Office/Sewing room & Ivy with Santa

Here is the before picture of when the previous owner lived there. It was awful! We had to texture the walls and the dark blue trim took 6 coats of paint (2 coats of primer, 1 coat brushed on, and 3 coats sprayed on!) It was crazy. After Shots

Ivy wanted nothing to do with Santa, she was scared of him. I had to physically pick her up and put her in his arms to get this shot, but it was worth it. It was pretty funny hor scared of him she was. But the picture was free with purchase, I couldn't pass it up.

Thanksgiving Family Photos

I've been working on a project for Christmas for my family and needed a family photo to finish it off. So on Thanksgiving we all went down in the "cabin" to get the shot. It took a couple to get one I was happy with. Everyone looked really good and then I look a little closer and see my nephew Preston with his finger purposely put up his nose. I was mad. His mom threatened him that if he didn't get a good picture, he didn't get desert. So we did finally get one. Then Preston wanted to get some pictures with his camera so while he was setting it up we all decided to put our fingers in our nose without him knowing. hehehe We took the shot, he looked at it and at first was mad then he thought it was funny. There he is posed all cute and serious and there we all are giving him paybacks. It was pretty funny. That is the picture I ended up using for the cover of my project! Below is me and Jenica snuggling. We are missing Alexa in the picture, unfortunatly.

Playing in the leaves

As I was trying to clean up a ton of leaves I noticed that Ivy liked to lay in them and chew on her toy. I thought it was so cute so I took come pics with my phone and thought this it too cute, I better get my good camera. I grabbed my camera and held it up and Ivy ran into the center of the pile and just waited for me to take her picture. It was so stinking cute.

Hello Anyone There?

I'm just wondering if anyone reads my blog anymore to see if I want to take the time to do it. I don't know if people don't comment on mine, cause I don't comment on theirs or if they are just like me and has enough time to look at the blogs but not enough time to comment. Which sounds silly since it only takes a little bit of time to comment, but with all the blogs I like to look at, it would take some time. Just wondering what everyone thinks about this? So please leave a comment if you read my blog and would like me to continue blogging. Have a great day.

House Remodel stuff

A needed update-so much has been going on with Ryan having surgery and trying to get moved in and some remodeling done. This is a new painting we purchased from a friend of a friend. Expensive things happen when you go to art galleries and have a husband that loves abstract art.

Here are the Before (left) and After (right) shots of the laundry room and the guest bedroom.

The downstairs bathroom had bright blue base boards with blue grout to match. Who does blue grout? Luckily we found a grout stain so we didn't have to redo the tile and grout. Gwen again rocked it and did an awesome job and I it looks soooooooo much better. This pic shows the old and the new grout color.

The guest bedroom-Thanks to Gwen (Ry's Mom) for painting the shelfing, which I was totally dreading to paint. I came home from St. George and this room was 50% done.

Laundry room-This room I actually did 80% myself. Goodbye to the ugly nasty yellow/mustard color paint.

Thanks to Gwen and Lloyd for helping Ryan move things and install new door knobs so that all my outside doors can be opened with the same key. Every outside door had a different key, (the front, back, and garage) with the front door having 3 keys to get in, one for the screen door, the knob, and the dead bolt. Crazy, huh?

Ryan tore his ACL that he had replaced in 05 the first part of Sept. We think he kept partially tearing it here and there over the past 4 years but a ski jump in Dec. and then finally skate boarding on a brand new board that got stolen from his truck that same night! Start of a streak of bad luck which didn't stop until about 2 weeks ago. He had surgery on Oct. 15 and because they had to micro-fracture a part on his femur so he could rebuild cartlidge, he is non weight bearing for 6 weeks. Thanksgiving will be the day he can start to walk. It's been driving him crazy that he can't do as much with the house as he'd like to.

Ryan before surgery flashing his a awesome stand-alone mustache.

One of the bedrooms is really small and the walk in closet and the master bathroom are small too so we decided to make the small bedroom a big walk in closet and then knock the wall out between the master bedroom closet and bathroom and make a better bathroom. It is my dream closet and it only cost us about $40 to do because we reused stuff that we had from the townhome and stuff we had that was already at the new house. We still have a few more things that need to be done, like adding a shelf above the top rods and a few more storage bins for the closet, but it works great for the time being.

We are ready to move on to the office/sewing room. It's been textured already. We just need to do 2 coats of primer and then 2 coats of paint and then put it together. Sounds easy, just will take some time. Ryan painted most of the room by himself while I was at work against my advise. He did a great job but was exhausted by the end of the day. We just won't even discuss how he got the high stuff.

Thanks to Gwen and my sister Cristal for coming to help me prime away the nasty paint we had in our living room and downstairs hallway. This will definatly help Ryan's sanity while lounging around during recovery. He couldn't stand looking at it.

Funny things that excite me! (and other info)

So this came via UPS today and I'm SO excited. Who knew a vacuum could be so fun? Well it is because it's a Dyson Animal. I got it shipped to my work and of course could not wait to open the box and try it out. It works amazing. It's a little heavy but fun to use with the ball. It's definatly going to come in handy to clean my new house. We had to buy a vacuum because we've had central vac in the townhome. Hopefully I don't miss it too much. Oh, and yes it IS PURPLE! Sweet, huh?

HOUSE UPDATE: (above is Cessna helping us pack)

Original close date was supposed to be the 15th, then it got moved to the 17th , then the 18th, to the 29th! But the final close date is the 28th. The stupid VA took its time to get the appraisal done and made me very stressed out and annoyed. But it's all done and we are moving everything out this weekend so they can start moving stuff in on Monday. The person we purchased our house from is moving her stuff out on Wednesday so we can't start moving in until Wednesday night and Thursday. She is at least letting us come in Wed. while she moves stuff out to clean, and cleaning we will be doing ALL day probably. I'm just glad that the end is in sight. At least as the moving goes.

COMING TO A SURGERY CENTER NEAR YOU:

RYAN SCOTHERN

Ryan tore his ACL that he had replaced back in 2005! That means more surgery! BOO! So, to make things as hectic as possible he's having surgery not even a week after we move. Oct. 6th is his surgery date. Lucky for me I have an awesome mother-in-law that is going to come help us clean before we move in and then she is going to come stay with us while Ryan recovers so I can go to St. George with my family for the weekend. This is the trip we were supposed to take in June, but had to reschedule due to my grandpa passing away. But at least we get 2 family vacations this year.

House Info!

We sold our townhome! Yeah. They called on Monday the 24th to give us an offer and we accepted it, even though they want to close by Sept. 15. AAGGHH
So the house searching began the next day and the following Thursday. All together we looked at 12 houses and found one we like. It definatly needs some paint and some remodeling to make it the way we like things, but we are super excited. We're set to close on Sept. 22. I hate giving the address to people because the address has Quincy in it, but it IS in a good area. It's in North East Ogden. Here's some pics.

August Update

August was also another fun month. Part of Chicago was the first part of August. Then a week after we got back we left again to Laguna Beach with our friends John and Stephanie. We decided to splurge on the hotel and get one directly on the beach and we were so glad we did. We loved it. We had spent a ton of time on the beach. We decided to check the waves out at Huntington Beach one day and found out that our friends Kristin and Lynn happen to be there too, so we sat by them on the beach and was able to get some good rides on the boogie boards.
The waves in Laguna are huge and break really close to the shore so it's difficult to catch and then stay on your board.
The first day we were at the beach I was coaxing John to get in and out of no where and in only knee deep water a HUGE wave came and knocked all of us down and in the process stripped me of everything on me! I was barely able to hold onto my swimsuit pieces with my wrists and ankles, but not so much my $120 pair of sunglasses. I was so mad when I realized my glasses were gone, who cares if a few people saw me basically naked as I was getting my suit back on. I want my glasses back. I thought well the visibilty is pretty good, I bet I could find them. I stepped on something that I thought was for sure my sunglasses, picked them up with my toes and unfortunatly it was a huge mussel and not my sunglasses. Luckily I had 2 extra pairs in the car.
Ryan and I took a day and went to Sea World. It was fun, but a little disappointing. I expected to shows to be better than they were. It was still entertaining but I definatly won't be going again.
I was also able to go visit my Uncle Mike and his family that live on Camp Pendleton. It was nice to get to see them and visit.
Ryan and I went to Cirque de Soleil when they were in town at the E Center. It was really good, probably in the top 3 of the Cirque shows I have seen.
Ivy got spade this month. She did pretty good. I enjoyed it because all she wanted to do was cuddle or be on my lap while I worked. It was cute.
I took my niece Alyssa to Cowabunga Bay for her Birthday. It was more fun than I thought it was going to be. You should definately go check it out, kids will love it. Be prepared to climb a lot of stairs, but it's worth it. The water was chilly on the slide portion, but the wadding pool and the lazy river has really warm water.
Oh, I also got my windows tinted on the car and I love it. I didn't think it would make that big of a difference, but it really does make the car cooler after sitting in the sun all day. It was definatly worth it.

July Update

July was a way fun month, most of which had to do with skydiving! I do ground crew for Skydive Ogden, which means I go do demos (where they jump into events). I coordinate with the event people on when they want them to jump and then communicate with the jumpers in the plane when they should jump. It involves checking wind conditions, obstacles that the jumpers may not be able to see from the plane, and help catching the flag one of the jumpers brings in. I really enjoy doing them. In July, I did the Vernal Rodeo (we fly down in the little cessna 182), the Willard & Perry demos on the 4th, the Ogden Rodeo all 5 nights, and one in Bountiful for a car show.
A different plane came into town (a Super Otter) and we took advantage of it and did a lot of big ways. For my friend John O's 800th jump we did a 2 point 16 way. It was a lot of fun. Rachel Low came and did her first tandem skydive and loved it. We did have a freak rain haze that we fell through. Did you realize that when you fall on rain, it HURTS because you're falling on the pointy side? Well it was painful, but made the jump even more memorable. CJ, Ryan's nephew also came and made his first 2 tandem jumps on his 18th birthday. He had so much fun on the first one that he wanted to go again right away. He has since came back, just last weekend and made his first solo student jump.

We took a trip to Skydive Chicago for the Summerfest boogie and for Ryan to be in the 108 people head down world record. It was a fun vacation, but definately could've been better. The weather was mostly perfect, not too hot or humid, just right. A few days it did rain. I made 5 jumps and I'm not sure how many Ryan made. To make a long story short he wasn't on the record but should have been had he not decided to leave the drop zone and come to the city with me and go to the White Sox game. We did have a really fun time in the city and the game but I would have rathered had him on the record jump. Seeing 108 people attached head down falling towards the earth was an incredible site to see and hear. It sounded like a jet engine when they fall. The track off and then canopies popping out all over the sky was cool too. I was glad to be there when such an awesome event took place. We had 3 close friends on the record and many other people we know or know of. It was so cool being in the mix of the world's best skydivers.

So that's all the skydiving fun we had in July. I also went on several hikes. Ivy loves to hike. She turned 4 months old this month and is getting so big. We started training at Kelley Creek Farms up in the valley and she is doing great. We like to go to my mom's house to play and relax in their nice backyard since we don't have one, yet.

Our 10-year reunion was this month and of course Ryan had no interest in going, but I did and was so glad I decided to go. I had so much fun talking and seeing everyone that came. A lot more people came than I expected and I had a bunch of fun. Thanks to all my girlfriends that also decided to come.

Change of Plans

So what was supposed to be a weekend of fun in St. George with my family turned into a sad weekend in California.
It began Monday night when my Mom got a call from her sister in Cali saying that they've given my grandpa hours to live. She was already scheduled to fly out Tuesday morning but changed her flight to fly out Monday night instead. She got to the hospital about midnight and spent the rest of the night with my grandpa. When my mom got there he woke up for a brief moment and said, "Hi, Diana." He passed away Tuesday morning around 6. I'm glad she was able to be with him when he took his last breath.
The decision was made that we all didn't think it would be right to go on a family vacation without mom and dad so we canceled Tuachan. Tuachan was nice enough not to charge us the rescheduling fee because of the circumstances.
Then we all began planning our trip to Cali. My Dad decided to drive down, he left thursday. Cristal and I decided to fly, we also left Thursday. Kristin and her whole family drove down but made a family vacation out of it stopping at fun places along the way like the Jelly Belly Factory and Alcatraz. My aunt Jewel and her husband were already there because they drove down for Father's Day. My cousin Derek and his wife and small baby drove from AZ. and my other 3 cousin flew down Friday.
Friday we all got together at my Uncle Richard's and put together some memory boards with pictures to display at the funeral. We also had dinner and had time to just visit with everyone. It was so nice to see all of the California family. I think it's awesome that every one of my Grandpa's grandchildren were able to be there to honor him.
Saturday was the funeral. The picture on this post is from a bouquet from his funeral. The Calla-Lily is mine and my grandpa's flower. He knew I really liked them so a while back he planted them in his yard just for me. Anytime my mom or I would visit, he would always take us out to see them. If it was just my mom visiting, he would ask my mom to take a picture of them so that she could show me when she got back to Utah.
The funeral was really nice, my mom gave a beautiful and emotional talk, my uncle Richard was more on the funny side with his talk, and my Uncle Mike, being from the military, was on the more serious side. They all did a really great job at honoring my grandpa. After the talks were over, the military folded the flag that laid on the casket and gave it to my uncle Mike to present to Mary (my grandpa's wife). Then we went to the Sheraton for a luncheon.
I'll post more about the weekend when I have the pics downloaded, so check back.

Catch Up.

Ryan went to Skydive Arizona to try out for the World Record Attempt Team. The record is having 100 people Head down in a formation linked together. He did awesome and the next week we found out that he made it!!!!!!!!! So the end of July we will be going to Chicago for the actual attempt. I am so excited. Below is a 50 way that he was in, if you find the guy with the bright orange helmet in the middle on the bottom, Ryan is connected on the left side in the grey and black jumpsuit.
I celebrated my sixth year working at Mike Bachman Plumbing. On the same day, it was my coworkers last day and also a new girl (my bosses daughter) was starting. It was a fun, but sad day to see my friend go.
I went to California to say goodbye to my Grandpa Ray. He decided to give up his fight with brain cancer. They gave him 6 weeks to live but he has passed that mark and is doing good. Who knows how long he'll keep going? My mom and I did some Hula dancing for him, it made him smile. While we were there we went to Shoreline park and rented a peddle boat. It was alot of fun.

May ended with my Mom and I performing in The Tropical Revue for Aloha Dance Studio. It was a fun year and I enjoyed having my mom doing it with me.

June I got to go through more torture by getting my second treatment of laser hair removal. It was just as bad, but I even noticed a difference in my hair growth from just the first treatment. So as painful as it is, it is still worth it.
I also celebrated my 28th birthday. My mom and I went to lunch at Shin Sei and then a bunch of my skydiving friends went to dinner at Kobe. It was delicious.

And what's a post without updating on Ivy. She is so cute and is so smart. Here's some cute pics from the last month. Yes I know I'm silly with the clothes but they are so cute and funny.

Hair Cuts

So apparently Ryan and I were both ready for a change in our hair. Here's my new do.

I cut six inches off. Ryan's before picture.

Ryan's in between picture, you'll get what I mean when you look at the next picture.
So he still didn't think his hair was short enough and wanted to do a mohawk. His friends and him tried to do one Friday night and it didn't work out, so below is the final product.

My how she's grown!

Above is Ivy at her first visit on April 3rd. Below is at her second visit on April 30th. Can you believe how much she's grown? Too fast for me.

Wicked!

On Saturday I got to go see Wicked. My sister-in-law Tanya and niece McKayl flew in from Reno for the weekend just to see the show and another sister-in-law Kristi and niece Joeli came up for Highland. The show was amazing. I didn't know the story line and was amazed at how good it is. I loved all of the music, the costumes, and the voices of the actresses and actors were incredible. After the show we walked over to PF Chang's. It's a good thing I made a reservation because it was packed. It was really good.
After that Tanya and McKayl and I went to the Gateway for some shopping. Just curious, does anyone know the difference between Ambecrombie and Ambecrombie and Fitch? Well if you don't I was curious, so I asked. Here's what happened: we were in Ambecrombie and looking at clothes and the small was really really small and I was thinking this must be just kids clothes but I found a really cute shirt anyways and bought it. Then we walked out and saw A&F next door so I was curious and asked someone what the difference is, and sure enough A. is just the kids and A&F is the adult clothes. I still love the shirt I got even if it is a kids shirt.