Hanging

Thursday, December 26, 2013

So... sometimes we hang out with my little, teenage (bigger than me) brothers. We are all soooooooo cool. I love this time of year, and taking off a lot of work so I can have time to bother them with my camera.

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The whole dam family.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

My family did something new this year for Christmas. We all went somewhere TOGETHER. And by all, I mean my grandparents, my parents, my siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces, and nephew. All under one roof, for most of a week.

I thought it would be kind of stressful since we never do this. It actually wasn't at all. It was the perfect week in my opinion. My mom has seen some excellent breaks lately by way of her health. She is still very much afflicted by her cancer, but she was starving and ate TONS of food, which is the polar opposite of how she was at Thanksgiving. So we spent time just hanging around the house, watching homemade plays created by an 11-year old and acted out by her younger cousins. We made meals for 24 people, ate together, piled into bedrooms together, and really had a blast.

We even fit in an emotional spur-of-the-moment family chat. Tears of love were shed as we all sat together with my mom and talked about the goings-on of the past year and how much we love her. I feel like the kids all became best friends, and all of us became closer. I hope we start making this a yearly ritual. I couldn't have asked for a more rejuvenating, relaxing, enjoyable time. Family really is the root of all that matters in this world. I am so thankful I have the massive family I do. I couldn't imagine my life without a single one of them. I am a rich girl.

As part of this week together, we decided to head out to the Hoover Dam since it was close to where we were. There is a new highway bridge that spans the peaks above the dam. We bundled up my mom since it was chilly and windy, and headed off to explore. Many a "dam" joke was told, and we had a great time exploring the desert.

See pictures below:

NOW BRING ON CHRISTMAS ALREADY!!!

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Going on Vacation!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

So I'm off to spend the next week with family and relax before 2013 comes to end.

I don't have a lot to write. Work has been insane. Job security, but awfully busy and miserable. But tonight was our work party, and it was at the Grand America hotel in SLC. Fancy and fantastic. It's crazy how well our company is doing these days. I'm lucky to have such a great job at the moment, but I couldn't be more excited for a week off with my family right now.

I. AM. BURNED. OUT.

So... here is a before and after photo sequence of a chair I redid this year and have been meaning to share with you all. This will suffice as a post for now! It was a super cheap thrift store chair that must have come from a huge set of old office chairs because there were several of them.

I had to rip off all the gross fabric (2 different layers of it), rip off the dirty 50 year old foam that was full of skin cells of tons of people and put new foam and fabric on. It was.... GROSS. Justin bought me a simple staple gun, and some gloves and I dug in. It looks great now! If I could do it again, I'd have bought more than just one!

So what do you think?

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Portland Japanese Garden

Saturday, September 28, 2013

This place was beautiful. So quiet, lovely, lush and green. It was a little rainy, but I could've stayed here all day and enjoyed the quiet atmosphere. I took a lot of photos, and short videos of the quiet tranquility. I hope they do it some justice... although they really don't. You just need to go. I'm so glad we made time for this place during our trip to Portland.

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