the family ward

So I'm trying out the old family ward these days. I may have been in the single ward scene for a while but as far as I remember cheerios and fruit snacks (and pink mints if you sat by Grandpa Coy) were a staple for little kids at church.

So imagine my surprise when the little family in front of me had the following "treats" during sacrament meeting: peppermints, oranges, pickles, bananas and peanut butter sandwiches.

Last time I checked Sacrament was only an hour. I didn't realize I needed to pack a lunch.

Saving Souls...

I'm tired... like need a stiff drink and a massage tired. Diet Coke can only do so much ya know?

It's the craziest time of the year for us: travel, presentations, events, tours, open houses, more travel. We're all just really, really tired.

We just finished out 8th of 12 open houses. Last night we were in Provo- Cougar Country. We had over 500 people in attendance. I like to think of it as saving souls from Utah County. Last night we saved a lot of souls. Kate reminded me of a very appropriate quote last night..."And if it so be that ye should labor, all your days and bring just one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy".

I'm joyful... and tired.

No sad faces Niners fans...

You know what I love? Sleeping in hotel beds, couches and air matresses that deflate during the night and the plastic sticks to you when you wake up in the morning. It is so much nicer than sleeping in my own bed... especially since I got that 3 inch memory foam on there. It's that time of year again... when no one gets to sleep in their own beds because we are on the road recruiting ALL THE TIME.

I've spent the last three weeks in Arizona and California, but I did throw a few days in there to spend with my new nephew. I'm lucky to work with such great people though. They all give up their lives this time of year and who wouldn't want to have this guy in the room next door right... diet coke and all?

I flew to Cali a couple days earliy to spend a couple days with the nephew. He's 8 weeks old and couldn't be more perfect. We had a couple days to hang out...just the two amigos.
We slept...

hung out...
ate...
drooled... (well he did)
laughed...
... and cried.
and we loved every minute of it.

Then the next weekend my whole fam (including surprise visits by the extended fam) came out for TC's blessing. We decided to cram as much in two days as possible. We started off with family pictures that included David, the homeless man who told my brother and dad how haaaaaaaunted Hanford was. He heard people died... at 12 midnight.

We had the blessing (which my dad did such a great job with) and then a bbq.

I guess there was some confusion on who rented the facilites for the bbq because when we got there there was already a party going on with loots of booz, poker, rap music and lots of 4 letter words that burned our baby's ears. It was kind of like if Carrot Top got stuck in a room with 50 Cent... yeah it was awkward, no one knew what to do and I loved every second of it.

It cost me $50 bones but it was worth it to watch my cousing Chels yell cannonball and jump in the pool fully dressed. (see ab's blog for video proof)

Then the next day we went up to see the 49ers game. Now, I'm not much of a Football fan, but I'm not going to lie I've always loved the Niners. I love Jerry Rice and Jo Montana and like every other mormon girl on earth, I was positive I was going to marry Steve Young. I have never been to a NFL, and I have never seen so many crazy, drunk fans in fb jerzees in my entire life. A fight almost broke out on the row in front of us becuase someone had touched one of his 'boyz'. It was awesome. They lost but that didn't dampen spirits... one guy stood at the bottom of the escalator and gave every single person a high five and said "no sad faces niners fans... no sad faces".

So good to be home, but miss Ab, Matt and that little bug already.

Go Cougars... Priceless

Learning the words to Rise and Shout: $ 0
BYU license plate tee from bookstore: $25
Stylish sunglasses: $49
Dinner with date at the Brick Oven before the game: $50
Below the knee length cargo shorts: $55
Gold CTR ring in the language of my mission: $150
Sony camcorder to tape the big game: $399
Enjoying a good smoke at halftime: Priceless

Crackle, Pop... Snapped

So I realize I'm getting old. That I don't live the "freshmen" life anymore. I love having the house to myself. I love my flower garden. I love quiet.

Luckily, I get some dumb ass 17 year old boys next door to me this summer that remind me why I'm so glad I'm getting old. These boys are a real treat. One of them has such long hair that for the first month I swore he was a girl. They like to do really fun things like jump the curb on their scateboards into my yard, sit on my side lawn and drink beer all night, play hacky sack for hours on end and smoke weed in the lazy boys they have on the porch. These are some real classy boys living the life.

So a couple nights ago they thought it would be fun to light fireworks... until 2:30 am. Then when I went to work the next day they were all over my lawn, and luckily the sprinklers had gone on so they were nice and wet for me to pick up. Then last night they started a little earlier, lighting all sorts of fun ones like fountains, firecrackers, roman candles and something that had this nice screaching sound for a good 10 seconds. They did them so close to my roommates car that she went outside, chewed them out and moved her car. So I guess to be nice they moved them to the back of the driveway... right by my bedroom window... till 1 am.

Now I've always hated it when "old people" complained and ruined the fun, and I always vowed I would never do that person, but guess what... the patience is wearing thin. Very thin.

God Bless the USA

If you know anything about me (and Lisa Watkins) you know I love the good old USA. I love fireworks, rodeos, parades and hot dog eating contests. (Seriously though did you see that guy in NY that ate 68 hot dogs in 10 min... totally impressed). I think we are so blessed to have the freedoms that we have. So in turn, I love anything that celebrates the red, white and blue.

I'm not going to lie, I get a little teary when I hear lyrics like:

"Only in America... where they dream in red, white and blue.

Only in America... where we dream as big as we want to."

or the ever popular...

"I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.

Ain't no doubt I love this land... God Bless the USA"

and for our Neil Diamond fans...

"We're comin to America.

Today... My country tis of thee... Today... Sweet land of liberty."

and for all you country lovers...

"Yes there's a lady that stands in a harbor for what we believe.

And there's a bell that still echoes the price that it cost to be free."

(Ok, but seriously, when I was in Philly at the Liberty Bell this is the only thing I could think about and I couldn't stop crying).

Anyway. So we had a fun filled patriotic weekend. Started with Logan fireworks and ended with the Cache Valley Cruise-In. Nothing says USA like old cars... especially since foreign cars are taking over.

The best part about it though is my parents and I did it all on our scooters... yeah the three amigos were three happy chappys. We didn't drive a car once all weekend. Farmers market, shopping, fireworks, cruise-in. Nothing could hold us back, not even when my dad bought 6 pairs of shoes. I'm totally obsessed with the scoots. Seriously was one of the funniest (and funnest) weekends ever.

Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly.

Where the stars and stripes and the eagle fly.

Loving Summer? No Doubt about it...

Summer vs Winter... or as I like to call it Good vs Evil. I mean seriously. Everything good happens in the summer, evil in the winter. Let's just break it down.

Winter:

Let's see there is snow, ice and cold. I don't enjoy winter activities so I guess my winter activities include shoveling snow, slipping on ice and just being cold. It's always dark, dirty and cold.

Summer:

-Sunshine.

- Pool. Plus subscription to People magazine.

-BBQ's. Curt's Juicy Lucy's and Blue Mandarin Steaks. um delicious.

-Scooters. Uh yeah, I bought this.

- Moochs. Diet Coke with fresh limes.

- Snow Cones. 6 within 5 min of my house.

- Hammocks. The perfect summer nap.

- 4 Wheeling and camping. Bring it.

- Concerts. No Doubt last weekend was fantastic.

I love summer. K bye.