I LOVE Having a Husband!!

Perhaps being single for so long has given me the ability to truly appreciate having a husband. Well, I hope it has. I love my hubby so much, for so many reasons. But as a girl who stayed single for 10 to 15 years longer than most, it's sooo nice to have Bryan around to take care of the car, drive places when I'm tired, get me medicine or 7up when I'm sick, and of course, make repairs around the house...which brings me to my first big adventure. This past weekend we were in Salt Lake to winterize the house. We made a list of what needed to be done and tried to prioritize since Bryan needed to be back in Mesa for work on Wednesday morning, so we only had a couple of days to get things done. When we arrived Thursday night I went down to the basement to get something and noticed a puddle of water around the water heater. There has never been water down there, so I was a bit concerned and asked Bryan to check it out. The bottom of the water heater had rusted out and had started to leak...we were so glad that it happened while we were there!

We spent the weekend working on these projects...I did a few things around the house while Bryan replaced the waterheater. I was so proud of him for just jumping in and working on it. It ended up being a much bigger project since much of the plumbing in our house is really old and making the switch also meant replacing several other valves and other corroded pieces of the ancient plumbing. After a couple days without hot water, more trips to Lowe's than we'd like to think about, and Bryan's acquisition of several new tools, in the end everything was fixed and working great. While Bryan was working on "operation hot water" I worked on getting the yard ready for winter, which meant covering my wicker set on the front porch with lawn and yard bags...a bit white "trash" if you'll pardon the pun, but I didn't want to spend the money on covers right now. So these are my latest slipcover project. I also winterized the swamp cooler and organized the house a little bit more.

In case you're worried that we didn't have any fun, never fear, the weekend wasn't all work! Bryan's uncle Larry gave us an ice cream maker for a wedding gift, along with the family recipe for homemade ice cream, so of course we had to try it out. My friend Kristen and her kids came to hang out with us and we all enjoyed a little frozen treat. The dogs tried to lay low most of the weekend, but they are working their way into Bryan's heart. One night we watched a movie and Quincy curled up on the couch next to Bryan and rested his chin on Bryan's shoulder. They love Bryan, and he is enjoying them, and I'm glad. We have a few more things to do before the dead of winter, so we'll head back up soon, but it was a really productive weekend!