Welcom to the Hood

I was walking my dogs the other day, and realized I have a cute neighborhood. Well - semi cute. Some houses are so adorable, and some could definitely use some lovin. The neighborhood is about 70 years old, so all the houses have that cottage/bungalo charm. Some obviously more than others!

Scandalous Pioneers

For the past 6 or 7 months, I've been really into genealogy. My goal is to get a book full of ancestor stories for both my mom's side, and my dad's side.  My dad's side has a lot of history that has been documented.

Some of the stuff I have found on my Dad's side has been super interesting... They were all pioneers that came across the plains from the years 1847 to about 1857. I have even found scandalous, fun stories such as the following: 

My great-great-great-great Grandpa named Howard Egan, was Joseph Smith's personal body guard up until the time he got killed, then he was in the first wagon train with Brigham Young in 1847.

He had married a lady named Tamson Parshley, but left her behind while he went on the trek west. He had married a few more wives by the time Tamson eventually made it to Salt Lake City.

Howard Egan left to California for the Gold rush in 1850. While he was gone, Tamson (my great-great-great grandma)  had an AFFAIR with her friend Jame's Monroe (also Joseph Smith's children's school teacher). Well, she got pregnant by this illicit lover. OOPs!!!!  To avoid confrontation with Howard Egan, James Monroe left Salt Lake City shortly after Tamson found out she was pregnant. A few months after the baby was born, Howard learned that James Monroe was coming back to Utah, so he went and met up with the wagon train. He shot and KILLED James Monroe basically in front of the whole wagon train. Howard is quoted to have said, "I have just shot the seducer of my wife. This vengeance is sweet to me"  right after shooting him.

Howard got arrested and went to court. George Albert Smith - an apostle - was his lawyer. Howard was acquitted due to the jury believing this was justifiable homicide! Interestingly, on March 6, 1852, the Territorial legislature passed the Justifiable Homicide Act, which was a direct outcome of the Egan case. The Act stated that it would be: "Justifiable homicide to kill the person who defiled a "wife, daughter, mother, sister or any other female relative or dependent."  This law was in act until 1874.

Howard raised the illegitimate baby as his own and even named him after the biological father - William MONROE Egan.  http://jod.mrm.org/1/95

Seriously - this stuff is all well documented - you can't make this up.

Howard Egan did some other pretty cool stuff - besides being Joseph Smith's body guard, he and his sons (my great great grandpa) were major players in the pony express.

But that is for another post.

:)


For all my cousins and family - these people were Minnie Marshall McKinnon's great grandparents.

Phone Camera fun

I was going through my pictures on my phone and deleting them and realized some of them are so random. I chose a few that I apparently thought were worthy of a picture being taken.

She really did feel pretty after getting a manicure....

Proving to someone that I was indeed watching Conference.

  

I loved Molly's gut in this one. She ain't ashamed.

Over where we keep our horses gets pretty muddy in the winter/spring time.

Jackson's cute cute smile, while wearing his beloved conductor's hat.

Awwww... cuteness....

This pic is blurry, but its of my dad holding my sisters doggie... I just thought it was hilarious. My dad is a Paris Hilton wannabe.

I made Milo wear a diaper after I found tapeworm coming out of his butt. YES TAPEWORM. I was repulsed for the rest of the weekend. Do not fear, it is cured.

 

Vaccuuming up any could-be tapeworm remnants....  NASTY

:)

A shirt my sis and I saw at a thrift store.....

 Molly destroyed a stuff animal in about 5.4 seconds, and Milo sniffed her butt every second of the way.... Both were in heaven.

Thoughts for this Thursday

I don't blog much anymore. Mostly, because I don't know what to blog about. My life is busy as usual  but I still am just too lazy to write it down on a blog. So here are my thoughts about my life for this Thursday:

- I am taking care of 2 dogs - one of which chases the neighbor kids all the way up to their door of their house and barks incessantly, but is cute and looks like a teddy bear.... the other who is a sweetheart and loves to give kisses and snuggle.  

Lacey the Snuggler

Milo the chaser/barker. He's so cute though....

- Being 30 isn't that bad. Actually its better than being 29. 29 came with a lot of "dreading to turn 30." So now I have nothing to dread....

- I think I am my church's project girl. Why do I say that?? Well this week I have had my visiting teachers, my home teachers, the elders quorumn president come visit. And the Relief Society president personally invited me to go to RS. I have noticed that being single in a family ward makes is very easy to be less active.

- I wish it would stop raining. why? a) because my dogs get muddy feet and I have to wash them off constantly b) I could go ride my horses without sinking up to my knees in horse poop and mud  c) I want to start working on my yard d) I could go on and on


- I sat in a meeting at work with a man who had an extremely bad combover. I mean it was combed over from the bottom of his ear to the top of his other ear.... embrace the baldness people!

- I want to hold a baby.

- How did I end up with a job that actually DOES use math?? I had to take college math 3 times in order to pass it, and even then, I only passed it by 1% (no exaggeration). And now in my job I use math daily.... at least I can use a calculator...

-I went on a cruise with my friends and sister. We went to Aruba, Curacao, St. Thomas, Puerto Rico and Dominica. It was so fun. While in Curacao, I rode a Ostrich.... I like the one where I am on the poor ostrich and we are basically making the same face of shock and confusion....

 - I think this is  a really ugly picture, and would be grossed out if I was licked by that long tongue.

 

- I love owning my house. Its little, and its old, but I LOVE it. I can do what I want to it, and its my little creation. I recently had my roommate move out, so now its just me and the dogs, and it has been soooo great. I only fear that I will never want to get married now. I am content.

-  I have to pee, so now I'm going to go.

BYE BYE

Two memories

Today, the 28th of February,  is a day that I dedicated to have a yearly look at my life and see if I have made my life "worth it." Sometimes I feel a little proud of my accomplishments, but then at other times, the lack of some things hurt. But today I will focus on the positive!

In other thoughts, I have two memories today.

One is a fun memory of when I was 15. My friend Jenny and I would go to her house after school. Her parents were gone, and we were the only ones in the house. Jenny's dad had a cool Bronco/Blazer that he had set up a nice stereo system. So she would grab the keys, and out we'd go to just sit in the bronco and listen to music.  On this day, Jenny started it, and in some land next to their house, we drove around and around in circles with the bass of the music pounding. Then we made up some dance moves to do in the car - which I continue to do :).  I think that is the day, my love of loud music came alive.

The other memory is of the first time my friend Sarah went toilet papering. I had learned to drive and got my license, so I slept over at her house one weekend and I taught her the technique of T.P-ing. :) Honestly, I remember that night vividly because Sarah was so carefree and happy. We then went back to her house and she showed me a journal that she kept - which was actually a drinking mug she would write all her "big" accomplishments on - and it would later be fired and glazed.... It was such a creative idea, and I love the toilet papering was a big accomplishment. I wonder if her family still has that mug.

Happy Late Halloween

The cause of broken fingers.

Remember when I got this?:

and that is was caused by installing this?:




Well here are the before, during and after pictures of my living room.


When I found this house on the market, I knew there would be lots of work involved to getting it how I liked it. The carpet was HIDEOUS. Seriously, it stunk so bad and was stained nastily. Underneath the gross carpet was spots of mold from where water oe pee or whatever it was. It was gross.

These pictures don't show the grossness of it, or the stench. :)

Then my dad and mom came over and helped almost every night to put in the new flooring - which is when i broke my finger.

And here is my living room now. I still need to add curtains and some things on the walls.

 

I'm back.....kinda.

So I mentioned a while ago that I bought a house. An old one. That was gross and needed some love. And I have given it some love. Cuz I love her. I named her Ella.

Here is what she looked like when I bought her:

What you can't see are the million of rotten plumbs,

 apples and apricots that needed to be cleaned up.

And by the way, those are not my cars.

Here is my house as of today.

It still has lots of work to do.

But so far I:

• 
  
  ripped out 3 earwig infested rose bushes
• 
  
  dug out flower beds that line the walkway (and planted flowers
• 
  
  painted my door red (red doors bring happiness apparently)
• 
  
  and dug out flowerbeds under my windows and along the side of the property

Still to do:

• 
  
  Paint the shutters black
• 
  
  Add window boxes under the 3 windows
• 
  
  pant bushes and flowers in the flowerbeds
• 
  
  make a new door frame 

This is only the front yard. The back yard need A LOT of love.....

How it is.

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for

God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, 'God! How could you do this to me?'

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! 'How did you know I was here?' asked the weary man of his rescuers. 'We saw your smoke signal,' they replied.

The Moral of This Story:

It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.