Does it ever stop

Working as an apartment manager means never ending work!  Today Clark and I went into the Social Center (basically a basement apartment that they made into a place to hang out with a TV, computers, and exercise equipment.  The Old's like to play games down there and use the computers for surfing the Internet).... Anyway we walk in and we see about 6 little brown poop spots!!  Someone brought their stupid dog into the Social Center and let it leave little droppings behind.  The person picked up the poop but left the stains that were in the carpet.  I was gagging!  So I went to buy some carpet cleaner, put on some gloves and started cleaning.  I was very very annoyed and it put me in a bad mood.  I wrote a note saying that if this happens again, dogs are not allowed in the Social Center.  I also wrote that I do not like cleaning it up and that it is disgusting to have poop on the carpet!  I'm brave when I can right my anger in a note and tape it to the door!  
After this incident Clark said we should just pack up our stuff and move out.  I told him I don't really want to be homeless.  So I started to look up apartments and I found a few complexes that are geared toward low income families so you pay rent based on your income!  We might be able to afford to move out after all.  Also next Monday I'm applying for a job with Logan City Schools being a teaching assistant type person.  Let's all pray that I get the job!  I refuse to clean up anymore dog poop in the carpets.  

AND, our pool house is falling down.... basically the building that encloses the pool is falling apart on one side.  Clark and I have noticed the "bulge" since we moved in and we told Sonya that it isn't a matter of "if" it's a matter of "when" that building is going to collapse.  The building has a nice Deck on top for people to hang out on.  However snow and water just sit up there for 5+ months each year and the inside of the building is very humid because of the pool.  So it has major water damage and the wood is rotting.  They decided to finally do something about it and it turns out they are going to need a whole new roof.  Something Clark has been saying for years.  The bad part is WE have to clear off the whole sun deck.... there are a million blue chairs up there that I hate (they are the dumbest chairs ever) plus two shade awnings, an umbrella, two wooden tables, a glass table and four chairs, and a swinging bench.  I don't know where we are going to put everything.  At least WE don't have to fix the building.  They are hiring professionals for that (my step brother Matt being one of them).  The bad thing is we may have to close the pool during this process.  The "Olds" won't be happy because they do water aerobics every morning, and the Student's won't be happy cause they flirt with each other in the hot tub every night.  This is not going to be good.  Well it will be good because we can use the Sun Deck without fear of it collapsing and we can use the pool without fear of the building falling in on us.  But I will be the one dealing with the angry tenants.  Hurry someone switch places with me!    

Can you spot the "bulge"

All the stuff we have to remove from the Sun Deck

I don't have a picture of the Dog Poop but I'm sure everyone will appreciate that!  

3 Years and 1 Day

We celebrated our 3rd Anniversary yesterday, July 14th.  Three years has flown by and it keeps getting better!  Clark actually played in a soccer tournament this past weekend with his friend Kenny's team.  They played in Park City so we decided to get a hotel and just stay the weekend and celebrate our Anniversary and play/watch soccer.  I found a good deal on Expedia for the hotels at Park City Mountain Resort.  It was called The Lodge something or other (I can't remember the name).  It was funny because I wasn't sure what the room would look like but it did say it had a queen bed as well as a couch. We walk into our room and all we see is a kitchen/living room with a couch and some chairs and a bathroom.... where the heck is the bed!  Then we realized it had a Murphy bed that came out of the wall.  It was actually nice because it had a small kitchen and when we watched TV we actually had chairs and couch to sit on instead of just a bed.  

Our room was the lower balcony on the left

So I am horrible at taking pictures at soccer games... Clark had an assist to Kenny who scored right after this and I didn't get the picture.  You can see that Clark is #9 and he totally body checked #10 who is down on the ground and Kenny is the one on the far left making a run for the goal.  It was sweet to bad I didn't get a picture.  And it turns out that #10 is Matt Wooly, a kid that dated Clark's sister Natalie back in the day and Clark always thought he was way cool and awesome at soccer!  He's not so awesome now is he, ha ha!

  

Saturday night we decided to go bowling.  What else is there to do in Park City on a Saturday night for a Mormon married couple!

We were able to watch the Germany vs Uruguay game on Saturday and the World Cup Final Spain vs Netherlands on Sunday.  Clark was in soccer heaven.  We came home Monday but made a stop in Layton for some Noodles & Co. my favorite place to eat!  We really need one in Logan.

On our real anniversary (Wednesday) we went out to eat at Elements here in Logan.  We had never been there before and we were very pleased with the food.  I've heard good and bad about it, but we really liked it.  I had the Filet Mignon that was tender and delicious with yummy mashed potatoes, my favorite.  Clark had a steak gorgonzola pasta that was good too.  We even splurged and I ordered a Lime Ricky and Clark got a Pina Colada then we had dessert too.  It was all so yummy!  

We decided to rent Bounty Hunter.... it was stupid.  I'm glad we only spent $1 to rent it.  I think there was one funny part when they are fighting and Jennifer Aniston totally shuts down and gives him the silent treatment and he starts eating something in bed and being really loud.... that is seriously Clark and I to a T!  He will wake up in the middle of the night and go get a snack and eat it LOUDLY in bed.  I get so annoyed.  And I am the queen of "silent treatment" when I am mad.  Ha ha we had a good laugh at that part.

My wonderful present.

Clark made me that card (he is so awesome at making me homemade cards) and he came home from work with these beautiful flowers!  I have a present for him but I ordered it late so it is on its way....

Anyway it was a wonderful Anniversary and I'm so happy to say that I married my best friend.  I know everyone says that but I really did.  We love hanging out together, and we have so many similar interests and hobbies that we can hang out all the time!  Here's to many more years of fun!

4th of July

I love the Fourth of July it is definitely one of my favorite Holidays.  My very favorite thing that happens on the 4th is when the F16 jets fly over the parade in Kaysville.  I always get goose bumps when I see them flying in formation.  I have an even greater appreciation for our service men because of my brother in law Shad who flies the F16 at Hill Air Force Base.  At the Kaysville fireworks the KC135 (the huge jet re-fueler) also flew over.  Clark's brother Brett actually used to fly that plane until they moved to Colorado.  I'm so grateful for all of those Men and Women who fight for our freedoms everyday.  I also love the fireworks, BBQ's, and just being with family and friends.

This year the holiday lasted the whole weekend!  I loved it.  But it also means a long post.

SATURDAY

"He makes me melt like a Popsicle on the Fourth of July"

Parade

Nash & Angie

BBQ

Visiting Grandpa Jay and Grandma Afton's Grave

Eating Zeppe's for my first time.  It was yummy!

Kaysville Fireworks

I had a firework setting on my camera and it made taking firework pictures a lot easier!

SUNDAY

Badminton Game

Taking a break from playing to take pictures

MONDAY

For my little sister Katie's birthday we went to get a pedicure, went to lunch, and then went to the movie Eclipse.

waiting for Allison to come

Katie's first pedicure

All of our toes

Adrienne, Allison, Me, Katie

Santa Barbara Part Deux

Here are a few more pictures from my California trip.

We rode these bike things down by the pier and along the ocean.  Anyone under the age of 18 had to wear a helmet.... Merrick didn't seem to mind!  

Merrick is ready to go

We had a fun time riding along the bike path.  We even did a little "off roading" to find a bathroom but I handled the stearing wheel and the break like a champ. 

Enjoying the ocean 

Merrick was loving the water.  If we let him he would have ran right into the water.

Enjoying a snack and the sun!

I had so much fun I'm ready to go back again!

Hello my name is Laura

I haven't posted any funny stories about the "Olds" lately.  It is mostly because there hasn't been any outlandish complaints or issues.  Yes there are a few comical things here and there, but nothing that I felt the need to blog about.  
We did have a lady who was very very concerned that her fridge wasn't getting cold enough and when you turned it up it would be too cold and freeze some things.  I understand that you want a fridge that is working properly, but she was annoying about it.  Clark went and checked it and turned up the fridge thermostat and then cleaned the coils and told her to wait 24 hours for an improvement.  Three hours later she left a note on our door that said "there is no change to the fridge temperature please call a repair man FIRST thing in the morning".  FIRST was in capitals and underlined!  So Clark called Mr. Appliance and he told us the part that was needed was probably not in stock so we just decided to buy her a new fridge.  20 minutes after Clark and his Dad put the fridge in she was "asking" if the freezer had a different shelf.  Apparently the one it came with wasn't satisfactory.  Clark told her nope sorry and walked away!  Some people are never satisfied.  
Today we were out in the courtyard weeding and cleaning things up, and can I just say that I HATE weeding with a passion.  Why do these little things exist?  I'm sure it is to drive me crazy and break my back!  I had one of the tenants come up to me and ask if Clark could come change the battery in their smoke alarm because it is not working and "this is something that needs to be replaced immediately since it is a safety issue".  I told him Clark was helping another tenant and he would come change it as soon as he could.  10 minutes later the man comes up to me and just asks me for a battery and he would change it himself.  Apparently he was very worried that his apartment would catch on fire in the 20 minutes that his battery was not working!  So I gave him one and he changed it.  At least he is able to change a battery... most people here wouldn't even do that.  
Also one of the ladies here calls me Linda.  I responded the first time she called me that because I wasn't sure if she said Linda or Laura since I just heard the L sound.  Now she thinks that's my name!  Oh and I think the guy asking for a battery called me Lori or maybe it was Lora but either way my name is LAURA with an "ahh" sound not an "o" sound.  The "Olds" don't even know my name.  After all I've done for them.... Weeding the flower beds so they look nice, cleaning up the Social Center so they can play games and sew at their hearts desire, cleaning the laundry room so they can do laundry in a clean place, pretending that I like their dogs and cats, and I'm also a lot nicer to them than Clark is.  And yet they still don't know my name.  The students never really knew me either.  They all knew Clark because he comes into the apartments and fixes things.  I'm just the "mean landlord" that collects rent and gives them warning letters when they are breaking the rules or are late on rent.  They would all say hi to Clark and give him "high fives" or "the rock" and all I got was a half smile like they recognized me from somewhere but they just can't put their finger on it.  I guess I need to get out more and mingle with the tenants!    
Clark and I took a quick break today and went to the pool for literally 1.5 hours... while we were gone a lady literally called 4 times asking for a new vacuum bag.  We can't leave for two hours without something "serious" happening.  
I'm not sure how much longer I'm going to last in this place.  We better find a way to make lots of money so we can afford some rent and utilities again.   




AND 4 years ago today Clark was on his way to Berlin, Germany for the World Cup Final between France and Italy!  He is one lucky guy.  Too bad we are not in South Africa for the final game this Sunday Netherlands vs Spain.  No matter who wins, it will be a team who has never won a World Cup Championship before!  So it should be good either way!  

Santa Barbara Part 1

I was able to go with my mom to visit my sister Melissa and her cute little family in California last week.  They just moved from Dana Point to Santa Barbara so it was fun to see the place they call home.  I don't have a ton of pictures since Melissa has some on her camera still, but here are a few that I took the first couple of days we were there.  

Here is Merrick enjoying the little book I made for him.  He is most likely pointing to a picture of himself and saying "Dad".  He calls everyone in his family "Dad" and everything else is a "Guck"

Being Goofy

We took a 45 minute drive through the mountains to a cute town called Solvang.  It looks like a little Danish town with cute shops, windmills, and other things you might find in Denmark.  

Merrick and Nana enjoying the fountain

Merrick would not hold still long enough to get a picture with his favorite Aunt. 

Merrick taking a break in a wooden clog shoe.

Another great thing about this little town is they have Aebleskiver's!  They are delicious little pancake type balls and you put jam and powdered sugar on them and they are delicious.  It is actually an Emmett family tradition to have Aebleskiver's on Christmas morning at my Grandparents house.  Our family loves those little things (you can tell that I had already devoured one before the picture and I was well on my way to the second and third) Yum!

We also ate some In & Out, went shopping, rode a bike/buggy down by the pier, and went to the beach!  When I get pictures of those things I will blog them (hint, hint Melissa).