Cockroaches

Well I didn't quite finish Day 1 on my last post, just ran out of time. And evidently haven't had a lot of time since, so...time to finish it up. After our adventures downtown we headed to Forest Park. It is full of free things to do, and we love free! After getting through the CRAZY St. Patrick's day traffic and finally finding a parking spot we headed to the zoo. This was definitely no one of the highlights of our trip. It was way too busy and we couldn't find a map anywhere. So we just started wandering and hardly found any animals out before we finally just gave up and left. Here are the few gems we were able to see:
A bush dog? Never heard of them, and I think I can see why.
Anteaters. Ugliest things alive.

After that incredibly successful and fascinating trip to the zoo we walked up the hill to the art museum. Only to find out they closed in 10 minutes. So we went inside to get a drink of water (because we were dying of thirst:)) and then just enjoyed the beautiful grounds outside the museum.
You could rent paddle boats and go around on this little lake. We wanted to do it, but giving no thought to the weather we decided we would save it for the next day. But the next day was much cooler and rainy. :( We definitely wish we would have...next time I guess.
Making big leap...he managed to make it. :)

After enjoying the beautiful weather we decided to head for the hotel and some dinner. Traffic was crazy and we thought for a moment that we were going to be stuck on the freeway for the entire evening, but luckily it cleared up pretty quickly. We ate at Bandannas, a BBQ restaurant my cousin recommended. The food was good and our waiter was very interesting. We played some SkipBo before deciding to check out the hotel's pool before it closed. No one else was using it which was kind of nice, and I was able to prove to Brennan that I can in fact swim. :) I just don't think I would fare very well if my life depended on my swimming skills. So we pretty much acted like 16-year-olds, having races and playing catch with a football. It was a blast....until it was time to leave...

...Now the hotel was not the greatest. We booked it through Travelocity where they have "Top Secret" deals. They don't tell you the name of the hotel because the deal is apparently so good. Well there was no way I was booking anything less than a three star hotel through something like this, but we found a pretty good deal on a three star so we decided to do it. We are not picky people, I do not need some sort of fancy pants hotel. Just clean. That's all. But this one did not impress. I kept trying to tell myself it was just old and that didn't mean it couldn't be clean. I will spare you all the details and just fast forward to leaving the pool. I wore my flip flops down to the pool and I moved one with my foot as a put it on and a bug scurried away. At this point I'm freaking out. Then Brennan puts his on and three more run toward the wall. At this point I'm really freaking out. I hate bugs. So Brennan uses our room key to flip them away from the wall so he can see what they are. Cockroaches. Cockroaches. COCKROACHES!!!!
Yeah...ten of them at least. I was a wreck. I felt like I had bugs crawling all over me!!! Worst hotel experience EVER. But...we survived. And continued to have a great trip (our trip really was great, minus the hotel). Which I will finish reporting on later. :) Goodnight.

(Sorry, not sure what's going on with the font, can't seem to fix it.)

St. Louis. Day1. The Arch.

Last week was Brennan's Spring Break so I took a couple of days off work and we drove down to St. Louis. We really weren't there for long and didn't do a whole lot, but it was still a blast! It was just really fun to get away for a few days and just spend some time together without the distractions of every day life.

The first place we headed was the arch, of course.
I've been up in the arch before, but we thought since Brennan hadn't that we would get tickets. Unfortunately, they were all sold out!!
It was pretty disappointing, but the weather was beautiful and the arch is incredible just to look out so we just enjoyed being outside. We also spent some time in the little museum they have under the arch.
Brennan pretending to be Jefferson.
This was a pretty neat display that told about the architects and builders behind the arch and compared this miniature version of the arch to other famous monuments. It was actually quite fascinating!

Next up was the old courthouse.
This building had a lot of interesting history about slavery. I really enjoyed reading about the story of a man who went to court to try to get his family's freedom. How sad that the case went all the way to the Supreme Court but they determined that he was not a citizen of the United States and therefore wasn't even allowed to bring a matter before the court.
Judge Rachel.
It was a beautiful building.
After the courthouse we headed back to the car, and on the way we got to check out the Cardinal's Busch Stadium.
We could not have asked for better weather and our time downtown was a great start to our trip!

Happy Birthday Dad

Today is my dad's birthday. I tease him that he is getting old but since Mara and I have been calling him "Fraily" for several years now, I suppose he is used to the abuse. I'm not sure that I will see him today and I failed as a daughter and didn't get him a gift in time, so I figured I should at least wish him a happy birthday on here. (Not sure how great of an honor that really is...the few people who actually read this blog are his other kids and already know that it's his birthday and that he is a great dad. It's the thought that counts though, right?)

I am happy to celebrate my dad's birthday, to celebrate his presence in my life, because I don't know where I would be without him. My favorite thing about my dad is his ability and willingness to listen. I am a venter (and apparently an INventor, since I just made up that word) and he has always been willing to endure my venting sessions. No matter what it is I need to talk about I know I can call up my dad and he will listen. The best part is he will give me his opinion if I ask for it (usually) and he won't if I don't (usually). He even endured these vents and debates of mine when I was a teenager and questioning, for lack of a better word, things related to beliefs that were very important to him, allowing me to think aloud and get the same sort of knowledge that he had for myself.

My dad is a pretty smart man. Insanely smart, almost annoyingly smart, really. And in my humble opinion, he probably could have used his brain to a make a lot of money for himself and his family. I am grateful though, that he chose a career and a location that made him available to us. I am grateful that I could get a ride to school on the handlebars of his bike if I was late. That he could leave his class for awhile in the middle of the day in order to attend all of my tiny performances in grade school plays. That he could coach every t-ball, softball, and basketball team that I was on. That he could attend every tennis match. The active role he played in my life is far more important to me than if his paycheck was big enough for expensive trips and fancy cars. I am grateful that although he was a professor and a branch president and a home teacher and a gardener and an avid reader, first and foremost he was always a husband and a father.

Thanks Dad, for your example, your listening ear, your patience, and your time. I love you. Happy Birthday.

visitor

We had our first extended stay visitor last weekend...

Duke.

It was an interesting experience for all involved.
He helped Brennan with his homework,
relaxed in front of the fire, (and hogged all the heat)

And did this to our recycling to express his dissatisfaction in being left in the garage.
It was an adjustment to have him, but then another adjustment for him to be gone again. Despite all his complaining while Duke was here, even Brennan said he missed him. :)

a new bathroom

From the moment we got our house, Brennan and I knew we didn't like the bathroom downstairs. But with just the two of us, a second bathroom isn't really a necessity so redoing it wasn't a priority. Seven months later, the job is done. About a month or so ago we woke up one Saturday and decided it was time. So we headed to the stores to pick out some of the decor. Then we went to Sherwin-Williams and searched and searched through their "miss-tint" paint. It is only four dollars a gallon and therefore, much more affordable! But looking through the miss-tint is NOT very easy. They just sort of throw it all in a pile and it's just a chore to go through it. We were there for what seemed like hours and hours. I felt so bad for the guy working as the time crept closer and closer to closing time. He eventually told us that he could change the color of any of the miss-tint paint if it wasn't exactly what we wanted, and it would still be the discount price. Say what??!! So we found some nearly colorless paint, and he was able to make it whatever color we wanted and we were able to get out of there just a few minutes after closing. Thank you Sherwin-Williams man! Although it was a lot of work, it was also kind of fun to go through all that paint (not having any idea what were doing) and it gave us a lot of laughs.

Fast forward more than a month to this last week. We finally got around to actually doing something with all the stuff we got. My mom came over the last two Fridays and helped me put two coats of paint in the bathroom. The bathroom isn't that big, so I suppose I could have done it myself, but it's always more fun to paint with company.

Here are the befores, durings, and afters:
I'm sure that with the right shower curtain and towels this color could have been fine, but we weren't feeling it.

My mom hard at work. She's a little messy...but she gets the job done. ;)
Brennan was kind enough to come and get the spots we couldn't reach.
The finished product.

We can't decide about the rug. We like it, but we wonder if it's too much. We have been thinking about just getting two plain black rugs for in front of the shower and the sink. If you have an opinion, please share!

Teaching me to fish

Yum!

For my entire life I have eaten homemade jam. I am embarrassed to say that growing up I don't think I really knew how jars and jars of homemade jam appeared in our freezer, I was just happy to consume it. Somehow I was oblivious to the what I'm sure were many hours spent in the kitchen making this jam. And then I moved away from home...what was I going to do when I wanted a good old fashion peanut butter and jelly sandwich? I couldn't eat store bought jam or jelly! Really, I couldn't. Eating homemade jam all my life made me hate that stuff. Lucky for me I had a wonderful mom and a fantastic sister-in-law who kept me stocked with jam for the four years I lived in Utah. Since we have been in Iowa, we regularly raid mom and dad's freezer so that I can have peanut butter and jelly every day for lunch. Yeah, I'm weird.

Well I guess my mom finally decided that giving me a fish only feeds me for a day, and it was time to teach me to fish so I could feed myself. :) She and my dad came out to our place last night and among other things taught me how to make jam. It actually wasn't as hard as I assumed it would be!
The master herself, teaching me her ways.
My assigned work station. Mom said I was slow at filling the jars, but I think I did alright for my first time haha.
Waiting for the rest of the jar lids to arrive.

I'm so excited about all the strawberry jam we have now. Thanks for teaching me, I might need a refresher course though. :)

Mother Dearest

Tomorrow is my mom's birthday so I thought I would wish her a happy birthday on my blog. The woman deserves so much more than anything I can come up with to say on here, but I guess my best will have to do. I would say my mother raisED five kids, but I think it would be more accurate to say she is raisING five kids. Past tense just doesn't work, once you are a mom, you are always a mom. At least that's how it is for my mom. She is just as much a mother to me today as she was ten years ago. All her kids are grown, but she doesn't take her job any less seriously. Just today she came out to our house and helped me paint our bathroom. Even after sustaining a painful tailbone injury earlier in the week. Now that is a devoted mother. It is just so obvious when I speak with or interact with my mom that she wants the best for me and my siblings. And if there is ever anything she can do to help us have the best or to make our lives easier she is sure to do it. I am fairly certain that I have the best mom in the world :) and I really, truly wish that everyone in the world could have a mom as wonderful as her. She could not have loved me any better or been a better example to me. But mother is just one of her many titles in this world. Over the years I have watched her be a fantastic wife, a caring friend, a devoted visiting teacher, and a faith relief society president. Unfortunately, I have not always treated my mom like the amazing woman that she. Like so many things in this life I take what I have for granted. But I hope she knows that I appreciate all she has done for me and I admire her.

If I can grow up to be even half the woman she is, I will be content.

I love you mom. Happy birthday.