The Nielson Family: 6/1/09

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

We've moved to the love shack!!

So we forgot to post that we have moved. We probably forgot because we've got something else on our minds. It wasn’t a big move (is big the right word?), we just moved across the street -- well like 3 blocks north.

We moved so we could save money and so Bella could have a yard and be an outside dog. Well she doesn't stay in the nice completely fenced in backyard she has, she simply jumps over the 4 1/2 foot fence.

But at least we are saving some money, if we can just look past the bugs, the ivy growing through the wall in the kitchen, and the plain oddness of the place. (And I swear something lives in the rafters of the house because when I'm home by myself I can hear stuff (like something walking around) and for a long time I told myself it's just the tree hinting the top of the house until I realized the tree doesn't come close the roof of the house.) It will be an OK place to live for a bit.

Also by moving to this place got me a brand new washing machine. The duplex it had a washer and dryer included, so when we moved out we had to use our very old set that we were given out of Michael’s uncle’s shed. Well, the old set worked a year ago in Cedar City, but when Michael tried to set them up here at the new place the washer wouldn't work, so he tried to fix and find the problem. He took the whole thing apart, and once he found what was inside he was done fixing it. He was so disgusted that he sort of put it back together and declared it unfixable. Which is fine, because the washer was like 30 years old. So, like I said, I love my new washer that's in my bathroom, even though the dryer is in the garage – yeah, I know: weird.

It's not a very big house. It has two bedrooms, with a bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room with a wood burning stove (which I'm not too sure about, but Michael is excited about – I guess it will save us money). As my mom puts it: “Oh. Fun! You’re going to live like a pioneer.” There is also the garage/ Bella's room/ office/ storage room/ the rest of the laundry room. When you live in a place like this, it gives your husband plenty of opportunities to “fix” things.

Some other odd/maybe cool things about our new place:
1. It has really high ceiling. (Michael is happy about that because now he can hang is deer head up. I'm excited for the really tall Christmas tree we can get.)

2. This used to be a auto shop, hence the really tall ceiling.

3. I feel like I live in a fish bowl because we live in the middle of the block, our property touches 8 other backyards; we can see 10. No running around naked.

4. There is only water in a 4 foot radius, which is why the washer is in the bathroom.

5. I almost forgot the title: the Love Shack! We had to move to a different ward, and when I was introducing myself the question “Where do you live?” always comes up. I'm explaining and one of the ladies says: “They live in the love shack.” What? Apparently the man who owns the house rented it to most of his kids for their first year or so of marriage. Hence, it has been dubbed the Love Shack. Kind of like my grandpa's apartments. So we live in the Love Shack!!
Oh, the joys of living frugal!

Pictures to come, I have to clean my house first and it hasn't been easy!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

36 weeks and still doing good!

So I finally got to go to the doctor today. Let's just say, it's been kind of wild down here in Blanding . It's been more then a month since my last appointment and I was supposed the be seeing the doctor ever two weeks. Now I'm down to every week.

Anyway, about today: yeah for Strep B test (not) ! As of today, I'm 25 % effaced and 1 cm dilated. I guess that's good. And baby's head is down, but just facing the wrong way as of right now. The problem with that is I get these cute little knees jabbing me in the front and side. Also, since his head is down, I have a lot more pressure which means I feel like I need to pee every 10 minutes, and if I don't go that sec I might pee my pants. And then I barely get an ounce. The joys of carrying a child! But I haven't gained weight for the last two weeks, which is good; I hope it continues.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Hovenweep

Last Saturday, we took advantage of free admission and visited Hovenweep. Christina's first pick was Arches to see Delicate Arch, but I thought the long walk in the heat would be a little too much for Mrs. Nine Months Pregnant. We compromised and went to Hovenweep and ended up walking more than three miles, the estimated round trip hike to Delicate Arch. Oh, well. Hovenweep allowed dogs, so Bella made the journey with us.

It was an interesting time to visit the home of some of Utah's most famous Indian ruins, and we were actually quite careful not to tell anyone we were from Blanding. It seems all citizens of Blanding have been lumped into one group: Disrespectful callous grave diggers who enjoy weekly games of dodge the Indian skull and pay for our oversized Dodge truck with proceeds from our artifact sales. Fun to be stereotyped, huh?

This was actually my first trip to Hovenweep. They claim San Juan County has somewhere around 100,000 Indian ruins (it's a big county). I've been to a lot... maybe 100, but no where near 100,000. And, in all the ruins I've visited, I never taken more than photographs. In fact, I haven't even collected an arrowhead, despite hundreds of hours in the hills, hunting, camping, hiking or just being there. In fact, being outdoors, and occasionally finding a ruin I didn't know was there, or visiting one I'm fond of may be one of my favorite parts of living in Blanding.

Still, in honor of our local week of fame, I included some of the photos I've taken at some ruins through the last year or so, in addition to the pictures from Hovenweep last weekend.

The top photo is an experiment I did to create a panorama from some pictures I took at Hovenweep. The ruins are from the Square Tower Complex in Hovenweep, with the Sleeping Ute mountain range visible in the background.

Square Tower complex in Hovenweep

Horseshoe Complex in Hovenweep

Holly Complex in Hovenweep

Holly Complex again.

And Holly, again.

As an interesting side note, the Hovenweep ruins were all built on the surface, specifically right on the edge of cliffs. Notice the doors come out on the cliff side, not the surface side. There are also ruins on the surface, not near cliffs, and ruins built into the cliff face (the last pictures here are a good example. I don't know if there is a correlation, meaning they started on flat ground, moved to the cliff edge and finally moved into the cliffs (or vice versa). Most of the ruins I have visited have been those built into cliff walls, suggested the peoples that built them were scared and built into the cliffs to help defend themselves. Why? I don't know. I'm not sure any one does.

Non-Hovenweep ruins in San Juan County

Friday, June 5, 2009

Bella's Birthday!

Well, Bella has survived her first year. She turned 1 on June 4. I love to say we "celebrated" her birthday, but the truth is I'm sure she had no idea. And, even if she did, I'm sure that she wouldn't care. My solace is this: I think her ideal birthday would include several hours of fetch time -- and we actually got in somewhere around two hours worth of "chase play." Fortunately, my parents have some young (about six years old) neighbors who get the biggest kick out of throwing the ball for her.

As Christina has been out of town, we may have a "party" for Bella when she gets back... maybe. But for now, we are commemorating her birthday with a couple of our favorite photos of our good-for-nothing mongrel dog.