Our Mantle!

When we walked into our house with our Realtor, we immediately fell in love with it. I was really excited that it had a fireplace, but I was a little bummed it didn't have a mantle. Our Realtor pointed out that we could buy a mantle kit and install it. So, we made an offer, and I started dreaming about a mantle over the fireplace.

 

I wanted it by last Christmas, but, long story short, it didn't happen. But, towards the end of the summer, I began looking into it. I discovered that they have sites online that you can order a custom made mantle--starting at $400 and going up. Yeah, that wasn't sounding so good. But, using their measuring tools, I learned that our mantle is not a standard size. Brian suggested that we hire a contractor/carpenter to build us one. I said, "Ooh! Let's get my dad to do it! He's good." Brian wasn't so sure; he hadn't seen my dad's amazing work, and he didn't want to put my dad out. That, and I don't think he was too enthused about the mantle idea in the first place since it would mean moving up our TV. But, he reluctantly agreed to ask my dad. 

My dad voiced reservations as well (he's amazing, but he doesn't know it yet). I was happy, though, when he sent me three different mantle plans to look over. I decided on this one:

But, it needed a few modifications for our fireplace. And Brian still wasn't convinced. What if my dad went through all that work, and I didn't like how it turned out? Or what if it didn't look good with our alterations?Thank goodness for Photoshop!

I moved our TV up and added the mantle image from the plan, shrunk it to our modifications, and sent it, along with the notes to my dad. He already had our fireplace measurements. We, in a round about way, gave him money to buy the wood and supplies. 

But he had a lot going on with projects at his house. I had told him I wanted it by Thanksgiving, but as the days and weeks went on, I figured it wouldn't happen again. Brian still wasn't convinced, and I began to have my doubts again. I always tend to dream too big. 

Then, on November 3, my parents came down to stay at our house for Amber's blessing on the 4th. The arrived sometime around 4 p.m., and I was trying to finish Amber's blessing dress. My mom came in first, and my dad asked Brian to help him with something. My mom told me, "You need to finish that dress because you'll probably want to do something else in a few minutes." She was right! A few minutes later, Brian and Dad walked in with the nearly finished mantle! I was so surprised! They set it up in the proper spot, Brian raised the T.V. up, I worked on the dress, and then, after eating dinner, we headed to Home Depot to buy trim to embellish the mantle. It was amazing how bare the wall looked after they took the mantle to the garage to be worked on. Brian was stunned and super excited as well. 

Dad and Brian attached some crown molding, and  Dad did some trimming to get it to fit around the tile, but then it was really late, and they had to call it quits. My dad walked Brian through the rest of the project, and we were left to put the finishing touches on it. 

It took longer than we thought/wanted between colds attacking our household--especially Brian, and other commitments. Finally, we attached it to the wall last Saturday night!

And then on Monday, we primed it:

First coat of Primer

Second Coat of Primer

 Throughout this week, I added more coats of paint. I had a rough week, so again, it took longer than I wanted, but I finally got four coats of enamel on it.

And then we repaired the walls that were damaged when we removed our cord keeper. And today, I added our new garland. Ta-da!

The pictures really don't do it justice. We absolutely LOVE our mantle! It makes our home seem so much nicer. Thanks a billion times over, Dad, for making our mantle. You are awesome!! We're wondering how we were ever satisfied without it!

Amber's Blessing

On Sunday, November 4, Thomas blessed Amber in their ward in Ogden, and our whole family, minus my missionary brother, was able to come! So, amid protests from nearly all involved, we took another family picture. I kind of wish that I had waited just a few more days before printing an 8x10 of the one we took back in May in Afton. This one is much better.

 Four generations, well, I guess minus one generation since the third generation is absent. Yay for having all the grandkids together!

 Four generations of women, and their wonderful spouses, except for Amber who is currently single.

 Em with our good friend, Tashina, who endured two whole days with our crazy mob, even though Ethan wasn't around.

 The new age order: four babies within a year! We'll have to take this picture again when they're all born.

Time with family is rarely long enough. Congrats to Chelsea and Thomas for another beautiful girl! We're excited to watch her grow up!

Halloween

Carving Pumpkins for the first time ever as a family: October 29

 Michael didn't care too much for the pumpkin "guts".

 He was better when we let him use a spoon.

We tried to get Michael to design his own pumpkin. I asked him what he wanted on it. He said, "A three!" He's very excited about being three. Finally, he decided that his could just match the one on his Halloween bucket. 

 Brian's evil mustache pumpkin:

On Halloween, we went to Brian's work party. We entered the contests for the chili cook-off, the dessert cook-off, the costume competitions, and the best decorated office. Brian got third in the best decorated office.

Michael insisted on being Darth Vader this year, thanks to his cousin Matthew. So, we did Star Wars again. Brian is Anakin, I'm pregnant Padme, and Michael is Darth Vader. Lea's family did Star Wars too, so we stopped by their house for a picture with them.

Trick or treating was awesome, once again. I love having an excuse to drop by our neighbor's homes to say hi. Really, what other occasion really allows such a thing? We left a bowl of candy on our doorstep. I'm sure the first few people that stopped by were happy to have so much candy to fill their sacks. Sorry to whoever stopped by after those first few. We tested the theory later, after we got home. Sure enough, within five minutes, over half the bowl was gone. What do you do? We still love Halloween!

Happiness is...

 -Need I say more?

-Little neighbors who leave us little signs on our door. Still have no idea who left this nor where the sale is.

 -I made this maternity skirt, and it actually turned out. (I made the stretchy part white so that I wouldn't need to wear an undershirt.)

-Feeling brave enough to take this shot again. Last time I did this was in December, and as you all know, it didn't work out so well.  This picture marks 27 weeks. Today marks 29. Here's to roughly 11 more!

D.C. Trip Part 3: Musings

We enjoy going to different places and seeing how things are different. Our nation's capital provided us with a lot of things to think about.

First of all the traffic. There seems to be no rules at all for driving in this city. The lane marks are more like guidelines, and the street direction can change depending on the time of day. We've never seen so many lights in a traffic circle before. To park on the street, you have to check with four different signs to make sure you're clear to park there. That's not an exaggeration either. Oh, and j-walking is totally okay, and since there are so many pedestrians, you really have to be alert while you're driving. But, despite all the craziness with traffic, we were amazed how kind the drivers were. If we needed to get over, it was never a fight; the other drivers just let us in. It was as if the people all just understood how crazy and confusing it all is and cut each other some slack. There is a give and take and no need for compensation. It should be a metaphor for the city that makes our nation's laws. 

Second, pregnant ladies are a bit of a novelty. I couldn't believe how many random people would come up to me and say, "Congratulations!" At first, it took Brian and I a minute to figure out why they were saying that. One lady at the Korean Memorial even went as far to say, "Are you having a girl?" I was stunned that she guessed. When I responded in the affirmative, she said, "I could tell. Congratulations!" I rarely get that here, unless it's from people who know me and are feeling safe enough to say, "I didn't know you were expecting!"

Third, being a small town girl, I have a healthy fear of city people. In Vegas, you are wise to not make eye contact with anyone, and to stare at the sky the entire time. Most cities are like this. But in D.C., the people want to feel like they matter, so the safest thing to do is make eye contact. Be friendly. Tali pointed out that when she went to D.C. to do her student teaching, she was required to take a culture class, and that's what they told her in the class. Look the people in the eye. Maybe it was because we felt a bond to the Baltimore folks on the flight, or maybe it was because we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast and got to talk with people from all over the country, but I felt a great deal of humanity in this city. I can't wait to go back. 

Lastly, there is simply not enough time to see everything there is to see in Washington D.C. There is something for everyone. Most of the museums are free, which is pretty awesome. You walk away from the monuments feeling inspired, wanting to be more like the incredible people they were built for. And if you visit, buy a metro pass and make sure to pack some amazing walking shoes!

DC Trip Part 2: Tourists

Day 2: We checked into our Washington D.C. Bed and Breakfast, Akwaaba, on Friday, October 12 around 2 p.m. The day is a bit of a blur. We got settled, and I'm pretty sure we took naps, since we were still trying to catch up from our all-night flight. At 5 p.m. ish, we went down to the dining hall for refreshments, and after that, we headed out to do some shopping that we'd been unable to do back home. We ate dinner at this Italian restaurant a block away from our hotel, and it was fabulous. 

Day 3: After an amazing breakfast, we headed out for The Mall. We asked a random stranger to take a picture of us in front of our B &B:

 And then I had Brian model it. I LOVE the architecture in DC. It is so charming. Our B&B was situated several blocks north of the White House in this historic town home. The stairs are super creaky, and it has beautiful wood floors and antique furniture. Our B&B is the cream-colored section of this row of town homes. We loved staying there, although we wish we could have gotten one of the nicer rooms. Ours was the only one available for the entire week we were there.

 We headed straight to this building. Unfortunately, thanks to 9/11, you have to get cleared for a tour 30 days in advance if you want to go in. We didn't learn that until breakfast that morning. Everyone says it's smaller than it looks on TV. They're probably right, but it was still cool to see.

 Just west of the White House is this amazing building:

 It's the Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building, and it is probably my favorite building that I saw. It has so much French influence. I love it!

 And here I am in the front of the building, also in front of the First Armored Division Memorial. Here's to you Thomas!

We borrowed a guide book from Amazon on Brian's kindle, and that's how we knew to look for this statue. I can't remember why they made this monument, we just thought it was funny that it was named after a guy who's last name is Butt. So naturally we had to take a picture in front of the Butt statue. Yup, we're still in junior high as far as maturity goes sometime.

 This is the Southern view of the White House:

 Looking in our guidebook, I noticed that we were close to the National Christmas Tree, a live evergreen that gets decorated every year but then stands all year long. I asked Brian if he wanted to see it. He looked around and said, "I think that's it over there." The place he indicated was a stump and a bare patch of dirt. Sure enough, he was right. Here's what's left of the National Christmas Tree:

 We found out later that it was damaged due to a storm or something in 2011, and apparently they haven't planted a new one yet.

Brian in front of the Washington Memorial. This sits in the middle of the Mall, and is visible from practically everywhere. Unfortunately, due to an earthquake a year or so ago, no one is able to go inside.

 We headed West to see the World War II Memorial, which is amazing. They have a column with a laurel wreath for every state and territory of the U.S. during WWII. Here I am in front of Idaho's column:

 In the middle, they have these beautiful fountains:

 We kind of felt funny smiling for pictures in front of these War memorials. In the picture below, we are looking at a wall of gold stars, each one representing 100 Americans that were killed in action during WWII. There were 4,048 stars. It was quite sobering to see all those stars.

 After the World War II Memorial, we saw the Korean War Memorial, and then the Lincoln Memorial:

 It is really amazing that people actually follow the signs and stay out of the reflection pool and don't throw coins into it.

 We also saw the Vietnam Memorial, the 2nd Armored Division Memorial, and lots of other buildings. Then, we hiked our aching legs and feet back up to our B&B to catch refreshments and change before heading to the Washington DC temple. We barely made it in time for an initiatory session. This temple is MASSIVE. I wish that we would have had the time (and the mental focus and sitting endurance) for a session.

Day 4: Sunday, October 14. Brian looked up when and where to attend church on Saturday night, and we found out that church was at 1 p.m. We found the building, parked, and headed inside only to find out that the schedule online was out of date and we had missed our last chance to partake of the Sacrament. I almost cried. We sat in on the last of the Spanish Ward's sacrament meeting, but there was only 15 minutes left. I played hymns on the piano for 15 minutes after almost everyone had left the room, trying to fill my hungry soul. September was such a weird month with church between the mud slide, the Brigham City Temple dedication, and Stake Conference. Add General Conference on top of that and... I realized that I go to church for me, because I need it, not out of a duty. So, I guess it was good to learn that about myself.

So, we headed back the the B&B, changed, and headed to Delaware. On the way, we crossed the Chesapeake, which was awesome! For some reason, I've always wanted to see it. And since I couldn't come this close to the Atlantic without seeing it, we went to Bower Beach on Delaware Bay. On the way, we passed several Amish families out in their buggies.

 And now, my feet have been in the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Gulf of Mexico. Go me! And Brian for humoring me on this excursion. (The water here was pretty nasty, but oh well.)

On the way back, we ate at a Steakhouse right along the Chesapeake. Most people would have ordered seafood, but since we both hate seafood, we ordered pasta. Naturally. And, we took a picture by the water.

 On Monday, we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. It was a little drizzly, which seemed highly appropriate for the mood of the cemetery. We saw JFK's grave, as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This is us in the back of the memorial amphitheater just behind the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is a beautiful marble structure.

 By chance, we found the Marines Memorial on our way out of Arlington:

 Monday night, Brian headed for the opening festivities of his conference, and I babied my foot and big belly by reading in the room all night.

Day 5: Tuesday. Brian and I went to breakfast together, and then he headed to his conference, and I took a nap:) Then, I walked to the Circulator bus stop, and road the bus closer to the Mall (after Saturday, we decided it was WAY to far to walk to everyday), and met up with my old roommate, Tali, for lunch. She took me to her office building, one of the Department of Justice Buildings, so I could use the restroom. I had to show my ID, get a badge, and go through security like at the airport, all so I could use the bathroom. I ended up hanging out in Tali's office until she was done working and Brian was done with his conference. He came and picked me up, we grabbed some dinner, and then went back to the room to relax.

Day 6: On Wednesday, Brian went back to his conference, and I eventually headed out to see some sites on my own. Let me tell you, it is lame to try to see DC on your own. I got a random group of college girls to take my picture in front of the Capitol Building:

 and then I headed for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  I headed straight to the gift shop. I spent most of my time there trying to find something cool to take home to Michael. Then, they announced that the museum would be closing in fifteen minutes. I figured I should look at the museum too, so I headed out and checked out a few exhibits. I was just not as much fun all by myself. Michael would have loved it!

After getting kicked out of the Smithsonian, I grabbed a snack and sat on a bench until Tali got off work. Then, I met up with her again, and we headed for the restaurant she recommended based on my current craving: a southern BBQ place that was amazing! We walked past the National Archives, and I saw the Navy Memorial. By that time, Brian parked and met us. We ate our yummy dinner, and then headed for the South side of the mall to see the Jefferson Memorial:

 And the Potomac:

 The FDR Memorial (which was awesome):

 On the way to the FDR Memorial, we saw Obama's helicopter go by. That was pretty cool. Then, we went to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, which had some quote by him about being a drum major:

 We walked back through FDR's memorial:

 and then stopped by the George Mason Memorial:

After that, we took Tali home, and then we headed back to our B&B.

Day 7: Tali took the day off of work to play tourist with me, and Brian spoke at his conference. Tali and I went to the Museum of American History, which has this cool exhibit on the First Ladies that has their dresses. It was my favorite exhibit. They also have an exhibit on all the wars that our country has fought in. After the American History museum, we went to the Reagan Building for lunch. Then, we walked down to the Holocaust Museum. That is an amazing museum, but it is also incredibly depressing. Brian arrived as we were nearing the end, and I told him he needed to rush through and see it. It was stunning to learn that several countries, including the U.S. knew there was at least some kind of threat to the Jews, but no one would step in and take the refugees. The images from this museum haunted me for a week after. After the Holocaust Museum, we rushed to try to see the National Archives before they closed, but we were about 5 minutes too late (thanks to parking issues, having no coins for the meter, and general DC traffic fun). So, we headed to the Museum of Natural History instead. I knew it was about time to head home when a four-year-old was giving his dad trouble, and I missed Michael. Then, that same four-year-old gave his mommy some kisses, and she commented on how sweet those kisses were. I almost teared up. I had forgotten about Michael's sweet kisses!

When the Museum closed, we decided to go eat at Fuddruckers, since the Orem one closed a while back. It was yummy, and it was so great to spend the day and have dinner with Tali again. I have really missed her. After dinner, we took her home, and then headed back to the B&B to pack up and relax.

Day 8: We ate Breakfast, loaded up, and headed back to Baltimore to catch our flight home. Thankfully, everything went off without a hitch, I did not throw up, there were no delays, and we got to see our sweet little boy, who gave us the BEST hugs when we picked him up from Lea's house. We had a great time, but it was so nice to make it home!