Jump on It

It was B's birthday. To celebrate, his requests were Jump On It, and Sizzler.

Both were splendid

Plenty of room to run, jump, play.

Ada thinks E is the greatest.

E is sweet to play.

Calvin came all the way from the AZ to join the fun.

The slide was a hit.

T tried teaching Jarin some of his sweet moves. He almost mastered the flip.

Too much fun, B was exhausted.

Baby Gavin, as usual, was just happy to be there.

Christmas 2009

We spent Christmas with family, chillaxing, exactly as it should be. Not a lot of chatter, the pics are pretty self-explanatory.

The Best

People have a lot of names for their close friends, BFF, Peeps, Homies, etc. When it comes to these girls, I just call them the best! We have all been so busy, our Christmas party was the first time we have had a chance to all be together in a long time. There was a lot of cooking, talking and laughing. I wasn't so hot at the cooking, mostly just flitted around and tried to be useful.

Miss T. did the supervising.

Can you see the curry? The spring rolls? Yum!

"Cheers" with pomegranate 7-Up

One of the best treats of the season.

I did all of the cooking the day before.

If you want the recipe, go here - it was delicious.

http://www.redbookmag.com/recipefinder/chocolate-peppermint-ice-cream-cake-recipe?click=recipe_sr

No One Should Have to See That

Att the gym (of course): Man in the sauna, blue shorty shorts, doing squats. He may have thought the steam would make him invisible, but the glass door provided way too much information.

Trifle

So, this Christmas I decided to step it up and make something a little more interesting for Christmas parties. The toughest part of making this trifle was finding the trifle bowl. FYI, I bought the last one at the Orem Target, but the other locations probably still have them in stock. Anyway, it took several steps and half the afternoon, but completely worth it. The trifle tasted every bit as good as it looked.

The boys were excited to sample.

Not sure how to make the link look right, but if you want the recipe, here it is:

http://www.redbookmag.com/recipefinder/candied-cranberry-orange-custard-trifle-recipe?click=main_sr

Last Christmas

So, on Saturday I was having lunch with E and B in Subway when this song came on. I am not sure what embarassed them more, the fact that I could, and did, sing every word of the song, or when I started to dance. I tried to keep still, but it was impossible. If you are (or were back in the day) a George Michael fan, you will especially like the video at about the 1:56 mark. Enjoy.

Cloak of Invisibility?

So, it seems that when people are at the gym (I know, another gym post), they think that they are invisible. Either that or they just don't care that everyone around them can hear/see the intimate details of their life. Exhibit number 1:The girl who brazenly picked her nose not once, but twice. There was no effort to hide it, in fact, she examined everything that she found. I was relieved when I could hear her blowing her nose (on the other side of the gym) and hoped that she got it all. Exhibit number 2:The two girls having a conversation about trying to get pregnant, how many pregnancy tests the one girl had taken, when she had started, etc. This conversation continued as I walked through the gym and into the spin room.
In case you wondered, yes, I can see and hear you!

Winter Wonderland

This post is for those of your who live in locations where they don't have real winter. I wanted to make sure you remembered the joys of winter such as:
This morning when I came home from the gym to find that I had a frozen pipe and NO HOT WATER. Apparently my pipes didn't appreciate the overnight low going below zero. I shouldn't whine because I did get a hot shower at the gym. But I was in sweaty gym shorts and a tank top and freezing my tail off. I am finally warm but remembering that I don't think the temperature should be allowed to go below double digits.
or
Monday I got to play stay at home mom with three of my favorites, Ada, Miles and Baby Gavin. I had big plans to meet up with my favorite stay at home mom and let the kids run wild while we chatted. When I woke up Monday morning and saw that it had snowed about a foot I was concerned, but figured the snow would stop, the plows would come out and all would be well. Every time Miles and I checked the windows, it was still snowing. At some point I gave up the dream and resigned myself to staying inside where it was warm and safe. The kids and I had a fun day but it would have been even more fun with friends.
or
For various reasons I have not been running outside this winter. I decided it was time to stop being a sissy and get back to the great outdoors. My plan was for Thursday to be the big day. Once again, the weather gods have interfered. The prediction is for an overnight low of zero. I realize that the predictions are not always exact, but even if it is a few degrees warmer than anticipated, I am pulling out the sissy card again.
Have I made anyone miss Utah winters yet?

I'm Sorry Shopko

So, maybe after writing a long diatribe on the poor customer of Shopko, I maybe found the items that I was sure had been left behind. They were maybe at the bottom of a bag that had several pairs of gloves in it. It maybe took me this long to figure it out. I still stand by my point that their customer service was extremely poor. However, this is quite embarrassing.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was fabulous. Pretty low key. A lot of family. Lots of food, probably way too much food.

Plenty of behind the scenes work going on.

Serious talk over turkey.

My mom worked long and on the placesettings. Aren't they great?

Maybe we should have taken this photo once you could see the food. Let me tell you, it was amazing.

The kids were ready to go.

Baby G was fat and happy after a big meal of mashed potatoes and yams.

The rest of us were fat and happy as well, um, I mean just happy.

Nothing like a happy ending.

Children of God

I reviewed the book The Sparrow a few months ago. Children of God by Mary Doria Russell is the sequel. It follows the story of Emilio, the survivor who made it home from Rhakat. Against his will, Emilio returns to Rhakat with a group that includes Jesuit priests, entrepreneurs, and a mercenary. The book was good, not great. Children of God had more 0f a focus on science fiction and less relationships.

My favorite part of he book was this conversation with one of the priests: "There's a passage in Exodus where God tells Moses, 'No one can see My face but I will protect you with my hand until I have passed by you and then I will remove my hand and you will see my back. Well, I always thought this was a physical metaphor but now I wonder if it isn't really abut time. Maybe that was God's way of telling us that we can never know His intentions, but as time goes on...we'll understand. We'll see where he was: we'll see his back.

BOO Shopko!

So Friday night I went to Shopko. My plan was to pick up some prescriptions and spend $10. However, I was lured into the rest of the store where I ended up spending over $150. Most of what I purchased were clothes -yes clothes at Shopko, they have great deals on gloves and Nike workout wear. Anyway, I also bought a can of mousse and two sets of hair bands. I didn't unload my bag until Saturday night at which point I discovered that they didn't put the mousse and hairbands in my bag. I debated whether or not to even back to the store - not worth the time and the hassle. But today I needed to buy several other items so I took a major detour to go back to Shopko. I had my receipt figured it would be no biggie. Man was I wrong. It seems that Shopko hasn't ever heard of a little thing called customer service. Amy Jo, who appeared to be some type of manager, told me that there was really nothing she could do because I couldn't prove that I hadn't left the missing items in my cart, my car or elsewhere. Does she seriously think that I am going to take the time to try to scam the store out of $15 worth of merchandise. Amy Jo went on to tell me that without any products in hand, she couldn't issue a refund. I'm not sure if she realized how ridiculous she sounded, if so, she didn't care. She finally told me that if I wanted some type of credit for the missing items, I could return tomorrow to speak to another manager and request that they go back and review all of the surveillance tapes from that night to see if they could determine what happened to the missing items. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I finally just left, at some point the whole thing became a total waste of my time. I am still appalled and the complete lack of customer service. I am impressed though with my ability to keep all of my nasty comments to myself.
It seems like with all of the talk about the "economy" and low consumer spending, wouldn't customer service and loyalty be especially important. Maybe Shopko missed that newsflash.
I would like to say that I will be permanently boycotting Shopko, however, the pharmacist there is my favorite and once I'm there, it's just convenient to do other shopping. So the truth is, I will probably keep going back. Maybe you all could do me a little favor and boycott your local Shopko on my behalf. Please.

Smelly

Ok Hailey and Jenna, I will apologize up front for posting such disparaging comments about the love of your life. But seriously, gross! He's quoted at an interview as saying:
"These jeans are a few days old. But the top is probably fresh because it gets to the point where even I can't stand the air around me. I don't know, my personal hygiene – it's so disgusting!"

Maybe that's why I've never felt the love. I'm not into dirty boys.

Please, don't Deck the Halls

So, I'm driving home from work tonight, scanning the radio channels and am shocked to hear CHRISTMAS MUSIC. What??? Ok, I realize that I may sound like a total grinch, but seriously, who wants to be listening to christmas music already?

1000 White Women

In 1875 the US government held a peace conference with the Cheyenne. Apparently Chief Little Wolf suggested that peace between the Whites and Cheyenne could be established if the Cheyenne were given white women as wives, and that the tribe would agree to raise the children from such unions. In reality, this was promptly rejected and the peace talks ended. This book follows the story as if the government had agreed to such a proposal for peace. The storyline of the book is pure fiction, but based on a lot of history.

In the book, President Grant secretly approves the Brides For Indians treaty. He recruits women from jails, penitentiaries, debtors' prisons, and mental institutions, offering full pardons or unconditional release. May Dodd, born to wealth in Chicago in 1850, had left home in her teens and become the mistress of her father's grain-elevator foreman. Her outraged father had her kidnapped, imprisoning her in a monstrous lunatic asylum. When Grant's offer arrives, she leaps at it and soon finds herself traveling west with hundreds of white and black would-be brides. All are indentured to the Cheyenne for two years, must produce children, and then will have the option of leaving. May, keeps a journal which is the narrative of this book. She ultimately marries Little Wolf and becomes completely emeshed in the life of the tribe.

I absolutely loved this book. It was wild to think of being one of the indian brides and what they would have gone through. As I read the book I was reminded of situations I have been in where I experienced some pretty significant culture shock. Mary realizes that there are good aspects of both the "white" and the Cheyenne society. While living in Tonga and Ecuador, and vacationing in various parts of the world, I have learned that it's not necessarily about things being right or wrong. Often another opinion or custom is just different, and sometimes even better.

The book fully entertained me and gave me a lot to think about. I found myself wishing that Mary Dodd was a real person, and sad when our adventure together ended.

A

Happy Halloween

xoxo Willy and Violet

Go Grizzlies

So, this is what T looks like standing on the sidelines. Oh, you didn't recognize him in his gear? He's number 59.

This is him getting ready to rumble

And this is what he looks like in action.

The season is over - I guess all good things must come to an end.

The Feshman Grizzlies were undefeated, most games had a large victory margin.

Have you ever heard of a little thing called genetics? That is where T gets his sweet skills and handsome features.