The Treehouse: White to RED

Extreme Home Makeover: Level 1.
Includes: new brushed metal fixtures to hold certain key bathroom items; classic ruby red paint to kick the kitchen up a notch; new light fixture in the kitchen.

Lessons learned:
1. Red paint actually comes magenta in the can. This will change with dry time and extra coats. 3 of them.
2. Painter's tape is not foolproof and should not be trusted or taken advantage of.
3. Touch up paint should match previous paint.
4. Sharp ceiling spikes are unsafe, unnecessary, and hurt BAD.
5. You can't start painting mid-President's Day Monday and be done President's Day evening. Especially for "deep base" colors. Shoot for 2 days.
6. You learn a lot about previous tenants when you try to paint over their paint job.
7. Installing a ceiling light fixture IS rocket science. And it can light your house on fire.
8. If you have to move your stove for any reason, it turns out you CAN'T plug it into any regular socket. Have you seen the size of that thing?
9. It also turns out that microwaving the same meal you would have made on the stove top is just as good. Who'da thought?
10. A power drill would be a good Christmas gift next year.

Here's our experience in photos, and for the record, we LOVE the new look.

National Geographic Museum Frog Exhibit

Frogs :)

And friends! We went with some friends to the Nat'l Geographic Museum and had fun learning new random facts about frogs. Such as the huge African toad that will attack even humans if they come near, latch onto them with their massive jaws, and not let go until they are pried off. Or the "Gigolo Frog" (Nat'l Geographic said it, not me) that finds one mate, makes frog eggs with her, then find another mate that he tricks into making more frog eggs with so that the first mate'babies, now hatched, can have the second mate's eggs for food and EAT them all. A user and a loser. What a punk!

Or the fact that some desert frogs store water in their bladders in time of drought to have water built up. Apparently the aborigines would stick the tail end of the frog in their mouths and squeeze the frog's stomach to let the water into their mouths...gross. As Shiloh said "we actually call that water something else..." And we learned that the most poisonous animal on earth is a poison dart frog, who has enough poison in its body to kill 10,000 mice or 200 people, or something like that. I think I learned that in 3rd grade during our Rain forest section, but you know, live and forget, learn and re-learn.

The last photo was supposed to be taken of all our feet over the Nat'l Geographic seal, but Jon of course had to move the camera up to take a candid of our unexpectant faces. So unattractive. Thanks Jon.

IHOP National Pancake Day

So, we departed for IHOP to get some free pancakes, but thanks to the worst ice storm of the year, we ended up eating free pancakes at the Smith residence. Let it not be said the Smith's don't celebrate National Pancake Day.

Photoshop 101

Jon had the opportunity to teach and inspire up and coming Photoshop users at the Mount Vernon Stake Arts Festival. Melissa's the one with the chalkboard art skills. I don't know why the yellow picture, it makes Jon look like some professor from the time of discolored photos, the glasses may or may not aid in that look as well. After the class Melissa practiced the piano as Jon practiced his photography. Melissa's famous one-eye look successfully captured.

Half-Mast in Honor of the Beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley (27 Jan 2008)

This a photo of the flag at half-mast at the Washington DC temple, the day after President Gordon B. Hinckley passed away. We're excited that President Hinckley and his wife are once again united, but as for our house, it's been a tough week coming to realize how much we're going to miss that extraordinary man. We love President Hinckley very much, and we'll NEVER forget him and his great legacy.

We've also posted a video clip that we love by CNN anchorman Glenn Beck, an LDS convert, giving his own tribute to the prophet.

DC Temple, Night Photos

We're kind of on-again, off-again bloggers--you're either getting a mad rush of photos or a big empty break for a month. Well get ready for our on-again moment and open up for your drink of Smiths at fire hydrant speed, because we replaced our camera and we're back with force (at least for a week or two until the next drought).

Jon's cousin came into town for a visit, and since work took over our days, we took full advantage of the nights and took moonlight field trips to show off the DC sites. We love the temple, and we obviously can't take enough pictures of it. Eat 'em up.

Night Photos in DC

In the first photo you notice three of us, that's because Jon's cousin Scott Wakefield came in town, which allowed us to get all these cool night shots.

Williamsburg, VA (Martin Luther King Jr. Day)

For Martin Luther King Day, we decided to spontaneously cruise down to Williamsburg, stay in a $30 motel, and learn a little bit about our nation's history. We were fortunate enough to have a friend lend us her camera, and thus we were back to our normal photo-taking frenzy.

Below are photos of us around Williamsburg, taking our turn in the stocks, walking down the cobblestone streets and past the old buildings, then photos of the original capitol building of Virginia, the Governor's Palace, Jon inside the Bishop's Parish church, Melissa in a classroom in the Wren Building (oldest academic building in America), and us being crazy and romantical on the beach of James River, overlooking the Jamestown Settlement.

Check out the photo of a white wall with writing on it next to a window. We thought this was pretty cool--it's a replica of a cell in the nation's first insane asylum, and on the wall was scrawled the exact scripture that moved the great prophet Joseph Smith to ask the question in the grove that initiated the story of the restoration of the gospel.

It was a cold day, but the crowds were almost nonexistent, so we loved it.

Christmas Eve Caroling with the Old Folks

We may or may not be posting this over a month late. This is the infamous last photo in the records from our parted camera. This is us keeping the Christmas Eve Caroling tradition alive by singing to the old folks here in Virginia with friends from our ward.

Jim brought his dog, Robin brought the cookies, we all brought the Christmas cheer, and the old folks brought the standing ovations. This guy in the photo wanted to follow us around the rest of the evening as we sang to others. We were pretty much a hit, and all walked away with more gratitude for what we have this Christmas.