Sometimes it pays to be a renter.

Like last week.
When we got our place painted.
No extra work for us.

No hiring a painter.

Just the pleasure of coming home to a much more polished outward appearance on our lovely duplex.

He started out the Friday before by pressure washing the whole house (being careful around the garden) and also the patio. That alone would have been awesome! The place looked so clean after he was done.
But he wasn't really done. He came back on Tuesday and prepped the house with primer and then taped up the trim, windows, etc. Then he came back the following day and painted all of the house, front door and garage door. He was back again on Thursday to do the trim and some detail work. Finally he was there one last time Saturday morning to paint the back door.
It looks good.
Painting was the one thing Sean and I were going to mention to the landlord that would need to be done soon, assuming it wasn't done yet whenever we were to move out. And now we get to enjoy it! Sweet.

I survived. Barely.

Late this morning, Sean, Tory and I went for a hike up Mt. Pisgah. I am not a hiking kind of a gal. Not that I don't like the outdoors. On the contrary, I love a good nature walk. I've just never been much of a hiker. Even when I was in really good shape and working out at the gym 4-6 days a week with a variety of cardio I was not much of a hiker. So last week when Tory came over and invited Sean to hike Mt. Pisgah this weekend I rolled my eyes and said in a scoff, "Pffft. Have fu-un." But then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that I could really benefit from a good hike. We've been so busy the last couple weeks that I haven't made it to the gym much. So despite my rational thought warning against it, I all but begged to come along. Last night the arrangements were made. Tory's mom, Melanie, would watch Ethan while the rest of us went on the death walk...err... hike. We started at about 11am and by about half-way I was dying. Whose idea was this anyway?! Finally, after many stops along the way, we made it! All the way to the top. I had to take pictures to prove it.

View from the top.

"Whadja say, sweetie?"
We are here. Yep, right here.

Striking their manly poses. "Monster trucks. Big gulps. Hunting. Outdoor cooking."That there over yonder.

Me and the boys.

Going back down was much, much easier though my legs were getting kinda shaky towards the end. And after a total of 5 miles we were back in the car, A/C blasting on our way home, but only after a pitstop at 7-11 for some slurpees to replenish the lost fluids and combat the increasing temperature. And now? Now, I am sitting on the couch in front of the A/C, post shower, with freshly shaved legs and non-sweaty, clean shorts and a t-shirt. My legs are still hurting and I know I'll be sore tomorrow, but I'm glad I went. Just don't ask me to go again or I might just beg you to come along at the last minute.
Anyway. Just thought I'd let you know I survived. Barely.

Equal Parts: Friends, Family, Fireworks, Fun

I love the 4th of July.

Really, what's not to like?
Family and Friends.
Food (BBQ is a MUST).
Fireworks up the wazoo!
Fun times.
Freedom.

We started our Independence Day celebrations with our traditional Eugene Em's baseball game and Fireworks display. The Em's were, once again, away for the 4th so we went to the home game on the 3rd. We picked up my sisters and then met up with our good friend Rodney. He was nice enough to save us primo seats on the 3rd baseline since I didn't get off work until after 5pm (game started at 6:35pm). It was close, but we made it with about 5 minutes to spare before the National Anthem. The Em's were ahead, 3-2 at the bottom of the 7th inning, but Everett came back at the top of the 9th to score 2 runs and take the lead. The Em's were scoreless in that final inning and lost 4-3. Bummer.
After the game we headed do to the field to watch the fireworks. A fantastic show as always!! That's pretty much the real reason I go. I like watching the baseball game, but having to get there early and stay the entire game and deal with an antsy toddler in the heat is not really my idea of fun. The fireworks make up for it.What was supposed to be a nice picture of Ethan and I watching the fireworks. Uhhh.... Check out everyone behind us making faces. Even the guy behind Lizzy's head!

The next day, on the 4th, we started our day by sleeping in!! Oh, heaven. Then we met over at my family's house for BBQ with all the fam that was in town... Toftdahl grandparents, g-ma Mary, auntie Kay, Tengans and Gary and Linda. And talk about yummy food. We had quite the spread, I must say. Main dish was fried chicken (yuck for me, yum for Sean) and bbq hot dogs. You can guess which one I chose. Then of course potato salad, fruit, chips and desserts. I, myself, brought blondies, mississippi mud brownies and a lemon pie but opted for Linda's marionberry pie because that is one of my favs and I am not a pie-maker! Baker, yes. Pastry chef, no. It was great to chat with everyone and a little weird to be the only ones there with a little one in tow since none of the Graham boys and their families were there (we missed you... and not that we expected Nick and Christi to show up from Vegas). But oh-so-nice to kick back and relax and bask in the glory of living in a free country and not having to be at work.
I don't remember what he was so upset about here, but see, it's not all rainbows and bunnies at this house. We have our moments. The main thing is to check out his cute $3 Wal-Mart special of a flag shirt!

Ah, happy again and enjoying some watermelon. He eats that stuff like it's going out of style!

Sean, Ethan and I were the last to leave, but since it was a BBQ lunch we were unsure of how to spend the evening. We decided to rent a redbox movie and also stopped for some snacks (hello, there was absolutely no microwave popcorn or soda in the house!). I don't remember what we did when we first got home, but eventually we decided to go looking for Uncle Tory around the corner at his usual 4th of July stomping grounds. Boy do we wish we'd gone sooner! What a show his neighbors put on!! Bucked up for the big illegals from WA so we got to sit and watch more fireworks to end our day. Awesome. We headed home sometime close to 11pm (waaaaay past Ethan's bedtime) and practically fell into bed.

Happy 4th!

June Recap

So you may be really hating these monthly recaps by now, but I'm just gonna keep on truckin' and do them anyway! Lots of pictures this month, though!

* Portland Trip #1 - June 6th: This was the Katie weekend. Sean was super nice and let me go in for Katie and Javier's sealing in the Portland temple while he stayed out and watched Ethan on temple grounds. Afterward we stocked up on some new g's and grabbed a snack while waiting for the other Katie to get home from the hospital with her new baby girl, Molly.

We only stayed for a little while because Ethan was having too much fun exploring their whole house and the new parents looked pretty tired. Our late lunch/early dinner was at one of our favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes!! It's practically a Portland tradition since we don't have one in Eugene. We ended the day at Katie and Javier's reception back in Eugene.

* Portland Trip #2 - June 20th: Sean and I went up for our ward temple day while Ethan stayed and played with great grandparents. We grabbed a bite to eat at our first (and probably last) visit to Burgerville. The food was good, especially enjoyed the fresh strawberry milkshake, but not quite what we expected and kinda spendy for what you got. Wish we had an In-N-Out Burger, or the Five Guys my sisters keep raving about, nearby. We stopped in Woodburn for a couple sweet deals and then headed home.

* Movie of the Month: STAR TREK!!

Ok, I am SO NOT a Trekkie. Just the word makes me cringe. BUT! Sean had been wanting to see this movie and I figured I'd just go with him... until I saw the TV preview. Genius move on the their part with the "This is NOT your Father's Star Trek" in BIG BOLD letters. That made me sit up and take notice for sure, non-Trekkie that I am. Anyway. GREAT movie. Loved it! Would see it again except that we only make it to the movie theaters once a month!

* Uncle Tory - We are absolutely loving our time with Uncle Tory home from college and pre-mission. He truly is like the "little" (he towers over me at about 6'2"!) brother I never had... hence the reason Ethan calls him Uncle Tory. It's so fun to have him over, especially because it only take about 45 seconds for him to get from his house to ours (just around the corner). I really like watching him and Sean interact because it is very similar to Sean's relationship with his brothers Todd and Ryan. And one of their favorite past-times? Playing the piano and singing... quite loudly I might add! Tory is an amazing pianist and organist and has a special talent for site-reading so we love to have him on the keys which also frees Sean up to sing (always a delight). They make a great duo! :) You will find Sean and Tory "rockin' out" almost every Sunday evening at our house!

* Fire Station Open House - We nearly missed the newly-remodeled fire station open house. When they had the ground-breaking ceremony for the new project, we got a postcard invite in the mail since we live so close and figured we would get something similar for the open house. No such luck. I just happened to catch the info on it in the Sunday paper just a couple days before.

Inside the ambulance and fire truck.The view from one of the windows... that's our house on the right. They look right into our living room window!

It is a very nice station house and the only one in Springfield that is two stories, i.e. a fire pole to slide down. Unfortunately, that wasn't open to the public. ;)

* Volleyball:


I have been going to play volleyball Tuesday nights... very fun but I do feel a little awkward playing with all the YSA (young single adults). They make me feel so old! There are a few other marrieds that play so that makes me feel a little better.

* Relief Society: I had my first opportunity to teach Relief Society in our ward. The lesson was on member missionary work and I realized as I was preparing for it that I hadn't really taught a lesson in church in about a year and that was in young womens! It had been over four years since I had taught in Relief Society!! No pressure there. I thought the lesson went really well, though. I think I have a bit of a different teaching style than what they're used to (especially since I'm used to working with the youth) so I'm hoping I was able to mix things up a bit. There was lots of participation, questions and comments and that always helps to keep things moving instead of just standing at the front and talking or reading a lot. I am always grateful for the input! We'll see if they ever ask me back though. ;)

I'm getting complaints...

Ok, maybe just one written complaint. But a complaint just the same. My youngest sister, Lizzy, seems to think I need to update my blog more frequently and to be honest, so do I. I even have quite a few posts already in the works. And for the most part, I seem to average a new post every 3 days. So why have I been slacking lately?? Because NO ONE seems to be reading my blog! I've read quite a few people's similar complaints within the past couple weeks. Where IS everyone?? I don't want to look like I'm begging, but I really, really, really do enjoy reading others' comments and it makes me much more likely to be more consistent in how frequently I post. A big THANK YOU to Shalene... I think she is my #1 commenter! She rarely misses adding at least a little somethin' in the comments section of my posts and I really appreciate it! :) Now, I know that I can slack a little in my comments. I have a really bad habit of reading blog posts with every intention of getting back to them later when I have a little more time to think about what I want to write. Unfortunately I don't always make it back to comment. BUT!! I have been trying to be much better about it because I know how much I like to get comments.

SO!

Here is what you have to look forward to... I will try to get busy this weekend and get some new posts and pictures up.
* Father's Day... yes, I'm a slacker and still need to do a post on this!
* June Recap
* 4th of July
* Tengans Visit
* 4th Wedding Anniversary
* Garden Update... we are SO CLOSE to having yummy, fresh veggies! One of my tomato plants has now grown up past my waist and we have little, baby cucumbers all over the place.
* My broccoli/veggie spaghetti recipe... I have received several requests for this (poor Lynnie asked for it months ago) so I thought I'd just post it here so others can enjoy it as well. It's great for the summer if you have a veggie garden.

Sorry, Lizzy. This isn't a very exciting post, but it is NEW!! Check back soon and don't be shy on those comments!

Saturday Project: Clean Our Room!!

So, I'm hoping Sean and I aren't the only ones that do this, but our bedroom is SO neglected on the household chores chart. It is ALWAYS the last room we get to when we clean... IF we even get to it! Especially when people are coming over, the living room, dining room and kitchen always take priority, followed by the bathroom and Ethan's room. And the biggest mess factor in our room? Laundry in laundry baskets! It's not that we don't put our clothes away - I'm really good about getting Ethan's folded or hung up and also kitchen and bathroom towels, but I am horrible about putting my own clothes away and we are notorious for having a basket of whites laying around that never really gets put away. [[sigh...]]

A couple of Saturdays ago we took charge! The rest of our house was already pretty much picked up and clean - just needed to clean floors, so we tackled our room. I am happy to report that BOTH of our closets are now neat and organized. My dresser, both the top and all the drawers, is clean and organized. Our "nightstands" (we're poor and waiting to invest in a nice, coordinating bedroom set - so our nightstands are really just plastic crates on their side - I know, very "college dorm room" but it works) are clean - well, Sean's is really neat and clean, mine is picked up, but not very organized. Floors are vacuumed and surfaces (TV, mirror, dresser, etc.) are dusted. It looks SO MUCH better! It's still not perfect - I have a box of girls camp stuff to go through, but it's nice to have all the floor space back and I swear you sleep better in a clean room. (My dad is probably nodding his head vigorously in agreement about now!) Now we just need to finish tackling some laundry - there's a couple loads that we didn't get to Saturday afternoon.

Overall findings for the day:
- 42 bobby pins
- at least 3 lip glosses/chapsticks I didn't know were missing
- 6 hair ties in various colors
- a fancy pair of dangly chandelier earrings that I had forgotten I own (I think they were a Christmas present last year... anyway, I wore them to church the next day!)
- $11.76 in change :)

And our reward? We went out to Red Robin for dinner with my dad so Sean could enjoy his free birthday burger. And an added bonus - Ethan was very well-behaved at the restaurant (he usually does okay, but this was above his typical antsy, only mildy entertained restaurant demeanor).
Now, bets on how long our clean room will last?!??

Update... we got a new bedspread! It's not my "dream" bedding set, but it's in the colors I like (cream, dark brown and sort of a robin egg blue/green) with some nice textures. And the bonus? I got it for $35 with a pair of coordinating pillow shams. Sweet. I'll add a pic soon, I really just wanted to get something new posted.

One Year Shy of THIRTY!

Happy Birthday, SEANY!!!

So last Thursday was Sean's 29th birthday... though if you were to talk to him you'd think he had already turned 30! Instead of enjoying the fact that he just barely turned 29, he is already focusing on next year's big 3-0. Too much negative energy if you ask me! Actually, he is much better now, most of his complaining came earlier in the year.

Anyway...

Sean's birthday did not have the best start - a 12:30am wake-up call from a 2 year-old having nightmares makes for a long night. Breakfast was a little better... piping hot cinnamon rolls courtesy of Mr. P. Doughboy. Yum! Of course, I had to work all day and then Sean had mutual (story of our lives) and I had a baby shower to go to. We did just a small celebration LATE that night to open presents: a web cam (that's right, we can officially skype now!) and new dress shirt from me and Ethan, along with a dozen long-stem roses (I know, kind of a girly present but he still liked them!) and then some new broadway musical piano books from Lynnie and his dad. Then, on Sunday we finally had birthday cake and sang to him! Homemade "Disappearing Chocolate Cake" w/ freshly-made chocolate icing as per Sean's request. I even put ALL 29 candles on his cake... Whew! Talk about generating some heat! Tory, Ethan and I were the only ones at this little "party" so Tory and I got to sing Happy Birthday as a duet! More celebration to come... my family was out of town and Sean got his b-day list to Lynnie pretty late in the game, so his birthday package is still on its way.

Some memories of birthdays past...
Golden Birthday (25 on the 25th): Went with me to the Portland, OR temple when I received my endowments (very special day). "Gave"/showed him his wedding-band-to-be (complete with engraving). Two weeks later we were married.
26th Birthday: Nobody knew yet, but we were talking a lot about trying to get pregnant... by August we were!
27th Birthday: Celebrated with a 2 1/2 month old newborn baby boy.
28th Birthday: Celebrated with all of my cousins in town. Again, with homemade chocolate cake. Guess he really likes it!

I'm going to save all my gushing over how wonderful Sean is for the Father's day post I still need to write! But, let me just say how much I love my Seany! He is an excellent husband and father... Happy birthday, sweetie!