Horton Family Reunion

 Our first stop in Utah was to visit some of Andrew’s old friends from North Carolina who have moved to Utah known as the Littles.  Their daughter was having a baby blessing so most of the family was there.  Andrew had a blast talking with them and telling how life has been since his mission and learning what has been going on in their lives.  They were a fun quirky family and I loved being there with them.   We ended up getting invited to go shooting with the men folk.  Andrew and I shot off some pistols.  We were even shown how to load and put the safeties on.  One of them brought an AR 10, which is super huge you can feel the air come out of it, which they finagled use into shooting.  They told Andrew that I looked like I knew what I was doing.  Andrew was a little afraid.  Tee hee!

After saying good bye to everyone we headed to Park City to unload and unwind.  Grandma and Grandpa eventually got back from their family reunion in Wayne County.  We all chatted and talked about what has been going on and our plans for this week.   Then Andrew and I headed for bed for some much needed rest!

Sunday we went to church over in Snyderville ward with the Grandparents.  I love going to church with them.  Grandpa always says he needs me and Grandma to make him look good.  I think we do a good job at that.  When we got back Andrew and I took a 3 hour nap after our delicious meal prepared by Grandma and Grandpa.  We were super tired!  

Monday we just needed a little more rest so we slept in and headed for lunch with the Horton’s at Bridal Veil Falls.  There we met up with Uncle Steve, Aunt Cali, Katie, Granger, Natalie and her family, and Uncle Tom and his family.   Grandma Horton was also in attendance and spoke with Andrew and Uncle Tom about sports and how to improve the world.  I was bored pretty fast and joined all the other family at the falls.  Good times.

Granger is climbing the falls.

Later that night we went to Desert Star to watch Adam’s Family Home Evening.  It is a dinner style theatre entertainment.  There was dancing, signing, and jokes featuring a spoof on the Adam’s Family television show and FHE.

Tuesday morning we had pictures in a park.  We Hortons are some good looking people, very photogenic.  Then it was off to ride roller coasters.  Andrew and I stayed away from some of the more jostling kind.  But we had a blast and got to go on rides and wait in lines with our cousins.  Fun times had by all!  When Andrew and I felt done we headed back to base to eat and hang with the family.  Andrew took a nap and I got to talk with Grandma and Aunts and Uncles that came and went.  

 We got back home at a decent hour and even had time to talk with Grandma and Grandpa before we headed for bed.  We decided that we would be able to stay a little longer so we took our time leaving Park City the next day.  We even stopped by Uncle Tom’s to pick up Andrew’s phone, which I left in Grandma’s purse by accident, and some other things.  

Everyone is thinking, "My neck hurts!"

We had an awesome time and I was really glad we got to go.  

Happy Birthday to me!!

My birthday was really a week long celebration.  My birthday lunch we had on Monday at Chilies, which we figured we ate too much or got food poisoning because we seriously felt ill afterwards.  A nap help cure that up.  We went shopping on Thursday and I got two new seasons of Gilmore Girls!!!  Then on Friday I fixed ultimate birthday breakfast which was waffles, sausage and BACON!!  My first meal got milk spilt on it so I ended being very upset with having to fix another one.  MEH!  The rest of my actual birthday I watched Gilmore Girls and backed up my computer.  Andrew came home early to fix my cake, which tastes amazing!!!

He fixed me Yellow-Velvet Cake, we found the recipe online.  We called it Yellow-Uranium Cake because I had started this joke when Andrew was talking with a friend about uranium cake, the kind you don’t want to eat, and I pointed out, “Why have cake at the end, it just makes it sound like a delicacy.”  So we decided after a bit of fun that I should have yellow-uranium cake and that it will glow too, hence the glow sticks. 

I also was able to open my presents on my birthday.  I got wonderful cards from my grandparents, which I love reading and like the money too.  James and Liz got me a license plate cover with something about Dr. Who and a Tardis, which is the machine he uses to travel with.  To be honest I’ve only seen a couple episodes of Dr. Who, which I enjoyed immensely, Andrew had to explain what the Tardis was.  Andrew also got me a present he bought at Valley Wide.  I’m wearing it in the picture below.  

My final day of celebration was Sunday where we got to have our friends, Jordan and Sunshine Anderson.  We watched some anime I have, ate pizza and cake, and played Kapaga (a new card game we found online).  All in all, a good birthday week!

How to Paint with Watercolor like a Pro!

Since joining Pinterest I saw that Mom liked some art that could be done by any body.  So I put a step by step video of how to create a piece like what I saw.  It is kind of long so I will write down the steps I have below:

• Step 1: Supplies should be watercolor paper, watercolor paint, masquing fluid, nice paint brushes and one bad one, pencil, masking/painters tape, transfer paper, and a print of what you might like to paint.
• Step 2: Transfer the image on the paper
• Step 3: Use the masquing fluid to cover area you want white
• Step4: Once the fluid is dry paint background, might repeat step 4
• Step 5: Remove masquing fluid
• Step 6: Add depth to the picture

Good Luck!  And sorry about the camera angles I was by myself and wasn't really watching the computer to make sure what I was doing.

Home Make Over

I have finally hung up most of the pictures we will have in our home and painted the walls, not in that order.  Some of the spaces I'm in the middle of designing pictures for so when they are done I will take pictures and share.

I realize that I talked a bunch but i actually had a voice this time so oh well, you get to see what our new home looks like all done up.

The video is in three clips because the camera kept stopping the feed.  So you get three exciting recordings of my home.  Woot!

Another work of art brought to you by... us!

We did it again!

This time Andrew made a poem for me a couple of Christmases ago and I found it while I was packing up our stuff for the move.  It was such a nice poem that I decided to paint a picture and write it into the picture.  This way I can frame it somewhere in our home!

The poem reads:

Where is a warrior without his wife

The lone, cold nights

Should not highlight his life

For without food and shelter

On the wide open plains

Unprotected by elements and weather

For she is longing

For him to return

To be in the safety of their lodging

His mission is provided

In the woeful days

Where little daylight is delighted

But to be together

Is all he wants

Despite the what others think is better

Soon not to be parted

The wife and the warrior

Will be where they started

At long times last

Undone by miles of expanse

Their lives together en masse.

Doesn't that just make you go awwwww!  I love it!  

With our powers combined...

Greetings fellow blogglings!

With my [Andrew's] new position at Riverbend Communications I found myself experiencing something I'd never had the privilege of partaking of: someone turning in their two-week notice.

It took me by surprise. The gentleman who did so, that same night, gave me a Bone graphic novel (it's a series that is simple, family friendly, and has a great story line) after our conversation on comic books and stories we enjoyed to read.

In turn I decided to do something for him. He enjoys the Superman series, and also Supergirl, so I decided to break out the ole pen and paper and doodle him up a picture. I enlisted my lovely wife, who is a talented painter in her own right, and we made visual magic happen.

Story behind the picture.

I decided to do a "What if..." with this picture. What if the Superman from the 1940s was the father of the Superman of today. If you remember from the most recent Superman movie, Supes and Lois Lane have a son together which is later revealed to the Man of Steel after his long absence. Here we have the older Superman (Cal-El) laying his son down in his final resting spot in some unnamed sepulcher and weeping over  his loss.

I hope you enjoy the picture. We both spent a lot of time and effort on it and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it.

Andrew and AnnMarie

The Penciled version

The Finished Version

Moved into new Home!

So lots of things have been happening this week! Monday I had help move into our new place. It took about 3 hours moving stuff into the truck and an hour and a half to move it into our new place. The discrepancy is that we lived on the third floor and now live on the ground floor. Never living on the third floor again!!!!! Too many bruises and scraps!

I am now suffering from loss of voice because of all the dust aggravating my allergies. I am learning how to speak with my computer that way if I get a call or need to talk I can without further damage. This will be fun!

Below I have a recording of me walking through our new place. We have a back yard, two bathrooms, three bedrooms and a walk-in closet! I would have talked during it but once again, no voice.