Sleeping Bag Down the Stairs!

Good Idea- Remember the good old days when all you needed to have fun was a sleeping bag and some stairs? Yep so did Sean.

Bad Idea- Unfortunately, this may be one of those games needing an age appropriate tag attached on it. I was putting some things away when all of a sudden I heard the all too familiar sound of a flying sleeping bag. Confused at the sound, I peeked around the corner to find Sean, wrapped in a sleeping bag, lying crumpled at the bottom of the stairs. His only response, "This did not hurt this bad when I was eight!"

New Nester or Empty Nester?

Good Idea - During the sacrament on Sunday our Bishop, who looks and sounds exactly like Phil from Modern Family, announced there was a New Nesters activity Monday night.

Bad Idea - Apparently trying to read over your lesson during the sacrament isn't the best idea. Sean and I pulled up to the New Nesters activity a little confused. There was definitely an activity going on, but it wasn't exactly the group we were expecting. Within no time we had a group of older men and women inviting us to join them for the Empty Nesters family home evening activity! Maybe next time guys :)

The Blog is Back!

Exactly one year ago today, I wrote my last blog post! In one quick sentence or two the last year went something like this...After graduating with my Bachelors, Sean was able to get an internship in advertising and marketing.  We left cute little apartment in Ogden and moved to beautiful Seattle.  While in Washington, Sean was able to get into BYU's Advertising program!  After completing the internship, we packed our bags once again and settled in Cougar Town Provo.  Sean still works for the company he interned for as an offsite employee and I was able to land a job in human resources for a software company, which I absolutely love!  Life is fantastic and we couldn't be happier.

Without further adieu, let the good and bad ideas begin!  Enjoy!

I thought I would start with last nights events.  We could hardly contain ourselves as we waited to pick my brother Adam up from the airport!  Adam returned home after serving a two year mission in Mozambique.  Needless to say he was a little shell shocked when he stepped on the soft carpet, saw the fridge, and laid down in his bed!  He had literally been sleeping on the floor for months.  We were so happy to finally have our brother home.  However, the events leading up to his return was a little more stressful rather than blissfully happy.

Good Idea -  
My mom wanted to make a poster for Adam, so when we pulled into the drive-way he had a huge "Welcome Home" sign hanging on the house.

Bad Idea - 
Despite efforts to make everything perfect, there was just a little too much going on and shall we say one to many distractions.  Luckily most people have given us the benefit of the doubt and thought this was just an inside joke and people on his mission must have called him, "Elder Barow" rather than "Elder Barlow."

Good Idea - 

Get to the airport early and let dad drive!

Bad Idea - 

Apparently mom wasn't the only one distracted. Our good idea of letting dad drive to the airport proved to be more stressful than productive.  He was just as distracted as my mom!  Sean and I were in the backseat trying our best not to be backseat drivers, but we just couldn't resist after we passed the exit to the airport.  Luckily we still made it on time thanks to our good idea of leaving early.  However, the drive home with our missionary proved to be just as difficult.  How can we possibly focus on driving at a time like this?!  Next time a police escort might be necessary.  

Old CD's to Coasters?

Good Idea - The TV room has become the second dinning area for Sean and I.  We've been meaning to buy some coasters for a long time to add to our little "kitchen."  However, why buy when you could just make one!  For family night Sean and I thought outside the box to accomplish this task.

First...all of us probably have a million CD's lying around the house.  I had albums full of CD's sharpied  Mix #1, Mix #4, Best Mix Ever, and of course  Epic Mix.

Second, we wanted to make this a recycled project, so we found some newspapers which would go on top of the CD's.  We traced the CD's over the newspapers and then cut them out.  The paper was then modge podged onto the CD.  

Third, after it was dried, we used polyurethane to seal the paper so it would hold up a little better.  This was soooo easy!  The hardest part was just waiting for it to dry.  The finished product looks like this!

Whoops!

Good Idea - Last night I had this great idea of making a little craft for our kitchen.  I gathered all of the materials, which might I add cost about $5, and got to work.  I was so excited to finally be doing a craft, I didn't realize exactly what I was doing...

Bad Idea - After A LOT of convincing, I finally got Sean to come to Saver's with me to get some old silverware I could spray paint.  Of course I wasn't going to use our own silverware, so we ran to the store and found the perfect trio.  Sean was preoccupied by a football game, which provided me with plenty of time to complete my project.  However, a midst the  excitement I had laid out several trio's of forks, knifes, and spoons including my own.  I couldn't wait any longer so I grabbed three and ran outside to start painting.  It wasn't until my second coat of paint that it hit me.  The Saver's bag was still on the table forks, knifes, and spoons still inside!  I had painted our very own silverware black.  I guess on the positive side it turned out kinda cute!

Happy New Years!

Good Idea - Spending time with friends and eating lots of delicious food!

Bad Idea - The sneak attack bum shots.  This may have been a good idea to Landon at the time, however, now this shot is on my blog to be viewed by whomever stumbles upon it.

Good Idea - While the girls chit-chatted, the boys were hard at work on a 500 piece puzzle

Bad Idea - Providing me with another embarrassing photo muahahahaha

Good Idea - A string of good ideas

Bad Idea - Jumping in the middle of the picture?!  It was just too tempting wasn't it Seaner?

Good Idea - Spending time we some of the people we love the most.  Thanks everyone for an amazing year!  We love and appreciate each of you and feel so blessed to have you in our lives.  

Happy New Year!!!

Garbage Bags and Stockings

Good Idea - Rather than recycling our grocery bags, Sean and I simply stuffed them on the side of our fridge.  After 1 1/2 years we finally decided it was time to do our environmental duty.

Bad Idea - Who would have thought our tiny kitchen could have held almost 400 grocery bags!  Many of these bags became home to spiders who, unfortunately, did not survive very long living in plastic.  Needless to say the cleanup process was pretty stressful as I didn't want an attack from any surviving homeowners.

And yes we do have green tile :)

Good Idea - For Christmas this year, Sean and I decided it was about time we got some stockings.  Sean, with his mad deal finding skills, found the perfect stockings.  We quickly ordered them and impatiently waited for them to arrive.  Finally, after what seemed weeks, we opened our package to find...

Bad Idea - 

Seeing as I am not a Leah I will be happy to give this stocking to anyone either named Leah or knows someone with the name Leah.  Help me make my bad idea your good idea!

SURPRISE!!!

Good Idea - For Sean's 23rd birthday I decided to throw him a surprise party.  Needless to say it was pretty awesome!  The best part, he really had no idea what was coming.  I had the whole day planned.  A little shopping, a nice dinner, and then the BYU game.  The surprise was going to happen at 730 and I had to do my best to get him there at that specific time.  After a delicious dinner at The Mandarin, which went much faster than expected, I had a good half hour of stall time.  However, thanks to some last second improvisions, we walked into the party right on time!

Bad Idea? - No bad ideas here!  We truly have the greatest friends and family in the world.  It was so great to see everyone and I know Sean was ultra surprised to see all his pals.  Thanks again to all those who came!  Oh I guess the one bad idea was not taking enough pictures.  We were able to get a few, thanks to my dad, but definitely not as much as we should have.  I guess we're just going to have to all get together again :)

One Day...So Many Ideas

Good Idea – Today while at work I encountered two teens, one having an account with us, the other shockingly, did not.  Being the smart teller that I am, I took the opportunity to offer this unsuspecting teen an account.  I told him all the benefits, why he should open an account, and yada yada yada.  However…

Bad Idea - I also told him of the many wonderful prizes I could give him if he were to deposit his monies with the bank.  One of these prizes was a little stool with a cooler underneath it the bank was giving away.  As I began explaining the stool it soon became very apparent my message was going downhill, and fast.   The teen, trying to hold in bursts of laughter, says, “So if I open an account you’ll give me a stool in a cooler, right?”Then to make it worse his buddy goes, “Ya dude I got one too, it’s called a stooler.”  At that point I couldn’t hold it in any longer and laughter took over the scene.  Unfortunately, they did not leave with the infamous stooler.

Good Idea – Yet another workism happened today of all days.  Several weeks ago I was having a conversation with a customer about running shoes and such.  I mentioned my husband wears Nike Free shoes and the customer seemed pretty excited about this new find. 

Bad Idea – Apparently I have issues with speech because in our conversation a few weeks ago I kept referring to the shoes as Nike Frees.  I guess in my mind the simpler way of saying Nike Free shoes was Nike Frees.  So today the customer comes in and I ask him about the shoes.  He replies, “I tell you what I had a heck of a time finding them!  I googled Nike FREEZE as soon as I got home and couldn’t find them anywhere.  The only thing that came close was Nike Free shoes.”  Needless to say he is very happy with his Nike Frees.    

Sleeping With Legs Elevated

Good Idea - After many many long days without a single nap, Sean (with little convincing) decided to plunge into an afternoon slumber.

Bad Idea - Although his intentions were good, his execution was not so well thought out.  My dear Sean had fallen asleep on the floor with his legs elevated on the couch.  After his much needed "nap-a-rubis," Sean awoke to a phone call.  Probably thinking it was his lovely wife and not wanting to miss the call, Sean stood up as fast as he could!  Only....to fall right back down again.  You see, while he was now wide awake, his legs had fallen asleep from being elevated for so long.   

Just for visual effect

Camping $18?!

Good Idea - Spontaneous trips are always the best.  So to fulfill our spontaneity needs, Sean and I along with our adventurous friends, Austin and Amanda Bolton, decided a random camping trip up Ogden Canyon.  We had everything packed and ready to go, not to mention some delicious tin foil dinners!

Bad Idea - Being spontaneous.  After very risky thinking we began looking for the perfect spot.  However, we did not realize every single campsite up the entire canyon was $18 a night! What?!  We made it all the way up to Causy Reservoir only to find at least a dozen signs with bold letters saying NO CAMPING OVERNIGHT.

Good Idea Despite the Bad Idea - After waying the options which were...1.  Risk not being caught and stay over anyways or 2. Claim ignorance.  3.  Eat our dinners, go home, sleep in a nice warm bed, and then meet up for a yummy breakfast.  After much contemplation #3 won.  Oh and just a side note, for all you pizza lovers out there it is possible to cook a frozen pizza via tin foil.

Sprinklers and Projectors Don't Mix

Good Idea - After several minutes of bargaining with a 10 year old at a garage sale, Sean and I were successful in purchasing a projector!  Our first thought...movie in the park!  There is this great park at the top of 40th street which provided the perfect setting for our movie extravaganza.  Everything was ready to go! The oreos were plentiful and the mosquito repellent was on hand.  A perfect night for a movie in the park. UNTIL...Dun Dun Dun

Bad Idea - Despite all our planning, we did not consider the sprinklers!  We were 10 minutes into the movie when lo and behold the water came out.  I have never seen Sean move so fast!  Serious he had the projector, the speakers, and the blankets in his hands before any water hit the ground.  I am very happy to announce there were no electronic casualties.   Although, we had a little surprise, we are still looking forward to another movie in the park!

Smash Ball...Always a Good Choice

Good Idea - After a surprise dinner funded by a gift card, which we have no idea where it came from, we decided to make a stop at Big 5.  Here we unexpectedly stumbled upon a lone smash ball case.  We couldn't help but give it a home.  The excitement of the soon to be played game was too much to handle and the contents were opened far before arriving home.  A midst the excitement we soon discovered a game we could occupy ourselves with during the long five minute drive.  It became a competition, who could balance the ball on the paddle the longest.  This became especially difficult for Sean, who was not only balancing, but driving as well.  Apparently, the drive was no match for Sean and his mad skills, as he conquered the smash ball challenge.  

Bad Idea - Please look at the picture.  Need I say more?

Lake Tahoe and Birth Control

Good Idea – A few weeks ago, Sean and I along with our good friends Andy and Erin Wright, decided to go to Lake Tahoe!  The long trip was definitely worth it.  In order to entertain ourselves during the ride we successfully listened to two books on tape.  Thank you Andy and Erin for enduring Sean and I’s Grandma-Grandpa-isms.  Because the weather was not in our favor, our trip included hiking, browsing, eating, and then more eating.  Tahoe is gorgeous!  I can’t wait to see it when the sun’s out. 

Bad Idea – The second day it not only rained, but it snowed three inches!  If we would have planned ahead a little better we would have enjoyed some California skiing and boarding while we were in town!

I apologize yet again for the vertical pictures not being vertical.  It's correct on my desktop, but as soon as I insert them on the blog they flip!  

Good Idea – For Christmas my sibling and Sean and I decided we would get my parent’s present a much needed weekend getaway.  Sean is king of finding deals and found an adorable bed and breakfast in Midway for my parents.  After months of much anticipation and rescheduling they finally packed their bags! 

Bad Idea – Of course Sean and I were to be mom and dad while they were gone.  We were glad to help however, the weekend also provided an extra dose of birth control for both Sean and I.