Monday, October 18, 2010

Trip to Southern California


This is an out of control post :-) We wanted to document that which we saw so that we won't forget all the little details that we loved so much.

We left Wednesday night to Saint George and then on to California early Thursday morning to go see Shay's sister, Keely, at the USC hospital. Keely, was born with a heart problem and had already undergone 3 major heart surgeries and was now undergone her fourth. We were so grateful to Shay's two sisters, Tiffany and Summer, who found a home close to the hospital that all of the family members were able to use while visiting. When we reached the hospital Thursday we were told the house was off of Crenshaw Blvd. Since Winnie had grown up in Southern California and had not heard very many flattering things about Crenshaw....she was quite nervous. Shay's sister Misty said it was a fabulous house and that the neighborhood, in which it was located, was also very nice. That made Winnie feel a lot better. That night when we arrived at the home our mouths dropped. WOW!  We have since looked up the property on the internet to find out it is actually for sale. Too bad there is no way we could afford the $1,200,000 price tag. OH, but we wish we could.
Here is a picture of the home from the street.


This is the vegetation on the sidewalk:

This is a picture of us walking towards the front door.
Looking back to where we just were:


Here is the view of the front door and porch when coming from the sidwalk.

Looking up from the above spot:

To the left side of the front yard:

Looking at the left side of the house:
Proceeding to the front door.  We think it is absolutely amazing that this house was built in 1909. This door is original (We personally would not have chosen the bear, but that is our personal choice):

The handle:

It was crazy to see the how old this door handle was.

This is the inside of the door:
 Before we show you the inside we're going to show you the view of the house from the driveway.




It has this carport and then a garage out back.


Walking up the stairs from the driveway:


Finally back to the front door.


Unfortunately, we don't have a camera that could take a picture that would truly capture the true entrance of this home. It was amazing.

Close up of the amazing stair case:


The beautiful old light fixture:




Looking slightly to the right of the staircase:


The next few picture is of the front room as you turn to the right. The fireplace has original Tiffany stain glass:
 

 



The wall next to the front door. It is an old pharmaceutical cabinet:


A picture of the ceiling in the front room, entryway, and library/music room:


Looking back towards the front door from the front room:


Looking at the corner of the front room where we took the above photo:


Now looking back at the front door and heading to the other side of the room.
 

This is the left side of the front area of the house. It has a little bay window, and was originally (we believe, based on an old intercom system) library. It currently still has the beautiful library shelves (which you will be able to see farther down) and also an amazing grand piano. We had never seen a piano like it. It was breathtaking!












 
Here you can see where the dinning room connects to the library area. 

Looking at the dinning room entrance that is located just to the left of the grand staircase:


Here is what you see when entering the dinning room:




Our not so favorite piece of art below a beautiful Tiffany window:


Had beautiful, old, built-ins:
 

Another original Tiffany stain glass piece above the fireplace:


To the left of the fireplace, and on the very side of the house is a fun sun room:




Fun light in the sun room:


To the right of the dinning room fireplace is an entrance to the butlers pantry:

 



Looking into the kitchen from the butler's pantry:
 

Looking back towards the butler's pantry:

   


A small pantry door in the kitchen. Winnie actually came to love the paint in this room.
 

On the back right side of the house, right off the kitchen was a bright happy eating area:
 

This is a picture of the doors from the outside.

This is the back porch--WE LOVED the back porch!
 

Now we are going to start at the stairs and go to the right.
To the right was a quaint little room. Not too sure what it was meant for. It has doors that exit to the carport. It has a card table it in and a really pretty piece of art.  We couldn't believe the beautiful wood work and windows throughout this house!

  

Going towards the back of the house from the above room one runs into this room:

(ABOVE: The owner was so sweet to move a bed from upstairs to here for Keely).
  

A cool picture on found in this room:


Going back to the grand stair case:



The landing had the most amazing window:


Proceeding up the staircase:
 


 
Upon closer look at the wall seen below we noticed they had an old service system as seen in the picture beside it:
 

The old phone is still hanging on the wall:

If you look to the left of the window, in the below picture, you can barely see a door that steps out onto an AMAZING balcony area. we wished we had a week to sit out there just to read!

Door leading out to the balcony:





This is to the left of the arm chair seen above:

Looking back towards the house from the balcony:


Little details around the home:


One of the bathrooms:
 
Master bedroom paintings:

A cute built-in in one of the rooms:

Really liked this piece:

Pictures in the office:
 
Pieces someone was working on:




Another bathroom:
 

Cool old light fixture against a BRIGHT blue ceiling:

We both had to say this was quite weird.....a medicine cabinet and sink in a closet:




From the second floor there is a back staircase that lead up to the third floor, where we slept:

This is looking down towards the first floor. It exits by the kitchen behind the grand staircase:

The steps were small:
The landing at the top of the stairs (third floor):


It was a large loft area with two bedrooms and future bathroom:

It had another amazing balcony off the loft area through these old doors:

The latch was so old and cool:
The balcony:
 The view:


These palm trees lined the roads of this particular subdivision.


Looking back at the house:


To the right of the doors was a very odd old closet:


This was the room we slept in:

The owner really likes color:
 

Behind the grand staircase was doors to the cellar:
 

This was Shay's favorite. He liked looking through the old items down there. He found a newspaper from 1950 that had articles about the Korean War.

We both have spent time researching the home because of how amazing it was. We both agreed that it had a wonderful feeling within the home and that it was such a fun experience to be able to have experience that type of history while visiting California.

On the way out we saw this house and wished we could have toured it as well. The picture does not due it justice at all, but it is something to help me remember:


Thank you Tiffany and Summer!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Thanksgiving Point


Shay and I really enjoy going out and seeing new things!  We really enjoy going to museums. Here is Shay in the Dinosaur museum.

Unfortunately, we were only able to get through 1/2 of the museum before we had to leave.  Fortunately, we have our family pass and will be able to return!  Can't wait to spend time in the gardens next!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

1 year down.....eternity to go!


Shay and I have officially been married for a year now. June 20th was our first anniversary. Shay was so sweet and booked us a weekend up at the Homestead. I had only been to the Homestead once before (to scuba dive) and thought the place was beautiful, so I was very excited to be going there to spend time with Shay!

We left Friday evening to head up to Midway. We stopped off at The Olive Garden for dinner. Now normally I would not be too thrilled about going to The Olive Garden (not my favorite Italian place) but since we had a gift certificate we decided to go there on our way up. I have to be honest, my dish was fabulous! Usually I strike out when ordering at The Olive Garden but this time was different! WAY YUMMY---too bad I don't remember the name of my dish.

Once we made it there we checked into our little cottage (Shay is pictured below standing in front of the cottage).


Below is the view from our cottage. It was so amazing to just sit outside and enjoy the beautiful few! In the distance, below the mountains, is Deer Creek Reservoir.

Me taking in the view.


Saturday we spent the day walking around the Homestead enjoy the amazing landscape, geese, food, activities, etc.

Below is a picture of the main lobby area. The flowers, landscaping, etc. is just breathtaking!

Pictures of us around the Homestead.






We had fun playing a few games of pool before dinner. Shay shocked me with his amazing pool playing abilities.




They even had a free "concert on the lawn" Saturday night that we were able to attend (apparently they have free concerts throughout the summer). The band was very good! Shay and I both loved the concert and are excited to return to attend again!

Picture of me watching the concert.

Sunday was our official anniversary and we enjoyed sleeping in before having to pack up and return to reality.

Thanks for an amazing anniversary get away Shay! One year down, eternity to go---so glad it is you I get to spend them with, you're amazing, love you!!!!!



Anniversary Mess


A few weeks before our anniversary I realized that I was scheduled to teach a lesson at my church (a Relief Society Lesson).  I knew Shay wanted to make plans for us to go somewhere for the entire weekend, but luckily Shay was so supportive (as usual) and was fine with us having to plan around my lesson schedule (No worries, we had a wonderful two night stay at the Homestead and had plenty of time to get back in time for my lesson).

Well when church was over, and I had given the lesson, I was so excited to share with Shay the things I felt prompted to say to the sisters in my church and the deeper lessons I learned while teaching (I have learned long ago that teachers always learn more than the student if preparation and prayers given). I talked all the way home (that isn't very far ---we live less than an 1/4 of mile from our ward house) and all the way up our 3 flights of stairs to our condo. We entered the kitchen, and while we both were trying to get a something to eat, I continued to share with Shay my thoughts and feelings. I spread my notes out on the counter to show him. It was then that it happened. I had gone into the pantry to get a soda. While turning around I dropped the can. It hit the floor pretty hard and the top part of the can (where the tab is) was now bulging out. I thought, "great now how am I suppose to open this." As I am thinking this I place it down on the counter.....now remember, Shay is right next to me making himself a sandwich......when it EXPLODES!!! Not a squirt out the top, not a burst like one sees on T.V. when Liquor is opened....OH NO, it EXPLODES! I was looking down at it while I set it down and I almost thought my eye was taken out. It SOAKED both Shay and me. Shay was stunned, I was in shock. My entire self was dripping in soda and so was Shay. We were silent for a moment and then began to laugh. I didn't know there was that much liquid in one can of soda. I quickly ran into the bathroom to get the soda soaked clothes off and returned to see what else might have gotten wet.......when I came back to the kitchen I was SHOCKED! There was soda EVERYWHERE! I quickly nabbed my neighbor to come and take a picture so that we would be able to document this disaster!
Shay did not like the idea of a picture and quickly changed out of his soaking wet shirt....but we were both soaked!
All of my lesson pages were ruined.
Every wall in the kitchen was speckled with soda.
The cupboards too.
My stove, behind where I placed the can, was hit.

The picture above our pantry was pelted.
The fridge wasn't able to escape the wrath of this can.
Even the ceiling had soda on it!!!

It took us quite awhile to get the soda off everything (actually the other day I opened the pantry and found some speckled soda on a inward facing wall---how does that happen???). Luckily, we decided to laugh about it.....instead of cry! What a fun anniversary!

BTW: Soda can remove paint I have learned---the hard way. :-(

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Becoming One....


I just realized that our anniversary is coming up. WOW!  Crazy how quickly a year can pass by! It's a good thing we are starting to become one.....we even have a photo to prove it!

Games



Shay and I are gamers. We love to play games! We have an entire closet full of games to play when we have family and friends over. So when I finished tutoring a student of mine, and her parent was asking what things she could do at home to help her child out, I suggested some fun educational games that would help this child master some spelling and memorization concepts. As our conversation turned to games she shared with me a game their family got for Christmas. She said that they had purchased both Agricola and Catan for Christmas but that Catan was still in its wrapper since they haven't been able to move away from Agricola. This shocked me because I LOVE Catan! I highly suggested that she open up her Catan and give it a try. She then told me I needed to try Agricola.

I have to be honest, I really wanted to try Agricola. I had been introduced to Agricola in Chicago by a game store employee (My mother wanted to purchase a game for Shay for his birthday so we took an hour jaunt over to a gaming store to purchase a much wanted game--Puerto Rico). At the time the employee was really pushing Shay and I to purchase Agricola instead of Puerto Rico, since it had pushed Puerto Rico out of the #1 game in the world position. I was almost convinced until I saw the $90 price tag price! We left with smiles on our faces and Puerto Rico in our hands....but to be honest I have always wondered why that employee loved Agricola so much---BTW:  Puerto Rico is an awesome game as well!!!



Well, this mother not only loves Agricola, but she is also addicted to it. She immediately invited me to use her game to try it out. So at the next tutoring session, Friday, she shows up with Agricola and all these fancy pieces she has purchased on top of the original game. I smiled and thought---WOW, she is obsessed! That afternoon I called our gaming friends, Holly and Jason, and asked if they would be interested in trying it out. Unfortunately they were busy that night but we made a time to get together Sunday evening. That night Shay and I felt we had better at least try to figure out the game a bit before Holly and Jason showed up (the pieces and cards alone looked overwhelming). We started reading through the directions as 9:30 PM. By a quarter to 11 I told Shay we had better go to bed. The next day we got onto YouTube and watched a tutorial on how to play Agricola. It took 30 minutes to watch and at the end we were excited to try it out. We ended up playing 4 games and made ourselves go to bed at midnight. Then today, we played 4 more games before Holly and Jason even showed up. Holly and Jason really liked it as well. Unfortunately, we were only able to play one full game before they needed to leave but we ended up making plans to play again tomorrow night!
So, I guess the whole point of this little blog is to let you know about Agricola, if you haven't heard of it already. It is such a fun game! It is a 1-5 player game and the game changes each time you play it! I would highly suggest getting together with someone who has played before (Shay and I would love to play with you if you'd like) or go onto YouTube and watch a tutorial.
The only bummer deal now is that Shay and I will have to purchase the game! Luckily the price has come down to below $50!