Slaven Away

Blue Ridge Parkway

2012-02-02T19:22:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I blogged last. Lets face it blogging isn't my strong suit.

Last week, I went with Ronnie to Roanoke, VA. He had a CLE class. Before his class, we took a little drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's not as beautiful as it is in other seasons but its still nice to take a pretty drive.

Ronnie working

And by the way, Happy Groundhog's Day....6 more weeks of winter. As long as winter continues to be the same, I'm okay with that! It's been in the 60s and even the 70s lately and I'm okay with that!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T16:59:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!!

We hope everyone one is having a wonderful Christmas weekend with family and friends.

Our Christmas tree!

The reason for the season!

And does anyone know how long it takes for lemons to ripen?!

(I posted this back in August!)

Lemons as of December 24!

Thankful

2011-11-24T20:42:00.001-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving! There is much to be thankful for in life. I'm thankful for my hubby, he is awesome. Period. I'm thankful for my family, they are my best friends. I'm thankful for my home that keeps me warm and comfortable. I'm thankful for a car that runs. I'm thankful for our freedoms. I'm most thankful for our Savior and for the great sacrifice He has given us.

Now time for some pictures!

Carving!

The Spread

My cute turkey bowl :)

A little timer action!

A Walk on the Beach

2011-11-20T18:02:00.001-05:00

After Ronnie ran his marathon last week, we decided to take Ronnie's parents to see Virginia Beach area. We walked along the beach and Ronnie's parents collected shells. It was one of the more chillier days lately but it was still beautiful.

Love the beach.

Richmond Marathon 2011

2011-11-14T18:14:00.001-05:00

Ronnie ran the Richmond marathon on Saturday! This was his second time running the Richmond marathon. He was awesome! He is already planning on running it next year.

At the starting line!

Looking good at mile 7!

Cheering him on!

Crossing the finish line!! (Video by Nikki Slaven)

Ronnie trained with some people from church.

They were only 3 people left out of the group that ended up running the marathon.

Pictured: Heather, Ronnie, Ben (fellow marathoner) and his wife!

Congrats Ronnie!

11/11/11

2011-11-11T18:29:00.001-05:00

Ronnie's parents are in town this weekend and we thought seeing the navy ships would be a good way to celebrate Veteran's Day. We visited Nauticus (a naval/maritime museum), toured the U.S.S. Wisconsin and took a boat tour on the Elizabeth River and harbour to see the naval ships and some local history.

How did you celebrate Veteran's Day?

A Post

2011-11-05T17:52:00.000-04:00

Well I can't believe its November!! Time is flying! Here are some fall updates....

I bought a bag of apples that looked like fall... :)

Our garden is still producing some vegis..I'm happy about that.

We made fajitas with these!

Our first radishes.

Yep...those are my marigolds!

I also made some Halloween cupcakes last week.

We were pretty lame this year and didn't even carve a pumpkin.

Nothing really that exciting going on lately..just work stuff, home stuff and church stuff.

Happy Fall!

Taste the Rainbow

2011-09-23T21:40:00.000-04:00

After a long day of thunderstorms, it's nice to get a little taste of the rainbow.

A little bit of news...well actually BIG news...Ronnie is starting his own firm starting in October.

Pray for us! haha

Check out his website!

www.slaven-law.com

Surviving the Week of Natural Disasters

2011-08-28T09:28:00.000-04:00

Nature is throwing a party here in Virginia. We've had the dismal swamp fire going on. Then on Wednesday, Nature threw us for a loop by rattling the ground with an earthquake. And yesterday, we were in the midst of tornadoes and a hurricane! Luckily, things weren't really that bad. It's more unusual than anything else. We never lost power for more than a few seconds and we're very greatful.

Our backyard during the storm....Nothing much

to look at...just the pepper plants have seen

better days!

Well, I just wanted to put a little update here to say, we survived!! :) Ronnie will be going out today with some other members of our church to help where he can. Today looks like a beautiful day! Hopefully all the rain put out that fire! Happy Sunday!

A Wedding in Nebraska

2011-08-16T18:44:00.000-04:00

Ronnie's youngest brother was married this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska at the Winter Quarters Temple. It was a really quick trip for us. We flew out Thursday to Kansas, Friday we drove 6 hours to Omaha, Saturday we went to the wedding and drove the 6 hours back to Kansas, Sunday we flew back home. Like I said quick trip.

The Wedding

Jonathan & Jenna: The Newlyweds

Spending time with the Slavens

Our cute little neice, Emma

Our smiley little nephew, Calvin

Taking a walk

Well that's our trip in pictures!

LEMONS!!

2011-08-04T19:19:00.000-04:00

Are you seeing this?!

My lemon tree is actually growing lemons!!!!

Wahoo!

Hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains

2011-07-26T20:31:00.000-04:00

Ronnie and I drove the scouts up to scout camp this past Saturday. We decided to camp that night and take a hike the next day.

The hike started in a cow pasture. I didn't know it was a current cow pasture. Luckily, the stint in the cow pasture was short so I didn't have another cow chasing episode...remember this?

It was really a beautiful hike...a little strenuous too!

On the way back we saw some cows but luckily they weren't interested in us.

The mountains were a bit cooler than it is here. It was nice to get away from the 100 degree heat (118 heat index...) for a bit! Although, not everything during the trip went according to plan, it's always nice to enjoy nature and the outdoors.

Utah Trip Part Four (Last One!)

2011-07-03T16:11:00.000-04:00

After leaving Moab, we headed north to Salt Lake to meet some of my family for dinner. The next day (Sunday) we met some of Ronnie's old roommates and spent some time with them (sorry no pics!).

On Monday we met up with Cory and Chelsea in Salt Lake and did a little shopping and stopped at "This is the Place" to see the site.

Ensign Peak

Looking over Salt Lake

We then met at my aunt's house for a family get together. It was fun to see my little cousins! :)

Chelsea braiding Ellie's hair.

The next morning Ronnie and I hiked up to Mt. Timponogas cave. It was a little chilly! It was a beautiful hike.

We went through the caves and saw things like this...

There was still snow!

We stopped by some of Ronnie's old stomping grounds as a missionary in the Salt Lake City South mission.

We visited the Bountiful Temple...

and the Salt Lake Temple...

and had dinner with some of my favorites :)

All in all, this was a good summer vacation and we're so glad we had some time away from work and the day to day!

Utah Trip Part Three

2011-06-25T21:17:00.000-04:00

Our next stop was Moab, Utah. We arrived in time to drive around Arches National Park and see some of the sites before it got dark.

The Colorado River was overflowing.

We were lucky enough to go on a hummer tour over the rocks. It was a little scary at first...but it really was fun. We went up (even backwards) 60+ degree inclines.

We stopped once and we saw some dinosaur prints.

After the hummer tour, we went on a few hikes to see some arches.

Delicate Arch

Navajo Arch

Landscape Arch

We saw so many beautiful landscapes there, I can't show them all. We had such a fun time hiking, seeing the sites, and eating at restaurants.

I have one more Utah trip post to do. So stay tuned :)

Utah Trip Part Two

2011-06-22T21:33:00.000-04:00

After leaving Devanie's, we headed south to the little town of Manti. The Manti temple was the 5th LDS temple to be built and it was finished in 1888. It also is home to two floating staircases that are located in the two towers. It really is a beautiful place and I'm so glad we stopped for a visit.

It was a gorgeous day! After visiting we headed off to our next desitination.

We saw a lot of this on the way....

Happy Birthday!!

2011-06-20T11:19:00.000-04:00

We interupt our vacation series to wish Ronnie a Happy Birthday!!

He's a fun guy...the proof is in the pictures ;)

Happy Birthday to you!! Wishing you many more years of fun!

Utah Trip Part One

2011-06-19T21:21:00.000-04:00

We're back from our summer vacation to Utah. It was so nice to get away from work and all the things going on. It was about a 5 hour flight. My brother picked Ronnie and I up from the airport and we stayed the night with them. The next morning we decided to hike the Y, which is up on the side of the mountain. We really are not used to the altitude there so it was a little tough but we made it!

I wasn't really lagging this far behind...I just stopped to take a picture :)

Looking over the valley and Utah lake.

We also stopped at the Provo Temple. Don't know much about LDS temples....check out this LINK.

After hanging out with Cory and Chelsea for a bit we headed down to Mapleton to stay with my friend Devanie. We had a good time with her and her husband.

Stay tuned for more updates on our summer vacation... :) We're headed south!

A Beautiful Memorial Day

2011-06-04T17:44:00.001-04:00

On Memorial Day, Ronnie and I went to Sandbridge Beach. The weather was perfect, the water was clear and the waves were good.

Here is Ronnie playing in the waves.

I dipped my feet in too but the water is still a bit chilly for me.

Ronnie is running back to me :)

Last year we only went to the beach once...on our anniversary. Lame. This year we are trying to go more. We live so close, it seems silly not to go!! I'm happy to say that we also went today. 3 times in just over a week....thats more like it! :)

Back Bay

2011-06-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

Over Memorial Day weekend we decided to go to Back Bay Wild Life Refuge. It is a beautiful area and pretty close to us...about 30 minutes.

We were pretty much the only ones there. It was very peaceful.

This time we stayed on the beach pretty much the whole time.

We're hoping to go again and go on some of the trails.

100 / 2 = 50

2011-06-04T17:16:00.000-04:00

This is our 100th post! Only took about 3 years! My dad turned 50 this week (on May 31st). We took him out to dinner at a Japenese steak house.

The pictures aren't that great but we had a good time.

Happy 50th dad!!

Spring Rain

2011-05-15T18:01:00.000-04:00

It is a beautiful, sunny day today. So Ronnie and I went for our Sunday walk to enjoy the weather. On our way back it started to get a little breezy and some dark clouds rolled in. In a couple minutes, it started pouring rain. It literally felt like we were under a waterfall. We got back home finally, drenched. A few minutes later, the clouds were gone and the sun is shining! It was just a little Sunday adventure!

An unflattering picture of me soaked to the bone.

And are you noticing my zucchini? It's getting huge!

Week in Review

2011-05-08T14:57:00.000-04:00

Last Friday, we made tacos using the lettuce from our garden. :)

Then Saturday, Ronnie wanted to go fishing. Luckily, he only

caught an eel....and threw it back :)

Today, my parents came over for mother's day dinner.

I made a white chocolate fruit tart for desert.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Mother's Day.

A New Nephew!!

2011-04-21T21:34:00.000-04:00

Ronnie's brother James and his wife were expecting their 2nd little girl. Well it was a bit of a surprise when they had their baby last night and it was a boy!!!

I finally got a picture of this sweet boy. Introducing Calvin James Slaven at 8lbs and some ounces (Ronnie took the call...hehe).

Garden Update

2011-04-21T18:35:00.000-04:00

Well Ronnie has been working 12-15 hour days. Last night he walked in the door at 10pm. Lame. Someday maybe we'll see some fruit from his labors. Until then I'm poor and lonely....

Well ...hopefully we'll see some fruit of my labors in the garden. Literally. :) I'm just excited to see things growing. It makes me happy. So please excuse another boring post!!

Here we have basil and a pepper plant, zucchini, and a lemon tree.

Full view of our garden plot...laughably small.

We've planted tomatoes and peppers here. Previously planted blueberry bushes,

spinach, lettuce and violas are still there.

Remember my spinach...it's still growing!

I haven't killed anything yet. We'll see how long that lasts.... How is your garden doing?

Floating Shelves

2011-04-10T16:54:00.000-04:00

I had a vision of floating shelves....

They said it couldn't be done. Floating shelves cannot hold books.

But they can and they do! A little brain power from my dad and Ronnie and we've got floating shelves that CAN hold books!!

My dad showed us how to build the first shelf and we did the second.

Ronnie is cutting the metal that holds the shelves up.

Screwing the metal into the wall.

Measuring and building...

Skip ahead a little and we've got shelves!

Materials: MDF board, metal, big screws, Particle board, wood filler, paint.

Price: 2 MDF boards $20

Wood filler $3

Big screws: already had

Particle board: Donated by dad

Metal: Donated by dad

Paint: already had

Total: $23!!

The second bedroom is sl...oooww..llyy.. coming along. But we're working on it bit by bit.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful spring Sunday...we sure are!!

A Cake to Celebrate

2011-04-04T18:19:00.000-04:00

My mom's birthday is this week and I made her a cake on Sunday.

It was funny...she kept saying she couldn't believe she was turning 27...MOM! I'm 27!! haha!

I made a southern classic...Humming Bird cake.

I used this recipe: Humming Bird cake. The recipe is for cupcakes but I just baked it for 30 minutes and it worked out great.

Happy Birthday Ma!!!

Saving the Moola

2011-03-22T16:54:00.000-04:00

Ronnie and I have really been trying to cut back spending all around. Seems like there is always a new bill to pay! So I thought it might be fun to share some of the ways we save money and then in the comments section you can share yours! Maybe we can all learn from each other.

Here are my top 5.

1. Couponing! Back in September, I found the world of couponing. I got into it pretty quick. The first month I started I halved our grocery bill. Since then, I have probably halved it again. That even includes toiletries, laundry, personal care items, etc. If you want to learn about couponing, there are lots of blogs out there to help you on your way.

2. Movies. We get free redbox or blockbuster express movies. There are often free codes. We got a bunch of free redbox rental codes in Orville Reddenbocker popcorn boxes that I got for free - 50 cents! Now that's what I call cheap entertainment! :)

3. Fresh Produce. Last year was my first attempt at a garden. It went okay...I need to find a solution for those squirrels! This year I was able to start a little earlier (see previous post). I paid a couple dollars for some seeds and hopefully we'll have a good crop of lettuce and spinach. Then I have enough left over to plant again in the fall. We'll plant different vegis in April. Seems like the price of fresh produce keeps going up so this helps with the food I can't get with couponing.

4. House Repairs/Furnishings. Luckily, I have a handy husband that is willing to tackle the house repairs and fix ups with me. And what makes that better is my dad lives close and he lets us borrow tools and his wisdom. When I am looking for decor or furniture for the house, I check craigslist first. I've gotten a free couch that is going in our spare bedroom off there. I've also gotten other furniture on there for a really good price. For other items that I can't get on craigslist, I wait for it to be on clearance. I've also referbished a couple of Ronnie's furniture pieces from his bachelor days. This has helped us decorate our new home in our budget. Not to say I haven't splurged on an item or two...oops...

5. Non-necessities. We try to cut out some of the things that aren't neccessary. Like we don't have cable or a landline. Although, there is always room for improvement in this area....

Now, what are the ways your family saves money?

In this economy, we could all afford to save a penny or two, right?!

Early Plantings

2011-03-15T19:16:00.000-04:00

I've had a bit of spring fever lately. I planted some spinach, lettuce and strawberries a couple weeks ago. A few days ago, I planted some basil. I'm really excited to see my spinach and lettuce sprouting!

Spinach

Strawberries

I can't wait to eat some garden fresh salads! :)

Dandelion

2011-02-28T17:38:00.000-05:00

Already have dandelions in the yard!

Not sure I'm happy about the weed part but I sure am happy about it getting closer to spring!

Sunday Choices

2011-02-20T19:47:00.001-05:00

Always hide your icecream behind lots of frozen vegetables. Then when your sitting around the house on a Sunday your not as tempted.

But...

Never leave out leftover Christmas kisses...

Happy Sunday! and Monday off for some (like me, woot woot)!

14 Things I LOVE

2011-02-14T09:44:00.001-05:00

Ronnie.
My Family
My cute friends
My birthday being close to Valentine's Day (although Ronnie finds it stressful :))
Owning a home and being able to do what I want to it (well...within reason of course)
The Beach
Days off work (to go to said beach)
Vacations
Warm weather in the winter, like today ...it's going to get up to 70!
A good deal
Spending time with Ronnie with no lawyer duties! (rare occurrence)
Getting mail
Being outside
Belonging to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Happy Valentine's Day!

What do you love?

A VERY Scary Before

2011-02-02T19:53:00.000-05:00

I've decided to start a bit of a redo in my 2nd bedroom. Right now it is basically a garage and catch all for ...well...basically everything. It's actually a little embarrassing ...but I'm willing to sacrifice in hopes to show a satisfying AFTER picture! This room has actually been clean for a couple days at a time but this is what it looks like as of now.

I got this sleeper sofa for FREE on Craigslist....it's pretty much in new condition. It is the newest addition to the room.

I have a few ideas for this room and am very excited to get started. This Saturday will be a day of painting. I'm hoping this will be a nice guest bedroom/office. We shall see!

What's On the Menu

2011-01-16T19:43:00.000-05:00

This week I had pretty good luck with all the recipes I tried (thanks to some of you too!). So, I thought I'd post what we had for dinner this week. Click on the green link for the recipe!

Monday: Stir Fry. (Thanks Brooke!) This was really good. I doubled the sauce recipe (except for the red pepper). The only thing I would do different is add a little less red pepper. I like spicy but I think a little less would be perfect. I also added snap peas. Delicious!

Tuesday: We had grilled chicken using the McCormick Balsamic Citrus Grillmates. I've had this many times before and this is a really yummy marinade! So good I made Ronnie grill outside in the cold...

Wednesday: Potato Soup. Ronnie was a bit skeptical when I told him I was going to make potato soup, he is not a big fan. But....he thought it was great and so did I. We didn't have any bacon so I used turkey bacon. Turkey bacon doesn't provide much drippings so I used some olive oil to saute the onion and garlic. I also used Yukon Gold Potatoes because I didn't realize they were different than baking potatoes! You'd think I'd know since I lived in Idaho for 3 years :) It was still good though. I would try using regular baking potatoes next time.

Thursday: Leftovers!

Friday: Spinach and Broccoli Pizza with Breadsticks.

This was really good....I do love me some broccoli! I didn't have a pizza stone so I cooked it on a cookie sheet. I might borrow my mom's pizza stone to try next time to see if it's any different. The breadsticks were good too. They are supposed to be similar to the Olive Garden breadsticks. The only thing I would change is that I tried to cook them both in the oven at the same time but the breadsticks got to brown on the bottom. Next time I'd cook them separate. I also put half of the breadstick dough in the freezer to use for next time...since there are only two of us.

I will definitely be making these recipes again. What did you have for dinner?

Recipe Request

2011-01-09T18:09:00.000-05:00

One of my New Year's resolutions is to cook at least three times a week. This may not sound like much but I'm horrible at actually making dinner. It's usually because I don't know what to make that is fast and easy. "Canned soup, hunny?" That gets old quick. Soooo....I'm requesting good recipes! Maybe you have a recipe or a blog that has lots of yummy recipes?! Whatever floats your boat. In return, my husband will thank you!

Wish me luck...

Ringing in the New Year

2011-01-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Happy 2011!

What better way to ring in the New Year than going to a wedding of two lovely people?!

Ronnie and I with the bride

Did I mention it snowed 14 inches here last week? Did I also mention that it hasn't snowed that much since 1989...and that it really isn't supposed to snow here...??

My Parent's house...that's a weird sight!

Well it's true. But thankfully we started the New Year right back at 60 degrees and pretty much all the snow is melted...Thank you 2011! :)

Now I'm off to set some goals.... like going to the gym (that I'm a member of) that is 20 feet behind my house...

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T23:12:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas! We sure did! It was nice to have the whole family here and enjoy each others company. This post will have a lot of pictures... I hope you don't mind.

On the 23rd, we went to Williamsburg. Just the girls. It was fun to do a little shopping (mainly window shopping) and have some girl time.

Christmas Eve, everyone came over our house for dinner.

Ronnie's large (sneaky) gift to me....

Christmas morning at my parents!

Ronnie's sneaky gift to me.

A little football.

Christmas dinner...yum!

And can you believe it snowed on Christmas! Crazy. I don't think it ever snowed on Christmas here before!!

Merry Christmas!

Hangin' with the Fam

2010-12-22T21:54:00.000-05:00

Cory and Chelsea are here visiting for Christmas. Tonight we're just relaxing at my parent's house. Cory and my dad are playing Wii during half time for the Boise State/Utah game....

It's nice to have the whole Paxton family together again!

Have a Merry Christmas!

A Little Time to Post about Holiday Decor

2010-12-16T14:50:00.000-05:00

Today I went to work and then it snowed. Then I drove 10mph all the way home at noon. I shouldn't complain because now I can get some things done around the house!

Our Winter Wonderland

~~(I won't say I'm sad that it's already starting to melt.)~~

Our Christmas Tree

The wreath I made...

Making this wreath is super easy.

You need: Wire, wire cutters, ornaments of your choice and a plain wreath. If you can find plastic ornaments that you like this may save you from future disasters. I used glass. I also used different sized ornaments and some shiny and some matte.

Take ornaments and wire them to the wreath in no particular pattern (at least that's the way I did it). Tada...Enjoy.

See easy.

Price: under $20! (Way better than $80!!)

Snowflakes

2010-12-04T23:11:00.000-05:00

I like the fake, sparkly snowflakes on my tree....

but I'm not really up for the real ones!

I'm sure it will be melted by morning...(and why I chose to take a picture of my recycle bin of all things, I don't know..)

Happy Weekend!

Disasters of the Week

2010-12-01T16:55:00.000-05:00

First it was my hand towel...I just got it from Pottery Barn about a month ago.

Remember our Guest Bathroom....
Well that hand towel now has a huge bleached out spot. How it happened, I have no idea! We don't really use that bathroom!!! Ugh. I called Pottery Barn and they are sold out until September 2011...figures....

Next, I saw this wreath that I loved but at the price of $89 was a bit much for me. SO...my mom and I made one ourselves and frankly it was beautiful! :) I had to hang it on our glass door with a command hook. I followed the directions for the hook and waited an hour to hang my less than 3 pound wreath. About 3 minutes after I hung it...We hear something that doesn't sound good. We open the front door to find my beautiful wreath fallen and and half the balls were broken...I almost shed a tear! Well I'm definitely fixing this one. (I'll show you after!)

But the good thing is I only broke one ornament while decorating the tree....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T21:50:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone has had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate lots of food! We had a very relaxing Thanksgiving with my parents this year.

Dad carving the turkey.

Ronnie and my mom with our Turkey pumpkin.

The yummy food!

The only picture of Ronnie and me that was halfway decent....

We have a lot to be grateful for and are very blessed.

Now we can turn on the Christmas music :)

Bathroom Reno

2010-11-04T20:46:00.000-04:00

The guest bath is the room that has changed the most so far in our home fix up. Check here for more before pics.

And here is proof that I did do some of the dirty work!

Now, once again, it's not totally finished. I still have a few touch ups to do and also need to add a couple decor items but it is pretty much done.

Our beautiful tile floor! :)

What we did: Took out vinyl floor (3 layers) and put in new tile floor, took down wallpaper, put up bead board, new trim and baseboard, made the frame for the mirror, new light fixture, new towel hooks and other hardware, new shower curtain and of course the green paint.

I really think it looks a lot prettier in real life (even Ronnie said so!) but these pics will have to do. What do you think?

Halloween at Our House

2010-11-04T20:29:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to show you what Halloween was like here.....

ooo...spooky :)

Friday Night Pizza and Pumpkins

2010-10-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

I make this homemade pizza that is super easy. It tastes good and is really cheap... I make the crust with this recipe. I just use what leftovers we have..left over spaghetti sauce, cheddar cheese, pepperoni (on Ronnie's half) and green peppers from the garden. It's different every time. Yum...but I wish we had olives...

Then we carved our pumpkin and watched Nightmare before Christmas...good times.

Can't carve a pumpkin without roasting the seeds!

What did you do on Friday date night?

Race Day

2010-10-23T23:50:00.000-04:00

For Ronnie's birthday (back in June), I got him a gift to drive a Nascar racecar on the Richmond Raceway. The day finally came and it was an exciting one. The weather was perfect and Ronnie couldn't wait to get behing the wheel! I even got to ride in a truck around the track once. I was convinced we were going to tip over and we were only going 80! I can't imagine driving a car at higher speeds!

Ronnie has a need for speed so this was a perfect outlet. I'm pretty sure he had a blast.

A clip....

After the race we met up with good friends for a yummy lunch.

Then we stopped by Gander Mountain for a little gift card shopping and headed home...in time for the Oklahoma game. Ronnie's perfect day :)

A Little Nature

2010-10-16T16:58:00.000-04:00

Ronnie and I took a break from house and yard work today and took a hike at NorthWest River Park. Nature does a lot for the soul.

Crossing my fingers for a new camera for Christmas!

Front "Yard"

2010-10-10T19:28:00.001-04:00

I don't know if you can call our front yard an actual "yard" but it is what it is.

This is the front the day we moved in.

We've made quite a few changes since then.

On Labor Day, my mom came over for a couple hours and helped me tear out the bushes that were there and paint a line where I would make my beds. I didn't mind the actual bushes that were out front but in the winter there was NOTHING there. It looked sad.

We bought a rocker bench to enjoy our little porch. The weather has been perfect lately!

I hope to borrow my dad's power washer in the spring....that will help the dirty porch and walkway.

I also killed the millions of weeds and planted some new grass seeds. They're starting to grow!! I'll be planting some pansies soon too.

Well that's our tiny front yard. :)

Oh the Savings!!

2010-09-29T20:59:00.001-04:00

My couponer friends be proud....

Today, I was e-mailed the Food Lion weekly saver and saw they were having a big BOGO sale. I realized that I actually use some of those items (which is what usually keeps me from "couponing" I guess). I also realized I had coupons for some of these items...so I went to work. Here is what I ended up with.

2 boxes of Kraft Macoroni & Cheese: BOGO & $.55 Coupon
2 Jars of Miracle Whip: BOGO & 2 $1.00 off Coupons
5 cans of Del Monte vegis: 5/$5 and $1.00 off Coupon
8 cans Progresso Soup: 10/$10 and 2 $1.00/4 cans coupons
6 tubs cream cheese: BOGO and Buy 5 get $5.00 off coupon
6 things of Kraft Cheese: BOGO and Buy 5 get $5.00 off coupon
2 Hillshire Farms sausages: 2 for $6 and $.75 off coupon
2 bags of carrots: BOGO

Before the cashier took the MVP card and coupons it was $73.15. The total afterward was $24.64.
Total Savings: $48.51

Not bad for my first time, eh? Maybe, my couponer friends could have done better...but I'm pretty happy with the results!

Living Room Update

2010-09-25T15:00:00.000-04:00

There have been some changes to the living room since we moved in.
(Click here to see the before.)

I'm still looking for something for the wall over the couch. I might be going to Williamsburg soon to look at some stores there so maybe I'll have some luck?! I've also been keeping my eye out for a couple cute runners for my table. I've seen lots of cute placemats and napkins but no runners. So there it is as of now and I'm pretty happy with it. What do you think?

Bathroom Update:
We've been "pretty much" done with the guest bathroom for almost a month now but things keep coming up and we never get around to finishing the last couple things. Hopefully I can finish it up in the next week or so! Today we had to put in a new water heater...there goes another Saturday....

YOGA

2010-09-21T08:49:00.001-04:00

Starting my first Yoga class tonight! Wish me luck! Wish I could find my yoga mat....it's probably with our ottoman.

I Like Him

2010-08-31T21:43:00.001-04:00

This is Ronnie at this very minute. He is chatting on the phone on the front porch and I snuck a picture...

Tonight I walked over to Food Lion to grab a few things in case Earl decides to visit us this week. I was walking back through the parking lot and a big truck was coming at me. In my mind, I'm thinking he obviously has to see me. STOP is painted on the ground. He'll definitely stop. There are other people walking near me so he'll see them too. Well the truck doesn't see me and I run/jump out of the way. A man that was walking near me says, "He almost hit her!" and others are staring at me and mumbling to each other. The man in the truck rolls down his window and says "I'm sorry." He obviously has a hard time driving, talking on the phone, and smoking at the same time. I mean I was in plain view.

At the time that I am jumping out of the way of the truck I was wondering if I was going to get hit and thinking..what is Ronnie going to think?

When I get home, I tell Ronnie what happened. He says, "You're not allowed to walk over there anymore."

Yeah, he loves me.

Ronnie-Age 2....What a cutie.

Workin' Hard

2010-08-15T19:52:00.002-04:00

The past couple weeks we've been chipping away at the guest bath. The people before us left us with purple seashell wallpaper and even left the purple trashcan, purple shower curtain and a purple shell soap dispenser. Lucky us! So...we took down the purple seashell wallpaper and then prepped, primed, and painted the top couple feet of the wall.

Then this past Friday we worked on taking the vinyl floor out. There were three layers! When we started pulling it up it smelled horrible...like really bad old man BO...not pleasant.

On Saturday we started (well Ronnie started) to lay the new tile. We're almost done with that. Then next is the beadboard.

Stay tuned for the final product (in a week or two or three...)! Hopefully our toilet won't have to sit out back for too much longer!

P.S. I've put up comment monitoring since there are SO MANY spam comments...sheesh.

Yellow and Gray

2010-07-18T16:58:00.008-04:00

I love yellow. I always have. In fact, the first time I could pick a color for my room (after my baby pink room), I chose yellow. I always wanted yellow for my wedding. I picked yellow and white flowers and people wore yellow and gray. Now I have my own kitchen to do with what I want (of course there are some budget restraints...) so I picked gray walls and yellow accents. Love it.

I'll start off with some befores. The walls were burgandy and pink. Oh and you'll have to excuse my photography...bad lighting and camera in a tiny kitchen make for not that great photos. You can click on the photo for a larger view.

Unpacking

Afters

Things we did:

Painted the walls, changed light switches and outlets to white (instead of tan..we did this through out the whole house), changed light fixture, switched from vertical blinds to curtains (my talented mom made the curtains) and cleaned a lot of cat hair..eww.

I also made this chalkboard.

Here are the materials I used: A piece of sheet metal, abt. $6; Spray chalkboard paint, abt. $5; leftover primer, free; and dad's leftover molding and labor to make the frame, free. Total for chalkboard, $11.

Things we want to do:

Paint cabinets white..we'll probably be doing this in the next couple weeks, new countertops and new sink, new hood/exhaust fan, paint ceiling, and possible new tile floor.

And to go along with the Yellow and Gray theme...today is our 2nd anniversary! Ronnie bought me some beautiful yellow and white flowers and yesterday, we spent the day at the beach, eating at Chili's and icecream at Brusters and watching a couple movies. A nice relaxing day!

Lighting Ideas

2010-07-09T10:53:00.005-04:00

I've been searching for a lighting fixture to go over my table.

My favorite so far:

image via Eric Roth Photography

image via ???

image via This Old House

The first picture is the one I'm really liking as of now! Now to actually find where I can buy these on the cheap! Any ideas? Let me know! I will be browsing lighting stores soon!

A Wedding

2010-07-06T21:43:00.014-04:00

On our way home from Kansas, we stopped in Kansas City to pick up my friend Devanie from the airport, then headed over to Nauvoo, IL to see Chari get hitched!

The Location...

The Newlyweds!!

The girls back together again!

Thanks for coming with me babe!

Then off we went to Indiana for the reception...

Then it was time to say good-bye and take Dev back to the airport... :( The weekend went by so quick! See ya next year girls!

A little late...

2010-07-02T12:30:00.004-04:00

...but better then never right?!

Ronnie turned 30 on Father's Day!

Before we left for Kansas, there was a little surprise on the front door.

Love ya babe!

Design Giveaway

2010-06-30T10:20:00.007-04:00

My friend Danielle has some serious skills.
Enter her Design Giveaway here.

On the River

2010-06-23T20:00:00.009-04:00

Right now we're in Kansas taking a break from work and working on the house. Monday night and Tuesday we took some canoes on the Arkansas River. It was relaxing just to get out of the house and soak in some nature.

Tuesday night we went canoeing with April & Mark (Ronnie's sister and brother in law).

Ronnie being a little adventurous...

Wednesday we went with Jonathan, James & Stephanie (Ronnie's brother, brother & sis in law)

We stopped at the place Ronnie proposed to me in March 2008.

Married for almost 2 years now...Time sure does fly!

Living "Area"

2010-06-17T21:41:00.009-04:00

Well I'm finally posting an update on our house. We'll start with the living "area", meaning living room and dining room combined. This room is not complete at all but we're on our way. When we bought the house all the walls were different shades of green (I didn't get the before pic until we were almost done painting the walls). It was not my cup of tea.

Some before shots:

You'll notice the door is still green...

Unpacking:

Some after:

Ronnie's pride and joy...

Things we've done: painted the walls 'Shasta Daisy', painted all the trim white (it was some mucky tan color), painted all doors, switched out all door knobs & hinges, cleaned up fire place and put up new blinds. I also painted the coffee table that my dad and Ronnie made for me.

Things we plan to do: Add something over the couch, switch out fan above table to a light fixture of some sort, my mom is going to recover the pillows to a green pattern, put up a cornice box, get a new end table so the lamp isn't hiding behind the couch, add more decor... I have an idea of how I want it to look...but fresh ideas are always nice. Suggestions welcome!

Order in the Court

2010-06-13T18:55:00.005-04:00

I think somewhere on here Heather and I refer to this as ‘our’ blog. In order to justify such personally possessive grammar I suppose I must make a direct appearance now and again. Today is your lucky day—Heather has given me permission to log an entry.

I got the green light, I think, as a result of my eventful morning this Wednesday past, which she knows is what I’m going to write about. Now some of you who follow this or who scroll down below this already know I was sworn as an attorney by the Virginia Supreme Court this past Monday. Well, it just so happens that my boss arranged for me to handle my first court case just two days later, on Wednesday. The case was supposed to be a softie. No surprise there. You can’t get much greener than I was after all.

The guy who owed money to our client – almost in excess of $200 (wow) – had failed to respond to the court process for several months preceding trial. My job would be to march up to the judge when my case was called and inform him that the opposing party was in default of following court procedure and that my client was therefore entitled to obtain a judgment against him. Things never stay that simple though.

The case was taking place in a city by the name of Suffolk, Virginia, a smallish city (compared with those around this area) about a half hour away from where I live in Chesapeake. As the day for trial grew closer I started preparing myself as best I could for different scenarios of what might happen in court. The day before, on Tuesday, I called the clerk of the court just to make sure the guy was still in default, i.e., hadn’t responded in any way to establish his defenses. ...What do you know? The guy had filed a “grounds of defense” the Friday before. This was interesting news to me. The rules say that any time something of that nature is filed we -- my client and me, that is – are supposed to get a copy. Needless to say, neither of us had seen anything.

Well, I’m sure many of you fail to see the drama in such a situation. I won’t bore you too long with legal technicalities. Suffice it to say that I was sweating my trial strategy a whole lot more after I found this out. I was asking myself, “Would the judge allow the other guy to argue his case after all?” Will I have to try and pick this guy apart on the witness stand? Should I ask to continue the case out for a future date? Last but not least, “What in the world did that guy put in the grounds of defense?” What if there was some earth shattering legal argument in there that left me in shambles?

My solution was simple. I called the clerk and asked if I could come to court early the next day and look at the grounds of defense before trial. The clerk told me that would be just fine so long as I got to the court before 9:00 a.m., as that was the time the judge came in to pick up the files that would be tried that day. Ok, simple enough. If there was some nuanced argument in there then I could let my client know and we could ask to postpone the trial.

Not being one to plan ahead too much, I didn’t do anything further. The next morning I skipped Googling the location of the court as I knew my wife’s GPS would still be in my car from a trip we took a few days earlier. The GPS came up with a listing for “GD Court” in Suffolk, Virginia, and off I went. I arrived in Suffolk at a quarter to 9:00 a.m. At the destination, however, there was nothing but a very, very old looking courthouse that was clearly under renovation. That wasn’t it. I found another court listing in the GPS and tried going there. That was strike two—a city building housing a city attorney, among other offices, but no court. A helpful lady there told me the courthouse I wanted was just a few blocks over on Main Street.

Now I am down to like five minutes. I’m sprinting to the car. I jet over to Main Street. I am looking for numbers. ....She said 150 Main Street. Ummm..., there is a Bank Street. I’m going to turn there. I don’t know why. I think I might have passed 150 already. OH! There is a cop car blocking part of the street. I can’t finish my turn. There’s a little Chevy cobalt going around the cop car; it would be coming at me head-on. I stop my car half way through my right turn. A half second later my car is nudged forward and I hear a dull crinkling sound. A young lady in a very beat up looking 90’s Ford thunderbird is right behind me. She broke her turn signal light and was not looking happy.

Turns out one police officer woman was trying to cross Main Street right when this little fender bender happened. She came over and offered to do an information exchange. At the same time the police officer on the side street poked his head out the window of his car and waived at the officer, as if to say, “ok, I saw that too, but you can handle that.”

So the officer lady didn’t really work all that fast. But in the wait time I realized that the building immediately beside us was in fact the courthouse. No wonder there are so many police officers around! At least I was done looking for the court. I also knew I no longer had to worry about getting there before 9:00 a.m., cause that was long past. At least my case wasn’t until 11:45 a.m. When I finally got the information form from the officer, I just pulled in behind the court and went in and watched the judge who would be trying my case so I could learn his style.

Let me just end by saying that although eventful, the day ended all right. The client decided that we should go ahead with the trial since there was not a lot of money at stake. I got to do the lawyer thing with the witnesses in front of the judge, and in the end the judge entered judgment for us. Then, on the way out of the court room, the guy comes over and asks if he can take care of his bill right there. I was kind of flummoxed for a moment because I didn’t know that was going to happen. But I caught my wits and we sat down and he forked over the cash to settle the judgment that had just been entered. He was pleasant and seemed to bear no grudge. I guess he just wanted to make sure he really owed the money before he paid up.

So that was it. My grand debut. I hope not all court gigs are this eventful!

-Ronnie

Swearing In

2010-06-07T19:06:00.004-04:00

Ronnie and I went to Richmond (Virginia's Capitol...) so Ronnie could swear in with the Supreme Court of Virginia.

Now he can appear in any court in Virginia. He has his first case on Wednesday!

We're also making progress with getting our stuff put away in our new home. Pictures to come soon....Our place is still semi-construction zone....

The Case of the Missing Ottoman

2010-05-30T20:05:00.006-04:00

This is one lonely chair. It's missing it's other half.

Last Saturday, we moved all our stuff over from my parents house. I kept feeling like something was missing....OUR OTTOMAN. We double checked my parents house...it's definitely not there. It's not just some dinky Ottoman, it was BIG. How do you lose a big piece of furniture??

If you see it, please send it home!

New Neighbors

2010-05-24T09:23:00.004-04:00

We moved our stuff over to our new place on Saturday! Now where to put it....haha. We have briefly met our new neighbors. We have a nice German lady and her son on one side. I'm not exactly sure who lives at the house on the other side but we met a couple people that were there on Saturday. They were even nice enough to offer to help unload our stuff but we just had a few things left so I told them thanks but no thanks. They even invited me over to have a beer...and partake of their keg in the back. Again, thanks but no thanks. I was a little worried about it being a party house but gave it little thought because we were so busy unloading and unpacking. Later that night, we were getting ready for bed and noticed they were still in the backyard partying away. Our bedroom window happens to be right next to their backyard. Well...a few hours later...4:45am...I noticed it was finally quiet and fell asleep. Of course, Ronnie slept through the whole thing. When we were leaving for church the next day, a lady across the street yelled out "Sorry about last night". She said her son was leaving for Afghanistan in a couple weeks and they were throwing him a "good-bye" party and that they are usually quiet. Well, thank goodness because I don't think I'd be a very happy neighbor if I was up that late every night! So that was our first night in our new place. Welcome to the neighborhood!

Anyone have any crazy neighbor stories?

Home Sweet Home...almost

2010-05-17T11:02:00.002-04:00

We officially purchased our first home!! We closed on May 7th and have started painting and updating while we are living with my parents. May seems to be a crazy month and we haven't had much time to work on it. We are hoping to move in this Saturday...we'll see what happens! We are so excited to have our own little space! It is a little townhome in a nice established neighborhood so it's a perfect starter home.

I'll have some pics to post soon. Painting my own walls is awesome!

Smarty Pants

2010-04-23T09:10:00.003-04:00

After months of studying, waiting and hoping....the verdict is in...

RONNIE PASSED THE BAR!!!!

I'm so proud of my hubby for being one of the 57% that passed the February bar exam! Now he is officially an attorney! Congrats babe!

See he just looks smart! Haha...we'll see what he says when he sees this post! :)

Spring

2010-04-04T18:36:00.007-04:00

Happy Easter! Spring is in full gear and I love it!

Spring News:

This is the face of a house hunter.

When Ronnie first saw this picture he said, "Oh, you made that face then too?".

Well I hope I make more of this face (below) in the next couple weeks when we (hopefully) get a house.

I'll let ya know what happens...

Winter Blues

2010-03-04T11:43:00.004-05:00

When I was at BYU-Idaho, I had an awesome Religion teacher. Not only did he have oodles of information in that brain of his but he was also funny. In order to fit his class into my schedule during winter semester, I had to take his 8:00am class. Which meant that I got up at the last possible minute to throw on jeans and a hoodie and run out the door. On one particular morning I was running a tad bit late and the only seat in the room was in the back row. I hurried to my seat and put my things on the floor but when I looked up I realized that not only was it unusually quiet in the room but everyone was looking at ME! I was trying to think of all the reasons why I might be in trouble...I had made it on time...I was wearing pants...As I'm thinking of every possible reason, the teacher makes his way up to the back row and reaches behind me. He pulls out a GIGANTIC snow ball from my hoodie. So not what I was expecting. The whole class is cracking up. Mr. teacher is asking me numerous questions about how the giganton of a snowball ended up in my hoodie. At the time I was in shock of what was happening and my answers where most likely "I don't know" and the shrug of shoulders. The rest of the time in class was random snowball jokes and him asking people if they wanted to eat the snowball...so embarrassing. Although, this seems typical of my experiences during my time in IDAHO. I was always falling, slipping (numerous times under cars), sliding and getting stuck in the snow. Actually, the same day after that class, my car was stuck in the snow in my parking spot and two guys had to push me out.

This winter there has been too much snow. I've been thinking about my time in Idaho and how I thought I would possibly never see snow again (or at least I was hoping).

Although, yesterday it snowed, today is sunny. I'm looking forward to spring and all it has to offer. Including of course, warm weather.

Yes, I got ....

2010-02-16T21:08:00.006-05:00

...the dress! My mom got it for me for my birthday.

And Ronnie made me this yummy chocolate cake. Love a man that bakes :)

See here for the recipe: Chocolate Cake

I had such a nice 4 day weekend. I spent it with my family. I celebrated, opened great gifts, ate cake AND cheesecake AND candy, I looked thru old photos, had a date night with Ronnie, & cleaned up the aftermath of 3 year olds with nerds. Love it.

* Ignore the bad angles and gross hair...*

Scanner

2010-02-12T08:05:00.008-05:00

For my birthday, Ronnie got me this awesome scanner I've been wanting. It can scan negatives and slides (along with regular pics, etc). I was scanning some negatives and found pictures I have never seen. I thought I'd share a few.

My mom and I playing in a park in Provo.

My family in the early days.

Also, does anyone know how to block a commenter? I've been getting spam comments...

Love it

2010-02-04T09:20:00.005-05:00

I believe I've mention how much I love Boden before. They have so many modest dresses. Maybe someday I'll actually get one...

Click here to see BODEN

Oh and the kids are finally back to school today after 3 days off! I wonder what would happen if it snowed more than one day.... To bad I didn't get off of work.

All White

2010-01-30T19:00:00.005-05:00

So they said it would snow....but no one ever believes it because it NEVER does. So when I woke up this morning and looked out the window I was very surprised. It had actually snowed.

It was nice not to leave the house today. And church is canceled tomorrow. When you live in a place where it never snows everything shuts down with a flurry.

This is where Ronnie lives...

Less than a month and I'll get my hubby back.

Confession...feeling a little sheepish...

2010-01-17T18:28:00.005-05:00

When I was a tween, I liked JTT, Devon Sawa and Brad Renfro. You would never know it because I would tear out the pictures from magazines and hide them. I never wanted to show that I actually liked these teen heartthrobs. Yes, I was prideful (and I think it also had to do with my aversion to clutter). When I was a teenager, many of my friends liked Backstreet Boys, Nsync or Hansen. I would never put myself in that category and was very apalled by any screaming or gushing over their cuteness. I may or may not have liked a song or two but that was beside the point. Maybe a little prideful. So in my early twenties, when Harry Potter came out, I was absolutely not going to read them. I'm still not, but I have seen the movies. So I have no excuse for my actions this week. Yes, I read the Twilight Series...for the second time...in one week. I guess I'm letting go of some of my pride. But I most certainly will not be a screaming fan....

I NEED to be here...

2010-01-13T11:22:00.003-05:00

...NOW!

Happy 2010!

2010-01-03T15:04:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Years. We are looking forward to 2010 and we have many goals for this upcoming year.

1. Ronnie says he can only focus on one goal this year and it's passing the bar!

2. Get a home! My parents have been so gracious in letting us stay here these many months and we're hoping after Ronnie takes the bar we can focus on getting a place of our own.

3. Read the Old Testament all the way through.

4. Finish my little projects....I have a chair that I've bought the fabric to recover (I've had the fabric since September) and a big pillow for my bed to make (my bed that is in storage now).

I'm sure we'll make more goals as the months go on! There are so many changes (we hope) in store for us this year and we are excited to see what 2010 brings!

In other news....

I've just finished refinishing this lamp. I've been wanting a glass lamp to go in my future bedroom. I found one at Target but when my mom went to go get it for me for Christmas they no longer had it. So while I was in Arkansas City, Kansas, I went to some of the Vintage stores around and found the perfect little lamp. My mom and I bought the new wiring (which they only sell GOLD kits and we had to buy everything separate because I wanted silver) and cleaned it all up. Now I'm just looking for the perfect shade.

(A White) Christmas in Kansas

2009-12-28T19:50:00.000-05:00

The entire Slaven family was there for Christmas this year. Including a couple people I had never met before....Jonathan, Ronnie's brother who just returned from a 2 year mission in Russia AND baby Emma, Stephanie and James 1st born, who is a super cutie.

The festivities included...putting up the traditional
massive tree. (literally)

Opening gifts....

Spending Christmas Eve night with Grandma Pettigrew during a "blizzard". There were some issues getting out of her long driveway.

and spending time with this lil' one. Being an aunt is fun and Ronnie is definitely liking the new title.

And you probably guessed....snow. This was taken ON Christmas...Ronnie wanted to make sure I had a picture of a white Christmas...since I've never had one, well that I can remember. (See previous post to see how I really feel about that...)

Not a Fan

2009-12-22T09:15:00.000-05:00

Well I'm here sitting in Kansas, a couple days ago I thought we would never get here. We left Chesapeake at 4pm on Friday and started traveling...a couple hours later we encountered snow. Yes, lots of snow. I was driving at first but then the snow became a little to much for me to handle. Ronnie drove for the next 40+ hours. The snow became more intense and highways 64 and 81 were closed at certain points on Friday night. Thankfully, Ronnie has some mad skills with driving and my little Hyundai accent is somehow amazing in snow. After seeing thousands of cars off the road, truckers jack-knifed and tipped over, helping a trans am out of the snow, making new friends, sitting for hours upon end in traffic, almost having a heart attack (Me, Heather, that is), hiking up to our hotel in more than a foot of snow, sleeping only a few hours, eating lots of junkfood (basically nothing was open), seeing more snow than I ever wanted to...we got out of West Virginia. It took us until Sunday morning to make our way out of the snow. After that it was smooth sailing. We ended up getting to Kansas in about 50 hours....and its usually a 22 hour drive. I'm pretty sure if I go my whole life and never see another flake of snow, I will be perfectly happy. But, don't worry...it's supposed to snow here on Christmas. Am I a scrooge for NOT wanting a white Christmas. Maybe...but Christmas is still Christmas in Belize.

Fall Happenings

2009-12-06T21:49:00.000-05:00

Fall was so warm and pretty this year. Lots of nice, sunny days (with a noreaster mixed in). Below is a picture of Ronnie by the soybean field at the end of my street

Thanksgiving was spent with my parents and our good friends Lila and Garrett Watts. We had such a good time eating and playing games!

Soon Ronnie will begin studying for the bar exam...I couldn't believe all the study materials he has...he takes it in February 2010!

We've been to a lot of Christmas parties and gatherings so far and I'll have to post about them later...including a very interesting Dutch tradition...Zwarte Piet.

Marathon Weekend

2009-11-14T22:19:00.000-05:00

Saturday morning Ronnie ran 26.2 miles in the Richmond marathon. He's such a stud... :) We stayed up in Richmond on Friday night and decided to celebrate with sparkling cider and snowballs. Yummy...

The race started at 8am and even though Ronnie ran the marathon...I felt like I had my own marathon. I was racing from place to place to cheer him on. Phew. I met him at mile 7, 13, and 19. I tried to see him cross the finish line but I didn't quite make it! The traffic around the marathon was impossible to get through so I parked about 1.5 miles away and tried to hurry over there but I missed him by a minute!! O well, he did awesome and finished the marathon in 3hr24min! He was 355 out of 6,000 runners and 51st out of his age group. I'm so proud of him!

Before the race

Pictures: 7th mile, 19th mile, and after the race!

Favorite Things...MIA

2009-11-04T13:07:00.001-05:00

Lately, I'm becoming a little frustrated when my favorite things are no where to be found.

One day when I went peach picking with my mom and Chelsea, we stopped at this little mom and pop convenience store on Knotts Island, NC. Well, I saw something...a Hershey Bar with peanut butter filling!! It was like a king size Hershey Bar and each square was filled with yummy peanut butter...Soooo Good! Now I want these all the time but I've never been able to find them. I've only been able to find a similar Reese bar but it's just not the same. If you see these delicious Hershey Bars buy them all and send them to me!! Also, I googled them to see if I could find them online and order them..no such luck. They aren't even on the Hershey website. All I found was another blogger with the same problem...

Recent favorite items gone MIA-

Maybelline Mascara- I've used this for a while. I went to pick some up last week and they don't make it anymore...lame. I got a different kind but it's not the same. So I'm on the hunt for a good mascara.

Almay Mineral makeup- I went to CVS one day this past spring and picked up this mineral powder. At first, I didn't really like it and didn't use it that much. As time went on I decided I really liked it and it gave me a hint of color without having to use real foundation (which I hate using). It was really nice for the summer. So I went to get more...I looked EVERYWHERE. No one has it. Bummer.

Past Items that are MIA and I still think about them...

-milk chocolate donuts (can't remember the brand..starts with an E..I think)

-Express jeans (back in the early 2000s)

-covergirl eyeshadow-nude something or other

-Crispy tenders at KFC

-Chicken Rice Bowl at Taco Bell

-SeaSpray at Bath & Body Works ...I've always used Coconut Lime Verbena but last Christmas my mother in law got me a couple different kinds. I was skeptical but I found out I loved the Seaspray kind. Went back to get more...you know what happened....

I'm sure there are many more...Now I'm looking for new favorites.

UPDATE: I found the SeaSpray bodywash at BathandBodyWorks.com (thanks Katie). They have some of the classics online and they are still having a buy 2 get 1 free sale (of course shipping makes up for that). Now I just have to wait for it to come!!

Road Kill Bill and a REAL JACK-o-latern

2009-11-01T15:33:00.000-05:00

This Halloween was pretty low key. Friday night was our 'Trunk-or-Treat' with our church. Ronnie was in charge of the haunted hayride and was the narrator. He was dubbed Road Kill Bill and you'll see why with a couple pictures....I'm such a proud wife... With those reflectors, you wonder how he ever became Road Kill Bill!On Halloween, we did the traditional Chili and carved a pumpkin. I also coaxed my family into watching Nightmare Before Christmas. I like that movie...which may be why I chose to carve my pumkin the way we did. :)

La Fleur

2009-10-24T21:28:00.000-04:00

I'm thankful for flowers. I'm thankful for cameras that capture the image of pretty flowers so I can look at them later. It makes a less than perfect day that much better.

(First picture is an engagement picture in May '08, the rest are flowers in the backyard in summer '09)

Sugarholic

2009-10-01T11:35:00.000-04:00

Can anyone tell me why I love sugar so much?? And really not any sugar...CANDY....

I bring an apple to work and I think if I want candy I'll just eat my apple. Well my apple is gone so I eat these...

No, I do not need a dispenser for this delicious treat...noooo....that takes to much time.

Trick or Treating was always one of my favorites when I was younger. Not because of getting to wear the cool costume but because of the candy. My brother on the other hand has never been a big candy person. After Halloween was over and Cory still had candy...it was my duty to finish it. :)

Not to say that there hasn't been a week here or there where I have sworn off candy but in the end I always come back.

Well, I blame my dad. He's the one who gave me a dum dum on day 2 of my life....

So I've confessed to my craving...what's yours?

(If you needed me to clarify...this is Heather. Ronnie hardly eats candy, his craving is ICECREAM.)

Little One

2009-09-20T18:48:00.000-04:00

Emma Frances Slaven! Born on September 4, 2009. We're finally an Aunt and Uncle!!
Congrats to James and Stephanie!

Change

2009-09-05T19:57:00.000-04:00

So I'm officially a working woman. I started working at a title company this past monday. I've actually worked there before a few years ago. No more naps for me...haha. Ronnie also got a "new" car this past week. We've been looking for one for a while and then when I got the job we put our search in full gear. Ronnie also sold his motorcycle on craigslist. It went pretty fast. I know he's sad about it but its a bit of relief for me! The guy who bought it was REALLY excited and his wife was a little LESS excited. Haha... I think this is the typical feeling for most wives. Although, his car is stick shift so Ronnie is happy about that so now he doesn't have to drive my wimpy automatic anymore. That's fine with me...

Sorry no pictures this time. Just a little update! Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Outdoors

2009-08-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

We've been busy this summer with little weekend trips! Here are some pictures from the last two family mini vacations (with the whole fam!).

We went camping off of Skyline Drive in the Mountains at the beginning of the month. We did a long hike to some waterfalls.

Then we were invited by some of our good family friends to stay at a lake house they rented at Smith Mountain Lake. We wake boarded at tubed. Well I only tubed once at a very slow pace because of my hurting back but everyone else did great!!

Good times.

Mmmm...peaches!

2009-08-09T20:25:00.000-04:00

My mom, Chelsea and I went peach picking on Knotts Island.

Then we canned them!

Visit

2009-07-27T12:27:00.000-04:00

I went up to Lexington to visit one of my favorites!

I'm so glad she lives only hours away!

Ronnie's Rants

2009-07-22T20:24:00.001-04:00

Ronnie has started a new blog to write his thoughts on politics, books, lawyer stuff or whatever else he feels like.

http://ramblesrantsandruminations.blogspot.com

Check it out and leave a comment if your so inclined (it'll give him encouragement)!

It's been a year...

2009-07-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

..since we were married! Can you believe it?? One year down....eternity to go!

For our anniversary we decided to take a little trip to Charleston, SC. I love that place and now Ronnie does too. We spent the couple days we were there visiting plantations, walking around downtown and admiring the beautiful homes.

People say the first year of marriage is the hardest...I don't believe it. This past year has been great and I couldn't ask for a better hubby! Happy One Year babe!!!

Summer Fun

2009-06-21T18:46:00.000-04:00

We've accomplished a lot already..in terms of summer fun. Just to prove it, here are some pictures.

First was my dad's birthday. Party hardy!

Then Ronnie, my mom and I went strawberry and may pea picking...yummy. I hadn't been in a long time. It was nice to do that again.

While I was in Utah, the rest of my family went to Okracoke Island, NC. My aunt Penny and her kids were here from Colorado. They spent half their time on the east coast in a beach house in Nags Head, NC. I was able to visit them at their beach house before I went to Utah. But I was told they had a lot of fun on Okracoke!

This summer I've also been admiring my mom's garden. It's just nice to go outside and look at the flowers and yummy veggis in the beautiful weather.

Most recently, we visited Cape Henry lighthouse in Virginia Beach. My cousins are here from Utah so it is fun to get out and do some things with them.

And Ronnie turned 29!!!! Happy Happy Birthday! His birthday was this past Saturday. We had a fun day and ended it with eating a juicy steak at Lone Star...well just Ronnie ate the steak. I stuck with the salad.
And what would the summer be with out swimming in the pool...

Utah Trip

2009-06-18T19:28:00.000-04:00

This past week I made a trip to the state of Utah. My friends and I decided it had been way to long since we had seen each other and my friend Chari flew me out. It was so fun to have a girls week. After the crazy plane ride there (typical canceled flights, mechanical problems, and rebooking) I finally arrived 7+ hours late and found Chari waiting for me in the airport. We immediately drove to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory where I got my strawberry cheesecake carmel covered apple...to die for and then went to dinner at Cafe Rio...delicious. Friday night my friend Devanie came over and we had a "slumber party". We enjoyed ourselves by eating...lots... and watching a movie and just chatting. Saturday they surprised me with going to the Thanksgiving Point to see the dinosaur museum. I have a thing for dinosaurs so I had a great time. Its just fun to be with these girls. They're hilarious. We spent the rest of the day visiting little shops, going to dinner and eating icecream. Sunday was church and visiting Grandma. It's always good to see her. Then stopping by Devs again to enjoy some crackers and cheese. She also told me about some books I should read. Which Chari and I went and looked for the books the next day. I got a couple good ones. The four of us (Dev, Chari, Stacy and me...we were all roommates) met for lunch in SLC. That night Chari took me to my uncles house where I stayed the night. I ate dinner with them and played with my little cousins. They are too cute and we had a little slumber party downstairs. Who knew 5 year olds snored...precious. I flew back with two of my teenage cousins and arrived safely home that afternoon. The trip went by so quick but I am so happy I was able to go. I wish I was able to see more of my friends and family but I guess I'll have to save them for my next trip.

Transition

2009-05-24T20:30:00.000-04:00

This past week, Heather and I moved in with Heather's parents in Chesapeake, Virginia. They are lovely people, living lovely lives in a lovely home. We are grateful for their generosity and we are excited to share some time together. Naturally, such an arrangement is temporary, but for now (in addition to being lovely) it is convenient and helpful.

In the months leading up to law school graduation, Heather and I grew more and more certain that we were supposed to leave the Northern Virginia area. We tried to make what plans we could, but there have always been many variables to sort out. Perhaps the biggest is employment. I am looking for somewhere that I can get good experience working with seasoned lawyers. Thus employment looms large. But employment is not even my most immediate concern. When I speak of law school graduation in the past tense, I am really only speaking of the ceremonial walk-across-the-stage part. That happened last weekend. The part where I qualify for a J. D. degree doesn't happen until I finish some law school credits this summer. After talking with academic and career counselors at school, I developed a plan for finishing the credits remotely; that is, after moving down to the Chesapeake area. The plan is to do an internship for credit at a local law firm and to do independent research for a professor. That all begins this week and will continue through at least July. During that period, I will be searching my employment options. Who knows where that will ultimately lead? We would like to stay in the Hampton Roads area, but we understand that we're in transition. Transition is a fragmented path with blind entries and sudden exits and you have to stay loose and play the thing deftly.

Well, I've just been talking about the forward-looking, uncertain side of transition, but there is another side to talk about. A time of transition often marks the end of a period of routine, of familiarity and order. As such it is a good time to reflect on what has been accomplished, a time to treasure up faces and places that will never be the same again. I feel Heather and I had the perfect opportunity to do this last week as we prepared to leave Northern Virginia. I had free time on my hands after finishing my last final two weeks ago-Monday. I did my last stint with the cub scouts (my ward calling) on Tuesday night. Wednesday, Heather and I drove up to Baltimore to pick up my parents who were flying in for my graduation. My parents stayed with us in our little basement apartment for the rest of the week. I got to chauffeur them around on Thursday and Friday. It was a chance to put my four years' experience with the area to work, though we did do some things that were new to me. We did Monticello--not new to me, but always good. We did the National Mall, including going up the Washington Monument (way to be brave, Mom!), the Museum of American History, and the Holocaust Museum (new to me). Sadly Heather could not join us during the day as she is the bread winner of our family :). Her last day of work was Friday, though. Now she is happily (though hopefully temporarily) unemployed. Saturday was graduation. You've all gone through it. It was surprisingly similar to high school graduation (except the robes were more expensive this time). It felt like going through a decade time warp. I wanted to check my face for pimples before walking across the stage. It was nice, though, to have so much support from family and friends. Heather's parents drove up from Chesapeake to be there, and they got to meet my parents a second time. Sunday my parents came to church for what would be our last time in that ward, and later we took them back to the airport.

Monday, Heather and I had to focus on "transition" in earnest. We began packing all our stuff into boxes that we gathered from the neighbor's trash, Heather's mother, and the local Home Depot. It's amazing how fast you accumulate stuff when you get married. Not a bad thing since a lot of it was nice wedding gift stuff. But still. It adds up. Tuesday was move day. We had reserved a Budget truck online and I went to pick it up in the morning. I thought it would be a quick thing but it ended up taking an hour and a half! I learned my lesson--moves always take longer than you think. We did have help from a couple of guys from church who were nice enough to volunteer to help, and they definitely sped the process up. By mid-afternoon we were down to the final stuff stored in dark, dusty corners of the apartment. I thought it would never stop coming--electric mug warmer, giant Halloween spider, a car tire, bathroom scale, etc. We threw it in the last of our boxes and labeled them "miscellaneous," or "stuff" or "bathroom junk," for variety. Really there was no rhyme or reason. When the boxes were gone, we just threw the rest in the back of the truck. Finally, after cramming in some flower pots (still full of dirt) that Heather just couldn't leave behind, we pulled the door down and set off on our last stop-and-go tango with local rush hour traffic as official residents. Beside the traffic, the trip went quite smoothly. My only small mishap occurred at a red traffic light early on. Of all our belongings in the back of the truck, I was most concerned with how my motorcycle was doing in the turns and stops. So at the red light I jumped out and went around back and began to lift up the door. Heather was directly behind me, watching, along with a long line of cars behind her. Well, among the random stuff that ended up being thrown in at the last was a game of pictionary, which at this very moment decided to leap out of the truck and make a break for it. Pencils, dice, paper and cards went in all directions on the street. I began scurrying about madly (quite embarrassed) trying to beat the red light. Well, I must be pretty good, 'cause I did beat it. (It helps that red lights in Northern Virginia are like 5 minutes long.) I asked Heather later what she was thinking when she saw it all happening. She said she thought about getting out to help me but then decided that I had it under control. How about that!? I still harbor a suspicion she was really trying to distance her affiliations at that particular moment. Oh, well. All's well that ends well--my motorcycle was just fine, so I got over the momentary embarrassment.

Well, that is enough reflection for now. We're here in Chesapeake, we're in transition and life is good.

Pictures!

2009-05-07T20:45:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm always a bit lazy and I say I'll put more pictures up later and I never do. And it seems to always be after a wedding. So here are some pictures of all the weddings this past year. We'll start with ours (last July) :)

Then James and Stephanie were married in November...

Then April and Mark in January...

Cory and Chelsea in May...

My brother is MARRIED!

2009-05-02T16:11:00.000-04:00

On Saturday my lil' brother was married! My relatives flew and drove from out of town to celebrate Cory and Chelsea's big day. They are such a cute couple and it's neat that our family is "complete". They are on their honeymoon right now on a cruise ship to the bahamas. We'll be meeting up with them at their reception in Chesapeake, VA.

I'll have to put up more pictures later. Ronnie is studing for his exam tomorrow and needs the computer. So...Congrats lil' bro and Chelsea! You're MARRIED!

Have I mentioned...

2009-04-26T19:06:00.000-04:00

...that I love warm weather?? This weekend was beautiful! On Saturday morning we participated in a church service project at one of the parks in Arlington, VA. Basically we weeded the forest. There were a few species of plants that they want to remove from the area. It was a good time and about 200 ward members came. Today (Sunday) we took a drive and ended up going for a walk at Mason park (named after George Mason). It was great to be outside and enjoying the awesome weather.

...Love it.

Life is good.

2009-04-12T19:57:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Easter. Today we went to church, colored eggs, ate salsa chicken for dinner, and Ronnie is now making strawberry shortcakes.

Last weekend, we went down to my parent's house. We watched conference and celebrated my mom's birthday.

Here are some pictures from last year that I found on my mom's camera while we were down there. I thought I'd share a few.

This is memorial day weekend '08. We went down to Nagshead, NC on Sunday and we had a picnic on the beach. Oh how I miss the beach.

This is my briday shower. I got so many awesome gifts!

This is my brother and his future wife Chelsea (now in less than 3 weeks!). We're just hanging out on the beach with a million other people waiting for the 4th of July fireworks.

I think this was Sunday on 4th of July weekend.

These next two pictures are when my parents came up to visit and stayed in our lovely basement apartment. We had an awesome time playing phase 10 and other card games while eating some fireballs.

Well, it's fun to find pictures you've forgotten about. Now I'm going to eat some strawberry shortcake. Be jealous.

Moving on...

2009-03-24T19:13:00.000-04:00

So I told my job that I was quitting because....We're moving! Ronnie is attempting to get an unpaid internship for an attorney in Hampton Roads. We both wanted to get out of the DC area and wanted to move somewhere Ronnie could get a job but wasn't as large of a city. So...if you know of any law internships, let us know. This also means I need to find a job. We're moving at the end of May and will be living with the 'rents for a bit till we get settled and figure out what to do next. Ronnie is excited to graduate in May (he'll still have the internship and an independent study with his bankruptcy professor for the summer semester). So we have a lot of changes coming up!

Also, just an update...
So I got this dress a couple weeks ago. It fit well but the fabric wasn't what I expected. So I returned it. I think if it was less money I would have been satisfied. So now I'm looking for a new dress. I saw a cute one in Ann Taylor that I might try on. I just need an Easter dress. I'm also in search for gold shoes for Cory's wedding. I haven't seen any yet but I've only looked a couple places.

Snow, Spring and the Flu

2009-03-14T11:55:00.000-04:00

Well March started off with 7 inches of snow. I haven't seen this much snow since Idaho. I'm not a huge fan of the snow so when it was 75 degrees a week later it made me very happy! This past week has been Ronnie's spring break. I took Monday off of work and we went to the Washington Monument. Neither of us had been to the top of the monument so we figured this would be a good time to go. It was a sunny, 60 degree day. I couldn't believe how windy it was. I guess if its too windy they close the monument. The wind was 25 mph pretty constantly(the guy that worked there told me) but thats not enough for the monument! We went up the elevator, which was a surprisingly quick trip. There were some great views from the top. If you ever want to go there, make sure you order the tickets online first, probably a few days in advance.

I've had the flu for the past couple days...blah. It hit me like a ton of bricks while I was at work on Thursday. The only appt. I could get was at 10:10pm (and we were to be there at 9:10). I didn't see the doctor until 11. Then she tested me for the flu and she called me at 7am on Friday to tell me I had the flu. Hopefully I'll get over it soon. I had the flu around the same time last year. I'm just hoping Ronnie doesn't get it...

So keep yourself healthy! It's going around!

Love these!

2009-02-25T11:49:00.000-05:00

Here are a few of the things I've been admiring this month. I can't keep myself away! I've looked at these more than just a few times.

My very good friend, Lee, has the cutest etsy shop. I really love her photography and note cards. Here is one of my favorites. Click the link to see her whole shop. You'll be glad you did.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6574572

My favorite dress this year! I'm getting the pink one. Boden has the cutest clothes! http://www.boden.co.uk/

Some of you may know that I love my Southern Living magazine! There are always great recipes I want to try, gardening tips I wish I could use, and pictures of my dream home. A few years back I actually visited one of the houses in South Carolina. Anyways, here is a frosting recipe I want to try. They had about 10 different kinds but I love rasberries.

Prep: 10 min. If you love lots of frosting, double the recipe.
This recipe goes with Basic Layer Cake, Vanilla Cupcakes
Yield
Makes about 2 1/2 cups
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup fresh raspberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (16-oz.) package powdered sugar
Preparation
1. Beat first 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating at low speed until blended and smooth after each addition.
Note: Be sure to wash and thoroughly dry raspberries before adding to frosting.

A few weeks ago, my friend Danielle posted that she was looking at this crockpot blog. I like to use the crockpot. I checked it out. Love it. Soooo many recipes. I've already tried one and looking forward to trying many more. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/

This is the recipe I'm planning on trying next. http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/05/lemon-and-herb-crockpot-roasted-chicken.html

Birthday/Valentine's Day

2009-02-22T16:51:00.000-05:00

So as many of you already know....I am the big 25 now...yikes. So I know that I've been in denial about this day but I didn't know Ronnie was. But here is the proof. My birthday cake.

Well luckily Ronnie redeemed himself (haha j/k), with a HUGE suprise to go to NYC and see WICKED on Valentine's Day. We left Friday after work. We were stuck in DC traffic for a while, paid $30 in tolls and got to NYC around 11:30pm. We stayed in Queens. The next morning (Valentine's Day) we woke up early and rode the subway to catch the 9am ferry to see the statue of liberty. It was great. We met some funny people there. We chatted to a lady and her daughter from England and a man from Japan about "queueing in line" and complained about the ridicoulous security to get into the statue of liberty, which you can only climb up to the pedestal now. It was a good time. We then headed over to broadway! Wicked was amazing! The actors were great, the songs were great and was very entertaining. I can't believe I got to go! After the show we walked around NYC and walked through time square and went to FAO Shwartz. Ronnie's friend told him of a good Northern Italian restuarant to eat dinner so we thought we would try it out. Ronnie said "let's just walk there". So we started walking. About 4 miles later...we arrived at the restuarant and they said they had only taken reservations because it was Valentine's day. So I should mention that I was sick (although I was having a lot of fun so I wasn't complaining before this point). This did me over. I had just walked 4 miles in the cold and I was on the verge of passing out and my right foot felt like the ligaments were coming unattached... anways I wasn't happy. Luckily we brought our GPS and found restuarants in the area and decided to make our way back to Queens and just eat there. Well we got on the metro only to realize we were going the wrong way and a worker had to help us figure out how to get back. We got back to Queens, walked to the hotel and got the car and drove to Outback. We parked and found out that the parking closed at 11. We moved the car. Got to Outback and stood in line and then they said the wait was 2.5 hours. It was already 10 something. Ronnie had called earlier to put our name on the list (about 2 hrs before) so they let us wait only 40 minutes. We finally ate at 11pm. It was yummy but I was so exhausted. The next morning we went to see ground zero. Unfortunantly, they didn't have much there. It was just big fences around the area. You couldn't see anything. So we rode back to Queens and went to church. Then headed home. We took the no toll way. Thank you GPS. It was a great, fun filled trip. Only a few moments where I could've passed out, but what can I say, I was sick. Love you Ronnie.