Egg on your Face (or Head)

On Sunday morning, I made scrambled eggs for breakfast.  There were some extras left over and, since even the thought of microwaving eggs the next morning gives me the heeby jeebies, I decided to put the rest of the eggs in the dogs' bowls and mix it with their breakfast...after all, eggs are good for their coats and makes them shiny.

Needless to say, the dogs loved the eggs and ate the majority of their breakfast (a first in our house)...seems Koda liked it the best, since when he was finished eating, he came over looking like this!

Crazy dog had really gotten into eating his eggs, since there were pieces on his head!  Jeff and I noticed last night as we were downloading this picture that Koda's legs look really small...must be the angle of the camera.  No worries, his legs are normal size and in good proportion to the rest of his body!

The Green is Gone

After a nice little stint on our large cathedral wall in the living room, the asparagus green color has been transformed into a beautiful warm color.  We were torn between two different colors, so we purchased testers (which I never do) and put them on the wall to help us decide.  Here are the two colors that were in the running last week...

The top color was called "Homemade Butterscotch" and the bottom color was "Haystack".  I liked the bottom color on the paint chip, but really liked the top color once it was on the wall...so we went with Homemade Butterscotch.

It only took a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon (thank goodness we had taped everything on Friday night), but the room went from this...

...to this...

                                                       

                                                  

                                                        

The room is so much warmer now and the new colors really look good next to the wood floors.  Now, we are just waiting for furniture....and I am a little hopeful that it might be in a little earlier than the April 21 promised date.  Perhaps just a little bit of wishful thinking on my part.

Overall, our first re-decoration project went well.

Bye Bye Blue

In anticipation of the arrival of our new furniture, Jeff and I decided to make this weekend a painting one.  Since our new furniture is going to be so different from our current couch, we needed to paint the blue and green walls in our main floor living room.  The green wall is a cathedral wall (and over 30 feet tall), so are in no hurry to start working on that one...instead, we decided to tackle the blue inserts and wall near the fireplace.

I was also excited to know that we have actually lived in a house long enough to redecorate...that is a first for us...usually, as soon as we are finished getting the house exactly how we want it, we end up moving and having to start all over again!  Hmm, hopefully I haven't just jinxed myself...or have I?

I loved the blue color that we painted when we initially bought our couch; the color matched the blue on the pillows exactly.  As a reminder, this is what the inserts looked like Sunday morning before we started painting...

The new color is called "Fresh Baken Pumpernickel" and is a much warmer tone...I absolutely love it with the wood floors and think it brings a sophistication to the room.  Here is a picture after just a single coat of paint (it required another coat).

It took most of the day (taping was the worst, epecially with the rounded corners in our house), but by the end of the night, we had the tape off the walls and everything put back together.  This is how the wall looks now...

And, yes, that is Ty Pennington on our TV...we were watching "Extreme Makeover Home Edition" when I took these pictures- didn't notice it until I downloaded the pictures.

I love the new color and can't wait to get the sectional in there to see how the room looks all put together.  I am also already getting psyched for painting the bigger wall next weekend.  That wall is changing to a butterscotch color...it is gonna look fabulous! 

Birthday Boy

Tuesday was Jeff's 36th birthday...and I was in shock.  Since when did we get to be in our 30s?  It amazes me, especially since he was 23 when we met...where did all the time go?  I can't believe we have been together for over 13 years and have known each other for almost half of our lives.  Insane.

Anyway, with me traveling back from Monticello, I didn't even get the chance to say 'Happy Birthday' when we first woke up.  Needless to say, I was especially excited to get home and celebrate his birthday that night.  We had marinated Londron broil on the grill and brownies for dessert.  It was delicious!  Then, it was time to open presents.

Not all of the presents made it this year from Florida in time for Jeff's birthday...he still has some celebrating to do when they all finally get here.  He got a Best Buy gift card from my mom and Mike (with another present on the way), new dress socks from Kira and Koda and athletic socks and new dress shirts from me- I know, not very exciting, but what do you get the man who has everything? Gifts from his parents are still en route, although he did get some new beer brewing mix kits in the mail yesterday.  Let's bring on the warmer weather so he can start brewing again!  I also think we will have to go out to dinner this weekend to celebrate this milestone.

I love you, Jeff and can't wait to share many more birthdays with you in the future as we both grow older...One day we will look back on 36 like it was forever ago- hey, at least we will grow old together!

Monticello

This past Monday I had to travel down to Monticello for a meeting.  It is such a pretty drive that every time I go down there I promise myself that I am gonna take pictures...but, of course, I leave without packing the camera.  This trip I made it a point to have the camera loaded with batteries and ready to capture all the gorgeous scenery on the way down.  Plus, it is such a long drive that it gave me something to do on the trip (especially since traveling alone is not all that fun).

Here are some of the shots that I took while on the road...and I have to admit, I am pretty good at snapping pictures while driving, which is not the easiest thing to do!

I really enjoy the red rocks down in the southern part of the state.  So different from the mountains in northern Utah.  And I know that since we probably won't live in Utah forever, I might as well start getting all the pictures that I can to remember and enjoy long after we move away.  I have often asked myself why people would live in Monticello when there is no large city around...looking at these pictures, I think I have found my answer!

I am grateful that I have the opprotunity to see it every so often on a quick trip down to Monticello.

Hello, Tax Return...Goodbye!

We finally went on Friday and had our taxes filed...boy, am I really hating Obama right now and all of his new tax laws.  Why does it seem like the harder you work and the more money you make, the less you get back in taxes?  Doesn't help that we are taxed ridiculously on our income (like 25%).  Enough ranting, though...we did get a return back, just not near as much as I think we should have.  But, enough ranting, as it was what we did with the tax return money that was so much more fun.

As soon as we were done in Provo, we headed to the Ashley furniture store in Salt Lake City to look at new living room furniture for our main room.  We need more seating in that room and when we bought the couch we have when we first moved in, we didn't know how much time we would actually spend in that room.  Needless to say, we need more furniture.  Ashley was having this incredible sale, where you get an entire room (sofa, loveseat, two lamps, coffee and 2 end tables, a rug, a throw and a 5 piece accessory set for $999).  All the furniture in our house is from Ashley (can you tell I love that place?) so the choice was really easy.  Only, when we got there, I didn't like the couches and love seats...so they showed me a sectional which I totally fell in love with.  They included that in the package (for an extra expense of course) for us and, after I had pretty much reorganized the show room, having both Jeff and the sales person bring different things from all over so that I could see my "ultimate, finished room", we decided on a new room.  I am so excited to get it delivered...too bad it is on back order until mid-April.  Oh well, it will give us plenty of time to re-paint the walls in the living room.  I am just excited, as we have never lived in a house long enough to redecorate!

So, it looks like we will have some more house projects on our agenda in the next couple of weeks.  I am really excited.  Will post pictures as we move through the process.

So, it looks like our tax return was in and out of our hands pretty quickly...but new furniture is so exciting and worth it.  Can't wait until it is delivered.

And, we thought we better spend it, hence President Obama come and tax the crap out of it for us!