Oh, the Rains came down and the Floods Came UP!

Sheldon and I live in the basement of Sheldon's childhood home and this house is known for it's consistent flooding. We have had a couple since being married but this last month we had quite the doozy! By far, the worst one we have had! We suspect the sprinklers were the culprit and were left on for 12-18 hours! So the phrase, 'The rains came down and the floods came up,' is literally what actually happened. It was July 15, Sheldon got home from work at about 5 to find the sprinklers on and he turned them off. He texted me and told me to come home asap because we were flooded. The mauve room was flood central and water was even coming in through our front door from the stairs that lead into the house. Luckily, we have a drain in our entry hall so the water only comes in about two feet. The mauve room is where the floods always happen. We were only using that room as a storage room, because I thought it smelt like mildew from all the previous floods. No matter what I did to try and clean and remove the smell it was still there. After suctioning approx 20 gallons of water we decided to talk to granny and see if she was down with removing the carpet in that room, so when it floods again we are sopping up water from a cement floor and not drying the wet carpet. To our surprise she said YES! We rolled up the wet carpet and hauled it out onto the tennis court to let it dry. Even after removing the carpet we still had puddles of standing water and had to sop it up the rest of the night. 1:30 rolled around and Sheldon and I were just pooped. We went into the bedroom and Shel jokingly said, "Oh, No we are flooded out in our bedroom!" I nearly passed out think the water had traveled all the way down the side of the house and seeped up through our bedroom carpet....Sure enough, we were flooded in our bedroom. We moved some furniture pulled the carpet back and stomped around on towels for a bit. When we were both zombified and could do no more we pulled the fans into our room and started to dry our carpet. We figured they were useless in the mauve room because water was still seeping in from the wall and continued throughout the rest of the night. So we thought we would just let it completely dry out before doing anything else. We went to bed exhausted at 2:00 laying on blankets on the floor in our living room surrounded by furniture. The next morning we got up and started in the mauve room. We went to Lowe's and purchased some tools to help us with the clean up. We took out all the carpet tacks and scraped all the carpet glue from the cement. We swept it all out and wiped down the walls and floor with bleach. It already smelt and looked very nice. We wanted to cover the glue tracks on the floor so we found the cheapest white paint and painted the floor and baseboards. It is now truly converted into a utility and storage room. At Lowe's we found storage shelves on clearance and put everything in rubber maids. We are really pleased with how it has turned out. The best feature of that room is the NOAH 2000! Shel built this contraption that sits on the floor by the wall that floods, it has a 9 volt battery on a piece of cardboard with a clothes pin attached to a small alarm wired to the battery. In the clothes pin is a small piece of paper towel, when it gets wet the clothes pin will touch and set an alarm off to warn us when the floods are coming! Sheldon was quite proud of his contraption. We had a great time with our home improvement project and given the circumstances it was still fun to spend time together! Let's hope next time it is not a flood!

An Impression to Last a Lifetime

Last summer I had the opportunity to team teach Summer Technique for Jazz Attitude with my sister-in-law Ashley. We did this because Ashley and John were moving to London and Ashley would not be here to teach the following summer. As July approached this year I became very excited for summer technique, but became very nervous and anxious. I had GIGANTIC shoes to fill and did not want to fall short. Ashley is one of the most beautiful technicians, dancer, artist, and inspiring persons I have ever known. Because of this I felt very inadequate for the job. Thinking about what I was going to do for technique, I reflected on my experience in Jazz Attitude summer technique with Ashley and how I loved it! Ashley was a fantastic teacher, one of my all time favs, she had a huge impact on me as a wee little maturing dancer. I idolized Ashley completely. I thought everything she did (and does it has not changed) was totally cool and awesome. I wanted so much to emulate everything she did and wanted to become an accomplished dancer like she is. Ashley has such a vibrant passion for dance and when she was my teacher I drank in every bit of it. I wanted to emulate everything she did not only in the dance world but in the fashion world as well! Ashley always wore a Baby- G watch. When I think of Ashley in summer technique that is what comes to my mind, her tan sun-kissed skin and her Baby-G. I loved them, I always searched for a watch like it and could never find one. (I did not know at the time what the brand was) Every year, she had a different color. Pink, Turquoise, Aqua....I wanted one terribly but have never gotten or had one. I knew Ashley was not going to be here this summer physically but I did not want to do it alone. So, I got myself a Baby-G and this summer it served as a great memento to the great mentor, teacher, friend and now sister that I have had in my life. I have been very blessed to be taught and mentored by such an amazing woman, not only is she a beautiful and strong dancer but she is a beautiful and strong person. Ashley has taught me to become the best and has inspired me to be the best that I can be. I love her dearly and miss her everyday! Thank You Ashley for leaving an impression that will last a lifetime! Power to the Baby-G!

A Kindred Spirit!

Since Sheldon and I have been married I have wanted and longed for a close girlfriend. Sheldon has had his friends through video games, frisbee, and school and I had lost contact with a lot of my friends from school. Simply because the lot of them live in Utah County and rarely make the trip out to Salt Lake and vice versa. Since I had stopped going to school I had been left with a void not only from the joy of dancing everyday but also the people I associated with. I missed them and miss them very much still. Even though I keep in touch from time to time with some of them I was still in need of a close friend. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows our needs and fulfills them when we need it the most. For the very first part of our marriage I had become very depressed because I felt sorry for myself and was very selfish for a long time. I feel bad now when I look back at what I had put Sheldon through. I am so blessed that I married a man who loves me unconditionally. I grew tiresome of throwing pity parties for myself and evaluated myself and my attitude towards life. I felt inside of me my spirit change and I felt internally happy and enthusiastic about life again. Danny and Elizabeth Drysdale are our neighbors who live in Heavenly Blue. They were married in October of last year and only four days after they were married they got in a car accident, leaving Elizabeth in the hospital. She had several injuries but one of the worst was a broken pelvis. She was on bed rest and home bound for several months while she went to physical therapy to learn to walk again. Her healing process took time and we did not see them for several months even though they were in the ward. I did not know them at all and I wanted to so I signed up to bring them dinner around February. When I took the food over to the house I immediately felt that we could become great friends with them. Time passed and Elizabeth was still recovering and we did not have any contact. I asked her in May if she would be willing to be one of my backstage helpers for our spring concert. She did so joyfully, I appreciated her willingness to help me out. After that we set up a double date with the four of us and that is what started it all. That night I discovered that Elizabeth and I have a lot in common and share a lot of the same interests. It had been such a long time since I had had that kind of a friendship with someone. I was so excited to have a new friend. When I found out that she loves Anne of Green Gables just as much as I do I dubbed us kindred spirits! For that is what we are. It has been a great blessing to me to get to know Elizabeth and I have enjoyed our friendship and look forward to watching it grow and flourish!

Baby, You're a Firework!

I love everything about the 4th of July! I love the BBQ's, Fireworks, Patriotic Songs, and Patriotic Fashions. One of Sheldon's family traditions was to attend the Eaglewood fireworks. Since last years 4th of July, Sheldon's family conditions have drastically changed. Sheldon, myself, Granny Great and Shellie are the only ones left here in Utah. All other family members have moved away. So that makes for eventful family parties the four of us! I felt sad as the 4th approached us and I realized we did not have family here to celebrate like we used too. The hardest part for me is I only experienced the Pearson ways for a very short time and it has left me missing family terribly! Sheldon's mom is the queen of parties but she had not thrown a party since St. Patrick's day. To us that is like an eternity! So I asked her if we could have a 4th of July BBQ, I told her I would be happy to help with the food and she said Absolutely!

We invited Danny and Elizabeth (our new found friends who live in heavenly blue) and my brother Zach and a his date Jessica to join us for the festivities and that increased our numbers. The Eaglewood fireworks are so much fun, Sheldon and I tease with one another because the quality of the Eaglewood fireworks to those of West Fest is too painful to bear! We get a good laugh out of that one. The fireworks are held on the Eaglewood golf course and after they are done we have to fight the crowd of people and walk back to the house. One of Sheldon's favorite things to do it to throw pop- its at patrons as they walk by. He is like a 6 ft tall 5 year old and it makes me laugh. Danny and Zach got in on it and they laughed and giggled all the way back to the house. Although, I think it is funny now I am completely terrified that one of these days he is going to throw them at the wrong person and then get the crap kicked out of him! Until then I will just pray that it doesn't happen!

It was a load of fun and it was great to be with everyone, it was a small taste from the past and that made me happy!

Happy 4th of July! I am grateful to live in this beautiful country. We are very blessed to enjoy the freedoms we do and it is something I take for granted way too often, the 4th of July is a good reminder to me that I am proud to be an American!

To Bake or Not to Bake that is the Question!

Anyone that knows me can say that I am very picky when it comes to desserts. My dessert of choice would definitely be my mother's homemade sugar cookies. No one has ever made a sugar cookie that has even compared with hers. Our ward was hosting a bake sale for the youth and I decided to sign up to make Mom's legendary sugar cookies. I got the recipe from my mom and got to work.

I do not have any space in my kitchen to roll dough so I had to use my glass kitchen table. It proved to be very difficult, the dough stuck like crazy to the table so I ended up using A LOT OF FLOUR.

A lot of flour= harder than desired cookies. They looked delicious but I was rather disappointed in the turn out of their taste. I am afraid that I will need many more years of practice to master the art of the sugar cookie. My mom is an amazing woman and example to me. I am grateful for her influence in my life especially her most delicious sugar cookies!

Where it all Began!

Sheldon and I started dating in May of last year. After we had been dating for awhile and I guess you could say things were exclusive and serious. I asked Sheldon if he would like to come up with me to my families annual camping trip up to trial lake. He said yes. I was so excited. Little did Sheldon know he was not the first guy I had accompany me up at trial lake. I did not think it was important to share with him nor a problem that he didn't know. So July 23rd came around and we were leaving that day. The rest of my family was already up there. I had work and Sheldon had finals from summer semester. We had so much fun when we were up there. It seemed like Sheldon had always attended our trial lake trip but in actuality he was meeting most of my extended family for the first time. Sheldon and I took the canue out and fished. It was Sheldon's first time trolling in a boat. He absolutely loved it and had so much fun. Sheldon would be sharing a tent with my brother Zach and I was in with Mom, Dad, Nate, and Ben. When we had gone to bed that night it seemed like Sheldon and Zach were having a blast. Laughing into the wee hours of the morning. But little did I know Sheldon was experiencing one the most restless nights of his life. And what he decided would change mine forever. I came to find out that Zach had mentioned to Sheldon that in previous years others boys had been at Trial Lake. And that Sheldon had been the funnest. That hurt Sheldon to think that he was just another flavor of Trial Lake. He spent most of the night outside pondering and praying. Writing in his journal and thinking what a horrible person I was. He soon changed his mind when he decided that I had invited him up to Trial Lake because I wanted to share with him something that was so dear to me. I woke up that morning to a very tired Sheldon and very nervous about that way he acted...had he changed his mind about me? He said to me I want to steal you away and talk to you privately. We walked down to the lake shore and sat on this huge rock. Sheldon had his journal with him and opened it up to read a passage to me. He explained the kind of night he had. And told me he had reached a very serious decision that involved me. He told me that he knew that one day he would kneel across from me in the temple to be sealed for all time and eternity but he didn't realize it would be this soon. He asked me if I would be his wife...of course, I said yes! We hugged and kissed and talked about dates. It was one of the most dear, sweet, tender, exciting moments of my life. Trial Lake will forever hold a special place in my heart. We were reminded of that special day when we went back this year at the end of July. We had so much fun and enjoyed being up there as Husband and Wife!

Celebrate good times!

Mom threw me a party after we got home from Wendover. We had our own private firework show, played bacci ball, and ate Mom's delicious homemade sugar cookies just for me! Love you Mom and Dad!