I am the pilot

I recently read a quote that said "Time flys but the good thing is your the pilot."
I have thought a lot about this the last few days and don't know if I agree with it.
Happy St. Patrick's day.
Our day started out when Teegan woke up disappointed that the leprechaun didn't come. At that, I sprang out of bed, I heard the leprechaun had made a special trip to Target yesterday just for that stuff. (Can I plead my case? My kids were up really late, like 10:30 late. Landon was actually in talking to us about his birthday while Mike and I were in bed.) Funny thing was, the leprechaun actually did come. He just hide the candy and Teegan had not found it. (I wonder how many times that one is going to work)
Off to work I went. Why do kids have such attitudes? After work I ran home for an hour. Make green Jello for our big St. Patrick's day dinner while texting Whitney about picking her up since she had to stay after school to beg teachers to give her a better grade since she was told that if she didn't get her grades up her cell phone was being taken away. Pick Whitney and 2 friends up and dropped them off at the corner by our house because I was going to be late for my dentist appointment. I had a tooth that I knew needed something, the dentist drilled it and I ended up having a quick root canal while the man in the next chair talked about how scary root canals sound and that he hopes to never have one. It's all routine for me, what's a half an hour and a months salary.
Ran home just to pick Landon up so I could run him to his friends on my way to Scouts (he only called me 3 times at the dentist). Took the Scouts to the park to pick up garbage. Ran them home and went straight to Whitney's soccer practice to pick her up. Practice went a half an hour over making it 6:45 when we pulled in the driveway. I had big plans of making a fun "green" dinner. I had even made green Jello remember? I wanted to eat before 8:00 and realized Mike was still at work, Whitney was home long enough to change and go to YW at 7:00 and Landon was still at his friends with strict instructions not to pick him up until he called. Oh well. So I decided on grilled cheese and threw the first one on. I ran in to check email real quick when Teegan came in to tell me the stove was smoking. I ran out to a smoke filled room and a black sandwich while Teegan just kept saying that one is yours, I am NOT eating that. I GIVE UP!!! Dinner tonight is green jello -want something else? Make it yourself! I am the pilot.

"Be who you are and say what you feel,
Because those who mind don’t matter,
And those who matter don’t mind.”
-Dr. Seuss

Welcome March

So March has begun and it is time to set my new goals. I hope after reading the last few posts you will be understanding when I say February's goals did not go over so well. Why didn't I set the goal to remodel someones basement? :)
So with that said my goals for March are.... everything I didn't do in February.
I am trying not to be too hard on myself. Teegan and I were actually just talking about it yesterday while reading books. He said "I guess you didn't get that goal done" I said "No, but should I just give up? No. I need to just keep working on them"
I do have to make one disclaimer. The goal to read all the kid books in the house to Teegan in a month was a bit of a lofty goal. Mike told me it was crazy and I guess I should have listened. We have a lot more books than I realized. I filled 2 big boxes, over flowing over the top. We have a good start but it is going to take us a few months to make it through all of them. That's OK I am loving my time snuggled up with Teeg's reading.

Mike got his job back as the recruiting manager at EA Salt Lake. We are so excited. It was a rough year while he transitioned into the Studio Manager due to a company hiring freeze. At times I was not sure he was going to make it but we were always reminded that we were thankful that he had a job. He has received great praise for all he did for the studio this last year. I know management is so excited to see him back in recruiting again but he will leave a big hole that will take a lot to fill. Below is a copy of the announcement that was sent out. Congrats Mike!

Today is Mike’s last day as EASL’s Studio Manager. In the past year he has done a phenomenal job in doing whatever it has taken to keep us running smoothly, he will be hard to replace.
But as we say goodbye to Mike Maxfield, Studio Manager, as of next Monday please welcome Mike Maxfield, EASL Recruiter! Many of you were recruited here by Mike; it’s what his passion is and he is one of the very best in the industry. We are delighted to have him back in his new ‘old’ role. In fact, delighted doesn’t say enough about just how great this really is.
Please join me in thanking Mike for being prepared to do a different job for the past year – very few people love their place of work enough to do what Mike has done. EASL is a better place because of him.

This is a great success story. Welcome back Mike!
-Jon

Happy Friday

Just when I thought spring was around the corner we got this!

The boys and I are off of school today since we had parent teacher conferences yesterday(which went great by the way, happy teachers, happy parents). I guess instead of going out we will turn on the fireplace, clean the house and make cookies.
Teegan woke up early this morning to surprise us all with a breakfast. He made cute place mats for each of us and set the table with everything we needed. We had toast, trix cereal and he set a granola bar by each persons place. He also gave us each a football playing card that we used to play a game during breakfast. The best part was the note he wrote to each of us telling us he loved us. What a cute little guy!

The big reveal

It took 17 days of blood, sweat and tears! but the room is finally complete! As most of you know we did a total makeover on my parent’s basement as a surprise for my mom while she was out of town for two weeks (which turned into 2 1/2 weeks). It all started when the bar down stairs broke and they decided instead of fixing it, they never used it, so why not just take it out. We then decided that, the wall paper that was over wood paneling would be removed and we would then paint the paneling. All this mind you was decided while my mom was still home. The project got started. Dad got the bar out and Mom started tearing down wallpaper but not much progress was made before it was time for her to leave on her trip. I get this great idea to fix it all up while she is out of town. I have always wanted to do something like that and now was the perfect time. It looks so easy when they do it on TV. I sent an email to my sisters and a plan was made. We decided dad couldn't be trusted with the secret because he would just give mom hints and she would figure it out before she even left so the day before mom left I called dad and said "I hope you don't have any plans for the next 2 weeks :)" He was a great sport about it and thought is was a great idea. The one thing he did say was that it had to get done. We can not have her coming home to a mess. So, I agreed then and there no matter how much work it took, it had to get finished before she came home.
I don't have great "before" pictures so I will just have to set the scene. Picture wall to wall furniture flanked by green carpet that was somewhere between turquoise and hunter green, striped green, maroon and navy wallpaper topped off with popcorn on the ceiling. What? it was all in just a few years ago. Right?




Hours after Mom's plane took off from the SLC soil we hit the ground running. We dove right into stripping the wallpaper. It was a family affair with everyone from Ashlyn and Brayden (Lorilee's twins) to Mike and Trent. Everyone pitched in. (which you will soon learn was all for nothing :( )
After MUCH debate dad and I decided to risk our lives and remove the popcorn ceiling (if I die from mesothelioma cancer you will know the asbestos got to me) so we made a stop at home depot for some protective gear and got started in the bathroom since the tile was to be installed the next day.
Easy enough we thought. We can totally do the family room ceiling as well. So off my family went to St. George for a soccer tournament while we tore into the ceiling. That second night I left Dad's with a cinch in my neck that I thought would never come out. I could not wait to get home and into a hot bath. I hit my bed with a crash every night. It was hard work but we just kept pushing.
Once the ceiling was cleaned we quickly found out it was not going to be a nice little paint job like we thought. We found out it would never be smooth and that it had to be textured. So, we learned how to texture. What else were we to do? I looked a bit online and we got a 10 minute crash course from the salesman at Home Depot. We ended up doing it a bit different then he suggested but needless to say we textured the ceiling. I have to say that is one of the things I am very proud of. We had no idea what we were doing and Dad thought we would never be able to do it but we worked on it and figured it out. And it looks pretty dang good if I do say so myself. Who knew I was a ceiling texturer :).


I wish I could say everything went smoothly but I would be lying. It seemed at times that everything went wrong. We had so many hiccups I can't begin to list them all. Like when we found that the toilet from upstairs had been leaking and we spent the next days fixing the upstairs toilet. That was not in the time line. Plus a big piece of sheetrock had to be cut out from the ceiling and replaced due to the leak. I think we textured the ceiling again in spots 4 more times due to different things that had to be done to it.


So here we were, the ceiling scrapped and textured. The bathroom painted, tiled and a new toilet put down, the bookcases covered in plastic. We were ready to paint. The wood paneling was going to need a coat of primer in order for the paint to adhere and the ceiling also needed to be primed so I had decided the easiest way to do it all was to get my paint sprayer and spray it down. I cleared everyone out and got dressed up in my mask (oil base paint really stinks), I started up my air compressor, hooked on my paint sprayer and got started. Everything went great! FOR 2.5 MINUTES! Bam my paint sprayer was clogged. After a few hours of trying to unclog it, giving another sprayer a try (it leaked all over me) we realized that the prime was not even sticking to the paneling. We gave up.
It was then as we were sitting in a heap on the floor that we decided to sheetrock over all the paneling. Making the 3 days we took to remove all the wallpaper a waste of time. I mean come on why not pile on some more work. The carpet was coming in 2 days and mom would be home in 4. Plenty of time to sheetrock the walls, mud and tape, let it dry then add another coat of mud, sand everything down, prime the ceiling and walls, paint the ceiling and walls, get the moldings in and painted, lay the carpet, wipe down and change the knobs on the book cases, move the furniture back in, hang back up the pictures and make everything perfect. Yeah plenty of time.





We had what you could call a painting party. Trent painted the ceiling, I painted the walls, Dad painted the baseboard and Whitney painted the back door. Things got really interesting when Mike, Trent and I all tried to paint different things in the cramped stairway. I won't add that we found out that the stairway had been previously painted in a high gloss paint and that our paint was not sticking to the walls. Mike and Trent sanded with all their lives. We only had one more day!


So here we are on the final day, everyone running around doing "their" job when we get the call, there has been a change of plans and she will not be coming home for 4 more days. What a let down. I was so ready to be done with this project and Dad was over done! He called me every morning telling me we were killing him off. It had been fourteen days since I had made dinner for my family or cleaned my own house. My kids were sick of me never being home and we were all exhausted. We sat around the table looking at each other. We now had 4 more days, it was already 9:30 and all the kids were tired so called it a day, we would be back tomorrow.
I took the next day off and told everyone not to call me :). But there was still work to be done so I had to go back. We spent the next few days touching up paint, getting the last few things moved in, and doing all those little jobs that drive you insane.
The day of the big reveal was finally here. Mom's flight didn't come in until midnight, it was going to be a late night. It was OK we needed the time. We got the mirror framed, painted and hung about the time her plane touched down in SL but everything was now ready and looked great. We hide downstairs and held our breath as she opened the door.
Boy was she surprised!!

So are you ready to finally see the room???










So what do you think?
It was a long two weeks. I think Dad went to Lowe's/Home depot 4 times a day. They have got to know him on a first name basis. I have to say this project was a lot bigger then we ever imagined and we really got in over our heads. I told Mike that I really learned my limits with this job. He laughed and said I am sure you already have another project in mind. And dang it he was right can you say Landon's room. What can I say I like a design challange.
I think it looks pretty darn good. Worth all the work.

2 a.m. Sunday morning

I saw this quiz on another blog and of course I had to go find out what color I was. Not sure if it is 100% true but I came up purple.


Spontaneity is the key to your existence. Quick-witted with a flair for originality, you enjoy situations that allow you to explore your creativity. Comparatively conservative, you appreciate beautiful surroundings, especially if they’re found in nature. Your relaxed and self-assured personality allows you to work well with others. Surprisingly enough, your unique and unusual tastes don’t prevent you from being comfortable among your more conservative peers.

Go find out what color you might be :)
Color Quiz

Happy Valentines day! Here I sit in a quiet house all by myself thinking about how much I love my family. It's real easy to do that when you miss them. Most people would think it is heaven to have a quiet house but I am a total baby I don't like to be alone,I love having them around.
I love my husband more than words can express. I especially love him this weekend for supporting me in my crazy adventure and for being a great dad and taking the kids down to Whitney's soccer tournament by himself.
I am thankful to have such great kids and I love them so much. I can't wait to have our annual Valentine's breakfast in a few days. :)
So why did I stay home? That I can't tell you yet but lets just say I watch way too many home decorating shows and I have to admit I am WAY in over my head this time but as Dori in Nemo says just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

Every year I set the same goals.

I recently came across my goals for 2007, 2008 and 2009 and guess what? They are all the same. Yeah they may be worded differently each year but deep down they are the same goals. Workout, read my scriptures, save money. For the most part I don't do to bad. So why do I keep making the same goals?
This is something I have been thinking about for the last few weeks. Today I came across a blog that had a great idea, monthly goals. I have been thinking about a lot of small goals that I would like to do but they are not something that would take me a whole year, so monthly goals are perfect. And the best part is, this nice lady on http://www.sherbetblossom.blogspot.com/ is going to post a cute monthly calender with a place for me to write down my goals. Here is the Feb sheet.

I am also going to work on making my goals more specific. Like instead of workout more I will say work out 4 time a week for 30 min.
So what are my February goals:
1. Read every kids book in the house with Teegan. Why? I am not totally sure why but for some reason it has been something I have wanted to do. I am going to put all the books into a big box (may just have to use 2 boxes) and as we read them we are going to put them back on the shelves (teegan and Landon both have book shelves). Some just may even hit the DI box:0)
2.Try to have dinner together every night. Although this isn't a huge problem it seems like it is getting harder. With Mike having such a long commute there are some nights he gets home pretty late. So I told the family dinner is every night at 6:30. That lead me to my next goal.
3. Plan the meals out and have the kids help me more. To often it is after 5:00 and I have no idea what we are going to eat so I kick the cupboard and see what falls out. I would like to start looking ahead and plan our meals out for the week . This may seem easy to you but for some reason it is not how I roll so it is a stretch for me. I would also like my kids to not only help me prepare the meals but plan them. Landon does not ever seem to be happy about what we are having. Luckily he is so easy going he usually just eats it.
4. The good old workout goal. I have got to get back on my treadmill. 30 min 4 times a week is a start :).
5. Be a better scout leader. I have to admit this is a challenging calling for me. I come home some Wednesdays swearing that I am not going back. I need to put more effort into our activities and come up with some good ideas to help keep control of the activity. (without knocking the boys heads together. OK totally kidding)
So there you have it. My goals for February 2010.