Running

Growing up my mom went running every single day of her life. She ran marathons, my dad ran marathons, my sister followed their footsteps, and I could never understand why anyone would EVER do that to themselves. I've established that nobody really likes it, and people that run are just masochists. Think about it, when was the last time you saw somebody running with a big fat smile on their face? Never! People don't really like it, they just do it because they have to.

However, once in a while (like maybe once a year.....if that) I get the urge to "go running" which for me is not really running, it's like run for 2 minutes and walk for 5, run for 2, walk for 5. Usually it's a stress relief thing, a get out of my house and listen to music and ignore real life situation. The funny thing is, that running makes me crave JoDee Messina. Not sure why, but it does. So, I always listen to JoDee Messina when I "go running".

Yesterday I decided I wanted to "go running" when I got home. So, I ripped my JoDee CD and put it on my ipod. I drove over to Liberty Park and started the run. I've heard that Liberty Park is a mile if you go around the path. So, I figured I'd just do a quick mile and go home and be happy and satisfied. I cranked JoDee and ran about half of it and thought I was going to die. Pretty pathetic if you ask me. I walked some, and ran some more, but ouch! I did feel good afterward though, I just think it's sad that it was that hard for me. Maybe I'll do it again, and maybe I'll get good at it. Who knows. In the meantime, I decided I really like Liberty Park. There's a pool, tennis courts, Tracy Aviary, and tons of "park", ponds, birds, etc etc etc. It might be my new favorite place.....we'll see. In the mean time, I'm sticking to the idea that nobody really likes running, and that I kindof enjoyed it last night, even though it hurts today. :)

The PERFECT weekend

Yes, we had the perfect weekend. It's true, there's no point in trying to top it now, because as long as I live, I will never have a better weekend.

Friday night after some debate as to whether or not it was worth it, Josh and I decided to go to Alexander Lake. Josh has this thing about chicken, monopoly, and mountains. I guess when he was a kid they would get KFC and go play monopoly in the canyon. Anyway, I've tried more than once to fulfill that, but it's been a little rough. We've done monopoly, and we've tried for chicken, but it's hard! So, last time we went to Alexander Lake we stopped at KFC on our way and ate in the car. The problem was, they got the order all wrong.

Josh: "Can I have a #2 with wedges instead of mashed potatoes and a biscuit"
Order guy: "kshht (in the radio voice) that's a #2 with mashed potatoes, no biscuit."
Josh: "no a #2 no mashed potatoes, and a biscuit"
OG: "kshht what to drink?"
Josh: "lemonade."
OG: "kshht got it. anything else?"
Josh: "Yes, a 3 piece leg and thigh combo, with corn and cole-slaw"
OG: "kshht leg & thigh combo, slaw and potatoes."
Josh: "no. corn and cole-slaw."
OG: "kshht got it, kshht what to drink?"
Josh: "lemonade."
OG: "please pull up."

We pull up, pay the guy, and he hands us 1 drink, and the bag of food.

Josh: "Didn't we get 2 drinks?"
OG: "kshht (now he's just making the noise with his mouth, it's not the radio sound) they only come with meals."
Josh: "didn't we get 2 meals?"
OG: "no, you got a meal and a combo."
Josh: "you asked us what kind of drinks we wanted twice."
OG: "didn't you want lemonade?"
Josh: "yes. 2 lemonades."
OG: "you only get 1 drink, they only come with combos."

At this point Josh is beyond frustrated and decides to just drive off. As we drive off we look at the order, Josh wanted 3 chicken parts and only got 2, the 1 lemonade we did get was water, I didn't get a biscuit, and they gave him mashed potatoes instead of cole-slaw. We were disappointed, but in a hurry, so we went anyway.

This time we decided we'd give it another try. We pull up to the window, hesitating and trying to decide if this is the best choice for us. We were brave enough and pulled up to the order place.

OG: "kkkshhht. may I take your order?"
Josh: "one moment please."
OG: "kkkkshhht. ok. That'll be 95 cents for the first moment, each moment after that will be 83 cents, and the moments will begin counting at the beep. beeeep."
Me and Josh look at each other, laugh, and knew that it would be OK this time. We both got what we wanted, NO mashed potatoes, YES corn and and cole-slaw, NO water, just lemonade. It was perfect.

We continued our journey, and listened to a book on the way, had great conversation, laughed, and enjoyed the drive. We pulled into our camp site just as it was getting dark, set up the tent, built a fire, and had a great time! We poked the fire and made s'mores and looked at the stars, and hung out until time for bed. In our search for firewood, we walked down by my family's camp site, and found a painted rock in the lake. :) My family rocks.

First thing in the morning we built another fire, cooked breakfast (yay for camping pancakes and eggs!) and then decided it was time for a game. We broke out monopoly and Josh pretty well kicked my butt at that game. Then after sitting in the sun for so long we decided that we could go for a swim. Wow, what an adventure.

We brought a tube with us, and wanted to float on it. It was big enough for both of us, but we still had to balance. We launched from right by our camp site, which didn't have a beautiful shore, but we were brave. It was slimy and muddy and dirty on the bottom. Somehow we both got on the tube, and used lily pads for oars. Josh kept trying to tip it, and leaning on my side, I kept laughing and telling him to stay on his side. Finally we both jumped off and it was COLD! But so much fun. After coming in and drying off we decided we were ready to go home, so we packed up and headed home from the beautifullest place in the world. *sigh*

Saturday night we wanted to play games with someone, so we called Katy and Randy. They fed us dinner (nothing like inviting yourself over to dinner...) and taught us how to play pinnacle. Wow, that's a good game. Kate and I kicked trash, and the boys were ready to go home with their tails between their legs. EXCEPT that we played spades afterward. Turns out Josh and Randy rock at spades. We taught them how to play suicide, and oh man, that was funny. They kicked our trash and Josh and I headed home.

Sunday morning I went visiting teaching (yay! I'm a grown up) and Josh went to the most productive missionary meeting we've ever had. He got all of the things I needed him too, and now I don't feel so bad about going to my meeting on Thursday. Hopefully it will be a success. After church we made dinner, and Josh started chasing me around the house. Before long we were wrestling and laughing HYSTERICALLY. We played games, and laughed and laughed until everything we said/did was funny. I love being in that mood. Josh has the greatest air-sucking laugh of all time and we had a great night. We really had tons of fun, and went to bed early. So, this morning we weren't that tired.

I LOVE weekends like this! I feel like I could take over the world, and that makes me happy. I'm excited for a new week and to finish up everything I've now started. :) Happy happy weekend!

Death by a salesman

A couple of weeks ago, I was sitting at home, minding my own business (aka watching so you think you can dance) when the doorbell rang. Now, because I have no friends that just "drop by" I was 99% sure it was "the mormons" as I so affectionately call them. Only the mormons stop by unannounced. So, I do the quick checklist (as I stand up to make sure I look appropriate for door answering) home teachers were here last week, visiting teachers haven't come in months, I paid my tithing, I have a calling, Josh has a calling, we both did our home/visiting teaching, it's the beginning of the month, neither of us are teaching next week.......by this time I'm walking toward the door mostly out of curiosity and as soon as I open it my heart sank. I knew immediately I had made a mistake. I tried not to let it show in my face, but I wanted to rewind the last 30 seconds and go hide in the back room pretending I wasn't home. There, on my porch stood a "poor starving college student, just trying to make a difference, change my life and earn some money so I can go to college, no I'm not asking for a donation, in fact you'll get more out of this purchase than you ever would have dreamed possible 20-something year old door-to-door salesman". I hesitated before opening the glass door, and stood in the doorway so I wouldn't have to let him in.

DTDD(door-to-door-dude): "why you must be the princess of the house."
Me: what does he mean princess? is he trying to be nice to me by telling me i look young? that's not flattering until you're like 40, does he think I look 40? oh my gosh, do I look 40? "Uhh....I guess you could say that."
DTDD: "Well is your mom here? I have something here that could change her life."
Me: Duh. He meant that he's been talking to people in my neighborhood who have kids my age. I'm such a dork. "Umm...actually I'm the grown-up here."
DTDD: "You at such a young age! Amazing, you're the queen of the castle then!"
Way too much enthusiasm. Since I'm still regretting opening the door and not quite following everything he's saying, he's speaking WAY to fast. The fact that he's from Chicago and doesn't speak the same language is Utah, doesn't help.
Me: "I guess you could say that."
DTDD: "Well let me show you this revolutionary product............"
Me: Oh no, I've let him start his sales pitch, I need to tell him now that he's wasting his time because I can't afford whatever he's selling. Is he ever going to breathe? I wonder if I should listen to what he's saying.
DTDD: "-So, do you?"
Me: Do I what? Help! What did I miss? One wrong answer and he'll launch again, how do I get him off my doorstep. "I'm really not interested in your product. But good luck."
DTDD: "Why you haven't even seen what it does yet! Is this your front door?" He points to the front door.
Me: Nope, that's my pet dog. Here's your sign. "Ummm.......yes."
DTDD: "Well, that is a shame, would you look at these waterspots?"
He then proceeds to demonstrate all the abilities of this super-duper cleaning stuff. It's perfectly natural, safe, and will replace all of the harsh chemicals in your home. "You don't want your kids getting into those hard chemicals, do you mama?"
Me: Don't call me mama you sico. "I don't have kids."
He washed a part of my front door, then felt the need to prove it more since I obviously wasn't going to buy it. He rattled off a list of chemicals that it would replace, he was talking so fast I couldn't even understand what he was saying, but it was an impressive list. "How long has that spot been there?"
Me: What spot? Don't point out my dirty house. Oh good, he's pointing to the driveway. "Longer than I have."
DTDD: "Well, with this revolutionary new product I can take the rust spots off your driveway. Yes, that's right, just one squirt, a little scrub with my little brother's toothbrush and look at that come right off."
Me: "Wow! Rust off the driveway! That's pretty cool." How did I get out on my driveway with this guy? This is crazy, but did you see that? And he did clean my front door....and he actually drank some of this.....it's strong and safe and natural. Josh would be pretty impressed with this stuff.
DTDD: "All this, this solution is only 2 tbsp concentrate, and the rest of this squirt bottle is filled with water. In face, I'll even mix your first bottle for you."
Me: "How much?"
DTDD: "You can get these 3 enormous bottles, plus these scrubbies, toothbrushes and squirt bottles, for just $100."
Me: "My husband would kill me if he comes home and I tell him I spent $100 on a window cleaner."
DTDD: "This is not just a window clean-"
Me: "I don't have $100 for you. Sorry. I'd love to take your card, see a website, or order it another day, because I really think it's cool, I just can't give you $100."
DTDD: "Well then, today is your lucky day. I'll sell you just one bottle for $30*"
*plus tax, title licence, and fees, in only 4 easy payments of $29.99
Me: "I can spend $30, that's a lot of cleaner. Come in and I'll write you a check."
DTDD: "You don't have cash?"
Me: "Do I look like I have cash?"
DTDD: "Of course, you're so young, living in such a nice neighborhood......"
Me: Again with the flattery, that's weird. "Check or nothing."
DTDD: "OK. Check it is. Let me write up your receipt."
I give him the money and he goes on his way. I suddenly have the desire to clean everything, too bad it only lasted long enough to clean my tub, then I didn't want to anymore. However, I do have a HUGE bottle of cleaning stuff, that I can drink if I want to because it's safe. It doesn't have that horrible strong smell like when you clean with other stuff, AND it took hard water off all of the glass in my house. It works wonders, and I am impressed with it, I just felt dumb for buying it.

Enter Josh: I bought some cleaner from a door to door salesman tonight. Josh chuckles like "oh you poor little thing, got sucked into buying a piece of crap because of a salesman."
I quickly defend myself. "No, it's really cool. Look at this clean spot on the front door. I didn't finish cleaning it yet, but look!" Josh just laughs some more and we forget about it.

Fast forward to last night. I pull in the driveway from work and Josh is all excited to see me. "I have to show you the coolest thing we got at work today!" He whips out a bottle of the cleaning stuff. "They did this demonstration and you can use this stuff on ANYTHING in the whole house, plus it's safe! The guy even licked it!"
Me: "I know! Isn't that cool? AND it will take rust off the driveway, not that I'm going to scrub the rust off the driveway, but I could if I wanted to!"

It just goes to show 2 things, #1 DTDD can suck you in faster than anyone else I know. I just wish I had gotten him to clean more things in my house. #2 When you know the mormons don't need you, it's probably not them.

Aaahhhhhh!!!

It was one of those days yesterday. I had way too much to do and way too little time. I was supposed to go to the Collin Raye concert with my super-cool mother-in-law. Then work was CRAZY. I have 12 projects sitting on my desk that all have to be done yesterday afternoon and I was stressed. I needed to finish my family history names because it was the last day, I needed to go grocery shopping so my poor husband could eat lunch, make lunches, make dinner, clean my house, do 3 batches of laundry, water the lawn, pick the garden, plan my lesson for our missionary meeting, file my mound of paperwork, pay the bills, plan my primary lesson, AND I really wanted to read a couple of books I just got. Instead I came home and cried and my husband was nice to me. He laid down with me for a few minutes while I cried because I was too stressed, and then I fell asleep. He woke me up right before I left, and I had to call mom to tell her I couldn't go to the concert because I had a huge work project. So, I worked on a couple of my projects for work, I got my family history names done, watered the lawn, changed the laundry (only once though), went grocery shopping, and made Josh's lunch for today. It doesn't sound like I did that much, but I really was busy the whole night, only I didn't feel good about. Sometimes I feel great after anight like that, like I've just conquered the world, but this time, I just wanted to cry the whole time. I was just stressed and anxious and not happy about the whole thing. Blah blah blah!!! I didn't want to do any of the things I was doing, I wanted to take a long bath, read a book, take a nap, go to a concert and just relax. But, today I feel a little more like my life is in control...not completely, but closer. I just plain tired, that's all there is to it.

Technology advances

First of all you have to know that I "heart" the Salt Lake County Library System. You have access to like a million different libraries and you just pick a book, put it on hold anywhere you want it, and go pick it up. It's fantastic!

Anyway, I had a book on hold, and went to pick it up last night. Pulled it off the hold shelf, and went to use the self checkout. Now, I've used my fair share of self checkouts before, but nothing like this. It's just a touchscreen computer, and no scanner or anything else. I fancy myself somewhat of a computer literate person and thought I'd have no trouble with the cool checkout system. So, I push the "touch screen to start" button, and it flashes that I need to put my library card into the counter. Yes, that's right, into a tiny slot in the countertop. So I do. It sucks my card in (not like I'm putting it in and swiping it back out, it just sucks it in. I jump a little (like an old lady who's never had a computer talk to her and it does for the first time), and then decide it's OK that the countertop ate my library card (sounds like a good title for a children's book huh?). In the meantime I had set my books down on the counter (while I dug through my purse to find my library card which is topic enough for a whole other blog....) then, the screen pops up with a notification that I have a book on hold. I'm thinkin' man this computer is pretty dang smart, knows who I am and what I want to read! I say "OK" because I (like the computer) already knew that I had a book on hold and had even located it on the hold shelf all by myself. The computer tells me which books I have selected. Keep in mind that only one of the books I had was on hold, and as far as I knew, the computer had no way of knowing what other books I had wandered around and selected from the shelves. But it knew, right off the top of it's head. It popped up with the title, author, and isbn on each book I had. I'm thinkin' Wow, this thing is good! then it pops up with the instructions, that I'm supposed to set each book that I want to check out on the counter in stacks no larger than 4 and it lists them. I look for the barcode reader, and it isn't there, I kinda look around a bit trying to figure out how this is working, maybe it's a really fine tuned scale and it knows the exact weight, or number of pages of each book and figures it out that way. Maybe there's a scanner in the ceiling. Maybe that librarian has extra good vision can read from across the room and is just typing in what the title is to impress people. Maybe there's an x-ray under the counter and it reads the barcode through the counter. Maybe - and the nice male-librarian comes up and asks if it's working.
Me: I look down embarrassed and say "yes, I just wanted to see how it worked, so I was playing with it."
Library-man: "OK, just wanted to make sure it was doing it's job."
Old library-lady: "there are microchips in each book. When you put them on the reader it knows what you have."
Me: Feeling like I'm about 100 years old and should've known that. Thinking this is worse than the time the kid at the grocery store asked me if I "wanted help out to my car with that MA'AM". "Nice."
old library-lady: "Yep, technology has made some pretty significant advances these last few years." Like this is old news and I'm way behind the times.
Me: "Sure has. Thanks for your help!" yeah right, in the last few years, what do you know, you still use bobby pins in your hair! I'm way more technologically advanced than you are, and I know it. I'm the queen of technology, I invented microchips in the books that the scale can read! mean old library lady.

Now wouldn't it be cool if that happened at the grocery store checkout. No more of that annoying voice "an unexpected item is in the bagging area, please remove the item." "item removed from bagging area, please replace the item."

Bourne

Oh man. Coolest movie of the summer. No doubt about it. Saturday night we went to see Bourne Ultimatum and it was SOOOO cool! I have loved the series, but that one just keeps getting cooler and cooler. The stunts, fights, and story were awesome. I was pumped after seeing it, that's the sign of a good movie. We had to sit on the 2nd row of the theater cuz we got there right before it started, but it was still really good. Josh said he got a little sick watching it, but I just loved it. Highly recommended viewing.

Alexander Lake

Yes, it was everything I hoped for and oh so much more. :)

Turns out that we got off work early Friday afternoon and headed up to the lake. So, we had time to swim and hang out on Friday night. We looked at stars and I saw a shooting star for the first time in my whole entire life. We built the raft, the zipline was already up, we ate banana boats, what more do you want?

The little boys were HILARIOUS and Tyler (Sarah's youngest) was the mascot for this year. We looked at pictures after and he and Ryann were the subject of most of the pictures. It was good times. Tyler kept throwing "wocks" (rocks) in the lake because they were like "bombs!" He was hilarious. He's just wander around gather rocks and throwing them in the lake.

Right when we got there I was ready to jump in the lake, so I did, and then we waited while the big strong boys built the raft. Sarah and Katy were nice enough to get in the lake with me so I didn't feel so lonely. They're nice. We swam and swam, and played in the water. Big Josh (he got a new nickname because both my nephew and husband were there, so we had to start making the distinction between the two of them) played with his guns and then even he got in the water! The in-laws in my family are notorious for boycotting all cold wet activities at the lake, but Josh wanted to play and I was SOO glad he did! It's certainly my favorite part of the lake, so I was relieved that he had fun doing it too. Randy is the other brave in-law and spends as much time in the lake as anybody else. He's brave too.That night we made banana boats (which were a big hit, thanks Reilleys!) and sang songs around the batter-powered-lantern. We couldn't have any fires at all, which was funny because some people across the lake did, and the little boys kept yelling at them "you're breaking the law!" wanted to make sure they knew that they were being really naughty and when their mom's found out they'd be in big trouble. :) We sang some really funny songs and I learned some things about my family. There's this horrible song that we all grew up singing and I realized just how horrible it is.

"I'm a villan a dirty rotten villan and I leave a trail of blood where e're I go (I go)

My chief delight is to pick a fight And I beat little kids on the head 'til they're dead.

I have gotten a rep for being rotten I put poison in my mother's shredded wheat (her wheat)

I put a stain on the family name And I eat-raw-meat!"

The best part is that I was like 10 or 12 years old before I knew that it wasn't the same song as
"I'm a mormon, yes I am!" Horrible. But we also know a lot of nice songs too, so that's good.

I guess a couple of years ago when we went Clint (Sarah's husband) started the legend of the cyclops. The cyclops lives on the other side of the lake and he eats naughty little kids, so you're not allowed to go over there without a grown up. Well this year, Clint stopped by Best Buy and found a victim of the cyclops which quickly made it's way up to the lake. They hid it, with a note, where the cyclops lives for the little boys to find on one of their walks around the lake. Needless to say, it worked.

The next day on the lake, there were pirate ships, and attacks, and bomb squads, and all manner of wickedness. At one point Randy literally jumped from the homemade raft to the other raft, grabbed Josh and brought him down into the lake. Meanwhile 5 year old Dallin is "manning the ship" all by himself. He was so brave, he knew he'd be fine and just sailed alone for quite some time. Until Captain Spence came and jumped back in the raft, nearly tipping it. Oh man we had fun. I'm sure our neighbors appreciated our shouts of "attack!" "direct hit!" "we're goin' down!" "we're commandeering another one!" "avast ye maytees!" it was a regular pirate war.

Saturday Josh helped me go down the zipline, it scared me. You had to walk off a home-made plank, which was way worse than the actual ride down the zipline. I was fine on the ride part, but balancing on the log and walking off it made me REAL nervous. I'm a big baby. This is Spence building it - he's braver than I am.

All in all it was a great trip, and I'm glad that Josh came with me so he could understand why it's the happiest place on earth for me. He's really good about appreciating the things that I love. He had a great time, and I'm fairly certain that we'll go back. :) Mission successful.

I can't WAIT!

Oh man. Today is the day. Yes, that's right, we're going to Alexander Lake! It's been a crazy week, we originally thought we could just leave today after work, but it turns out that some people in my family really want to be home Saturday/Sunday. so they are leaving Saturday. So, we're trying to do everything in our power to get up there as early as possible today. That way we'll have all day tomorrow, and half of today to hike, swim, canoe, etc. But, it's been a crazy week getting ready to go. Josh went up to Layton on Monday to get his movies so he could start his route and be done by Friday - only one of the titles he was putting in machines wasn't there. And it wasn't there Tuesday, and it wasn't there Wednesady. So he started Wednesday afternoon, hoping to be almost done on Thursady. so he had 2 days to do his weeks worth of work. Gross. Fortunately my husband is amazing and nice and is almost done! Yes, it's Friday morning and he only has a few machines left, so maybe we can leave at noon today! Now I just need to make sure I do my work so I can leave as early as he can. I can't wait!!! It's better than Christmas.

It's a small world after all

It seems like this past week has been one where I talk to a lot of people I don't normally hear from. It's been really fun. Old roommates, friends from high school or the BC, etc etc etc. I actually kindof enjoy weeks like that because it means people remember who I am which means at some point they knew I existed. I always think I know a lot more people than know me. Like I know who they are, but they wouldn't have a clue who I was.

Anyway, one of those "old friends" (geez, I sound like I'm OLD and attending like my 30 year high school reunion or something!) was Anna from Student Council at the Business College. She was one of those people who absolutely shocked me the more I got/get to know her the more I like her and the more I think we have in common.

Student Council was a bit of "stretch" for me (understatement of the year), but she was always really nice and accepting even though I didn't feel like I fit in that position very well. Anyway, the point is that she e-mailed me! And then I told her about facebook, she got on, I had a comment about going to Alexander Lake, one thing leads to another and it turns out that she and her husband were there last weekend!

Alexander Lake is one of those places that I grew up thinking was built just for my family. Like when God was creating the world, he put Alexander Lake there and showed my daddy how to get there so we would have somewhere to go on vacation. And nobody else knew about it, much less went to it. Turns out the older I get the smaller the world is and the fewer places are "secret".

Anyway, I got all kinds of excited that someone else knew where it was, and that they went and loved it too! It really is my favorite place on the planet. It's filled with happy memories, and all of the things that I think are required for beauty. After I get back I'll post some pictures and maybe you can see why....but pictures just don't do it justice. Turns out that the older I get the smaller the world is and more and more people have random connections in my life.

At work we deal with one specific title company a LOT. They send a "runner" up to our office all the time, and this person changes quite regularly. It's usually some high school kid that doesn't want to work at work, so he thinks that driving around all day is the perfect job - he gets to talk on the phone, listen to music, and hang out and get paid for it. Anyway, the newest runner happens to be dating our Project manager's daughter. So he called and said we should give him grief and make his life miserable. So far I haven't thought of anything really funny to do, but I'm workin' on it. All he does is come pick up some papers every once in a while so there's a not a lot of interaction, but we'll figure something out. Good times playing practical jokes on people. I'm open to suggestions......

Slip 'N Slide!!!

Oh man! My family is hands down the coolest family of all time. So with the Fugal's from Washington here we are doing fun things all the time. Tonight was FHE and for activity it was Slip 'N Slide! So, we had our lesson about how "everybody is special" and we don't need to worry about stars and gray dots, and they can just fall off instead.

Then came the fun part. At my house we don't just buy a slip 'n slide. We do industrial grown-up sized slip 'n slide. At the beginning there is an old waterbed mattress filled with water, but it leaks and we keep it nice and wet and my dad even adds dish soap to make it extra slippery. Then is a big stretch of black plastic and the goal is to get clear to the end of it and slide onto the grass. So we did. We slipped and 'slode' (yes that is the proper past tense of 'slide') all over the place. Here are a couple of highlights.

You can't even tell, but that's nice FLYING down the slip 'n slide. You'd be surprised how much speed you can get off of these things!All of the boys were nice enough to hold still for a picture. That's Josh showing off his muscles (not my husband, my nephew), Nate in the t-shirt, Randy with grass stains on his front, Spencer, and Dad. Some of my favorite boys in the world.

This is Katy and Randy. They're cute. Katy's fun at things like this, but she did get cold, and was even brave enough to admit it!

The little boys didn't quite slide like the rest of us so we did "surfer man!" instead. We'd have them just stand and drag them down on their feet, which they thought was AWESOME. Then we invented, double surfer man! They both got to go at the same time. It was RAD.

Then they figured out that they wouldn't get in trouble for jumpin' on the bed. Good times.

Spencer and randy started a contest to see who could go the farthest down the track without running, just a single jump and dive, all three of them made it clear to the end on one dive, that was pretty rad. Then they started trying "with style" and oh man, the competition was fierce. Spencer and Randy figured out that you can barrel roll while you're going down the thing - good discovery. Then Randy was pullin' some crazy somersault, and flippin' moves. It was a good time, that's for sure.

The little boys LOVED being "surfer-dude" (which I'm pretty sure they think is a hero) and laughed and giggled till they couldn't anymore. I must say, I have the cutest nephews on the planet.

Tender Mercies

I really think that since Elder Bednar's talk the term tender mercies has been stretched to mean "just about anything good that happens to me....EVER". At least I know I've stretched it.

A couple of years ago (shortly after the aforementioned talk) I was waiting at a red light to cross the street to temple square. It's one of those "pedestrian" lights, meaning that it has no purpose other than to let people walk through the middle of the road. The light seems to be cursed for me because I have NEVER seen it green for anyone. You always have to wait until there's a handful of people waiting for it before it turns green. However, on one particularly hot day, I had been waiting for the light for a couple of minutes and some sister missionaries walked up behind me. The exact second that they approached the street, the light turned green. I quickly pointed out that the light turns green that quickly only for sister missionaries. She responded "that's just the kind of tender mercies you get when you're serving the Lord!".

Today however, I have been given a real live tender mercy. Last night Josh and I wanted to make something yummy in the middle of the night. I wanted it to be peanut butter bars, he doesn't really like peanut butter-y treats. So we settled for the greasy Blondies instead. Just now Neil (a guy who works in my office) brought down a plate of something yummy that he said his wife made him promise to share. You guess it, peanut butter bars. I told him it was an answer to my prayers. :) Thank goodness for tender mercies, no matter how small!

Cafe Rio

I'm starting to love 1:00 church. Well, I don't really, but I'm appreciating it for the time being. Yesterday we didn't even start to get ready for church until 12:15, yes we really were that lazy, we woke up, but stayed in bed all morning just being lazy and boring. I liked it. :)

Then I decided I wanted to make cafe rio salads for dinner, so I hurried and threw the chicken in the crock pot so it would be "almost ready" when we got home. Ha! That totally didn't work. I barely had time to get the chicken cooking, and definitely didn't have time to arrange it nicely in the crock pot. so since it was frozen, it stuck out the crock pot a little bit making the lid not quite closed. Well, when it thawed, the lid didn't quite seal, so it wasn't quite done when I got home. So, I rearranged, and let it sit for a lot longer. Then we bummed around some more, and at like 7:30 started to make the rest of the dinner. Oh man! That was some GOOD grub! Josh wanted to make homemade tortillas, so he did (all by himself, he's pretty good at that actually)! I made the yummy tomatillo dressing, and the rice. Mmmm! It was GOOD! We didn't even eat until like 8:00, but it was well worth the wait. Now I can't wait to turn the leftovers into enchiladas, and eat those too! Yummm!!!

At about 11:30, we were ready to go to bed, and Josh was starting to fall asleep, but since we had slept ALL DAY LONG I wasn't tired enough yet. So I made him wake up and talk to me, the I remembered about these things called blondies. I hadn't ever heard of them until I was visiting teaching, but they're like brownies, only vanilla flavored. So I really wanted to make them, and Josh just wanted to sleep, but I wanted him to keep me company. So he woke up with me and helped me make blondies in the middle of the night. I love my husband. Turns out the recipe I found online for blondies wasn't that great - REALLY greasy. Maybe that's how they all are, but it kinda grossed me out. They didn't taste bad, they were just like eating baked crisco and sugar. Anyway, if anybody has a good recipe for blondies......I'm looking! Otherwise I'm goint to start experimenting, and that might be scary!

Pictures

Anybody who's ever tried to take a picture of more than 5 people at a time will probably be able to relate to my weekend.

My brother, Spencer, and his wife, Emily, and their 3 kids, are here from Washington to visit. Given that we had our most recent family picture taken like 2 years ago, and there are 2 new adults and 4 new kids since then, my mom decided on Thursday night that while they were here we needed to take a family picture. So, she called to see when we're available. Kudos to my mom for coordinating 6 family's schedules with the photographer. We went, we survived, we did a great job. Here's hopin' for no more babies/weddings for a while, because I know I can live without that stress for a while.

Mom said the reward for smiling really big at pictures was a barbeque at her house. Which was a success as always. Here are a couple of pictures that I took while they were doing individual families pictures.

This is Katy and her baby Ryann. That lucky girl got her mom's eyes!

This is my little brother Nate, and Sarah's youngest boy, Tyler. Nate can make that kid laugh like nobody else! They're bestest buds.

Crypt Raider

OK. Jamie got me addicted to this new game so I added it to the blog. It's called Crypt Raider and the point is to get all of the "mystical-magical-balls" through the doorway. Level 1 is really dumb, but once you get up there....it's cool and I PROMISE you'll get addicted.

Just a day just an ordinary day

Today seems to have been an extraordinary day. I keep seeing things that you don't normally see. Like on my way to work, I'm driving up state street (just below the capital) and it's lined with trees. It's a beautiful street. Anyway, as I'm driving I saw a couple of little green apples fall off the trees. It's one of those things that you wouldn't normally see, it just happens when nobody is watching, but not today. Today I saw it - sounds dumb, but it was kinda cool.

As I continued to follow a big fat truck up the hill, he started to pull up his back wheels as he was driving. I know that's not really that exciting, but I've never seen it before, and I won't lie, I half expected the truck to turn into a giant robot and start 'roller-skating' down the street. My life is straight out of transformers.

The weekend is getting closer and closer, and I can't wait! It's been a crazy week, but it'll be an even crazier weekend. My brother and his family are here visiting from Washington and I can't wait to see them, and meet my brand new neice, she's cute I already know. :) The real adventure is that we're getting family pictures taken. Now THAT will be fun. Ha ha ha!!! Wish me luck!

Manna from heaven

Sometimes I'm AMAZED at how prayers can be answered. You know when you really know you should be doing something, but you drag your feet and drag your feet and then all of a sudden it's like Heavenly Father just says "if you're not going to do it by yourself, I'll do it for you!" and drops a pile of whatever it is that you should be doing in your lap and you're kinda forced to do it? Yeah, that's how I feel a lot of times.

When I was on Student Council I felt like that and decided that we are often given opportunities to grow, and when we choose not to take them, that's when we're given "experiences".

Well, the summer before Josh and I started dating I really felt the need to do temple/family history work. I even thought about going through the temple and then couldn't because I wasn't old, or missioning or marrying. But I still thought I should start doing family history somehow. THEN I met Josh, we got married, go to the temple regularly and I kinda thought that would satisfy the urge, but I still thought I really ought to learn how the family history system works. We had a lesson about temples in Relief Society a couple of the ladies in my ward talked about the family history work they do. They do indexing for the church once a week and love it. I asked them about it afterward, and they couldn't really give me any solid answers - but I knew you could do it from home, and it's basically just entering data from old records into a good computer format. So, I thought I'd look into it, I did a google search one night and didn't find anything that looked really fruitful. So, I guess you could say I tried, but I didn't do much more than what was convenient. I should've done more.

Yesterday the Ensign came. If you haven't seen it yet, there's this huge article about the new indexing website and it has the website in the article, and you just sign up for it and it's SUPER easy. There I go again, getting hit with a 2x4. "Do it! You've been pretending like you were going to for 2 years, it's time to get off your but and get at it!" That's what I heard in my head. So, I signed up for an account, and maybe I'll get some done tonight. :) I'm sure that the article touched more people than me, and I'm sure that a million people will start doing the work now, but it really was exactly what I needed, so I'm excited to get started.

The rest of the Ensign was pretty amazing too, I didn't read the whole thing, but I did my flip-through, and am really excited to read a lot of the articles. Sometimes I think I'm more in tune with the spirit and recognize the things that I can get out of the Ensign much better than other times. This is one of those times that I'm really excited for.

Ew.

OK I woke up in a fine mood, then Josh remember how late he was for his dentist appointment, so I kinda got in a hurry this morning. But nothing terrible happened, until I got to work. I can already tell it's going to be a terrible horrible no good very bad day.

Actually it kinda started last night. I was in this really great mood, then I went into the kitchen to do the dishes and started feeling really sick. Yesterday morning I put a bunch of stuff in a crock pot so Josh could eat (look at me, I'm a good wife), and one of those things was broccoli. I've done this before, and it was really good. But yesterday it smelled overwhelmingly like cooked broccoli and it seriously make me wanna puke just because the smell was so strong. So I didn't have that for dinner, I had leftovers from another yummy crock pot creation. But, my house smelled like it, so I locked myself in the front room so I couldn't smell it as much. I finally went into the kitchen to clean up, and truly thought I was going to lose it when I took the lid of the crock pot. I don't think I've ever been so close to throwing up without actually doing it. It was the weirdest feeling. It just was gross. So, I finally cleaned that up, but never really recovered, I just felt icky. I'm vegging on the couch, like a slug, not really sitting up, or laying down, just kindof being a bum and the phone rings:

Josh: "Wakey wakey! I'm COMIN' home!" (this is in the most happy, excited, fantastic tone of voice you can ever imagine.)
Me: "OK. I'll see you soon." (this is the most depressed, sad, on-the-verge-of-tears voice you can imagine.)
Josh: "Guess what! (no pause like you're supposed to after you say "guess what") I learned a new kind of massage, are you ready for me to practice on you? When I get home we'll read scriptures, and then I can massage you, it'll feel sooo good!" (completely oblivious to the above mood)
Me: "OK, anything you want." (starting to get irritated that anyone can be so happy when I just had to clean the crock pot from yucky broccoli smelling dinner that I didn't even get to eat because it made me want to puke)
Josh: "Sweet, I'll see you soon!"
Me: "OK"

Josh comes in about 5 minutes later, gives me a hug and a kiss, tells me his good news and then starts getting bugged that I'm such a bum when he is so excited and happy.

Josh: "Guess what (no pause) I got an 'A' in anatomy!" (trying desperately to tell me anything that I can't possibly NOT get excited about.
Me: "Congrats, good job studyin'" (trying equally desperately to sound enthusiastic, but really not feelin' it.)
Josh: "How was your night."
Me: "I don't feel good." (breaking into tears. not sobs, just the silent useless kind of tears. I don't know why I'm crying, I didn't have that bad of a night, but for some reason I just feel icky.)
Josh: "I'm sorry, can I help?"
Me: "No."
Josh gets up and gets a drink, starts whistling (the single most irritating sound to an unhappy person is that of a whistle from a happy person) I go hide in the living room and wait for scriptures. We read and pray and go to bed. No massage, no celebration for the 'A' in Anatomy, nothing happy, just going to bed.

So, this morning I woke up in a fine mood, but it quickly went sour. There wasn't anywhere to park outside my boss's house because the people I work with are pretentious and think they get to park in the driveway, which is rude. I come in and NOBODY has done their job, so I get to clean up messes all day long. I'm given the responsibility of finding a stupid headset for my boss's stupid phone, and rent the unrentable-cockroach-infested-too-much-money-for-too-little-space apartment, I have to do the accountant's job and collect rent from people who haven't paid, solve the issues with the roof and try to get tenants to pay for something they didn't think was done, sign David's son up for school, type up the list of food storage crap David bought, and try to find the missing statues in Bali. None of these things should be my job. I know nothing about any of them, and I'm spending more time finding out the history behind them than it would take for people to take care of their own problems! Ew! Ew ew ew!

In the middle of all of this, I'm blogging. Yes, that's right, I don't wanna do it, I don't know where to start, so I'm putting it off. I'm grumpy, and grouchy, and parked illegally and I'm gonna do whatever I want.

good friends

You know when you just wake up feeling good? Today was kinda one of those days. I felt like I wans't way behind, I slept well, I was just kinda in a good mood. I love those days. Over the weekend we had a reasonable productive Saturday, it kinda sucked because Josh worked and I had to stay home to cook for missionaries, so I barely saw him, but it's OK, we had fun anyway.

Sunday morning was one of those calm relaxed mornings. We could chill, hang out, and sleep in. I LOVE that feeling. I had visiting teaching appointments, which was really fun. For the first time I really felt like I got along with my partner. We talked about housing and stuff, and it was really great. We had a fantastic time. We were visitn teaching for like an hour and a half and it was really nice. I came home, took a little nap just before church and then we had a great time at church. Good talks about pioneers and being good, all that stuff. When we got home we ate dinner and then decided that we wanted to do something, but we didnt' wanna go anywhere, we didn't wanna stress about anything, but we wanted to do something fun. We called Jamie and Cameron (I don't know how to make Burch plural..."es"? "'s"? hmmm...I'll have to think about that.) to see if they'd come hang out on short notice. Fortunately they did. They came over, and I realized after they left that I was a complete disaster. My hair was all messed up, I was wearing Josh's shorts and a big ugly t-shirt. I had mascara under my eyes and my hair was pulled all up in a pile. I was embarrassed for about 2 seconds before I realized that I didn't even care. That's you how you know you have good friends. They'll come back, they didn't hate me, it was just fine. I LOVE that feeling. We played Greed for like a hundred years, it was great. Good friends, good night, and it lead to a great morning. I love having good friends and good times. It's such a comforting feeling to know you're loved and supported no matter what, and not feeling like you have to impress people. :) It was great.

Saran wrap gone bad

Some days I just have to laugh at my boss. Let me give you a little peek into the mind of David. He is one of those people who really feels the need to be prepared in any situation. He likes to know exactly how everything is at all times. The first evidence of this surfaced my first week on the job when I was introduced to the travel file.

The travel file has in it EVERY file from EVERY trip David has ever gone on since 1973. Not even exaggerating. It's a full filing cabinet that has a folder for every trip. It lists the destination, the people going, the flight information, the hotel they stayed at, his packing list, his postcard list, who he met while he was there, the guy who served him is coffee at the shop on the beach on the 2nd morning at the 3rd hotel they stayed at, the bus passes, plane tickets, confirmations, reservation numbers, and contact information for anyone involved in the whole process.

He also has the compulsive need to date EVERYTHING. I mean everything. I've seen people dating their cans of food so they know how old they are, I've seen people keeping the date of computer equipment, I've seen companies even date phone equipment, but David takes it to the next level. He dates his plastic utensils (he has a box of plastic forks that he bought on June 9, 2003), and even his saran wrap. The man doesn't cook, doesn't eat leftovers, and doesn't use saran wrap, but he has a roll as big as his thighs that he purchased on Jan 26, 2003, and just in case he's in a bind and needs to know that date that he purchased it, it's written right there on the box. No worries.

At first I found the whole thing a little funny, but not that extraordinary. Now it's time for a new phone again (it's been a whopping 3 months since the last one) and we're trying to find a cell phone that can handle his database of contacts. Most people kindof laugh when I tell them that I'm dealing with a LOT of contacts, and they ask how many,

"you can't have more than a thousand, right?"

"nope, more than six THOUSAND contacts"

awkward pause....."I don't know where you would save that many contacts, have you tried an SD card?"

"yes, but you can't move the contact file from the phone to the SD card or it doesn't recognize it in the contact application"

longer awkwarder pause "hang on, let me get my manager"

"ok"

manager gets on the line

"I hear we're dealing with a rather large contact file"

"yep. we sure are"

"do you know how big the actual file is?"

"36.9 MB"

"oh. that's bigger than expected."

"yep."

"there's probably not a phone on the planet that can help you with that. Anyway you can delete any of those contacts?"

"I'll look into it, thanks for your help."

Enter David

"you can't have that many contacts"

"I need them"

"all of them?"
"There's no way I contact more than 1% of them in any given year."

"so can we slim it down so you have the bulk on your computer and the regulars are on your phone and if you need another you can remote to your computer?"

"what if i need to call someone I didn't know I'd need to call? What about when I'm having a conversation with James and afterward I need to call Bruce, and Bruce needs James's attorney's phone number, address, fax number, and e-mail address? What will I tell him then?"

"To call information to get it."

"What if they need to know the date that we went under contract?"

"Tell them to call your assistant and she'll give it to them."

"What if my assistant isn't there and they need it immediately?"

"You can remote to your computer and get it."

"What if they power is out where I'm staying and I don't have an interent connection."

"It won't be an emergency to get the date then."

"I have to have all of my contacts with me at all times just in case I need one of them."

And so the quest continues for the perfect phone with an unreasonable amount of memory and storage space, the ability to get e-mails, calendar items, tasks, and phone calls, connect with the bluetooth headset, have service EVERYWHERE on the planet, including Bali and Marrakesh, can remote to his desktop computer, and will make him pancakes and eggs in the morning.

Ahhh.....the rain

What an INCREDIBLE storm! Last night seemed really great to me. I felt more productive than I have in a long time, which is always a plus. When I got home, Nate (little brother) was already there, so he and I talked while I did the dishes and he played nintendo. Then I talked to Josh and he was on his way home, so I started making him some food to eat. The best part about that is that I got to pick more cucumbers and peppers from my garden! I feel like a real live grown up, it was great. So, I was a good wife, made dinner, did dishes, started the laundry, watered the lawn, and all that before he even left for school. :) It was nice. After everyone left and I was on my own, I did a couple more things around the house, and most importantly talked to my mom. She called and left a message saying she hadn't heard from me in forever, which is true, so I called her back and we had a great talk. She even reminded me that I can just freeze all of my extra peppers (cuz I'm gonna have a ton).

I went to my missionary meeting and nobody even yelled at me! Yay! Apparently we got a new Elder, and I hadn't even met him. It was a good meeting, but I was mostly just relieved that I didn't get in trouble at all. Whew! Those missionaries are nice. But my favorite part of the night was the rain.

Oh man did it rain! I got home and it smelled a little like rain, and I went inside and started to read Harry Potter (I'm re-reading book 6 before I read the new one). I cuddled up in my cuddle chair, under the perfect reading lamp, with a blanket. And listened to the rain, saw the lightening and heard the thunder while I read. It was SOO perfect! The only thing that could have made it better would be if it was cold enough for hot chocolate. mmmm. At one point, the thunder was so loud that it literally shook my house. I heard plates rattling in the cupboards. It was incredible. The coolest part about that is that it didn't really sound loud, it was this low rumble, but it was BEAUTIFUL. I LOVE rain like that. I'm sure it was also very destructive and stuff, but I love it anyway. This morning my lawn was green and the plants didn't look too beat up, so I'm happy.

What a great night!

Massage

Sigh. Josh called on his way home last night and he was all sorts of excited because his massage table finally came! Yes, that's right, we have a massage table in our living room. Last night was HILARIOUS because he called all excited, then I'm sitting there trying to get my work stuff finished so I'll be ready for him when he comes home, and I hear the doorbell ring. Given that it's 11:00 at night, I went to the back door hoping it was just him, but a little freaked out. He's out there half in the back seat of the car: "Help!" The muffled voice coming from behind the biggest box I've ever seen. I have no clue how he got that thing in there - turns out massage tables are kinda big. So, we pushed, and pulled, and it didn't fit. We lifted and turned, and it didn't fit, somehow he put the thing in there all by himself without a problem, but with the two of us no matter what we tried we couldn't get it back out. I almost suggested removing the car door because it looked like the only option for a while there. Finally, we both stopped pushing and looked at the situation, I almost laughed out loud, there we are in the pitch black in the middle of the night trying to get this thing out of the back seat of my little car. "Turn it this way!" "Can you lift up on your end?" "the roof is taller in here!" "I can't get it out!" "It's stuck on the stick." I'm sure we looked and sounded really cool. Finally it occurred to us to take it to the front seat. If we pushed it as far back as possible, we could lean the seats back and lift it over the seats to try from the front doors. So, we put the seats back, and try to lift it over, but the box it too thick. So it's wedged between the head rest and the back of the backseat. Josh had already suggested taking the headrests off, I quickly shot that down, but after seeing that it got wedged, we had to do just that. Up went the seats, off went the headrests, over went the box, and then we squished it out the front doors. What a pain! But well worth it. We rearranged all the furniture in our front room, the kitchen table blocking the front door. Set up the massage table, and Josh showed me everything he learned. I might be a little biased, and I've never had a massage before, but oh my goodness, I'm pretty sure that's all anybody does in heaven. That was truly a fantastic feeling. I still felt like putty this morning and wasn't really willing to get up. :) Well worth the half hour that it took to get the thing out of the car. :)

Garden

Yes, that's right, we're grown up to have a garden, and even to pick vegetables from it. See?

Yep, that is one HUGE cucumber. We were kinda worried that it wouldn't taste good since it was soo big and we hadn't watered it the whole time we were gone, but it actually was really yummy. But seriously, that's a big cucumber, I couldn't even get my hand around it. It makes me feel like a grown up and I like it.

End of vacation

A happy end to happy vacation. Yesterday was the PERFECT Sunday. It almost made me wish that we didn't live so close to so many relatives because it was so nice to be together with nobody else. I love having family close, I love that we always get to do something fun, but once in a while it's nice to be able to just be with each other. I really miss having time just with us. It seems like now that Josh is in school, our time together is so limited that we always try to go out and do something when we have it. I've really missed just hanging out, so it was nice to have SO MUCH time to do nothing but talk, hang out, swim, chill, and just do anything we wanted. I can certainly understand the advice we've received from so many people to get away every year. It's important to be just with each other, and we don't even have kids yet! I can only imagine how much more important it becomes. Even the driving around was fun - we spent a lot of time in the car, but we listened to books and we had a really good time. We ate at Village Inn, which is kindof a sentimental place for me. It's where we went on one of our first dates, the night we got engaged, and on our honeymoon. I like it and I'm glad we went again. The whole trip seemed to be just perfect. I couldn't have asked for anything better. So refreshing to be our geek selves and have nothing to worry about. Now, if only I could capture that feeling at home. :)

Zion

I love vacations. There just aren't words for how nice it is to not be doing anything, nobody cares where I am or what I'm doing, I'm COMPLETELY free. I love that feeling.

Friday morning after sleeping in and taking our time, we arrived in St. George. We got to the hotel, swam, watched movies, played games, ordered pizza, it was great. We decided last night that we'd go to Zion National Park this morning and maybe do a quick hike and come home. Turns out that it's like a 45 minute drive, so by the time we got there, we wanted to make it worth it. We hiked to Emerald Pools (all 3 of them) and weeping rock. The funniest thing was that on our way to Emerald Pool, we went backwards, starting with the highest, then working out way down from there. We got to the part of the trail that forks off to go up to the highest pool, and I wasn't sure I'd make it, but Josh was patient and nice and I did. We went to the highest one and as we came down into the pool area, this is what we saw:




Yes, that's right. A HUGE gathering of people. A bunch of them with cameras, and they all seemed to be paying attention to something. We kept walking in, (this is a national park and not somebody's private backyard, right? can people reserve this? are we intruding on an important meeting?) and learned that the thing everyone was looking at was a wedding. Yep, people were getting married. Who knew? Weird. So we kinda hid out of the way, clapped at the end of the ceremony with everyone else, took some pictures of a frog and went back down. :) The lower 2 pools were very disappointing because there is so little water they were more like over sized puddles than pools. I was really glad we went the extra half mile to the highest pool, even if there was a big fat wedding party there too.

Next we did weeping rock. Again, the lack of water was a little disappointing, but it was still really beautiful. I can only imagine what it's like when it's really running.

As we came down from weeping rock we realized that we could see! When we got there in the morning there was so much smoke, you couldn't see far. The nice-park-ranger-lady told us that it settles into the canyon at night and then moves up when it heats up. So, it got HOT and sunny, and all of those good things. We hung out, walked, sweated, looked at the beautiful canyon and then came back. It was a great time, I remembered what a wuss I am, and I'm glad we did it. I can't tell you how thankful I was for my amazing husband for his patience and support. He rocks.

On our way down we found a trading post, we went in there and got our anniversary presents. See, Josh came up with this really great idea, that instead of worrying about anniversary presents, we'd just go somewhere cool every year. Only then he was feeling a little sad/left out for not getting presents, so we decided that we'd get something from wherever we went on our vacation. So, we stopped at the trading post and I got a BEAUTIFUL wind chime, and Josh got some really yummy smelling rocks. It was cool. So, that was our really fun day today. I'm pretty sure my legs will be sore tomorrow, but it was well worth it to see everything we saw. I was nervous about coming down here where it's hot, but I'm glad we're here.

Still Learning

This is really cheesy, but the other night I was watching super-nanny and I think I learned something important. I pictured the cartoon lighbulb going on above my head. She was working with this family who had a NIGHTMARE of a 4 year old boy. He was horrible, screaming, biting, cussing, a holy terror. She followed the kid to school and learned that he didn't play well with the other kids (surprise surprise) and after a little bit of work, she convinced the mom to set up a play-date for the kid. When his friends got there, he started to play by himself with a motorcycle while the other kids played with a train set. The mom had the kids invite the naughty child to play with the trains and he started to play with the other kids without ANY problems. He shared, he wasn't mean, and he was a great host - even serving the other kids cookies that he made earlier. :) So, it occurred to me that the only problem with this child's social skills was simply that he hadn't been taught to play with other kids yet. He just needed his mom to show him how and that was it. He was done. He was completely fine.

Now, here's my cool aha moment. How many things have I just not been taught to do yet? I'm sure that kid could've grown up to be a grumpy mean old man just because he wasn't ever taught anything different. His parents weren't bad, they were scared to let him play with other kids cuz he was horrible. But the bottom line is, he never learned that skill. I think I decided that people aren't necessarily bad at things, they just haven't been taught how yet.

Josh was talking to me about something he thinks he's bad at, and it's something he should've learned like when he was 2 years old. Only when he was 2 years old, his life at home was a little stressful (his parents were getting divorced), and he was learning how to keep the peace between his parents, and how to show his mom love like she so desperately needed, he learned how to take care of himself, he learned how to do a lot of other things, and this basic function was kindof skipped. I felt like I had the same situation in dealing with confrontation and problems. In my house all we ever did was ignore it until you didn't care anymore, and then you move on with your life. Josh however, learned that you talk about stuff, hurt feelings, mistakes, problems, and then you feel resolved a lot sooner. So, now I'm learning how to do that, and for him it was a basic skill that he learned when he was like 2 years old, but it's still new to me. I always thought I was just bad at it, but in reality, I just hadn't been taught that skill yet.

Thank goodness that I have a lifetime to learn all I can. And thank goodness I'm surrounded by people who are willing to teach me the things I just haven't learned yet. Who knows, maybe someday, I'll even learn to like roller coasters!

home sweet home

Today I whined at work about how hot it was in my house and that it never really cools down. But Josh and I don't really want to whine because we have such a sweet deal living here, so we've avoided it and decided it's just an old house. BUT I whined about it today at work and Kim told me I should try changing out my filter and that would probably make a BIG difference. So I told Josh and he took it out and said it was NASTY. So he immediately went out and bought a new one and replaced it. There is so much dust and dirt and grossness in it, you wouldn't even believe it. It was absolutely disgusting. So, already my a/c is fixed and my house is cool, I might even cook tomorrow. It's amazing! I'm thrilled. My husband rocks.

I can see clearly now...

You know how I work up on the hill and have a beautiful view of the whole wide world? Well, today for the first time in like 2 weeks I could see the mountains! With all of the fires going on all over this state it's been a while since I've been able to see very far at all, so that's a big moment and I'm happy about it.

This whole day has been a little like that. I had this crazy dream last night and I woke up feeling VERY thankful for my husband. Do you ever have those moments when you realize what your life could have been like if it had turned out the way you thought you wanted it to? I had one of those days. I'm SOO glad that my life didn't work out how I wanted it to before I knew Josh.

I sincerely hope that the rest of my life goes the same way, that I get to experience the things that are really best for me, in spite of what I think is best for me.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

We had a weekend full of movies, games and fun. It was so relaxing and nice to not be running a million different places. If it weren't for these kinds of weekends, I don't know that I would be able to make it through this year of school.

On Friday we went to Lindon and watched "Premonition" with my family. Wow, that was really not my favorite movie of all time. It was like someone who normally makes really scary movies like The Ring or something made this movie that wasn't really that scary. The idea was really interesting, but the movie and the scenes kept looking they were supposed to be terrifying. And then they TOTALLY ruined it with the end. Yep, that was the worst ending of all time.

Saturday was another good morning. Josh let me sleep in because he loves me and he got up and mowed the lawn. I'm pretty sure that makes me a lazy wife, but I appreciated it anyway. We got some stuff done around the house, we hung out together, and then we went to see Harry Potter with the Burches. That was pretty dang fun. I have to say that movie was much better than the last one, I think it was less dark and more just plain fun. Anyway, great flick. Jamie and I decided that we wanted to have a barbeque, so we went shopping for good food and we barbequed steaks. It was crazy fun. Only problem was it meant we were cooking inside and our house gets REALLY hot! But, it was worth it. We played some games with them and we stayed up WAY past Jamie's bedtime, which was kinda fun. Shhh...don't tell her mom. :)

Sunday we had the Burches come over again, which was great because I like them and Josh and Cameron haven't been able to play for a LOONG time, so I think they had fun too. I made home-made rolls, which made me feel important and grownup. They brought over this really fun game called Ticket To Ride. It was tons of fun. We're going to have to get that one, becuase it's just plain cool. I guess there are different versions of it, like you can be in different countries and stuff, so maybe we'll get a different one, but it was really fun. I'm glad they introduced us to that game. We also taught them how to play Spades, which we learned from Randy, and that was fun too. I like good nights like that.

While we were playing, the power went out. It was already really hot and when we lost all a/c and fans and anything relieving. It was horribly hot, so finally I called Rocky Mtn. Power just to see what they knew, and it turns out that 10,000 people were without power for 2 1/2 hours. That was crazy. But eventually it came back on and we survived - whew! We're good.

I think this weekend I remembered how much I like to feel like a "wife" or what I think a wife should be. I enjoy cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes after everybody's happy. We made cookies and hung out. It makes me feel good to take care of people, and I can't wait to be a housewife/mom and do that full time. Somedays I'm sure I'll hate it, but for now, that sounds greater than anything.

Ahhh...productivity

Last week I was really not feeling the productive vibe. I played more tetris than any human being should, I talked to Jamie all day long while I was at work, and I didn't have a ton going on at work, so it was not my ideal feeling by the end of the week. Yesterday however, I made up for it. Kinda. At least I took a step in the right direction. :) I was much more productive at work and only played a little bit of tetris. I didn't blow ANYBODY off, which was good. At home while Josh was at school I was REALLY good. I turned on the TV, but I didn't even sit down to watch one show. I got up and got stuff done. I cleaned the house, watered the lawn, changed our OR reservations, filed all the stuff that's all over my house making a mess, threw away old stuff I don't really need anymore, made today's dinner, took a shower, worked a little, and made a bunch of phone calls I've been avoiding, and even picked up my parents from the aiport. It was a REALLY great night. I love nights like that. I went to bed dead tired, but it was the good kind. It worked out great because, of course we slept in today, so I was glad I had already showered so I didn't have to hurry as fast. I like that feeling. I even had breakfast this morning! Yess!!!

I also looked at trucks, we're thinking we might have to buy a new truck because Josh's is going to cost more money and we'd rather pay for a truck that works than pay for one that doesn't. So, we're looking into a new purchase, which is scary and exciting. Jamie has the hookup for everything in the world, including vehicles. So, I'm excited about that. We're going to go look at some at the Church Office Building and we think they have Josh's dream truck right now, so we'll see what happens. Wish us luck!

"sugar sugar.......honey honey"

Wow. What a weekend.

On Saturday we had some Redbox to do, so we got it done, then went to see Transformers. Just in case you were wondering, it's a really cool movie. But it was the first time EVER that Josh was 100% enthralled with the whole thing and I was like "yeah, that's cool" but not head over heels in love with the thing. It was a weird feeling. Normally, I'm the one who loves the movie and he gets bored halfway through. Anyway, I can appreciate the crazy-love other people feel for it, it was really cool, but I'm not on some kind of crazy high because of it, weird.

After the movie we retrieved my purse (yay!) and headed down to Pleasant Grove to see Randy and Katy's new apartment. It's SOO great, and I'm so happy for them. It made me a little jealous because it's really theirs, everything in the home is theirs and they get to decorate how they want, and it's really their very own space. They aren't using other people's stuff. Anyway, it's way cute, and there is tons of room, and we had a blast. We played Risk after Randy got home and I really did have a good time. Maybe I don't really hate that game and I just hate the idea of it. Anyway, we had a good time. And we played games pretty much all night long. We didn't get home until like 1:30 in the morning, blah.

Sunday was our first Sunday in our ward in like a month and a half, it's weird but I was totally nervous to go back, I figured everyone thought we were inactive, but it turns out I don't think they even noticed. :) It's funny how important you think you are until you notice you're not that big of a deal to anyone but you. Funny. Anyway, after church on Sunday we went over to the Reilley's, which is always an adventure. We had dinner and played games all night long. It was great again. We even played scrabble - another game I thought I hated, but it was OK. It's still not my favorite, but we played anyway and it wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be.

The FUNNIEST part of Sunday was Braden, Josh's little brother. He cracks me up, he's 12 years old and a sweet kid. Anyway, Josh always calls me "sugar" not sure when that started or why, but he does it all the time. Apparently Braden hasn't learned the difference between a nickname and a petname. We're playing cards, and we ask who's turn it is. Without even batting an eye he says "it's sugar's turn!" I was SHOCKED. It sounded SOOO funny to be called sugar by my 12 year old brother in law. I thought I was going to die laughing. Anyway, he didn't miss a beat and we just kept playing the game, but it made me think about the stuff we say and what kids learn. Later on Josh burped (a rare thing for him because his stomache is tied up in knots) and I looked at him pretending to be disgusted. The conversation went like this:
Josh: "braaghuuuuhhhhh" (I don't really know how to spell the nosie of a burp, but that's my guess.)
Me: "Who taught you to do that?" (in an obviously pretend disgusted voice)
Braden: "Meg-"
Mom: "It certainly wasn't me."
Braden: Thinking pause........"wait, did you just burp? Yeah. It was Megan."
That kid makes me laugh every time we go over there. He's a sweetheart.

It turned out to be a good weekend, nothing big or exciting, but a good weekend anyway.

blog blog blog

I have this really cool friend named Jamie. She figured out how to add music to a blog, and then since she gets bored at work, I made her look into adding tetris. That's right, the moment I've been waiting for has arrived! I have TETRIS ON MY BLOG! The cool part is that it's ON MY BLOG like it's not just a link, the whole game is on my blog. Yep, I love this cool internet thing. Now I can listen to my FREE playlist of my favorite music of the day, WHILE I play tetris. That's pretty dang cool.

She also added a counter to hers, so it counts how many hits there are, and that made me feel pretty cool, turns out between me and Jamie, we look at this blog like 100 times a week. :) Yep, blogging is rad.

I had some trouble uploading the 4th of July pictures, but they are on my photobucket site (see the link on the Right sidebar) and some of them are FREAKING CUTE! I have cute cousins, that's what I learned this holiday. Now, I'm off to rock the tetris game.....if only I had a massage chair.....

Happy 4th!

The 4th of July has always been one of Josh's mom's favorite holidays and this year I can really see why. Every year she gets to hang out with her best friend and family (the Kearney's) and they do whatever they want. I get it now.

This year we went to Morgan for a big Reilley party. We were up on some big fat private golf course and the beautiful mountains. It was beautiful. We played games, frisbee, that bolo game, phase 10, and a bunch more games. We really had a lot of fun, I like it when everyone gets along and plays together like that. Eventually we went to a park for a picnic. Josh's mom got a new digital camera so we spent a long time playing with it and learning how to use it, it's pretty cool.

Our cousin Tyler (he's only like 2) was playing in the water and he kept BAWLING every time someone turned off the water. He was totally soaked, and LOVED running around in it. He is such a cute kid. His mom Kerrie was talking about how he's such a stinker and it's a good thing he's so cute because it's the only way she'd keep him. :) He's adorable and I can't WAIT until we get to have one. When Josh and I were dating Kerrie and I talked at their Thanksgiving/Christmas party and she was so friendly and nice, she teased us about getting married and now she teases us about having kids. It's good times.

The boys were playing ultimate frisbee and Josh had some breathing issues, so we left before fireworks. We kindof left in a rush, and halfway home I realized I had left my purse. That's an icky feeling. Josh's mom rescued it from the picnic table though, so I felt a little better. Until this morning anyway.....then I realized my purse has EVERYTHING I own in it. My cell phone, my money (both dollars), my keys, my chapstick, my everything. *Sigh* What are you going to do?

On our drive home we got to see all the fireworks between here and Ogden. It was beautiful. Josh likes fireworks so we pulled over for a few finales, but mostly just enjoyed the drive home.

I really can see the appeal of the 4th of July, it's a great outside, good food, good family, no major stresses, maybe someday it'll be my favorite holiday too. :)

Fireworks

I was sitting here anxiously awaiting my husbands arrival when I started to hear thunder outside, I looked outside and it was kindof blowy, but not exceptionally stormy. I couldn't figure out what was happening for about an hour, when I finally stuck my head outside and realized it was the neighbors doing fireworks. I couldn't see them, but I'd hear the crackle of the fireworks followed by the excited squealing of the kids. They all laughed and giggles and screeched with joy. It was the kind of moment when you just can't figure out why the background song isn't coming on and the zoom lense doesn't focus in on the mom smiling because you know the whole scene is straight out of a movie. Those moments when you know everyone is happy and everyone is getting along - I love those movie-moments.

A little while later there was a flash out the window, and I saw big fireworks! Apparently the high school right by my house was doing fireworks on the 3rd instead of the 4th and I got to sit on my couch and watch them all. I don't even like fireworks most of the time, but last night it was a beautifully relaxing experience to just sit and watch them from my window. It's too bad Josh wasn't home to watch with me.

Starbursts and taffy

For our wedding we got this really weird silver thing, we couldn't figure out what it was for a long time, actually we thought it might be a paper-weight, but then Jamie told me it was clearly a candy dish for my desk at work. She was right. I bought a bunch of salt water taffy and starbursts and it's REALLY bad for me because I snack on them all day long. The other day I didn't have lunch, and I was hungry so I just kept eating starbursts and taffy, I seriously was shaky and crazy because of all the sugar. So today I bought some pretzels for my drawer too. Hopefully no more sugar-comas. There's my online confession for the day.

Bear Lake

Oh man. I am one of those people who has never been ANYWHERE, last year was my first time at Bear Lake, ever. And it was AWESOME. But, this year we took wave runners and it was WAY BEYOND awesome.

I tried pack and get us ready to go Thursday night, but still had those few things to do before you're really ready to go on Friday, but I left work (right at 5:00, please be impressed) and we were out the door by 6:00. Josh had spent his day getting the truck and the wave runners ready to go, so by the time I got home, there was only a little to do.

As we started up the canyon Josh was watching the temperature gauge on truck intently. He didn't talk, he just stared at the gauges. I asked him if he was OK and he said yeah, but didn't say anything else. I told him if he was going to be this paranoid the whole way up I'd rather take the car and no wave runners. He struggled with that for a while. The last time he towed something up a canyon road it blew his entire engine and cost him $5,000. So he was a little worried about taking them this time. But he had talked to his dad (his dad is so great) and he told him to just to watch it and be safe and we'd be OK. So we did and we were. We got stuck in this nightmarish traffic jam on the way up, but I quizzed him on his anatomy stuff for school and made good use of the time. As we pulled down looking over Bear Lake I got SOO excited! It's such a beautiful lake and we got to stay there! Josh and I were talking and have a great time, I love car trips with him, he's fun. We blasted the tunes through the canyon, we talked about stuff, and seriously had a great time. Then he looked at me and then looked at the big sign on the road that said "WELCOME TO IDAHO - we don't litter here" or something like that. Yep, we sure had missed the turn. The cabin we were staying at is way up the mountain, but it's not in Idaho, so we had totally missed the turn and were just going on our merry little way. :) Fortunately he found a driveway and turned us back around and we found the turn. We pulled up just a couple of seconds after the Egberts did, so it was good we went to Idaho, because nobody would have been there anyway.

Saturday morning Josh and I were up early and ready to go play, but we had to wait for everyone else. We made it down to the beach at about 11:00 and Nancy and Meleta had rented some wave runners too, so we had 4 total and we all got to play on them a lot. The place the rented from wouldn't let us launch our own from their dock, so we had to use Meleta's friends private beach. She has a house literally ON the beach, and they had to drag our stuff out there with their big fat tractor. This tractor was so cool, I was impressed. Anyway, they drive the tractor right into the water. So at first Josh took me out and I was really scared, but he was patient and nice and went slow for me, then I got to drive my own and it was SOO cool! So I was out playing and FLYIN' across the water. Then Josh came and found me on his and we were playing with each other, it was awesome. Then, all of a sudden, out of NOWHERE, he does this CRAZY 180 on the machine. He seriously just flipped around. So he taught me how to do it, and eventually i figured it out and that was AWESOME. You're going really fast in one direction and you just turn it hard and you slide across the top of the water, it was sooo rad. So, I did a few times, then I did it again and it tipped the thing up on it's side, so I'm trying to balance it out and lean the other way so I can get it back down to normal, and I totally lost it. Yep, I flipped the thing over, fell out and everything. So, there I am in the water with my wave runner bottom up. I felt pretty dumb. Josh came and saved me, turned me right side up and we went on our merry little way. We had a great time. All the while I'm trying to remember to put on sunscreen every 5 minutes so we don't get burned. Josh really couldn't get burned because he has to get a massage all the time for school, and oh man, that would HURT. So, we tried to keep up on it, he still got a little burned on his shoulders and we both burned the tops of our feet. But, I think we're gonna be OK. :) By the time we packed up and came home we were so tired and beat we went to bed at like 10:30. Sunday morning we had breakfast and packed up to go, so it was a short trip but DEFINITELY a good one. I'm officially converted to wave runners and can't wait till we buy our own.

Next weekend we get to go with Jamie & Cameron and we're going to the KOA campground which will be a party. If only we could have the wave runners again, I think Josh's uncle is taking them back to Idaho, but we'll still have fun playing at the beach, that's for sure. I'm excited.