Summer is gone..

Summer is starting to fade and I have to say its a bitter sweet. Summer is definitely my favorite season don't get me wrong but I just love the changes of the seasons. And I especially love the cool days of September. Not to hot not to cold. It only lasts about a month here in Utah Valley but it is very blissful.

At the beginning of September I headed down to a training with my sister in law Kate in St George. The grant that I am partially funded by holds quarterly training's and they chose St George for their setting this time. So I talked the hubs into meeting me down there and we made a weekend out of it! We started on Friday with going fishing in a reservoir near St George. Eric went early in the morning then picked me up mid morning after my final training was done and we went together. Between the both of us we caught about 13 fish! Being only 3-4 for me haha. But it was a ton of fun! Here is a pic of what the fish look liked and the scenery. It reminded me of Lake Powell.

Then Friday night we met up with my Dad and went to dinner at the Black Bear Diner mmmm (http://blackbeardiner.com/) and then relaxed at the hotel. My Dad came down with my Brother to do a long ride to Zions from St George. Yea they are crazy like that!

Saturday morning we headed for Zions to hit some hikes and enjoy the scenery. It was way different from what I thought it was going to be. It was BEAUTIFUL dont get me wrong but very touristy and controlled. I am soo used to being free when I am hiking. But probably due to preserving the environment they make everyone park at a visitor's center and ride a shuttle to whatever hike you want. Its good and bad.

Good because you dont have to deal with parking at each hiking location. Bad because you feel like your at Disneyland and its very very hot! Lots of people crammed into little places! Sorry I am not a huge crowd person LOL. I also ended up getting a really really bad headache that makes me less tolerant to tourists I guess you could say:(

But other than the headache we took in all the scenery and Eric snapped a lot of photos. Here's my favorite ones I wanted to share. 

After a long day of hiking we headed back to our hotel at the Cable Mountain Lodge(http://www.cablemountainlodge.com/). It was pretty nice. We were beat but decided to freshen up, grab a meal, and head to a movie. They have one movie theater in the town that features "Hollywood" movies as they called it in the evenings haha. We saw Bourne Legacy. It was pretty good!

The next morning we made our way back home. It was a nice little trip but it is always wonderful to get back home to your own bed!

Dresser Love

I couldn't be more happy! I finally ordered dresser's for Eric and I's bedroom. I cant wait. After much searching and shopping it came down to ordering something that was custom. But lucky for me everyone was having sales! I got around 100 dollar discount on each dresser. Happy day! Here is a similar picture of the one I ordered from Four Chairs Furniture Store below( http://4-chairs.com/shop/ ). A lovely, lovely place I might say..

 This picture is an unfinished dresser/media cabinet but almost exact same design I ordered. Below is about the same finish I asked for. Its an antique distressed white. I also had them take the legs off to make the dresser a bit shorter.

I think it will match very well with my shelf above the bed. What do you think??

Here is the pic again..

The dressers unfortunately will take 4-6 weeks to be done...ughhh...but at least I can check them off my list!

In other news. 

Eric's grandparents came to visit us over the weekend!

Aren't they soo cute! This is a picture from their mission last year they served in Texas on a ranch. It was really nice to get to know them better and hear all their Panama stories from when they used to live there. We are really hoping we can join them in January of next year when they vacation back down in Panama. Eric took them out to J-Dawgz after picking them up from the airport and later we went out to one of our other local favorites, Chubby's.. Yum!! In between we visited, went shopping, and drove up to Bridal Veil Falls and Sundance. They only spent one day/ night with us but it was a delight!

Grandma Jean insisted on buying us some things for our house, she is so sweet! We ended up picking these delightful pieces from Four Chairs Furniture..I think the candlestick is my favorite!

Other things that happened..
On Wed before the weekend last week Eric and I decided to do an early morning jog. We definitely weren't thrilled about it when the alarm went off that morning but we reluctantly rolled out of bed at 5:45 am...blahh We decided to take a short route by our house with both dogs that goes by the lake. Well...little did we know...that is prime time for skunk mania! They were everywhere! Granted we couldnt see them because it was dark but we could smell them! When we got home we noticed Duke had had a brush with one of them and was stinking up the whole house! I read online that mouthwash helps de-skunk so I took him out that morning for a wash. Didnt do much!! But we couldnt deal much more with it so we got ready for work and left the dogs at the house. As usual the doggy door is open for them to go in and out throughout the day. Well...I left the bedroom door open and this is what I came home tooo....!

I know I know...I shouldn't leave the bedroom door open anyway. But Duke likes to sleep under the bed so I couldnt keep him from his little hideout?. Lol I am so dumb. He must have gotten muddy in the yard and decided he would have a roll around on the bed to dry off. Blahhh! So after a long day at work I took all the bedding off and stuck it in the wash. Eric gave Duke this look of  "What have you done"!Duke knew exactly what he was talking about scurrying under the bed with a look of shame haha. Poor guy. We then gave him another bath, well Eric did, with tomato juice. That seemed to help a lot more with the stink but it was still present for sure. The next morning Duke came over to me and I quickly realized we didnt get all the tomato juice off! His fur was frozen in dreadlocks, sonic the hedgehog fashion :(. So sad! 

I decided to brush him out a bit and just get him in to the groomer the next day. He is looking much nicer after being bathed and brushed by a professional...but still a little stinky..

Eric and I went to the Soldier Hollow Classic Monday. One of my favorite things to do each year. We rolled up to Midway around 11am and enjoyed all the festivities. It was final's day so all the competitive dogs were there and it was a blast to watch. I took a pic of the scenery of the sheep herding. The leaves have begun to change so it was breathtaking!

We also ate at this place called Moochies. I wasnt too impressed. I should have stuck to my usual Gyro but as matter of convenince stuck to Moochies because Eric wanted a cheesesteak sandwich from there. Next time I will be smarter! I like this picture of Eric in line :)

Cant wait for the next weekend. St George/ Zions!

Mice!

Now I consider myself an animal lover. I love all walks of life but when a wild animal decides to venture into my kitchen and share a few "snacks" I am NOT okay with it! LOL

About a month ago my cousin Jeffrey who was staying at our home spotted a wild mouse scurrying down the hallway. I was a little freaked to say the least! But Eric came to the rescue and within 10 minutes he had him trapped. What a man!
Well I thought that was over and done but Tuesday morning I had a little surprise in the kitchen. It was super early in the morning because I had to get into work earlier than usual. Sleepily I made my way to the kitchen for my morning medicine. The medicine I take is a homeopathic remedy to help heal my gallbladder. I have to hold it in my mouth for 1 minute to let it absorb into the blood stream. So I set the timer on the microwave and decide to start my morning smoothie. I go to grab the blender on the counter and....A mouse jumps out ! Scared me sooo bad! I tried to scream but realized I had to keep my mouth closed so what my friend Sherrie called it I demonstrated a Mime scream hahahaha! I then made my way to the bedroom in a panic waking Eric up to come to the rescue haha. He set a trap but we figured it was gone for the moment. Totally disgusted to say the least that a mouse had been having his way in the kitchen I told Eric when I got home from work I am gutting the entire kitchen till ever inch is bleached! I know I am a bit over dramatic but later found that pulling out the refrigerator and oven uncovered all sorts of little treasures..ewe. Eric was so sweet to help me after we both had a long day at work and ended up cleaning for two hours! 
We decided to close any holes they may be getting through in our kitchen so Eric stopped at home depot and got liquid foam and steel wool. Here is some pics of the adventure..

Eric trying to make me laugh through all the chaos

Clearing out the hole where the wiring is to get ready to fill

We wore masks because Mice can carry the Hantavirus. So needless to say we didn't want to take any risks!

Hantavirus

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Hantavirus is a life-threatning disease spread to humans by rodents that has symptoms similar to influenza. Symptoms: The early symptoms of hantavirusdisease are similar to the flu and include: Chills; Fever; Muscle aches ...

After sealing everything up and cleaning we got into bed exhausted. Sure enough SNAP caught the dang thing. It must have been hiding somewhere waiting to go back out. I am just glad its gone and no more can get in...FOR NOW!

Bathroom Ceiling...Check!

Hey remember when I said back in..cough!.March....Ahem!... that we were going to get our bathroom ceiling painted (http://ericandrochellelopez.blogspot.com/2012/03/master-bathroom.html). Well we finally got it done last weekend!

Here's Eric getting the ceiling taped and ready to go!

Before: Yuck dark paint on the ceiling

After: Not perfect but much better!

Before: 

After:

After:

Yay! So glad we got that done :)

 I still have a few projects to do in the bathroom. I think my next item on the list will be to find a cupboard to fit in the corner of the room to hold all our towels.  Because we do not have any linen closets in our house! Right now I have this blue magazine holder (pic below). I don't like how wide it is in the space and the blue sorta blends in with the wall.

Here is a contender I have been thinking about....

But for now I am moving on to our bedroom to address the much needed extra storage space. I have been scrimping and saving for months to buy Eric and I identical dressers to put on either side of our bed. This will provide us a taller nightstand since our bed is ridiculously high and additional clothing storage. I have been stuffing multiple clothing items in to one drawer at a time and it is driving me crazy! 

Here's what nightstands we currently have..(before they got painted black)

So this Friday my Mom and I are going to start looking around. I am sooo excited!

I know I am looking for a dresser that has two to three small drawers at the top to provide storage for reading books and other eclectic items that make their way to the nightstand. But then the others can be used for sock storage, etc and the bottom large drawers..I'm not sure yet..

Here is some ones I have been looking at online but I'm sure it will be a whole different ball game when I begin looking in the stores!

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Pottery Barn

Crate and Barrel

My overall goal is to get a bedroom that feels light & airy, beachy but comfortable. Sorta like these..

Light..

Airy...

Beachy..

Comfortable...

Baby steps I guess!

Bloggity Blog

Well hello...its been a while! Roughly 3 months and a lot has happened!
I shouldn't make excuses but working a full time job doesn't leave a lot of time to write!
But anyhow..
To bring you all up to speed. Here's some events that have happened since my last post..

Ran Ragnar 

Went to the Parade of Homes

Strawberry Days

(I wish this was me..)

Got really lean and mean with dieting and exercise

Went to Maui, Aloha with Eric and my side of the familia!

Celebrated Eric and I's 1 year Anniversary, Woot Woot!

My Grandfather passed away :(

Completely fell off the wagon with dieting and exercise...

Eric's softball summer league came and went

Erin, Dallin, and Joseph came to visit : D

Katie came to visit :D

That's a whole lotta stuff! Its been a crazy and fun summer. I always say this but I am hoping to be more on the ball with posting, even if it is just once a month. I was scanning over my past posts and its nice to read up about what has happened in the past year. Its like a virtual journal!
So more to come...soon!