Happy 40th Anniversary!

Brett's parent's Gordon and LaNeal are here in Minnesota this week and Saturday was their 40th wedding anniversary! Brett made his yummy cheesecake! Happy Anniversary Gordon and LaNeal!

4th of July!

I have been so busy this past week, I haven't even had a minute to post our great 4th of July at the Hogan's! We enjoyed swimming and snorkeling in their pool, had the greatest meal ever, and even got front row seats to Jana and Melissa's synchronized swimming show!

Jana & Melissa

Brett

Andrea & Bobbie


Then, just when you thought the day couldn't get any better, it was topped off with a spectacular fireworks show on the driveway!

Thanks Hogan's!!!!

The First Tennis Match

One great thing about our house is the location. We live by a beautiful lake and try to take advantage of it by biking and walking Riley around it. I've always noticed the tennis courts but it wasn't until a couple weeks ago I thought, 'hey, we should get some racquets and start playing!' I told our friends Megan and Tyler to get some racquets too so we can play together! We played on Wednesday night and it was so fun! We're thinking it will take a few more practices before we are good enough to start playing an actual game. :)

Happy Birthdays!

Justin bought a last minute flight (the night before) on Sunday to come to some girl's baptism. So we drove down to my parent's house on Monday after work and we celebrated Justin & Brandon's birthdays. Justin turned 22 on June 21st and Brandon will turn 17 on July 9th! My little brothers aren't so little any more! Crazy!

Mike & Ashlin

Our friends Mike and Ashlin were in Minnesota for a few days visiting Mike's family and we got to see them and meet their adorable twins, Brooklyn & Brayden! They moved to Arizona last fall and we really miss them (and miss having friends)!

Brooklyn did not like me very much.

Come visit again soon!

Keeping it Cool...

Both our air conditioner and furnace are original to the house (aka 25 years old). The coldest we could get the house with the AC on last summer was 80 degrees. This week it's been 90 in the house, and when you have a fever and are sick, it is no fun! I've given in and want to get new AC but maybe it's just the fever talking -we can make it one more summer...

So on Tuesday, while Brett drove back and forth between WalMart and Target trying to get our prescriptions (they are having Brett take it too as a precaution), he picked up some fans to make a window-thing-a-ma-bob. It works really well at night. Brett says it won't work during the day because it's hotter outside then in the house, or something like that. So the day time is still terrible.

We are both on the Relenza Inhalers for Influenza A /H1N1. Brett is on the 10-day prevention plan while I'm on the 5-day get-rid-of-it plan. :) The nurse told me I could have walked in months ago when the Swine Flu hit and gotten a prescription for the 10-day prevention drugs because I work with kids. I wish I would have known that information. :)

I'm feeling much better. I tried to go to the gym yesterday to a class that I knew would be easy. Turns out my body was not quite ready to work out. It wasn't as easy as it should have been and my coughing the whole time didn't help either. :) But I'm happy I'm on the mend. Not so happy that I'll have to go back to work on Monday. :(

Of Course....

I have Influenza A. I'm the 5th one at my school. I told the asst. director I didn't feel good and wanted to go home at 10:00 today, and she wouldn't let me because we were short on Teachers because 2 have Influenza A! I had to work a 9.5 hour day feeling awful! And not to mention all the children I probably just infected!

I just went to the minute clinic thinking I have a sinus infection and a bad cough -but then when I told the lady about the other 4 people at my school, she tested me for Influenza. She said that location didn't have the test for the Swine flu but that basically the two are the same thing anyway. I can't go to work for the rest of the week, and, OF COURSE, my sick days don't start till July! I'm like, are you kidding me!!! First of all, I get sick because of my job, I feel awful and I don't even get paid for this! This stinks! But is it sad that I rather have Influenza A and miss a week of work, then feel good and have to go to work?

Shout Out!

Happy Birthday Bro!
(Ignore my sad attempt to look thug. This is the only pic of Justin I have on my computer).

And a very Happy Father's Day
to Dean & Gordon!
(I don't seem to have any photos of our dad's either.
We'll have to fix that when Gordon & LaNeal come to MN in July).

p.s. I posted in my journal

It Was Only A Matter Of Time....

I have been trying to find a new job for a while now. I never thought I would still be here by my year anniversary. :( But I definitely was hoping I would not be working with children anymore before the swine flu hit our center, but too late! Today the Preschool teacher was tested positive for H1N1. There were also two cases of children with H1N1 at the Oakdale center- which is about 10 minutes away - and today we had several kids come to our center from Oakdale because their parents didn't want them at Oakdale when they found out about the two children with Swine Flu. So now we have even more children who have been exposed to it also in our center, how wonderful...

A Fun Weekend

Every Monday parent's at my school ask me how my weekend was and what I did. Every time it's literally the same thing, "I worked out and cleaned my house." I told this to Brett and he said this weekend we would do something fun.

So Friday I went to spin class in the morning, got ready, spent the entire afternoon cleaning the house and doing 5 loads of laundry, then we went to dinner and had a bonfire with our friends Megan and Tyler. It was so fun! Megan and I became friends a year ago when we were co-teachers at the center I work at. She was smart enough to quit after one month.

Then we were originally planning on working on the bathroom all day Saturday since it's been a long time since we've even step foot in it. While Brett slept in, I went to my new favorite work out class, Body Pump, got ready, and then woke Brett up. Neither of us felt like working on the bathroom so instead I painted a coat of paint on the Living room window while Brett replaced a bunch of the outlets. Then I made PB&J sandwiches (I haven't had time to run to the grocery store to get some good food) and we went on a bike ride around Lake Elmo and had a picnic.

(I can't figure out why these videos look so bad on the blog???
Does anyone know if there is a special way to upload videos to blogs?)

Now it's Saturday night, I'm blogging this while Brett is playing video games. In a minute I'll be preparing my Primary lesson, then it's off to bed. What a fun filled weekend! I can't wait to tell my parents I did something more then cleaning the house, laundry, and working out!

Our Stolen Bikes

Brett went to the Minneapolis Police Auction back in April and bought us both some stolen bikes! Brett said they had hundreds of bikes and they have an auction almost every month. I can't believe that many bikes get stolen and go unclaimed. Brett actually accidentally won 3 bikes but he plans on selling one for parts. He wanted to strip my bike down and repaint it. I didn't even care what it looked like and I knew this would mean time not spent on the bathroom, so I was politely pushing for him not to repaint the bike, but he really wanted to. What's funny is we got really high quality metal spray paint and it ended up costing about the same price as the bike. I couldn't decided between silver or red, so Brett suggested to do both colors. I think Brett did a great job but I really wish I would have stuck to one color because I think it looks a little "homemade", but I don't really care. But after all that work, Brett's going to go to the next auction to get me a new bike because the gears are not shifting very well and it would be cheaper to win a new bike then to fix the gears. :) Plus I want a bike with shocks for this difficult mountain bike trail we just discovered at Battle Creek park.

Before

And After

Biking around Powers Lake in May

Vegas Week!

Well...at least they kind of showed Tiff tonight in Vegas -only during her amazing group dance, which all the judges loved the best! Now we all know how far she went...she made it almost to the end of Vegas! She got cut during Mia Micheal's dance. :( Tiff did amazing during all the dances, I wish we all could have seen it though! They said she wasn't interesting enough for TV because her "story" isn't interesting. Apparently "happy" people doesn't make interesting TV. I told her to try out again but make something "interesting" up next time.

AHHH! Can't Wait!

The Belt Drawer

I just knew everyone would be interested in seeing how my belt drawer turned out after talking about the organizers I found in my post on the 24th. ;)

What's funny is, I didn't take a "before picture" of the drawer, so after I organized it, I messed it up again so you could see just how messy it was before (I know, I'm a dork).

Oh Man....

I'm a little disappointing they didn't show Tiffany (besides with the ticket for a second)- I know they needed the TV time to show the battle between Leo and "Sex." I really would have been upset if they didn't let America see that (wink)! At least it's out she made it to Vegas, I am not very good at keeping a secret. Hopefully we'll actually see her dancing next week in Vegas!

Memorial Day

On Saturday we took Riley to the dog park. That was our first time going to the dog park here in Woodbury, which means it's been over a year since we've taken him to one. Riley's a really good dog (mainly thanks to Brett's training), but we did slack in one area of training, getting him socialized with other pets. He loves people but is so shy around other dogs. He just sat there pretty much the whole time as the other dogs ran around and played together. So this morning we decided to take him back to the dog park and also bike the trails. There weren't very many dogs there today but I think he's starting to make some progress. We'll have to keep taking him frequently but it's kind of annoying because he needs a bath after each time - there's a big creek/pond and all the wet dirty dogs get all over him.

Riley loved coming with us for a bike ride!

We dedicated the rest of the day to get work done on the house. What got done today? Oh, about nothing. Mainly a trip to Home Depot and plans for another project. I'm realizing how long it takes to get things done. We will never flip a house again. My new project is painting the windows while Brett works on the bathroom. I'm not much help on the bathroom plumbing so I figured I'd finish up the other hundred things we've started and haven't finished yet. Last summer we painted all the oak window trim white when we painted all the door trim and I'm now getting back to painting the windows to match the trim. I feel like it's a waste of time as all the windows desperately need to be replaced, but this will have to do for now (or for as long as we live here).

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day!

Mike & Julie's

On Sunday we were invited to my cousin Julie's house to celebrate her twin's 12th birthday! We had a lot of fun and a LOT of calories! Happy birthday Tyler and Jenna! They have a gorgeous home on a pond. We really want to make a fire pit like theirs. Pretty sweet, huh?

Sweet Finds!

I really love to organize things! (However, you wouldn't know it by looking in our drawers and closets). Last weekend I went through my sock drawer to get rid of all the socks I don't wear. (I have small feet and I don't like when my socks aren't tight, so recently I discovered I can buy girls size medium instead of women's small.) But anyway, after going through my sock drawer, I really wanted to organize it. I went to a few stores to find some kind of organizer but had no luck finding what I had in mind. Then I came upon the "Dream Drawer-Spring Loaded Drawer Dividers" at Target! They are kind of over priced at $16.99 for just two plastic dividers but when there aren't a lot of options out there, I guess they can charge whatever they want knowing someone like me will pay it to have a nicely organized sock drawer. I just love my sock drawer now! I keep opening it just to look at how nice it looks! :) (By the way, that is not my drawer pictured above).

Below is an organizer I found on www.organize.com and this one is only $7.50. Organize.com is my new favorite website! I want to get this one to organize our belt drawer! Ahhh, the things that excite me! :)

So You Think You Can Dance?

I'm bummed they didn't show the Seattle auditions yesterday, but according to their website, on Wednesday are the Miami and Memphis auditions and then Thursday will be the L.A. and Seattle auditions!!! Can't wait!!!

Finally!!!

I have been waiting forever to tell everyone to watch for my sister on the TV show 'So You Think You Can Dance?'! She tried out at the Seattle auditions- you'll have to watch to see how far Tiffany goes! The picture above is her with the host Cat Deeley. (The shows season premiere is this Thursday on Fox).

Belated Mother's Day

Today we had my parents and brother's over for Mother's Day. We waited till this weekend because Justin was in town for his lawsuit (his former employer went bankrupt and owed Justin a LOT of money (Justin won his suit))! Brett grilled up some delicious burgers! Happy Mother's Day!

Take One
Take Two

A Worried Mommy and One BIG Vet Bill Later...

Here's what happened and an update:

On Wednesday I took home some picture frames (a Mother's Day project for the kids in my class) to put them together and to Windex the glass. I had the glass stacked up in a pile on the floor and Riley all of a sudden decided to do a hurdle over the pile of glass. He started crying, no it was more like screaming! I obviously knew what had happen but he wouldn't let me touch him as he ran around the house on three legs. I called the vet and they said they were about to close but I should take him into the after-hours emergency clinic for possible stitches. I waiting for Brett to get home from his bike ride for us to take Riley in but Brett, being "Mr. Fix it Myself," decided to...well, fix it himself.
Brett bandaged Riley up but I still felt we should take him into the vet in case he did need stitches. I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but Riley's my little baby and I hate to see him in pain. I felt so bad!

So...today (Friday) Riley was still walking on 3 legs and constantly gnawing at the bandage (and got it off a few times). Brett decided to cut the hair on his arm to observe the wound better. With his hair not in the way and without all the blood, Brett thought he could see his bone! I said, "Forget the cost, we are taking him in immediately!"

Here's Dr. Brett

He indeed needed stitches, and like I said in my post below, I was a nervous wreck worried about him being put under. It was the most stressful hour of my life waiting to hear he woke up out of the anesthesia. (I've heard it's very risky for small dogs to be put under- plus a friend of ours' dog didn't make it when she was put under). Right now he's all drugged up and is completely out of it but I'm so glad he's going to be okay. I'm sure he'll be loving his new neck-cone for the next 10 days! He better, that cone (plus the stitches and anesthesia) cost us a week's paycheck! {Actually to be honest, I was thinking it would have cost a lot more than it did!} Well worth it though, I would take out a loan for him if I had to! Maybe mommy will think twice before leaving things on the floor again -and for sure no glass! Lesson Learned! I'm so sorry Ry-guy!

A Nervous Wreck!

Riley is at the vet being put under for stitches. I started to cry when the vet told me there was no other option than to put him under. We have friends that their dog had to be put under for surgery and the dog didn't make it - so yeah, I was/am freaking out a bit. He's my little boy and I love him so much! Brett was freaking out about the price! Now I'm at home freaking out while I'm waiting for them to call me when he wakes up.

By the way, I posted what happen to Riley on my private blog on Wednesday. (Yeah, it happen two days ago! Don't ask me why it took us so long to take him to the vet)!

I'm Just a Girl, What Can I say?

I don't know what's up with me lately! I have been on the biggest shoe fetish ever! I never use to be like this. Sure, I have always liked a fashionable shoe but lately I'm obsessed! I keep finding myself searching the latest fashions and I have I have found some of the cutest shoes ever! Now I look back at the Carlos Santana shoes, and I'm not even slightly interested in any of those! I'm still waiting to lose my last 3.5 lbs (so if you're keeping track, that means so far I've only lost 1.5 lbs). At the rate I'm going - about one pound a month- I'll have the sandals just in time for winter!
I just had to show you these adorable Rhinestone T-Strap Heals! They are a little too fancy for me now- as the fanciest place I go is Church- but I wish they would have been my wedding shoes! Wouldn't those be some classy wedding shoes! I have a friend getting married in 2010, maybe I'll get them to wear at her wedding! ;)

Oh, and how ridiculous is this wedge below??? Would someone actually wear that? It's a shame the wedge is so ridiculous because the shoe itself would be adorable on a stiletto! Seriously, who designed that? If I could turn back time, I think would go to college for shoe design. Is that major offered at BYU? ;)
By the way, Brett feels I have plenty of shoes, so I'm selling about 6 pairs of the ones I never wear on Craigslist. Let me know if you're a size 6 or 6.5 and are interested! :)

I'm Guilty!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

After seeing this on the news this morning, I decided maybe it's time to stop texting while driving... or at least only text when stopped at a red light.

5 Years?

Where has the time gone?

April 24, 2004

One Year Anniversary- April 24, 2005
(the top of the cake was delicious)!

Sometime around our 2 year Anniversary -Summer of 2006

3 Year Anniversary - April 24, 2007

(4 yr Anniversary- Brett was in Chicago for work- no photo)

5 Year Anniversary - April 24, 2009

We both took the day off of work. I went to cycling class in the morning and Brett painted my bike. Then we took Riley on a walk around Lake Elmo. We ran some errands, watched a few episodes of our new favorite show, 'How I Met Your Mother', and ate dinner at Outback (we remembered why we never go there).

I gave Brett a Fossil watch and a waffle maker.
What's funny is, I (and I think most people) would not be so excited about a gift like a kitchen appliance, vacuum, etc., but not this boy, that's what he likes most! He's a funny guy like that. :)

Brett got me flowers and a beautiful pink sapphire ring! The past couple years I was thinking about getting a wedding band for our 5 year anniversary (you know, to make it official), but I couldn't find anything I liked to go with my engagement ring... but during my search I found this little puppy instead! It went on sale over Valentine's, so we actually bought it then. :)

Justin's Farewell

Today my brother Justin left for Texas. He will be working there for the summer and then he'll be off to Utah to attend UVSC in the fall. The Larson clan (plus Evan (Brandon's BFF)) went bowling and to eat at Red Robin last night.

Brett and I are really going to miss Justin. He would drive all the way up here to help us move large items or to pick up Home Depot items with his boss' truck. He would also take us out to eat whenever he was working in our area. We sure are going to be hungry now, I mean, we sure are going to miss him. :)

Me and my Bro's

The last time Justin worked out in Texas for the summer (3 years ago), he brought us back Riley (our dog). I'm hoping this year he will do the same favor and bring us another Texas-born Chihuahua! Brett says no way, but Riley sure would love for Justin to find his long, lost sister! :)

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter with the Hogan's at Bob & Melissa's! Thanks again for the great food and great company! :)


I also wanted to post a picture from Kevin & Jana's sealing in the St. Paul Temple on March 28th. We enjoyed being a part of their special day!

Blog Backgrounds

I cannot find a cute (and free) background. I thought this current one was nice and springy but then I realized it says "Give Thanks" on the side so it's probably meant for Thanksgiving time. I like the one I just put on my private blog, but it's a little too girly for this blog (since this is Brett's blog too). Anyone know of good websites for cute (and free) blog backgrounds?

Don't You Wish Your...

Family Room was as clean as ours? Don't cha?

You may remember our bathroom project we started back in February: http://brettandandrea.blogspot.com/2009/02/getting-back-in-to-work.html


Here's this weekend's work: Brett got all the floor tiles up! We contemplated keeping the linoleum that was underneath. (just kidding)Here is a picture of the floor before. I guess it wasn't that bad but we want the floor and shower walls to match. (Which, by the way, will be beautiful 18" tiles with a minimal (1/16") grout.) I can't wait!

We spent the weekend at Home Depot getting everything from the backer board, to the bathtub, and waiting (twice) for the rental truck. We still have to jack-hammer the concrete for the new drain hole but we wanted to see how the bathtub will fit.

We're going to have a few issues. One small thing we also didn't think about is that we'll have to put up some sheet rock on the part of the ceiling that was behind the wall we took down, which means we'll have to scrape the rest of the popcorn ceiling to match. Just one more thing to the "To Do" list I guess.I hope making our 1.75 bath house, to a 2 full bath house, will be worth it!!!

FYI

Just wanted to clear this up. I had a few people ask me if that picture below of the fat stomach is actually me. No, it is NOT --although it's not too far off.

Also, I just had to blog this loving comment Brett just said to me.

Brett: Babe, you're all that and a bag of chips. If you haven't already eaten the chips.


I'd be offended with all the fat jokes but I guess it was pretty funny.

Weekly Report

I was thinking it might give me more motivation if I give a weekly report. And this week, I've lost 2 lbs! I've worked out almost every day and did spin class twice! Now if only I could cut back on the ice cream...

I absolutely love spin class but, boy, does my bottom hurt! I think I'll have to be one of "those people" who wear the padded-bum biker shorts. [Don't worry, I'll wear shorts over them, I'm not that crazy]. Since I work long hours, there are only 3 days a week I'll be able to make spin class and on the other days, I'll do my usual 45-60 minutes of cardio and 45 minutes of weights. Or maybe I'll try out some of the other classes those nights. I am going to get my $25-a-month worth!

I have to say, however, this week I've woken up each night with an EXTREMELY painful "Charley horse" in my left calf. Last night I tried to keep the screaming down because I remembered Brett was back [he was in Chicago the past week for work] but my quiet moans and tears weren't as quiet as I thought because he woke up wondering what was wrong with me.

Today the Spin Instructor mentioned Charley horses' in class, so afterward I asked her what I can do because I'm really good about stretching so I couldn't figure out why they were happening. She said stretching has nothing to do with it and that it's due to not drinking enough water and a lack of potassium. So I'm off to the grocery store to load up on Bananas! I'm scared to go to bed tonight knowing the pain that will probably be waking me shortly...

I'm a Member!

I joined a gym! I'm very frugal and never thought I would since I have an elliptical and treadmill but I'm very glad I did! It's hard to run while staring at a wall in a claustrophobic room. My friend Megan had a 'friends pass' to Gold's Gym and took me on Saturday. I absolutely loved it! I wanted to stay all day and take all the classes and do all the weight machines twice! On Sunday I was barely able to move because I was so sore! It was great! I tried to convince Brett to sign up with me so we can go together but he's even more frugal then I am so he didn't even consider it. But maybe when he sees me go from this:

to this:

he'll change his mind. :) OK, so I don't really want to look like that but I thought that was funny. (By-the-way, don't Google image search female bodybuilders--GROSS)!

And The Winner Is...

The Hoover WindTunnel Anniversary Edition Bagged

Brett asked me why I hadn't blog about the vacuum we got. I said, "I didn't realize we blog about every single thing in our lives." Then he reminded me that, in fact, we do. So here it is!

We LOVE it!!! We did a lot of research and it was number 4 on consumer reports. I feel like I'm going back in time getting a bagged vacuum but it really is better! My heart was set on a Dyson but I was really surprised with how poorly all the Dyson vacuum's rated. I am a firm believer that 'you get what you pay for' - therefore, I assumed [since Dyson vacuums are so expensive] that they were the best. I do believe that saying is true when related to most other products, however. (Don't even get me started on IKEA! I don't understand why people like their cheapo junk)! But anyway, I can really tell a difference and Brett loves that he doesn't have to clean the old filter after each time we vacuum!

If you're wondering why we didn't get the number 1 rated vacuum, the finger is pointed at Brett. I wanted to get whatever was number 1 (which is another bagged Hoover Windtunnel), but Brett felt it wasn't worth the extra $100 when ours rated fairly close and was better in the 'Pet Hair' category. But I'm very happy with it and I guess that extra $100 we saved could go towards something else...like perhaps a pair of shoes! ;)

Sweet Rewards

Today I got the new Life & Style magazine. I'm not one to spend money on magazines but it had my Twilight actors on the cover, so I splurged. Well, on page 8 they show the cutest pair of silver heals and I decided to look them up with the intent to buy them!!! The brand is Carlos By Carlos Santana. Unfortunately the pair I want is not on the website but it didn't take me long to find 5 or 6 other adorable pairs of stilettos and pumps that I want! They are not too expensive but they are more than I normally spend on shoes, or I should say, more then I have ever spent on any shoes that I currently own. But this is my justification....

I have recently gained a lot of weight. I don't understand how it came on so quickly. My diet and workouts have not changed so I don't really understand how this all of a sudden happened in the past 3 weeks or so. Brett thinks it's because I'm getting older and my metabolism has slowed down. But does that really just change over night and am I really that old??? I've increased my cardio workouts from 30 minutes to an hour but it's pretty much impossible for me to "diet" and the weight is not going down. I originally told myself [for motivation] that when I lose the weight, I would get myself one of those name brand [aka expensive] pairs of jeans as a reward. Well now I'm thinking my new motivation will be a pair or two [or five] of the Carlos By Carlos Santana shoes. :) See, totally justified! I only hope you'll be seeing me wear my new shoes relatively soon!

New Moon Fans...

OK, so here's my boy, Taylor Lautner, aka Jacob Black from Twilight.... (after reading New Moon for the third time, I'm equally in love with Jacob as I am with Edward)!
Look familiar? He was Sharkboy in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl!

Just thought that was kinda funny and thought I'd share. :)

Famous in Idaho!

Here is a commercial Tiff and Aaron were in. The place looks really fancy, huh? :) I just love how rich in detail it is! (I'm sorry about the sarcasm, but don't get me started on paint murals and Idaho themes)! But Tiff and Aaron did a great job! You have me sold, our next vacation will definitely be to Rigby, Idaho! (Seriously, it probably will be).




Here is the link to it on facebook, the quality is a bit better there.

http://www.facebook.com/video/?of=193302859#/video/video.php?v=547672384924&subj=193302859

The Reunion with Christian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjWtRYaxmWM


I just saw this video on Oprah and just about cried! You have to check out this video on youtube.

Book Suggestions...

I need some book suggestions. After picking up the Twilight series to read for the third time, I was thinking maybe it's time to read a new book. Problem is, I feel like nothings even going to come close to how good those books are. Anyone have some suggestions?

By the way, Brett and I just watched Twilight again, but for the first time after reading the books, and boy is the movie bad! It's funny I loved it so much before reading it.

Footprints In the Sand

I asked Brett to download new songs onto my iPod to work out to--yeah, I don't even know how to put songs onto my iPod, pathetic, I know. I asked him to find me all of Leona Lewis' songs because I love her. One of her new songs is called "Footprints In the Sand" and it is now my new favorite song. I almost cried when I heard it for the first time running on my treadmill the other day. I just looked up the music video and it's so sad.

I tried to add the video to the blog but it didn't work so here is the link to it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0Muph2Gswk

Only in Minnesota...

The past couple weeks we've been teased with spring. It got up to the high 30's and I think a couple times it reached the 40's. Snow melted and it was feeling like spring! But no, it was teasing us. We got hit with a big snow storm yesterday. Brett plowed the driveway but Justin still got stuck in our driveway when he came over just 30 minutes later. I am ready for spring. Riley is too. Today I let him out and he froze half way across the deck. He started crying and lifting his paws. I had to quickly put shoes on and go get him before his paws got frost bit.

Twine, Grandma, and A Wedding Dress

On Sunday we drove with my dad and brothers to my grandma's birthday party. She turns 96 years old on the 19th! Happy Birthday Grandma!

On they way, we drove through the tiny town of Darwin, MN, which holds the "Worlds Largest Ball of Twine!" How exciting! (We were not planning to go here on our way or anything but my dad saw the sign so we pulled over).

It's pretty funny, on the sign, it looks like they had to add in that it's the largest ball of twine "BY 1 MAN." Looks as though someone(s) eventually beat Francis A. Johnson.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2128

Most of the grand kids and great grandchildren (minus Brian's family and my sister), with Grandma Luella. (Way to take a clear picture Photographer Brett).

Grand kids and spouses.
Typical Larson gathering--playing cards & boys playing on their phones.

The party was at my aunts house and she has Grandma Lu's Wedding Dress. I took a picture of my grandma's wedding picture. She was 22 when she married Grandpa Andrew (I don't know how old he was).
It's too bad I didn't know her dress was around when I got married! I could have saved myself some money. ;)

AVaires State '09

Here's a link to view it bigger but you might have to log into Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/video/video.php?v=1049895968911


OK, so this is mainly for Tiff to see. It's the AVaires at State. They did a "workout" theme or something. Let's just say the choreography hasn't been as good since Tiffany graduated. They did a pretty good job but a girl fell-- which pretty much means she ruined it for the whole team. (If there's a fall, the team is docked so many points that there's no way the team can even make it into finals, let alone place a metal). Next year girls!

Brett's Brithday Weekend

I had Friday off and Brett took the day off to celebrate his birthday. We went to lunch at a Thai Restaurant downtown Minneapolis.

Friday just happened to be the Dance Team State Tournament. I just knew how bad Brett wanted to go to it, so that's where we spent the rest of his birthday! We waited in line for over an hour at the Target Center. We barely made it in time as they announced Apple Valley's Team --The AVaires. The place was packed and we had the worst spots on the side.

Justin and his friend Ashley met us there, too. I was only planning on staying for a few hours just to see a few of my rival teams but every time I asked Brett if he was ready to go, he insisted on staying. [After all, the tickets were not cheap].

I ran into two of my fellow dance team members! (Kesley, a grade below me, and Melissa, who was in my grade). We couldn't believe how fast time has gone by, has it really been 7 or 8 years?! Crazy! Two of our friends now coach the team! Go AVaires!

Well after they announced who made it to finals, which those teams were going to preform again later that night, it was 5:00 and we didn't want to sit in Minneapolis traffic, so we decided to walk around the buildings (via the sky ways), with Justin and Ashley. We walked forever around the Nicollet Mall and my feet were killing me in my 4" heals (I was not planning on walking much that day). Leave it to Minneapolis -the headquarters of Target Corp- to have a Target on the second floor of a commercial building. We went and I bought a pair of flats to wear. (My feet were bleeding when we got home).

Justin and Ashley talked us into staying for finals and so we didn't get home till very late. I felt so bad that's how we spent Brett's entire Birthday so I told him we'd forget about Valentine's Day and celebrate his birthday again on Saturday.

So Saturday, Brett opened his gifts. One of his gifts were coupons for guilt free time playing xbox, since that has been an "issue" at our house.


I made Brett his Birthday pie since I didn't get around to it on Friday. (We're both not big fans of cake). He wanted an Apple Pie.

Happy Birthday Brett!

P.S. Today we had another fun filled day, I will post that later this week.

Happy Birthday Brett!

Today is Brett's 28th Birthday! My husband is getting old! I told him we'll have to start making some friends so I'll be able to throw him a 30th birthday party in 2 years! (Can't believe I'm saying the number 30)! Where did the time go? I don't know what's up with me and scanning pictures lately...but when your husband was such a cutie, it's hard to choose just a few pictures from his past. Tomorrow I'll will blog about how we spent Brett's birthday- I really made his day special. ;)

Brett One Week Old - Feb 1981

1st Birthday -Feb 19822nd Birthday3rd Birthday

The Livingston Boys (Brandon, Mason, Kyle, Brett) - Oct 1984
(This picture was taken a month before I was born, thought that was kind of funny).
Homecoming Prince 1997

Prom King - May 1999

My Prince - April 2004

Happy Birthday Tiffany!

"A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit,
a golden thread to the meaning of life."
-Isadora James

Go Twins!


AVaries 2000 & 2001

Sure, we had our fights......I usually won. :)

November 2002

April 2004

Happy 26th Birthday (yesterday)! Miss you!

Getting Back To Work

After taking way too much time off because of the Holidays, work, church callings, etc., we are FINALLY getting to our bathroom project. We decided to start with the basement bathroom because that shower is unusable(*) and we figured, if we started with the main bath, where would we take showers while the only usable shower was "out of order"?

(*)The water of the shower works, it's the tile that's the problem. You can kind of see what I'm talking about in the picture below. It's almost as if they tiled half way up, then ran out of tile. The top half and the bottom half are not even the same white tiles and there is a huge gap all the way across the shower that water can get behind.

Goodbye ugly tile and ugly shower door! Woohoo!

After seeing behind the wall, we discovered there was nothing behind there. Which means we can add a foot, (which will give us 5'), therefore, we can put in a bathtub! We can make our 1 and 3/4 bath house, into a 2 full bath house!!! This also means Brett won't have to do all the steps in custom tiling the shower floor like we planned. Now he'll only have to do that to the shower in the main bath. Saves us time and money! Yay! :)

The after picture.

(Or maybe it's more like "just the beginning").

Brett took a little too much of the wall out on the other side. Oops

Suck It Up!

It's time for us to get a new vacuum. Our vacuum barely even sucks- even with taking it apart several times to clean the filters. With my slight OCD regarding fabrics, I want a REALLY good vacuum. I'm talking, I'll pay almost anything for the best one possible. We've talked to a couple friends who have a Dyson vacuum but we have been told both positive and negative things about it. Mainly that they are very heavy to push. Maybe the new Dyson ball is easier to maneuver? Any advice regarding vacuums?

Skin Cancer?

What me? Never. (And no, I don't have skin cancer). But I recently got a mole removed from my arm that came back "benign but with abnormal/precancerous cells". Doctors have always told me to watch it to make sure it didn't get bigger. I don't think it ever did but a few months ago I went to the dermatologist to get other moles removed and he wouldn't do it. He said it would cost me hundreds of dollars to get moles removed just for cosmetic reasons and plus he didn't have time since this was my first visit. I couldn't believe that because I got moles removed all the time growing up. Maybe it's because my insurance is different now or something. But then he saw the mole on my arm and freaked out. He even brought in another doctor to show her. Then he showed me under a microscope how the mole had light and dark spots, which apparently isn't a good thing. Well he made time to take that mole off! I was ticked because I had made the appointment months before, took time off of work, and he wouldn't take the moles off that I wanted, but now all of a sudden he had time for this little, cute, flat, black mole that didn't bother me.

I know it wasn't malignant and that I didn't have skin cancer but it's just crazy to think that there are people who have skin cancer run in their family or tan all the time (TIFFANY!) or live in sunny places and are outside year round, and to think that it could have happened to me -who lives in cold Minnesota and only tanned occasionally way back in the day, plus has no family history of skin cancer (that I'm aware of). Just crazy to think.

P.S. Yes, that picture is of me way back in the day.

So Long Guest Room

What was once a guest room is no more. All because I got Brett weights for Christmas. He remembered seeing a bench press in the crawlspace when we first moved in. The crawl space was full of junk left by the previous owner. We spent a few weeks cleaning it out when we first moved in but gave up and moved onto other stuff and haven't gone back to that project yet. (By the way, anyone need a huge fish tank, there's one under there). Brett crawled under there and got the bench and then recovered it with some extra fabric we had from fixing his car interior.

We were trying to figure out where we could put his bench and the weights, and then Brett reminded me that we have two bedrooms that never get used. I knew he was right but I didn't want to give up either room. I decided that it would be easier to store a headboard and footboard, then to store all my playroom stuff that still I want to keep. After all, where would our kids play in like 5 years if we got rid of it all? :) 

So now this is what my pretty guest room looks like:

Brett also said if I sold the bed we could use the money to buy the one I want for our room. That was pretty tempting but I decided we'll just sell the mattress and store the bed since I would practically be giving it away compared to what I have originally paid for it. (Any one looking to buy queen mattress?) Here's the headboard I hope to someday get for our room. It's from Pottery Barn and it's actually really reasonably priced. Pretty nice, huh?

A Touch of Color

I wanted to add some color but our house is pretty open and all the walls continue into other rooms, so I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to do it. I'm not a big fan of accent walls. I feel like they are a safe choice for people who are too scared to paint the whole room a dark color. But with our awkward house, I didn't see any other choice without a line down a middle of a wall with one side a dark color and the other side of the line beige.

I was dead set on plum purple. I was all excited about it but then Brett gave me the veto. He wanted red but I tried to convince him that red was "so last year." ;) I compromised with him since he's not too excited of my plans for the living room. I think it turned out really well and the red is absolutely the perfect shade of red, thanks to Tiffany, who I used the same color as her beautiful red kitchen.

By the way, my beautiful new mirror was part Christmas present from Brett's parents last year and part this year's Christmas present from Brett. Thanks again Gordon and LaNeal (and Brett)! I'm not sure yet if we're going to mount it. I wanted a mirror that would be too big to mount that would sit on the floor against the wall (as shown), but this was the biggest one I could find (and it is mountable).

Just Because

OK, so I don't even really have anything to blog about. I have a 'To Do List' a mile long but I don't feel like doing anything.

I finished Breaking Dawn, the last book of the Twilight series, a few days ago. I don't think I've even read one book in one week, let alone four huge books in just one week. I was so addicted I did nothing but read every moment I had. I was even tempted to call in sick one day to finish one of the books because I just could not stop. There were a few parts I even cried at, and I have never cried reading a book. I can NOT wait till next November when they come out with the second movie, New Moon! It's too bad it will be a few years till they get to Breaking Dawn because that is definitely the best one!

Here are our new porch trees. Aren't they cute? We've gone through a few plants and have managed to kill them all so I finally turned to faux trees. I don't know how we've managed to keep Riley alive this long since we can't even keep one plant alive. Must be Riley's automatic feeder or he'd be doomed, too. The trees were half off after Christmas but they were exactly what I was wanting so I plan on keeping them out year round.

Brandon and his Board, Brett and his Camera....

...Need I say more?
Brett took these pictures of my brother, Brandon, snowboarding at my parent's house last week.

My Confession

When I heard people talk about the Twilight series, I thought 'Spare me!' I don't get into fictional nonsense, such as Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc., and I especially wasn't going to waste my time reading a book about Vampires. My sister tried to convince me I would love it as much as she did. So I saw the movie and was surprised to really like it. I was also surprised to realize that the author is LDS. So Brett and I bought the first book, Twilight, and I was "dazzled" by Edward Cullen. Brett and I read a couple chapters together after getting the book but I didn't want to stop reading. 

When we got home on New Years, it was 2:30AM and I couldn't go to bed without reading a few chapters. I woke up Thursday and went straight to the couch and read the entire book. I couldn't put it down. In the back of my mind I kept thinking of all the things I needed to do around the house but I kept telling myself, OK I'll stop after this next chapter. Before I knew it, I had to turn on a lamp because the sun had gone down. I realized I had spent the entire afternoon and evening reading the book. But it was worth it. Then first thing Friday morning, I went out to buy the next book, New Moon. I read half last night and the other half this morning.  I can't wait to start the next book, Eclipse. I will confess, I have reached a new low, I love a fictional vampire (and his "liquid topaz eyes").

A Happy New Year!

We had a fun New Year's Eve at the Hogan's pole barn with Brian, Marla, Marla's sister Nicole, and a few others. Brett and Bri tested their arm strength and had contests to see who could hold the longest on the rings.

The girls raced!

And Nicole wins!

We had fun playing Rock Band and American Idol Encore

Fun times, as always!

Ba Humbug

After the holidays it's always a little sad it's over. It's no fun taking down all the decorations, cleaning up, going back to work after a few days off, but I'm even more sad that Brett and I aren't in Idaho right now. We were planning on driving out to Idaho with my brother Justin and his girlfriend, to visit my sister and her family . Brett and I decided that with all the holiday spending and since we've both already taken off so much time at work in the past couple of months, we'd better not go. Justin even told us he would pay for all of gas so we would go, but we still turned him down so we didn't have to take more time off of work. I talked to Tiff last night and it sounds like they are having a good time. I'm really sad that we're not there. Tiff said they will come to MN next year for Christmas since they didn't this year or last year. I told her she better plan on coming in 2010 since we won't be here next year. Guess every 4 years isn't so bad. :(

My After Christmas Shopping

Next year we will have a brand new, very beautiful, pre lite, tree and all new decorations! I stood in line Friday morning outside of Target to get all the ornaments we had picked out a couple weeks ago. We've always only had a few ornaments on our tree (I'm not sure what took us so long to buy some). But I finally decided after 5 years of bare trees, this year would be the year! It took me a while to decided what color-theme I want the tree to be, it's a pretty big decision since we probably won't be getting all new ornaments again for a while (considering it took us 5 years to get around to the first set). I left Target pushing two carts! Our tree will be overflowing with ornaments next year!

On a side note, a couple years ago I even bought stockings for our children that we don't even have yet, (of course I got them when they were 75% off). I'm really glad I did because Target no longer has the same stockings and I love these. I got the letter "S" for my girl name and a "M" for the boy name. (And no, I'm not saying what the names are). I have kind of changed my mind about the "S" name but since it was only like $3.25, I don't feel like it was a huge waste of money. Unfortunately, Target didn't have every letter in both green and red so the order doesn't quite work out perfectly, I guess Riley might continue to be up each year. At least we can use these for a while until we'll need a letter "P", then I'll have to get all new ones. :) Or maybe by then Target will come back out with these again.

After my Target trip, I went to Seasonal Concepts to get the tree we picked out. All their trees have been 50% off since Thanksgiving but I thought I'd wait till after Christmas because then it would be even more on sale. Well it wasn't! I was super bummed because we could had it up this year. I tried calling Brett over and over to make sure I can still get it because we were planning on it being a little cheaper. I decided I better go home and talk to him first since all sales are final (I think they are going out of business). The guy told me I better hurry because there were only two of those trees left. I went home and Brett gave me the OK. We went back and they had sold the two trees! We ended up buying the floor model.

Merry Christmas!

I was really looking forward to our first Christmas in our own house, not living out of a suitcase, having a relaxing time just the two of us. I was evening thinking it might be boring around here. Well...we just barely stepped back in the door after three days of Christmas celebrations. The only one bored around here has been Riley. But I am not complaining. It was a wonderful time with family and friends to celebrate the birth of the Savior.

On Tuesdays night, we left straight from work for my parent's house for Christmas with the Larson's. After over an hour of sitting in traffic, and taking the wrong road that lead us back onto the stand-still freeway for another 30 minutes, we finally made it. (I guess it goes to show you how long it's been since we've been to my parent's house if the frontage road had literally been moved and they created an on-ramp that didn't exist there the last time we were there). All the Larson relatives where there except for my sister and her family. The 27 of us sat down to a great ham dinner. We made it back home very late just to get up early the next day.

Brett and I both took Christmas Eve off of work. I ran last minute errands in the morning while Brett shoveled the driveway. Then we got to spent the rest of the day with the Hogan's at their pole barn! We had a great dinner and then we had a program. I have been trying to teach myself how to play the piano (but have not been so diligent in my efforts). Let's just say I tried to played Silent Night. :)

Later, the kids hit the pinatas. The bigger kids even got a turn. :)



Christmas morning we were home for just a moment to see what Santa had left us. He remembered that I had asked for wool socks and a new piano book. He got me the Idiots Guide to Learning the Piano. :) Santa gave Brett a weight bar that Brett wanted and a new white button-up shirt for church.

We then left for my parent's house, this time no traffic. We had a another yummy ham meal and opened gifts. Then we all went to see the movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Afterward, we were going to go snowmobiling but it was really cold out so Ashely and I sat inside while Brett took a few pictures of Brandon snowboarding.

Then just before Brett and I were about to leave to come home, we all decided to grab some dinner at TGI Fridays. What could be a better Christmas dinner then chicken fingers and cold fries? ;)

We had a wonderful Christmas! Now I'm about to go to sleep so I can get up early for some after Christmas specials. We're hoping to get a new Christmas Tree but I'm all alone in my efforts, Brett is not one to fight the crowds, wish me luck!

Tis' the Season to be Jolly

It truly is better to give then to receive. I get so excited shopping for other people and get even more excited when I find just the perfect thing. Brett is so thoughtful in giving but he'd rather not get anything for Christmas (or birthdays, anniversaries, etc), to save money. In fact he'll even tell me he will be mad if I get him something. This puts a damper on my excitement in giving. I guess Riley will be getting some pretty nice bones this year so I can still have the joy I feel from giving. ;)

I had some cute ideas in mind for a little gift for my kids, however, they were all adding up to more than I was planning on spending. But I think plan D turned out alright. :)

I also had a great time putting together these mugs for the ladies I visit teach at church.

My student's (and their families) were so generous to me this year. Brett and I enjoyed eating at the Olive Garden Friday night, compliments of a gift card I received from a boy in my class. Brett and I hardly go out to eat, and when we do, we usually share a meal. It was so fun to splurge and each get our own meals and not have to agree on the same thing. We also were even able to share a dessert, which has never happened before. It was a great night out. Thanks Ben! :)

Minnesota Senate Race

Every vote truly counts!  As of today, Norm Coleman leads by just two votes. Just think, if Brett and I hadn't of voted, they would be tied right now! Our votes may not have helped much for the Presidency (since MN voted Democratic), but it was still worth our time to vote! Go Norm! 

Deck The Halls...

I love this time of year! And I love Christmas decorations! I was so excited that we put up most of it before we left for Thanksgiving.

My little trees on the stairs

The first time our stockings are hung over a fireplace! (Not a very nice looking fireplace, but a fireplace none the less). By the way, in case you think it's weird that our dog has a stocking, let me explain. Riley has a stocking because of the rule of odd numbers. Odd numbers are more aesthetically pleasing. So when we have a child, Riley will not have a stocking that year. When we have two children, then Riley's stocking will again be hanging to total , etc. etc.

The 3rd Bedroom

So awhile back I was planning on doing an in-home daycare. Now, I'm not exactly sure what my plans are. I moved all the stuff out of the family room into the basement bedroom. I had to sell some of the larger items I had since everything wouldn't fit into this smaller room. Brett is not sure why I haven't sold everything. I guess I'm not sure why I haven't either except that there's a part of me that thinks this would make a great play room for our future kids. (Or a backup plan if I ever got layed off). As for now it sits in the 3rd bedroom taking up space we could be using as an office or exercise room. We just barely put up blinds in here the other day. (As you can see, the length still needs to be cut).
The closet in this room is small but really deep, and we have it packed full of our miscellaneous things. The chrome shelf finally went on sale so I just got around to organizing the closet. I know you're probably thinking it doesnt' look that organized, but if you saw the "before" picture of it, you'd be amazed. However, I'm too embarrassed to show what it looked like before. Our kitchen does not have much storage space so most of our kitchen appliances sit in here. We've also started our food storage so that also found a home in this closet. As well as my drawers of scrapbook stuff that I haven't even touch since we moved into our house. This closet hasn't had closet doors in the 24 year existence of the house because the builders did a horrible job building it. It is not a standard closet size and the bottom is wider then the top. We'd have to get them special ordered and it is not cheap. Or we'd have to redo the frame of the closet. Aaron, next year for Christmas can you make me closet doors?

When Dinosaurs Attack!

Brett took this picture for last week's photo competition. The theme was "Humorous." Last week's competition ended up being canceled, but I thought this was pretty funny. We weren't sure if Riley would hold still while we placed the dinosaurs on him. But Brett, being the pack-leader that he is, told Riley to "stay," and Riley, being such an obedient dog, stayed like this for at least a good 10 minutes. We waited till he got really board and yawned. When Riley finally yawned, Brett wasn't ready with his camera but managed to capture this photo just before Riley finished his yawn. We waited for several more minutes to see if he would yawn again but he didn't.

More pictures:

Help Me!

Thanksgiving in Cincinnati

Brett and I drove to Cincinnati last Wednesday to spend our first Thanksgiving with the Livingston's. We had a great time and great food! It was so nice to see Brett's family again after a whole year! We also got to meet our first niece, Leah, who is absolutely adorable.

Riley made a new best friend, Danny

Family Pictures

Gordon and LaNeal with the Grand kids (and grand dog).

On our 14 hour drive home Sunday, we stopped at my friend Chelsea's house in Indianapolis. It was so fun to see her and her beautiful new home. While we were there, we left Riley in the car and he got into some chocolate covered raisins. He threw up all over the house today. That little stinker. (P.S. In my defense, this picture was taken really early in the morning, but Chelsea still looks beautiful as always).

Another Year Wiser

I used to get really excited about birthdays but now that I don't want to get any older, it wasn't something I was counting down the days to like I have in the past. We went to Mall of America on Saturday with my brother Justin and his girlfriend Ashley. I wanted to get some of my favorite crapes from this little place called the Magic Pan Crape Stand. I decided it comes in 2nd place because Brett and I found an even better place for crapes here in Woodbury. But it was still good!

I told Brett I really wanted to make a Fruit Pizza for my birthday! I'm not a big fan of cake so Brett usually makes me something else like his great cheese cake. But this year I really, really, really wanted fruit pizza! I love it and it's been YEARS since I've had it. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's a sugar cookie crust, cream cheese filling, and fruit topping. I have been really excited about it for the past couple weeks.

Well.... the past two days we have been running hundreds of errands. We've been to every store you can think of, twice! Then Brett says, I have to buy a bunt cake pan for your cake. I was like "what?" Thinking how I don't really like cake. He said he wanted to surprise me with a great recipe he found. Don't get me wrong, I thought that was so sweet but I really, really, really wanted a fruit pizza. He said to trust him, so I tried not to let my disappointment of the fruit pizza show. Well late Saturday night, after running to more stores, he could tell I was a little disappointed so he brought me back to Rainbow Foods (which we had already been there that day) and we bought a Fruit Tart. It's almost the same thing but the crust is not a sugar cookie crust. I couldn't even wait till the next day, my birthday, so we broke into Saturday night. It was sooooo good!
Brett really made the day special. A few months ago I picked out the family room rug and the agreement was that it was my early birthday present, so I really wasn't expecting anything else. He surprised me Saturday with flowers and a card! He also made us one of my favorite dinners, Ribs! I love meat but we rarely get it, so this was such a treat! And then of course, the cake he made for me! Thanks babe!

Keeping Warm

Poor little Riley really struggles with the cold. He shivers and when he's in the basement, where it's the coldest, he starts to whine. Riley gets sad when we're home and both in the basement because he likes to be with us as much as possible, since we're not home much. So this was Brett tonight trying to keep him warm while we watched The Office.

Crispy Hexagons Anyone?

Who wouldn't want a nice big bowl of Crispy Hexagons? Brett thought the name was pretty funny so he took a picture of it with my camera phone at the grocery store a few weeks ago (since it's been that long since we've been to the grocery store, but that's a whole other story)! We always buy off brand cereal (unless it's Cheerios, since the off brand of Cheerios is awful). Have you ever come across any other interesting names of off-brand items?

Brett's Photos - Week 2

Last week's word for the photo competition was FOUND. We spent a few hours on a Saturday at the St. Paul Cathedral. It took so long because there were tours going on and we'd have to wait for all the people to get out of the shot. Here are a few from that day. He choice the first picture and got second place. You may recognize the model. ;) In the picture he submitted, Brett changed my hair color as to not make it obvious.
Remember to vote again. This week's photo's were just posted. http://www.brihogan.com/

Okay, Okay...

Pictures as promised. Let me explain a few things first. You may be surprised that I, Andrea Livingston, has a plain, boring, beige house. And you're right! I wanted to appeal to the majority and not get too color-personal since we don't plan on living here for too long. I also studied a few parade of homes and really liked how they all had same color throughout the house. However, it has really been bothering me now that we recently purchased some beige furniture and there is no contrast in the rooms. Therefore, I will be picking up the painting brush again! (Just in a couple rooms though). I also included some before pictures. Now comparing pictures, it really depresses me because it doesn't look like we've done a whole lot.

The Dining Room

We have painted, replaced the patio door, and changed the light fixture. I plan on painting this room again. (Color to be determined). In my dreams, I plan on tearing out the carpet and putting in hardwood floors throughout the entry, kitchen and dining room. We'll see when/if that happens. P.S. I hate our dining table, don't judge my design skills by that table. We just got something that would fit the scale of the room and that was also inexpensive. I also wanted Parson chairs and thought I would have no problem reupholstering them. Turns out it's a lot harder than I thought, and also a lot more expensive then I thought.

The Living Room

As you can see, we painted the window trim, just haven't gotten around to painting the actual window. We also haven't taken down all the paint tape but I guess we should have left it up because I'll be painting this room chocolate brown.

P.S. Frances- the art would be for above the piano, any ideas?

The Guest Room/Someday baby room?

This is the second bedroom. I picked out blue curtains thinking that someday this might be a baby's room. To make a long story short, I saw similar blue curtains in a baby girl's bedroom of this beautiful 10 million dollar home. I never would have thought of blue for a girl but I thought it was so cute and that it indeed was more of a pretty/girl'ish blue color. But I think it could work both ways though. What's sad is, the guest room is nicer then our room due to the fact we've been married for almost 5 years and still don't have any bedroom furniture. I am not willing to sell this bed since I started to save for it when I was 8 years old and bought it 6 years later when I was only 14! And all my own money thank you very much! Now days you can purchase an entire bedroom set for what I paid for just the nightstand, so it really wouldn't be worth selling anyway. I bought a queen thinking I could use it when I got married someday, but turned out a queen is too small for Brett.

The Family Room

I decided to move all my daycare stuff out of the family room and into the downstairs bedroom, since I don't know what my plans are at this point regarding the daycare. Unfortunately, since that bedroom is being occupied, we don't have enough rooms for an office or exercise room. Hence, all that junk in the back of the family room (or should I say "multipurpose room"). It's funny to think that 3 bedrooms isn't enough for just the two of us. :) I have big plans for the fireplace! Someday (and I stress someday), we will make it into a gas fireplace and do black granite tiles over the brick. So far we've painted, changed light fixtures, painted the window and trim, and put in white wood blinds. We also scraped off the popcorn ceiling on the part of the ceiling/wall that sticks out above the window.

P.S. The rug is my birthday present from Brett. Cute huh? I wanted to add some color to this room and it helps a little. For some reason in the picture it looks really faded, but it's really not.

Reminiscing: A college fiasco (pictures included)

Brett here. Awhile back I reformatted my hard drive and accidentally lost a bunch of digital photos from some of my college life. Well my college roommate still had the pictures and I got them all back. I thought I'd post a story from my past. (It's gonna be a long one, but a hopefully a good read)

If anyone remembers living in apartments, at the end of each semester we had to do what was called "white glove". Basically a serious cleaning of the entire apartment. We had to follow a check list and it was the biggest pain in the butt. It really had to be clean or they would not pass you and you'd have to clean again or forfeit your deposit money for the semester. Well with 4 guys, we of course waited till the last days to get it done. It was late at night (probably after midnight for sure) and we were on the finishing touches.

(Before I continue I must prepare you the readers with some additional information. Probably not much different than any apartment we would eat each others food and have our food eaten by others in the apartment. I was probably the worst at eating everyone else's food so some of my roommates (kyle you know who you are) became creative as where to hide their leftovers.)

I will now continue with the white glove cleaning...... As we are getting ready to go to bed, my roommate Kyle was in charge of cleaning the oven. Well lucky for him our oven was a self cleaning model. So he thought he would let it run it's cycle over night while we would be in bed. Well I don't know how much time had past after he initially started the self clean but we were back in our rooms which were separated from the kitchen and living room areas when we started smelling a distinct smoke smell.

Upon coming out of our rooms we discovered that our living room was entirely filled with a heavy, heavy white smoke. I mean this smoke was so thick it was hurting our lungs to breath it in. Well we look at the stove and smoke was just pouring out of this thing. There was no turn off for the self clean on the oven and it also automatically locks the oven door because the self clean gets extremely hot! After figuring this all out we finally unplugged the oven but the smoke was stilling pouring out. Picture this apartment complex, three stories high and the smoke was leaving our first floor apartment and traveling up the stairs to the 2 and 3 floors. We did everything we could to clear the smoke as quickly as possible with a fan in the window and the door open.

It turns out that someone on the third floor saw and smelled the thick smoke and called the fire department. So sometime after midnight the fire trucks show up and everyone awake in the apartment complex is drawn into the spectacle that is our smokey oven. At this point I don't know if Kyle figured out what happened in his head or not, but he was not telling if he had (you'd have to ask him). The oven still would not open because it had not cooled down enough for the locking mechanism to release. So the firemen filled out their reports and off they went.

So what caused the smokey oven of doom? Turns out Kyle in attempts to keep me out of his leftover Little Ceasers Pizza, left the pizza box with leftover pizza in the oven and forgot about it. Unknowingly he turned the oven on self clean and forgot about his pizza inside! Below is the aftermath.

This picture does no justice to what happened. This at the end of the smoking, when it was finishing up.
I believe this is the smoke lingering after the fire truck had already come and gone. It was much thicker initially and also on the 3rd floor. You can see the door at the end of the hall propped open.
This is the remains of the pizza box. When the oven finally unlocked, the box was still smoldering!! It is probably a good thing the oven was locked that whole time or we would have opened the door and it would have burst into flames!
Leftovers anyone!



Kyle, Thanks for the good memory!

More Money Down the Drain

We're finally getting around to thinking about the bathroom plans! We're starting with the downstairs bath. Which do you like better? I can't believe I'm even open to the option of anything other than a vessel sink since I've been infatuated with them for the past five years! But there's something about the masculine lines I just love about the second choice. (I like very clean, masculine lines. You will never find any floral patterns in our house).

Design Dreaming

I can't exactly define my design style. You would never know what my style is by looking at my house, due to lack of funds, but I can tell you what I definitely would NOT classify myself as. That would include: Victorian, Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Mission Style, Art Deco, or anything from Early Modernism. One style I would like to claim to be (that I am in my dreams anyway) would be the International Style at the turn of the century. Some people think of Modern to mean as today's time, when in fact, modern started in the 1950's. What I would give for a Barcelona chair, designed by Mies van der Rohe! The beautiful lines and proportions make van der Rohe's chair a timeless classic. A classic that that can be yours for only $4,000-$5,000! My birthday is coming up, so feel free to think of the Barcelona as you are doing my birthday shopping (I would like it in black leather). ;) My Professor back in the ID days, T.L. McRae, designed the Spencer W. Kimball building at BYU-Idaho and it features four Barcelona's on the second level. (That's a lot of tithing money)! Although, they might be knock-offs, he never did say. If so, you'd never know it!
I love architecture! I have hundreds of favorites thanks to my Contemporary Architecture & Furniture class! A few that come to mind, that I'm sure you're all familiar with, would included the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain, designed by Frank Gehry, The Villa Savoye designed by Le Corbusier, and the famous Falling Water, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Oh and I can't forget The Glass House by Philip Johnson. Ah, I could list 50 more but I can already tell this post is getting rather lengthy. I only hope I will someday design a house for us, and that the house would be somewhat as creative as these other extraordinary designs.

Guggenhien Bibao (above)

Falling Water (below)

The Glass House & The Barcelona Living Room

Another favorite design aspect of mine is lighting. Oh how I would love a Cellula Chandelier (pictured below) over my dining table someday! It's only the small price of $2,600. Worth every penny! Now If only I had that many pennies. :) I guess I'll have to settle for another one of my favorites, The Fucsia Pendant lamp (below) at the cheaper price of $2,300.
I have designed a few furniture pieces of my own. My main three sofa sets, that I named "The Livingston Collection," (I know, pretty original, huh?) were somewhat inspired by the Le Corbusier Collection. Which is ironic because Le Corbusier wasn't one of my favorite designers back in my Interior Design days at BYU-I. Now his simplicity, use of metal, and clean lines, inspired me when I came up with my sofa collections. If only I knew how to go about getting them made.... I guess I'll just keep design dreaming.

Brett's Photo

See, I told you I had a ton of stuff to post this week! And there is still more to come! I guess I'll save some of my posts for next week. I wanted to post Brett's picture from the photography contest he's doing with my cousin, uncle, and three other guys. The votes placed him at second place. Here is his photo:Pretty good, huh? Make sure you remember to vote again next week. The new pictures will be posted Sunday night! http://www.brihogan.com/

Jen T.'s Tag...

OK so here are the Rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you
2. Post these rules
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them.

My cousin Jen T. Tagged me. What's funny is I couldn't think of any quirks about myself until I asked Brett. He sure could think of some things pretty quickly!

Here goes:

1. I brush my teeth twice in the morning. First when I first wake up and then again after I eat breakfast. I will also only use Crest Regular Paste! No matter what. If I'm somewhere and I forgot or ran out of my Crest Regular Paste, I will make a quick trip to the nearest Target or WalMart, no questions about it.
2. I have a little bit of OCD when it comes to Fabrics. If you only knew how much dirt and bacteria live in them, you would be changing your pillows, sofas, drapes, towels, etc. very often!!! My parent's have a couch that is about 15 years old and I will not sit on it or even go near it! I also will never walk barefoot on carpets. Even if the carpet is brand new or was just cleaned, there is so much stuff that lives in carpet, you don't even want to know! I lay out a pair of socks by my bed each night and my feet never touch the floor barefoot in the morning, or ever! But thinking about it more, it's not just carpets, I don't like to walk barefoot on any type of floor.

3. I can't/won't swallow pills. I have always had this "issue." I gag really bad and I will ask for the liquid version of the medication when I'm sick. It kind stinks because when I get a really bad headache, most of the time I will fight through the pain instead of taking something for it. And no, cutting a pill in half does not solve the problem! I also am not able to take vitamins. I used to take Flintstones (yes, for children) , then L'il Critters came out with a great gummy bear vitamin called Gummy Vite's. And just recently I discovered an adult version of the gummy bear vitamins at Target!!! They are yummy! :)4. I have never, and will never chew gum. It also really bugs me when people around me are chewing gum. Brett knows this bothers me and will try to get in my face and annoy me.

5. I am a major scared-e-cat! I won't vacuum or blow dry my hair when I'm home alone. I guess because it's too loud and I wouldn't hear someone creeping up behind me. I think if there ever was an intruder in our house, I would probably go into shock or die of a heart attack, seriously. We trained Riley not to be a barker and now I'm regretting that a bit. Guess we'll have to get another dog. :)

6. I have a few "health issues." First, I think it's absolutely horrible when I see babies (or any children for that matter) with pop in their bottles or sippy-cups!!! Second, it really bothers me when people cook their vegetables and put butter in it! They think they're eating healthy, when in fact they just turned their originally healthy vegetable into a greasy, high-calorie, saturated fat! Learn to eat your vegetables natural! They are great plain!

OK now that everyone knows how crazy I am, it's your turn! I'm going to tag different people this time: Amber, Sasha, Frances, Chelsea K., Sheena, and Shelley.

First Timers!

Today Brett and I voted for our first time! I met Brett on my lunch break and we didn't even have to wait, it was great! Four years ago we were in collage in Idaho and didn't vote for some reason. I didn't realize that you vote for more then just the President and Senator. I left a few of the judges blank because I had no idea who they were. I even went and asked someone if my vote is still valid if I left some blank. The lady told me a lot of people asked that question so I didn't feel so bad. I guess in four years, I look into that a little more. :)