Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Car accident

As most of you know, this past weekend I got into a little car accident. Jonathan and I got invited to a friends house in Pueblo West (about the distance from GJ to Fruita) for a BBQ on Saturday night. It just so happened that I had a hair appt out there at 3:45 so Jonathan was just going to meet me out there after work. We met up and went to the BBQ, which was fun, and then a friend called and asked if we wanted to go see a movie at 10:10. So, we're headed home to get ready for the movie with me following Jonathan. We were stopped at a stoplight and I looked in my rear view just in time to see a lady ram right into the back of me. Then I rammed right into the back of Jonathan. Awesome. I must have taken my foot off the brake without knowing or something because there's no damage done to the back of my car. Well, actually, there are 2 little dents where her license plate hit, so we'll probably get insurance to cover a new bumper, but nothing serious. The problem was that my car is so low to the ground and Jonathan's is not, I went right up under his. It just so happens that he has two metal brackets that you could hook a trailer hitch up to, and they happen to be sticking down, and they happened to have cut a hole in my hood :( Anyway~ they cited the lady that hit me and we are in the process of talking to her insurance to get it all taken care of. Me, Jonathan and the baby are OK, just a little shaken at the time and annoyed about me poor car that I love. Here are some pictures of the damage.


It's hard to see but my hood got a little crunched up

I know it just looks like a scratch but it really is a hole, sliced through

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day

5 reasons my Dad is the best:
*He is patient
*He is the smartest man I know, possibly in the world
*He always tells great stories and has great metaphors for life
*He always made time for his kids while we were growing up and was very involved in our activities
*He has always forgiven me for the few mistakes I've made and never gave up on me.

Thanks Daddy. I love you! Happy Father's Day to the best Dad ever.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A tale of two couches

Once upon a time in a place far away known as Pueblo, there lived a couple who were in search of the perfect couch. At first they bought a futon but the wife said, "This one's too hard." They then came upon a large sectional but again the wife said, "This one has too many wooden bars in it and it hurts my butt." So began the journey for their couch...

Some of you may know that Kari and I inherited the indestructible striped couches from your parents and some may not, but this should be entertaining either way. We came about our ownership of the couches by two things: first because we asked, and second because Niagara falls decided to relocate to the Gustavson home.

Well our acquisition of the the couches began simple enough, Linda asked if we wanted the couches, Kari said yes I said, "Lets measure and make sure they can fit in the basement." Well needless to say I didn't measure and before long the previously mentioned disaster took place and brought the couches to us sooner than we planned. John and Linda decided to take a "quick" drive over to bring them to us and John had even called the day before just to make sure that I was aware that these couches were coming and I told him it was no problem, but even with the warning, I still didn't measure.

Well the couches arrived on Saturday and were placed in the garage to allow time to plan and time to visit. After a wonderful 24 hours with the parents and a trip to Castle Rock on Sunday we made our way home and I decided it would be productive to get the couches in and settled. No problem right?

The 6ft couch went in easily. I was able to handle it well enough on my own and get it up the garage steps, through the doorway, down the basement steps, and into the area where it would stay. The 8ft couch was a different story...

The following sequence of pictures should serve as a warning to anyone facing this situation again and to heed the warning given by American Furniture Warehouse of, "I am BIG. Please measure before taking me home."

What would become a battle to the death began rather pleasant considering the wrath it would unleash later. I figured that the best way to get this couch to the basement would be a straight shot through the back door and down the steps, so I measured the distance between the garage door rails and the top of the hand rail. Nope, too narrow. Then I thought we will just have to go through the front door. (This is where I went wrong.)

I thought I was pretty clever by utilizing my car creeper

to move the couch easily to the front porch. I thought myself even more clever that I then stood the couch upright, moved the creeper to the top step and laid the couch down and continued rolling to the front door. I got it in the door and turned towards the hallway.

Move the side table, push the couch so I can aim the new couch at the right angle, and head for the hallway.

Once I got to the hallway I thought I could just stand the couch up, swivel it, and turn into the kitchen.
Wrong.
An 8ft couch cannot be pushed into an upright position in an 8ft ceiling.
Silly me. So after some back and forth pushing and pulling between doorways,



I got the couch into the kitchen,



and pointed towards the hallway at the top of the basement.

"I could have sworn this ceiling was taller."



Well after admitting defeat, (via this route,) I had to pull the couch back through the kitchen,



back through the hallway,



to its temporary resting place; sideways in our living room.


Oh and did I mention that the missionaries came by while it was like this?



Plan B.
I decided to take the first approach but now with some necessary modifications:




After my modification I was now certain that I could get the couch down the stairs, I and trying to be smarter about my approach, I made sure to MEASURE the width of the doorway at the bottom of the stairs to make sure I would not get stuck. As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on..." I forgot how it goes, thanks George.

Well the doorway wasn't wide enough, so after additional slight modifications,



and with the help of my stepfather, we were able to get the couch over the railing, down the stairs, throught the "widened" doorway, and to its final resting place.



and they all lived happily ever after.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Sad day

I had a doctor appointment today and I've gained 31 pounds in 31 weeks. I'm depressed.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

1 year

I can't believe it's already been 1 year of marriage for Jonathan and I!! What a fast, crazy, fun year it has been. This year for our anniversary we decided to re-live the day, so we headed up to Denver on Saturday afternoon. We checked into a hotel right next to Park Meadows mall and then headed out for a wonderful dinner at The Keg. The Keg has nothing to do with our wedding, but we have gone there for the last 2 years on Jonathan's birthday. It's delicious! He ordered Prime Rib and Lobster tail and I ordered the Tiger Shrimp with steamed asparagus. We had a great time eating and talking about how perfect we are for eachother ;)

The next morning we got up and did a little shopping (of course), then headed over to the Shane Co to get our rings inscribed. We both got "Our love story" written in cursive on the inside. I can't wait to get them back this week and see how they turned out! After that we ate lunch at the Noodles and Co on Colorado Blvd that we had our rehersal dinner at and talked about how crazy surprised I was when I opened that tickets to Disneyland! What a GREAT surprise from Jonathan. Then we went to the Botanic Gardens to walk around a little. Unfortunately it was pretty cold and rainy, but we made the most of it. We remembered how lucky we got last year with the weather making a complete turn-around for our wedding and we all roasted. Better to be hot than cold in my opinion. The Gardens is under a TON of construction right now and lots of different parts of it are all torn up, including the parking lot because they're building a parking garage, so I was very grateful it wasn't like that last year just because it's not very appealing to the eye, and I wanted everything to look perfect last year. Anyway, we had a great time looking at ALLLLLLL the places we took pictures and talking about how much has changed since then. Here is an example:
The scene of it all, last year

Jonathan and Jared waiting for the bride

Me, same location, one year later


Happy 1 year to us!!

Monday, June 1, 2009

Happy Birthday Eric!

I just wanted to wish my favorite oldest brother a happy 32 (Holy Crap) birthday!! I love you man!