Saturday Swim

Thought we'd test these waters out before the big race with our new recruit and triathlon veteran, Tommy. He is Joseph's little bro and therefore a silly LeBaron (see picture above).

Let me just say, that water at 8:30 am was cold. I had to adjust to it for several minutes before I could even put my face in it. But it was fun to be the only people up there this morning. Nothing like a brisk swim to start the day!

**Tried out my new tri-shorts--and I am loving them. We'll see if I feel the same after riding my bike in them (the padding is quite slim...)

***Thanks for the advice on my bike tires today Dad--so glad you know stuff like that because I do not!

Thursday

1) I just finished washing every nook and cranny of my (currently useless) refrigerator and freezer. It was gross work but now looks brand new. So I am seeing the bright side of things--I could never have given it the detailed cleaning it needed if it had not broken down. So there--a slim silver lining.

2) I had brunch at Corner Bakery with my big sis, my mom, my sister in law and all our kids this morning. It was lovely and fun to see Stacey and her adorable little Mason--that baby boy is a charmer and such a happy smiler. I was enjoying our little gathering until Cares' tummy started troubling her and I had to rush her to bathroom--where she lost it out of both ends (not both at once, thank goodness, but one right after the other.) Poor little thing--but she has been happily playing ever since we got home which is a good sign.


3) I am currently loving Sarah's House on HGTV (thanks for recommendation Cec!) and this blog all about refinishing and repainting furniture. My hubby and I have been planning a master bedroom redo for some time now so stay tuned. And because of Sarah I am determined to find an ugly thrift store chair and reupholster/revive it for our room. The writer of this blog finds the best thrift store chairs--and recovers them herself--why don't I know how to do that? I am dying to head to one of my favorite spots in Phoenix, J&K Furniture--I know I could find something great to work with there. Anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley with great second-hand furniture deals? I honestly want something cheap so I can spend the money on fabric.

4) Let me just add that it is pouring rain outside as I type--just a summer afternoon thunderstorm that will pass in a few minutes. I can remember many times in my youth running for cover during a tennis lesson and taking it indoors for the rest of the hour. The smell of rain hitting hot cement is so striking, so rich. I love it.

Money Pit Monday

How was your holiday? I hope it was relaxing and wonderful because ours...was not.

Crisis #1

We returned from a lovely 2 night stay at the cabin just in time to make it to most of church. Except that when we walked into the house our refrigerator was making the most horrendous noise. It was so loud it resonated through the whole first floor. It stopped intermittently and then picked back up again. We knew this was not a good sign. In fact, our fridge had been making squeaky, rattling noises for about a week already but we just hadn't found the time to get it looked at. Anyway, we addressed the situation right away--the sound was driving me crazy and stressing me out and I only had to be at church for the last hour so I could teach the YW. After Google searches, a call with Geek Squad (yes they do appliances), disassembling the back and locating the issue (the compressor fan), vacuuming everything, wiping down any surface we could reach, and unplugging and replugging-in the fridge, nothing changed. The same awful sound started right back up and swept through the house.

After making it to just one hour of church, we camped out in the basement away from the noise. And since we had left Joseph's car at work during the weekend we headed over to Draper to retrieve it--a nice little outing on a Sunday evening--away from the noise of our fridge. The kids and I had never seen Joseph's office so we went inside and had a short tour of the new space. When it was time to head home the kids were cranky and demanding their daddy. So Joseph tossed me his keys and sent me to drive home in peace in his fancy Cadillac while he drove the crazies in our family car.

Crisis #2

It was a lovely and quiet ride home. So lovely in fact that I decided to take a small detour and drive about a mile past my house up to the Black Ridge Reservoir--the swim site for next month's triathlon. I had only seen the lake once and wanted to check it out again. I should have just headed for home because just before I pulled into the parking lot I got pulled over. For speeding. On a road I have never even driven on before. And I had no wallet with me--left it in the other car. I tried to explain that it wasn't my car, I wasn't used to its power and I didn't know the streets up there...but the cop had no sympathy for me in my hubby's sleek car--none at all. And I was presented with a speeding ticket.

I came home to the awfully annoying fridge, found my hubby and cried on his shoulder. Actually, I always cry when I get a ticket. It's so pathetic but true--like I am a little kid in big trouble. It has been 5 years since my last speeding ticket so I was sad to have one on my record again...but I guess I was due (I do drive too fast...)

Crisis #3

Back to the loud refrigerator--after the speeding ticket I was fed up and tried to figure out how to simply quiet the thing down. I finally tried some WD-40 and it worked like magic--still making suspect noises but on a much quieter level. I was thrilled and knew we could sleep through the night without an angry rattling appliance.

A repairman arrived at noon on Monday and informed me that while he was checking things out the fan had died altogether and that my fridge was right then and there rendered useless. He ordered a new part arriving in the timely manner of one week away. Until then, a useless fridge. Perfect.

And we spent the rest of our holiday researching for and eventually buying a newer, smaller fridge for our garage. We have wanted to do this for a while to store extra goods and bulk items. But today, when we were forced to do so AND pay for repairs on our current fridge--it felt like an expensive let down rather than a useful investment.

To deal with all of the extra--I don't know what to call it except "stuff" (stress, unexpected errands, fines for speeding, worrying and rearranging) I went for a midday, hot and sweaty, good, hard 10 mile bike ride. I think I may have punished myself a little and ridden faster than normal on a route I am not used to but it felt great. I needed to work out the physical part of me to let go of the drama. And it helped a lot.

Now we have a nice new fridge in the garage stocked full of our perishables. Say hello to our new garage mate:

A huge thank you to Tim Freiss for 1) living in Herriman 2) being home today 3) needing to head to Lowe's yourself yesterday and 4) taking Joseph with you in your big truck so we could purchase a new fridge and get it home pronto.

Thank you, Cec, for being related to such cool people.

Thank you for even reading to this point. My sad little adventures seem pretty insignificant in the large scope of things--so I'll take them.

Cabin

Highlights of the weekend:

1) running in the mountains with my hubby on a gorgeous 70 degree day

2) happy cousin playtime ALL day Saturday (Will, Bentley, Cares and Maddie roamed the outdoors for hours on end without any arguing, hurt feelings or tears...amazing. And they were playing "Joseph King of Dreams" and gathering wheat before the famine hit. At one point Maddie was Pharoah, Cares was Benjamin, Will was Joseph and Bentley was Peter...? They were darling playing together.)

3) kids' hike with Uncle Chad. He took all the children except Olivia (still napping) and explored the forest above the cabin.

4) fireworks on the driveway in broad daylight :) My kids were so wasted from the rodeo the night before that they weren't going to last past 8:00 pm.

5) sunset ATV ride with Joseph once our babes were all in bed. We drove through a thick aspen grove and up into the mountains north of my parents' cabin. The pictures we took of the setting sun don't do it much justice but it was breathtaking.

Livvies loves fireworks!

sparkler kids (could Bentley get any more grounded in that pose?)

Oakley Rodeo

We love this tradition!

Independence

Great quotes from a great man:

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood."


"It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and virtue. If we suffer their minds to grovel and creep in infancy, they will grovel all their lives."

--John Adams, both paragraphs from A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1756

Some things to think about this holiday weekend, besides food and fireworks and rodeos...
I love our great country and am continually inspired by the men and women who gave-up (and currently give-up) so very much for my freedom.

Eclipse

I saw Eclipse yesterday afternoon and it was good. Really good. I think my expectations for the Twilight movies are always a bit low so I am happily surprised when they turn out so well. The most classic moment (because I live in Utah and I am convinced this would not happen anywhere else) was when Edward told Bella he would wait until she's his wife before being intimate--the theater erupted in cheers and clapping. Too funny for me. I mean yes, I agree with the idea 100% but I didn't feel the need to shout that out--do you know what I mean? But props to a boy who is worried about his girl's virtue--I knew Edward had something going for him...

Joseph came with me (his office bought out a theater for clients and we got free tickets) and I made him promise not to make fun of anything (remember that night at Mama Mia, Krista? It's a good thing Johnny wasn't there to egg him on yesterday...) He was very polite during it and then totally made me laugh when we talked about it after--he is a funny hubby. So glad he is not the over--serious, brooding and agonising Edward we saw throughout the entire film. Honestly that boy needs to lighten up a bit--I swear the Edward from the books is not that tortured right?