Missing Remote: cash reward for any info about its whereabouts!

The remote to the TV is missing again and I am afraid to tell Ned. I think I'm safe because he hardly ever reads the blog. I lost it a couple days ago- correction: ONE of us lost it we're not completely sure who, but Ned has his guesses. For some reason I tend to pick things up and just walk around with them. One time we were out at Rob and Lori's and I stuck their remote in my purse on my way out. I found it in there (probably while I was searching for some other long lost item), and we had to go all the way back to Eagle Mountain to return it to them. Anyone else have trouble losing something? Please tell me I'm not alone!

-Also, I just realized I have 3 shoes missing (as I'm heading out the door and looking for something to go on my feet): a pair of brown flip-flops and one pink pump.

Some of you may not be aware of the tragedy that has fallen upon my phone recently. It spent an unfortunate four days burried in a pile of snow in the street by Lori's mailbox. Luckily, Lori rescued it and brought it up to core temperature for me. When I pluged in into the charger, I heard a few gurgles (from some tiny bugs who made a home in it, no doubt), but it worked okay. I know the phone is ancient; don't laugh! The only problem was both of the screens are blue, making it impossible to access my contact list. It gets better- one of the hinges was cracked and quickly fell off, so now I have to be causious or this happens. I know it's hard to see, but the phone is hanging on by just one side, and if I'm not careful, the top will fall off. It's a sad story, sure to have a tragic ending (at least for the phone). The worst part is that when I went into the Verizon store to extend my contract and get a discount on a new phone, they said I wasn't eligable for another two months! So if I don't return any messages, it's not that I don't like you, I just can't access my voice mail, and you can forget about texts! The moral of the story is: if you're a little scatter-brained (like me) or just unlucky, invest in phone insurance!! I never get it and I always regret it.

So I am going to start working 40 hrs a week starting Monday, and I am really excited. I love my job, and the extra hours are going to be really great. The only thing is I am going to be so much busier! It's going to leave a lot less time for things like cleaning my house before my mom comes this weekend.

On a separate and mostly unrelated note, I just found a little Asian market with Ned tonight. I was able to find masaman curry paste, tahini, tamari, and my favorite Chinese sausage. I am so excited not to have to go to SLC for that kind of stuff!! (I say this is a mostly unrelated note because I will probably take my mom there this weekend.)

Would you eat this for breakfast?

Before I begin this, let me preface it by saying I am not a regular radio show call in! I did call in once and happened to win a pair of tickets, and technically I called in once before that, but that is a whole other entry (it falls into my file of most embarrassing moments). Anyway, this morning' on my way to work' I was listening to the radio and the DJ was saying how his partner ate some dinner food-I think it was pork chops- for breakfast and how ridiculous and gross it was. I do this all the time since I really don't like many breakfast foods, so I didn't think it was gross at all! So then he said to call in and tell them what "dinner food" you had for breakfast, and their favorite would win summer concert tickets before you could buy them.

I had about 20 minutes left until I got to work, so I thought I would give it a try. I told them I had leftover masaman curry for breakfast, and I had even made a fresh pot of rice for it- kind of a lie because I had it for breakfast the day before, but close enough, right? Well I was on hold for at least 15 minutes, and finally they came on & screened my call to see what I had to say. A couple minutes later they put me on the air, listened to what I had to say, and asked me to hold again. In the meantime, they put on another lady (who I KNOW was lying). They asked what she had and she said "meatloaf..... and I put it in a burrito.... and I ate it with a big dish of ranch." Then they asked did you eat anything sweet with it? and she said "no..... well.... oh,yeah, I had some chocolate ice cream..... and lots of hot fudge on top.... and..." and they gave the tickets to her just because she said she was pregnant! I mean, come on, if you're going to lie on the radio, at least get your story straight before you get on the air! What a waste of precious daytime minutes on my phone... I guess I kind of got what I deserved since mine was a bit of a fib too.

137 days and counting!!!

So some of you may be wondering about the subtitle in our blog referring to Stinky Falls (surely no one who has ever lived in South Texas). This was Ned's favorite summer spot as a kid. I have only been once, shortly after we were engaged, and I honestly don't remember much about it, but we did have a good time. ( I do, however, remember enough to bring water shoes and a life jacket this time.) Ned and his siblings got together and decided we would all take a trip down there this summer, and we are counting down the days to get out of Utah! We are all staying at the same summerhouse/cabin, and I can't wait!!
This one is a close up of the tube chute itself. Look at all the build-up on the walls. It kind of makes you wonder about sanitation, doesn't it? -hence the water shoes- but Ned assures me it is very safe, at least health-wise. The dangers of the water, on the other hand, are legendary among his family.

This is a picture of a bridge near Stinky's that Ned used to jump off as a kid. It's probably between 30 and 40 feet above the river, and I have been up there before-- there's no way I would ever jump off it!!

Also, there are only 123ish days left until we visit my family. We are either going to Yellowstone, Bermuda, my grandparents, the Caymans, or Hawaii. Obvioiusly we're not exactly sure what we're going to end up doing exactly, but we are equally excited!!! Here are a few pics of some of the possibilities...

Yellowstone:

My grandparents ( You can't really tell from the picture, but it's an AMAZING horse ranch!):

The Cayman Islands:









Bermuda:









Hawaii (from my last trip!):












Update:
I just talked to my mom, and she says Yellowstone is a go!

When Mommy's away, the froggies will play!

I watched Lori's kids on Monday, and Ned had a delivery in the area, so he stopped in just long enough to teach them how to play leap frog and steal a coke.

Too bad Avery didn't have as good of a time!

This was the best one I could get of her. Appearently apple sauce and formula do not taste nearly as good when they come from Aunt Rachie.

Her face looks a little squished, doesn't it? Nothing I did, I swear, but even screaming her lungs out, she's a cutie!!

ABC Tag

My Auntie M tagged me for this one. I've never done it before, but here goes.

A-Attached or single? Married.

B-Best friend? My hubby, Ned.

C-Cake or pie? No thanks, I'd rather have a second helping of whatever we had for dinner instead.

D-Day of choice? I love late Friday nights and sleeping in on Saturday mornings.

E-Essential item? A huge bag that can hold thousands of other essential items (like a water bottle, a tooth brush, some dice, sanitizing wipes, and maybe a spare pair of flip flops).

F-Favorite color? My favorite colors are pink and green, but my favorite colors to wear and decorate with are red, chocolate brown, and earthy greens.

G-Gummy bears or worms? Worms. The neon sour ones.

H-Hometown? Hmm... When I was really little I lived in Pullman, WA, and I still consider that home, but I really grew up in Lake Jackson, TX.

I-Favorite indulgence? Watching a chick flick with buttered popcorn jellybellies and buttered popcorn on the side.

J-January or July? I guess July- you know, waterslides and picnics-but I would really rather have April or October when the temperature isn't too extreem.

K-Kids? Not for a while still.

L-Life isn't complete without? Family.

M-Marraige date? April 29, 2006. It started out pouring rain, but when we came out of the Temple, it was sunny and beautiful!

N-Number of brothers and sisters? Two of each.

O-Oranges or Apples? Apples with cheddar cheese. I got that one from my Grandma Val.

P-Phobias or fears? I am completely terrified of bugs and snakes. I can't stand to walk through the shoplifting detectors by the doors at the front of big stores. Also, it scares me out of mind to look staight up a street light, very tall building, or anything else that shoots straight up off the ground.

Q-Quote? I'm not sure, but it would have to me something from the movie Anchorman or Taladaga Nights.

R-Reason to smile? I'm planning a surprise for Ned.

S-Season of choice? Autumn.

T-Tag three friends. I'll let you volunteer, but it might be fun to see Lori's answers. *hint*hint*

U-Unknown fact about me? I used to write down everything I wore on a calendar so I never repeated the same outfit within a certain time period.

V-Veggetable? Avadados!

W-Worst habbit? Finishing other people's sentances.

X-X-ray or ultrasound? I don't get it. X-rays are for broken bones, ultrasounds are for looking at unborn babies, right?

Y-Your favorite food? My mom's homemade beef jerky, without a doubt! A close 2nd and 3rd would be avacados and movie theater popcorn, respectively.

Z-Zodiac sign? Gemini.

Deja Vu

Remember that time I completely biffed it in the resturaunt with Ned, and the other diners shouted "10!, 10!"?? Today. Same place. Different heels. Same sad story (minus the crowd cheering).

Go, Spurs, Go!

Ned and I love the spurs. Correction: I love the Spurs; Ned is obsessed with them. He can tell you anything about any player. I am not quite as well versed. When we first started dating, I made some flash cards to help memorize important trivia, so I would fit in more when we watched games with his family, or discussed the latest trade, but I memorized the wrong facts. Appearently, Tim Duncan's favorite movie, Se7en, and his favorite flavor of ice cream, gold metal ribbon, do not count as real basketball trivia. In any case I have to admit Ned is a better fan than I am. I really try to watch the game from start to finish, but invariably, this happens.
I blame most of it on a combination of my A.D.D. and the games lasting for three and a half hours. Great shot of my nostrals, isn't it?

Ned always complains that I take forever to get out of car, but it takes me a little while to get all of my things together and organized before I'm ready. In my defence, I usually carry a lot more around than he does, including a big tote, one or more textbooks, and at least 1 litter of water. Well, this morning I arrived at work and was listening to the end of some country song while I got my books together and wolfed down the rest of my breakfast. I wasn't really paying attention, and all of a sudden this man came up and tried to get inside the driver side door. He just about sat on me! At first he looked a little confused about what I was doing in his car and then he quickly appologized for accidentally getting into mine. I told the story to my friend at lunch, and she was kind of shocked and asked if I was scared and so on. It didn't even occur to me that he could be trying to steal my car or something like that. I guess it's a combination of living in Utah and working at an elementary school. (Who would try to pull something like that with a ton of kids around?)

Later tonight, I was in class, half taking notes, half drawing pictures, when I noticed the guy behind me was totally leaning over my shoulder and watching my every move. I felt so violated! It made me really uncomfortable, and I wanted to say something to him. Of course, I didn't, and I'm sure I was overreacting. It's not like I had anything to hide in my notes, but it really upset me. How come I don't even flinch at a possible car-jacker, but this guy peeking at my notes gets under my skin so much?

Weekend Get-away

Ned and I decided that, since we don't have any kids yet, we should really enjoy our lack of responsibility and try to take a lot more quick, spur of the moment trips this year. So far we haven't come up with many ideas of what to do or where to go. If you have any suggestions, please let us know!

At least somebody had a good day!

I actually had a fine day, but not as good as the couple parked in the street right next to Ned's mom's house. Usually you think of her neigborhood park as a calm, child-friendly place, but today a couple in a dark sedan was melting all the snow away. I was hanging out at Rolyne's house just doing a little reasearch, when Ned came back from a delivery. The moment he came in, he started calling out for me to follow him and take a look at what was going on outside. We quickly crept into the bathroom to take a closer look. What we then witnessed was a hard core make-out session that lasted for nearly 2 hours. I'm pretty sure it was a five seat car, but this teenage couple only needed one passenger seat. I could not see the man very well because the girl was covering him, but he didn't look like he had a shirt on. For the most part all I could see was her back side. So there we were, both of us standing in Rolyne's bathtub with our shoes on spying on this car flooded with teenaged hormones. It was like a train wreck; for some reason we just couldn't look away.

Well my first reaction was to do something classy like make an anonymous call to the police and then watch or maybe tap on their window and give a thumbs up, but Ned had a much more tactful plan in mind. We quietly snuck out the back and started launching snow balls over the fence at their car. Unfortunately, this couple was way too absorbed in what they were doing to notice a few chuncks of snow being pelted at them. Just a moment later, a car pulled up, and out popped a little girl all ready for some winter fun at the park. Did this deter the lovers? Well, yes eventually, but not right away. That poor girl will probably be scarred forever.

A perfect 10

Although I was a dancer in my former (premarried) life, I am not what most people would consider graceful. I love a great pair of heels-- in fact, the taller, the better, but that doesn't mean I don't fall down in them. Well yesterday, Ned and I decided to grab a quick dinner at one of our favorite barbeque places. As we came into the building, I got a call from Lori, so I stood at the back of the line while we were talking. When we were done, I turned around and saw that there wasn't a line, so I walked straight forward. Unfortunately, there was a line/crowd control ribbon divider in the way, and I got all tangled up with it. If that wasn't embarassing enough, the girl behind the registed started clapping and a couple in a booth shouted "10! 10!" Not my proudest moment...

Covered Wagons

This one might be a little PG-13 for some of you, but here goes. Apparently I am extremely naive, but I didn't know what the term "covered wagon" meant. I had heard a couple talking one time about how their honeymoon "was all covered wagons and flannel blankets." I assumed that they were talking about some kind of foreplay. Ned ever-so-sweetly informed me of the actual meaning of the term. -- Gross!

I'm sick of this

So I called into work sick today, and I'm feeling kind of guilty. Ned can call in anytime with any reason, and no one at his work bats an eye-- it's really no big deal. It seems like I always find some reason to get mad at him on those mornings. I suppose, subconsciously, I'm jealous. When someone calls in at my work it creates a whirlwind of frenzy and confusion. Who will take this person's kids? Can we pull staff from another classroom? Maybe I can take their kids- no wait that'll give me a triple! Should we cancel a session?? It's one huge hectic mess. I basically can't call in unless there is a really, really good reason. Which brings me back to the guilty part... I've been under the weather for about a week, and last night I was up all night feeling really bad, but then this morning I'm back to being just under the weather again. I mean, I can justify it in my head, but I can't help feeling a little bad.