The Rock Mystery Solved!

Lately we have been finding rocks all over our yard, in the grass, in the dirt, on the pavers- everywhere.

It has gotten to the point that we have to check the yard before mowing to ensure that it is rock free. We have some rocks in the soil, but had no idea how they were getting all over the back yard...until tonight. While we were outside tonight, we watch Kira go and grab a rock, come back to the grass, sit down, and put the rock in her mouth! Then, when she is done with it, she leaves it somewhere random on the yard...mystery solved! I have had dogs eat lots of things, but never rocks!

Kira's like Charlie Brown at Halloween...she got a rock!

The Trellis is Up

We finally finished attaching the trellis to the bottom of the deck tonight. I love that it matches the stain on the deck and love even more that it prevents Kira and Koda from getting under it. A big thanks to Jeff who hammered a lot of nails (and his thumb once) into the deck to get the trellis attached...it looks wonderful!

A "Suite" Night at the Bees Game

Jeff got more tickets to go to the Bees Game on Friday night...and we got to enjoy it from a suite! It was so much fun and a TON better than sitting in the regular stands. When we entered the park, we got to go through these special doors to elevators that took us to the suites. It was cool and I felt like a rockstar. When we got to the fourth floor, this was the view...

We walked around to find our suite and this was what we saw when we walked in....

There was so much food- BBQ pulled pork, chicken and beef, potato salad, baked beans, cookies, fruit, salad, breads and a refrigerator filled with drinks! Sure beats stadium food any day. After we ate (and had some beer) we went out onto the patio to watch the game. The view was great and we were in the shade which really helped with staying cool.

The field seemed more gorgeous after the sun went down and we had a really good night, even though the Bees did lose to the Tucson Sidewinders 12-1.

I learned one thing from my night at the game....I am not going to another one unless it is in the suite. The food, the atmosphere and the people made for a great night at the ball park! Thanks Delta Valve!

More Home Improvements

What is a weekend for us without some home improvement projects? This weekend we decided to tackle a few of the more challenging projects. First, on Friday I was tasked with staining a new wood trellis for under our deck. I stained it the same color as the deck and it will serve two purposes- keeping weeds from growing under the deck and keeping the dogs out from under there. It took most of my day off on Friday, but they are now finished and ready to install (more pictures to come on that later, after they get installed this week).

On Saturday, Jeff and I got up early and did tons of yard work- mowing, weeding, spreading granules to kill the grubs eating our grass. We also had to finish staining the trellis...both sides needed two coats of stain, so it took awhile to get it all finished. We also decided to landscape one of our beds in the backyard. When we moved in, it had some yucky looking shrubs in it. We ripped those out, bought all new plants and planted them on Sunday and mulched the new bed. Here is what it looked like after we finished.....

Since we had extra mulch left, we moved to the front of the house and re-mulched the front beds as well. They look so much better now!

As if that was not enough, we also restained our double Adirondack and foot stool. I picked out an orangy color for the stain at Lowe's (the color was called "Muted Mesa"), but when we started to stain the chair, it took on a more salmony color. Not exactly what I was looking for, but the more we stained, the more I liked the color. It is a fun, tropical color and reminds me of Florida in the summer. Here are some pictures of the finished product.

We also put up some cool tiki torches around the deck so that the bugs don't bother us when we are outside enjoying our newly stained deck, Adirondack chair, and looking at our new landscaping job. Yeah for another productive weekend!

Oh, and a couple more pictures of the dogs enjoying the new landscaping. Jeff actually caught Koda last night rolling around in the new mulch!...he likes the way it smells. Crazy dog!

After all that, I sat back and wondered where the entire weekend went...then I remembered that we were running around working on the house. Although it gets tiring after a while, I am so proud of all the work that we are doing. We make a great team and the outside of the house is turning out just as nice as the inside.

Puppy Osmosis

Ever since we went to the pet psychic, we have been giving Kira her favorite toy more- a small brown and white stuffed dog. It actually came as part of a baby set with a thermometer and one day when Kira was younger (and smaller), Jeff's dad brought the puppy home for her. She absolutely LOVES this puppy! At bed time we would tell her to "go and get puppy" and she would bring the puppy to bed with her....but then we got Mr. Koda! Koda has not been so nice to the puppy (he's still a puppy himself) and is always trying to trick Kira into leaving the puppy so that he can destroy it. Because of this, we decided to put the puppy up where he couldn't get it. Anyway, at the psychic reading she told us that Kira missed and wanted to play with her puppy more, so we have been giving it to her at night to sleep with. This morning as I was getting ready for work, this is how I found Kira and the puppy.....

I think she may have been getting love through osmosis....cute!

A Successful (Albeit Tiring) Weekend

Ever since we have moved into our house, we have wanted to restain the deck. Although this was needed, I was also reluctant to do it, as it is huge- 18' by 30' to be exact. No easy task by any means. By the time we moved in and got situated, winter was upon us and the snow started to come...not the most ideal time to stain a deck. However, this weekend I decided that the weather was too nice not to spend some time outside. We started on Friday night, cleaning and sanding down some of the rough spots of the deck. I have to say that I was pretty handy with the electric sander...no picture, though; I was covered in sawdust.

Here is what our deck looked like early Saturday morning.....

The staining was a long and arduous process. We spent almost 10 hours out there on Saturday. However, as we continued to stain, the deck started looking brand new. Here is the big (and much improved difference after just the railing on one side was painted)!

After spending all day on Saturday out there, we still weren't finished. As we were losing light quickly, we had to pack it up until Sunday morning. By this time, I was burnt to a crisp and both Jeff and I were sore and achy and ready to be finished. On Sunday, we spent another couple of hours finishing up one side. Here is the finished product....

We even stained the brick pavers down to the yard from the deck. Here are Kira and Koda admiring their newly stained deck (must be nice to enjoy it with none of the work)....

It looks like a brand new deck. We have gotten lots of compliments from the neighbors (who came out all weekend to chat and make sure we were okay). And, with only a few minor glitches (keeping Kira and Koda out of the stain- didn't work; Kira leaned up against the wet deck and then laid against our nicely painted blue wall in the kitchen and not being able to use the backyard while the stain dried), it was a successful weekend. It wasn't the most fun weekend we have ever had, but it was a very successful weekend full of accomplishment. Hopefully, it will be the first and last time we have to stain the entire thing. Now, we can get ready and look forward to our upcoming BBQ party in September!

Jeff's Canadian Work Trip

Jeff was in Canada for almost a whole week for work recently. Although they stayed in Calgary because it was close to their sister facility, one night they all drove into Banff to check out the mountains, have dinner, and do some sight seeing. I am sorry these pictures are late getting posted; he just showed them to me and I asked why he never put them on the blog....men. Anyway, here are some of the pictures that Jeff took with his camera phone.









Here is a lodge at the top of a mountain...I would love to have stayed there!





They walked down a built path with really spectacular scenic views...









And, just so you truly believe he was in Canada, here is a sign to prove it....Welcome to Canada, eh?



Looks beautiful, Jeff. I may want to visit sometime, if it wasn't Canada and all. Hope thise views made up for being detained in customs for a while!

Spare Bathroom Painting Complete

It took two whole weekends (with Jeff traveling to Canada during the week) but the spare bathroom upstairs finally got painted. I really like the color, although it is a different color from the one we had in Georgia (same bathroom stuff though!). The color is called "A Touch of Nectar" and it is a really light orange color. I would call it close to the color of orange sherbet!


The inspiration for the bathroom color (I ALWAYS have inspiration for the paint colors I choose!)


The wall color next to the shower curtain...complements nicely, huh?



With the finishing of the bathroom, our entire upstairs is completely painted (except for a spare room, which will eventually become a nursery- we will paint it then). Now...on to the basement!

Stormy Saturday

After we got home on Saturday afternoon, the clouds started rolling in and the skies got dark. It was amazing to see the storm as it came over the Wasatch Mountain Range. I couldn't stop taking pictures. For a time, the clouds completely enveloped the mountains and you could see exactly where it was raining and where the rain was coming next. Luckily, we did get some much needed rain out of the storm, but the pictures are scary. I was glad that I was at home and not driving around in it!