Better Late Than Never, Right?

Jeff's birthday was in June. It was right before we moved and I was a lame wife and we didn't do anything for it. He worked on the house...I worked on packing...he got sick and puked and spent the rest of the day on the couch. Lame birthday.

So, we finally did something to celebrate his birthday. He's wanted to go shooting for a while, so I planned a day for us to do just that. I told him earlier in the week we were going on a date so to not make plans for Saturday (yesterday) and to not ask questions because then I would spill the beans and I wanted it to be a surprise.

On Friday, I gave him a card with the info so he could get his guns ready because I have no idea exactly what needs to happen. I grew up going shooting with my dad, but I still don't really know anything about it.

Saturday morning was like Christmas and Jeff was like a small child. Thrilled would be an understatement. Jeff was up bright and early, cleaning his guns and making sure we had everything we needed. It was cute. He packed a bag with drinks, eye and ear protection, and a shirt for me to wear over my normal shirt so I didn't smell like gun powder all day. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate smells so I appreciated that. Jeff talked about guns all day, which kind he wants vs the kind he has, what type of ammo is the best, etc... I tried to understand, but I just don't know anything about them.

I stayed safe on my side of the fence thingy between us. Even though I grew up with guns, they still make me a little nervous.

Jeff is a pretty good shot. He hit his target a lot of times.

I was thrilled that I even hit mine that many. I may or may not have shot the frame. There was a hole in it that could have been caused by me. We're just not sure about that so we put it away and hopefully it gets taken care of.

It was really windy. Jeff had to reassure me that the bullets would not blow back to us. I'm so irrational sometimes. Happy late birthday to Jeff. We had a lot of fun then went to dinner and bought a new bed. It was quite the day.

Sick Love

I LOVE Criminal Minds.
Love it. It's so fascinating. And, Derek Morgan (third from the left) is pretty much my favorite. He's beautiful. I kept this little crush a secret, but then Jeff said, "He is a very handsome man." Yes, husband. He is. Not that I lust after him or anything, but Jeff agrees so I think it's ok to admit that he's an attractive man.

Because of the fascination with said show and several other serial killer crime shows, I have an out of control imagination. For example, I went to Hawaii a couple of years ago. Beautiful, amazing, want to go back all the time. There is so much foliage there and my first thought was never, "This is so green and beautiful" but rather, "Think of all the places you could hide a body and nobody would ever find it." Sick, I know. But it's true.

Jeff is gone a lot at night so if I watch it, I totally freak myself out and can't go in our kitchen because one window has no blinds or curtains or anything. I lock the door and sit on the couch until he gets home because I think of all the crazies that could sneak into my house and it freaks me out. I wish I were making these things up, but they're all too true. Jeff is very patient with my obsessions and just laughs when I'm petrified on the couch because I've watched too many episodes.

Will I stop watching it? Not a chance. In fact, I'm thinking about doing the free trial of Netflix just so I can watch all the seasons before the new season starts in September. I'm sick.

the most discusting person in the world (doesn't deserve a capitalized title)

spencer and i have had a renter for the past 2 years. she was the first renter for our newly purchased place at 800 north in slc. it's a decent place, but we chose very poorly. she is just all kinds of gross and nasty. every time we went into her place i wanted to puke because of the smell. we tried hundreds of times to get her to clean. the more i think about it, the more i realize that i should have called child protective services. she moved out recently and we went to check out the place. surprisingly, it didn't smell. but here are some pics.

enough said...

Dinner with Cliff

Jeff and I went to Logan this weekend for a much-needed getaway. We stayed at the Anniversary Inn and did a whole lot of nothing and it was so nice to just sleep and relax and sleep some more. We went to dinner one night at Cafe Sabor. Very tasty, by the way. And here is how it went:
Hostess: How many?
Jeff: Just 2.
Hostess: Can I get a name?
Jeff: Cliff. (I didn't hear his response. Since it ended in F, I figured he said Jeff)
A few minutes later...
Hostess: Cliff, party of 2.
Jeff grabs my hand, I look super confused, Jeff smiles with a "don't ask questions" smile and follows the hostess.
We sit down.
Me: Cliff? Really?
Jeff: Sometimes I just don't like to use my real name. It gets old. Cliff was the first thing that came to mind.

Cliff and I had a great dinner and then had ice cream to complete the night.

It's Alive! Bwahahahah

At our 12 week exam, we met the doc and we heard the heartbeat. Hearing that was actually pretty anticlamatic. Jen and I were both expecting different feelings. For me it was like, "okay, great, it's alive, glad to hear it."

However, the doc ordered an integrative screen, where they measure the amount of fluid buildup at the back of the neck and compare it with hormone levels from 2 or 3 different blood tests to determine if there are any problems. So we got an ultrasound on Monday!!! Here are some pics


Here he is. Head on left, body to the right. The dots above the body are a hand and foot




Arrows from left to right: head, arm, leg

Head shot: the chin, nose and forehead (ignore the line under the head)

The red line on this shows the bottom of the head. The circle near the bottom is what they measure, that little gap between the bottom white stuff and the white stuff right above it. They say below 1-2cm is good, our kid's was 0.9cm, yeah!

So that's our kid. During the ultrasound, we saw the brain (it's there) and the spinal chord looked good (to me). He has 2 arms and 2 legs and was moving around quite a bit. At one point he was saying a prayer, good job dude. There was one point where we got a shot between the legs and I could clearly see something, but the tech said that the penis and clitorus are the same size right now, so it's impossible to tell. We'll just have to wait like everyone else.

Jenny and I are so happy and seeing the kid makes the experience so much real. We're so excited for our little buddy to keep growing!

It's True

The Lengths We Go To

Happy Pioneer Day!

Jen and I didn't do anything for Independence Day, so we felt that we should do something for Pioneer day. We started with watching the parade on TV. Did any of you think some of those floats were a bit creepy? But it was good, and fun to watch. We decided that the best way to finish off the day would be to have a BBQ.

Problem: We don't own a BBQ.

Solution: Go buy one. (easier said than done)

We had been thinking about getting a decent BBQ for a while now. But we decided to go with one of those cheap propane ones instead.

First, Jenny went to Harmons to get some food.

Harmons = 1

Later, Jen and I went to Walmart to get the BBQ and some ice cream for rootbeer floats. I see these stupid little BBQ's everywhere I go, even at the grocery stores, so I was confident we wouldn't have any trouble getting one. Walmart was sold out.

Walmart = 2

Went across the street to Kmart. A few side notes before I tell you we were unsuccessful in getting a BBQ:

-The Kmart company has been struggling for years: Bankruptcy about 10 or 15 years ago, then they merged with Sears about 5 years ago or so. At 4800 S, the Kmart is right across the street from Walmart. The Walmart parking lot was packed as usual, and there were 7 cars in the Kmart lot. How this place stays open is beyond me.

-The Kmart was GROSS. We walked in and it immediatly smelled like a toilet. I thought it was a poo at first, but then realized it was a discusting cheap bathroom cleaner. It was really gross. I kept pointing this out to Jenny, and she kept telling me to be quiet. Shouldn't the employees know if the smell drives away customers?

Anyways back to our story. Kmart, no dice. Kmart = 3, but we did buy a $7 firework set.

Target? No dice

Target = 4

Home Depot = 5, No dice; fortunately, this HD called up another store and they held one for me.

Home Depot #2 = 6, Dice!

Please imagine with me the following in slow motion: Jenny sits in the air conditioned car, looking away at some kids frying an egg on the sidewalk. She quickly turns her head toward the camera, her hair flowingly whipps around. Camera cuts to the front of the store, [key victory music]. The pavement emits waves of heat as a tumbleweed rolls from right to left. The camera pans up, to show me carrying the BBQ on my shoulder, confidently and triumphantly walking to the car. Yep, that's about what it felt like.

We still needed ice cream, so we went back to Harmons.

Harmons = 7

So 7 stores later, we had our BBQ. We made some great burgers, watched a movie and set off our fireworks and had rootbeer floats. It was a great day.

Urinal Etiquette

The Scene: The entrance is to the right of the Hearts Urinal. There is a partition separating the urinals and the entrance as well as a partition to the left of the Spades, beyond which are the toilets. Now, everyone knows that there is certain urinal etiquette that every guy must adhere to. These are unwritten rules that most guys instinctively know.

The Setup: Now, had it been 1:50 pm, the rules would be slightly different: I would have to choose the Spade urinal because it is on the end and farthest from the door. If there was someone using the stall next to the spade, I would, of course, choose the heart. However, with the bathroom completely empty at 7 pm, I have free reign of the bathroom and can choose whichever urinal I want, we call this "The Empty Nest" (not really, I just made that up, but it sounds like a name for a good rule). So I chose to use the diamond because I didn't want to stand next to a partition (you really don't want to touch those). A side note, when you are alone, you are allowed to put some distance between yourself and the urinal, not multiple feet, mind you, but an extra 6 inches is okay.

The Flaw: half way through my 'business' in walks Frank. I don't actually know his name, but from the little amount of green shirt I saw out of my peripheral, he looked like a Frank. So I'm at the diamond (it sounds like a station in Lost) so what would the proper urinal be for utilize? Spade. That's right the spade. It's not that hard. Spade!!! Yes, the spade is the correct answer.

Fatal Decisions: So you can probably see where this is going. Frank chose the worst urinal, the club. He just walked right in and boom, in and stood right next to me. I was in shock. What the heck? Why would someone do this? What the heck was going through his mind. I was so startled I didn't know what to do. Once the gravity of the situation hit me, I tried to create as much privacy as I could closed the gap as much as possible without touching the actual urinal. Then when I moved forward, he laughed. Yes, he laughed.

I have nothing else to say. Well actually I do, but I won't.

Domestic

I've been super domestic lately. Baking, cooking, cleaning, etc...
Jeff has absolutely loved it.
I told him not to get used to it.
Last night I made chicken kiev, rice, steamed broccoli with cheese sauce, and banana cake.
True story.
Tonight...
Jeff went to Subway before class.
I'm having cereal, some cheetos, and a piece of cake from last night.
Very healthy, I know.

Here's a quick update of the remodeling...

Here is the kitchen. We LOVE it. It's nice to actually have counter space, a dishwasher, a real sized oven and cupboards. We can actually put our dishes in the kitchen and not in a tool cupboard in another room. We're pretty thrilled about it.


The bathroom is almost finished. Here it is so far. We have a door which we went without for a while so that's nice. The shower is really tiny. Luckily Ikea came to the rescue and we found a little basket thing to hang up above so that we can put all our stuff in it. We usually have the curtain a little higher, but the rod broke one day and we need to get a new one.

Last, but not least, is Jeff's new love. He's been saving his money for the past year and finally got a new TV. 46 inches of HD glory. It's big. I don't know anything about this kind of stuff, but Jeff was really excited to get it. The picture is actually almost too real. It's like the people are in the room with you.
This has been my life since we got it. Jeff LOVES Star Trek so this has pretty much been what he has watched all week.
Star Trek: TNG (that's The Next Generation in Jeff terms) on a 46 inch HDTV. Could life be any better for my cute husband?

Mmmm

I really wanted cookies.
Good cookies.
It's often difficult when you have to do the gluten free thing. I mean, there are some good recipes and kinds of cookies out there, but it's never the same.
Thank you to Jeff's obsession (seriously...we used to have about 10 episodes of Good Eats on our DVR) with Alton Brown, I trusted this recipe.
Alton Brown and Tom Sawyer All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, you made my day.
Jeff approved, which is my ultimate test for gluten free food, so I think I will keep the recipe around. They were a teeny bit crumbly, but pretty freaking good overall. I love cookies.

Alive and well

We are alive. We are doing relatively well.
We got everything moved and last night Jeff finished installing our kitchen sink so we can use our kitchen now!
We'll post pictures once we find the camera in the moving mess.
I hate moving.
But we like our new place.
And...great news...I have a job! Yay! Not full time, but 29 hours a week and making more than I was pre-master's degree so that was the only stipulation.
Now for the unpacking and getting our lives in order again...

I mean what I say

This may not be a funny story, but it's true.

Situation: At work, everyone is going to lunch except myself (my choice). I am staying back and will continue to work, I brought food and will eat later.

Them: Jeff will you answer phones while we are gone?
Me: Yes
Them: Should we forward the phones.
Me: No, I will answer them
Them: well you don't sound excited about it
Me: [how do you respond to that] I'll take the phones.

a few minutes later...
Them: do you want us to transfer the phones?
Me: I'm not going to answer that, I've already answered it 3 times. I'm a guy, I say what I mean.


They left and we're all having a hunkey-dorey time, me working, them at lunch. I have to go to the bathroom, so I call them.
Me: I'm going to transfer the phones, I have to go to the bathroom
Them: we already transfered the phones, we've had them the whole time.

What the heck?

Happy Birthday Jeff

happy birthday jeff! i love you. thanks for being the bestest and always making me laugh.

Update on the Remodeling

This is mostly for Andrea. She wanted more pictures, so here is the progress so far:

First is the upstairs kitchen. The flooring (which you can barely see) is finished...most likely...as of tonight.

Downstairs kitchen:
Now for the nastiness:
This is the downstairs hallway bathroom that Jeff and I will have. I pulled up the carpet today and, well, gross. I'm wicked excited for both upstairs and downstairs to be all done!
This piece of carpet was at the bottom of the stairs, outside the laundry/utility room and by the door that separates the units.
Nasty? Yes. Even more nasty that I made Spencer come and experience with me? As soon as I ripped it up, rancid pee smell. The people before had big dogs. The cement underneath was even wet and the tack boards were completely soaked through. Yep. I dry heaved a lot. Thanks to Spencer for using the sealer stuff to make the smell disappear...and be sealed into the cement forever.

True Story

The device (aka rotary cutter thingy):
Profound thought by Jeff: Please...please...please. Your husband needs the device. If he doesn't get it, he will obsess over it and not be able to study. Just reach over and hand it to me.

The final project:
Profound thought by Jeff after putting it on his chest: This is my love for you. See how one side is bigger? It means I love you more than I love TV. Actually, it means I love you more than I love myself.

Primary

Sacrament meeting was very uplifting today.
Primary was very entertaining.
Our class was hilarious and one little guy who is in the other ward was exhausting.

Here are some of the highlights:

Savannah (during sharing time and totally out of nowhere): So, maybe you could come to my house one day for a play date. I could show you my room. I have bunk beds. And a dollhouse.

Jerrod (after we told them this is our last day teaching this class because we're moving): I'm going to miss you. 455 times.

Then everyone had to have a bigger number after this. All involved the number 55 in some way.

Jack: If you lose your wedding ring, then it means you're divorced.
Jeff: No, it doesn't. Jenny and I would still be married. I would be sad that I lost it, but I could get another one.
Jack: No, you would be divorced.
Me (attempting to validate Jack and explain the whole thing): Sometimes people do get divorced. You're right. But just because someone loses their wedding ring doesn't mean they're divorced.
Jack: Yeah, but if you don't like each other then you get divorced. Like my uncle. He got divorced because they didn't like each other anymore.

Jack's mom explained that he doesn't have an uncle or even anyone he calls an uncle who has gotten divorced. Oh, Jack.

We have LOVED our little class. It made me sad today to realize that we will be leaving all of these cute kiddos who we have truly grown to love.

Thanks for the play date invitation, Savannah! 4 year olds are the best.

Before

We're moving. In less than 2 weeks. Spencer and Carly bought a duplex/4plex and they are kind enough to rent half of their half out to us for a steal of a deal and it will be totally redone. Here are some of the before pictures:

The living room, kitchen, and Joey and Jeff getting ready to rip out the kitchen.



Here is the weirdest shaped bathroom I've ever seen. Super stylish, huh! It's like a hallway with the shower at the end and then the sink and toilet just chillin at the the other end.

And here is looking from the bathroom toward the bedroom, the awesomely decorated closet, and the bedroom carpet and closet.

The hallway now, and the kitchen in the process of being torn out.

The kitchen after being torn apart.

And, we've all seen this one, but here is Jeff. He and Spencer wore these to take down the asbestos ceiling. Good work, boys!

Pretty much everyone in the Williams fam has been working like crazy to get this house done in time. Spencer and Carly will be living in the upstairs and theirs is definitely the priority since they needed to move in a couple weeks ago. I don't have any pictures of theirs, but it looked pretty much the same, but with 2 bedrooms. We got a lot accomplished yesterday in the upstairs, but I didn't have the camera, so there are no pictures. The flooring in the living room is totally done though! Yay!
More pictures to come of our adventures in the next 2 weeks. It will probably just be the final pics when it's totally done and we can actually live in it.
Wish us all luck with the next few weeks of remodeling like crazy!

My very cute niece

I got really sick of the bacon brothers. So here is a pic of Kaitlyn. She is such a cuttie!!