Girls Road Trip, not quite Thelma and Louise, but almost.

After Graduation and our trip to Arizona for the funeral, 

Diana had two weeks of summer school.  

Finally we were free to fulfill our dream of getting out of Vegas and the heat.

Each summer we love to go up to Spanish Fork and hang with cousins and

pretty much avoid responsibility for as long as possible.

We have kind of developed a system for our drives to Utah.

We know where the best bathrooms are, and

where all the Cafe Rio's are located.

If we stop to eat in St George, we like to go to In-N-Out.

If it is Cedar City, then we usually go with Cafe Rio, although 

Panda Express is right across the street.

If we need to eat in Beaver, Jack in the Box has great fry sauce.

Filmore has a Subway next to the gas station.

And we have been know to do some shopping at the Wal Mart in Cedar

if the need arises. (ie the CD player or DVD player needs replacing)

And of course we can't forget to mention the Cheese Factory in Beaver.

If we are not on a time constraint, we simply MUST stop there.

They have the best ice cream, cheese curds, and jewelry.

Who'd have thunk it, that you could find great priced jewelry at

the Beaver Cheese Factory.  

But I wouldn't lie to you about a thing like that.

My most favoritest flavor of ice cream is Lemon Custard.

I had some there a couple of years ago, and it

took me right back to my youth at Baskin Robbins.

Oh how I love that Lemony creamy goodness in the form of a frozen confection.

The bad news to this addiction is that the Cheese Factory changes its flavors

as often as its underwear, and Lemon Custard is not always on the menu.

I know the horror and injustice, I tell you.

I have taken to calling the factory from the freeway to 

inquire if they are selling my form of crack that day or not.

No Lemon Custard, not worth the 30 minute detour. 

However, their phone number was tragically deleted from my phone a while back.

I was feeling in a hurry to get to Spanish Fork this day.  The last few times I stopped without calling,

they didn't have the Lemon Custard, much to my despair.

I said to Diana, 'I bet they won't have it today.  Let's not stop."

To which she replied, "Well don't you think we ought to just check it out".

I would like to think that her motives were to help satisfy my cravings, but I am 

pretty sure she was just in it for the jewelry.

And so we stopped, and it was my LUCKY DAY because on this 

glorious occasion they did have the Lemon Custard.

But they were out of waffle cones.  Oh the misery.

It is just not the same without the waffle cone.

I contemplated stopping at the grocery store and purchasing my own,

 but decided that was a little bit ridiculous.  

So no waffle cone, but a double scoop of Lemon Custard - yes, please.

So after the squeaky cheese and the jewelry, it is kind of expensive ice cream.

But delicious none the less.

Finally we were on the road again.

And just after we passed Filmore there was a fire on the left side of the road.

Now of course being me, I just whipped out my phone and started clicking

pictures.  Because surely there are no safety hazards to taking pictures

while driving, right?

It looked pretty intense over there.

Check out some of the shots I took:

Look how it was pretty black on the one side of the road and then just blue sky.

I don't think anyone was hurt, but it was not something I drive by everyday.

Finally we made it.  We always receive quite the reception from my nieces and nephews.

It makes one feel rather special and loved.

One of the things we did while we were there was take a horse riding lesson from my sister's neighbor.

It was great and very thorough.  

We also had a photo shot with one of my sisters friends.

Here is a shot of Diana and my nephew.

It was really hot that day and as incentive for smiling and cooperation

shaved ice was offered.

It was super yummy!

The girls hung out a ton and did things like dress up and make overs.

My nieces love to hang with Diana in the bathroom and watch her get ready.

My niece Megan.

We were pretty busy, but every now and then there was time for cuddling on the couch.

Or even a quick nap.

My nieces love to take pictures on my phone.  

You  never quite know what kind of picture will show up.

Lots of lovely pictures of home decor like this one:

Some of their brother:

Some self portraits:

Or cute ones of the sister:

Or the other sister:

Here's a great one of Diana.  Don't tell her I posted this, 

she is in that lovely 13 year old stage where she doesn't 

want me to post about her.

But seriously, how gorgeous is this girl?  

I am contemplating locking her in her room until she is 18, just so you know.

And look how instagram can take a messy toy room floor and make it look special.

I like this one a lot.

You may have already seen this one on facebook ,but it is to great to leave off of this post.

Lizzie is trying to shade  Diana.  Nice benefit to small children.

Of course there were trips to Macey's for ice cream and the bins of candy.

Here is a nice assortment of air heads.  Sugar anyone?

Diana took this one of my nephew.  Such a cute little kid.

And I love this shot as well.

We also went to Seven Peaks twice.  

And planned the food for our upcoming family reunion.

 I got my hair done, which is when I went blonde. I kind of love it.  

Perhaps blondes do have more fun.

And we just generally hung out and had a great time.

The Forth of July happened in there somewhere, but it was kind of a non even for us.

 

I have to admit to having small panic attacks when I would think of all the things

needing to be done back in Vegas.  This was only 3 weeks before Trent was due to come home.

It seemed a bit ridiculous to be sitting relaxing at a water park 

when I needed to paint his room and clean out the junk

 that had accumulated for the past two years.

I love Spanish Fork.  If I can't move there, visiting often is the next best thing.  

Overall we were very glad we went, and 

sometimes mandatory relaxing is a good thing.

Purple Puppy Love from a Distance

A couple of weeks ago, a dear friend came to town. We met 20 years ago at a church basketball game that our husbands were playing in for our ward. My husband and I had just moved into student housing at UC Riverside. Kim and I became friends immediately, and have been ever since.

We lived in student housing for the next 5 years and had the best times. Often we got together for dinner or better yet went out to eat. There were many trips to Spoons after basketball games. Other times we would get together to play games or just hang out. Being graduate students was certainly made better by such great friends.

After graduate school, jobs took us to different places to live, but we have kept in touch through the years.

It was so fun to spend time catching up with her and going out to eat at Cheescake Factory. Her sister has a master plan for eating at Cheese Factory. You all share the appetizer sampler, and then everyone has to get a different kind of cheesecake. After you eat a few bites of yours, then you all pass them all around the table and you get to taste 6 different kinds. She is rather insistent on the plan, but it is a good plan, so I went along willingly.

Here we are posing at Brighton. Thanks for introducing me to this place, as I was a Brighton Virgin. I am not into jewelry, I guess that explains it.

The reason Kim was in Vegas, was to go to the Donny & Marie show. She had some connections and got tickets to go backstage. How lucky is she?

And so here she is with her sisters, mom, and aunt with the real deal. How cool is that? And since I got my picture taken with Kim, I am only one degree of separation from Donny himself. Also cool.

I stole these pictures off of her facebook. You gotta love that thing. And I absolutely loved this picture of her mom with Donny. Look at the glee on her face. So wonderful.

Some day I may get to go to the show myself, but I think for a while my stalking will have to stay at one degree of separation.

Kim thanks for making my stalking dreams almost come true.

I'm just here for the food!

Eventually I will post about the notes I took in all the wonderfully uplifting classes I attended. But today's Women's Conference post is dedicated to one of the best things in life: food, glorious food.

For some reason I feel that I can spend ridiculous amounts of money for special treats I can't get anywhere else. You have already seen the pictures of the cheese curds and lemon custard ice cream I had on the way to Provo. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful delicacies I partook of during my two days at BYU.
These are the best yummy-i-licious spiced almonds. And of course they taste better in the blue and white paper cone. Last year I waited until the last day and stood in a ridiculously long line. But I learned from my mistakes and this year I grabbed some up the first morning. Good thing, because I never had the chance to buy lunch, so they had to sustain me all day long. We all missed lunch because we never wanted to stand in a long line, and so when the afternoon session was over we rushed to our favorite Italian place La Dolce Vita. Yes this is where I ate with Diana just two weeks ago. I got the pasta this time and it was yummy.

The next morning I had this divine mint brownie for breakfast. So good!!!

Later that day I had a delightful chicken taco salad for Costa Vida. Sadly I was so hungry that I ate it before I remembered to take a picture of it. Dang, I hate it when that happens.

Here is my sister Kris purchasing strawberries and whip cream for the crepes we would have for breakfast thanks to my sister Jen. We also had Nutella with the strawberry crepes. Heaven on earth, I tell ya. Just as good as IHOP.

And finally our two sister in laws joined us for a feast at Brick Oven. It was scrumptious pizza and conversation. Such good times. I am so blessed to have these wonderful women in my life. Glad to know I am stuck with them for eternity as well. There was much laughing and sharing and feasting. It was the perfect end to a perfect day.

And don't you think great food makes everything better.

Exercise releases the stress in your life, unless it is opposite day.

I went back to the gym on Friday night, for the first time since October. That brings the total number of times I have taken advantage of my membership to six. Five times in October, and one time in February. So let's see, that would make my per visit cost to be about $25. Stop it, inner accountant, let it go.

So for my $25 dollars, I have been subjected to the humiliation of seeing myself in all the mirrors. The horror and terror, I am pretty sure I saw a small child cry and run away. At least I am sure it would have if it wasn't being entertained at the play room.

I think if I ever own a gym, there will be a no mirror rule. Or better yet, the mirrors should be magical and show you what you will look like if you continue to come to the gym, because then when you see yourself at home, you would jump in the car and go to the gym to see your self the way you could be.

Or maybe for that much money, they could provide me with a blindfold and guide dog to get me from the dressing room to the machines in the women's gym. Or better yet, how about a conveyor belt like they have in airports. I think it is so rude to make people walk to where they are going to be exercising. We should just be able to ride along and jump off where we want to start our work out.

In addition to humiliation, as an added bonus, I get to have TMI (too much information) in the form of what color thong underwear the person exercising in front of me is wearing, because her sweats keep falling down. Or if she bends over to stretch. Again with the horror and terror. Seriously there should be a law or something. Can I get an amen sister? Talk about a bang for your buck. Eeeewww.

Then there is the annoying part when you can't get one of the machines that has a TV on it and lets you pick the channel you want to watch, so you can numb your senses about the fact that you are exercising. Instead, you are stuck with the four TV choices that are up on the wall. These consist of MTV, Comedy Channel, Fox News, or discovery channel showing Dirty Jobs. I would much rather watch the food channel while I am exercising. Might as well plan what you deserve to eat because you exercised, right?

Man this is good stuff, I should become a marketer for the gym, huh?

After the gym, I decided to stop and get some Chinese food. My husband was gone on a camp out, and I didn't feel like cooking after working out.

Diana was with me, she loves the playroom at the gym, especially the DDR, dance video game they have.

She took the keys out of the ignition and said she would hold them for me. I should have known better. This is me and my life we are talking about here. Have I learned, nothing from the past. Apparently not, so I am doomed, doomed I say.

We ordered. Waited patiently in an impatient way for our food. Then we headed to the car. I looked for the keys, at which time I remembered that she had them last. I asked her where the keys were to which she replied she didn't have them. Problem.

We went back inside, and I asked if anyone had turned in some keys. No luck. We searched everywhere she had been in the restaurant, the table, the pop/soda machine, everywhere. NO keys.

I went out and looked to see if they were still in the car. NO. We looked to see if they had fallen on the ground while we were walking in. NOPE.

My mind raced as to what to do. My husband was gone right, so he was useless. Actually at this moment the other two spare keys to my car are lost and this was the only one I had. I cursed my lack of making 20 copies for just such occasions.

Just as a side note, about 18 years ago, I lost a set of car keys while I was at work. I drove the 17 miles to work in the morning, and then even went out to lunch. But when it was time to go home, no keys to be found anywhere. Finally my husband had to get someone to drive him to bring me an extra key as we were a one car family at the time. Good grief. And I never did find that key. Who knows. Bermuda triangle, is my best theory.

So back to my daughter and me, stranded at Pick up Styx. I was thinking that she may have dropped them into the garbage can when she threw away the wrapper to her straw. I looked in to see if anything was evident. NO. Just uneaten food, napkins, drink cups. You know just the kind of thing you would rather be dead than stick your hand into.

It was as I was weighing the options of searching through the disgusting trash can, calling a friend to give us a ride home leaving the car stranded, or paying an arm and a leg to a lock smith, when a worker came and saved our life. One of the other workers had found the keys somewhere. We were spared from spending our Friday night dumpster diving.

It is at this point that I am thinking my kids are ganging up on me to see how long it will take me to pull all my hair out. They must really want to see me bald. What will be my breaking point? I bet they even have a pool.

And I still have the answered questions of will my nice padded cell have Internet connection so I can still blog, and when they come to take me away and put me in the straight jacket, will it make me look fat.

Fun with Family

I have not managed to post all the fun pictures from our trip to Utah a few weeks ago. It was so fun to be with so much family for my niece's baptism. Six of my Seven siblings were able to be there. Since I missed seeing everyone in Seattle, this was the next best thing. Here is a huge group shot. Lots of people to try and get to look at the camera.

Here is a cute shot of Diana with her cousin Megan. Diana is a year older, but Megan is a foot taller. These girls are great friends.

Here are the five girl cousins. They are close in age and have the best time together. They had fun playing again after Seattle.

Then we tried to add my sister's two smaller girls in for an all girl shot. This picture just cracks me up. In defense of the small children, it was lunch time and they had just sat through a long meeting of the baptism. Still isn't this just a great shot.

Here is a second try. A little bit better. This is one of those times you give up trying to get people to look and smile and just take the shot to capture the fact that this is who was there that day.

Here is a rare picture of Jared. He kept turning his head, trying to avoid getting his picture taken. Finally several of us surrounded him and he had no where to hide. His cousin Susan is standing next to him. They are only two weeks apart in age.

Hey, trampoline girls, great group shot. This is my brother Sam. He lives is Seattle and helped take care of Diana last summer. She had so much fun playing guitar hero with him. And when they all went to the Aquarium, Sam was Diana's surrogate parent for the day. Thanks again Sam, for all you did to help her.

Here are Miles and Karianne, two very cute kids, well one kid and one adolescent.

Here is Tanner in a straight jacket that looks oddly like a swing.

My brother has a rabbit, and Diana and all the kids had fun petting it.

Here are my twin nephews, Taylor and Hunter.

Here is a happier shot of Ali, after lunch and a nap. Cute cheese, huh?

Here are my sister, brother-in-law, Ali, and Lizzie. Look how clean after bath time.
Here is Lizzie with her best Pipi Longstocking impression.

And yet another shot of Jared. This time with the laptop. Look how long his hair is getting.

Happy Baptism day and congratulations to Megan!

And here is a group casual pose. All the little girls love to tease Uncle Sam. He is a good sport to play along with them. We are so glad Sam was able to make it on a buddy pass at the last minute.