Flashback Friday: Father's Day Family Outing

This year for Father's Day, my brother and I decided to team up and give our dad the gift of golf. My parents are avid golfers, playing every few days--my mom even played 27 holes in one day last week.

Since they rarely venture up to the Big City, Derek and I told my parents they must come up and spend the day with us so that we can golf together as a family (although we were missing one--our sis, Malarie). Sure it's supposed to be my dad's chance to pick whatever he wants to do, but since he's a good dad he lets us boss him around.



We had a great day, we golfed at Wing Point so that my airplane aficionado father could enjoy watching the jets take off and land at Salt Lake International.

[Update: I just realized the two pics above are actually from another golfing trip my bro & parents were on together. Somehow they ended up in my photos from this day, but since they're so cute I'm leaving them in anyway.]

I opted out of golfing myself, since, in my delicate condition I wasn't feeling up to playing 18 holes (actually, I was just being lazy but I've found that people are much more sympathetic if you blame things on being pregnant).

Instead I was Derek & Zach's cart companion. The three of us enjoyed speaking with accents, something that we always do whenever we're together although none of us are sure why. This day we alternated between "hillbilly" and "British" (we had to class it up a bit since we were on the course, you know) with an occasional bit of Irish brogue thrown in.

We also observed how much my brother and dad are alike. Ever since Derek was big enough to move around, he's always stood, walked and gestured exactly like my dad. Them' are some strong genes.

And lucky for us, he also inherited my dad's gift of telling stories and adding so much detail that we all feel like we were actually there witnessing his funny adventures. This explains why my stomach muscles hurt the next day even though I didn't do anything strenuous.

Laughing-related injuries are the best kind.


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Happy thought

The last couple weeks have been especially sad ones for many of my family and friends. There have been several accidents that have taken beautiful, vibrant people far earlier than anyone ever would have imagined.

These things have reminded me to appreciate the people in my life and how lucky we are to have each other around every day. I've also realized that in the grand scheme of things, little annoyances like a week without air conditioning; a house overflowing with unfolded laundry, dirty dishes and sawdust; and job-related craziness are truly not a big deal.

As scary as it is, I'm thankful that Z & I are gearing up to welcome our little bambino; I'm also feeling especially fortunate to be going through this getting-ready-for-a-baby phase with one of my best friends, Tori. She and I are due a day apart with our first kiddos--a girl for her and a boy for me. Yes, an arranged marriage is already in place. Mark your calendars for Spring 2028.

Here's to good friends and family and enjoying them as much as possible.

T (without her trademark platinum blond locks!) & me at her casa in Phoenix
at the start of our second trimesters.

Rock-a-bye, baby, in your teenytinybuthopefullythoughtfullydecoratedroom...

Z and I* have been busy remodeling our funky, 1907 basement into the future home of our bedroom, the nursery and a master bath (*my contribution is staying out of the way until my expertise is needed) . It's our hope that by doing this, we're converting our shoe-box-sized home into at least a snow-shoebox-sized one that can hold both of us, our 175 pounds of dog (actual weight) and our wee little bebe.

Zach's friend Joel is our contractor and had his stellar framing crew knock out the basement in a couple of days. Now we're moving the furnace and air conditioning unit to make more use of the quirky square footage. Which means no A/C for us tonight. Yikes.

I'll be posting more photos of the remodeling process as we progress, but for now, let's turn our attention to what we're calling the "nursery nook." At 6'x9', it's not quite big enough to technically be called an actual nursery, so hence its "nook" moniker. It's going to be part of our room and will be able to be closed off behind double-doors. When the sad day arrives that we have to sell our beloved shoe box, it will be converted into a second walk-in closet.

But for now, it is the soon-to-be home of little Mirando.

And speaking of him, take a peek below to see what we're thinking so far for his decor. Z & I are not really "theme-y" people, so as we've been deciding on nursery ideas, our taste tends to lean more toward cozy modern (I just made up that term) with a monchichi thrown in for good measure.

Click on the photo for details & sources

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Flashback Friday: Notre Dame

Last month, Kristyn traveled to Price from her home in Washington to baptize her beautiful little girl Ava in our hometown church. (Fun fact: Kristyn is one of my best friends, I've known her since I attended her older sister's birthday party when I was the whopping age of two weeks old.)

Ava's baptism was at Notre Dame de Lourdes Catholic Church which just so happens to be the same place that Kristyn, Marisa, our friend Rachele and I made our First Communions when we were in second grade. It's also the church where Z and I were married.

After the baptism festivities, Kristyn's husband Lance took a picture of the three of us, with the girls, on the front steps of the church:

(R): Marisa & Ella, Me & Mirando (in my belly) and Kristyn & Ava

Which looked surprisingly familiar to one of us in the exact same spot around 1986, although we were much more dressed up here:

(L): Father Schuh, Marisa, me, Rachele, Kristyn

Cue the music to "We are the Champions"

During the summer months Zach plays on two sporting teams, one for baseball and one for softball.

This year, in the same week, both of his teams won the championships for their leagues.

(Left): The Diamondbacks baseball team. Zach is third from right in the back row.
(Right): The Puck's softball team, Zach is second from right in the back row.

Since I once sprained my pinkie finger opening the fridge and had to wear a brace on it--A BRACE ON MY PINKIE FINGER--let's hope little Mirando inherits Z's coordination and athletic genes and not mine (or my lack of them).

Congrats, Zach!


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A giveaway that doesn't suck! (Obvious vacuum-related pun)

Back in April, my office flooded and caused mass destruction to my working quarters. As part of the post-disaster clean-up, an unknown worker brought in a helpful ShopVac to take care of some of the mess.

Award-winning photography by the talented Diania "Double D" Dickerson

This ShopVac has been sitting in the hallway outside of my coworkers' and my office ever since. Seriously. For four months now. Nobody has moved it an inch and for a long time this really bothered me (but obviously not enough for me to move it somewhere else). However, I'm now starting to become attached to it, I think of it as an office pet. Or office R2D2.

My coworkers and I have started to joke about how long it will remain in the hallway before someone finally moves it.

Leave a comment with your best guess as to how long (in days, weeks or months) the ShopVac will remain in the hallway. The closest guess will receive a $20 gift certificate to the world's greatest pizza joint, Z Pizzeria. (And possibly the ShopVac itself.) August 15 is the last day to participate. (It's OK to leave a comment if I don't know you. Chances are I probably read your blog, too.)

Note: My coworkers are allowed to place guesses but cannot influence the status of the ShopVac's hallway residence or else they will be disqualified.


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Monday* Lovely: Oh Man Creations Notecards

If you know me at all then you know that there are three things that I HAVE to have in my life on a regular basis:

1. Gas station nachos;
2. Root beer floats; and
3. Golden Girls reruns.

And also? I love me some stationery.

Note cards, paper, envelopes... You name it I will buy it if I can write on it and drop it in the mail. That's why I also love Etsy. There are literally billions (I also love it when people overuse the word "literally" and exaggerate at the same time) of creative and colorful stationery pieces to purchase.

Here are some of my recent additions from an adorable, affordable Etsy shop, Oh Man Creations:

*I'm fully aware that this post isn't on a Monday. I'm just running late, as usual.


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