Lots of Firsts

So since there is life after weddings, although I think I am in sewing machine withdrawals,
I thought I would share FIRSTS.

Now really how many FIRSTS could a woman my age have, apparently many. I am not that great a cook, or at least have become less great since there aren't so many to cook for. Since the first of the year I have made at least 7 new dishes and they were all yummy,

however our new favorite definitely has to be 3 Bears Porridge, courtesy of Clint and Aubrey.

I have sewn 6 new patterns (OK this one really shouldn't count)

I planted many seeds and they are now safely nestled in my garden hopefully to grow BIG and BEAUTIFUL.

I had my first manicure (not fake nails, that is way to much for me) and pedicure. I don't care if I ever have a manicure again but a pedicure once a day would be totally acceptable to me.

Now my last FIRST occurred Saturday. We had been at Trek Super Sat all morning, I had been sick all week with a cold and Rachel convinced me I should accompany her to the local massage school that afternoon and share the 2fer they were offering. Since it was only $12.50 for 1 hour I consented. No never again, that really means never. It was OK during the massage, however by that night, all day Sunday and part of today I felt like my body had been run over many times

with a Sherman tank, from head to toe.

Never have my workouts left me feeling so sore, and then I recall what the guy said as he finished. "Well Mrs Wilson you really don't have any spots that seem tight or sore so that was a pretty light massage, we can do a much deeper one next time. HA! that will never happen.
So now I am left wondering, why do people like a massage?

The Perfect Blessed Event

April 22 we headed to Utah for Alan and Michele's wedding. We had a few preparations to do on Thursday, they came together quickly and after a short delay Doug, Heather and Andrew arrived at the SLC airport. We were SO HAPPY to see them. Andrew remembered us and made us feel so "Grandparent-ish. It really is so fun, this grandparent thing. We did a few errands and visited for a couple of hours with Dan's mom before going to the BBQ Thursday night.

Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures except of kids playing on the playground.
(Love those tongues, I think they are related)
They had a large turnout and I think it was really fun for all.

We had to get up early Friday to get the church set up for the luncheon before the ceremony at the Timpanogas temple at 9am. Thanks to all those helping hands who made it possible.

Rachel, Colby and James watched the kids and helped finish food prep while we were in the temple. Rachel wasn't feeling the best, since she is our un-official photographer we didn't get many pics here either. Peyton and Andrew are sampling the food and Michele is sharing how she and Alan met one another.

The Ceremony was wonderful, the sealer said good things and I learned a few new things also. Alan and Michele look so happy and at peace with everything. If they were nervous, they did

not show it. Here are a couple of my favorite pics.

After a couple hours down time we headed to Fruitland for the reception there. Thanks to Michele's parents for a wonderful reception. It brought back memories of my much younger years in a small Alpine and the sense of family those small towns have. I know Alpine is much to big now for many to believe it once was so small.

beautiful music, beautiful food, beautiful cake

more beautiful family.

Jaren is overcome with joy or could it be allergies?

These 2 pics just made me LOL. Can you guess who's been in New Zealand for the past 4 months. That would also be the girl working to be the "favorite" aunt
It was a perfect day. We feel so blessed to have another eternal family started.
Welcome to the family Michele, we love you and feel so blessed because you fell in love with Alan and saw what a great guy he really is.

the 1950's Have Been Erradicated

Yippee it is DONE!!! 9 days, 12-17 hours per day and I couldn't be happier (I think)

I love 7 matching door knobs instead of none the same shape, or color and these all WORK. Such a high expectation of a simple door knob. I replaced the kids pictures that I love with these cross stitch that I also love, but I find myself longing to look at those cute pictures, SOoo maybe this wall will have to revert back to the original, just updated.

This is how this wall looked starting out--4 layers of wallpaper gone

The wall was so badly damaged I had to put a skim coat of mud to fill in all the imperfections and there were loads. After a good sanding I was pleased to find this wall as smooth as a babies butt. Next came priming it and finally 2 coats of paint. I love it! Then the fun part of putting up this decoration I had seen in my head and been collecting pieces for over a year. I think I like this wall a lot.

The pictures of Christ are from a calendar that I send Stacy while on her mission, when she came home she threw it away. Well I dug it out of the trash knowing that someday I could find a great way to use the pictures. The rod I bought at a cute place in Utah called Iron Works for $5.00. The hangers were on clearance at JoAnns for $2.50. I gutted them out and put in more pictures from the calendar. The with $8.00 worth of spray paint I reclaimed some old 5x7 frames from storage for the pictures and hooks. Rachel found this great quote for me when in Utah last week for $7.50. (we can't adhere it until the paint cures for 3 weeks, thus the taping on the wall) Then another $2.00 for a spool of ribbon and altogether this great project cost me $25.00 and I like that part A LOT

I replaced our very old and slightly broken one it still worked but the glass shades were super glued together with this much softer new one.

This desk and fridge area were out of control with PAPER and PAPER and more PAPER. After much thought this is what I did to control the paper clutter. Fridge: everything came down, no more ward lists,calendars, wedding announcements, gym schedules, VT lists and it goes on and on and on. My fridge truly was a MESS and the desk was in close second place. With a wire file holder in place to hold all those lists, calendars and such, the bulletin board for wedding announcements, now the piles are gone. I dug out some magnetic picture frames that I made collages of Andrew and Peyton for the fridge and that cleaned up the 20 magnets holding up all those cute pictures.

I have had these pictures for years and I couldn't stand to part with them, they all give me something to think about when I am having a pity party. I reclaimed this cute holder my mom gave me many years and and it now holds the cameras, i pod, dry erase markers and reading glasses of all strengths.

The window area in the kitchen drives me crazy. It seems to be a catch all for meds, and other odd items and is always a disaster. Thankfully with no boys at home doing the dishes the window stays fairly clean as they are not tossing the dishrag from the dining room after wiping the table and trying to get it to land in the sink. Fortunately it mostly did land in the sink however the sink was usually full of water and yukky dishes so much of that splashed onto the windows. So my goal is to keep the window sill free all stuff except what you see here. The final touch was this great quote that Rachel brought back from Utah, (she brought me lots of great quotes which i really like, THANKS RACH)

At the end and beginning of each day this herb heat bag was my friend. My thighs and shoulders have been on fire for 8 straight days and this brought me some relief. However it was a sad day when the microwave wigged out and burnt a hole in my beloved bag. However a little time spent on a good friend patched things up and it is back to relieving the pain my shoulders and thighs.

Now I think I should spend time working on wedding plans for a great couple that we love.

Spring Sprouts

Flowers! I love flowers in my yard and Spring and Summer are not far away. Last year I spent way to much on flowers, although many were perennial and they are more expensive so hopefully they will come back. So this year I decided to try and grow my favorite from seed. Payton was cross 2 weeks ago and so to keep her distracted we planted my seeds. It was a cold and yucky day so we did it in the house and we made a mess but it cleaned up easily. So now it has been 10 days and almost everything is up. We have Black-Eyed Susan, Zinnia, Lupine, Daisy and a few others. I figure I am into this project about $15.00 for potting mix and seeds. If all goes well I will save about $100.00 if I were to buy all these. I'll keep you posted as to our progress. Yea for FLOWERS!!!!

Winter Winter Winter

Winter finally arrived in Broomfield and it was great. Thursday morning we got up at 5 am and there was not a hint of moisture of any kind, anywhere. We thought, maybe it will still come. Dan headed out to work and I started one of the last things in our re-do of the kitchen/dining room the floor, (ugg) By 7am it was snowing lightly, very lightly and then all the sudden we went from absolutely nothing to 8 inches on the ground by 11am. Then the wind started howling and the drifting began. I truly love to hunker down and watch a blizzard, they absolutely mesmerizer me.

I started out to DIA at 8:15am to pick up Rachel but gave up. Dan took over in the 4 wheel drive Durango. I-36 was a disaster, as was all of Boulder. Finally after having the road he was driving on closed and re-routed a different way not once but twice, he made it to the tollway and was happy to pay their highway robbery tolls. Rachel was on one of the last planes in or out that day and we are so thankful she just happen to chose an early departure from SLC. They made it back to Broomfield about noon. We had missed them and were glad to have them home.

Friday the snow stopped early that morning, the final official total was a whopping 16.5 inches. By 9am Dan went out to shovel, Rachel and Peyton to play and I decided it was just a wasil sort of day.