Rise and Shout

If you do not like BYU Football, just move along and don't bother with this post. You can go do a sudoku puzzle or something.

My wildest dreams came true on Saturday when my beloved Cougars beat the #3 ranked Oklahoma Sooners. It was a heck of a day for football. Much screaming and jumping were required. In fact at the end of the game, I pulled out my lucky bone for added power in that final drive.

I am sure I will never forget the amazing event. My only sadness was that I was not with a larger group to celebrate.

Since the game ended I have been reading articles, re watching, or listening to the live call over again. I can't get enough of it.

I found these You-Tube videos that came from 1280 the Zone website.

The first is an interview with Colby Clawson, who laid the HIT on Sam Bradford that took hi out of the game. I think I may need to put him on my players to stalk at the fireside list.

And then I thought this interview was heelarious and shows just how big our lineman are. Obviously they did a great job protecting Max on Saturday. O-line always seem to be the unsung heroes of most games.

All in all I couldn't be happier and prouder of my team. Hopefully this means they are only coming to Vegas once this year. I will have to take full advantage of it.

There is something so heartening about watching the underdog win. About a group of guys that no one in the country gave any chance of winning, come out and believe in the unbelievable. I have been waiting and waiting for the football season to begin. So glad it is finally here. Keep it up guys. I hope my potential stalking is not a distraction.

New Look

One of the advantages of my working for RAZ, was the opportunity to spend my paycheck on the samples that they moved out to make room for the new stuff. They sold off the samples at 75% off of wholesale. This was ridiculously irresistible. And so now my house has had a total make over.

Here is my new front porch. I am so in love with the bicycle. When I worked there last January, I saw it but it was not for sale. Imagine my glee when it was for sale this time. Originally, it was $108 so that meant I paid $27 dollars for it. Are you kidding me? It was really beyond ridiculous, how much stuff I brought home.


Here is a close up of the cheery wreath that now graces my front door.

And here is a close up of the bicycle. I already had the milk can, but it has been empty for the past four years. Now it is overflowing with color. And the sweet little frogs. How adorable are they? The only sad thing is I park in the garage and so I don't get to see this every time I come home. Still I do go out and admire it when I get the mail.

Next my entry at the bottom of my stairs. I already had the table, but all of the rest is new.

I love the wreath stand and all the bird nests. It makes me smile every time I walk down my stairs.

And how much do I love this birdhouse? Too much. And the suitcase it is sitting on, now holds the Nintendo 64, which is very old, but somehow we can not live with out it. Now it is no longer an eyesore next to my TV.

Next we move to the top of my entertainment system in my family room. The best thing about this, is that my friend, neighbor and co worker helped me put this all together. One night after work, we started tying different things. I was able to see how it looked and take things out and put things in, until I got it just right. I love the yellow watering can. My husband does not really like the rooster, but he said he will live with it. I still need to go to Michaels or JoAnns with a coupon to get some candles for my candlesticks. I looked at Target, but the candles were $6 each. How could I get six dollar candles for my three dollar candle sticks. Seriously.

I love this little shelf which is holding my new bird collection.

And I love this bird house also. And another suitcase to hide videos or a game system. I think all the PSP paraphernalia might go nicely in here.

And so of course all of this bee-ut-iful stuff is going to require painting the room. And sadly the rooms in my house are all kind of connected so that means we have to paint the family room, kitchen, living room, hallways, and so on. I really don't know where it will end. Wasn't there a Brady Bunch episode where Carol wanted to paint her bedroom, but then it was going to require new drapes, and the hall, and furniture, and on and on.

I have not managed to choose a paint color yet. Although I have managed to spend a lot of money on paint samples. There is even more that I didn't take pictures of, for some strange reason.

All in all, it is amazing how new things in your house can improve your disposition.

Oh and a shout out to my Cougars. Here's hoping you surprise the nation. I am so ready for some football. And I am making everyone at my house wear a BYU tshirt today.

School Updates

I didn't post yesterday, because we overslept and Jared missed seminary for the first time this year. Good news more sleep for me, bad news no computer time. I have found the quiet house and unoccupied computer to be a very big silver lining to the whole getting up at 5 am thing.

So last night I came home from work and decided that clean underwear is not highly over rated, so I gave in and did some laundry. I did not get to watch Top Chef yet, but some day. Thank goodness for DVR's. It also means that Project Runway will waiting for me.

This morning I decided to do some cleaning in my kitchen after dropping Jared off. You know it is amazing how much you can get done by 7 am when you get up a 5. Who knew? It was about time, since I have not done anything but clear the surfaces in there for the whole summer. Talk about scary situations.

The light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer every day. Only 3 or 4 more days to go.

And just so you know, I can sing all the colors to Joseph's coat if the sound track is playing, but I can not repeat them all from memory. Of course I copy and pasted them in from a lyric website. I still can't stop thinking about the show and singing "Go away little girl." Hopefully Diana does not take it personally.

Jared seems to be adjusting to high school life rather well. He doesn't even need to use the elevator. I have had some issues trying to get him out of PE and into Weight Training. That is what his surgeon suggested. How cool is that? No more $15 co pays for physical therapy, just get it for free at school. I think it will be amazing if he can work on regaining his strength.

The doctor says that he is back to 85% of normal, but he does not want him to do any running or even jumping jacks, yet. When people kept saying it would take a year for him to recover, I refused to believe it or even consider that it could take that long. But here we are 13 months later and that really is how long it has taken him. Jared is in all honors classes and they are sophomore ones at that. I am not sure how that worked out, seeing as how he did not complete any 9th grade classes, but oh well. The one class he really still needs to complete to graduate is 9th grade English and there is always summer school next year.

And it was picture day for Jared today and I actually managed to fill out the order form and send a check. Wahoo! It is not always something I have been able to be on top of in the past.

Diana is loving 5th grade, except yesterday she got moved to sit next to a girl she does not like at all. This girl comes from a very difficult family situation and has lots of behavior issues. For instance sometimes she licks her hand and wipes it on the other girls. Diana wants me to intervene with the teacher, but I am not sure if it will matter. Actually I think that this girl has ended up sitting by herself the past two years. Diana is in the all girl class again this year, but she has a much better teacher and I am very happy about that. There are 31 girls in her class. Just thinking about 31 10 year olds makes me weak in the knees. Her teacher did say that one of the advantages to separating the boys and girls is that they tend to learn differently. Boys like to just get a worksheet done and girls like to discuss it before they ever do it. It sounds right to me. The teacher has also received special training in single gender teaching. I feel really good about it.

Trent is registered to start CSN on Monday. It is totally awesome because my husband teaches there, Trent can go to school for $4 a credit. Much better than $56, don't ya think? It will save him $1000. He is signed up to be a music major, which will be very cool, but I wonder how marketable it will be. Of course who knows what he will want to do after his mission.

All in all we seemed to have survived the first week of school, pretty well. Seriously after Monday morning there was no where to go but up, right?

So sorry life is a bit boring right now, no rain in my house or other such catashrophe's. And no exciting celebrity encounters to report. I will keep my eyes peeled.

Happy Friday everyone!

Dontastic and Marieabulous

I have just returned from the Donny & Marie Show here in Vegas. Good Golly Miss Molly was it out of this world. As my gay boss said when he saw it in July "It was the bomb." Seriously, it was two hours of jam packed entertainment.

First let me just say that most people at the Flamingo are unaware that such events need photographic evidence and hence they stared at me when I took pictures such as this one while standing in line to get into the theater. Their strange faces seemed to say "Isn't that lady cute how she needs to take pictures with all things Donny and Marie." And "How nice that they let her out of the mental institution for the evening."

Here I am taking a self portrait with a cabinet full of stuff you can buy if you want to own a piece of Osmond history. No purple socks, Dang.

Yes here is my actual ticket that I actually paid for with my actual debit card. I wish it would have been my virtual debit card, but Oh well, the piper must be paid.

We were ushered into the Flamingo Theater. It looked like a theater I had seen in movies where it was made up of booths with tables. The seats that we could almost afford were on the balcony at a four person table.

The other couple at the table were visiting Vegas from Oklahoma. I resisted talking smack with them about the upcoming BYU football game against Oklahoma. I would hate to have to hurt any senior citizens over rival opinions.

They were celebrating their 30 year wedding anniversary. They were much older than us, probably 65. By the time we are that old we will be celebrating 50 years. I know that is because I got married when I was 5. And no offense to any older people reading this. It was just strange that's all.

We had a nice conversation with them, although I have to admit to being distracted by the interesting trivia questions they were flashing on the big screens. Did you know that Donny had made 58 albums? Me either. Did you know that Marie was in The King and I and the Sound of Music? Me either. I loved seeing pictures of the good old days.

Finally the show began. It was packed with oldie but goodies, dancing to knock your socks off, Opera from Marie and Paper Roses, and of course Puppy Love from Donny. And Soldier of Love, don't forget that. And so much more. It was amazing.

One of the coolest things was the way they interacted with the audience. There were 4 ladies from Scotland sitting on the very front row and they were going crazy. It was just like the 70's all over again. And when Donny sang the song from Joseph, these ladies were singing back up from the audience and you could hear it. It was pretty funny and he even laughed about it at times. He asked them if they knew every word to every song he had ever sung. Donny would also walk along the tables and give people high fives or shake their hands. It looked kind of dangerous, but the audience loved it. I think he shook hands with everyone in the front section who had paid $250 for their seats.

Marie said she didn't walk on top of tables, but she did go out into the audience and kissed almost every bald man on the head. She must have a thing for that. She was totally adorable and bantered back and forth with Donny like on the show of old. And man can that woman dance. She was totally awesome, although she kept complaining about her mike not working quite right.

The whole thing was very nostalgic and brought beck memories of watching their show every Friday night for the 4 years it was on TV. This was before the day of VCR's or DVRs and TV shows actually were something you looked forward to and even planned your life around.

I loved every minute of it, although it did get a bit loud during the Crazy Horses song. It would be so hard to pick a favorite part. Marie did an awesome Broadway medley. The dancing through all of it was amazing. Donny was dripping with sweat through out.

His partner from Dancing with the Stars was there and he had her come up on stage. I did not recognize her, I think her name was Kim. I wish he would have gotten Chelsie. But that was kind of fun to get a sneak peak.

If any of you ever come to Vegas, mortgage the farm and go see this show. I am sure that it falls into the same category as a home or education for approved situations where debt is OK.

And afterwards, it was time for more pictures for the blog.

Here I am with my best Egyptian pose next to THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAM COAT! You know it was red and yellow and green and brown and scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and red and yellow and green and brown and Scarlet and black and ochre and peach and ruby and olive and violet and fawn and lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve and cream and crimson and silver and rose and azure and lemon and russet and grey and purple and white and pink and orange and BLUE.

And here is another attempt to walk like an Egyptian.

And here I am singing "Go Go Go Joseph you know what they say, Hang on now Joseph you'll make it some day. Don't give up Joseph fight till you drop. We've read the book and you come at on top." Gee, why didn't a chorus line of singers and dancers come out and sing this to me last year when I felt like my life was a perfect graveyard of buried hopes.

Here I am with the very dress that Marie wore on Dancing with the Stars when she danced to Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

Yes, they called it Puppy Love.

And finally my meet and greet with Donny and Marie after they show. They were a bit stiff, but I am sure they were just worn out from the show. I did most of the talking and then didn't seem to mind. Nor did they call security.

Sadly I did not obtain a puple sock. I suppose I will manage to go on somehow.

All in all it was a the best time ever. Very worth being married 25 year for. Hee Hee. Two years ago, we went to Wicked. I like this trend. My next dream is to see Lion King. Those tickets are only $50. I am going to start saving now.

And since this is an anniversary post, I thought I would throw in a picture of our wedding day. August 8, 1984. We were babies, seriously.

Love you hon, Thanks for all the years of good times and for being there for the bad. Hope the next 25 are just a wonderful, but maybe a little less exciting.

The Rest of the Story

After I wrote my post yesterday, I did give in to the fatigue and laid back down. I made sure to set my alarm on my phone, but alas the spirits of snoozing took possession of my body. My neighbor called me at 8:50 because we were suppose to ride together to drop off our girls and then go right to work.

I answered her call and told her I would meet up with her after she dropped of her daughter. I then ran through the house like the crazed maniac that I am. I woke Diana up and made her join the frenzy. Somehow she got ready and we got in the car. Good thing she had eaten breakfast at 5 am. I did almost run over the crossing guard, for which I would have had a great insanity defense, I am pretty sure. But still, not the best way to start a school year.

We were walking onto the school yard when the bell rang at 9:00. Apparently 5th graders do not want to speak to their mothers, and so I was brusquely told to just leave already. OK, then.

I managed to stumble back to my car and make my way back home, where I was afforded the luxury of brushing my teeth before I had to dash off to work. Showers are highly over rated, right?

Work went well, other than the fact that I was so hungry I was tempted to gnaw off my own leg. Good news, I think I am loosing some weight, survivor style, that is to say starvation. Finally we decided that we needed to leave at 3:00 so we could get home and tend to the kiddies, make dinner, and do our homework.

Can some one please explain to me why it is the parents that get the homework the first week. Seriously, fill out a million forms, that you have already filled out for years. Then here is the list of needed school supplies, could you make a midnight run to Wal Mart to purchase said supplies. I am not so much a fan of the first week of school.

Then Diana and I ran down to the strip to pick up my Donny and Marie tickets for tonight. Yes, my husband are finally getting around to celebrating our 25th anniversary that was back on the 8th. I just hope that I can enjoy the show, seeing as how I can't really differentiate between staring at a blank wall or the TV right now.

Next I took Trent to the bank to deposit some checks and withdraw some money so he could pay me for his car insurance. Of course the gods of technology decided to give me another raspberry and the ATM we went to was out of order. This necessitated a trip to another bank.

When we got home I looked in the cupboards and somehow magically found something to throw together for dinner. Although I am out of cream of mushroom soup, which is inconceivable. Apparently I bought two cases of cream of chicken at the last case lot sale. Bummer.

Then there was the call from the school nurse, telling me that the form my doctor filled out to get Jared out of PE was not explicit enough and so could I just get her a note that said absolutely no PE for him. Well sure, I have nothing else going on in my life. I hope that I just took care of that this morning compliments of a fax machine. We will see.

Then we put Diana's room back together so she could sleep in with out being woken up during the seminary morning madness. I did refuse to go through the mounds of stuff she has and organize it. Do you have a bed that is cleared off? Then, that is as good as it is going to get.

Finally I fell into my bed at 9:30. Summer is definitely over for me.

Tomorrow I should have some fun pictures of our adventure tonight, so stay tuned.

A New Loosing Streak

I think if I have to look for one more thing I am going to scream.

Jared woke me up this morning at 4:30 because he couldn't find his boxers or clothes that I had washed late last night. So I got up and found them for him, because it was not fun having him stand next to my bed in a towel dripping on me.

Next he asked if I had found his paper with his home room assignment on it. We had talked about it last night when he was going to bed. I was too tired and figured I would have time to find it this morning. So my searching began at 4:35. At 5:20 I stopped looking and made Jared breakfast. I then resumed the search until 5:45 when it was time to leave for seminary. I told him I would continue the search and hopefully find it before he had to go to school at 7:00.

Oh and did I mention that while I was looking through the piles of papers on my dining room table, I felt drops of water raining down? Yes indeedy it was raining in my house again. Dang, I so hate it when that happens. I am not even sure where the water was coming from, but the bathroom upstairs seems the likely culprit.

I went through the motions of punching a hole in the ceiling with a screw driver and placing buckets to catch the dripping water. It is still dripping 2 hours later, but it is not constant enough to be a hole in the pipe I don't think. For now it is under control and I will let my husband deal with it when he wakes up.

So the searching continued and I became more and more convinced that the needed paper had been thrown away in all the chaos of the past week. Next I tried to look it up on the Internet. First my computer told me that my Internet connection had failed. Next the Internet worked but the school link was broken. WHAT THE WHAT!!! Way to stress parents out on the first day of school.

Diana was trying to sleep on the couch, because we are painting her room and her bed is covered with junk. That is only adding to the chaos around here. Yesterday, I couldn't find my lesson manual which was slightly important seeing as how I was suppose to teach Sunday School and I had done zero preparation. Luckily I could print it off the Internet. Next I couldn't find my car keys and had to use my backup set, only to find my original keys in my church bag when I got there. And finally my husband and Jared were 15 minutes late to church because they could not find Jared's church clothes anywhere. Dang Bermuda triangle that lives at my house. Finally Jared borrowed one of my husband's shirts and wore a pair of jeans. Geez Louise.

And so back to this morning. Diana is now awake from all the cursing going on. She needs breakfast even though it is 6 am. I got her a bowl of cereal and decided to run over to the high school and see if I couldn't just find out the home room number.

The school was not very crowded at 6:20 in the morning. I talked with the secretary and she did not know if they had posted the list of home room numbers yet. Also her computer was being backed up and so she could not even look it up for me. I cursed the gods of technology once again.

I went to try and talk to the nurse about Jared's PE exemption, and noticed that the lists were posted on the cafeteria windows. I found the needed information and even walked over and found out where the room was for him.

I made my way back to the car and went to the church. Along the way I passed all the cars going to school. I guess they let seminary out 10 minutes early. I picked up Jared and returned to the school. Explained to him where to go to his class and navigated the parking lot of crazed parents and teenagers.

Now at 7:30, Diana is back asleep. I wonder if it will be hard to wake her up for school in half an hour.

I have to work today, of course. So it will be a long day. Perhaps I will go lay back down for a minute or two. Good thing, I went to bed at 8:45 last night.

Does anyone want to argue with me that I am not Nutty?

So that was my Monday morning, how was yours?

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I thought I would finally post these pictures from July when we went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was really nice to see inside and it was great to be able to let the kids go through a temple.

We went to the zoo in the morning and by the time we got to the temple, Jared was done walking. Luckily they had wheel chairs and his cousin his age was excited to push him around. I specifically asked about how the wheel chair thing would work and the worker assured me that the wheel chairs just go off on the elevator but then they rejoin the group.

All was going well until we went down the stairs to the baptistery. Jared and Michael got in the elevator but no one had told them they needed to go down. So the elevator operator took them upstairs. The rest of us all went down and saw the basement. When the boys did not get off the elevator I was a bit concerned. I waited and waited and waited some more.

The rest of the group went on ahead. I went around speaking to every worker I saw asking "Have you seen two young men, one in a wheel chair?" No no one had seen them. I was not really ever totally panicked. How much trouble could two 15 year old boys get into, right? I tried not to envision them running over any little old ladys while trying to do mach 5 in the wheel chair.

Most of the workers kept reasurring me that we would catch up to them at the cookies in the reception tent at the end. It was a true story that where else would two teen age boys be, but at the free cookie table.

Finally I managed to locate them. They still had not seen the basement and so they went down to do that. By this time I had missed most of the tour and so I tried to go backwards and see what I had missed. It was not a good idea to swim upstream, and I kept hearing that line from Mister Mom "You're doing it wrong" over and over in my head.

Finally all was well that ended well. And what could be better than the cookies at the reception tent. They were awesome.

We also had to take advantage of the photo opportunity with the beautiful pictures there.


Here are Diana and I.

Diana wanted one shot by herself. Well herself and her priceless Jesus. I love the way they set up the light to make the Saviour shine.

Here is a group shot of all of us. We are missing a view people who had to work and two sisters who took the four smallest children home for naps.

And here is just the grandkids. We are missing five, but still it is the most that have been together for a long time.

All in all it was a fun event and better than I expected it to be. I was worried that the Zoo and the temple was too much for one day. I am definitely glad we did it. It was a definite high light of our family reunion.

And here is one last shot of some of the girl cousins.

Waa Waa Waa

Why does life have to be so darn difficult sometimes. I am trying to decided if it is better to not work and deal with the stress of financial problems. Or is it better to work so you have enough money to pay the electric bill, but you don't have time to buy bread and eggs.

I have been working what feels like non stop for the past month down at the World Market Center. So far I have helped 4 different vendors with set up for the furniture show that happens in September. It has been exhausting, back breaking work, for which I am very grateful for the extra money. But my body says that it is old and tired and ready to be put out to pasture. I am worried that I have spent all the money at Wendy's and Taco Bell.

This past week I have been working for Raz. They have great home accessories. They have a bunch of stuff that they are getting rid of at 75% off wholesale. It is ridiculously cheap and so I have been forced to purchase a fair amount of things for my house. Seriously, how do you say NO to 75% off. It is practically free at that point. I think when next week is over and I get to rest, I might actually like the way my house looks.

We have lived here for 4 years and I haven't had the energy, time, or money to change anything yet. I totally redecorated my family room, but now I need to paint.

School starts next week and I am not sure if things will be easier or harder. Diana and I went to open house today and her teacher said to expect 50 to 60 minutes of homework every night. This is very bad news, but what can you do.

And I have realized that I have committed to work on Saturday the 29th. What was I thinking? I want to be home watching the BYU football game. Curses. It is so unfair, but the guy we are helping is flying in from Texas so there is no other choice. I only hope that I will only miss the first hour. Thank heavens for DVR's.

Someday. Someday this job will be over, September 17th to be exact. And then I will return to whatever my normal life should look like. Perhaps I will be able to keep up with the housework and keep groceries in the house. It is probably an impossible dream, but who knows. Stranger things have happened.

This venting and ranting has been brought to you courtesy of "Nobody said it would be easy."

Much Ado About Nothing

The dreaded day of my IRS audit finally arrived. I have spent much of the past two weeks searching hi and low and near and far for my supporting documentation.

Yesterday, I put the finishing touches on the worksheets I created. I checked and double checked everything. I looked on map quest so I would know where exactly I was going to go. I made sure that all my folders were neatly stacked and ready to go.

I tried to reassure myself that all would be well, but I would be lying if I said that it wasn't difficult to go to sleep. It would also be a lie to say that I slept soundly through the night without a care in the world. I tossed and turned all night long whilst dreaming of the Spanish Inquisition.

Somehow, I snoozed my alarm and was very dismayed to wake and see that the time was 7:18. My appointment was for 8:00 am. Hurriedly I got dressed, telling myself that showers are highly over rated.

The computer beckoned to me to check and see if anyone had commented on my post yesterday. This was a mistake, because before I knew it 15 minutes had passed and I was later leaving than I wanted to be.

Once again, I cautiously sped trying to make up for lost time. There were two different routes I could have taken, but one of them had cars backed up onto the off ramp, so that made my decision easy.

Somehow I missed the building the first time I drove by and actually ran a red light to do a U-turn. I didn't have time to wait and there were no cars anywhere in the vicinity.

Anxiously, I pulled the parking garage ticket from the little machine. My stomach had now felt like I had swallowed a bucket of nails. Quickly, I parked and walked into the building. By now I was feeling a little dizzy and wondered if they have any paper bags I could breathe into.

The security guard checked out my appointment letter and told me to go through two large doors. I wondered if they would lock behind me and I would never be heard from again.

Once in the smallish waiting room, I picked up the phone and dialed the extension on my letter to let my examiner know I was there. He told me to wait for a few minutes.

I sat down and noticed a plant growing up and over the whole wall.

I thought it looked rather ominous and picture worthy. Quick as a bunny, I pulled out my camera and snapped a shot. The secretary behind the glass window informed me that it is against the law to take pictures in federal buildings. I said "Sorry, I didn't know, and it was just the plant anyway."

This secretary reminded me of the secretary in Monsters Inc. I asked her about the plant and she told me that it was 20 years old. Yikes, she did look ancient, but how long had she worked there? Perhaps that plant was her pride and joy, her only source of happiness in this life, and I had (gasp) taken a picture of it. Well, excuuuse me. Am I right, doesn't it look kind of creepy?

Finally, the door leading back to all the cubicles opened, and I was face to face with the MAN. I not sure what I expected, probably someone tall and spindly, with a comb over, and thick black rimmed glasses. The person I stood facing looked more like Wilford Brimley than Icabod Crane.

He seemed nice enough. He ushered me back to a cubicle in the back that even had a window. Somehow, I had envisioned a dark large room with spot lights and torture devices. There wasn't even anything remotely scary about this cubicle. In fact there was a cane laying on the back credenza and a Starbucks cup sitting next to the computer. All very normal run of the mill stuff.

I sat there waiting patiently. One person had given me the advice that I was not to offer any information, only answer questions as they were asked. This had me very worried because when I get nervous I tend to ramble on and fill any silence. So I was concentrating on not talking which made me even more nervous.

First he went over my rights. Blah, blah, blah and yada, yada, yada. Then he asked me a bunch of questions about whether I had any undeclared income or any rich uncles who died and left me millions of dollars that I had failed to report. I wondered that if you did have hidden money, would you just tell the IRS about it. The only question I could answer yes to was the one about getting an insurance settlement for my car that Trent totaled.

Then he asked me a bunch of information like my address and phone number. It kind of scared me to think that I had to give the IRS my cell phone number. All of these questions were harmless, though.

Finally, the moment of truth. We moved onto the part of him asking for my supporting detail about my cash contributions. I was a little put out to find out that he accepted just my letter from the church about my tithing. I didn't need all the copies of my canceled checks after all. What the what? Oh well it was reeeally fun to spend 6 hours digging through bank statements and at the bank in Utah. Seriously, I shouldn't complain, it was much easier this way. But why did the letter they sent me say I needed the dang copies, in the first place.

He did take the copies of the checks that I had given to Friends of Scouting and for Jared's scout camp. I really thought that he was going to question me about the scout camp, but I managed to keep from rambling on about it and he didn't say anything.

He made copies of the two receipts I had from Good Will. I was worried about those as well, but he didn't want anything more than the copies.

Then he did some things on his computer and printed out some forms. All the while I sat there dying from the suspense, but trying to remain calm.

In the end he told me that I did not owe any additional tax. And I would not be audited for 2008 or 2009. And just like that, it was over.

I pondered asking him if I could take my picture with him, but given the whole "it's against the rules" policy, I decided discretion was the better part of valor.

He shook my hand and escorted me out to the waiting room. The whole thing took 30 minutes. I spent longer in the car to get there and back.

And so just like some kind commenter had told me, it was much better than I had expected. Painless even. The worst part was all the stress and worry that I inflicted on myself before I even got there.

I came home and informed my husband, who was very relieved. He was convinced that all our assets were going to be confiscated and we would end up homeless living in a van down by the river. Except Vegas doesn't have any rivers. We do however own a van, so half of his dream could have come true. He's an optimist that way.

I did request that my family address me with "Hail the conquering hero" for the rest of the day, but they didn't seem keen on that idea.

At least now I can check "Stress out over the doom and gloom of the upcoming IRS audit" off my list of things to do each day. What will I do with all the spare time and added years to my life expectancy?

Four Eyes

While we were in Utah, one night Diana and I spent the night at my brother's house. We both put our glasses on the window sill for safe keeping. I couldn't keep from snapping a shot of them. I think they look so fun sitting there together.

These are Diana's new frames that she just got in June. I didn't really realize how much they resemble mine, but I guess they do look kind of similar.


Here she is modeling her new specs and her snazzy hair do.
They look rather nice, don't cha think? What a cute little munchkin. I just want to eat her up. And we have managed to keep track of those darn peepers for the whole summer, so that is really something.

Watermelon Women

I love pictures of the same people doing the same things at different times. Here is a shot from 2006 of Diana and my three nieces. Such cutie patooties.

And here is shot of them again. I should have made them sit in the same order. And we have an additional niece who was not present the first time.

Such fun times these girls have together. And my how time flies.

Audits and Driving are not fun. The End.

I have returned to Vegas from my quick weekend trip to two family reunions.


If the universe had smiled upon me, I wouldn't have spent 4 hours last Wednesday searching high and low, far and wide, up and down, seeking and eventually finding my bank statements so I could figure out my check numbers of my tithing checks, so I could go to a branch of my bank in Utah and get the copies printed out.

Yes, it was ridiculous that my filing system consists of stashing bank statements in various places and random boxes. Of course I was under the misguided notion that who needs the hard copy of a statement when it is all on the Internet just a few easy clicks and a filled printer cartridge away. (Let's not even discuss the evil spirits of printers and printer cartridges today, K. We'll save that special conversation for another date after I get my anxiety medication refilled)

Well color me shocked/dismayed/distraught to learn that my bank switched computer systems in November of 2007 (the year I am being audited for) and so all of my supposedly safely stored documentation, not so much available anymore. Yet again proving that the day of miracles has NOT ceased, I was able to lay my hands on 11 of the sought after statements. I did find them in eleven different places, but what else was I going to do with all my spare time, right?

And so my trip to Utah was able to supply me with copies of just about all of my canceled checks. I am now busy creatively recreating a log for the miles I drove in charitable pursuits and listing items donated to charitable organizations.

Really blogging from jail is beginning to look better all the time. One week til D-day. And by that I mean doomsday or otherwise called my appointment with the Man.

I am left to ponder what does one wear to an audit? How should I do my hair? Would it be best to present the facade that I am businesslike and competent? Or should I go with my usual bag lady persona and go for the sympathy vote?

Perhaps I should google it, huh? One kind reader who I do not know posted a comment that everyone she knows who has been through an audit, said it was better than they thought it would be. That is comforting.

On a totally different subject, I am really tired of driving as I put 1100 miles on my car in the past 5 days. Now I have tomorrow to do laundry and repack for a weekend trip to Arizona for two nephew's baptisms. At least my husband will do the driving this weekend. I plan to be asleep the majority of the time.

I had a nice time at my reunions in Riverdale Idaho. Riverdale is a suburb of Preston, if such a small town can have a suburb. I saw many relatives who I have not seen for many years. Every summer of my child hood I spent at least a week in Preston Idaho. Not to mention I was born there. I haven't been back for a while, and although some things have changed, it is remarkably untouched by modern civilization.

I kept looking around for Napoleon Dynamite to coming strutting down the street. But I didn't even see Tina the Lama this time.

One thing of note, our hotel room at Riverdale Resort came equipped with a fly swatter. Is it just me or does that seem rather odd and not really a good sign if your hotel room needs a fly swatter. My only regret is that I did not manage to snap a shot of it. How negligent of me.

Jared returned from Seattle after a two week visit. He seems to be doing rather well. What will my house be like in a few weeks when everyone goes back to school? Oh yeah that thing I thought was extinct around here like the dinosaurs - QUIET.

Someday I hope to stop living life and blog about all the fun and cute pictures from my family reunion in July. Hopefully it will be sooner than later.

As I returned to town this time, I was left wondering if it isn't just worse torture to get out of the heat for a little while. Would it be better to just stay here and suffer and forget that places exist that are not 110 at midnight? Just a thought.

And can I just say that I am not really fond of the bazillion conversations I have with people I haven't seen for so long. The first thing they always say "So how do you like Vegas." "Well I hate it, thank you very much for reminding me of that fact." I did make some progress this trip on my plans to be buried in Cache Valley. That is something positive.

A New Life Experience

A couple of weeks ago, I went to my mailbox, and what did I see? A letter from the IRS staring at me. Yes, people, I can now add "Audited by the IRS" to my list of life experiences I could do without.

Of course this came in the middle of all my crazy working weeks. So I just decided to stay in denial and put it to the side.

Today, it has finally made it to the top of my "Things to have a nervous break down over today" list. So I thought I would blog about it.

Another time, the chance to blog about something is the only good thing you have to say about it. Because sitting here at my computer blogging, is so much more productive than say gathering my supporting documentation in order, don't ya think? It's all about priorities, right?

And proving once again that no good deed goes unpunished, the category they have chosen to audit is my charitable contributions for 2007. If I read the paperwork correctly, I have to get copies of all my checks for supporting back up.

The date of my audit is August 12th at 8:00 AM. Are these people saddists or what? Way to ruin my summer vacation. And the letter says to be prepared to be there/be tortured for four hours. Good night nurse! What could they possibly talk to/grill me about for four hours. That is a ways away, but I have plans to be out of town for 10 days in the next two weeks. This weekend to attend a family reunion in Preston Idaho and the next to attend a nephew's baptism in Arizona.

So I better stop typing and get to working on that little project. My husband is a bit of a doomsdayer and he is sure we will loose all we own from penalties. If I go to jail for tax evasion, could someone please send me a cake with a file in it or at the very least a lap top with an Internet card. Think of the possibilities for blogging from jail. Hmmmm. Another time blogging can make the best of a worst case scenario.

Pat and Jared's Excellent Adventure

I know I did the worst thing that I hate others to do, but I left you off with a cliff hanger last time I posted. Now I will have to try and live up to the pressure and produce a post worthy of the build up I gave it.

The short story is that we almost missed getting Jared on the plane, and thusly just missed a trip to the ER for my heart attack.

Let me just preface this by saying that I have reoccurring nightmares about missing planes. They have taken on many forms through out the years, but they never fail to leave me in a cold sweat and breathless when I wake up in the morning.


Sometimes, I can't find the way to the airport and no matter which way I turn, something is blocking the way I need to go. Other times I can not find everything I need to get packed in time to go to the airport. The underlying theme is always that the harder I try to make it happen, the more obstacles are put in my way.


I suppose Freud would say that this was due to some real life event that I feel helpless about. Who knows. But let's just say that missing a flight seems like the end of the world to me, even though I am sure that it is not.


Jared was scheduled to leave on a flight at 7:00 am last Thursday. This meant that we needed to be at the airport at 5:00 am. Holy sleep deprivation, Batman! Let me remind you that I had worked about 70 hours in the past 8 days. Come Wednesday night, we were anything but prepared to go.


Life's little niceties like clean clothes were obviously unavailable due to my lack of doing laundry because I could hardly walk in the door each night. So Wednesday night, I did the laundry and packed Jared's suitcase.


Another problem was that he came home from scout camp extremely sore. I think that he was required to walk much more than he had for a very long time. Once he got home, he walked as very little as possible. I.E. just to the bathroom. He even asked for his urinal once, but that receive a "Heck NO" response.

I had been gone so much I hadn't really accessed his situation. Come Wednesday night, I began the question the wisdom of sending him so far away if something might be wrong. What if the pain he was in was not just sore muscles? This caused me great anxiety, as you can well imagine.


I spoke with my brother the sports trainer, and he made me feel better about letting him go. When we went to bed at 12:00, we were still not sure if he should even go on the plane.


The airlines told me that I could reschedule his flight, but it would cost $100. Not good.


Midnight

Finally I went and laid in my bed for 4 hours, more than I actually slept.


4:15 AM

I got up and tried to rouse Jared. He really didn't budge. I went downstairs and looked up some handicapped information about the airport. Finally I woke him up, but he did not bound right out of bed. He was worried about going and wondered how he would make it all the way out to the gate.


A call to my mom, who was up preparing to go to her temple assignment helped to ease my concerns.


4:55 AM


Finally Jared got out of bed.


5:05 AM


We loaded the car and left the garage like a bat out of helk on our way to the airport.


I like to think of speed limits as guidelines, more than a code in such emergencies, so we raced along. I pulled up to the curb at 5:17, probably some kind of record. I took in Jared's suitcase, back pack, laptop, and my purse. During this frantic unloading, Jared calmly put in his contacts. I left him sitting on a bench, waiting for me, while I parked the car.


On the way to park, there may have been some more traffic violations and a few near misses with pedestrians, but it is all kind of a blur.


I parked the car and noticed the parking meter. DANG! I didn't think I had any change and if I did I had left it with Jared in my purse. Curses. I just figured I would take my chances with the ticket. Why start obeying the law, at this point, right?

I raced as fast as my out of shapeness would allow, back to the ticket counter. Which by the way was at the complete opposite end of the terminal. Because of the dang Alphabetical curse that has Alaska Airlines starting with the letter "A".


We then got in line. Thankfully the line was very short. We got to the counter and requested a wheel chair. A luggage tag was hurriedly filled out. My pass for security was issued. A $ 15 dollar charge for the one bag was collected. Sheesh. And then the worker told me to wait and the wheel chair would be along shortly.


Time: 5:35.


We sat down to wait. In case you didn't know, I am not fond of waiting when I am trying to hurry. So I kept getting up and looking to see if the wheel chair was there yet. Jared was extremely annoyed by my impatience, so it was not in vain. How ever I did finally move away from him, so I would have to see the eyes rolling and listen to him telling me to just be patient.


Time 5:45


I went back to the counter, where upon another worker told me that it could take up to 30 minutes for the wheel chair to arrive. OH MYLANTA! She reassured me that with a wheel chair we would go to the front of the line at security.


I returned to my seat, where I weighed the pros and cons of waiting. Would the extra waiting be better if we went right to the front of the line? I vacillated back and forth between saying "Let's just give up and start walking" and the gnawing idea that he wouldn't make it in time anyway, so we should wait.

Time 6:00

The wheelchair finally arrived. Hallelujah! He hoped on and off we went. He did his best impression of a back seat driver, while he worried that I would run over people in our way. Why couldn't those chairs have beeping things, to warn people to step aside?


We crowded into the elevator and raced down to the security line. Only to be faced with a rather long line of people in wheelchairs. Who knew Vegas was a Mecca for little old ladies in wheel chairs? But I suppose that if you watch the people at the slots, they are mostly old.

And so we got in line, AGAIN. Inching forward at the pace of a snail, all the while my heart raced a million miles a minute.

Finally we were at the front of the line. Jared of course had to be wanded because of his metal hip. In the mean time I put all of our other stuff through the conveyor belt. I noticed one of the guards carrying my purse. That seemed strange. He then asked me to step over to the side and stand behind a short wall and watch while he searched my purse.

I could not for the life of me imagine why he would do such a thing. I told him I didn't even think I had fingernail clippers in there. But shortly he produced a neon green box cutter that I had accidentally brought home from work. Are you kidding me? Shocking that they would have a problem with me taking a razor blade with me, huh? Good grief.

So while Jared was finishing up his screening, I was now holding up our progress, while the guy unscrewed the holder and threw the blade away.

6:30 AM

Once my purse was run through the x-ray one more time, and security determined that I was not a terrorist with plans to hijack a plan, we were on our way to the gate. We rode the tram, went up the elevator, made a stop at the bathroom, the ATM, and a shop for a $2 bottle of water.

6:45 AM

As we reached the gate, they were doing the final boarding of the general passengers. Jared got in line and walked right onto the plane. I double checked with the agent at the gate to make sure my mom's name was on the reservation.

I walked slowly back to my car, noticing my heart rate returning to a normal pace for the first time in about 3 hours.

Happily, I did not get a ticket. I drove home and laid down for 30 minutes before I had to get up and go to work.

The whole thing was non stop suspense and hysteria on my part. No wonder I have nightmares about such things. Airports can be pretty horrific.

And to think that the whole reason I scheduled him on the 7 AM flight was to save myself $20. I think in retrospect, I would have rather paid the $20 than given a year off my life expectancy. Just a thought.

Why I haven't blogged in a week.

I have been rather MIA this week, due to the fact that it is one of the few weeks a year that I am employed full time. Last week also I am very busy helping my husband finish up a painting job. Between the two of us, we spent about 70 hours last week painting. May I never see a paint roller again.

This week I have spent unpacking products for Global Views. It is rather tiring to be on your feet all day long, when you are not used to it. Hopefully I won't have to spend all of my pay check at the chiropractor.

We are almost done. I really hope I don't have to work tomorrow.

I am very impress with those of you other bloggers who have full time blogs, families, and still write regularly. Somehow when I come home from work with the energy of a wet noodle I don't sit down and write.

I am suppose to be throwing a birthday party for Diana tomorrow. I wish there was a way out of it. Anyone know of a way to get out of throwing a party for your ten year old daughter when you have already promised her? Yea, I didn't think so either. She has been planning this event for months, constantly talking about it. She has added to it, re planned, and changed her mind over and over again. I figured there was no harm or cost in dreaming and planning, but now it may be time to pay the piper.

In other news, I have finally read Twilight and New Moon. I have about 100 pages left in Eclipse. I have enjoyed reading for the fun of reading. I am not sure that I am as big a fan and everyone else. Not that I can't see why they would like the books and I am glad to be on the inside so to speak, so I can carry on conversations with the rest of the world who have read it. I just didn't LOVE LOVE LOVE them. And I am OK with that.

I did however pretty much hate the movie. I saw it the day after I read the book and I think it would be better to have more space to forget the billion details in the book that are different from the movie. Just saying.

I did like New Moon, which seems to be surprising to many people. What I liked about it was the way she described so accurately what it is like to grieve when your heart is broken in two. I could really relate to that part of the book.

Some time this weekend, I hope to post about my crazy adventure getting Jared off on a trip to Seattle yesterday. It was fraught with peril, suspense, and air port employees. You won't want to miss it.

Pain Retains

At our recent family reunion, I had a chance to catch up with my youngest brother. He is currently serving in the Marines. We were questioning him about life in the Military and especially about boot camp. I can't quite remember why this came out, but he shared that one of his drill sergeants would always repeat "Pain Retains." He would shout this over and over when they would be at the breaking point doing push ups or some other drill.

I have thought over and over about this short concise statement. And I wonder if Heavenly Father has the same philosophy. What if that is part of the purpose of our trials? What if as we suffer pains and afflictions, we are really learning to retain valuable lessons about Faith and our Heavenly Father's unending love for us.

There is no doubt that this past year has been one of pain for me. But as Jared is getting closer and closer to resuming a normal life, I can feel myself starting to come back to life. The pain of this year is subsiding and is being replaced with the surprise and joy that it may finally be over.

Last week marked the one year anniversary of the day he went to the hospital. In fact on the very day, I went with my sister to tour Utah Valley Hospital so she could decide where to deliver her baby next month.

When we first walked in to the hospital, I have to admit to feeling dizzy and struggling to breathe normally. Just watching people walk by in scrubs made my knees weak. The sterile hallways, the people walking by to visit, the nurses station filled with camaraderie, all so familiar and yet a distant memory. As we walked the halls and viewed the facility, I could not help but reflect back to just one year ago when the rug was pulled out from beneath my feet.

And yet, I have survived. Barely, but this is kind of a pass fail situation where a D is as good as an A. Jared is getting stronger ever day. In fact he is at scout camp this week, something I could not have imagined even four months ago.

In thinking about what the pain of this year has retained for me, I can think of several things I know more surely now, than I did a year ago.

One would have to be that my Heavenly Father and Christ love me very much. They have carried me through this year when I didn't think I could last one more hour. I can't quite explain how this works but it is as Craig Zwick stated in a conference talk:

"It is the wounded Christ who leads us through our moments of difficulty. It is He who bears us up when we need more air to breathe or direction to follow or even more courage to continue. Trust in His promise of eternal life and allow peace and hope to distill upon you."

Truer words were never spoken.

Another thing retained by the pain would be the increased awareness and knowledge of how much my friends and family love me. These include my real world friends and cyber world friends. It really is true that you can get by with a little help from your friends. This year has reaffirmed for me that my friends really do care about me. And I needed to be reminded of this fact.

Another thing retained is my love for Jared. He can sometimes be a difficult child, but I have come to be closer to him through my service this past year. I remember one particular night when he was crying in pain and I stood at the foot of his bed rotating his foot while the tears streamed down my face. How I wished I could take his pain away. Our relationship has changed permanently. It is as if we have been through a war together. I wonder if some day we will look back and realize that we needed to be closer. Perhaps it will be one of the lasting blessings of this trial.

Neal A. Maxwell said: "Rather than simply passing through these things, they must pass through us and do so in ways which sanctify these experiences for our good."

It is my hope that this will be true for me. Hopefully, the pain I have experienced will retain the eternal truths of the gospel.

In Helaman 12:3 "And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him."

Truly when we go through a trial and we rely on the Lord to endure the pain, we can not help but remember him and his mercy.

Though I do not enjoy pain, I can see that it is necessary. There is no other way. And some day all the pain will be a distant memory when the Saviour comes and takes me in his arms and wipes away my tears.

War Update

I thought some of you might be wondering about the ant situation. Just for the record, I am loosing some battles, but I WILL win the war. I hope the ants are reading this and get discouraged. It would be just like them to be taking advantage of my wi/fi for free.

I do appreciate every one's good advice. I also like to suck them up into the vacuum cleaner. That was what happened to many of the ants in the following pictures. I may still give and get a bug man, but for now I think I am making progress.


These pictures were taken after the big battle at Kitchen Table. Some scouts found a bag of snacks we were silly enough to leave out. The ants established an overland route that went from a window through the game room, across the kitchen and an all out assault was launched on the table.

When I redo my kitchen floor it will not be white, that way their little dead carcases can blend in better. And just so you know real ants were harmed in the filming of this documentation.

OK this one is the worst. Look at them just passing by the ant trap. I swear I can see them all with their fingers in their ears saying "You can't catch us, nani nani boo boo to you." They are getting pretty cheeky for the few battles they have won.

This morning the little buggers were determined to take the dishwasher. So I struck back by going to Wal Mart and purchasing three different kinds of poison. And then I came home and unleashed my weapons of mass destruction. This included turning on the dishwasher while yelling "Die you little devils, die"

I am happy to report there were no survivors. We will see what tomorrow brings, but I am confident that the tide has turned in my favor.

ps. Can you tell Jared is gone to scout camp? I am getting so much more computer time that I am posting like crazy.

The Great Ant War of 2009

I returned to Vegas, Monday night after being gone for almost 3 weeks. To my husband's credit, the dishes were done.

Tragically, there were many strange smells coming from the fridge and kitchen.

I investigated to find several unidentifiable bags of produce. And chicken breasts I had not put into the freezer. Nothing like raw chicken sitting in the fridge for 3 weeks. EEWWW.

I contemplated just throwing a grenade in the fridge and starting over on the groceries.

There was also a bag of potatoes that were beginning to compost on my kitchen floor. Not pleasant, I tell ya.

But worst of all was the ant invasion. It was like D-day all over again. Little rows marching all over my house. The paratroopers were the worst.

Did you know that the scientific name for the Thief Ant is Solenopsis Molesta. Such a menacing name. The little Black Ant is called Monomorium Minimum. Nothing minimum about an ant invasion. And the False Honey Any is called Prenolepis Imparis. Very imparing when bugs are crawling up you arms and legs while you try to blog.

To be fair, the invasion had begun before I left, but I had managed to hold the line, so to speak. It was a daily fight, but somehow I managed.

I was concerned about leaving my post at the front. But it was one of those things that was left undone when I left in such a panicked hurry.

And so today I must gird up my loins and go forth to battle. Armed with cleaning supplies and bug spray.

At least for now, we have managed to maintain a perimeter of the downstairs and they haven't managed to break through the lines to the uptairs.

It is completely unacceptable that they keep crawling on me and my laptop. The horror.

You know what they say "War is helk".

The BYU Bookstore is Evil

While we were in Utah, Diana requested that we take another trip to the BYU bookstore. I told her that financial times being what they are, we would not be buying as much stuff as we did last time we went in April. She said "Fine."

Once we were there, I was bombarded with many requests to look at this, and what about that. I stayed firm, repeating over and over the word "NO".

Finally we ended up downstairs looking at the pictures. She was so excited to find some of the small pictures of Christ that she didn't have yet for her collection on her bedroom door. This is where the brick wall of my resolve began to crack. OK , I said, just a couple of them. They were only fifty cents after all.

We then found some great Simon Dewey and Liz Lemon calendars that were on clearance for $1. I am hoping to cut the pictures out and frame them for my living room wall. Pretty inexpensive, huh.

And then the book section. We stumbled onto a shelf of American girl books. Diana picked out about six of them and I made her narrow it down to three. One was a book of puzzles that I hoped would keep her occupied. One was a book of hair styles with pictures giving directions on how to achieve total adorableness. A must have for sure. And the last was a book of little notes that you can fill in and give to friends. So hard to say No to books.

And so with all these treasures we went to check out. Imagine my dismay when the total came to $50. The brick wall had crumbled like a sand castle during high tide at the beach. I then said to the sales clerk "This place is evil." To which he responded with "I've never heard that before. I will have to pass that on to my supervisor." He even chuckled.

With that, I adopted the mantra of "Don't look back" and "Run Away, Run Away."

We left that place like Lot leaving Sodom. Diana tried to do her best imitation of Lot's wife by looking back and pointing out other tempting things.

At least we passed up the delicious over priced ice cream in the food court. Instead we went to Macy's. Man that place is addicting.

Later as I was telling my sister about the regret I felt at over spending, Diana said to me "Mom, don't you know, Jesus is priceless?" Does she know how to work the system or what?

Yes, dear, Jesus is priceless. Sigh.

Tim Tam Slim Slam Jim Jam Wham Bam Kin Can Flim Flam Blog Lunch

Oh my goodness, Oh my gadness! Today was just the best day ever!!!!!.

For any of you in the dark, I am still in Utah and one of the biggest reasons for my staying so long was to attend the fantabulous blog lunch with the famous Crash Test Dummy.

It was the most bestest Tim Tam Slim Slam Jim Jam Wham Bam Kin Can Flim Flam Event ever.

First for any of you who were not able to attend, I am so sorry for your loss, but nani nani boo boo to you. It was way too much fun. I am not sure that Olive Garden will ever let us back because we were partying like it is 2009, because it is, silly.

So far I have only met about 10 blog friends, but I can say in every case, bloggers in real life are better than they seem in cyber space. They are funnier, prettier, wittier, and way sillier.

There is something so unique about meeting people for the first time, who already know you. The real you, well, at least the one you have carefully crafted on your blog.

The only downside was that I was so busy visiting and taking pictures and giving autographs that I didn't even have time to eat. Next time we should go somewhere that I don't really like the food.

Driving there I felt giddy with anticipation and nervousness. Kind like when you are a teenager and you are driving to a stake dance and wondering will I meet someone tonight, perhaps the love of my life? Well, something like that anyway.

And I relied on my memory from when I used to live here, because why wouldn't I know exactly where to go after 20 years? Mapquest, schmapquest. I don't need no stinking map. I only drove around aimlessly for an extra 10 minutes, all the while worrying that I would miss some of the fun.

Finally I arrived. Julie from Youngblood was sitting in the car next to me, but I wasn't quite sure it was her. Barb from Barbaloot Suit walked in next, wearing her snazzy red shoes and looking as cute as can be. Next Debbie from Cranberry Fries came through the door.

Finally the belle of the ball, Crash aka Debbie showed up. She was sporting her cute new hair doo and snappy red purse. Hugs were exchanged all around. And jumping up and down was definitely required. To meet in person, people who comment on your thoughts and validate you as a person is something incredible and definitely worthy of jubilation.

I know that without my blog friends I would not have survived this past year. NO way, NO how. And so to actually get to squeeze these people and feel of their love in person, it was so wonderful.

Next we saw Kristina P getting out of her car and Crash made us all hide by the bathroom and jump out and yell "Suprise". So much fun.

Kristina P showed up with Britany and Jillybean. Did you know that Kristina P got Brittany a baby? Well she did and a whole hearted congratulations to Brittany. Apparently Kristina's hair dresser's roommate has an unplanned pregnancy and plans to place with Brittany in October. I know it will be beyond wonderful. Good job Kristina!

I think Shelle was next to arrive. It is kind of a blur. She was looking cute and chic as ever in her black high heels.

At this point the hostess was anxious to clear the waiting area of this estrogenfest and herded us back to our table.

I have to admit to strategically placing myself next to Crash. No way was I going to sit at the other end of the table from her.

The conversation at the table was at warp speed. It made my head spin at times. What else would you expect when so many bloggers get together. So many words, so little time. Dang.

A little bit later Funny Farmer, The Crazy Lady, and Val of the South arrived. More hugging. More talking. Way more laughing and giggling. Val had baked a loaf of bread complete with homemade jam. So thoughtful of her. The Crazy Lady had her adorable 6 week old baby. She was perfectly behaved and slept through the whole lunch. The baby, not crazy lady.

There was an amazing sisterhood that is hard to put into words. Kind of like drinking fizzy lifting drinks in Willy Wonka.

And then of course the cameras came out and the picture taking began. It was a bit out of control. And several different times, our documentation got in the way of the waiters trying to earn a living serving people their food while it was still hot. Jeez Louise people, where are your priorities?

Here are Crash and Kristina modeling the lovely snuggy and look at the cute Crash Test embellishment that Jill made.

Next Shelle had a turn with the snuggy. Check out the waiter in the background, do you think he is wondering what kind of lunatics we are? Blogging ones, of course. Stupid question.

And I even got a turn with the snuggy. And of course I needed to make the screaming face.

Here are Shelle, Crash, and I. Check out Crash's camera, serious stuff.

Here every one is trying out the Nutty Hamster Chick screaming face. I really should invest in a trademark for that, it might be worth something. From left to right, Shelle, Crash, Funny Farmer, Me, and Barb.

We spent about 10 minutes screaming trying to get the perfect shot. So funny.

Here we are with Val of the South strutting our stuff. Sorry about the bunny ears, Val.

And here is a shot of me giving my first autograph ever. Crash's brother wanted every one's autograph. So strange. I can't for the life of me imagine why. He said that some day these autographs would be worth a fortune. Um, I don't think so, but why not humor the little people. And just so you know, famous bloggers put their pants on one leg at a time. They just might stop in the middle to check their comments.

And finally one with me and Crash. She is just as sweet, cute, clever, and witty as she seems in her posts.

Thanks Crash for planning this wondrous fiesta. It was a total blast. I need to drive up more often for such opportunities.

Seriously Crash, you are da bomb. And so are the rest of you. See ya round the blogosphere.

I don't get that a lot.

Things seem to be going well here is Utah. Surprisingly it is quite different from Las Vegas. Shocking, I know. Inconceivable even. Hmmm. It is much cooler for one thing. People all kind of look the same, for another.

Diana was able to attend a fun volleyball camp for the past three days. Check this out, my brother is the head Athletic Trainer at UVU. And so this camp took place there. My sister in law called me up and asked me if Diana would like to attend. The details were that it would cost $5 and my brother would pick her up and bring her home. Yeah, I had to really think hard about that one. Talk about rhetorical questions.

She has had a fabulous time. And today she even won a volleyball at the closing ceremony. The only downside was that she needed to be ready to go out the door at 8:20 AM. Seeing as how we have slipped into sleeping in until 10 for the summer, well yes that part was a bit difficult. But there is no such thing as a free lunch, so the piper must be paid.

Another great thing about Utah is the ice cream cones at the grocery store. Last night Diana, my sister, and I went to get some ice cream, and oh yeah some groceries. My sister and Diana both got an ice cream cone. I didn't get one, because I wasn't that hungry and I didn't really want to spend the money.

As we wandered down to the produce section, Diana offered me a taste of her cone. I took her up on her offer and told her how yummy it was. She said "Aren't you glad you brought me?" I responded "Yes, I am glad I brought you." To which she quipped "Yea, I don't get that a lot."

It is a good thing I wasn't drinking anything. I would have spit it out while laughing out loud. Are you kidding me? Where does she get this stuff? Oh that girl cracks me up.