Saturday, July 31, 2010

10 for July

Oh, I've been looking forward to doing a ten list for this month. July was a fun month!!

10 things we did in July:

  1. Finished our sprinklers.
  2. Shoveled 14 yards of dirt.
  3. Put down sod. Squee!
  4. Planted flowers.  I have lupins, iris, day lilies, asiatic lilies, and a few more I can't remember the name of.
  5. Planted 3 trees - 2 chanticlear pear in the front parking strip and a sycamore in the back. Swoon!
  6. Went to the Nordstrom sale with my mom, sisters, and nieces.  You wouldn't think spending some time in a dressing room with family members would be good bonding time, but it really is.  Really.
  7. Got a concrete pad poured on the side of our house.
  8. Had fence posts installed - vinyl fence comes next week.
  9. Spent Wednesday evening in the dark since the fence company shredded our power lines while setting our fence posts. I came home to absolutely no power and no one to tell me why (it seemed like too much of a coincidence that the day I get fence posts, my power goes out. I really do pay my bills!) After 2 hours of sitting around, the power company sent 3 giant trucks and men to match them to fix my power. It took them until 9:30 to get it turned back on.  I didn't realize it took multiple burly men to fix a house's power.  Good use of our tax dollars there.
  10. Turned 35. Holy cow, I am old. I'm now one of those women ("Women over 35 should avoid taking...Women over 35 should have....you know the drill. Gulp. That is me.)
9 people who I spent time with:


  1. Amy.  My kind sister invited me and the boys to spend the day with her family at Lagoon.  It was a ball.  I took Thomas on every single ride he was tall  enough for - many against his better judgement.  It was the most fun we have had at Lagoon since having kids.  It was fun to be there with my sister, too...I have many fond memories of our times as kids at Lagoon. Aparently we rode the Colossus together the first year it opened.  Good memories and fun making new ones.

  2. My family on the 4th of July at my sister's house. We had a barbecue and swim and celebrated my mom's birthday.  It was fun to have a get together with everyone.

  3. My niece Kayci.  I only saw her for a few minutes one Friday when she came down to visit the weekend after the 4th, but it was so nice to see her and her sweet girls.

  4. Bloggers.  Yesterday Britt, Apryl, Amy, Jeanette and me got together for a lunch/play date. It was so fun. I am amazed at how close you can feel to people you've only seen a few times in real life.
  5. Nicky, Britt, Jeanette, Me holding Daisy, Britt's baby, Amy, Apryl

  6. The friends and family who helped us with our yard.  The night we did our sod, people from our ward showed up without being asked.  Our good friends the Bells came and so did my in-laws.  It was so nice to have it done, and nice to see how much we are loved.

  7. My neighbors.  You all know I was very attached to my old street and the people who live on it. But we have moved onto a very nice street in the new house.  It is an interesting mix of people, and not all of us are in the same stage of life. It is a fun experience getting to know some new people who will likely be a part of our lives for a long time.  I feel so blessed to have lucked out twice.

  8. My mom. I saw my mom more this month than I have in forever.  We ate lunch together 2 weeks in a row, had a barbecue together, shopped at the Nordstrom sale together, discussed making mitred corner baby blankets together...fun stuff.  Thanks, Mom.
  9. Cute blanket I made...first one doing mitred corners!

  10. Ben.  He had his kindergarten assessment on Thursday. How is this possible?  

  11. Thomas, who started fourth grade.  Where does the time go? 
8 ways my life starting to feel more normal...moving really threw me.

  1. Having a yard means that I can now say "Go outside and play, would you!" And having a door from the kitchen going into the backyard is heaven. No wonder I never spent much time in the backyard at my old house...we didn't have any access.

  2. I started reading again.  I have had a terrible reading year.  July finally broke my streak of bad library books and I have read good books all month.  Yay!

  3. Starting to sew again.  My awesome husband modified a sewing table I bought and so now I have a great place to sew.  I celebrated by finishing 2 of the 3 baby blankets I bought flannel for.  The one I showed above is for my old bishop's wife.  Isn't it cute?  I used 2 tutorials that I found online to make it.  (Tutorials are here and here.)

  4. Shane is washing cars in the driveway again....the Kumps have officially moved in.  Our old neighbors knew how dedicated Shane was to his four-wheeled friends, and now our new ones will soon know.

  5. Sitting out on the back porch at night, watching the kids play, chatting with neighbors. So nice!

  6. Working on my posture all. the. time.  Especially when running. I think that is what made me so upset about the bad Ragnar pictures. Running is my thing, and I feel good when I run and it made me feel embarrassed to think I look crappy while doing something I enjoy.  Does that make sense?

  7. Decorating. I hadn't put up anything on the walls because I wanted all the frames to match. I bought 2 cans of black spray paint and went to town painting everything.  It looks so nice to see all the pictures that have followed me around from appartment to house to this house.  Most of the paintings are prints that I bought in Washington DC or had friends bring me back from New York and Paris.  Love.

  8. Having time again.
7 things I'm looking forward to:

  1. Both kids being in school.  Sure, Ben is just in kindergarten, but how cool to have 2 morning to myself.  What to do, what to do!

  2. Going on vacation in the next few months. I think we will be gracing the hallowed halls of the Catamaran Hotel in San Diego again. Can't wait to run on the beach again!!

  3. The weather cooling off.

  4. Thomas turning 9.

  5. Having a fence again.  We have a trampoline now, and I worry that kids will get on it while we aren't home. And it's just nice to have a contained yard.

  6. Buying bulbs to plant in the fall.  I will die if I don't have spring bulbs to watch for.

  7. Fall running.
6 Books to read or have read:

  1. The girl who chased the moon.  This was so good. If you were ever an angry teenager you can relate to this book.  It's very light hearted and fun.

  2. Someone called Eva.  A childrens fiction book that I read at the recommendation of my friend.  It was really well done and child-appropriate.

  3. A Vintage Affair.  This was kind of chick-lit-y, but I read it in 2 days all the same.

  4. Little Bee.  Loved it.

  5. The Little Stranger.  Has anyone else read this?  I need to see if anyone else was as frusterated with it as I was.

  6. Possession.  I bought my own copy and am going to write in it.  Anyone want to exchange it with me and take a turn reading it when I'm done?
5 things about July:

  1. It makes me sad to see the days starting to get shorter.  It is getting dark by 8 or 8:30 which is a reminder of the dark cold winter nights ahead.

  2. I love looking forward to the Nordstrom sale.  It is such a fun time with my family.  It is my equivalent of school shopping and brings back so many good memories.

  3. My birthday.  I love my birthday.  Shane made me 2 cakes.  Shane's grandma and grandpa (on different sides) each sent me a card. It is a treasure to recieve a birthday card signed "love, Grandpa."  Sadly, Shane's grandparents have been an active part of my life longer than my own very loved, very missed grandparents.  Anyway, even though I don't love being 35, it's nice to have birthdays all the same.

  4. Having 2 holidays in the same month.  I love it when Shane is home for extra days.  It makes my long weekends even nicer.

  5. I still miss those few July's that featured the new release of a Harry Potter book. I still miss little Harry and his adventures. And the movies don't compare to the book, sadly.  I mean, I still get excited but not as much as I do for the books.
4 things I wish I had right. now.

  1. Something cold to drink. Although, I am currently 1.5 months Dr. Pepper-free.

  2. An air-conditioned garage. Typing a blog post in the garage is sweaty work.

  3. Some bacon and cheese nachos.  Mmm, bacon.

  4. A new baby to hold. One of my friends from my old ward had a baby on Wednesday and I held her this morning when I dropped off a blanket for her.  She was so sweet.  I wanted to steal her.
3 songs I like to run to right now:
  1. Little Red Corvette.  Ah, Prince.
  2. Breath in, breath out. Matt Kearney, I love you and your song.  It gets me through many, many hills.
  3. Beyonce and her If you Like it then you should have put a Ring on it.  Amy might have Lady Gaga, but I have Beyonce as my guilty pleasure.

2 books I'm looking forward to:
  1. The Hunger Games finale.  Can't wait!!
  2. Monsters of Men, the finale to Chaos Walking series.
1 awesome thing that happened:
Ben JUST learned to ride his bike today. And is doing so well!  Now I officially don't have any little children - my baby is in kindergarten and can ride a two wheeler. Whose life is this, anyway?

3 comments:

Britt said...

Wow! July sounds like it was awesome and crazy busy.

I totally miss the Harry Potter releases, too. My life is empty now that Harry Potter and Lost have both ended. Sigh.

I want to read Possession. Pas sit my way!

Apryl said...

Meeting up WAS so fun, right? Apparently I need to work on my posture too (based on that photo, geesh!) And how funny, yesterday morning I was spray painting all my MIL's frames black to match in HER house! We're so up on the trends!

Melanie said...

That blanket is adorable! When are we going to have a sewing day? Oh, and I want to read Possession when Brit's done.