Racket Smack-it

Today is Memorial Day.  We tried to take the kids bowling at BYU but apparently everyone else had the same idea.  That place was packed!!  This did NOT bother Amanda one bit.  She takes after her mother in the "germ a phobe" area.  She didn't want to put her fingers in those "nasty holes" and where those "gross shoes".  I can't say that I blame her but I did remind her that we have hand sanitizer.  I guess it was good that there was no room for us there. 

After that we thought we'd take them for pizza at Costco since I needed gas in my man-van but Costco was closed!  Did they not know we were coming?  I mean really people!  By this time, we were wondering what else we could do since Dave had the day off of work and it's FREEZING outside until we got the great idea to gather a bunch of kids up and play a game of racket-smackit.  It's like baseball only with a racket and tennis ball.  

On the way home, we noticed that some new neighbors had just pulled up with a moving van and needed help unloading it.  They had just driven all the way from Virginia and looked exhausted!  So while Dave and the kids unloaded, I made them some dinner.  With all the teenage friends that the kids had called to play, it went very quickly.  I'm sure that the next time our kids call their friends to play a game, they will first ask if there is a service project involved.  The old "bait and switch" only works so many times, ya know.   They were good sports about it.

So, on to the game...

Here are some pictures of it.

These two are brothers.  The older one sat on his brother at first base to slow him down!

A swing and a...hit!  Too bad it only went 3 feet in front of her!

Bates brothers

They even talked Dave into playing, sucker!

They were nice enough to pose for me

I said it was COLD!!

In the garden

This post is about a Relief Society meeting that we had tonight at my friends Pat and Edward home.  The photos were taken in their backyard, which is amazing!  I would love a yard as peaceful and beautiful as this.  I'm lucky to have green grass and some flowers that haven't died yet.  So enjoy the pictures of all of their hard work.  Thanks Pat!

Beautiful tulips

I LOVE this!  It adds a lot of character and color.  And I don't even think that I could kill it!

Edward is quite handy and builds all of their arbors and awnings.

Boys and their Toys

Today, Dave and Jeff sat down to have "The Talk".  Which talk, you ask?  
You know, the one about...how to defend yourself or kill people.

He taught him important things such as: 

• How to site in a rifle 
• How to use a scope
• How to clean a gun 
• How to hide the body.  

Okay, that last one was a lie but it sounded good.  I love my boys!!

This is Dave's "fake" smile.  He hates his picture taken.

Broadway in Spanish Fork!

Her big moment!

Everyone loves an elementary school choir concert, right?  Well, Becca had her FINAL one the other night and she had a solo to perform.  The song was Popular from the play Wicked and she did a great job.  She was so nervous that I thought for a second that she was going to either throw up or bolt out of the theater!   

She started this adventure several months ago by getting to school early every Wednesday morning for choir practice.  One day she said, "I think I'm gonna try out for a solo part".  She has never been shy or bashful, in fact sometimes I think she is 12 going on 24!  It is just her personality.  So, she tried out and got the part.  She then came home and announced that she would be needing a white "puffy" dress for the performance.  I don't know about you, but I'm not about to spend $100+ on a 5 minute performance for grade school and I am not a seamstress so I did the only thing I could think to do. I went to the D.I. (a thrift store) in Provo and bought a $15 light blue prom dress.  Sarah was with me at the time and she has seen the actual play in NYC so she gave her approval.  With some $5 white high heel sandals (because the dress was a little too long) she was ready to go for $20!!

Before her part began, the school had the "little guys" perform some songs.  There is nothing quite like watching little first, second and third graders stand (wiggle) on risers in from of an audience.  I'm pretty sure I saw some nose picking, some pushing, some skirts being lifted like they were in a "can can" show, some twirling and such.  Always entertaining!  

Not sure why most of the kids are watching Becca except the one kid that is turned around.?

Acting it up...

Her "after the show happy face"!

This was a song from Peter Pan

See Becca standing on the back left.  She a full head taller than the boy next to her!  Poor kid!

This is the song "Hair".  Total crack up!!

A closer look at "Hair"!

Operation: Re-tread

While living in Mesquite I was a walker.  My friend Teresa and I would walk early in the mornings (to avoid the heat) or sometimes we'd walk a little later to avoid the cold wind on the winter mornings.  We had a great path figured out that was approximately 3 miles and we would walk it in about 40 mintues, give or take a little.  The path we took had some light hills so we'd get a fairly good workout three days a week.  

I actually enjoyed our walks but mostly I enjoyed the "therapy sessions" that went along with them.  No kids, no phones, no husbands...it was great.  We would talk about almost everything and we knew that it was just girl talk.  Now before your minds get carried away with thoughts of gossip session, stop it!  These were not bashing sessions.  Okay, sometimes we'd share "the news of the day" but nothing too personal and it stayed between us.  We talked a lot of politics and family stuff.


Since moving here, I haven't found a walking buddy yet so I stopped walking.  Then my back problems happened and that took away the option to walk for a long time.  I could feel myself sliding into a slump, physically and emotionally so I decided to research treadmills.  The winters here are just too dang COLD to go out in.  I spent a great deal of time researching them on the internet and found out some interesting stuff.  Then I got on KSL.com and researched used ones because I knew I didn't want to pay full price for one.   


Enter my new walking buddy...

Practically brand new for 1/2 the price!

It's still under warranty!

It even has a fan to keep me cool and it inclines to 10*

Today was my first real use of it.  I walked 1 mile in 20 minutes.  Not great but I have to build up my endurance again.  Oh, and yesterday at church, I found a walking buddy for 2 days a week so I'll do that plus the treadmill the other 3 days.   Yeah for me!!

Ten things I hate about my car/van + the one thing I love!

The "man van" extraordinaire

So this post is going to be about a totally frivolous and non important subject.  This is about my car/van or "man van" as Dave named it.  He thinks it makes it sound cooler than it really is.  No matter how hard you try, you cannot make a 2006 Chevy Uplander with 107,000 miles on it, COOL!

When we left Mesquite 9 months ago we owned a truck and a car.  Well, we owned the truck but the bank owned the car and we were making the payments.  Dave loves a truck.  In fact he has had several of them and will one day have another one I'm sure.  Anyway, in Mesquite he had a take home vehicle because he was required to respond to "call out" emergencies, when ever they happened, 24/7.

His truck saw very little use and in fact he only used it on the weekends or to help people move.  It turns out that this was a good thing because it was a gas guzzler!  When we moved here, he had to use it to commute back and forth to work, which is only about 15 miles but when you are used to a small town like Mesquite where it takes 3 minutes to get to work, it makes a big difference.  

Roughly a month into filling the tank twice a week, we knew we needed to down size our gas bill so we went looking.  We had certain criteria that needed to be filled:  

• We needed something that could still carry the whole family.  

• We needed something that would get better gas mileage.  

• We needed something that we could trade our truck equally for. 

• We/I needed something that wouldn't be too embarrassing to be seen in. 

I guess 3 out of 4 ain't bad!   I admit it!!  I had become a "car snob"!!  I didn't even realize it but it's true.  I have been able to drive some pretty cool rides for quite sometime.  I had everything from a Cadillac (it was used and this was when the girls were babies), I had a Suburban, an Excursion, an Expedition, and I even had an Audi (for two weeks until the AC quite and we gave it back.  That one was BC, before children). 

Now, in my defense, we always bought used cars and I "needed" those big, cool cars to haul kids around in.  I was always hauling kids to girls camps, sporting events, and just about everywhere kids go.  I loved doing it too.  But that was before gas got to be $100 a gallon and before we had teenage drivers to pay for.  I know, we spoil them.  They should pay for themselves but I really like having a "slave" driver around so we pay, and pay, and pay...

Okay, to my ten+one list:

1. The color.  It is a dingy silver/gray color and we already have one silver car.  How many do we need?  The other choice was an ugly Brown!!  Color matters, okay.
2. The remote that doesn't work.  It only opens ONE of the sliding doors...That's it!  It would cost $130.00 to replace the darn thing, so I live with it.
3. Sliding door #1 and #2, need I say more?
4. The shape of it.  Chevy tried, and failed, to make it NOT look like the mini van that it is.
5. The huge "wing" door for the back end.  I miss having the "barn" door type of doors.
6. The bells and beeps that go off constantly.
7. The fact that you have to put it in park to open those lovely sliding doors.  Safety is way over rated!
8. The brakes, or should I say the TWO different places I had look at the brakes and I got TWO different answers to the problem.  Both costing in the hundreds of dollars!!  So much for honesty. 
9. The lack of storage area.  I need space!
10. The transmission that occasionally acts up but the dealer can't find ANYTHING wrong with it.  Of course they can't...it's still under the extended warranty and they would have to fix it for free!

Such a pain to close, especially with a bad back.

The nemesis doors!

I dislike this thing so much that I don't even care if the picture is blurry!!  So take that!!

And the ONE thing I love about it is...

There is NO payment!!  

Of course, who would have a payment on a piece of junk?  Not me!

Spring

I love springtime!  I love the fruits, the flowers, and the sun.  

Today I made strawberry jam.  I found some yummy strawberries at Costco and turned them into freezer jam.  

Before...

After

For Mother's day I got some beautiful flowers from Dave and the kids.

And today I planted some pretty flowers in the yard.  I love living in a climate that flowers actually survive.

These are some of the flowers I planted outside.

Surprises...

I love a GOOD surprise.  I love it when you can pull something off so great that the person getting surprised has NO idea but they love the out come.  Dave tried for years to do nice, sweet, surprises for me but somehow I always seemed to find out before he had a chance to pull it off.  I really don't try to find out, it just happened.  Honest, I'm not that nosy.  I would love to be on the receiving end of a good surprise but sadly, I think he's given up trying.  

A couple of days ago I helped Sarah pull off a great surprise which got me thinking about the one great, big surprise I was able to pull off.  To find out more about Sarah's surprise, you'll have to read about it on her blog at alohahendrickson.blogspot.com because it is her story, not mine.  She hasn't done it yet but she assures me she will.

While I was driving home from Las Vegas (that's were Sarah flew from) I had a lot of time to just think.  As I was picturing in my head what it must have been like for Chris to see her standing in front of him that morning, my mind went back...way back, to when I made a life altering decision to surprise Dave.  

Just about 22+ years ago I had plans!  I had gone through some self induced rough waters but had finally made the decision to "right the ship" and serve a mission.  I went through the process of getting my papers filled out, got my physical, saw the dentist for wisdom tooth extraction (luckily I found out that I don't even have wisdom teeth!), and waited for that big envelope to arrive in our mailbox.  Back then it was all snail mail and it seemed like it took forever. 

All four of my siblings had served mission so I was just following the path that they had laid out.  My sister served in New Zealand at the same time my brother served in England.  Then my other brothers served in Canada and Missouri.   I couldn't imagine where I was going to be sent but where ever it was, I would love it.  Well, that day came when my call arrived...drum roll please...I opened it up and it said I was to serve in the Indianapolis Indiana Mission!  O k a y?...I said I would love it, right?  So there it was.  In black and white.  Indianapolis!  I didn't know anything about that place but I was going to find out.  Now, this was before internet so I went to our trusty Encyclopedia Britannica Books to looked it up.   I just remember feeling a little sad that it wasn't someplace "cool" or exotic or somewhere I would learn a new language but that is where I would go and do the best I could.

A few weeks after getting my call, I had my farewell(s).  Yes, I had 2 farewells, not on the same day but 2, none the less.  One in my home ward and the other in our singles ward.  The very day I gave my singles ward talk, I went to Sunday School and sat in the front row with my mom at my side.  That day there was a teacher who I never seen before but he was kinda cute.  He reminded me of Tom Selleck, because he had this great mustache and was tall and athletic...what a hottie!   As I sat there (did I mention I was in the front row with mom?) during the lesson I had a voice as clear as day say, "You're going to marry that guy!"  I actually looked around to see who said that but everyone was quiet.  I told myself that I was hearing things but it happened again!  I did what any self respecting, future missionary would do.  I ignored it!!

That following weekend there was a tri-stake singles dance down in Santa Barbara so I went with a friend.  My thinking was this, "I don't have anything to loose, I'm leaving in a couple weeks, so what the heck."  I was having fun dancing around with anyone and every one.  It's amazing how much fun you can have when you know you're leaving soon.  No shyness, no pressure, just fun!  I remember it was pretty hot in the gym so I was heading outside for some air when "Mr Mustache" asked me to dance.  I said yes but that I'd like to get some air first so he followed me out.  


When we got out there I decided to play twenty questions with him without asking him if that was okay.  Like I said, no shyness here.  I started rattling off question after question like a rapid fire machine gun.  I noticed he was looking around, probably looking for an escape, when he spotted a hop scotch board painted in the sidewalk.  He then asked if I wanted to play so I said, sure... "if you can beat me, I'll dance with you".  Rude, I know.  Well, he beat me.  I was so amazed that with those BIG feet he managed to beat me that I had to make good on my promise to dance with him.  

Sorry this is such a LONG story.  You might want to stop reading or go get a snack!

For the next week, I thought about him a lot.  I tried not to because I was leaving but I just couldn't stop.  After the dance he said he would call me but it took him a few days.  I think he wasn't sure what to do with me any more than I knew what to do with him.  When he finally called, I was nice but didn't show too much interest.  I did invite him to my open house but he didn't show up.  I found out later it was because he was nervous because I was leaving and he didn't want to pursue me.  Silly boy!


After that he called and came over at all hours of the day and night.  He was working as a policeman at UCSB 90 miles from our home and he was working the swing shift so he would leave for work at around 1:00pm, work until 11:00pm, go home and sleep for a few hours and then drive in the opposite direction to see me for a few hours, then do it all over again.  Talk about crazy!!


In that week and half before I left, we talked about life, goals, jobs, school, everything but we kinda danced around the subject of US.  I kept telling him that I was going to go and serve my mission and he just kept saying, "I think you should and I'll be here when you get back."  Of course I didn't believe him.  Why would anyone do that?  Crazy!  He stayed at our house until early in the morning the night before we left, gave me a kiss and a hug and...I left.

Our family was having a reunion at my grandparents farm in Monroe, UT that weekend before I was to report to the MTC.  We drove across the desert from California which took about 12 hours.  I hadn't been set apart yet so the hug and kiss were "legal" and my mind was racing the whole drive to Utah.  We had been there a day or two when I got a call from him.  This was before cell phones so when he called, he called my grandparents house.  I didn't even remember giving him that number but I must have.  


I got on the phone and he said, "how do I get to Monroe?"  What??  He told me that he had flown to Vegas, rented a car and wanted to know how to reach the farm!!  This was my great surprise!!  I really couldn't believe it!  I think I was so stunned that I had to hand the phone over to someone else to give him directions.  My dad has 7 siblings who all have several kids so the house was FULL of family.  I couldn't figure out what he was doing, where he would stay, or what was next but for some reason, I was fairly calm.  

He showed up a few hours later while my entire family watched through the window to get a look at this stranger who had crashed the reunion.  Fortunately, I have a very nice family who welcomed him in and gave him a place to stay and food to eat.  I think he ended up sleeping in the floor but there wasn't a ton of sleep happening.  Lots of late nights, long conversations, and more questions.  

We went to Bryce Canyon, climbed the haystack and went for walks to the cemetery.  This is not a weird thing for our family because we love this little cemetery.  My uncles used to take us there and tell us ghost stories and scare us but we have a lot of good times in that cemetery.  In fact, Dave asked me to marry him on the dirt road in front of the Monroe Cemetery.    I told him yes, but that I was still going to serve my mission.  He, once again said he'd be there when I got home and once again, I didn't believe him.  Silly girl!

He left the next morning and I had a choice to make.  My Grandpa was a man of few words but I credit him for helping with my choice.  I was talking to my family about the situation while he was listening and then he said, "Sharie, do you know that you're suppose to marry him?"  I said "Yes".  Then he said "Well, then I don't know what the problem is."  The next morning, 3 hours from the time I was to report, I made the difficult call to the MTC telling them I wouldn't be coming.


Instead of driving north to Provo, I jumped into my sisters van with her family and drove to California.  My great surprise was just beginning!...

Dave had NO idea that I hadn't left for the MTC.  As far as he knew, he'd see me in 18 months.  When we finally got home we devised a plan to get him to the house.  My sister called and told him that I had given her something that she needed to give to him, and that she had to give it to him that night.  He was going to go play basketball with some buddy's and asked if he could get it the next day, but my sister said that I really wanted him to get it that night.  He said okay and drove the 30 miles to our home.  My sister invited him in and had him sit on the couch while she went to get it.  It's probably a good thing that he was sitting down because he was in for the shock of his life!  I was about to "call his bluff" and was crossing my fingers that he really wanted us to be together.  I've got photographic evidence of his shocked face.  We were married 3 months later.  It was so fun to surprise him and after 21+ years of marriage, it was totally worth it.  Some would say it was a big gamble but I think it was a giant leap of faith.  I knew we needed each other and thankfully, so did he.


My surprise story is over...you might need an Excedrin now.

Life...Muted

About two weeks ago I caught a really nasty head cold.  I was over at someones house helping them with a sick baby and her 4 little girls who ALL had colds.I thought it was just a head cold until one night I had a pretty bad earache.  When I woke up in the morning I found that I had dried blood in my ear.  I've had earaches all my entire life, much more when I was young and swam all the time, then I do now.  I knew this wasn't just any ordinary problem like I've had in the past so I called my Dr. friend and ask what I needed to do.  He put me on a "big gun" prescription of antibiotics plus ear drops.  I was faithfully taking them but then my left ear went quiet.  I thought maybe it was just plugged so I tried the hydrogen peroxide method of cleaning it out (I don't really like that feeling of bubbling coming out of my ear but I know it works).
I repeated this method about 4 times but to no avail.  Then a couple days later, my right ear went quiet!  So now I'm pretty much deaf.
Fortunately I was able to get an appointment with an ear, nose & throat Dr. here in Provo today so...this story will be continued later.
In the meantime, my kids have been teasing me, I had to teach the Relief Society lesson on Sunday, Dave has kinda liked that I now know how he feels, although I think my case is way worse then his normal hearing loss.  And beside, he's is due to guns, sirens and other loud noises that he brought on himself.  Haha!  He had a Dr tell him once that the average range of a womans voice is the range he has trouble hearing at.  Nice Doctor!  You gave him an excuse!
I'm beginning to wonder if we moved here so that I had access to a wide range of medical help because I've had some weird junk since we moved.
Oh well, at least I'm still alive and loved by some.