Oqurrih Mountain and Car Washing

Yesterday morning we were able to go down to the Oqurrih Mountain Temple Open house. We met Rex's grandparents there, they are visiting from North Carolina for about a month, and his aunt and uncle, who are up here from Arizona for a week or so. The Temple was gorgeous, of course. Rex's uncle, Alan, who we went with, is an archietect, so he pointed out lots of little things that I hadn't noticed before.

Thursday night we were able to go down to North Salt Lake to play games with Michael and Sarah, friends of ours from Wymount. They lived over in Russia for a year and just this month got back. They are moving down to Houston next week, though. So this will be the only time we will get to see them for awhile (unless Rex miracously gets a job in Texas). It was fun to see them again. Sarah is also pregnant, she is due in December.

We spent last night here at my parents' house. So this morning, Rex and my dad washed cars. Ian helped to wash the cars and got went and soapy. I had Rex hose him down before he came in, since Ian had gotten all soapy, therefore, a change of clothes was in order.

Just an update on the whole a/c thing. I talked to the assisant manager and manager on Tuesday (they aren't in the office on Mondays). They said it was all the owners. The assistant manage stopped by on Wednesday and said they will be adding an adendum to the contract, allowing window a/c, but only in the living rooms, which is prefectly fine with me. Yay!

Color Me Mine and other stuff

This is what we made the other night at Color Me Mine. It was Rex's idea to do to Y. We thought it would be great to use when we have Bradley and Kati over (they go to Utah).

These are a couple pictures while we were waiting for the marathon to finish. This was the only picture of Ian actually looking. Garrett ran in the 10k and did pretty well.
In the picture below, I think there was a bug that Ian was looking at.

Air Conditioning

So Friday we bought a window air conditioner. We installed it that night. The next morning we got a letter from the manager:

"This morning I noticed you had a window air conditioner in your front window.
You can have an air conditioner only if it is free standing in the room and not in a window. This is in the Community Rulers you signed at move in.
14. Exterior Alterations: In order to maintain an attractive community and not disturb the architectural designs that have been created, no alterations to the exterior of the building may be made by residents. Furthermore, no decorations may be placed in or on landscaped areas; to include, lawn ornaments, wind chimes, etc. . .
I realize it gets a little warm, and I am worry but these rules are made by the owners as well as HMDC. You may have noticed another ac in a window but this is being taken care of.
I appreciate your cooperation in removing this by today."

The manager just dropped this note by, without saying a word. That other ac in the complex, is the one in her office that has been there year round (it was there when we signed the contract in February).
Who in their right mind would interpret that clause (Exterior Alterations) to mean a window a/c? I mean, it isn't permanent and will only be there for two months. I looked through the community rules and this is all it says on the subject. I can understand the lawn ornaments and wind chimes outside, but an a/c?
I'm sure we will be able to return the a/c, but this is ridiculous. A free standing one is more expensive and as my dad pointed out, still needs to have a vent to outside.
I think our manager is fairly new, but you would think that a lot of people would want to put in an a/c, so why not send a notice around to everyone in like April, before they even think about buying one. Or better yet, when going over the community rules, say that window a/c are not allowed. There have also been other things that she should have better foresight about. After the 4th of July, she sent around a notice that fireworks of any kind are not allowed on the property (fire hazard). You would think you should send it out before the 4th, so people won't do them here, but no. The same thing with yard sales on the property.

As soon as our year lease is up, we are out of here, if not sooner. If we are still in Ogden then, we want to stay in the ward, but not in this complex. We like our ward here. The people are friendly and we have a calling (something we did not have when living with my parents in Roy) and we have made friends.

It's A . . .

It's a boy! The doctor said it is still a little early to tell for sure, but it is looking like a boy. It will be more for sure at our next appointment at the end of August.

Survey

Tomorrow is our doctor appointment. The doctor said last time, we would be able to see if the baby is a boy or girl. So vote for which one you think on the side. I will post tomorrow night.

Ward Temple Night

Tonight was ward temple night. We decided to go. So we invited my dad over for dinner and to watch Ian (my mom is in Idaho, so he needed someone to cook for him). While we eating, we decided to do a sealing session instead of endowments, since we are going to the Draper Temple on Thursday.
It was nice to go and do sealings. There were three couples (including us) in our group and one other man. We did a lot of names. The Temple was pretty busy tonight. We found out that both the bountiful and Logan Temples are closed for cleaning right now, so that made it busier.

This week's exciting plans

1. Doctor's appointment on Thursday. Boy or girl?
2. Getting together at the park on Wednesday.
3. More potty training success?
4. Kati getting her endowments out at the Draper Temple (will be my first session there)
5. Pioneer Day and the fun things that go with that
6. Rodeo, if I can talk Rex into going
7. Fort Bueneventura or something this Saturday

I have pictures!

So Saturday, instead of going to the Nature Center, like we were going to do, we opted to go to the Union Station since it was so hot. Ian had to climb on the trains again.

The broom has been left out for a couple days this weekend, so Ian took the liberty to sweep the floor himself, I'm sure you can imagine how effective his sweeping was. I do need to vacuum or sweep today, so far this morning (its not even 7 yet), we have had three little bugs, of course Ian was the one to spot them.

Well, today was crazy and nice. We split our ward nursery, about half and half. We had to keep switching kids, trying to find out who worked where, so it isn't by age, just who goes where and siblings sticking together. It all worked out in the end and I think we will have a great time. Also, Sacrament was a great experience. Ian did struggle at the end, but the Sacrament song was the highlight. He knows bread and water come after the prayer, which come after the song. So, he said "sing song? OK." He got the book out, opened to a random page ( he always does since he doesn't know how to read yet) and started belting out the song. He lasted two straight, non-stop singing verses, then quieted down a little, changed the page, sang some more, until we were done. Everyone else in the congregation loved it. He really sang louder than everyone, and half couldn't help but look, smile, and laugh a little. It was great. He of course was oblivious to all the attention he was getting, and Becky couldn't even sing she was laughing so much. Anyway, crazy good, happy fun day!!!

Ogden Farmers' Market

We went to the Ogden Farmers' Market this morning. It was the first day for this summer. The had horses there. They did a reenactment of the stage coach robbery every hour. We didn't get to see it because when they did it we were on the other side of the market.
Ian wanted to pet the horses, but once he got up close he didn't want to. When we walked down 25th street, he would run up and pet the horse statues that were all up and down the street (for the 24th of July). I guess because they didn't move like the real horses.

This horse later trotted around and kicked the ball around.The tractors were much more interesting to Ian.On the way to see a different horse, he got distracted by the playground.
They had the Jupiter Express, a little street train, go around a few blocks, so we rode on that and I didn't get any good pictures of it. Ian enjoyed riding it though.

Our Date Night

Rex and I were able to go out last night. Ian stayed at my parents. He even spent the night. So it kinda felt like our date went into this morning.
We went to Color Me Mine, which just opened here in Ogden (yesterday was their "soft opening" so there was no sitting fee, yeah!). We painted a platter. I won't explain it, I will post a picture when we pick it up on Friday, but it was fun to paint and decide together what we wanted to do.
Afterwards we went to the Junction (Larry Miller's Megaplex downtown Ogden). We ate at Sonara Grill, a Mexican grill, very good. We split an order of shredded beef tacos and had dulce de leche cake. We then went to a movie. We saw Ice Age 3. It was good and funny. There was a woman in the theatre that laughed a lot and loud (louder than Rex).
We had a great time and it has been a while since we have been out. Thanks Mom and Dad for watching Ian!
This morning Rex made me German Pancakes for breakfast.

Pics of my Haircut

I had Rex take these this morning. I like it, it is a lot cooler than before. I tried to find a before picture, but I realized since I take most of the pictures, I am not in them.

Today: Music Makers, Hair Cut

My sister Kristi wants me to post something everyday and I will decided I will try to, except when we are out of town. But, Kristi, you need to post at least every other day.
Today, Ian and I went to Music Makers at the church. A few of the moms in the ward, and their kids, meet together every Thursday and learn songs and play. I don't lead any of the songs or activities. My number one reason, I don't sing well. Also, I wasn't here when they started this. It is fun to go each week and socialize, sing and dance with the kids. I was tired by the end of the hour, I just sat down for the last couple of songs. I also was very hungry. I need to remember to bring crackers or something.
I was able to run some much needed errands today while Ian took a nap (Rex was home, don't worry). I got my contact prescription and ordered new contacts. My last appointment was at Lens Crafters at the mall. I wasn't impressed with them at all. They charged me more than they told me and the contacts were expensive (compared to Costco). So today I went to Costco to order contacts. Come to find out, the prescription card they gave me was for glasses, which I didn't go to the eye doctor to get. So I had to go to Lens Crafters and get my contact prescription and then back to Costco. I will not be returning to Lens Crafters.
I also went to Michaels to get cake pans (square ones for a wedding cake) and priced fondant. I am trying to decided if it would be cheaper to make marshmallow fondant. I also got stuff to hang the boards I made forever ago at Super Saturdays down at Wymount. While there, I realized Michaels doesn't have fabric (I am going to make curtains).
I got my hair cut this afternoon. I have been meaning to get it cut for a few weeks now, it is getting hot. So today, I finally asked a woman in our ward who does hair. So Ian and I went over this afternoon and he played with her kids while she cut my hair. It was hard to get Ian to leave when we were done. She did a good job. I will post pictures tomorrow when I can straighten my hair and Rex can take a picture. It is Rex's last late night for a little while!!
My sister Teri and I had a girls night last night. I was bored, so invited her over. We watched What a Girl Wants (cute movie, we like Amanda Bynes). We also painted our nails. My toe nails are bright pink and my finger nails are blue green.

Randomness

Rex's family (his mom side) has been sharing in an e-mail the books they are reading (or have read recently). So I thought I would post what I have been reading. I am currently reading Brisingr, it is pretty good so far. Before that I finished the 13th Reality, the first book, since that is all that is out. Recently I have been reading easy books, maybe now that I can focus more (yea for the 2nd trimester!) I will read some of the "harder" books on my list, such as The Three Musketeers, War and Peace, etc. I would love to hear what books you all are reading.
On another note, potty training seems to have reached a stalemate, no progress but no worse. So I think next week (weekends are always hectic), I will try the no clothes for a couple days and see how that goes.
I am excited for next weekend, Pioneer day. On the 23rd we have our next appointment and hopefully can find out if the baby is a boy or girl. Then we are going down to Draper, Kati, Bradley's (Rex's brother) fiancee is getting her endowments out. I want to come back up here for the Pioneer Day parade and other activities. Also, I am trying to talk Rex into going to the Rodeo one night next week. I have never been to a rodeo and think it will be fun. There is also fireworks after the rodeo everynight next week.
This week has been kind of rough. Rex has been working late every night (until sometime between 10 and 11). They have all star games and they play several each night. Ogden won their all star game last night! Rex was very excited about that. So he has been working 10 hour days this week, which is good money wise. He probably won't work near as much next week though, since baseball will be over:(

Raptors Game

I really need to remember to take our camera with me everywhere. Friday night we went to a Raptor's game, the Rookie league for the Dodgers. Rex got a ton of free tickets. We invited Rex's family (everyone came except Christen and Alex plus two of Hayden's friends) and my parents (Teri was on a date that night so she couldn't come). I made dinner before the game. I made lasgna. It all got eaten since we had a lot of people. Garrett ate the last three pieces. No leftovers!! That is one thing about making lasgna for just us, is all the leftovers, so I like to make it when we have people over.

After we ate, we headed over to the baseball field. We got pretty good seats, out of the sun (most seats were out of the sun). Ian was excited to "watch baseball." Rex took him down by the field to give some of the players high fives. Even though he likes watching sports, Ian could not sit still. There was a little playground by one side of the field, so Rex took him there for a little bit and his mom did later. Before the game, they retired Tommy LeSoda's number, he was a manager for them some time ago? The game started out good, with the Raptors ahead (no, I don't remember who they played). By the fifth inning or so, the pitching started going downhill and the other team got several runs in. Though the inning before, the Raptors hit two home runs, which was exciting. We left soon after that, it was late and Ian was so tired. The Raptors ended up losing by two. It was fun to go, though I have to admit that when I go to sports events, I don't pay attention much.

One thing that I noticed was all the people with beer (I'm pretty sure that was what was in those cups they were carrying). I'm not used to that at all as the only sports events I have been to have been BYU, where there was no beer at all. or smoking for that matter. I guess we were kinda by the one spot in the stadium where you were allowed to smoke:( I thought it would have been banned in the whole stadium with that new smoking ban law, but I guess they have to have a spot for people to smoke.

Exciting things this week

1. Continue potty training (it is tiring)

2. Story time at the library

3. Music Makers

4. The Ogden Farmers and Art Market on Saturday

5. Some other free thing on Saturday (either the Nature Center or the Union Station, again)

6. Getting things ready to make Kati's cake

7. Getting my energy back (hopefully)

International Year of Astronomy and Potty Training Update

Today we went to the Ott Planeterium at Weber State University. We went to the first show. It was on the constellations in the sky. Ian loved watching it, but couldn't sit still, he kept moving around to see everything. We were going to see a show there with my family, but Rex ended up needing to be at work at one (instead of 2). My family didn't get there until 12:30. So Rex left and Ian and I stayed and watched part of the next show with my family. That show was on the International Year of Astronomy. It has been 400 years since Galileo looked through a telescope. I liked the constelllation one better myself.

It was fun to go. I haven't been to a planeterium in a long time, probably since elementary school.

On another note, we started potty training Ian on Monday. We are making progress (still a ways to go though). He actually goes about 80% we go into the bathroom to sit on the potty. He still has wet diapers (Pull Ups) though.

Picture of the Cake

So here is a picture of the wedding cake we did last week, I stole it off facebook. I still need to get pictures from my sister.

This week

1. Starting to potty train Ian (also scared for this)
2. Music Makers
3. Raptors game
4. Cleaning the house (I have been lazy about this)
5. Doing one of the free things in Ogden on Saturday (haven't decided which one yet)
6. Having an overall relaxing week (no cake decorating or going out of town)

Our Weekend (and week)

My friend Kelly got married on Friday. Teri and I did her wedding cake. It was stressful. We did two sheet cakes, first time. I thought they would take forever to do because we put rosebuds on each piece. It didn't take near as long as I thought. The wedding cake is another story. I made the frosting too thin to begin with, which made frosting the sides a little harder. We didn't buy enough ribbon and had to buy more. Transporting them was a nightmare. We had cake boxes to put them in, too big of boxes. The sheet cakes did well. But the smallest tier slid of the plate in the box and ruined one edge. It was really hard to fix, we covered it with strawberries. The largest tier, the side decoration got messed up, but they weren't too bad to fix. I forgot my camera, so I will post pictures when I get them from Teri. The reception was nice. It was at Liberty Park in SLC.
We spent the weekend with Rex's family, minus his parents who were in Oregon. On Saturday, we all went up to Silver Lake at Brighton. Rex's brother Christen and his wife just got a puppy and they brought him along. Turns out, dogs are not allowed in the watershed area of Silver Lake. So we all ate and then Rex, Ian, Garrett, Hayden, and I went on the little hike around the lake. Ian liked looking at the water, looking for fish and watching for little animals such as chipmunks. One time he said there was a frog, but we never saw it.
Afterwards, Rex, Ian and I went down to visit my cousin Anna and her husband (the same ones who were married three weeks ago). They have a huge house and two little kittens. Ian loved petting the kittens and following them around. Anna really wanted to get her hair cut, since she got it cut earlier in the week, but they didn't really take any off. So at 5:30, on July4, we went to Walmart. She had called to see if they could get us in and they said okay. But when we got there they said they couldn't because there was already one other person and they were closing at 6. So we left and Anna frantically stopped at all the hair salons we passed, none of which were opened. She was disappointed. So she asked me if I would cut her hair, that's how desperate she was. I said no way. She even asked her husband, because he dyed her hair before. He wouldn't. So she called her mom and her mom said she would cut it when they come up.
We got back to Rex's family. Ian had fallen asleep, so we put him to bed. We had a bbq in the backyard. We then woke up Ian and went and did fireworks at a park there. This was Ian's first experience with fireworks, as the last two years, we watched Stadium of Fire from Wymount and he slept inside (they didn't wake him up). Ian was fine, until there were some screamers. So we went over the to playground, but he just kept watching the fireworks everyone else was doing. So we sat and watched them and slowly got closer. Finally at the end, we were sitting with the rest of the family.
That was our weekend.