Oregon 2X

Early last month I made it to Medford to spend a week with Aimee and Ben. It wasn't fun and games-it was lots of work! Their house was grimy and smelled bad but was huge and has some great features. Mom, Brenda and I went down to help and we washed walls, painted, cleaned and a whole lot more to get their house ready. I must say it was WORTH it! They have a beautiful house now that is a BLAST to visit with their hot tub, swimming pool, large yard, huge play room....



I have a better appreciation for those of you who helped get our house in order! Thank you! Especially Krys and Dan we couldn't have done it without you!

Aimee had a beautiful little boy who looks nothing like a "rat." He was born the day they received the keys to their new house and is growing fast! We were able to come for the 4th of July and participate in his blessing.

It was a blast to be home. We packed every second of the day with friends and family! We went through NV on our way over and stopped in Medford. We played in the pool with Aimee Ben Luke and Makenna and had a blast jumping off the "rock" and relaxing in the hot tub. We came into Eugene on Friday and spent the afternoon with Sean and Amanda. We went to Lone Pine Farms and had some Umpqua Ice Cream. YUM!

That night we had an AMAZING amateur fireworks show at Dave and Jen's. They had mortars and with the other 3 cul de sacs shooting of large ones it was very exciting.

Saturday was friends, food and shopping! Thank you Jessica Durfee and Stephanie Nack for fitting me into your schedules! I loved seeing you and catching up.

Thanks to my loving family, I am now addicted to the TJ Max Home Store. I think they just brought me there as part of their plan to make me move back.

While I was off playing with friends and shopping, Jason, Ben and Luke went to the Olympic trials at Hayward Field. He said it would have been a fun thing to do as a date night but that it wasn't quite suited for Luke (3 yrs).



Sunday Jared Whitmer was blessed and we had a family lunch in the park. It was soo good to visit with everyone and see their growing kids! We had dinner at Sean and Amanda's and had a blast with Brockton and Kelsie! That little girl is almost walking!

I don't know if there is someone in Mom's area that hates Utahans but our car was vandalized for the second time while home. When we went to Alaska Summer of 2005 someone egged our car. This time we woke up to find some inexperienced thief had tried to siphon our gas! But just ours, not the 3 other cars parked outside Mom's house. They didn't get much, if anything, but they left the cap off and the tank door open to prove they'd been there. Luckily no harm done!

Our fast and furious trip ended yesterday where we somehow turned our 12-13 hour drive home into 15 hours. We rolled in at midnight on an empty tank. I was glad to know that we can make it from Costco in Boise to our front door on 1 tank! We found the cheapest gas along our way in Boise at $4.04/gallon. The most expensive gas belonged to Elko NV, where we paid over $5.00/gallon. Everywhere else is between $4.00 and $4.40 except here where we are still under $4.00 at $3.99. Hope your gas prices are "low"!

Ottoman?

So with my next check I'm thinking about buying an ottoman! I've fallen in love with the idea of a round ottoman. Not just because, right now, my style is so traditional, but also because our front room is full of linear objects. I think the round would be unexpected and that makes me excited. So here's what I'm thinking. Keep in mind these are my favorites of only of the ones that would fit in my room. There are plenty that I would have chosen if they weren’t so darn BIG!

I love this one because I've been so careful to keep my furniture neutral to be able to accessorize in color. This ottoman is neutral but has a print. I just think it's adorable. My colors are so specific there are many things that I've thought would be perfect but they blew up in my face. =(

I like this one because you can see through it and the wood work might be a nice catalyst between our dark furniture and our lighter stuff. It is white though, and I don't want to have parents freaking out when their kids are over. (I don't want to have to freak out when I have kids of my own...)

When we got new furniture it was more formal then we planned. Instead of putting the bookcase in a backroom and never seeing it, I decided to take the offer mom gave us 2 years ago to refinish it. I also made some repairs that were needed that couldn't have happened without refinishing. I've documented the changes on the back of the bookcase for posterity and I hope that this piece of furniture can be morphed by my adult children. I hope that it will be a symbol of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and the bonds family share. It will always remind me of family who cares about us.

In keeping with the overall feeling of the bookcase I've attempted some stencil work. It's not great but I tried!

Going Home (Again)

Jason and I are going home to Oregon for Jared Whitmer's baby blessing 4th of July weekend. I know many of you there read my posts and I think we should have a friends get together! I'd love to see you and your families. I should send an email but this is easier! Let me know if you're going to be around!

Erica

Upgrades!

We finally bought a new couch. It was a great deal and is really comfortable. We took the old green one to Savers. E tells me it was 14 years old, so it had a good long life for a couch. Hopefully someone will repair it and get a few more years out of it.



The new couch was not without its dilemnas. Color coordination! We had to take Mom's old blue bookcase from college and paint it. Don't worry, we took pictures and will add more when it's done.







So, as if painting the bookcase wasn't a big enough project for one day, E's wonderful friend convinced her that she needed to reupholster the chair we bought at a garage sale (don't worry, Grandpa's rocker is safe!).

After many requests and my own promise I've finally posted a picture. Sorry about the bad quality but I haven't had the desire to take another one. =)

I found a great hair stylist. She's fabulous so if anyone is looking for a good one, like I have been, call me! She's cheep and friendly and knows how to cut curly hair (if she can do that she can do anything)! She cut it just like the picture of Minnie Driver. I am sooo impressed! I took a picture to post but my batteries died in the camera so you'll have to wait. I'll see some of you really soon!!!!

I'm Coming Home!

I’m coming home on a whim. I guess I’m not really coming home-I mean I’ll be there the night of the 29th and all day on the 30th but I’m really there to go to Medford and spend a week with my mom and new nephew in his new house (and Aimee and Ben and Family too). I’m so excited to take some time off work and surprisingly it is a great time for me to go.
As I wrote the title to this post I could only think of the Chris Daughtry song “I’m Coming Home.” There’s a line in it that says “I’m going home to the place where I belong.” I love to be home with family-I only wish Jason could come with me this time.
My time in Utah is beginning to feel tiresome. I’ve made great lifelong friends, had incredible experiences, and learned a ton about myself, but now I’m ready to go back to where I came from. You know it’s not even that-I’m ready to have some family close by. I miss sisters and games and fun and having somewhere to go on Mother’s Day and a million other little things. It’s hard to be so far away when brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and parents are having a hard time or need a little help. I’d be nice if I could get there on a tank of gas. I guess it’s good to know that someday we’ll get the "thumbs up," it’s time to move, feeling. Until then we'll just keep making lifelong friends and having incredable experiences!

To Cut or Not to Cut

I've got a question. I've been wanting to cut my hair for a LONG time, I mean really cut my hair, but I've been scared to take the plunge. What if it's bad???? And then it would be exponentially bad with curly hair! I took some time to research places with a good reputation. I've found one and once one of my deals goes through I'm planning on going in for a cut. Now the question; do I get a trim or a drastic cut???? Take a look at what I'm looking at.

Denise Jonas-Mother of Jonas Brothers-Don't really listen to them but thought she had cute hair and a face similar to mine. (Is it creepy that I want to cut my hair after someone who is old enough to be my Mom?)




Minni Driver


Emmy Rossum


Jennifer Beals




My other concern is that these are all very similar and some of them are outdated. It's ok to go retro with your hair right????

And THEN there is always the option of going Falicity.

So I know that most of you don't care about my cell phone but it came today! It took the cruise company 2 weeks but I'm ok with that because it came back! I've been using a cheep flip phone to make and receive calls. I must admit I've felt overwhelmed lately. Partly because I felt like I couldn't communicate with clients as efficiently as I can with my blackberry. Now I can take that extra half hour at lunch before I get back to my 12 hour work day! Whoo Hooo!