Still remodeling...

The last couple of days have been centered around the condo. It seems like someone is always there working, whether it's me, my dad, Riley, or his dad. Which is a good thing, because we're making some significant progress! Riley's dad has been really good to help us with the tile that will be in the kitchen and the bathroom. He's also re-tiling our bathtub/shower area, which desperately needed it! It'll be SO nice once it's finished! The second bedroom has been where the wet tile cutter has been stationed, so we haven't been able to get in there to paint, but we DID finish the master bedroom! Riley and my dad taped it off, and Riley's friend Ryan Newbold and I painted it. Ryan is way more experienced than me, so he did most of the cutting in around the edges, but I wasn't half shabby with the paint roller! I dripped a few times, but I didn't get any on the white ceiling *hint hint* *cough cough*. But seriously. We were way lucky Ryan volunteered to help us, it was way nice of him. I was forced to listen to some oldies radio station with the three guys, and it reinforced my love for Supertramp, Elton John, and a few others. Definitely made the work go by faster! On Tuesday before class, my dad and I painted the living room and that's almost done now, too.

The carpet guys are three days out, so when Riley's dad gets close to finished with the tile, we'll be giving them a call to come and install our carpet. That'll cut down on a whole lot of noise. I really hope our neighbors don't hate us before we even move in. That could get ugly!

On a different note, I just want it to be recorded somewhere that I got 98% on my first Western Civ test. All my studying paid off, but now let's just hope that I can pull it together to take two other tests before the wedding so I won't have to stress about it when we're in Lake Tahoe. I refuse to take ANY sort of homework with me. It'd just take up space, and chances are it'll bever get unpacked, who would I be kidding?

Yesterday I went and picked up my finished bridal shots from Chris, as well as our guest sign in book! Everything turned out great, we're still pleased. If any of the readers are getting married here soon, we'd STRONGLY recommend Robert Wood photo.

Here are a few of the pictures from before we started ripping apart the condo, as well as a couple of Riley and Ryan busy working.

Take note that the seventies called.... and they want their bathroom countertop back.

Less than 2 weeks to go!

Time is starting to zoom right by. Not that it went by slow before, but it seems to pass more quickly now that we only have 11 days till we're married! I'm starting to look at things in a different way. Every time I wake up I think, "This is one of the last days I'll be here in this room!" or when I get food from the fridge "This is one of the last times I can mooch off my parents!". It's really starting to come down to the wire!

On Friday me, Riley, Jared, Sammie, and Cody went and saw Paranormal Activity and let me tell you...it's pretty crazy! We started off the night with having good intentions to make progress on the paint in the condo, but we ended up just buying the paint for the baseboard, the ceiling, and the doors, dropped it off at the condo, and went to the movie instead. The next day my friend Sarah threw a bridal shower for me at her house and invited a few of our other friends. It was such a fun time! I really loved being able to sit and talk with a bunch of friends from high school, as well as other ones I've met along the way. I posted a bunch of those pictures on my Facebook page, but when I get a chance I'll post them on here, too. We had a blast just sitting and giggling, and talking about random things. Exactly what I needed! A girls day!

After that, I went and picked up Subway sandwiches for my family, along with Riley and my dad who had been at the condo all morning and were starving. I went down and helped paint the doors since they had already finished all the trim along the baseboards. They made fun of me that I was a slow painter, but I just wanted to do it right! They they stole my fun paint stick thing so they could paint the ceiling. We bought special ceiling paint that goes on a pink color, but dries white so you can see where you've painted. It was a sickly pink color to start out with, and I could sense the concern in their voices when they didn't know if it would actually dry white. But it did, and all is well! That night we hung out with Jordan and his new FIANCE Alyssa! They got engaged on Saturday! We're excited to have another married couple to hang out with!!! Jordan has been Riley's best friend throughout almost their entire lives, so I'm sure they'll be hanging out when they need time away from us ;) Not that THAT will ever happen! We went and got frosty's and food from Wendy's, sat in Riley's car and talked in the park, then finished off the night watching the latest episode of The Office. Awesome evening.

Then on Sunday we met with Riley's bishop. Riley told him how Jordan had gotten engaged, and said it was necessary he announce it over the pulpit in Sacrament meeting, since Jordan had done the same to us at a ward party! Karma!! We were pretty much obligated to stay for his sacrament meeting and see the humiliation take place. After Sacrament, I went home and tried to finish our wedding video that will play at the reception. I made some considerable progress, and now I just have to add the music! We were STINKIN' cute as kids...just throwin' that out there.... We also booked the Anniversary Inn for the 30th and the 31st since our condo probably isn't going to be done in time for us to stay there before the honeymoon. We're pretty excited about that, it should be a fun place to stay!

We ended our Sunday night watching the Amazing Race with his family, but the recording got interrupted so we didn't get to see if anyone got eliminated! Thank goodness for Hulu. We'll be watching the last 15 minutes of that episode online when it gets loaded. Stay tuned for pictures of the bridal shower!!!

Bathing Benny

As per tradition, Benny was the "happy" recipient of a bath today. There are many reasons for this every other week occurence, namely; the family dog Cooper insists on peeing on the same bush as Benny. Sometimes this happens while Benny is in the act, and I'm pretty sure he gets hit every once and awhile with a few drops. Happy and exciting? I know. Also, Benny thinks it's the greatest thing in the world to just stick his head in the trash can and push it (and its contents) around the house. Not sure how often everyone else checks out the bottom of trash cans, but it's completely unacceptable material to be shoving your face in day after day. So for these reasons, PLUS he sleeps in my bed, Benny gets bathed quite often.
Usually Riley helps me with the process, but he was at the condo prepping it for paint tonight, so I got to do it all by myself. As a bit of background on Benny, he's the nicest, happiest little dog ever. We (well...I) rescued him from the shelter in Salt Lake. He was a hardcore gangster dog roaming the streets of West Valley as a vagabond when he was picked up. That's how I envision it happening. However, I'm sure it went a little more like the dog catcher was perusing the streets and he willingly came up to him to be pet and to receive a treat. I like to think he's a bit more hardcore than that...but...he's not. He's a seven pound spoiled brat.
I really should have taken a picture of him while he was sitting in the bathtub, but it's hard enough using one hand to wash him, and the other to keep him securely in the bathtub to prevent him prematurely jumping out or shaking off. Besides, a picture like that would have been pathetic anyways. He just looks like this dinky little wet rat when he's in the tub.
He doesn't mind sitting in the tub and getting shampooed and conditioned, and he especially loves jumping out into a towel to be dried. But he absolutely HATES getting brushed, and tolerates getting blow dryed. I let him get away without a brushing, but he smells like a wet dog for hours if I don't blow dry him. That process usually involves cornering him and shooting him straight in the face with air. I found myself reasoning with him, which I do all the time, but this time imparticular I really got thinking about what I was doing. I realized I was saying things like "If you don't get blow dryed you won't get to sleep in the bed tonight!", or "Don't bite me or you'll have to sleep in your crate all alone". This got me thinking...are these phrases really meant for the dog? Or am I subconsciously prepping myself for phrases that will be said to Riley in the future? Not word for word exactly, but empty threats nonetheless? We'll see! In the meantime, here are some pictures of our sweet/devil dog.

Trying to get the water out of his ears after his bath tonight

He likes playing with Riley!

What a hard life...

Temple Clothes

My mom, my grandma and I went today to search for a temple dress for me. It was a fun experience to go to the Distribution Center with them and find something for me to wear. I've said all along through our engagement that the church aspects of our wedding have been so simple! Calling and scheduling the temple for our wedding date was as easy as one five minute conversation with a darling older temple worker. Finding my temple clothes was as easy as a 45 minute visit to the distrubution center. It's been all the worldly "extras" that have caused all the headaches! The reception center, the dress, the flowers, the candy bar, etc etc! I think that's a sign, if nothing else, that the church has a great thing going.

After finding my temple dress we went to lunch at Boston's Market in Layton, and ended up making a mandatory trip to DSW while we were in the area. Found a darling pair of boots, couldn't bring myself to spend the $60 bucks on them, so I went to Forever Young on my way to work today and found myself TWO pairs for 50 bucks for the both of them!! SWEET! That was the highlight of my entire day. They're darling boots, and a lot more reasonably priced! I'm going to have to start saving and stop splurging when we get married! But for now it's my money, and my separate bank account, so I feel obligated to buy myself a few things before I have to save for the both of us ;)

Worked a great shift tonight! I still absolutely LOVE my job and I hope I'll be able to continue working here after my time as a "student" is up. We've run into a few snags with the church's hiring freeze and promoting me to a member of the support staff may prove to be tricky. But they're short handed and seem to like me well enough, I love the job, and it'd work out for the best of both parties if I'm able to stay. I've already turned down another job offer because I enjoy my environment here so much. It'd be a hard transition somewhere else because I adore the people I work with and it'd keep me in the right field for when I graduate! I've had some great experiences here so hopefully I'll be able to stay!

Apple Pie!!!!.....?

So yesterday Brianna, Sammie, and I had a novel and brilliant idea!! Since they're in season we decided to go to a local farmer's market type thing and buy a bunch of apples to make apple pie! Awesome, right?! Right! We had a ton of fun! We went and picked out our apples and ended up with 13 lbs of them! The lady was nice and gave us a good discount on them, which was cool of her. We drove in my dad's truck, and that was an adventure (see previous post...) but we made it there and back safely! We came back to my house to make our pie! We made absolutely EVERYTHING from scratch! We peeled the apples, we made the filling, and we also slaved away on making the crust just perfect. Let me tell you. They were award winning pies. Brianna ended up having to leave early to make it back down to Provo for a study group, but Sammie and I baked ours in the oven for the appropriate 50 mins just like the recipe said. After they were done and removed from the oven, we set them on top of the oven to cool down. We were both starving, so we made a trip to Wendy's for some food.

Upon coming back...we were greeted with a horrific scene. Sammie's audible gasp made me quickly realize what had gone awry. Cooper (my family's golden doodle) had gotten into our pies! He had obviously stood up and tried to get at them, because both of our pies were dented and hers had two perfect paw print markings on one half. Luckily he didn't actually eat them, as our pictures demonstrate, but he definitely tried. We think we've narrowed it down to two possible scenarios. Either the pie was too hot and he didn't want to eat it, or we got home right as he jumped up, because the pies were still very much there where normally I think he would've just consumed the entirety of them. Needless to say, Sammie and I both plan on still eating the pies, as well as serving them to our boys. Jared will never know the difference, and I don't plan on telling Riley until AFTER he eats his piece. Aren't they lucky guys?! First and last time WE try to be all domestic!!

This is Sammie being angry with Cooper

As a side note, if anyone was wondering how Jared and Sammie talk to eachother over text? It goes a little something like this...

"Dear Shnookums,

I cherish the passion we share for eachother. I miss my sweet Teddy bear every time we're apart. Love waits for only one thing, the right moment. Soul meets soul on lover's lips.

My little cabbage, your eyes make me swim through them. Oh object of my affection, every day I love you more and more. My smoochy dumpling butt, how much I care for you. You are the Don Juan of my heart, my casanova you.

Love,

Sammie"

My poor car...

So my post today is all about my poor little car. It's a black, 2000 Nissan Altima with leather seats. And a sunroof. Yep. Those were all the details that were important to me when I was in the car market around this time last year. I wanted something black, with leather seats and a sunroof. I was ecstatic when I finally found a car that was in my price range that had everything I'd ever wanted!! It's cute and gets fairly good gas mileage (anywhere between 23 and 26 mpg, it's sporatic to say the least). Anyways, when I bought it I had to replace the windshield. No big deal, right? It had a crack in it, and I got a new one. Easy as that, problem solved.

After driving it for awhile, it started having more problems. I had to replace the intake manifold gasket (that's why it's getting not as good of gas mileage as it should, they said). Then more recently, there was a leak in the radiator, so while driving home from work one day, the engine started smoking and I had to wait in a parking lot somewhere off the 2600 S exit for my dad to come save me. He poured some coolant in it, and followed me home in the slow lane, with his hazard lights on, because if I got going faster than about 40, the radiator would start overheating and blow smoke on and off. That was an experience.

Then the other day, as I was driving home from the condo, I smell something burning. I disregarded it for a minute thinking it was a smell coming from the big diesel truck that was in front of me on the freeway. I was content with this reasoning until I looked down at my steering wheel that was blowing smoke. Yep. Who knew THAT happened? So I called Riley who was still down at the condo, and the conversation went as follows:

Me: "Hey...uhm...hypothetically speaking...if my car was blowing smoke from the steering wheel, what would that mean?"

Riley: "Haha! Well, remember that car you saw on the side of the road the other day that was on fire?"

Me: "Yeah...?"

Riley: "Well, I'd strongly suggest pulling over or getting home ASAP, because that's going to be you"

Me: *pause* "Awesome"

Apparently he thought I was joking, because that smoke effect rarely happens. It's an indicator that there's an electrical short somewhere, and that's definitely not something you want to mess with. So needless to say, I got home, parked the car, and haven't gotten in it for anything but my sunglasses since.

So what have I been driving instead, one might ask? Well, it's a little thing called my dad's 1997 Ford F350 Powerstroke diesel truck. With a chip and a crew cab, longbed. Yes.

Here's a picture of what it looks like:

Quite a bit transition from my car! This thing is MASSIVE. It's like driving a freaking bus. My mom had some errands to run and couldn't let me take her car to work yesterday, so I drove the truck. I work downtown, so you can imagine the looks I got driving it through the city. But that I could deal with. It was getting the dang thing into my parking garage that proved to be a struggle. Not only did I have to make like a 50 point turn to even get close to the place where I swipe my ID card, but after I got through, I didn't think it'd make it under the clearance sign!!! Thankfully it did, with about an inch and a half to spare. I should have taken a picture of it in there with all the other little commuter cars, but I didn't have my camera with me. The antenna got a little beat up, because there's no way to lower it. And it didn't clear the top of the garage. But all in all, the truck is still in one piece, I'm seemingly still in one piece, so it was a success!

The weekend has come and gone...

Wow! What a fun, crazy weekend we had!

Saturday we started tearing up the apartment. Literally. It was completely unrecognizable within an hour or so of getting started on the work. We ripped out the old carpet and got that thrown away, all the light switch covers were unscrewed and removed, along with all the doors and hinges. The vents were taken off and laid in the living room, the washer and dryer were unhooked, and the range and refridgerator were removed as well. Everything is currently sitting in the living room area. We have an ad up on KSL giving away the range, so if anybody wants it, speak now! It's pretty old (seriously probably original to the apartment), and REALLY grungy, but we think it works! It just needs some TLC...and a good flame torching.

Riley told me the only part about this remodeling process he was dreading was ripping out the old linoleum. We found out there were TWO layers of it in the kitchen, which was going to be a huge pain to get off. However, Carter was more than happy to take the job. His ego was patted quite a bit when Riley let him use a few power tools, so he was up for anything. We gave him a crowbar and let him go to town with the linoleum. He got it all removed and disposed of incredibly quick! Everyone was really impressed! We were grateful for his willingness to help.

I had to leave the remodeling project for my bridal shower, and showed up with I'm sure what was lots of dust in my hair. But it wasn't terrible, and the bridal shower was so much fun! My Aunt Julie volunteered to throw it for me, and it turned out great. We had a great turnout, the food was great and the atmosphere was a blast. Thanks to everyone for coming and showing your support, and a special thanks to Julie for throwing it! We had so much fun! (Stay tuned for pictures from this as well, I left my brand new camera with Riley at the remodeling project while I was at the shower...what was I thinking? So I'm waiting for copies of the pictures from my aunt and grandma) I also got a picture with one of my favorite cousins, Alex!!! Well...a cardboard cutout of him at least. He's currently serving a mission in Seoul, but my aunt and uncle have a life size cutout of his face pasted over George Bush's body sitting on their staircase. So it was good to "see" him!!

(PS-I stole these pictures from Julie's blog, but they were just so fun, I couldn't resist. I hope that doesn't offend anyone!!)

Later that night, Riley's entire family came to see the progress we had made on the condo. Brother, sisters, nieces and nephews, EVERYONE. After a few knocks on the wall from the neighbors, the kids finally got over the echoes their voices made in the empty space. The sooner we get carpet in, the better! Talk about loud!! We also painted a small section of each room with the paint we chose, in order to give us a better idea about whether we loved it or not. The master bedroom is going to be a really pretty light blue color, the second bedroom a sage green, and the kitchen will be a fun yellow tone. Undecided on the living room, but we'll probably go with something really neutral. We also carved our initials in the ceiling! Sshh, don't tell! No one will probably be able to find them anyways. It's kind've an old tradition with me and paintings ceilings...ask my grandma who may or may not have my initials carved somewhere above her living room...

Sunday was nice to have a day to relax. We went to Riley's home ward, and he got a little emotional seeing as it was his last Fast Sunday being a member there. When you're in the same ward your entire life, you get a little attached to the people in it! We skipped out a bit early to meet with my Stake President, and had a good talk with him. He's a nice guy, and gave us some great advice!

To finish off the evening, we watched another one of our favorite shows!! The Amazing Race!!! We watch it every Sunday with his family! Lesson learned from this week's episode? Don't misplace your passport!!! Riley knows a little about that...something about his ID getting stuck in his check in bag and him sleeping at the JFK airport alone? What?