Happy Birthday To Me

We celebrated my birthday by going to Moab for a trail half-marathon (Todd) and 5k (me.)  Avery stayed with Grandma for 3 days and for the first time ever we didn't sleep in the same place!  It went really well, except for coming home early with the flu, and picking up Avery who also had the flu, and giving the flu to my mom and sister.  That part was awful.

During the 5k I felt my love for running re-ignite and I'm planning on training for a half marathon next Spring.  I felt kinda wussy (OK really wimpy and wussy) for only doing a 5k when Todd did the half and Mark and Van did the whole marathon.  But at least I did a running event, right?

Since our trip was cut short I only took a few photos.  Here's the best one:

Here are the 31 things I almost completed in the last year:

1. Take swim lessons - check

2. Learn to ski- check

3. Ski back country (I've always been afraid of this!)- check- and I kinda hated it!

4. Hike Lone Peak- didn't make it.

5. Hike Twin Peaks- didn't make it.

6. Do a duathalon- check

7. Take a cooking class- didn't make it.  But I did cook a lot of pie crusts!

8. Buy my dream home- check

9. Fix up my dream home because I'll probably have to buy a less expensive scummy house and make it my own- check

10. Visit my sister in Vernal every couple months- check

11. Take Avery to the beach- check

12. Take Avery desert camping- check

13. Kayak down a river- check

14. Learn to install hard wood floors- check

15. Mountain bike a marathon distance- check and this one lost me 5 pounds! I'm not kidding, it was hard!!

16. Learn to make a pie crust that doesn't taste like concrete- check (see #7)

17. Use apples from my yard to cook with- check

18. Actually truly FINISH this darn house we've been working on- check

19. Compete in another bike race- didn't make it

20. Do the Dirty Dash- check

21. Backpack somewhere with Avery- didn't make it. I was really sad about this one.

22. Learn to build furniture out of wood- check

23. Run a trail race- check

24. Plan a trip- check

25. Take a trip!- check (no where too exciting, just Moab but I loved it.)

26. Take a trip without Avery- check

27. Become comfortable with power tools- check

28. Bring someone dinner who needs it- check a few times

29. Throw a party in our new house- check

30. Figure out why I'm dizzy all time time- this one is in the works.  I'm wearing a heart monitor right now.

31.  Forgive myself for not completing this whole list- check!

Coffee Table

What a difference a coffee table will make!

 

   

   

   

They call this the 20 second tidy up coffee table, but it took me 2 minutes to toss everything inside. Not bad!

I made the coffee table myself. I bought bare pine from Home Depot and followed the instructions on ana-white.com and made it! I'm hooked on this wood-working stuff, it's really fun. :) For my birthday I got a kreg jig, air compressor, and 2 nail guns.  So cool!

The ironic thing about this table is that I actually stained it with coffee.  The coffee-stained coffee table, get it?

 

 

Family Photos

Ever since we moved into our new house I've been meaning to get our photos taken so I can put some up on the walls.  Finally (5 months later) we had some taken by my talented friend from catchamomentphotography.blogspot.com and here are my favorites!

 

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Avery Turned One

We celebrated Avery's birthday last week with a Pinnell and a Hammond party. It was great to see everyone and watch my one year old smash cake in her face twice! Thanks everyone for coming! 

At one year old, Avery walks a few steps on her own if we prompt her and she can walk around the house if she's pushing something. In the last week she's said some new words like, "cracker," "down," "duck," "daddy" (it's usually dada) and "kitty cat." She bit my finger on accident and I said, "Ow!" so she said "ow" all day. :) 

 Avery is also using sign language and can say yes, no, more, hi, and all done. 

 She's very sweet and happy. She will loudly announce herself whenever she feels like it or will shout words at random. "DOG!" She'll yell in the middle of a quiet bedtime story. I just love hearing her little voice. 

She loves to go on walks and hikes and will quietly nibble a leaf while taking everything in. She loves pesto, pad thai, beans, and green smoothies. And boy does she love fruit! (Do I even need to mention how much she loves sweet treats? We don't have too many around, thank goodness.) 

 Avery still bursts with happiness at the sight of her stuffed animal Unicorn and loves playing games and dancing with Mommy and Daddy. She's always climbing things, to her daddy's delight. 

We just love her to pieces.  She's the best thing I've ever done in my life!!  

And a bunch of photos so you can see her cuteness for yourself:

 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

 

Green River

We rafted the Green River a few weeks ago. This was more fun for Avery than the last time we rafted, maybe because she's a bit older and her life jacket wasn't as squeezy. It was a fun trip, but cut short upon waking up to a complete downpour.  So fun.

 

   

   

   

House Projects

I painted this old cheap pantry that we got from the Restore for $25. Not bad!

Before:

 After:

 

And I built this thing entirely from wood I got from KSL or from around my house (except the cupboards were from my mom's old kitchen and some wood came from Home Depot.) It's our new mud-room area:

 

One piece of wood used to be my cutting board, lol. This project cost about $100 but I did have to buy some tools (woo hoo!) in addition to that. Who would have thought I'd be so excited to buy power tools?

 

Cinnamon Ridge House

The house is done!  We worked long and hard for 3 months and completely changed the inside.  There are still have a lot of little things to do but it's basically done.  I LOVE the end result, and who wouldn't considering the original state of the house?  It was overdue for an update.

Here are a few before and after photos. 

Before: 

 

After: 

 

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After: 

 

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After: 

 

Here are the nice holes we cut in the wall to open up the kitchen/dining area. 

 

Before: 

 

Not finished, but close. After: 

 

Next time I clean the rest of the house I'll take photos to post. :)