The Hodge-Podge Blog

Brannigans

2010-02-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

As I drive around town, I notice new businesses and remember the old ones they replaced. For example, many moons ago -- about the early 1980s -- I remember a restaurant called Brannigans. It was located on Fort Union Boulevard at about 1300 East.

I remember going there my mom and her friend Maude Savage.
They had booths with lemon-yellow vinyl benches.
I remember Club Sandwiches held together with colored, plastic, fuzzy-ended toothpicks.
The white ceiling tiles (the pressed cardboard kind with the little holes) had stuck in them may of the fuzzy-ended toothpicks, which patrons had launched to see if they would stick. They did!
I remember bright pink ice cream and in it bright blue bubble gum.

Does anyone else remember Brannigans?

Time

2009-10-04T12:03:00.000-07:00

Thank goodness for the passage of time. Going through some old pictures I ran across this photo from just 4-years ago. It instantly gave me anxiety.

Here is the same space earlier this year. Sooo much better.

Baking Update, etc.

2009-10-04T11:32:00.000-07:00

I guess I did leave out vital information from my last post! They were supposed to be cupcakes that I was making ... from scratch; not out of a box. Yikes! What a mess. Today I'm baking bread instead.

I've been meaning to post this picture as well. We live in the middle of a city, so this is the last thing you'd expect to see in your front sidewalk. And I'm not talking about the weeds.

However, in the past, we have seen deer on the Trax lines, racoons in the creek, and owls in the trees. So fun!

Oops!

2009-10-03T18:56:00.001-07:00

This is a pretty good indication that it's time for me to quit baking for the day:

This was the SECOND batch. I followed all the directions so that they wouldn't "collapse". Hmmm.

Sumo Man

2009-09-25T07:28:00.001-07:00

You never know what you may find when looking at an address through "Street View" in Google Maps:

Like "Sumo Man". Hmm. Not what I was expecting. Upon closer inspection, there is a guy filming Sumo Man:

Well, it is in San Francisco. What's your instinct ... Eccentric? Hollywood movie? Protester? Geico caveman commercial?

I bet there is a website out there for unusual things found on Street View. I think I'll check, because I have a submission!

LDS Graffiti

2009-08-24T07:06:00.000-07:00

I didn't know that we had youth taggers in the LDS church ...

We went for a nice Sunday drive, and among the beautiful pines and rain scented air, we were taught our Sunday School lesson ... "Modest is Hottest".

And we also got to appreciate some classic expressionist art ... someones version of The Scream by Edvard Munch.

What a day!

Fish Lake

2009-08-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Spent the weekend in Fish Lake, Utah for a family reunion ...
Fun on the lake it one of the best places on earth!

Llama Fest

2009-07-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

We had a very busy Saturday and we ended the day by having a lot of fun at Llama Fest! It was very HOT and we were glad when it got a little cloudy.

This was my favorite llama.

Here is one of the llama races. Some of them were .... resistant ... to racing.

This llama has made a new friend. He loved having Matt scratch the side of his face and was ready to come home with us.

Something's Wrong ...

2009-04-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

I remember going to the dentist when I was a kid, and they had the cute magazines with the back cover that had a bunch of strange events depicted ... a bird with a human foot, a kite flying with no string, a chair with two legs, and the caption read "What's wrong with this picture?" ...

All I can say about this photo and caption that appeared in BYU's student newspaper, the Daily Universe, is "oops!" ... I feel so sorry for the poor student editors.

But, doesn't Elder Perry look so happy in that photo?

Holi

2009-03-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Mom, Matt and I drove down to Spanish Fork this Saturday for Holi ... the Festival of Colors!

Oh, wow ... we were stuck in traffic and didn't make it down there it time for throwing colors. People were parking 2.5 miles away from the temple and walking to attend. In the past they've had about 2,000-3,000 attendees. There were 10's of thousands there on Saturday. People were FLOCKING to the temple and there was a huge plume of colored air all around that area. Traffic on I-15 was backed up 7-miles before the exit. We sat in traffic for over an hour.

I did take a few pictures of people and the temple as we drove by. Not as many as I wanted to because I was driving, but I got a few.

Matt was glad to stay safely in the car. My mom is excited for next year, and says she wants to go down really early in the day so we can see/experience everything! It was a lesson learned. Totally different than Diwali, which is LOW KEY, and which I really loved! So, I guess I have them both to look forward to in the next year, and maybe in 2010 I will get painted!

Elephants

2009-03-06T11:23:00.000-08:00

In conversation during the last few months, I have brought up the idiom of an "elephant in the room" a couple of times. I am constantly surprised that no one has heard this saying! People look at me with blank eyes searching for some meaning in my comment, and then I try to explain - unsuccessfully I'm sure.

Here's the wikipedia explanation: "The elephant in the room (also elephant in the living room, elephant in the parlor, elephant in the corner, elephant on the dinner table, elephant in the kitchen, elephant on the coffee table, and horse in the corner) is an English idiom for an obvious truth that is being ignored or goes unaddressed. It is based on the idea that an elephant in a room would be impossible to overlook; thus, people in the room who pretend the elephant is not there might be concerning themselves with relatively small and even irrelevant matters, compared to the looming big one."

For example: A relative has received bad news, which has trickled through the grapevine to the entire family. At a gathering, everyone is chatting about all sorts of subjects, specifically avoiding that one topic, although everyone in the room is aware and likely thinking about that information at one point or another during the gathering.

Ta-da!

Now you know ... and you can use it ... just make sure you don't say "white elephant in the room", because that has an entirely different meaning!

I wish ...

2009-02-21T07:35:00.000-08:00

Today I wish I were as talented as this guy. Wow! Song and video!

Poke

2009-02-15T08:01:00.000-08:00

Question: Why Facebook?
My Answer: It is interesting to have little mini interactions family and friends. Some I haven't spoken to in years! And it's honestly mind-numbing how many people are on there!

Question: Why not MySpace?
My Answer: You may not agree. I never joined MySpace, but I think it's the creepy version of Facebook.

Question: Is Facebook addicting?
My Answer: I've been told it is. Most evidence indicates so, such as people updating their status from their mobile phone. I'm too new to the process to know for myself. I think it may be fleetingly addicting.

Question: Do people like to chat on Facebook?
My Answer: It seems not. I see people are online, but no one takes the bait to chat. It seems the majority of Facebookers like to have a reminder that their friends and family are still out there plugging away; liking to see little glimpses of what they're up to that they can chuckle about. But, no chatting please.

Question: Why poke?
My Answer: I have no answer. I couldn't figure it out. I Googled it.
Online Answer: “A poke is a way to interact with your friends on Facebook. When we created the poke, we thought it would be cool to have a feature without any specific purpose. People interpret the poke in many different ways, and we encourage you to come up with your own meanings.”
My Second Answer: OK, so my own meaning if I poke you in Facebook is that I think you're wearing the coolest socks ever! And if you happen to not be wearing socks, then it means I like your hair today. If you happen to be bald, then it means that you should smile more.

Question: Biggest complaint about Facebook?
My Answer: If Google were involved, ease of use would increase through the roof.

Question: How can a person be slowly driven crazy?
My Answer: By a cat who is howling outside the door, and just won't seem to be quiet today!

Last Thoughts: It amazes me that all these online "find someone" sites like Reunion and Classmates are still running. Facebook does the job more effectively and for free. Their days are numbered.

Seniors with Guns

2009-02-05T07:58:00.000-08:00

We went to a funeral yesterday for my uncle in Koosharem, Utah. The weather was nice, it was good to see family, and it was great to hear about all the things my uncle did to affect those around him. He was a good and respected man.

We went to the gravesite, and because he served in the the military during the Korean War, he had military honors at his funeral. It was an interesting thing ...

First, the cute old men were treating their gun more like a cane or walking stick than a weapon.

Second, after a bit of music was played, the group prepared to shoot the guns in the honorary salute. Although most aimed over a 45 degree angle, two of them had a hard time lifting the guns that high. I was assured there were blanks in the gun, but couldn't help duck as they took their shots. The two low-aiming gentlemen probably would have barely cleared the canopy if there had been bullets. Barely.

The first shot startled the shooter on the right, who jumped. And immediately all the babies began to cry.

Third, my brother enjoyed overhearing a conversation among the men who were trying to decide where the safety on the gun was actually located.

And last, as we were preparing to return to the church, we were all saluted again. We turned to see that the men were loading the guns into the back of someone's truck, where they accidentally let off two shots. And then the babies began to cry.

"I guess they're right, old people, though slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose."
--- Lloyd Christmas, Dumb and Dumber

Fluff

2009-01-23T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hello! Not much really happening in our household, but thought I'd say hi to everyone. Some things that I'm excited about, that most people probably wouldn't think exciting:

I love to shop clearance, and have certain places I go to frequently to patiently wait for a bargain. This week I got some amphibious footwear on sale for $25!

They're impractical winter shoes, but will be fun for summer. I think the "drain frame" is so interesting how it directs the water away from your feet. So cool.

I added a Shelfari bookshelf to my blog! (Look left.) I was already on Goodreads, and a friend sent me an invite to Shelfari. I wasn't going to do it, but I love how adding books you've read actually put them on your bookshelf! It's fun! (Which makes me sound and feel like a 5th grader.) Speaking of books, I just finished reading this book:

And a bunch of others than you can check out on my bookshelf. (Look left.)

But, back to The Magicians and Mrs. Quent. I really loved it. Not sure if Olivia still checks out my blog, but I would recommend it to her since many of the books she's talked about on her blog I've also enjoyed. I think my mom-in-law would also like it - so check it out.

I have a renewed interest in my favorite band from my younger years. Don't laugh .... Oingo Boingo! Around Christmas I got a couple of my favorite albums of theirs off iTunes ... all of these I only ever had on tape!

I'm not much of a concert-goer, but I've been to two of theirs; one was their farewell tour. :(

Another of my favorite-ever albums is:

Over the holidays we watched Mamma Mia! at least five times! It has now been officially added to my list of favorite movies. To be added to the list means that I can watch it repeatedly and never tire of it. Here is the list, not in order of my favorite -- because I couldn't pick a favorite -- but in order of when they were added to the list.

"Dumb and Dumber" really doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the movies, does it? Can someone please buy me Nancy Drew's blue roadster?

Of the movies above, I have also read Pride & Prejudice, Marnie, and Random Harvest. You can find them on my bookshelf. (Look left.)

Other exciting things in my world ... Odwalla has new Monster Protein drinks that will keep you awake and energized for hours! Yeah! And they're so yum! I couldn't find a picture of the new ones, but here is the Chocolate Super Protein, which is also tops!

We went to the car show with our friends last weekend. My favorite car was the midnight blue Saturn Aura with the brown interior. It was a beautiful combination of colors. I couldn't find one that was similar online, but here is the interior:

That's the scoop on all the unimportant, yet exciting things in my world. The important thing that takes up the majority of the time (i.e. work) is about the same. The hatchet keeps threatening to fall, but so far I still have my neck. ;)

It's good that I have so much exciting fluff to engage my thoughts in troubled times!

Good things...

2009-01-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

do happen in January!

Today we had our final inspection on our house, and we passed.

So our house permit is now officially closed and we can put things upstairs for real.

When Matt called today to tell me the result, I was so excited that I wanted to do a happy dance.

And at the same time I was so in shock. It was hard to believe that it's real. When you've lived with something in the back of your mind for so long it's hard to convince yourself that it has come to a close.

So, we took a gift card we got from my work and went to The Cheesecake Factory for a celebratory dinner. Yippee!

And I can whole-heartedly recommend that place. Wonderful food!

Bollywood Again

2009-01-13T18:38:00.000-08:00

I didn't watch the Golden Globes, but I wish I would have!

You all know I'm a freak for Bollywood movies! Imagine my surprise when I find out that the biggest star in Bollywood ... "King Khan" or Shahrukh Khan ... was invited to present!

Lucky for me (and you) I found the clip on YouTube!

If you click the Bollywood label below, you can see other references to Shahrukh Khan in my blog and other Bollywood films!

One more thing to note which I think is super exciting ... A.R. Rahman was nominated and won a Golden Globe for best music. He is the first Indian to win a Golden Globe. He also composed the music for Jodha Akbar and Dil Se. Click on the Bollywood label below and you will find an awesome clip from Dil Se with subtitles!

New Year!

2009-01-01T10:33:00.001-08:00

We kind of disappeared the last three months of 2008! They are my favorite months, and they get packed full of activities!

Honestly December was disappointing because I was sick so much! I got sick December 1, and I had the last traces of my cough from that cold around December 19. But, I was so glad to break my yearly curse of being sick ON Christmas!

Ha - ha. December 24 I started in with another cold, and this one has been worse than the first. Probably since I had been sick so recently. Anyway - this one is still hanging on. Matt's entire family, except one individual, got sick. So, we had a cough-filled holiday. It's just my luck that I'll be feeling good in time to go back to work! I really can't remember a time when I've been sick for so long. Only 5-days of being well in one month! Crazy!

But, we tried to have fun anyway, and did some cool things:

December 2 - We went to the play "Savior of the World".
December 4 - We got free tickets from my work and went to see "The Nutcracker".
December 6 - It was a very warm Saturday and we finished our Winter yard preparations, and put the Christmas lights on the house.
December 14 - We had our yearly Christmas Dinner with my family.

December 17 - We got free tickets from my work to see the advanced showing of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It was interesting, but soooo sad.
December 20 - Our friend Quincy got married and we went to his reception.
December 22 & 23 - I had two glorious non-sick days of cleaning/shredding junk out of our office.
December 24 - We had a fun evening doing what we traditionally do this night - - - dinner with Matt's family at his Aunt & Uncle's and then watching "We're No Angels", our yearly Christmas movie, with my family.
December 25 - We had Christmas breakfast at our house with Matt's family. Normally we go to my brother's house for dinner, but I was really sick so we stayed home this year.
December 28 - Matt's mom made her own birthday dinner (isn't that sad), and everyone came to our house to eat. Matt and I were both horribly sick by this point, so mom took over and did all the work. We woke up to eat. She flew home on her actually birthday - December 29 - and was the last one to get sick, starting in with it that day! What a birthday present.

We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year's! Happy 2009!

Hmmm ...

2008-12-05T15:13:00.000-08:00

I just WORDLED my blog.

I didn't think I said "turkey" that much! Or "things"!

Here it is ... you can click to make larger.

23 LBS

2008-11-30T21:11:00.001-08:00

This year I got a big Thanksgiving turkey ... 23 pounds ... because we were having almost all of Matt's family over, and because I love to make turkey soup from the leftovers.

I hefted the bird onto the grocery conveyor belt at the checkout. After the clerk scanned the tag, he lifted it, exhaling all his air, and carried it around to my cart. After dropping it in with a crash, he exclaimed, "I bet in life that was one fat a** turkey."

I was eager to tell Matt the story of the punk at the store who insulted our turkey, and we laughed as we shared it with our family.

And here we are just before digging into the fat a** turkey!

Elusive "I'm Done"

2008-11-24T07:24:00.000-08:00

Something about myself that I like and also at the same time despise, is that I am constantly in search of the Elusive "I'm Done".

It sounds stupid, but that statement describes it exactly. When there are things to be done a few things I automatically do include that:

I make lists. I put it on paper so I don't have to keep it in my brain. In my mind it goes around and around. On paper, I can purge it from my mind and relax. I tick off each item on the list until it's FINAL, and I don't think about it anymore.

I start early. I won't give details, because I'll really sound like a freak. But, I always start brainstorming things way in advance. I pick up little pieces of the puzzle along the way until it's all put together. If I know an event, project, or deadline is on the horizon, I want to get it FINAL, and not think about it anymore.

I communicate. I tell everyone, up, down, sideways, who may need or want to know. I don't want anyone left out and I want all the questions to be answered way in advance. Then I can wrap it up in a pretty bow and say it's FINAL, and not think about it anymore.

I like that I can quickly organize and complete things. I don't like that I allow myself to be consumed by thinking and sometimes drive others crazy when I take them down that path with me! Sorry! I know some of you are reading this.

It's all in the quest for that Elusive "I'm Done"; the moment when I suddenly realize that I have NOTHING to do because it's all done! That's where the "elusive" part comes in because we all know that in that moment I would create something to do.

2, 4, 11, 16

2008-11-17T20:50:00.000-08:00

.... 39!!!

That's the number of unread posts in some of my favorite blogs. How long has it been since I've checked my Reader?

I feel very busy. I've been working my hardest to be ready for the holidays so I can just sit back and enjoy. And I'm only 2 ticks away! Yeah!

My calendar says that I have been busy. Most nights are filled beyond my capacity, and I'm shedding some commitments. Sorry if you're getting shedded.

Results of this schedule include that my blog has been postless since October! I bet a lot of you are already feeling this way with the upcoming holidays, and if you're not, probably will soon.

But tonight I escaped the cage I've built of busy tasks! Thanks to Matt! We went and saw Quantum of Solace, which is the first time I've watched any entertainment over 30-minutes in some time! At least a couple weeks.

And I managed to squeeze in a post. Don't get too excited. This is it.

Getting Creative

2008-10-25T12:41:00.000-07:00

What would happen if I super-glued an ice pack to my head?

I have seriously had this thing permanently pressed to my ear for the last three days! Yesterday all during work, all evening last night, and all morning and afternoon today. Of course it thawed last night while sleeping, so I woke up with "Puffy Ear" and "Swollen Jaw".

Enter ice pack and "hyper and moody pills" which let me tell you have been less on the moody and more on the hyper side. YEAH! Things are feeling slightly better this afternoon. Again.

So back to my original question. Super-glueing the ice pack to my head may sound convenient, but it would be difficult to "recharge" upon thawing! Of course sticking my whole head in the freezer might solve some things as well!

P.S. Check out this post of mine from September. It is an interesting forecast of my current predicament!

4am

2008-10-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

What can you do at 4am?

You can watch the news and hear about stocks plummeting on the other side of the globe.
You can see Orion way up in the sky!
You can be awake to hear the first Trax train run by!
You can put a new post on your blog!

So, I went home yesterday afternoon and ice packed, which did no good. About 6p I was running a fever of 102, so I went to After Hours Medical. They told me it was a delayed but "extreme and potentially deadly" reaction to a bee sting. It's not fun to hear "deadly" during a Dr. visit.

I had multiple stings on my leg about 3 years ago, and ended up at the doctor's. They told me that time that if I got stung in the future to watch my breathing carefully for anaphalactic shock. But, I was breathing fine this time, so I thought I was OK. They told me last night that sometimes the reaction is delayed and with the swelling getting steadily worse, and the fever, that problems breathing was likely an upcoming symptom.

So, I got two shots (ephinephrine and tetanus - since they consider a bee sting a puncture wound) and had to take two oral medicines (steroids and inflamation) last night, along with a lot of water!

Within 10 minutes my heart rate and blood pressure were down to normal levels. You mean 130 bpm isn't normal while at a resting state!? Within an hour the fever was gone.

They have me on 3 medications for the next 7 days, since they said it would flare up again. The medicines are supposed to make me hyper and moody! (I'll try to be on my best behavior.)

Oh! And now I get to carry an EpiPen with me wherever I go, since they assured me next time it would be even worse!

So, now it's 4am and I can't sleep. Mostly because the swelling is going down and I have a huge headache! They said with the skin swollen, the nerves are stretched out and you can't feel it. Now that the swelling is going down, I CAN DEFINITELY FEEL IT. So, I'm biding my time until I can take my happy pills (oops - I mean hyper and moody pills) and head into work! I have a feeling it may be soon!

Relaxing Evening: CANCELLED

2008-10-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Trust me ... no picture is necessary for this post!

Work's been a bit crazy - well, REALLY crazy! And it's sucking a lot of my energy, so my mental state is already pretty drained, and I'm feeling really behind in life. (For example, my list of unread emails.)

Enter last night. I got home, and decided to feed the dogs early before I got started on an evening of relaxation and getting caught up! So, what happened to alter my best laid plans?

I got stung by a yellow jacket!!!

No kidding, that STUPID thing flew straight into my ear, buzzing like crazy and generally getting pissed! All the while, stinging me repeatedly!

So, I'm frantically trying to get it out, and of course my hair is in the way, so it's not working. Then I tripped on our edging and fell on the lawn. Of course THAT got the bee out of my ear/hair! And now I'm laying on the lawn, having a hard time trying to get up because I mangled my knee! And my ear is starting to sting and swell.

I got up, hobbled inside (Goo staring and me in total bewilderment), and after a couple of stressful phone calls to complain to loved ones and attempt home remedies, I spent the evening on the couch, with an ice pack on my knee, an ice pack on my ear, and Benadryl (which makes me LOOPY) and Ibuprofen in my tummy.

This morning my knee feels slightly better. I have a couple bruises that have shown up on my hand and shoulder. My ear is HUGE puffy, and I'm sitting at work with a cold water bottle wedged between my ear and shoulder. (While enduring co-worker giggles, who apologize because they feel bad laughing, but can't help it because it looks like I'm talking on a water bottle!)

I'm really thinking that it was the Benadryl that took the swelling down last night, because the cold water and Ibuprofen alone aren't doing it today! So, I think I may go home early and take some Benadryl and drift off into a drugged stupor!!

Friday

2008-10-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ahhh ... one of my favorite days of the year! Our Halloween Party! I didn't decorate as much as in the past.

However this year, I actually had time to get ready before people arrived!

We had a Superhero theme this year, which was a lot of fun! Matt was Condorman and I was Laser Lady!

Kung Fu Panda, Edna Mole, and Super Baby!

The Ninja Turtles, Splinter, April, and Casey Jones! (Front & back)

"The Noid" and Tinkerbell!

Layla from Sky High!

Generic Heroes!

Hiro from Heroes (Future & Past)

Wolverine and The Black Canary!

Cat Woman!

Lex Luther!

The Great Pumpkin!

We have a lot of good friends and family who are very good sports to dress up with us each year!

Saturday

2008-10-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday we were going in all different directions.

In the morning, Matt was rolling sod with Weston, while I was at the Primary Program practice. Then Matt worked around the house, while I took a nap to relieve my lack of sleep during the previous week. Late afternoon, we went north to go to our nephew Jack's birthday party.

Here is Lily, who is acting suspicious of Matt when he's talking to her.

Here is Kendra going for a ride on Matt's shoulders.

And Jack opening presents with all of his friends (girl friends). This picture makes me laugh, because he just opened an envelope with five one dollar bills. They all screamed in excitement!

After opening presents, Jack went around thanking everyone with a hug. His friend Hannah told him that he missed hugging three people, and then dove on him for her hug.

No worries! His other two friends, Jordan and Brooklyn, got their hugs, too.

Sunday

2008-10-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

Working backwards ... we're now on Sunday ...

which was the Primary Program. The kids did so great, and they knew the songs better than the two previous years that I've been involved. HATS OF TO KIRSTIE! I was so happy that we ended on time, which has been a yearly goal. All the pieces came together, and you could feel the testimony in their cute talks.

After church our neighbor Hayley came over and we made spaghetti and she dressed up in our Halloween costumes. It was fun. She's a cutie, and it was fun to hang out.

After lunch, we headed to Matt's aunt's home. They're getting packed up to move to North Carolina next month. We helped move some stuff, and she gave us an old Danish Bible that she wasn't sure where it came from.

Upon further inspection when we got home, we discovered it is Matt's great-grandmother & grand-father's family bible, listing births, marriages and deaths in their family.

Also inside we found a page with pictures, two of which I'm pretty sure are his great-grandmother and great-grandfather, probably around their engagement (top and bottom right).

And we also found a newspaper clipping with Matt's grandmother's picture, and announcing her engagement.

I've put on my "History Detective Hat" the last few days to see what I can find on the internet to support my ideas of who are in the pictures in the Bible, but no luck yet. I'll need to start asking those who knew them. Wish me luck!

I love this stuff!!! (If you can't tell.)

Monday

2008-10-21T21:11:00.001-07:00

After our busy weekend, we took some gift cards I got from work and went to The Melting Pot last night. We've never been before, and it was a lot of fun! I know I wouldn't pay $120.00 of my own money to go, but on someone else's dime, it was fabulous!

After dinner, we walked around downtown remembering when we used to work there. Matt and I met while working at Pacific Rim Mortgage Company which was in the Kearns Building. Everything sure has changed a lot since those days! The malls are gone! The Trax train runs down Main Street! The Conference Center was built!

HINT: Temple Square is NOT crowded in October. You can take a nice leisurely stroll on the grounds and run into very few people!

Bonita

2008-10-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

As part of my mom's family's yearly reunion, we auction off items that help to fund the next year's reunion. Although we are now asked to bring new items, in the past the auction consisted of wrapped white elephants; the only clue to the contents being a description on the outside of the box that said if the item was best for an adult, a child, a boy or a girl.

At a family reunion in 1992, we were still being asked to bring white elephants, but at this point we were asked to not wrap them. My Uncle Stan brought "Bonita" to the auction. Stan teaches at a college; teaching students how to do hair! Bonita was a hair school practice head!

During the course of the auction, they put a funny Robin-Hood-type hat on her. My dad thought she was pretty funny and bought her, and then traded hats with her to make everyone laugh. Here is Bonita in my dad's hat, and he in her's:

Bonita floated around the house for the next few years, usually forgotten in a box, until someone opened the box and screamed when they saw eyes staring back at them!

Around 1998, my mom was ready to get rid of her and asked if she might find a home at our place.

Now we've had Bonita for 10 years. Each year at Halloween she makes her appearance. Once we made her a body and hung her from the trusses in our bay window. Another year we put her behind the door in the bathroom. She's been the centerpiece on the table, surrounded by veggies and dip. We've put her on top of the TV, on top of the post at the bottom of the stairs, on shelves, in windows, and on ice.

Last night as I started my Halloween decorating (I ALMOST made it until October to start) I unpacked her. I put her in the window of our downstairs bay, facing the front door. I thought that might creep someone out.

This morning as I was locking up to come to work, I almost simultaneously jumped out of my socks, peed my pants, and had a heart attack! The first thing that shot into my mind when I saw her looking at me through the window was, 'Someone's in my house!' ... of course I figured it out quick enough, but I had aftershocks all the way to my car. And then I laughed as I remembered yesterday thinking that she might creep someone out, and of course she did, and of course it was ME!

But, that's how it always is! Each year I put her somewhere so she'll scare MATT, and instead, forgetting she's there, she scares ME!

We love Bonita. She's part of our Halloween Family. (Next we'll have to introduce you to Romer Treece.) And I can't wait to share where Bonita's going to be this year! I'll keep you posted!

5 days ...

2008-09-26T08:09:00.000-07:00

until the best month of the year!

To wet your appetite for the month of October, here's a little Halloween dessert for you to mix up! Kitty Litter Cake!
And here is an appetizing picture of the finished product:

And here are are the ingredients:

1 spice or German chocolate cake mix
1 white cake mix
2 large packages of vanilla instant pudding, prepared
1 large package of vanilla sanwich cookies
green food coloring
12 small Tootsie Rolls
1 NEW kitty litter pan
1 NEW plastic kitty litter pan liner
1 NEW pooper scooper

And here are the instructions:

Prepare cake mixes and bake according to directions (any size pans).
Prepare pudding mix and chill until ready to assemble.
Crumble white sandwich cookies in small batches in food processor, scraping often.
Set aside all but about 1/4 cup. To the 1/4 cup cookie crumbs, add a few drops green food coloring and mix until completely colored.
When cakes are cooled to room temperature, crumble into a large bowl. Toss with half the remaining white cookie crumbs and the chilled pudding. Important: mix in just enough of the pudding to moisten it. You don't want it too soggy. Combine gently.
Line a new, clean kitty litter box.
Put the cake/pudding/cookie mixture into the litter box.
Put three unwrapped Tootsie rolls in a microwave safe dish and heat until soft and pliable. Shape ends so they are no longer blunt, curving slightly. Repeat with 3 more Tootsie rolls bury them in the mixture.
Sprinkle the other half of cookie crumbs over top. Scatter the green cookie crumbs lightly on top of everything -- this is supposed to look like the chlorophyll in kitty litter.
Heat 3 Tootsie Rolls in the microwave until almost melted. Scrape them on top of the cake; sprinkle with cookie crumbs.
Spread remaining Tootsie Rolls over the top; take one and heat until pliable, hang it over the side of the kitty litter box, sprinkling it lightly with cookie crumbs.
Place the box on a newspaper and sprinkle a few of the cookie crumbs around for a truly disgusting effect!

Kids on a Boat

2008-09-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

We took the boat out this weekend, and had some new passengers ... Matt's sister Andi, her husband Justin and their three kids ...

WHO DID ABSOLUTELY GREAT ON THE BOAT!

Can't wait to take them all out again.

A Door

2008-09-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

This post is in honor of my BFF Heather, who loves doors!
Today is her birthday! Happy Birthday!!!!

Not only is the door cool, but check out the handle.
It toggles left and right (with your thumb) to open.

Happy Birthday to the Best BFF! Love ya!

(And see you next week for lunch!)

Patriot Day

2008-09-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today is Patriot Day. We won't say to people in greeting, "Happy Patriot Day" - no, that feels painful. Nor will anyone have the day off, and the day before invite people to "Have a good Patriot Day."

No, it's not a "holiday", but I guess this is how they can start.

Memorial Day ... a day to think of deceased loved ones, or an extra day for a weekend vacation?
Martin Luther King Day ... we don't sit around thinking about this man's great deeds all day long, but gradually more and more companies are taking the day off. And furniture companies are advertising sales!

President's Day ...
Labor Day ...

I'm not complaining! I love to have the day off to spend with family, and yes the people that came before me helped to make that possible, and I'm sure that's what they would want me to be doing! So, I'm not bagging on our holiday activities one bit.

I just wonder what Patriot Day will be in 50-years or 100-years. Will it become a holiday? Or will it stay more like Pearl Harbor Day?

What do you think? Do you think on September 11, when I'm 80 years old that I might be sitting with family on a boat since everyone has the day off?

Recommendation

2008-09-08T14:13:00.001-07:00

Feeling a little weird about my last post, I thought I'd put this out in Bloggerville ... a movie I would recommend.

This is a great movie, which would be especially fun to watch right now because of the upcoming presidential elections.

Brief Plot: Katie Holstrom, the "Farmer's Daughter", moves to the big city to become a nurse, gets robbed, works in the house of a senator as his maid to re-earn her nursing tuition, and because of her political sense and honesty she ends up running for a newly opened position in the senate on an opposing ticket from the family she works for ... of course, after falling in love with the senator!

The best thing about this movie is the loveable characters: Katie, the senator, his mom, his girlfriend, the butler, and Katie's super-strong brothers.

Seen It?

2008-09-08T14:04:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I have been reluctant to put this out there. Anyone seen this movie? What did you think?

I checked it out from the library, nervously expecting something possibly funny, also expecting that I might end up turning the TV off and not finishing it, and ultimately being positively surprised.

That's all I can say, which is not necessarily a recommendation. I wouldn't watch it with young children around, which for me usually means I feel bad watching it. Which is another reason I hesitate to put it out there. But, here it is? I want someone else to comment who's seen it ... so here's your chance!

Read it?

2008-09-08T13:54:00.000-07:00

I'm currently 2/3 of the way through this book:

Anyone out there that I know who has read it?

I think Shannon Hale is an excellent writer! And I'll be a little controversial* here by saying that although Stephenie Meyer is a great storyteller, that I think Shannon Hale does a lot more with the English language, using common words in unusual ways, which I love. I'll have to put an example on here. She's amazing!**

*I'm really on the edge, huh - pushing buttons and creating havoc with my opinions. Ha-ha. Really though, I know that there are people out there who would argue with me. Sorry! I think I'm right.

** I have to admit that I've only read two of her books, both about princesses, and I'm hoping to read something where she expands to a new topic.

Sport:Tennis

2008-09-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I love tennis!

It's the one sport that I can watch for hours. All the excitement of this last week has held me captive. I'm excited that one American has made it to the finals ... Serena Williams ... and I hope she does great tonight! Go Serena! Watching her battle it out with her sister was amazing. I don't think there is a more entertaining pair to watch than Serena and Venus. Most the time I don't care who wins when they play, I just enjoy the show!

I'm a big Federer fan! Back when Agassi was still playing, not so much. He made me mad because he was so PERFECT. But, he is so gracious in real life, and a real class act - and I became a fan.

Enter Nadal this year at Wimbledon, knocking Federer off his well-deserved pedestal. I wasn't too happy! Then the Olympics, where Nadal ended up with the gold medal. My consolation was that Federer got the gold in the pairs competition.

So, at the U.S. Open I was REALLY looking forward to a showdown between Nadal and Federer, with of course Federer coming out on top! Any tennis fan out there knows that Andy Murray beat Nadal today, so I don't know how I feel? I am torn ... glad that Nadal lost ... sad that there won't be a showdown ... but, still excited to see how it turns out. Go Federer!

On a side note, I really do like Nadal. I think he's a great player, and also a person with a lot of class. I think if it wasn't Federer that he was beating, that a lot of times I would be excited when he won!

Ahhh, tennis!

One Year

2008-09-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's my One-Year Bloggiversary!
A few things to remember from this past year:

My first post.
Church stuff: Elder's Quorum Movie Night, Fall General Conference, Primary Program, New Prophet, Ward Talent Show, and Spring General Conference.
11th Annual Halloween Party
Bollywood: Hrithik Roshan, Shah Rukh Khan, movie marathon with Matt & Steph, and the long wait for Jodhaa Akbar.
Reconnected with my first old friend in Bloggerville.
Discovered my first Bloggerville friend.
Christmas season: Savior of the World play, Nutcracker ballet, and Christmas Utah.
Family & Friends: Made quilts for family reunion in August, yearly visit to the Auto Expo with Matt & Steph, Nichols' house for dinner with the Shakespear's, my nephew Colton's baptism, Jeramy & Brandi came for a visit, and Heather & Jake's open house.
Birthdays: My BFF Heather turned 30, my nephew Justin turned 18, my nephew Shaun turned 21, my dad turned 70, and we attended Kami's surprise birthday party ... Come on Kami! Get moving on your blog so I can link to it!
Joellen: Our friend moved to London for the season (ha, ha --- for a one-year temporary assignment, but those who watch British movies will get the joke), we are watching her cats, and she's only come back for one visit. We miss her!
Saw some fun movies in the theater: Nim's Island, Iron Man, and Enchanted.
Went on some fun adventures: Arches in Utah, Maui in Hawaii, Rifle in Colorado, Boise in Idaho, Fish Lake in Utah, Angels Camp in California, Bear Lake in Utah, and Great Salt Lake in Utah.
Remodeled: Worked on house, built a fence, and fixed a boat.
New additions: Matt & Steph's son Xander is born and Andi & Justin's son Jet is born.

Next thing for me ... I want to do my Blog Book. I'm nervous and excited! Anyone done one before? Any hints for me?

Uncommon Goods

2008-09-04T13:48:00.001-07:00

I love Uncommon Goods!

If I had loads of money, I would buy from them all the time. As it is, I mostly just look. I did buy the following "Desktop Dodgeball" set for Matt for Christmas last year. Wanna come over and play?

And I would really love the "Come In - Go Away" door mat.
Maybe someday.

What's The Buzz?

2008-09-02T15:46:00.000-07:00

I have noticed a lot of things around me lately that buzz.

For example, today I walked into my boss Catherine's office, and her laptop was buzzing. It sounded like it was a plane getting ready to take off. Also:

This morning the coffee machine at work was buzzing and we had to unplug it. Come to find out it was the heater element which was trying to heat water, and there was no water.
My cute little fan at work is making a buzzing sound. I think from constant use that the little screw that holds on the tiny blades is loose. One day it will let loose and launch (reminding me of that scene in the movie Contact).
And of course the queen of all buzzing sounds ... bees! We have a yellow-jacket infestation in our yard. We have traps (yes, plural) out, which are filling up constantly and we've sprayed and sprayed. Come on cold weather! (Not really, just to get rid of the bees and then we want it warm again.)

I am sure there are more examples, because it is standing out at this moment as a theme in my life. I'll keep you posted.

Gilgal Garden

2008-09-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

Looking for something to do around SLC?

Take a drive to Gilgal Sculpture Garden. They've made a lot of landscaping improvements in the last few years, and it's pretty fun (and interesting) to walk around.

It's free, and there is a map available to explain symbolism, concepts, and creation.

The Garden is located at 749 East 500 South and is tucked behind and in between houses.

It's not huge, so you could spend 15-quick-minutes or 60-leasurely-minutes walking around.

GSL Governor's Cup

2008-09-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

So, this weekend at Great Salt Lake was the Governor's Cup. No, we didn't participate, but Matt, Shaun, my dad, and I hung out on the lake and watched the race, as we attempted to sail to Antelope Island from the marina near Saltaire. Yea - it's farther than it looks. We really do need GPS so we'll know these things. :)

We sailed away from shore for 4 hours and then it took us 2 hours to get back. There were minimal bugs, and yes when we got out far enough there weren't any around! Yeah! The closer we got to Antelope Island the more we saw and they were no longer brine flies, but BITING FLIES. So we turned around to come back into shore.

It was interesting that no matter how far we got out on the lake that if we listened really close we could hear the freeway. And there are a lot of trains that go by. And the smoke stack only looked a few inches tall when we were nearer Antelope Island.

We had fun sailing from buoy to buoy, charging seagulls, and watching the "diving ducks". Good times! Thanks Shaun & dad!

Approaching the first buoy.

Shaun catching brine shrimp. (There are 3 of them here.)

Dad scooping brine shrimp in our collapsable bailing bucket.

(I love that thing!)

Governor's Cup Race

R U A Follower?

2008-08-28T12:12:00.000-07:00

If you are a follower, pretty soon I'll know for sure!

Check out the Blogger Buzz and see what's coming to your Dashboard.

What's Happening?

2008-08-28T11:22:00.001-07:00

We had our Primary Presidency meeting last night and Jenny told me that I'm not posting enough, and when I do that I'm mostly posting about the boat.

OK - with that in mind I've posted once today (about the boat) and here's the "what else is up" post.

This last weekend we had our monthly family dinner (Matt's side) and we were in charge. Since the weather was nice, we went to Flat Iron Mesa and had a BBQ and then flew our stunt kites. Wes and Lisa brought theirs and we had ours. The nephews and nieces had fun playing ...

Here's Jack with his air-conditioned hair-do. Air conditioning was provided by his father following behind Jack misting him with a spray bottle.

Here's Kendra after one of her 100+ rolls down the hill.

Here's Lily before FEARLESSLY going down the slide. Again.

And here's Jet, the newest addition, hanging out with his dad.

It was a fabulous evening and I'm so glad the weather has been so nice!

Now, look forward to my next post about some random topic, and while you're waiting, head on over to Jenny's blog and read her latest post.

Great Salt Lake

2008-08-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

Sailing on Great Salt Lake was different than expected.

The water was nice, the sunset was beautiful, and ...

the brine flies were SWARMING!?

I've heard they're around, but not this BIG of an issue. I think it must have been the time of day that we launched. At least they don't bite. (I'm being optimistic.)

Caribbean

2008-08-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

They call Bear Lake the Caribbean of Utah...

I can understand that when I'm surrounded by the turqoise water...

But, not when I'm at the State Park Marina...

Yikes! That's a long line! We launched from the exact other side of the lake. A good experience for us, so we'll never attempt this again.

But, Bear Lake was wonderful - sunny and cool.

Not Boat Related

2008-08-14T12:49:00.001-07:00

Yes, I still have interests outside of the boat!

Please note that an anticipated event for Hrithik, Ash, and/or Bollywood fans is upcoming! Within the next two weeks, Jodhaa Akbar will be released on DVD.

Hooray!

Utah Lake

2008-08-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

We tried the sailboat out on Utah Lake last weekend.

No motor. (It's on order.)

So, we sailed it out of the dock, and back into the dock.

Lucky Weston and Lisa got to experience the adventure with us. It was a lot of fun and we did really well (again considering that we had no motor) ...

Boat Name

2008-08-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of people ask if the boat has a name.

Not yet.

We're tossing around ideas, and we're thinking about a few of them, but so far only one of them has stood out as a strong possibility.
(No, I'm not going to tell you which one.)

So, I've put a few of our ideas to the left. Mark one or more that you may like, and we'll see what my five readers think. Or if you have other ideas, feel free to comment ...

Fourth Crew

2008-08-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

We figured out what was up with the motor, so Matt, Dad, Shaun and I headed out on the lake again. The engine worked intermittently, and ultimately huffed it's last. Did you know there's not anyone around willing to work on a 1981 boat motor? There aren't.

Anyway - we sailed it into the dock, which was funny. We were all pretty nervous, but it went well. But we were cruising in there and then dropped the main sail when we got close. There was a lady in a corresponding dock whose eyes were the size of dinner plates as we swiftly sailed straight towards her, Matt jumping off the boat, reigning it in with the dock line. Crazy fun!

Third Crew

2008-08-11T08:45:00.000-07:00

This is the third group we were going to take out.
But, the motor wasn't working, so it was a short trip.

Isn't my nephew Colton the cutest?

Second Crew

2008-08-11T08:35:00.000-07:00

We dropped off Linda and picked up Dallas and headed out again!

More great wind, with a little excitement from the hit-and-miss motor!

First Crew

2008-08-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

We motored into shore and picked up a few crew members.

We sailed for quite awhile and had some good, strong wind, which had the boat leaning and us cruising across the water. It was so fun!

Ashley, Justin, Matt, Shaun, and Linda

True Maiden Voyage

2008-08-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

The next morning, we actually went out on the water.

And we put up the sails.

And sailed around before picking up the "crew".

Maiden Voyage

2008-08-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our maiden voyage started about 10:00pm at Fish Lake, Utah. Yes, the first time in the water we launched in the dark!

We had my adventurous nephews and nieces aboard, and we set sail. Well, not really "set sail", more like we motored to the dock and tied it up for the night.

Here we are hanging out in the boat in the black of night:

Tasha, Ashley, and Shaun

Justin

Matt

Some of the highlights were:

motoring away from the dock with Linda and dad panicked because the docking line was wrapped among their feet and pulling them to the water!
Shaun standing on the front of the boat with his mini LED light, guiding us to the dock.
the six of us staying up 'til past midnight telling stories and playing "Go Fish!"

It was a great time!

Back Hatch

2008-08-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

We worked on the back wall and hatch on Friday night for much longer than we wanted to! But, it turned out nice. I'll have to get a picture of the hatch on there.

Sweet Floor!

2008-07-31T11:16:00.000-07:00

Look at the beautiful floor that Matt cut!
And the door is back on at the back of the cabin.
Also, notice the the foam square that is preventing Matt from hitting his head ... again!

Soapbox #2

2008-07-31T10:27:00.000-07:00

Snopes.com

Heard of it?

Two reasons why Snopes.com should be your best friend:

Consider the upcoming election. It's always good to verify information you receive in order to discover a truer picture. This story, for example, that I've received in my inbox a couple of times this week.
Consider people before forwarding that email! You know the email that I'm talking about. The one that made you sweat when you ready it. The one about needing to register your cell phone? Or your house burning down? Yea, those ones. I got them .... a few times. Don't need 'em anymore. Especially since they're a load of ....

However, if you first check snopes and find out that the email that's been around the world and is now in your inbox is VALID, send it on! I'll be glad to read it.

You'll find that the true story is often more interesting than the made-up one. For example, this story about the Monkee's Mike Nesmith.

Oh, and the ones that say "checked on Snopes and it's true" at the top. Make sure you double-check those ones. I'm getting those lately and .... what was that? They're false!? They lied? Say it's not true!

... stepping down off of the soap box. Thank you.

Boat + Paint = Better!

2008-07-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

We still have some things to work on, but it looks a lot better than the picture in the previous post!

Matt painted the majority; I did some. However, I did most of the cushion in the cabin! What a pain! One more to go!

Fiberglass

2008-07-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

I love to learn new things. Even if it's not fun, it can be nice to be able to say that you know how to do something.

I know how to resin fiberglass! What amazing stuff!

It was fun at first, but I got a little bored with it. And I got tired of the stickiness!

Climbing the Charts!

2008-07-24T13:34:00.001-07:00

Yeah! I just checked my Google Reader subscription trends and I now have 5 subscribers to my blog! Last month I was at 4!

I don't know who you are Number Five, but HELLO!
(Did anyone notice the subtle reference to Short Circuit?)

Now it's official when I post to "all my five readers"!
Woo-hoo!

I know I've been on this soap box before, but if you haven't tried Google Reader, you really should. It is the best way to keep track of all the stuff you want to read.

Summer is Crazy!

2008-07-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

It is seriously difficult to make time to blog in the summer.

I know my five reader's aren't pensively waiting for the next entry, but there are a few people out there who I know are wondering what happened to me .... just like how I wonder when I don't see any updates from them. Here's a recap:

My dad turned 70! And we celebrated at Cowboy Grub.

We built a bridge and a fence.

We had guests at our house and partied on the 4th.

We spent a week in Boise.

We drove to California.

We fixed a boat trailer.

We towed a boat home.

We're updating our 1966 O'Day Mariner sailboat.

To date, it looks much prettier than above. I'll get some updates on here soon!

Soapbox #1

2008-06-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have an assignment for all my 5 readers!

Next time you are at a store and the cashier asks to see your ID ... smile and say, "Thanks. I really appreciate that you ask." ... and show your ID.

I started responding this way after hearing a cashier get screamed at by the person in front of me when they asked to see ID. The customer was irrate, with a purple face, and blood vessels pulsing in rhythm under their skin.

It was pretty disgusting actually. The poor abused cashier tried not to crumple under the embarassment and in a small voice tried to explain the benefits of the store policy.

By thanking the cashier who asks to see your ID, you will hear back pretty much the same answer every time ... it will be a combination of one or more of the following:

Wow. Most people yell at me when I ask.
No one has ever thanked me before.
I usually get into an argument with the customer over this, and I have to try to convince them that I'm asking for their own personal safety.
People usually get mad, but if they knew how many stolen cards I alone have come across!

And they will smile, and tell you to have a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY good day. And you can leave feeling that you've made a difference in someone's life ... or at least in their outlook on that day.

When you got it!

2008-06-17T12:01:00.000-07:00

When you've got it ... you've got it!
Even if it's just confidence!

This license plate made me laugh.

Long time no blog

2008-06-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

There are many things that have contributed to my lack of blogging in the last few weeks ... 19 days to be exact!

We've been to Rifle, CO to visit family.

I finished my Montgomery Clift biography and I've been planning my dad's 70th birthday party. There were Father's Day visits and a trip to the dentist (the kind with good news at the end! yeah!).

I've been breaking in my new camera, which means taking tons of nonsense pictures to figure out all the in's and out's.

I had another birthday; they are no longer fun. Thank goodness Weston and Lisa were sealed in the Provo Temple on my birthday, helping me to momentarily forget the onset of aging. (Yes, I meant to make it sound like a disease, because it is!)

We had fun friends in town, and we're getting ready for more company in a few weeks. We've done a lot of yard work, including building fences and cleaning out the pool.

We've suffered through the cold, and now we're suffering through the SUDDEN heat. Matt explains to me daily that there is no such thing as moderate climate changes when living in Utah. And he's not happy about it.

Those are the happenings in our neck of the woods! See, you haven't missed too much!

Cool Non-Color Car

2008-05-29T06:59:00.001-07:00

I own a 1965 Mustang. I'm always thinking of colors that I would like to paint it. We saw Iron Man last week, and walked out to the parking lot to discover this car.

I love this color! Or I guess you could call it a non-color. It reminds me of the car in James Bond that reflects it's surroundings to camoflauge itself.

So cool!

Lotion Stick

2008-05-29T06:55:00.000-07:00

I love this thing ...

It smells so good and doesn't make my skin feel greasy. The only thing is that people give me funny looks when I appear to be putting deodorant on my arms.

In the market

2008-05-29T06:49:00.000-07:00

Hey my 5 readers!

I'm in the market for a new digital camera. Do you like the one you currently use? What do you love about it? I've narrowed in to one I may like, but I would like to hear what you all have to say.

Anonymous comments welcome ... I need input!

ADDENDUM: I'm currently after a good point-and-shoot camera; something I can carry with me in my purse. Then I'll start working towards the SLR.

DAY 12

2008-05-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Our last day on the island we loaded everything into the car and drove to Lahaina.

I had to take a picture of this Burger King in Kahului as a reminder of the obsession with Spam on Maui.

It was a cloudy day, and rained quite a bit.

We made it to Lahaina during delivery time, so I took a picture of the Odwalla delivery truck. I love Odwalla.

We grabbed breakfast at the Pioneer Inn.

And drove Front Street. This guy owned a vintage car and had a taxi service out of it. We caught him taking a morning nap.

This was the shop at Bubba Gump's. I really wanted to buy the orange shirt for my brother-in-law Justin. It says, "My Momma Says I'm Special". You'd have to know Justin. :)

Took a few more flower pictures. They're just so beautiful!

By afternoon we made our way to the Kihei/Wailea area. We tried to take a swim, but it was just too cloudy, wet, and windy. We walked around the shops in Wailea. Considered buying a $57,000.00 Rolex (yeah, right) and then went to Da Kitchen for lunch. Definately a favorite place of ours. We tried poi this visit. Sorry, but yuck.

Then we drove up to the Iao Needle on West Maui. It was misty.

Here is a picture of the needle.

And a picture looking down the canyon to Kahului from the needle.

It was a pretty interesting place.

And a cool waterfall.

And a little taro garden to make yummy poi. (gag.)

We stopped at a gas station on our way out of the Iao Needle Valley and washed our car, vacuumed out all the sand and got everything put back neatly into our bags.

We checked out a couple of the windsurfing beaches on the north of Maui and then went into Costco to kill some time before our flight.

How unfortunate for you that this is the last picture I took on our trip.

You don't get to see the patterned green carpet on the floor of the airport that I sat on while playing a game of kings corners or rummy to pass the time.

You miss out on seeing the red dot on the ceiling that I stared at until my eyes watered trying to make myself fall asleep.

You don't know about the orange juice that was passed around about an hour before landing that called me back to sanity.

You won't see my disappointment in having to put a jacket on before exiting the SLC airport for the drive home.

And last you won't see how we ended our vacation by going to sleep at 9am, only to both dream that we were back in Maui! And then we woke up.

DAY 11

2008-05-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 11 we were out about 7:30am and driving to Hana. It was a rainy day on that side of the island. Look at the affect that all that rain and humidity has on the road signs. They all look like this.

It is very jungly on the road to Hana.

I thought this was funny in one of the small towns.

We drove down this road to visit an arboretum, but ended up not going all the way.

I wish these would grow in my yard.

We stopped at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach and took a couple pictures. It is so pretty here.

And we hiked down to the Wai'anapanapa Caves that have a very interesting story.

Here's the cave. I was so brave! I can't tell you have nervous things like this make me.

And I took some plant pictures on the way out of the park. Isn't this so pretty?!

We decided that we really didn't want to spend the full day driving in the rain! So, we started driving back to the sunny side of the island.

I just love the bridges over here.

Another abandoned car.

We walked down into the Keanae Arboretum.

Here's more about it.

This is evidence of one of my favorite trees ... the blue marble tree from Australia.

Here's Matt holding a "marble".

These are an unusual variation of a palm tree. They were so tall and I think their foliage looks like a wagon wheel.

These are a type of eucalyptus tree. I LOVED them.

I don't remember what plant this is. We were being eaten by mosquitos at this point of the walk.

On our way out, Matt spotted this abandoned car.

I love the areas of bamboo forrest. They look like fluffy green cottonballs.

Another abandoned car.

We were back in Kihei by noon and grabbed lunch at Da Kitchen. I had wonderful Tempura Tuna and Matt got the Hawaiian Plate. Again.

Then we went to our favorite Po'olenalena Beach again. The parking lot was under construction and we often wondered if that was why it wasn't as busy.

We spent almost 4 hours in the water playing in the waves. At about the 1-hour mark we started noticing turtles popping up around us. They were playing in the waves, too! They were hanging out with us the entire time.

About the 2-hour mark, we were watching a turtle about 15-feet from us, when we saw something and at the same time heard something that sounded like a gun shot!

There were two needle fish chaseing eachother through the water, jumping out of the water, back in, out, and in again. Each time they exited the water to fly through the air, it sounded like a gun going off.

It happened so quickly, and was so near us that I was shook up for a minute. But at the same time I was so AMAZED and excited that we had seen this so up close. But, I was glad I wasn't any closer!

We stopped by Wailea Beach to rinse off and watch the sun go down.

We loved Wailea Beach.

We were sad that this was our last sunset on the island.

When we left for our studio, we really wished we were going home that night. It had been such a great day and our vacation was feeling over.

We went home and I packed. I inherited my packing skills from my father, and I can fit a lot into a small space. So I went to work.

While I was standing over the suitcase maneuvering items into corners, I suddenly realized I was unconsciously swaying back and forth. If unchecked the swaying would get more and more and more pronounced. Those 4-hours in the ocean had a lasting effect!

This was another day that topped my "favorites" list.

DAY 10

2008-05-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 10 ... blue sky!

Here is the front our our host's house. Such a cute place on 2-acres.

The view of West Maui from Hana Highway. The VOG is disappearing!

We drove down to South Maui to do some snorkeling in the Aquarium. Look at the power lines that can't be buried because of the volcanic rock. They put it in black tubes and float it over the rock.

These cactus trees show up now and then along the road. There were a bunch down by Wailea. I think they're kind of creepy.

We went into Kihei for lunch (Pita Paradise) and did some last minute souvenier shopping at Kihei Kalama Village. We called my parents who were in Highland for my nephews birthday. So, we took this picture as a reminder of where we were when we were talking to them.

Here's a picture of the Kihei Kalama Village.

We went to our favorite Po'olenalena Beach and swam/snorkeled for a long time. We saw two 3+ foot turtles here and swam around with them. It's so fun!

We went back into Kihei for dinner at LuLu's which is a fun open restaurant. I loved eating where the birds would just fly in and out randomly.

Toward the end of our vacation we were sticking to the places that we knew we liked and were taking it easy. It was nice. I'M READY TO GO BACK!

DAY 9

2008-05-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 9 it was a little cloudy when we got out, but we could see signs of blue sky!

We drove through Lahaina.

The things there were really interesting, like this guy who is spraying down his parrots. You can go have your picture taken with them.

And I've forgotten to mention that there are a lot of tattoo places, like Atomic Tattoo.

We went north to Kahekili Beach Park and went snorkeling there. I did really good, which was a miracle. Toward the end of our snorkel, we saw two 2+ foot sized turtles! They were very cool. Matt was treading water talking to me about them. He suddenly looked down into the water and came back up. "It felt like I hit a rock ... it's a HUGE turtle underneath us." It was huge. Probably about 4 feet. Matt swam after him for awhile. It was very cool.

We went back into Lahaina and ate lunch at Bubba Gump's.

Shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can ...

We walked by a couple shops. We took this picture for Kristen and Nate because of their cute daughter Hattie ...

Front Street is a most unusual place. You never know what you're going to witness, like this person very much looking like Dorothy & Toto.

After lunch we drove down to Wailea Beach, which is the beach we were at our first night in Maui. You can probably guess by now that Lahaina & Wailea were our favorite spots.

We walked around near Wailea as the sun was going down.

Matt got wet and sandy.

And walked around.

We walked up near the resorts and I took some pictures of the COOL plants and flowers they have in their landscaping.

Flowers.

Flowers.

Palm tree and tiki torch.

Wouldn't you like to eat dinner here at the Wailea Resort?

Flowers.

Plants.

This is a little different than our sleeping accomodations.

Getting ready for tonight's luau.

Sun going down on Wailea Beach.

Flower.

Flower.

This is a pretty cool rock.

You can read about this rock here.

Sunset.

Flower.

These are a couple pictures that show what the VOG does to the sunset. At least it was starting to blow out.

VOG sunset.

The VOG at least made these contrast pictures pretty cool.

Luau.

Wailea Beach parking lot at 7:15pm.

It was a great day. It was pretty relaxing and we spent a lot of time in the water. Seeing the turtles was so great! We got some pictures of them which I'll have to post when we have our underwater film developed.

DAY 8

2008-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 8 started at 6am. We ate breakfast in the studio, which included apple bananas, which were WONDERFUL! A very interesting mix of banana/apple flavor. Imagine that! Here is a picture of an apple banana by a regular banana.

We got on the road and looked at South Maui ...

And at West Maui ...

We went to West Maui.
You could see the VOG on the mountains, but it wasn't as bad.

We stopped in Lahaina and parked near the Banyan Tree Park.

Walked around and took some morning pictures.

Walked under the tree, which was the coolest thing ever.

It was early, and the shops were just opening, so there were a lot of deliveries. It was always amazing to me how normal things were always decorated with some sort of Hawaiian object. Like this Meadow Gold truck.

And this Dr. Pepper truck. Viva Hawaii!

Check this out! The Hauola Stone. You can see it at the top of the picture.

And this is a closeup of it. This is where many of the royalty of Maui were born. On the rock. Sounds thrilling. I've always wanted to give birth on a rock in the ocean with crabs crawling around and waves tossing me back and forth.

Surfboards in a convertible ... that would be a good name for a movie.

We grabbed breakfast at the Pioneer Inn. What a cool place, with great Mahi Benedict.

Lots of flowers in Lahaina. Lots of flowers EVERYWHERE!

Vacationers coming in with their morning catch.

So, the COOLEST part of our day and I didn't take any pictures. On the north side of West Maui, we hiked down to the "Two-Tiered Pools". And then we sat in them for hours.

The top pool would fill up when large waves crashed into their rocky face, spilling onto the top. The water would then flow down to a lower pool, making a wall of waterfalls! One good wave could feed the waterfalls for 20-minutes, and it hardly ever didn't have water coming down the surface.

The lower pool was much more of a pool. It was fed by the waterfalls, but also directly by the ocean. The was a rock barrier protecting the pool on all sides except the inland side. Waves would come crashing onto the sandy shore and then circle around into the pool.

Matt called it a nursery for young ocean fish. They were everywhere. We sat in the water, watching the little fish swim around us in pools, and bracing ourselves when the large waves circled into the pool, raising the water level 1-2 feet. We could see the huge waves coming, so it was really crazy how safe we were behind our wall.

We hiked out of here, and drove down to Kihei for dinner at Da Kitchen. Mmmm. Matt got the Hawaii plate again. I got the teriyaki burger, which tasted good, but that meat patty was HUGE! I cut it in half vertically so I could even fit it into my mouth. WOW.

This picture of the inside of our car was pretty typical. I told you I was bathing in sunscreen.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any sunscreen on a 3x3 location on the back of my arm. It got crispy. It made me very happy that I hadn't gotten burned before then on a large scale. That's actually a pretty good place to get burned. The only time it felt uncomfortable was when I showered in warm water.

Another great day! (The Two-Tiered pool was one of our favorites of the entire trip.) Stay tuned for Day 8 and until then you can wonder, "Will the VOG ever leave?"

DAY 7

2008-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 7 . . . Happy Birthday Dallas! We had already sent his card with Robert's.
We had leftovers for breakfast and we planned to go snorkeling in South Maui.

After we got out the door we looked at West Maui, where we weren't going.

And South Maui where we were going.

Lucky us, since the trade winds had died down to ZERO. The VOG, or Volcanic Fog from the big island had drifted up to Maui, but it wasn't blowing out.

We saw on the news that they had to close the park on the big island because the levels of sulfur in the air was toxic.

So, we drove up by Wailuku ... we found an LDS church, which sadly isn't close to as pretty as the other churches we've seen.

And we drove by this interesting fence, that you could only get away with in Maui.

And we drove by a fire on the mountain that they were putting out.

And we drove down the south side of West Maui and saw the cruise ship in the area.

And we drove into Lahaina and saw continued proof that there are too many Mustangs on the island.

And I had to get a picture of the cute telephone booth. We don't have them that pretty in Utah.

And we drove down Front Street.

And back up Front Street ... check out the guy on the bicycle with the parrot on his handlebars. I thought only kids rode up there!

And we saw that there was going to be a birthday party this upcoming weekend.

And we saw the Sugarcane Train.

We stopped at Kahekili Beach Park to swim and snorkel. Yes, I finally did snorkel here! There was a lot of coral and fish. It was pretty fun and I was getting more comfortable in the water.

We drove to Ka'anapali and ate lunch at Honokowai Okazuya Deli. Another local-type place that was really good. My favorite sight was people riding a bike holding their surfboard. I didn't ever get a picture of that! This was the closest that I got.

We never ate at Pupu Lounge in Kihei, but their "Got pupu?" t-shirts made me laugh. Of course I didn't know this until our trip, but pupu means appetizer or snack.

We then drove down to South Maui and shopped at the swap meet in Kihei. We got offered Maui Wowie! And then drove down to Kihei Kalama village and did some souvenir shopping before going to Ulua Beach for a swim/snorkel. We had a little visit from some ferel cats before heading to the beach. There are also a lot of wandering cats on Maui!

It was fun to swim/snorkel here, but Ulua beach got the best of me. When we were done and I was exiting the water, a big wave pinned me against the beach geysered sand all up my swimming suit. It was a very ridiculous sight, and I can still hear Matt laughing. Wow, that sand can stick!

This sign at Ulua beach makes me laugh.

The sunset was ugly with the VOG, so we went back to Haiku and ate leftovers for dinner. Stay tuned to find out if the VOG blows out on Day 8 ...

DAY 6

2008-05-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

The first thing Matt said upon leaving our studio the morning of Day 6 was, "How nice it's not blowing."

We headed down to Wailea/Kihei area. The trees are very well groomed. They have "diaper-rubbed" palm trees as Matt calls them. Also, there are no power lines to interrupt the horizon. It is a very cool area.

We stopped at Po'olenalena Beach. I played in the waves and Matt went snorkeling around the northern point of the beach. He saw a bunch of turtles there. It was one of the areas advertised as "Turtle Town".

We went into Kihei for lunch. We stopped at Da Kitchen for some local food. I had the Loco Moco, which is like stroganoff sauce over a HUGE patty of hamburger, rice, with sauteed mushrooms and onions. It was good, but very big. We also liked their salad which was like potato salad with elbow noodles. Matt got the Hawaiian plate which was meat wrapped in taro and cooked ... and completely not my thing, but he liked it a lot.

I thought this was a cool picture; the balcony with the surfboard.

I don't know what it is with the high-handled bikes. We saw a lot of them. And a lot of naked brown bodies.

Everything celebrated the ocean.

We saw a couple surfboard fences during our visit. This is a pretty blurry picture, but it's the only one I got.

Churches are so pretty. I really liked this one with the trees in front.

This is the West Maui mountain on the south side. There are windmills on top.

Yes, I'm a geek, but I took this picture purely because I wanted a picture of the rainbow license plate.

And I took this picture purely to show that there are WAY TOO MANY convertible Mustangs. They are one of my favorite cars (I am an owner of a 1965 Mustang), but I actually got sick of seeing them here.

I wish my feet could always be dusted in sand.

So, I look a little sinister in this picture, but I had to take a picture of my newly acquired bandanna! I have very fair skin and used a lot of sunscreen, including spraying it on my head, which honestly is icky.

Also, we drove with the windows down a lot, and the little wispies of hair would constantly blow in my mouth and eyes. My 99 cent bandanna fixed both the sunscreen and wispy problem!

Maui cemeteries are interesting. This one was practically on the beach!

We drove into Lahaina and went shopping for 3-hours. It was a non-cruise ship day, so the crowds were tolerable. It was pretty hot. Of course it didn't help that "it's not blowing". Lahaina was consistently the warmest part of the island.

Matt wanted me to take this picture for T. Cowdell. I really need to send it to him.

After leaving Lahaina, we stopped by Oneloa Beach and watched the surfers. I stood in the shade and got my only batch of mosquito bites during our trip. Little buggers!

I can't believe this is the first that I'll write about this. I guess being on an island that when something breaks down, it's easiest just to drop it off somewhere to be reclaimed by the Maui jungles. That's what happened to this car.

We saw abandoned cars, washers, and stoves.

This picture makes me laugh.

We were driving on the north side of West Maui. There is a particularly long stretch of 1-lane road. You have to wait your turn at the bottom. It's probably 1/4 - 1/2 mile long.

This is the second time we'd driven this section. We saw it was clear and started driving up the road. We had covered most of the distance and that white car right there decided to drive down. The driver was pretty nervous and stopped, waiting for us to make our move. Matt backed up and pulled into a small pull-out. She moved down the road and sat there, clearly communicating that she didn't dare drive past. So, Matt began a long drive in reverse down the 1-lane road on the side of the mountain.

By the time we got to the bottom, there were three cars that were behind the white car caravaning down the mountain as Matt lead the way in reverse.

We think they felt a little bad when they realized how far he had to drive in reverse.

So, the road was now clear again and we drove back up the 1-lane road. We hit the same spot, only to be met with a truck coming down. Matt stood his ground, making it clear that we would not be the ones to back up this time.

The truck moved backward about 15-feet to a large parking area/look-out. And we drove by. Yeah!

Why did the chicken cross the road?
Because it was in Maui, and chickens are always crossing the road.

We picked up some of Julia's banana bread in Kahakuloa and headed down to Serpico's in Pukalani for a late dinner. Being in West Maui at sunset always got us back in Haiku late.

Tune in to Day 7 to find out what happens when you're happy about no wind on the island ....

DAY 5

2008-05-17T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 5 ... Early warning! This day has a lot of pictures.

We were out by 6:45. We wanted to get a fairly early start on the other people driving the "Road to Hana". The T-shirts claim:

52 miles
3 hours
617 curves
56 bridges

Okay, so here is the lush green along the road.

And one of the many 1 1/2 lane sections that usually happen before approaching a bridge from either side.

And some of the many colorful plants along the way.

And one of the 56 bridges. There's our rental car on the right.

And some wet foliage. Everything is wet!

The trees drop very interesting flowers.

Here is the coast in the town of Ke'anae. A very beautiful area.

And looking back at part of the road that we had already driven.

Half-way there! That didn't take long did it? Unless you've been savoring these pictures for the last 90-minutes.

Looking down on Nahiku.

One of the many waterfalls. This one was under a bridge.

And here is a side view of it. This one is called Makapipi Falls.

Every thing was so richly green.

Coast in the town of Nahiku. The drive to this location is very cool. "Maui Revealed" described it like this: "If you think the road to Hana looked lush and beautiful, wait till you see Nahiku. When plants go to heaven, Nahiku must be their destination. Everything green seems so happy and healthy, you can almost hear them giggling. Life bursts from every corner at the bottom half of the road."

We drove very slowly to listen to the giggling. And we laughed ourselves.

Church in Nahiku.

Tree in Nahiku.

Nahiku.

I had too much fun taking pictures of these post boxes.

And the "Community Bulletin" in Nahiku. So quaint.

This is the area of the Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach. And there is a sea arch here as well. Also a blow hole. You can't see the beach in this picture, but there's one at the bottom of this post.

They also recycle here. In fact, they recycle everywhere, which is pretty cool!

And a cemetery in this area. Pretty interesting. But then I am pretty interested in cemeteries.

We ate lunch at Tutu's Snack Shop in Hana. This was the view of Hana Bay from our picnic table.

Free range rooster wandering the Hana Highway.

'Ohe'o Gulch (aka 7 Sacred Pools) from the highway.

Don't laugh at me. OK, don't laugh too hard because I know you won't be able to help it. Sometimes my dumb twin comes out to play. When I saw this sign, I was seriously expecting some loud noise to blare out suddenly! Like the very end of the Haunted Mansion ride at Lagoon. I was almost looking for the two lights to flash.

I figured out soon after my dumb twin left the building that it meant we were supposed to blow our car horn so that people would know we were coming around the corner. Ah....

We saw a lot of these signs, too. And I like the way this picture turned out.

Ha, ha. And this is the sign that we kept seeing repeatedly on Day 2 that we kept repeatedly ignoring. I snapped it as we quickly drove by it. Again.

When we hit the REAL road closed section, we decided to go for a little hike. The first section was through a banyan tree forest.

Then we emerged at Alelele Falls. This is a 20-30 foot drop.

So, we went swimming. It was very cold. Not like the warm ocean, less than 1/8 of a mile away from this spot.

The first blossom of a flowering tree. I can't imagine how pretty it must look when it's all in bloom.

Hiking along the closed road, we ran across this sign. I was pretty tired by this point and it made me laugh.

One of the 57 bridges. This was a white knuckle bridge.

A tree at Koki Beach.

We stopped at Wai'anapanapa Black Sand Beach again on the way back.

The contrast of the black sand and the white foam of the sea was AMAZING!

The sand is also very gritty and sounded like marbles rolling together. It started to rain while we were here, but we were enjoying it so much we didn't go back to the car. We had a very large surprise wave attack us and we got wet.

It's cool that you can be in a downpour in Maui, and feel completely comfortable. I had my hat on so my face wasn't getting wet, and I never got chilled.

We picked up some banana bread, apple bananas, and avocados at a stand on the way back to Haiku. We grilled some steak and veggies for dinner.

Another great day!

DAY 4

2008-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 4 . . . Happy Birthday Robert! First things first, we sent off a birthday card and postcards!

We got out of the studio about 8:30a. Here's a cute photo of where we stayed. I grew quite fond of that crunchy volcanic rock path.

This is a view of Haleakala from our place, and our host's back yard ... 2 acres, can you imagine?! Enjoy the clear sky because things are going to get ugly!

This is our rental car.

For the first time during our trip, we got a view of the mountains of West Maui. They are a lot prettier than Haleakala, which looks like a big dirt mound.

And here's a shot of the city ...

We drove down near Wailea, and stopped at "Secret Cove", which during our stay was the location of many weddings. It is very pretty. I can see why they would pick this location, can't you?

We checked out the Fishbowl/Aquarium area. Tons of cars again, even though it was a week day. We stopped at Makena Beach. We swam and snorkeled in Po'olenalena Beach. In our guidebook, "Maui Revealed", this beach is listed as having about five names. After this visit I knew what all five names meant ... "no clothing".

(P.S. Maui Revealed was the best book ever. The only problem is that everyone has it! Seriously - that's why the Fishbowl/Aquarium were never not busy!)

We had lunch at Enrique's in Kihei. It was good, but definitely not "local" food.

After lunch we drove to Lahaina. It was a cruise ship day. It was CRAZY.

We decided we didn't know if we'd be coming back to this area much. As fate would have it, we spent a lot of time in Lahaina, and it ended up being one of our favorite locations. First impressions!

Lahaina ... we did end up eating at Bubba Gump's, but not for a few days.

Church in Lahaina.

This bathroom in Lahaina is the most colorful I've ever seen.

Whenever we would drive by, there were always people washing their clothes or taking a shower out front. I don't think they were tourists coming in from the beach.

The Banyan tree on Front Street in Lahaina.

We drove past Lahaina, stopping at Ka'anapali Beach, Kahekili Beach, and we went shopping at Whaler's Village.

Then we headed over to Napili Beach, where Matt snorkeled and I hung out on the shore.

Can you see him on the right side of the photo?

Okay, confession time. I have major issues with putting my head under water. I can swim, but I hate inhaling water, and it seems to happen to me every time I go into the ocean! I'm not afraid of the water, but I like it when it's more predictable. Po'olenalena Beach was definitely my favorite beach in this aspect. It had big, fun waves, but it was very easy to read. Napili wasn't as predictable, and I hadn't gotten into my snorkeling groove yet.

We then drove up to Honlua Bay to watch the sun go down. Going ...

Going ...

Still going ...

Nearing the end ...

Almost there ...

I'd show you the "gone" picture, but it's pretty dull.

We grabbed a very exotic McDonald's dinner on the way back to Haiku and got in about 11pm.

Some interesting notes from today: Gas in Lahaina was $4.10, my camera dropped into the sand and started to malfunction, Matt lost one of our underwater camera's at Napili (darn that beach!), we got back to our studio and found fresh flowers and fresh-picked oranges on our porch from our host, and I got a slight sunburn (which is saying a lot because I BATHED in sunscreen).

DAY 3

2008-05-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

Day 3 began very early. We were out the door by 5:30a. We wanted to make it to South Maui to get a head start on everyone hiking out to snorkel in the Fishbowl. We grabbed breakfast at McDonald's on the way. So healthy, I know. It was a bad idea. We were sluggish all morning.

Our idea to beat the crowds didn't work out that great. We did figure out where the trailhead was by the time the sun was coming up, but there were a lot of people there - even that early!

We drove down a little further and decided to hike out to the Aquarium, which was a lot larger area to snorkel. It was really pretty in the early morning. This parking lot was PACKED full by the time we got back from our adventure.

The first part of the trail to the Aquarium was through a grove of trees. It was very pretty and cool in here.

Then we emerged, all too quickly, to the lava portion of the trail. Sharp lava! Very warm once the sun hits it. I was very glad for any wind.

It was very pretty, and the ocean water was so blue.

The black lava always looks so beautiful against the greens and blues.

The remainder of this day was .... strange. And I didn't take a lot of pictures.

We got lost on the lava a couple times, and kept searching for the right trail. We drained the water we packed with us quickly, because it was stinking hot! It was really difficult to tell which pools had inlets from the sea and which did not. We didn't want to get in the wrong ones, and we didn't want to run across any of the quick-sand pools by accident.

We hiked out of there, and both decided that hiking on lava fields was not for us. There's just nothing fun about it! We kept saying, "We could be on a beautiful sandy beach right now, and we're out here sweating and cutting ourselves on this stuff."

Hiking back through the "cool" grove of trees wasn't as nice this time. It was very stagnant air, and almost felt hotter than hiking across the lava.

Like I said earlier, by the time we got back to the parking lot, it was packed. We headed toward Wailea and stopped at Big Beach. Matt went into the water, and I hung out on the sand in the sun. The beach is pretty steep and the waves crash in pretty hard. I'm not one for unpredictable waves. It ultimately ended up being a VERY, VERY GOOD THING that I stayed ashore. A miracle of sorts happened, that I'll tell you about if you ask, but I'm not going to post it. For this forum, I'll just say I was very grateful to know we were being watched over.

We drove up to Kihei for lunch at Pita Paradise. Fabulous food! Then we went shopping in Kihei Kalama Village. It was so strange to go through the tourist shops with oodles of tropical items! It was so different from any vacation I'd ever been on. Living in the west, there's always a lot of bear, tree, woodsy-themed items. You know what I'm saying. Even when you're at the beach near California or Oregon ... it's still woodsy stuff. This was all TROPICAL! I didn't see one moose/fishing rod lamp. It was all hula skirts, ukelele's, palm trees, and flip flops. I loved it!

We hung out near Wailea the rest of the day. Ahihi Cove, Black Beach (which wasn't truly black, it was gray), and then when it was getting near sunset, we went to Safeway in Kahului and bought groceries for dinner. That night we grilled stuffed fish and veggies.

I washed our stinky ocean water clothes in the sink and hung them out to dry. It was a good day.

DAY 2

2008-05-14T09:52:00.001-07:00

Day 2 of our trip started at 6:30a. We were eager to get going.
This is our cute studio we were staying in.

And the view out our door. So green!

We were concerned (since it was the weekend) about crowds and tried to think of a good activity. We decided to try driving to Hana the back way. Not via the Hana Highway, but along the upper Haleakala Highway, the Kula Highway, and the Pi'ilani Highway that goes across the south side of South Maui. Everything we could read, including our car rental agreement, didn't specifically say you couldn't take your rental on that road. So, we went!

Here is the view of the island from Haleakala.

A beautiful tree (with purple flowers) with Molokini (the small island) and Lanai (the bigger island) in the distance.

It was threatening rain during the drive.

Another view of the island from the Pi'ilani Highway.

The farther we went, the quirkier it got. For example, check out this up, down, zig-zag road. It was a roller coaster ride!

More threat of rain. But, it was beautiful watching those dark clouds roll in off the ocean.

The paved road turned into . . . a patchy-paved road. It got pretty bumpy!

There are a lot of memorials around the island. A lot! Usually at a curve, with a sharp drop beyond.

It seemed like every beautiful photo opportunity was interrupted by power lines! There are a lot of power lines along the roads! And I have a lot of beach pictures with them marking the blue sky.

We got sprinkled on a little, but we went through an area where we could tell we had just missed a DOWNPOUR. It made everything glisten green and smell earthy.

Ahhhh....

Eventually the road turned to gravel, which was a lot less bumpy. We ran into three road closed signs, which we drove past. After about 90-minutes, we hit this road closed sign. A little more exacting than the rest with the boulders and all.

So, we got out and walked to try to determine how far we were from Hana. We were a little more discouraged than I am letting on. This side of the island has some beautiful spots, but overall it's pretty desolate and deserted. But, it was fun to get out and see the banyan trees up close. Amazing.

At this point of the day, unable to drive to Hana, we drove the all the way back the way we came. We looked for something for lunch, but didn't find anything and soon we were in an area where food wasn't really readily available. We snacked on granola bars and pistachio's from Costco. Yummy lunch, eh?

We ultimately decided to go explore West Maui, since we still didn't want to face the weekend crowds at the beach. We also had determined at this point it would be great to become broadly familiar with the island. It just makes it easier to get around.

We stopped by the Waiehu Beach, which was unimpressive. It was a very windy area. Then we kept driving counter-clockwise along Highway 340 which circles West Maui. There is some BEAUTIFUL scenery in that area.

Along with the a narrow, windy, gravel road that is much more scary than the road to Hana, although that's the one you always hear about!

"I survived the Road to Hana" T-shirts were everywhere. Ha! We survived Highway 340 twice!

We picked up some fresh cut pineapple and coconut candy about here, which we ate as part of our snacking lunch.

We explored the Nakalele Blowhole, which looks like a geyser, but is caused by the tide pushing under the rocks and through a hole in the lava. Pretty cool.

Then we hiked to the Olivine Pools and took a dip. So much fun! We loved this place. It was cool to sit in the pool and have waves crashing behind, spraying mist everywhere.

We hiked around the Olivine Pools for a long time.

Olivine Pools

We hiked out, and continued our drive down past Lahaina. There were a lot of rainbows in this area. We saw a full one that went into the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other.

We stopped in Kahalui and ate dinner at Be-La. We got back to our studio about 7:30p, and of course we were exhausted. It felt like 11:30p to us after getting up at 2:30a. We were definitely still on Utah time.

DAY 1

2008-05-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of our trip began comfortably early. I think we woke up about 7:30a, which meant we got to sleep in! Goo was very relaxed, and didn't know he was in for almost 2-weeks of being trapped in the house. He was just enjoying the sun.

My dad dropped us off at the airport. Our flight left at 11:40a. We grabbed breakfast at the airport, which was a sandwich and an Odwalla. Yum!

After the 6 hour and 30 minute flight, I was very ready to move my legs! I was very grateful for the movies, which helped the time go by. They showed Enchanted, Martian Child, and some Chris Rock cable sitcom that I'd never heard of before. It was funny because a lot of the passengers started getting up and walking around to visit with other passengers during the last few hours. I had never been on such a casual flight, or one so long!

Getting off the plane, this was my first glimpse of Maui from the ground.

I could instantly feel the humidity, and my hair started to frizz. Everyone getting off the plane looked red-faced and sweaty. I know now that all our dried-prune bodies were eagerly soaking up the moisture! I was very grateful for the wind, which was blowing pretty hard. Otherwise, I would have melted in my mid-sleeve T-shirt, jeans, hiking boots, with my hair down covering my neck, and feeling very much like a scarf!

We got our Alamo rental car and were off! It was an interesting experience getting the car. They pointed us in the direction of the lot where our size of cars were located. They told us to pick the one we wanted and that the keys would be in the ignition. We picked the white Pontiac with the sunroof. It also had a low tire. It took us a couple days to find a gas station with an air hose.

I was pretty interested in the sugar cane fields at first. They were very beautiful and green. After driving by them many times, I kind of forgot about them. But, they are very pretty.

We dropped by Costco (Kahului) for water and food. I was surprised that the prices on most things were equal to the Costco in Utah. Then headed to Haiku (near Paia) where our rental was located, which could be called the middle of Maui. It's amazing that to visit the farthest points of the island were closer than visiting some family members back home!

There is a lot of road construction on Maui. I love the orange signs that would say that highway such-and-such was going to be under construction "beginning October 7, 2006". Um ... ?

My favorite was the one we saw on our last day that said a certain project was to begin on June 10, 1993, and to contact a certain number with any questions on progress.

"Aloha Spirit" = Don't expect anything quickly.

We did indeed see the bumper sticker that said, "Slow down, you're not on the mainland".

Our place in Haiku was wonderful, and quiet. The roosters woke us up each morning, and we learned not to turn any lights on in the early-early morning hours because they would start crowing early. A 3am rooster wake-up call isn't cool!

I was very excited to get out of my Utah clothes! By the time we got settled, my hair had turned into sweaty, wind-whipped dreads. I looked really awesome (not). I subsequently spend my entire vacation with a braided ponytail.

We had just enough daylight hours left to head to a beach and watch the sun go down. We tried Baldwin Beach, which was very crowded. We ended up driving to South Maui and stopped at Wailea Beach.

As the sun went down, the moon was coming up.

And the clouds were rolling in for an evening shower on Haleakala.

We drove farther down the coast marvelling at the smells (musty warm ocean water and floral breezes), the sounds (chirping frogs and rustling palm trees), and the sights (burning tiki torches at every turn) until it was too dark to see anything. We turned around at "Dumps" and headed back to Haiku, stopping at McDonald's (how creative) for dinner.

He drove the 10-miles to Haiku from Kahului through a nice misty rain.

And then .... Sleep! Our minds and bodies were still in Utah, so it was 3am.

Conversation

2008-05-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

Charnae dialing Matt's phone number during lunch.

Matt: Ames Taping Tools, this is Matt.
Charnae: Hey, it's me.
Matt: Hi.
Charnae: What ya doin'?
Matt: Thinking about Hawaii.

Charnae wonders if Utah will ever satisfy again.
We are ruined forever.

Restless Soul

2008-05-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

We've been back from Maui for one week. My skin has dried up and although recently sun-hugged it is now turning pale.

I keep dreaming about the ocean, and Matt tells me he keeps day-dreaming about the ocean. At least once a day, we break into song:

I saw you in my dreams
We were walking hand in hand
On a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

We were playing in the sun
We were having so much fun
On a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

The sound of the ocean soothes my restless soul
The sound of the ocean rocks me all night long

Those hot long summer days
Lying there in the sun
On a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

The sound of the ocean soothes my restless soul
The sound of the ocean rocks me all night long

Last night in my dreams
I saw your face again
We were there in the sun
On a white, sandy beach of Hawaii

Brings a tear to my eye!

Restroom Stalls

2008-05-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

A public restroom is a strange place.

Ever think that if you removed the 1" piece of metal separating each stall, that you would be close enough to hold hands or share a whispered secret with the person next to you?

Even with that 1" barrier, sometimes it feels a little too close for comfort.

Obviously the person who choses the stall right next to mine, when all the others are empty, hasn't thought through this scenario!

{cringe!}

Wings & Courage

2008-04-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

Red Bull gives you wings. Right?
What does cat nip give Joellen's cats?

Attitude and Courage

Within seconds of treating them with cat nip (Goo's a nipaholic) they got really happy and started playing. Rolling in circles. Hugging each other.

Then they started playing. Tiger started biting. Jakey started hissing. They both started swatting.

Tiger walked away. Jake went in pursuit! Tiger didn't back down.

Charnae separated the kitties.

Tiger is suddenly not afraid of noises and is bouncing around like a yo-yo, running into furniture. Jakey comes back to pick a fight, again. Tiger says, "bring it on!"

It's good that Jake's new-found attitude will be short-lived. It's too bad Tiger couldn't retain just a little of his uncharacteristic courage.

Joellen - have you ever given them cat nip before? I'm guessing this is their first time. Jakey's howling for more.

Treasures

2008-04-03T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's fun to clean out old stuff and find "buried treasure"!

We had a box stored away with some pictures slides. Here is a picture I found of Matt in 1979 with the family dogs Rafferty and Darby.

Accent?

2008-04-03T20:20:00.001-07:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

April 1

2008-04-01T20:21:00.000-07:00

I figure it's best not to post anything today, because the content of any post will be questioned for it's truthfulness.

Welcome!

2008-03-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

This is what our new house guest thinks of Goo:

The un-happy cat above is Jake. This is his brother Tiger:

Tiger is all about finding the smallest enclosure he can squeeze into and staying there for large amounts of time. They are our friend Joellen's cats. Joellen is moving to England for a year for a temporary work assignment, so they've come to our house to be Goo's friend.

We were positive that Goo would have a very difficult time and that Jake and Tiger would make friends quickly. We were WRONG! This is how Goo feels about things:

As they spit and hiss, he talks to them really friendly-like. It's a big surprise!

They were in the house 48-hours before Goo realized there were two of them. That was a funny moment. The thing they don't know about Goo is that he has claws - and it was one of the things we were most concerned about. Now that we've got them all together, we're glad that Jake and Tiger don't have claws since they seem more eager to brawl.

Tiger pretty much plays hide-and-seek all day long, and he hopes that nothing is seeking him. Jake is a snow plow, and unfortunately one of Joellen's plants suffered for it over the weekend.

Some day, hopefully soon, I hope to post a picture of all three of them hanging out, happily, together.

The Dump

2008-03-31T13:59:00.003-07:00

We took a trip to drop off some old paint this weekend. The people at the dump have an unsual sense of humor. I guess being around all that garbage, you have to do things that make you laugh.

Good Week

2008-03-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

Last month I was a blogging maniac! This month I haven't thought of as many things I want to post. But, I just stopped over at my other mom's blog (thanks Janet) and was inspired. It was fun reading about the chairs.

The last week has been fun. A week ago today we were preparing for my other mom - Matt's mom - Sandi to arrive for the weekend. Isn't it fun to have a lot of mom's! I currently have 4. But, I find that many people frequently step up as a "mothering figure" when I need one.

Anyway, we had some fun adventures over the weekend and got to hang out with a lot of family. Some highlights were walking through the Salt Lake City Public Library (wow!), going to Bambara for lunch (yum!), and playing with Jack at the park (cute!). Here are a few pics:

Kendra going down the slide by herself!

Grandma and Jack in the back seat. "Do you think Kendra's OK?"

Kendra and Jack on the stairs. Bug hug!

Jack at the library.

And one of Quincy, for good measure.

Go me!

2008-03-18T09:24:00.001-07:00

I know this is just approximate, but I think I've improved. I'll have to try again and see if I can do better!

82 words

Speedtest

No Fear

2008-03-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

I took a brief look through some past posts and realized I've been telling a lot about my fears such as elevators, crawly beach creatures, public speaking ... I'm sure there were more. I'm starting to sound like a whimp! Here are some things that I am not scared of:

Spiders - I don't like them to crawl on me, but I don't freak out. I know a few people who are desperately scared of them and will scream and run away at the sight. You know who you are - - - Stephanie, Andi, and Tyler!

Heights - As long as there is something around me I'm usually pretty good. I don't get dizzy or panicky. Or get vertigo like poor Robert.

Public speaking - I was petrified when I was young, but I did explain that I got over that, right? By the way - you did great on Sunday Cherlyn! The more talks you do the better it gets - I promise!
Snakes - I'll touch them but not hold them. If I see one I'll stay and watch. However, my niece Tasha definitely takes the cake on this one! She loves all creatures and will catch and hold most anything!
Power tools - I've used my fair share in the past few years. Now it's your turn Andi!

Unusual foods - I used to be squeemish about this, but you can't be when you're married to Matt! He'll try almost anything. In the past, under his tutilage, I have tried pickled okra, gefilte fish, and eel. That's the short list. A list of what Matt's tried could be its own post!

See --- fears don't rule my life!
Hopefully this will bring back a little of my self-respect.

Fear

2008-03-14T14:35:00.000-07:00

First, I have to say that this is my 100th post! That's kind of embarassing. I really can't believe I've done that many ....

Second, I have to say afer the last 5 posts, which were practically novels, I had decided I wouldn't put anything on here for awhile.

However, at work today I walked past the elevator. The doors were propped open and the floor of the elevator was at eye level. I jumped an scurried away. My heart was racing for the next few minutes.

I have fears associated with elevators.

Since I was very little I have never liked dark holes - like elevators or mining shafts. Or the roof access at Fashion Place Mall that was located in a side hallway. I would cry when my parents would walk under it. Seriously - even looking at this picture makes me scared, nervous, sick, etc.

It's true that if I fell into a shaft like Baby Jessica that I would die of fright. Don't worry about trying to dig me out.

For my fears to kick in, the situation has to be just right .... for example, I did go down the deep, deep, deep shaft at the Park City Silver mine. I did it three times, and I was fine. If the lift had somehow plummeted to the bottom (and I'd lived) and there were no lights, I would have panicked. I maybe would panic just as much if there were lights. If I was there alone, I would be curled in a ball, crying, with my eyes closed.

While working at the Kearns Building downtown in 1996, I would take the elevator to the 7th floor where I worked. Once the elevator stopped unexpectedly to blackness. Twilight Zone!

My eyes adjusted and I could see a few boxes by the elevator doors. Thank goodness I was with another person. I probably would have started screaming uncontrollably. That person explained that there was a floor between 1 and 2 that was used just for storage, and occasionally it would accidentally open on that floor.

From that point on, anytime I took that elevator alone I would face the back until I knew I had passed that floor. It only happened one other time, and I was with a group of people. Phew!

Elevators have an agenda of their own and aren't to be trusted!

Last Ones

2008-03-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

Alright, so here are the last few items from my Leap Day post voting:

Best of the Bull - This can be ordered and eaten at the yummy Cowboy Grub. (May I recommend the Big Monty?) I tried this the first time about 5-years ago. I tried it to be brave. The same way that I've tried sushi. It's not my favorite, but I didn't whimp out.

Anyhow, the second time I tried it was on a little dare with our friend Joellen. She was going to prepare cow tongue for us, and so we agreed as long as she tried Best of the Bull. Ew. This time was different than the first. It could best be described as being like fried, breaded spam. Blah.

Summer 2001 - This was the summer during our house construction that reached 106 degrees for weeks straight. The summer we didn't have a roof. The summer the rain fell inside our house. The summer I experienced depression. The summer I nearly had a mental breakdown. With the good comes the bad. I love our house .... now.

Richfield road rash - This occurred summer 1992. Having some fun with friends while visiting my grandma, I ended up in a situation where I was hanging onto the bed of a truck and my feet were drug about 15-feet through gravel. I was wearing shorts, a tank top, and sandles. I had rocks imbedded in my feet and spent a couple hours that night in the ER and a couple more hours trying to get comfortable enough to sleep at my grandma's house after being bandaged up. And of course weeks afterward recovering.

People always ask why I didn't just let go. It's amazing how clear my mind was during the entire incident. My cheek was inches away from the bumper. I knew logically that if I let go, I would hit my face, and probably break something. Instead I let go with one arm which turned me around so I was facing up, and then I let go with the other and rolled away from the vehicle.

A Clockwork Orange - I watched this movie purely because it was on the top 100 movies list. It was extremely disturbing, and I am grateful that with each passing year I forget more and more of it. If I could only go back and just not watch it at all!

Lobster Dave

2008-03-10T14:47:00.000-07:00

During my singles ward days, in my ward there were a lot of Daves. We (Heather, Robert, and I ... and a few close ward friends) gave them different names to sort them out. There was Teacher Dave, Dave F, CD Dave, and Lobster Dave.

The first time I met fair-skinned Lobster Dave, he had accidentally spent too much time in the sun without sunscreen. He was painfully red ... thus, we called him Lobster Dave.

He was a few weeks - probably 3-4 - from going on his mission. When he asked me out on a date, I felt pretty comfortable that things couldn't go far in that amount of time and figured it would be fun to hang out.

CANYON CONFESSIONAL:
Our first date we were going hiking. We drove up the canyon and he parked the car near Mill B. Instead of getting out of the car to start our hike, he started talking. Whatever; I didn't really care.

During our talk, he told me things that he had taken care of with his bishop in order to go on his mission. Then he told me a few things that he had slipped on since then and asked my opinion if he should talk to his bishop about them again.

I felt completely uncomfortable, advised him yes, and made some logical excuse to end the date early. He didn't feel uncomfortable, and it seemed that confiding in me had increased his interest.

Some time went by and I avoided the situation. I didn't like to hurt people, and it seemed that it was a short acquaintance anyhow. I was just trying to get through those 3-4 weeks.

Somehow I agreed to another date, which turned into a group thing. Great! The group thing turned into Dave, myself, and my friend Karen going to a movie. Fine. Karen had seen the movie, so it turned into making cookies at her house. Whatever. Karen had a major crush on Dave, thus ...

THREE'S-A-CROWD-COOKIE-COOKOFF:
I drove in Dave's car to Karen's house. I pretty much sat in the living room watching TV while they baked away!

"Check this out!" I said, half-way through their gathering-ingredients-extravaganza!

They came in and watched OJ Simpson in the white Bronco on the freeway. Then they resumed the baking and realized they were missing a key ingredient. I volunteered to walk home (only two blocks) and bring some back. Dave resisted, but I insisted.

I got home and hung out with my family as long as politely possible, turning on the TV so they could see OJ. Then I got in my parents car (I was a smart one, huh.) and drove back to Karen's.

We finished making cookies, ate some, and watched something.

Time for me to leave. Dave walked outside and told me he was sad I brought the car because he wanted to drive me home. Since we didn't have a "real date" he suggested we get together the next night? the next? the next? It appeared I was busy every night before he had to leave town. He went in for .... yea, and it smoothly turned into a hug.

He stopped by a few nights later in between my work and school to bring me a gift.

FAREWELL:
My other friend Janice asked me to go with her to his farewell and I agreed. Walking down the isle to take my seat, he came down from the stand and rushed at me excitedly. His family followed. His parents greeted me and it was clear I had been discussed at home. His little sister looked up at me with giddy eyes.

We took a seat, toward the back. His sister remarked during her talk that she was proud of her brother for being such a good example and going on his mission, although he could have stayed home because of a girl.

Clearly not me!?

During his talk, he stared down at me, and reaching the end of his talk stated that he had met someone for which it was hard for him to leave, and how he was eagerly looking forward to spending more time with that person in two years. Yes, still looking at me.

What it the world was happening? I didn't even know this person!

We left the farewell quickly. Didn't stop by the house. He dropped by once before going to the MTC, but I wasn't home. I didn't write to him. He didn't write to me.

Two years later he called my house, just home from his mission. He talked to my mom. I was freshly engaged, and she told him. My mom suggested that I call him, just to be nice. I decided not to.

He didn't call again.

05/20/2006

2008-03-10T14:46:00.000-07:00

It makes sense that this one would be one of the top voted since it's the most ambiguous. This will probably seem a little anticlimactic.

DAY ONE: 05/11/2006
Matt and I were on our wonderful trip back east! I'd never been this far from home. When we got off the plane in Buffalo, I honestly couldn't believe I was in New York. I saw all the I "heart" NY t-shirts in the windows and it sunk in more. WOW! I had only ever seen those on TV, on someone else, or at D.I. We picked up our rental car and we were on our way!

Tourist stops: Niagara Falls
Picture: Niagara Falls from the U.S. side

DAY TWO: 05/12/2006
Driving through up-state New York's country was wonderful the next morning. Everything was green and sunny. It was truly peaceful. One of my favorite parts was watching the fog come in over Lake Ontario that evening. Very mysterious. Also in Fayette we ran into the author of our tourist book, who kindly signed it. He was serving a research mission there. Very cool, knowledgable man!

Tourist stops: House Brigham Young built, Hill Cumorah, Sacred Grove, Erie Canal, Fayette, Lake Ontario
Picture: Hill Cumorah

DAY THREE: 05/13/2006
Today was sunny again and I was grateful. It was very relaxing and we stopped at a few more church history sites. Then we started our cross-country trek up through the Adirondacks and down to Lake George. It sprinkled a lot. The Adirondacks were cold, although no longer snowy.

Tourist stops: Grandin Building, Sacred Grove, Hill Cumorah, Adirondacks, Lake George
Picture: Sacred Grove

DAY FOUR: 05/14/2006
We continued our trek leaving New York, driving through Vermont, New Hampshire and stopping in Maine. This was our longest drive day. It was raining and flooding! Lucky us - we were caught in one of the biggest floods the area had seen in a long time. The closer we got to the coast the more flooded everything became. We sat in our hotel that night watching the news, wondering if we would be able to drive into Boston the next morning.

Tourist stops: Norman Rockwell Museum, Joseph Smith Birthplace, Nubble Lighthouse
Picture: Joseph Smith Birthplace

DAY FIVE: 05/15/2006
We got up that morning and decided to try our luck getting into Boston. We called our hotel in the heart of downtown Boston, and they said they weren't experiencing any troubles with the flood. We took a quick detour to Amesbury, MA where I got to see one of my however-many-greats grandparent house from 1654. Pretty dang cool! On our way back onto the freeway, we saw the National Guard had closed the exit. We had barely made it there to see it. We didn't make it to Salem, MA. The road was closed. We did some touristy visiting along the coast in Rockport. Many of the cute shops had been flooded out and were closed. We did some hiking in the rain/fog. And we drove into Boston, an experience Matt will never repeat again.

Tourist stops: Amesbury, Rockport, Boston
Picture: My relative's house in Amesbury, MA.

DAY SIX: 05/16/2006
We had a very uppity breakfast at the Omni, hiked the Freedom Trail in the rain, but it was WONDERFUL! We ended up at Bunker Hill and took a taxi back to the Boston Commons. Our taxi driver asked us if we would take Mitt Romney back to Utah with us. We got our car and got out of town ... well, at least out of the center of town.

Tourist stops: Too many to mention! I loved touring Paul Revere's house, and the cemeteries.
Picture: Granary Burying Ground (three signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here)

DAY SEVEN: 05/17/2006
We woke up early and went to a session at the Boston Temple. Beautiful temple! Then we really got out of town ... driving to Hyannis on Cape Cod.

Tourist stops: Boston Temple, Harvard Campus, Cape Cod
Picture: Boston Temple

DAY EIGHT: 05/18/2006
This was our first full day on Cape Cod. The weather was beautiful. Blue sky and no rain.

Tourist stops: Cape Cod! I love it!
Picture: Sunset in Hyannis

DAY NINE: 05/19/2006
Second full day on cape cod. I was so excited to see the sun rise on the ocean, but it was cloudy that morning. :(

Tourist stops: Cape cod! I want to go back!
Picture: Beach in Provincetown

DAY TEN: 05/20/2006
Our flight home left around 2pm. We left Provincetown early and got to the Boston airport at a comfortable time to catch our flight. We were dropping off our rental car when we had a HUGE vacation SURPRISE. The bad kind.

Our rental car had been scheduled for pick-up and drop-off in Buffalo; a 7-hour drive from our current location. The cost for dropping it off in Boston instead of Buffalo? $1300.00 .... nearly $1000.00 more than the price of the rental. Nearly the cost of our entire 10-day vacation …thanks to some perks from my job at the time.

LESSON LEARNED: Always double-check your paperwork. This is something I will do maniacally for the rest of my life. I know it will never happen again. It will be some other stupid oversight that will blight the last day of some future blissful vacation.

The rental people made a few calls, but nothing could be solved right then. I think the person that could help was at lunch, so we were sent on our merry way with a phone number. I was panicked. In my experience it's always much easier for people to take your money than to give it back. Not only that, but we were now running late for our flight.

We rushed to catch our flight. Then we had 2-hours to review the situation in which we realized that if we had taken the rental car, driven 7-hours to Buffalo, paid the rental late fee, and paid the airline change fee, we would still have come out hundreds of dollars ahead. Probably at least $700.00. But, instead we walked away with a phone number, a 4-advil headache, and a stressful flight from Boston to Chicago.

Upon arrival in Chicago, Matt called the rental company and did his best groveling. He explained that the person who set up the reservation misunderstood our needs, that person being a friend of mine at work with tons more experience renting cars than I had; she worked in “travel” after all. They had mercy on us and reduced the charge to $500.00.

The flight from Chicago to SLC was better.

Pictures: I had completely lost interest in taking photos by this time.

7th Grade

2008-03-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

I really didn't want this one to get a lot of votes. I wanted to skip over this part of my life, not re-live it .... remember? I'll make it short.

I had a lot of friends in 6th grade. It was a good year. I remember sitting in the cafeteria filling out paperwork for middle school! I had been very excited, but that excitement started to disappear when I realized that many of my good friends would be going to Union instead of Midvale. WHAT!? A batch of friends that were going to Midvale ended up moving. Ugh!?

I started 7th grade feeling friendless. And things got worse for me.

Through a series of events that first year of middle school, I gradually began to withdraw. I had a few close friends, but that was it. I became very nervous and anxious. I had a serious fear of public speaking. An oral report was enough to give me stress headaches, sleepless nights, and to make me visibly shake.

Each school year that followed I gradually came out of this hole that had formed my 7th grade year. I've also been lucky enough to have jobs that have helped me get over my fear of public speaking.

Phew .... glad that one's done.

Results Show!

2008-03-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

The results are in! Here are the top 5 voted items from my Leap Day post that will each receive a separate, more detailed post:

7th Grade
05/20/2006
Cookie-Cookoff
Canyon Confessional

Each of these items got one vote, and will each have a brief explanation in post number 5:

Best of the Bull, Summer 2001, Richfield road rash, A Clockwork Orange, Farewell

And we begin ...

Ceti Eel

2008-03-06T21:20:00.000-08:00

Matt loves the beach. I have recently (the last few years) come to discover why, since I've spent a little more time there than in the past.

I enjoy the sand between my toes, the mist, and the sound of the water. I don't care if the water is cold; I'll walk in it. Matt enjoys these things, too, but he doesn't like walking in the cold water. One thing that Matt likes most is the creatures he finds.

I'm not as fond of the creatures. I have visions (that I have to ignore) of crawly creatures with pincers inches below my bare feet, ready to pounce ... or do whatever it is that they do. I'm also pretty afraid of jelly fish, and I always find dead ones on the beach! Consequently, I'm always walking barefoot with my head down, scanning the sand for rocks, shells, bones, dead things, and live crawly creatures. I don't want to step on any of those things.

This is from a trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon in July 2006. I hate the sound of my voice (it sounds terribly high), but you can hear how brave I am being throughout this entire experience.

What does this remind me of?

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ... Khan employs the small offspring of a nasty indigenous animal (known to fans as the "Ceti Eel") to control Chekov and Terrell and forces them to reveal the details of their mission, and the whereabouts of Admiral Kirk.