Crocheted Butterflies

My sister emailed me a blog showing how to crochet butterflies. How cute are these?

I glued them to clips and sent them to my sister, who has two little girls. Enjoy Meg!

The Shredder

Joseph told me he broke the shredder. I looked at it and saw about an inch of paper crammed in there. I looked back at him and asked if he had noticed the warning that said a six paper limit. His eyes got really big and he asked if I was mad at him? No, not mad. Then he asks me if I can fix it.

I got some pliers and got a nice chunk out. There was still a bit wedged in there so I got some tweezers. It was too tight.

I had to take it apart.




I'm pretty sure my dad would be proud.

Getting it apart was not easy. I had to turn the small screwdriver with my pliers and it took patience. The shredder works, but it makes an interesting grinding noise. I think if it could talk, it would be grumbling at Joseph for trying to kill it.

Wednesdays with Mom

Wednesdays I go see my mom. (You know I had to tell this story Mom.) We were walking out to the car with Breezy and Austin to go get some lunch.
Mom: Where do you want to go?
Me: Is Steph working? We could go to Subway.
Mom: No, she's at the dentist.
Me: Oh, she went by herself? I remember the last dentist trip she was a little upset because she thought you were taking her.
Mom: She needs to learn how to drive herself places. She's 20 years old. (Hands me her car keys) Here, you drive me to lunch.

Shanna's Wedding

My sister Shanna got married last Friday. It was a really nice ceremony at her friend's house in Garden Lakes. Here are some of the pictures I took.

This is her son at my parents' house before the wedding. When we asked him what he was doing, he told us that he was going into the Avatar state to speak with Avatar Kioshi.

This kid cracks me up. The next time I saw him he had arrow tattoos (the lick-on kind) like the Avatar. (Not the blue guy - the Airbender.)
Before the ceremony, this lady (I am not sure who she is) told him that she had a flower for him. He reached for the flower and she told him to be careful because there was a pin for it to be pinned onto him. He looked at her with big eyes and said, "Is it going to hurt a little bit?"

Breezy, my hubs Joseph, Kristi, and her boy.

Mom and Dano

The bride came in. Dad is ready to walk her down the aisle, but first, a picture with Mom and Dad and her boy.

Dad takes his job of giving away his girls seriously.

Jen, Joseph, Dano and Breezy (any time a camera was pointed at Breezy that girl went into model mode and showed her teeth).
I loved the ceremony. I really love weddings. The bride and groom look at each other with such gooey love. During the vows, I looked over at Joseph and he was looking at me, and there was pure adoration in his face. I got a little misty. Mom and Dad were holding hands...it was adorable.

After the ceremony, Shanna's boy ran up to her and said, "Am I going to get a little sister?" Shanna laughed and said, "One thing at a time!"
I realized after that I accidentally wore white to the wedding....not intentional.

Megan and Mike are missing

The Beautiful Bride

Cutting the cake

The make up kiss after the cake smashing.

The following day Joseph and I helped the groom Dan move into their new apartment...on the THIRD floor. It was 106˚that day.

I am going to take a second, as I often do, to write about the awesome person Joseph. Helped his sister-in-law move in hellish heat, up to a third floor apartment. Love that boy. It was still a fun day; I think Shanna got a good one, and I hope they have a long and happy marriage.

How to fix gaps in your wood floor

We've been in our home a little over a year now. And we still had yet to take care of the gaps in the hallway. Whoever installed the wood floor must not have glued the pieces together, and because of the high traffic in the hallway, the boards were separating. Because in the southwest, the wood floors are floating instead of glued down like they are back east (something to do with different climates and humidity).


I had 12 gaps in the hallway, and for some reason they didn't bother me too much at first, but I decided recently that they were going to go. So we made our trip to Lowe's, got our stuff, and the Brains and the Brawn tackled the hallway.

We had to take the baseboard off, and in order to do that you need to cut off the caulking and paint. This was probably the hardest part of the job.
You have to be really careful not to damage your drywall.

Once we had the baseboard off, we glued the pieces, and using our little tool we purchased for $7 from Lowes and our mallet, we tapped the boards into place.


Ta daaaaaaa! Let's hope it stays put.

My week...and KEELEY!

It was a bit of a crazy week. I promised myself that since it was my last week of the two classes, I was going to get all my work done early.

Yeah, that didn't happen. I had to work last Saturday (hate working Saturdays, luckily it's only once every quarter) and when I came home I had a headache that just got worse. I was able to do some homework Sunday, thinking I could finish it up Monday, and that was fine because it wasn't due until Wednesday.

Monday Steve and Ellen came into town unexpectedly and wanted to hang out - which was so much fun, but threw me off my schedule. Because Tuesday I had plans to go to a Stampin' Up class with my mom and Kristi - again, so much fun, but that left me Wednesday to write two essays and four other mini-essays (discussion questions).

My BFF Keeley was in town this week, so we made plans for Wednesday - so Wednesday morning I cranked it out. I don't think I've ever written two essays and the other mini-essays that quickly in my life.

Let me just take a little moment to let out a sigh of relief - those two classes are OVER and DONE and I just have one class left, and then I have my MBA.

And one class after I just doubled up is going to be cake.

I took some pictures when Keeley came over; that girl is so stinkin cute. See for yourself.
The famous Italian sodas (thanks for introducing them to us, Katelyn and Brian!) I told Joseph he looked weird and we needed to take another picture.

In the second picture he looks like he wants to kill me.

The third picture was acceptable.

Air popped popcorn baby!

She is now back in CA and I miss that girl. We keep up through email.

This weekend I did a little homework (and by little I mean little, it's FABULOUS) and then Joseph reminded me that we needed to go to Office Max. He's had his eye on this desk, and it was on sale maybe a year ago. We had just made some big purchases, so we decided we would save up and keep on eye on the ads to see when it went on sale again. Good things come to those who wait!

Here is the old desk. Rather cluttered.

The old desk cleared off; a picture for Craigslist.

The desk in pieces. It took FOREVER to put together. There were only about 39 different pieces. And I'm pretty sure I hit some sort of record for injuries. I'm clumsy on a normal day, but with this project I managed to scrape up my leg (we're talking blood here), drop a screwdriver on my foot, and pinch my finger in a tight spot.

Joseph's new desk. See the side I can sit on?

This is the side of the desk I can sit on, and just turn around and access my scrapbooking/cardmaking stuff. It's going to be sooo nice to not have to sit on the floor!

California Vacation

I love the beach. The beach is my happy place where I go when I am stressed or feeling anxious and need to calm down. I just close my eyes, and picture the sand between my toes, the sun on my face, and the sound of waves crashing....

Well, my nephew Austin knows I love the beach. I'm pretty sure Joseph and I have made at least eight trips out there (not even counting Belize, which has BEAUTIFUL beaches) since we've been together (our first trip to the California beach was before we were even engaged). But I digress - back to Austin. Last year he asked when I was going to the beach and informed me that he would like to go. It's only a six hour drive, so we loaded him and my mom into Joseph's car and made a long weekend of it.

This year my sister Breezy asked when we were going. We needed two cars this time, to take Breezy, my other sister Kristi, my two nephews (Austin and Matt), my mom, and of course, Joseph and Deidre.

Encinitas Beach

Kristi cracked up when she saw this picture. She said it looks like Joseph is pooping in the sand.

Breezy and Deidre

She's always ready for her close-up

Seriously, get this girl an agent.

He's so handsome.

Breezy was chasing Joseph. I don't remember why, but he provoked her somehow.

Madre

This is such a cute picture.

Kristi and her boy Matt.

My family cracks me up

Boogey boards! I caught some niiiiiice waves.

Here is where Joseph, my mom, and I are coming back from our walk. I stepped on a bee and it stung me. It is making my foot hurt just thinking about it.

Here they are at a very nice park near our hotel.

Overall, it was a very nice vacation. We did a little shopping in addition to our other activities, and I'm pretty sure everyone got nice and sunburned.

One of these days I am going to figure out how to come back from the beach without a sunburn.

On the drive to California, Joseph was following the GPS, which must have been set on the "treacherous" setting, because we went up this incredibly windy mountain road. Joseph was OK with it, and Breezy was in the car with us. Come to find out that Kristi was a bit nervous on the road and it made the boys nervous. Austin told everyone to be quiet because he was saying a prayer. Then after Kristi had been on the road for a bit, he made the observation that he thought she was getting the hang of it.

In our car, we were talking about the Spanish language.
Joseph: I only know como se llama, bonita, mi casa and su casa.
Deidre: Joseph, that's a Shakira song.

Later Breezy and Joseph were teasing each other back and forth, and somehow Breezy was told Joseph that the weird plants on the side of the road were called a "trouble plant."
Joseph: A trouble plant, huh?
Breezy: Yes, that's what it's called.
Joseph: Well I've never heard of that. Let's google it (reaches for the iPhone).
Breezy (quickly): No need to google it! I can tell you everything you need to know about the trouble plant!

Can't wait for next year.