Two Years of Marital Bliss

We celebrated our two year anniversary this weekend. Mitch planned the weekend; he had a lot of surprises for me and I LOVED all of it. We spent two nights at the Anniversary Inn on Fifth South in downtown SLC. (I LOVE the downtown area and I think after spending the entire weekend there, I've converted Mitch and now he loves it as much as I do.)
We did just about everything you can do downtown. In no particular order:

• We went shopping at the Gateway; Mitch was super patient while I tried on too many clothes. Don't worry, he got some too. We both spoiled ourselves

• We saw a show at Clark Planetarium about Black Holes. I felt like I need to go back to elementary school and sit in on the science lesson again. My husband impressed me, once again, with his vast amounts of nerdy knowledge about math and science

• We saw a hilarious spoof on the Transformers movie at the Off Broadway Theatre (we want to go back on a Friday or Saturday night at 10 when they do their improv show, if anyone wants to join us)

• We ate dinner here:

It was AMAZING! It was spendy, yes, but it was so, So, SO good. I totally recommend it. You get a ton of food and it's delicious.

• We went to a little European shop and bought some Bounty bars and Kinder eggs (candy I loved on my mission)

• We got my ring re-dipped. It really needed it. Now it's just as shiny as the day I got.
  

• We ate at the Blue Iguana and decided it's not as good as the Red Iguana. But, the Blue Iguana didn't have a wait and it was still better than your average Mexican restaurant

• We walked around the Salt Lake temple grounds and reminisced about our wedding day

• We walked around Memory Grove and reminisced about our reception

• We tried to go hiking two days in a row, but the weather did not permit

• We walked around Trolley Square, which was pretty desolate

• We ate at the One World Cafe, which was not as cool as I remembered it being, but still a great idea for the good of humanity. It's a cafe that serves 100% organic food and you pay by giving a donation, which runs the place and the rest goes to feed starving children in Africa. It's definitely a granola/hippie place, but it's cool. Check it out the next time you're in downtown SLC

• We went to the biggest Bingham bike shop I have ever been to. Mitch got some new pedals for his mountain bike. We decided when we're sick of running we're going to pick up road biking. That will give us time to save up; the cheapest road bike we saw in there was $1200. Anyone wanna donate to our road bike fund?

• We ate WAY too much, including the cheesecake and sparkling cider they put in our hotel room both days and the HUGE meals at the restaurants. But hey, you have to splurge every once in a while, right?

Mitch was so sweet and planned our weekend so perfectly. I had a great time and was definitely spoiled. Mitch is so good to me; he's so sweet and such a gentleman. Today I said, "Well, two years down, sixty more to go," to which he replied, "No, we have forever." Awww, so sweet! I'm so happy I married Mitch. These last two years have been the best and it will only get better. I love you, Mitch!

Why I Love My Dad

I'm so glad my mom sent me this video. I felt bad that I missed out on the opportunity to see my dad dance tonight. Oh wait ... he randomly dances around the house more often than he should. (Probably because he knows it makes everyone laugh. They're laughing AT you Dad, not with you.) It used to really embarrass me when I had friends over and my dad would start dancing in front of them. But I must say, I think it's absolutely hilarious now. I'm glad my dad's not afraid to be himself, even if it means he embarrasses himself in front of others. Thanks for making me laugh, Dad. And in your own words, "Dance on, Dude!"

Temple Quarry Trail

We went mountain biking this weekend with Brock and Natalie. (Well, B&N left early because Wal-mart sells defective bikes. We'll have to do it again, guys!) We rode the Temple Quarry Trail up Little Cottonwood Canyon, which is my favorite bike trail. This is where the pioneers got the granite to build the Salt Lake Temple.

My grandpa taught me about mountain biking and he and I rode a lot of miles together. My grandpa is in amazing shape and stays very physically active. I hope to be like that when I'm his age. We rode the Temple Quarry trail together a few times along with Slick Rock, the entire Jordan River Parkway, most of the Bonneville Shoreline trail, and many other random trails my grandpa somehow knows about. Too bad he lives in St. George now!

The trail didn't disappoint me this weekend. It was challenging, but really fun. It's challenging because there's rocks all over the trail from when the pioneers cut the granite. You have to guide your bike around the rocks, or else go over them. It's fun. I love maneuvering my bike around and over the rocks. It makes me feel like a mountain goat, only I'm on a bike. Going back down is even more fun, but I'm definitely more of a pansy now than I was three or four years ago. I went pretty slow. Mitch did well, considering it was his first real mountain biking experience. Mitch had fun and said he'd go again.At the top of the trail, there's an old stone building. I think the pioneers probably used it as a chapel since it would be easier to stay up the canyon for church than to trek down every Sunday. The river was too high for us to cross over to it this time, but it was still really pretty to see. Here's a picture of what's left of the building. I miss Salt Lake sometimes because the canyons (Big, Little, and American Fork) are my favorites!
I was glad to be out in nature and get some good exercise. Mitch and I are planning on biking more this summer if anyone wants to join us ...

The kitchen is finally done!!!!

Hey everyone, this is Mitch. Well, after over two months of hard work our kitchen is finally finished. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Thanks a ton to my dad for helping with the tile and the countertops. Also, thanks to Dave for helping me hang all the beadboard and help with the countertops. I also have to thank my loving wife for cleaning up all the dust every time I made a mess and also for putting up with me when I'm frustrated that things aren't turning out perfect.
This story actually starts about 3 years ago when I bought the house. At that time the kitchen had this wonderful flowery look that you can see below.

Since the house was going to be a bachelor pad we couldn't have the super gay flowers on the wall, so we pulled down all the wallpaper. That was a lot of hard work. It was super hot too. We used a steamer to get the wallpaper off, so it was like working in a sauna. The crappy thing about wall paper is that half the wall seems to come off with it, so I had to patch and sand, and patch and sand, and patch and sand (you get the point) before I could paint it. After all that it was pretty much bare white walls until I got married and Lacey started her "nesting" period of making the bachelor pad into a cozy house. After some decorating the kitchen turned into what you see below.

I had been wanting to redo the kitchen for awhile. This all started one day when we just dropped by the tile store just to "look". When we got there they had some tile that we really loved for only $0.99 a sq ft. We couldn't pass it up, so we decided to get it, and things didn't stop until we had redone about everything. It saved a whole lot of money to do everything ourselves, which works great when your dad is a handyman. Well, after all that work, it has turned out really good. I really like it. There are still a few finishing touches I would like to do, but it is pretty much done. Thank goodness. I can finally relax a little when I get home from work instead of working on my 'other' job. Below are some pictures of how it turned out. Of all the things we did, it isn't the tile, or the new countertops, or the sink or fridge, but the little sprayer that came with our faucet is Lacey's favorite part.

Mom's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day with my family on Saturday. We went to lunch at Archibald's. Yum. We (us kids) all went in and got my mom a ticket to see Keith Urban in September. My sister in laws and I all bought ourselves a ticket so the four of us will go together. I knew my mom would LOVE the idea and she was tickled pink when she opened her gift. (Okay, I must admit, it was a totally selfish gift. I really wanted to go the concert and this was a good excuse.) But I'm glad my mom and sis in laws are as excited as I am. My Grandma Ruth was able to come to lunch with us even though she didn't feel great. I'm glad she came though and I hope she gets feeling better! We visited with Grandma Miles after that. We were lucky to catch her at home; she is one busy lady!

Since it was Mother's Day, I just have to say that my mom is so cool. She's always been one of those "hip" moms who knows what's cool and what's lame. She's super fun to hang out with and she's always cracking jokes and having a good time. She is the kind of mom that made all my friends want to hang out at my house because they liked my mom so much. My mom always supports me in everything- even when I decided to go on a mission and I knew she wouldn't want me to leave for so long, she still supported me and wrote me every week. Thanks, Mom, for everything! I love you!!!

After lunch Mitch went home (and finished the kitchen, pictures coming soon) and the girls went to a bridal shower for Jordan's fiance. It was fun and her family is really nice. I'm so happy for my little brother. Mickayla is a very nice and cute girl and she fits right in with our family. I just hope she doesn't think we're crazy.

On Sunday we went to church. They gave the women over age 18 a slice of pie. It was delicious. I took the biggest piece of chocolate pie I could find. Sorry to everyone else who wanted a big piece. After church, we celebrated Mother's Day with Mitch's family. We were able to visit Grandma Bott, which was nice. She's doing a lot better. We also visited with most of the family at Grandma Jory's and we had a good lunch. I'm pretty sure Kathy liked her gift. I must say that I lucked out in the mother in law department. Kathy has been very accepting and welcoming towards me. Plus, I think she's hilarious. Thanks, Kathy, for being so nice to me and for teaching Mitch to be so kind, loving, and caring.

Harvey didn't get me anything for Mother's Day. I told him not to. Maybe next year.

The Eagles

On Saturday night I met up with my sister in law, Katie, and her friend, Suzie, and we went to The Eagles concert. It was great! It was at the new Rio Tinto stadium. The sound was good there. I wouldn't say the sound is as good as Usana, but it was WAY better than the E-center, which I think has horrible sound. The seating was okay, again Usana is better.

The band was great live. They had three original members if I remember correctly. It was fun to hear some of those songs again. The best part was watching people dance. They were all doing that 70's, slow-motion, hippie dance. It was hilarious. I think we watched them as much as we watched the band. But, I have to admit, by the end of the night the three of us were dancing right along with them. We didn't totally get into the hippie groove, but we were close. Ha,ha.

Before the concert I said I thought the encore song would be "Hotel California," but they played that one at the begining of the show. So then I said it would be "Desperado." Well, they came out for the encore and played "Take It Easy" and one other one, I can't remember now. I was so distraught; I couldn't imagine that they wouldn't play Desperado! (When I was in 4-H there was a team called, "The Desperados." Any time one of their team members ran the barrels they would play Deperado" over the loud speaker. I always wanted to be on their team just for that. But alas, I lived in the boundaries for the "Corral Busters." No cool song for us.) Anyways, they ended up playing "Desperado" for their very last song and I was happy.

Thanks for inviting me, Katie! I had fun and I'm glad we went. It was a little cold, especially since I decided to eat a giant ice cream cone while we were sitting OUTSIDE, but I don't regret it. It was delicious. I do regret not taking my camera though.

My First Set of Stitches

Okay, that's not entirely true. I had a ton of stitches when I was a few days old after open heart surgery. But today I had my first set of stitches that I can actually remember.

About six months ago I noticed a small, red bump on the back of my right shoulder. I thought it was a bug bite. (I always get bug bites. I swear bugs can smell my blood from a mile away and they hunt me down, and pick me, out of a crowd of 50 people, and bite only me, repeatedly, until I itch like crazy. It's so weird.) Anyways, I thought it was a bug bite, so I didn't pay much attention. About a week later, I noticed that it was still there. "Maybe it's a pimple," I thought. Gross, I know, but I didn't know what else it would be. I tried to pop it and got nothing. It wouldn't budge. It was hard as a rock. A few weeks after that, I noticed that the bump was bigger. I showed it to Mitch and he said it was probably a cyst. I told my dad about it and he said the same thing, it's probaby a cyst. So, I ignored it and went on my merry way. It didn't hurt at first, but the last few weeks it started to hurt enough to bother me.

The pain made me worry about it. What if it's cancer? What if a spider laid an egg nest in my shoulder and little spiders are going to hatch out of it? (You never know, it could happen!) So, I finally decided to get it checked out. The verdict: my dad and Mitch were right, it's just a cyst. Talk about a sigh of relief! I would have just died if little spiders had hatched out of my shoulder!

The dermatologist said I could let it be, but it would get bigger and start to hurt worse. If it got any bigger, he'd have to surgically cut it out. OR, I could have it removed today with an 8 mm punch and a few shots to numb the area. That sounded much better to me, and since I was there by myself (I always go to the doctor by myself, even though my mom thinks I shouldn't), I made the decision to have it removed right then and there. Why wait and have SURGERY? I do NOT do blood, hospitals, needles, etc. So, I turned my head so I couldn't see it, gritted my teeth while he gave me FOUR shots to numb the area, and tried not to vomit when I saw the blood. (Don't worry, there wasn't THAT much blood.) I did good; I didn't even get quesy! The doctor was able to remove the entire cyst in one, smooth, pain-free move and he stitched me right up. I have to get the top layer of stitches removed next week, and he put some permanent ones in down deep in the skin, which was probably a good move.

Overall, my first set of stitches wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined. I seriously didn't feel a thing, after the shots that is. The shots actually hurt, but only for a minute or two. I'm glad I did it. Now I don't have to worry about cancer or spiders. Wahoo!