project clean house

Like most people, I love a good, clean house.  I feel like in order to relax, all of the housework has to be done.  But if you are like me, that is never the case!  There is always something that needs done and the work is never complete.

Several weeks ago, I came across a cute girl on Instagram that had the most darling kitchen.  White cabinets, subway tile backsplash, cute accessories - the whole bit.  And of course, it was clean as a whistle.  Cute AND clean?!? How does she do it??  Well, as I began to read through her comments I learned very quickly that once a week, she and her children leave the house for a couple of hours and while she is gone, a cute little lady comes into the house and cleans. She and the kids then come back to a sparkly, clean house.  HA! I knew I had been missing something all of this time! That's why my house is never as clean as I want it to be, I thought.  For a minute there, I completely threw in the towel on ever having the house I see in my mind that is neat and tidy and clean as can be because I don't have a cleaning lady.

But then it occurred to me just how silly that thought was.  A cleaning lady doesn't fit into our budget and the whole reason our house isn't as clean as it always should be is because of our own choices.  A lot of the time we are just plain lazy. We see those dishes stacking up in the sink and we run the other way.  (I by no means think cleaning ladies are bad, by the way. I admit, at times it would be nice to have one!).  I have become a "binge cleaner".  I put off all of my cleaning until Saturday (as you will remember from this post).  But that is absolutely the worst possible thing to do on your day off, in my opinion!  Who wants to spend all day cleaning when you finally have the day off?  Not me, that's for sure. 

So I came up with a solution.  Project Clean House.  Cheesy as it may sound, it has started to do wonders for our little house.  At the very most it takes about 30-45 minutes to complete each day.  And in my opinion, that is way better than wasting a whole Saturday.  

 Since that's hard to see, here's what the list includes:

• Monday: Front Room. 
• dust. fluff pillows. vacuum. tidy.
• Tuesday: Kitchen
• dishes. scrub counter. mop & vacuum floors. tidy
• Wednesday: Downstairs Bathroom
• clean mirror. scrub counter. vacuum & mop floors. clean shower & toilet. tidy
• Thursday: Master Bedroom
• wash sheets. dust. vacuum. organize drawers & closets. tidy.
• Friday: Laundry/Pantry
• wash & fold clothes. vacuum. clean surfaces. tidy.
• Saturday: Upstairs
• vacuum. wash sheets. clean counters, toilet, & shower. tidy. RELAX!
• Sunday: REST!

*Everyday: do the dishes, put shoes away, make bed, put clothes in the hamper, etc.

Since it's just Preston and I, we just split up each day's work between the two of us.  If you have kids, even better! Less work for everyone.  Here's to keeping a clean house! 

We are Spartans

To me, there aren't too many things better than when I know I have impressed my husband.  Whenever I do something that he thinks to himself "Syd would never do this" and then I do it  -  BEST FEELING EVER!  I always feel so accomplished!

 Let's rewind to about a year and a half ago.  Preston somehow discovered the Reebok Spartan Races and began watching youtube video after youtube video of footage of the races.  The Spartan is an advanced obstacle race of sorts.  It is a combination of a trail run and army training type obstacles.  Well, he immediately fell in love and had his heart set on doing one.  And when that boy gets his mind on something, he won't give up on it until he makes it happen.  So we signed him up and he trained his little heart out. 

On the day of the race (June 2012) he was pumped and ready.  I went along to watch him of course and I remember thinking at first that there was no way I would ever do something like that. (And let's face it, Preston thought the same thing.) Rolling through mud, jumping through fire, climbing under barbed wire - not really my thing. I was more content to just watch something like that and stick to my races that didn't involve getting so dirty.

Preston did what is called the "Spartan Beast" which is the most difficult of the Spartan races and what Spartan likes to call the "obstacle course race from hell".  It is comprised of 12+miles and 25+obstacles.  As you can imagine, a race like this takes a while to complete.  Somewhere between 3-4 hours on average.  Naturally, I had plenty of time on my hands to watch racer after racer cross the finish line.  And slowly but surely I was convinced that if all of those people could do it, then so could I!  As soon as Preston crossed the finish line, I was so excited that I signed up for next years race right then and there.  I had a whole year to train for it, MORE than enough time to train (I thought).

As you can probably guess, I procrastinated and didn't train hardly at all! I think I have mentioned before that we are a bit of procrastinators at times and this time was no different.  We trained (occasionally) but not nearly as much as we should have.  But we had paid for it and talked about it so much that there was no way we weren't doing it! And I am so glad we did!  It was an absolute blast!  I had no idea I could have so much fun slipping in the mud and hauling tractor tires.  And the best part by far was that we got to do it together.  We had never done a race together before and it was such an awesome experience.  He helped me jump over the walls that I didn't have the upper body strength to get over and I, well I wasn't much help to him in the strength department, but I did help him get mud out of his eye when it was trapped behind his contact. :) That has to count for something!  And the feeling that came as we crossed that finish line after four hours of completing exerting ourselves, I can't even put into words how good it felt.  Our bodies are capable of so much more than we give them credit for.  I can't wait to do it again!  Next time with a little more training under my belt. :)

^^About to take on some serious gladiators ;)^^

^^Love that boy!^^

Bishoff Family Reunion

In June, we had a family reunion in Moab with the Bishoff's.  We got to spend three days there and we had an absolute blast.  

We had a little competition with launching rockets.  Each family had to build their own rocket but all of the rockets had to have the same engines.  Preston and I are a couple of procrastinators when it comes to things like this and ended up building ours the night before (and when I say we I really mean Preston. He did all the work).  Let's just say you could tell.  Everyone else's rockets launched perfectly.  Ours, on the other hand, gave everyone a good laugh.  Instead of going straight up in the air, it did all sorts of loops and spins before smashing right back down into the dirt.  Better luck next time I guess!

^^Sweet little Mark^^

 ^^Miss Joslyn^^

^^All the rockets lined up and ready to launch^^ 

^^Cute kiddos^^ 

 ^^Miss Makayla June^^

After the rocket launch, we went to one of Moab's natural swimming holes: Left Hand.  Everyone had all sorts of fun catching minnows, crawdads, and pollywogs.  I stayed right behind the camera during all of this since I'm such a wuss when it comes to slippery, slimy, creepy, crawling things. :)

^^Chad one of the crawdads^^ 

^^Millie hates the water but apparently loves the dirt.^^

^^Ken & Kiley^^

^^Sally & Cynthia finding pollywogs^^

^^Christine & Makayla^^

^^Darren, Emily, Ryan & Evan^^

^^Darren & Cynthia^^

^^Ryan & Mark^^

^^The whole group! We missed you Scott, Brit, & Sammie!!^^

One evening we headed up to Pack Creek Campground for a cookout.  It was so peaceful and quiet and not to mention a lot cooler than it was down in the valley!

^^Ken's signature pose at family reunions.  We have one just like it from last year's reunion. HAHA^^

Our mountain was on fire that night.  As sad as it was it was kind of neat to see at the same time.

^^Kiley & Joslyn^^

^^Evan^^

^^John & Christine^^

^^Amy^^

^^Sally & Makayla^^

We had so much fun at the reunion.  There is just something about family reunions that is so special.  It brings everyone together in a whole new dynamic.  I love the memories it creates with the ones we love most.  

Thanks for the fun Bishoff's!!