Sunday, December 25, 2011

The "Manor" of Happiness

manor |ˈmanər|
noun (also manor house)
a large country house with lands; the principal house of a landed estate.

chiefly historical (esp. in England and Wales) a unit of land, originally a feudal lordship, consisting of a lord's demesne and lands rented to tenants.
historical (in North America) an estate or district leased to tenants, esp. one granted by royal charter in a British colony or by the Dutch governors of what is now New York.

I am obsessed with our apartment.
I love it. I love sitting on our couches, looking at the stark white walls, playing with the long navy blue curtains, imagining incredible designs for our puny bathroom, using our black stove, wiping down our orange table, feeding Fred, shining the wood floors. I love sitting with Robert and listening to music through our new speaker.

Although our home is just a little Tree House, it is a Manor among tree houses. And after changing the little sub-title caption thing to one of my favorite scripture from the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 5:27 "And it came to pass that we lived after the manner of happiness," I found it appropriate to change it again.


The Manor of Happiness.


So clever. I think I'll write a book about it. Until then, ooo and aww at our many mini Christmas decorations.


Fred made a new friend.



As Charlotte would say, "Two Nomen!"

From the moment we laid eyes on this tree we knew it was the one. We even got a discount because it was so scrawny.


My favorite part of our Christmas tree was not the lights or the ornaments, but the wee pine cones. 

 To put the pine cone in perspective; My ring. 
 

A most joyous snowman. Happiest pillow ever. 
 

More snowmen!


 Tacky looking lights that foster Christmas spirit.
 We, uh, had to just wrap lights up the center of our tree because the limbs didn't support the light. :)

Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 5, 2011

Tree House

Many many months ago (not POSTS ago, just months ago) Robert and I moved in to our sweet apartment. "Sweet" for a few different reasons.
  • It's nothing fancy but it is newly remodeled. New wood floors, carpet, paint, granite counter top. Sweet!      
 
  • New black appliances: Refrigerator, oven/gas stove. Sa weeet.



  • The view out our bedroom window is Timp. The view out the kitchen window is Nebo. Schweet! 
  • We have great neighbors because, well, we picked them. Double sweet. 
  • Our apartment reminds us of being in a treehouse since there is lots of light...and no right angles. Anywhere. Aww, sweet.  (Note: the shelf is level, both hallway doors are not.)
 
  • Our heating system is ancient radiator heaters. AND THEY WORK GREAT! Sweet relief. 
 
  • We have a wee back yard. Yes! Sweet! 
 

  • Our ceilings are 9'6" so...we can fit bikes! Tell me that isn't sweet.

  • We pay virtually nothing for rent since we are the managers. Oh, that is so Sweet.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Motivation

I was looking at my stats today for this here blog.

My views jumped to TWO yesterday. Highest they've been in a long time.

As a result, I will be posting the much procrastinated pictures of Tree House (OUR house) soon. I put up Christmas lights yesterday. They are adorable.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I Miss My Cousins.

I haven't blogged in a long time.
I haven't blogged stalked in a long time either (except the couple of HOURS I spent on craft blogs before Halloween to find something cute and free with which to decorate our Tree House).
So I just want to put out in cyber space, this; I haven't stayed in touch with my cousins and I miss it.

Why? Because unlike many people, my cousins are some of my closest friends.
 We aren't all in this picture. And a lot of us have spouses. And a lot of couples have children.
For example:
A little blurry, yes, but still SO adorable. Little Jaela :)

The reason I am missing my family is not because I am unhappy or bored or anything like that. (I am so happy that I am soon changing the name of this blog to something happier than "Lemon Tree.")
No, it is because my family has meant more to me over the past couple of years than it ever has before.

From losing Steven, to losing Rolf, to losing Grandpa, to our nearly losing Jaela, and all the happy and sad in between, we have become so much closer than we have ever been before. I now KNOW that families truly are a divine organization, and the most important organization.
I love my family: My Grandma's, Aunt Cristy, all my aunts and uncles, my cousins, my two nieces, my parents, Steph, Brian, Eric, my wonderful in-laws, and last but definitely not least, Robert.

I'm excited for the Holidays and spending time with both sides. Yipee!

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

THE Cabin

Let me preface our trip to THE Cabin with this epic video.

'Nuff said.


At the Ranch. Looks like the one in Wyoming.

Mesa falls for lunch. Everyone looks way too happy. Especially the mosquitoes, who were eating US for lunch.

Sister-in-law. Love her.

The whole Bennion crew...minus Michael :( (Dad is taking the picture)


Sunday afternoon. See above video.


We decided later that rolling huge rocks off the edge of a cliff isn't the safest thing to do. But we weren't able to realize that in the moment due to it being Fast Sunday.



Before the 56 or 58 mile ride Robert, Dustin, Angelyn, and I did. Fun times.

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!

We sat about 30 yards away from the lighting point and the fireworks exploded right over our heads. It was amazing!

All in all, a wonderful trip to THE Cabin.

Friday, July 15, 2011

My first word was "Bug"

After our trip to Moon Lake, we ventured up to Island Park, Idaho. Before I go into detail about the trip and the barrel of fun we had, I will introduce the one and only downside; MOSQUITOES. For some odd reason, probably heavy snowfall and extra moisture (I hate that word), there were a lot.

I mean...A LOT.

So much so that I was compelled to write a poem about it.

Mosquitoes
Buzzing, whining, high pitched “weee”
Hover slowly, dart so fast.
You bit my brow, you bit my knee!
Your next slurp will be your last.

As I sit to eat my meal
Navaho tacos with fruit and juice
A blind SLAP towards your awful squeal
In hopes your population to reduce.

All I want is evening rest.
To lay my head and sleep the night,
But you are such a little pest
I have to wrap the sheets ‘round tight.

The morning comes. With sun’s first ray
I fumble down the narrow stair.
My arms, a feast for you by day
My face, a feast by night to share!

Back home where you don’t run a muck
Where your swarms, a cloud less thick
Still haunted by your sucker stuck
I swat thin air like a lunatic!

I'll be posting about the highlights, but for now those pesty bugs are still on my mind. Why? Because I have been doing intense yard work at out new apartment and that backyard is a jungle. And a jungle has a lot of weird bugs. 

I have gone through wasps, huge black bumblebee things, earwigs, beetles that are black, beetles that are green, spiders of all kinds, little black ants, big black ants with wings, and of course mosquitoes. 

But the more I drive east with my rake/hoe/old hammer I found, the less will be coming west into my house.  Right now I have a weird bite on my neck. Maybe I'll get super powers! Or maybe just West Nile Virus. 

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Before and After

I wish I had taken pictures of our apartment Before and After the remodel. It's still small. As my mom mused, "It's too bad you can't knock out a wall and have two apartments."

...yeah, life is rough.

So, we are in and we're having a blast finding a place for all our extra tupperware. Thank you all for the gift cards and checks. We've been putting up towel racks, laying welcome mats, installing curtains, and shopping for a vacuum.

Before the After pictures are up I've got to decorate a little more. In the mean time, here is our trip to Moon Lake with the Naegles. We moved in a day or two before we left for the Uintas.

Of course, the best part of getting together with family is seeing the Staggs. Especially Steph and her cute little belly! We're so excited.

Robert killin' it on the court. 

That is a tired pooch.

Meet Brahms.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A few answers to a few questions.

You know how when you meet someone it's always the same questions:

"Where are you from?"
"Where do you go to school?"
"What are you studying?"
"How long do you have left?"

"Oh, for sure, for sure. That's legit."

Turns out that after you are married the question are a little different. We have been having a blast figuring out the answers to those questions and I will tell you everything I know right now:

So how long have you two been married? 
About a month and a half...er, I guess a month and three weeks now.


Where'd ya go on the Honeymoon? 
We went to Lake Tahoe.
Yeah, it was beautiful weather for that time of year.

We hiked a little bit,
 made tinfoil dinners on the beach,
 and took a lake cruise.
 It was fun...
 ...really fun...(trail off)
 
Cool, cool. So where are you guys living now? 
Um, we're actually in Robert's grandma's basement because our apartment is being remodeled. We're hoping to move in on Monday. (We say that every week. I think we're up to five Mondays...)
Yeah, it's about a mile south of campus and we're actually the managers.

Nice, how'd you land that? 
Robert's sister works at a law firm and one of the lawyers buys and fixes up old apartments. So he was looking for a manager and Robert's sister referred us. There are of two 6-plexes we're managing. So rent is going to be nice and cheap. Plus we really like our apartment.

That is where we're at right now. Robert tries to find time to ride his bike, and I try to swim and ride as well. We're looking forward to a few upcoming vacations with the family to Moon Lake and to the Cabin!

We're enjoying the summer!

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Mrs. Bennion

A long time ago when I actually spent time on facebook, I joined a group called "I demand nothing less than Mr. Darcy" or something like that. (Juvenile, I know.)

Well, I'd like everyone to know that, not only did I NOT settle for less, but I found someone better than Mr. Darcy.

His name is Mr. Bennion. 

And you may now call me  Mrs. Bennion.  Mrs. Bennion: Completely, and perfectly, and incandescently happy.

Here are a few pictures from the amazing Amanda Castleberry. For more, go to her blog. (If you click on a photo, it will take you to her Flickr where you can enjoy even more of her pictures!)


He is so handsome.


 My mom made me buy these shoes. At first, I felt like an elf, but I ended up getting attached to them.

 Thanks Mady and Karin for driving the hour and a half at 5 in the morning to do my make-up and wait on me all day.




The luncheon centerpieces. Loved 'em!

The ridiculous cake that I just HAD to have. 

My amazing Aunt Cristy found these reflective vases the night before the wedding. What a hit!


Agent Bennion. 



I LOVED my peony bouquet!
 My wonderful bridesmaids.


My gorgeous sister, Steph.