I'll Miss You

Just an update for the few of you that check my blog regularly, that there will be a small break in postings. I am headed to Seattle Washington to attend the ACUIA Annual Conference and One Day Seminar (I know, you wish you could come too – sorry.) I am flying out early and Matt is coming to spend the weekend in Washington with his Aunt and Uncle. We should have a lot of fun. But then Matt goes home (has to get back for school) and I will stay until next Saturday and attend some really exciting classes (such as “Creating Value-Added Audit Work Programs”, “Auditing Business Loans”, and “Audit Standards – What’s Next”.) But, I will be out of town and trying to make the best of it. I will let you all know how it goes when I get back.

Blast from the Past

I was down in the basement of my work today giving blood when I had a total flashback! On the radio was a song I haven't heard for years (and years and years). It was Martika - Toy Soldier. I remember listening to that song when I was on the school bus going to my 3rd grade field trip at the zoo. Isn't it funny how music will do that to you - just take you back.

The cool thing is that Martika doesn't just take me back to my field trip. That song reminded me of all the good times we had watching Kids Incorporated! when I was younger. We thought they were so cool! I think we used to assign ourselves to be characters in the show. Chrystie got to be Martika, Val got to be the cute little blond one, and I was the other girl. I will admit that always disappointed me, I wanted to be either the cool older girl, or the cute little blond one, but art follows life and I was the funny girl in the middle.

But that just struck me as funny to hear that song today. What ever happened to those Kids Incorporated kids I wonder...

FIREWORKS!!!!!!!

My sister Val had a great idea for all of us to go and see a Bees Baseball game. We lucked out that it was a double-header and a fireworks night. It was a beautiful day! The sun was shining and the weather was warm. We purchased seats on the first-base side since my sister Chrystie brought her cute new little baby Daxton, and he isn’t much for sun yet. But it was his very first baseball game – and he did really well. They made it through the entire first game (which we lost) before they had to leave and get some kids to bed. Our niece Arden was there too and she is so cute. She was a little shy and tired since she had missed her nap, but I was OK with that because she was being a little clingy to me when we went for a walk. She was disappointed that the playground was closed, but they were setting the fireworks off from there and had rockets lashed to the fence, so we definitely could not go play there.

We stuck around long after Chrystie, Preston, and the kids left. We were happy to see that the home team won the second game! (I was happy the double-header games are only 7 innings – I was getting tired after having spent the night before in Moroni). After the game they set up for the fireworks. I was excited because I love fireworks. I don’t know why – but I don’t think I am alone in my excitement for pretty flashing lights in the sky, because there was a LOT of people at that game. While we were waiting for the fireworks I had a chance to talk to my mom and dad and my sister Val. (found out she has a blog now! Check it out on the link to the right). It was a really fun night. I Love Summer and I am glad it is warm enough now to really enjoy it.

A Miracle

This last Friday, Matt and I decided it would be fun to drive down to Manti to see the Mormon Miracle Pageant. It was a lot of fun. Right after work I ran home and we packed up the car and were off. We lucked out and were able to avoid traffic and made some pretty good time. But, it is still a long drive, so it was after 8 by the time we rolled into Moroni.

We were trying to decide if we were going to try to find a camping spot in the Manti City Park, or if we were going to stay with Matt’s Great Aunt Ida in Moroni. At first, being the totally anti-social person that I am, I was leaning toward staying in a tent. We decided it would only be right to stop and say “hi” to Ida. We found the house and she was sitting on the porch just waiting for us. She was so welcoming and so nice that we decided to stay there that night. Also, I loved the old house. The stairs were narrow and steep, but it was so cute and I was excited to stay there.

We headed off to the show, and got there in plenty of time to park and walk over. We found ourselves a decent seat and covered ourselves in bug spray (the mosquitoes were pretty thick). When the sun went down it started to get cold; so we were happy to have some nice warm blankets to wrap up in. We didn’t have to wait long for the lights to go down and the pageant to start (about 9:30pm).

Now, let’s have a flashback for a moment. I did see the pageant when I was in Jr. High with my ward on a youth conference; but my best memory of the pageant is when I went with my sister Val, my cousin Ryan, and my Grandma and Grandpa many many years ago. We drove down and we were singing and playing all the way down. We camped at the Manti Park. We were in tents, because we rode down in the blue car instead of the truck and camper. I remember that we stopped for Chinese food on the way down (and I ordered Chicken Fried Steak – because I was a wimpy little girl and was afraid to try something new). We watched the show that night and loved it so much that we talked my Grandma and Grandpa into letting us stay and watch it on Saturday night too! That day my Grandpa gave me, my sister, and my cousin each enough money to walk over to the Top Stop and buy a pack of Big League Chew, a 32 oz Sprite, and one of those red-white- and blue popsicles. It rained that day, and we played in our tents. That night we went back to the show again, and I distinctly remember sleeping through the entire show. But it was so much fun.

OK – flashback over. I will admit that I paid a lot better attention to the show this time than I ever have before. I really enjoyed it, and noticed many things I never did before. I would get distracted from time to time by the clear sky with the bright stars over the temple. I wish I had a camera that could have caught that and done it justice. It was really pretty and just so peaceful. I had a great time watching the show (and yes – I still cry when the Pioneer baby dies).

When the show ended, we walked back to our car. We decided that we didn’t want to spend the next half-hour in traffic, so we moved ourselves over to a picnic table. Matt had created a little camp stove out of a pop can and we thought it would be fun to roast marshmallows over it. Boy were we right. Now, the marshmallows do not roast the way they would over a nice fire, but since we were not allowed to start a real fire in the middle of the Manti City Post Office Parking lot, we settled for our stove. We continued in this activity until traffic had lightened up (and until I had had WAY too much sugar). Then we drove back to Moroni and went to sleep.

Then next morning we had the opportunity to talk to Aunt Ida for a while. She told us some great stories about the old house we were in, and about Matt’s ancestors that settled in Sanpete County. It was nice to meet her and hear these great stories. I need to start carrying around a tape recorded at times like this to get these stories on record. Hopefully Matt will remember them all.

It was a great trip and I look forward to doing it again someday.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Dad's Day!!!!

We had a great time visiting my Dad for Father's day. We were able to enjoy a nice hamburger dinner with all the fixins (thanks mom) and the weather was so great. We had to settle for a telephone call for Matt's dad, and a call to his Grandpa in Montana. We visited Grandpa Ray on Saturday (an early Father's Day) and that was a fun visit, as always. It was great to stop by my Grandpa's in Pleasant View also. We don't get up there often enough. It is always a treat.

Anyway - Happy Father's day to our great Dads and Grandpas. We love you.

Get in Shape Girl

There have been several things happen in the last couple of weeks that have made me realize that I am totally out of shape, and need to lose some weight. I think I have been in denial for a while, thinking that things would just fix themselves. But now I know that I need to get serious about doing something to fix myself. The first event that set this off was when I went hiking at Arches. It killed me! I was sore for days. Second, I had to buy a pair of pants that are a size bigger than the ones I have because I can't fit into any of my skinny pants. Sure, I bought them all when I was at the lowest weight I have been at since Jr. high, but I was still upset when I realized I don't fit into any of my summer clothes. And the last thing that sent me over the edge was that we bought a Wii Fit to play with. The first time I stepped on it the computer voice said "ouch" then told me I was overweight and made my little Mii (the little computer character that represents me) grow - so that she was fat too. I decided that I had been messing around too long and that it is now time to get serious about getting healthy.

I hope that with summer being here I will be able to find fun ways to exercise. If I mix that with eating smarter I hope to see some progress. Hopefully my next post on this topic will be about how successful I have been. Hopefully.

Golden Arches

When the travel bug bites you it is hard to get rid of - and I had the bug. I really wanted to go somewhere this past weekend, but didn't know where. We thought about going back to Disneyland, but since we didn't really get serious about it until Thursday, the airfare was not that friendly. So we decided to do a much less expensive trip and go camping. Now, if any of you know my history with camping, it usually ends wet. I don't think I have been on a camping trip in the past few years that didn't end in rain (and thunder and lightening). So I decided to propose a trip south, where the weather would be warmer and we were less likely to get rained out. Matt happily agreed to a trip to Moab and Arches National Park.

Being the kind of person I am, I decided to try getting a hotel instead of camping at all. I had been to Moab a couple of times in my life. The first time I went with my mom and dad and younger brother and sister. We did a raft trip on the Colorado and stayed in the smallest hotel room I have ever seen. Remembering this room, I assumed that hotel rooms in Moab were small, dirty, and cheap; so I was rather disappointed when we tried to book a hotel and found out that they were over $100 a night. I think that we were physically laughed at when we entered $50 as our asking price on Priceline.com. So - we camped. I found a number for, and Matt booked us a spot, at the Archview Resort (resort haha).

So we set out on Saturday morning for the long car ride down to Moab. Car rides are not generally something I enjoy, and this one wasn't really an exception. I had great company, and beautiful scenery, but I just don't like riding in the car. So I was more than happy when we got to Arches and got ready to go on our first hike.

We looked over the little map they give you at the entrance, and decided that we would do the Devil's Garden hike. We both like hiking and were both tired after having been in the car all day, so we jumped out of the car and started the hike like champs. We hiked past landscape arch and on to double o arch. They were both really pretty, and we were still having a good time. It was about 90 degrees outside - which was really hot for us since we haven't seen many days over 70 here lately. So we were both hot and tired, but still feeling good and decided to take the "primitive trail" back to the parking lot. OK, they say primitive, so I think not paved, a little bit harder. But what they mean is "risk your life climbing over boulders and jumping small canyons". So, needless to say by the time we made it back to the parking lot I was a little bit tired. However, I was happy we went that way because it was BEAUTIFUL. We saw a lot of magnificent things, and we were by ourselves most of the time. It was nice to really be out away from people.

So, after this hike, we immediately got into the car and drove to the Delicate Arch trail. We wanted to get to the arch before the sun set, and didn't have a lot of time. However, my legs froze up while we were in the car, so going up the trail was slow going. One of my favorite parts was when Matt, just being the friendly guy that he is was talking to this other guy coming down the trail. The guy told us that we were about 3/4 the way up, and Matt said "Well, I was just telling my wife that we didn't need to go the rest of the way, because, you know, I have seen the arch on car commercials and stuff" The guy stopped him right there and said "Get up the bloody hill" in a very fancy accent. So we did. And we did get up there in time to see the sun on the arch. I was happy because I had never made it up there before at when the sun wasn't set already. It really was beautiful.

We climbed down off the mountain and made it back to the car. As we drove out of the park the sun totally set and it was dark. I thought it would be a good idea to go set up our tent and everything before we tried to find ourselves dinner, just to make sure we were not going to have to drive back to Green River to find a room. So we went and found our camping spot and set up our little tent (I got it for Christmas from my Brother Dan a few years ago) and blew up the air mattress (a wedding present) and then we were ready to go get food. Unfortunately it was about 11:00 by now, so not may real restaurants were open, and honestly we were not in any shape to be seen in public, so we drove through the local Wendy's (eat great even late). And, I am not exaggerating when I say that it was the best baked potato that I have ever eaten in my life. I was so hungry! Then, with a full tummy we returned to the camp ground and fell into our tent and went to sleep.

The only complication was the tent. See, the tent that I have is a two-man tent. I am not sure which two men they meant when they designed the tent, but it was about 6'x6'. Sadly, I am 6'1'' and Matt is 6'5'', so we had to take the tent at a diagonal angle. The night was warm and we woke up well refreshed and ready to face another day. OK, we were mentally ready. I think physically all I was ready for was a long bath and a nap; neither of which did I have. So I settled for going back to Arches and going on more hikes.

It is really a beautiful place, and I was glad we were able to spend the time there that we did. I think we were able to get most of the hikes that are listed on the map done in our two day visit, and still had a little time to drive out to the lookout points and just relax and take it slow. The weather was wonderful. We were fully prepared with sunblock so we didn't get burned. I would say that we had a great weekend, and that the traveling bug was appeased for a while.

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