Jeff and Jenna

Master Bathroom

2012-01-22T08:45:00.000-08:00

The master bathroom was one of the biggest projects we tackled during the remodel. When we bought the house, the bathroom was part of the bedroom (the sinks). We all agreed that needed to change. So, we built a wall, and moved the door so the whole bathroom is now enclosed. We also took out the sliding door and put in a large window.
Before:

Demolition!

Re-wiring all of the electrical.

Building the new wall.

Structure complete.

After:

The cabinets match throughout the house: kitchen, guest bathroom. The granite in here is different though. We chose pre-cut granite for the bathroom- it's cheaper and less work.

It's all done! The floors, texture, paint, cabinets, trim, door, granite, shower, etc.

The glass shower door will be installed this week. The little "pony wall" next to the toilet is where the old wall used to be. We kept half of the wall to create a little divider and privacy for the john. I am also excited about my little vanity/makeup area. I've got my eye out for a cute little stool or chair. We also have to install all the knobs and pulls still.

We are really into squares, hence the square sinks. We love them. Deciding the faucets was tricky. We went with these (1 handle) because I don't like turning two handles when trying to find the perfect temperature. Haha... personal preferences I guess.

The tile, again difficult to chose, but we love the outcome. A few nice details include the patterned border, the shampoo cut-out, the step, and the pebble floor.

Side by side before and after:

Ps. We move in on Saturday! One more week!!!

Root canals suck.

2012-01-19T20:41:00.000-08:00

rawr.

The Flooring is Complete

2012-01-17T08:14:00.000-08:00

We are soooo close!!! This post is all about our new floors. I am in love with them.
We have both carpet and tile throughout the house.
The tile is porcelain and wood grained! When we were selecting what type of floors to do, I was torn between wood floors and tile floors. Not many people in Arizona install wood floors (I don't know why), most people have tile. Wood floors are a little more high maintenance, and scratch easier than tile, but ohhh so beautiful. Then, my sis-in-law Chelsea told us about this awesome stuff - WOOD TILE!!! We found some online, got some samples, and bought it! (found here... inspiration pics here and here.)
Buying tile online was risky... but we are happy with our choice. We ended up getting a pretty good deal on it too.

Below: choosing between different colors and brands of tile... and seeing how it works with our cabinets.We went with this one.

I love it when people walk into the house and say "wow you went with wood floors?!"

And, just last week, the carpet was installed! Again choosing it was somewhat hard. The color we originally wanted was discontinued, but I AM SO GLAD because I love what we got. It's thick and cozy in the bedrooms, and the color is just right.

This is the den. So far, one of my favorite rooms of the house. It's a darker gray than the rest of the house (sw - Argos)... and Papa John installed some lovely wainscoting for me! Our huge desk is going to sit in the middle of the room.

Transtrum Christmas 2011

2012-01-15T18:26:00.000-08:00

The Transtrum Family celebrated Christmas on New Years Day this year... It's never too late for some fun photos, right?
Enjoy.

Self Timer Amusement:

Dietrich and his new golf clubs. Many great gifts were exchanged!

Warren Jay Childs

2012-01-08T15:18:00.000-08:00

I am proud to announce the birth of my newest nephew, Warren Jay Childs.

I wrote a haiku for him:

 Welcome to the world

Naked, hungry, little child 

Try to sleep at night

Ali invited me (and the rest of the girls) to witness the birth! I wasn't originally planning on going, but she waited until I got of work to start pushing so I could be there, JK JK. After work, Jeff and I drove to the hospital and I actually almost missed the event because Jeff HAD to stop for a milkshake. When we arrived, Jeff dropped me off at the front door, and I sprinted up the stairs to the room. Jeff finished his chocolate milkshake in the lobby while I, white faced, watched a baby exit the womb.

It was a very crazy, out of life experience. I can't say that it made me excited to one day have babies, but it was pretty special. Ali was such a champ - she didn't scream or have any freak out moments. The whole experience was a lot calmer than I expected. Nothing like the movies.

Chelsea, Emily, and Lorraine were all there too. Kristin couldn't make it because she had sick kiddos to attend to.

I also took some pictures of the infant on his 3rd day of life. He was a very cooperative model.

father and son

mother and son

The house is painted!

2012-01-02T19:02:00.001-08:00

The exterior of the house is completely painted! (Except for the garage door, we aren't quite sure what color we are going to paint it.) Picking the paint was dramatic... but we did it! And we love it.

The day the house got painted, John called Jeff in a panic that it was too light, and matched the trim... Jeff called me... I was getting nervous. But once it dried, it looked great. Phew.

Before:

After:
(Don't mind all the stuff everywhere...)

We replaced the exterior lights, and found these little cuties at Home Depot.

Paint colors

Body - SW Amazing Gray

Trim - Color Match Martha Stewart Milk Glass

Shutters and door: Uhhh.. was it midnight blue or something? Rainstorm? Grrrr, can't remember.

Moments to remember 2011

2012-01-02T19:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year

I can't believe it is 2012 already. I feel like it was JUST 2010! 2011 had good times and not-so-good times (mostly good though), and overall I am really looking forward to this new year. Last year I did a review of 2010 - it was a very eventful year - and probably the best year of my life thus far.

Here is a quick recap of 2011:

Apartment Living
We moved out of the G-unit and into the Summer Cottage. We have loved living in our apartment because it is small, close to everything, easy to clean, and is affordable. We really look forward to moving into our new house though.

2 Nieces
We had 2 beautiful nieces join the Transtrum family in 2011. Raelyn (in Jan) and Zoe (in July). They will be best friends!

Zoe, at birth

Raelyn, at 6 months

1 Year Anniversary
Jeff and I celebrated 1 year of being married. Seriously, the best year ever. Everyone says that... but it's true. I married my best friend and I want to snuggle him always.

Add Some Paint
My sisters and I started a craft blog. We've been slacking recently, but it's slowly getting back up. One of my best posts was the dry erase desk Jeff and I did.

CPA
Jeff is an official CPA! He passed all of his tests, and finished his last online courses that he needed too. I am super proud of him! I hope he lets me frame and hang his certificate in our house.

Ragnar - Napa Valley
Alongside my family, Jeff and I ran the grueling Ragnar in September. The race covered about 200 miles from San Francisco to Napa. It was physically challenging, but very fun and rewarding.

Grandma Pat
We celebrated the life of my G'ma Pat after she passed away on October 29.

Grandma dancing at my wedding (6.5.10)

Thanksgiving / Christmas
We were lucky and enjoyed the company of both our families this Thanksgiving. It was fun to have them here to help with with our house demolition as well.
I just blogged about this, but Christmas was memorable as well.

New House / Remodel
And probably the biggest event of this year is our new house! Although it's not officially "ours" and we haven't moved in, we are so excited to be home owners in 2012. More on that here, and here.

New Job
I left the sweat shop, and I'm now working for a Law Firm... doing marketing stuff. So far, so good.

Honorable Mention:
Going to Disneyland
Jeff's parents bought a house, with a pool
Jason Nau got married in CA
Dallin played in the LAX state championship

Christmas with the Lowders

2012-01-01T14:28:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Jeff and I traveled to good 'ol Sonoma County for Christmas this year. (Yes, we were in CA last year as well.) Next year we will be with the Transtrum family, here in AZ. We enjoyed wonderful weather, family time, good food, movies, and games.

It wouldn't be a Lowder gathering if there weren't any competitions... so we headed to the track for the First Annual Lowder Mile Race.

The race was originally going to be just my dad and I because he challenged me to a race. Over Thanksgiving he boasted about being in the best shape of his life... and well, I admitted to being in the worst shape of my life, haha. So, he figured this was his only chance!
Everyone wanted to be part of the race, or just a chance to race my dad. We seeded ourselves by predicted mile time, then adjusted our start times so, in theory, we would finish at the same time. Jeff started 20 seconds after Brad, Keros 45 seconds after Brad, and everyone else 90 seconds after Brad. (Maddie was my pacer.) My mom was the babysitter/timer/cheerleader. Lily was the Mascot.

As expected, it came down to the last 200 meters:
Jeff surged past brad, Ann Marie FLEW past Dallin and me, I almost puked (literally dry heaved - so out of shape - Maddie jumped to the side to avoid potential vomit HAHA), I passed my dad, I passed Keros, Keros passed me, Ann Marie passed Jeff.
Finishing order: Ann Marie and Maddie, Jeff, Keros, Jenna, Brad, Dallin. We all determined Ann Marie was the silent killer, and in pretty darn good shape.
I think my finishing mile time was 6:20ish, Jeff: 7:25, Dad: 7:55. Dad was stoked to have finished under 8 minutes.
"The fastest I've run a mile since I was in my 20's!!" -Brad
"So glad I didn't puke back there. Or get a bloody nose." - Jenna
"I'm gonna go run a 5 mile cool down." -Maddie
"I wish I didn't have the flu." - Dallin
"I'm the athletic one of this family." - Keros

To continue the competitions, Keros set up Ping Pong on the dining room table for impromptu battles of "Chandelier Pong."

Jeff and Dallin arm wrestled in this position for 4 minutes straight.

Christmas morning was a delight. We opened some presents, then enjoyed our traditional breakfast of blueberry muffins and grapefruit slush.

Dallin got Rockband for real electric guitars, pretty cool.

My father gave us a few pieces of art that my grandma painted. They will be perfect in our new home.

Lily got many toys and books. We gave her a doll that I sewed, and Jeff made the cape.

Going to church on Christmas morning just feels right...

While we were there we went to Mission Impossible and Sherlock Holmes (both good), ate at Cafe Citti, played Mafia and Liars Dice with "The Posse", cleaned & painted the storage room, and relaxed in the hot tub.
On our way to the airport to fly home, we bummed around San Fran and ate at Pacific Catch (super fun, eclectic menu, hipster joint). We also got dessert at Bi Rite Creamery which has some amazing ice cream. This ice cream is unlike anything I've ever had... It was well worth almost missed our flight.

A fun trip indeed.

12 Pictures on Dec 12

2011-12-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

Although it was a nearly a week ago, I took "twelve" pictures on December 12. It's a new thing I've been doing every 12th. I didn't quite get 12, but you will get a glimpse into what my day was like.

I started my new job at the law firm on Monday. And so far I really like it. Below is my first day pic with Jeff.

I had first day nerves... When I showed up, I didn't know where to park... just the small dilemmas of life. Oh, and it was pouring on Monday.

I was missing my Yodle lunch crew when I went to Subway by myself.

There are lot of perks about this job, including my own desk.

People in AZ don't know how to drive when it rains, so it took extra long to get home that night.

Jeff and I went to dinner at my visiting teacher's house (not pictured), then we went to Wally-Mart to get some groceries. We hadn't been grocery shopping since before Thanksgiving.

There were no registers open but the self check-out. (I HATE SELF CHECK OUT!) We struggled fitting all our food on the little scale. I thought it was hilarious.

That pretty much sums up Dec. 12. It was a slightly stressful day with the new job and rain, but it ended nicely with a delicious meal made for us, and shopping time with Jeff. Life is good.

See previous 12 on 12 posts:
October 12
November 12

Remodel Updates, master bath, squares, and pool

2011-12-13T07:03:00.000-08:00

One of the main updates I will speak about today is the master bathroom. When we first got into the house, we found that the sinks were in the bedroom. We wanted the bathroom to be a little more discrete.
Below is what the master looked like after we tore out the sinks and vanity.

Then, we started to tear down some walls, and plan out where the new wall would come in.

We kept the little "pony wall" up for a little space in between where the toilet will go, and the vanity. We are going to have an "L" shaped vanity with the two sinks on the far right, and a little makeup vanity straight ahead.

Here is Papa John building the new wall for the master bathroom.

And finally, the wall is buillt! As you can see, the door will be on the left side, and it will swing in.

For the master shower, we took out the tub, and we will have a standing shower only. My dad helped rip out the old tub and tile. He was a beast.

Now, on to "squaring off the garage." As you could tell from the previous post, the garage had funky angled trim around the garage and front entry way (shown below). Well Jeff and John tore that all off, and squared it off.

They also are building new trim around the windows on the front of the house.

Last weekend the whole house was retextured (because we scraped all the popcorn - cottage cheese - texture off). The can lights are all complete in the kitchen and family room as well.

I think I have made final selections on interior and exterior paint. Choosing paint has been the hardest decision yet. There are a million grays in the world!!! I hope I like what I chose. Details later.

We filled up the pool with water! Jeff called me last week as I was driving home from work and he said that they started to fill the pool. Althought I was super excited, I was kind of sad that no one got to skate it - Rob and Big style.

It now has chlorine as well. We were happy to learn that the pool has no major leaks or problems.

Did I mention that we selected our cabinets?? Yaaaaa... here they are! Shaker style in mahogony. I love the rich brown look, and the modern yet classic style. I was going back and forth whether or not to paint them white. Awww white kitchen.... BUT, I decided to keep them brown. And I am VERY happy with my decision.

My inspriation is this picture:

The brown cabinets on the island look beautiful!! Not to mention the backsplash, granite color, pendant lights, and wood floors... I like the white upper cabinets, but we are keeping all ours brown.

We bought a new front door since the old one was trashed. We learned from our neighbors that the old owners had many drunk fights that involved kicking the front door. Yikes. Ps this is the old door... The new door will be shown later.

We got new french doors for the den/office. WE LOVE THEM!!!

Jeff and I replanted the Oleander plants along the back wall. They were previously up against the house. Apparently these plants grow super tall, so having them up to the house would not be good long term. I am learning all about desert plants, haha.

That is all for now... Stay posted for more later this week! The windows and cabinets are getting delivered today!

We Bought a Fixer Upper!!!

2011-12-04T10:28:00.001-08:00

I am so excited because Jeff and I bought a house!

The house is everything that we were looking for and more! It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a garage... and A POOL!!! This foreclosed home needs a lot of work, but naturally, we are stoked about the project at hand. We are already 1 week into it, and we have made incredible progress.

It is perfect timing how it has all worked out. Last weekend over the Thanksgiving break, the occupants left, and we started the demolition. My family was in town, and all of Jeff's family was here too... We had a ton of help gutting the place.

Before Pictures
We said goodbye to the Pergo floors...

This is the den.

The family/living room, kitchen to the right.

Kitchen

We were going back and forth between keeping the cabinets and painting them, or getting new ones. But, with more examination, most of the cabinets were damaged pretty bad, and really nasty. So, we gutted the kitchen, and are starting over. We bought our appliances on Black Friday and scored some good deals.

This is the master bedroom. The sinks are (were) in the master bedroom, (not preferred). So, we got rid of that Ikea vanity, and we are in the process of building a wall there, with a single door into the bathroom. It will make the bathroom bigger with more private space. The master is luckily big enough to accomplish this remodel.

The pool is empty, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Part of me is almost looking forward to summer.

The backyard is going to be a fun project in itself. We have plans to eventually put in some grass and more citrus trees. I have my garden planned out and already started digging the dirt.

The dump truck arrived just in time for the demolition. Demo Day reminded me of Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

We scraped all of the "popcorn ceilings." We literally brought a hose in the house, sprayed the ceilings, then scraped the texture off. It made the house very humid for the next day. But luckily the weather outside was gorgeous.

We got rid of this huge mirror too.

Jeff and I took Thursday and Friday off to work on the house. (It has been the best weekend!!!) All of the electrical is done, the master bath is almost built, I am picking final paint colors tomorrow, the baseboard comes this week, my cabinets come in 2 weeks, windows soon, etc.... Everything is so exciting and fun.
We have been selling some of the old stuff on Craigslist. We sold the Pergo floors, fans, some lights, etc. A house just down the block was having a garage sale on Saturday, so we put up a sign and got some traffic from that too.

Jeff and I are very glad to have jobs, and that the cost of living in AZ is cheap so we can afford to buy a home. We are so grateful for Jeff's dad who knows everything there is to know about construction, remodeling, and electrical work. He not only knows everything about it, but he has every tool needed to make it happen. This dream wouldn't be a reality without him.

There are so many decisions to make, but we're trying to enjoy the process and not let it overwhelm us. The hardest part is knowing when to splurge, and when to skimp. All in all, we are loving life right now, and this crazy awesome adventure of buying a home.
(Planned move in date: January 1-January 15)

Super Awkwardness Leads to Happiness

2011-11-29T20:02:00.001-08:00

This post is all about awkwardness.

When Jeff and I were first dating, he took pride in his ability to turn any situation into an awkward one. I battled him quite a bit, to out-awkward him, but he mostly won.

Here's an example:
Somerset 10 (Jeff's college apartment at BYU) started a tradition to go hot tubing every Monday night after FHE. They named it Hot Tub Club (or HTC). I eventually joined the fun, and participated weekly. The boys (namely Jeff, Jason, and Scott) started a fun little "activity" most weeks where they would initiate a "pound," or a promise where everyone had to fist pump/pound in the middle and agree to the "pound" for the upcoming weeks or months. For example, one month we pounded to learn something new. I think someone wanted to learn to paint, another person wanted to learn to hang glide.

Well, someone came up with a pound to "fulfill your fantasy this spring."
I pounded in, knowing I would be going to a David Archuletta concert that week.
Only a few days later, I got a call from Jeff asking me if I could help him complete his pound. (I think he actually asked if I could help him "fulfill his fantasy," but this is a family blog, and my mom reads this.)
Anyway, after the super awkward conversation, (mind you, we had been on only one date) I agreed to it. To get to the point, the night of the date came, he kissed me (his fantasy), and when it came time for the next hot tub club, everyone had to report on their "pound."

I was kinda freaking out that Jeff would "kiss and tell" (not cool) and share the awkwardness of our first kiss with the group.

Jeff: "I fulfilled my fantasy."
Others: "What did you do?"
Jeff: "I kissed Jenna on the window bed." (Said with very little expression.)
Others: Surprised and loving his honesty
Meanwhile, this was the first time my roommates had heard this, so they were freaking out, and I was super embarrassed, and Jeff managed to out awkward me both on the fantasy date, and at Hot Tub Club in front of all of our friends. Thanks.

However, as you know, that awkwardness has led to much happiness. Phew.

Now, onto awkward story #2 for the day.

Yesterday, I put in my 2 weeks notice.

Quitting a job is one of the most awkward things to do. And I didn't have a Jet Blue slide to make it less awk.
So, I told my employer that I will no longer be working there, and I have found a better opportunity.. blah blah blah blah...
It's awkward because I just got promoted at work and started on a new team Monday, with a new manager. 2 days in the new role I quit (weird timing). There is more to the story, but I will spare you.
The quitting speech is the hard part, but the awkward part is the 2 weeks I have to stick around before I jump ship. Whoever made the 2 weeks thing up was a dummy. Anyway, I will be using some of my PTO in the next little bit to get a break, but needless to say, I am super stoked about my new job. It will involve more creativity, responsibility, and a lot of learning.

Speaking of Jobs... Jeff worked until 1:30 am Monday night. Midnight last night. That is dedication. That is busy season. And I am so glad yesterday was the last day, (until next time). Congrats Jeff!

Thanksgiving: Double Family All The Way!

2011-11-29T19:26:00.001-08:00

We had a pretty amazing Thanksgiving.

My family flew into town and we partied it up in the AZ sunshine all week long. We saw two movies: Happy Feet 2 (Laaaame), and Tower Heist (has funny parts). We went swimming (thank you 80 degree weather) and hot tubed at night. We met Dallin's girlfriend who happened to be in Scottsdale as well, and she got the stamp of approval from the fam.

We ate the Thanksgiving meal at the Transtrum home (Jeff's parents). We stuffed ourselves with appetizers, then stuffed ourselves again with yumminess. In many ways Thanksgiving is a perfect holiday because it is focused around food and family and gratitude. There is no stress about gift giving and what not that often distracts Christmas.

We were missing Keros, Ann Marie, Lily, Ali, Brian, Everett, and Warren J.

Goofs

Double Stack

Triple Stack

And we went on a girls date to get pedicures. Thanks mom!

The following pics are taken from our phones from the weekend:

"I aint no techie"

We also worked on a huuuuuge super exciting project on Friday and Saturday... and it has to do with this:

Being Grateful

2011-11-21T08:21:00.001-08:00

This post is about finding the silver lining in crappy situations. At least, I'll try to make it that way.

Rewinding back to Thursday night... I couldn't sleep because I was sick and had the worst headache ever. It was pounding, sharp, and evil. The pain started at my tooth, and ran its way down my neck. The pain relievers weren't touching it. After a long night of tossing and turning, I made it to work, and the headaches wouldn't stop. The end of the day came, and it was finally time to leave...
and my car wouldn't start.

Meanwhile, Jeff was on his way to go camping with the Boy Scouts.

I am grateful for a husband who likes to serve people.

I called the mechanic and had him listen to the horrible sound my car was making, and he guaranteed that "it was my starter." He said he would send his tow truck to come get my car. The Tow Guy was an hour away, so I waited in my car, (headache raging) until he arrived.

The nicest Tow Guy showed up, had one listen to the "starter problem" and told me it was my battery. He simply jumped my car, didn't charge me, and sent me on my way. (I promised him I wouldn't tell the mechanic or the Tow company about his kindness... because the tow would have been around $60.)

I am so grateful for the gracious Tow Man who was honest, and wanted to go home on a Friday night, saving me $60.

As I was driving home, I was whining to my mom about my headaches, toothaches, sinus problems, etc... She encouraged me to go to the health clinic. I obeyed my mother and stopped at the Urgent Care Clinic. I was diagnosed with a sinus infection, got a few prescriptions, and left...
Well, of course my car didn't start.

I am so grateful for the blonde nurse and 2 cleaning crew guys who helped me jump my car.
I am also grateful I don't have to work in a Health Clinic.

I stopped at the CVS and picked up my antibiotic, Vicodin, and nasal spray...

Halleluiah for drive though pharmacies. (Didn't have to turn off my car.)
I am also so happy I have medical insurance... and modern medicine. And Vicodin.

Well, as my sinus infection continued to get better, my toothache/headache only got worse. I scheduled an emergency dental visit this afternoon. Luckily, they fit me in, and the dentist said that I either needed a root canal or a new filling from an old cavity in hopes to fix the problem. I told him I didn't care, as long as the pain would go away. He went with the filling route. Besides the 3 shots, it wasn't that bad.

Then I went and got a new battery for my car.

I am grateful I had a warranty on the old battery, making it a painless, free replacement. (Thank you Corbin.)

As I write, I am numb and painless! My car is running. And I got to take a sick day. All is good.

I hope everyone has a fun, memorable Thanksgiving Week... and remember to count your blessings. (My family is coming to AZ for Thanksgiving, and I am so excited for the first ever Lowder/Transtrum Thanksgiving Feast!)

12 Pictures on November 12

2011-11-13T10:17:00.001-08:00

Last month I started a new tradition (inspired by my friend Mike, who was inspired by his friend Chad) to take 12 pictures on the 12th of every month. It gives a real glimpse into your daily life, rather than just the big, major events. You can even go to Chad's blog and see all the other bloggers who play the 12 pictures game.

I spent the morning uploading/editing pictures from the Jones' family photo shoot.

I went to Bryson and Deacon's soccer games, but forgot to take pics... :(
Then Jeff and I drove and looked at this backyard. (More on this house/backyard later...)

Then Jeff had to go to work to lock up the private accounting information:

Then we went to Everett's 1st Birthday Party!

Many o football games on last night.

Emily bought all the babies matching Christmas apparel.

Eating a blue cupcake.

Lastly, I got this text last night from my dad in the family group chat. (Thank you iPhone app "GroupMe.") The MCHS Puma Women's soccer team won the North Coast Section Championship!!!! This deserves its own post, but let's just say I am very happy about this. The last time the girls won was in 2002. The Montgomery soccer team still makes my blood boil. What is wrong with me?

(Thank you Facebook for this picture.)

And here is another photo that I found on FB yesterday:

Go MADDIE!!!! Beat that Utah beezy.

Jones Family Pics

2011-11-13T10:10:00.001-08:00

I am a fake photographer, with a decent camera.

I took some family pics for the Jones on Friday after work, and I am proud of the results! The boys were good sports, and Raelyn only had one mini-melt down at the end. (We took the family pictures at DC Ranch in Scottsdale.)
I am "giving" to Chelsea this year for Christmas, so this is part 1 of my gift to her. (I have no idea what part 2 will be.)

I love the "let's hug mom shot."

Weston (middle) has the most incredible dimples.

I am slowly learning how to use my camera, photoshop, and other tools... but I am loving the practice. And I love my nieces and nephews, (and in-laws too of course).

Remembering Grandma Patricia Lily Searle Lowder

2011-11-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

Photo taken: August 20, 2011

G'ma's Obituary

found here, and here

After 86 years filled with love and beauty, Grandma Pat slipped peacefully from this earthly existence on October 29, 2011.
Patricia Lily Searle Lowder was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on September 28, 1925, the youngest of the six children of Keros H. and Lily Watkins Searle. She was hardy pioneer stock; her grandfather, John Watkins, barely surviving the trek to Utah with the Willie/Martin Handcart Company.
Pat graduated from South High School in 1942, and was a proud “Cub” throughout her life. She was also a University of Utah grad.
Pat’s marriage to Dee H. Lowder on October 3, 1945 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple began a family that has since grown to a huge and loving legacy. Pat is survived by children Jeff (Nancy), Scott (Vickie), Chrisie and Walter Bascom, Jodi and Reed Hamblin, Brad (Sally), and Nancy and Donald Barker, 31 grandchildren and 58 great-grandchildren. Her beloved Dee preceded her in death September 3, 1992. She was also preceded by her parents, son Dan (Pat), grandson Michael Lowder, and siblings Mary Searle Schriever, Allen Searle, Phyllis Searle White, Beverly Searle Spencer, and Ruby Searle Brown.
While she preferred the title “Mom,” Pat also spent many years as a committed elementary school teacher as well as part-time model and actress. But her greatest love (after her family) was creating and sharing beauty. Mom blossomed later in life as a gifted artist, creating amazing paintings ranging from landscapes of beautiful Sonoma County where she spent much of her adult life, to striking portraits of her family and her Savior.
Friends and family are invited to a viewing Friday, November 4 from 7:00-9:00 p.m. at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 East 10600 South, Sandy. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 5 at the Murray Utah North LDS Stake Center, 5200 South 700 West, at 1:00 PM with a viewing prior to services, 11:30–12:45. Interment will be at Wasatch Lawn, 3401 South Highland Drive. Online condolences may be shared at www.larkincares.com and www.GmaPat.com.

It was surprisingly a very enjoyable weekend. Jeff and I flew in Friday night and went straight to the viewing at the mortuary. We visited with family for a while, then went to my Aunt Pat's house. She fed us left over roast from the the earlier sibling luncheon, it was delish. Pat was an amazing hostess the whole weekend. We were all pretty tired so we went straight to bed. Saturday morning my dad and I went on a hike in the woods in all the fresh snow. Then we went to funeral and learned new stories about my Grandma. (Strawberry jam, queeny dinners, Jodi and the coat, wig in the dirt, packing machine gun bullets, pink toe nails.) The stories made us cry, made us laugh, and made us miss her. The memories of her have also encouraged us to be better people. The theme of the talks at the funeral were 1) how loving and nonjudgmental she was to everyone, and 2) how much fun she was. Many stories were told about her humor and playful side.

This reminded me of a time when we were on a road trip, and my dad and grandma were in the front listening to a comedian on CD, both laughing hysterically. (I remember this because I was trying to sleep in the back.) My grandma had tears rolling down her cheeks because she was laughing so hard.

She is buried next to her husband, Grandpa Dee, (and plenty of $2 bills).
Later that night our immediate family went to Market Street for seafood (laughed about tuna cans and trundle beds), and then returned to Pat and Paul's for games. ("Steamy pile of ___.")
The weekend was just how my G'ma would have wanted it. I'm sure that she was looking down, proud, that we found ways to put the "fun" in "funeral."

Family: To view all the photos from the weekend click below.

Grandma Funeral

Ha Ha Halloween

2011-11-06T19:40:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from Halloween.
Work pictures first. My team (SEO Team) = Robbers. The Web Development team = Cops!

To keep with the theme, Jeff and I were a cop / robber duo to the ward Trunk-or-Treat activity.

Jeff makes a sexy cop.
We also carved some sweet pumpkins.
Jeff carved Angel Moroni, and I painted some Fall leaves on mine. And of course we baked the pumpkin seeds from Jeff's yump-kin.

Quick side note. The painting in the upper right (on top of bookshelf) is a painting my Grandma Pat painted, and gifted to me. It is such a treasure. It is a Fall setting in Heber Valley Utah. I love the Fall.

I love Halloween, especially the dressing up. Last year, we were Christmas elves, or something.

Thoughts on the Taylor Swift Concert

2011-10-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

Hey Yall,
I went to the Taylor Swift concert here in Phoenix on Friday night with Kellie MeeekGrath. We had such a fun time.
While we were driving there, Kellie told me about the local country radio station that was giving away upgraded tickets. So, of course, I called! Well, no one answered the first time. I called again, and someone answered!!
I told him that I was with my friend Kellie, and we were driving to the Taylor concert, and that I wanted to give a shout out to all the Taylor fans! He asked if I couldn't sleep the night before because I was so excited... Of course I told him I hadn't slept in WEEKS, yadda yadda... I asked him if he would upgrade our tickets, and he said he couldn't (BOOOO) but if we went to the radio station's booth, we could ask them there.
A few minutes after I hung up the phone with the disappointing DJ, I heard my voice come on the radio, giving my shout out to Kellie and all TSwizzle fans! Ps I sounded like a man. Kel and I laughed our heads off. I even slapped my knee and the dashboard mid-laughter.
We made it the venue and went straight to the booth to get our upgraded tickets. Well, we had to put our name in a drawing with hundreds of other fans, and later found out they didn't even have any more tickets to give out. We were pretty bummed considering the luck we had earlier, getting through to the radio man.

We grabbed a bite to eat, then went in for the show.
The opening bad was Need To Breathe. I had never heard of them, and I'm guessing you haven't either. Whatevs.

Kellie's new BFs. jk

Stage shots.

The show was super fun. Kellie was the perfect person to go the concert with. She is my fellow teeny-bopper. She loves Taylor and aint scurrd to rock out. And she gets giddy (like me) about silly things like getting on the radio, and teen pop stars.

Taylor sounded great live. Maybe a little tooo great. I mean, it sounded JUST like the album. Which is fine. I was hoping for some more improv, more variety, new arrangements of songs. (She did 2 new arrangements, but very safe arrangements.)
And, she made this face after every single song:

It's the shocked Taylor face. Like, "Wow, you are cheering for me?"
It's kinda cute... but super weird! I laughed at her every time. And then cheered, and screamed.

I also wanted more crowd involvement from her.
Like: "When I say hey, you say ho.. Hey, Ho, Hey, Ho!"
Or, "Crowd, sing this part!" (Crowd sings)
Or, "Wave your hands left and right!!!"
If I were a pop super star, my concerts would include a lot of those activities. (I'm reminded High School days, emceeing the rallies. "Let me hear the sophomores SCREAMMM!!")
There were pyrotechnics, flying in the air, and goofy backup dancers. All good things.

All in all, I had such a good time! I'm so glad we found sketchy Craisglist tickets and went.

While I am speaking about Kellie and teen concerts... I would like to tell you about the time we saw David Archuletta in Murray, Ut. Kel and I were barely friends at this time, but our love for David bonded us together forever.
We now have a tradition to take the classic jumping pic at the concerts we go to:

When we went to David's concert, we were about 1 foot away from him (as he was leaving)... and we were screaming like crazy people. (Ps you might want to turn your speakers down.)

Hahahaha that laugh is pretty embarrassing.

Hiking Camelback

2011-10-21T16:09:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I hiked the only mountain in Phoenix Valley last weekend- Camelback Mountain. It was fun, and there was a great view from the top. When comparing it to "Y" mountain in Provo - it is less steep, but CB is longer. There is more climbing on this one, rather than a nice trail hike that the Y provides.

We had to park (what felt like) a mile away from the mountain because the parking sitch is no bueno. And there were massive crowds. This is not Disneyland people!

So many cars!

Hiking to the hike.

The view right here reminded me of (a mini) Half Dome in Yosemite. (See below.)

The view from the top of Camelback!

As mentioned above... here is a pick of Half Dome in Yosemite, CA. (Ok, so it doesn't really look like Camelback.)

I hiked/ran Half Dome with my buddies freshman year at BYU. It was incredible. I want to take Jeff.

That's a view to make the mother cringe.

Ps. I am going to Taylor Swift tonight. Stoked.

Guess the chubby kid

2011-10-17T17:46:00.000-07:00

Guesses are open: WHO IS THIS KID?

I will give you 1 hint:
1. I'm a fan.

The first winner will get... a big virtual high five, or something.. Jeff, you can't guess.

EDIT OCTOBER 21
YES THIS IS JIMMER FREDETTE!!
I love it.

Family Camping

2011-10-16T10:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had a great family camping trip planned. Our camping spot would be up in the mountains, near a lake, far enough North to escape the Phoenix heat.
Well, the camping trip was canceled because there was expected SNOW in the mountains that weekend.
We didn't let that stop us.
Instead of driving 3 hours away, we camped in the comfort of the backyard. The Jones' backyard that is. The family gathered together, we ate tin foil dinners and sushi, and Jeff and I camped outside with Chelsea and the boys!
We started the night with a photo shoot:

Gotta love the fake laugh.

Dietrich loves his Emme!

Emily likes her mallows en fuego.

We slept surprisingly well, besides getting a little cold in the morning.
After we got cleaned up we watched the boys play some soccer!

I love little kid soccer. The ball chasing, the half time snacks, the tunnel, the after game snacks...
It was a gorgeous day. We were also successful at helping John and Lorraine pick out a new couch!
Love,
Jenna

12 on the 12th

2011-10-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike told me about this cool "blogger thing" where people post 12 pictures from their day, on the 12th of every month. I work with Mike, and he was taking some pics yesterday, so I decided to join in on the fun! Here we go...

1. There are 2 important things to notice here: 1) I'm approaching 200,000 miles on my car, and 2) The check engine light is (still) on. It's like it's speaking to me or something.

2. Where I work, there is this really weird/awesome tent thing outside. I eat lunch under it almost every day.

3. Speaking of lunch, this is what I ate. Homemade pizza and some grapes. The pizza was really good, it has spinach, onions, peppers, and tomatoes on it.

4. This is my lunch crew. Me, Mike, and Chris. Mike (mentioned above) is a blogger, and we talk about diabetes. Mike eats noodles with most meals, and Chris looks like a character on a show I watch. (See #11.)

5. Around 2:30, the lunch crew went for a walk (to take pics, haha) and made it to the top of the parking structure. The sun was blazing up there... probably around 100 degrees.

6.Another view from the top. Our office is the top floor... and I sit next to the window second furthest to the end. This is getting boring.

7. After I got back from our walk, Maddie texted me a picture of Lily.

8. As seen on FB, I went to Sprouts and bought avocados for half-a-dolla.

9. Went home and greeted this sexy man. He updated my iphone with iOS 5.

10. We made dinner. Pesto pasta, and some zucchini/mushroom mix. The picture is nasty.

11. Watched last week's episode of Glee. I told Chris today that he looks like Curt. He rolled his eyes.

12. My OCD nighttime ritual. Floss with hummingbird, brush with sensitive toothpaste, wash with Philosophy face wash, Olay face lotion, and apply chap-stick.

BOOM!!!! Who is joining me next month?

High School Track Memories

2011-09-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

I was a sprinter in high school... An overconfident, short, white sprinter.
(Running for BYU humbled me a little bit...)

When I was attending MCHS, the popular song "I'm in love with a stripper" (T-Pain) came out... (sorry mom)... and David and I changed the lyrics from "stripper" to SPRINTER... haha.

"I'm in love with a sprinter." - ~~t-pain~~ D.Live and J.Lo

We thought we were clever...

The song came on my Grooveshark Radio at work today... (talk about song sparking hilarious memories).

Today I am reminded of some of the fun times I had at Carrillo with my track peeps.

Arcadia track meet. "Thizzzzz"

Chillin at a track meet - Montgomery HS?

Senior Year: Kristen, Leanne and I went swimming in the hotel pool after the CA state meet.
We all rinsed off in the shower after and danced to music in the bathroom...


NYC - Comedy Show... the comedians loved making fun of us the whole night because we were all ~~babies~~ underage. Then, we had to leave early to make it back before "lights out"... and they heckled more as we walked out. I remember being so embarrassed!

NYC - Plaza hotel

NYC - waiting for a bus to the Armory indoor facility

NYC - The Naked Cowboy

Berkeley - qualified for state!

Graduation with the trackies.

Ragnar Napa Valley - We Dominated

2011-09-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

We ran the Ragnar Napa Valley this weekend. We not only survived, but WE WON!
Jk, everyone's a winner at Ragnar...
But seriously, it was awesome.

186.4 miles of beautiful Northern California

Our team (van 1): Me, Jeffy "Let's eat In-N-Out" Transtrum , Brad "We're going to finish this damn thing!" Lowder, Keros "all about the snacks" Lowder, Ann Marie "no farting allowed" Lowder, and Dallin "I'm too swole" Lowder.
After we endured a late flight the night before the race, and an early alarm for our 8:30 start time in San Fran, we were totally psyched out of our minds to start this beast.

The race started right on the water in San Fran. Jeff had the first leg and ran over the bay on the Golden Gate Bridge. He loved every single minute of it. Jeff loves to run.

Right.
While we were waiting for Jeff (as he ran on the GGBridge) we took some pics. Did you know the GGB is the most photographed bridge in the world? We contributed to that stat...

Hii-yaa!

After I ran along the water in Sausalito, I handed off to pops, then Pops to Dallin...

took some artsy pics along the way...

Dallin to Ann Marie...

Ann Marie to Keros

A fun game to play during a Ragnar is to count the number of "kills" your team gets. A kill is when you pass someone. We counted gross kills, not net kills. Gross kills... ewww.
Ann Marie chalks up some kills...

Keros finishes his leg and hands off to van 2...

While VAN 2 was running, we had the luxury of going home, eating deli sandwiches, laying by the pool, and taking a quick nap. Before we knew it, it was time for our second legs. Matt came sprinting in, and handed off to Jeff.

And the cycle repeated itself for round 2.

We cheered for pops:

Dallin was hardcore.

Our van looked good with 1sweetlife stickers...

As Dallin finished his second leg, my dad rallied up everyone at the exchange to
cheer for him... "Dallin, Dallin, Dallin, Dallin!!!"
With a confused look, Dallin's first words were: "Why was everyone saying my name?" haha

After our second round of legs, we went home, ate a quick bite of food, showered, and got a few hours to sleep. That was huge.
The alarm going off at 2am wasn't the happiest moment of my life, but we pressed forward...
I also woke up to a text telling me Logan (in van 2) tweaked his knee and had to walk the second half of his 9 miler... and he won't be able to run his 3rd leg.
Crap.
Immediately after, Matt (also from van 2) reassured that he will take Logan's last leg.
Sweet.
While we were driving to the start of our last legs, we got a call from Van 2 telling us that Matt wasn't running anymore... he was walking. However, Matt didn't tweak his knee. He had the poopsies. Stomach Tsunami. He could barely walk!
Crap.
Well, we eventually got the hand-off from Matt, and Jeff was off... Matt was hoping to feel better by his last run so he could still run his and Logan's last legs...
So we ran on.

We ran our night legs really well. It was a little chilly, but fine once we got warmed up.

Matt called near the end of our last legs and said that he wouldn't be able to run his last leg (or Logan's) because he was too sick.
At this point, everyone was very tired, very sore, and very stinky.
We came up with a plan... Ann Marie and Dad "we are finishing this damn race" Lowder stepped up the plate and filled in for Logan and Matt, and ran an extra leg. We were very determined to finish.

Awfully cheery for running a 4th leg. He went shirtless to prove his BadA$$ness.

We even got a little motivation from Lily Bug (who was being babysat by my mom during the race). Love this little bug!

We didn't break any records, but we finished!! And we finished in pretty good time considering some of the struggles we overcame.
Time: 28 hours (almost exactly)
Average Team Pace: 9:00/mile

We caught the Ragnar Bug, and are considering an out of state Ragnar next year.

In case I don't make it

2011-09-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I are bound for California... in an hour (and I haven't packed)... for the Ragnar Relay Napa Valley. I can't wait to run along side the vineyards, smell the fall harvest, and experience the changing colors. September in Sonoma County is the best time of year.

If I don't make it... I will my camera to Maddie, my iphone to Ali, my dry erase desk to Kellie, my fake rose gold watch to Emily T, my lingerie to Mary Beth, and my sewing machine to Chelsea...

byebye

Texting With Dallin

2011-09-09T15:07:00.000-07:00

I love texting my little brother. It is always entertaining.

The kid has a whole ZOO in his iPhone. lolzz.

Happy weekend everyone!

Whale image source

Dry Erase Desk Project

2011-09-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

OK, so I am super proud of our latest project. Jenna put it up on her other (crafty) blog, so you should check it out, you wont be disappointed!

Dry Erase Desk

Confession #4 White Pants After Labor Day

2011-09-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Yup, I broke the fashion code today. I wore white pants ... the day after labor day.
SUPER WRINKLY WHITE PANTS.
This brings me to confession #5... I haven't ironed a single item since I've been married. The iron is still in the box.
And I will probably wear white pants ALL year long. Why? Because it is summer here, ALL year long.

rock on.

5 Things For My 5 Year Plan

2011-08-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

Today Jeff and I went to support our friends B and Courtney Bryce for their baby blessing. While at the Bryce residence, (after-party), I had a lovely talk with old YBH roommate Kristin Nilsen.
She is preg with baby #1. (I say "preg" because she is half way through her pregnancy, and she barely looks like a pregnant person, lucky.) We talked about the future. I told her I wish I knew what I would I would be doing in 5 years, and where I would be...

She said: "You'll be doing whatever you want in 5 years."

Amen Kristin, the world is my oyster, muahahaha.
So, on our drive home from Surprise, AZ, Jeff and I discussed our five year plan. The talk lasted 2 minutes until we started discussing our "get rich" plan. See #5.

Although life never turns out the way we plan, it doesn't mean we can't dream. And to be completely honest, I'm glad it doesn't because His plan is always better. And His time is best.

Just for fun, here is (my dream of) where I will be in 5 years. 28 years old.

1. Jeff and I will be settled in our lovely home. It will include all the goodies- crown molding, a huge kitchen, plentiful garden, and lots of grass. We'll have lots of parties.

2. We'll have twins. A girl and a boy. (Keep in mind, this is a 5 year plan.) I've got a weird obsession with twins.

3. I will have completed the Honolulu marathon. While I'm dreaming, I will complete it in 3 hours.

4. A little side project I've been helping out with will be in full swing.

5. And lastly, I'll be rich... a millionaire, no, billionaire!!!!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

What are your 5 year dream$?

Disclaimer:
These things are all trivial matters. The things that really matter most are my family and loved ones. If my family is happy and healthy in 5 years, then that is a dream come true.

YBH Memiors Part 2 - Valentines Day

2011-08-26T07:35:00.000-07:00

YBH Memoirs Part 2
In this multi-part series, I will be posting memories from my Junior year at the Yellow Brick House. View Part 1.

As I mentioned in part 1, many of us Yellow Brick House Girls were single that year.
Valentines Day rolled around.
None of us had dates.
I'm guessing we were bitter and angry... cursing all of the lucky girls out there that got asked out to Chef's Table or bowling at the Wilk. Well, we weren't that bitter, but we were all looking for something to do that night.

We decided to DYE OUR HAIR. Not our whole head... just a chunk in the back, underneath. It would be a sisterhood bonding patch. Sisterhood of the traveling hair. Divine Secrets of the Hair Sisterhood.

Here is the look we were going for:

Sources: here, here, here, here

Anyway, we got to work. The local Walgreens provided the dye. We weren't sure: pink? purple? red? And we knew nothing about semi-perm, perm, brands, etc. This was the first time I ever dyed my hair! Virgin hair people!
(My second time dying was brown... a little more mellow.)

We went with purple.

We had to get some Yoasis on the way home. And what are all those flowers about? They must have been from Matt (to Kristin).

Garrett came and visited...

Remember this pic? We had to show Garrett the Single Ladies Dance.

Jane is rocking the "I Love You" sign.

Rinsing out the dye. Sister style.

These are the only "after" pictures I have... First Kellie's, then Maddie's. Maddie and Jane had very purple hair. Mine, Brit, and Kel's was a little more faded. Although it was semi-permanent dye, it lasted for months!

Luckily we didn't get kicked out of BYU for our "extreme hair," but we did get plenty of comments about it.
This was one of the best valentines day I've ever had.

(This one was pretty dang good too.)

YBH Memiors Part 1 - Single Ladies, Talent Show

2011-08-23T18:53:00.000-07:00

YBH Memoirs Part 1
In this multi-part series, I will be posting memories from my Junior year at the Yellow Brick House.

My most memorable year at BYU was my Junior year. Why? Well, I lived in the "Yellow Brick House." The YBH had 8 girls living there. Yup, 8 girls in one house, you heard me. It was so much fun, (and plenty of drama to go along with it too). There was always something going on... whether it be late night chats in the kitchen about boys, huge (ground breaking - literally) dance parties, sleepovers (girls only), or choreographing dances for talent shows... never a dull moment in the YBH.

The 69th ward (our ward) was putting on a talent show, and we knew we had to participate. We spent months choreographing a dance to present to the ward. At the time, we were all single ladies... soooo nothing felt more appropriate than to dance to Beyonce's "Single Ladies."

Here we are practicing for the dance. Apparently something was hilarious! Haha. And you will find out soon why our hair is funky like that.

Kristin made our skirts!

Maddie, Kristin (FEZ), me, Kelly (KMart), Diane, Kailan, Kellie (Meek), and Jane (Baby Jane)

The best moment of Jason Brown's life.

Enjoy!

You can also view here.

(Jeff liked it... so he put a ring on it.)

Jumping Off The Roof

2011-08-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

Nothing says SUMMER like jumping off your parent's roof.

Sister Blog

2011-08-11T22:10:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family...
Some of my sisters and I have started a blog. Yes, another blog.
It's all about home decor, food, crafting, making stuff... for super cheap. You should go check it out, and be a follower. We're having lots of fun...

www.AddSomePaint.com

Here are some of the things we have posted about:

I will continue to post on my personal blog... but my "home stuff" will probably end up over there...

Now, go check it out!

Running Together

2011-08-09T14:29:00.000-07:00

My friends Jessica and Cecily Lemmon started a new site about running. It's funny, especially if you know them. Or if you are a runner. Or a former runner. Or if you ran once in your life...
They are two sisters, far apart, connected by running.

......

Well, I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am preparing to run the Ragnar Napa Valley with my family. Training has been a struggle because it is blazing hot here. I told you how I have been "surviving treadmill running." (Kind of a lie.) To make a long story short, one of our (non family member) teammates canceled yesterday. We needed another runner. JEFF STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE! Super sexy bravery right there. So, he began his training this morning at 5:30 am. We ran 3 miles.

And as we were running, Jeff reminded me of something he learned from the Lemmon's blog:

Couples who run together, stay together.

We laughed for about 5 minutes straight because let's be honest, Jeff hates running.

An excellent birthday week

2011-08-07T15:36:00.000-07:00

Let me break down this last week to you. Turning 23 wasn't so bad afterall.

Sunday: Had Sunday dinner at the Transtrum residence. I painted my nails, it was a relaxing evening.
Monday: Went over to Kellie MeekGrath's house for dinner and a show. That show being The Bachelorette. Here is a picture of Jeff and Matt Nilsen loving the show. haha

Tuesday: Jeff and I started staining our new desk, and we made these ridiculous oreo filled chocolate chip cookies. Looks super gross, haha.

Wednesday: My actual birthday! 23 years old! Jeff made me breakfast of fried eggs and toast, and I opened some presents from Maddie.

"Frajile"

"I love you because: You make everyone smile! Happy B-day Jenna"
Cute little picture that you can fill in the blank with dry erase marker.

"Do what you Love and do it often"

My dad sent flowers to my work.

I got home and opened presents from my mom. She got me some cute things including this cute new necklace.

Jeff got me the cute stripped shirt from Target.
We went to Benihana for dinner and snuggled the night away

Apparently for your bday they will take a pic of you and put it online, haha.

Thursday: Uhhh, we just hung out and probably ate the Flamin' Hot Cheetos that Jeff got me...
Friday: Went to lunch with some work peeps at Genghis Grill in Tempe Marketplace. Here are some of the N00bs.

Friday night, Jeff organized a family get together (for my b-day) and we ate home-made sushi! It was delish.

Everyone was so generous and got me gifts! Thank you everyone!

Below is the tea towel that Chelsea hand stitched for me. So cute!!! It is inspired by Anthropologie's (but mine is way better).

Saturday we celebrated the marriage of Kenda and Logan (aka Jeff's co-worker). Her wedding was amazing, down to every last detail. She was a beautiful bride.

And I do not want to forget that Jeff got me the most amazing bday present ever! A new computer!!!! (It came a couple weeks early...)

Some Pool Time

2011-08-04T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of a recent pool trip at the Jones' residence.
This one is my favorite:

Babies are not food.

Flashing the camera.

Raelyn In A Pink Dress - 6 Months Old

2011-07-24T17:26:00.000-07:00

Raelyn (my niece) turns 6 months old soon, so we had a little photo shoot of her in a cute pink dress. She was so cute and funny. I loved taking pictures of her. Enjoy!

How To Survive Treadmill Running

2011-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

In exactly 2 months, I will be running many miles, day and night, in Northern California. I will be joining my family and friends to run the Ragnar Relay: Napa Valley, which happens to run right through Kenwood! Unfortunately, the training months for this race happen to be during the hottest months of the year. With that being said, I am becoming good friends with the treadmill. I have given up the day(s) of getting up at 5 am to run in 89 degree weather.

Here is a little “how to,” if you will, on how to survive a summer of treadmill running.

Provide yourself with both audio and visual entertainment. Preferably, I would watch a movie or my favorite talk show, but those luxuries are not available, so Pandora on my iPhone does the trick. My visual entertainment = “people watching” at the Scottsdale LA Fitness. Plenty of Sweet Bros and fake boobs.
Do not run one speed the whole time. Not only does it provide a better workout, but if you run intervals or change up your speed throughout the run, you have something to look forward to, and it makes the time go faster. You also stay busy pressing buttons.
Bring water and a towel. Sweat in the eye balls hurts.
Go with a friend.
Don’t watch the time or the mileage.
Go on vacation; somewhere with a more mild climate, and run there.

Now that we are all exhausted from reading this, watch this video:

And now, Google: "Treadmill "Fail."
And now, set up a youtube play list of "treadmill fails" and watch it while you work out. Zing!

P.s. Happy Birthday Dad! Papa Lowder is a devoted treadmill runner (in the winters), and an overall amazing person! Love you!

Nilsen Shirts

2011-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

The other day, Jenna and I were at my sister's house for a family get together. In walks my cute little nephew Tricky! This kid is a stud on a normal day. But then I notice he is wearing an old Nilsen shirt, and he becomes a super stud!

Any time I see someone (generally a family member) wearing a Nilsen shirt, I cant help but reminisce. Back in college, my two friends and I had this crazy idea that it would be really cool to start a shirt company and screen print our own shirts. So we watched a few youtube videos on screen printing, and spent about a grand on screen printing equipment, shirts, and paint. Boom! Nilsen was born! We obviously didn't have much spending capital, so we built our own website to try to sell our shirts. It was pretty crappy. Haha, but we sold some shirts (mostly to family and friends), and kept making more designs. Our idea of a marketing strategy was to rent a gorilla suit and wander around Provo promoting a Nilsen dance party. It was hilarious, and really fun, and probably the best $100 we ever spent. Haha. Here are some pics of Nilsen shirts/gear I had on my phone

Well, we didn't make a killing, and Nilsen kind of faded out when we realized we would need to put a lot more money into the company to have a chance at making any kind of living. But every once in a while, I'll see a Nilsen shirt, and get the desire to start it up again. I even started to build another Nilsen website the other day. Clearly I lost interest again before I got close to finishing. But maybe next year I'll find the drive to pick it back up. Maybe.

More About the Nau Wedding...

2011-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed from the previous video, Jason Nau married Katie Murdock this weekend. It was a perfect wedding, and everyone was so happy. I love weddings. I would re-live my wedding day if I could.
Anyway, Jeff and I road-tripped down to Newport from AZ. Surviving Carmageddon, Pappa Lowder, Maddie, and Dallin made the trek from Kenwood. Scottie Peart, his fiance, and his family were there. Paul Wall made his appearance in a Harry Potter shirt. Loren Peterson flew in from Canada to take the pics. It was a reunion! I didn't take too many pics... but here are some captured memories.
The night before the wedding, Jason's mom hosted some friends and family for a lovely dinner:

The many faces of Maddie Lowder

That night we went to the midnight showing of HP.7.2 We scarred ourselves.

... Then got up the next morning for some wedding happiness... at the Newport Temple.

Portraits.

The reception was nice as well...

Scottie P, you're next!

Jason + Katie Nau (7.15.2011)

2011-07-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Our good friend Jason, (Jeff's HFL), got married this weekend to the cutest, sweetest girl, Katie. They both have really white teeth.
We were able to be a part of the wedding, and enjoy a lovely weekend in Southern Ca.
Here is a little video we put together from some footage we took this weekend.
Enjoy!

Untitled from jenna transtrum on Vimeo.

4th of July in the Wine Country

2011-07-10T18:24:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I went to Kenwood, CA for a long holiday weekend. We enjoyed beautiful weather, good family time, and delicious food! After we flew into San Fransisco we went to Fisherman's Warf with the fam and enjoyed clam chowder in a bread bowl at the Boudin Bakery, and had the "World Famous Sundae" at Ghirardelli Square.

We were welcomed into SF with this person's action figures glued to the top of their car.

Dallin, Maddie, and Jeff in front of the Boudin Bakery.

Check out that huge bread alligator!

The next day we went on a tour of the Kunde Winery and explored the wine caves. The caves, where they store the barrels of wine, is naturally 60 degrees with 90% humidity (all year long). The last time I toured the caves was when I was at Kenwood Elementary School. It's awesome in there.

The entrance to the caves.

So pretty

The cork in the middle of the barrel is called the "bung hole"

We loved the caves so much that we asked the Kunde family to take us on a private tour of the ranch! Roberta, Jordan, and Jared Kunde picked us up in their truck and drove us around one night. The views from the top of the ranch were amazing. We could see all the way to the San Fransisco Bay. The movie Bottleshock was also filmed there.

In preparation for the Kenwood footrace on July 4th, we kept up the tie dye tradition...

And yes, my dad even tie-dyed his whitey tighties for the race.
Here we are! Ready to run!

Maddie ran the 10k, and me, Jeff, Dallin, and Dad ran the 3k. Everyone ran really well! Good job guys.
We also sharpened our archery skillz.

We played in the pool with the Citrawerejas.

Here is little Sally jumping into Maddie's arms.

Little Alex upset when he didn't get attention from his dad.

Sam showed us his pigeon training skills. He released the pigeons at our house, and they flew back to his house. It reminds me of Coach Shane (byu xc coach) and his falconry.

And lastly, a lovely photo, courtesy of Jeff.
We had a great trip! Thanks mom, dad, Dallin, and Maddie for such a great time. Love you guys!

Other fun activities from the trip:
Transformers 3
Sushi at Waynes restaurant
Walks up Buckeye
Tennis
Food- cheese factory, farmers market, Citti

Aunt and Uncle... Again

2011-07-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

Jeff's brother and sister-in-law (Mitch and Kristin) birthed another beautiful child! She is a healthy baby which means she eats, poops, and sleeps all day long. Kristin has her hands full with Dietrich (Tricky), 18 months, and Zoe, 2 weeks... but she can totally handle it because she is an amazing mom, just like all my sisters.

Congrats Mitch and Krissy, we love you guys!

Elder Busche, Words of Wisdom

2011-07-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Need a mid-week pick-me-up? Listen or read Elder Busche's talk: "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit."

Maddie sent it to me a while back, and I often listen to this video on repeat at work.

Eventually, I am going to print out this part of his talk, and add it to my wall mural (once I get it back up).

* Embrace this day with an enthusiastic welcome, no matter how it looks. The covenant with God to which you are true enables you to become enlightened by him, and nothing is impossible for you.

* When you are physically sick, tired, or in despair, steer your thoughts away from yourself and direct them, in gratitude and love, toward God.

* In your life there have to be challenges. They will either bring you closer to God and therefore make you stronger, or they can destroy you. But you make the decision of which road you take.

* First and foremost, you are a spirit child of God. If you neglect to feed your spirit, you will reap unhappiness. Don't permit anything to detract you from this awareness.

* You cannot communicate with God unless you have first sacrificed your self-oriented natural man and have brought yourself into the lower levels of meekness, to become acceptable for the Light of Christ.

* Put all frustrations, hurt feelings, and grumblings into the perspective of your eternal hope. Light will flow into your soul.

* Pause to ponder the suffering Christ felt in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the awareness of the depth of gratitude for him, you appreciate every opportunity to show your love for him by diligently serving in his Church.

* God knows that you are not perfect. As you suffer about your imperfections, he will give you comfort and suggestions of where to improve.

* God knows better than you what you need. He always attempts to speak to you. Listen, and follow the uncomfortable suggestions that he makes to us--everything will fall into its place.

* Avoid any fear like your worst enemy, but magnify your fear about the consequences of sin.

* When you cannot love someone, look into that person's eyes long enough to find the hidden rudiments of the child of God in him.

* Never judge anyone. When you accept this, you will be freed. In the case of your own children or subordinates, where you have the responsibility to judge, help them to become their own judges.

* If someone hurts you so much that your feelings seem to choke you, forgive and you will be free again.

* Avoid at all cost any pessimistic, negative, or criticizing thoughts. If you cannot cut them out, they will do you harm. On the road toward salvation, let questions arise but never doubts. If something is wrong, God will give you clarity but never doubts.

* Avoid rush and haste and uncontrolled words. Divine light develops in places of peace and quiet. Be aware of that as you enter places of worship.

* Be not so much concerned about what you do, but do what you do with all your heart, might, and strength. In thoroughness is satisfaction.

* You want to be good and to do good. That is commendable. But the greatest achievement that can be reached in our lives is to be under the complete influence of the Holy Ghost. Then he will teach us what is really good and necessary to do.

* The pain of sacrifice lasts only one moment. It is the fear of the pain of sacrifice that makes you hesitate to do it.

* Be grateful for every opportunity to serve. It helps you more than those you serve.

* And finally, when you are compelled to give up something or when things that are dear to you are withdrawn from you, know that this is your lesson to be learned right now. But know also that, as you are learning this lesson, God wants to give you something better.

Mustache (bigote)

2011-06-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here is another video we made in college, this one actually played in the BYU bookstore for quite a while. I have no idea why. Anyway, you have to watch the inspiration for our video first. Check this out:

Then check out our video that we made.

Boooooooooooooom Mic!

Remembering college

2011-06-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

I was going through my external hard drive, and found some pretty hilarious pictures and videos of my 3+ years I spent in Provo living in Somerset 10. I had some great times there! Mostly, because I met Jenna while living there. But also because of my friends and the crazy fun things we did all the time. Here's a little video I found. And yes, the gorilla suit was the best investment nilsen ever made.

Drive Slow from jenna transtrum on Vimeo.

Why Google Is Pretty Cool

2011-06-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

I am on the computer all day long.
Google is my best (and worst) friend. I probably make about 39,845 Google searches in a day. (Including today's searches: "legitimate reasons for leaving a job", "Justin Bieber" so I could get the correct spelling on Bieber, "dallas motorcycle accident attorney," etc... I will never fully understand Google's algorithm, but there are some hilarious unknown Google "secrets" (ok lots of people know about this stuff) that you might also find entertaining...

1. Funny Google Instant Results and other Results

thank you Austen Slade for this one

green poop, really?

recursion... did you mean recursion?haha

2. Google Maps - Street View - Crazy stuff caught on camera!

woman having a baby on the street!

Larps!

bike crash... on Google camera!

3. Google Map Directions

Jet Ski across the Pacific Ocean.. NBD

Kayak across Pacific Ocean. Ha!

Other Gems:
Google offers services in many languages, including several uncommon ones like Swedish Chef's Bork bork bork, Pig Latin, Hacker (usually known as leetspeak), Elmer Fudd, Klingon and Pirate

Google Tricks: Type in google "Google gravity" then click, "I'm feeling lucky"... watch it fall!! See others here.

1 Year Anniversary Celebration

2011-06-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

It was Jeff's responsibility to plan our anniversary festivities. He did not let me down. After work, he picked me up, and we checked into a fancy Scottsdale Resort. (All a surprise.)

We have a honeymoon pic like the one above... It's tradition.
After checking out the digs, we ate dinner at a hipster sushi joint in Old Town Scottsdale. Pearl Sushi. I had the most amazing roll of my life there. It's called the "Fake and Bake." (Spicy crab mix and cucumber rolled and topped with seared salmon, dynamite aioli sauce and drizzled with sweet soy glaze.)

After dinner we went shopping at Fashion Square mall, and ate some fro yo...

The next morning we went on lovely bike ride around the golf course, compliments of the hotel. It turned into a race, which turned into us getting really sweaty.

After we worked up an appetite we enjoyed breakfast at The Breakfast Club. They have the most amazing omelettes! And HUGE!

After breakfast we lounged by the pool for a while, got some sun, then went home to relax for the rest of the day.

No better way to celebrate an anniversary than relaxing with your loved one, enjoying good food, and well... doing other stuff too.

Memorial Day Weekend in Southern Ca

2011-06-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

For memorial day weekend, Jeff and I road-tripped down to Southern California to watch Dallin compete in the state lacrosse tournament.
We left Friday after work and drove about half way and camped in Joshua Tree National Park. We only saw one Joshua Tree, but the park is very pretty (in a desert-y way) and although we didn't explore much, we enjoyed spending the night with Mother Nature.


Jeff was looking the part, and probably a little sad his cell didn't have reception... and I was on the lookout for bears.

When we arrived to CA Saturday morning Jeff and I took a stroll at Long Beach's Seal Beach / Pier.

We stopped at an amazing farmer's market in Long Beach!

We met up with everyone and watched Dallin PWN n00bs...

Dallin's team (Santa Rosa #1 Nor Cal) and #2 Nor Cal - Casa Grande, faced the top club teams from Southern CA (El Sugundo and Simi Valley). To make a long story short, we won the first (vs El Segundo) game putting us in the championship, and then Simi Valley cheated, putting Casa into the final by default. Casa beat us in the final, blah blah blah... don't get me started.

The boys played well, and it was so fun to watch Dallin play.

Dal accepting his 2nd place medal that he prob wants to trash haha

Fun times at the beach...

Do the Cat Daddy...

Then we drove home... Thanks mom and dad for such a great weekend! And congrats to Dallin, #2 in the state! Y3333...

Happy 1 Year Anniversary!

2011-06-05T09:35:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago, Jeff and I were married for time and eternity! It was by far THE best day of my life. Marrying the man of my wildest dreams, and sharing the joy excitement with family and best friends... well, that is the equation for a great day.

A big shout out to all of my single ladies! I LOVE you all.

I spy... Liz W, slightly concerned. Erin R super excited. Megan N behind the tree. Meg McAdams grabbing Rachel's... yahh... Hilarious.

And of course, thank you to all of my family who made 6.5.10 the greatest day ever. I love you guys.

I spy... Tricky looking like he might puke. Jason N: "heck yes, I'm next." Cecily barely peeking through. Deacon=Confused.
Two pregnant sisters (hiding it well). Jed C checkin' out the kiss.

Keros made a video of the special day you can see here.
To look at our engagements from last year: part 1, part 2.
I don't have all of the wedding pics on my blog... I guess I forgot to do that... but they are on a Facebook album.
And a post will be coming shortly about how we celebrated this weekend.

Latest Shoe Obsession

2011-05-26T17:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, I don't own a pair of Toms... but if I ever were to "splurge" and buy a pair... I think these would be the winners.

Perfect crochet happiness and air ventilation for the summer heat.

They come in natural, red, and neon green. $58. See 'em here. I would get the cream ones even though my mom would advise me to NEVER get white shoes.

How to decorate a house

2011-05-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jenna posted yesterday about our move to the new apt, and how amazingly cute it is. Which got me thinking about the amazing decorating job I did on my apartment while I was going to school in Provo. Keep in mind, we had a landlord (and management company) that was out of state and never came to the apartment. In fact, I didn't even have a contract till my last year of living there, and I lived there for 3 years. The summer we decorated my room was pretty memorable, and was the summer Jenna and I started dating. Can you blame her, look how awesome I am at decorating!

When I asked Jenna if she wanted to decorate our new place like my old apartment, she said that my old apartment was one in a million and it could never be duplicated. She actually just said no, but I heard it in a very complimentary way. Thanks to Matt for his spray paint art, and to everyone who added to the masterpiece back in 2007. Holler.

We moved out of the G-Unit

2011-05-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

The last couple of months have been a little hectic while we have been deciding where to live... We got pretty close to buying a house, twice.
To make a long story short, we moved. Into an apartment. And I surprisingly love it here.
We realized during this move that I have moved around 9 times in the last 6 years, and Jeff has moved somewhere around that as well. I moved every year at BYU, and my streak is running strong. Not to mention we signed a 9 month lease... so February here we come!
We had a lot of help from ward members on a lovely Saturday morning as we lifted heavy furniture up 3 flights of stairs.

We are now all settled in... and have unpacked ~~everything~~ most of our stuff.

This is our new master aka "where the magic happens" with the lovely homemade bed. We recently bought the nightstands from Ikea. I love them.

Below is the lovely family/living room with a fireplace that will never be used.

Kitchen/Dining nook with our homemade farmhouse table that Jeff made me.

And our guestroom complete with dresser and desk for all of our visitors. (Mom... Maddie? Helloooo out there??)

In case you were wondering... Our tree made it! It will probably never produce any oranges, but we couldn't leave our child behind.

There are a lot of good things about our apartment living situation: low maintenance, it's temporary, pool and hot tub, 24 hour gym, 24 hour emergency maintenance, closer to work... etc...

The negatives: parking can be dicey, 3rd floor not ideal for moving/carrying up groceries... etc...

Goodbye G-Unit!

Jeff's Birthday Extravaganza... 27 years old

2011-05-22T10:05:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jeff's birthday a couple weeks back (May 3rd to be exact) and this is how it went down:
We woke up and I made Jeff a special breakfast of eggs, toast, OJ, ham, & choco milk. (Yes, 2 beverages.)

Then we had to go to work. Boooooooo....
After work we had a pool party with the family and had Jeff's favorite: Costco pizza, soda, (and watermelon, and salad.)

Then we opened some presents...

The Jones' gave him some flour and rice for food storage... (Which is more of a present for me... but we are stoked!)

Both our moms gave Jeff new dress shirts for work.

Lorraine and Raelyn.

Lorraine made Jeff his favorite dessert: Eclair Pie! (It's a graham cracker, pudding, chocolate, NOM, NOM, NOM!)

That weekend we had Matt & Whitney Mors and Kellie McGrath over for dinner and games to complete the bday celebrations of Jeff (and Kellie). We had Chipotle style burritos and the Mors made delicious drinks!

Wall Mural - Picture Frames! (and our love for spray paint)

2011-05-10T15:25:00.000-07:00

My current obsession is walls covered in picture frames. Matching, unmatching, whatever. Well, I had a bunch of frames collecting dust in our closet that needed to be hung. Leftover frames from the wedding, gifted frames, old frames, thrifted frames, etc.
So what did I do with them all?
I decided to spray paint all of the frames (off)white, put random pictures in them, and hang in them on our wall. Keep in mind, Jeff and I are moving in approximately 15 days, to an unknown location, but it is never too late to beautify your home, right? Suuurrrrre.

Jeff basically did the whole project, but I take credit for the idea. ;)

Here he is, showing off his excellent spray painting skills.

I would also like to note that Jeff's bedroom at BYU was spray painted... We even spray painted on many of our dates. He is a skilled spray paint artist! (More on that later.)

Before we hung up any frames, we make cut outs (with newspaper) of all the frames we had, and placed them on the wall to make sure everything was in a good place. We went for the random look, obvi.

I think it looks like America. (Minus Florida)
And below, you can see the frames all up!

This picture doesn't quite do it justice, and are some empty frames still, but you get the picture. (Pun intended.) It was a fun project, and we love our wall covered with memories and loved ones.

I will definitely bring this "art work" to my next home, and drill another 50 holes on a bare wall.

Inspiration from the project came from Young House Love, this pic, and B Slendid.

Buy a bed, or build a bed? Build a bed.

2011-05-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

OK, so I know this sounds crazy, but Jenna and I decided to make a bed. We have had so much fun with all of our other projects (table, chairs, dresser), we felt semi confident that we could make a somewhat cool bed, that may last longer than a week. So, if you haven't been following our blog religiously (shame on you) and didn't see our trip to get all the lumber for our bed, check that out first.

So we started with plans that we found on Ana White's blog for a farmhouse bed that we loved and looked somewhat doable (no pun intended). We hadn't really decided what color we would paint it, or stain it, or really taken any thought to the day we would actually finish the bed. We were just enjoying building something together.

I know this project just came together for you in the blink of an eye, but at this point, we had been working on it for about 3 weeks straight. Everyday after work, all day Saturday, sometimes even a little on Sunday (don't tell my bishop). Point is, this bed was not as easy as Ana said it would be. Could have been the builders, could have been the plans, but most likely its just the fact that we were building a bed! Not a super easy project. On top of the difficulty level, as we were staining, I tipped over the head board and broke off the top crown piece. I was very angry. Took another few days to get it ready to stain again, but we got there. Jenna insisted I keep my day job instead of becoming a bed maker (not the cheap hotel kind, the wood kind, whatever). And once again, we didn't get any pics of us staining but as always it was extremely exciting. Looking back on the project, I think it was a success. We had a great time, gave us something fun to do after work, and our bed is still standing! Hallelujah! Hope you enjoy our finished work! And please pardon the picture quality, I clearly do not know how to use Jenna's fancy camera.

Our very own dresser!

2011-05-06T20:22:00.000-07:00

So the other day(at least a month ago), I was thinking to myself, "Hey! I should get a dresser from a second hand store and make it look awesome and new!" So I did. Jenna and I spent a week or two looking for dressers on craigslist, searching at the salvation army and other thrift stores, and finally found our future dresser. It even came with a mirror, and Jenna was just saying "Hey! We need a new mirror for our room!" (yes, we do say "Hey!" a lot, and yes we like to check ourselves out in the mirror) It was meant to be! Behold, the dresser and mirror on day 1 of ownership:

So our first idea was to spray paint (I love spray painting) the whole thing white, and go with a country/farm look.

We went through a TON of spray paint! We thought it was going pretty well. But no Project goes exactly as planned.

So after too many cans of spray paint to count, and an unsatisfactory finish on the dresser, we decided to sand down the already painted top of the dresser and stain it a rich deep color. I guess we didn't take any pics of us staining, but let me just tell you, it was very exciting! I think it turned out pretty great though!

Boooommmmmmike!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEFF!!!

2011-05-03T15:36:00.000-07:00

27 Quick Reasons Why I Love My Birthday Boy

1. Jeff is super attractive.

2. Jeff has a strong testimony of the gospel.

3. Jeff doesn’t get angry.

4. Jeff is extremely smart.

5. Jeff is very athletic, and a basket-baller.

6. Jeff is really good at cooking meat.

7. Jeff is creative.

8. Jeff is a handyman.

9. Jeff is an excellent lover. Hehe.

10. Jeff loves his mother.

11. Jeff has great style. The man wears Ray Bans, and tailored dress shirts!

12. Jeff is patient.

13. Jeff is really good at flips and tricks into the pool, and on the trampoline, wakeboard, etc.

14. Jeff is a peaceful sleeper.

15. Jeff loves food.

16. Jeff gives good massages.

17. Jeff is a good example to the youth of our ward.

18. Jeff goes running with me.

19. Jeff is an entrepreneur, and such a hard worker.

20. Jeff loves his nieces and nephews.

21. Jeff wakes up with random songs stuck in his head (like “Milkshake”).

22. Jeff is super techie and can build websites and fix my phone.

23. Jeff is a BYU fan.

24. Jeff is a great friend, and he loves his friends dearly.

25. Jeff is smart with his money, and is good at saving.

26. Jeff doesn’t get embarrassed when I do silly things in public.

27. Jeff is an amazing husband and best friend. I am so happy to be his wife.

Love you sweets! Happy Birthday!

And for your birthday, I found you a funny picture...

A Gardening Story

2011-04-29T09:30:00.000-07:00

It has been my lifelong dream to have a huge lush garden full of fruits and veggies. In the last couple of years my dad has created an amazing garden full of a variety of veggies and even strawberries and raspberries! With Arizona's heat, I have found it hard to create a successful garden. It started last year when I planted veggies in a ground level garden box. Only a few months later, the pesky turtles escaped and ate everything. Then, Jeff and I built an "above ground" garden box using some seeds I started in the house, and the veggies started growing pretty well until a rat climbed up the legs and ate some of the leafy greens.

Not all hope was lost. We continued to nurse the garden... Then, we bought an orange tree and planted it in a large pot so it would be transportable.

Then, in the middle of "winter," we had a snow storm. Yes, SNOW, in Scottsdale. Weird.

The garden box plants froze to their death.

My orange tree suffered a cold and painful freeze as well. I thought it was a gonner, but within a few weeks, and some warm days, the orange tree started sprouting up some green healthy leaves. It's ALIVE!

The garden box plants were all dead and nasty, and the box was starting to break, (creating quite the eye-sore in the back yard), so we decided to clean it up. While throwing the dirt over the back fence, I came upon some survivors from the garden... 3 carrots!

More gardening successes and failures to come.

Mormon Prom

2011-04-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

The North Scottsdale Stake lived up to their stereotype and had the most amazing/over the top Prom ever. The dance was held at Scottsdale Air Park... inside a jet hanger with a huge jet as a "prop". They had a live band, DJ, and snacks of course. They also had valet parking and shuttles.
Ok, so Jeff and I were told we were too old to attend, so we participated in every way we could. We hosted the young men and women for pre-Prom festivities including dinner, rock band, and dessert. Jeff and I made cordon bleu, garlic mashed potatoes, fresh green beans, homemade artisan bread... for dessert: molten cakes with vanilla ice cream. We went all out.
Then, as they were finishing up... none other than a huge white limo rolls up to take them to the dance. None of the kids knew. A man in the ward surprised everyone. I wanted to party in the limo with them sooooo bad.
Jeff was also part of the clean up crew. I slept in the car because my body shuts down after 10pm.

no freaky dancing allowed!

Chairs For Our Table (diy)

2011-04-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

Jeff made a table a while back. We needed some chairs. I wanted to continue the farmhouse look with all mismatching chairs... See my inspiration here, here, and here.
We got some free chairs, and got to work.

Before... ew, so ugly

After!

We got the fabric for both chairs on sale at Joanne's.

Before!

After! Excuse the iPhone pic.
This chair is my favorite, and I love the fabric. I think we paid $5 for it, and it is an original antique.

It was fun learning how to reupholster the seats.
The mismatching chairs look alright together. I'm not sure I'm set on the idea. But it works for now.
We are having 10 kids over this weekend to feed them before Mormon Prom, so I will have to round up some chairs... More to come.
Ps. Happy Friday. Don't Go Skinny Dipping.

Current iPhone App Obsession

2011-04-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Instagram.
It is such a cool app. It puts filters on photos that you take... and turns them into magic.It's free.

Before

After

My sister is a model.

And so is my husband.

Ps. Thank you Maddie and Scott for teaching me how to use it. Hehe.

Confessions

2011-04-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

It seems like Jenna is always confessing something on this blog, and to be honest, hogging all the spotlight. So I thought I would make a confession today. . . or a few confessions.

Confession #1: I hacked into Jenna's Grooveshark.com account to listen to her J Beebs playlist.

Confession #2: I found myself rocking out to Justin's "Pick Me" song. It's legit!

Confession #3: Jenna and I have had multiple dance battles to this song.

So I thought I would share this song with the world (i.e. our 35 followers). But there are 2 rules to watching this video. Rule number 1, dont actually watch it. Just listen to it as you surf the web or do something else. Seeing Justin's somewhat girly face and hair throw off the whole hip hop theme this song rocks. Rule number 2, stop the song at 3:20. For some reason this video has more than 1 J Beebs song on it and I can only handle promoting one Bieber song at a time. Enjoy!

Snakes On A... Run

2011-04-12T22:19:00.000-07:00

I went on a run and found a dead snake

I swear is was real, no way was it fake.

I jumped and I screamed

and had quite a fright

Although he was dead, I would've dodged his bite.

So when running in the desert

look out for this warning

because if you aren't careful,

you'll be dead by the morning!

How fast of a typer (typist?) are you?

2011-04-11T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have never tested my typing speed before today.

Take this test: http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/ It's kind of addicting, so watch out.

How fast can you type??!!

My best is 61 words per minute. Jeff got 66 words per minute.

The world record for fastest typing is 216 words per minute. And the average computer user types around 33 words per minute. Source.

A-Whole-Lotta Lumber

2011-04-07T22:51:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I spent our night buying A LOT of lumber to make a BED!!!
We (Jeff) are going to build Ana-White's farmhouse bed. The table just wasn't enough. Sometimes I feel like we are totally old school pioneer people... baking bread, building our furniture, etc...

Please notice all of the lumber!!!

I thought we had trapped ourselves out...

But we climbed in, and drove safely home...

Wish us luck!

Life Wisdom, According to Maddie

2011-04-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

I was texting Maddie yesterday afternoon about my day. I told her I was sick of sitting in a chair all day. And I continued to complain about my job, and other trivial woes. She told me not only to be patient… but to have faith because according to Maddie, FAITH is the word of the year!

The source? Maddie herself.

I liked it. There are a lot of things that I need to have faith in right now. There are always things in our life that we need to have faith in.
Deep. I know.
Well, I continued to ask her… If faith is the word of the year, what is the motto of the year?
“We all live a sweet life, but we have to taste the saltiness to appreciate the sweet.”
Then I asked… “are you making this crap up?”
“Ya, duh.”
“Well then, what is the color of the year?”
“Yellow.”
(The Color Code Personality Test indicates that I am a yellow… so 2011 is my year!)
The scripture of the year is in the Book Of Mormon: Moroni 10:23. “If ye have faith ye can do all things which are expedient unto me.”
The song of the year is “Where Are You Going,” Dave Matthews Band… tied with “Pump It, Louder!” Black Eyed Peas.
Random, I know.
I asked an inappropriate question that got this response: “Ew, I wouldn’t know, haha… That’s Nast.”
The fashion item of the year, according to Maddie, is Toms shoes, skinny jeans, and a baggy shirt. (Similar to the last 4 years haha).
The hair style of the year is something short.

The baby names of the year: “anything weird that can have a short nickname like Squatterlynn (Lynn), Pumpernickel (Nick), etc.” Maddie also stated that she deserves to name my future children. Yikes.

Thank you Maddie, for your words and wisdom to live by for 2011.

Quickie Weekend in Utah

2011-04-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Utah last weekend to visit my family. Most of you probably saw these pics on Facebook... but why not post them again?
It was a fun weekend. We watched the cougars play Florida (sad ending), played games at Keros and Ann Marie's house, went to Ikea and other fun stores, and caused havoc at the Grand America pool.

Grandma Pat and Grandpa Dee when they lived in Santa Rosa. Grandma had this pic laying around.

Playing games one night at Keros and Ann Marie's.