Fun Update!

First of all, Caleb and I celebrated our One Year Anniversary on Monday. It has been the most wonderful year, and I am loving every second of married life. It's amazing to see how we have grown in our relationship in just one short year, but also how much has happened. We are Coloradoans and homeowners! Woohoo! God is so good, and we feel truly blessed! And we are so thankful for all of the prayers and support from our family and friends!

A couple weeks ago we went for a day hike. The trail head was only 10 miles from our house, which is so awesome. The weather was awesome at our house, so we wore shorts to get a little color on our legs. :) Unfortunately a storm was blowing in when we got the the trail head, so we hiked in super strong wind and cloudy conditions...just a little bit chilly. :) The hike was breathtaking, all uphill, and pretty technical at some points. But what an awesome escape from cell phones, work, and chaos!

And last weekend Caleb and I did yard work all weekend! So much fun! We had two overgrown bushes that were insane! Seriously, each spread about 10 ft outward and 7 ft towards the street. So we just started trimming towards the base of the bush. The first one ended up looking like a bonsai tree, but we thought it wasn't too bad. The second ended up being a chunk of branches without leaves. Two ladies walked by and while looking at our yard whispered to each other "that's interesting." Ha! Because the bushes looked horrible, we ended up pulling out the whole things, stump and all. Oh yeah, we also have the only rock yard on the block. The previous owners wanted a low-maintenance yard, so it's all rock. :) So now we have a solid rock yard and no bushes. :) But this is only Phase I. Phase II is pulling out the gravel, adding fresh dirt and sod, and then of course new shrubs and flowers! :)

And this weekend, my fantastic parents are coming to visit! This will be the first family we have to Grand Junction! We plan on touring around Grand Junction and then using some of their handy-man skills for a few home improvement projects. Monday, we are going to Moab, UT to hike around Arches National Park. Can't wait! Pictures to follow for sure!

The Box Spring Story

When Caleb and I bought this house, we never thought about furniture fitting (or not fitting) upstairs in our master bedroom. When the movers tried taking our queen mattress upstairs, we realized our stairs are abnormally steep and narrow. The mattress barely made it upstairs, but it took quite a bit of bending, smushing, forcing, etc. However, there was no way our box spring would make it. The movers explained this bizarre story about people cutting their box spring in half, folding it to fit through the stairway, and then re-bracing it once in the room. They also said we could buy split queen box springs similar to using two twins for a king bed.

So Caleb and I first priced out the split queen box springs and realized it would cost around $300. I don't think so. We figured what have we got to lose by cutting and folding the box spring? If it breaks, we buy the split queens. If we don't try it, we are still buying the split queens. But - if it works, then that's $300 we don't have to spend. :)So Caleb carefully pulled out the staples to remove the material and then cut the box spring on the wooden side. We realized that with the wooden slats cut, the metal wires were bending pretty easily. So we stood the box spring in the stairway and bent it about 20°......still wasn't going to fit. Bummer.

Caleb and I spent the next couple weeks in the guest room in a full size bed next to a window with a horrible draft. Then we decided to revisit the sad box spring that was taking over our office. But this time we were going to fold it completely in half and tie it with a jump rope to keep it together. Believe it or now, it actually worked! And once we got it upstairs, the box spring unfolded easily and looked like new! Caleb just re-braced the wood along the cuts and stapled the material back. :)

get excited :)

Well we finally got our Internet hooked up.....and.....we have wireless. So awesome! I was on the phone with a Filipino for over an hour, but it was by far the best technical support phone experience ever. First, I could actually understand him. Second, we chatted all about the weather (30s here, 90s there), time difference (he was 15 hours ahead of us), and things we like to do. We both enjoy hiking and how it allows us to escape the day-to-day craziness. He is planning on studying abroad in the US but waiting to see how our economy plays out first. :)

So now that we have Internet, I will be posting fantastic pictures of our folded-in-half box spring and also of our day hike this past weekend. Get excited!