No more excuses, trees, or tile

If you've ever been to our house, you'll notice that we aren't quite....organized yet. Partly because we don't have furniture in which to put many of our belongings (read: Brianna's art supplies, papers, and half-completed projects), and partly because we've been storing some things for friends of ours. Well, this weekend, our friends picked up their belongings and, as a result.....we still aren't quite organized. Eric was great and got the garage in order (yay for both cars now being inside!) but I haven't held up my end of the cleaning efforts. I have no more excuses though, so hopefully I'll get it in gear soon.

Perhaps a bit cheesy that I'm posting a picture of our garage, but seriously, look at that!

Our two car garage now holds two cars!

We also spent time chopping down trees this weekend. Eric finally came around to my point of view that we need to raze all our overgrown trees and bushes. This will take ages at our current rate of one tree per weekend, but even the few we've removed so far have made a huge difference.

In our tree removal efforts, Eric and I have very different roles. I chop them down to the roots and haul the branches to the dumpster while he has the hard part - digging out the roots. Sometimes I feel bad that I can't do more in renovating the house so when I find a project that I am able to help with, I like to get right on it! For example, Sunday morning before church I woke up and started chipping away tile in preparation for the bathroom makeover. Yesssss! One step closer to making it great!

Before I began, I was a little worried about damaging the bathtub, but after seeing the exact same one in a giant heap of junk at the recycling center, I decided that it did not so much matter.

Artsy Fartsy

Last night....I hosted "Craft Time" at our house and.... it was a riot! I admit, I was a little nervous about it - partially because I always get nervous when people come over to our "under-construction-lack-of-furniture-and-as-a-result-not-that-clean" house and partially because having a "craft party" made me feel a bit like a nerd, but the ladies that came were so gracious and a LOT of fun. We drank wine, snacked on lovely cheese and bread and nuts, chatted, and then finally got around to our projects. I would definitely do it again! Especially with these girls!!

Pam's DELICIOUS bruschetta

Discussing Chrissie's embroidery

Pam learning of Portlandia's "Put a Bird on it"

Hanna's...uh....potholder...?

Boom. Done.

Finally, a finished project! Our entryway is complete!

Thank you Nick for the GORGEOUS trim pieces and thank you sexy husband for gettin' 'er done! It looks so much better!

After seeing the sad little (surprisingly expensive) trim we bought at Lowe's, our friend Nick gave us some walnut to use instead. He put them in his magic wood machine to make them nice and smooth, beveled the edges nicely, and even donated polyurethane and wood filler to our cause. You can't have better friends than that!

Every time Eric gets down on the floor to work on things....Hurley Burly comes along to play....

 

It's so great! And it's going to be so much greater after we refinish our floors. Gorg!

BMIUNF

Thank you mom for all you are and do! I love you!

Bahaha

My boss dropped his keys in the toilet which means that a) I haven't been able to use the bathroom all day & b) I periodically hear one yell to the other, "do you see them yet?" as they fish around in the plumbing.

Which is Best?

Black?

White?

or Black & White bathroom floors?

Stinking Awesome Vacation

Ok, so here's a really quick run down of our amazing GRAND CANYON VACATION!!!!
Day 1: Flight to Vegas; stay at Hilton

 Day 2: Get up, hang out, then limo ride to In-n-Out Burger for lunch.

Adam with the limo driver

In case you didn't catch that - WE TOOK A LIMO TO IN-N-OUT BURGER. A LIMOOOOOO!! Hahaha!

Drive to Marble Canyon, night at Cliff Dwellers Lodge

Day 3: Board the raft and begin floating!!!! There weren't a lot of stops this day - a lot of floating and enjoying rapids.

Sunrise at Cliff Dwellers' Lodge

Day 4: Rafting!

Our home for a week

Hike up to the "mystery skeleton." Which isn't even there anymore.

Giant cave! So cool!

From inside the cave

Hike up to some food storage thing. I didn't go.

Food storage thing

Day 5: This is the day I figured out that the pad they gave us to sleep on was less comfortable than the ground. Slept much better after that realization.

Our guides: Tim & Jeff

At Phantom ranch. Only flush toilet on the trip. I went twice.

I knew it! Flash flooding is a legitimate concern!

Camp for the night

 Day 6:

Breakfast at the campsite

What?! They have these in the Grand Canyon?!

Hiking to another little waterfall by our campsite.

Catching water droplets

View of the campsite

Day 7:

View as we hike

Pictographs

 

Rick braving the cold

Everything is so big!!!!

 

 

 

 

Eric and Tim taking a break

 

 

Camp for the night

My changing room

One lady on our trip made us paint a toenail in preparation for the biggest rapid the following day. Whatever.

Dinner! Tuna steaks! Did I mention how great the food was on this trip?

Day 8: Our last day on the river :(

Eric's favorite stop. So gorgeous.

Look at this water!!!!!

Tunnel to next set of falls

Day 9: The Helicopter Ride and trip back to Vegas.

Here it comes!!

I'M IN A HELICOPTER!!!!!!

I was too busy screaming to take many pictures

Thought I was going to die on this airplane...

....but I actually fell asleep right away

Day 10: Back in Vegas....I have no pictures. I'm pretty sure we slept a LOT.
Day 11: Mark met up with us and we headed for Hoover Dam.

Eric was so excited to see this thing

On the penny slots later that night

Big winner!

Day 12: consisted of us wandering around, killing time while we waited for it to be time to go to the airport.

Eric's winnings from the roulette wheel

Putting money on the ponies

The end. That was not as quick as I thought. It was fun though. Even with the lack of showers and toilets in the Grand Canyon. Definitely AWESOME.