Cravings!

Thanks to Allie, I have discovered a new love...it's "Cravings Bistro" in American Fork. It specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches of every kind. I have tried the pesto, tomato and mozzarella; the cheese, artichoke, sundried tomato and spinach; the jalapeno popper; and the apple, bacon and cheddar sandwiches. All are delicious. I'm especially in love with the jalapeno popper one right now. Jalapeno and cream cheese, grilled to perfection, dipped in jalapeno jelly. Oh. Heaven. Don't be a hater, just join me on Tuesdays for $2 half sandwiches.

Kinda Uneventful August, but you must know that Melia's summer "sucked"

Besides the Olympics in London and Kamiko's 19th birthday, August was pretty uneventful. I did really enjoy watching the Olympics, though. I had forgotten how mesmerized I get by watching synchronized diving. I can't figure out why team rhythmic gymnastics is considered a "sport." It seems to me like something that belongs on the TV show "America's Got Talent." It was fun to watch events every night. I loved the young 17 year old swimmer who kept winning. It was great to see Michael Phelps earn more metals in swimming, too. He is the MOST decorated olympian of all time. The women's gymnastics really did well, too.

This is how we celebrate the opening weekend of Olympics...rings on the pizza.
Sorry it's upside-down. I held the camera at the wrong angle when taking the picture.

Kamiko turned 19. We paid off his credit card bill balance for his birthday. We also went ordered pizza from Papa John's for his celebration. We also went to mom and dad's for birthday dessert one night and had carrot cake and chocolate chip pound cake. He is excited about going back to school. He's got some good classes lined up. He will be living at home and working at Little Caesar's. He'll save money to move out, get a car after mission, or something. I hope I get some of it.

Mel and her friend Kobi Watkins started playing on a new soccer team. They are really enjoying the team and the team seems excited to have the new additions.

Mel joins new soccer team - NORTHERN PEAKS. They take 2nd in tournament.
Mel sprained her hip early in tournament, so missed the last games.

Kris and Doug came to visit. They picked up Allison and James and headed to Canada for a visit with James' family. It was fun to see them. Wow, I saw Kris in June for family reunion, August for a couple of days and will see her again in September at Disneyland and November, when they come for Thanksgiving. I won't even get a chance to miss her.

In our twinner shirts from Matsumoto's Shave Ice in Hawaii

Right before school started, I asked Melia how her summer had been. She informed me that it "sucked" because she didn't do anything. I reminded her that we went to Nauvoo. I also reminded her that she chose to sleep til noon almost everyday and when I suggested going swimming or somewhere, she had a reason to stay home. She is a funny girl.

August 21, 2012. Allie is a junior and Melia is a freshman. Wow!

August 27, 2012. Kamiko begins his sophomore year at BYU. Go Cougars!

"Never Supress a Generous Thought" - Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Good experience today. I have had yummy shredded beef in my freezer to make dinner for our mechanic for a couple of weeks. I make delicious beef sandwiches out of it, complete with sauteed peppers and onions. Well, last night, we stopped at the grocery store on the way home from dinner with mom and dad. Bell peppers were on super sale, so I decided to buy a couple and get the rest of the fixin's for the beef sandwiches - rolls, au juis mix, etc.

I texted Heather today to tell her I was bringing dinner. She said my timing was perfect. Her dog had surgery last week and she has been super stressed with her recovery. She said I must be an answer to her prayers.

When I dropped dinner off, we talked for a bit and she said that every time she is at the end of her rope and praying for help, I show up with dinner. Last time it was when her mother-in-law was in the hospital, very ill, and their basement had just flooded. She and her husband, Cary, are so good to us - very trustworthy mechanics. All I can offer them is food and I'm glad I've been able to come through at just the right time.

So, what President Monson said is right. "The prayers of people are almost always answered by the actions of others." So glad I bought the peppers, rolls, etc and took dinner. It made me feel good to help a friend. The gospel and the whisperings of the holy ghost are amazing!

Moving a Sectional Can be Like Giving Birth

AND...the sectional is IN!!!!!

It says it's for repairing holes and gouges. I definitely have a huge gouge to repair

wood filler applied...will sand and paint

So, Sandy and Hewy and Sandy's brother took me in the Hewlett's truck to get a sectional in Draper. It was perfect...good price and SHORT enough to get down into the basement. What I didn't measure was the WIDTH. It was 1/2 inch too wide to get down the "easy" way. Kamiko and friends Barnes and Mike came to help get it down. After about an hour and a half of trying every angle and removing legs from the couch, we decided the ONLY way to get it down was to chip away at the door frame. It was that or pound out a section of wall. I opted for repairing a door frame over repairing a wall. Ugh. It took a lot of tries and incremental cutting and pushing, but we finally got it in. I told Kamiko he now knows what it's like to have a baby. That sectional is NOT coming out of the basement in one piece. Here are some photos of the damage and my attempts to hide it. Thankfully Keenan is a good sport about it. I couldn't believe it.

the finished product

up close...hey, it's just the basement. Who goes down there, anyway?

My Walking Buddy turns 50!

Last night I got to go to Deer Valley in Park City and join friends and family of Sandy Hewlett to surprise her for her 50th birthday. It was awesome. My friend Kris Kokol went with me. Art and Sue Vincent, Maria and Junior Fano, Rosemary and Paul (she flies with Sandy) were there. We also got to spend time with all of Sandy's siblings, who came from as far as Florida, and her mom and fiancee. Much of Hewy's family was there, too. It really was a blast. Nice dinner and touching words by Hewy about his love for Sandy. We also got to see a slide show of her life. I have gotten to know Sandy's siblings a bit by walking with them and her brother Scott helped us pick up the sectional for our basement. She really has a great family. I feel fortunate to be included in such a great group.

Sandy's surprised face with her daughters, Jessica and Olivia looking on

Sandy, her sister Stacy and Hewy. Nice words of appreciation and admiration

Kris Kokol, Sandy and Me. Sandy was trying to cover Kris' "curves" and we were laughing hard. Turned out to be a great picture of the three of us. Good friends.

Kris, Sandy, Me and hula instructor, Maria Fano. Maria didn't like first picture of her. She said her shirt looked funny. So, we re-took the picture, using everything we had at our disposal to cover Maria's top, including Sandy's leg.

Rosemary, Sandy's flying buddy, and her husband Paul with Sandy

Some great people: Hewy, Sandy, Alicia and Alex Guerero and Art and Sue Vincent

Holy Cow!

Today at Chick Fil-A, the chicken fast-food restaurant, it was "Cow Appreciation Day," a gimmick to get you to come in for food. My sister Karen participated last year in Colorado and made me aware of this year's festivities. Anyway, if you dressed up like a cow, you got a free meal. So, I made Melia print out cow masks off the internet and we wore white and black and got sandwiches, fries and drinks. We took along our friend Jessica Hewlett and her two cousins, Tiana and Jenny. It was fun. Sandy Hewlett showed up later with Olivia, Jenny's mom, Stacy, and Sandy's mom and her fiancee. We loaned them our masks and they got in on the fun (and free food). Below is photographic proof. By the way, Kamiko and friends later took same masks for their dinner.

After ordering...Tiana, Jenny, Melia and Jessica and me.

Olivia Hewlett, Jessica Hewlett, Me, Melia, Jenny Pead and Tiana Hewlett

Olivia Hewlett, Sandy Hewlett, Stacy Pead, Grandma Helen and Don

On another note, I love it when Sandy's sister Stacy comes into town. She lives in Arizona and has one daughter, Jenny, who is a year younger than Melia. Stacy teaches PE at a private school. She always joins us for our walks and we have a great time. She is a neat lady. I sure love Sandy and her extended gang!

Changes Around Here

Should I just list them? Or should I explain them? Changes...changes. First of all, we had the kitchen cabinets painted. We hired our former neighbor Aaron Wigington to do it. They look fabulous. I am so glad I didn't have to do them. One too many DIY (do it yourself) projects for me right now. His price was so reasonable that it was well worth it. ($800) It took him and his painter Roberto about 3 days total to do it. In the midst of it, I even cooked dinner. I'm crazy.

See my dinner in the Crock Pot?

This is why I paid someone. I HATE the prep work involved in painting

Boxes all sprayed and waiting for doors to be hung

Doors and drawers in...waiting for knobs to come in mail

The knobs are here and it's all done! I LOVE IT!

I thought we would have to replace the countertops, but the whole kitchen looks so great now that it's not necessary. I did decide, however, to replace the green chairs that were in the family room next to the kitchen. I got some dark brown bonded leather chairs. They are actually recliners, but don't look like recliners at all. Yeah! ($700)

With the kitchen looking so great and the family room looking equally as nice, it made me re-think the front living room. I decided to move that furniture out and move the basement furniture up. Blue leather couches ended up in the living room. They needed some pillows to tie it all together. I could picture what I wanted. Was going to make pillows, but couldn't find the right fabric, so we bought some. ($80) They added just the right touch.

Ok, so now the basement has only bean bag chairs for seating. I began my search for a sectional on KSL.com. People list things they are selling. The trick was to find one big enough to seat us, but in small enough pieces to get downstairs. It was a beast to get the couch up from the basement and I swore I wouldn't do that again. I found one! Sandy and Matt Hewlett and Sandy's brother, Scott, drove me in Matt's truck up to Draper to get it. I also got an ottoman for even more comfortable lounging ($450 for both). Sandy tried to talk her down since we were helping her move her furniture downstairs after emptying her basement, but I was pleased with the price. It was so nice of them to take me. I was planning on making multiple trips in the van if needed. Keenan is in Hawaii with Allie, so it would have been up to me and Kamiko to do it all. I owe someone some cookies. Now it's time for me to list my couch, 3 chairs, and recliner on KSL. I can recoup some of my costs. I feel like I have a new place, but I didn't have to move.

The sectional. I was so worried about it being too long to get into the basement that I forgot to determine if it was too wide. It was. It took Kamiko and two friends and myself quite a while to get it down. Now I have to do some serious patching of the door frame. Yep, had to remove some of it to get the darn thing down.

In the midst of this, I also worked in the backyard, finally placing some stones as paths in the flower beds, weeding and talking to my plants to make sure the yard thrives. It's looking good.

The view from our kitchen door, out onto the deck that uncle Mike Sears built (with our help). I have always loved the flower beds we cut out of the yard to soften the edges of the yard. I think our place looks great. It's been a good 12 yrs.