Soft Top

Jon has been wanting a soft top for his 4-Runner for a very long time. There just always seemed something more important to buy, fix up, etc that we never bought one - till now. I wanted to surprise Jon with it, but I am horrible at keeping stuff from him (I tell him everything) and I couldn't keep this from him.

I ordered it, it arrived in two days and later that week Jon and his dad installed it. Looks good!!


When we go wheeling we take the top off the 4-Runner, unless we are wheeling in the snow. The hard top adds a lot of extra weight, and extra weight on top makes a huge difference when out rock crawling. This soft top will reduce the weight as well as keep in some needed heat when it is chilly outside.

I have the best husband

I always clean the house on Saturday. Is it because I grew up always cleaning on Saturday or maybe it's the Primary song I learned as a child? You know the one "Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday. We clean the house...." I've thought about changing the day to a weekday but I never want to clean the house after coming home from work. Anyways, back to why my guy is so great. The past few months he has really pitched in and helped me clean the house each week. He will dust, vacuum, sweep, mop, do the dishes, basically anything except clean the bathrooms. Hey, I will take it. Bathrooms don't bother me so much because I grew up cleaning the bathroom every week. With his help each week this gives us more time to play on Saturdays! I love him, he's the best!

For the Birds

Last Saturday I was up making my bed and all I can hear is constant chirping coming from outside. I take a look and our backyard is covered with birds. I guess my lawn must be full of worms because they were pecking the ground like this might be their last meal. I run downstairs so I can take a picture to show Jon. I open the door very quietly so as not to disturb the hungry birds but the second I opened that door they all flew away. I knew they would be back, they're hungry after all. They did come back, but not nearly as many. This time I decided to take a picture through the window. I really enjoyed the listening to the birds it gave me hope that spring is on it's way and then eventually SUMMER!! Can't wait.

Can't Seem to Let Go

The other day I was doing my weekly shopping and on my list (yes I love lists, can't go to the store without one) was my usual facial moisturizer. I go to the isle it is always located in and I can't seem to find it. I start scouring the whole isle, my eyes passing every single product. It is nowhere to be seen. I start checking the other isles "just in case" but who was I kidding I knew it wouldn't be there. So I find an employee and ask if they have it. Just my luck, the employee doesn't speak English very well and doesn't really understand what I am asking. I then go on my way resolved to just buy it at another store.

Easier said than done. The next day I went to two local grocery stores as well as Target and Smith's and scoured their isles but to no avail. I then search the internet but every site says it is out of stock. Then I see the word - the thing that I have been suspecting but dreading DISCONTINUED. WHAT?!?!?! I have used this product for years how could they just up and discontinue it? When you're attached it is hard to let go.

Now I am left with the daunting task of finding a replacement. My sensitive, dry skin in combination with our harsh winters as well as my frugality will make this a challenge. So if you see me and my face is bright red or my skin is flaking off from lack of hydration please know that I'm working on it and just haven't found the right combination.

As a side note I do know there are more important issues in life besides my moisturizer but this little rant will help me let go and move on - who knows maybe I'll find something better.

Something New After 10.5 years

After 10.5 years of knowing Jon I have recently learned something new about him. I never would have thought it would have taken me over ten years to learn this, maybe one year but certainly not ten. Jon is scared of spiders. Now he won't actually admit to his fear of spiders, he will just say he doesn't like spiders, but believe me he is scared of them.

Our house in Lehi didn't have too many spiders and I was usually the one to spot them so I always killed them (I am scared of them too by the way). In our new house we have a basement and the basement just seems to breed spiders, they are everywhere. I am killing them all the time.

The other night Jon and I were watching TV and I spotted a spider on the wall. Jon was already up so I told him to kill it. I learned that my idea of killing a spider and his idea of killing a spider are two different things. I will get paper towels and squish it to make sure it is dead and throw it away. After telling Jon there is a spider on the wall he proceeds to get a piece of cardboard and have the spider land on the cardboard and then his idea was to throw it in the fireplace. That would have been all good if we actually had a fire going but we didn't and the spider could end up crawling out of the fireplace and hiding somewhere in the basement. Jon gets the spider on the cardboard alright but then the spider starts to crawl towards him. Jon drops the cardboard and loses the spider in the process. I begin to ask him why on earth would he drop the cardboard instead of just getting rid of the spider like any normal person would do. Jon tells me that the spider was coming to get him and that's when it occurred to me that he is scared of spiders.

We have now agreed that I will kill the spiders if he will take care of any mice. So far so good with the mice.

I can't believe it took me over ten years to find this out about Jon. Can't wait to see what I will learn after twenty years.

September Camping

It's our annual camping trip with Jon's parents to the Uinta's. Normally we go fishing at least five times but this year we didn't even go once. Jon and I were both sick and sitting by the fire just sounded like more fun. In order to enjoy the fire we had to cut down a tree for more firewood. It's okay, Jon has a permit. It was rainy most of the time (of course) and even hailed, but we had a great time and as always it is just nice to get away and enjoy the great outdoors.

The poor tree has no idea what's coming to it

Timber!!!!

Zach taking a swing with the ax

Jon's turn

It's Hailing

The weight of the hail on the tarp busted the pole

Zach and Megan trying to fix the pole

New Landscape

Our backyard has a new landscape thanks to Jon. We had a few trees on the north edge of our property that hung over the neighbors driveway and garage that could become questionable during the winter months. Our neighbor told us that last winter he was a little nervous that one of the trees would topple on top of his motor home. We didn't really want to buy a damaged motorhome and decided that it would be cheaper to just cut down the troublesome trees. Jon was able to use some equipment from work and cut down two trees and trimmed another one. Now that the trees are gone it has dramatically changed the scenery. We can rest easy knowing that our trees won't cause damage to our neighbors property.