Last Night

We're slowly settling into our home in Pleasant Grove.  Overall, we LOVE it!  There's just so much to do, and my commute is about 45 minutes each way now, so our free time is pretty limited.  But last night we took a little break from the unpacking, cleaning, weeding, etc. to have a little fun.

My brother Michael and his wife Jessica came over to help us get our new fridge moved in, but we got a little "distracted."  Michael and I recently both got new cameras which just happen to be the exact same model.  So we thought we would practice using them.

First, we admired the sunset:

But I must admit, that was a little boring.  As the night grew darker, we moved to the backyard to mess with the exposure settings.  Here's what we got:

The red name was done with my headlamp's red light.  An LED flashlight was used to create Spencer's name.  I turned the flashlight on and off to separate the letters in the image above.

It was so much fun, we all wanted to take turns.  Then we thought - why take turns?  We can all play at the same time!  Here is what two flashlights and two headlamps can create in a 20 second exposure:

As we were about to call it a night, I glanced over at a tree in the corner of our yard and just had to take a few more pictures.  Here's my favorite:

I love my new camera.  Spencer bought it for me and surprised me with it a few days after my brother got his.  Spencer is the best.

Stay tuned for some pictures of our trip to southern Utah to check out the pioneer trail, "Hole in the Rock."

More Manly by the Minute

Well, It's been a while since I blogged, but I'm excited about my day yesterday.  Through work, Michael (my brother-in-law and business partner) and I have arranged to come up with performance incentives.  The first incentive that I received was a welder; a Hobart Handler 140, seen here:

I have rock sliders on my 4Runner for off-road armor so I don't turn my nice car into a scratch & dent.  Sliders are the tubes under the doors, and they are generally used for two purposes: 

and

You can see the shape of the sliders (if you can look away from my cute wife) 

When I initially built them (or had them built, I just put plastic end caps on, and they were getting all rusty on the inside, and filling up with dirt.  I decided to cut off the ends and use my new welder!  I ultimately thought they looked pretty terrible anyway.

So I made the first incision:

Ground the paint off:

Made my first official weld ever!

Cleaned it up a little bit (not too shabby, I say):

Ground it smooth:

Primed and painted!

It's basically a custom set that would cost over $300 that I made for under $100 total.  Plus I learned to do something new!  I like the way they look much better now too.  I only ruined 2 jackets and started one small fire (oops!). I've got the bug now, so I'm probably going to be spending some more quality time with my welder soon.  Any suggestions about what to build?

Top Five

The top five reasons why I have been such a slacker about updating our blog:

Number 5:  Time - more specifically, the lack thereof.





Number 4:  I lost my camera.  I am very sad about this, in fact you might say I am in mourning.  I really loved that little camera.  Maybe I will find it some day.  Maybe.  Fingers crossed.





Number 3:  I lost my motivation.  It must be with my camera somewhere.  Ha ha!





Number 2:  I'm gonna say time again, just because I can't think of anything else and I really wanted to have a "Top Five" list.  Actually, maybe I could say I've lost my creativity, since I can't even think of five simple excuses!





And the Number 1 reason for lack of blogging is...

...drumroll please...

(by the way, no - I'm not pregnant!)





...we are moving!  

It's all happened so fast, I feel like I've been in a whirlwind with everything.  A few weeks ago, Spencer and I decided we should check to see if we could qualify for a home loan.  Spencer contacted a lender, and sure enough, we were in business!  So for the next few days we looked for homes online in our neighborhood and surrounding areas.  We found ourselves looking further and further south, until we ended up looking in Pleasant Grove.

So that Saturday (March 26 I think) we made appointments to walk through some of the homes we liked in Pleasant Grove.  We found a great house way up on the east side that already had an offer in.  Actually, it was the first house we looked at.  Before we toured the house I had a great feeling about it, but when we walked through the first time I wasn't so sure.  After seeing a few more homes that day, I couldn't get the first one out of my mind.  We ended up going back and walking through a second time, and we both fell in love with the potential this house possesses.  So we had to act fast!  We submitted our offer on Monday morning, and by Tuesday or Wednesday we found out our offer had been accepted!  The difference between our offer and the other was $80.  Can you believe it!?

Since then, we have been scanning documents, signing papers, looking up old forms, and sending and receiving emails, faxes, and phone calls between our real estate agent, insurance agent, and lender.  The home has been inspected and appraised.  And today, FINALLY, we have final loan approval, homeowner's insurance is all set up, and we are basically good to go!

Spencer has been SUPER busy at the office, trying to deal with a huge influx of new patients thanks to some great marketing through Groupon.  So I have tried to handle most of the work of securing the loan and getting everything squared away to move.  And it has all been well worth it!  My spring break starts today and I have all next week to pack up and move.

I have made several lists of things to do and have been able to check off A LOT of stuff!  And now, I can check one more thing off my list - updating our blog!

Don't Be Jealous

My family started its own university.  That's right folks -- the Jolley University held its first session in January with Pie Crusts 101 and Introduction to Website Design.

The pie making class was hosted at our house.  My mom was the instructor, and she made all the women in the class our own cute aprons.  Thanks to her great teaching, I was able to make a delicious cream pie.

Here I am with the crust...

...and here's the finished product.  Looks good enough to eat!

My younger brother Michael taught the website course at my grandma's house.  

I created a website for my first grade class, but need to tweak a few things before I make it available to parents.  If I'm being honest, I probably won't get around to it this school year.  Oh well!

Drama Queen

I have this girl in my class this year who is really something else!  She's smart, sassy, always wants to help.  She is also very emotional and demands a lot of attention.  I just have to share two funny things that came from her - one from today and one happened last week.

Story #1:

This morning I was in the middle of reading a story to the class and suddenly she interrupts, out of nowhere, "We're not matching today!"  It took me about 5 seconds to realize what she was talking about.

A few days ago she and I wore a similar pink v-neck shirt and I commented that we were matching, and that I had noticed we wore the same shirt on the same day a couple of other times before.  So today she wore the pink v-neck shirt, and I did not.

After she interrupted the class to proclaim that we were no longer shirt twins, I told her that I thought about wearing the shirt this morning, but changed my mind.  She said, very matter-of-fact, "Well, I prayed that we would wear the same shirt today.  Jesus probably told you to wear the shirt this morning, but YOU didn't listen to the Spirit."

How could I have ignored such an important prompting from the Spirit?  I will be praying for forgiveness tonight...

Story #2:

Last week my "shirt twin" brought me her math homework right when she came into the classroom in the morning.  The procedure is to put homework papers in the homework box, so when she handed it to me I pointed over to the box.  She then pointed to her paper, in the top corner, where she had written "go that way" with an arrow pointing to look at the back of the paper.  I turned the paper over and read the following note:

Mrs. Erickson (picture of a tear) I (more tear drawings) I I I I (tears drawn between each capital I) I lied to my mom so now my mom dusint (doesn't) believe me so I have to do everything in frunt (front) of her.  I want a hug.

After reading the emotional plea, I glanced over the paper to her, standing in front of me with her arms outstretched and the saddest expression on her face, tears welling up in her eyes.  I gave her a hug, handed her the math paper, and she put it in the homework box and started her school day.

Later that day she told me a little more about the note.  I guess her mom asked if she had brushed her teeth before going to bed, and she lied and said yes when she hadn't really brushed her teeth.  So now she has to brush her teeth in her mom's bathroom so her mom can see.  She also has to get dressed, etc, in front of her mom to earn her trust back.  What a great idea!  Good for mom!  I think it's safe to say that my sassy little shirt twin has learned a valuable lesson about honesty.

Free Day

I have a Free Day today.  What is a Free Day?  Well, let me tell you, they are amazing!  A Free Day is a day when I would normally be at school, but have been given the day off.  Today it's all because of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Three cheers for that great man!

My Free Days can spent spent in all kinds of ways.  Sometimes I do nothing all day, or clean the house, or visit Spencer at the office.  I usually like to run errands on my Free Days too.  There is nothing better than going grocery shopping in the late morning on a weekday!  So much better than 5:30 or 6:00 pm after a long day of work!

Today my Free Day will go something like this:

7:25 am - rolled out of bed.

7:30 - 8:30 am - checking facebook, reading blogs, and updating my own blog!

8:30 am - shower, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day.

10:00 am - shopping for clothes (I have some Christmas money that is just burning a hole in my pockets!)

Noon - home for lunch.

Afternoon - Take care of some much-needed house cleaning.  Also, read a book.  And..., whatever I feel like!

6:00 pm - start on dinner and anxiously await Spencer's arrival home.

...Did I mention that I LOVE Free Days?

Guess what we've been doing...

If you guessed shoveling our driveway NONSTOP - you're right!  We may not have had much snow for Christmas, but this last storm has definitely made up for it.  Wednesday morning (before 7 am), Spencer shoveled a few inches of snow off his side of the driveway so he could make it to work.  I left the house around 9 am and got stuck at the bottom of our driveway in the snowplow pile!  After digging around the tires and with a push from my neighbor, I was on my way.

I got home from running my errands around 3 pm, and there was no way my car was going to make it up the driveway and into the garage without some serious snow removal first!  So I "parked" the car on the street and shoveled several inches off my side of the driveway.  I thought about leaving the rest of the driveway for Spencer to do when he got home, but when I looked outside at 5 pm, I knew I had to get to work.  I spent over an hour shoveling snow while Spencer crawled home (he said he was driving 'walking speed' for part of the time!) on the slick roads.  I got the driveway cleared in time for Spencer to pull right in when he finally made it home.

The picture is a little blurry because my camera lens kept fogging up.

Thursday morning (Spencer's dayoff, thank goodness!), we spent the late morning shoveling another foot of snow off the driveway.

We had to shovel again later in the day.  Now today, Friday, we have a couple more inches of fresh powder waiting to be taken care of.  Are you kidding me?!?

Sometime during all the shoveling, I managed to throw a rib out of place, due to the strain and twisting as I tried to throw snow over the ever-growing snowbanks lining our driveway.

Here's a shot of me trying to get a shovel full of snow up and over the snowbank.

Luckily, I happen to know a great chiropractor, and he has taken good care of me and my rib!

So, what do I think of all this snow?  Okay, okay, the shoveling became pretty tedious after a while.

But overall, I LOVE it!  Here are a few reasons why:
1.  Shoveling is great exercise!
2.  The snow is so pretty.  It's a fluffy powder, all sparkly and clean and fresh.
3.  I got to try out my new Christmas present -snowshoes- to check the mail.  They work great!
4.  It's fun to play in!  Just ask Spencer and Jack.

Here, Spencer is coaxing Jack up the driveway pile.  Poor dog kept slipping down again.  Spencer eventually had to pull him up by the scruff of his neck!

Well, enough blogging.  I've got to get busy -- you guessed it! -- shoveling our snowy driveway!