Where I have been....

Since the school year started, I have had significantly more things to do and less time to do them. So here are a few of the fun things I have been doing, rather than blogging.

#1. Coaching Cross Country. It has been fun, but I never knew how time consuming and exhausting teaching all day and then coaching could be. I really came to love my team and am so proud of their success. Sometimes I wondered why I ever got into teaching....the real reward comes from coaching because the kids actually care about their success!

#2. I now spend close to two hours in the car commuting each day. I just got a subscription to audible and bought Athem and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. I think these book subscriptions will decrees my monthly phone bill and make my time in the car a little more enjoyable. :) Plus, who doesn't want to improve their mind while they idly sit anyway?

#3. The square footage of my residence is 6 times larger than my previous residence....more windows, carpet, toilets and everything else to keep up with!

#4. I am my own landlord. That means any time something breaks or a bill needs to be paid I need to spend the hours on the phone and come up with some sort of organization system to get everything paid on time. I guess I always took it for granted when I was a tenant. :)

#5. I run and exercise much more regularly than ever before and I love it! It is interesting because in the past I always had a love/hate relationship with exercise...I loved being able to eat more but I hated exercising. Now I pretty much have a love/love relationship with exercise. Whether I am tired, frustrated, content or restless exercise makes me feel better and happier. Plus, I have discovered that I am not a total athletically challenged!

#6. I have been reading a great book. I don't think any class, lecture, movie or book has taught me as much about southern society (including slavery, the confederate army, Sherman's March to the Sea, Reconstruction, the freedmans bureau and much more) before, during and after the Civil War as Gone With the Wind. The book is excellently written and the story is enticing! Although, I have about 100 pages left and am about sick to my stomach with how incredibly selfish and without morals Scarlett O'Hara continues to be. If it weren't for the goodness of Melly and cocky wit of Rhett I would have stopped reading the book long ago. In anycase, I recommen the book to anyone. Especially history lovers like myself!


Although I am busy, I am happy and life is good. Tyler and I have great jobs, a beautiful home and lots of supportive loved ones.

Home Improvement...Thanks Mom and Dad :)

This weekend my parents, who are pretty much the coolest parents on Earth, came all the way to Utah to see our new house and help us with a few home improvement projects. My dad is extremely talented when he comes to handyman stuff (in addition to about a thousand other things). He can seriously fix anything or create anything he sees or can think up, and the nice part is, he is a perfectionist, so nothing is done sloppy and it always looks aesthetically great. You can see why we needed to recruit his expertise as we took on a few of our first Home Improvement projects. I don't have pictures of everything...because I am lame and tired during the school week, but I will get them up eventually.

The first project Ty and my dad did was put cabinets in my laundry room. They look GREAT and now I can upload the plastic bin which has been housing all my detergents and stuff. They also got parts to fix the toilet upstairs which has been hissing and got all the supplies to put in a work bench for Tyler. My mom meanwhile kept me company. We got the food and prepared a meal for a bunch of her friends to come over on Saturday night. We also worked on picking our fabric and making curtains for over my kitchen window. The curtain turned out great and it really adds to the room.

We had a great time with my mom and dad. Unfortunately they had to leave and Tyler was left to finish his work bench alone. He did a really good job putting it all together and now has a plan to turn the garage into his "Man Cave". He has already moved his giant speakers out there and wants to I guess just make it a comfortable place to do projects. (Which is fine by me, because I love my house and want it to be beautiful and costume designed to all my tastes and ideas!)

Here is a picture of the "Man Cave" at its start.

PS-That is not a real child on Tyler's chest. It is Carlos (from the Hangover I guess) and is the closest he will get to having his own baby. When we were in home depot so many people had to take double-takes. It was pretty funny.

Summer Sundays :)

Although Tyler and I have very little immediate family in Utah, we still manage to enjoy a Sunday dinner with some of our favorite relatives and friends on a regular basis. Here is a little sneak peak on what a summer Sunday is like at our house in addition to an update on everyone's lives. (It is quite enjoyable!)This is Tyler trying to coax Leah to come sit on his bike with him. She doesn't like motorcycles...smart little girl :)
I think I will frame this picture. Isn't it adorable! In this picture is Tyler's sister, Brooke, who just started her sophmore year at BYU studying International Relations. It also includes Kerstin, Tyler's second aunt once removed...or something weird like that, who is now in her third year at BYU. Brooke and Kerstin are both beautiful, smart and athletic girls...They are also available, so Ty often recruits brother/cousin-in-law prospects often :). Kerstin is holding her dog Xerxes, who LOVES all the love and attention she can give him. And the two little ones are Kate and Leah, who will be two in a few weeks. They absolutely love Xerxes. When he came to the window they left their food and just stood at the sliding door laughing and pointing.
While Brooke and Kerstin are outside entertaining the girls and the dog, "the adults" get to talk. (It's weird considering us "the adults" but I guess that is where we are at now!). Jenni and Dave Scoville are pretty much our best friends. Jenni is a crazy runner (seriously, she runs like 20 miles and still has energy to take care of Kate and Leah) and she is a great mother and friend. Dave works in real estate and has been doing really well in the foreclosure market (He helped get us our house---whoohooo!) He is also Tyler's BFF/golf/any sporting event buddy and a great father as well. Addie is also at the table, and she is my roomie once again! Addie was my roommate my freshman year, in Italy and my Senior year of college. She seriously is a friend you only find once in a life time! She is very thoughtful and just started her first year teaching second grade. (I think she is crazy hanging out with those little people all day long!) And then of course we have my dear, sweet husband. Since I am in the process of doing updates (I am a history person, I can't help it) Tyler this summer has gotten very into UFC fighting and works out everyday at a gym called Throw Down. (He is so 25 without children!) He also has been enjoying dirt biking and home improvement projects.
Here are Kate and Leah again. They wanted to take off their shoes to jump on the trampoline (Which actually belongs to our neighbors...hope they don't mind that we use it!)
Here is everyone jumping. Kate jumped a little too vigorously this Sunday and managed to unload all previous meals into her dads lamp. After a bath and some disinfectant she was back on the tramp laughing as much as before. I thought it was a funny experience, but it may have added another year to the amount of time Ty wants to wait for kids. Lame! A little throw-up never killed anyone.

It Has Been a Busy Summer!

Okay, this summer the blog has become like the journal that you neglect for so long that you continue to put updating it off, because you have SO much to cover. So, this is going to be a pathetic synopsis of our summer because 1.) I forgot my camera on every family vacation/exciting events this summer and 2.) It is just about impossible to give the story of our lives justice when I have let so many weeks pass since the actual events!

So here it goes:

July 14th: Had a party for Tyler's 25th. We had no furniture and asked people to bring their own lawn chairs. It was a little white trashy, but everyone still had fun!

July 15th-20th: Head to California for family vacation to Catalina. Got home in time for Orange Country fair. Had the best Cinnamon Roll on earth. Meanwhile, Tyler visited GGma in Oceanside. Spent next day at the beach with bff Travis. Spent night at the Dodger's game with BMFs (Best Married Friends), Aubrey and Joe. Took Flier to Island. Snokled, Kayak, explored ship reck, swam, tanned, played tennis, played ticket to ride and ate at Steve's Steak House...yum! Enjoyed sis-in-laws company all the way back to St. George.

July 21-23: Stayed in St. George to attend the Shakespeare festival with Meg, Gma Ellis, Brooke and Annie. LOVED As You Like It.

July 23-25: Ellis family reunion at the Homestead in Midway. Swam in a Crater...that was cool! Loved seeing the fam. Ty had the swine flu...
July 27-August 10: Attempted to decorate home. Attended cross country practice. Painted classroom.

August 10: School meetings began

August 17: First Day of School :) / :(

Home Owners and Loving It

In the past three days:
-We have signed over our lives to paying off more money then either of us have ever seen.
-We meet at a ghetto Denny's in Woodscross, gangster town of SLC, to sign over that life.
-We moved out of our cute little basement apt.
-We clean our cute little basement apt.
-We borrowed Alex and Allison's truck (Thanks guys!)
-We bought a shower head
-We broke a vacuum
-We borrowed a vacuum
-We bought a vacuum like the one we borrowed
-We got tired
-We annoyed each other
-We wanted to kill one another
-We learned a little more about each other
-We decided we actually loved each other
-We clean blinds, baseboards, floors, cupboards, windows and everything else
-We committed our lives to our new home...no fireworks or parades on InDePendence Day
-We bought industrial shelves
-We built industrial shelves
-We put everything in labeled containers on industrial shelves (really Ty did all that)
-We pulled a Shelley - Costco, Home Depot, Del Taco, followed by three hours of sweeping and hosing down the garage and driveway....I secretly loved it!
-We bought bug spray
-We sprayed
-We bought TV mount
-We mounted TV
-We ate power bars and that's about it
-We shopped for appliances
-We professionally plumbed our house
-We professionally got our carpet cleaned
-We tore apart furniture
-We rebuilt furniture
-We bought light bulbs
-We went green by buying energy saving light bulbs that are actually brighter
-We replaced light bulbs
-We measured
-We created a big bag for Good Will
-We were exhausted at the end of each day

Our social lives and financial freedom have been thrown out the door and we couldn't be happier!The Kitchen. Notice we are missing some major appliance...hence the power bar diet :)

The living room....we also need a some couches. Don't worry though, the TV will be mounted!
Tyler's excellent handy craft and organization. Those shelves can each hold 2000 lbs. Amazing, huh?
Our bathroom

Our bedroom.

Everyone will have to come over in a few months when we can get a little more furniture for the official tour!

Girls Camp Fool!

So last week I was up at camp Mia Shalom with Edgemont 4th ward. The girls, the food and the crafts were a blast! I must admit thought, I am not one who thrives in the camping environment. The good news is, I only got 3 mosquito bits. The bad news is they were all on my face. Other good news, I left 1 day early in order to go home and sign about 1000 pages of paper work for our new home, the bad news is, I missed the MISS SHALOM pageant and testimony meeting. In any case camp was very fun. I absolutely love the 4th ward. I am going to miss my little beehives and all the other girls and leaders so much now that we are moving. But, have no fear, facebook will keep us near!
Here is a beautiful view of the lake from out camp area. The girls played big booty non-stop...big booty, big booty big booty!
Washing dishes in the spickett. Thank you Gina Pitts for some of the best camp food I have ever had!
NINJA!
So this is a funny story. We woke the girls up at 5 am, blind folded them and they had them wander through the forest holding on to a "rod" of PCP pipes. The activity and lesson on holding to the iron rod was a spiritual success, although the night before while us leaders were treking through the forest carrying rebar, pipes and pick axes (we forgot the hammer) was something else. Luckily none of us lost limbs or each other!
Here's the gang.

I live in a Mountainous Paradise

These pictures were taken from a little hike/run I took with my friend Cody up Squaw Peak and through to Bridal Veil. It was beautiful and I am really getting into spending time in the mountains!