Full of Hot Air

   This morning we woke to strange noises outside.  The noise itself wasn't so strange, it was the sound of a hot air balloon giving the balloon an occasional burst of hot air to stay afloat.  The strange part was that we were hearing it from inside the house.  That meant that the balloon had to be REALLY close.  We ran out the front door to confirm our suspicions and there it was...a huge hot air balloon barely above the ground just across the street from us.  It was right in the middle of the fenced off area where the Temple is being built.  The kids and I got in the car and went to the new parking lot for the visitor's center for the temple to see if we could get a better view, and boy did we ever.  Turns out the balloon had to land and that parking lot was the only space in that area that he could land on.  We watched as the balloon chasing crew guided the pilot and his passenger down to the ground in just the right spot for the balloon to land, be deflated, and eventually rolled up.  The kids (especially the big one...me) couldn't get enough.  It was soooo much fun to watch this going on just a block from where we live.  Sorry for the bad pics, this is from my camera phone and the camera is obviously not very good.

The balloon is red and black.

Lizzie holding Alexander.  Megan and Dakota  watching the balloon land.

Deflating the ultimate balloon.

Still deflating.  It takes awhile to let out so much air.

Talk about big things from little packages.

   If that wasn't enough, the pilot let the kids help fold up the balloon and put it away (actually, the pilots love it when the audience volunteers to help because it is such a big and heavy job that they welcome as many hands as they can get to make it faster and easier for them.)  Dakota was the one who jumped right in to help when the pilot gave the okay.  As the balloon was being rolled up we were allowed to take pictures of the kids in the basket and the pilot and I had a really good little chat about ballooning and how he ended up in our neighborhood.  Turns out the pilot lives in Santaquin, just 5 miles south of us, and ballooning is just his family's hobby.  He is training to get his balloon engineer license.  He has only a few flight hours left before he takes his test flight and can finally fly his family any time the winds permit.  He and his instructor lift off from Santaquin quite frequently and fly south but today the winds picked up faster than they anticipated and it took them north.  His instructor lives in Payson so they decided to touch the ground in the middle of the temple site before packing up the balloon for the day and sending the instructor home.  What a fun hobby and a great start to our weekend.

Dakota helping to pack the balloon in the bag.

Dakota holding Alex while sitting on the balloon bag to get all the air out.

Alexander, Dakota, Megan, and Lizzie in the basket.

Fun Finds

   Here are some fun pictures I found on my cell phone.

Rebecca as "Alexander" in the play SLEEPY HOLLOW.

Rebecca at the Orem mall with her theater group for a Christmas performance.

We got the girls "glitter toes" for Christmas.  The lady came to our house to glitter up the girl's toes.  They loved it.

Vote Shelly for President

   Utah's voting system is very different than what I am used to.  We still vote delegate style.  It takes a while to explain but essentially our cities are divided into precincts that vote for a small number of delegates in a caucus meeting to represent them in the preliminary vote.  Those candidates who make the preliminary vote will go on to a general election where everyone can vote.  If you have a favorite candidate you better hope your Delegate likes them too or you may not get a chance to vote for them in the general election.  I understand why this voting system is in place but I can also see downsides to it too.  Putting those feelings aside I wanted to get involved in the political process more intimately and went to our precinct's Republican caucus tonight.  At the caucus we are voting in the delegates that we want to represent us for the next two years.  I actually went with the intention of running to be voted as one of our precincts Delegates.  I had no idea what to expect but I wanted to be more involved.
   What happened at that meeting tonight was totally unexpected.  I didn't stand up to run for Delegate, instead I stood up to run for Precinct Chair.  That is equivalent to running for president of our neighborhood's political interests (at least the Republican's interests anyway because it was a Republican caucus.)  I was running against one other person so I had to answer questions.  You would have thought that I was running for President of the United States.  I was asked all kinds of questions on my political views.  I am normally so shy and afraid of people looking at me that I am still in shock that I did something so totally out of character for me.  
   I thought I did rather well answering the questions considering that this was my first caucus attendance and I was totally unprepared for the grilling I had just received.  I didn't win as Precinct Chair but I did ultimately become an alternate Delegate.  I had many people come up to me afterwards and tell me how much they liked my answers and that they were hoping that I would win.  I have been wanting to get out of my comfort zone more and this was a huge leap into the very uncomfortable zone.  Funny thing is that even though I was terrified, I rather enjoyed the experience.

Who's dog is that anyway?

   So now that Rascal has recovered from his procedure and has had the Cone of Shame removed (for good I hope) I decided it was time to break down and give him a hair cut.  I cut it very short this time to give me more time between hair cuts.  He looks so different now.  I forgot how skinny he was underneath all that fuzz.  I didn't realize how tall he was or how freakishly long his neck is.  I have to do a double take when he enters the room because I wonder who's dog that is before I realize he's mine.  Still a fun little fuzz ball though.

This picture doesn't do justice to his long neck.  I swear he must have giraffe in his lineage.

AGAIN!!

   I don't know what Megan's fascination is with painting her whole face and hands with lipstick.  Here's her latest round.  This time she decorated the door as well.

Not so easy TV Installation

   Okay, so we have a flat screen TV and I wanted to make sure that the kids didn't destroy it at all, let alone in the first week.  They love to touch and climb on to everything they see.  I knew that this TV would be too much of a temptation even for the older girls who would want to turn it different directions to watch in different parts of the house.  What to do?  I looked at so many options out there.  I researched, I learned, and ultimately I made a decision.  I want the TV up on the wall to keep the kids away from it but I need to know that it is not coming down so I didn't want it on a shelf.  I also didn't want it to be stationary because I want to be able to turn it so that we can have more room when we play the Wii.  We have these beautiful new blue walls so I don't want any cords hanging down (let alone giving the kids something to pull on) so I don't want to have those cord cover things running down the wall.  In conclusion, the only option I could see was to use a wall mount that allowed the TV to be re-positioned as well as installing a new electrical box that would allow the cords to run down the inside of the wall and out stay safely of sight.  No problem since the instructions looked simple enough and I am mechanically inclined enough to follow instructions.

   Two days and several frustrating hours later it is done! Here are some pics from my installation project.

The TV mount and all the test holes I made before finally getting
the mount in the right spot.  Also the spot for the new outlet.

All painted and fixed.

The area by the floor getting ready for the new outlet.

All finished.

This was by far the WORST part of  the job.  I figured that I would be able to run the cords down the empty space between the wall studs...30 min. tops.  NOT!  Because this was an outside wall it was full of insulation.  I couldn't get the cords to move down the wall more than a foot.  I sat and thought and tried to problem solve a solution that didn't involve any more holes for nearly two days.  As you can see, I ended up punching 3 holes in the wall so that I could reach up and grab the cords, then push them down the next section of the wall until they finally made it to the bottom.  That's what took so dang long.  I did everything I could think of before punching even one hole in the wall and by the end there were 3.

Not to toot my own horn or anything but after the wall was repaired and re-painted it looked as good as new.  Not a bad job for a first timer if I do say so myself.

 I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Payson 500

   We were looking for something fun to do with the kids and boy did we find it.  The first Saturday of every month Home Depot has a free craft project for the kids from 9 to noon.  We went expecting this little project that the kids could do in a minute and off we go but that was not the case.  The project was really COOL and the kids loved making the cars from scratch.

Rebecca and Megan
crafting away.

Xander using a hammer
for the first time.

Dakota putting on the
 finishing touches.

   Not only did they get to make a racing car they got their own little aprons and a race car pin to put on it.  After their cars were made they went in to the next isle and raced them with other kids.  Xander's little car was the BOMB!  He won every single race he was in.  It was so much fun!  We can't wait to do it again next month.

                                          

Long day at the Payson 500 but it was so worth it.

Happy Leap Day 2012!

   This day comes only once every four years so we like to make the most out of it.  Unfortunately this year we were a little busy but we did take some time out before bed to get Leap Day gifts.  The girls promise that next Leap Day will be a day to remember...that is, if the world doesn't end in December this year.  lol

The Cone of Shame

   Rascal had a procedure done lately that most little boy dogs have done.  Unfortunately he wouldn't stop licking his wound.  He did it CONSTANTLY.  Not that I blame him, it's the only way for him to deal with wounds.  However, we couldn't allow it to continue so we had to put him in his very own "Cone of Shame".  He just looked so defeated and the kids couldn't stop laughing.  Cheer up little pup, it will only be for a few days.

What's a "Utahn"?

It is actually more than just someone who lives in the state of Utah.  Not everyone who lives in the state of Utah can claim the name of "Utahn".  I didn't even know there was this distinction until last week when we officially became "Utahn's".  Apparently so many people in Utah love to use recreational vehicles and own many.  It's not hard to see why, we have so many fun places to use them here in this state.  I didn't know though that owning some type of recreational vehicle put you in a different class.  I also didn't think that we would own one so soon.  I wanted some kind of  "toy" to get the family outside more but it wasn't on my priority list right now.

I was surprised one day when CJ came up to me and said that he wanted to use the money from his bonus to buy a go-kart.  He had apparently been looking at them on the classifieds for a while and just didn't say anything. I'm thinking that's not so bad.  Go-karts are small, rectangle boxes with four wheels and a steering wheel.  Simple, but enough to get the family outside.  He had found one though that was too good of a deal to pass up if the go-kart was as described (you know, people will make their items sound like gold just to get them sold and then you get it home and realize why they were selling it.)  He showed it to me and it was not what I had pictured at all.  It was not this little box on wheels, it looked more like a mini dune buggy with roll bars and everything.  I have to admit that I did like it from the first time I saw it but I was very skeptical, thinking through what was "really" wrong with it.  I really wanted to go and look at it but it was all the way in West Point, just west of Roy which is where I grew up, an hour and a half north of here.  It wasn't like we could just make that big trip for something that may not be worth it.  I had CJ show me the other go-karts that he was looking at so that we could compare them.  It didn't take long for me to see that if this was as good as it sounded that we needed to jump on it right away before someone else got it.  I called the man selling it and asked some questions.  I told him that it was a long trip for us and he assured me that it was worth the drive and that we would not be disappointed.  I got very excited but not as excited as CJ.  We packed up the kids and headed out.

We got to the man's house and saw the go-kart and it looked even better than in the pictures.  Even though it was a 2004 he said that it had only been used a handful of times (that is why I was so skeptical.)  I have heard stories though of someone having an item sit in the garage for a long time and then selling it at a steel just to get their space back so I thought we would take a chance that this would be that kind of deal.  It turns out that that is exactly what it was.  The man's father-in-law bought it and only used it 3 times.  He got tired of it sitting in his garage so he gave it to his daughter's family.  They used it 2 times but just weren't interested in it because they prefer to hike, not ride.  They let it sit for a while.  They finally decided it was time to sell it so they put it in the classifieds.  Originally it was just the go-kart for sale but after a week he decided to add the practically brand new trailer that it sat in for free because he realized he didn't have a use for it either.  I knew the moment I saw it that it was meant for us.  It had been on the classifieds for a little over a month and about a week before then he had decided that he would just keep it and let the neighborhood kids use it but he felt that he needed to leave it on sale for just a little longer.  Just a week before was when CJ found it and was trying to find the courage to ask me if we should buy it.  The man said that now he knew why he felt that he was supposed to wait a little longer.  He knew that it was meant for us as well and was very happy that it was going to a family that would really enjoy it.  He didn't need the money so he was practically giving it away and that is the only reason we could afford to buy it.  It is virtually brand new and came with the trailer, seat covers, gas cans, and a custom cover (which was $400 alone) all for the price of just the trailer.  All we have needed to do was replace the battery.  I still can't believe it.

Anyway, we don't have a tow hitch on the van so I was curious as to how in the world we were going to get this back home.  Since I grew up in that area I have friends up there who own several recreational vehicles so I knew they had a tow hitch.  They have been wanting to see our home since the remodeling so they were more then happy to drive it down for us, we just had to wait another day.  I told CJ that coming home without it was like having a new baby but having to leave the hospital and the baby is still there.  As my friends were rolling it in to the garage that is when we were informed that we were officially "Utahn's" now.  I must admit that I like that status and we couldn't wait to get outside and tear up the neighborhood with it.

CJ in front of his new toy.  Can you see his excitement?

Not your father's go-kart.

I love this utility rack that it has on it.  CJ and I can put a lunch on it and go on a really fun date one of these days.

It's a little deceiving but it really is roomy.  CJ and I both fit in there together comfortably.

Megan enjoying her first ride with Dad.

Alexander was mad because Megan got to ride before he did.

Unfortunately he was not sure about the go-kart and cried the whole time he was in it.  One day he will be the one tearing up the neighborhood with it though.

My Mini Diva

I took the kids to Payless Shoes here in Payson to pick out some new shoes.  I lost track of Megan and when I found her I had to smile.  She had quietly taken a pair of heels into the other isle, taken her shoes off, put the heels on, and was walking up and down the isle with enough swagger in her hips to make any super model proud.  It was a glimpse into the future that I don't know how much I was prepared for.

Megan in her gold sparkly heels.

Shoes too tempting for a diva to pass up.

Phase 1...Done!!!

I knew this remodeling project would be hard work and displace us for a little while but it is definitely easier said then done.  The work of the tile and paint has not been bad.  We love the work and how accomplished we feel being able to work on the home that we have been blessed with.  The hard part was being displaced for so long.  We couldn't really use the kitchen, dining room, and living room for over two weeks.  The day we were finally able to bring the kitchen table back upstairs we celebrated.  The kids really have learned the value of eating a home cooked meal at the table as a family.  Anyway, the hardest part of the work for me was the finish work; sealing the grout and putting the baseboards back on.  Sealing the grout was a pain but putting the baseboards back on was a bigger pain.  The nice part was that they were all saved so I didn't have to cut new ones and try to meet angles I just had to put back what we had.  Then it was puttying the holes, sanding it, caulking the bottom with a clear silicone, caulking the top with white, touching up the white paint on the baseboards, and then touching up the blue paint on the walls.  We added some corner round pieces around the cabinets and that was a process too because those I did have to cut and I had to have a crash course in miter cuts.  I loved using the saw but I hated that it took so long to figure out how to get the corners to look just right because I was teaching myself.  I did it though and I think it turned out really nice so it was all worth it.  Here are the pictures of phase 1.  I haven't taken a picture with the furniture back in yet but I will do that soon so you can see how it looks lived in.



Working on the grout.



Everyone said that grouting was the worst part.  I must be weird then because I thought that grouting was the most fun (not sealing the grout, just putting it in and washing it off.)  I can't wait to grout the rest of the floor.



Megan had fun helping to wash all the grout off the tile.  I think though that her sponge got rinsed out lots more then it actually washed the floor.  She loved playing in the warm watter.

The corner round that I added.

The dining room all finished. 
I had to seal the door really well with the silicone because there was a leak into the house that we didn't realize was going on.  When we pulled up the old floor there was a large wet spot with mold.  We took care of the mold and now that the door is sealed tight there shouldn't be any more leaking on to the floor.

The living room before...

 

and after.

It is so nice not having that line going down the middle of the house with carpet on one side and linoleum on the other.  It just felt so limiting.  Now the space feels so open and unified.  We all love it so much.  The funny thing is that everyone who has come to see it has asked us if our table is new.  Nope...same table we've had for a long time.  I think that the open space now lets the table have the room it needed and that is why it looks different.