I'm Sure These Pics are Worth More than a Thousand Words

I'm a bit of a blog-tag junkie, so if someone (Elizabeth) tags me, I do it. Here's the latest:

Pictures of Various Things in my House

# 1. The Inside of My Refrigerator:

A loaf of bread, a gallon of milk and a stick of butter. Well, two gallons of milk because G insists on 1% and I drink skim. You'll also find every condiment you could dream of. You might find some fruits and veggies that have not turned to mush...that's if you're lucky.

# 2. The Kitchen Sink:

It's my "duty" to load the dishwasher. As you can see, I'm domestically challenged because the only time the dishwasher gets loaded is when the dishes in the sink become so rancid the house starts to smell like a landfill.

Just kidding! This is my real sink. I go nuts if dirty dishes sit in the sink for too long, so this is a pretty accurate depiction of my sink on most days.

# 3. The Closet

This is my half of the closet. Looking at this picture it is obvious I have too many clothes. This being the case, why is it that I can never find anything to wear? Getting dressed in the morning is always a dramatic breakdown with G responding, "Is it hard being a girl, Pookie?" Yes it is.

# 4. The Toilet

I am realizing how ridiculous this tag is. Why would you want to see my toilet? Well, here it is. Plenty of good reading if you ever need toilet time at my house (Country Living, Rifle Shooter, Cabela's catalogue). This is actually my secondary toilet in the house, as my regular toilet is currently unhooked during the master bathroom remodel that is happening right now (more to come on that in a couple weeks :D).

# 5. Favorite Shoes:

I own many, many, many pairs of shoes (see the closet picture - 80% of those shoes are mine, plus there are more on the floor), but these are probably my favorites since I wear them the most. My running shoes - get me places; my flip flops for the times I'm feeling cool and casual; my hot pink shoes which provide eye-popping reactions from many because they are so bold and out of the box for me. They are so comfortable and surprisingly can be worn with just about anything.

# 6. Laundry Pile



Fortunately today is laundry day and most of it is done. Since I have the best husband ever who religiously finishes the laundry every week, this is what's left. There is a generous pile of towels in the background. We've resorted to owning only nearly-white colored towels. This is because G insists on bleaching everything. Any towel that I own of any color now has lighter spots where the bleach has touched it or is an entirely different color all together (e.g. forest green is now puke green).


# 7. Favorite Room



I think most people expect the bedroom to be one's favorite room. I like my bedroom, good things happen there, but I spend a lot of time in my great room too. It's a nice place to hang out. In the winter it's a scene right out of White Christmas - G and I "light" the fire (by flipping a switch), drink hot chocolate and watch a movie. The couch is great for napping and my table of memories makes me smile every time I walk by.


# 8. Where the Kiddos Are:

A twinkle in my eye...

# 9. Self Portrait

Here I am! Picture taken just for you.

# 10. Where I Would Rather Be:

With my Pookie on the Sea, eating sketchy dogs and bonitsa.

Dog Days of Summer

G and I had a great time recently on Pineview Reservoir with some neighbors, Taylor, Hughes and Jensen families. We headed up the canyon Monday after work for a BBQ and some quality time behind the boat(s). Funny thing is, G and I ride the short bus when it comes to water sports. We generally only get on water toys when our buddy invites us to Lake Powell every other year. Even then, it takes the better part of the week to get my trash out of the water. G does a little better than I.
Who's the hotty on the wake board? It's all about function, nothing to do with form. Nevermind that the life jacket is a small. Look as the real boaters watch in awe of G's skill.

Our buddy Scott actually knows what he's doing. The lake was pretty choppy this evening, but Scott manages to get out and have a good time.
This is Scott and Mindy's son - he'll be on skis as soon as he can walk, I'm sure.
It was all Zan could do to get his little guy Carson on the tube. Apparently Carson used to love riding with his dad, but somebody mentioned once to Carson after he had fallen off the tube that he had almost drowned. Must have left quite a mark because it took a lot of coercion to get him out there, and he was extremely nervous. However the return trip to the boat was with a grin from ear to ear. "It was fun!" he said. I agree.

Demolition Derby

Today began the demolition of our master bathroom. It's down to the bare bones. Be sure to stay tuned for the before and afters. Also wish me luck sharing our little main-hall bathroom with G during the remodel. I assigned him to the 1/2 bath on the other end of the house, but he has managed to move into "my" bathroom. We both require mirror space at the same time every morning, so we'll see how long sharing a little bathroom lasts before one of us gives and moves to the other end of the house for some personal space.

And just in case you're concerned, I am having great difficulty adding pictures to my blog. I've tried on two different occassions to excite you all with pictures from this week's events and Blogger's being dumb. Now I'm frustrated. G said dramatically, "Oh no! What are you going to do if you can't post pictures on your blog?" He's mocking me. As if Blogger troubles weren't bad enough, I'm seconds away from demolishing my keyboard. The Delete button is refusing to delete. Grrr.

Canyon to Canyon

This weekend Kati and I signed up for the Canyon to Canyon 10k race. What might not be totally obvious about Kati is her incredibly competitive spirit. She works hard and she wants to win. Her pace is quite faster than mine, so I really don't try to keep up with her. As the gunshot went off I said, "I'll see you in at the finish line" and off she went. For the better part of the race I could see Kati in front of me (of this I was proud since she is usually several minutes ahead). Because there was a half marathon at the same time as the 10K (we were 10k participants), there was a turn around point for the 10k runners, and the 1/2 marathoners were to continue up the course. I got to the 10k turn-around point and noticed that Kati had run right by without turning around. She was far enough in front of me, not to mention jamming out with her iPod, that it would have been impossible for me to yell for her to turn around. So, I turned around and silently wished her the best. For a split second I thought she had changed her mind and was going to run the 1/2 marathon. What could she have possibly been thinking?

I casually made my way to the finish line and hoped that every footstep I heard behind me was Kate running to win. It never was. I crossed the finish line and Rachel asked me where Kati was. "I don't know. She didn't turn around." Just a few minutes later, here comes Kati, sprinting as fast and furious as she could possibly move her feet. She had realized at some point that she had gone too far and turned around, having run close to a mile out of her way. Even so, she was still only about three minutes behind me. This race course was mostly a rugged, dirt trail with many hill climbs throughout. I was so impressed to see her cross the finish line so fast after enduring a longer distance on a crazy course. It was a good race.

Hemstitch Dreams Coming True

Can you guess what this is? This is no ordinary sewing machine. It's the hemstitch machine that is going to change my life forever. My dear friend Amy J. is letting me "store" her machine and use it while I launch my hemstitch business and YOU, my lucky readers, are the first to know! I will be launching an Etsy shop very soon offering hemstitch blanket and burp cloth kits, blanket and burps with a crocheted edge and quilts made by yours truly and my talented sissy-seamstress-quilter extraordinaire.

Meanwhile, if you need a receiving blanket and/or burp cloth hemstitched, email me at bylowbaby@hotmail.com. For an extra fee, I will add a crocheted edge to complete the perfect gift for the new baby.

**This is a good time to announce the winner of the Baby Bunting Name-Off. The award goes to Rachel for By-Low Baby. Congratulations! The name comes from a Mother Goose nursery rhyme sung by Papa as he rocks the grandchildren to sleep.

By-Low baby bunting

Papa's gone a hunting

A rosy wisp of cloud to win
To wrap his baby Bunting in

Thank you to everyone who commented and emailed your ideas and suggestions! So many great names were submitted!

Stay tuned for more on By-Low Baby!

Cabin Lovin'

This weekend was the best cabin weekend yet. The snow is GONE! The weather is WARM! We were even able to sit out on the porch comfortably at night. As I said in a previous post, we took G's parents to the cabin for the weekend. It was nice to have them there and a very relaxing stay. Can I just live there forever?

Chillin' on the porch with the parentals

While we were there, we took a little field trip to Mesa Falls. The Upper and Lower Mesa Falls are the last major falls in Idaho that have not been used for irrigation or hydroelectric projects. At 110 feet and 85 feet, respectively, they offer equally spectacular views in a beautiful forest setting. At Lower Mesa Falls, the Snake River is squeezed into a gorge that drops 65 feet. The glassy waters froth to mist in an even higher 11-story, 114-foot plunge. Simply awesome!

The splash hits the rocks across from the falls to form this ecosystem for foliage that would not otherwise survive in the area.

These pictures do not do it justice. You'll just have to believe me when I say it was beautiful!

Back at the ranch the fellas set up a game of horse shoes. G would always start out looking like the winner, then G Sr. would come back to win.

G would get a ringer, then G Sr. would too!

What's up with the suspenders? Like father like son.

The best part of the weekend was getting the firepit installed and going into the woods so G could use his chainsaw to cut wood. I was all prepared to have smores, but then fell asleep before we could get to it. It's exhausting doing nothing all day, I'll tell ya.

Happy Birthday, America!

G and I spent Independence Day weekend up at our cabin in Idaho with G's parents. We celebrated our freedom by getting up bright and early to run a 10k race. The course started at about 7,000 ft elevation and followed a forest service dirt trail through the woods for 6.2 miles. This could have been, by far, the most difficult 10k I've ever run. First of all, it took me about 2 miles into the race to figure out how to breath at that altitude without dying. Once I got that figured out the trail turned to sand in several spots, then took us up and down steep terrain. I was so glad to see the finish line. Back at the cabin there was a 4th of July parade put on by the residence on the Island. Being the first time at the cabin over the holiday, I was so excited to get out and watch the parade.

People had constructed their own versions of a float by decorating their boats and ATVs. The little girls were waving like Parade princess' and the little boys were hucking handfuls of candy at the bystanders {that would be me and G}.

Maybe next year I'll put streamers on the spokes of my bike and wave a flag up and down the road.Later that evening a fireworks display was scheduled in the cove at the lodge on the reservoir. They fireworks were supposed to start at 9:45 P.M. At around 9:15 P.M. we could hear fireworks launching very sporadically. I kept thinking they were just giving us the 10 minute warning or something. Around 9:30 P.M. we walked over to the viewing spot. It was pretty cool to see all the boats coming into the cove. It was quite a sight with all the lights.

Here is a video of the awesome firework display. We weren't sure if this was the firework's beginning, or the end. It turns out it was, indeed, the finale. They ended at 9:43 P.M. Remember, they weren't supposed to start until 9:45? And they lasted a whopping 16 seconds. Also note: it was still quite light outside. Not exactly Sugarhouse Park.