About Time

Almost 1 year and several strands of gray hair later, our kitchen is just about done. I'm very happy with how everything turned out, despite all the obstacles. Let me offer a bit of advice for those folks out there wanting to remodel: HIRE SOMEONE. IT'S WORTH IT. IT WILL SAVE YOUR MARRIAGE.

Jones

Meet Jones! I have completely fallen head over heels in love with this big guy. He is a Tennessee Walker owned by the most awesome couple. Here's our story: I meet Jones. I ride Jones. I LOVE riding Jones. Jones' mom and dad didn't know me at the time...I was just doing them a favor while they were out of town. I thought this was the end of the story...until, along comes a horse psychic. Jones describes me to horse psychic letting her know he wants me to be a part of his family. Jones' mom gives me a call with the good news. I am officially invited. I'm not sure if I believe in this or not, but whatever, I'm happy it happened. Now I can ride him whenever I want, I get paid, and don't have any of the expenses/burdens of having my own horse. The End. I love a happy ending!

Mid Mountain Marathon

A long awaited update. I've been so busy over the last couple of weeks, I just haven't had the time to sit down and do a blog post. That's super lame, but it's the truth.

I know it's been a couple of weeks since I ran the Mid Mountain Marathon, but I did it. It was definitely hard, but I did pretty well for my first marathon. The trails were in great shape, the aid stations had GUMMY BEARS, I had great company, and there was a cute husband, pizza and beer waiting for me at the finish line. What more could I ask for?

The Jacket. I wanted my jacket. I finished the summer-consuming Triple Trail Challenge consisting of the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase, the Park City 1/2 Marathon followed by the Mid Mountain Marathon. I totally felt I deserved that jacket and they did not disappoint. They handed them out right after the race, so that was the icing on the cake for me.

Red Butte Garden

I'm not sure who dreamed up the combination of Booker T and The Drive By Truckers, but whoever they are, they are a genius...right in line with the creator of peanut butter and jelly.

The Hike

So Sunday we hiked up to Red Pine Lake in Little Cottonwood Canyon. It's about a 2 1/2 hour hike each way and not super easy, but once you get to the lake, your burning thighs will totally thank you. It's beautiful. It's peaceful. And the best part is the trailhead is only 15 minutes from our front door. THIS is why we live here.

Quench

For Munch, one of the priviledges of being little and compact is sleeping in bed with Garrett and me. This has been going on since the first time Garrett went to China and generally, we hardly notice. Until now. It must be the summer heat and a house with no central a/c, but he is now finding it necessary to get up at ridiculous o'clock with a thirst that seems unreasonable for such a little dog. For what seems like hours, he drinks out of his water bowl and he does it so loudly that on several occasions I have gone to check to make sure there is not a giant wildebeast in our living room. No, it's just Munch...back to bed. When he's done drinking his water he comes and scratches on the bed, needing a lift up, waking us up yet again. And then Garrett ever so carefully picks him back up on the bed...you don't want to jostle that water around too much because the only thing that could make the night any worse would be cleaning up the hour's worth of water and mushy Eukanuba from a few hours earlier, thrown up by the cutest little french bulldog there ever was. And you can pretty much guess what happens next. Yep, he's thirsty.

YES...It's Still Going On.

In between my hectic schedule of work, crazy marathon training and my usual weekly onslaught of responsible errands, I have been stressing about our backsplash, or should I say the lack there of. With the exception of getting a new fridge, this is the final project in the kitchen remodel also known as the new tile floor turning into something much more sinister. You see, we did not have the backsplash done with the floor b/c my husband wanted to save a few bucks and do it himself. I was ecstatic to save some money, so I happily agreed. Well here we are 5 months later and he's too busy and his back hurts and he thinks he broke a rib...which makes total sense because of all that alligator wrestling he does after work. So yeah, I feel like I've been patient but I just can't find the time to be as dramatic about it as I'd like, so here we are 5 months later, getting more tile bids. I'm fairly certain this project has taken at least 5 years off my life.