Our new flooring

Mark and I have had some work done to the inside of our house. We had new carpet in the living room, and family room, new vinyl in the downstairs bathroom, and the hall leading in from the garage, and new wood flooring in the kitchen, and dining area. We love it. We did notice that on the wood floor in some places it was separating. We called Empire to report the separation. Yesterday they sent out somebody to take a look. The guy was in our house for about 30 seconds and said he had to go to the truck and make a phone call. When he came back in, he said he had bad news. Our floor was installed incorrectly, and has to be removed, and new flooring installed. We are grateful that so far, Empire seems to be living up to the warranty, we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Valentine's Day

On Friday around 1:30pm our doorbell rang. When I opened the door I saw a man holding a vase of tulips. I was so excited, Mark had sent me flowers for Valentine's Day. Just typing this makes me smile. I love when Mark sends me flowers. I know some people think flowers are a waste of money because they just die, but I think I might have to compare that feeling to a shower. Is it a waste of money to take a shower since you have to take one the next day? I love tulips, and I love that Mark knows how much I love them, and is willing to send them to me. The tulips are a beautiful shade of purple. They are growing in the vase and taking on a look all their own. I love Mark, and I love Valentine's day.

Paint, Paint, Paint

It has begun. The painting that I have wanted to do on the inside of our house since we moved in is in progress. Our house is 12 years old, and has never been painted on the inside. For almost 5 years we have lived with icky, yucky white paint. Funny thing is, we did not know how truly icky, and yucky it was until we started painting. The painting of our house has been a topic of debate between Mark and I for almost a year: Mark wants to keep true to the white walls we already have, and I want color. We agreed that we would keep the family room/daycare room, and the downstairs bathroom/laundry room white, but for the rest of the house we would go with color. Our family room is done. The colors we used are Gobi Desert, and Liberty. Gobi Desert is your basic beige color, Liberty is a blue/gray, kind of on the dark side. We did have to hire a painter to help with the vaulted ceilings in our living room. Our ladder would not reach the top of the wall, and after climbing up as high as I could, I was scared to move. The painter we hired gave me a great tip on how to have straight lines, without having the paint bleed through the tape. He said, put up your tape, then put a thin line of caulking on the tape, smooth it out with your finger, paint, remove the tape within a few minutes and you will have perfect lines. We went that night to buy more paint, and we bought a tube of caulking, I tried his suggestion, and it worked perfectly. Thank you Jeremy, at The Holy Roller. Next I will be working on the kitchen, and the wall with the sliding door that leads to the backyard. The color for the kitchen is Provence Creme, which is a very, very, very, pale yellow. I am thinking about doing the window sill in the kitchen a brighter color of yellow, not a 100% sure on that, but I am thinking about it. For the wall leading to the backyard I am going to go with Gobi Desert. Most of our house is the beige color. The stairwell, and the landing at the top of the stairs is all Gobi Desert. The guest bedroom will also be Gobi Desert. I would like to do my sewing room in a different color, but it just depends on how much Gobi Desert we have left. We (I) have not decided what color we want in our bedroom. We are thinking that we might want a red accent wall, but just have not decided. Mark has not decided what color he wants in his office. I did see some NFL color paint and I thought it would be cool to do a 49er wall, but really, it is up to Mark. My dad is coming out to help us paint. He loves to paint, and is pretty bored at home. I can't wait to see him, and have him help us. Mark and I have been doing a lot of work fixing up our house. I can't wait to have some family in town to be able to check out our handy work.

Our Weekend

Mark and I had a pretty good weekend. On Friday night we were expecting to see Arianne, but that did not work out as planned. Since our night was now free, we decided to do something, we were thinking dinner and a movie. We went out for Chinese food, and then decided to go to the mall to return a shirt for Mark. While we were driving through the parking lot we both saw something that we thought could be a couple of foxes. We kept looking, and sure enough we saw two foxes running through the parking lot. We quickly turned so we could have a better view. We were able to watch them cross the entire parking lot. They looked so graceful. We have a lot of foxes near where we live and do see them on occasion, but we have never had as good of view as we did on Friday night.

On Saturday, it was bye bye Christmas. We were able to get all of our decorations down. This year I did not put up all that much, so taking everything down was quick and easy.

Now that Christmas is over it is time to paint. That's right, we are doing away with the white walls and putting up some color. Our house is 12 years old and has never been painted on the inside. I can't wait. I have the colors picked out, and am just waiting to start. My parents are sending me all of the painting supplies they have, which is great, because Mark and I really don't have any. I am so excited to begin the painting project. Hopefully I will figure out how to put pictures on my blog, and I will be able to share the before and after pics.

Christmas

I had such a fun Christmas this year. The week before Christmas and the week after are pretty easy for me with work. I have several kids who's parents are teachers, so they bring them later in the morning and usually pick them up a little earlier, and sometimes they don't bring them at all, those are the best days. My daycare parents were very generous this year with gift cards for me, and for Mark and I to use together. It was a wonderful two weeks of being able to sleep in a little bit.

On Christmas Eve Mark and I have some pretty set traditions. For dinner we have a deli tray, and homemade tamales. Both of those traditions are from Marks family. I never thought I would ever have to know how to make tamales, but since we no longer live near Marks mom, I have taken over the tamale making process. This is the first year that I was not nervous about making them. Mark says I only make them because I like them, but really, I make them for Mark (Mark's note: she LOVES them, and makes a dang "FRESH" tamale. It makes me happy to see Mark enjoying something that he can always remember having on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we go in the living room, and sing Christmas songs. After the singing we read the story of Jesus' birth. We always write down how we feel, and what has been going on for us that Christmas Season. We have an awesome little journal talking about every Christmas Eve the two of us have spent together. I love that part of Christmas best. After the reading, and journal entry, we open our traditional pair of Christmas Eve PJ's. After that we watch the Chronicles of Narnia, and a Christmas Carol, the one with the guy from Star Trek.

Since Arianne decided not to come over for Christmas this year Mark and I went back to our tradition of opening presents on Christmas Eve. This is something that Mark and I did our first year together and agreed that when we had kids we would wait until Christmas morning. We had a pretty good time opening presents. This year Mark bought most of his own gifts as he wants to get the best deal possible, and will surf the internet endlessly looking for the best deal. Mark suggested that I might need a new pair of boots; I had not given it any thought. At his suggestion I went to the mall one night to look, and try some boots on. Shopping at the mall for a pair of boots, UGG, who wants to do that?? I found the coolest pair of boots, I put them on hold for Mark to go pick up the next day. Since the roads were so bad, it did not make sense for Mark to drive back to the mall the next day when I was already there. So this year I did buy one of my own Christmas presents. I was so excited I could hardly wait for Christmas to open them. They are so soft, and they keep my feet toasty warm.

Christmas day was totally awesome. We had the Hughes' and the Elders from our ward over for dinner. The Sunday before Christmas I saw the dinner calendar being passed around, and nobody in our ward had signed up to have them over. We had a delicious dinner, and a fun evening of playing games. Mark and I really enjoy having Howard, Rachel, and the girls over, it is always so much fun.

I did mention earlier that Mark and I went back to opening presents on Christmas Eve. This year Arianne chose not to come home for Christmas. Due to some of the choices she has made in her life, it would have made it very difficult for her to spend a long period of time in our home. We truly tried to give her every option possible, but she chose to spend Christmas with her roommate, his mom, and the moms boyfriend. We did get to spend dinner and a few hours with her on January 2nd, where she got to open her gifts from a confused Santa.

November Vacation

Mark and I had such a great time in CA. It is always so much fun to see our parents and siblings who still live in CA.

SATURDAY
We had a smooth trip out from our house to Denver International. We were packed like sardines into the SuperShuttle, but it was a lot less stressful than having to park & then go, but more on that later. Rick and Jordan picked us up at SFO and we drove thru San Francisco. Of course we had to hit In and Out Burger in Marin County on the way back. The first day of our vacation was awesome because most of my family from my moms side was gathered together for the baptism of my cousin Frances' daughter, Grace. It was such a fun day. I saw my cousin Sarah who I have not seen in about five years. We had such a fun time visiting and catching up. We were laughing at how old we are now, and how we are turning into our mothers. It was so good to Sarah and all of my other cousins. When I think about it, it makes me smile. After the party we went to my parents house to celebrate my dads birthday, he turned 70 on Nov. 7. I was so excited that my family waited until Mark and I were in town to celebrate. After dinner and cake and ice cream we headed to Rohnert Park to see the Nelson side of the family.

I'm sure Mark thought the ride from Petaluma to Rohnert Park took forever. It was great to see the Nelsons.

SUNDAY
We were back in RP 3rd ward. It is amazing to see how the ward has changed, and how small it is. After church it was nice to hang out and visit with not a lot to do.

MONDAY
Not a lot going. I went over to my brothers house to pick up my nieces, Jordan and Emily so we could head down to my parents. My Karen (due to the fact that Mark and I both have a Karen in each of our families, we label them My, our Your, depending on who is talking, and who we are talking about) was making breakfast, homemade waffles, and Rick was cooking some bear sausage. Earlier in the year on a hunting trip my brother shot a bear. I was excited to taste some bear meat. It was delicious. Had I not known it was bear meat I would have just thought it was regular breakfast sausage. I spent most of Monday hanging out at my parents. It was so much fun to just be at home. Monday evening I took Jordan to swim practice. Jordan is on the Rohnert Park swim team. I can't believe how much she has improved since the last time I saw her swim. She swims almost every day for an hour and 15 minutes. It was so awesome to be able to watch her swim. That evening Mark and my Dad enjoyed watching some Monday Night Football together.

TUESDAY
We left in the late morning with Bill, Helen and Ramona to go to Armstrong Woods, and to the Ocean. I loved seeing the redwood trees. When we first entered Armstrong Woods, it was so damp and cold, I was freezing. Since moving to CO I have to say I like the dry weather better. It is one thing to be cold, but when it is also wet, no thanks. The redwood trees were beautiful. We drove up to the top of Armstrong Woods. The view was beautiful, and it was warm. I had never been up to the top, so that was awesome. After we left the redwoods we headed to the ocean. Oh how I miss the ocean. The first stop was In at the Tides for lunch, fresh seafood. Thank you Bill and Helen for a delicious lunch. Mark and I each got a sweatshirt that says "Bodega Bay." I wear mine all the time, it is a little reminder of home. After eating lunch we went to Bodega Head. It was windy and cold, but it is just the perfect place to be to see the ocean. Mark's dad took some amazing pictures in the brief sunset. We headed back to Rohnert Park to recuperate so that we could go eat some more. Still full from lunch we went to Johnny Garlic's for dinner. There is nothing as tasty as fried spinach. Okay, Guy Fieri is a decent cook, hehehe. It was so much fun to go out to dinner with Marks family. Thank you Bill and Helen for a terrific day, filled with all the things we love.

WEDNESDAY
I went to my moms house to help her make pies for Thanksgiving. I also made gingerbread houses. I think I spent all day baking. It was so great to be at my parents house helping to get ready for a holiday. I was baking pies all day. The first berry pie I made was really not a pie at all, but rather a soup like thing in a pie shell, we all had a good laugh about that. On Wed. night I went to work with my brother on a ride-along. Rohnert Park seemed to be free of crime, and in good hands the night before Thanksgiving. Mark went out with his friend Aaron Shiffler.

THURSDAY
Ahh, Thanksgiving Day with the Nelsons. What more can be said. It was a Thanksgiving day with family, some annoying, some not. Football on a large HD screen makes our Low-Definition set look like an ancient piece.

FRIDAY
Ahhh, another Thanksgiving, this time it was with my family. Again, pretty standard. A fun day with family.

SATURDAY
Saturday morning I was able to go to Cal Skate to watch my niece Emily at her skating lesson. She is pretty good at skating, and only fell a few times. After skating my Mom, Jordan, Emily and I went to the Rohnert Park craft fair. I was so excited to be able to go with my Mom and nieces. When I lived in CA my mom and I would go to all the craft fairs between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Saturday afternoon Mark and I were able to go to Galt to see our niece Olivia be baptized. On our way back to Rohnert Park we decided we would stop in Novato at the Hilltop for dessert. We were very sad to see that the Hilltop is no longer in business, but glad to see that our marriage has lasted longer than the place of our wedding reception.

SUNDAY
This was the day, the day to end all days, this was the day of the crab feast at my parents. I love dungeness crab. My name is Rebecca, and I have loved dungeess crab my whole life. My mom, Mark, and I sat for a long time cracking and eating crab. People who live near the ocean and have access to fresh seafood have it made.

MONDAY
Our last day in CA. We still had to have Old Chicago Pizza, and Porter Street BBQ. We took my parents to Old Chicago for lunch, and we had Porter Street with Marks family for dinner.
We had such an awesome vacation. I miss my family so much, so it was nice to be able to hang out, and visit. While we were in CA my parents bought tickets to visit Mark and I in CO in July, that made it a little easier to say good bye. It was very hard to say bye to Jordan and Emily, I love those girls so much. Just thinking about it now makes me want to cry. We love and miss our family so much.

The last thing I wanted to mention, was that if GETTING to the airport in SuperShuttle was great, then getting home on the Not-So-Super Shuttle stank! Bad directions to the wrong pickup location, standing outside in freezing weather as two shuttles came and went as they were overbooked, having an "on-call" driver come in and input the routes into the GPS as he weaved back & forth on the freeway (while texting the dispatcher) and finally leaving our carry-on with my make-up, hair dryer, etc, on the van really was the anticlimactic topper to great vacation! Next time we may pay to use the Hughes Shuttle service!

A special thanks to Rick and Karen for letting us use the Jag while on vacation. I have to say that you have a very sporty car, and returning home to drive my Saturn VUE kind of sucked.

Secret Shopping costs too much $$$

It seems as though I have not posted in a while. I guess that is because we have not had that much going on. Life has been very calm for us the past few weeks. We have been doing the usual day to day things.

Mark became a secret shopper. One of his assignments was to go to Best Buy, ask three different people about three different products. I think he was supposed to ask about an MP3 player. Mark asked if I would go with him to help remember some specific information. To prove that he did the shopping he had to buy something small like a water or a pack of gum. For this mission he would be paid $15.00. We started off in the camera section, had all of our fake questions answered, and then we moved on to MP3 players. This is when it happened. I saw it. I had no idea something like this even existed. At the end of the display area, on its own little table, sat the most amazing device ever invented. Are you ready? It was an iPod Touch. I could not believe that I didn't know about this. For any of you who don't know what it is, it is a little computer. I totally want one, I have to have one. I could not stop looking at it. We still had more secret shopping to do, but I could not tear myself away from it. After the mp3 player, Mark made his way over to video games. I could care less about video games, and wanted to stay with my little friend. Mark started to get mad that I was not helping him, so I had to leave my Ipod. As I was walking over to the video game section I saw a TV with some sort of DJ turntable video game hooked up to it. I was thinking this must have something to do with guitar hero, I'm not really sure how guitar hero or this turntable game work, but at least I have heard of them. I started to mess around with the turntable, trying to figure out how it worked. After a few minutes I figured it out enough to have the song play. I was spinning like a real DJ. It was such a cool game. I kept thinking that if we ever finish the basement this would be the coolest thing to have. Mark came around the corner looking for me and wanted to know why I was not helping. He wanted to show me something, I really could care less about any of these games, and wanted to keep spinning the hits, or go back to the iPod display. Mark was excited about some game he found, and he wanted to show me, ok, ok, I follow him for couple of isle, we end up at the back of the game section, and there up on a shelf is a Star Wars game. It even comes with a lightsaber, you play the game with a lightsaber. Even though I think this must be the dumbest game ever the thought crosses my mind that if I encourage him to get it, then I might have a chance with the DJ turntable game. For now we do not have a need for these games, and also we have no place to put them, but it is something to keep in mind for the future.
Now, back to my iPod. After we left the store we called Steven to gather any info we could about the iPod touch. We also asked him about his iPhone. I thought that maybe the way to go would be to get an iPhone, but after looking at the plane that AT&T offers, it does not seem like that good of a deal. I really want to get my iPod Touch. I'm trying to decide if I should get it now, or wait until after Thanksgiving to see if any deals will be offered.

So there are two things I learned about secret shopping. Even though you think you are going to make $15.00 it is probably going to cost you a lot more, and who knew Best Buy was such a fun store.