Projects

I've tapped into my creative side since we've moved to California. It most likely has to do with having space, our own furniture, and of course money and time. Here are a few things that I, and even Travis, have been working on.

First thing that we finished was this rocking chair. No, we didn't make it, but it was unfinished so Travis sanded it and put on coat after coat of stain. It was my parents rocking chair and they didn't want it anymore so they offered it to us. After seeing it all prettied up my dad asked for it back, but he was just joking...I think.

Next thing that we finished, that took longer than I thought, was our headboard. It started out as just a door that I found at an antique store for $75. I got this idea of using a door as a headboard from Design Star on HGTV. They used two doors and stood them up side by side. I thought that looked a little awkward having such a high headboard so I just bought one and turned it horizontal. The door knob wasn't in the center of the door so we cut off both sides, one side a little more than the other, to make it center. I'm still thinking of something I can do to use those extra pieces. I'll let you know when I do.

Before

After

I've always wanted a card holder to display Christmas cards and I found the perfect one at Pottery Barn. Only thing was you had to order it from their catalog or online and it was already $50 without shipping! Since we already had our first Christmas card I thought something needed to be done. I went to Lowes and picked up some wire and needle nosed pliers and got straight to work. I was able to finish in a couple hours, but my hands were so sore by the end! I bought some brown, speckled spray paint for an antique look and finished it up the next day. I did the whole thing for less than $22! Beat that Pottery Barn.

Does a Christmas tree count as a project? Well, I'll count it this time. This is our first Christmas with tree :) It was really fun getting into the Christmas spirit while decorating the tree! Although, I got out of the Christmas spirit really quick when we got up the next morning and it had practically fallen over! Travis didn't have time before work to mess with it so I decided to try to fix it myself. Bad idea. It almost came crashing down a few times so I just pushed it to lean against the wall since I realized I couldn't do it myself. I called my mom for help and she told me that we probably didn't have it all the way down in the stand. She was right, there were branches keeping it from going all the way down. When Travis got home he held the tree still while I sawed off the branches. Why it was me sawing off the branches, I don't know? Oh ya, I remember why. He didn't believe that was the real reason why it wasn't going all the way down so he made me saw them off to prove I was wrong. Uh hmm, I was actually right and it slid right down and has been straight ever since! Unfortunately, we had to undecorate it to fix it and then me, and only me, decorated it again. I guess I didn't read the fine print that said 'if you have to decorate the tree, AGAIN, you do it by yourself.' Below is the picture of me putting the star on for the first time. I'm glad I don't have a picture of my face decorating it for the second time. I wasn't all that happy.

Here it is standing straight and redecorated.

And last, but not least, here are some ornaments that I made. I got the idea, again, from Pottery Barn. I thought about buying them, but they were pretty pricey for only one ornament. So, I bought a pack of styrofoam balls and ribbon and went to work. It took me a few tries to figure out how best to make them. I ended up making 6 for under $10 compared to paying $6 for only one!

I have more projects in the works; a shelf, quilts, dress form...the list goes on. I'll keep ya posted though.

The Phantom of the Opera

We had another fun day in the City Saturday. My parents drove up Friday night just in time to have dinner at a local Italian restaurant that they (and us) love. The last two times they have come up we've eaten there. I don't think it would be a stretch to say that we will probably eat there every time they come to visit us.

Saturday, we picked up my brother and had a family picture at the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an abnormally bright, sunny day in the City. That didn't last too long though. It soon got really cold and rained/hailed on us while we were walking around to find a place for lunch.

And the reason we were in the City to begin with-The Phantom of the Opera! I loved it! I had only seen the movie, Travis had seen both, but couldn't remember the musical and my parents and brother hadn't seen either. Everyone enjoyed it and had a great time. I was surprised at how close the movie version is to the musical. Some of the songs are a little more pumped up and cut short in the movie, but if it's the only version you get to see then it's great. If it comes to your city though I would take the opportunity to see it!

HSM3

I'm a big High School Musical fan, I'm not going to lie, and when I heard they were releasing the third on the big screen I just had to see it! I know they are made for tweens, but I think there is nothing wrong with supporting a good, clean movie. I actually think I like this one the best out of all three. I couldn't convince Travis to see the movie and I didn't want to see it by myself so I asked Kara to see it with me. She had the great idea of us doing their signature jumping picture.

We may have looked like the biggest dorks while doing it, but I think it was worth it! We had a blast!

The Best Day of Our Lives

...well, pretty close. Friday the 21st was a day both Travis and I had been looking forward to for a long time, but for different reasons. Travis found out Friday, at 6:00 pm pacific time to be exact, that he passed the California Bar Exam!!!!! Needless to say he was relieved.

Here are all the books he read, 3x5 cards he studied and notes he took. I had to make two trips to the dollar store to get packs of cards. I believe there are over 1000 cards!!

Friday, at 10:45 pm, I saw Twilight!!!! Okay, not as impressive as passing the bar, but I think waiting almost a year to see this movie without going crazy is an accomplishment. We had our friends Kara and Aaron over for dinner and dessert before we headed to the theater. Travis had read Twilight and was surprisingly looking forward to seeing it with us. And Aaron not wanting to be left at home alone decided it would be worth seeing as well.

I bought the tickets about 2 weeks in advance just in case it sold out. We also showed up an hour early to get good seats only to find there was already a decent line.

Kara and I, of course, loved it and couldn't stop talking about it. The boys enjoyed it as well.

As a side note I decided to make cinnamon rolls for our dessert. It's Travis' mom's recipe that she helped create with a friend and is the best homemade cinnamon roll recipe I have had. I had never made them before so I thought it would be a special treat for Travis for passing the Bar. Let's just say cooking is not an instinct or even common sense to me, although I think I am getting better. My point is, if it is not written in the directions then I simply don't do it.

Apparently, unbeknownst to me, I was supposed to place the cinnamon rolls a 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart to let rise before baking. I let them rise alright, but nowhere in the directions does it say to place them a 1/2 inch to 1 inch apart. I guess I just don't have the instinct or common sense to know not to stuff all of them on one tray. I'll be penciling that part into the recipe so I won't have another dysfunctional batch trying to escape over the edge of the pan.

Yum!

This is a post all about food! My favorite. Travis prides himself with how fast he can eat and how much he can stuff into his mouth at once. He is constantly asking me to look at him while he shoves something WHOLE into his mouth, some of which include a pancake, cupcake, slice of pizza, and donuts. With his talent he is somehow always getting involved in pie eating contests. This one was to raise money for a food bank. The pie of choice was a Chocolate Cream Pie. This was at work so I was unable to watch, but it looked like fun-and messy. Oh, and he won his division! He makes me so proud!

Yesterday, I talked Travis into going up to the City to a place that is every chocolate lover's dream-Ghirardelli Square. It was amazing! By the time we got there it was already dark so all the lights were on and it looked magical.

The place was packed, but that didn't stop us from waiting in line for a Sundae. It was called Gold Rush and man was it good! It was vanilla ice cream with swirls of real peanut butter and chocolate syrup.

I can barely contain my joy! And you want to know the best part? It was my dinner, mmmm! I love being an adult sometimes.
This comes in as a close second to being the best part. You can ask for a free cup of chocolate syrup! It was so good! Unfortunately, we didn't know until the end of our sundae, but that didn't stop us (me, really) from practically licking the cup clean. Next time we'll know to ask for it right away so every bite will be saturated with chocolatey goodness! I'm already thinking about what I'll get next time. Oh yes, Travis, there will be a next time!

Crazy Night

Travis and I usually don't do much for Halloween except watch a scary movie. This year we decided to step out of our comfort zone. We went out to dinner to Round Table Pizza with another couple, Kara and Aaron. Round Table quite possibly has the BEST pizza on earth, but I digress. I researched a haunted house that we could go to and came across a "home haunt" called DC Cemetery. It's free and a few minutes away so you can't beat that. Plus, last year they were featured on HGTV, were winners of FEARnet.com's Scariest Home Haunted House contest receiving a $50,000 check on the Today Show. It definitely seemed like something to see.

On our way there we were witnesses of a "drive by stoning". We were stopped at a stop light and two lanes over a man jumped out of the passenger side and threw a huge rock at the truck beside them. It was so loud that it sounded like an actual gun shot and left a dent the size of a salad plate! The driver that was hit didn't even get out or pull over, but just accelerated when the light turned green. It was the weirdest thing which we kept talking about the whole night! We couldn't figure out if the person who threw the rock had a vendetta for the person in the truck or just picked a random car to throw a rock at. It was a scare worthy of Halloween night and it could have ended there, but decided to continue the scares at the haunted house. The haunted house was fun, or should I say scary, but was a little shorter than we expected. It was definitely a sight to be seen, since it's just a house in the middle of a neighborhood with an insanely decorated lawn with a variety of animatronics.

Right before we stepped into the 'morgue' for our scare.

Happy Halloween

Since I'm obsessed with all things polka dots, I decided to make our pumpkin look polka dotted. It was a lot harder than I imagined. I did it a week ago and it's actually still looking fresh (maybe because I didn't hollow it out). I might still have it for Thanksgiving, but we'll see.

In Loving Memory...

This morning I woke up to find that Travis' bike was stolen! It was sitting on our balcony. I am so upset that someone would climb up on our balcony and take it! It was Travis' grandmother's bike and has been in the family for years. The bike provided Travis with loving transportation to and from school his last year. I've never had anything stolen from me so this is a very violating, traumatic experience for me. I'm more upset than Travis and I never even rode it! I've been staring all day at the empty space on our balcony. Anyway, here is a picture of his bike.

I hope you're in good hands. We'll miss you!

Half Moon Bay

Travis and I enjoyed a fun day at the Half Moon Bay Art & Pumpkin Festival. They claim it's the pumpkin capital of the world. I'm not too sure about that, but they did have a lot of pumpkin patches and some pretty BIG pumpkins as well.

Here is a contender for the biggest. Unfortunately, they had the BIGGEST pumpkin roped off with black curtains around it so you couldn't take your own picture. If you wanted a picture with it you had to wait in line for a professional one, but you had to pay $12 dollars! No thanks! This one looked just as good.

This guy was carving a 1,200 lb pumpkin. I quickly realized he was carving Travis' portrait.

We're Here!!

We made it to Sunnyvale California (It's sunny here 360 days a year)! We rolled in Tuesday, Sept 16th and haven't had a day to rest since. The first three days were solely spent shopping for furniture and making frequent stops at the library for free Internet. Some of you knew that our last apartment came furnished. The only pieces of furniture that we did own was a kitchen table (no chairs) and a T.V. Our first purchase, after sleeping an uncomfortable night on the floor, was a mattress. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be delivered for another day so we made a bee-line to Costco to purchase an air mattress. Then we found a steal of a deal for bedside tables. They are a Pottery Barn look-a-like costing only 34 dollars each instead of over a $100 each from Pottery Barn. On Saturday our stuff arrived from the moving company. Out of all our friends who had moving companies we seemed to have to best experience overall. A couple things were damaged, but nothing too important. Sunday my parents drove up to see our new place and to give us some more of our stuff that we were storing there. Then we all took a trip to San Francisco to see where my brother is living. We are luckily only 35-40 minutes away from him!

We spent the next weekend at the happiest place on earth-Disneyland! We met my mom, dad, older brother and sister and their families. We had most of our fun in California Adventure.
We rode this Grizzly ride a total of 4 times. Everyone usually gets soaked and we were no exception! We rode it so many times because we knew it would cool us off.

My new favorite ride is a newer ride in California Adventure. It always had the longest line of any ride in both parks! Being the competitive person I am I love this ride. It's called Toy Story Mania. You wear 3-D glasses and compete with the person you ride with. You have a spring-action shooter to launch darts at balloons, rings at aliens, eggs at barnyard targets and more! You receive points for every target you hit. I only beat Travis once, but I hope to improve my game next time we visit. Here is Travis and I with all the kiddos. They loved this ride as well and were actually really good at it too! Trust me, this is a must-the line is worth it!We did spend some time in Disneyland, but not as much. We hit up the musts, like Tea Cups, Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Travis claimed he could make this tea cup go faster than it's ever gone before! That resulted in a major blister on his hand and the cup going maybe a little bit faster than the others!Travis' friend, Baby Joker, met us there. He has had a premium season pass every year since he was 16!! He knows all there is to know about the park. He shared some of his knowledge with us and to repay him we made sure he got soaked on Splash Mountain!

The night we got back from Disneyland we walked in to find that our front bathroom had flooded, soaking the surrounding carpet. We had a plumber come the next day to take a look and his expert opinion was that our pipes were backed up because someone above us has been putting kitty litter down their drains. Now that's just wrong!! An extraction crew came to clean up and they ripped out the carpet that got wet (brand new carpet too!), and tore out some of the walls that soaked up the water as well. We actually had to vacate the premises for 3 days while they used big fans to dry the place out. Here are some pics of the carnage.

We're not exactly sure what is going to happen next. We've quit unpacking because they might have to take out ALL the carpet and redo it. We are just thankful that none of our stuff got ruined and that we still don't have that much furniture to move out of the way. We'll keep you posted with what happens and hopefully when everything is finished we can share pictures of our new apartment.

On the Road Again

It's time for our trip across the country...again. This is my 4th time driving across country and Travis' 3rd. We decided to switch it up a little bit this time. Every night we stopped we've stayed with friends or family for a few days. It definitely breaks it up and makes it easier. I have to admit that driving 9-14 hours a day is not fun, but I have greatly come to appreciate how diverse our country is. I think everyone should experience the drive at least once-but not 4.

Our first night's stop was in Missouri. We stayed with Travis' friend, Brent and his family, who is currently attending medical school at University of Missouri. We had a fun time touring the university, watching the BYU game on T.V., enjoying some of Brent's famous Hawaiian Chicken, having the best pizza of my life at a local restaurant and to top it off some delicious frozen custard. We hope they can come visit us soon!

Our next stop was Highlands Ranch, Colorado to visit Travis' sister and her family. We stayed three days and had a blast! Our first day was filled with playing Rock Band, going through model homes, and searching for prairie dogs which weren't hard to find (they're everywhere).

The second day we went shopping and drove to Denver to tour the Mint. In order to take a tour you have to make a reservation in advance and apparently arrive 15 minutes before your tour starts. Both Michelle and I somehow missed that key point when we were reading over our reservation. To make a long story short we ended up missing our tour by 2 minutes!! To not waste a trip to Denver we walked over to see the Capitol building before heading back to H.R.

Travis being excited about staying in Colorado started becoming obsessed with seeing real, live buffalo. He would constantly repeat, "Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo", which is a real sentence come to find out. Buffalo didn't seem to be as plentiful as the prairie dogs were. However, on our third day, while we were driving down to Colorado Springs, Travis noticed some buffalo! Being the nice sister that Michelle is (and the fact that we didn't have a reservation at our next destination) she got off the freeway and 4-wheeled it to get as close as we could. It was pretty cool and Travis was well pleased.

After the elation of seeing the buffalo we headed to Garden of the Gods. One of our favorite red rock formations were the "kissing camels". We decided to join in on the fun.

Here is "balancing rock". Looks like it could go at any minute.

Next up on the schedule was the Olympic Training Center. It was a lot of fun seeing the facilities and pretending to be medal winners.

To add even more to an already fun-filled day we had a party at Chick-Fil-A. It wasn't just any party. Michelle won an essay contest about why she loves Chick-Fil-A. Michelle is a devoted fan and has been eating there since she can remember. It wasn't just a party for her family, but an all-you-can-eat party for 30!!! I am so glad that we happened to be there the night of the party. They had a section set up for us with tablecloths and balloons. Michelle guesstimates that everyone ordered around $10 worth of food totalling around $300 for our party!

We have had a fun time so far and are looking forward to Utah.