Friday, September 29, 2006

Home Improvements

Ever since we got the wood floor, the white railings have driven me nuts. They drive me nuts no longer. YAHOO! We got the second coat of paint on the other railing and they match very nicely. It really seems to have updated the house. What do you think?We also hung the new stuff we got in California on the wall in the kitchen. It's a lot of fun and has solidified our decision to keep our coke kitchen. Here's Jason showing it off.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Red Riding Hood

I love the way my nearly-three-year-old's mind works. We read a story about little red riding hood and then watched the corresponding Dora. Naturally, my tender little girl decided that since her grandma wasn't feeling well, that she needed a basket of treats too. Darling, right?! However, the best part is that 3 days later, Laura was still determined to make grandma feel better with a basket of treats. So, last night, we did. We made some cookies and put them in the only basket we could find; Laura and Grandma didn't seem to mind.Then we went to deliver them. Laura had to carry the basket; even in the car. Here she is in her red hood carrying them to the car. Look how proud she is of herself. Or perhaps she is just happy that I was willing to help her follow through with this idea.I think her idea worked. She was so darn cute about all of this (and dunking cookies in milk while sitting on the counter at Grandma's) that I think Grandma really did feel better for the "basket of treats".Jason worked on the house while Laura and I played "Little Red Riding Hood". He got the new light installed in the Master Bath. Here are he and Laura showing it off. You can see Laura's thumbs up and "DUDE!" comment in approval. (Her language was somewhat affected by her conversation with Crush in Disneyland.)Jason sealed the backerboard tape while we were at Grandma's and then started in on the new front door hardware. After tons of measuring, a serious kerfuffle involving a plate that was solved by Grandpa and another trip to their house, and some trepidation about drilling holes through our door, it got installed. It is SO MUCH nicer than the bland and trashed brass doorknob and deadbolt. Here I am showing it off with our new "No Soliciting" sign.
When I was younger, like 7, "No Soliciting" signs used to make me nervous. I always wondered if I was okay to ring the doorbell and solicit my friend to come out and play. At that time, I vowed I would never put one by my door so my kids friends wouldn't be scared. Now, living on a corner in what seems to be a prime neighborhood for door to door sales, I understand why a family would hang a "No Soliciting" sign by their door.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Catching Up

Yep. Catching up is exactly what we have been doing this week. I caught up on housework and cleaned like crazy. We caught up on church work and all sorts of other things.

We caught up with our friends Emily and Brian and went to dinner with them the other night. Ahh, how I love sharing a good salad with friends. However, Laura would say that it's all about Mac and Cheese and cookies and playing with Daddy of course.We also have made some progress on the house. Okay, that is what is taking up the majority of our free time. The Master bath has backerboard and paint on the walls. The new bedroom furniture (thanks Mom and Dad F.!) is in the garage ready to be refinished and space has been made in the basement for our old stuff until Laura is big enough for it. The upstairs railing has it's first coat of paint to match the other railing...Rustoleum finally produced our hammered brown in a can. However, Laura's favorite progress is the new bench in the laundry room. Isn't it just darling?! Eventually I want to re-cover the cushion, but that'll have to wait.
Karyn and I had a LOVELY day on Saturday at the General Relief Society Meeting in SLC. We were completely uplifted and had a great time. Here we are on the top of the Conference Center after the meeting. Oh, how I love the Salt Lake Temple!

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Celebrity Fun/Silliness

Okay, this is the most fun (and kindof silly) thing ever. Check out Jason and I!!

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Family Party

Thank you to Steve for getting all the Utah Fitzgerald's together. It really is silly that we don't do it more often. We got together the Sunday before we left for Cali for some dessert and good times. Here's Laura eating yummy homemade ice cream with Grandpa.Of course the boys all played: football and basketball. There were some pretty serious games of HORSE played.We women sat around and chatted.
And, the little girls had a blast together. They made snow angels on the grass. They hung around together. But, their favorite game was being pushed by Joey at rapid pace in the plastic car down the length of the lawn. Check out those grins!

Monday, September 18, 2006

California Trip!

So, we just took off and went to California with Jason's parents last Tuesday. I love spontaneous trips. We didn't fall off the face of the planet...we just left the internet behind.

While in Cali we went to Disneyland, Knott's Berry Farm and did lots of shopping. There will be more details and pictures to come, but for now here is a video (click the picture and it will take you to the video) of Laura being, well, Laura. This was at Knott's on the last day of Cali. She was an old pro at amusement parks by then.

Monday, September 11, 2006

Peter Breinholt

Melinda and I got to have a wonderful date night on Friday night. It was Peter Breinholt's big Sundance show and also the night he was releasing his new CD. We always go to at least 1 Peter show a year because that's where we first talked about getting married 4 years ago now.

Brian and Steph were nice enough to save us seats so we didn't have to be there incredibly early AND we got to sit by Steph and the kids. It was great to see them.
It was an amazing show and we had a blast. It was a little bit chilly, so we had to snuggle to stay warm...dangit!! It was great to just get some time to ourselves and be able to snuggle and chat and listen to great music. There's always something magical about a Peter Breinholt concert for us and we had an amazing time. I love you Babes!!!
Thanks to Mom and Dad Breinholt for watching Laura so we could go and have a grand time! You can see more pictures from the show here.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

More Food Stuff

I have nothing exciting to say except: Los Hermanos is always tasty. Though, the Diablo Verde seems not be nearly as good as it used to be. We may need to switch to the Brisa.Also, it is much more difficult to shop with Laura around Halloween. Those bags of candy are brutal temptation to not only the two year old, but also to me.
Yes, it's full of candy and VERY HEAVY.

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Baneenas

Darling Laura has been in love with "baneenas" lately. She loves them for breakfast and for a nighttime snack, preferably with a glass of "berry milk". Here she is having one right before bed while enjoying an episode of Wonder Pets.Here she is having another baneena right before heading off to Kristina's this morning.She is also showing off her princess necklace that we made together last night...yes, she had to wear it this morning. Making it was the only activity she and I got to do together due to my exceptionally busy day. Have I mentioned that I need more time with my girl?!Here's a picture of most of the girls at the YW activity last night: a really great fireside on temples by Andrea's uncle. The dessert (a fruit pizza made by the other Andrea) was so yummy. And, the extra strawberries she had me bring home chased away the dragons from Laura's bad dreams last night.
And, I just can't help but shove this picture in here. It's Laura with Grandma after dinner with them the other night. She dragged her away to sit and enjoy the view and handfuls of salt. Silly Boo!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Friday April 27, 2007

That's right! Wonders never cease and it's actually going to happen. I am finally graduating with my B.S. in Computer Science on Friday April 27th. I have 2 classes this semester and 1 more next semester and I am finished! Hallelujah!

It will be great to be done and only have to worry about work and family. Thank you to everyone who has helped me through school, but most importantly to Melinda for being loud and making sure I could graduate, keeping me going, helping me study for tests, writting papers, and on and on and on. I love you tons and can't wait to be done and spend more time with you and the Boo!

Comedy of Errors

We decided to go to the Cabin on Sunday evening and sleep over to Monday. Perhaps Laura's constant asking to go to there once we accidentally mentioned it (she brought it up at least once every 4 minutes) had something to do with the going. There is something magical for kids in the word "cabin".

Right before we got to the turnoff to the gate for the cabin we realized we didn't have the keys. So, we went back home to get them and some other things we forgot to bring. A demanding two-year old really helps in the forgetfullness department. Yes, we ended up driving almost 3 hours to get to the cabin. Here is Laura in the back seat towards the end of the journey.We decided to stop and stretch our legs on the trip back up. We went and saw Bridal Veil falls. It was exceptionally crowded, but the hike was a lot of fun.

The cabin was wonderful once we got there. Here are some pictures of the best parts. Laura's favorite was, of course, the river. She threw buckets of rocks and loved wading.
We also adored the snuggles and relaxing. Here is Laura with a cup of lemonade on the cool back porch.And, Jason and I snuggling while Laura plays with the rocks.Since we forgot the syrup for breakfast, despite the trip back down, we ran and ate a yummy lunch in Park City at one of our favorite places: Loco Lizard. Here's Laura there!We stopped by the outlets. We couldn't help ourselves in spite of massive Labor Day crowds. After much looking, we found Laura a warm and waterproof winter coat. You think they'd have a better selection of such items here in Utah, but we've looked everywhere to find a zip-up one. We also found the majority of our linens for the Master Bathroom. Here is Laura showing why she needs a winter coat. Yep, the leaves are changing up the canyon.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

The Wedding

That's right...it finally happened. Brian and Stephanie are married. There was a tense moment when Stephanie disappeared, but I think we covered nicely.
J/K. That's actually Brian and his brother Dayne. It was truly a beautiful day and the ceremony at the temple was wonderful. Here are some pics of Brian and Steph coming out of the temple.
And here are all the boys at the temple. Man, Steph looks outnumbered.The reception was later that night in Devin Hansen's parent's back yard. It was a gorgeous yard and there was dinner and dancing for all. Brian has been friends with Peter Breinholt for a while now and talked him into playing at the reception. Who else can say that they had Peter Breinholt provide all of the music for their wedding reception? That was pretty cool!
As with any wedding reception, there are always little bumps along the way. The most important thing is that the bride and groom don't know about it. The only bump that I was involved in was when they started running low on plates. Joseph and his parents enrolled us in gathering dishes and washing plates so there was always a steady supply.
Whitney and Taylor were obviously there and they both looked absolutely adorable.
With music being supplied by Pete, it wasn't long before the dancing started. Here is Bri with his mom.
And most importantly, Brian and Stephanie spent time dancing together. My favorite part of the whole night was that they each had the same look on their faces.
Even after all of that dancing, Brian still had enough energy to sing a bit with Pete.
Even though you can't tell from the pictures, Melinda and I got to spend the entire evening together holding hands and dancing. Thanks to Mom and Dad Fitzgerald for letting us be Laura free for the evening and temple ceremony that day. We couldn't have asked for a better "date night" and day!