Saturday's Project...

We have been wanting to change the light fixtures in our bathroom ever since we bought the place. Robert and I both prefer silver versus gold. The sinks and towel holders are silver with gold. The shower casing is gold. The light fixtures are gold. On Saturday we went to Costco to buy a vacuum (which we did pick up), and came back with new light fixtures for the bathroom (they were an incredible deal)!

We got right to work. Robert pulled off the old fixtures. We had wondered if there would be wallpaper underneath. We found out quickly- we had more work to do! Lucky for us the last homeowners left some wallpaper for the bathroom.


Rob went to The Home Depot to pick up wallpaper paste (after reading online how to wallpaper). When he came back he had me bring the scissors into the bathroom to cut the wallpaper (I had been wrapping presents). We pieced the pattern together and pasted it up on the wall. It looks pretty good (you can only tell it has been pieced if you are looking for it).

The light fixtures look great. Robert worked hard and it paid off. We love the updated look.

Now if we could just get the shower up to date...

Football Game- Old Timers vs. Young Bucks

Rob was all geared up and ready for the annual Old Timers vs. Young Bucks football game. The firm puts it all together. They even got refs for the games!


Rob played hard when he played. He made some good runs and got open a few times.

Here Rob was wide open for the pass. The QB just couldn't throw the ball to his waiting hands. (Push the play button in the lower left hand corner to watch the clip)

Although Rob played hard, Lauren had the play of the game. Luckily I had the camera rolling and captured it for you to enjoy as well. (Again, push the play button in the lower left hand corner to watch the clip)

In the end, the Young Bucks came out on top for the first time ever. Here they are with the prized trophy! Good work Young Bucks!

Frisco Square Light Show

Frisco Square is about 2 miles away from where Robert and I live. They have a lot of activities there throughout the year. All throughout December they have the light show- over 150,000 lights. On Friday and Saturday nights they also have snow machines going to make it more "Christmasie." Happy Holidays!

*You need to hit the play button in the lower left hand corner to watch the video! Enjoy!

Christmas Lights

We have been wanting to put Christmas lights up on the house, but we don't have a ladder tall enough to get to the roof. However, yesterday (the temperature in the 60s) we went outside to see if there was a way to get to the roof with our small 6 foot ladder. It turns out there is. If I hold the ladder, Rob can pull himself up to the roof off our back patio and then scamper from roof ledge to ledge to reach the front of the house.


We had already bought Christmas lights from Costco, so we (and by we, I mean Rob) were ready to string the lights. Rob got to work, with me watching anxiously from the ground. I had intentions of catching him if he fell off.

Luckily, there was no need to break his fall. He stayed on the roof and strung the lights. I tried to string some around the entry way, but they looked really ghetto. I ended up taking them down after I snapped a picture.

Rob conquered the roof! Now we need to work on the ground lights. Happy Holidays!

Tree Hunt

Robert and I finally went on our annual "tree hunt." The last couple of years we have gone with our friends, the Furse's, to go and chop a tree down out of the mountains. We have thoroughly enjoyed taking "Big Blue" to the snowy mountains, riding Mark's 4-wheeler through the snow, searching for the perfect tree, using a chain saw to cut it down, strap it to the truck and haul it home. When we moved to Texas, one of our concerns was where we were going to find a Christmas tree. On Friday night, we had my work holiday party. We found out that Home Depot has trees for a reasonable price. Home Depot is close to us- so we figured we would check it out. Although it does not compare to our past adventures in the snow, we have a live Christmas tree now. We found the one we liked and had the stump trimmed. We then strapped it to Blue Lightening and brought it home.

We brought the little tree in (it is only 6 1/2- 7 feet tall). We still had to trim it up a little bit.

In the end, the tree has done its job. It has made our house nice and festive.

I even added all the other decorations (I had them out last week, but had no motivation to decorate without the tree). Here are pictures of parts of the house with decorations:

Flowers

For those of you who don't know me very well, I LOVE flowers. My family and I went to the Middle East a couple of summers ago, and I have a picture of every flower I saw. When Robert and I found our home here, I was thrilled to have such beautiful flowers in front of the house. They are bright and vibrant. They bloomed all summer and spring...

Until this last Wednesday afternoon. I walked outside and saw this,

and this!

My flowers just dropped dead overnight! Now I have these ugly stems and flower corpses to look out when I go out the front door. I think I can trim them, but I am not sure. Does anyone out there know what I should do with them now? I want them to grow back next year...

Thanksgiving Feast

On Thursday we had our friends, Natalie, Sean Mia (2 years old) and Crew (2 month old), over for Thanksgiving. Everything turned out so well. Rob and I had originally planned on deep frying our turkey, but after finding a fryer we decided it wasn't worth the cost. So Natalie and split up the food assignments and got to work.

On Wednesday I started baking rolls. I had to call Jane, my mother-in-law, to get a roll recipe. They turned out so well. I did both orange rolls and regular rolls. Rob couldn't stop himself from snitching the orange rolls.

Thursday morning I mixed up a raspberry fruit salad and put the turkey in to bake. I put to turkey in at 10:30- much to the astonishment of my mother and sister- and had it out by 2:45. It was cooked, carved and on the table a little after 3:00. Natalie and I worked on the potatoes and green salad together. She did the gravy, yams and a couple of pies (banana cream and apple crisp). I bought a pumpkin pie (as it is so much easier than baking it!).

All the food turned out well. I believe we were all satisfied. We lounged around for a couple of hours afterwards and played Settlers of Catan (yes, Rob did win!). All and all Thanksgiving was a success!

*Notice the new table? It is our first "big" purchase since we moved to Texas!

Writing Workshop

Last SATURDAY (yes, I had to go in on the weekend), I had a writing workshop. Frisco ISD uses the 6-trait model for writing. We were asked to write during certain parts of it. I thought I would share a bit of what I wrote with you.

Prompt:
"Think of a place that is special to you. Use sensory language to write about the place."

As I sit in the scorching heat and soak in the afternoon rays, I look around me at the serene world I am in and I know I am in one of God's beautiful creations. All around me are majestic sheer rock cliffs. I can see the effects of weathering and time on their faces- layer after layer of red, brown, and rust colored rock can be seen. They stand powerfully in the midday sun, giving me hope to be strong through opposition. Down below is sparkling blue water, lapping quietly at the beach. The motion of the waves rocks the boat gently back and forth, back and forth. I zoom in on the sandy beach across the channel. Scrubby trees have found a way to burst through the opposing heat. Small lizards scamper around, searching for an unlucky bug to snatch up for lunch. There is such a peaceful feeling here in Lake Powell. All my qualms melt away with the noon day sun.

Car Trouble

As many of you know, Robert and I drive the same car. We both drive the Honda Accord. Mine is a 2002. Robert's is a 1992. Robert's car (aka Blue Lightening) has had a wonderful life. It has gone over an elk (ask Robert the story). It has 250,000 miles on it! Robert put a $70 sound system in it before the mission. Anyways, he loves Blue Lightening. He wants to drive it until the day he dies. Now Rob works downtown each day. He usually takes Blue Lightening to DART (the local train) into town each day. Well a few Fridays ago, when all his family was in town, he drove it to the train station that was closer to Dallas (i.e. not the nicest area of town). Now Friday night we (his familiy and I) drove downtown to see the city and pick Rob up for dinner. When we finally got back to the parking lot with Blue Lightening in it, around 8:30, we were surprised to see a cop car waiting in the parking lot. When we got out of the car (all 6 of us in my 5 passenger Honda), we saw that Blue Lightening had taken a beatin'. The driver's seat window had been broken and the stereo had been ripped out. DART security saw the thief and chased him. The faceplate fell off the stereo (making it pretty much worthless). As sad as this robbery is, we could not help but laugh as we looked around. First of all, did the thief realize how old the car was? It has dents and dings all over it. Second, there was a $200 tent in the backseat (brand new for Rob's scouting campout) that would have been easier to steal. Third, there was cash in the coin thing. Fourth, a CD case full of CD's that could be sold. The thief was obviously not in his right mind. Eventually we got the accident report from the cop, scooped out the glass, and headed off. Robert and Daniel ended up taking it to the gas station to vacuum out. Daniel commented about how although the thief stole Rob's radio, and broke his window, it all was for the best as Rob's car was vacuumed out and looked like a whole new car.

Happy Birthday...Robert?

A few Friday's ago Dan, Jane, Carol, and Daniel were here. I had taken work off so I could show them the sights and sounds of Texas. While sitting around the kitchen table, we started talking about what are plans were going to be for the day. I wanted to take the ladies to Sam Moon (a store every women needs to go to as it has so many accessories). The men didn't want to stay here, so they started talking about possibilities of things to do. Dan sat quietly for a few minutes before asking, "Isn't Robert's birthday coming up? We should get him a receiver." We all sat thinking about if Robert's birthday was coming up before realizing that Robert's birthday was not coming up, HIS was! Dan's birthday was the next week! We all laughed! Not to worry, Dan was given a lunch and dinner (from Carol and Daniel and Robert and me). We could take a hint. AND Dan decided that for Robert's Christmas present he would be getting a receiver. Daniel hooked it up to our sound system. It works great. Thanks Dan!

Painful...

Last Thursday night, BYU played TCU in football. I would imagine it was a painful game to watch on TV, but think of how painful it was to go to! Robert and I got tickets to the game a few months ago. We had been so excited. The Coogs had been playing so well. We knew TCU would be a challenge, but we did not know that it would be such impossible to keep it together. Daniel and Carol drove all the way from Tuscon to see the game- a 12 hour drive! Dan and Jane were supposed to fly in Thursday afternoon- but Dan's ticket apparently was cancelled and so they had to catch the next flight which put them at the stadium to see the end of the 3rd quarter and all of the 4th quarter! You will notice the forced smiles in the pictures. It was everything I could do- as the photographer- to get them to look at me! Although everyone came for the game, we had a nice weekend together.

Johnny Fishing

In July, the Madsen boys all went to Strawberry Reservoir to go fishing. This is a video of Johnny with a fish. It was a fun trip for the boys. They pulled in many more than Robert and I did when we went earlier in the summer.

Homecoming Mums

In Texas there a tradition to get (or make) mums for the homecoming football game. Both boys and girls were them. Girls pin their mums to their chest, while boys put their mum to their arm. Rob and I had seen these mums at the grocery store, and not knowing what they were inquired about them. We thought, at first, that they were used to put around a horses neck when they win a contest. Rob and I went to the homecoming game last Friday. I couldn't help snapping pictures of girls wearing their mums. They look so silly to me! The homecoming game was unreal. Football is huge here! The game was played at Pizza Hut Park (home of the FC Dallas MLS team). The football game has instant replay on the 2 big screens! The band at half time was really good. They displayed many different formations. The game was fun, even though our team lost. Maybe schools in Utah should start the mum tradition! :D

Reel Mower

Since moving to Texas we have had to purchase a lawn mower. Our yard is nice, but it is not big....so we decided to go with a mower that requires no gas or electricity! We have a wonderful reel mower. It works great. After Dan B. heard of our purchase, he raised a concern about if we had a bag to catch the grass. Rest assured Dan, we have bought a bag! Our little lawn is flourishing under our care.

Rabbits!

The biggest surprises here in Texas are the rabbits! These cottontails are all over. We have one that lives in our front yard, by the tree. Robert used to see Hopper every morning when he went to get the mail. When I go running through the neighborhood, I always see at least 5 rabbits- usually more! What a fun surprise!

Christmas Trees!

Each year for Christmas, Rob and I get a tree permit, drive up into the mountain and cut down a tree to decorate! It has been a great tradition. The first year, we got the beauty here on the right. It was a nice little tree, providing weeks of Christmas fun. The nest year we decided to step up the ante. We went and chopped down a REAL tree! We went on a snowy day (it was the same day that BYU played Michigan in basketball at the Delta center). We had Old Blue- a trusty hunting truck in the Madsen family- with us, a 4-wheeler, chain saw, rope, and our good friend, Devin (who also has his tree permit). We start up the canyon, pressing on through the snow. We find our turn-off and start up the mountain to find the perfect trees. There are not very many people up on the mountain as there is about a foot and a half of freshly fallen snow (i.e. powder!). We eventually park Old Blue on the mountain and get the 4-wheeler out. We all load up on the 4-wheeler: 3 adults, a chain saw and the rope. As we start climbing up the mountain, we realize that the 4-wheeler is leaking coolant! As we don't want the 4-wheeler to overheat, we come up with the idea of letting Rob pack the snow by going back and forth up the mountain. Although this is a great idea, it didn't work! We end up hiking up the mountain and striking gold. Robert saw the tree in the distance- about 200 yards away. Devin's wasn't far from it. We hiked down the valley and up onto the opposite mountain face. It was perfect! We then had to hike back to the trail to get our chainsaw. Back up the other side to cut down the trees. Then we roped up the trees and slid them down the mountain. Up the other side- twice- to carry both trees up. Next we strapped the trees to the 4-wheeler, put the chain saw on, and somehow managed to find a place for the 3 of us to sit down! We miraculously made it down the mountain to Old Blue. We unloaded the trees, loaded the 4-wheeler onto the truck, strapped the trees onto the truck, and got into Old Blue. As luck would have it, Old Blue was stuck in a rut! We tried pushing and pulling the truck free. We found rocks (in a nearby river) to put under the tires, but the truck was stuck fast. An hour later a jeep comes up the trail looking for stranded individuals (such as ourselves). He hooked up his wench and drug us out of the rut and onto the trail. What an adventure! When we finally got the tree into our home we realized how BIG it was! We laughed and laughed as we set it up. It is a tree to remember! We are a bit worried about how we are going to continue our tradition of cutting down a mountain tree here in Texas. There aren't too many mountains here...

Fishing at Strawberry

Before we left Utah, Robert and I went on a fishing trip to Strawberry Lake. It was so much fun! We had never been camping before. We got there on a Friday night. We found a nice campsite and set up the tent (thanks Mark for letting us use it). We then went to the lake to fish off the shore. The fish taunted us. They kept jumping and eating insects, but they never bit our bait. We went back to camp, defeated. We started up a fire to cook our tin foil dinner. I had made two, but they were so large we decided to just take one and share it. While we waited for the dinner to cook we put a movie on (yes, we had our laptops with us). We had rented the movie UHF, a hilarious movie with Weird Al. I have never seen Robert laugh so hard. He has a lot of childhood memories with it. He quoted half the movie and told me how he used different parts in assemblies when he was in high school. Each time I would get up to get something, Robert would stop me and say, "You have to see this part. It is so funny!" We laughed and laughed. The next morning we got up early. We had rented a little boat to troll with. We found a shore and started trolling back and forth. Finally I felt a bite! I yelled out, "I have a bite!" just as Robert said excitedly, "I have a bite!" We looked at each other curiously and started to reel in our line. After we both felt the line "jump" at the same time a second time, we started having our doubts that we had actually caught a fish. Much to our dismay, our lines had been tangled together. Robert got started at untangling the line. Eventually the lines were straightened out. I reeled in Robert's line and then started pulling mine in. Much to our surprise, I had a fish on! I reeled in the first fish of the day! It was a good looking fish. We continued fishing for a couple more hours, catching 4 fish total for the day. It was great fun. Robert and I went home smelly and tired, but satisfied with our fishing trip.

Harry Potter

I have been listening to audiobooks for Harry Potter in my car as I drive. I have decided that Jim Dale is the best reader in the world! He is extremely entertaining to listen to. Robert will even listen to the book while in my car (and he doesn't really "believe" in Harry Potter). Although I have read all the Harry Potter books myself, I realize that I am not nearly as interesting to listen to as Jim. It reminds me of an episode of Seinfield. George has started listening to audiobooks and he has no desire to actually read a book in his voice. He ends up ordering a finance book after claiming he is blind. When he starts listening to the book he is very disappointed... the reader sounds just like him! I know I can't expect to have a grand production each time I read, but I am certainly trying to read with more expression. If you are on the fence about Harry Potter, get your hands on the audiobooks, sit back, and enjoy!

Julie's Graduation

As many of you know I graduated with my Master's degree from the University of Utah in December 2007. I attended commencement exercises in May 2008. Robert has tried to convince everyone that he graduated from me, but we all know the truth. I had both my Bachelor's and Master's degree while Robert held tight to his high school diploma!

Wedding Cake

I was looking through the pictures on my computer, and I came across a picture of our wedding cake. I remember when I called Robert up and tried to explain to him what our wedding cake was going to look like! "It has yellow swirllies on the top cake, red dots in the middle and orange curls on the bottom." He thought I was kidding him. However, I was quite serious. I did not plan on getting such a fun cake, but it turned out really fun. Caution: The "fun cake" is not for everyone!