States We've Visited

And when I mean we, I've mean me and Jeff.  And I'm not talking about Airport layovers!  I figured since we leave for our trip two weeks from tomorrow, I'd create a 'before' map.  And of course, I'll create one after we get home from our trip!


visited 5 states (10%)
Create your own visited map of The United States


Obviously, we've both been in Utah.. which is the state we live in.  We've been to Nevada together, since we've gone to a Collective Soul concert in Wendover.  We've also been to Virginia together twice, and while we were there for the first time together, we went to Maryland in the car -and sat at the border going into VA to get some pictures- and then we went to this awesome Mexican restaurant in North Carolina.  So.. yeah.  We're obviously going to be going through more together as a family!


It's gonna be fun, I can't wait!

T Minus Three Weeks....

Until we leave to Virginia, and have we done anything to prepare for the trip? NOPE!  Unless you count buying four of these duffel bags.  We actually have two colors; two in this yellow and two in gray.  I don't know where the other three are, which kind of defeats the purpose of using them for our trip; I hope we can find them before it's time to pack!

We've got a long list of things we need to do.  I guess I can type up the checklist here, since I'll be able to refer back to it later.

Contact the post office to stop our mail.  This also means I have to stop buying stuff online as of next Thursday.  Less packages waiting for us the better.

Clean the house.  This is actually going to be one of the last things that get done, because if I clean it all spic and span, it's just going to get dirty again before we leave.  I would like to come home to a clean house.

Figure out what to take.  Obviously clothes, shoes, my makeup, and toilet paper.  Yes, that's right, toilet paper.  You never know when you go to that rest stop if they'll have toilet paper in the stall.  Figured I'd be proactive and take my own TP, and besides, it's better than using that thinner than tissue paper stuff they call toilet paper.  I also plan to sew myself one of these cute little bags:  It's called "Weekend Away Travel Bag" and it can be found in a great book by Heather Ross called "Weekend Sewing".  It's got a lot of nifty patterns and the like for things such as purses, clothing and various other things.  In case you didn't know, Heather Ross is a well known and highly sought after designer of fabric.  She's got amazing talent and... eh hem, I guess I better get back to the blog on hand, I can rave about her on my creative blog.  Oh, obviously we'll have to take toiletries such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and pull ups for Zoe -we are NOT stopping every 20 minutes for her to go potty- and diapers and wipes for Ruthie.

Make reservations.  We're staying at Super 8s across the country -well in Nebraska and Missouri anyway- and we need to obviously reserve our room so all four of us aren't sleeping on a twin bed or something.

Well, that's all I can think of for the check list at the moment.  I know I'm taking my sewing machine, and I need to get a sewing box/basket so I can take my thread and other things I may need to sew.  I promised my mom I'd help her sew new drapes for her living room.  I wish I could take my Juki, but it's so big and heavy, and I don't have anything to transport it in unless I buy a Rubbermaid container for it.  I'll have to settle taking my BabyLock Xscape, which is conveniently a travel sized machine and it came with a travel bag.

So... It's Official!

We are for sure taking our road trip!  I think we're expecting to leave around the first weekend of April.  More to follow, but here's the rough route we're planning on taking:  to Virginia and this is the route we're taking home.  It's going to be exciting, and from the looks of it we'll be meeting some folks along the journey.  Plus, we're planning to go up and down the Eastern Seaboard a bit too, so hopefully we'll be able to meet more people that way!

I'm super excited.. and I think Jeff's not as excited as I am, but I do think he's looking forward to the trip.  More details to follow!

Road Trip Versus Flying

So, last month marked Jeff's fifth year working at eBay.  He is now eligible for a one month -well more like 4 work weeks off- paid sabbatical.  A few years back, he promised that I quit nagging him for yearly trips to Virginia to see my family, he would be willing to take his sabbatical off to go visit my family for the whole month.  Roughly.  We haven't picked a time of the year to go yet; however we're thinking to shoot from mid-April to mid-May.  Not too hot, not too cold.. just right.

So at this point, we're now at a crossroad so to speak.  Do we fly and spend $1,200 on plane tickets, plus another $700 or so for a car rental and get there in about 8 hours?  Or do we take one of our vehicles -most likely the Mazda for comfort- and it'll take us a few days to get to Virginia, yet we'll be able to stop along the way and see some friends?  Sure, we'd have to factor in gas, food expenses as well as possibly accommodations,  however, it'll be a better experience.

If we drive, we'd most likely drive from Salt Lake and then stop in Denver to visit with some friends and stay the night.  That's roughly an 8.5 hour drive.  Then we'd leave Denver and stop someplace in Kansas -possibly Kansas City or thereabouts- and stay there for the night.  And then at that point, it'll be a straight shot from Kansas to Atlanta, GA where we'd most likely stay a few days to visit with a dear friend of mine, and after we leave Atlanta, it's a straight shot up the coast to Virginia Beach.  I know for a fact that's roughly a 6-9 hour drive, depending on traffic and whatnot.  I know while in Virginia, we'd most likely go visit some family in the western part of the state, and then we'd even hit Washington DC to visit the capital.

On the drive home, I know we'd drive up from Virginia to Indiana and stay with my sister and her boyfriend, and then from there up to the Chicago area in Illinois and then come home from there.  Not sure how much time that route would take us, but I'd imagine probably quicker to get home than to leave.

One thing we're considering as a long term investment if we drive would be to purchase a compact tent trailer.  That way if we don't have a place to stay, we'd at least be able to pull up into a camping ground area and stay the night there rather than spending money for motel or hotel rooms.  This would not only be beneficial for road tripping, but also for fishing and camping together as a family after we get home.

It's too soon to make concrete plans; however I know there will be alot of expenses into driving.. we'd have to get our car tuned up before leaving, and then we'd have to tune it up before coming home.  We'd have to make sure we have a spare, we'd have to definitely upgrade our GPS's software to have more up to date maps and a laptop with wireless internet capabilities.  I guess it's a good thing that we have Allstate as our insurance company, since they are nationwide, and we'll have coverage while we drive.  And hopefully, I'll have my driver's license at that point, and Jeff will be confident enough to let me drive so we can switch driving and he won't have to drive the whole entire time.

We'll have to have a backup contingency plan in case things, but I think it'll be doable.

It's just a matter of weighing the pros and cons and deciding which way we'd want to go.  Either way, I'm excited!

Presenting... Casey Hayford!

No, we did not adopt a new baby.. but we did adopt a dog!  It was unexpected, but I'm so glad we did.

Every Saturday, we always go to lunch.  We budget for Saturday lunches, and so it's been a tradition since.. forever really.  We'll usually go out to fast food, or sometimes buffet places, depending on how hungry Jeff and I are.  If I really had to name the place we go the most, it's Souper Salad.  Anyways, we went to lunch at Blimpies, and then went down to Draper to hit Michaels, I needed to purchase some jewelry making tools.  And of course, I ended up getting more than tools and instead of spending around $10 like I planned, I ended up spending around $27, because then I had to get a little caddy, and then Jeff saw these cute little beads with letters on them and suggested the girls would like personalized bracelets, then of course I had to get some filler beads, and then I had to get some elastic string to make them... yeah I love when stuff like that happens.

Well, Michaels is actually right next door to Petco in this particular shopping area, so while we were walking in, Zoe somehow recognized it as a pet store, and asked if we could go in to look around.  Jeff, being a softie said sure and so after we were done in Michaels, we went into Petco.  The Utah Humane shelter was doing an adoption thing there that day, so they had some extra cats and seven dogs there to adopt.  Three large dogs, three Chihuahuas, and then a medium sized dog.  Well, apparently one of the dogs had issues with men; to be more specific, tall men with facial hair.. which fits Jeff's descriptions.  He was going crazy when he saw Jeff, barking and growling at him so Jeff had to walk away for the dog to calm down enough for me to get a look at all the other dogs.  The other two larger dogs were good, except that the chow/lab mix was around a year old and seemed too high energy for us and the other large dog was a pit bull mix.. and seemed sweet enough, but we're not really a pit bull family.  Jeff absolutely hates Chihuahuas because of Grandma's dogs she had, they were ill tempered and nasty and I think they ruined the breed for him.  So that left.. Casey. 

Jeff said he noticed that Casey was just watching him as he walked away and was just staring at him, and he did it with respect, and I think at that point Jeff got attached to him.  Eventually we were drawn back over, and dispite the other dog's aggression towards him, we managed to indicate we wanted to see Casey closer and walk him around the store.  Casey was in a cage on top of another dog -the one that didn't like Jeff- and instead of waiting for her to pick him up, he JUMPED out of the cage and straight for Jeff.  We walked him around the store, and Ruthie just took an instant liking to him.  Normally it takes her a bit to warm up to dogs -she's been exposed to Newton and Oreo, the dogs at John and Wendy's house- but it was almost instantaneous with Casey.  Everytime he'd stop and sniff something, Ruthie would hug his butt, something he did not mind at all.

Anyway, we ended up going back and telling the gal that we wanted him, and so we filled -and by we, I mean me- out the paperwork and then we bought the basics, dishes, collar, leash, food, and brought him home.  I have to clarify, it's been a long time coming.  Ever since we bought the house, Zoe's been asking for a dog.  She's been drawing pictures like this for months:

What is that you ask?  Well let me tell you.  This is what we like to call "Emotional Blackmail".  That's our house.  With a dog door.  Then that's Zoe with pigtails, and the smaller, four legged creature is a dog.  That's right, a DOG.  This was the first of many pictures like this.  It started coming to a head about two weeks ago, when Zoe said to Ruthie, "Lets go upstairs Ruthie and play Animal Shelter."  At that point, we knew she was wanting one BAD.  And that's what lead us up to getting Casey.

Anyway, Casey is a great dog for us.  He's a medium sized dog, so he's between 25-50 lbs (we haven't weighed him yet) and he's half Beagle, half Lab.  He's gold and white, and he's pretty straight down the middle in terms of which breed he favors physically.  He's also a shorter dog, and since he's 2.5 years old, we know he's not going to get any bigger.  He's great with children, and he's also not an 'in your face' dog unless he has to go outside, then he comes over and licks you and noses you and starts a low whine.. which for the most part is the only noise he makes.  He also does this rumbly throaty sound too if he's happy.  Anyways, here's Casey!

He's such a handsome dog, and it's pretty clear from the beginning that he's Jeff's dog.  We were thinking of changing his name, but he responds so well to Casey we're going to keep it.

As 2009 Comes to a Close (part one)...

I can't help but look back at the kind of year it's been.  I'd say a good one!  I'll try to briefly recap each month, maybe include a few pictures.

January:  Nothing too exciting happened, except that we decided to start looking for a house to buy.  We met with Greg our Real estate agent, and looked at a few houses.  One house we looked at we had put an offer on it, but our offer got rejected by the bank... here's why I loved the house:

Now when we drive by the house, we tell people it's our "Almost House"!

February: Ruthe turned one on February 9th!  It was an amazing first year with her, and we had her birthday party at my inlaw's house.  And in one year, she went from looking like this:

To this:

Nothing changed too much, except that her hair grew in lighter, she got bigger and got teeth.  I love her nose.. it's so cute and reminds me of a button mushroom, which looks like this:

See what I mean!?

Ruthie's first birthday marked the last party we'll ever have at my inlaws' because five days before her birthday, we found our house! We saw the house on February 4th and fell in love.  The seller had the house listed for $175k, and the next day we put in an offer of $165k and the seller pays closing, and he countered with $167k and he'll pay closing.  We got a FANTASTIC DEAL!  We had our house inspection on February 11th, and that went well.  Here's my favorite picture from the inspection:

I'm such a spider monkey sometimes.  Zoe of course was screaming on the ground thinking I was going to get hurt or something.

March: The appraisal was done on the house on March 3rd, and our house was appraised at $175k.  We signed closing papers on March 12th, changed the locks on March 13th by Jeff's dad who's a locksmith.. and good thing we did!  The locks on the back door did not work properly and the measurements were off, so the door didn't really even shut properly.  Then we moved in on March 14th!

April:  Nothing much happened in April, except Easter.  Zoe and I did color Easter eggs, and that's something that'll become a tradition I think.

Here's a digital layout I did for Easter.  Cute eh?  The Easter Bunny left behind baskets for the girls by their bedroom doors.

May:  Again, nothing too exciting happened, except for the first Mother's Day ever, Jeff cooked me Mother's Day breakfast!  It was quite nice, and we even got an extra yolk in one of our eggs!

I think it's a bit creepy knowing that the egg, if it was allowed to hatch would have had conjoined twin chicks.. or something like that.

June:  That was a month of crazy stuff... on June 8th, I suffered a corneal scratch.  I knew as soon as Ruthie's nail came up and hit me in the eye it was NOT a poke.  Jeff initially did not want to take me to the doctor, but when he came home from work that day, my one eyed squinty glare at him forced him to cave in.  We found out that in fact, there WAS something more than just a poke, and that I couldn't just 'walk it off'.  I ended up getting put on loratab for the pain, plus antibiotic drops as well as local drops for pain control.  My eye ended up swelling up badly enough that the rest of the top layer of my cornea sloughed off.  Eventually it healed, and now my eye's back to normal.

Well, that's it for now... I'll post the later half of the year later, as well as post pictures from Zoe's birthday and Christmas!

Farm Life in the 'Burbs

Okay, I do have to admit, I've done some 'farmin' in my time since buying our house.  I did have a garden that overall was successful this past year.  But I never expected to have to skin my own dinner!

We bought a bone-in pork roast last week, and Jeff said that's what he wanted for dinner tonight.  So like the good wife that I am, I went up in the kitchen to start dinner, and I noticed that it had quite a bit of fat, so I decided before putting in the roast pan to trim some of the fat off.. we try to eat healthy around here!  I noticed that there was quite a bit of what I thought was fat on the bottom of the roast, and so I picked it up to trim off the fat.. and it wasn't fat but SKIN!

Now, I do have to have to admit, I'm not ignorant enough to assume the grocery stores get the meat all cutely packaged and ready for consumers.  I know they get their meat products pretty much the same way it comes out of the slaughterhouse.. and in this case I'm sure they get the whole side of pig with the skin on it and then their butchers divide the meat up, skin it, debone it.. etc.. except this time they forgot to skin the pig.

To be quite honest, I'm not sure how I"m supposed to react here.  I'm a bit grossed out because it looks like people skin, but at the same time, I'm quite... adventurous and I'm up for doing pretty much anything that other people would NOT do under any circumstances as long as it's not going to land me in jail.  But on the other hand, someone at the grocery store did NOT do their job properly and we PAID for this... and meat isn't exactly cheap so there's half a pound of what should have been meat thrown in the trash.  Granted though, we did waste some money on the bone.. but we knew it was bone in roast so that's not a big deal.

Of course, I'm sure that I could have cooked it up into cracklins or chicharones, but we don't have enough oil to fry that up.  And I don't have the know-how either.  And on the other hand, I'm a bit thrilled because now I can say that I've skinned a pig.

Or at least a portion of it.