Photos from last week

So not a whole lot new going on. We finally have some sign of flowering life in the yard- there are these two random little purple flowers that popped up in the middle of the lawn. All the stuff that I posted on last week looks about the same - ugh- I want flowers!!!



I am just going out every few days scanning the yard hoping for some more. The lilacs are putting out more buds and I am getting really excited for those.

This weekend my nephew came and spent some more time with us - here I was drying my hair in my turban-ish towel style. He thought it looked pretty cool and wanted one too. I wrapped up his head in a hand towel and he wore it for a while.



also - I had to go to the eye dr today and they dilated the heck out of my eyes so it is hard for me to see so sorry for any typo's.

More photos......

So here are some photos from the past weeks.........

My sister Saundra emailed me this great blog/website Smitten Kitten I love it and gave this recipe a try. It was very yummy and I will be making it again for sure.





The week prior I also decided to make some more cupcakes. I decided to give the frosting that gave steph and I so much grief another go (swiss meringue buttercream) and I conquered it!!!! I was so proud - but as a trade off my caramel for the cupcake centers did not turn out. sad.







Last Wed we got our dining room table. We had already purchased the chairs from another furniture store during one of their sales (may I add for an awesome deal thanks to my hubby). We then had to shop for a table to match the chairs - a bit backwards but oh well. We found a great table at a small store north of Ogden. Even though it was the last weekend in Feb when we found it, they were still having their "Presidents Day" sale- he he he.
We were a bit afraid that the table wouldn't fit or the chairs wouldn't match but we love it and thankfully the chairs match and it fits the space perfectly.



This past weekend we had our nephew Tafton come stay with us (and it turned out tobe a good thing cause his poor mom got hit with some bad kidney stones and his dad had to work a bunch)
Tafton had a lot of fun with his Uncle - we opened up the grill for the first time this year and grilled some steaks.


We also explored our yard to see what was going on and we also started some long needed clean up of the back yard.




We found some new growth on our lilacs


it also looks like we have some type of spring bulbs that are popping up in various places




it will be nice to have some flowers show up so I can really figure out what the heck they are

Then after a long day of playing and eating (life for a kid is so hard) a bubble bath to round it out.

Lots of photos

Well maybe not a ton but for sure some updates!!! So the past month has been busy -

-Steph my oldest sister is married!!! Congrats to her and her new hubby (mike). I am excited to have some of the Harbour clan here in Ogden with me. HE HE HE
-My good friend from work Chelsea is preggers so I threw an awesome baby shower for her with an (if I do say so myself) impressive spread of cupcakes that Steph and I make from scratch.
-I painted my fireplace!!!

I didn't grab any pics from the wedding cause I was too busy fussing over Steph (which was so much fun, all of us are so great at giving directions but not that great at taking direction)

So first pics from the baby shower - I really got a crafty nerve for this one. Ever since we first found out Chels was preg we were planning on doing a shower at our house so I had a long time to get excited for it. I occasionally love to bake and came up with the bright idea to do cupcakes and in my true nature I could not do just one kind no - I had to do seven. Thankfully my sister now lives in Ogden and I recruted her to help me.


Here we are - so gorgeous in our baking garb - trying not to eat the cupcakes


they were so good, these ones were mini chocolate -salted caramel filled. Yummy!! I did not take a pic of the first batch of caramel that I burned beyond creation - literally it looked like bubbling black tar. Not yummy.
- PS saundi - steph said I need to perfect the caramel recipe so I can mail you some salted caramels -


Then one day at work a fellow nurse (chau) and I were talking about fun gifts and we brought up diaper cakes. I had seen another person at the hospital get one from someone who had made it at home so I figured if they can do it, so can I!


So I did!! The plastic in the photo you will understand a few pics down. - So cute! Yeaaaa me.


So here are some pics of the final spread. There were white cupcakes with multi colored frosting, raspberry cheesecakes, devils food with chocolate ganache (sp?), strawberry with whipped cream frosting, the mini chocolate salted caramel ones, ....


carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and german chocolate. Cheslea made some chicken salad and fruit salad to add to the spread. I also made a really good punch.




The gals from work and some friends came to the shower (chelsea is the one in the polka dot shirt in front of the tv)


So the other project that I mentioned was my fireplace. I love the hearth but I hated the pink terra cotta tiles on it. Maybe if we lived in New Mexico, Cali, Arizona and/or it fit with the house but I just felt it did not. So I updated it.

This is a pic of the living room when I started painting before we moved in. I took the pic before I painted the hearth white but that happened right after the pic was snapped. The green that is on the hearth in the pic was the old color of the room.


So because I didn't want to try my hand at tiling quite yet I decided to spray paint. That is right - I got a special primer for porous surfaces, primed it and then used a textured spray paint in a light tan color. It still needs a few more coats for the perfect finish but I think it looks so much better.


Our modern fireplace - I love it and I got to light the candles tonight for the first time. So pretty.

Sorry I'm so awful

So I know I have been horrible! No posting in almost two months. No time to upload tonight but I did snap a few pics from the Super Bowl party we had tonight and I will post them.

This weekend we are heading down to Arizona for my sisters wedding. Woo hoo.

I Survived My First 1/2 Marathon!!!

Hello everyone - I did it!!!!
Sunday Dec 6, 09 was the Inaugural Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon

This past weekend I went to Vegas with Michelle -my friend from Mt- and some of her friends (Amy, Sue and Luis). We spent the first few days walking around Vegas looking at the casinos and stuff because Michelle had never been. We had some wonderful food, we had amazing seats to see O by Cirque De Sole(sp?) at the Bellagio and then watched the fountains.




Saturday we did some more walking around.

Sunday was the big day, we woke up at 5am to get ready.

We stayed at the Mandalay Bay hotel as the race started in their parking lot. The total count for the participants was around 27,500. This race was a new one in a group of races called the "rock and roll" series so in the AM they set off some fireworks to get things going. It was amazing to see the strip full of runners waiting to get started. That lighted bridge all the way up there is the start line.



They have the runners organized into corrals (yes like cattle) and they release the corrals in timed intervals so the race way does not get clogged. We lined up in corral #12 (even though none of our numbers were in 12 - he he he). We got lined up and then we were off ---
I put a big arrow over my head - yeaaaaa thats me-



I did make the rookie mistake of running way too fast!!! Amy (who didn't run this one but she was our amazing support crew) warned me of this. I had been training with an average of apx 15 min miles - my first 7 miles were averaging 10 min miles-. The race was very entertaining. We saw many many people dressed up as Elvis, many people dressed up as Santa, a trio of guys running as the Three Amigos, and also a lot of people with wedding attire as there was a run through wedding chapel and vow renewal area. As it was a Rock n Roll event there were many bands scattered along the way, my fav were the Japanese Drummers around mile 6-7ish.

I did hit "The Wall" for me it was around mile 8-9, my feet just felt like steel boots were strapped on them and I was craving pancakes (obviously I was in need of carbs). Thankfully there was a GU station at mile 9. GU is disgusting (-sorry to the makers- it is a carbohydrate filled, artificially flavored, gelatinous gob) but it was the most glorious looking thing at the time, I just needed something to keep me going. I passed up the Holiday GU (vanilla gingerbread, double yuck) and stuck with the triple berry. I told my dad I felt like such a hard core runner with my GU packet in one hand and my water and Cytomax (like power aid) in the other hand. With no free hands I had to tear my GU packet open with my teeth, squeeze a bunch in my mouth, chase it with my fluids and then throw them to the side of the road and keep going.

The last 3 miles were very hard and I swear there were really 5 miles in between the mile markers. My friends were already finished and waiting under mile marker 13 to cheer me on to the end but I was so ready to be done and so focused on my music that I ran by them. My friend Michelle said I looked really angry, oops I should of tried to smile.

-here is a link of me actually crossing the finish line *click here* you may have to search my name, I am at the top of the screen and if you watch they will count it down for when I am gonna cross-

My final time was 3hr 2min and 22 sec (03:02:22) wooo hooo!!! I didn't realize I had done that well cause the finish line clock counts the "gun time" which is when the first corral was released - we didn't get released until 24min later- they record both times.
Here is my metal for finishing!!!


After the race we went out to breakfast and I ate some great pancakes and eggs Benedict. Everyone else was ready to go out for the rest of the day as this was not their first race - I went up to the room and slept for abt 3 hrs-
Today I am back home with my wonderful husband. I am very sore and right now stairs are my enemy but I know I will recover.
I am planing on doing 2 more 1/2's this late spring and summer - woo hoo!!!!

Wonderful Thanksgiving

-be prepared to read, it is a long one -
So this past week and a halfish we have had a wonderful time with all our family. Starting on Fri the 20th my mom and dad flew in from Wash DC to stay with us a few days.

While they were here they met Mike Garis (my sister Stephs fiance), we went out to dinner together and had a great time teasing Steph. Those of you who know her know she likes to "control" a situation or at least be present to mediate. She was very nervous about Mom and Dad meeting Mike with out her being here. We did play a little trick on her the first night we all went out to dinner (because we were all getting along so well). Towards the end of dinner I texted Steph that things had gotten tense at dinner and Mike had gotten up and walked out. Steph didn't believe me at first so I did a little more convincing. Mike was in on it too!! We didn't lead her on for long (prob abt 2 min is all) and it prob was a little mean, but we love you steph. She didn't find it that amusing, understandably.

On Sunday the 22 Mom and Dad, Ben and I drove up in our separate cars to Mt. Ben and I were able to stay in Mt until Wed the 25th.


We got to spend lots of time with my fam and it was so great! My lil niece Charlotte (daughter of my brother Derek and his wife Beth) is 1 yr old now and so cute. I was afraid she would not want Ben or I to hold her but thankfully she wasn't scared of us at all.



While up there we drove to Spokane Wa and picked up Stephs wedding dress! I know Feb will come fast for all of us but prob a lot faster for her. We weren't there cause we had to come back to Ogden for my work but Mike proposed so now they are officially engaged.

On Wed we drove back into town, bummer. I ended up not having to go into work on Turkey day because we didn't have enough patients to justify all the nurses who were staffed (thankfully). We went up to Mom and Dad Keeffers for dinner. After dinner and dessert Ben and Meg (along with their kids)and John came over to play cards and hang out. I stayed up way to late and felt it in the a.m. when I had to wake up at 0400 for work. The next few days were just normal work and chores.

Then today was Johhnys farewell talk, he goes into the provo MTC this Wed. I can't believe it has come up so fast. Also Mikaela Passey was blessed in the same Sac meeting, she wore a very cute very puffy white and brown dress. After the meeting we all went to the Pleasant View city building and had a potluck.

Now Ben and I are just hanging out at home, watching some football. Duke is here hanging out with us once again as Steph is in town to visit Mike. -see mom he fits in this bed much better, he thanks you and dad for getting it for him, i'm sure-


And lastly we are thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family, even if we don't get a chance to see you often or talk to you know that we care for all of you.

another week - another plumbing problem

We love our new house but needless to say we do not love all of the plumbing problems we have run into. For the first few weeks we have run into 3 different plumbing problems. First on moving in the upstairs shower was constantly dripping hot water, no matter what we did it continued to drip. We finally called a plumber and about $200 dollars later the shower was fixed.

The second plumbing problem we had was the main floor toilet. We had not been able to use it since we moved in because it would not flush. First I tried to fix it one day while Ben was at work. I disassembled the whole toilet, snaked it with our sad little snake we bought at Lowes, then reassembled it with no improvement. We caved and decided to try a plumber, we were hoping it would be something covered in our home warranty. The plumber came out and had to disassemble the whole toilet again, this time he had success! He found a huge chunk of glass that was lodged in the line (his first question to us was "Did ya'll get really mad at each other recently?"). Obviously it was something dropped down the line while the toilet was off before as it was so big it would not of been able to be flushed. So after another $160 (this repair is going to be one of our Christmas presents from my Mom and Dad) we thought we were all done with plumbing disasters for a while.

But no.........














Friday night we had our first dinner party!! We had some old neighbors from the apartments come over for dinner. After we finished eating we loaded the dishwasher and started it so it could run while we watched the Jazz game. Ben walked in mid dishwasher cycle to a sink completely backed up with dirty water. Most of the water drained overnight- or so we thought-. No it just drained down into the dishwasher.

Ben really did not want to shell more money out to a plumber so we called in the family troupes. Ben, Ben Passey and John all worked on the sink tonight and after a good handful of hours, two pizzas and some frustration we have a fully operational sink and dishwasher!!

Woo Hoo - I am glad I have a hubby who is willing to be a DIYer.