Playing RummiKub with Grandpa!

Workman Nydegger Golf Tournament

Nick signed us up to play in the annual golf tournament at his work. He has golfed twice, and I have never golfed at all, so we were hoping to get on a team that would be good enough to carry us since we wouldn't be contributing much. They had little competitions along the way and there would be prizes and a barbecue at the end of the 18 holes.

We golfed at Eaglewood Golf Course in North Salt Lake. It was a beautiful course and we enjoyed being outside (except that we both got too much sun!) I was surprised how much I enjoyed golfing and would actually like to take some lessons one day to improve my game!

The funnest part for me was hole 3. My beginner's luck really came through! Here is a picture of that particular hole. I was driving the ball from the area by the large tree on the right-hand side and we were aiming for the green where the flag is over on the left-hand side of the picture. I swung mightily and the ball went soaring (rare, because mine usually didn't catch much air). When we got to the green, we were all amazed to see that my ball had landed only about 2 feet from the hole. How amazing is that! So, I won the prize (gift card for a golf store) for closest drive to the hole.

Me with my prize:

Pioneer Day 2007

Nick had the day off work for the 24th of July and we enjoyed spending the day together. We made a couple of large purchases which we got good deals on and will hopefully make life a little easier.

First, we went to RC Willey and picked up our very first microwave. We couldn't find exactly what we wanted, but got one for a good price that will work just fine for many years to come. You know, it is hard to live without a microwave these days! It's a good thing Grandpa didn't mind us running upstairs 2-3 times a day to use his :) We initiated it into the family by warming over some leftover pizza!!

Next, we drove to Home Depot and bought a microwave stand. It took us a while to figure out what we both wanted (Nick was thinking of a place to set the microwave and I was thinking additional storage!), and we had to spend more than we hoped, but it was 50% off so that was perfect! It took us quite a while to assemble, but we only had one problem with a piece that had been cut wrong. It is really nice and sturdy and will last us many years so we think it was a good investment.

Before:


After:

This really has nothing to do with our 24th of July, but I realized that I haven't posted our new kitchen table. We got it from one of Aunt Layna's friends for only $250. It is perfect for the space and I think it's really beautiful. Thanks, Aunt Layna, for giving us the heads-up. It's nice to not be eating off our laps anymore!

Last of all, I wanted to show off our new light fixtures. In two rooms of the apartment, there were just light bulbs hanging down from the ceiling. We came awfully close to hitting our heads on them many times! We found these nifty light fixtures at IKEA and they have worked wonders on the rooms. We are no longer in danger of electrocuting ourselves in the act of breaking a light bulb with our heads!

The funny thing is that the light bulbs ended up costing us more than the fixtures themselves--go figure!

To end the day's work (yes, Nick thinks shopping is work!) we found some sparkler's we'd purchased last year for the 4th and hadn't used. We love sparklers. They are like long-lasting fireworks right up close and personal!

Snowbird!

For one of Nick's firms summer associate activities we spent half a day at the Snowbird Ski Resort in Salt Lake. I had dropped Nick off to play golf at 6:30 that morning and had spent the day wandering alone around Salt Lake in the hot sun. Nick was also tired after 3 hours of early-morning golf followed by work, so we weren't excited to be going there at first. We weren't feeling very fun at the time!

We got over it, however, and ended up having a really great day. We rode the tram up to the top of the mountain, took a ride down the Alpine Slide, and zipped down the zip cords! That night we met at the Wildflower restaurant to have dinner with the other employees. The food was WONDERFUL (at least mine was) and it was nice getting to know some of the people Nick is working with.

Nick at the view of Heber Valley

Us on top of the mountain!

Emily walking in the clouds

Em on the Alpine Slide
(I'd never done it before and was actually pretty scared of falling off!)

Nick racing down the slide

HORRAY FOR INTERNET!!!

Nick and I are excited to be back home! We finally got internet set up so I have a lot to catch up on. I am putting our house together and looking for a teaching job while he is working up in Salt Lake. Here are pictures of what we've been doing the past two weeks. Pictures from our trip to Alaska will follow sometime later!

Our Apartment:

We are very grateful to be living in Grandpa's basement. I don't think we would have said that the first day we came, however. It is your typical older basement apartment-complete with low ceilings, spiders, earwigs, mosquitos, mold and mildew. After a good cleaning and bringing in our things, however, it is starting to feel more like home. We feel lucky to be living so close to Grandpa and having the chance to interact with him so often. We didn't have a chance to organize our things well before we moved, so I am trying to do that now. It is a slow process, but it will look great once I'm done (I hope!)

Here are the 'before' pictures:


Bathroom


Living Room

Kitchen

Bedroom

Em's High School Friends:

Michelle, Ady, Jess and I wanted to get together this summer before everyone moved away. After much scheduling difficulty, we found one day when we would all be able to get together and invited all the old high school friends we could get in touch with. We had a great turn out and enjoyed catching up on where everyone is now and where they are going in the next year or two. It was a fun night-thanks to everyone for coming.

The whole gang!


Dallan's 3rd Birthday!!!

Dallan turned 3 on July 4th. Nick and I got to see him that day up in Provo, then we celebrated at a birthday party at the Wave Pool in Price. It has been years since I've been there and it was so much fun. Nick says his opinion of Price has gone up a few notches since we have such a great pool!

It was the first time our whole family has been together since our wedding, so that was really great! We enjoyed watching Dallan and Ryan play as well as getting to see how much Emmy and Owen have changed since we left a few months ago.

Dallan got a fishing pole. He was so excited!

Dallan with Great-papa

Dallan & Ryan with their "SUPERHERO" capes.


Auntie Em & Ryan swimming out to find Joseph.

Nick & Joseph out in the deep having tube-tipping wars.

Matt & Kristen


Nick holding Owen.