Spring Cleaning, an old man, and Napoleon Dynamite

Kyle announced to me this evening before heading out to his soccer game that we are officially private and said I could start blogging. I guess he assumed I wasn't going to blog until we went private.  For me, after he made the announcement, it was just a nice excuse to take a break from the blogosphere for a while (don't kid yourself, I read all your blogs.) and do some Spring Cleaning.

I've mapped out a plan, and I've figured in 3 weeks, even with bad, sick days (yes, I have good ones!) I will be able to have covered each room, each drawer, each closet, and each bin (oh my gosh, I am now realizing the enormity of this project. AH!)  and have cleaned up, cleared out and unpacked the house.

This will allow me to move on to phase two, which will be purchasing furniture. I want to be cautious about my purchases. The pieces I want to buy have to fulfill a modest list of qualifications in order for them to enter my home. Would you like to hear about this list? No?  Well, here they are in case you change your mind. :)


Timeless - I want this stuff to last me forever in the style department.
High quality -- needs to be well-built in order to last me forever in the durability department
Good price -- I'd like to not pay an arm and a leg for furniture. We've saved our dollars for a lot of years and have gone without  furniture in order to be able to purchase it when we had the home and the stability (knock on wood!). I think we are officially here. Regardless of savings, I still am a hound for a good deal.  Second-hand is a welcomed way to go. I'm still quite a novice when it comes to furniture, so the few times I have gone furniture shopping, I had to put my eyes back into their sockets because the price tag shocked me.
Be Functional -- I want the pieces to not only look good in the space, but serve a purpose. If not, it's just taking up space for the sake of filling up a room. I want each room in my home to fulfill a specific purpose while at the same time, be able to change with our family and be rearranged depending on our needs and wants. So while a piece may be perfect for one room or space, I want it to be perfect for a number of spaces in the home, should things get changed up, which they inevitably will over the years.

So now that I've put you to sleep, here's the real fun.

Kyle turned 30!!!

He had been out of town for the week leading up to his birthday and I was having a hard time deciding what to do about celebrating. I wanted to have a party-- your husband can't turn 30 and you not throw a party. Well, you can, actually and there's nothing wrong with it. But I had been feeling like such a frump and dump of a wife and wanted to at the very least celebrate the 30 wonderful, mischievious, adventurous, hard-working, fun loving years of my husband and host a little gathering.   The tricky thing was deciding, do I make it a surprise-- and if so, when do I do it and how do I pull it off?

In the end, I finally decided to let him in on my idea. That helped out a lot.

Kyle did happen to fly home on his actual birthday, so my big surprise to him was a clean house.  I'm serious.  The poor guy hadn't seen the floor of our closet in weeks. Laundry baskets full of clothes were begging to be folded for weeks.  Now, I admit, I was thinking, "If I went away for a few days, what would I want to come home to?"  Of course, a clean house. I doubt a year ago that wouldn't be an ideal gift for Kyle, but trust me, after living in the home he's been living in the last couple of months, I don't doubt it was a welcome change, albeit lacking romance, thrills or adventure.

I did throw a little romance in and called in a favor to my sister (again) and asked if she and her hubs could watch our kids overnight.

When Kyle got home, I let him crash on the bed (he woke up at 4 something I think to get to the airport) but before that, eat some leftovers. It was a miracle there were leftovers to be had in the refrigerator. That was my first week back cooking, so he really lucked out.  We packed our little overnight bags and dropped the kids off.  Since then, Cade mentions quite regularly that if I were to ever give him away, to please let him go to Tyler's house. Sometimes he asks to be given away to stay there. I've decided rather than be jealous, I'm glad my sister's is a place he loves more than home with me. Hehe.

We drove to this darling bed and breakfast in Midway. The scenery was amazing. Freshly fallen snow out in the middle of seemingly nowhere. It was quiet. In fact, I think that was the tagline of the place. Come and enjoy the Quiet. Sadly, we took zero pictures but we have great memories and that's what counts. Right?  I have never stayed in a bed a breakfast and I am now wondering why on earth I haven't.  When we were showed our room, there was a cute little sign with our name on it. I thought it was so adorable. Dang. Again, no camera.

We headed to Park City for dinner where we indulged in Ruth's Chris' amazing steak. Sadly, there was no room for dessert.  One of our servers was a man from the Philippines who sent money to his wife and children still living in his home country. He hadn't seen them in 3 years, and wouldn't see them for probably another two.  It was heartwarming to see the great love this man had for his family, and the sacrifice he was willing to make for them to give them a better life. At the same time, it was heart breaking. Stories like that cause me to really count my blessings.

The following morning after a delicious night's sleep (I am a sucker for sleeping in) we were served a most amazing breakfast. I was delighted to see three glasses filled to the top of milk, orange juice, and cranberry juice at each of our settings. Ew, no, not mixed. Each beverage in their own glass. It was a small gesture, but I got rather excited about it.  The French Toast was incredible, and I left very happy that morning.

We spent the day meandering through the outlet mall, eating lunch, and going to the theater to watch The Blind Side.  Good flick. I cried (you may know by now that doesn't necessarily really mean a whole lot) but I wouldn't have called it a great movie.  I was a bit disappointed in the dialogue. I thought it could have been less predictable (the dialogue, not the plot). You know, more substance?

It was a lovely little getaway.  We were happy to pick up the chilluns and take them back to the house to show Daddy our little surprise:

Balloons filled with 30 reasons why we love him.

-- Of course there was time for plenty of wrestling...

And this is a shot of our present to Kyle, not a bum shot of Savvy. He wants to hang it in the office. It's a beautiful depiction of the hardships so many endured before us to settle the West and restore the gospel; and a solemn reminder of how much we have to be grateful for today.

----

Next came the birthday par-tay.  Our week was booked, so we celebrated it a week after Kyle's actual birthday. Nobody's counting, right?  We decided to do it Napoleon Dynamite style-- costume required. No, we weren't mean if friends showed up not looking like a Preston, Idahoan. :)

The Food:
( i didn't take this shot until there was just one tot left. Those tots were hot!)

The Folks!

My Brother-in-law shocked and wowed us all with his AMAZING three piece suit and glasses. My sister Melody scored big at Savers. The suit fit him perfectly.  He was a great Napoleon.

Meet my sister. She was Trish. She even brought Kyle a present of the pencil drawing her husband did of her. :)

Twin Kips! So cute. Pre and Post- shaved mustache. :)

Summer Wheatley (my little sis) and me-- LaFawnDuh!  

Deb and Kip!

Soul mates!

THE FUN!

In the spirit of Pedro winning student body president and all, we only thought it appropriate to whack a pinata.

The pinata hitters (except Julia never got the chance because Kristin broke 'em).  We scored big on Twinkies,  mini candy bars and some $$.  okay, nothing major. Just 30 dollars in ones. Still, don't you wish you were there?!

The CAKE!  I picked out the tackiest birthday cake I could find and finished it off with some Mexican flags and an Idaho flag. 

I'm pretty sure all of Kyle's wildest dreams came true, but just in case, I blew out the other candle and made that wish for him. 

The End.

Stay tuned for....
* We took a weekend trip to Seattle to visit my brother's family. Good times.
* Cade turned 6. Yes, I am devastated.
* I am chomping at the bit regarding politics right now. I have a lot of opinions, questions, and fears regarding the current "law" that was just passed regarding health care.
* I am realizing I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things going on in my midst. Makes me wish I was at BYU standing on the soap box.  Or had my own radio show.