Home Tour Layton

Driving to and from the Great Salt Lake, we were pleasantly surprised by the beautiful houses we saw.

How beautiful are those windows! And the porch is stunning.

The detail on this house is phenomenal. I wondered if it was restored to this, or built new.... We should have stopped and asked.

This modern barn was such a brilliant new twisted on an old design. I love the double door opening... But my favorite part is the attached guest house, or office.... Across the drive way....

Is this beautiful modern red silo.... Brilliant! How creative is that?!

Again, love the windows on this house. Especially how they continued the windows on either side of the door. The top windows are also incredible. The little details that add so much.

I'm always a fan of those pop out windows on top. The colors scheme on this house was perfect!

One thing I can't stand about a lot of houses now is how they make the garage the focal point. Front doors are hidden behind enormous garage doors! Why are people okay with that? Houses like this make me happy. Where the garage, on the left, looks just like the rest of the house. And the garage doors are away from view... Much better. I'm curious about the interior of this house, two chimneys! I bet it could be amazing!

Great Salt Lake

Drew and I took our Sunday drive out to the Great Salt Lake... In all of my 25 years of living in Utah, this was only my second excursion out to the lake. It was Drew's second time as well.

The drive out was a lot prettier then I expected.

We drove around Antelope Island looking for buffalo.

We spotted one lone soldier, hanging out by the side of the road. The rest we saw from a distance.

Apparently there are around 650 buffalo in this herd. The view from Antelope Island was incredible. Drew and I are making plans to go out and float the lake. A first for both of us!

Then we cruised home with the windows down, in the warm 101 degree heat.... Lovely... Picked the hottest day of the summer to go on a road trip in Drew's truck with no AC! It all adds to the magic!

...Fixing a Leak...

No More Flooding! Drewpy rented a life sized toy and got to work. Drew using the excavator was 10% business 90% pleasure. Kid in a candy shop happy.... And I won't lie, it was pretty amazing... Drew turned the power off on me when I almost put the shovel through the window twice.... Kill Joy!

Drewpy dug...

....And dug....

....and dug some more.... Sexy arms huh? I know right!

...and played dug a little more...

Humoring me with pictures all along the way.... What a guy!

Then he sealed the concrete with tar, to form a waterproof barrier.

Cleo worked on being beautiful on the porch!

Then Drewpy reluctantly returned his rented toy... Al in a days work!

Homes

Our home is finally starting to look like one, not so much a forest hiding a meth lab...Not that our house was ever a meth lab, but I'm sure onlookers had their doubts with the piles of rubble we were removing from both the interior and exterior.

Drew was in Houston for two weeks working on his parents house, and I was doing anything I could to pass the time... A lot of trying to go to bed at 7 P.M. Drew and I love to drive around and look at homes, while he was gone I did my own Salt Lake Home Tour.... I'm thinking of buying a Le Bus and starting my own touring company. When I stop my bus, a bunch of elderly Asian women, with straw hats and cameras will unload.... One day... One day..... I tried to get some super stalker pictures of some houses, but I had my zoom lens on my camera, and my windows don't roll down, so not the best, but you can still see how pretty they are.

I have a love hate with pergolas.... I love the shape, look and style of them, but I hate the function. I get that they are for shade and sitting on the porch during nice days, but I want a porch that I can sit on in not so nice weather.... Maybe we can build rotating pergola slats that you can close when it rains.... Hmmm... Patent that! I think a pergola and porch like this white one would add so much to our exterior.

There is a lot that I love about this house, I love the wildflower landscape.... This is my favorite landscaping theme ever. I love the style of the house, and the perfect orange, door. Very well done.

I wish I would have had my portrait lens so I could have taken one whole picture of this house. Isn't it beautiful? And the sun porch on the side, in the picture below. The balance on this house speaks to me. And thats my 2011 Summer Home tour!

City of Rock, Part 3

Where we ended up camping was very high into the Sawtooth National Forest... We were trying to figure out what little town that was on the other side of the mountain. We obviously didn't try hard enough because we never found out... (That sentence was so random, I'm going to leave it because it's so awesome!)

We trekked back into the City of Rock campground to explore. Polly had her first ride in the back of the truck, She loved it! And I was again reaffirmed that Drew is going to be the anxious mother hen! That poor guy creates worries as a hobby. I'm not even sure what that means, but Drew will probably worry about it... At least our future posterity will be watched over by someone.

Polly ended up hunkering down on one of the bins we brought with all the dog items. Cute girl.

The rocks were so neat. It is crazy how they just come out of no where. It would be fun to go there with people who have actual climbing experience. And know how to use all the equipment.

Another Polly Picture Crash moment. I don't know how she even sees that I have my camera out. She was busy chasing Cleo around the rock, and I snap a picture, and next thing I know she is in it! Hilarious! And she is always looking right at the camera... This dog.... She's a funny little pooch!

How cool are those sparrow nests on the rock? Answer... Way cool! All of the sudden they would shoot out of the nest and circle the rock.... Crazy nature!

Pooches

The dogs had the best time camping. We bought those red collars they are wearing that you can make light up. So they were free to roam as they please, and we could always see where they were. I highly recommend these collars. They have come in super handy for late night or early morning walks. We got ours at REI.

Polly became one with nature, and had her nose to the ground sniffing they entire weekend. Her nose came in very handy when they discovered a dead cow. We should always know better, when they dogs are occupied with something for more then five minutes, you can guarantee they are eating something you don't want them to. When Drew finally walked over to see what was keeping their interest, he saw them eating the dead cow. He walked back to me and said, "At least Cleo was just licking the bones, Polly was tugging with all her might on the hide." Nasty! When they got in the tent, the smelled like death.... It was awful, we almost considered packing up and going home. But we just shoved ourselves as far into our mummy bags as possible, and avoided pooch kisses for a week.

Drew for some reason kept Polly's collar light on all night. And Polly for some reason paced in circles around us inside the tent. Probably trying to work of those extra cow calories before bed. So every so often a little red light zoomed past our heads, followed by a whiff of decay... Silly pooch.

Isolation at its finest.

Searching for more remains... You would not believe how long it took me to get this picture loaded up in the right position.... It better be worth it for your viewing pleasure!

Do you find this hummerus? Just a little anatomy giggle. I actually have no idea what bone this is.... It was very pretty. I wanted to bring it home and dip it in enamel.... Drew broke it.... Fail! To... Be...Continued!

Camping, City of Rock, Idaho

We had our first legitimate camping excursion. Um... A month ago.... Just getting around to posting it, because a certain Springer Spaniel confused the power cord to our computer for a chew toy. I have to say, she chewed that cord into very neat 1" pieces... Impressive, no? We're keeping a running total Polly... As soon as your destruction out numbers your worth.... You might be finding yourself turning tricks on the street.... I tease.... Maybe....N E who.... Camping.

We were planning on camping at Strawberry reservoir. The weather in Utah was supposed to be awful, so on a last minute, whim we headed up to Idaho, City of Rocks. It was awesome... We pulled up to what appears to be the smallest town in the world. Giant bulls sitting on the side of the road, men hand watering their yard while riding in an antique tractor.... Amazing. We didn't make reservations at a campsite, so we stopped at this general store to ask the locals where they camp. Their instructions were basically drive up the mountain as far as you can, and hike as far as you can.... Perfect. We drove until the road was blocked by a giant snow patch.... Parked and walked into a giant clearing, and set up camp. It was gorgeous.

We roasted the best tasting hot dogs, I have ever tasted..

And played frisbee until we couldn't see the frisbee anymore. Our only neighbors were the deer who watched us from afar. I think they were trying to figure out if Cleo was one of them. This is how Polly carries the frisbee to the park... Our own little Saturn.

My favorite camping experience so far... To... Be... Continued!