Summer Yard Projects with LOTS of help!

We have the most wonderful friends in the whole world. We mentioned some projects we were hoping to get done this summer and they were over the next afternoon to help us!! What a blessing they are in our lives. :)
We finally got rid of our ugly rose bush in the front yard! (and the neighbors rejoiced)
Then the stump in the back yard...



VICTORY! Wow, we've been waiting so long to get working on the yard and the end is in sight! Then another friend came over with a bobcat and made it look like this:


It looks great! Thanks again to everyone that has helped!! We count our blessings every day for the wonderful people that we have been surrounded with. We once said to each other, "How did we end up in such a great group?" They heard us and said, " You're damn lucky".
Agreed.

Dancing with DEREK HOUGH?!?!?

Yesterday was so full, but a lot of fun.

It started out with, well just getting ready... but I had planned a reunion with some friends from my ward family in Highland. We got together at someone's house for lunch and reminisced about the good ole' days. What a blast.

We went straight from there to see Avatar IMAX 3D at the Jordan Commons. That was awesome too, except kind of long... I was entertained the whole time, my body just has a hard time sitting that long(It's amazing to think how far we really have come with technology and everything... NUTS).I was ready to be up and moving, but then I just had to drive home to meet Rodd to go to another show in Provo!

We went to a dance performance "MOVE" put on by Vibe Dance Studios . A friend of mine was performing in it and told us about it. Last night was the closing night of the show and Derek Hough and Mark Ballas were there along with Chelsie Hightower for some guest performances. My body was aching from sitting so long but I knew that we'd enjoy it since we LOVE dance.

Mark Ballas sang a few original songs with his guitar in between songs to kill time for the dancers to change. Derek came out to sing with Mark and said that while mark plays, "does anyone want to dance with me?" A bunch of little girls started screaming and he went down and picked one, brought her up to the stage and danced a bit with her. Rodd turned to me and said, "That should be you up there."

He brought her back to her seat and came up our isle. Rodd turned his phone light on and put it in front of my face and I put my arms up. He came right to me and said, "Do you want to?" Of course I said yes! We ran up to the stage and danced some swing for a minute or so... He was surprised that I was able to follow his lead and had fun. It was awesome. Needless to say after that my body wasn't hurting from sitting with all of the adrenaline rushing through it! It pretty much made my whole night.

We had a great time and enjoyed the show. Vibe did a really great job putting everything together and it was very entertaining. They have some very talented choreographers. Afterwords i was able to get a picture with him because Rodd said, "This is going on the blog, and we need a picture to go with it." He's such a sweetheart. :) This show was probably the push I needed to make the decision to start taking classes again. I just miss it too much... especially watching others dance, it just kills me.

With this also comes a re-commitment to post more often... I'm averaging once a quarter, or so... Sad, but we are doing well. :)

Flyaway to New Orleans for Tulane Game!

While we were in Minnesota visiting our Uncle Craig over Labor Day, we were actually roaming the great and spacious Mall of America, Rodd received a call. "You've Won!"

The day before we headed out to Minnesota I headed out of work as early as I could and headed home. Speed Dial #2. Send. "'Ello!" We had kind of procrastinated our packing and getting ready for our trip so I had to call Rodd and see that he was on schedule with our plan for today. "I'm actually going to make a stop at a dealership in American Fork. I want to put myself in a drawing to win a trip to see BYU play away." We decided that as long as it only took a few minutes it would be okay, but he had to enter me too. :)

We were then receiving the call almost a week later telling us we were to leave the next weekend, only 2 days after we were to arrive home from our Minnesota trip! And I was out of vacation time at work... But too bad, I really wanted to go! So I did the unthinkable. I called in sick. :)

With the exception of a few minor issues, everything worked out great! We flew in about 10 o'clock and got to our hotel, there was not power to our room. Sure, we'll take room service for dinner at no charge. Thanks!
Visited Bourbon Street in the morning. We decided we wanted to be far from there when the sun went down. :) Game Time!

We kicked their butts, as you can see by the score board below.
Even better, this really is where they exited the field. :D No Joke.
We went into a hat store and the salesman tried to sell this to Rodd. He's giving me the 'I'm kind of out of my comfort zone here' face. But I thought he looked cute. "Can I please have some mo'e?"
After the game we walked down Decatur Street and found a great place with live music to eat dinner.

We had a blast! A day and a half was just enough time for us to see what New Orleans had to offer us.

Fourth of July Festivities

Provo Parade - At our usual spot!





BBQ at our house!

Master Griller!

Don't let the hard candy shell fool you... He's a softy.

Rodd went inside to lay down because he was feeling sick. Grey and Nick came inside and were playing the piano for him so that he would feel better and sleep. :)

Then Nick wanted to be like Rodd and sleep so he made himself a bed.

Fireworks and Hanging with Our Neighbors, the Bodines!



The Forth of July is our favorite holiday. :) We just love it and love being patriotic... All year round, actually. But it's fun to really concentrate my love for this country.

More pictures to come.

Work Work Work

I got a job... After being unemployed for several months and getting caught up on all the things I was 'too busy' for, I started looking for something temporary until we could get out to North Carolina and updating my resume. I contacted my references letting them know that they could be contacted, you know. My boss from Eclipse, where I was laid off from, contacted me and had a temporary opportunity at his new office filling in for his payables lady who was going out for surgery.
It worked out that they offered me a permanent full time position in the accounting department, if we didn't move to NC of course. We re-evaluated and decided to stay for now. :)
I am working at Educators Mutual Insurance and am very lucky. This opportunity came at a really great time and we consider it such a huge blessing. The only thing is that it's in Salt Lake City off of 53rd, so it's a pretty good drive, about 100 miles round trip. The Lord work in mysterious ways. We are very lucky. :)

June, 6, F...

What a Crazy Month!!! How ironic that June is the 6th month, F is the 6th Letter...
1. Final decision to stay
2. Flood
3. Fungus
4. Flu...
Yes, we've been busy. A series of events led to our decision to stay in Utah, rather than continue in our efforts to get out to North Carolina. 2 days after we had decided to stay here, out basement flooded. A week later, still cleaning up from the flood we find mold in half of our basement. A few days after that I had flu like symptoms and wasn't allowed to go to work (during Swine Flu outbreak). I went in the to IHC the first day they stopped testing for Swine Flu and started treating as regular flu so I didn't know if it was from the mold in our house or the Flu. Wow, busy month.

I have decided to plant a garden...

After much mulling, we have decided to put off our move to North Carolina for another time. I have mixed feelings, but I'm sure that it will be for the best. This means all of my projects are coming back out and, yes... It's not too late to plant a garden!

My garden is not going to be very big this year, I'm not sure how much veggie we can handle. This is what I managed to finish yesterday. (amid cleaning out our flooded basement, YUCK!) So far we have cilantro, peas, and cucumbers planted... more to come! It's not very big, but while manually tilling the dirt, this is what I found...

Victory points to who can identify the most items in this picture. :) (There are some that I can't even identify!) Haha. It's an adventure everyday at the Jefferies' Home.