Homage to an amazing summer.

Laura is blogging again and it hasn't been 6 months!

Watch out.

Alright. Let's just go ahead and get down to the nitty gritty. This is what we have been up to this summer:

We went to Boise to visit Matt's dad, Kim and Nikki. We had so much fun hanging out, EATING, sight-seeing and FISHING!!! WOOO!!!

"Fish OOWNNNNN!"

Fishing at Arrowrock Reservoir

Doofus.

Little dude!

Wells Fargo Building

Boise is the city of trees.

Matt is related to Arnold Williams....

I took this picture, and then went down into the gift shop to see the EXACT photo that I took for $75. It's a good thing I'm going into photography. That would have just made me sick. Haha

I love that the streets here are separated by a median of trees.

Idaho's State Capitol

Sadly, the next 6 pictures are the only ones I got of our trip down to Vegas. Haha! We had a blast down there though... Hunter was home for a while, but while we were there, he officially left for Afghanistan. We had to say good bye to him for a while. That sucked.... But we did lots of other things too! Elin and Derek taught us how to long board, we had Yogurtland for the first time, had barbeques, saw the whole fam, visited grandparents, went to Jersey Boys, swam, bought bikes, etc. It was sooooooo fun to visit Vegas again and see my family!

After Vegas, we drove up to Duck Creek, Utah to stay at my parents' cabin for a few days... We did some hiking, quading, and hanging out. It was so nice up there and we had a freaking blast. The next few pics are of us hiking at Mammoth Caves. What a ton of fun.

Tiny hole to climb out.

Miniature 99 cent flashlight that we used to navigate the stinking caves!

We had to crawl through that LITTLE hole to get into the cave!

Neat ice shot...

We were standing on this piece of ice that had about a foot of nothing below it... Scary.

This was a pretty steep chuck of ice to climb up...

We got a little duuuurty.

Me new Merrells..... :( But they cleaned up nicely.

Neat ivy covered building in Salt Lake. Saw it while visiting Grandpa Ed on the way home from Vegas.

I always catch the first fish... But then it's my last.... Matt's dad came to Blackfoot for his mom's 90th birthday party... But it's not a trip to Blackfoot until you hit the Snake River. So we went a-fishin. And for my birthday, Matt's dad bought me a year long hunting-fishing combo license! That's what I'm talkin about!!! :) Oh, and I've used it too....

That was his spot. Don't go near it... Haha By the way, nice boots, Durell. Haha

The fishin man always catches the most... It's alright. He earned it.

Matt's dad came over again that summer for another weekend to help Matt fix up his pride and joy, and get "her" (why do guys refer to cars as female?) runnin. After 3 hours, they succeeded and then they took a victory spin up and down the highway. I hesitate to say that I've never seen Matt happier....

His long time buddy, Marcus also came over to lend a mechanic's hand.

Marcus is such a good friend.

"Now whatcha got here is a loose turbine rotator shaft. Whatcher gonna wanna do it get your circuit ratchet and make sure it's all topped off and bottomed out" What?

Matt and Marcus.

In May, Matt had a company party in Idaho Falls. We barbecued ate snow cones, laughed at little children and went to the zoo! Elin and I were in charge of face painting. We had a blast. These kids came up with the funniest things for us to paint on their faces. I was expecting flowers and spiders and butterflies... But the vert first kid to come up to me said, "Can I please have a porcupine?" SURE! :) It turned out pretty neat too.

Elin showing off her mad skills...

Keith uploaded this photo up to FB immediately.

Freaky zoo mascot.

How sweet are those colors??

Ha.

Peacock! He's the cock of the walk.

Have you ever touched a deer? I didn't think so. :) My parents came up to visit for a few days! We went to Mesa Falls, went hiking, ate at KFC, went to a community 4th of July party, were proud Americans, lit off illegal fireworks, etc. You know, the normal Warren business...Oh we also went to Yellowstone's Bear World! WOO!

Widdle baby goat!

What the H are we doing, you ask? Well, "The Hustle" came on, so naturally, we all had to jump out of the car in Idaho Falls and do it. My mom taught us. It was freaking awesome.

Do do do do do do do do do!

You can see that we bailed out of the car to catch this one.

Mesa Falls

Her name is Petunia. Sorry Elin, I just named her.

I've had a lot of time to hang out with the cousins. And believe me, I did. I love Matt's family, and I'm so glad that they have accepted me as one of their own! As for the picture... She is much taller than I. That is sad.

WOOOO! I love my girls!

My girls. After swimming down at the water hole. Yes, we actually have a water hole. Complete with rope swing, drunk idiots and all.

We drove down to Utah right through a lightening storm.... And then we were blessed with this little treasure.

We went fishing with the Gunderson's at Carrey lake in Carrey, Idaho. We must have cause close to 100 fish that day, but only kept the one's worth eating.... B-L-A-S-T. 'Nuff said.

We had a fish fry that night. Uh-mazing!

Matt caught a baby fish!!! :)

How tiny is this little dude!!!!!

I love fishing. Seriously.

Almost there...

Gundy and Matt, getting prep'd. To be destroyed by the only girl there.

Caleb's pumped.... about being able to pump. Haha

Can I just take a minute to tell you that Matt and I have the BEST family in the world? Susan, G, Jessica, Lindsay, Kaitlyn and Christian all came over for days on end and helped us get these walls scraped down to the latham plaster.... Then we primed them and then painted. They are troopers, and I definitely would not have been able to complete this project without them. I love them so much! :)

Jessica... Before the vinegar fumes overtook us all.

Almost finished!

Pulling 15 hour work days. Just on the house.....

At 7 Peaks for the Nate Family reunion. Obviously the sun got to our skin AND our minds. we had a blast.

I don't know what compels us to take pics like this, but we do, and we like them.

Me and my cousin, Brock! :)

How presh are they?

At the beginning of the summer, Matt came home from work and surprised me with 6 new little buddies! They are pretty huge now, and are about ready to start laying eggs!

Apple tree...

These are a couple of my beet plants... Do you see the little buddies ready for their close ups? I'm going to be honest, gardening has got to be one of the most satisfying activities around. You are actually growing FOOD!!! And then to watch it as it ripens and then pick it and eat it... I can't get over how excited I am about my garden...

I'm not sure if this is one of the sugar snap pea or lincoln pea plants, but it's growing right along!

The radishes before I killed them. And ate them. And enjoyed them. :)

These are my spoils after just a few weeks!

And that's about it for now. I'm still just straightening up, doing yard work, and working on finishing the basement before school starts next week.

Whew... Any questions? :)

HERE IT IS...

Okay, this post will be mostly pics, and not so much gab. I would like to point out that this is in no way a complete tour, as our home is still a mess. We moved in literally 2 days ago, so you get the cool stuff. So far. I will also point out that this is a memoir to the reasons I bought this house.

Aaaaaaaand now we will commence the long awaited picture-fest of the new Cutler Casa. Enjoy. (The pics aren't in order. I'm too lazy to do that... Deal with it.)

Sorry Carrie, here's a shot from the front!

Fire pit. WOOT!

Original hard-wood floors. I'm in love.

Bathroom. It's actually bigger than is looks. Bead Board. YES.

Thanks again Momma Gili for the new bed spread!!!

The bedroom. Looks country, right?

Old, jacked up walls are the best.

Door to Matt's domain, aka shop. Don't mess with his space.

Bet you wish you had a box car on your property? It's not the shop, in case you were wondering...

This thing is seriously sweet.

Everyone's go-to favorite flowers. The daisy. :)

Can you spot one of our chickens hiding in the foliage? :) Hint: it's grey and looks like a rock.

Door to the garage. Is anyone else waiting for Emma Smith to walk out?

I love the established landscaping. There is some work to do here and there, but the perennials are awesome!

Random, but I also love the kitchen drawer handles.

Red. Kitchen. Door. Obsessed.

AND THIS IS IT. I love this house because it's 100 years old, and all the hardware stayed! I've always wanted a home that was old and had TONS of character and a story, but you can only find those back east nowadays. Well, my friends, I found it. Woot!

This is the view of the front walk from the front door.

Eastern Idaho Sunsets..... Mmmmm. From the front porch.

A couple more shots...

Lawn

And lawn...

And lawn. We've got big plans for this lawn though... 100 ft. slip n slide in the backyard, and in the front, volleyball net. Eh? And all of those shots are completely separate parts of the yard... Whew! 2 acres of AWESOME.

HUGE maple trees. They shade the house in the afternoon. Keeps the place COOL. And Stacie, I already told Matt that he's not allowed near these at night.... We know what happens...

So that, my friends, is the beginnings of something wonderful. We are absolutely thrilled at our find. There were a few criteria we were looking for in a house: land, in the country (so we could keep our chickens), on a quiet street, old house, shop, yada yada.... Point is, we got EVERYTHING we wanted, and so much more, and for such a great deal! We are definitely blessed, and we are reminded of that every time we turn on the water and feel that crazy awesome water pressure.

And..... The end. Any questions?

For KELLIE :)

I'm not dead. Well, I feel dead after the past couple of days, but I can assure all of you, I'm well. :)

I've had a post in the draft section for quite some time, but I wanted to ensure the enjoyment of all readers by adding pictures as well, but I haven't gotten around to it. But I will......

Matt and I just bought another house, so we are working VERY HARD on getting it all fixed up and ready to move into next week. We've pulled 15 hour work days on that house for the past week. Luckily, Matt has pretty much the greatest family ever, and Susan, Jess, Lindsay, GENTRAL, Kaitlyn and Christian have been so gracious (and patient) in helping us get this house situated. Oh, and thanks Mark for sharing your wonderful wife with us. :)

I'll go ahead and post pics of the house soon too. Lemme just say.... It's freaking awesome. 100 year old farm house. Hence, the work. But it is going to be worth it. Three words... Skeleton key doorknobs.

So, that's what I've been up to lately. I hope that suffices for now, Kellie. :) I'll get those pics up soon....

April 2010

A few exciting things have happened in the last little while.

A few days ago, Matt and I went to his uncle's cattle ranch to help out for the day. We had our respective responsibilities: Matt- wrestle the calves into the shoot, Laura- once the calves are branded and tagged, give them shots.

It was such a fun day with Mark, Susan and the cousins. We got to ride horses, eat some freaking sweet chow, and learn that it's fun to work on a cattle ranch... For the day. :) We also finally got sunburned. We've been waiting for that.

Susan got some awesome pics of the events, so I'll be sure to load those once I get my hands on em.

Secondly, I've had an exciting 2 weeks, art-wise. A couple of weeks ago, I submitted 2 of my Black & White photos (from the B&W film photography class at UNLV) to an art magazine here at ISU, Black Rock & Sage. The magazine is comparable to The Vagus Nerve at UNLV. Well, I'd been turned down plenty of times regarding my artwork, so I was getting myself ready for rejection, again. Well, We got back from Utah for Easter and I had an email waiting in my inbox congratulating me for having my photo chosen to be published in the magazine! The magazine will be coming out soon, and when it does, I'll post a link to the online version of the issue.

AND THEN, if I wasn't excited enough already, some more good news cam my way. I also submitted a few of my paintings to the Undergraduate Exhibition Show that ISU puts on once a year. I went down to the gallery a few days later, where they posted all the works that would be featured in the show, and LO AND BEHOLD, Laura Cutler was on the list!!! If you have read my blog, you'll know that I had a post a few months ago that went over my life goals. Well, one of them was to get my art in a gallery. Well, check.

I called Matt AS SOON as I read that my work was accepted, and he was very excited for me. What a wonderful guy. He surprised mr by taking me to dinner and then to the opening of the show.

Proof that my shiz was here... In a gallery.

I was excited. But I was sure no one was watching when Matt snapped this pic...

Later that night, we went over to our friends' house. On the way to their house, we always see this house...

And Matt wanted me to add the caption, "How fast is your house?" or was it "My house is faster than yours..."

I don't remember...