure. If you haven't checked out the new "Persons of Interest" or "Once Upon a Time", do so. Just when you thought TV couldn't get better...it does.

--Provident Generation of America. I love that Mark has a new side job that he really loves doing. And on that note, budgeting and saving and all-things-"what are you doing with your money". Its awesome what a little information and discipline can do. Call me, we'll show you what we've found.

--Projects.

--Trips. Planning them. Taking them. Saving for them. Love them.

--Mark Lyman.

--My soft pillow at the end of the day.

--The piano.

--Music playing in my home.

Home again. Home again. Jiggity-Jig

It had been a long time since we had taken a trip out to visit our friends and family out in Utah. And although the state and I seem to have a love-hate relationship-I am always very nostalgic and sappy when I return.

The weather gave us quite a run for our money! We left in the wee hours of the morning (a habit I picked up from my mother) and headed straight into the 1st storm of the season. Getting over the Sierra's required chains; a task neither Mark nor I had ever preformed. Luckily, my mom had just given us a set of chains a week earlier so we were happy that at least we were prepared. That is, until we realized the chains we had procured from mom were the wrong size. Thankfully, there were some for sale at an astronomically high price by the chain instillation workers. But I guess we are glad that at least there were some for sale.

After an hour of learning how to get them on correctly, and only minimal paint damage when we realized we had done it wrong, we did in fact get through the 9 miles that required the chains. Another 10 hours in the relentless rain across Nevada made us more then thrilled to finally arrive. We suppose that a boat would have probably been a better mode of transportation.

Our delayed arrival resulted in a very quick rest, and then we dashed out to meet up with some of our delightful vacation buddies with whom we cruised with last year. And delightful company they are. We laughed about new stories, and reminisced about our days on the boat. And Mark and I were sly enough to entice them to "commit" to another vacation package in a years time.

The purpose of our trip was to attend one nephew's baptism and his younger brother's baby blessing. It was so fun to see the Bouches' again. They are a riot of boys in every sense of the word. Mark played go fish about 20 times, and just laughed at how funny they are.


After another spectacular trip to the BYU bookstore where we shamefully purchase the only new clothes we ever get, we joined the crowds at the stadium for the BYU vs. San Jose State game. It was a chilly night - at about 43 degrees, but there is something fabulous about sitting in the stadium with all your BYU gear, just being a fan. It really was great, and BYU gifted us with a win which was very much appreciated.


Being back on BYU campus brought in a roar of good memories and feelings. Each time we get to go I just smile thinking about my years there. 'sigh'. Anyway-it was a fabulous trip. We ate way more then we should have - but in our defense, there are so many delicious restaurants in the valley, and such little time, you just gotta cram it all in. Quite literally. Hopefully our trips will be more frequent, because quite frankly, we just really like the people there.

Because I love him...