In which we are exactly the same as we always were. . .

It can be rather disconcerting when you hear your husband say

"I've done 15-20 ccs today.  But some of those were multi-packs."

Why my brain thought he said that I know not, seeing as Bill was surrounded by CDs, so I probably should have determined that he was talking about CDs, not injections of unknown substance.  (He is working on backing up and cataloging all my CDs.  Such a nice husband!)

Yesterday, Bill said this:

"How did I know we were in for some communism and marching?"

This just in:

"Should we get ready for bed?"
"My eyeballs are kind of sleepy.  But my toes are full of energy!"

So as you can see, we are doing fantabulously!  We love being married, and we love being in love, and we love laughing, and are having lots of grand (kitchen) adventures.  We will fill you in on all the fun stuff (including our take on our wedding and reception, and the honeymoon) soon. 

Places to Stay, Where to Eat and Things to Do

We wanted to give all of our out of town guests some ideas for hotels to stay in around the Cedar City area as well as provide a list of places to eat and some sights to take in while here for the wedding and reception.

While it may have taken us a while to research and put together a list like this, our work has already been done by the nice people over at the Cedar City / Brian Head Tourism Bureau.

Bill knows they're nice because he's done work for them in the past.  Head on over to scenicsouthernutah.com for all the goodies.  Just in case, we'll include a few links.

Lodging Choices in Cedar City

Yummy Grub In Cedar City

 Downloadable PDF Dining Map for Cedar City

Some Recreation Areas

Arts & Culture Including the Utah Shakespeare Festival

See you all in a couple of weeks!

Bill's First Adventure Into Wood Furniture Refinishing

Well, it turns out that in order for two people to live together, they need some furniture.  I already own a rather large desk, a couch and matching bedroom furniture.  I have also been given a used, but solid dining room set and an end table for the living room.  This meant that we were lacking a few simple items, like a coffee table, somewhere for a TV to go and bookcases.  In case anyone wasn't aware, I like books.  One potential problem already surfaced when Heather and I discussed our ideas on color selections for the living room and kitchen.  Since these two rooms generally flow together, we wanted matching pieces for each.  We also want quality items that will last a lifetime if need be.  No laminated particle board for us anymore because we've each been there and experienced that.

The glass topped end table I have is cherry stained, and the kitchen table set is a medium-dark brown.  Heather and I decided that we wanted to have dark brown wood furniture.  Not exactly black, but a very dark brown instead.  Since we made that decision I have acquired a large glass topped coffee table that pretty closely matches the design of the glass topped end table, but is a different shade of medium-dark brown than the kitchen table.  I also happened to be at the local D.I. thrift store last week and spotted a $6 beauty.  It was a medium size, solid wood table that could possibly pass for a decent coffee table.  I thought it might make an excellent TV stand instead.  I looked the piece over very carefully, and cosmetically it was in decent shape notwithstanding the fact that it was much, much lighter in color than any of our other wood furniture.  There was good sized ding on one leg and a few spots on this table where the varnish was scratched through completely or accidentally removed.  The other major detractor was that it seemed to be missing a major structural bolt; meanwhile the three remaining bolts were only half tightened.  I tried to pick it up in the store and the bottom half of the table tried to fall out completely.  It wobbled horribly, but the piece had some good potential.  Since it was only $6 I couldn't pass the thing up though.

Here's the table after I got it home, tightened the three extant bolts (which completely eliminated the wobble and made it solid as a rock) and sanded the finish off of the top of the table.  Keep in mind that this is the first time I've ever attempted to refinish any piece of furniture.

I used 220 grit paper in a random orbital sander and it worked great for flat surfaces.  Still took quite some time to get all the old finish off through.  I had tried using some lacquer thinner and then movd on to varnish remover with 000 steel wool, but it apparently was coated with a modern urethane enamel and those chemicals didn't impact it in the least.

After completely removing all the old clearcoat and stain via mechanical means, I re-stained the top with one coat of a 'dark oak' color that Heather had picked out at the hardware store.

This was before applying a new, clear urethane topcoat of my own.  After 8 hours of curing time for the stain and two coats of clear with 4 hours of curing time each, the table top was looking great, so I dismantled the rest of the supports and gave them a thorough going over.  The long, straight slats were easy to dispatch with my trusty random orbital, but the more complicated legs posed a different challenge.  By now I'd wised up and purchased some more powerful semi-paste stripper.  I had to use this product on those legs because it simply would have been too much work to jam sand paper in such cramped quarters.

Here's a side-by-side during the chemical stripping process:

It took a lot of time and effort to scrape away all the old finish (plus, the new chemical stripper made a giant, goopy mess), but after some final hand sanding of each piece with 220 grit paper in the direction of the wood grain, everything was ready for some new color.

Then came two coats of new topcoat and a 24 hour cure time before reassembly could take place.

I apologize for the atrocious glare in this photo.  I'll be sure to take one or two more of this piece when the table is finally put to work in our new place around the middle of this month.  I think it looks pretty decent for my first time trying any wood project like this.  Oh, and I also found a new bolt to replace the one that was missing when I bought it.  This table should be a nice, solid addition to our budding furniture collection.

Now, on to stripping down that large kitchen table with two leafs and six chairs so that I can make them all match.

After that I've got a coffee table.... an end table.... a record storage box.........

Our FAQs and ***Spoiler Alert***

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q: How did you two meet?
A: It was a dark and stormy night.....  No actually our good mutual friends set us up.  That's it really.

Q: What does he do?
A: 3D modeler and texture artist.  Still, many people don't entirely grasp that, so sometimes if the concept is related to Pixar movies, it helps.

Q: What does she do?
A: Private violin teacher and elementary school orchestra instructor.

Q: Is he from here?
A: Yes, though he was born in Anaheim, CA

Q: Is she from here?
A: Yes, though she was born in Lexington, NE

Q: Are you two sticking around here?
A: Yes, we'll be staying in Southern Utah

Q: Was it love at first sight?
A: No.  It was about the 3,478th sight roughly.

Q: Did the chair make that noise?
A: Yes, usually.

Q: How are your wedding plans coming along?
A: We've had the whole thing planned since about May.  All of the vendors and service providers were paid or selected before the end of July.  Basically, all that's left is to finalize some of the reception decorations and plenty of fine details.

Q: When and where will you be getting married?
A: September 21st in the St. George temple

Q: When and where will the reception be?
A: September 22nd in his mother's back yard



-----------------
 Spoiler Alert
-----------------



Q: Where can I see some awesome photos of the two of you in your wedding attire, looking cute and such?
A: Follow this link: Dulce Photography Blog Post With Bill & Heather!

Silly Tired Conversation, Episode 1

Well, this story should begin by posting a picture of the awesome tattoo Heather gave me with a BIC pen.

Somewhere under that arm hair it says I (heart) Heather (swirly swirly swirly).

Then, later that evening the following conversation took place.

"So, are you going to keep that tattoo forever?"
"As long as you define 'forever' as until it fades."
"So, until you shower?"
"Yes."
"I guess you just won't be able to shower anymore."
"You'll love me more and more."
"And you can't cut your hair, or shave."
"Why not?"
"Because, it would be weird if you were stinky and well groomed."
"So, what you're saying is, you want me to become a hobo."
"No, a hippie."
"A hobippie?"



Later still.....

"Didn't they have flutter sleeves in the '20s?" - What Heather really said
"Don't do flutter sleeves in tunnels?" - What Bill thought Heather said

Paper Chain

Our chain is growing shorter all the time.

Heather had a great idea to make a paper chain a while back to count down the days until our wedding.  In the beginning there were eighty-some-odd links.  Now we're getting down into the low forties.

At first:

This evening:

Next month there won't be a paper chain anymore.

Separation and reunion, plus a day in Springdale

Well, toward the end of July, Heather visited a good family friend in California together with her Mother, sister and brother.  Paying for extra baggage weight alone would simply have been too expensive, so I decided not to stuff myself into her suitcase and stayed home in Southern Utah instead.  I was able to accomplish quite a bit with all the new found free time in my evening schedule however.  Still not a substitute for having Heather around.

I was, of course, very excited to see our friends.  They really are like family, after all, and they had been living in Monterey for the last 10 months, so I missed them.  But when Bill left and I got in the car to leave, I wasn't sure at all that it would be worth being without him.  I was emotional for about 2 minutes, and then I distracted myself with chatting with my youngest sister, which doesn't happen nearly as often as it used to.

We spent a night in Las Vegas, and then boarded a plane to Oakland, CA.  Our first stop was the Oakland Temple, which was very, very beautiful.

 We watched a presentation in the visitors' center about eternal families, which was nice to see with my family and my friends.  But then it got to the part where the main couple's daughter was getting married, and I really missed Bill then.  But I pressed on and enjoyed all the food and sights that other days brought.

I had a really great time, and I was sad to leave.  But at the same time, I was very excited to get  home and see Bill again.  I was so excited, in fact, that I may or may not have driven my family crazy with expressing my excitement as we were on our way to the airport. . . and while waiting to board, and while on the plane, and while driving home from Las Vegas.  And then we were home!  And Bill came to get me, and I was really happy, and I got kind of emotional again, which is embarrassing.  But he didn't notice until I told him I think.  It felt so very good and right to be together again.

Mushy enough yet?  You can hardly tell at all that we like each other.

That Sunday we went to church and attended our final temple prep lesson together.  After giving Heather a day to recuperate from her last vacation, we loaded up the Suburban (now with working A/C) and drove on down through Zion National Park, then up and out the East park entrance toward North Fork Road and Clear Creek Ranch for my mother's family's reunion.  While there for two and a half days we ate, canoed, explored on foot, ate some more, ATV'd, slept, ate, played badminton, bocce ball, ladder ball, shot skeet, ate, relaxed, ate, ATV'd, karaoked, slept again and ate some more.  All together there were 29 of us sharing space in a converted horse stables.

On Wednesday morning everyone said their goodbyes and we packed our leftover food for the return trip home.  On the way out we stopped and cast our eyeballs on Checkerboard Mesa in the park.

On Monday we had had to pay the $25 entry fee to drive through Zion NP, but the entry pass is good for 7 days.  We decided to make good use of it and went back to Zion that Saturday.  This year we'd already attempted to hike the Watchman Trail, but had to turn back when one of our group's members decide that heights didn't agree with her constitution.  This time we made it a bit further, but turned around again as this time one of the group's members simply wasn't feeling all that well.

Plus, the squizzard infestation was pretty substantial this year.  Instead, Heather and I played in the Virgin River, rode the tram around a little and then explored the town of Springdale together.  We visited galleries, poked around rock shops and ate burgers (hers beef and mine elk) at Blondie's Diner.

When we'd been driving toward Zion earlier in the day I'd spotted a small, hand painted sign pointing the way to Grafton.  I had been to the ghost town of Grafton as a kid, so after all of our treasure hunting in Springdale was over, we turned off the highway in Rockville and travelled over both paved and graded dirt roads that snaked along farms to either side.  Just as we arrived at the old town itself, a couple were near the property having photos taken for their bridal/groomal session.  The lighting and sunset were incredible and changed the whole time we were there.

Once all of the magic light had faded, we examined the Grafton cemetery up close, reading each individual's headstones in the ebbing light and then drove back home in the dark.

Hiking, Las Vegas, and Camping

Welcome back!  Lots has happened since our first post!  Here are some of the highlights.

One fine Friday we decided to go hiking.  Bill thought I should hike Taylor Creek, because it was nice and easy, and I am not a particularly coordinated individual.  So we packed up our (meaning Bill's) stuff in a Camelback and headed for the. . . cliffs.  It was a beautiful, clear day.

We saw this funny rock that looked like some sort of face. 

 

Oh, whoops!  That is a face!  Here's the face rock.

We also saw this cabin.  The Larsen cabin I believe.  One of two on the trail, but we hadn't allotted ourselves enough time to hike the whole trail.  Perhaps another day we'll be back to see the second cabin and the alcove.

Shortly after that, we found this nice shady spot in which to take a rest.

There we were, minding our own business, when much to his surprise, Bill's cell phone rang.  He didn't recognize the number, but answered it anyway.  Turns out it was a member from our bishopric asking us both to speak in Sacrament meeting. . . that very Sunday!  That pretty much ruined the nice, peaceful moment for me, seeing as I HATE speaking in public, most especially when I have so little time to prepare.  But I got through it, and did actually have some thoughts going through my mind I thought I could share, and we presented decent talks Sunday.

Anyway, here we are near the trail head on our way back.

The following weekend we went to Las Vegas!  Heather's roommate had tickets to see Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian on Friday night, so after a long, grueling afternoon of shopping, my mom, my aunt, Clara, Bill and I headed there for some dinner before the show started.  We steered Clara in the right direction, and since the rest of us were too poor to see the show, we did some exploring of the shops inside the Venetian itself.  We found a fun hat shop, which we, of course, had to check out.  I didn't have a hat, and Bill has like, 75, (and I keep adding more) so I bought myself a nice one there.  My mom purchased some pearl earrings for the wedding, and I did not buy myself the pearl bracelet that so tempted me.  Bill helped me find a Sephora, which is kind of my candy store, so I had a great time in there.  Then it was about time to fetch Clara, which was a bit of a challenge as I had forgotten my phone.  Fortunately, it isn't so hard to spot a little Chinese girl in a yellow dress, so we found her before she got lost.

The rest of the night we spent swimming in the pool at my aunt's condo complex.  On Saturday, we left the house at the unholy hour of 10:00 AM to do some sight-seeing.  First stop:  The outlet mall!  There, my mom bought some shoes, and Clara bought a hat, because she had to be cool like Bill and I.  After that we headed to Mandalay Bay and walked through the Shark Reef.

 

 

We had so much fun there that we decided we just couldn't wait any longer to get married, so we decided to follow in Bill's grandparents' footsteps and get married in Vegas!  There was even a wedding chapel conveniently located adjacent to the Shark Reef.

Just kidding!  Had you going there for a second, didn't we?!  Ok, moving on.

After NOT getting married, we went to The Bellagio to see the gallery of paintings by Claude Monet and his contemporaries.  They were quite incredible.  We spent a good deal of time observing each painting up close and following an audio tour.  Only after seeing each painting did I finally catch a glimpse of one at a distance, then the whole experience changed again.  When seen juuuust right, the paintings were phenomenal in their flow and movement.

Next, we headed to the Asian market so Clara could stock up on food supplies.  Bill found some good stuff too.  Guavas, soursop juice and rambutan baby!

We headed back to my aunt's condo, packed up our schtuff, and made one last stop.  

 

Bill and Clara hadn't seen the Las Vegas Temple up close, so my mom drove us there.  And we did, of course, document the moment through a number of photos.  Oh, you can also see my cute new hat!

Aren't we cute?!  I love that 2nd to last picture  :)  We look forward to the day when we'll be at the St. George temple for our own sealing.

A few weeks later we decided to try an easy, short camping trip.  Heather had already told me that she hadn't camped much in the past and doesn't do well sleeping outdoors, but she wanted to try.  Our chosen camping spot was only about 15 minutes up Cedar Canyon, but the summer temperatures up the canyon were spot on.  We couldn't keep all the fun to ourselves, so we invited along Heather's youngest brother, John as a chaperone of sorts.  Heather and John showed up at the house with Flynn the Cobalt and we transferred the camping gear into my Suburban.  John pointed out that it is fun looking down on mere stock pickup trucks from inside the altitude enhanced Suburban.

We'd brought hobo dinners, so the first order of business after the tent was up and the site paid for involved making fire (insert manly grunting noises here).  They took a while to cook, but came off of the grill slats very hot and tasty.  Despite consuming two pounds of meat & veggies each, we also gorged ourselves on apple cobbler from a dutch oven and then s'mores as the night progressed.  I got a little carried away and threw an uprooted tree stump in the general vicinity of the fire ring.  It made for some pretty flying embers though.

 

We didn't sleep too bad at all (I'd like to add that I didn't sleep well), and the next day descended the mountain having very easily dispatched with our first camping trip together.  Next time it'll have to be somewhere more remote or for a longer time, but we'll work our way up to more adventurous stuff some day I'm sure.

Welcome to our world!

"You still think I'm cute from this angle?" -Bill
"Yep" -Heather
"Well you look like a cyclops from this angle."  -Bill

"I want my one bed."  -What Heather thought Bill said.
"I won't mind that one bit."  -What Bill really said.

"Ugh, black!  I need to wax my hand!"  -What Bill thought Heather said.
"Oh, it won't matter.  I need to walk more anyway."  -What Heather really said.

"Maybe dogs don't have spice butts."  -What Heather thought Bill said.
"Maybe dogs don't have spice buds."  -What Bill really said.

"I don't care what the chemicals are called, they're good."  -Bill

"I'm not bugled!"  -What Heather thought Bill said.
"I'm not to be oogled!"  -What Bill really said.

"Oh, I do like socks."  -What Heather thought Bill said.
"Ah, I do like Sundays."  -What Bill really said.

"Ahmoogah."  -What Bill thought Heather said.
"You do got me."  -What Heather really said.