New Ward and New House...ish

Today was supposed to be my first official day in our new ward. Instead, I spent my first official day in a ward I didn't belong to, and then spent my first official day in our new ward, which was also my second day in the Graham ward.

Official and technical are two totally different things, btw. And today... it was official. Donald and I went to the Graham ward a few weeks ago.

The Graham ward clerk took 20 minutes intensely consulting with the other ward's clerk on which ward we belonged in. Not only were there 3 different wards in our area, but there were 3 different stakes. Is it Graham? Or the Elk Plain ward? Or perhaps Spanaway?

Their final decision? None of the above. We were sent to another building.

I went the Pioneer Valley ward today... but guess what? We're not in that ward either. No worries though, they gladly informed us that we would be in the Gem Heights ward, which meets in the same building. He then took me to that Bishop's office. One interrupted Bishopric meeting, eight men, and twenty minutes later... I was sent back to the Graham ward.

...and that's leaving out a lot of exciting details.

Apparently we're 200 yards away from one ward, and mere blocks away from two others.

All is well that ends well, and I love our new ward!

Oh, and being in a new ward involves one huge detail. Yes, we have a house! Well... sorta. We're under contract for a house that's being built to our specifications in a new community out there in Graham. Unless it fails inspection or there's a freak gas leak at the site and everything blows up, we'll be moving into it in early November!!

I've been hesitant to blog about it, because the last house we were under contract with fell through. This one, however, has nothing to fall through OVER. I mean... it's brand new! The only downside to this place is that it's not on 1.21 acres, but we're coping.

I have some pictures, but obviously they're not of our house. It's a model home in Maple Valley that's the same floor plan we're getting. We're getting the white trim like it has, so it looks almost exactly like ours will.

The pictures were taken with my camera's phone, which explains the odd angles and not being able to capture the entire exterior in one shot.

The entry-way, viewed from the stairs.

The powder room, stairs, and entry-way, viewed from the dining room.

Dining room to the left, kitchen straight ahead, back door, and living room to the right.

Living room.

Upstairs computer nook/loft.

The master bedroom. Door on the far left, my closet down the mini-hall and on the left, Donald's on the right, master bath at the end.

Only two months!

My 4 a.m. Name Change

This is the blog of Katrina and Donald Winn. The blog's domain name (or whatever you call it!) has long since been katrinamaye.blogspot.com. I've been aware for some time that this needed updating. I changed the banner several months ago to at least reflect both of our names, but the problem with changing the blog's actual URL until now was two fold.

1. I had no idea how to change the URL. A Minor detail.

2. I could not, for the life of me, come up with a cute name. And believe me, I tried. For over a year, I have tried. Even my own name doesn't flow with it (Say it out loud: Katrina Maye Winn). Having enlisted the help of friends from time to time, and we always agreed: there's just nothing catchy out there that works with "Winn" without sounding ridiculous. Maybe we all fell victim to a group brain-fart, or maybe my friends just weren't clever enough. I wouldn't rule either out.

Well, I jumped those hurdles and we have a new domain name. How'd I do that? I got bored and starting figuring this website out for the first time. Once I learned how to change the URL, I changed it. Just like that, with no thought. Such things are pretty easy at 4 a.m.

I didn't think, I just did. Story of my life, and it usually works for me.

aPairOfRealWinners.blogspot.com

Orange County Mud Run and Eco-Fest

Last month Donald we took a trip down to California to visit some of our good friends and family. While there, Donald did the Orange County Mud Run on a team with 3 of his friends. It was the most hilarious thing I've ever seen him do.

For four young men who are native to SoCal (two of whom aren't even white) they certainly are a very pasty bunch.

From left to right: Adam, Rudy, Donald, and Albert.

The only place to pin their numbers was the tooshie. Justin didn't seem to mind helping out.

I, however, did so reluctantly.

It was just a 5k course, and wasn't very difficult (which I'm sure is much easier for me to say, since I didn't run it!), but they made the most of it!

This one was taken toward the start of the race, before they met the mud!

Okay, bad news. The mid pits weren't placed in an area that was accessible to bystanders. Bummer, right? I really was looking forward to watching them prance through the stuff. As you can see here, though, there definitely was a mud pit. However, I'm told it wasn't a very deep or intense one. No, they just LOOK like they had to swim through it. They apparently didn't fight against the stuff. They SAVORED their time in the mud, and got well acquainted with it.

My husband never does things half-hearted, and playing in the mud is no exception!

Now we come to my favorite part of the race. This is where everyone ELSE decided to cheat. After they crossed that little red rope, everyone was supposed to CRAWL through the sand.


Did they all? Only at first...










Crawling 15ish feet must have seemed too hard or boring for everyone else. Some people were even going around the obstacle entirely. Not Mr. Integrity though. Donald believed in the spirit of the race.















Do you love how he folded his shorts over in a sexy yet functional diaper-style?

He low-crawled through the un-fun people. While they stood impatiently in the congestion, he stealthily worked his way through the small crowd. Cheaters never prosper!

Look closely, and you can see Albert stuffing sand down Donald's shorts.

Then they went through some tubes before running off to finish the rest of the course.

The aftermath:

They stood in line for at least half an hour to hose off, and then we called it a day. They ran out of T-shirts in Donald's size, so he grabbed one for me. Isn't it cute? I think so. His loss is my gain!