I'll be home for Christmas

We have officially left our old place and now only have one home rather than two! On Wednesday after work we worked on cleaning our old apartment. We finished at eight o’clock which is when we had our manager scheduled to be over to check it out. She thought the place looked great and gave us our full deposit back. We were sooo happy to be done.

Our little Christmas tree, in our new place.

We slept in a bit on Thursday to recover from all the late nights and hard work we went through to get everything done. After I got Ezra to work I made sure to get laundry done so we had clean clothes to pack. After work we packed and got everything ready for our trip.

Well, I’ve never had any major problems with holiday travel before. This year changed that. Everything was fine getting to the airport. Our plane was a little late but not much and it didn’t cause any problems. We flew into Portland, OR and took TriMet over to the train station. Our train was running about two hours late. Apparently all the snow in California had slowed it down. So we made it to Lacey around 8 o’clock.

While in Washington we did a lot of packing. Ezra’s mom is moving down to Salt Lake City so our days in Washington were filled with packing and sorting through things. We made a lot of progress and hopefully everything will be done and ready when they take off this weekend. We also had a wonderful get together with Ezra’s family on Saturday the 22nd. I got to meet family members that I hadn’t met yet and I think I’ve finally met most of Ezra’s family.

We found some of our wedding cake in the freezer. We decided we should eat a bit.

Monday, the 24th was the really crazy day. We got up early and worked on packing things. I got a voicemail that there was an issue with our train. Great. I called Amtrak and they told me that the train that we were supposed to catch at 11:20 was running late, two hours late. They said to call back again at 12:45 to check on it. Okay. Well, there were a few things we still had to shop for and some bank stuff Ezra had to take care of, so we took our time getting that done. On our first stop Ezra asked about the trains again (it was about 10:20am) and he suggested I call Amtrak and check on it again. So I did. They told me there was a train we could catch that was supposed to arrive at 11:20 (our original time) but was running about ten minutes late, so it would be there at 11:30am. That train would take us to Portland, then we could take a greyhound bus down to Albany. Cool! We rushed through our last stop, which was Target. One of the items we got was a gift card, a normal, typical, every day gift card. It had some issues and took a while. We had a train to catch and I knew we would be pushing it so I sent Ezra out to the car and he and his sister, Casey, went back to the house to get our things. Then they would come back, pick me up and we would go straight to the train station. It was a great plan! The only thing was, we were slightly short on time.

We were pulling up to the train station and we could see the train sitting there. I knew this was a short stop and that we’d have to hurry. Then we pulled into the parking lot as the train pulled out. We missed it. I walked into the train station and asked about it. He said that was part of the train, but that our original train was running late and they didn’t know when it would arrive. We'd just have to wait. I had about an hour of frustration and then was fine. I just don’t like being let down. I felt like we were so close to being back to our normal schedule but then had that ripped away, and literally seeing that missed opportunity chug away. So we sat and waited. The train arrived around 3:40pm and we finally made it to the Albany train station at 7:45, about 3.5 hours late. I was really just relieved to be back in Oregon and so close to home.

Then we were pleasantly surprised by our welcoming party! Who pulls up? None other than my mom, sister-in-law, and my adorable new nephew Oliver! I’m ashamed to admit that Oliver was a little more exciting than anything else and when we walked in the house and I had Oliver in my arms I may have forgotten to greet my dad… Oops! The rest of the family was just starting on desert when we arrived so Ezra and I ate dinner and then didn’t have to wait for desert. It was great to see my family. And play with Oliver. Oliver trumps all.

Auntie Allison and Oliver!

On Tuesday we had a great big family breakfast, opened presents, hung out and relaxed, then in the afternoon we had more family show up and did some more presents. In the evening we got to watch the new episode of Doctor Who. Awesome! Oh, and throughout the day there was a lot of Oliver. Did I mention that Oliver is the best? I love being an Auntie!

The Christmas tree! All ready with Santa's gifts.

Britney, Oliver, and Matt getting ready to open Oliver's stocking.

Sleepy Oliver.

Such a happy baby! He loves watching the village scenes around the living room.

Auntie, why are you taking pictures of me?

Today has been a pretty relaxing day so far. Britney and Oliver showed up this afternoon and I got to see my adorable nephew some more. I have to get my Oliver fix because I won’t see him again until sometime this summer.

So, that’s the news from this past week! It’s been a busy one, and we won’t leave Oregon until the 31st. So hopefully the rest of this vacation is just as fun as the first half has been!

Neck deep in the middle of moving and needing to get ready for vacation

We have spent the past week and then some packing and moving and moving and packing, not to mention cleaning, there has been a bit of that too.  We really like our new place. And it wasn’t until the third time we were here (when we started moving stuff in) did we see it in the daylight and realized that it is pink.  But that is okay.  It is our pink elephant of a house (cottage? So we have been told, don’t ask).  It reminds me of my aunt and uncles old place when I was really little because it has this awesome 70s wood paneling.

We can’t seem to find a spot for our lovesack though; it is just huge and devours anything it is close to.  Also we think we have figured out how to solve any drought problems Utah may have in the future, every time we tried to move a load from one house to the next, it would start raining or snowing. Very inconvenient, but skiers, snowboarders, and those that like campfires in the summer… you are welcome.

We will be leaving for vacation in a few short days and am very excited to see our families.  Allison has a new nephew to meet and we are both in need of some good ol’ Pacific Northwest goodness. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Guess how much I love moving!

I don’t like moving. Not a bit. It’s not the unpacking and finding a new home for everything. I actually enjoy that because it’s like a fresh start. I HATE packing. I hate taking apart the house I’ve worked so hard to make into a home.

We’ve taken five or six carloads to the new house, and our old place is feeling particularly empty. We started with the non essentials. We figured since we weren’t living there just yet we shouldn’t take the stuff we use often. That will change on Wednesday. Our home teacher and his wife will come by with a truck in the evening and that’s when we’ll move all the big stuff like the bed, dresser, couch, and larger bookcase(s). So that will be the first time we stay the night in our new place. I’m sure we’ll still have some carloads to take over, but there’s so much there already it’s definitely starting to feel like home. Last night I practically gutted the kitchen so we’re surviving on cereal and sandwiches until we’re into the new place.

You know another thing I’m not fond of that goes along with moving? Changing my address everywhere. I’ve made about five phone calls this morning to adjust things and then did a few online. There’s still more to do… but I realized the information I need is already over at the new place, so I’ll grab that on our next trip. It’s just such a pain.

Hopefully we’ll stay at the new place for the rest of our time in Provo. We thought we would do that for our current place but the problems we had with the landlord and management became too much. Our new landlord seems like a much more attentive person. She’s super nice and really helpful, and our neighbors seem pretty awesome too. All around, our new place looks like a good fit.

NaNoWriMo

This week I’ve been sick and hacking up a lung most of the time. On Monday I woke up with a fever and felt miserable most of the day. By midafternoon I couldn’t really move from the couch, not even enough to lift my laptop up and type for NaNoWriMo. How much energy does it take to sit at a computer and type? I mean really? But I couldn’t do it. I just curled up in a ball with some chicken noodle soup.

Ezra took great care of me and made sure I had everything I needed. My fever finally broke in the early evening and I started feeling better. I ended up writing over 5,000 words that night for my NaNo and caught back up to where I should have been. I’d stopped writing regularly when we didn’t know where we were going to be living. Since my fever broke on Monday I’ve had a lingering cough and occasional stuffy nose, but that’s about it.

Along with writing news, I finished my NaNoWriMo this week! I can officially say I’m a novelist. It’s only a first draft and I know it needs a LOT of work, but it’s a novel draft and I was super excited that I accomplished that. How many people can say they’ve written a +50,000 word novel?

You can tell when the stress of finding a place to live hit, and then my word count jumped up on the day I had a fever.

Our move-in date keeps changing but as of right now we can start moving in to our new place this coming Saturday, the 8th. We have until the 19th to move out and clean this place, so there’s no major rush to get everything done in one day. Everyone keeps asking if we need anything, and the only thing we really need that we can’t take care of ourselves is a truck. Some of our furniture simply won’t fit in my car. At church yesterday we had a lot of people mention that they have connections to someone with a truck, so I think we may have that problem solved. We’re so grateful to everyone who is so willing to help!

Thanksgiving and a new home

This week, as opposed to others as of late has been rather eventful.  We found out that one of the other apartments in out building has black mold and a mushroom growing off of the wall... yes a MUSHROOM!!  needles to say, we want to move.  We spent a few days looking for a new place and finally found one.  We call it our greatest Black Friday deal.  2 bedrooms, washer and dryer, covered parking, a landlord that has chickens which means we get eggs, she also owns a horse, oh and it comes with a microwave... Allison is happy.  the only downside is the distance, but I think I'm going to love being able to ride my bike more and more often.  I just need to fix it up a bit.  Oh and did we mention 2 (two) bedrooms?

We were also able to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family up in Salt Lake. It was great, but my nephew was sick , and now Allison isn't feeling great at all. I am okay-ish. We didn't really get much shopping in, but maybe we'll try our hand at Cyber Monday this year.

Thanksgiving

This past week hasn’t been too terribly eventful. I registered for my first masters classes on Tuesday and then bought my books. I’m so happy to be furthering my education. I never felt like a BA was enough for me, so knowing that I’ll get an MLIS makes me really happy. I have the best job in the world and I want to be the very best librarian I can be.

Ezra and I donated blood Friday morning and then saw Breaking Dawn part 2 in the afternoon. I’m not a huge Twilight fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. I think this was one of the rare cases where I prefer the movie over the book.

I’ve been making some major progress with my NaNoWriMo. Last night my word count passed 31k. I’m excited to be over half way done, but I know that my novel will need some serious revisions. At the moment, I’m just writing to get words and ideas on the page, regardless of how ridiculous it is. A part of me hates the novel right now just because it is so rough, but I know that if I take the time to really rework it I might just end up being proud of it. Maybe.

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, I want to take a moment to share something I’m extremely thankful for. Ezra (stop now if you want to avoid gag inducing mushiness). He is my very best friend, and his support and encouragement has meant more to me than anything else. Ezra has always loved me for who I am, flaws and all. While we’re always trying to improve ourselves, he never judges me or makes me feel bad for my shortcomings. Instead, he encourages me and supports my efforts to be better.
 
 Before I ran my marathon, there were times that I didn’t want to get up and go running in the mornings. He would ask me how important that day’s training was. It was always important, and so with that reminder I would get up and hit the road or the treadmill. He got up with me at 3am on race day and helped me get ready and gave me a kiss as I headed out the door. I texted him at every mile marker to let him know where I was, how I was doing, and he would text back words of encouragement. It was something I really needed once I hit mile 20 and felt miserable. Then, when I finally ran past the library Ezra was there on the street corner cheering me on. Without his love and support, I never would have completed the Utah Valley Marathon on June 9, 2012.

Ezra took this photo on race morning. He was exhausted, but nevertheless supportive.

Right around here our texts went something like this- Allison: "Dying" Ezra: "Keep it up, you get a fabulous massage tonight"

Because of my husband's support, I managed to run a MARATHON!

I’m thankful that Ezra and I can be goofy together, serious together, that we can sit on the couch in silence and simply and make faces at each other. I’m thankful that we agree on the important things in life and that the things we don’t agree on are so small and trivial I can’t even think of one right now. I’m thankful that, because he listens to me so well, he seems to know me better than I know myself at times. I’m thankful that he always looks on the bright side, that he remains optimistic even when I start to freak out. I’m thankful that he can keep calm and be reasonable when I know I would be freaking out (such as that time he talked a woman out of giving me a parking ticket when we were geocaching).

In short, I’m thankful for my amazing husband, Ezra Smith, the most wonderful man that I’ve ever met. I love him with all my heart and am so grateful we get to spend eternity together.

Mushiness over.

Snow

This past week a few interesting things have happened to us.  The first was the Provo Library had me make a backdrop for a few display cases on the second floor.  It was fun to work on and I will be working on another in a little bit for December too.  The other thing that happened was SNOW!!! And like typical Utah fashion we got about 8 inches in one day, and then it stopped and we probably wont get anymore til Thanksgiving.

Allison has been typing up a storm since the first.  Working on a story for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Where as I have been drawing more and more lately.  Both are good, except that I let her see my work, she wont let me read any of her book.  But I do understand, I don't exactly like it when people peer over my shoulder when I am drawing.  Next week I might show off my head and all my bald glory.

Happy Halloween!

The last week has been a pretty fun one for us. On Monday we made Spudnuts and we still have a few in the freezer that we get into on occasion. I had a friend stop by to drop off a book while we were making them so Ezra and I got to share with her.

Spudnuts!

Running from the Silence.

My Pumpkin head.

On Halloween we had a huge bowl full of candy for trick-or-treaters but we only had one person knock on our door. I was so disappointed, yet so grateful for that one person. I wish I’d given the little zombie girl more candy. So we’ve been working on getting rid of that. Ezra was a Ninja Turtle at work, and I was on the run from the Silence in the library (Doctor Who thing if you’re confused). In the evening Ezra was a pumpkin head. We played Bookopoly again to keep my mind off of the lack of trick-or-treaters, which worked. By the time we finished I knew there would be no one knocking on our door so we turned off the porch light.

In other news, Ezra finally sold his snowboard! A few years ago he got it from a roommate who was getting rid of stuff and he’s never used it. I finally convinced him to put it on Craig’s List so it wouldn’t take up space in our house. It finally happened. He sold it Thursday evening so we went out to lunch on Friday to Tucano’s! New favorite restaurant? I think so. Alas it’s a little on the spendy side so we only go if we have coupons.

That’s all that’s really been happening in our lives. Not sure if next week will be any more exciting. We’re looking forward to the election being over so that we’re not bombarded with politics everywhere we go. Of course, I’m sure people are going to be angry either way so hopefully that dies down soon too. I guess we’ll see what happens.

Bookopoly and Pumpkin Chili

While we were on vacation this past August, we picked up a mock-Monopoly game called Bookopoly, and you guessed it... It is indeed literary themed.  Since Allison and I both work at the Library, our lives seem to not drift too far from books.  We played twice this weekend while enjoying her Pumpkin Chili she makes around this time of the year.  Both times she wasted me, I barely even stood a chance, I never could get even one monopoly. That's oke, I'm not bitter, not at all.  She makes some really good chili.

On another note, I shaved off my CHINchilla (this is what we decided to call my chin beard [I was growing it to resemble Adult Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender as he appears in The Legend of Korra, but never was able to get a costume made in time for Halloween] it got pretty scruffy) but not before I got a bunch of pictures, of varying quality.  Now I am going to be documenting my regrowth of hair. I am kinda scared it will grow in odd and once it starts to grow out a bit it will stand on end for some time and look like a very sparse thinning afro, we shall see. 

Waterless

Ezra and I walked home from work yesterday to find our local apartment manager at the house trying to call us. Apparently there has been a leak (we could always hear water running through the pipes in our walls but I didn’t think much of it) somewhere below the house and it’s gotten to the point where water was seeping up through the concrete. They checked our apartment to make sure it wasn’t coming from us, and then went downstairs to investigate further.

We went grocery shopping, came home and put everything away, then found out that they had broken through the floor downstairs and water was spouting up. They were going to turn the water off, work on it tonight, then come back and continue in the morning. What did that mean for us? We would have no water from when they turned it off last night to an undetermined time today. The manager apologized and then suggested we fill anything we could with water. Which we did. Mixing bowls, pitchers, the bathtub, etc.

Some of our bowls of water.

What else did we do? What any 21st century social networked couple does! We put out a plea on Facebook to see if any friends would let us crash for the evening. A few minutes after the plea was posted I got a phone call and invitation from some good friends, the Despains. Ezra and I went over there and stayed the night. We showered, did everything we could that required water and then came home this morning. We got home at about 9:20 and they were hard at work (I hope), but still no water. Ezra forgot to take his razor and looks pretty scraggly so we decided not to go to church. We ended up watching some sessions from General Conference that we missed when we were working.

That truck and trailer have been a constant fixture outside our house as they continue to work.

The water has been off and on for the last few hours as they continue to work. I’ve managed to get all our dishes washed when it’s on, and we rush to use the bathroom and refill any empty bowls of water when we have the chance.

You’d think (and we did) that we could just put buckets of water from the bathtub into the toilet so that we could use it when we needed, but when we tested that last night it didn’t work. We have an old ghetto toilet, so we just rush when the water is on.

Hopefully everything will get fixed tonight so that we can stay home rather than bum off of friends again, not that we don’t appreciate our friends’ hospitality, we just really like our own bed. So we’ll see what happens.

UPDATE: We found out they'll turn our water off again tonight at 11pm, and turn it on again at 5am. Still more to do, but we're almost in the clear! Woohoo!

25th Birthday of the Wifey

Allison had a Birthday again this year, go figure.  Not wanting to have to sleep on the couch, not that she ever goes through with the threats, but just to be safe.  I decided to get her something.  I did small things during the week leading up to her birthday, A drawing, dinner, cleaning the bathroom, you know, the typical things one gives on a birthday.  The main presents were a TARDIS beach towel and a TARDIS teapot, and yes, it is larger on the inside.

Allison's mom also sent a cake mix for us to make.  And this is what came of it. Poo frosting. But once you get past the look of things, and taste it, it is good to behold.

Now my wifey and I are both quarter-Centurions

Photo Update and Video Tech Challenge

Here are the most recent pictures for the photo-a-day project!

30 January 2012

I had some time today and thought I'd paint my nails. Green! Not mold! I think it'll be easier to keep my nail polish looking nice with my new position at the library. Less nail chipping tasks.

31 January 2012

This is Ezra's painting of me! This was his first time painting, and I think he did a pretty awesome job. Granted, I have no face... yet.

1 February 2012

We have monthly technology challenges at the library for the staff and we get prizes when we complete them. This was Ezra's prize for the January challenge.

2 February 2012

My little peas are shooting up! They make me so happy. Some of the other plants I will have to thin out soon. For all but the peas I planted 4 seeds per container in case some didn't sprout. Both of my peas sprouted though, and I think I'll have to do some more. Peas are possibly my favorite vegetable.

Also, every month the library has a technology challenge for the staff. For February, the challenge is to make a video using Windows Live Movie Maker, then share it with friends and family. You can upload the video directly to Facebook, YouTube, and others from the program. The biggest challenge I had was finding royalty free music that I could use without getting in trouble. So, here it is!

Photo-a-day Project 2012

So I've been doing a photo-a-day project on facebook, and I thought I'd post the photos that I have so far, along with their captions for those who aren't on facebook. I know a lot of the pictures are kind of grainy, I've just been using the camera on my phone since that's the camera most readily available.

1 January 2012

This is on display in the HFAC. It was part of Ezra's final project in his illustration class. It's a big honor to have your piece chosen to go on display, and his was!

When Ezra showed it to his class someone commented that it reminded him of the move Mr. and Mrs. Smith... Ezra informed him that "Smith" was in fact our name.

2 January 2012

We've been cleaning up the living room and trying to find places for all of our books. I've been asking Ezra repeatedly if we could use the fireplace, and today he said we could. So, we lit a fire! We have lots of old decrepit books that would be going to the dump, so we decided to use some of them as kindling (phone books work great!).

3 January 2012

Two new book cases!!! We needed them so bad. Finally our floor isn't covered with piles of books. :-)

4 January 2012

Tried a new recipe tonight for dinner. It was an orange chicken type thing. We had salad with salsa on the side. It was good, the two didn't really go together, but it was food, and we got our serving of veggies. :-)

5 January 2012

Roasting marshmallows by the fire. :-)

6 January 2012

We had some random boards that we wanted to use as firewood... we couldn't break them, so we tried a lot of different methods of cutting them. We never made it through and it took Ezra forever to get even this far.

7 January 2012

Kinda dark, but this is a regular occurrence right before bed, Ezra's doing stuff on his phone as our kids (the stuffed animals) wait to be put away for the night.

8 January 2012

We don't have a table in our house, let alone a desk. This is Ezra's work space, the living room floor. Ezra likes to spread out, but he's good about getting it all put away before bed. :-)

9 January 2012

We have a crazy neighbor that always gets angry about where I put my garbage can. Here is proof that I am NOT in his driveway, or even in his way. My car is blocked, not his. He says he's going to report me to the city. I called the city and they said this is fine.

10 January 2012

Ezra likes ninjas... we have a stuffed ninja Mickey Mouse. Ezra thought it would be funny to give him a sword. Ninja Mickey protects us from crazy neighbors by guarding our window.

11 January 2012

I always win the dinner battle, but sometimes there are casualties... like my poor wooden spoon that is now chipped. Sad day!

12 January 2012

I walked into the kitchen and saw Ezra standing on the counter... he was trying to figure out perspectives for a drawing he wanted to do.

13 January 2012

Since our lives really are kind of boring, I thought I'd introduce you to some members of our family. Today, I'd like you to meet Thelonious, or Thelo for short. I had a roommate that named all of her plants, and when I got Thelo I sort of picked up the habit. He's the first plant I got while in Utah.

14 January 2012

Meet Bat! He's one of our aloe vera plants. Ezra named him. Bat had some arms that curved around the side of his pot that Ezra though made it look like bat wings.

15 January 2012

This is our second aloe vera plant, Owl! I felt like since Ezra gave the other the name Bat, I wanted this one to have a similar, night creature name, so I call her Owl.

16 January 2012

Hello Peter Parker! He's our first spider plant, and Ezra thought he should be called Peter Parker since he's a spider.

17 January 2012

This is the newest addition to our plant family, Doc Ock. He's still just a baby, but Peter Parker had a start growing from him so I decided to put it in water and grow another spider plant (I love them so). I thought another Spiderman character would be a fitting name, so He's our little Doc Ock.

18 January 2012

So The Woman in Black came in for me. A group of us in circulation have a little book club and this was the next book we wanted to read, since the movie is coming out (and the movie has Daniel Radcliff). I'm excited to have a scary book to read. I don't typically choose something like this for myself.

Update: 26 January 2012 Good book! I finished reading it today. Chilling, thrilling, and just some good scariness. Nothing graphic or violent, just creepy make you want to look behind you and hide under the covers.

19 January 2012

I was really missing gardening so I made a little container garden on one of my book selves. I don't know how the plants will do, but my fingers are crossed!

20 January 2012

So I went on a long run today, and about half way through the miles I was supposed to be doing I gave up because I was hurting like crazy. I knew my shoes were getting bad, but it took me a while to concede. I got off the treadmill and walked over to 26.2 and bought myself a new pair of running shoes. Here they are!

21 January 2012

Cringe! Okay, I know it's gross, but I didn't have a better picture for today. This is one of the many reasons I needed new running shoes. Right between my big toe and the smaller toe, the callouses had built up a lot. Great, lots of padding, right? Well, it's fine until your feet dry out and the callous splits... right down to the really soft tissue. It's been hurting so bad! I can hardly walk and when I do it's with a limp. I've been using liquid bandaid in the crack to try to encourage it to heal. Fingers crossed!

22 January 2012

On Sunday's I love to take time and cook something fun. Banana bread has been my favorite recently. So I thought today I'd get a picture of my collection of cookbooks, dilapidated discards from the library and otherwise.

23 January 2012

My plants are already sprouting! I've got some peas and flowers that have popped out of their dirt.

24 January 2012

I had to clean out my locker in circulation. I found this in the pile of papers I pulled out. It was from Halloween, when circulation became "Library High."

25 January 2012

First day as a reference librarian! Really my badge and name tag hasn't changed, but I was just so excited to be moved over to reference! Really though, I do miss circ. I like knowing what I'm doing and at the moment, I don't all the time. But I suppose that's how it is with any new job.

26 January 2012

I fear you may get lots of plant updates for my photos. I love my little babies, they make me so happy! Anyway, the plants that have already sprouted are thriving, and some dill started sprouting overnight!

27 January 2012

Ezra doesn't yet know that I grabbed another one of his drawings to post... hehehe. Anyway, he was setting this one up because he wanted to draw our feet with us in our wedding clothes. So we were sitting on the couch, he set up his camera on a timer, and I was bored. I got out my kindle and was reading a book while all of this was going on, ha ha. He liked the picture so much that he drew the whole thing. :-)

28 January 2012

Ezra's first experience painting. He's having a lot of fun making a mess in the living room. It's supposed to be me, walking up our steps after working out.

29 January 2012

Not man on wire, but bunny on glasses! Hopson was walking around Ezra's head.