Peegle mountain...bleh

This post is about Peegle mountain, or as others refer to it, Eagle mountain. I've listed a few reasons why I would never live there, and as always you can take advantage of my insight.
1. Peegle mountain smells like jacks poopy farts ninety percent of the time. There are nights I do go to bed smelling these poopy farts, however, I don't want to smell it every might. I can put jack in his crate, I can't put Peegle Mountain in a crate, however I can keep Peegle mountain on the other side of the lake.
2. Perhaps one of the reasons Peegle mountain smells like poopy farts, is because of their large road kill population. I'm sure they pay workers an outrageous price to drive the drive and pick up the dead stuff, but they can't stay on top of it. You will see at least three car killed animals a day.  To say the least it is not animal friendly no matter what lie your over priced, under developed HOA sells you.
3. The monotony, I have never seen a city where all you see is the same house in the same neighborhood on the same street with the same people. Seriously! Everything is the same! Every house looks like every house surrounded by a hundred condos, that you guessed it, look the same. Same stucco, same siding, same small yards, same cars, similar families.
4. The commute.  Usually a commute to a nice place such as the mountains or a farm, or even a lake is tolerable. Not to Peegle mountain, because you are commuting with all the other angry peegleonians that were promised rural development loans, lakeside views, and boat launching stations every hundred feet, not to mention gorgeous views of luxurious golf courses.
5. The lack of entertainment. I mean sure you have golf courses and hills to climb, and a possible dip in a shallow lake after winding down a million roads that all look the same. But what do they do for fun? Drive 30 minutes to watch an overrated movie?  No wonder they are all irritated.  In all of my time in Eagle Mountain I have seen a McDonalds, a credit union, and a couple other identical strip malls. I never thought I would enjoy living within city limits, but I must say, I do enjoy good Chinese food being five minutes away.
6. The schools. I probably don't have a lot of knowledge in this area, but enough to know that families that do live out here always ask how far it is to Lehi, Highland, and even Alpine for (fill in the blank school). So they either have a rigorous acceptance or lack of everything else, you decide.
7. Does Peegle mountain even have its own utilities? The answer is uncertain, there is a facility called Eagle Mountain Utilities but it is uncertain what they do.

Baby Birds

Curly 

While Josh was away on a business trip I acquired three new pets, or they acquired me rather. This is Spike, Curly and Lucy Goosey's story.  They are the three pigeons we rescued.

While my dad was being the gentle giant fisherman he tends to be at times, he found three babies on the side of the road. He tried to track down their owner to no avail, and reluctantly, he brought them home.  I was his first call and rushed over to find three hungry babies. We fed them a healthy meal of corn chex (This was Lucy's diet for the next week), gave them water, and left them to sleep.  I told my dad to let me know if animal control couldn't take them, and I would raise them.  Animal control would not take them, as it turns out there are no pigeon rescues.  I ended up with three new flat mates, and so did Josh. 

Spike is the angry teenager of the bunch, and acts like he doesn't love us. Curly is the middle girl and most agreeable.  Lucy is the baby, and the most injured.  She was mostly naked when we got her, missing fifty percent of her feathers. Not long after we had her, Jack laid on her and smashed her leg, so she was a cripple for two weeks. On an outside adventure the neighbor dog got to her and now she is nursing quite a few side wounds. She was the smallest and the only one we had to force feed. She is quite the trooper, and has questioned my animal raising ability a few times.  My dad recently made them a cage, and lovingly refers to them as the grandkids, while Jack is still Jack!

They are banded, that's right we landed ourselves three racing homing pigeons.  Maybe one or the other, perhaps both.  My dream is to make them carrier pigeons.

Curly, Lucy, Spike, from left to right

Lucy

Thanks

This is the month after all the holidays, and hub lub of Winter. This is the month of spring, two months after the month of wind, and one month after the month or rain and flowers. This is May; the month of thanks. It often hits me around January/February/March, even into April, that winter is not over, and I usually feel my seasonal depression lingering a bit longer. So May is the month of giving thanks, because being thankful makes you feel better.
1. Memories. Memories are what make me smile in the middle of the night. Sometimes I think when I'm old all I will have is my memories, and they will keep me company in my after the old age. Thanks for the new and old memories.
2. My friends. I never knew how thankful I was for friends until I moved and they went on missions or moved as well.  I realize my friends made me crazy but kept me sane. Now that I am on my twelfth month of being best best friendless I want my friend back. Luckily when some friends go away you find new ones. Thanks for the new and old friends.
3. Warmth.  Not the warmth of a good hug although that is pretty great as well.  I am so thankful for heat and the sun and its amazing ability to make heat happen.  We are living on propane which is extremely expensive and every time I turn on the furnace I cringe a little thinking about where the dollar extra a gallon could be going.  However thanks to inventive minds I have electric blankets and warm clothing.
4. Technology.  I know what you are thinking; phones, ipods, keyless engine starters.  Those are all nice, but I'm just happy for water heaters. Once you go three weeks without hot water you will never look at your water heater the same way again, I am in love. The other thing that has been a time saver is our dishwasher.  I lived my whole college life without a dishwasher, and loved it, but the dishwasher is definitely nice. I love cars, and phones, and electricity, indoor plumbing and chairs with four legs as well. Thank you to all the great minds.
5. Freedom. I'm so thankful for the United States of America, even though at times with our presiding government it is hard. I'm so grateful to all the people that fought to make this country and keep this country. I'm thankful for all of our freedoms and rights that have been granted.
6. Family.  This list is not ranked in order, or family would be at the top. I love my family, and I love my family expanding. I love the families that include me in their family. I couldn't live without the support, and lectures, and unwanted guidance and opinions that come from the elders.
7. Animals. Animals are a huge part of my life.  When I adopt another pet I realize just how great and wonderful animals are.
8. Motorcycles.  I never imagined a motorcycle would ever be apart of my life. However,\it has changed our life, and created a huge bond of trust between Josh and I.
9. Water.  I love water and am so thankful that it is in an extreme abundance (as long as you are not irrigating). I love water and if every trip I ever took was to a body of water, I would be in love.
10. Work. I never realized how thankful I would be for work.  My mom and dads work paved the way for our family.  Work gives me something to do when I am bored, and something to look forward to when I want money.
11. Days off.  As much as I love work, there is nothing like a couple days vacation just having fun.
12. Trees, green, and photosynthesis. Lets face it, we would be dead without vegetation. When the trees first start blooming I am the most happy I could be in the spring. Without a doubt the plants and animals know when spring is coming better than any scientist. This ones to you plants.
13. Books. Although I don't read as much as I should I love books. I love the knowledge that is hiding in the oldest pages. I love learning.
14. Love. Love is not measurable, not even palpable, and yet everyone feels it.  every time Josh asks me how much I love him, I tell him this much (an inch) to the moon and back a billion times. That's a lot of love...and he always says he loves me more.
15. Trust. I love trusting someone and knowing without a doubt they won't break it. Trust is hard to find in this world, so if you find it, hold onto it with a dead man's grasp.
16. Creature comforts. Those comforts you sometimes forget about it.  Napping on couches, playing outside in the sun, hiking, biking, canoe rides, movies, light, shoes, new shorts, Indian food, pictures. etc.
I hope everyone has a thankful list and it grows each year. There are so many things, I couldn't possibly get to them all on one post.
Thanks for Reading.

canoeing 

love

selfies 

COWS!!

ME and COWS!

Trees and lover boy

Battle wounds 

finding the water after the hike

water

the sun

all the love wrapped in one

birds

work

Ultimately #1 would be cows, I love them!!

Lucky ones

Some people say they are the lucky ones. I never knew how lucky I was. I grew up with parents that loved me and lived for me. I had a brother that adored me, and made life so much easier. I had a good childhood and graduated with a good education with the best best friends anyone could ask for. To top it off I graduated from a good university where I got to spend the best four years rooming with my best friend. To top everything I fell in love with a man who lives and breathes to make me happy. Which is what this post is mostly about.
Josh and I have good days and bad days. Sometimes we have good days and bad days in the same day. We fight and we yell and we laugh about it later. We argue over directions, and complain about things the other one does. We drive around for hours in awkward silence. Sometimes we say too much and sometimes we don't say enough.
We vacation and travel and master the group selfie together. We teach and learn together. We train and practice together. I couldn't imagine a better half or a better Co pilot.

Yours, mine and finally ours

Buying a house is anything but easy. You will lose sleep, you will lose hope, you will lose patience and you will lose faith that it will never be yours. Buying a house is work, from finding the right one to signing the last paper, to moving out and moving on.
We started looking in November and after many set backs, we finally closed in February. We had to adjust our prices but we managed to keep our expectations.
We were looking for a two plus bedroom house with covered parking, fenced backyard, and wood working shop. We got it all, plus six thousand off the asking price and four thousand under the appraisal.
The house....our house was stuck in the sixties, complete with Elvis bed spreads, pink carpets and floor to ceiling wall paper. After a month of what seemed like non stop work we brought it into at least late 2008.
There is no short list of what we did in the house, and nothing was finished in a short amount of time. But here is a condensed list of the work we did:
-pulled three rooms of carpet
-stripped four complete walls of wall paper
-replaced all the porcelain flower knobs with 50 stainless steel knobs and handles
-replaced every two prong outlet in every room with three prong outlets
-filled every hole, sanded every putty spot, and filled and sanded four times
-primed every wall and then painted
-refurbished the wood floors in all three bedrooms
-replaced all the window treatments
-bought new appliances
-replaced every light switch
-replaced the shower head, and fixed the plumbing
-installed magnetic strips
-replaced the outdated fans with new lighting
I'm sure there are things we missed. I'm so happy there were people there to help us. Thank you to Josh's family and my own, along with friends  for all the help and support.