Give Me a Caution Sign

Seriously, I think I need blinking hazard lights to warn everyone I am near. I teased about Tim spilling the beans, but I have had more than my share of uh ohs lately. My poor mom got a large tub of popcorn dumped on her at the movies on Monday. She's sweet, she just said "these pants needed to be washed anyway".

Not sure how well you can see the mess, but this is what happens when you turn on the blender with a measuring cup inside. It blew the lid off and the pancake batter ended up everywhere. After that one, I cried and Tim cleaned.

One minute the salt shaker was in my hand, the next, it was in pieces on the floor. Tim doesn't even react anymore, he just goes and gets the camera.You have been warned, hide the good dishes and don't wear dry clean only when I am around.

Merry Christmas!

The images are pretty small but can be enlarged if you click on each one.

No joke, Tim seriously spilled the beans. We were headed to a Christmas party and had a crock pot full of beans. We had made it all the way from Provo to Kaysville and were making the last turn to his parents house when I heard them tip. I must have sounded panicked when I told Tim they were spilling because he slammed on his brakes. Not a good idea given the circumstances. The beans went from slightly spilled, to this....
A small amount stayed in the pot and was enjoyed by a few lucky ones. In the clean up effort Tim ended up with beans on his pants and sweatshirt, and I somehow had a bunch on the back of my leg. It was a sweet smell all the way home.

Oh What Fun It Is To Ride...

We were wishing for a one horse open sleigh, or at least a sun roof. On Monday we had dinner together then went to see the lights in Spanish Fork at Canyon View Park. Do you know what is more fun than just seeing the lights on your own? Cram eight adults and four wiggly kids into a mini van and then go see the lights. I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time. Cory tried to be the grinch and keep us in our own cars, but that ruins half the fun. Notice, he didn't make his way into the pics, hmmmm.

I think Tim wins the award for best sport of the night. That second row does not have a bench seat, he was balanced between the two captain chairs for the whole ride. And he is even smiling! Must have been the Christmas carols.

If you are itching to go see the lights, but not sure you have quite enough people to pack your car, give us a call, we are always up for round two.

Easiest Thanksgiving Ever!

I know a lot of people get super stressed with the holidays, especially Thanksgiving cooking. Not me this year. Just because I'm a giver, I'll share with you my easy peasy steps to a stress free Thanksgiving.

Step 1. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, call Mimis Cafe and tell them you would like to order their "Feast to Go".
Step 2. Stop by Target to pick up frozen rolls and a few pre-made appetizers.
Step 3. Thanksgiving morning sleep in, then go to the gym, spend as much time as you like.
Step 4. On your way home from the gym, stop at Mimis and pick up this box.


Step 5. This is where it gets tough. You have to take the food out of the box, put it in oven safe dishes, and put it all in the oven to warm.
Step 6. Watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, read the newspaper/shop Black Friday ads, etc.


Step 7. Set the table and dinner is served.
Note, I did resist the urge to make the dinner completely easy by using paper plates. I figured the least I could do to fancy up the meal would be to get out the china and real silverware.

Step 8. Enjoy! Seriously, the meal was almost as good as if I would have made it myself.

Step 9. Let someone else wash the dishes and pack up the leftovers, then spend the rest of the afternoon napping and reading.

Step 10. This was only because we were feeling extra energetic and could be avoided - drive to Midway to swim and sit in the hot tub with family.

Step 11. Top off the night with a slice of pumpkin pie.

The hardest part of the whole thing was remembering to upload the photos so I could finish the post. Not bad!

I Lost My Car

Seriously, it was like something out of a sitcom. When I pulled into the gym parking lot last night I was on the phone and paid zero attention to where I parked. Big mistake. It didn't seem like a big deal until it was time to go home and I realized that I had no idea where I parked my car. Did I mention that the parking lot is huge. Oh, and that I was in a short sleeve t-shirt with no jacket, flip flops and soaking wet hair. I started walking in the direction I thought I had parked, sure that I would spot it but pretty soon found myself wandering up and down every aisle. There are a lot of people who drive red SUVs. My key fob doesn't set off an alarm but does flash the lights so I kept hitting it in hopes that I would see the lights or hear the doors lock and unlock. I almost resorted to asking a stranger to drive me around but that seemed way over the line of pathetic. After about ten minutes I finally spotted the car and have never been so happy to see the trusty Pathfinder. Ten minutes may not seem like a long time, but it feels like forever when it is 23 degrees outside. By the time I got in the car my hair strands were frozen and my toes and fingers were numb. It took the rest of the night to get warm! Lesson learned.

Arthur Christmas

Last week we took seven kids to see Arthur Christmas. I told everyone that it was going to be Arthur's Christmas and expected a fairly childish story about the cute aardvark.

Turns out the movie we had tickets to see was actually called Arthur Christmas and is about Arthur, the bumbling son of Santa Claus, and youngest member of the Christmas family. Oops, not quite the same story, but lucky for us, this was so much better. According to Rotten Tomatoes: the movie at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child's question: 'So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?' The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.
The movie was pretty much perfect for a kid's movie. We had seven kids ranging in age from 2 to 17 and everyone really liked the movie. It was entertaining and cute for kids, but had a lot of really witty humor which made it great for the adults. If you are looking for a movie to take the kids, I would definitely give it two thumbs up.

Happy Birthday Mom

My mom is pretty much amazing. She has always supported me and my brothers (and now inlaws and grandkids) 100% in anything we have wanted to do. She loves us unconditionally and never lets us leave without a hug and an "I love you" to make sure we know. She's feisty and stubborn, and the original example of what Julie coined as our family motto, "Broadbents never quit".

My mom has always loved that she was born on November 11, 11-11. This year was especially exciting because her birthday fell on 11-11-11. If only she would have been turning 11! She always makes sure that our birthday's are special; favorite meal, a birthday song and definitely your favorite desert. So, once a year I make a German chocolate cake, homemade from start to finish, because I know it is her fav. The cake is delicious and this year tasted great as always, but the presentation was a little lacking. So, I'm giving another example of "what not to do" in the kitchen. I am always worried about the cake coming out of the pans so I decided to use parchment paper to line them. In theory this was a great idea, but it didn't exactly work. The edges were lumpy and misshapen and the layers came out looking completely sad. I thought that I could cover it up with a thick layer of frosting, but didn't give the frosting enough time to cool so it was runny and just added to the visual disaster. Luckily my mom thought it was wonderful and we all got a good laugh.

Of course the grandkids had to help with the blowing out of the candles. Hopefully my mom still gets her wish, right?

Stinky Socks

I have been sick for whatever feels like forever. No worries, it isn't anything serious, just a lot of congestion in my head and chest and a never ending cough. The cough keeps both me and Tim up half the night - not fun. I don't normally get sick for more than a day or two so I have turned into a pretty big whiner. In Tim's family, they all swear by his mother's alcohol wrap as the ultimate cure. It consists of soaking some material in rubbing alcohol (in our case a sock), then wrapping it around your neck and going to bed. Tim isn't sure if it is the alcohol fumes that are supposed to do the trick, or something through osmosis, either way, his entire family are believers. When the kids were here this weekend they even asked if I had tried the alcohol wrap. I finally got desperate and let him make me a wrap. And the results? I did sleep longer than I have for several days. I'm not sure that I'm willing to give all the credit to the sock yet, maybe I'm just wearing out the sickness. But tonight, I'll be the one with the sock wrapped around her neck.
What home remedies do you swear by when you are sick? Secret family recipes? Ancient Chinese secrets?

I read this book a few weeks ago and have been thinking about it ever since, isn't that the best type of book. It was recommended to me by a co-worker and I have already recommended it to friends, co-workers, and even a business associate. The story drew me in from the first page, it is so compelling and made me want to look outside myself and become a better person. One warning, don't read it in a public place. I had about an hour or two to kill at the airport which can be a great place to read. The book is so emotional in parts that it was all I could do to not make a complete spectacle of myself with my crying.

"Meet Denver, a man raised under plantation-style slavery in Louisiana in the 1960s; a man who escaped, hopping a train to wander, homeless, for eighteen years on the streets of Dallas, Texas. No longer a slave, Denver's life was still hopeless-until God moved. First came a godly woman who prayed, listened, and obeyed. And then came her husband, Ron, an international arts dealer at home in a world of Armani-suited millionaires. And then they all came together.

But slavery takes many forms. Deborah discovers that she has cancer. In the face of possible death, she charges her husband to rescue Denver. Who will be saved, and who will be lost? What is the future for these unlikely three? What is God doing?

Same Kind of Different As Me is the emotional tale of their story: a telling of pain and laughter, doubt and tears, dug out between the bondages of this earth and the free possibility of heaven. No reader or listener will ever forget it."

This is the type of book that I could talk about, but you really just need to read to experience. But...I will share a few of my favorite quotes to get you excited about reading:

***Looking back now, I mourn the mutual wounds inflicted in verbal battles with the "unsaved". In fact, I have chosen to delete that particular term from my vocabulary as I have learned that even with my 4500 European designer bifocals, I cannot see into a person's heart to know his spiritual condition. All I can do is tell the jagged tale of my own spiritual journey and declare that my life has been the better for having followed Christ.

***With the museums, the restaurants and the malls, I was showing Denver a different way to live, a side of life in which people took time to appreciate fine things, where they talked about ideas, where raw yellowtail cost more than cooked catfish. but he remained absolutely convinced that his way of life was no worse than mine, only different, pointing out in the process certain inconsistencies: Why, he wondered, did rich people call it sushi while poor people called it bait? I knew Denver was sincere when he told me that he would not want to trade places for me for even a day.

***There's a lot of folks come down to the mission and volunteer, but most of em was not faithful like Miss Debbie. But that wadn't all. It was the way she treated the homeless that made them accept her as their friend. She never asked em no questions like how come you in in here, where you been, how come you done all them bad things in your life? She just loved em, no strings attached.

I so loved this quote,something I want to learn to do better, just love people how and where they are.

***Even though I'm almost seventy years old, I got a lot to learn too. I used to spend a lotta time worrying that I was different from other people, even from other homeless folks. Then, after I met Miss Debbie and Mr. Ron, I worried that I was so different from them that we wadn't ever gon have no kind a future. Bu I found out everybody's different - the same kind of different as me. We're all just regular folks walking down the road God done set in front of us. The truth about it is, whether we is rich or poor, or somethin in between, this earth ain't no final restin place. so in a way, we is all homeless - just working our way toward home.

Race For The Cure

While I was in Texas I got to hang with Jess and her soccer team (and several thousand others)at the Race for the Cure. Can you believe none of the girls wanted to wear their Homecoming Mums? Talk about a missed opportunity. The crowd at the race was enormous and there were all kinds of great t-shirts and costumes. Jesse's moustache was the hit of the day, everyone we passed made a comment and wanted to know where to get their own. I thought the princess crown was plenty and opted out of the moustache. Apparently I missed the guy with the bedazzled bra - tragic. Our t-shirts are a little bland from the front, but thanks to TWG Insurance who sponsored our group and paid all of the registration fees. I don't know how we forgot to get a shot of the backs since it was the best part, they said:

BIG OR SMALL, SAVE THEM ALL

Maybe my new favorite t-shirt. We laughed all morning long. It was great to be able to have so much fun while supporting such an important cause. Many people ran with "in memory" tags and I realized how lucky I am to not have a lot of personal experience with the disease. My grandmother had breast cancer when she was quite old, and I have had some friends who have suffered, but so far those closest to me have been spared.

The Mums

Last weekend I went to Texas to hang with my family, more pics and stories to come. One of the best parts was that I was there for Homecoming weekend and could have a front row seat for the unveiling and wearing of the mums. What is a mum you ask, and what does it have to do with Homecoming. Clearly you must not be from Texas. They are pretty tough to describe, but Google found plenty of people who are oh so happy to clue us in on the celebration. So, what is a mum?


When it’s homecoming season across the nation, only in parts of Texas and Oklahoma is it also homecoming mum season. Some students take homecoming mums just as seriously as the homecoming football game itself.For the uninitiated, a homecoming mum is an oversize mum corsage decorated with three-foot long streamers in the school colors, bells, charms, banners, little plush animals done up in bows, sparkly letters, even Christmas tree lights. It is usually worn in the middle of the chest like a breastplate with the streamers flowing down the front of the body almost touching the ankles. It is, in short, a fashion statement.But homecoming mums are so much more than that. They are a sign that somebody loves you. They’re no longer given only by boyfriends. Mums can come from friends, your mom, dad, aunt, or even a booster boy (a boy-friend who is not your date).Anybody who's anybody wears one, or two. These days, a homecoming mum can cost more than $100 and weigh as much as 12 pounds!Homecoming mums have become a status symbol for many junior high and high school students. Designs change every year. The more original, the better.

Seriously, you can't make this stuff up. My niece had all her friends sleep over the night before so they could have proper pics before going to school.

Sydney, Kelly, Jessice (can you tell we are related), and Nikki Sydney's lights up, no worries if the power goes out. I think they would be more comfortable if worn as capes.
Julie, Jess, and me. Nothing like work out clothes and a pink boa.

So has anyone else had experience with a Homecoming mum? Please tell me that you have your own photos.

Promises

I pretty much love Dove Promises. Years ago when I lived in Ecuador, we found a bag of American Dove Promises in a grocery store. You would have thought it was manna from Heaven we were so excited. I try not to buy them too often because the bag always disappears way too quickly, But sometimes I justify the indulgence knowing they always come with a good message inside. I had some really great peanut butter promises this week, and the messages were fab so I thought I would share:

"Success is getting what you want, and happiness is wanting what you get". I think that is basically what Jami means when she says "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit", right?

"What would you attempt to do if you knew you would not fail" Very interesting. What would it be for you? The first two things that popped into my head were: complete an Ironman and go to nursing school. Random?

I've Got My Rock Moves

Miles turned a big 5 this year. For weeks he has told his mom that the only gift he wanted was a drum, and, he wanted a "rock star" birthday party. I love this kid and his originality. He had the official rock party with friends earlier in the day, but don't worry, the family still got to party like rock stars. We ate a guitar birthday cake, and listened to several amazing drum solos. Sorry the pictures are so bad, I had a dying I-phone and bad lighting, but at least you get the idea.

I didn't get the best shot of this, but he was working the rockstar tongue. Miles knew that any self respecting rock star would have a few tattoos so he had a bag full of choices and let everyone get inked. Miles may plan to be the rockstar, but Gavin, the two year old, clearly has a budding career as a tattoo artist. He made sure everyone had one, even grandpa ended up with a spider tattoo on his bicep.
Mine is pretty classy huh? What was not so classy was the next day when I showered at the gym and discovered that it doesn't wash off in the shower. Nice! I got more than a few strange looks at work and had to assure my boss that it was definitely temporary.

Just for Miles, I had to share my rockstar face.

Cat Scratch Fever

Everest an I went for a walk the other night. Harmless enough, right? I was walking along, thinking what a calm and quiet neighborhood we live in when we met up with "devil cat". It was the strangest thing. We were on the sidewalk, and I noticed Everest start to pull because there was a cat sitting on a neighbor's grass. No big deal, right? We pass cats all the time, usually they hiss and then run for the nearest tree. Not this one, he/she hissed, then lunged at Everest and started scratching and attacking him. I was still holding the leash and doing my best to pull Everest away from the chaos, but as soon as I would get some space, the crazy cat would lunge at Everest again. I was screaming and kicking at the cat and he/she still kept coming. Everest alternated between growling and yelping - I assume the cat's claws were pretty sharp. He couldn't fight back very well with me hanging onto his leash. After enough kicking, the cat finally backed away a few feet and kept hissing. Finally, after all of that, the porch light turned on and someone opened the door, but didn't come out. I wasn't about to go back and risk another attack so I just yelled out "Your cat is going to get eaten!" Real mature, I know, but I wasn't thinking my best. The whole thing kind of scared me. I was afraid that I was either going to get bit or scratched by the devil cat, or I would have to let go of the leash and that would be the end of the cat. Seriously, what kind of cat comes after an 85 pound wolf/dog? Forget pitbulls and german shepherds, beware of the cat!

How Not to Ruin the Soup

So, on Sunday I thought I would up my chances for winning Wife of the Year by doing a little planning ahead. I have been wanting minestrone soup, so I found a good crock pot recipe and put all of the ingredients together. Monday morning early I put the soup on the cook and spent all day dreaming of the delicious soup that would be waiting when we got home for dinner. One small glitch in all of that greatness...the recipe called for some dry pasta which I added. However, it clearly did not need to simmer all day. By the time I checked the soup, my bowties were complete mush and had pretty much disintegrated throughout the soup. I tried fishing out the pieces, but finally gave up. I dished up and ate one gross bowl, I guess just to prove the soup really was that bad, then threw the rest down the disposal.
Lesson learned. If you are making soup in a crock pot and it calls for pasta, don't add it until shortly before eating. Where was this post when I needed it?

State of Wonder

I have read several mediocre books lately. Several of them were on bestseller lists, or started off good, but turned out to be nothing to write home (or on the blog) about. I was excited when I saw that Ann Patchett had released a new book. She is the author of Bel Canto, on of my Top Ten favorite books. I purchased the book with high hopes and they were completely fulfilled.

Amazon Best Books of the Month, June 2011: In State of Wonder, pharmaceutical researcher Dr. Marina Singh sets off into the Amazon jungle to find the remains and effects of a colleague who recently died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. But first she must locate Dr. Anneck Swenson, a renowned gynecologist who has spent years looking at the reproductive habits of a local tribe where women can conceive well into their middle ages and beyond. Eccentric and notoriously tough, Swenson is paid to find the key to this longstanding childbearing ability by the same company for which Dr. Singh works. Yet that isn’t their only connection: both have an overlapping professional past that Dr. Singh has long tried to forget. In finding her former mentor, Dr. Singh must face her own disappointments and regrets, along with the jungle’s unforgiving humidity and insects, making State of Wonder a multi-layered atmospheric novel that is hard to put down. Indeed, Patchett solidifies her well-deserved place as one of today’s master storytellers. Emotional, vivid, and a work of literature that will surely resonate with readers in the weeks and months to come, State of Wonder truly is a thing of beauty and mystery, much like the Amazon jungle itself. --Jessica Schein

It's a tough book to describe, but the short version is that I loved everything about it, the characters, the setting, the storyline, the intrigue, all of it I was pulled into the book from the very beginning. The descriptions are amazing and there are some pretty surprising twists and turns. I don't want to give anything away, but let me know if you read it, I would love to discuss.

Definitely A

Huntington Beach

Remember how we like to stretch out birthday celebrations as long as possible...the the tail end of Tim's birthday celebrations was a trip to Huntington Beach for a long weekend. What a great way to top it all off. For three days we had no schedule, no plans, and just wandered between the beach, the pool, and the hot tub. Fabulous.!

I couldn't believe how many people were out surfing,
The water was too cold for me to even think about going in.
They all wore wetsuits, but still.

I love the Heisman pose!

Tim's grandma was named Ruby,
We forced ourselves to have a shake in her honor.

The hotel was beautiful,
Amazing pools, grounds, rooms, etc.

The hotel was right on Pacific Coast Highway
The pedestrian bridge was pretty and made for quick access to the beach.

My favorite shots.

Still Laughing!

Last weekend Tim and I were in Huntington Beach (more on that to follow) and went for a run Saturday morning. On the walk back to the hotel we wandered into what we thought was a farmers market, but ended up being a seniors fair. There was a booth that had free snow cones, so we made friends with the seniors and scored the perfect post run treat. As I was standing there enjoying my snow cone, a man approached me. I will describe him by saying that he looked as though life had not been kind to him, and he certainly had no concerns for social norms. The conversation went something like this:

Him: Um, can I please "touch on" your calves
Me: Confused look
Him: Please, they are so muscular, can I just touch one of them
Me: With an awkward laugh, No, sorry
Him:Please I really just want to touch one
Me: Pointing at Tim, No, my husband won't let you
Him: Looking at Tim, Please...
Tim:Sorry, no
Me: Shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, Have a nice day - what else was there to say
Him: Finally walked away with a serious look of disappointment on his face

I wasn't sure if I should be flattered or creeped out. Mostly I was just seriously amused.

Golden Onion Days

I'm not sure how the rest of the world celebrates Labor Day, but if you grew up anywhere in the Payson area, you likely celebrate at Onion Days. We used to tease friends that the highlight of the day was the onion eating contest, but other than the largest onion contest, I'm not really sure of the onion connection. This year we were a little limited in numbers, Jarin, Jami and crew were home puking (except Miles who got it out of the way on Saturday), and T and E decided they would rather sleep in. Boo for all of you, you missed a great parade. Ok, you wouldn't know about the great parade from my pics, but how about a few of the spectators.

My cousin LeeAnn with her boys Ace and Orion

They have Miles to thank for the cotton candy sugar coma.

Calvin was scrappy and fought to get a tossed otter pop.
Tim and B were mostly concerned with the shade.
Don't worry though, B scouted plenty of candy
for himself and to share with the other kids.

Not sure why, but Onion Days is the one festival of the year
Where we shell out money for the carnival rides.
B was too fast on the slide,
I didn't even have my camera ready and only caught the ending.

He hung with the little boys for awhile,
But then had to find something a little more thrilling.
This one went so fast he said it hurt his eyes,
It definitely hurt my eyes trying to watch.

These two were motoring machines.

Seriously, B was such a good sport with the little guys.

Jami calls this "Driving Miss Daisy"

If you know Miles' and Calvin's personalities at all,

Totally appropriate!

By the time we left we were super hot and sugared out,
Not a bad way to spend a day.