Schools out....forever.

Disclaimer: My photo uploader wasn't working. I chose these at random; snap shots, really.

We are here!

The two ladies who got me through it:

And just like that, it's over.

Job hunting is the worst- that and house hunting...both of which are taking up time these days.

Snowshoeing

Family

I've been lucky enough to spend a more than typical amount of time with my family in the last month. Husband and I went to Tejas around new years for my sweet sister Elizabeth's wedding. It was cozy and lovely and just perfect.

While we were there we went to one of my dad's clients' ranches and saw a BEAUTIFUL dog kennel....what? Who says beautiful and dog kennel in the same sentence?

me. that's who.

This place had leather arm chairs in the waiting area, air conditioned kennels with benches, all rubber flooring, multiple washing machines for dog bowls- Goodness me! Amazing.

We shot guns, ate faijitas, tamales, taquitos... all the best South Texas has to offer.

We got home, seamless trip.

The following Thursday I got a phone call from my sister Tiffany, at 9:00 pm and she told me that my Aunt passed away just a few hours before.

My dear sweet aunt.

I still can't describe the emptiness inside. This woman who gave everything she had to her family. Together, "my aunts" demonstrated how to be a sister-cousin-friend...and without 1/2 of them my support system was falling apart.

Selfish, I know... our first thoughts are always selfish.

This isn't really about her death...it's about life.

OUR life. and PEOPLE. The closeness I shared with her, with my family while grieving, while celebrating my sister's wedding...

On my way home... by the time I got home, all that I had energy enough to feel was gratitude. Gratitude for my sisters, my cousins...our family. We all came together and created a beautiful memorial service for our sweet angel and I realized that together our hearts are bright enough to keep the family alive.

People: all that matters. Lets get back to the people.

Trip to TX

Tomorrow we are headed to Texas for my sister's wedding.

Isn't she beautiful? My other sister Tiffany took this gorgeous photo- and captured the classic face scrunch that is Elizabeth. We weren't planning on going to Texas until next Christmas but I guess we just couldn't stay away.

There are several things I hope to do while in Texas (aside from attend Elizabeth's wedding):

• Shoot guns
• Spotlight for deer
• Night vision at my grandma's house
• Fishing at Baffin Bay
• Eat meat right off the grill
• Indulge in Mexican food
• Dinner with Meg
• Breakfast with Avery
• Lunch with Lloyd
• Ride horses
• Doctor animals
• Kings Inn
• Family, family, family

There's no place like home~

How far we've come

You remember this...

No, it's not winter grass. This is May!

Hubs did such a great job with the lawn this summer- after putting in three new sprinkler lines, re-seeding the entire yard, $200 worth of weed killer and fertilizer and re-doing all the sprinklers in the flower beds, we have some really nice grass.

And I'm really grateful for all that spinkler work because it enabled me to have lots of fun planting pretty flowers.



And nothing can beat the view from our door step- loving Utah summers~

Be well.

Why Grow Corn?

It takes up a TON of space. Yields 50/50 at best...


It's this worth it!
Just about the cutest thing alive~

You may remember this post about native plants.

Where we identified Joe Pie Weed


as an appropriate native Utah plant for big hard to fill spaces.

Well, I noticed some- growing "natively" this week.
In the yard of this abandoned house I drive by every day.

And it's growing natively, alright. No help at all- I can't believe I didn't notice it sooner.

Because it's right next door to my house.

Blood, Sweat and Tears

What are you willing to do for this:



Or this?


Are you willing to do this?

Or this?










I'm not.















He is.










only to later find this:











uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggggggggggggggggg!












Translation:
Everything in this picture = a waste of time.

Our Birthdays

are coming up. It's that time of year again, when we both turn a year older and celebrate our anniversary within three weeks. You may have noticed my not so subtle wish list to the right- my sweet husband who loves when I open presents got me a three part facial series. Love him.

I scheduled the first appointment today. I love all things skin care, mostly because I have horrible skin~ I also got a subscription to Cuisine at Home magazine, the most fabulous present! It is loaded with recipes- delicious ones. I'm going to one out asap!

I eluded to other exciting things in my last post- and I'm happy to say that I'm teaching yoga. I am teaching a class on Tuesday mornings at 6:30 am and have set up to teach additional classes in the fall. yay!

I still have 100 hours left to complete my certification but teaching has really helped me implement many of the things I've learned over the last few months. So excited.

Husband opened a present last night too, he several pairs of shorts and a belt. Not nearly as exciting.

My talented sister...

My sister Tiffany is so talented. Last year for Christmas she was looking to make these thrifty personal gifts for family and she came up with great ideas. People liked them so much, that she began teaching classes about how to make them.

When she first moved to California she was interested in baking and she developed some of the most delicious recipes for cakes (namely, the best carrot cake you've ever imagined in your life).
She wanted some furniture from Pottery Barn, but didn't feel inclined to pay for it....so she made it. Yes, she build furniture from wood using a saw and nails.


And when we went home for Christmas break last December she took these fabulous pictures of my sweet little family, and then edited them with photoshop. Personally, I think being able to use that program is an accomplishment a lady can rest her hat on.

Thanks Tiff... you're the best, at lots of things!

Vote: Shumway Van & Hansen!!!

The Herald is currently taking votes for their annual "Best Of"

Naturally our law firm is the best, but we need people to vote so that everyone will know it. You don't have to be from here to vote, you can vote as many times as you want and we're on the first page about three or four down (can you tell how many times I've voted?)

http://www.heraldextra.com/bestof/

Come on peeps, make it part of your morning routine!!

Do it for this sweet guy right here:

Our home in Provo

My grandparents keep asking me to mail them pictures of our new house...

.....M@iL??????????????

Needless to say they haven't seen it yet. So I'm going to post this for them and maybe someone at the library can help them look it up (love you guys!!!)


Alright, this is what you see when you first walk in the front door. To the right there is a flat wall and to the left there is an office. And straight ahead is the great room.



I found those awesome door handles on ebay for $10.00! This door and frame wasn't finished when we moved in, Doug sanded and painted it to match the rest of the trim.



This picture is from the great room looking back to the main entry way. From this view the office is on the right by the front door, there are several bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs and our bedroom is to the left.



This is from the great room looking towards the kitchen. You can see my dining table project there in the breakfast area. This house doesn't have a formal dining room. This kitchen-dining-living combo is very popular here in Utah.



Just another view of the kitchen a little closer up. I still need to get barstools- they're on my list of bargains to find.



This is the same picture as in the post below, but it just shows a view from the kitchen looking towards the living area.



Sorry G's I'm not going to take pictures of my bedroom it's a mess- but maybe later.

Not quite Spring project 2:

By now I'm sure you are all sick of hearing about my dining room dilemma. I really struggled with this whole thing. Especially given the size of my budget (as close to zero as possible).

Initially I looked for tables that were my dream table but the pricing scared me! This whole style that I'm into right now is relatively new to me and what if I change my mind? It's risky business, so I decided to go the cheap (er) route and buy something with potential and make it my own.

I found this clawfoot table on KSL.com listed for $700. I thought that was a great price given the detail and the fact that it came with six chairs that also had a lot of detail. I went and looked at the furniture and could tell that it had been painted.



Obviously not the top, but the legs and chairs had all been recently painted, meaning that the wood underneath had some potential.



Black really isn't my thing, and the seat covers were horrible (sad because the girl I bought the set from told me she recently recovered them and painted the table legs black, the chairs were already black). I know I could have found the same set at a fraction of the price and not had to strip her black paint off, but I've been looking for a while and hadn't found anything.



I offered her $550, sold.

Five days and 90 hours (x2) later:



The paint was gone but what to do about the seat covers? I tried this:



But decided on linen instead:



I haven't put the final finish on yet. There are multiple coats of glaze and I'm deciding between wax and polyurethane. I brought it in from the garage to live with it for a little while before making a final decision.

The finish in these pictures is just raw wood that has been glazed (Ralph Lauren,Tea Stain) and rubbed, glazed, burnished, rubbed, glazed and so on...ask for more details.

So far,

I like it quite well.

My mom actually came into town to help me do this over spring break, and I couldn't have done it with out her. She is amazing at stuff like this. She made a template for slip covers for the chairs and took the linen home to make them.

She told me that my grandma taught her how to refinish furniture when she and my dad just got married- it's neat. I am liking the way the table it turning out.

To check out other thrifty finds check out: Southern Hospitality

Hats off...

To my dad.

We went on a trip with my parents to New Mexico this past weekend. It was a blast. My dad doesn't like to take trips- he's a worker not a player (the exact opposite of me). But he has a CE in NM so my mom and I decided to make a trip out of it.

It was a weekend of firsts for my dad (and all of us really, but no one is as old fashion as he is) we rode in a hot air balloon. He was so scared:

But he did it. He also had sushi for the first time, went to Brazilian BBQ and had fondue for the first time- and here's the kicker: he went to the spa!

I don't think the latter was his favorite among them all; he did do them because we wanted to and I think we went 3 for 5... I still don't think he'd jump on a hot air balloon again if he had his rathers!

All in all, it was a great trip- good food and good people.

Lovely Leia