day dreaming

i think it's natural to day dream whenever you are traveling. imagining living in the place you are visiting and exploring. as mitch and i drove through ventura we passed this gorgeous home and wondered what it would be like to live a few blocks from the beach. living in such a beautiful coastal town. taking the boys to play in the ocean everyday.... the pace of the town was calling to us. we even pulled up mitch's property app and looked at home prices.

we loved walking the pier/boat harbor. listening to the sea lions, the tourists, and watching everyone and their dog enjoying the evening. it was magical if you asked me.

but when it really comes down to it... i'm in love with my home. born and raised here in utah i don't know if i could ever find another place that speaks to my heart the same. not to mention there is no yards to speak of in california. i think that my quarter acre corner lot may be small for my grand goals of gardening... but coming home to my yard it seemed ginormous. yes i may be envious of california's growing conditions... however i'm 100% in love with my home, my yard, and being near family.

when i really dream of our future, i dream of property. never in a million years did i anticipate my heritage, my upbringing, my roots to surface in such a manor. i want to have a homestead. mitch wants enough property to have a 'go cart track', i want plenty of space to garden, raise chickens and some livestock {mitch hasn't fallen in love with my ideas yet....}. the more we watch the news and hear of the unfortunate events world wide, the more we want our little place of heaven. a place that we can develop and grow and tend.

so as appealing as california can be. how amazing the coast line is. our dreams keep us here. growing together and building our future in our home state.

is it sunday yet?

the weather has been dreamy this week.
sunday evening after i woke up from my nap i took my bike out for her first ride
it was amazing

monday night we went shopping for new furniture.
{thank you tax return}

tuesday we had a movie night with joe and alyson.
i think the boys finally made friends with aspen.
cezar needed a little convincing....
but jake and aspen came to terms with each other :)

wednesday night we join joe and alyson for a trip to the home goods store in murray.
mitch and i were on the hunt for curtains.
we are finally putting some 'cozy' touches on our home.
we managed to find a set of curtains we liked
but once we got home we realized that they weren't wide enough

thursday after work we attempted to shop for more curtain panels
we struck out at ross but did find some curtain rods that were perfect
luck was on our side though at wally world and we found the perfect ones to pair with our first finds.
our couches were delivered earlier in the afternoon and with the curtains....
the living is looking really cozy and perfect.
we are in love

friday i was determined to spend the evening at home and relax.
work has been demanding this week
a crazy amount of shipments arriving and plants that are waiting for me to get around to planting...
i'm the only full time employee in the store right now... i'm relying on part time staff to help cover....
i have an fabulous staff but it's hard to get everything done that i need too
anyways... i came home to mitch cooking dinner {thank you sweetheart}
curling up on the couch and relaxing was the perfect way to start the weekend...

an unthinkable tragedy

yesterday the unthinkable happened.
a shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut
innocent children were robbed of their life by a horrible man.
our world is a scary place
and having constant access via media about everything bad happening in this world....
sometimes you need to turn everything off and remember the good.

after work last night i came home and did a few chores.
i was tempted to sit down at the computer and spend some me time catching up on everything
however i quickly changed my mind and decided to enjoy the quiet and safety of my home.
mitchel was still at work, the dishes were checked off the to do list....
i pulled out my lug of fresh walnuts waiting to be cracked and shelled
turned on some christmas music and enjoyed some time with my boys
no matter how rotten and evil the world may be, there are still many things to be grateful for.

last night i enjoyed kissing on my boys and snuggling up to mitchel for a little while.

i can't even imagine what the families are going through with the loss of their children....
my heart goes out to them and my prayers are with them.

i'm beyond grateful for my little family and the safety we are blessed with and the comfort of each other.
i pray i will never face such tragedy.

home

grateful to make it home safe and sound

sure missed my sweet boys

the angels were looking out for us

today started out like any normal Sunday.
Mitch had to work
I slept in and then got ready for church
and prepped the lesson for sunbeams.
Luckily I ended up over preparing and I survived teaching all by myself.
Mitch beat me home
I made smoothies for lunch
we sat on the back patio enjoying the sun and letting the dogs play for a bit
than I headed upstairs for nap time.
I rolled out of bed at 5,
Mitch headed out side to check on our tri tip steak
I went to look out the office window and saw our siding completely melted.
I knocked on the window and Mitch noticed it about the same time
he waves to have me come down stairs
I attempt to grab my phone to snap a picture but couldn't find it in the blankets on the bed
hurrying outside Mitch asks me to grab the hose.
I soak down the side of the garage as he attempts to turn the grill off.
then pulls the grill out further into the patio.
standing there I couldn't help but start to laugh.
Mitch didn't find it amusing at all.
We are incredibly grateful and lucky that the garage didn't go up in flames.
our delicious tri tip met the garbage
the garage smells like melted siding
and the grill is toast.
we called our home owners insurance
and are hoping they'll cover most of the repairs.
it could have gone from bad to worse in minutes....
the angels were looking out for us today.

how i know

I can be very particular about certain things
one of them being - I'm anal about making the bed after we have washed the sheets.

Mitch is a wonderful help around the house.
I'm grateful for everything he does to help
sometimes he does a better job as a house keeper
{okay maybe a lot of the time}

A few months ago the sheets were ready to be pulled out of the dryer and the bed made.
it was late at night
I was exhausted and my body was beyond run down.
the thought of putting the bed back together was daunting.
i quickly began to get irritated that Mitch hadn't offered to help me.
but then I stopped and realized that he was doing me a favor.
Mitch knew that I had a certain way I made the bed and him helping out just frustrated me
and a argument always seemed to ensue.

that's another reason why I know he really loves me.
it's odd how moments like those sneak up on you

Saturday Mitch spent the day cleaning the house {such a sweetheart}
and he even washed the bedding.
coming home and trying to get ready for our night out
the clean sheets waited for us on the bed til late the night.
On the way home he reminded me the bed was still unmade.
He knew it's my thing

in love with grey

We finally tackled our main floor wall...
When we moved in, we didn't love the paint throughout the house.
So little by little we've been painting.
I am so grateful Mitch isn't scared of color :)
Half our house is painted a shade of grey and we love it!!

I left work around 1:30 so we'd have plenty of time to paint.
We had to make a quick trip to the store for a drop cloth....

When we were buying paint supplies the other day we picked up an edger.
BEST paint invention ever.
I've done all the edging throughout the house so far and I was not looking forward to climbing the ladder and edging...
Gratefully Mitch managed to finally get the hang of it and it worked like a charm.
It took us about 2 hours total.
AMAZING
We finally kissed the nutmeg brownish color goodbye :)

Now I just need to finish decorating and it will be perfect!!

thoughts for thursday

Dear spring weather, You have been absolutely ideal. I'm in love with the warmth and sunshine.

I bought 2 rain barrels today. I'm really excited for them. Remember last year when my front facet would rain and Mitch stopped me from using it.... Problem fixed :) My flower pots will look beautiful this year. Plus they double as water storage too.

My helleborus finally bloomed today. It's gorgeous. I can't wait to add 3 new colors to my garden this year.

We got our first berries at work today.

I've been braving the greenhouse and trying to get all my plugs planted. I have had the corner checked multiple times for any other snakes. So far no surprises. luckily 


The boys are in love with the weather and all the time they get to spend outside. I hope the weather stays lovely, the weatherman predicts rain and snow.

Mitch and I are going to finally paint our main wall this weekend. Wish us luck since it's a 2 story wall.... it's so tall!! It will look amazing once finished. {Pictures to come for sure}

Looking forward to yoga in the morning

Spring forward

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous!! The weather was beautiful, the boys came to work with me due to the replacement of our furnace that took all day, and a fabulous afternoon walk with Nanna! It was challenging to spend most the day at work, because all I wanted to do was spend the day outside with the boys. Hope came to work with mom to help with Cezar, while Jake and I attended the pruning class we were holding. I was able to take off around 3 which made all three of us happy. The boys were a little tired of hanging out in the Jeep between potty breaks and customers. Nanna and I had the best girl time taking a long walk next to the lake. We laughed and giggled and basked in the warm sunshine. Spring was definitely in the air. It was such a long day for the boys. I felt bad for them, but they were troopers and loved all the attention and time out and about. On the way home I went to grab Cafe Rio, since the furnace guys were still not finished.... By the time I made it home, my mood had soured a little, the boys were hungry and ready to be in their own space... And the furnace guys still hadn't finished. 8+ hours it took them. It cost us some serious money and they left us with broken sliding doors.... So our furnace closet is WIDE open now. Both Mitch and I are upset about this. My complain will finally come to good use tomorrow when I call to complain. The good news - we thought our house was poorly insulated.... nope. It was that our furnace and AC unit was a old piece of garbage. Our home was the most comfortable and consistent temperature ever last night. 

Daylight savings was today. Springing forward an hour... gives us more light at night, but with battling a insane headache all night I struggled with getting up and out of bed this morning. Poor Mitchel did too. Plus tomorrow he has an insane shift. {13 hours} Hopefully he'll get a good nights rest. If it wasn't daylight savings... we would've been early to church today. Instead we were 20 mins late. better late then never right?! lol. When I got to primary today I was pleased to hear that I was finally released. phew. The new lady they called will be perfect. Mitch is excited that I will be sitting with him in Sunday school again. And it will be nice to meet the other ladies in the ward that aren't in primary. We ended up chatting with a few people as we tried to make our way home after church. I realized I finally feel comfortable in our ward and know some wonderful people. It was a good feeling. We grabbed a quick bite to eat at home and decided to head up to battle creek canyon for a little Sunday hike with the boys. We love the sunny weather. The incline was a bit much for us... but I don't anticipate it being a problem for long with all the exercise we are getting. Poor Cezar got a bum full of burrs. We had to cut them out once we got home. {Two days in a row of burrs}. After our hike I curled up in bed with the boys for a lovely afternoon nap. Sunlight pouring through the window. I look forward to the warm temperatures this coming week and the extended sunlight. 

when life gives you lemons...

Yesterday was one of those days that I couldn't shake some anxiety. I honestly believed it stemmed from my kitchen counters needing to be clean and wiped down. Funny how something so simple can have you in shambles. Not only that but I knew there is a lot of work needing to be checked off at the garden center and my to do list at home is continually growing. I decided that I'd take off early and hopefully begin to check things off the house list. First things first - clean the kitchen counters. I started to feel a little better. Next I vacuumed the upstairs. Opened all the blinds and curtains to let the beautiful sun pour into the house. And then I headed outside to clean up the doggy poo in the back yard. Between the sunshine and getting a few things taken care of, I felt a lot calmer and I could feel the anxiety disappearing. {phew} For dinner Mitch and I played it easy and splurged with Pizza hut. We curled up on the couch to watch some of our shows that were on the DVR. It ended up not being too bad of a day.

I started my Friday morning off right with Yoga. I'm surprised how much I notice a difference when I'm going. Monday was the last time I had been to the gym.... {better luck next week}. My body really needed the yoga this morning. Stretching, breathing and centering myself was exactly what I needed. Class ended and Mitch called to let me know he was taking a sick day, so he could take care of the furnace. We both froze last night and he couldn't get the heater to kick on this morning. So I surprised him with Chai tea when I got home. Made a quick run to wally world to pick up some carpet cleaner. Mitch said he was going to try to spot clean our carpet. I headed into work about 11. Spent my day in the greenhouse planting :) Mitch called with some unfortunate news.... Our furnace had died. Actually it should have never passed the inspection we had done prior to buying the house. The previous owners had it 'repaired' enough to pass. Apparently it's the original furnace from 1993 when the house was built. And it's rusted out which means it's a health hazard and we've been breathing bad air for a year and a half. Good golly. So we are having a new furnace and AC unit being installed tomorrow..... and it's a pretty penny to have it done too. Oh the joys of being a home owner. I'm grateful we will have a more efficient system and the cost isn't detrimental to us... {well it won't be too much of a hardship} plus it's in the spring and not the middle of a freezing winter. 

when life gives you lemons you make lemonade... right?!

This is my most favorite time of day in the greenhouse. Around 4:30 -5pm. It's quiet and the lighting is absolutely perfect. I was working on labels at this moment and looked up and couldn't resist basking in the moment {and taking a picture of course}

Helping hands

During the summer Mitch and worked on home improvement projects. We decided to include the banisters in the painting projects... Our one leading upstairs has been feeling naked and left out for the past few months.

I was talking to Sanna about our banister and I offered to help Mitch Saturday night. He was thrilled With my offer. {he's been asking... Nearly begging to get it finished}. Sanna offered to come help me if we hadnt finished over the weekend.

Wanna guess how we spent our evening?? I had the sweetest pair of helping hands and lots of puppy kisses. Sometimes service is the best gift given and received. Thanks a million times over for helping me out lady :) I appreciate you.

*Jakey boy sure is handsome*

a counter full

I'm so grateful for Thanksgiving this week!!

Family, Food, no work....

Life can't get much better than that.

I have Thursday and Friday off.

Lucky lucky me :)

Our counter is filling up with vitamins and supplements...

I filled up a little baggy to take with me to work today.

Mitch makes sure I take all my 'goodies' everyday.

What a good hubby.

This evening has been wonderful for me.

I surprisingly had lots of energy this evening

making good use of it... I washed our bedding, made dinner, vacuumed, de-haired our quilt....

I feel good.

I came up with a BRILLIANT idea today.

Just the thought of it relieves some stress.

Mitch thought it was really brilliant too.

We are hiring my sister to clean our house top to bottom, corner to corner once a month.

She is an amazing cleaner!!! 

I can't wait to have her come next Monday!!!

It'll be a win win for both of us.

Last night all my family got together to celebrate my cousin's birthday

Mitch had a marathon day between work, teaching YM and a 2 hour meeting.

Sadly he wasn't able to join me.

I had a wonderful time though.

My grandma and grandpa were able to make it

My aunt Susie and cousin Nora, Ben, Dan, Lexi and Cameron

I'm really glad I was able to see them since our thanksgiving is with Mitch's family this year.

Dinner was delicious.

Thanks for everyone who cooked the tacos, enchiladas, rice, dessert.... mmmmm

Happy Monday

Hope you had a good weekend!

Dreaming of Christmas

This year for Christmas we are dreaming about our living room. When we moved into our home last fall we realized we were a bit short on furniture. Since then our living room has been home to our love seat and our couch has enjoyed living in the family room downstairs. Needless to say the living room has looked naked for over a year.

Mitch and I have talked about shopping for new couches or sectional {our current ones are wonderful, comfy and over sized for the space}. So for Friday night date night, we went browsing for couches. I don't know about you, but we were a bit surprised at how much couches cost!! {thank you mom and dad Dayley for your old couches! We love them!} We found a set that we liked but debated about the price tag. I know we wouldn't regret spending money for couches, because we really want a functioning living room. {Naked rooms arent our thing}. But that was a lot of money. So we decided to think about it for a bit and headed over to Ikea to browse TV stands. While there we decided we'd see if we could make our current couches work. Why not, right?! It would save us some big dollars! Once home, we brought the other couch upstairs and we quickly realized {I was right} they were a bit too big to fit. Hmm. It quickly turned into a mathematical challenge with couches. I was determined to find an arrangement that worked. After rearranging a few times we finally figured it out. SWEET !! Our bank account is thanking us today.

Next on the list was something to put our TV on. I refused to use the one in the family room. Mitch thinks its great... I really truly highly dislike it. I think it's beyond ugly. So I offered to let us use my cedar chest until we could figure out what we wanted. But the problem there was there wasn't a place to neatly tuck the DVR, DVD player, sound system and gaming systems. It was 9pm and we headed to Wally world to see of we could find a nice TV stand {preferably one we could tuck all the boxes mentioned above in}. 30 mins later we finally agreed on one {my preference of course ;) thanks baby} and headed home. Once we get out to our car, I stood with the cart waiting for Mitch to lay the seats down.

Mitch: {one, two....} Umm honey do you remember how to lay the middle seat down?!

Me: You forgot!?! Can I take a picture?? {I couldn't hold the laughter back.}

Mitch: it's like it's flipping me off. This is so frustrating.

Me: {more laughter}

He finally figured it out :) and we made it home. But we didn't stop there... We figured we'd put it together. Holy moly was that a brilliant idea. {not} 11 pm rolls around and Mitch decided he'd finish it off in the morning. It was way past my bed time and I was ready for bed back around 7pm. A quick shower, some snuggs and a kiss good night...

Best part... we managed to figure out half of our Christmas wish. Now for the decorating ;)

Grateful November

November is here.

Gratitude is on our minds.

A few things I'm grateful for right now.

Health Insurance. 

Finding out about some health issues that I've passed off as everyday things.

{More to come on that}

My incredible husband!! He truly is the best. I'm very grateful for him.

Family.

A good job.

Energy.

The internet.

Wonderful bloggy friends!!

Medicine and natural remedies.

My darling boys. 

A warm bed and home.

Healthy foods.

What are you grateful for??

In my kitchen...

I have over a half bushel of green chili that needs to be roasted and tucked away into the freezer. Have you ever smelled roasted green chili??! It's amazing! It smells exactly how fall should smell :) and it smells

incredibly delicious too.

I also have over a bushel plus of tomatoes that need to be bottled tomorrow. I love tomatoes and homemade tomato soup. It is seriously a MILLION times better than tomato soup from a can :)

I feel like I'm getting a little bit of my mojo back and need to make good use out of it while it's sticking around. Thursday will be spent bottling and tidying the house, along with some laundry.

Today I'm grateful for the cold front that has rolled in. The rain is beautiful. It also allows me to rest and focus on inside tasks. And the outside to do's will wait for another day :)

Wednesday tidbits

Mitch and I are in love with Ben and Jerry's right now :) last night we had movie night and between movies we made a run to walmart for some Ben and Jerry. {if I'm lucky I'll be good and make it last 3 sittings lol}

I'm really looking forward to my day off tomorrow! Sleeping in and catching up on everything! Mowing, wedding, watering, canning, cleaning, laundry...

I have lots of pretty pictures of my yard and garden. I should really post them.

I am really in love with all the clouds and thunderstorms that keep rolling in. It's a good mix of weather for me!! {hope it doesn't shorten the harvest season}

My yard is looking really good {for the most part} and I still want to do a lot more, however I feel totally burned out. I think I'll stick to weeding and watering for awhile.

My sisters are wonderful! I absolutely love spending time with them. I love you sisters!!

Some days I could careless about being friendly. Ya know?! Sometimes I just prefer being in my bubble.

Im trying to learn it isnt always about me, especially in my marriage. I'm not learning it very quickly. I know it takes practice. Learning to be selfless is not something that comes easy.

Feeling more alert with some food in me :) maybe I'll last the rest of my shift. Lol.

A day for me

Tuesday was my day off. I don't remember the last day off I had that I was able to spend by myself and do what ever my heart desired. It has been awhile to say the least.

My morning started out with Cezar crying to get up. I covered my head with pillows til 7:20. We really need to insist on a later wake up. 6:30 is way to early. Let the boys out and crawled back in bed til 9 :) what a wonderful relaxing morning. I didn't stop there :) I curled up and watched some of my shows. Oh was it a lovely morning!! Snuggs from my boys, mitch came home for lunch, then I finally made my way out side to mow the lawn and work on planting.

I love having a freshly mowed lawn!! Plus it was nice to plant half of the flowers that have been so patiently waiting for me to Put them in the ground. Pulled some weeds. Cleaned and sprayed off our patio - it looks a million times better!! I even cleaned AND organized our closet!!! {it's a miracle according to Mitch} plus laundry and dishes!! Mitch can't say I don't do anything on my days off.

For dinner we grabbed Cafe Rio :) and watched the Lincoln Lawyer and hung out with the boys. It was a wonderful evening!!

--------------------------------------

So I'm someone who enjoys my alone time. I've mentioned this before. I think it's important and healthy to enjoy alone time. Last week I was having a rough day and was needing a 'time out' {me time}. I had meetings that evening and relief society. As I was telling my friend my frustrations she responded ....

"what a horrible thing... Your husband wanting to spend time with you"

I had to laugh a little and realize how ridiculous I sounded. It kind of put things into perspective. So many women complain they never get any time with their husbands, and here I am with a husband who wants to spend every minute with me and I'm complaining that I don't have enough me time.

I still need me time... But I'll do better at enjoying the time spent with my dear husband :) cause he wants to spend LOTS of time with me!!

Half way there

More progress

Middle ground