Scorpion Update

I know I've already written about how we have scorpions in our basement, but I thought I'd give a little update. There for a little while, we weren't seeing as many as we had previously. Then all of a sudden we started getting about 2 a day! Luckily the majority didn't make it into the house, they just got caught on our nifty sticky traps! We killed one on our wall in the kitchen the other day though, and I walked into the bathroom barefoot the other night and there was one running around in there! It just reminded me why I should ALWAYS wear shoes in our house! Anyways, I took some pictures of our traps. We have them lining a door that goes into a storage room..... we're pretty sure that's where the majority of them come from. But yeah... here they are!

So this is a view of all of them....

This is a closer view of part of the traps that has the most scorpions on it... they're kinda hard to see, but there's about 7 on them!

And here are about 3 more on another part of the traps!

I'm glad that we're catching a lot of them before they get it, but it just scares me to think about how many probably do get in here that I don't know about! YIKES!!

Weekend Update

So since getting married, Mitch and I have realized that we both really like working on the yard. Even though we're just in his grandma's basement, we do have our own little backyard. For the last couple weeks, we've been working on weeding the yard and we decided to make a flower bed. We already had a small one under the kitchen window, but we made another one to go along one side of the lawn. Amazingly, my work gave me a Saturday off, so last weekend Mitch and I bought some flowers and got to work! I took some "before" and "after" pictures for everyone to enjoy :)

So this is obviously the "before" picture... though this is better than what it looked like before we weeded it!


These are the flowers and we bought :)

And here is our "after" picture. I put some old gas cans in the garden that I had found out in the family junkyard they have on Mitch's family's hill. I think they're way cute



I also took an old stove that was just sitting in our dog pen and planted flowers in it. Come to find out, it used to be the stove in the Schmutz family farmhouse and so Grandma Schmutz was happy that it was getting used somehow :)

And here is a view of the back of our house.... we also planted a pot next to our door and put flowers under the kitchen window. I yet again put "junk" in the backyard by putting an old metal heardboard up against the wall that I had found out in the junkyard. Mitch thought he was very clever when he said it was for our "flower BED" haha

Our First Home!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Mitch and I are living in his Grandma Schmutz's basement. That may not sound too great, but really it's nice! First of all, Grandma is very easy to live with, not only because she's the nicest person on earth, but because she's basically silent upstairs, and she actually lives in Oak City for like 8 months of the year (so we'll be in the house by ourselves). Anyways, our basement has a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. I should probably also add that it has a storage room and bomb shelter! haha We have our own door so we can come and go whenever we want.... so really it feels like we live on our own. The biggest blessing though, is that we live rent- free! We pay for the satellite and that's about it! Anyways, we love our basement house and really are grateful to be here!

I'm starting to realize that the beginning of marriage comes with all sorts of new adventures.... and our living situation has definately had it's share! First of all, there is something wrong with our vents or something, because anytime the heat is on, a HORRIBLE smell blows out! And I don't mean just a slightly unpleasing smell..... it gives me a stomach ache! They checked the septic tank and it's not that, so we're assuming that maybe something died in a vent? Thank goodness, someone is coming to check the vents tomorrow so hopefully it'll be gone! Over the last few months, I have gone through my fair share of candles, air freshener spray, wall plug-ins, the smelly powder you put on carpet before you vacuum, and even air fresheners that are made to go in vents! And much to my dismay, our house nearly always smells like rotten eggs! Everyone say a prayer that they fix it tomorrow!

Another fun part of our basement is that our TV, computer, and microwave are all on the same fuse. Most days we don't have a problem.... but every now and then, it just can't handle it anymore, and the fuse blows about 3 times in one day! Luckily Mitch can just go switch it back on and we're back in business! haha Another great side-effect of these all being connected is that whenever you turn the microwave on, the images on our computer screen shake back and forth violently..... looking at the screen for longer than about 20 seconds will make your eyes hurt :) Again, we love these little adventures of being married and moving into a new place!

Perhaps my FAVORITE of all the surprises that have come along with our little house includes eight legs, claws, and a tial full of venom!!

Our house seems to be a haven for all the local SCORPIONS!! Maybe I should explain that Mitch's family owns a big hill in the St. George Washington Fields, and we live up on top of it. So we are surrounded by desert... and an animal kingdom. It has the perks of waking up to bunnies all over the lawn... but also includes lots of bugs, esp scorpions! We only found about 4 in our first month and a half of living here, but all of a sudden a few weeks ago, we killed 5 in a day! We have killed about 14 in the last 3 weeks. Idk if it's the warmer weather, or the construction above our house causing them to come into our house more... but they are NOT welcome visitors! They come out mostly at night... so now I always wear shoes in the house, but esp when I hop out of bed to go potty at night. It isn't even a surprise anymore to kill a scorpion or two when I make a bathroom trip at night. Though I now suffer from not being able to fall asleep at night because my feet itch like crazy as I lay there thinking about the scorpions crawling all over our floor! But rest assured, we are fighting back! Mitch has nearly gone crazy trying to find them! I have come home from work to find him, shovel in hand, out in the desert with our dog trying to HUNT the scorpions. So far he's found ONE. haha We also bought spider and mouse traps that are flat and sticky, so we put them by the door that the scorpions sneak in through... and much to our dismay, we've only caught two. But we are still on the watchout. Hopefully they all find somewhere else to go, because I really am not in the mood to get stung! Somehow the idea of intense pain, followed by burning, and then numbness for a week, just doesn't seem appealing! Anyways, my point in that I hate scorpions!

So this blog probably makes our basement sound horrible, but it really is a great place to live! It's way bigger than an apartment and lots of fun to be so close to our family. I've attempted to make our little house took like a home.... but it has mostly been decorated with hand-me-downs, including my sweet couches that my mother tried to give away when I was 16, but I made her save them for me! They go perfectly with the farm wallpaper that Grandma has on the walls down here! Anyways, I took some pictures of our house, so enjoy!

This is our living room... and the door that Andy often runs into!

Another picture of our living room and sweet country couches... thanks mom!

Again the living room... btw I LOVE our brick wall! It's way cute!

Here is our cute kitchen... we bought an island for the middle that is quite useful

Here is our pink bathroom... I know you're jealous of the pink marble!

And here is our bedroom... this pictures makes it look even less colorful than it really is!

Our Little Dummy.... aka Andy

So this last June while Mitch and I were dating, he asked me to go with him to pick out a puppy for his family. We picked out this adorable little girl we named Andy.....

Little did I know back then, she would one day be MY dog haha. After Mitch and I got married, his parents asked when we were gonna take Andy over to our house. I was a little shocked, but now she's ours! Though she occasionally goes back to his parents house next door, she's been at our house most of our first two months. Now I know this doesn't sound like something to blog about.... but this is NO ordinary dog.... she's what I like to call "our little dummy" or idiot or whatever you'd like to fill in there!

Andy has had her fair share of accidents in her first 8 months! Mitch's parents house has a walk-out basement... so needless to say, the backyard is a full story lower than the front yard. One day Mitch was in the backyard and Andy wanted to go down there.... but instead of walking around the carport and down the hill to him, she walked OFF the carport and fell down to the backyard. I'm pretty sure this is why she is so insane! A few weeks later, her leg was run over while Mitch's mom was backing out of the driveway... which I'm sure hasn't helped with her being crazy.

Since she's moved over here with us, she's had a little problem with our sliding glass door. A month or so ago, we had the door open and we'd let Andy out of her pen to run around for a little bit in the backyard. She decided to try to sneak into the house. We were sitting RIGHT THERE in the living room, so as she started walking in, Mitch stood up to tell her to get out. She got scared and turned around really fast and ran right into the door! And if that isn't bad enough, the other night Mitch let her out to run around and she ran to the door to see me sitting inside..... the door was shut, but she must not have seen it, because she ran full speed into the sliding glass door! She must have been embarassed, because she turned right back around and ran into her doghouse! hahaha she is definately entertaining, but I seriously think she has some brain damage! She often chases her own tale, digs hole after hole in her dog pen, plays with bugs, and will endure any weather sitting outside of her doghouse (including FREEZING snow storms) to make sure she can get a clear view through the sliding glass door of our every move in the living room!

Two weeks ago, Mitch took her to get fixed. When she came back home, she was pretty drugged up. I'm pretty sure that is the ONLY time I will ever see her calm!! She even laid in the house for hours and never attempted to run around or rip anything up! One day later she was back to her hyperactive self though!

So for a little history on her name... she was named after one of our favorite characters on the TV show The Office. Andy Bernard from the office is sort of an over-bearing suck-up who just want to be best friends with everyone. He's also pretty unusually happy all the time. Welp we drfinately named our dog perfectly! She thinks everyone and everything is her best friend! She's crazy excited all the time, but it's why we love her! Here's a picture of what she looks like now and also a video of her trying to constantly attack Mitch!

Two Months!!

Mitch and I had our two month anniversary of being married yesterday! Wow time has gone by so fast! It's been super fun though and we're enjoying everything that comes along with getting married :)

Since getting married, Mitch has started another semester of college and hopefully it'll be his last before he starts with a radiology program next spring. He'll apply to a few programs around August, but we're really hoping that he'll get into the one at Dixie so we can stay here in St. George! He's also planning on applying for Weber's online program and also at Salt Lake Community College. If he doesn't get into any programs, he's thinking about going into accounting, like his dad and brother Coby. Mitch is still working at the college from 4 to 7 am.... and let me tell you that I'm already forgetting what it's like to sleep straight through the night without the alarm going off at 3:30 and then him falling back into bed at 7!! He's such a trooper, but I have no clue how he can do it! He's my hero :) I'm still working at the LOVELY Pizza Factory haha I've applied for some full time positions at banks and as a receptionist, but it is nearly impossible to find anything right now! I'm just thankful to have ANY job at this point! The budget is tight, but we're surviving.... mainly because we have lots of help and also the blessing of getting to live with Grandma Schmutz rent free! The other day I had a little meltdown about bills and tuition and everything... but Mitch, being my rock like always, calmed me down and I'm sure everything will work out.

The two weeks before Christmas brought more snow to St. George than I've ever seen (and definately tons more than I ever saw growing up in Vegas!!) Mitch built a snowman, only to have it knocked over by our precious little idiot dog, Andy! We love her even though she is seriously insane! I took a couple pictures of the snow... though this is two days after it snowed and a lot of it had already thawed out. The pictures also show off our view from the hill we live on :)

Being married really does come with many treats that I hadn't initially thought about.... such as the calling that Mitch and I recently received in our ward. We are the teachers of the CTR 6 class for primary. We've taught about 3 lessons so far and it's been pretty fun. We're still struggling with making a lesson for 6 year olds last for a full hour, but I'm sure we'll eventually figure something out :D Now I'm just dreading the inevitable talk we're going to have to give in sacrament as the new members in the ward!

Anyways, married life is awesome and I'm so happy to be living with my best friend! He definately puts up with me and my crazy cleaning habits and bad moods and everything haha Being married is going to be a fun little adventure!!

Our First Christmas!!

I've done a horrible job of keeping our blog updated for the last few months, but now that we have the internet I'm gonna try to post things pretty often.

Right after being married we got to enjoy the holidays together! It was definately different not just being with MY family, but it was fun to see everybody. We had Thanksgiving dinner with my family and then had Chrsistmas with Mitch's family. Luckily our families did things at different times, so for the most part, we were able to be with both families to open presents and eat.

I definately enjoyed decorating my own little house for the holidays... though I'm not the best at it haha Here are a few pictures at my attempt...

I love Christmas and am sad for it to be over, but I'm already looking forward to our 2nd X-mas together!

Wedding Pictures...

So we FINALLY got the internet here in our basement so I can update my page!! Here is a link to some of our wedding pictures, which turned out amazing! Enjoy!

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=12714719&albumId=3140950