Quick rundown of Seattle

The appointment went GREAT. We love the doc- she is awesome. She told us numerous times that Clay will be fine. Looks like we need to go to Seattle in a month again, then every two months after that, for 3-5 years. She said this is a marathon, not a sprint...but she said the only way to come out of this successful is to take this VERY SERIOUSLY. She compared it to Cancer- saying that a cancer patient would NEVER miss their treatment- she said we need to live that way. That missing a treatment will completely mess everything up- and trust me- we are planning on doing everything she says for however long she says. Oh and just to calm anyone's worries- Clay SHOULD be able to work and live a normal life during everything. So that's a relief.

Sooo we are gonna be on a bit of a different diet. Doctors orders are NO WHEAT and NO SUGAR. Apparently, Lyme thrives on it! She said Clay can have some "fun days" every once in a while where he can eat something yummy- but he doesn't want to do that. It'll be interesting trying to do the no wheat thing. Wheat is in everything! Clay didn't quite understand what it meant at first, so he was excited that he didn't have to eat wheat! He was like- SWEET, no more healthy stuff...buuuut yeah. Wheat is in lotsa stuff. Like Doritos :)

Seattle is a crazy crazy city. To give you an idea, Clay almost ran over someone. In fact, I saved her life! Cause I saw her, Clay didn't. The crazy thing is- Clay is seriously the best driver I've ever known. I'm not just saying that because he's my husband...he is seriously the best driver I know. So it was a little crazy that happened. He was so stressed.

We went to Pikes Place and I LOVED IT! Clay thought it was boring. HAHAHHAA- I am not surprised AT ALL. He said- "It was a bunch of weird people and weird shops." Oh dear.

We honestly didn't have time for anything else! The appointment and testing took basically all day...and we were so exhausted by the time it was all done.

We decided we are pretty sure we're gonna be flying more. The drive sucked. Especially in such a short time frame. We are both really impatient and tired and it's already a stressful situation...so flying will just be easier. We'll see.

Oh yeah...probably the best news of all...we asked her if it's possible that Clay will be pain free after all is said and done. She said- she has had patients come out as competitive skiiers, marathon runners, and more. There is an 18% chance that he has a gene that causes him to get rheumatoid arthritis from this, but all of the idiot doctors he saw before tested him for that and he never tested positive or anything...so we are pretty much ruling that out as a possibility...meaning we are already getting excited about things we want to do when this is over. Of course we are still hesitant just cause you know...what if? But the doc seems to have high confidence in him having a completely normal life back after this. Amazing.

I left my purse at the last gas station we stopped at which is a few hours away. When I realized I bawled my eyes out. We tried calling a bunch of gas stations with no luck (we hadn't been printing the receipts and it was a random gas station and we couldn't remember where it was at). It had my wallet- which included check book, debit card, credit card, it also had my zune, ipod, (to which clay said- WHY did you have those in there?!?! and I said...I dunno...) and my PLANNER- which basically keeps me sane. Sooooooo yeah. I have never done that in my life. I have never left anything anywhere or lost anything. Of course I had to do it then. We decided to say a prayer. After probably 20 more minutes I said we should just go to bed because we had to GIVE TALKS in church the next day...so we did. This morning the manager of the gas station called and said she found my purse and is sending it tomorrow morning. I felt Heavenly Father's love a lot right then.

We got to church and got the program and it said "Testimonies" sooo you know- I asked the bishop what was up and he was like.."oops- I must of messed up big time!" so we didn't have to give talks- which was really quite a blessing. We prepared them earlier this week, but we didn't have time to review them or organize them and we were both so stressed about them.

Basically- sometimes it feels like everything is coming down and you are stressed out of your mind and then all of a sudden it feels like Heavenly Father is blessing you left and right. We feel so blessed right now. Everything is going to be okay. This next year is probably going to be a tougher one, but I know we'll be fine.

I guess this wasn't so quick after all. But trust me- I left out a bazillion details so really, this was quick.

Could it be?

Mistake me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I may be slightly not depressed about winter coming...

It all started this morning when my co-worker brought pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to work. I ate one, and said, "Wow. It's officially fall now" and i kinda liked it.

Then I was watching a lil Gilmore Girls- and you know the scene where luke and christopher fight eachother? Well, they are fighting in the town square where there is a bunch of CHRISTMAS decor, and a christmas song even starts playing! Ohhhhhhhh dear. I love Christmas.

Then lil Gi Gi (Christopher's daughter-4 years old) came walkin outside with her ugg-like boots with tights and a skirt, and I just couldn't help thinking....ohhhhh how cute. I want to wear that.

And then I started thinking of hot chocolate. Homemade. And decided the first snow, I will make hot chocolate. Shall it be a tradition?

Hmmmmm. I dunno. My toesies are feeling quite chilly right now though, which I don't particularly LIKE. Oh well. You give and you take.

We are going to Seattle on Thursday. Basically a day away. We are pretty pumped. Don't expect much excitement to happen though- we haven't planned anything...we are just focusing on the doc appt and going from there. We don't want any extra anxieties.

So I hate this. I SERIOUSLY don't know what to do about my hair. It doesn't help that I watched Glee tonight and that I LOVE Rachel with blunt bangs. And it doesn't help that I'm watching the gorgeous Rory right now with blunt bangs. I have worked very hard to grow OUT my bangs...but now I'm just wondering...I hate this. I promised myself I'd not cut bangs till they were all grown out and I can see how I really like it. What to do what to do. Then the whole color issue. Clay suggested platinum blonde. He wasn't joking. I told him I'd look hideous. Why? HELLO BROWN EYEBROWS. He suggested dying them too. But I mean...a month later I'd have brown roots...no one likes that. We'll see. It's not like I have an appt set up or anything.

Aight. Till next time.

The only reason to look forward to winter time...

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Oh dear. This was so good. I even made the noodles homemade! DELISH! Sometime soon I'll put a sort of recipe on the chef blog...but for now, I need to do the dishes, and then go watch Pirates of the Carribean with the hubs. He just got the trilogy on blu-ray. We're pretty pumped about it. Have I told you yet? We are completely hooked on the blu-ray thing.

And soup isn't the ONLY reason to look forward to winter. There's hot chocolate too. And Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, all the holidays of course. Which come with holiday treats as well. I guess there is just one draining thing that makes me loath winter: snow.

Oh well...I told my sister Amy the other day I plan on embracing winter this year. We'll see how it goes. I'm not making any promises...!

Also, I plan on doing something to my hair sometime soon. I ALMOST did this when I was in Oregon, but then Megan was too tired (she was 8 months pregnant) (oh and also, I mean the COLOR not the cut- I'm continuing to grow my hair out):

Megan thought my hair is pretty similar but I dunno...I just don't feel like it is. Or I could do something like I did this time:

Or.....I could go darker again:

This retarded picture is probably the best idea of what my hair is like NOW....kinda bleh:

And I do plan on growing out my bangs still. So keep that in mind as WELL. Anyone have an opinion? I don't know why I'm asking...seems like everytime I ask people's opinions I do the opposite. But I guess I still just like to know!

Alright- I'm off to do the dishes. UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Ironing Board Cover Tutorial

Do you have anything in your life that makes your face do something like this?

Yeah...basically my face did that ALL THE TIME! Well...actually, it only did that when I ironed something and if I'm being honest...wouldn't make that very often :)

This was my ironing board.

PATHETIC! Do you SEE how none of the edges are secured around the board? How it is basically just some fabric and padding sitting atop the metal? With no fastening?

Everytime I put a skirt, or really much of ANYthing on there...the end would bunch up and it'd be a constant struggle. So I was finally like- HECK! I can fix this! What's the big deal?

Keep in mind this is SIMPLE to the T. I didn't really care about perfection cause it's one of those things that just needs to be functional. Not anything I'm selling or showing off.

First things first, take that nastiness OFF my board. I took out the string and kept it for the new cover, and also kept the padding that goes under the cover.

Then I measured the length and width of the board.

I decided to cut a piece that was at least 6 inches wider on EACH side...meaning 12 inches wider and 12 inches longer. I then laid it on my ironing board to get an idea what I was dealing with (they are kinda funky shaped).

I then cut around the entire thing to make it even.

After that I surged the entire perimeter of the piece so that no fraying would happen and just to make a cleaner result.
Keep in mind you don't HAVE to surge around it. This is just cleaner...if you don't have a surger you could zig-zag around the edges with your sewing machine, or just leave it! It's not like you're gonna see much action underneath your ironing board so it wouldn't fray for a long time.

After that I simply folded over once, about 1/2 inch, sewed around the entire thing and left an opening about an inch.

I then tied the string to the end of a safety pin, and led it through the opening and out the other end.

Then I simply put it on my board, pulled the string SUPER TIGHT, and tied it into a bow!

Walah!- a new ironing board that DOESN'T BUNCH, and looks much nicer in my opinion. I really wish I'd have done this about a zillion years ago when it started...

Note- I think the trick that made this so successful was the amount of excess fabric I allowed around the entire thing (6" past the edge of board) that way after I'd surged and created a "hem" or "pocket" for my string to go through, there was around 5 inches being pulled tight underneath. This doesn't leave much room to come off the board. My old cover was just BARELY hanging on. It had barely ANY excess fabric off of the board. So, when making yours...if you think that is WAY too much fabric- think again. This is exactly what makes it fastened so well! And yes, I've used my ironing board a bunch since I made this and it's AWESOME! I think I iron more often too:)

Cabin in West Yellowstone

Yeah yeah- I know I haven't posted in FOREVA! I just have been busy and stressed and never really had anything particular to blog about! WHALE----now I do!

So our awesome friends Brittany and Tyler invited us up for a quick spontaneous getaway to Tyler's dad's cousin's cabin...(i think!) with them, and Brooke & Domino. Brooke & Britt are twins, and Clay, Domino, and Tyler all work together...and we've been friends with Britt & Tyler for around 2 years or so....so we were pretty pumped!

The cabin is up by west yellowstone and full of nature so we were ALL FOR IT! We got there and OH my gosh the view was uhhhhhhhhhhhmazing. We were all oohing and ahhhhing for a while.

And the cabin was pretty saweet too!

Don't mind the dorkiness of Clayton and me:)

After we got all settled Brittany and Brooke made dinner for everyone and then we played some games...and then watched Date Night. I've gotta say, I was SEVERELY disappointed. I mean...it was barely funny and I just kinda thought I hated it at one point when it was SUPER GROSS and dirty. Yeah...I'm not recommending it to anyone. Anyway- then we watched some youtube videos...talked...basically a chill night.

That's Tyler, Brittany, and Brooke

The next day we didn't have any plans so we decided to hit up Quake Lake. The story behind this is CRAZY. So the short story is: there was this campground...a huge earthquake happened...caused the entire campground (with lots of people camping) to be buried...water rose and created this lake...the bones of those poor campers are still there! Under that lake!

That's Clara, Domino, and Brooke

It's crazy cause you can see all the dead trees still sticking up out of the water...it kinda just shows how that was a campground not long ago!

This pic- they are all looking at the spot that was the big landslide thing from the earthquake. All that fell ontop of the campers! Woops!

Then we went to this AWESOME place for lunch called Buffalo Bills? I think? Anyway- it looks kinda crazy from the outside and looks like you go buy your food and eat outside...then all of a sudden they lead you through this back drape and you are in this big room with a bunch of covered wagon tables! It was awesome! I was so pleased. The only downer was half the table's drinks tasted like soap! Wowsers. Also, Clay asked for a coke and she said sure and brought him a pepsi...eh. When he said he asked for a coke she said, well we don't have cokes. He was like...well, okay. Usually people tell you about that kind of thing. Oh wellllllll. We still tipped her the solid 15%.

The whole reason we went was for the ice cream- Clay said it's great. So we go and it says one scoop is 3.75...WHAT?! Hello? expensive. But we decide to go ahead with it cause that's what we came here for...well it turns out the scoops are like...4 scoops worth I swear. They were HUGE! And quite tasty!

Then we drove back to the cabin, did some last minute touchups of the place and went on home! It was such a quick little trip, but so nice. The view was amazing and it was good to just get away for a titch. Britt and Tyler- THANKS SO MUCH! We loved it.

Anyone been to Seattle?

So....I know we aren't going for like 3 weeks, BUT- I want to get prepared!

Clay and I haven't been to Seattle, so we don't really know anything cool. When I think of Seattle I think of Grey's Anatomy and the Space Needle....so here are my questions:

• Is the Space Needle cool? Why is it such a big deal...is it worth 16 bucks each to go there? I just don't get it...what's the point of it?
• Are there any saweet places to eat (that aren't OOBER expensive)? Please include breakfast, lunch and dinner options.
• Any cool attractions that I need to know about?
• Any specific hotel I need to STAY FAR AWAY FROM?!?! I don't really want to stay in some creepy place...

So...yeah! Just give us the DL the inns the outs...basically ANYTHING you have to tell me about Seattle. That way we can have the best trip ever!