what we'll do for a dolladolla bill... or a shed

Me and Jor are not bike people. But we'd like to be. And we're keeping our eyes peeled for some new ones. New bikes you ask? Yes, we sold our bikes this weekend.

We had the most fabulous bikes!
See below.


Amazing, right? They're original SCHWINNS! And the best part was that we paid 10$ for them- at a fairly sketchy garage sale across the street from my parents. The people who kept their 15 children home from school daily, and who wouldn't answer the door. EVER. They were weird. But, we got bikes for 10$! What we did not know about these darling things, were that, they. are. so. heavy. We rode the bikes around the block a couple times, and once- when feeling very ambitious we rode to Lindon, which in all reality is not far from Orem, but, with 30 pounds bikes (just kidding but they're heavy) we ended up having the best/worst work out of our lives. (Not including the kickboxing class Jor joined with me and my girlies- by the end his knuckles were bleeding and we wanted to strangle the teacher who was constantly yelling "YOU ARE NOT TIRED!") but... that is whole other story in an of itself.
So. We sold them. For 100$. On Ksl. In five minutes, (literally). To a man who drove from Park City to pick them up. Should we have asked 100$ a peice? I think yes. Did we get jipped a little? I also think yes.
But, like I said, we're not bike people, and we just made 100$.

Also.
We thought it would be a good idea to take the aluminum shed that was offered to us from Jor's parents ... the shed that sits next to Jory's sweet grandma's house, Grandma Crane who passed away in March. Why pay for a shed when we can take down and assemble one ourselves, for free?! So yesterday, thinking this task would be minor, we headed over.
Not minor at all.
In 3 hours we got the roof off. As well as my voice got a little raspy from screaming at spiders. Now, I know that sounds stupid. and girly. But I cannot explain to you, my fear of dark, rusty, brittle, dust covered- spiderweb infested spaces. There is nothing than can give you the heeby jeebies (dumb as well i know) more than places like that! I don't think Jory has ever seen that terrified jumpy wimpy side of me, I'm not completely sure that I have either. But, the worst is over.


It was fun to watch Jor and his manly self take apart the shed. I just oo'd and aww'd at his muscular forearms, (okay I'm done..) and held the bucket that caught all the washers from the ends of the screws. I'm a pretty hard worker. HA.

But, the best part of the night. Are you ready for this? While we were finishing up with the roof I looked over and saw a cute little Robin's nest.. I told Jory, jokingly, that we should knock that nest down to see if there are any eggs... Jory then told me I was rude - but grabbed the camera and we climbed the tree.
This is what we saw...
Totally amazing right? We were going crazy taking pictures and loving every second of it! They were so adorable and I'm guessing those babies are just days old... AT MOST! The Mama was cute and would come back, sit on her babies to keep them warm, and then she would fly away to go find worms, as soon as she flew away we would run over and snap some more pictures. It was soooo interesting.

These are from tonight. The blue egg is gone, but it still looks like there are 3 birdies. I'm thinking that white thing is what was inside the egg?
Soooo adorable!! I am now on the hunt for more birdie nests.

laundry

Sometimes laundry can be fun when you find things like this in your husbands pants.

. . . a note confiscated by Mr. Schmidt

Speaking of things that hop....

I may be married to one.

So I know he's my husband and all but yesterday was getting me pretty jealous, he hit it off with all the little ladies...
some couldn't keep their hands off of him. (which was totally hillarious, this particular gal was pretty obsessed with that cute lil' tail of his)
But really, can you blame her? I can't resist that tush.

He even was popular with all the tough guys

....
But how many people can say that they've smooched the Easter Bunny?

oh, and I thought it would be appropriate to include (speaking of bunnies) Gretchies newest and most importantly OUT DOOR home! Yay for carpenter Jory!

(Gretchie on right)
We think she loves it. Now she can flirt with her bf jack all the day long with no adult supervision.

Oooooohh Vegas

Halleluia for Spring Break!
Jor had the week off and our only goal for our little break was to get a sunburn, at least- it was my only goal. CHA CHING! Sarita got a sun burn, Jory got buffets and got the chance to put a couple dollars in the penny slots. (HINT for the sneaky, as long as those lovely cocktail waitresses THINK you are gambling, you get free drinks on the Casino, sweet huh?) This vacay was most definitely a success.

Usually our Vegas trips haven't really consisted of staying in Vegas and soaking all the sin up over a long period of time, lucky for us that's exactly what we were planning on doing... more or less. : ) We saw so much and most importantly, SLEPT IN, didn't work and got to play in the sun.

So for the naive Vegas goers, like I, here's what we'd recommend:

1. MYSTERE -Cirque Du Soleil- totally weird and absolutely amazing. We were doing something right when we ordered the tickets online 'cause we got front row! Front row as in we were watching the actors sweat drip off their chisteled bodies as we shivered from the stage smoke flowing off the stage and right on top of us. Actors were constantly scattered all over the stage. When they would come close to the corner where we were sitting, Jor would get a smile or a wink from the sparkely or feather covered actor sitting just a arms length away... it was SO cool! I would recommend it to anyone.


2. Casino/hotels- Really? Can these things get any more incredible? From the Lions at the MGM grand, the Dolphin show and Volcano show at the Mirage to Cesaers Palace which is almost annoyingly huge... me and Jor's jaw's were dropping everywhere we went. Just the architecture and shows the Hotels put on...


The Venetian and the Bellagio had the same elegant feel to them. I could not get over the stones and shapes the buildings were molded into. They. Are. Gorgeous.

This may have been Jory's favorite part, he was screaming and laughing like a mad man when this Mirage Volcano show was going off!

3. SUN! Oh how we've missed you. (yes, I am recommending the sun)

We tried to capture the "essence of the palm tree" in his sunglasses.
This is how Jory layed out. Such a man.


4. Coke Testing- ha! The drink, silly. You are probably thinking, oh brother, haven't you EVER done these things before? But NO, I haven't! I have never been to a Coca Cola Factory and never tried their samplers of 19 flavors of coke products from all around the world! It was super fun and some were very,very disgusting.

(my personal fave from England)

(Jor's not so much)

Of course we had to get a picture with the Coke bear, just don't tell him I'm more of a diet Pepsi Gal...

This was a trip of firsts for us. We even went to Hooters for the first time, all I've got to say is they've GOT to have a no cottage cheese policy for their waitresses there.
We went to Fremont street which we may or may not have made us worry for our lives for a bit, but the light screen was really neat. OH and our car battery decided to die in its sleep, I'm so grateful for Walmarts that carry car batteries and nice men named Randy who helped us for 2 hours on getting everything all fixed.


My personal car mechanic

I'm craving a poolside again. . . . . .

Burlap Wreath

Lately it's been hard to find time to do anything that doesn't revolve around work and food. It's been pretty depressing. I did manage however to squeeze this lovely little thing into my evenings, it's taken me forever, but I really like it.

Here's the how to : )

I used about 3 yards of Burlap- but I did use a really thick wreath base, and I wished I would have used a skinnier one.

Paint your wreath.

Cut the burlap into 3" straight squares- this was definitely challenging for me, to cut in a straight line...


Fold your square in half, and then in half again-

Cut the tops of the squares off (like this)



Ruffle into a flower shape


Snip the bottom off, and glue, glue, glue, glue, glue.

Oh, and burlap's little fibers will get EVERYWHERE. It's a great idea for home made itching powder.

What is it about making something that completes you for a split moment? I love it.

Top 10 reasons to marry a elementary school teacher

1. Holidays. Almost every holiday elementary schools celebrate. What do you when you celebrate? You eat! So following these class celebrations, Jory, my elementary school teacher, brings home all the left over treats, candy and “holiday gifts” given to him through out the day (how come patient’s can’t be as generous as PARENTS?!). There is NOTHING better than us (more like ME) sitting on the floor sampling all of Jor’s presents and treats. Oh, I admit it, I am terrible, but I have no holding back when it comes to Holidays.

2. Summers off. I still think this might almost be illegal. To be paid while NOT working? I still haven’t wrapped my brain around it. I’m too jealous to write anymore about it. But I’m happy Jor gets to be home so much.

3. Logging into FB and seeing 4 friend requests- just to find that it’s Jory’s 10 year old students. Boosts my self confidence every. time.

4. Decorating and organizing his classroom.

5. Being called Mrs. Schmidt.

6. Having other people’s children take care of our animals. This week Jory and I moved our too large and in charge fish tank into his classroom. It’s nice to get a little break from our Toby and Desmond. Now if only we can teach the kids how to clean the fish tank…

7. Having your husband, the teacher, wake you up at 3:00 am talking in his sleep… rambling about electronic random name generators and ipad based classrooms… Not something I would dream about that’s for sure. and if you’re wondering YES that does happen.

8. Having to clean grass stains out of your husbands nice dress clothes cause he played kickball at recess again and those 6^th graders just make him a little too competitive.

9. Getting all of our gingerbread house making materials donated to us every year from the left overs from the donations for the classroom…. This really might be my number one reason for marrying Jor.

10. Costco, gas stations, and restaurants running into cute little kids that get sooo excited to see Mr. Schmidt.

Miracles

As many of you may know, last Wednesday, thankfully now- than later, they found a tumor in my sweet mamas brain.
It's all I've known, my Mother having cancer. It's just been a way of life. Watching her battle through everything that someone diagnosed with this awful disease has to go through, has been something that our family has learned to live with and has been very difficult to see.
Watching a woman lose every physical thing that makes her feel beautiful is something that just makes you ache.
Countless CT scans, MRI's, surgeries and chemo treatments. Through moderate heart failures, blot clots, body cramps, fatigue and headaches. My mother is a miracle and has been for 17 years. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

It's hard for me to write that I am thankful for all of her trials, but I'm grateful for everything that it has taught me. Observing her through out these years, I have never met anyone more faithful, diligent or strong. So positive towards life and willing to put everything in God's hands and to just TRUST.
I've also learned that people; friends, families, neighbors, do have the power to heal you. There is nothing more overwhelming to me, than the love that our family has been shown through out my childhood still to this day! Hundreds and hundreds of meals. Letters, phone calls, visits. Babysitters, neighbor laundry doers, house cleaners, and comforting words. Flowers. Money... I even remember full Christmas's being brought to our doorstep on Christmas Eve, not just once. These are the things that I think about when I think about my Mother's disease. I think about how people, every day people, with their own hard lives, give to make ours a little better. People who give so much their time, love and energy to someone else is something indescribable, really.

It can always be worse, and we know that. There are so many terrible and unfortunate things we all hear about daily. Circumstances that are so much worse than ours. Or just little things that can take over our happiness. Everyone has something hard in their life, and this is my mothers, and our families. But it's something we will conquer, because that's what you do. You don't turn your back on life, and give up. But you are hopeful, wish for the best, and it will work out. It always does. Maybe not how we want it to, but it will work out how it is supposed to.
We actually feel lucky about- well almost everything about this tumor. When and how we found it, where it's located, what kind it is - down to the anesthesiologist and the Dr who will be removing it tomorrow. We've already got meals lined up for the almost week she'll be in the hospital and people who've offered to babysit Scotty or clean our house. Most importantly, thousands of prayers have been said, by these same everyday people who care about her. She's my miracle mama who's gonna conquer this curve ball, too.