Just Call Me Mom

We were asked to house-sat for two weeks in September for three different families. We have fun house-sitting, especially when the dog/kids are so well behaved (which they were at all three locations!).

First was for Stephanie and Brent while they were at the beach. We got to stay with Brinkley (Remember her?) for a whole week! Scott had a blast playing out in the yard with her throwing the Frisbee for so long that she decided to quit.

Miss. Brinkley in the yard

After we finished with Brinkley we were asked by two families in our ward to watch their kids while they were on vacation. The only problem was that their dates overlapped. We felt bad that we wouldn't be able to watch the Foy's, because I can image it's probably hard to find people that don't have kids of their own to move to your house for a week. We told them to call us if they got desperate and the Scott and I would each go to one house if we had to.

Well...we were all lined up to watch Abby and Tim the last week of the month and it turned out their grandmother came for the beginning of the week so we were only needed from Wed-Saturday. That worked out great because Wednesday night as we were preparing for our camping trip Michelle Foy called and said they only had someone for the end of the week and still needed someone Sunday-Wed. Perfect! We didn't start until Wed with Tim and Abby!

So...that weekend we went camping, came home Sunday and headed to the Foys. We were with them until Wednesday when we then headed over to watch Tim and Abby.

All the kids were great and so on top of their schedules and so well behaved! Scott was a champ and did all the driving and dinner on Tuesday night at the Foys (3-8pm of running to various activities AND getting his hair cut!) because I had to work late that night. I got up and took everyone to Seminary at 5:30 every morning, which worked out great because I was able to continue on my schedule and not be tempted to sleep in.

The week was almost uneventful, which I am grateful for since I was in charge of others' children. We did have one mishap...on Friday night we dropped Tim and some of his friends off at the Haunted Corn Maze and at around 11 when Scott drove out to get them (he was awesome and took me home first so I could get to bed!!) only 3 of the 4 returned because one ended up with a broken nose! I guess Tim got frightened at the Haunted Corn Maze and jumped back...with his head or elbow catching the other kids nose!! He left the maze early to get mended. Glad it wasn't Tim, or that it happened at "our" house!!

Scott was great with the kids- taking Tim in between his soccer tournament games to wash the car and then to Conference and Sonic for ice cream on Saturday night and driving them to their activities because usually they had to be there before I got home from work.

We're up to doing it again!

The Craft Room

I received a sewing machine from my parents for Christmas last year, and due to lack of space and time I have not used it much since then. A couple weeks ago I decided that the spare bedroom was used for little more than piling junk and that it was actually supposed to be called the "Craft Room". I took a couple bags to Goodwill and piled up a few things to put on Craigslist and organized the remaining stuff. It is now the craft room/storage room with a corner and desk devoted to Scott's computer.

(He asked me to please note that I kicked him out of the room. I would like to counter that his laptop is still in there, on its own desk. That was the only thing he used the room for anyways.)

The new craft room

I decided that my first project needed to by my duvet cover. Both the cover and the duvet are King, but I have sworn since day one (3+ years ago) that the cover is too big. There is always tons of cover on the sides and top while the duvet is slumped in the center and bottom. Drives me NUTS.

So, I measured it and sure enough the duvet cover was HUGE....like 10" too wide on each side and 5" or so too long! I knew it! I got to work and took the cover in on both sides and the top and now it fits beautifully!

I also planned on attaching snaps so that I could adhere the cover to the duvet to prevent any further slipping. These days, most bedding comes with said snaps, but back in the day we weren't so lucky. I have my duvet in a cover and then the "decorative" cover (like how you put a cover over your pillow before the pillowcase...), so there was quite a few snaps to be sewn. I got the duvet adhered to the "protective" cover, but not yet to the decorative cover. (Which you will see isn't so decorative) I will have to trim the excess from taking the cover in before adhering snaps, so we're going to use it as is for a while to be sure it's the size I want before I cut.

Look how fluffy and full it looks now!

We used it for the first time last night. It was delightful. More sewing/craft projects to come...I also just got a needle punch from Michael's that I'm super excited about!

I Camped.

Yup folks, you read it right. I went camping. And to your surprise, I even planned it. I had a Saturday off (the 25th) so we took off Friday afternoon and headed east to Bill Hill Pond State Park.

Our Camp

We set up camp with (relatively) little trouble. We got our our new tent, found the perfect place to set it up (easier said then done apparently) and got it up in about 10-15 mins. It's designed to go up in about 60 seconds. I guess we need to practice. We built our fire and sat down at the picnic table to have a game of Skipbo before roasting hot dogs when it started to POUR! We threw the cards in the Ziploc bag I packed them in (have I mentioned I love Ziploc?) and tossed the wood and newspaper we had for our fire under the picnic table and dashed to the car. Why didn't we run to the tent, you ask? I don't know. We sat in the car for about 15 mins until the rain stopped.

Scott chopping some wood....

The rest of the evening was uneventful (unless you  count the DESPISED trips to the spider-infested bathrooms an event). We sat around the fire, roasted hot dogs and made s'mores with peanut butter cups

and just sat. We headed to bed and I realized I forgot pillows. I won't make that mistake again!!

We slept well in the new tent even though it rained all night long. We were dry and warm, but not all that comfortable in our pillowless sleep.

Saturday morning we woke up early (it's hard to sleep in w/out a pillow) and Scott made us eggs. He insisted on packing the camp stove for our 2-night trip. He was eager to try it out, so whatever! We had our yummy eggs and then headed out to our hike. It was just a couple miles down the road in the park. We hiked 2.5 miles to a refurbished fire watch tower. Once at the tower you climbed up about 70 feet and you looked out over the Tuscumbian valley. (I think that's what it's called...) We chilled up there for a few minutes and headed back. The whole thing took only a couple hours at a leisurely pace, so we had ALL DAY to figure out what to do!

Come dinner we ate our remaining hot dogs and s'mores and went to bed. Sunday morning we got up, packed up and headed back home.

It was fun. Next time we'll plan our food better, remember pillows, bring friends and scout out more day-time activities. The only thing I truly hate about camping is going to the bathroom. Those park bathrooms are SO GROSS, but with camp neighbors you have no choice. Unless you want the camp neighbors to watch you in the woods. Which I don't.

I hate uploading pictures here, so I'm just going to post them in a huge long list.

On the hike.

At the top of the tower

Looking a little sleep deprived?!

Camping makes people look soooo attractive....

The fire tower. The stairs were so steep!

Scott roasted hot dogs after the hike.

Killing time Saturday afternoon. Thank you Jay and Courtney for letting us borrow your cooler, sleeping bags and pads!!

 We plan to go again...not sure when though. Scott thinks we're going to start backpacking. I told him I won't fit in his bag.

Our (First) Car!!!

It's been not-so-fun only having one car so we finally decided it was time to take the plunge. A couple Saturdays ago we went out car shopping and come Tuesday night we were picking up our new car! It's a 2007 Honda Civic (with a sunroof!!).

I love driving it...but just wish I could drive it more. Scott takes it to work since it's better on gas (or so I'm lead to believe) so I have only driven it a few times. Its super comfy and feels so light and quick.

The purchase.

And, miraculously enough, Scott and I can have the seat at the exact same position and both drive comfortably. No more having to move the seat every time I (or he) gets in. I wish I could say the same for the Malibu, but for some reason our seating positions in that car are drastically different. Hmm. Strange.

Banangrams

I love this game. I first played it last year in Rexburg, and then again in Montana and still liked it, so Scott decided to order it from Amazon (his favorite).

It came and I got down to business playing against Scott. I won every game. In the last little bit though he's started to pick it up and has won the last two. We've been so busy working, house-sitting, buying a car etc. that we haven't played much in the last couple weeks, but I feel the need to get playing again. And winning again.

One of Scott's "game boards"
(Notice that it's not very straight and grid-like.)

One of Cari's "game boards".
(Notice that it is much straighter)

Next I want to get Yahtzee. I quite enjoy these simple games.