Fixing the washer

I have a love-hate relationship with aquaphor.

I love that it makes Wyatt all hydration-y

I hate that it coats all of his clothes

It really does work wonders for Wyatts skin

But it's impossible to get out of clothes

Wyatt is a much happier boy with a fresh coat of aquaphor

It's destroying my washing machine.

Because of the obvious benefits aquaphor provides I know it will be a part of my life until the day Wyatt moves out of the house... but even then it won't really go away because I'm sure he'll want to visit his favorite mother all the time.

So to get to the point... aquaphor is destroying my washing machine.

When I turn it on it's all rattley, and then when it gets the the spin cycle... psshhh, it sounds like a freaking freight train is going through my house.  I'm surprised the thing hasn't rattled itself to pieces yet!  So I went to my trusty advisor, GOOGLE, for help.  I checked out a bunch of different help blogs and a few you tube videos and decided that the bearings were bad.  With Jareds help we pulled up the user manual for our washer to get the item number and couldn't find it anywhere, figures.  So we called sears for help and wouldn't you know it, they don't sell the bearings separately.  You have to buy the whole friggen outer tub.  What?!  No thank you, I DON'T want to spend $350!  eBay it is.  Oh eBay, you have yet to let me down!  We were able to find and purchase the part for less than $100, so we also purchased a new water valve and boot {water valve was dripping and the boot was all saggy and gross from all the aquaphor} All the parts we needed were around $150.  Not too shabby!  Definitely worth attempting to fix it on our own!

Yesterday was the day Jared decided to tackle the project.

 New part vs. old part... covered in aquaphor lol

 new bearing vs. old bearing

 Jared tried scrubbing the aquaphor off of the drum with a brush and degreaser to no avail.  He had to take a pressure washer to it!

 Even the pressure washer couldn't get it all

 Installing the new bearing

 Putting it all back together

 This is how all the professionals put their stuff back together right? :)

 All back in place after only 5 hours!

I'm so happy to have my washer back!  And guess what?  No freight train anymore!  I'm thrilled that with my diagnosis and Jared's handiness we were able to fix and clean the washing machine all by ourselves {ahem, and the internet!}

To have a tech come out and do this same project we would have had to put out around $1300 between parts and labor {based on the pricing I did} So we saved around $1150 by doing it all on our own!

I'm definitely feeling pretty proud of Jared right now!  Even my dad said he was impressed :)

Best husband ever

I just wanted to inform everyone that I have the best husband ever.  

For me.  

Sometimes I really think he's perfect and I wonder what on earth he sees in me.  Then I look in the mirror and I'm like, oh yeah, hahaha KIDDING!!!  For real though, one time we got into an argument about something and he was all 

"IF I WERE ANY MORE PERFECT I'D BE JESUS!!!!!"  

Gasp!  Blasphemy! haha He's says he was just kidding, but I think sometimes he really does know that he's about perfect. 

Okay example.  Remember that creepy creepster that freaked me out?  Well, I don't feel comfortable going running in the morning all by my lonesome anymore, so I begged and pleaded with Jared to go with me.  He isn't a morning person at all (and he covets his morning beauty sleep) and he doesn't like running... Well Guess what.  This stud is totally getting up every morning at 5:30 to go running with me and keep me safe.  He loves me <3  

Not working out was one of the only flaws I could come up with for Jared and now I can scratch that one off the list, haha

New Knob and Easter Wreath

I went to Michael's today to hit up the after Easter clearance section, and am I glad I did!  I found a few cute things that were a fraction of the price. :)  I bought a couple of things to add to my wreath to make it Easter-y for next year.

It's so cute!!!

AND it only cost like a dollar :) Bonus!

So our front door knob has been 'broken' for about 3 years.  We can't lock it because if we do, we won't be able to get into our house.  So tonight we bought a new one.

Before...

 after!

 I love that it is brushed nickel instead of that brass color :)

Okay, also I have a funny story.

So a couple of weeks ago Jared was being a good husband and vacuuming the house for me when all of the sudden I heard this super weird noise and then the vacuum shuts off.  I ran to the back room to find this.

 He sucked up an entire roll of curling ribbon!  and it was all perfectly around the entire vacuum roller thingy.

 It was pretty brutal

And now he owes me some pink ribbon.

Another year down

The Mr. Sasquatch competition has once again come to a close.  

Thanks to the friends that voted :)  

Jared has once again been crowned Mr. Sasquatch for another year.

If you want to see the rest of the winners, you can check it out at here

Day 20: Someone I love

I absolutely with all of my heart love my best friend in the whole wide world whom I was lucky enough to marry.

  

"He's my Honeybunch, Sugarplum
Pumpy-umpy-umpkin, He's my Sweetie Pie

He's my Cuppycake, Gumdrop
Snoogums-Boogums, 

He's the Apple of my Eye"

I'm so lucky to be married to someone who doesn't always take life so seriously.  Jared is really just a big kid.  He loves to play and have a good time.  He's such a happy person and he is so generous and giving of all of his talents and time.  He's the hardest worker I know and takes pride in everything he does.  He almost always has a smile on his face and doesn't take anything in his life for granted.  I love everything about this man.  He is my best friend and I love that I am sealed to him for eternity.

Day 7: Someone whos impacted me the most

 I'm going to exclude my parents because it's obvious that I am the way I am mostly because of them...  So besides my parents, this guy right here has impacted me the most.

 

He keeps life interesting :)

Christmas is over

Last year, Jared and his dad started this nice little way of saying goodbye to Christmas.  When they take the Christmas tree down, they bring it to the back yard and light it on fire.  Yesterday was that day.  Last year, they chopped the tree up before setting it ablaze, but this year they thought it would be a real good idea if they stood it up in the fire pit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AIxBat8lbU

The aftermath

Shortly after I stopped recording... as in about 5 seconds, we heard sirens. Lots and lots of sirens. Jared quickly doused the tree with a ton of water to cool it down and dragged it to the very back of the yard and we all ran inside... after I snapped this picture of the first to arrive on the scene, teehee

It was nice to learn that the fire dept. here has a pretty good response time. They were at our street within about 3 minutes.

In total, there were about 3 cop cars, 2 big fire engines, one little engine and a paramedic that showed up.  A fireman came up to our door and told us there had been reports of fire and smoke in this area and then asked if he could look in our backyard.  Jared played it cool and let him through the side gate so he could check it out (thank goodness he had the good sense to clean up the mess slash that it was dark slash that the tree was burned in his parents backyard).  I'm not gonna lie, my heart was pounding a million miles an hour because I'm pretty sure you get a hefty fine for doing something like this.  After a minute he came back out and everybody took off.

Guess what we're NOT doing next year...

Holes

I love this man

Whenever we go to the beach...

He digs a hole.

This is his best work yet.

By the time he was finished it was about 6 feet deep and 8 feet wide.

He's very proud of himself.

We plan on having more trips like this in the very near future.

Boys will be boys!

Ever since I married Jared three and a half years ago he has been begging and pleading for a Suzuki LTR450.  Well, today we finally bought it!  He is as happy as a little boy on Christmas morning if not happier, haha.  We got a great deal on it and as soon as we got it home we pulled it out of the truckbed and he started riding it around the backyard.  Silly Jarebear!  He's all excited because I let him get paddle tires so he can ride around in the sand at Glamis, but I also let him get the flag that lights up so that you can see it in the dark and I let him get his coveted pipe and cherry bomb that adds a whopping 3 or 4 horsepower.  Boys and their toys.  The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys... I have never heard a truer saying.  I was laughing b/c when we were buying all the parts and accessories I was talking to the cashier about how Jared is really expensive to be married to and she said her husband is too.  We decided that men are definately more expensive than women.  Yep.  It's a fact.  Us women, we have our Coach purses and Tiffany's necklaces but those are nothing when compared to a 4 wheeler, or that truck that you just have to have, or all of these things that you have to buy now to make that truck or 4 wheeler that you just bought look cool, or sound bad ass.  But you know what?  It's all worth it because then you have a happy husband who thinks he is the luckiest guy in the world to be married to such a great gal. :) 
So anyway, I took some pictures of my handsome man and his new toy

hahaha, just look at his face!

He's just so excited!!!

But this shot, yep, this shot is definately my favorite.  You can see the five year old that just got the exact hot wheels that he wanted AND a track to play with it on and he couldn't be happier. :)

hahaha, he just can't stop smiling!  He's so cute :)

And here she is!  The coveted Suzuki LTR450.

Apparently he can't wait 5 minute to install the pipe.  Boys are so funny!

So I'm sure we will be having another venture to Glamis in the very new future to break in this new member of the family.  I'm super excited to go again b/c I seriously had so much fun when we went last weekend.  Now we just need to get a toy hauler, hahahahaha.