The Return of Matt

After going dark for about a month during finals, I have resurfaced with some new projects and I am here to update them on the blog. Finals were fine and as a reward I got 2 weeks off. The first week I was occupied with Grandpa and Grandma Serafine visiting from California. They stayed with us a few nights and ended up in a time share resort for a few more nights. We had a good time and enjoyed their company. I also have had a chance to start and finish a few different projects. One major one was the backyard. Those that have visited saw the unfinished and unkept backyard. So, I fixed all of the sprinkler heads, cut down the old summer grass, planted new winter grass, cleaned the planters, built a firepit, planted some plants/trees, and finished a back porch overhang. I also golfed in 75 degree weather last Thursday. All in all it has been a successful break.




It was good to get the sprinklers working.

Stacy admiring her new garden plots

Dont mind the dirt yard, it hopefully will be green soon enough

Craigslist Upgrade

When we moved into our house, the only thing I didn't clean was the range hood. It was gross, and wasn't worth cleaning. We have been searching for a microwave to replace it with, but didn't want to spend a lot of money. Craigslist delivered for us, and we now are the owners and installers of a new shiny microwave.

DIY: Paint

Like many people nowadays, we purchased a home that was a foreclosure. Ours was in pretty good shape, but needed a lot of cosmetic work. Let's just say that as far as cosmetics go, our house was wearing blue eye shadow and hot pink lipstick. Anyway, one of the things in our house that needed a face lift was our cabinets. They are those really great ones that are part laminate and part wood, because they were too cheap to go all wood in the first place. The cabinets themselves were in decent shape, but the laminate was coming off in some places because when we pulled up the vinyl floor, the floor was glued to the cabinets.

Before I show you the actual cabinets, I'd like to introduce you to the Serafine featured product: Glidden's Gripper.

When I painted my laminate bookshelf a while back, I had to sand the whole thing down. Although it wasn't a big bookshelf, it took forever to sand and paint. I didn't really feel sanding an entire kitchen full of cabinets, and lo and behold, Gripper. Gripper allows you to paint anything. Even plastic. My only warning: it's super sticky and doesn't wash off your skin very well. I accidentally stuck my foot in some of it, and I had primer on me for a few days.

Cabinets before: (this is before we moved in)

During:


After:



Coming soon: stainless steel microwave. We're picking it up on Saturday. Our microwave just wasn't something I could paint and cover with contact paper. : )

the Arizona heat'll kill ya

You all knew it was hot here, but did you know it was this hot? Not too long ago, these poor melted pumpkins looked like this:

Matt meets Bill Simmons

White Coat Ceremony

Medical schools hold white coat ceremonies to officially 'coat' the first-year students. I guess it's the ceremony to welcome the medical students to the medical profession.

Here's Matt getting his coat. It isn't a very good picture, I know, because it was in an auditorium that was too dark to take any good pictures.

Matt and one of our new medical school friends, Sam Ashby. His wife Heather and I went to support these great students. : )

CSI: Our House

Last Sunday morning, Matt comes to me and says, "I don't know if you want to know this, but the cops are outside our house because someone got stabbed." Now, you may be thinking, 'Where in the world did these people move to?' Here's how the story unraveled: About 8:30 Sunday morning, Matt went outside to get the paper. When he steps outside, he notices that there is police line caution tape tied to our front stoop and is strung across the street and tied to our neighbor's tree. There are police cars outside, a few detectives, and cops putting down cones, talking to people, and so forth. Matt asks one of the cops in our driveway what was going on and finds out that someone was stabbed and is at the hospital. Unable to get a whole lot of information from the police officer, we were left wondering who in the world was stabbed and hoping that the stabber wasn't our next door neighbor. A few days later, while Matt was outside, our neighbor comes outside too. Matt talked to our neighbor, and it turns out that his nephew, who lived with our neighbor a long time ago, was visiting and was hanging out on the busy street outside our neighborhood. He and his buddies were out at 5 am, and someone drove by, and the boys yelled at the car. The people in the car went and got their buddies, came back to the street outside our neighborhood, and proceeded to beat up and stab our neighbor's nephew. After being stabbed 8 times (yes, 8) the nephew ran back to our neighbor's house, bleeding all over the street. Our neighbor promptly drove the nephew to the hospital. So, stabbing = cops. It's never a dull moment here.

Trip to Idaho, but hold the fair

This last weekend, Matt and I had the opportunity to take a quick trip home. We flew to Salt Lake on Friday night and flew home on Sunday night. Thanks to Matt's mom and dad, we got to use their car to take to Idaho Falls. My grandma Shick passed away on September 3rd, and my life isn't going to be the same without her. I guess I always thought that grandmas were always grandmas, and they would always be there. My grandma Shick was the best lady I knew, and made the best cinnamon rolls. I know everyone says that about their grandma's Cinnamon rolls, but my grandma's were the best. Her funeral was beautiful, and the speakers were perfect. My cousin Eric gave a talk on the best gifts from my grandma--her french bread recipe and hand-made pajama bottoms for Christmas--and tied it into the best gifts from our Heavenly Father--the Plan of Salvation and the atonement. It was also good to see so much of my extended family that I don't see on a regular basis. This picture of my grandma was taken at our wedding reception in the summer of '06. Going to the funeral was much harder than I thought it would be. I cried a lot that day, but it was so good to see her looking quite beautiful. Everyone kept saying that the great people at Coltrin Mortuary made my grandma look 20 years younger. My grandma was a very simple lady, worked very hard to raise her 7 children on her own, and lived a life full of service. Although I am sad that she is gone, I know that she is so happy now, with her husband, her daughter, and her two grandchildren that passed away before she did. We're going to miss her a lot.

The weekend we were there was also the weekend of the Idaho State Fair, which I love. We weren't able to make it to the fair, but spent the time with my cousins and aunts and uncles I don't always see, instead. To make up for me not being able to go to the fair, or to rub in the fact that I couldn't go, my mom sent me this picture of my dad and my sister eating Tiger Ears, the reason to go the fair. Not fair. Maybe next year.