Enjoying Nature

Last night we went on a little hike up above Alpine to Horsetail Falls. We took Brody with us and got to see his hackles like I've never seen them before!

We were sitting down eating our dinner when I spotted a dog coming down the trail.We got him back on his leash, and I figured he knew the dog (and owner) were coming around the corner.

Nope.

He went a little crazy - barking and growling and acting like he was going to tear the other dog to pieces. I was glad we had him on the leash and that Kristen was able to hold him!

At the risk of sounding heartless, it was actually pretty funny to see him get so worked up. I think he was just surprised and had to act tough to cover it up...

The best part is that he's really the biggest cuddle-bug of a soft-hearted dog you'll EVER meet... :)

One GIANT Pile of Dirt... :)

This should be every (prior) little boy's dream - a gigantic pile of dirt to play in delivered straight to your front door... well, almost.

We decided that it was time to level out (and hopefully improve) our lawn after finishing the fence project.  If you looked closely at the fence pictures, you might have noticed that the gap on the north end was quite a bit bigger than the south end next to the house.  Those are the remains of the previous owner's RV pad.  It had been covered and planted when we moved in, but they didn't exactly finish the job and left quite a dip in the yard...


I called a landscaping company and got a quote for topsoil - surprisingly cheap, if you ask me... don't ask Kristen :)

So on Wednesday, the ten-wheel dumptruck showed up with 14 cubic yards of topsoil for me to push around for the last few days.

This is the pile it made.  It was originally just as high as the newly finished fence that I wish we'd built after the dirt got delivered...  I've lost track of how many trips I've made with a wheelbarrow almost all the way around our house.

I still have another day or two of playing in the dirt before it'll be ready for grass seed. I can't wait to see what it looks like with grass on it!

More pictures to come when it's not just a photo of dirt... :)

And it's a....

Ha ..ha.. so I start this blog and then disappear from the blogging world for practically FOREVER:)  Good thing I have an amazing husband who can take over and cover for me!  Initially I stopped because a good nap sounded so much more exciting than creating a blog post.. then I just got out of the habit.  We do have some exciting news though, we had our Ultrasound and we are having.....

A GIRL!!  Nate and I were both pretty confident it was a boy..actually I think most people were. (So much for my motherly instinct)  When the Tech went through the Ultrasound and said it was a girl, I made her check twice, but sure enough we are having a girl on July 22.  We're excited! Nate comes from a family of all hard core camping, hunting, manly boys so I've slowly had to start introducing him to the color pink, tea parties and the need for girls to have many pairs of shoes.  He'll do great:)   Here's some of the other pictures, I know it's tricky to see but there is a leg and foot. (I'm not sure what the other random shapes are, but I'm sure they are important)

My dad says it looks like she's wearing Nike's in this picture, but I'm pretty sure they are Sauconys.

If anyone has any cute girl names, send them our way!

New Fence

So we've been needing to finish our fence since we moved in.  A few months ago, we found a crazy deal on KSL for (supposedly) 40 linear feet of white vinyl fence.  We paid for it and the guy was nice enough to deliver it for us on his way to Richfield.  As we started unloading, I realized there was way more than 40 feet.  The package included a gate, which can go for as much as $250.  It's just been sitting behind our shed all winter waiting for the weather to warm up enough for concrete pouring.

Well it finally happened!

 Jon came over and helped me install the entire north side (two people definitely make fence installation easier).

 Prep work on the "hot-tub work bench"...

 One up, three to go...

 It may not be perfectly white, but we're hoping maybe some bleach combined with UV rays will do the trick.    We also have to figure out what to do with the huge pile of leftover fencing.  Any takers? :)

 
Now we can dog-sit without having to worry about escapees...

Updated cupboards!

We recently painted our outdated oak cabinets white and added new hardware. I think it looks great - credit Kristen with the idea to paint instead of stain... Much better look in my opinion (but maybe not any easier).  We are going to stain the trim dark to match the kitchen table. We've decided we like contrast! Kristen also sewed these curtains for the kitchen window. How amazing is she?! :)

p.s. Baby updates are on their way courtesy of Kristen - keep posted... :)

Squaw Peak

Saturday morning, Jon and I decided it had been far too long since we had enjoyed nature, and our wives were kind enough to let us go hike Squaw Peak together... It was a gorgeous day- nice and sunny but not too cold. It was so nice to get out! Here are a few pictures of the trip:

Window to the Life of a First-year Pilot

So I've been thinking that it would be interesting for people to see what it's like to be a brand-new pilot. This is the first installment, so let's get right down to it...

First of all, for those who are interested, the first picture is just an example of some of the things you put up with during the first year of airline employment (not to mention any of the things your spouse puts up with)...

This is my bedroom for tonight. The Minneapolis Airport has a nice, out-of-the-way quiet seating area that actually has soft, stuffed chairs that don't look too hard to sleep on. :)

Either way, they'll have to do for tonight, because I've already paid for a hotel five times this month, and that's more than enough! When I'm on a company trip, they cover the hotel expenses, but I ended up with a lot of reserve assignments this month - which means lots of commuting to work so that I can spend lots of time waiting for maybe a phone call to cover for someone last minute. I have to be within 2 hours of the computer in the crew lounge at the airport to check in at all times and I have ten minutes to respond to a phone call from crew support. It's more stressful to me than flying an 80,000-plus pound airplane with 80 people on board!

Now don't start thinking I hate my job... I LOVE my work; I just look forward to the day in the (near?) future when I can sit reserve at home in Salt Lake and get paid to putter around the house and do something productive! Until then, I'll just enjoy the view from my office and bide my time!

And I'll thank Kristen every day for putting up with this craziness until it gets better. (It will, honey, I promise!)  :)