Do You Want Some Cookies???

Marc and I decided that we wanted to bake cookies one day and take them to people’s houses. It was Memorial Day and it sounded like a great idea. I took the first batch out of the oven and knew that the second batch was for us. We were running a little late and so when the second batch was done I just turned off the oven and went running out the door. I didn’t take them out that night when we got home because I still had the plate of cookies that I couldn’t get rid of and the thought of more cookies was making me feel very fat. So the next day we had people over to the house and Marc was making garlic shrimp pizza, which is quickly becoming our new favorite dish. Marc started to preheat the oven and went about doing some other things. Pretty soon we noticed that it smelled like something was burning and there was smoke coming out of the oven. Marc rushed over and this is what he pulled out. Don’t you want some cookies???

Fuzzy Pictures

I kept trying to take pictures of various funny things that were happening around the house and couldn’t figure out why ALL of the pictures were turning out fuzzy… I guess I had turned the autofocus off and wasn’t quite getting them in focus with the manual focus. OOPS! I guess half of the pictures from May will just be unpostable. We have now switched it back and our pictures are much less fuzzy!

Having Friends Over

One of the biggest lessons that Marc and I learned while living in Prescott was that we needed to have friends. In Tempe we never had friends as a couple and it really made a difference in our marriage when we took the time to have friends. So one of our goals while living here was to make friends and so we set off looking for some. We have had friends over and I can’t even begin to express how excited we are. Both sets of couples that we have had over are allergic to cats and so the house has to be CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN and the cats put away but we have fun playing games and eating and just getting to know each other. One of the benefits of them being allergic is how clean my house has gotten at least once a week. I absolutely love it! Both times we have had people over we were scrambling at the last second to get things ready. But this is the only picture I have of both nights and it is before anyone ever came over. This is Marc trying to appear like he hadn’t just gone through a costume change before they came over.



I can’t wait to get to know these couples better and get to know others in our ward and in our area.

Mesa Temple Picture

When we lived in Tempe we came across this frame that was huge that was being given away. I had told Marc that I wanted to put a picture of the Mesa Temple inside and hang it on our wall. It was going to be my Birthday present. Well I didn’t end up getting the picture until right before we moved and so the frame and the picture were never put together. Then when we moved to Prescott, it just didn’t happen either. But with the move here I had the perfect wall and so I knew that I would have to paint the frame to match the picture. It was then and there that I realized that the picture was too small for this frame. I couldn’t just mat the frame because it was already matted and it didn’t have any glass. Needless to say, tears were shed and I was devastated that my plan wouldn’t work. I few hours later and after some much needed sleep I had the solution. I would paint the frame differently and mod podge the picture on to the frame and no one would be able to tell. After several days of painting and repainting the frame was ready. Can I just tell you how much I love having this picture on our wall and you would never know it was a crafting nightmare to get it to where it is today!

Hanging Pictures

I have found out that apparently I have an obsession with pictures and having things hung on our wall. Even after the walls were painted they felt so bare without anything on them. Marc and I had talked about different options and what we liked and what we didn’t like. I had even used different programs to draw up a sketch of what the wall would look like. After several attempts I found the PERFECT set up, which has consequently been changed several times, but I like it a lot. We still have four pictures that need to be hung but I think it is a great combination of pictures. We have serious/formal pictures, goof-off pictures and then just some of our favorites together. I really like it and can’t wait to hang the last four pictures! To help visualize it there will be an 8X10 and an 8X8 on both the left and right of the bottom picture.

New Dryer

We have a new dryer! I probably should have taken a picture of it but needless to say I absolutely love it and it dries our clothes wonderfully! I am so grateful that I was never a pioneer as I don’ t think I would have survived very well. I am so grateful for how blessed we are to have a working washer and dryer!

I Had No Idea!!!!

I had no idea that one Friday could case so much turmoil in our little home. The night before we had just gotten back late from Mikkel’s graduation and I woke up early because I had a library conference to attend, I know I really do have a grown up job now because I even attend conferences :) I used to attend conferences all the time with my Dad and Mom and now I am the one going to the classes instead of playing in the pool…. I might have to have Marc start going to conferences so I can play in the pool instead. Anyway, to rewind a little bit, Kiara has always gotten these little white sores on her lips. They look like a cross between a canker sore and a zit and they always seem to come when there is stress in her life. I had asked about them and had been told not to worry as long as they went away and didn’t grow. They always seemed to go away and they got nicknamed her “stress blisters”. Anyway, I had noticed that she had gotten one the other day and had kind of been keeping an eye on it. When I woke up on Friday morning her lip was four times the size it needed to be. I woke Marc up in a panic and told him I needed him to look at her lip because it was huge. It kept sleepily telling me that it was a little big last night but it was fine. I kept insisting he wake up and when he did he agreed that her lip was huge. I called my Dad and he advised me to take her to an Animal Clinic. I couldn’t because of the conference but I dragged Marc out of bed to take her.

Then the worst of it started for me. I had to just sit in the conference pretending to care about customer service knowing that something was wrong and I didn’t know what or how to fix it. I also knew that that morning our new dryer was supposed to be delivered and Marc was trying to be in two places at once and I couldn’t be there at all to help. It was a little bit of a stressful morning.

The good news is that everything worked out. We found out that Kiara is allergic to plastic and I didn’t even know that was an option for cats. That was the reason for the sore in the first place and the reason for the inflammation was due to her excessive bathing that she has always done. We were instructed to get her a new food and water dish, which she has now, and to give her medicine twice a day. Giving her medicine proved to be tricky as it took one of us holding her down and the other giving her the medicine. It must have tasted really gross because as soon as we put her down she would race to her water dish. But now she is fine and her lip is even growing back hair from where the sores had caused it not to grow anymore. You would never know that anything was ever wrong with her. Thank heavens it was a simple as switching her dishes!

Congrats Mikkel!!!

We were blessed with the opportunity to attend Mikkel’s graduation from the Eighth Grade. Sorry it wasn’t a graduation it was a commencement ceremony but that didn’t make it any more awesome for us to be there. I realized today that we didn’t get any pictures with the graduate but we were so proud of him and the award he received and the wonderful young man that is has grown up to be. He has matured so much over the last year and I have really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with him. I am hoping that will be able to continue as life continues. Congrats bud! You are awesome!

Painting the Living Room

One of the projects that we have started around the house is painting the walls. Well at least the walls in the living room and we have talked about different colors for the bathroom but that is a story for another day. Anyway, when G.T. had decorated the walls he had painted them in this style which both Marc and I really liked, the only problem is that all of the new furniture we brought in was blue and our walls were an earth-tone-green and brown. Plus all of the frames of pictures that we have are black and so we needed a way to tie in those colors. We decided to keep the style and just swap out the colors. So now our walls, instead of being green and brown, are blue and black. We really like it and I think it matches really well with our furniture! Here are some shots of the project!

Marc getting ready to start!


The historic first paint stroke!


The wall all taped up.


The final product:

Marc's Car

One day at work Marc’s car was hit by another person backing up. They did a number to the job in a cosmetic sense but didn’t do any really damage to the mechanics of the car. We were so grateful that no one was hurt, the car still runs, and it was hit by an honest person that left contact information so that the insurance companies could work it out. It ironically happened on the same day that I had called our insurance company to find out what our new lower rate was since we had been accident free for three years. Thankfully it didn’t increase our insurance at all but we definitely got to talk to our agent several times that day!

Blueberry Muffins

Since moving into the house I have loved baking. Living in the hotel has made me totally appreciate things like an oven. I love baking things!!! Anyway, so I have made several batches of muffins since moving in. I have made chocolate chip muffins, banana nut muffins, and lemon poppy seed muffins. Marc tasted the chocolate chips muffins and told me that my “blueberry” muffins tasted a little off. I laughed and told him that they were chocolate chip muffins. I shrugged it off thinking that blueberries and chocolate chips can look the same when baked…sort of and he is from New England where they eat blueberry muffins all the time. Then I made the banana nut muffins and once again he commented on my “blueberry” muffins. I was like seriously!! So when I made the lemon poppy seed muffins I jokingly told him that the poppy seeds were just little tiny blueberries. He didn’t think it was very funny but I sure got a laugh out of it. I have bought the stuff now to make blueberry muffins so that this poor boy can eat them for real!!

Okay so a few weeks late.....

So I was planning on updating our blog every week and every week at the end of the week, I would make of list of all the things I wanted to blog about. The list would vary from funny things Marc had said, progress on our new cat and getting along with Kiara, hanging pictures on our wall, painting our wall, friends coming over, disaster meals, REALLY good meals, etc. But I realized today that my list of things to blog hadn't ever made it to our blog. Our weekly updates have only happened once and we have lived in our new home for a little over a month. Oops! So now is a catch up of the last month... or at least what I remember of the last month :)