Home "Improvements": Fixing a Leak or Making it Worse?

Aaron and I were told that we just had one layer of shingles on our roof. That was perfect, because it would make putting on a new layer so much easier.
The plan was:
Thursday Night- Prep the roof for laying out shingles. Meaning, we were going to rip off the ridge shingles really fast and lay down tar paper.
Friday- Start putting shingles up
Saturday- Finish the roof, happy day.

This is what happened.
Thursday night we climbed on the roof.

We started ripping off ridge shingles.

This picture makes it look like Aaron tore off all of those, but I want it to be remembered that it was ME! Anyway, Aaron is taking a look at something that makes him sound anger. I don't know what it is that is making him so angry. So he showed me.

I don't know if you are an expert on shingles but Aaron tells me that this is 4 layers of shingles. And for those of you who don't know, the max in Utah is 3.
So....we have to rip it all out.

Friday: Aaron and his crew of Clarise and myself get to work. We were so beyond slow. We did manage to clear an entire side of the house of everything. And we were the cutest crew that Aaron has ever had. Take a look at that hot action!

Our sweet neighbor Lou (If you have stalked me for any length of time, you know our biggest problem with neighbors is that they are too nice...Lou is a constant culprit) felt bad that he couldn't help us out, since he is 88 and we don't want him anywhere near a ladder, so he brought us cold apples to eat. That hit the spot since it was warm and taking so long and it was becoming clear that we wouldn't get this project done in weeks at the rate we were moving. I mean, I was so busy that I couldn't take pictures and not getting a picture of Clarise on the roof is one of my life's greatest regrets. Aaron was taking a break and asked me if he could get us anything and I said, "Go and call people. Call our home teacher. Call our friends. Go call anyone to come up here." He doesn't like asking for help but I thought that it was...very very necessary.

Aaron called three people and the two people who were in our ward were on our roof in a matter of hours...on a Friday night.

{B} wins the award for putting the biggest dent in our work load...and our roof.

He felt so bad. Or...our tiny leak went from being a minor inconvenience in our attic to...this.

While we were on our roof, we ran into our neighbor {N} and he offered to come over the next day to help out. When we went to bed Friday night we were feeling pretty good about where we were at. We had a little more than 2/3 ripped off which was so much further than we could have gotten with just Aaron, Clarise, and I. We spent a little time trying to clean up our yard so that the front door wasn't covered in debris.

Saturday:

Aaron got up at 6:30am so that he could be on the roof working at 7am. He tried to only do quiet jobs while Clarise and I slept. {N} showed up as promised at 8am and they set to work right away. Aaron came into our bedroom and said, "We are going to be working above this room...so...it might be noisy." Okay...yeah...I guess I can deal with that. At 9am I got up because I couldn't really sleep. And I was up on the roof with Clarise following close behind.

I worked on ripping out nails or pounding them in. That sounds like a stupid job but I have to make the wood go from looking like the side on the right to the side on the left. When we lay down tar paper, we don't want any random nails ripping through the paper.
{N} was working on taking out the remaining 1/3 of the old shingles and Clarise followed behind him with a broom to clear the path for him to keep stabbing with the pitch fork. Aaron ran around doing any task that was extra like, cutting wood to patch up the hole or taking the metal off the edges or putting it back on when an area was clean.

When the back of the house was too hot to stay there any longer, we moved to the front to all work on the nails. That was fun just sitting and talking while we worked.

Aaron let me hammer a piece of wood into place. The worst boards got replaced and I was so happy when Aaron let me put it up. That is how good I was getting with the hammer.

At 11:30 we all climbed off of the roof for lunch. Aaron and I took Clarise to lunch and dessert at David's and it was great to shove food into our faces and eat custard and Italian ice.

We got back at 2 and {N} was back on the roof...that guy can not stop being nice. We've caught him mowing our lawn and shoving snow out of our driveway on many occasions. The boys worked at clearing off the nails and getting ready to finally lay down some tar paper. When I left to go to work at 4, they were already laying down a layer of shingles on the driveway side of the house.

While I was away, {B} came back over to help out. This time he didn't go through our crappy roof, thank goodness. It was so nice of him to share his two weekend nights stuck on our roof helping us out.

By the time I got home at 8, {N} was finally in his own home and Aaron was trying to fix up the debris that was covering everything on the ground. They got the garage side looking like this

and they got a row of starter shingles down

and they rolled out a good amount of tar paper on the front.

The weather report said that there was a slight chance of rain and all of our tarps were on the ground catching debris. We prayed and I told Heavenly Father that if it didn't rain tonight that we wouldn't work on the Sabbath but if it did, we would have to break the Sabbath and we didn't want to.

And sometimes the answer to your prayer is to break the Sabbath.

Sunday Family Hike

Yesterday after church, I asked Aaron if he wanted to go on a walk with the dogs. He said he would think about it. A couple minutes later he came in the room and asked, "How do you feel about upgrading that walk to a little hike?" I thought that that sounded like an excellent way to relax and have fun with my little family.

It is so great that in Utah, you are always about 15 minutes away from a hiking trail. We are 5 minutes into this trail and look....the road. Don't worry, this is when the road and us part ways.

Pippen was really brave on this trip. Normally he is terrified of water but on this hike, he kept trying to run around in the river.
You might recognize this bridge from our first scout hike. We decided to go a little further passed this bridge to explore a little more. We decided to stop for some pictures while we were out. Nothing like happy family pictures with puppies.


The pups always have a good time keeping their little noses busy with tons of stuff to explore. We kept them on leashes most of the time since there were so many different people around.

Fun was had by all and we loved following Aaron anywhere he wanted to go. He is a good leader.

We were gone for 2 hours and I'm glad that we upgraded our "walk" to a "hike" but boy are my dogs tired! :) (MOM!!!! GO TELL DAD ABOUT THAT JOKE! I think he would like it.)

Paleo Diet: End of Week Two

The diet stage that I'm at right now lets me decide how many times I want to cheat and eat something that isn't Paleo. I thought it might be fun to tell you which things I cheated and totally snarfed down. Plus, it helps as a food journal. I'm on my hormone meds and they make me want to eat like crazy (But the other meds that I will take in a couple weeks make me feel sick so it evens out).

1) Cheesecake on Tuesday with Aaron when we were on a date

2) 4 Fun Size candy bars from a friend as a "thinking of you" present

3) A "real fruit" smoothie from McDonalds (we were in a hurry and had to grab something quick...I knew it would tide me over till I could get to my salad...which had cheese....arggg...)

4) One chocolate chip cookie at a friend's "after sealing" party (That's right! Only one!)

5) Tomato Soup with cheese and Fritoes (This was to get rid of some food without wasting it. I don't plan on cheating on my diet that much in the future. I mean, Fritoes?)

Things That Have Changed in the Last Week:

*I could only eat about 4 bites of the cheesecake before it was just too much sugar for me. That hasn't happened in 4 years (I was a lot healthier in Thailand).

*The day after the cheesecake, I had a mini break out. I still don't know whether my skin clearing up is a fluke or not, but this is pretty good evidence that the acne has something to do with my diet.

*I've started exercising more and going on walks with the dogs more. I'm loving running around with them. Aaron and I even went on a two hour hike together(It probably wouldn't have been so long if I hadn't insisted on stopping so much for pictures).
*My weight has stayed the same. I was in a more maintenance mode this week instead of a progress mode.

*I went out to eat with Aaron and managed to still eat Paleo! But I sounded like one of those people, "Can I have extra vegetables instead of the rice side? Can you not put too much salt on it?" I hate those people...and now I am that person.

*Aaron made cinnamon rolls on Sunday from the tube and I wasn't even tempted. I enjoyed the way it made the house smell but the thought of all of that sugar icing on top made me sick. I ate an apple.

New Foods:

*Spaghetti Squash - I'm not done experimenting with it. So far...it is edible but not...amazing in my mouth. There is SO MUCH in a spaghetti squash. I thought that it was just a little of it at the very center but No. The whole thing is spaghetti like strings.

*Halibut- Maybe my mother has made it for me at some point but I've never dealt with it. It was a sweeter tender fish and I quite liked it.

*Plum- I've had plums before....but this one was of note. It was AMAZING! I hadn't had a plum in awhile and this one was so juicy and so sweet. Love all the fruit I get to eat!

Forever Family

Today, Aaron and I got to go to a sealing of some of our friends. Usually a sealing is done at a temple wedding, but this couple didn't have the option of a temple wedding at the time. Today they got to go into the temple today as a couple married "until death do you part" and they walked out as a couple married for "time and all eternity".

I'm so happy for them! :)

It was really great to be there with my eternal companion and to share this wonderful day with my friends.

Recipe: Breakfast Banana Mash

That sounds like such a good recipe right? I know you are all dying to find out what I'm talking about!

Paleo Breakfast are basically restyling what you had for dinner the night before. (Side Note: There was this huge turkey breast in the fridge that I ate off of for 3 days...I kid you not. This thing was huge and delicious.)

It is a cultural thing that you don't eat cold turkey and salad for breakfast.

Think of your favorite breakfast.

Does it include tons of fatty meat? Bacon? Sausage?

Does it include a huge carbo load? Pancakes? French toast? Funnel Cakes?

Does it include tons of sugar? Kid cereal? Syrup? Jams?

How much dairy? Milk? Yogurt? Cheese?

Why do we do this? Are we getting ready for war? It is the most important meal of the day and I guess it must have made sense to someone to start the day off with food that takes all day to burn. But we don't need that much in our stomach all day because we also have lunch and dinner. I love those breakfast though. Crepes with Nutella smeared on top....mmmm....

Most everything that I love about breakfast is gone when I'm on this diet. Eggs and fruit are what's left for me.

Man this is a bummer. I totally revamp leftovers but...sometimes it is a bit of a morale killer.

Tonight I made something that I know I'm going to love for breakfast!

Do you ever get in this mood where you are hungry but not for anything hard on your stomach? I usually grab cereal. I don't know what made me do this but this is what I made.

Banana Mash:

1-2 banana (I don't know how hungry you are...I used one)

crushed almonds

almond milk

blueberries

I grabbed a banana and put it in a cereal bowl. I poured the almond milk on it. Just enough to make it liquidy and I mashed it all together. Then I threw the crushed almonds on top and put blueberries on it to add a little more to it (since we all know that blueberries are a super fruit).

It hit the spot just like a bowl of cereal. This would go great with an egg on the side or a spinach omelet. Also, I think tomorrow, I will try topping this with some cinnamon as well and maybe some chopped up apples since we need to eat those!

Happy eating!!

P.S. Since two people seemed to enjoy these food posts...I think that I might keep them coming since they make me feel like I have something going on in my life right now.

Recipe: Paleo Mint Ice Cream

People are going to start thinking that my diet is made up of ice cream if I keep posting these. I swear that most days I'm eating tons of fruits and veggies (For lunch I had a salad of spinach, tomatoes, and left over turkey and it was amazing).

Most foods that I make for dinner and lunch are boring so I don't share.

Anyway, I couldn't find a recipe online for mint ice cream that was paleo...or one that didn't include fresh mint plants so I winged it.

I made ice cream last time to celebrate going a week on my diet. This patch is because Aaron doesn't like chocolate banana ice cream apparently. He wanted to try one with mint out (with no chocolate chunks because I guess he doesn't like those either) so I made it for him. The first thing he said when he tasted this one was, "Wow. That is way too much mint. I feel like I just brushed my teeth." So he has moved himself into the make it yourself zone.

The Recipe:

It is pretty much the same as before as far as base ingredients go.

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup almond milk

mint extract

honey

vanilla

almonds

Mix it all into a bowl to taste. Apparently I put too much mint in. I like the amount that it is...but yeah...do what makes your taste buds happy. Honey is to sweeten it up a bit. Same with the vanilla. I hear the vanilla tames the taste of the mint a little but I don't know. Put it into the ice cream maker and let it do its thing for 30 minutes. Take it out and put it in the freezer to harden it up a bit.

(I added food coloring...if you couldn't tell.)

Enjoy!

P.S. Let me know if you don't care about my diet and my recipes. :) My goal is to kind of be a support to other people who are on weird diets.

Cub Scouts: Knots

Today we worked on knots. I hear that this is the best parts of scouts (sarcasm...I hear it is awful). To make it fun, we made the kids build a tent.

First Aaron had them practice 3 different knots.

The Square Knot:

(I know...I'm AMAZING at knots.)

Taut-line Hitch:

And the Two Half Hitches:

Yup, all of those were tied by me...because I'm amazing. Also, I think we taught the boys as well.

Once we got done, we forced the boys to build us a dining fly.

Aaron might have helped them a little. And now Aaron and I have somewhere to live if the economy gets any worse.