What Happened to Safe, Quiet, Small Town Life?

The Emery County I grew up in was one where you wouldn't hesitate to take a late night stroll around the neighborhood because you didn't have to worry about being kidnapped or attacked by a stranger. It was a place where you didn't really even need to lock your doors, but if you still did, most of your friends and neighbors knew where the key was hidden in the garage, and you were completely fine with that. An Emery County where a "quick trip to the store" resulted in returning home 3 hours later because you had to stop and chat with 10 different friends you encountered while you were out. In MY sheltered little Emery County there was no violence.....no reason to be afraid.......

It's no surprise, then, that after nearly 10 years of living outside of the place that will always be home, my world feels drastically changed after hearing the sad news of the Castle Dale couple who were shot and killed this morning by their own son, who just happened to have gone to school with my younger brother. Things like that just don't happen in my town. I used to treasure being able to ditch the craziness of "big city" life for a weekend away where I can enjoy the quiet, slower pace of my favorite little place in the middle of nowhere. Now I feel like I can't even escape to my hometown without being reminded of just how quickly the world is going down the crapper. Well..........let's just raise a glass to whatever's left of the safe, quiet, small town life of my youth........

Bingham Bowl-a-rama

Back in the day I used to be a pretty decent bowler. Nathan and I even took a bowling class while we were at CEU and really had a lot of fun. 8+ years, 2 kids, and a couple (times 10 or 20) pounds later, turns out bowling ain't my forte anymore!

Our wii pretty much just gathers dust most of the time, but Ethan wanted to play it the other day and that's all it took for Nathan and I to strike up a somewhat friendly tournament of wii bowling & tennis. Let's just say that he and I will NOT be playing tennis together again anytime soon. But I actually held my own at the bowling and even beat him a few times. We haven't been to the bowling alley in years, so we decided to put our wii skills to the test and headed to Jack & Jill's bowling lanes so that Ethan could have his first real bowling experience.

Long story short: my 3 year old son ended up BEATING me!!!!! Granted he had the help of a strategically placed ramp to help his ball go straight down the center of the lane, and all I had was some hideous bowling shoes and a throw that tends to go to the left no matter what I do. I'm not going to let it get to me though. That Ethan's goin' DOWN the next time we fire up the wii!!

30 and Dirty!

This is a few days late, but

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!!!

My sexy husband turned the big 3-0 last Friday! I had planned some time ago to throw him a little get together with family and friends, but I knew there was no way I could keep it a surprise, so we kind of planned it together. Here is a quick rundown of Nathan's birthday festivities.......

We both took the day off of work on Friday (it was a holiday weekend after all) and took the kids to the zoo with Nathan's mom, his sister and her boys, and my brother Jesse and his family. It just so happens that Jesse's little boy, Carter, was turning 2 on Friday as well, so hopefully he had fun going to the zoo for his birthday.

Later that evening we had some family and friends over for a little b-day BBQ. We had a good turnout, but there were a few friends that couldn't make it since they already had plans for Labor Day. All in all, though, we had a lot of fun (good thing we busted our butts to get projects around the house finished in time for company)

Since Nathan's mom and sister were staying with us for a few days, we took advantage of the free babysitting and took an overnight trip to Wendover with Zac, Lindsay, and Linz's brother, Jed. I'm not a huge fan of gambling, but Nathan enjoys the blackjack tables every now and then and since it was his birthday, I figured I would make the best of it. Let's just say.......WE HAD A BLAST!!!

We did a little gambling (though me and Linz had more fun playing poker and blackjack on the digital machines than at the actual tables) ate an incredibly over-priced, somewhat unsatisfying meal at the casino buffet, tried a few things we had never done before, and generally just partied into the wee morning hours (I cannot even tell you when the last time was that I went to bed at 4:30 AM!!)

Though the birthday present I gave Nathan made me the absolute coolest wife in the world (am I right, Linz, or am I right?!) Lindsay and Zac's gift was pretty darn awesome too and made for quite an entertaining night. Leave it to Lindsay to take a package of t-shirts and a box of markers and turn them into this masterpiece (sorry if anyone is offended by this art!):

Front:30 & Dirty
Back: Does this Ass FEEL 30 to you?

Like I said.....this shirt made for some good entertainment. Lindsay and her brother made it their mission to see how many people (women or men) they could get to grab my husband's cute little backside. Nate would often forget he was even wearing the shirt until some grandma would start getting a little fresh. There were a couple hot chicks that felt him up, too, so hopefully it was worth it!! Here's to the handsome 30 year old that doesn't look a day older than the 18 year old I fell in love with!!!

Who Has Time for Step #2???

Step #1 - Upload the bazillion pictures taken on our trip to Ouray, CO a few weeks ago....Check!
Step #2 - Do a post about the awesome trip, including the bazillion pictures...............well, at least I got step#1 done!!!!

Stay tuned for step #2 comin' your way..............eventually!!!!!

Fireworks+Cruise-in+Linzac = Totally Awesome Weekend!!

We had so much fun over the weekend for the 4th of July!! We absolutely LOVE Logan and haven't been there for a few years, so we decided to head up to Cache Valley for the weekend. (sorry Gooch, I totally forgot to let you know!!)

We got to spend some quality time with our good friends Lindsey & Zac Humes (=Linzac) who were kind enough to let us sleep over even though they already had a houseful with Zac's brothers family there (luckily my kids didn't break anything this time!)

We started the weekend out by having a BBQ at Zac's dad's extremely nice home in Providence (he has an awesome theater room that makes you feel like you really are at the movies) with a bunch of people that we (Zac and Linz included) didn't even know. Top that off with waiting for 2 hours to eat (Zac totally called that one!) and corn on the cob that almost burned our mouths off with the amount of red pepper that was on it, and we had kind of a rocky start to the weekend, but not a total bummer.


We then headed to Zac's mom's house to watch the fireworks show that was put on at USU's stadium. Zac's brother and sister were there with there families, so it was fun to listen to all the kids enjoy the fireworks. Just like when I was little, they would name some of the fireworks by what they looked like, so we heard calls of "Octopus!" and even "Cowboy hat!"

Zac's mom provided some yummy snacks for us to eat while we watched the fireworks.

(there is the brightest light on our camera when it focuses, which explains the weird look on my face in this picture if you look at it closer!)

Derin slept in the Jeep during the fireworks, but it was about midnight before we actually got the kids put in bed back at the house. Thankfully, they slept in until almost 9:00 the next morning. That is unheard of for my kids!!

Lindsey made us the yummiest breakfast of english muffin pancakes and homemade syrup on Saturday morning. I can totally see why this recipe won 3 out of 4 categories at one of her YW/YM activities! We hung out and relaxed for the first half of Saturday before heading off to the Cache Valley Cruise-In. For anyone who doesn't know, this is one of the biggest car shows in the West and was so much fun!! There were SO many cars there from 1930's era to Delorian's to Lamborghini's. Zac's dad is a collector of vintage/totally awesome cars and had a whopping 11 cars entered in the car show this year (including the Lamborghini). Nathan took pictures of just of few his favorites.

We were actually lucky enough to be able to drive the orange "Harley-Davidson Parts Delivery" car in the car parade because they ended up not having enough drivers for all of the cars. It was a really cool experience and Ethan was excited that we let him sit in the drivers seat and "drive" Lindsey around. Nathan was actually able to drive a few of the cars when he helped get them back to their proper storage areas. We had a lot of fun "cruising" Logan Main Street with the hundreds of people in the crowd watching and cheering when Nathan would honk the totally old-fashioned sounding horn.

We topped the weekend off on Sunday by taking Zac and Lindsey out for an extravagant lunch at Wendy's complete with the leftover Oreo pie from the night before as dessert. It's too bad that Logan doesn't have much opportunity for Nathan's line of work, because I think we would move back there in a heartbeat!! I'm pretty sure that won't stop Nate from scouring the want ads to try and find a job there though!! Thanks Zac and Linz for a totally awesome weekend!!

Rejection Via Blog

Rejection is a something that we are all a little afraid of, but will eventually face at one point or another in our lives. There are the typical ways of being rejected: via letter (we regret to inform you....), via phone (I'm sorry to say....), and the dreaded face-to-face (I think we should talk.....).

However, in these modern days of innovative technology, we get to look forward to EVEN MORE methods of being rejected. First, there is email, which is rapidly making the original 3 methods above close to obsolete. Coming in a close second is texting. I'm sure there is nothing quite like reading FYI Im brking up w/ u. LOL! Which leads me to the newest method recently discovered: rejection via blog.

Let's say someone you know has a private blog for which they have sent you an invitation to view. All is good. However, what if one day you log in to take a look at said blog only to find out that you no longer have access. What do you have? Rejection via blog. So what do you do? One can look at this from one of two possible viewpoints: A) it was simply an error or B) this person suddenly despises you and is cutting you out of their life. If you choose the optimistic approach and go with option A, you could email the person to let them know you can longer view their blog and request that they send you another invitation. But what if it actually WASN'T an error? What do you have? Rejection via blog. Option B doesn't allow for as much speculation and is pretty much spelled out for you: REJECTION VIA BLOG.

Now let's look at another way blogs can be used as a high-tech reject device. Someone who previously had a public blog has decided to go private. So you email them for an invitation so you can keep checking in on their blog..................no response. Ok, maybe they didn't get the email, so you try again...................no response. Seeing as how a 3rd time might seem like a desperate cry for acceptance, you resign yourself to accepting the fact that you have just experienced REJECTION VIA BLOG.

Not that any of this has happened to me. I'm just sayin'...............

The Best Compliment Ever (from a 3 year old)

So, this morning my sweet little 3 year old gave me one of the best compliments ever, and it had to do with my cooking believe it or not. We're eating breakfast and Ethan says, "Mom, this is the best breakfast you have ever made for me!!" Wow, didn't see that one coming this morning! So here's a big shout out to the makers of Marshmallow Mateys, sliced bread, the toaster, and the best drink known to man, MILK!!! I guess no one knows how to whip up a mean bowl of cereal quite like Ethan's mom!!! GO ME!!

The Sound of Beautiful Music

I meant to post about this after it happened, but I'm me, and that's pretty much all that needs to be said (i.e. I'm a SLACKER!)

A few months ago I got that dreaded call to come to the church and meet with one of the members of the Bishopric, which we all know = CALLING. Now, I know we are all supposed to do our part to serve wherever we are asked, but to be quite honest, I love not having a calling and actually being able to attend Sunday School and Relief Society and not having to worry about planning/teaching a lesson of some sort. (again, I'm a SLACKER).

So, after the small talk on how my family is doing, Bro. J says "Your name was submitted by Sister X (names have been changed to protect the innocent girl I need to open a can of whoop a** on for submitting my name) to be called as the ward choir director." SAY WHAT??!!! As soon as I heard the word "choir" I figured he would say "accompanist" which I could handle. I was the ward organist in my parent's ward when I was 16, so choir accompanist would definitely be do-able. But choir DIRECTOR?? ME??!!! I was so petrified at this calling that I asked to have a few days to think it over and make sure I felt comfortable (though my parents taught us that you accept a calling no matter what, because there is a reason it was given to you, so I knew I would end up saying yes).

Now, I have led the music in various Young Women or Relief Society meetings in years past, but never even in something like Sacrament meeting, let alone conducting a real choir where people are ACTUALLY looking at you to lead them vs. other occasions where you are just there basically to tell people when to start and stop the singing. However, I am here to testify that you should never under-estimate the power of GOOGLE!!! That along with the useful information on the Church's website, I gave myself a crash course in conducting a choir and came away feeling that I might not be a total and complete failure. And I must say, that thing about every calling being given for a reason rings true, because I have been quite surprised at how natural this choir conducting thing has come to me. I feel at ease doing it, and it seems to be going quite well.

Our first "performance" as a new ward choir (our ward was split recently) was on Easter Sunday, and it went.........OK. Could have been better, but considering that the choir currently consists of about 9 people I'll consider it a success. Fast forward to yesterday: we had been practicing a beautiful arrangement of "How Great Thou Art" and I was excited about how it was turning out. So when the big moment came to sing in Sacrament, holy Moses was I blown away!!! We had a few people join in at the last minute who weren't able to practice with us beforehand, and WOW the end result was SO BEAUTIFUL!!! I have strong feelings about the power of music, and believe that few other things can envoke the Spirit of the Lord like the sound of beautiful music, and I'm pretty sure that everyone else present felt that Spirit there yesterday while listening to those voices sing that wonderful hymn. Thank you to Sister X for listening to the whisperings of the Spirit when it told her to give a calling to a fearful, unqualified and undeserving individual who has been forever changed. I'll put a lid on the can of whoop a** for now.

Best Buddies

Ethan recently got to spend some time with some of his cousins that he doesn't get to see often. Ethan and my brother Jesse's daughter Allee are not only cousins, but pretty much best friends. They bonded early on when McKette started babysitting Ethan for me when he was 2 months old. After Jesse and McKette moved back to Price a year or so ago, Ethan didn't get to see Allee as often, so whenever they do get to be together they have an absolute ball.

Their latest adventure was a sleep over at my house while Jesse's family was up for a work meeting he had. Though I couldn't get them to hold still very long to take many pictures, I was able to get a few when they finally settled down to go to bed. The kids were pretty excited when they saw that I had put both Ethan's mattress and Derin's crib mattress side by side on the floor so that they sleep right next to each other. Though their little sleep over didn't last the whole night through (Allee ended up in her parents room) it was still fun while it lasted.

Ethan & Derin also have cousins their age on Nathan's side of the family in Tarin's sons, Zeke & Maddux (well, Derin is about 6 months younger than Maddux, but close enough). Ethan and Zeke often fight more than they play, and Maddux might get a little carried away shoving Derin's binkie in her mouth, but for the most part they all still have good times together. So what are cousins good for, you ask? Things like:

Splashing in the tub

Hiding from "monsters" (aka Maddux)

and who needs trucks or sports when you can play with Barbies.

My New Wheels!

So, the month of March was pretty eventful for us vehicle-wise. Even though Nathan and I both loved his truck, we had listed it for sale about 8 months ago in an attempt to get rid of the high payment. Months and months went by without even a single call on it. Each month as we made another payment Nathan would drop the price, but it didn't seem to help. Then, as an example of my luck, right after I wrecked it we had like 3 different calls on it. Anyhoo, we finally sold it a few weeks ago so it's nice to have a little extra money in our pocket. I kind of think my little accident in the truck was a blessing in diguise because it made it a lot easier for Nathan to see it go. The truck just never felt the same to him afterward.

So we became a two car family - well, that is, if you count Nathan's totally awesome commuter car as an actual mode of transportation. I had been driving a 1999 Audi A8 which was plenty nice and plenty roomy, but since it was 10 years old we were afraid it might start having some problems so we decided to sell it as well. We had a lot more success this time and sold it within two weeks of listing it. Lucky for us, my mother in law had just purchased a new car the week before and had to leave her old one at our house since she lives down in Price. So while the pressure was on to find a new car, I got to cruise around in what we fondly refer to as "the boat" aka a Chrysler Concorde. After 3 weekends of nothing but test driving cars, we purchased this little beauty:

It's a 2006 Infiniti G35x. LOVING IT!!!!! (You'll understand my feelings more if you imagine that being said in a sing-song type voice) Since our Audi was all wheel drive we wanted to replace it with another all wheel drive so I can feel safer driving in the snow. And if the way it handled last night during a horrendous storm over Soldier Summit on our way to Price was any indication, this car was an excellent choice. It's a little smaller than the Audi, but the lady be bought if from took very good care of it, so I'm excited that I won't have to do 10 point turn abouts to get in and out of parking stalls any more (Boat, we loved you, but it's time to go back to Nana's house!) Now let's just hope that I'ver overcome the bit of bad luck I've had over the last 2 years and don't crash it!!!