Adventure in Hide-Away Valley

Craig and I took an adventurous trip Yesterday out to Sanpete, UT. For those of you who don't know where that is, you could say that it's in between Manti, Price and the middle of nowhere.

I had a design in-home consultation with a client at their 24 bedroom lodge tucked away in Hide-Away Valley in Sanpete County.

I have never been so in awe of a space in my whole life. The project is going to be unreal!!

The lodge consists of four different houses (each coming in at least 4000 square feet) built and designed by a husband and wife and their three children. Each home was occupied by each of the married children and the parents. In the 80's, after 3 years, they moved to Arizona and put it up on the market for sale. After 18 years of renting it out, they sold it to the current owners. Needless to say, some of it was in pretty rough shape, but they have already done an incredible job of fixing it up.

It was incredible to go through each house and see the different flare and personality of each child's custom house, and then end with the Parents' home and grand ballroom.

The client is leaving out of a town for two weeks for St. Louis next week, so I am meeting Tuesday with the her at Home Depot to pick out paint, tile and a few other things for a bathroom so that the contractor can keep busy while she is away on business. In the meantime, I will be designing an entire house (Sunset, the home in the northwest corner) while she is gone. Wish me luck.

Busy Bees

So sorry we haven't blogged recently. With Craig going to school and working full time and me working 50+ hours a week, we are always flying by the seat of our pants. We feel very blessed that we can work so much, go to school, and somehow manage to keep our sanity and things running smoothly. I'm just counting down the days until our baby comes. Somehow I feel like that's when things will really settle down. I'm sure I'm sorely mistaken.

We are so excited for our baby Olivia to finally be here, though. Yesterday I bought the cutest coat for her and several little winter hats. She will love them just as much as I do, I'm sure.

Next week we go into the doctor for my 32 week appointment, and will then be going in every two weeks for a check up. I have been feeling great and am truly grateful (even though at times it may not seem the case) that my baby keeps me awake all night long doing jumping jacks, because I know she is healthy and strong.

Tiny Temptations

I must tip my hat to retail companies for requiring an email address at an online checkout. I am embarrassed to say now that I am one of hopefully many suckers that click on every add from the Children's Place and Gymboree advertising a sale or new hot "line" of clothing in my inbox. I can't miss out on any opportunity to get a good deal or miss a new fad in little girls' clothes. Craig has reason to be very, very afraid.

I just have to share with you a few tiny temptations that I have stumbled upon.

Honestly, how could any girl resist a pair of ballet slipper pink shoes with a big satin bow? I told Craig that I really want these to go with Olivia's blessing dress. The upside, I explained, is that we already (thanks to Debbie) have the matching bracelet to go with the outfit..so we can't feel as bad about splurging on the shoes. He is a kind man and understands that he isn't going to win this battle. I am thrilled!

Now these are slightly over the top but unmistakably one of the cutest "temptations" I have ever seen.

Along with these...


and this...

What We Did This Summer (LONG POST)

I'm reminded of the lyrics from a popular Green Day song released in '05 right before I got home from my mission, "summer has come and passed." If we could, we'd choose to wake up when October is ending just in time to get ready for our baby's birth. Instead, with school starting back up and full time work, we'll be busy, but we're looking forward to the upcoming months.

This summer we've reached a number of milestones and had a lot of fun and grown a lot together. We've also had different opportunities to spend time with family and friends. Here are a few highlights from our summer and hope you enjoy.

We started the summer off right with our annual skimboarding trip in St. George with the k-town crew. We always appreciate Taylor and Kelli Jacobson's hospitality and missed those who weren't able to make it this year! We had fun under the moon and in the sun. We also enjoyed some Japanese food at Samurai 21. Most saw the new Terminator movie and although I was there in person, my cinematic narcolepsy got the best of me this time.

We went in for our first ultrasound and saw the first images of our baby at the end of June. It was a bittersweet experience in some ways (Jac's due date was moved back by 2 1/2 weeks from Nov. 5th to Nov. 23rd) but it was so neat to see our baby and find out that everything was going well. We'll be naming her Olivia. There are a few middle names in contention that include: Grace, Paige, Joy, and Jean. I know that I've posted some of these pictures before so sorry to those who have but we really like them (A LOT!). :)

Full body from head to toe, Obviously a Girl!

We spent the 4th of July weekend at Bear Lake and in Malad, Idaho. Both of Jacquelinne's parents grew up there and it was fun for me to experience Malad and spend time with her side of the family. We had a dodgeball competition, a waterfight, watched Malad Idol, and saw some great fireworks. Jacquelinne got me (us) a camera for my birthday that we absolutely love and have a had a lot of fun taking pictures throughout the summer.



Triple Rainbow from I-15, Bear Lake Early Morning, Wakeboarding


At the Malad Parade

For my birthday, Jacquelinne surprised me contacting some friends for a fun night at the Salt Lake Bee's baseball game. She only told me to get off work an hour early so we could celebrate. I had no idea why we were driving into Salt Lake until we got to the exit and then I figured out that we were going to a baseball game. We had vicariously won voucher tickets and I thought that's we were using but it turned out that a bunch of people were there to wish me a happy birthday and it ended up being a really great day!



At the Game - The Game

Our next fun vacation was over the 24th of July weekend. We missed the Altom family reunion in Oakley but it was for a good reason. Jacquelinne's dad had been planning a trip to Lake Powell forever and I'd never been. I really did miss being with family but had a great time on the water. We were on a houseboat for 4 days and 3 nights and it was a very relaxing and much needed vacation. We spent the majority of the time surfing and did some wakeboarding. I had hoped to do a Tantrum (backflip) but the water and I just weren't good enough this trip to allow it. Hopefully I'll do one eventually. Jacquelinne is an incredible surfer and can stay up for 3-5 minutes without holding onto the rope. I can surf without the rope for 3-5 seconds.


Attempted Tantrum, Jacquelinne Surfing


Gorgeous Lake, View Cool Cliff, Jac in the Flinstone's Car

Besides vacations, we've also been purchasing items here and there to get ready for Olivia. We feel semi-prepared and will do more in the next months to be as ready as possible when she is born. We are grateful for the love and support we've received from our family and friends and we already have clothes, a crib, a rocking chair, a carseat, bottles, and much more. Jacquelinne has been busy sewing a baby blanket, and baby crib bedding. They are still in the process of being finished but she is so talented and I'm glad she's able to add personal touches to most things we'll be giving to our baby girl. She's going to be an incredible mother!!!! Here's a link to previous posts about some of our things...LINK More to come later as we complete the nursery. To finish the summer here are the most recent ultrasound images of our beautiful baby girl. We had an ultrasound this past Monday (8/31) and found our that everything is going well. Olivia already weighs 2 lbs 8 oz when 2 lbs 6 oz is normal at this point in the pregnancy. Her heart is strong and she has a good heart rate. They tell us that she is developing very well and we hope this trend continues. We're so excited to become parents and to have our family grow. Thanks again for the support. Also, thanks to anyone who took the time to read any or all of this post. I know it was long but we had a lot happen (some of which was not even mentioned).

Our Chubby Baby Olivia!!!!