Good things come to those who wait...

Thought the house would be completed today, but I jumped the gun a bit and the flooring guy only removed the old floors. The new floors are being installed tomorrow. So hopefully, I can get the house put back together tomorrow night and get some awesome pictures of the new and improved ground level of our casa. Stay tuned....I know you can hardly stand it too, but it is coming....soon!

Edited to add: the floors were NOT finished apparently there was not enough materials here to get the job done. The parts of the house that are done look BEAUTIFUL! But no pictures until the whole thing is completed!

Remembering my Aunt LaVonne

LaVonne Stewart Wallace 1925 ~ 2009 LaVonne Stewart Wallace-our devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend-passed away on August 28, 2009, surrounded by her loving family. She was born on February 1, 1925, in Fairview, Utah, the third of four children of Arthur and Vera Peterson Stewart. LaVonne grew up in Fairview and married her sweetheart, Paul Kimball Wallace, on December 4, 1946, in the Manti Temple. Paul and LaVonne enjoyed a wonderful, full life together until the day she died. They had six children, 15 grandchildren, and 11 great grandchildren. LaVonne loved to cook, to take walks with her sister and husband, and to root for the Utah Jazz. She embodied the highest qualities of friendship, blessing her friends through constant service. She belonged to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She also relished holiday celebrations, selflessly devoting countless hours to preparing each detail of those celebrations for her family's enjoyment. How we will miss you until we see you again! LaVonne is survived by her loving husband, Paul; her children Stewart (Georgianna), Clark (Ellen), David, Peter-deceased (Julie), Michelle Bills, and Matthew (Cindy); and her sister, Bonnie Plant. She was preceded in death by her brothers Farrell and Garn; her son, Peter; and her great-grandson, Beck DeGraff. Her family thanks the medical staff at Harmony Healthcare for their great kindness. Funeral services will be held at Kenwood First Ward, 3080 South Kenwood Street (1765 East), Salt Lake City, Utah, on Tuesday, September 1, 2009, at 11:00 a.m. Viewing Monday, August 31, at Wasatch Lawn Mortuary, 3401 South Highland Drive, from 6-8 p.m., and on September 1 from 9:45-10:45 prior to the funeral services at the church. Interment: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park.

Age is just a number

How old do you think I look in this picture?

(I think I look about 12.....I was 28....it is a goofy picture)

A quote

"But if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal." [President John Kennedy, September 14, 1960]

I heard this quote tonight during a special on Ted Kennedy, and after a semi-rough week with a very large class at school, it reminded me why I work where I work, and why I work a diverse and at-risk population. It is not meant to be political, but rather a reminder that we all live in a community and we are all responsible to make this country a better place in any little way that we can. It was also amazing to me that this quote is nearly 50 years old, yet very timely in the present time.

First day of school

Dalan has gotten up with me on the first day of the new school year to take my picture. He is so good to humor me in all my wacky ideas. Here are the pictures from the present school year, and pictures from school years past.

Jessi, 2009-2010 school year.

Jessi and Dalan, first day of school...2009

Jessi, 2008-2009 school year.

Jessi and Dalan, first day of school...2008

Jessi, 2007-2008 school year

Showing off my new lunch box.

Now, just wish me luck in surviving the school year while facing huge class sizes!

Living the vida loca!

In addition to going back to work, and renovating parts of our house, this week has been full of completely random and crazy things happening all around me. It has been one of those weeks that you could never predict would be so out of the ordinary.

First of all, I was walking Piper one evening this week, and got followed/stalked by a car. It totally freaked me out, and I am pretty sure that there was a high probability I could have been kidnapped/raped/murdered/etc by the person in this car. I called my mom as it was happening, and I don't know if this freaked them out enough to back off, or if I just wasn't the person they were looking for or if they really weren't following me at all (which I think is unlikely, but I am hopeful that it was big, strange coincidence). Either way, it freaked me out, and made me upset that something like that happened so close to home.

Then, last night I went down to the Gallivan Center with a group of friends to see Iron and Wine. The plan was to go to Gracie's after the show, so I parked near Gracie's, thus having my car close at the end of the night. Well, we went to Johnny's on Second instead, so Nghia and Randi gave me a ride to my car when I was ready to leave, as members of our group were still staying at the bar. When we got to the parking lot in which my car was located, we found it surrounded by a dozen cops and marked off in caution tape. I spoke to one of the officers, and he explained that there had been some gunfire after a concert at another bar, and some cars had been hit by bullets. My car luckily escaped any bullet wounds, but Amy's car was not so lucky. I called her, and she and the rest of our group headed over from Johnny's to inspect the damage. One bullet had entered Amy's car through the head light and then through the air filter. I feel really bad about Amy's car, but I am so glad that none of us were in that parking lot when the shooting occurred. Scary stuff.

After dropping me off, Nghia apparently made a "wide right turn" and was pulled over by one of the police officers from the crime scene. The officer reportedly thought he reeked of alcohol (probably due to the fact that someone had spilled a beer all over him at the Gallivan Center) and made Nghia do the field sobriety test, and take a breathalyzer test as well. He only blew a 0.01 as he had only had two beers over the course of several hours, and was sent on his way without any further consequences. Not even a ticket for the "wide right turn."

So, if random crazy things happen in groups of three, I think my friends and I are done. Thank goodness! I prefer the quiet life...I am not up for livin' the vida loca.

Fireplace fun!

The insurance company is replacing all of our floors downstairs due to the leak....yes! We will be picking out new floors sometime in the near future. Dalan and I decided to do some additional renovations downstairs while the house is torn apart. First, the fireplace surround, and then the downstairs bathroom.

This weekend we decided to start things off with a small project and replace the tiles around our fireplace. They previously were a ceramic tile in a mauve/rose color that we did not really like, and looked quite outdated. We decided to replace them with a natural stone in a neutral tone.

We found the tiles that we liked, and got to work. We ran into some problems immediately. The tiles around the sides of the fireplace were not true 4 x 4's, although that is even what they are labeled at the hardware store. They are in fact 4.25 x 4.25, and Lowe's and Home Depot do not sell any of the natural looking stones in that size......grrrrr! So after accidentally buying the wrong size, we ended up finding some at tile discount store in Draper that we really liked in the right size for only 50 cents a piece. Getting the tiles cut correctly for the floor was a bit of a pain, and after two additional trips to Lowe's, we finally had everything all lined up and ready to put down on the floor. I love the result. It looks so much better, and I cannot wait to get the new floor.

The mauve tiles...last Christmas....I forgot to take "before" pictures.

Bye, bye old tiles!

Dalan surveying the damage!

Just concrete!

Oh no! They are the wrong size!

Almost done! This is the best pictures of the colors!

All done, just waiting for the rest of the new floors!

Should have followed directions

Ali found these instructions on how to make easy cotton skirts forever ago, and we have been meaning to get together and make them, but have never made the time. So, before I go back to work, and Ali goes back to school we decided to just do it already. Ali came over with her sewing machine, and off we went to pick out fabric.

The instructions said to measure your waist and then get double or triple the amount of fabric. We went with double, and after we sewed the back seam together it looked like we could hula hoop in the amount of fabric we had around our middle section. The instructions and the amount of fabric we had just were not making sense to me, so I decided to ditch the instructions and go off on my own, after all, I have made our Halloween costumes for the last several years just from the ideas in my head, why would my visions of my new skirt not work too? So, I reduced my fabric to about 2/3's of what I originally had, and started sewing, all while Ali diligently kept to the plan the instructions laid out.



Then I started having trouble with my sewing machine. It is the problem I have with the bobbin from time to time, and I have always blamed my sewing machine for the errors. However, tonight after getting frustrated with my machine, I went to use Ali's and had the same problem. A problem she has never had. Apparently, it is one hundred percent a user/Jessi error. So, the stitching on my skirt turned out to be super sketchy, and due to my not following the steps in the correct order, next to impossible to stitch up over the elastic. It is does not flow the same way as Ali's due to my fabric reduction. It looks super frumpy.


The moral of the story, follow the directions and you get a cute and wearable product. If you don't follow the directions and sew like a blind little monkey, you get a piece of garbage skirt. Oh well, we did have fun, and bless Ali's heart, she really did try to save my hopeless little skirt. However, after showing Dalan and my parents, it truly is going into the trash.

Travel Memories Part 3

In October of 2005, I went with 5 other girls to Maui, Hawaii for a vacation of a lifetime. My friend, Becca, had once upon a time worked for Delta Airlines and left the organization with five years of flight benefits. This particular year they had decided to issue each employee (and in some cases ex-employees) a set of extra buddy passes. Therefore, Becca organized a girl's trip to Hawaii that was once of the cheapest and most fun vacations ever! At the time, I did not realize how lucky we were to get six people on the same flight there and back using buddy passes. It must have been a Hawaiian miracle or something.

We spent long days at exploring the beaches, going snorkeling, watching the sunrise over volcanoes, and enjoying tasty beverages in the sun. We even spent an afternoon at a nude beach, and met a guy that we named Scuba Steve. Scuba Steve was conveniently snorkeling underwater right next to us, and finally he popped out of the water and asked us to hold his sea cucumber....one of his sea creatures he had found! He was something special. We also gave a nickname to a very old, very leathery tan gentleman we observed on the beach, but his name is not appropriate for print. It was a good times.

I would love to go back, and since I married a man who hates the beach, another girl's trip will be necessary....who is in????

Oh, and I literally only took four pictures on this entire trip, so thankfully all of these pictures are courtsey of Becca and VaRonica.

We apparently hung out in the trees quite a bit....you'll see...this is our first night in Maui.

VaRonica, Becca, me, and Trisha...the ARTEC crew...in a tree!

These trees had the most beautiful bark.
The whole crew...Varonica, Julie, Trisha, me, Becca, and Sara.

One of the many beautiful beaches we visited.

Heading to the beach one afternoon.

Volcano sunrise.

One very silly night in the hotel room.

Double rainbow.

Our last afternoon in Maui.

VaRonica and me doing the crane kick.

Dalan and I will bring the rain

Dalan and I went camping this weekend with a group of friends to Bear Lake, and although, I am generally not the biggest fan of camping, I was really looking forward to going to the lake and hanging out with some of our loved ones. The plan was for people to head up to Bear Lake when they could on Friday to play on the beach and in the water, then head to our camp spot in the evening, eat dinner and hang out, and then in the morning get up and go boating!

However, mother nature had other plans. It was much cooler than usual when we got up there on Friday, and although it was still a lot of fun to hang out on the beach, the water wasn't as appealing as one would have hoped....oh well, it was still a beach, and it sure beat sitting around and not being at the beach. We had a great time at our camp spot, and had an excellent dutch oven dinner, along with s'mores. We all headed for bed with grand plans for adventures in the morning.

It started raining early in the morning, and was in the 40's. After eating breakfast and taking down camp in the rain, Dalan and I decided to head home. I had no more dry/warm clothes with me, and even though, I wanted to get on the boat badly, I was too cold and wet to wait and see if it would clear up. Our much braver friends ended up staying up for a couple more hours, and although they never got the boat in the water, they did have some fun hanging out and playing on the beach.

Dalan and I have had a summer full of rain. It has rained on us during the following:

1. The Gay Pride Parade
2. My birthday party, well really, the whole month of June.
3. Most of our trip to Montreal
4. Bear Lake camping trip.

We did make it through the Fourth of July parade rain free, but other than that, it has rained on all my favorite events of the summer. I am not going to complain though, because we live in a desert and rain is better than drought. In fact, if you have an event you would like rained out, Dalan and I are available, and we will bring the rain.

Travel Memories Part 2

Shortly after my super fun trip to Kentucky, I was lucky enough to go on another trip to Grand Junction, CO with my parents to visit my Aunt Linda and Uncle Dave. It was probably the first time since I was a little, tiny girl that I got to go anywhere with just my parents and me. Very cool.

We had a really fun time driving down jamming out to a mixed CD that my parents had of all the greatest hits, I can remember singing along to Elton John's Tiny Dancer, and Pearl Jam's Last Kiss. I am pretty sure we sounded awesome, since the Carlson's/Plant's are known for their singing abilities.

While we were in Colorado, we played a lot of bocce ball on the golf course behind my aunt and uncle's house. My family loves, loves, loves booce ball and a golf course is the ultimate place to play, because you can play on the putting green which makes the balls easy to see, or you can be tricky and play into the rough.

Golf course by day, bocce ball court by night.

It was also very near my birthday! You know, I love, love, love my birthday. I got my presents early from Linda and Dave, which included a pink neon flamingo....do they know me or do they know me? I also begged my parents to buy me this little pink poodle purse, in which I named Pinkie. I decided Pinkie would be like the gnome people take on vacation with them, and get pictures of the gnome all over the world. Unfortunately, Pinkie's only trip was returning from Colorado to Utah, but it was a fun idea while it lasted. I was itching to get a dog of my own at this point too, so in some ways, Pinkie was the practice dog before I got Piper. Ha, ha, ha!

Me and my awesome gifts!

Patti and Pinkie on the way home.

Pinkie enjoying the ride.

Red and Pinkie on the open road.

If you look very closely you can see Pinkie chilling on the UPS box.

Pinkie and me stretching our legs at the gas station!

Travel Memories Part 1

So, I was just looking through some old photos and I found a whole file full of vacation photos from 2004 and 2005. They were so fun to look through that I thought I would start a little mini-series and share some of these photos with everyone. I need to explain, however, that before that before I was motivated by the blog, I was the world's worst memory maker, and never took very many photos on vacation.

So, my first travel memory will be when I went to Louisville, KY to visit my friends Aubrey and Sam, and to go to the Kentucky Derby. Aubrey had been in dental school there for three years by that time, and I had yet to go visit her. I was so excited to go out there, see a part of the country I had never been to, and just visit with Aubrey. That is one of the great things about Aubrey and me, we can be apart for months and years at a time, but always have no problem quickly catching up and having a blast together. Aubrey and I can just talk and talk and talk when we are together, and no matter the location or the activity.

Kentucky was so much fun, and we even got to go up to Cincinnati to see a see a concert. We also went to the Louisville Slugger Factory, and did some shopping and some eating. We did not however, get to go to the actual Kentucky Derby. We went to the grounds, but due to a ginormous rain storm that flooded that tunnels into the field to watch the derby. After standing outside for a long, wet while, we gave up, and watched the derby at home. Oh well, it was a lot of fun, and started my love of horse racing.

Aubrey and me outside of the Louisville Slugger Factory.

Aubrey and me by the Ohio River.

BFFs since 1983...Aubrey and Jessi

Aub and Sam...my gracious hosts!

Quick little update

We just filed a claim with our insurance. The floor is the kitchen is wet all over as far as we can tell. It is going to be a big project. We decided it would be better to pay our deductible than keeping working on a never ending project, that we know little about. Hopefully, some people will come out and get this all sorted out for us sooner than later.

The little pump who didn't...grrrrr!

Sometime over the weekend, I subconsciously thought that the floor (a wood laminate) in our hallway felt strange on my bare feet...maybe like it was a little warped or something, but it was more of a passing thought that I left float out of my head as quickly as it came. Then this morning I was laying on our couch facing toward the hall/kitchen while talking to Dalan and I noticed that the floor looked a little warped. Dalan came over and stood and it, and it felt squishy. Not good. We stood on another section, and there was clearly water under the floor boards. Really not good.

We then opened the doors to where the furnace, water heater, and air conditioner are located, and Dalan saw immediately that the pump that takes condensation and water from the air conditioner was not working, and had been leaking for who knows how long. GRRRRRR! We got the pump replaced and the water from that space cleaned up quickly.

Old, leaky pump! The cause of our problems...

The new pump!

Next, Dalan started taking up the floor boards to see how far the water had gotten. It turned into an all day project, and was not an easy task. Molding had to come off, and some of the boards did not easily unsnap from their neighbors. Dalan got all the hall up, with one broken board. I was feeling ok about this because we have some extra in our stoarge room. Also the floor boards in the hall were installed running north to south, rather than east to west like the living room and kitchen, and we were excited at the idea of getting to put them in the right way.

Dalan, as the hallway project begins

One board up....little did we know how many more to go!

Off with the molding!

The hall is almost done....

Finally, Dalan pulled up the one board in the kitchen that we thought may have water under it too. Unfortunately, it turns out several of the boards have water under them. Dalan got through a good part of the kitchen, and we hope now we are at the point where only two more boards have water under them. Now, I am a little worried that we won't have enough boards in storage to replace broken/warped boards. Not good. I looked online, and apparently the company that made our flooring went out of business in 2001, so there is not a lot of hope in finding exact replacements. Really not good. I am annoyed. We want to replace all the flooring upstairs in the future, but like our flooring downstairs. I don't want to blow our flooring budget on the flooring I actually like!

On to the kitchen....little do we really know how much more work is to be done!

Chunk of missing floor....grrrr!

I am just hoping Dalan can get the job done over the next few days, and it is easy and inexpensive. Wish us luck!

Super fun weekend!

This last weekend was so busy and so fun that it actually started on Wednesday evening for me. It was also so jammed packed with awesome things that I forgot to document any of it with photographic evidence. Oh well. I will paint a picture with my words.

On Wednesday night, I went with Ali and my mom up to my Nana's to help her put together some patio furniture and eat some grilled cheese sandwiches. It was a fun girl's night, that included a quick visit from McKay when he came up to fix my Nana's toilet. Surprise, surprise, but we got a little giggly when we were all together, and I even played a trick concerning the Bush Baked Beans' dog (who my dad hates) on my dad later that evening when we got back from Nana's. I was laughing hard the whole time, but got him to believe that I really do love those commercials with the dog.

On Thursday, I got to hang out with Hilary and her adorable girls. What a blast! I love how Annie is a shopping expert at age three, who insists on carrying two pairs of sunglasses with her into every store. I love how Ellie growled at the dinos in the toy aisle, and then was obsessed with the pictures of the dogs and cats in the pet food aisle. I also cracked up at 18 pound Ellie pushing our huge cart through Target. I enjoyed my conversation with Hilary, and love the fact that we have been such wonderful friends for the last 15 years! There was a whole lot of love on that shopping trip!

That evening I got to hang out with Julia for her 30th birthday! Hooray for most of my beloved friends entering their thirties in the last 10 months or so. Julia came over and we went swimming in our pool. It was a nice evening, and swimming totally cooled us off. Later that evening we went and met Sierra and Scott at the Gallivan Center to see Sonic Youth. It was a great show, and although it was crowded, we had a good spot and I never felt too boxed in. Then Julia and I went to grab a late dinner. We had a great conversation and it was nice to just hang out with her on her special day. It was a little nerve racking though, because the next day, Julia's sister, mom, and boyfriend were having a surprise party for her, and I had to bite my tongue several times to not blab about all the party!

On Friday, Ali came over and she, Dalan, and I ran some errands together. I went back to Target for the second time in two days. So much for my goal to reduce the amount of times I run to the same store (or type of store) multiple times in a week. We also got some Taco Time. Yum! We had not been there forever.

That evening, we went over to Julia's sister's house for the surprise party! Julia was totally shocked and surprised, which was perfect! I love birthdays and birthday parties. It was so fun to hang out with my friends on a summer evening. It was a great night.

On Saturday, we went kayaking down the Weber River with Sierra and Scott. We rented a two man inflatable raft from REI, and off we went. It was great. The river is only about an hour away from Salt Lake, and you get to ride over some fun little rapids. It took some time for Dalan and I to get our rhythm down in our tandem kayak, but once we did, it was a blast. We went under a railroad bridge while a train went over us. It was nerve racking for me, and totally Dalan's favorite part. I thought the train would drop things down on our heads or something! We also loved going over the rapids, although that made me a little nervous too! However, we totally can't wait to do it again. I did get a little sunburned while on the river, including the weirdest sunburn/scratches/rash while on the river. I do have pictures of that....let me know what you think it is....see the part that looks like a railroad track down by my ankle....weird!



Later that evening, we went to a wedding reception for a girl I used to work with at ARTEC. We had a lot of fun hanging out with Becca and Dave, and got to see Tristine and her family. It was fun to catch up with some of the ARTEC girls. We also went to dinner with Becca and Dave. The four of us always have such a good time together. We laughed so hard throughout the night! Finally, we stopped by Jason and Becca's (a different Becca, obviously) house. It was good to catch up with them and see their new house. Jason is so funny, and we had a good time listening to all his crazy bartending stories.

Today, we took it a little easier! We just went to Costco with my mom, sister, and McKay, ate some McDonalds, and took a nap. Later in the evening, I went to my parents' house, and ate a delicious dinner made by Ali and McKay. I also had to help Ali record a video for her ASL class. Luckily, after the first take I controlled my giggling, and Ali and I actually made a video without excessive laughter in it!

Wow! We were busy, but it was wonderful to see so many of the people we love!