Master Chef and Grandma Abby

Hayley helped me make a Ukrainian soup a few weeks ago- Borscht (characterized by its deep red color from the beets). It is so delicious. She doesn't even like Borscht, but she still wanted to help. And that is why I call her a master chef. She has such skill and a love for cooking that she is willing to make any dish:) She peeled all the potatoes for me. I just love having my niece and nephews over!

(sorry it's sideways) Abby's drama teacher had to do her make up and hair to look like a grandma; it was for a portrait they needed to create of her gma. She is Vita, in the play Harvey at her high school this fall. She is a fabulous thespian. I can't wait to see it in a few weeks. She came over to my house looking like this! good times.

Inside our house lies our home

We are loving our house! the yard, the storage (or mudroom as we like to call it), 3 bedrooms, 2 living spaces (so the tv doesn't have to be the center of our front room). It's just perfect for us! The pictures show more things we love about it.

Here are some before/after pictures of the two rooms we painted (the living spaces) (Thank you to Heather, Nathan, Stephanee, and Corey for helping us paint. and thanks to my dad for letting us borrow paint supplies and giving technique tips)

Before (front room)

After (sorry you can't tell a big difference in the picture. It was a really light green color before. Now it's a nice neutral tan color)


Before (2nd living space/tv room)

After

Same room, but the green looks different in different light at night. It is the perfect color. Just what I wanted. And David likes it too, of course. I was just more into choosing the colors than he was.

Mudroom

our bedroom. not crazy about the yellow walls. planning to make that a Christmas break project.

The ORANGE room (the picture doesn't show its intense brightness- I actually don't mind it). The green room has a cute pink fan in it; the blades are blue on the flip side, which will be perfect for a future boy or girl baby room.

A GARBAGE DISPOSAL! one of my favorite features:)

I love my book baskets on the bottom shelf.

We have a fire pit! We had a family hot dog and smore roast a few weeks after we moved in.

We purchased a lawn mower. David mowed the first several weeks, but I guess I have more time than him. I beat my previous mow time by 3 minutes last week!

Parker and Evan came over one morning. Parker says he likes our house better than our apartment. For the first few weeks after we moved in, he would ask where we were sleeping- "at our new house or at the apartment?" We definitely miss living across the park from them!

Golfing and David's Birthday

On Labor Day, we went to the local driving range. We don't really know what we're doing. But, we have fun.




David's bday dinner! He wanted biscuits and sausage gravy and Simply Orange. His Birthday (9/14) was at a busy time this year. We were packing up our apt for the big move later that week. (thus the boxes in the background) I was also working part time at Sunny Farms. And David was teaching every day. I hurried home on my bike after work (at 6) to make dinner and get his surprise party all in order. It was a very casual surprise party. Soon after I got home, Hayley and Colson rode their gator powerwheels over to my apt (just across the park) to help me carry all the stuff for homemade ice cream over to their house. Heather was so sweet to take care of the ice cream for me. I did make the mixture earlier so she would just have to freeze it and keep salt on the ice.


After we ate dinner, Colson and Hayley knocked on our door. They handed him a cute headband and said "put this over your eyes and come with us!" They were so cute. Heather drove us all around the park and a few extra turns so David would be all turned around. David sat in the back of Heather's SUV with all the kids. Colson and Hayley were saying things like "oh look it's the high school" (when we were no where near it). Then Parker would say "that's not the high school." Parker also kept talking about eating ice cream. He's not quite old enough to understand surprise parties. But, it was no big deal. It made the night that much better to know the kids were a big part of it.


Unveiling the location- Heather and Nathan's porch! how exciting!

The sweet kids made David cards and gave him Henry Weinard cream sodas! This is as close to David that Evan would get. He was not willing to part with his gift for David.


Heather serving up the strawberry ice cream. It was delicious! And David's awesome bday present shirt! I love it. I also gave him Henry Weinards (a standard for any gift giving event for David), and a Chiefs toothbrush.

My mom, Abby, Keenan, and my friend Stephanee came too. It was a fun little party and David said it made him feel special- mission accomplished. My mom gave David a cute sweater, candy, and powerades.

Hayley enjoying her mustache, and ice cream.

July/August 2010

So, I'm almost caught up on summer blogging:)



Adam came home from his mission in the middle of July! He served in Ukraine. We all love having him home. David and I were spending our summer apart (while dating) when he left for his mission. Now, we've been married for almost 2 years (in December)!


The end of July, we had a little Beus family reunion at Ensign Ranch. David was still teaching driver's ed so he couldn't go. Jessica and Spencer were in town from College Station. Along w/ J and S, Glenn, Kathy, Adam, Heather, Nathan, and their kids, and I went up to Ensign for a night. We had a great time (except for the sleeping part). We went to the pond and watched the boys go on the rope swing, we hunted for pretend bears, we had a delicious bbq chicken dinner, and the kids and Heather went on the slip 'n slide in the morning before we came home. We slept in cabins that had built in bunk beds (no mattress of course). I slept in one cabin with H, N and kids. Everyone else slept outside under the stars (except maybe Adam and Glenn slept in another cabin?). The cabin was hot and Parker and Evan woke up a lot. Basically, I was happy that it was only a one night deal.

I just LOVE these kids!


Tarzan Colson, Tarzan Adam, Pensive Kathy


David and I went to the best mutual activity ever! They watered down a corner by someone's farmland and we played mud football. I loved it! We miss working with the youth. I hope we have more opportunities to serve with the youth in church.

We also enjoyed spending the summer living next to awesome neighbors! (Chad, Chelsea, Dawson, and Jett) I miss them! Here is David holding Jett.


The end of August, we attempted a trip to Provo. We were planning to take Adam to school and get him all set up in his apt. and go to my good friend Mandy's wedding. But..... we were destined to spend a day in La Grande, Oregon. Adam's car made it about 30 minutes outside of La Grande, which is 3 hours from Othello. Adam's car died going up Cabbage hill. I was amazed at the Adam's optimism throughout the day (the picture above captures his composure and good naturedness). I have to say it was slightly contagious. He is such a good boy. We were towed to La Grande by a very nice man. The wrecking yard guy gave us $200 for the car (covered the towing plus 50 dollars to spend any way he wanted:) After exploring the options (rental car, bus, etc.) we decided it was too expensive to continue our trip. David's dad came to pick us up around 5pm (we arrived in La Grande at 10:30 am). We were very grateful to his dad for picking us up. We spent the day exploring downtown La Grande. We found a very expensive used book store, 3 second hand shops (David got a nice polo), a fabric shop (a man cut my fabric- a first), a park to play frisbee, a chinese restaurant for lunch, and a college campus (I never knew La Grande had a community college). We decided the people at the auto shop thought we were all high school siblings. They asked David if he had a credit card (like they didn't think he was old enough) and they gave us a ride to the park because they were worried about us finding it. We were humored by that:) It turned out to be a better day than anticipated. I was really sad to miss Mandy's wedding, but we made the most of it. One lesson we learned was to get trip insurance on one way flights when your one way ride has any chance of breaking down. Good thing we got cheap tickets (I think we were only out $200 total).

Enjoying a sunny day in La Grande.


This summer and early fall, I've been able to watch Evan several times. He is such a sweet boy, even with his "in charge" attitude. We made cookies 3 or 4 times. I guess he thought that was standard when he came over. We played Sorry a lot. We read some books. He watered the big oak tree outside my apt complex. And, he played with Mr. Bear. He wanted to give him a hot baba (bottle of milk) every time. He also insisted that Mr. Bear was wearing his pajamas and not the little red shirt that came with him. (side note- this is the bear that Aunt Debbie gave to me a few years ago so that I will always remember the night I projectile vomited in her guest bedroom. This bear, among other things was hit by my mess. She may have just wanted to rid her home of the unpleasant memory of cleaning up after me in the middle of the night. Also, the bear has been cleaned thoroughly since that eventful night.)