Home Improvement

Growing up I was one of millions of children viewers that were led to believe that WWF Wrestling was in fact real wrestling! I was convinced that Hulk Holgan, aside from his platinum obviously fake blond hair, was really tough enough to withstand not only a forearm to the throat or a jump kick to the face but metal chairs being broken over his back. Like many of you it rocked my world to find out that the muscle monkeys not only used steroids and lots of self tanner but choreographed these wrestling matches prior to it taking place. The outcome of the match was truly determined by the producers and not by these would-be heroes. Well my friend prepare yourself because I am about to expose another fake show, my intent is not to rock any worlds with this post but I feel that the truth must be shared. For those of you familiar with the HGTV network and the shows it produces such as Divine Design, Color Splash and Rate My Space I tell you the shows are FAKE. They are produced in such a way that they seem almost inspirational and very basic and easy to do home improvements. Well we too were suckers and fell victim to the "easy to do projects" that they showcase. We had seen an episode where they decided to stripe the walls of a room to give it some pattern, so we thought they made it look easy and they were able to accomplish it relatively quickly so why not give it a shot. What the program failed to show is how hard it is to measure the same distance along the wall, draw all the lines and the tape the stripe following the lines not on them but right next to them. It was a blessing that my wife was given the gift of patience because I was ready to throw in the towel on numerous occasions. Needless to say the end result exceeded not only our expectations but also our initial thought of the time commitment involved in completing the project. All in all I decided that most of the projects they showcase cannot be completed in the 30 minutes they show on the program. Here are some project photos.


The Taping...

The clear coat over the tape...


Removing the tape... slowly...slowly...



The Big Reveal!

Another home improvement project we opted not to take on ourselves was re-doing our driveway. Our house was build in 1947 and I don't think the driveway has been touched since then and was in need of serious help! So we opted for help this time in widening the driveway and removing the "mow" strip in the middle of the driveway. We are thrilled with how it turned out and can't wait to actually be able to drive on it.


Before...

During...

After!
To round up our home improvement post I though it would be appropriate to show the accent wall we painted in our bedroom
and the shower curtain that Suzie and Lydia so kindly made for us.

Thanks again for your hard work on the shower curtain, if it were not for your exceptional sewing skills we would have some ugly flowery curtain in there...(I can't give up my manhood that easily!) So truly, from the bottom of my heart, Thank You!

We are finally starting to get settled and now that the major projects are done we can get ready for the Utah football season. Go Utes!

Gotta "Love" Sno Shack!!!

We took a break from organizing our office to patronize a local establishment simply a stones throw from our new residence!!



The Sno Shack at RiteAid is possibly, without question, our treat of choice this summer - rain or shine!!! In particular, the Molokai featuring mango, pineapple, coconut & cream, or the latest fun taste treat sensation easily made at home the Malibu Coke - simply Cola Flavoring and a glorious splash of pina colada!! Yum!! And let's not forget the Wai Nai Sneaky Sneaky (my personal fave), I don't even know what's in it but Jimmy thinks our new friend and owner of the fabulous establishment, Soulee, puts in a little somethin-somethin extra just for me!!!



For those in my family that love to make connections, Soulee just happens to be Soulee Stroud - older bro, Zeland Stroud, used to run around with Sam & little bro, Thomas Stroud- my age in school.

Needless to say...

This is a MUST-VISIT Hot Spot in the Elm Avenue vicinity and we will be taking you all there when you come to visit us!! Mmmm... Sneaky Sneaky!!


We also must put in a plug for the McDonalds with the RedBox in the parking lot. James and I stop by to return a DVD from last night and low and behold, a husky little Mickey D's worker comes up and gives us 5, yes 5 free RedBox movie rentals!! Whoo Whoo!!!

Travels

We just got home from 2 1/2 weeks of traveling through the United Kingdom with the fam and going to Paris and I thought I would hurry and blog about it before we were rushed off to packing and moving into our new house!! What a summer it has been so far!!!
We started the "holiday" in London where we saw all the tourist-y sites, of course!!
Big Ben & the Houses of Parliament,

the beautiful Westminster Abbey, the Eye of London, Buckingham Palace
and the Tower of London.
By far the coolest part I thought was the Tower of London!! We had a fabulous tour guide who is a "Beefeater" - The guards at the Tower of London that are also called Yeoman Warders, Apparently it is a huge honor to be a Beefeater and to live at the Tower of London with your family. He said it is the best place on earth to raise a teenage daughter because the gates are locked at 10pm sharp every night and they open for no one!! We saw where the wives of King Henry VIII were beheaded and even where Anne Boleyn's body is buried - right at the front of the catholic church at the Tower!! Wow!! So Crazy!!! We also checked out the Crown Jewels that are being guarded there... Jimmy ordered one for me and it should be here soon!!! Hehe!!!

And of course we had to get a picture in the cute red telephone booths!!!

We also decided to take the hour and a half train ride out of London to see one of the wonders of the world: Stonehenge We had a lot of fun making our own version of Stonehenge too!!!

The whole reason for going over to London early was to go to the Wimbledon! We didn't spend as much time there as the boys would have hoped but it was so fun to stand 5 feet from the tennis players on some of the courts and watch them play!! We were there early in the tournament and didn't get tickets to Centre Court so we didn't see any big names play but it was fun to even just be there and of course get Strawberries and Cream!! It was also cool to watch the rest of the tournament on the Ship and think that we had totally been there!!!

After a few days in London we embarked on the Crown Princess for a cruise of the United Kingdom!! As most of you know the first day on the ship is for finding your cabin, the spa and the lido deck and then of course... the Life Boat Drill!!

The first stop was in Cork Ireland where we went to Blarney Castle and received the Gift of Eloquence after scaling the tight passageways in the castle to kiss the Blarney Stone!!! Yes, we are over 100 feet in the air lying on our backs being lowered a few feet to kiss a stone slab... not exactly as I had imagined it but whatever... we have kissed the Blarney Stone!!!

The next stop was Dublin Ireland where we stopped at St. Patrick's cathedral (yes, the one that St. Patrick's Day is for) & saw the Trinity College where the Book of Kells is located!! James was distracted the whole day by a ton of people wearing AC/DC shirts - he was sure there was a concert or had been one and he couldn't do anything else but play "where's the next AC/DC shirt" until he finally asked someone who had been at the concert with 80,000 other fans the night before where Angus did a 20 minute solo then proceeded to urinate on the audience below him!! YIKES!!! And to think James still wants to go to see them in their final North American Tour in September... All I ask is that we don't get a seat on the floor or anywhere close to Angus!!

Belfast Ireland was next and James got to drive... I say "got" to drive even though the thought of driving on the wrong side of the road on the wrong side of the car didn't appeal to anyone else!!! We rented 4 cars for a genealogical quest to find the headstones of Jimmy's great great grandparents in what they hoped was the right cemetery in Broughshane. It was a beautiful drive through rural Ireland - they even have tree covered roads...
amazing! We did locate the headstones and actually found the house they had lived in! The people there were so willing to help us and even found the oldest guy in the town (84) to talk to us about what he remembers about the family... Apparently, the daughter of Jimmy's great great grandparents lived across the street from him when he was a little boy...Crazy that he still remembered!! This was a sign just outside the man's house...Cute that they would put up a sign!!!

After Ireland came Scotland!! Scotland was by far the most beautiful and my favorite of all the countries we visited! We stopped first in Glasgow and went Bike riding in the hills and area around Loch Lomond then went canoeing!! The building behind us is an old castle that they converted into a 5 star hotel... I know where I am staying next time I decide to visit Scotland!!! Hehe!!! James would say at this point that I need to start watering the money tree in the backyard but we both know I don't have a green thumb...!!!

The next stop in Scotland was Loch Ness!! James is so sure he saw "Nessie" the Loch Ness Monster outside... after going through the visitors center, I am thinking this may just be the Monster the eyewitnesses saw in the deep waters!!!

Next to Edinburgh Scotland - MY FAVORITE STOP!!! This city was AMAZING!!! The architecture is awesome and there is a whole city underneath the existing city that we were able to tour some of - the street and area we saw was under the current "Royal Mile" called Mary King's Close. It was incredible to see how and what people lived in during the middle ages even up until the mid 18th century!! I know there was a reason I was born in this time... I would not have lasted long back then!!! Yuck!! But apparently Mary King's Close is haunted and there are all kinds of fun and crazy stories about the plague and stuff!! We didn't have time to go to the Edinburgh Castle
(which is totally on a hill in the middle of the city!!) but I am sure we will go back someday - since it was our favorite place!! But there was a big parade going on while we were there to welcome back all the soldiers that had been gone serving... it was cool that they would have a whole parade and everything!!! We were able to see the Elephant House restaurant where the first two Harry Potter books were written!! We were going to stop in for lunch but the menu looked gross!! So we went two doors down to a fabulous Italian restaurant!!!
This is a high school in Edinburgh... how would it have been to graduate from there??!! Wow!!!
And here is one of the many bagpipers we saw in Scotland - he even stopped to pose for me!!! The McDermott's are part of the Gunn Clan and they have a specific tartan they wear - James got fitted for a kilt when we were there and is considering ordering it from the guy who makes all the kilts for the Scottish Military in the Gunn Clan fabric!! James' Dad plays the bagpipes and so does my brother-in-law who served in Scotland on his mission, and so James decided to get a set for himself!! It will be fun to have my cute Scottish husband playing the bagpipes!!!

The last stop in our long vacation was to Paris France!! It was so fun to see the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Arc Du Triumphe & the Notre Dame Cathedral! We didn't get to go inside the Louvre this time but I can see why people say it takes days to see everything - It was Huge!!! So we just saw the outside of the building where the Mona Lisa is for now!!!

This was a cool shot of the Eiffel Tower that James took - kind of fun!!!


We are excited to be home so that we can get into our new house!! Yeah!!!