Happy Faja's Day

Father's Day was laid back and chill - my kinda Sunday!!

After church, we had Paul's immediate family over for some dessert. Paul's dad loves Key Lime Pie so we had that with hot Applie Pie and Vanilla Bean ice cream. Super yum!!! We sat out on the patio enjoying the nice weather (and the occasional annoying gust of wind) and chatted and had a nice time.

Soon after they had left, Paul and I headed to my parents home for dinner. He grubbed out and had some seriously good food and homemade strawberry ice cream - Double Yum!! My grandma had joined us which was really fun (she's a riot!) and it was so nice to have her out with us finally! We ate out on the patio and then, guess what?? Sat around chatting and laughing!

We had my dad open his cards full of gift cards. We always try and get the funniest cards and then laugh at them together. We all have this attachment to Hoops & YoYo and so it has come to the point where we have to coordinate with each other when we buy cards: "Fyi everyone, I bought the card with the plunger" etc etc.

Me and Hubband:

My mom nearly spitting out her ice cream. We have so much fun making her laugh:

My niece- always posin' for the camera:

My bro, Morgan, imitating The Rock, quite well I might add:

My dad is currently laid off (big shocker, right??) and so he is working down in Roosevelt for a friend of a friend doing track hoe work all week. I am so glad for every weekend that he makes it back home safely and for all he does to provide for his family. He, like so many amazing dads and husbands, has always sacrificed himself to give his family a good life. Great dads are such a gift! I'm glad I have mine :)

Logan 'Retreat'

Saturday was a super fun day spent up in Logan with my peeps from Snow College. My college roommate Ashley, and her husband Alan, live on a really pretty property surrounded with ponds and trees and horses and mountains (spoiled much?? ;). So the other four of us who live within the state (Brindee, can you come back to Utah yet??) traveled up to see her new place and her new baby.

When we got there, we enjoyed the most awesome homemade pizza ever made. Alan should have his own restaurant! We gobbled down five or so pizzas and some salad and then headed outside to enjoy the day.

I am riding the tire pony in the playground they have in the backyard, you can see I'm a natural:

Karen and I chillin' like villains:

All the husbands playing Bacci ball together:

Me, Mikaili and Karen playing on the teeter totter (I haven't seen one of those in years!). You should click on the picture on check out Mikaili's face. It cracks me up!!:

My friend, Lou, being such the goofball (any pictures you take with my camera are mine to blog with, sucka!!!!):

This is my Pau Gasol victory yell caught in slow motion. Paul and I had a lot of fun laughing at that expression during the championship...stupid Lakers:

It was discovered that Ashley and Alan's property had a zip line going over a fish pond. So we all gathered round and took turns on it. Here is my incredibly handsome hubby:

Amanda (4-ish months pregnant), Becky, Me, Karen (7-ish months pregnant) and Ashley!!

Some videos for your viewing pleasure should you so desire!

Alan's Cannonball:

My First Run:

Becky's Hilarious Almost-Fell-In Run:

My Second Run:

I was going super fast on that last one and after I passed Paul with the camera, I realized I was going way too fast. I stuck my foot out to stop myself and that HURT!! It was pretty funny though.

We had so much fun driving up there and being able to play together and have fun. Love you guys!!

Playin' In My Pod

Ahhh Jesse McCartney.

Never cared to much for the early Jesse. But the latter Jesse style I like way mucho. And this song is probably my most favoritest of all. I am trying really hard NOT to listen to it right now so that when I go running, the awesomeness of this song hasn't worn off and can keep super energized :)

(Not the official music video but it serves its purpose)

Baby Shower For Karen

As I was writing that title, one thought led to another and soon after I had a mental of image of umbrellas and raining babies. How odd...

Anyhoo!! This is my college roommate, Karen, and she is expecting her first! They are naming him Weston. That's her opening my present:

Isn't it cute??? Yeah, yeah I know - I'm fabulous! I have sorta kinda made my trademark baby gift for my closest friends a hooded towel with the babies name embroidered on the bum, with other baby bath stuff. She is decorating his room in jungle babies so there is a little monkey hanging off a branch next to the 'W'. I thought I was pretty clever.

I thought this shirt was AWESOME - I want my baby to wear famous Michael Scott sayings!!!:

My friend, Lou (ha ha ha - she'll either kill me or laugh at this...if I'm not here after nextweekend that it obviously wasn't the latter):

And the three of us - Becky, Karen and Me!:

I'm super excited for her! She is such a great person and I love her to death.

Awwww!! Don't You Just Wanna SQUEEZE 'EM!!

My in-laws had an accidental pregnacy in their house.

These are some stinkin' cute mutts!!

I snapped some pics while I was picking up Paul's little sister last week:

Adorable, yeah??? They are half purebred Golden Retriever and half mutt of Yellow Lab and unidentified muttness. But these things are so stickin' CUTE!! They are free too, if anyone feels like adopting :)

This Is What Happens When...

...your husband leaves the door open when he takes the dog out to the dog run.

'Member this??

Well it seems that my bird experiences aren't over yet. After coming home from work last Friday (and talking with my mom over lunch who, coincidentally, had a bird nest of her own built on top of the front porch patio light. The eggs had hatched and they are waiting for them to fly off on their own...we hope...since my 5 yr. old nephew was a disobedient little sh@# and knocked it off and threw them in the window sill) I pitter pattered around my kitchen to fix something to eat and then relax on the couch for a few minutes before I had to get ready for a baby shower. Paul called me and I wandered back into the kitchen while I was on the phone with him.

I stopped dead when I saw bird poop...ON MY COUNTER. A little white plop and a terd. What the......???? I told Paul there was a bird in the house. He said no, that a bird must have flew up underneath the open top of my kitchen garden window and pooped on the screen. The logic (and trajectory) didn't match up and I told him so. While I was proving my point to him, suddenly a loud SCARY flapping sound took off on my right and landed in the garden window that was in question. I screamed. Like a girl. It caught me completely off guard and scared the crap (pun not intended although very fitting) out of me. This bird went crazy trying to get out and knocked down my plants and frames in the window. Paul thought there was someone in my house, not a something until I stopped screaming and told him that I was right about the bird and he was so, so, so wrong!!

K - so I got the bird out of the house by opening the front door. That's all it took. See ya later. I bleached my counter top and wiped things off. Done. I went upstairs to take care of a few more things and I stopped dead...again. It was on my bathroom counter, in the sink, on the bathroom floor, the office chair, the dressor, Paul's alarm clock, and the worst, absolute WORST of it was in the absolute WORST spot. My bed. My freaking BED!!!! Ughh!!

I had little time to clean but I was not letting that sit in my house so I cleaned like I had rocket boosters installed. The sheets went directly into the wash, the bathroom and all surfaces were bleached, toothbrushes thrown away, floors mopped, carpet inspected and vacuumed (although I couldn't see anything, they will be shampooed!!!) and I still have to find the time to go sit in a laundromat and get my comforter washed.

BAHUMBUG!!!!

O.M. Freakin' G....It Has Arrived!!

Okay so it feels like a lot of my posts recently centered around my Book Club meeting last week. Here's another one :)

I have this super cute friend in my neighborhood/club that is an elementary teacher. She gets to order books through that Scholastic thingy...can't remember what it's called. She ordered Mockingjay for all of us who are so friggin' excited to finish The Hunger Games trilogy. Well, ladies and gentlemen, by ordering this book early and through the above mentioned Scholastic thingy, we got this exclusive Mockingjay pin (very significant to the book)!!!!:

Can you believe it??? Oh my word, oh my word, oh my word!!!! Look at how cool I look!:

Alright so I hope it's obvious that I am not really that excited about a cheap pin that I will never wear. We all have one so we think we are funny. But in all seriousness we can't wait for the book to come. I am so retarded but I am going to admit that I am really nervous for how it's going to end.

Team Gale!!!!

T minus 70 days, people!!!

My House, The Construction Parking Lot

This has been my view for several weeks:

It's been quite crowded in the little nook that they created by blocking off access to the main road running next to our house. I usually had about four trucks and a motorcycle parked in front of my house and sidewalk (and even in my driveway), two to three tractors at all times, barricades and a huge dumpster thing. And the post office put a neighborhood mailbox on our property, so we had lots of extra visitors!

Thankfully, the construction has moved down a block and my street is no longer blocked off, although I do still avoid that road because it's only moved down...it hasn't gone away. And for those of you who know where I am talking about, unfortunately we will be in that boat for quite awhile :) But at least now I don't feel like I am in an earthquake or war zone and my cabinet doors and windows will stop shaking. Plus, those guys start work at the buttcrack of dawn!!...it would really bother me if I didn't beat them up most days.

A Small Family "Reunion"

Saturday was a super crazy day. My grandma had scheduled an overnighter 'family reunion' at Heber Valley Camp. Unfortunately, half the family couldn't make it. It was quite the dive. Hence, why I felt I needed to go even though I had a million things to do and I had to cancel on a few primary gigs. I wanted my grandma to feel like we cared to make it. So while everyone else had headed up on Friday night, I headed up Saturday morning after my friend had left from staying over after Bunco. I got a late start (due to said friend) and then had to pick up my niece and her friend on the way up.

I have always loved the drive up to Heber for some reason. I used to go there a couple times a year to rodeo and it's still a favorite place of mine. Heber Valley Camp, I learned is a LDS camp where a lot of Youth Conferences and Young Women Camps are held. I suppose for them it could be quite fun but for me, it sucked.

We had to do these Challenger Courses, which was equally awkward/dumb and funny/fun. We had lunch and then went to the lake for our scheduled hour. You can't swim, you can't wear swimsuits and all you can do is either paddleboat or canoe for an hour. There are reasons, I'm sure.

I snapped a few pics at the end because I wasn't really in the picture taking mood.

My niece and her best friend, Katie:

Me, being all tired and ornery cuz I didn't want to go out on the paddleboat but my niece is so obnoxious at times:

My dad giving his nephew (left) and a niece's son (middle) a ride in the canoe:

And that's all folks. We went back to clean up the site and bathrooms, have inspection, say goodbye and head out. At least going made my grandma happy and that was enough for me. It would have been better if 80% of the family hadn't been missing, but whatdya do?? I'm next time will be a blast.

Finally...We're Empty-Nesters

Hungry, anyone??

Last year, whilst in a period of joblessness, I noticed a scratching, fluttering sound while I was in the upstairs bathroom. It sounded like a rodent, i.e. a rat, crawling through my vents. I went to the downstairs bathroom and listened some more, ready to run at any sight of a rat in my house. Come to find out it was a bird. Phew!! I told Paul about it and then we forgot about it. I would hear it periodically but then winter came and it was gone.

Come early spring, I could hear the fluttering again. I went outside and found the tiny blue egg above cracked open on the ground. Crap. Told Hubband that we really needed to get that nest out of there. I know I could have done it if I really bucked up but I hate sticking my hands in spaces that are unkown. Even the garbage disposal freaks me out. Well, Hubband was extremely busy, therefore, after a few more cracked eggs that had tumbled out of my dryer vent and onto the ground, it was very obvious that the eggs had hatched. I would be sitting on the bathroom counter getting ready for work and hear the bird land in the dryer vent and the little birds would go nuts chirping away for breakfast. We decided to leave it be until we knew they were gone.

So the birds are gone. Except one. Because it's dead. In my freaking dryer vents!!!!! While I had all my friends over for Bunco, the evidence first started to appear. I thought something had to be wrong with our pipes and thought it weird I hadn't noticed it when I came home from work. The next day it got worse and followed my hound dog nose around my laundry room/bathroom trying to figure out if was my toilet...but the smell is worse on the other side by the dryer and furnace. Freaking great. Paul tried to get to the nest - and can't. And there is no way of knowing where that bird is.

Any suggestions??

Bunco Night wit da Gang

Last Friday, I was really excited to get together and host Bunco for our old Bunco Group. It's been nearly a year since we rounded up and played and we always BUTTLOADS of fun!

Monica, the original Bunco hostess and planner, left us to start a new life in Colorado and since then we let Bunco die with a few feeble attempts to start it up again. But she was here visiting for the weekend and we made sure to have it happen!:

(Rachelle got really happy with the fingers in the lens.)

(And then it started a trend.)

Monica, me and Rachelle:

Of course, the sexiest guy on the planet:

We ate super nachos, spent time talking and catching up, chilling out on the patio in the awesome weather and, of course, getting loud and crazy with dice :)

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

Mwa ha ha ha ha ha.

Yes I read this. Just now. Shut up.

Last night at 'Book Club', Twilight was brought up...as someone usually does...and one of girls asked if any of us had read this yet. I remember reading about it, and then forgeting about it. She said it was actually pretty good and, while I'm burnt out of anything Twilight, I decided to read it.

Verdict?? I liked it. I liked Bree and I especially liked her and Diego and I especially liked that it was short :) You really wish it could have ended differently for her. All you know of her from Eclipse was that she surrendered and that she really really wanted to sink her teeth into Bella. Oh, and that she dies. And Stephanie Meyer, I learned upon reading a little at the beginning of the book, felt this character jump out at her and went after it. Not too shabby, Stephanie. It almost makes up for you ruining Midnight Sun...back when I still cared...but I don't anymore. Just Sayin'.

Oh and p.s. - you can only read it for free for so long.....

And Then There Were None

This was the book discussed in our book club last night. It's the first book I have read by Agatha Christie. She, apparently, is only outsold by the Bible and Shakespeare. This mystery was pretty good. I found her style of writing annoying...especially at first and most especially with the dialogue. It's a whole bunch of "He said: blah blah blah." "She said: blah blah blah" "So and so said: Blah de blah" It gets better as it goes along, though. Once I got past the first chapter or two and all the confusing confusioness, I was pretty engrossed by what was going to happen to the ten people summoned to a remote island. You might be as well.

Rocker Hair

I'm jealous.

I had dreams of having hair like this when I started growing it out six or seven years ago:

My hair would never do such a thing. It also helps to have a buttload of cash, personal stylists and possible extensions.

And another note: I think she's too young to be wearing Britney Spears' costume britches.

Memorial Weekend

I have been looking forward to this past weekend for a few weeks. From the time I got off work early on Friday afternoon to about five o'clock yesterday, we worked non-stop (except Sunday) on our yard. I was ecstatic to have my husband home for the entire weekend to help me and work on the whole thing together - we made a LOT of headway.

While we were on our way from one errand to another on Monday, we ended driving past a graveyard. It was jam packed with cars and people and the ground was overflowing with flowers and balloons. As I watched families gathered around their loved ones, I thought again, like I do everyday, about how profoundly grateful I am that I have all my loved ones with me. I felt a deep appreciation that I live in a free country to enjoy happy times with my husband and family and that I owe that freedom to so many lives.

As Paul and I have knelt down to thank our soldiers in evening prayers, I have often thought about what it would be like to send someone off to war...or to be the one going to war. What would it be like to be without the one you love for long periods of times, never knowing what could happen on any given day as they defend our freedom from diverse places? I imagine I would be sick with worry day in and day out. I imagine that I would cry a whole lot. I don't know what it means to face death to defend something else. I don't know what it means to sacrifice time away from my spouse and children, even missing their birth. I don't know what it means to lose a husband in the line of duty and face raising children alone. I hope that is something I never have to go through, with or without a war. I am grateful that mine sleeps next to me every night.

I admit that with all we had planned this weekend, it can be very easy to get caught up in sales and time off. I am glad I drove by the Memorial site - it helped put things into perspective. One other thing I thought about as we drove by was all the flowers. Flowers are beautiful but flowers wilt and die. Someone will be by to throw away those thousands of flowers in a week or so. Why do we do flowers? I think action is best. While there is a lot of good in the world, it feels drowned out at times by corruption and greed and laziness. I saw a picture of a parade with the American flag being walked down front and center. The only person standing was an elderly man...who was in a wheelchair. It has always bothered me when I see people not standing for the flag or putting their hand over their heart. I think it's disrespectful to those who have given their lives defending it and have often that that people need to show more respect and be more grateful for where they live. I think that if there was ever a time that I didn't honor the flag, my Grandpa would turn in his grave. My friend's post echoed the same thought - that Memorial Day needs to be taken more seriously and that there are actions we can take to keep this country great and show respect. I hope everyone does.