An investment

I bought new tires this weekend. They were around $500. I can think of a LOT of other things I would rather spend $500 on. I won't list them because it makes me sad to think about them. But, it had to be done. I've had two people that know a lot about cars tell me, independently of each other, that I REALLY needed them. One of them is my dad. They might have told me that a couple weeks ago. Did I mention the time I wrecked my car because the tires were bald? Did I mention last week it was raining REALLY hard on my way to work and I hydroplaned on the interstate? Luckily, there wasn't anyone in the lane next to me 'cause I was all over both lanes. It was very scary. All of that being said, I really should have known better and gotten them earlier. But here's what really led to me buying them:

My insurance deductible is $500. After my little incident on the highway, I realized I was going to be spending that $500 either way. I would much rather spend it on tires than pay it to the repair shop.

Now please go check your tires.

Utah Trip part 2

Monday I woke up feeling MUCH better. Brad headed off to Provo to meet his cousin and I got to hang out with my grandparents and some other extended family. We were staying at the Canyons Resort in Park City, and they have a gondola ride up the mountain. I know, when you hear gondola you think guys in boats with striped shirts singing in Italian, but evidently whoever was naming these things had something else in mind. Anyway, it's basically an enclosed ski lift that took us up the mountain. It was a really pretty view and at the top is a restaurant and a bunch of trail heads. Everyone but Grandma Cleo decided they wanted to do the nature loop, so I stayed behind with her and we had some hot chocolate and chatted, which was a lot of fun.





<--- The hikers





Those that would rather drink hot chocolate & chat ------>



Notice the stroller my niece is in? Mindy didn't want to lug her big, very nice stroller across the country, and I really can't say I blame her, so she went to wal-mart and got this cheap one to use during the trip. She charged my aunt with the very difficult task of finding someone, somewhere in Utah, that could use a stroller.



We hung out at the pool for a little bit. This was taken in the 15 seconds before Jensen decided she no longer wanted to wear a hat. Cousin Jake had a great time playing with Jensen. Aunt Jan made taco salad that night at the hotel and it was really very good! Aunt Lisa remembered the ice cream freezer, so we had ice cream again. We just hung out at the hotel and chatted, which was nice. Sadly, Mindy, Branch, & Jensen left very early Tuesday morning, so we had to say goodbye to them Monday night. It was so fun to see them! I'm sad so many siblings live so far away. I'm glad we were able to spend time with most of them. (We missed you, Todd!)



Tuesday we ate breakfast with the family and I oversaw some rousing games of Skip-Cleo. (that's phase-10 to the rest of the world). Then Brad and I headed down to Provo. We had lunch at the Skyroom Cafe, where we had our second date and decided we actually liked each other after all! We met Brad's uncle Brad (yes, the one he's named after), his wife (Debbie?) and her almost three year old son Gunner. It was a lot of fun to see uncle Brad. This trip my husband Brad met several of my relatives for the first time, but I've known almost all of his family since before we got married. It had been a while since we've seen Brad, and it was nice to catch up with him. And his wife is just adorable! It was fun to talk to her about how similar our Brad's are. Sadly, it wasn't until later that we discovered we forgot to take a picture with them. We'll just have to go out & have lunch again!


We walked around campus. We've become those people that walk really slowly pointing out everything that's changed on campus. You know, those ones that are always in your way when you're already late for class? Yeah, that's us now. Brad went a little crazy at the bookstore, especially with my discount, and I had to buy a new bag for us to get everything home in. But he has very nice new scriptures! We walked around the new alumni hall, and Brad was really excited for the new sports building. So excited, in fact, that he even took a picture of the rug. If you go on a Tuesday afternoon, a Mr. Allen Peterson will be very happy to give you the tour. And he gives quite a tour! We got to see where all the athletes work out, where they get taped up & do physical therapy, the chronology wall for all BYU sports, the offices of the coaches, etc. He is very excited about BYU sports and I think that's awesome! There really is a lot of cool stuff in here if you're a sports fan. Any sport. They have tennis, track, golf, etc. Mr Peterson has lots of fun stories to tell. He was a fun guide. On one of the walls in the office building is a huge photo of the football stadium during a game in 1998. I'm pretty sure I'm in there somewhere, but I decided not to look for me. But it's pretty cool to think I might be!


After we walked around campus for much longer than we expected to, we met our friends Travis & Allison. They are awesome! Travis served his mission in East TN, and loved it so much he brought his wife back after they got married. Alas, he decided to go back to school, which meant back to Utah. Evidently it had been too long since we lived in Utah, because one of us had some trouble figuring out their address. Eventually we made it to their cute house. We sat around and caught up for a while, then decided to go to Trafalga. If you've never been to happy valley, Trafalga has miniature golf, arcade games, etc. We played a round of golf, including some awesome bank shots, then rode the go carts. The go carts were more funny than anything else. It was just the four of us on the track, which was probably a good think since it was one of the smallest tracks I've ever seen. Travis got the double car, so he was quite a bit slower than the rest of us, and we weren't allowed to bump each other or the sides, so we drove in tight circles for 5 minutes. Literally, it rattled my watch off my arm.



After the go carts we hit the arcade. Evidently Trafalga spends their money adding new features instead of keeping up the old ones. The mini golf course was, quite literally, falling apart. The arcade games are the same ones that were old when I was going to school there. But it was still fun to goof off and try to win some tickets! See how many we got!





We each got a pixie stick and the boys each got a parachute guy. They spent at least 15 minutes playing with them in the parking lot before they broke. Then we decided to ride the "haunted mine" ride, on the advice of a 10 year old. It was also fairly amusing. I'm guessing this is what they've spent their money to add rather than fixing the golf course or updating/repairing the arcade games.


After all of that we were very hungry, so we drove around trying to find the Italian place we used to go to. It's an Indian place now. We found another Italian place. They happily showed us to a table & our waitress informed us we had 2 minutes to get our order in before the kitchen was closing. We decided to not push our luck and went somewhere else. I had forgotten that Provo shuts down at 9:00! We finally ended up at California Pizza Kitchen, which is not a bad place to end up at all! Sadly, the creamery was closed by the time we were done, so we'll have to do that next trip. Allison even made us cookies for us to take with us on our flight the next morning! Did I mention she's awesome! It was also fun to see Killer, their little poodle who is the only dog I tolerate. He's fully grown poodle, but still only about a foot high and for some reason I'm one of his favorite people. So cute! It was fun to see he remembered me. We stayed up way too late talking. Brad and I had to leave around 7 in order to return the car & make our flight, but we felt really bad when we found out Allison had to be at work at 5:30. Sorry, Allison!

The only noteworthy thing about our trip back home was getting busted in the security line for my pepper spray. He was pretty shocked that I didn't think it was that big of a deal. There is a lockbox to get the key that opens the other lockbox where they store confiscated stuff. Evidently they're worried about different things than back in Nashville. He kept going on and on about this form I would have to fill out. After he finally got the last lock box open he freaked out because "the notebook" wasn't there! Another guy came by and said "yeah, we don't have to do that anymore". So, I escaped getting on the government's list this time, but perhaps my blogging about it will put me back on the radar.

The flight was uneventful. I consider that a good thing. We got on the wrong shuttle to get back to our car, so we got a good tour of the Nashville parking garage. I decided next time to pay the extra $200 bucks and fly out of Knoxville. After being on a plane all day that extra 2 1/2 hours in the car seems like forever!

We had a good time. It was fun to reconnect with family members, some of whom I hadn't seen in almost 20 years. It was fun to see friends and spend some time with them. I'm sorry I didn't have more time, as there are many more I wish we had been able to see. It was fun to walk around campus and remember. It was a fun trip. But it's good to be home!

And now you know more than you ever wanted to know about our trip to Utah.

Utah Trip

So Brad & I went to Utah for a family reunion. I can't say it was the trip we were looking forward to the most, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good time. Our flight left Friday morning. My mother was VERY sick and we even discussed, very briefly, if we should cancel the trip or try to move flight plans. In the end we decided we still had to drive to Nashville, so we would see how she was doing once we got there. Surprisingly, the closer we got the better she was doing, so the trip continued as planned. The sad part is that we left very late, and I lost my little knife that I keep in my purse to the security guard. We're not talking machete here, we're talking a 1" blade. But I didn't have time to go back and put it in the car. In fact, they were doing a final boarding call when we got to the gate. It was very sad for me. I was thinking it was odd that they didn't think twice about the pepper spray in the other pocket, but decided not to mention it.

So we got into SLC Friday evening, met my brother, picked up the rental car, drove to the hotel where my sister was staying to say hello, then drove to Pleasant Grove to see my aunt. My aunt Lisa is my mothers youngest sister. She's lived in Orem/ PG for as long as I can remember and I visited several times while attending BYU. She's re-married since then, and let me tell you, her dear husband was SO excited to have a house full of people he never met during the Red Sox/Yankees game. You know, that one that went scoreless into the 15 inning. (Yeah, I wouldn't have know either.) But everyone else was glad to get together and eat ice cream. We stayed at La Quinta Inn that night, or as several people kept saying, the Luh Queen-tuh. Maybe it's just that I married a guy from New Mexico that I thought this was funny.

Saturday we drove to Brigham City for my Grandparent's 80th birthday/ 60th Wedding Anniversary Party. They are so cute! My Aunt Jan had put together a great slide show that was really a lot of fun to see. It was a little weird having people I don't remember giving me hugs, but I guess that's part of a family reunion. The really weird moment was seeing my cousin, Nathan, who I haven't seen for about 8 years. He's about to turn 19, and I just had to make some comment about how tall he was. The reply was "yeah, everyone's been saying that." And then I realized, I've become that person! You know, the one that says "you've gotten so big!" "I remember when you were this big!" That person that hugs you even though you don't remember who they are? That's me now! ugh. But despite that realization, we had a good time seeing my grandparents surrounded by 85 of their closest friends and relatives. Ten of the twelve grandkids were able to come, and of course the star was the great-granddaughter. She is pretty cute. That night my siblings, Brad and I drove around Brigham City looking for a place to hang out. Just so you know, not many options in Brigham City on a Saturday night. We ended up at the B&B, which proudly serves half-baked Papa Murphy's. I wouldn't recommend it.

Sunday was probably my favorite day, despite how it ended. (do you like my use of foreshadowing?) My siblings decided they had partaken of all Brigham City had to offer, so we decided to move on to Park City. At the Park City Mountain Resort you can ride the Alpine Slide, Alpine Coaster, Zip line, AND the carousel! So we spent most of the day doing the first three.

Getting instructions for the slide.

But Brad and I enjoyed the Coaster more. You're actually on a rail, so there isn't any chance of you falling off. And Kevin discovered that you can just keep your foot on the lever so you'll go faster the whole way down. Later Brad and I discovered that if you put two people in a car it goes even faster! You just have to be careful not to run into the car in front of you.

Mindy, Branch, Allyson, & Kevin decided they were feeling adventurous & wanted to do some mountain biking. Brad & I decided we are weaklings (well, I am & Brad humored me) & would not go, so we rode the zipline again & then walked around Park City. They were having some kind of street festival and it was fun to see all the displays and listen to the bands play. We saw a one armed guy playing the steel guitar (well, one and a half), and playing it really well! Then there was the very cute girl of about 7 singing "Popular" from the musical Wicked. Then there was me getting very cranky until I finally paid too much for a roast beef sandwich & got my blood sugar back up. This is me pretending to not be cranky. How'd I do?

Sadly, as the evening went on I started to get a migraine. Probably from not eating all day, being out in the sun, and too many trips on the Alpine Coaster. I'm just glad I didn't go with the biking group, as they ended up accidentally taking a much longer & harder route than they planned on. That night went out to dinner with all my aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., but I was too sick to even touch my food, let alone enjoy the company. I ended up in bed early with ice packs on my head.

And I guess this post is long enough, so I'll finish the trip in the next one. Until then....

Hot Date

So we got back from our trip to Utah, and I'll post about that later. For now I'll just talk about the hot date I had on Thursday. I called my friend to chat, and in the course of the conversation she mentioned her daughter had a dr appt, but she was just so tired she didn't think she could bring herself to pile all 4 kids in the car, drive downtown, take them all out, wrestle with them in the waiting room, just to pile them all back in the car again. (To her credit, she's very pregnant with #5) So I got to take her daughter, E, to the dr. We finished around 4:45 and I asked E what she wanted to do. "Go to McDonalds!" was the obvious answer for a 6 year old, so of course we went. Who am I to deny a cute 6 year old McDonalds? We had a great time eating our chicken nuggets and ice cream cones. In my defense, I did make sure she ate all her nuggets and apples, AND finish her milk before I bought her ice cream.

It was fun to hang out with her and completely ruin her dinner. She talked non-stop. She told me about when she was one year old and her parents got in a big fight and got divorced. (I knew them then, they didn't really). She told me about how they are naming baby # 5 either "Little bunny" if she's cute & cuddly or "Harley" if she is tough. Point is, E's cute and it's fun get someone else's kid full of ice cream and then drop them off at home right before dinner time.

Brad's Musical Debut

I can't say I'm a huge fan of the name of this band, but the drummer is pretty hot! If you get a chance please vote for them to get to the finals. If nothing else, they had a lot of fun making it!

Random signs that I see

I saw this sign just down the street from where I work. I can't help but wonder how often this parking space gets used. I'd like to be there when it does! Wonder what kind of car He drives.

Why I don't cook. Well, another reason

I've never pretended to be good at cooking. One time a friend called to ask me a cooking question. I laughed and asked why on earth she would call me. She reluctantly admitted she had tried several people already and I was the only one answering the phone. Luckily, google was able to help her.

Anyway, lets say that hypothetically you are making pizza for dinner and you dump the crust mix in a bowl and add hot water. About 30 seconds into mixing it you realized something isn't right, as the dough is crawling up the beaters instead of staying in the bowl. Oops. You put the regular beaters in instead of the dough hooks. Can't make that big of a difference, right? Well, it does. Go ahead and switch them out now. Don't keep attempting to mix the dough with the regular beaters. Go ahead and peel the sticky not quite mixed dough off of the beaters. While you're at it, go ahead and get a toothpick to try to get out the dough that has traveled up the beaters into your mixer before it hardens and stays there.

Trust me on this one.