House Watch 2008: Week 15

Good news - we have a first floor.
Bad news - according to the builder, we're only halfway through.
(In other words, 15-ish weeks to go)

Changing of the Plates

Some things you can't hold onto forever.


Like other videos, be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog, and turn the volume up.
(trust me, you don't want to miss this!)

Worldy Possessions!

Below are the latest additions to our household goodies. We also have some sweet, leather couches, but they are being stored at the salon (we're lacking in storage options right now!) So pics of those will come on another day, but here is our new dresser and bed. Yippee!! (Use your imagination with the bed, it really does look excellent when it's all set up.)

Overworked and OverTVed

It was bound to happen, Seth has been working long hours and exhausted each night when he comes home. I knew he was going to crack, but I didn't quite expect it to happen the way it did. Tonight we were watching So You Think You Can Dance. In an attempt to multi-task I was checking my email and listening to the judges critique. They gave their critique and then asked the dancer a question. Out of the corner of my eye I see Seth nod his head and say, "Yeah, I guess so". I peered over the laptop, and gave him a look similar to Jim from the Office and asked, "Did you just answer their question?" Sheepishly, Seth nodded his head. Poor kid he's having conversations with Nigel and Mary. He needs to get to bed earlier.

Big Apple Anniversary!

i LOVE seth!

Secret Seth. For several weeks he has been plotting and planning our anniversary weekend. As devious as I am, I have tried not to find out any of the details so it truly would be a surprise. Had Seth not come down with a wicked case of the flu I would have had no idea where we were going. However, due to his flue attack, one detail slipped, and I had the slightest inkling we were going to New York City. The details remained Top Secret.

Yeah for self-portraits!

We took the train up to the city, and that was fantastic, no worrying about parking or traffic. That's my kind of travel! We arrived at the train station and hopped into a cab (not the Cash Cab, dang) and weaved and screeched uptown to our hotel. With wobbly knees and nauseous stomaches we crawled out of the taxi and checked into our hotel.

We gathered our composure and headed out to see the city! We wandered all over, Times Square, Broadway, 5th Avenue, wandering...eventually over to Central Park. Seriously, HUGE! We kept getting lost in the park, and the only map of the park available to us, was a giant one nailed to the ground (inconvenient)! So finally I had the brilliant idea to take a picture of the map, and then we could just look at our camera, and find our way. (Smart). Central Park was awesome, we really enjoyed it. Seth was even a total gentleman, and carried my purse around when it got too heavy for me. (I'm not a wimp, it had everything in it).

Ah dang, where'd I put my chapstick :)


Classic

We eventually mosied back to our hotel, and got cleaned up for dinner. Then it was off to Mystery #1. Seth told me we were seeing a show, and off we went. We walked past Wicked. No. Chicago. No. Lion King, Hairspray, Jersey Boys. Nope. (By now, I was sure Seth was just taking me on a wild goose chase) Grease, Legally Blond. Still going, and then we turned the corner and I couldn't believe my eyes. Little Mermaid! YES! Seriously, such a great show, the songs were awesome, Flounder could sing incredibly, the costumes were great. Yeah! Thanks Seth!

Look at this show, isn't it neat?


Day #2, Seth told me Mystery #2 wouldn't be until later that night, so we had all day. We took Uncle Craig and Aunt Anne's suggestions and jumped on one of the sightseeing buses. We loved it. So many random facts about the city. We're pretty sure our tour guide was a Mafia sympathizer, but hey, who doesn't enjoy a shady story now and then? We jumped off the bus in China Town, where we definitely the ONLY blonds for blocks. In the quest for a purse, we followed a girl several blocks and down some stairs into a sketchy "back room" where I haggled like the best of them, and got one heck of a knock-off for a steal. (Way better than the stuff on the streets). Yes, I am guilty of it.Front row witnesses, to any potential carnage caused by the careening bus

We had a great time walking the streets of the city, we are just fascinated by the city. Times Square reminds us a lot of Vegas (a tad on the overrated, over-advertised) but hey, who cares!

Seth took me out for some tasty dinner, and then we went to Rockefeller Center and hung out for a while. (As an avid Today Show fan, I was excited to see their studio). Then came the reveal of Mystery #2, "Top of the Rock" - augh! That's um...way up there. Close to 70 floors. Have I failed to mention to Seth that I have lost my junior high fearlessness. I now, freely admit I don't dig heights. But, I was brave. It was incredible. The view at the top, was so cool. The Empire State building was lit up red, white and blue. It was the perfect night for viewing the city, it was crystal clear, and warm. Yeah!That small little fence is all that protects me from falling to my death.


The view made it all worth it!

Day #3 - Mystery #3 began nice and early, so we crawled out of bed and onto the subway and headed down to Battery Park. We were off to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Seth was smart and bought tickets in advance, so we were able to bypass the billion people standing in line and get right on the boat! (Smart). The Statue of Liberty was pretty sweet, but I must say I was even more impressed by Ellis Island, the exhibits there are cool. We were both fascinated by the idea of coming through Ellis Island, what a process for the immigrants. Whew. We finished off the day by doing some more wandering and taking lots of pictures. In the afternoon we made our way back to the train and promptly passed out once it took off.

Just call us Mr. & Mrs. Liberty!

We had fun adventures, to sum up our weekend: wandering is fun, mysteries are great, being a tourist is acceptable (when you are amongst millions of them), and don't forget..."Watch out for the yellow ones, they don't stop!"

If you're interested...here's some more pics from the trip (or click on the album on the left side):

House Watch 2008: Week 14 (minus 43 hours)

Hooray for slab!
We've finalized our upgrade options and added a sweet bombe dresser to our growing furniture collection.
We might actually be homeowners someday!

(Sorry for the "early" post, Seth's stealing me away for the weekend, so we won't be around on our usual documentation day)

SYTYCD

Seth and I have waited all year for tonight. If you don't know what SYTYCD stands for, you should probably tune into Fox tonight. We had forgotten how much we loved the show until we caught a marathon on MTV last weekend, glued to the TV in the wee hours of the morning, we remembered just how incredible the dancers are. I am extra excited this season, knowing that they had auditions in Salt Lake, hometown pride, what can I say! So, if you try to reach us tonight, between 8pm-10pm, I'm sorry. Expect voice mail. We can't wait to hear that all too familiar tune, and then "So you think you can dance...dance...dance."

Below is a perfect example of why you should watch the audition episodes. (Pause the music at the bottom of the blog before hitting play)

The Answer to the Unanswered Questions.

To be honest, we find it humorous. We know it's probably crossed your mind, in fact I wouldn't be surprised if you have actually thought something along the lines of, "Gee, they've been married a long time, when are they..." or there's always, "Seth's done with school, you're building a house...you sure seem responsible..." My favorite is, "You don't yet? Well...how long have you been married?" So. To answer that question, I will relate the following event that took place in December of 2005 and maybe then, you will understand, and the questions and assumptions will end.

Soon after Seth and I got married we knew we wanted another little friend in our house. We planned and prepared, and after looking around we brought home the most adorable little fish, Bruiser, the red beta. Although Bruiser was born a he, Seth and I decided that he was a she. Bruiser was a great addition to our family. She endured our no-AC house in the hot Utah summers, and she never complained when we were determined to keep our thermostat set at 62 in the winter. (Hey, if you lived in an old, drafty house you'd do the same). She was doing so good, she loved us. When Seth would come home from swim practice, she would swim to the surface of her bowl to greet him. He would feed her and she would swim around as content as can be. You could not have asked for a better beta. Or so we thought.
As we progressed into December, she became a little less lively, it appeared her health had taken a turn for the worse. I must say the decline was rather sudden. I came home from work one evening, and discovered the tragedy. Bruiser was "sleeping" on her cushiony, yellow, dish scrubber on the bottom of her bowl. Seth arrived home a little after 10pm, and I had to break the bad news to him. Seth was upset. As was I. We had that awkward moment, where it hit us, that we were the responsible guardians of Bruiser. I looked to Seth, and with complete innocence asked, "Well, do we flush her?" The look of torment and shock on his face totally caught me by surprise. "Flush Bruiser!? We do not flush Bruiser!" I looked at Seth. Seth looked at me. And we knew what we needed to do. Seth headed to the garage, and I found a small box.
At 11pm, we trudged outside with heavy hearts, Seth moved the garbage cans aside, so we could find some bare earth amidst the frozen snow drifts. Seth worked tirelessly to dig a small, simple hole in the frozen earth. We placed Bruiser, who was resting peacefully on her yellow scrubber inside a box, into the ground. Seth covered her make-shift casket and I sang Amazing Grace and then we shared a moment of silence. Seth was upset. He reminisced on the moments they had shared, Bruiser was always grateful to see him. It's the simple things that bring him joy, and now she was gone.
A few days later, I mentioned that Christmas was coming, and perhaps we could get a new fish. Seth looked at me, shook his head and said, "It's too soon, Ger, it's just too soon. You can't just replace a fish like Bruiser."

And so, my friends, to answer your questions, that is the reason we haven't gotten a puppy yet.

Rest In Peace, Bruiser, Rest In Peace
May 2005 - December 2005

House Watch 2008: Week 13

Yeah! Stuff is happening! This is actually progress, considering it POURED all week. We aren't quite sure if the slab is under the tarp or not, but who cares! It's better than a field of dirt and weeds. We have actually made progress elsewhere too...we've added a couch set to our furniture stash as well as a new bed (no mattress, yet).

Rock On.

Clearly we are extremely cool.

Friday, Seth and I had the opportunity to go up to Rock State Park and help out"chaperoning" the 14-18 years olds from church at the Stake Youth Conference. We had an awesome time, Seth was in charge of documenting, and I was in charge of having fun! (Easy enough for both of us!)
Our kids come from all over our county as well as Baltimore city, they are incredible! My sweet moves were put to shame by their mad skills. I guess I'll keep the Electric Slide to myself next time!

Brad, we really appreciate you "choosing" to come so Seth had someone to talk to :)

Tonight we went back up to the Conference for the closing meeting. All I can say is Wow. The kids are incredible. The kids shared experiences and testimonies that were so touching and special. I am impressed by their ability to face the challenges in their lives with such faith and determination. These are kids who are the only Mormons at their schools, and must not only defend their values but also answer the tough questions about our religion. I am just so amazed by all of them. I wish I could carry that feeling with me everywhere I go.
If I could I would tell the kids that shared their feelings, Thank You. I needed to hear what you had to say.

A Sample of Craziness

Our samples came today! It's like Christmas! Somewhere along the way, we got it into our crazy brains that we could put in our own hardwood in our new house. After going around and around on what type to do, we finally decided on bamboo (love it). So, then we sent off for about a million samples. Now comes the fun of deciding what we like and then putting it through all sorts of wild tests to see what's the most durable.
If you would like to recommend tests we should try out on the samples, let us know.

I'm really excited to do the floors, but are we crazy thinking we can do this ourselves? Yikes!

Seth is WILD about the samples, he's got the crazed-sample look in his eye!

Happy Anniversary!

*May 11, 2005*

On an unseasonably cold and snowy day three years ago, in the beautiful, white (and thankfully warm) Mt. Timpanogos temple, The Crush married me! Just five short years after the initial stalking began.
We have had a lot of adventures and the best part is we do them together.

Thanks Seth, for picking me!
(and for... warming up my cold toes, smiling at me, keeping me focused on what really matters, making me dinner, putting your arm around me, treating me like a queen, cleaning hair out of the shower drain, working so hard, killing spiders, keeping the gas tank full, warming up my cold toes, running with me, helping with laundry, laughing at my awesomely lame pirate jokes, supporting me in my crazy adventures, being so nice to my friends, holding my hands
(even though my fingers are usually ice cold), seeing the positive in each situation, warming up my cold toes, and of course being the most perfect guy ever!...just to name a few of course!)

Um, yeah...I like Seth. For his birthday last year I wrote down a few things I like about him (as if I didn't just name a billion) and there are some pictures too. Click the link below:

Seth's Birthday

Happy Anniversary, Seth. Here's to three gazillion more!

House Watch 2008: Week 12

Ah, the house watch has been taken off pause. Concrete and PVC pipes have never looked so good to us!

Rock on Little Elder!

The little phrase we share. I am unsure of the roots of our little phrase, but somewhere along the line Doug and I picked it up. It wasn't just a phrase, but also a bit of hand gestures as well. Which worked perfectly when we're too far to say it, we can just mouth the words and do the coordinating gestures. For some lame reason, that possibly only siblings can share, this would set us off into fits of laughter.

My entire life, Mom and Dad ALWAYS sat by each other in church, the kids never sat between them. Because of our little phrase (which by no means is inappropriate), we were the first and only Gaufin children to be separated by the parents during church. We weren't little, nah, I was in high school. Occasionally this phrase has been known to cause Doug to be stricken with his spontaneous nose bleeds and leave me in tears. (Made even funnier when it's happening during church) It's always good for a laugh, and the only sentimental value it holds is the ability to make both of us double over in a wicked case of giggles.

In the excitement of talking to Doug at Christmas, I somehow failed to remember to share our phrase. He called this morning, and although it definitely lacked (it always works better with the hand motions) it was great to hear Dougie say it. Thanks for the opportunity to share a laugh Doug, it was great talking to you. Hungary seems to be treating you well, and I'm sure it's getting a kick out of you. Rock on little Elder, rock on.

(I tried to spell out our little phrase, but it lost something in the typing. If it matters that much to you, you'll have to ask me in person to share...sorry!)

Cinco de Mayo...make that Diez de Mayo!

The girls in our ward put on an awesome party to raise money for girls' camp. It was a fiesta of the besta! The food was sooo good, chips and salsa, guacamole, Chipotle burritos, taquitos and lots of other yummy goodness. The after-dinner entertainment was a sweet dance, not as comparable to a high school dance as I would say a junior high dance. Extreme fun. Ah, the electric boogie just never gets old.

Seth really was having a good time.


Matt & Leslie - she and I make up half of the new Young Women presidency...the fate of teenage girls rests in our hands...bless their hearts!

I was really excited about taking video, I would highly recommend pausing the music on the blog before watching the movies.

Seth wanted Grandma to share this Gloria Estefan song with him. He must have been pretty convincing!

Hands up, get your hands up!

Seth's cousin Emma has some sweet moves, too bad she apparently doesn't like being caught on camera!

DogSitting

Meet Shakespeare. This is our little buddy that we're dogsitting. Quite possibly one of the nicest dogs you'll ever meet. We're considering adoption of a four-legged friend in the future.

His only problem is his love of licking and attention. As far as dogs are concerned, I'll take that over biting, gnawing and eating of small children.

Man, That's Crabby!

Tonight a few of us from the salon got together to bid farewell to our favorite shampoo girl, Jamie. (Lame for leaving us). Well, as we ordered it became quite clear to the other girls that I had never really had crabs before. (Apparently crab cakes and crab dip aren't quite the same).

I thought I was good to go, until the waiter brought out the crabs. Um, they were LOOKING at me, with their little beady eyes. And suddenly I had images of Deadliest Catch running through my mind (not that these crabs could really be considered deadly), and then I thought of the nasty story Kellie told me about crabs (trust me, you don't want to know), last of all the thought of eating an "ocean spider" was all but stomach turning.
Apparently I had a rather frightened look on my face, the girls assured me I did not need to face the crab unarmed. They handed over a mallet and a forkey-knife-scraper thing and Debra gave me some step by step instructions and I was ready!

Uh yeah, I'm still NOT so sure about this whole crabbin' thing, but well...when in Maryland, do as the Merlanders do!
(Honestly, I think I'll stick to seafood that I don't have to tear apart...I can't get over the spider similarities!)

House Watch 2008: Week 10.5 & 11

Seth and I were out for a drive, and thought we'd swing by the dirt we'd paid for. And just GUESS what we spied...can you see it? It's off to the left...Yes! A tractor, and what do tractors do? They dig dirt!!!
So, with great joy...I present Week 11:
The footings are in, and progress just might be happening!

(PS- this is the BIG NEWS!)

Signs of Spring!

This might look like an ordinary bush, covered in cherry blossoms, but it is so much more .
It is home to a little family of robins. Seth and I go out and sneak a peek whenever the mom goes off for food, we cannot believe how quickly they have grown! Sniff, sniff, they just grow up so fast, it seems like only yesterday...
The weather has been so nice, so we've all been using up our energy outside. Emma was teaching me some sweet new cheers, with my mad skills, it's amazing I wasn't recruited to be a high school cheerleader! (No, her headband has not fallen into her eyes, that's how she was rockin' the style.)

I am so grateful for Spring!!!

Coming Soon...

BIG NEWS!!!