A Tribute to Deseret Towers

It's the end of an era!! BYU has torn down Deseret Towers (DT) - the dorm I lived at when I was a freshman at BYU. They've probably been there forever because they were pretty old when I lived there and that was in 1995. I'm not sure what they will do with the area, but it's SO sad to me to watch them go. I loved living there - even though I got sick of it by the end and I gained about 20 pounds over the 10 month period, I still loved it. I loved the friendships and the memories I made there. Here are some pictures of my life at DT:

Me in my first room (S hall room 708). That is where I met Sherri Cowley. We were roommates for the summer and then I moved over to T hall so I could be in Freshman Academy. Thank heavens I went that summer and roomed with her! I can't imagine a life where I didn't know Sherri. It seriously makes me teary just thinking about how much she's meant to me the last 13 years. Sherri is the closest thing I have to a sister.

Me and Sarah Rackham pointing to our rooms in S hall. Sarah lived next door to Sherri and I that summer. Again - thank heavens I got to meet her, too!

Sherri and I pointing to our mailbox in the Morris Center.

Sher and I getting ready for a football game. I know the picture quality isn't the greatest, but you get the idea...Adam, do you like our school spirit?!

This was the view from our room in S hall. When I first got there to check in, the girls downstairs said that my room had a great view - and yep -they were right! Sher got to live there the whole year - lucky girl!

This is me with Sandy DeGroot. Sandy and I grew up together in San Luis Obispo and then we lived in T hall and were in freshman academy together. Sandy has been one of my best friends over the years. She's known me over many stages of my life!!

This is me and Sandy with Amy Allen - she was Sandy's roommate. I haven't kept much in contact with her since college, but I loved her - she was so funny!! She really was one funny gal. For some reason we thought it was fun to take pregnant pictures in the middle of the night...
The last one was us about to go to a dance. I can't even remember the names of the other girls!

This is Sherri, laying on top of our friend, Laurie Bertrand. She was from Texas (as was Sherri) and so they had a "special bond." Sher still stays in contact with Laurie (I think). I think she and her husband are both doctors in Salt Lake!! Wow...what a smarty pants! Laurie is wrapped up in my baby blanket. I slept with it every night until half way through college. I realized that it was probably strange to still have it and so I took it home and left it there. Ahhh...
Notice the Steve Young pictures on my wall - I sure did love him! Also, there is a small cut out picture of John Walsh on the right side of the picture. My plan was to marry him when I got to BYU, but I guess that didn't happen. He wasn't even the quarterback anymore my freshman year - I believe it was Steve Sarkesian...maybe?

These are our great friends, Chachi, Dave and Randon. Amy and Chachi dated for most of freshman year and then I dated Chachi when he got back from his mission. I went with Dave to a DT dance (see the picture where Amy and I are winking at each other) and at first we were just friends, but then I ended up liking him a lot. He liked me back for a very short period of time, but then decided that he was in love with Sherri.
The picture with the retainers was Chachi being silly. He and Amy snuck into my room one night when the floor was open to guys and I was off somewhere else. They took this picture with my camera and my retainers and I didn't know about it until I got my role of film back. So silly...

So there you have a few of my memories of DT. Now to the pictures that I took a few weeks ago. Sherri was visiting and so we went to take these pictures together. Every hall was down, except for U hall which was right next to T hall (when T hall actually existed). It looks pretty scary though - like a bomb went off or something!

This hole is where S hall was.

If you look closely at this picture, you can see a little foundation still remaining - this is what is left of T hall. The Morris Center is still standing and is in the background of this picture.

Anyways, thanks for strolling down memory lane with me. I loved living there and these memories will have a special place in my heart forever.

A wet experience

Yep, Ella peed on me this morning...it was all very...very wet. I was en route to the bathroom after undressing her in her room and I stopped off in my room to change the channel on the tv. Bad idea. All of a sudden I felt very warm and very wet! Goodness gracious. That was a lot of liquid!
Does this happen to anyone else or just me? :)

Yummy Salad

My neighbor, Cristina, introduced me to a new salad the other day. It's SO yummy! It's like a treat. Here is what is in it:
Spinach
Cottage Cheese
Dry Roasted Sunflower seeds
Craisins
Poppy Seed dressing (we used Brianna's)
Just put the amount that you want of each thing and enjoy! It's seriously so delicious. Let me know if any of you try it and what you think!

Spoke too soon...

This is an update to my post about my allergies. I called the doc on Monday to see how I am supposed to "end" all of this and they said to come in and get checked. When I did they said that my body isn't ready to be done with the therapy yet and so I just had to get a refill on my stuff. They said it all just depends on my body and it can take up to a year to be cured of the allergies! SO...needless to say I'm still doing it and it may be a while.
I just thought that once the 5 months were up I would be done. Oops!
For Chris: Adam does have a lot of allergies and we have talked about him going in to get tested, but we're not sure if we should go that route or have him go to an allergist. Now that we're on this new insurance (which doesn't cover naturalpathic doctors) we only have a limited amount left in our health savings account that we can use to go to the naturalpathic doc (it would be pretty expensive to pay out of pocket). So we'll just have to see. I'm sure it would be good for him, though!

Pink Cheese

So Henry was eating ham slices tonight and after each slice he said, "Mommy, more pink cheese." :)

One week to go!

So this past year Adam and I have been going to a naturalpathic doctor. He has this nutritionist woman in his office and she can test you for allergies in a very strange way. I'm still not sure how I feel about all of it - it seems pretty hoaky. I went in for the testing and she said that I was allergic to 5 things - progesterone being one of them. She sent me home with this little dropper and fluid that contained the 5 things I was allergic to. It's been a progressive process - each month I have increased my dosage on the amount I take. I do it for a total of 5 months and the theory is that at the end of it I should be cured of these allergies. I have 1 week to go and I will be done. Now is this doing anything in my body? i'm really not sure. But I think I will go back in after and have her re-test to see if I'm still allergic to anything.
Now this is the part I'm most excited about. After she did the testing I asked her about how I get so sick when I'm pregnant and I wondered if there was a correlation between that and my allergy to progesterone. She said that there is a very good chance that once I'm cured of the allergy that I will be able to tell a difference the next time I'm pregnant. Isn't that just about the best thing you've ever heard? I'm not sure what will happen, but I figure that even if it's just a smidge better I will be so happy. And if there is any difference it will be a true miracle.
And hooray that it's almost over. Some days I will miss taking my vitamins, but I NEVER miss taking my allergy therapy - the possible advantages of taking it are too great to pass up.
Like I said, I'm not sure what will happen, but I'm excited about the possibilities.

I buzzed Ella's hair

This is a shot of her hair before. It was starting to grow a little on top, but it was still pretty thin and whispy. I've heard rumors that if you buzz their hair you can encourage growth and fullness. SO...that's what I did! I'm not sure what I've done. :) Sometimes I think it's super cute and then sometimes I wish it was time for it to grow in a little more. BUT nevertheless, Adam and I still think she's so beautiful. In some ways we think that this brings out the beauty of her face a little more since her funny hair is no longer detracting from it. :)
And here are the after shots (take a deep breath Mom Brundage):

Henry's Little Jammies

I had a pile of Henry's old clothes waiting to be boxed and put in the attic. He found this pair of jammies from last summer and has insisted on wearing them just about every day since. Some days I'm lucky, though, and I can get him to wear a sweat shirt and sweat pants over them. For some reason, though, he just loves them. Silly boy.

Snow Day at Grandma and Grandpa's

few weeks ago we went down to Elk Ridge to play with Grandma and Grandpa. They had SO MUCH SNOW! Adam and Henry played out back for probably 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Adam dug out a slope so Henry could slide down it. Henry absolutely loved it! And Ella stayed warm inside and had fun with Uncle Ammon. (PS There is supposed to be an 'A' at the beginning of this, but I had technical difficulties...)

Blasted Strollers!

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a TERRIBLE time making decisions. Adam thinks I'm ridiculous because of it, too. So we've had money for a double stroller since October and I just haven't decided which one to get.
I decided I was just going to get this done and so after much deliberation this last week I decided to base my decision on price. So yesterday I went to babies r us and I bought a duo-glider (it was the cheapest of the options). I got it home and Adam put it together and Henry jumped in it to test it out. I promptly noticed that his head almost completely cleared the seat! For some reason this really bothered me. It just seems like kids should be able to rest their heads while they're in a stroller. I asked Adam if we should take it back and of course he said no because he hates to return things - he thinks that you should buy it when you're ready and then that's it. I'm much different. So the past 24 hours I've been going over and over it in my mind trying to decide what I should do. I called Graco and they said that the quattro-tour duo stroller has seats that are 2 inches taller than the duo-glider seats. So this morning the kids and I put the stroller in the car and we went back to babies r us. But even when I got there I just didn't know what I wanted to do! I'm a tortured soul, really. I just have so much anxiety over certain decisions. I'm not quite sure how I ever got married.
But long story...long still...I returned the duo glider and bought the quattro-tour duo and I left feeling very uncomfortable and unsure. But now that we're home and a few hours have past I am starting to calm down a bit.
The good news is that we now have a double stroller! And now I'm ready for spring so we can go on lots of walks. :)

Pictures from California Visit

Here are pictures from our trip to California. We had a wonderful time! It's just too bad that's it's over.

Amy, Ella and cousin Maggie having fun on Grandma's bed.

Henry wearing earphones that he found somewhere in Grandma's room.

Ella Bella in a very good mood.

Sherri, Chase and Anna came up from Huntington Beach for a visit. Anna is 6 months older than Ella and Chase is 6 months older than Henry.

Chase and Henry got along really well, which was exciting to me because I'm determined that one day they will be roommates and great friends in college. :)

Ella and Henry swinging at the park by Avila Beach.

Grandpa helping Ella get warm at that same park.

Adam, Amy, Henry and Ella at Avila Beach. Unfortunately this was our only effort to get to the beach. Henry LOVED it. He thought it was great.

Henry loves climbing in things and will even dump everything out in order to do so...I believe Grandma usually keep stuffed animals in this cradle.

Ella and her cute cousin, Will. They are only 3 weeks apart in age.

Adam and Ella on Christmas Eve.

Grandma and Ella on Christmas. Ella is wearing her cute new little hat from her Auntie Kate.

Amy and Adam ice skating on Christmas day up in Atascadero.
The end!

Singing might not be his strong suit, but...

Henry just started to sing and I couldn't be happier. He NEVER sings and I didn't realize this until Sherri came to visit last week with her kids, Chase and Anna. Chase is about 6 months older than Henry and he sings all the time, which made me realize that Henry just never sings. So I thought I'd work on that and I'm getting him to sing just a little. He only sings about 3 sounds at a time, but it sure is cute. And it doesn't exactly follow any resemblence to the song we are singing, but nevertheless, he's trying! Hooray.
On a similar note, I got him to pray for the first time a few nights ago. Usually when I ask if he wants to pray I get an emphatic NO! But he decided to try and it was really great. It's too bad Adam wasn't here to see it. I'll have to see if I can get him to keep doing it so that when we go home he can show his Daddy.

Another Milestone for Ella

Ella rolled over today! She cheated a little tiny bit because she was on a little bit of a slope, but nevertheless, it happened - twice! Yeah for Ella!
And Henry J is speaking so well - he seems to say more and more words every day.

Movie Review

Last night Adam and I went to see Dan in Real Life. We loved it! It was a really great movie and we recommend it to everyone.
We didn't really know what to expect, but it was essentially a romantic comedy (which I didn't know going into it).
And one of the best parts about it was that it was clean - who would have known for a PG 13?
Anyways - great flick - go see it if you haven't yet!

Hooray for Ella

Ella is learning how to go to sleep by herself and all I have to say is hooray. I have this really bad habit that I have done with both of my children and it is this: I teach them to only go to sleep if I am feeding them or sometimes walking around with them. It has so far proven to be a very stressful thing because they sometimes will wake up right when I put them in their beds, which means I have to start all over again or sometimes they just won't sleep much at all.
This last week Ella was just getting worse and worse with her sleep and I was going insane and so one morning when I couldn't take it anymore I decided it was time for her to learn how to do this already. She's actually doing really well, which is a huge blessing. Sometimes she cries a little, but sometimes she just talks to herself for a few minutes before she's quite. Seriously - huge blessing.
With Henry, our pediatrician had told us that in his opinion (and there are MANY opinions out there) babies shouldn't be left alone to cry themselves to sleep until they are about 6 months old. So that is what we did. But Henry is very sensitive and didn't like that and so for just about 2 weeks, he cried for 2 hours every night as he went to sleep. It was very traumatic for everyone involved. Although now Henry is a great sleeper and he has been since he learned how to do it on his own.
Ella is just under 5 months, but I figured I needed to do it and I am so glad I tried. She is sleeping so much more and I feel a lot better about life.
So again, hooray for Ella.

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween and we had a fun day. Henry dressed up as a fireman and loved it. He actually wore his costume all day Tuesday AND all day Wednesday. Ella was a penguin and only wore her costume at the actual parties that we attended(it was pretty warm and not very car seat friendly).

First we went to Adam's work for a Halloween open house. Everyone decorated their cubicles and passed out candy to the kids. Adam had a theme with his desk and costume - a work theme. It was very clever and creative, which is no surprise, since Adam is clever and creative. I mean - would you expect anything less? There are 3 pictures showing his cube. He had poetry and birds and a game and everything.

I dressed up as a mom who actually got ready for the day, since that isn't my strong suit these days... :)

After Adam's work party we hurried home, finished our chili for the ward party and ran to the ward party a little late. They had a chili cook off and we entered our sister in law's (Lindsey) yummy recipe. Unfortunately we didn't win, but it was fun to sample other chili's. You know, we've been making our own chili for years now and I am actually pretty happy with that one. Lindsey's is great, too. It's nice to have a new recipe to try.

Adam took Henry around trick or treating to the rooms at the church and he said it was quite the adventure with MANY kids running around those halls.

Henry got a lot of candy and Adam and I ate some of it last night and other than that I'm not very excited about having so much candy here. Henry loves candy and wants it whenever he sees it. And as for me - I have absolutely no control when it comes to sweets, as most everyone knows. Adam was nice enough to take a bunch to work so now we have a little less here.

All in all in was a fun day.

We're Back!

Can you believe it - it has only taken us a year to get back to our blog. But we are back. So much has happened since our last post. As for a quick summary, we had a baby girl on June 9th, so she is almost 5 months old and her name is Ella Mary. Henry turned 2 in September. Adam got a job working for a custom home builder, worked there for about 6 months and then now he works for a software company where he is a corporate trainer. He's been there for 5 months and he really likes it. As for me, I'm just trying to adjust to life with 2 kids, which is slowly coming along.

I'm attaching a few pictures for the update.

End of the Season

Well, the season is over. Here is a picture taken on our storage lot about 3 weeks ago. We have placed 2 more full loads (16 foot trailer) of wood on it since. This is what is left after a summer of taking down barns and sheds, etc. On the back left there is 750 board feet of barnwood that we took and sold today as our last load of the season.


This is a small pile of old tin and posts that you couldn't see in the first picture. These in the picture are about 8-10 feet long. The posts are great and the load we just put on the lot was all beams and posts from Holden, Utah. We have a bunch of really great posts and beams now. You can see some of that load of beams on the next picture. Some of those are 20 feet long and quite heavy. Got us sweating, that's for sure.


This is a barn site - what's left of the barn. You can see the large rocks that served as part of the foundation here. This is in Holden Utah. Boy, we want to tear down the one in the background. It is a great barn, but the old lady isn't ready to get rid of it yet. Maybe next year. There are a few others in town that we might get next year. The wood you see here on the ground is still on site, but will be picked up soon. We are going to Scipio soon to pick up a bunch of stuff at a guy's property, so we will pick this all up as well and be done for the Winter.

It's been an interesting Summer. We learned a lot in our first season and look forward to really expanding this business next year as we travel out of state beginning in April. We might do some in warmer areas (arizona, Texas, etc) during the winter if we can get a nice group of buildings that will make it worth the travel time and expense.

We also just partnered with a great designer who is going to help us design custom sheds and barns for people. We are excited next year to add that to our services. We are putting together a "catalog" of sorts and will advertsie beginning in January (we think - maybe sooner, we'll see).

Nice to be home more now and to be out of the hot sun!

A Nice Night Out

Thursday night, Amy and I finally took advantage of a very generous gift certificate from Nate (Amy's brother) and went up to Sundance. It was raining all night, but it was still very beautiful as you can see from the pictures I took up there. We had a very nice dinner at the Foundry Grill.
It was a nice night. We wanted to go up the ski lift to see the colors, but because of the rain, didn't. I'm not sure it was even open. Boy, where was our business when they built that place up there? The whole place is made of reclaimed wood - lots of it. There is probably over a million dollars in beams alone in that place. Anyway, it was a nice atmosphere, a nice meal, and overall, a nice night out.

Thanks to Mom and Dad Clark for watching Henry for us while we were gone.

Henry's Progress

Well, it's always fun to watch Henry these days. He is learning so fast. It seems each day he learns new sounds, gets faster on his little knees, and surprises us with what he picks up on.

Here he is showing us how he knows where socks are supposed to go. He kept trying to figure out how they worked. He knows they came off his feet, but isn't sure how to get them back on.

He's a funny kid and we love him.

Stake Conference...

Well, we went to stake conference this last Sunday. I must say, the talks were great, what we heard of them...

This stake conference was a huge one where lots of stakes were invited to attend from the county and I think even from a few other counties. Most stakes watched the event from their respective stake buildings. However, we were told in our ward that we were to go to the Marriott Center to attend. That was all the information we received. Our Relief Society president even told us that it wouldn't be broadcast in our stake building or anywhere else in Provo...hmmm.

Anyway, we leave our house a little late (about 10 minutes till the hour). I knew we were running a little behind, but that is the nature of things sometimes. We drive up to the Marriott Center, not sure how many people (at the time) had been invited, etc. There was obviously no parking anywhere near, so we kept wandering around till we found the nearest spot to park - south of the Law School building, which is more than 1/2 mile away from the Marriott Center (i have measured that with my bike before).

Well, we start walking, which isn't all that fun since we hadn't prepared to walk that far. I have on Sunday shoes that don't do well with a badly in-grown toe nail. Amy has on some shoes that give her blisters. We have Henry to carry and it's about 90 degrees out.

We got over half way to the Marriott Center and noticed a bunch of people walking towards us, away from the MC. No one says anything to us, so I ask if there is any room in the Marriott Center. They say no and that they were told to go to the Wilkinson Center. So we turn around and go back to the Wilk, which is basically where we began walking from. We go into the theatre there and there is essentially no room. So we head to the ballroom, where there is plenty of room. Of course it is now 20 minutes past the hour and we have missed most of the first talk (President Samuelson).

Then, at the half-way break/song, apparently a bunch of people at the Marriott Center were told to go to the Wilk. By the time they left and showed up in the ballroom, the break was over and President Monson's talk was in progress. Of course about 100 people walking past you over wooden floors and with sunday shoes on isn't exactly quiet.

Finally things settled down and we were enjoying the talks...until 20 minutes till the end, and the video machine and sound both died. Logically there was no one there to fix the problem, so we all sat there hoping that it would turn back on, which it didn't. The official ushers and the Wilk manager on duty just stood outside the ballroom and laughed/stared, doing nothing. Everyone, including us, got up and left.

So, we missed 40 minutes of the conference and I was sufficiently annoyed. I did love the portions of the conference that we were able to hear and we did beat all the traffic going home.

It is hard for me to understand how dumb that whole situation was because I have done event planning for a number of years and know that BYU and Church Admin people know better. Even if we had left 1 hour before it began, it wouldn't have mattered - it might have changed things for us, but others would have still had to bother with it all. After all, there was obviously not enough room for all they invited. If we had all shown up an hour early, there still wouldn't have been room for everyone - both in terms of seats and parking.

Well, it was a strange, frustrating, but nice all in one experience. An odd day, for sure.

I guess it is a lot like our lives these days. Frustating, inconvenient, and difficult, but overall, worth the bother. right?!

Adam

Henry Makes Progress

It's always so fun to watch Henry as he learns new things. He has been a little slow with a few things, like crawling, but yesterday he crawled for the first time! Of course it was only a few movements at a time, but he did it. He was a little wobbly when he did it and one time fell over and looked a little scared. Today he moved forward a little, but I think he forgot mostly how he did it. He is super cute!

Henry also got his first haircut from his mom...He looks great, don't you think?!!

Our first sale!

Well, we have officially made our first sale on our business ebay site. We have been getting good traffic. The more we put up, the more traffic we get. We have bids on a few items as well, so we are excited to see this take off. We have purchased a very nice web package with cart, hosting, etc. Tomorrow we will begin the design process with my old roomate, Bob Craig doing the design. Tonight Matt and I had a great meeting and are really starting to mold our business nicely. It's fun to take steps forward.

Adam

The Fall is Coming!!

Well, the Fall is coming! good and bad with that. Amy says it is nice, but it reminds her that Winter is close and she doesn't like the winter. However, we both love the Fall temperatures, colors, and the idea that holidays are on the way. This will be the first Fall in a while that Adam hasn't been a student at some level or extent. It's kind of crazy.

We went to a mission reunion tonight and Amy got to meet people from Adam's mission. It was interesting to see some of them have 3-4 children, Phds, and careers. It's still hard to consider ourselves adults of some kind. The reunion was in Alpine at the park, where Henry got to have his first taste of the swing and the slide. He loved them both. We had to pry his hands off the chains on the swing. Henry is getting to the point where he hates having things taken away from him. He's a funny little guy.

One funny thing from the reunion was that Adam was the only one there that hadn't worked in the office at some point in the mission. Lucky Him!

Adam has been spending time golfing these days whenever he gets a chance. He loves the challenge, talking with friends on the course, and the exercise from walking.

Amy sold her first projects! - a small beadboard shelf and a magnent board. She did a great job of painting them and giving them a nice vintage/rustic feeling.

Adam is busy working on his business. They are working on the new ebay store called "Trashology" and will have a website up soon as well (trashologyonline.com). Go to ebay and see his store - it's only a few days old right now. http://stores.ebay.com/Trashology

Anyway, life is good. Pictures to come soon.

Be good, all.

Graduation

Adam has finally finished his masters degree. He graduated this last week (August 17-18). It's nice to have this segment of life through. The Brundage family (Amy's parents) were in town for the week and helped us celebrate. We had a nice family dinner with Clarks and Brundages all together at Los Hermanos on Thursday. Then Friday night we had a nice open house. It's been a good week, but it'll be nice to have things calm down a bit.

Stat...Clear....beep, beep, beep....It's ALIVE!!!

Yes, our blog is revived. I have decided to do better with this thing. If nothing else, I will make an entry once a week. Seriously.

Here is a fun recap of everything since the last post...

Adam lost the election 35% to 65% in November.

We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Clark family in Elk Ridge. Both were fun times.

Adam had his own business, started a second one, added a partner, then a second partner...Adam quit all his businesses and dropped a partner...Adam started a new business with partner, Matt Chantry. It is called Wasatch Barn Company...There is now three people in the business and 2 new organizations (1 for profit business and 1 non-profit). If you are confused, well, call Adam and he'll be glad to talk your ear off about it.

We spent time in California in January at the Brundages. We went to Disneyland and California Adventure. It was pretty fun, but Adam was sick. Adam went home and Amy stayed for a bit longer.

We went to Iowa and visited Adam's brother, Jason, and his family. We babysat their 6 kids while Jason and Michelle went on a cruise. We got to visit nauvoo and Carthage. We had a good time.

Henry is growing slowly and is lots of fun. He's just a little guy with a full head of red hair. We love him tons. He might be the cutest kid ever.

Amy is still working out and looks great. She works on fun in-home projects and especially enjoys decorating and re-decorating the house.

Adam works long hours on his business and has spent a lot of time out of town working on Barn projects. He has a great tan (in some places) and is slowly losing weight. He sports a shaved (buzzed) head and occasionally a beard (if you can call it that).

Adam is graduating from BYU with a Masters in Education: Comparative and International Development Education. Graduation is Thursday August 17 and 18. He just turned 32 and is having fun being an entrepreneur.

We finally re-landscaped our front yard (Adam did it while Amy was in California for 2 weeks). It has been nice to have a landscaped front.

Well, that's probably enough. If you want details, call us, email us, or if you are into 8-tracks and things like that, you can mail us.

Overall, life is great. We are extremely blessed.