Today I worked my last day.
I am officially jobless.
My desk is cleared. The drawers are void of anything and everything except some office supplies. All pictures of my cute little family and two favorite boys are removed from my bulletin board. And computer screen. And the wall.
I said my goodbyes.
Clocked out for the last time.
And made that dang 2-hour drive home.
{With my usual $1 McD's Coke to sip.}
Sigh.........
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
We are SO not in Kansas {uh, Eugene} anymore!!
So we get the local paper just one day a week now - Sundays. Gotta have the funnies, the ads, some local news and during football season... the sports page! Now, this last Saturday the Oregon football team had their first Pac-10 game of the season vs. Arizona State sundevils. They came from behind for a 42-31 win, making them undefeated so far this season. GREAT news for a Ducks fan. Now, this being our first fall season outside of Oregon, I wasn't quite ready to have to SEARCH the paper for the story of the results!
Nothing on the front page of the paper.... Ok. No biggie. We are in WA state cougar country now.
Nothing on the front page of the Sports section... Say what?! Instead there is a picture and an article about Oregon State's loss to Boise State. Um... What about my Ducks?
Oh! Here they are! Page B7. No picture and just a teeny-tiny article. They're only ranked no. 4 in the Nation. Sigh.... I was missing The Register Guard's usual Sunday spread after a win. Front page of the main section. Front page of the sports section and several accompanying articles analyzing it all to death! Yeah, we are SO not in Eugene anymore.
Nothing on the front page of the paper.... Ok. No biggie. We are in WA state cougar country now.
Nothing on the front page of the Sports section... Say what?! Instead there is a picture and an article about Oregon State's loss to Boise State. Um... What about my Ducks?
Oh! Here they are! Page B7. No picture and just a teeny-tiny article. They're only ranked no. 4 in the Nation. Sigh.... I was missing The Register Guard's usual Sunday spread after a win. Front page of the main section. Front page of the sports section and several accompanying articles analyzing it all to death! Yeah, we are SO not in Eugene anymore.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Job Lay-Off
Well, I guess it's time I let everyone in on some changes that will be happening in our family. I am being laid-off. After 10 years and 9 1/2 months with the same company, I am going on a permanent extended leave. And, to be honest, I am pretty happy about it! I'm not sure many people being laid-off from their job are as happy as I am. I have known for about six weeks and at first it came as quite the shock. I knew lay-offs were coming, but I figured I was safe since I was only working 2 days a week and was still finishing up training the new girl. I was wrong. I had always figured when I finally left, it would be on my own terms. Once I had time to really think about it, though, I was glad it was on their terms for one key word: unemployment. Not that I am proud of the fact that I will be on unemployment, but it will definitely help out our family as we transition. I'm going to look for a new job, but it's going to have to be just the right one - decent pay, minimal hours and only 1 or 2 days a week. I really don't want to work part-time every day. I'd rather just work a full day, 1 or 2 days a week, and be done with it. So we'll see how that search goes. I'm not sure what I'll qualify for yet with unemployment, but we're hoping with that and the savings on gas we should just about break even.
I'm going to miss getting to work with my dad. He was always one of the few that helped me keep my sanity! It was sad when I started to think about it and realized there's really only a handful of people I will miss working with. I used to be so close with everyone there - especially when I was working in the service department and directly with the techs. Now that I've been back in the office for so many years, I don't really have any interaction with them. The main thing I'm NOT going to miss? The commute!! Two hours down on Wednesday morning and two hours back Thursday night. Yeah, I am soooo not going to miss that.
What's the very best part about all of this?? I will be a full-time-stay-at-home MOM!! Am I excited? Yes!! Terrified? Yep, that too!!
Anyway, that's what's new in our lives. My last day is the 30th, so as of October 1st I will be a free woman!!
I'm going to miss getting to work with my dad. He was always one of the few that helped me keep my sanity! It was sad when I started to think about it and realized there's really only a handful of people I will miss working with. I used to be so close with everyone there - especially when I was working in the service department and directly with the techs. Now that I've been back in the office for so many years, I don't really have any interaction with them. The main thing I'm NOT going to miss? The commute!! Two hours down on Wednesday morning and two hours back Thursday night. Yeah, I am soooo not going to miss that.
What's the very best part about all of this?? I will be a full-time-stay-at-home MOM!! Am I excited? Yes!! Terrified? Yep, that too!!
Anyway, that's what's new in our lives. My last day is the 30th, so as of October 1st I will be a free woman!!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Just curious....
Alright, I'm just going to address the big, pink elephant in the room head-on. I've noticed a severe drop in comments lately. Which is fine. I don't have one of those reader-tracker things, so I don't know if it's my actual viewership {yes, that's a word - in my mind at least} that's gone down lately or just enthusiasm to comment. Which I totally get. We're all busy and I already know that I am guilty of reading blogs, wanting to comment, having intentions to go back and comment and then never actually doing it. For example, my recap post has been up for almost a week, and still nothing - but I'm pretty sure someone besides Sean has read it! I guess what I really want to know is: Am I boring y'all to tears or what?! Too much talk, not enough pictures? Too many pictures, not enough talk? Un-comment-inspiring stories? All of the above? Or {hopefully} none of the above and it's really that we're just all so busy?! Anyway, if you'd like to see/read more or less of anything... Just let me know! And yes, that will require leaving a comment. Ha ha!!
PS: This does not, in any way, mean I will take your advice because, after-all, this is our family journal more than anything - but I am completely open to suggestions! :)
PPS: This really isn't meant to be a lack-of-comment-love pity party. If y'all are too busy, I am a-ok with no comments - I'm just hoping y'all are still reading. And no, I don't have a clue where my sudden desire to use "y'all" has come from - I just go with it! ;)
PS: This does not, in any way, mean I will take your advice because, after-all, this is our family journal more than anything - but I am completely open to suggestions! :)
PPS: This really isn't meant to be a lack-of-comment-love pity party. If y'all are too busy, I am a-ok with no comments - I'm just hoping y'all are still reading. And no, I don't have a clue where my sudden desire to use "y'all" has come from - I just go with it! ;)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
August Recap
Where is this year going?! I can't believe it's already September. Once we settled in from our move, Spring and Summer just flew by and now it's AUTUMN time! Moving right along, here's what you may have missed from August...
* Em's game w/ my folks and baby sis:
So some of the local radio stations in Eugene have this deal called Half-Priced Eugene in which area retailers offer a limited number of discount packages. My dad scored on this one! Four box seats to a home Em's game, four hot dogs and four drinks [plus four Carl's Jr. burgers, but we didn't use those]. Sean was off one of the weeks I went down to Oregon to work, so Ethan stayed home with Daddy and I got to join my family for an evening at the ballpark.
A lot of people have complained that the Em's playing at the new UofO baseball field just doesn't have the same feeling as when they played at Civic Stadium. Though I loved me some Civic Stadium, I think I loved the box seating with real seats and back support even more! Of course, I may have felt differently if I had sat in the general admission seats.
Unfortunately, they lost the game, but I did snap this picture of the scoreboard at the bottom of the 4th - thought it was pretty cool that the Em's score read 2010.
And this was the only good shot we got of anyone - Mom and Lizzy! :)
My dad with his oldest and youngest daughters.
And a group picture, minus my mom. She made us all crouch down so she could get Ethan in the picture too. That's why we all look a little awkward!
* Date-night-movie-of-the-month: was non-existent. The month was pretty busy and it just slipped away from us! That's ok, though. Colemans owe us an evening or two of baby-sitting, so we should be able to get a movie in for September.
* Mockingjay: This book occupied much of my time for about 24 hours. Book 3 of the Hunger Games trilogy. LOVE this series! And I highly recommend it.
Sean read it next, then my friend Vicki, and currently Lizzy has it. It's up for grabs when she's done if you want to borrow it!
* Bob the rooster: Sadly, he is no more. But he was tasty! Our friends, the Colemans {yes, them again!} are raising chickens for eggs and now that they are full-grown, decided it was time for their 5am wake-up call {aka Bob} to go. I just happened to be on the phone with Vicki discussing our BBQ plans for that night {which did not include Bob}, which she mentioned that Brian {her hubby} was getting ready for this task at hand and asked if Sean would help. Sean actually has some experience with chicken slaying, plucking and cleaning thanks to our Ma and Pa experience on the great Trek of '05! Ha ha! Anyway, I'll spare you the gory details... and the video. Just know that their neighbors no longer have to worry about 5am alarms with no snooze button. And that he made a nice addition to our Coleman/Southworth/McLauchlin Sunday dinner!
* Ethan's Birthday: Nope, not our Ethan! This is Ethan from church and he and his family invited us over for his birthday dinner! He picked the menu and it was yummy! Spaghetti [w/ sauce made from veggies in their garden], green beans [from their garden], garlic bread and green salad.
* Random Pictures and a video:
Poor Ethan went for the leftover popcorn and caught the bowl just right! It flipped and this was the aftermath!
I think he just really liked the feel of the warm sand and laying in the sun because I found him like this more than once. So apparently we need to take him to the beach!
Again, {mostly} I don't condone the watching of Spongebob Squarepants, so I take no responsibility for him knowing the words to the theme song!
{By the way, it's not that I hate the show, it's just not one I particularly like. Though I'll take it over Dora!! Sorry Dora lovers.}
* Events already covered or still to come:
- First family camping trip!
- Family reunion in Seattle
- Afternoons at the lake
- The Friday we skipped the over-priced fair and went to Despicable Me instead!
* Em's game w/ my folks and baby sis:
So some of the local radio stations in Eugene have this deal called Half-Priced Eugene in which area retailers offer a limited number of discount packages. My dad scored on this one! Four box seats to a home Em's game, four hot dogs and four drinks [plus four Carl's Jr. burgers, but we didn't use those]. Sean was off one of the weeks I went down to Oregon to work, so Ethan stayed home with Daddy and I got to join my family for an evening at the ballpark.
A lot of people have complained that the Em's playing at the new UofO baseball field just doesn't have the same feeling as when they played at Civic Stadium. Though I loved me some Civic Stadium, I think I loved the box seating with real seats and back support even more! Of course, I may have felt differently if I had sat in the general admission seats.
Unfortunately, they lost the game, but I did snap this picture of the scoreboard at the bottom of the 4th - thought it was pretty cool that the Em's score read 2010.
And this was the only good shot we got of anyone - Mom and Lizzy! :)* Scandinavian Festival: This year marked the 50th Anniversary of the Festival and even though we have moved away, I still wanted to go. Luckily, it starts up on a Thursday, so I was able to go for a little while before heading back to WA. First stop was to get in the never-ending Biff paj {i.e. Swedish meat pies} line which happened to end right across from the ice cream booth. Naturally, Ethan wanted an ice cream cone, so I gave Lizzy a couple bucks to get Ethan a child-size cone after he decided on Oregon Mint {good choice, little dude!}. You pay in one line and then wait for your cone in another line. Lizzy's friend happened to be working in the booth and she came back with this bad boy.
A HUGE scoop of ice cream inside a waffle cone! Say what?! I asked Lizzy if she was sure that she paid for a child-size cone - she assured me she did and even gave me back change. Then she tells me her friend filled her order. That would explain the monster ice cream cone that her friend did not know would be making its way into the hands of a toddler!! So we did what we had to do and my family and I all helped Ethan eat it. :)
After we got the Swedish meat pies, we hit up the Fri-jo line and then walked around a little. I had bought both items to go because I was taking them home so Sean and I could enjoy their yumminess together. One of my favorite parts about going to the Festival is running into friends and this year was no different. I think we saw at least 10-15 people we knew between the four of us {my mom, dad, Lizzy and I}.
A HUGE scoop of ice cream inside a waffle cone! Say what?! I asked Lizzy if she was sure that she paid for a child-size cone - she assured me she did and even gave me back change. Then she tells me her friend filled her order. That would explain the monster ice cream cone that her friend did not know would be making its way into the hands of a toddler!! So we did what we had to do and my family and I all helped Ethan eat it. :)
After we got the Swedish meat pies, we hit up the Fri-jo line and then walked around a little. I had bought both items to go because I was taking them home so Sean and I could enjoy their yumminess together. One of my favorite parts about going to the Festival is running into friends and this year was no different. I think we saw at least 10-15 people we knew between the four of us {my mom, dad, Lizzy and I}.
My dad with his oldest and youngest daughters.
And a group picture, minus my mom. She made us all crouch down so she could get Ethan in the picture too. That's why we all look a little awkward!* Date-night-movie-of-the-month: was non-existent. The month was pretty busy and it just slipped away from us! That's ok, though. Colemans owe us an evening or two of baby-sitting, so we should be able to get a movie in for September.
* Mockingjay: This book occupied much of my time for about 24 hours. Book 3 of the Hunger Games trilogy. LOVE this series! And I highly recommend it.
Sean read it next, then my friend Vicki, and currently Lizzy has it. It's up for grabs when she's done if you want to borrow it!* Bob the rooster: Sadly, he is no more. But he was tasty! Our friends, the Colemans {yes, them again!} are raising chickens for eggs and now that they are full-grown, decided it was time for their 5am wake-up call {aka Bob} to go. I just happened to be on the phone with Vicki discussing our BBQ plans for that night {which did not include Bob}, which she mentioned that Brian {her hubby} was getting ready for this task at hand and asked if Sean would help. Sean actually has some experience with chicken slaying, plucking and cleaning thanks to our Ma and Pa experience on the great Trek of '05! Ha ha! Anyway, I'll spare you the gory details... and the video. Just know that their neighbors no longer have to worry about 5am alarms with no snooze button. And that he made a nice addition to our Coleman/Southworth/McLauchlin Sunday dinner!
* Ethan's Birthday: Nope, not our Ethan! This is Ethan from church and he and his family invited us over for his birthday dinner! He picked the menu and it was yummy! Spaghetti [w/ sauce made from veggies in their garden], green beans [from their garden], garlic bread and green salad.
* Random Pictures and a video:
Poor Ethan went for the leftover popcorn and caught the bowl just right! It flipped and this was the aftermath!
I think he just really liked the feel of the warm sand and laying in the sun because I found him like this more than once. So apparently we need to take him to the beach!Again, {mostly} I don't condone the watching of Spongebob Squarepants, so I take no responsibility for him knowing the words to the theme song!
{By the way, it's not that I hate the show, it's just not one I particularly like. Though I'll take it over Dora!! Sorry Dora lovers.}
- First family camping trip!
- Family reunion in Seattle
- Afternoons at the lake
- The Friday we skipped the over-priced fair and went to Despicable Me instead!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Career Options
I've been meaning to post this picture for a while. I just love it! A little glimpse into the future, perhaps? 
Maybe Ethan will be a firefighter {he did live across the street from a fire station for the first 3 years of his life and he is still obsessed with emergency vehicles!}? A doctor? Veternarian? EMT? The possibilities are endless! :)
Maybe Ethan will be a firefighter {he did live across the street from a fire station for the first 3 years of his life and he is still obsessed with emergency vehicles!}? A doctor? Veternarian? EMT? The possibilities are endless! :)PS: If you haven't checked out our blog in a while, there are lots of new posts to peruse, including my adventures in Utah, an update on Ethan and our first-ever family camping trip!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Utah - July 2010 part 3
Utah
July 2010
part 3: Cupcakes, Independence Day, Visiting Friends, BYU sisterly love and all the rest
part 3: Cupcakes, Independence Day, Visiting Friends, BYU sisterly love and all the rest
Ok, so now let's go back in time a little bit. Sunday, the 4th of July {aka Independence Day}, and as previously mentioned, the first holiday my little family of 3 was divided. Me in Utah and the boys home in Washington {click here to read how they spent the holiday}. Sad. The day started with church at my Aunt and Uncle's ward and when we got home we started making BBQ dinner preparations. And here's where the cupcakes come in. My cousin, Niki, had baked up a couple dozen cupcakes and then gave us all a mini lesson on how to turn them into beautiful sunflowers or put that cute little swirly on top {proud to say that I already knew how to do that!}.
Not bad for a bunch of amateurs! Of course, Niki got all fancy with hers and turned one into a pretty impressive panda bear. While decorating these bakery-window-wannabe cupcakes, I got a picture text from Sean of Ethan in his festive Sunday Independence Day attire.
I admit, this probably wouldn't have been my first choice {sorry Sean}, but then again, I'm not sure I would've been this creative! I do love the red tie, white shirt and silver vest. And either way, he is such a handsome little dude!
So after we had a super-yummy BBQ dinner with everyone, my mom and sisters and I booked it over to West Jordan because I had a rare opportunity to visit my childhood and long-time friend, Jenny {the same Jenny mentioned in the previous post when recalling our trip to Raging Waters} - she had just had TWIN girls a few weeks prior. Yeah, I was in newborn-baby-holding heaven with little Audrey and Kinsey. Not too mention how great it was to see some old friends.
Jenny and I are holding the twins, her dad and his mom are next [Gramma Barnes!!!], then my mom and in the front is Jenny's mom with my sisters on either side. Did you follow all that? We totally crashed the tail-end of their family get-together, but I didn't feel too bad because it was so fun to see everyone. Plus, I had permission from Jenny!
From there we went our separate ways... mom and I back to my aunt and uncle's house and Christine and Lizzy back to Christine's apartment in Provo. Lizzy thought she was pretty much the bomb-diggity for getting to stay in the apartment [two of Christine's roommates had already moved out, so there was a spare bed]. She kept saying that she can NOT wait for college.... to have her own place.... do her own grocery shopping.... cook her own food.... Ha ha!! I totally forgot how glamorous living on your own looks to the young-ins still at home!!
Monday Lizzy and Christine first went to the Freedom Run to try and cheer cousin Niki on, but she was lost in the crowd. They had a poster made and everything.
Then they spent quite a bit of time in the pool in the a.m. while Mom and I pack up our stuff in Bountiful. That afternoon, Mom and I were dying to lay out by the pool since we had missed it, so Lizzy and Christine played some ultimate Frisbee and then met us back at the pool. 
As seen in the pics above, there was an awful lot of basketball dunking, handstands and overall goofing around. The joys of being without Ethan someplace warm and with access to a free pool!
That night, after Brick Oven Pizza for dinner {again, see previous "part 2" post} we met back at the hotel, along with Christine's friend Matt, to play games. Yeah, that ultimately ended in a wrestling match between my sisters and Matt.
Tuesday was already covered, so now we just have Wednesday. Our bonus day since we were supposed to be driving back to Oregon. Once again, we decided to stay an extra day. We slept in and skipped the free breakfast because we were just too beat! Then we headed over to the BYU campus and got J.Dawgs hot dogs for lunch. YUM!! May I recommend the all-beef dog with special sauce, onions, a pickle and mustard. Did I already say YUM?!?!! With that in our bellies, we raced across campus to make it to Christine's ballroom dance class. I thought I was going to hurl. Especially when we had to go back UP the steps from heck. Unfortunately, Christine had to work that afternoon/evening. So the rest of us went back to her place and bummed around - which definitely included more pool time!! And once Christine got home from work, we had one last impromptu photo shoot... in our matching BYU tees.
The next morning we {the original 3 who started this trip} loaded up my mom's car and headed home.
Funny side story about me: My mom let me take over the driving for a while once we were in Burns. Me, having never drove to Utah, except while following my mom's car in April, failed to double-check with my mom to know which road to get on. She was out-cold the second she got in the passenger seat and I just assumed there was only one way to go out of Burns to get to Ontario. Yeah. I was wrong! Several times I was thinking that I didn't remember these white gate thingies, but mom just brushed it off and I kept driving. It wasn't until I asked her about an upcoming fork in the road that we realized something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I was in southern Oregon!! Well, after a bit of panic, we pulled out the map and figured out where to go from there and only ended up being about 45 minutes total out of our way with no back-tracking. Phew!!
Me at the concert, sporting a rockin' glow necklace. You know you're jealous!
Funny side story about Lizzy: One of the mornings she was at Christine's apartment she called me up in a bit of a panic. She was making brownies and needed 2/3 cup of something, but Christine was in the shower and didn't have a 2/3 measuring cup! "Relax!" I tell her, thinking her only options were, like, a 1/2 cup. "What measuring cups do you have?" "Well..." she says. "I've got a 1/4 cup, a 1/3 cup, a..." I stopped her right there, trying not to laugh to hard... "Just used the 1/3 cup twice!" Long pause..... "Oh." :)
This was taken of Lizzy the first night, just after we got to Bountiful. When she should took both air mattresses and doubled them up Princess-n-the-pea-like.
Not bad for a bunch of amateurs! Of course, Niki got all fancy with hers and turned one into a pretty impressive panda bear. While decorating these bakery-window-wannabe cupcakes, I got a picture text from Sean of Ethan in his festive Sunday Independence Day attire.
I admit, this probably wouldn't have been my first choice {sorry Sean}, but then again, I'm not sure I would've been this creative! I do love the red tie, white shirt and silver vest. And either way, he is such a handsome little dude!So after we had a super-yummy BBQ dinner with everyone, my mom and sisters and I booked it over to West Jordan because I had a rare opportunity to visit my childhood and long-time friend, Jenny {the same Jenny mentioned in the previous post when recalling our trip to Raging Waters} - she had just had TWIN girls a few weeks prior. Yeah, I was in newborn-baby-holding heaven with little Audrey and Kinsey. Not too mention how great it was to see some old friends.
Jenny and I are holding the twins, her dad and his mom are next [Gramma Barnes!!!], then my mom and in the front is Jenny's mom with my sisters on either side. Did you follow all that? We totally crashed the tail-end of their family get-together, but I didn't feel too bad because it was so fun to see everyone. Plus, I had permission from Jenny!From there we went our separate ways... mom and I back to my aunt and uncle's house and Christine and Lizzy back to Christine's apartment in Provo. Lizzy thought she was pretty much the bomb-diggity for getting to stay in the apartment [two of Christine's roommates had already moved out, so there was a spare bed]. She kept saying that she can NOT wait for college.... to have her own place.... do her own grocery shopping.... cook her own food.... Ha ha!! I totally forgot how glamorous living on your own looks to the young-ins still at home!!
Monday Lizzy and Christine first went to the Freedom Run to try and cheer cousin Niki on, but she was lost in the crowd. They had a poster made and everything.
Then they spent quite a bit of time in the pool in the a.m. while Mom and I pack up our stuff in Bountiful. That afternoon, Mom and I were dying to lay out by the pool since we had missed it, so Lizzy and Christine played some ultimate Frisbee and then met us back at the pool. 
As seen in the pics above, there was an awful lot of basketball dunking, handstands and overall goofing around. The joys of being without Ethan someplace warm and with access to a free pool!That night, after Brick Oven Pizza for dinner {again, see previous "part 2" post} we met back at the hotel, along with Christine's friend Matt, to play games. Yeah, that ultimately ended in a wrestling match between my sisters and Matt.
Tuesday was already covered, so now we just have Wednesday. Our bonus day since we were supposed to be driving back to Oregon. Once again, we decided to stay an extra day. We slept in and skipped the free breakfast because we were just too beat! Then we headed over to the BYU campus and got J.Dawgs hot dogs for lunch. YUM!! May I recommend the all-beef dog with special sauce, onions, a pickle and mustard. Did I already say YUM?!?!! With that in our bellies, we raced across campus to make it to Christine's ballroom dance class. I thought I was going to hurl. Especially when we had to go back UP the steps from heck. Unfortunately, Christine had to work that afternoon/evening. So the rest of us went back to her place and bummed around - which definitely included more pool time!! And once Christine got home from work, we had one last impromptu photo shoot... in our matching BYU tees.
The next morning we {the original 3 who started this trip} loaded up my mom's car and headed home.
Funny side story about me: My mom let me take over the driving for a while once we were in Burns. Me, having never drove to Utah, except while following my mom's car in April, failed to double-check with my mom to know which road to get on. She was out-cold the second she got in the passenger seat and I just assumed there was only one way to go out of Burns to get to Ontario. Yeah. I was wrong! Several times I was thinking that I didn't remember these white gate thingies, but mom just brushed it off and I kept driving. It wasn't until I asked her about an upcoming fork in the road that we realized something was wrong. Terribly wrong. I was in southern Oregon!! Well, after a bit of panic, we pulled out the map and figured out where to go from there and only ended up being about 45 minutes total out of our way with no back-tracking. Phew!!
Me at the concert, sporting a rockin' glow necklace. You know you're jealous!Funny side story about Lizzy: One of the mornings she was at Christine's apartment she called me up in a bit of a panic. She was making brownies and needed 2/3 cup of something, but Christine was in the shower and didn't have a 2/3 measuring cup! "Relax!" I tell her, thinking her only options were, like, a 1/2 cup. "What measuring cups do you have?" "Well..." she says. "I've got a 1/4 cup, a 1/3 cup, a..." I stopped her right there, trying not to laugh to hard... "Just used the 1/3 cup twice!" Long pause..... "Oh." :)
This was taken of Lizzy the first night, just after we got to Bountiful. When she should took both air mattresses and doubled them up Princess-n-the-pea-like.We got home late Thursday night, crashed, and the next day Lizzy drove back to WA with me and babysat while Sean and I went on our awesome 5th anniversary date night!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Utah - July 2010 part 2
Utah
July 2010
part 2: Seven Peaks and Christine's Birthday
part 2: Seven Peaks and Christine's Birthday
I'm going to skip around a little bit here.... Christine's birthday was on Tuesday, so I'll get back to Sunday and [most] of Monday in the next [and last] post.
Monday night we went to Brick Oven Pizza in Provo, despite Christine's protests that no one really goes there, because it is one of my mom's old stomps and because they have really good pizza! Of course, Monday nights are free Root Beer nights, so we were all over that!
Then my mom got them to sing to Christine for her "birthday" [a day early] and she got a chocolate mousse pie for her embarrassment. Lizzy and I thought it looked pretty tasty, so we ordered one to share. We only got about half-way through between the two of us, but it did not disappoint!
Tuesday, on Christine's actual birthday, we had quite the day! First up was the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, then we headed over to Walmart to restock Christine's fridge and pantry and Lizzy and I decided to get some party decorations to make her apartment a little more festive! Then, while Christine scooted off to class, we went back to her apartment to decorate, clean-up a little and I also baked her a batch of yummy, gooey, cinnamon-roll goodness. From scratch. And they were heavenly, if I do say so myself!
Later that afternoon, Lizzy and I met up with Christine at Seven Peaks, where she was scheduled to work, but was able to get the day off so we could stay and play!! I seriously don't know how families afford that place, though. Christine had free passes for Lizzy and I [normally we would've been $21.95 each plus tax], but I still had to pay for the locker rental [$6 including $2 refund w/ key return] and 2-person tube [$9 including $1 refund when tube is returned]. We were able to avoid the $5 parking fee since my mom just dropped us off. Plus, there is no outside food or drink {Side story: I thought I'd removed some granola bars and fruit snacks from my bag - turns out I still had a small, unopened box of granola bars I'd forgotten about since they'd been in there since I first packed for the trip. Holy big deal!! I really hated to just toss them in the garbage because, of course, our ride [my mom] had already left. They called over the head security guard who then all-but-escorted Christine to her work locker so she could put them in there. Sheesh. They are not joking about there no outside food policy! On top of that, I also had a bottle of nail polish in my bag and there's a no glass bottle policy, but they said they could put that in the front office so I could pick it up when we leave. Ay-yi-yi! Next time I'm making sure my bag has strictly a towel and sunglasses only in it!!} We did have a great time going down all the slides. I had not been to a water park in soooo long! Of course, all the ramps and stairs to climb to the top to go down the slides reminded me how out of shape I am. Ugh. Not a fun reminder!
We went on all but the scary-steep slides. I'm getting too old for those, anyway! What really cracked me up, though, was Christine and Lizzy's resistance to go on them. 
Especially when I was Lizzy's age, I would've been doing them all! I distinctly remember a trip to Raging Waters with one of my best friends, Jenny, where I did all but the "Rollercoaster" {which apparently is now called Waimea} slide. That included the super-steep-go-down-on-your-belly Acapulco Cliff Dive!! Yeah, both of these slides require a 7-story climb and Jenny even did the Rollercoaster. I guess we were adrenaline junkies in those days. Back at Seven Peaks, we also did something else I never would've done in my youth... floated on the lazy river! I so enjoyed it, though! So relaxing floating along in the cool water with the warm sun bronzing up my skin. :) Anyway, I think our favorite slides were Cave-In and Vortex, both of which got ample screams from me!!
Can you tell this picture was snapped before we got started with the slides? i.e. Hair is still dry and looking good. Oh, and apparently I am the only loser in the family without white shades. Even my mom has a pair! Lame.
After the water park Christine dropped Lizzy and I off at our hotel so we could shower and make ourselves presentable for her party. She had quite the crowd there!
Here they are all holding up 2 fingers on both hands because she was turning 22! Of course, it was still about 1000 degrees outside, which made it about 2000 degrees inside her apartment with all those people, so after birthday cake [DQ ice cream] and some chit-chat....
.... the gang headed outside to the sand volleyball pit to get their game on.
Then, once everyone had left, it was present-time.
See the rolling pin Christine's holding up? Yeah, I got that for her. Wrapped it all up... after I first used it to roll out the previously mentioned cinnamon rolls!! Oh, the love! Oh, and that's Matt, again, in the the star shades above. Anyway... Christine, I sure hope you enjoyed your birthday as much as I did!
Monday night we went to Brick Oven Pizza in Provo, despite Christine's protests that no one really goes there, because it is one of my mom's old stomps and because they have really good pizza! Of course, Monday nights are free Root Beer nights, so we were all over that!
Then my mom got them to sing to Christine for her "birthday" [a day early] and she got a chocolate mousse pie for her embarrassment. Lizzy and I thought it looked pretty tasty, so we ordered one to share. We only got about half-way through between the two of us, but it did not disappoint!
Tuesday, on Christine's actual birthday, we had quite the day! First up was the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, then we headed over to Walmart to restock Christine's fridge and pantry and Lizzy and I decided to get some party decorations to make her apartment a little more festive! Then, while Christine scooted off to class, we went back to her apartment to decorate, clean-up a little and I also baked her a batch of yummy, gooey, cinnamon-roll goodness. From scratch. And they were heavenly, if I do say so myself!
Later that afternoon, Lizzy and I met up with Christine at Seven Peaks, where she was scheduled to work, but was able to get the day off so we could stay and play!! I seriously don't know how families afford that place, though. Christine had free passes for Lizzy and I [normally we would've been $21.95 each plus tax], but I still had to pay for the locker rental [$6 including $2 refund w/ key return] and 2-person tube [$9 including $1 refund when tube is returned]. We were able to avoid the $5 parking fee since my mom just dropped us off. Plus, there is no outside food or drink {Side story: I thought I'd removed some granola bars and fruit snacks from my bag - turns out I still had a small, unopened box of granola bars I'd forgotten about since they'd been in there since I first packed for the trip. Holy big deal!! I really hated to just toss them in the garbage because, of course, our ride [my mom] had already left. They called over the head security guard who then all-but-escorted Christine to her work locker so she could put them in there. Sheesh. They are not joking about there no outside food policy! On top of that, I also had a bottle of nail polish in my bag and there's a no glass bottle policy, but they said they could put that in the front office so I could pick it up when we leave. Ay-yi-yi! Next time I'm making sure my bag has strictly a towel and sunglasses only in it!!} We did have a great time going down all the slides. I had not been to a water park in soooo long! Of course, all the ramps and stairs to climb to the top to go down the slides reminded me how out of shape I am. Ugh. Not a fun reminder!
We went on all but the scary-steep slides. I'm getting too old for those, anyway! What really cracked me up, though, was Christine and Lizzy's resistance to go on them. 
Especially when I was Lizzy's age, I would've been doing them all! I distinctly remember a trip to Raging Waters with one of my best friends, Jenny, where I did all but the "Rollercoaster" {which apparently is now called Waimea} slide. That included the super-steep-go-down-on-your-belly Acapulco Cliff Dive!! Yeah, both of these slides require a 7-story climb and Jenny even did the Rollercoaster. I guess we were adrenaline junkies in those days. Back at Seven Peaks, we also did something else I never would've done in my youth... floated on the lazy river! I so enjoyed it, though! So relaxing floating along in the cool water with the warm sun bronzing up my skin. :) Anyway, I think our favorite slides were Cave-In and Vortex, both of which got ample screams from me!!
Can you tell this picture was snapped before we got started with the slides? i.e. Hair is still dry and looking good. Oh, and apparently I am the only loser in the family without white shades. Even my mom has a pair! Lame.After the water park Christine dropped Lizzy and I off at our hotel so we could shower and make ourselves presentable for her party. She had quite the crowd there!
Here they are all holding up 2 fingers on both hands because she was turning 22! Of course, it was still about 1000 degrees outside, which made it about 2000 degrees inside her apartment with all those people, so after birthday cake [DQ ice cream] and some chit-chat....
.... the gang headed outside to the sand volleyball pit to get their game on.
Then, once everyone had left, it was present-time.
See the rolling pin Christine's holding up? Yeah, I got that for her. Wrapped it all up... after I first used it to roll out the previously mentioned cinnamon rolls!! Oh, the love! Oh, and that's Matt, again, in the the star shades above. Anyway... Christine, I sure hope you enjoyed your birthday as much as I did!Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Utah - July 2010 part 1
Utah
July 2010
part 1: Stadium of Fire Concert
part 1: Stadium of Fire Concert
So clear back in July, my mom, youngest sister {Lizzy} and I took a girls-only road trip back to Utah {if you'll recall, we were all just there in April} to visit my middle sister {Christine} for her birthday and to go to the Stadium of Fire concert!! I came down to Oregon, as usual, for my Wednesday/Thursday work gig and then we hit the road early Friday morning - arriving in Bountiful {where we were staying with my aunt and uncle} late that night. The next day, Saturday, we drove down to Provo for the day and met up with the uber-tan Christine. She did not even look like she belonged in our family! Oh my heck! {Utah talk} The rest of us were all various shades of pasty white next to her. Eventually we ended up at the BYU library because there had been some miscommunication as to how my concert ticket was to be procured and I needed to print it up. {Christine is printer-less.} At the library we met Christine's friend, Matt, and his brother {who shall remain name-less because I don't recall it at this time and don't feel like calling Christine}. Later, we ran into them at the mall where we had gone to Chick-fil-A {pronounced "Chick Fill A" even though in my head I always read "Chick Fill UH"} for dinner. I had a grilled chicken sandwich, Lizzy opted for chicken strips and mom and Christine both had chicken salad sandwiches. It was a first for all of us and I think we agreed it was "OK" but not out of this world. It was also determined at this time that Matt and Lizzy both have awesome aviator sunglasses.
Then we "raced" {read: crawled-back-at-a-snail's-pace-because-there-was-so-much-traffic} back to Christine's apartment to get dolled up for the concert. Lucky for us, the concert was at the BYU stadium which is essentially right out Christine's back door - about 2 blocks away.
Here we are chillin' before the concert. Mom and her 3 girls.
I loved being surrounded by the mountains. I love the green-ness and trees-galore that is the Pacific Northwest, but there is great beauty in mountains like those. We had some time to kill before the show, so I braided Lizzy hair into a fabulously chic over-the-top-of-the-head french braid. 
Stylish? I think so! We saw several other girlies with the same look. Just wish I was talented enough to braid my own hair with such precision!
Did I mention this was my first-ever concert?! Yeah, I was super excited. And in my head I kept hearing little Gretel from Sound of Music saying, "It will be my first concert!" except in the movie she says "party" but whatever. I was excited! Did I say that already?
Can you tell who...??
[picture courtesy of carriefans.com]
It was Carrie Underwood!!!
So the highlight of the pre-show was when she did the National Anthem. Holy Moly!
Classic Zoolander face!!
Ok, fine. Normal smiles!
Lizzy
Christine
The sisters.
Top: With our Oregon "O's"
Bottom Left: We each live in a different state now... me in WA, Christine in UT {her "U" is a little funky} and Lizzy is the only one still in OR. Hence, Bottom Right: She is the only one happy because she is still in OR and we've all moved away.
My favorite sisters shot!
Then we "raced" {read: crawled-back-at-a-snail's-pace-because-there-was-so-much-traffic} back to Christine's apartment to get dolled up for the concert. Lucky for us, the concert was at the BYU stadium which is essentially right out Christine's back door - about 2 blocks away.
Here we are chillin' before the concert. Mom and her 3 girls.
I loved being surrounded by the mountains. I love the green-ness and trees-galore that is the Pacific Northwest, but there is great beauty in mountains like those. We had some time to kill before the show, so I braided Lizzy hair into a fabulously chic over-the-top-of-the-head french braid. 
Stylish? I think so! We saw several other girlies with the same look. Just wish I was talented enough to braid my own hair with such precision!Did I mention this was my first-ever concert?! Yeah, I was super excited. And in my head I kept hearing little Gretel from Sound of Music saying, "It will be my first concert!" except in the movie she says "party" but whatever. I was excited! Did I say that already?
There were several opening acts, including The 5 Browns {doing a medley of John Williams Star Wars music}, the Osmonds: 2nd Generation and a dance troupe number. All were pretty cool.
Also on the program for the night, was the largest-ever Eagle Scout Court of Honor because the Boy Scout organization was celebrating 100 years. Wow! That's a long time. Anyway, all of this led up to the star of the show.... drumroll please.....
Also on the program for the night, was the largest-ever Eagle Scout Court of Honor because the Boy Scout organization was celebrating 100 years. Wow! That's a long time. Anyway, all of this led up to the star of the show.... drumroll please.....
Can you tell who...??
[picture courtesy of carriefans.com]It was Carrie Underwood!!!
So the highlight of the pre-show was when she did the National Anthem. Holy Moly!
I had goosebumps and tears in my eyes. The beauty of her singing, the perfectly timed fireworks and the jet fly-over were awesome!! Her opening number was Cowboy Casanova and she also performed All-American Girl, Jesus Take the Wheel/How Great Thou Art, Undo It and several others with Before He Cheats for the finale. {For highlights, click here for a youtube link.} She is an amazing performer and it was a great show! But it wasn't over yet! The grand finale was a spectacular fireworks display and it did not disappoint.
They played a wide variety of music from American composers and then got into the hard-core fireworks!
After all was said and done, we hung back while most of the rest of the crowd dispersed and had ourselves a little post-concert photo shoot. I mean, we were all dolled up and everything!
Christine did most of the picture-taking {I had left our camera at home since I knew the boys would be having their own adventures and especially for the 4th of July} so we each took a picture with her. I really like the one of her and our mom. This is my favorite one of Christine and I though:
They played a wide variety of music from American composers and then got into the hard-core fireworks!
After all was said and done, we hung back while most of the rest of the crowd dispersed and had ourselves a little post-concert photo shoot. I mean, we were all dolled up and everything!
Christine did most of the picture-taking {I had left our camera at home since I knew the boys would be having their own adventures and especially for the 4th of July} so we each took a picture with her. I really like the one of her and our mom. This is my favorite one of Christine and I though:
Classic Zoolander face!!
See?! We all like to do it!
Ok, fine. Normal smiles!
Lizzy
Christine
The sisters.Top: With our Oregon "O's"
Bottom Left: We each live in a different state now... me in WA, Christine in UT {her "U" is a little funky} and Lizzy is the only one still in OR. Hence, Bottom Right: She is the only one happy because she is still in OR and we've all moved away.
My favorite sisters shot!It was an AWESOME concert and we had an AMAZING time! We've already talked about going again next year... depending on who is performing. Now, can you believe that whole post only covers Saturday, July 3rd?! That's right... there's still more to come from this trip, so check back soon!
Over and out.
Over and out.
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