most embarrassing moment???

Growing up I used to embarrass way too easily, sometimes I could hide it okay and other times not so well....then I got engaged and knowing my family I braced myself to be embarrassed at my bridal shower. My family was nice enough and on the moments when I thought I'd be embarrassed, I wasn't, so it worked out very well. From then on, I've not had any issues with being embarrassed, as least not easily embarrassed. I guess I just kind of figured life happens and most times there isn't anything you can do about it after something weird happens.

Then, one year ago tonight, my mom and I went to two viewings. The first was for a great man from the neighborhood where I grew up. It was great to see some old friends and visit with many people that we have known for years. This was a very typical viewing with nothing of note to report.

After that we went to my cousins viewing. Also a very great man! As we arrived we met up with another cousin who introduced me to his sons, again. Unfortunately, we don't see these cousins very often, so every time we see them, we get introduced and joke about them not remembering me! We did the traditional walk through the line and continued to visit with many other friends and family members that were in attendance!

We found out that another close family friend was on his way, so we waited for him to come before heading home for the night! While waiting I was sitting in one side of the room talking to one of my cousins and my mom was in the middle of the room talking to one of my brothers. Then our friend arrived, I waited for him to make the traditional walk through the line and then when he made his way around the room and was talking to my mom, I jumped up from my seat and ran around the corner to go greet him....only...my pants dropped to the ground!

Yes, my pants dropped to the ground, leaving me standing right in front of my two cousins mentioned earlier laughing very hard and my pants twisted in my feet. I'm not really sure how it happened that I didn't fall down, but as it was I had to wait for my mom to come around and help untangle my pants so I could get them pulled up. As soon as my pants were back in place, I continued my rushed walk over to our friend that we had been waiting for and greeted him as if nothing had happened. He was trying so hard to not laugh or react. After talking with him for a few minutes we made our way through some goodbyes and left!

On the way out, we saw another cousin who would have had a perfect view of my backside, but had missed the entire thing! As soon as we were in the car, I sent out a message to twitter and Facebook saying that my pants had dropped but that I was grateful that it happened at the family viewing and not the friends viewing! Ironically enough, the next day at the funeral, this last cousin we talked to was the only one to say anything to me about losing my pants the night before.

Come to find out a few weeks ago, even the immediate family of my cousin who had passed had no clue what had happened. And my two cousins who I continually get reintroduced to that had front row seats to the entire experience...well, they were not at the funeral, but somehow I don't think they will EVER forget me! Oh, and I no longer own those pants, they went into the garbage that night! I have to agree with this quote:

There's nothing I'm embarrassed about.
Brian May

There you have it, what could potentially have been my most embarrassing moment in reality was just a moment and life happens! What are some of your most embarrassing moments? I don't know how I would answer that question, but since that night one year ago, I think I would have to share that story and see what happens...WATSIT2U?

Grumpy Old WOMEN

The year is 1993 and the movie is Grumpy Old Men, which was followed in 1995 by Grumpier Old Men. My dad loved these movies! I can take it or leave them, but my dad loved them! My dad was known as grumpy, but it was more of an act than anything sincere. For example, we would ask for him to take us to the store and he would grumpily say, "It's too far!" We would whine and then move on about our business. A few minutes later, usually 10-15, he would come in and say, "Let's go!" This was common, he tried to be mean, but usually he would give in or just be teasing. In fact, it sort of ran in his family...his older brother was grumpier than my dad. One time we went to visit him, this was just a couple of years ago...he was in the kitchen being grumpy, I told him that he was just like my dad...he smiled!!! From then on, whenever we went over, he would smile. Ok, so back to topic....

This post is about the flipside of that, Grump Old Women! In looking for any info to share on this topic, I found that there is a TV series in the UK by that name. This made me laugh...but, today, I am going to talk about one Grumpy Old Woman in my life, my MOM! Ok, so I don't believe she is old because I believe that age is a state of mind! But, my mom just turned 60 and she thinks she is old! But I know a lot of people that would agree with me that she is GRUMPY!

We will be walking in the store, Walmart for example. Ok, most people have been in Walmart or most any grocery type store. There is one main aisle that people walk up and down to get to the regular aisles where the groceries are, right? Ok, so we are walking up and down this main aisle and someone comes out of an aisle too fast or isn't watching for anyone in the main aisle. Mom gets mad and says that she "should have the right of away". Same trip at the store, we are in a regular aisle and come out, mom in front and not watching or caring and someone in the main aisle is in her way and she still says, "I should have the right of way." I will sometimes look at the person in an apologetic way as we move along. I'm sorry, but I don't see how it can work that way. Both directions can't have the right of way for her? This is probably the most common example of her grumpiness.

So a week ago Sunday, we are having a game night of sorts, one of many, in fact, at our house. There are 5 of us playing, myself, Steve, my mom and two of my cousins. As we are getting started, I mention that the ASL class would be starting the following Saturday. My mom turns to my cousins, both teenage boys, and tells them "sign language would be a really good thing for them to learn." The topic goes by the wayside as we get into playing games.

We start by playing The Game of Life, and for whatever reason, my one cousin owes Steve $5000, but he only has the $10000 bill. So, he goes to hand it to Steve and then pulls it back. They are playing around and my other cousin and I are laughing about it. It is all in good fun! The cousin wants Steve to pick up the change and they can exchange it at the same time. Steve refuses, and I point out that that isn't how it works in real life, you pay your part and then get the change, right? Well, when the time comes that Steve gets a grip of the bill, it rips. Ok, now, this game belongs to me & steve, not my mom, who doesn't like the game in the first place. I don't care one iota that this bill is torn, it only shows the game has been played and enjoyed, imo! I would have probably just thrown the little torn off piece away. In fact, the cousins, Steve and myself kind of laugh about it! But, not my mom, NNNNOOOOOO, ...She gets mad, really mad! She makes the other cousin get the scotch tape. She says, "All Steve had to do was pick up the $5000", I come back by saying, "All had to do was give Steve the money!" She yells at me, I get mad...and would normally start crying because I'm mad...she knows this and so I say, loudly, "And I'm not going to cry!!!"

That did it, the rest of the night; we spent basically walking on eggshells. This is nothing new for me as I do this a lot. It isn't an easy thing to live in the same house as your mom, at least not for us! We finish that game of Life and then move on to Payday. We all pretty much expected mom to go to bed, but she didn't, she stays up and plays Payday, too. In this game, there is a lottery, where each player that chooses to play chooses a number 1-6. The player landing on the lottery then rolls the die and whosever number comes up first wins the lottery. This same cousin that was involved in the tearing of the $10000 bill, which we now call bill, calls out the number 3. Steve can't hear well and even less this night because he has been having some issues with his ears. So, we were trying to hold up fingers to show him what numbers we were calling out. Well, some of us were. This cousin says 3 but uses the sign for 6

(which is the same as the sign for the letter W) and is used by much of the world’s population to say 3 and I know this.

This is really the sign for 3. I took that moment to tell him the difference between the sign for 3 and the sign for 6. Mom didn't seem to like this lesson and told this cousin that it didn't matter for "people like them." Now, she didn't elaborate, so I am not positive what exactly "people like them" meant. Now, mostly because of the grumpiness earlier in the night, my brain was not exactly following the process of all conversation that night.

Later that night, as my non-stop brain was going over the events of the night, I realized that at the beginning of the night, my mom was telling the cousins that learning sign language would be a good thing, but late in the night she tells him that it doesn't matter for "people like them." Hmm....WHAT?????

So, a couple of nights ago, one of these same cousins was over playing games again. We were playing games again and for some reason I mentioned something about sign language and/or the class. Mom told cousin that it would be a good thing for him to learn. He and I glanced at each other and after a moment kind of laughed a little. She didn't catch on that we were laughing at her and her constant changing mind.

Now, call me crazy (I didn't marry into the BATTY family for nothing, you know!), but AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess I didn't know what crazy was until the last 4 years and I'm certain it is only going to get worse as time continues on...so I decided to let out a little of this and do a post called "Grumpy old WOMEN". This woman isn't old and the thought of just how grumpy she will be when she does get old scares the living daylights outta me............good thing I love her so much, huh?!

The Jaguar Touch (WJHS 1989)

June 1st...this day holds several bits of history for our family. First, 21 years ago today, my grandpa, Bailus VanBuren Dye, died. We had only known him for about 7 years at that time.

20 years ago today, the class of 1989 graduated from West Jordan High School. We had our commencement in the gym at the school. Now they do graduations in big event center places, like the Ecenter, the Huntsman Center or the Marriott Center. Having recently attended a couple of these services, I told my mom that I was glad we had ours in the gym at the high school. I was one of the nerdy ones that actually purchased a videotape of the commencement. I think we may have tried watching it right after we got it, but I don't think I've watched it since then. I pulled it out and watched it this afternoon. It was not the best quality video (audio) I've seen on a video, but it was 20 years ago. I was pretty impressed that it was all over in about 90 minutes. They did the presenting of the class, individually, after they showed the closing prayer. So when it cut off abruptly after the reading of the names, it caught me off guard, until a moment later when I remembered that they had already shown the prayer.

Here is what I could make out that impressed me:

The motto: Today we follow Tomorrow we lead

Michelle Plouzek: We are individuals solely responsible for our actions. Take the road less traveled.

Wendy Griffin: We truly have the best mascot in the state, the Jaguar. (She pulls out a stuffed animal) The Jaguar is the largest most powerful wildcat in the world. Jaguars stand for strength and power. The sky is the limit for us now. We are the ones that others will follow to meet their needs.

MaryAnn Mabey: (with great enthusiasm) High school became exactly what we decided to make it. Graduation is by no means the end of our opportunities. Recognize opportunities and use them for our best interest.

Dax Kiger: He could hardly keep a straight face as the students recognized noisily every time he proudly mentioned the school. (Was this the bouncy balls or was it some other clap/stomp thing? He was by far the funniest speaker.) He closed by commenting that we are the leaders of tomorrow.

Chris Davis: Do we dare stir the universe? Do we dare disturb the world? (I just finished reading The Chocolate War and this was one of the themes of the book, you will see the review for this book this week sometime. If he had made reference to this book before the above comment, I didn’t hear it.)

Jerry McCleary: (addressing the parents, mostly) This class has probably been the best one we’ve ever had. They will accomplish things that you and I have not been able to accomplish in our lifetimes. They are truly unique. They are the last class that attended WJHS for a full four years. God Bless you.

Dr. Tom Owen, Area superintendent: reiterated the motto above. He also quoted Denis Waitley by saying, “Losers make promises…winners make commitments.” I hope you are committed to be the leaders of tomorrow.

14 years ago today, my sister was part of the class of 1995 at West Jordan High School. They, too, had their commencement in the gym at the school. I remember going to her graduation and it feeling like a reunion of sorts from our class as many of us had siblings that were graduating that night.

This year we celebrate our 20-year class reunion and I am sure I will blog about that late in the summer. In preparation for this, if you would email your contact info and the info of anyone else from our class that you may have access to, we can update our file, thanks! I have many other memories about that night 20 years ago and I will share them another time, maybe next year, maybe 5 years, time will tell. But, for today, what are your memories of that night?

GOT GAME?

In a world that has most everyone playing on their computers, much like you are right now, I'm sure, just as I am, there are still people out there that love to play board and card games! I am one of these people. We grew up playing games. One of my brothers gave me a board game every Christmas until he took himself away from this part of the family. The last game he gave me was The Hardy Boys Mystery Game. I still have it and I still love it! I even still have my original Candy Land game, the outside box is pretty worn, but the inside stuff is still great. I even have The Cinderella Game in its original box. I have loads of games, board and card games. Yes, we even play games with face cards! I am blessed to have a husband who is usually willing to come and play games not on the computer. I am even more blessed to live near cousins who love to play board and card games with real live people. We don't have as many game nights as we would like, but we always have a good time, even with poor sports in the crowd and other such negative nonsense! Tonight was one of those nights. The cousins came over and we played The Game of Life, you know the real one, not with credit cards and such. We also played Payday, one of their favorites!


Funny story about Payday, on my mission, my companion and I spent a family night with a family in our ward. My companion was losing pretty bad and then had the brilliant idea that the reason she was losing was because she wasn't paying her tithing, so she started setting money aside for tithing and ended up winning the game! It was really funny.

Another time, playing Monopoly (another favorite, we have several different versions including BYUopoly), my bestest friend was setting money aside for tithing and my nephews couldn't figure out what she was up to, they were convinced she was cheating! Then she won the whole thing and we made them figure out what some people set aside money for and pay to the Bishop. I have tried this with many games, but for me, it works best with Payday and I do it almost every time. Sometimes it works and I win by a lot, not even counting my tithing and sometimes I don't win, but it is always funny to have the new person playing try to figure out what I'm up to by setting money aside every time I get money!


Card games, growing up, we even played 21, or blackjack. It isn't one of my favorites, but my dad loved it and would play. My mom had a hotel bank full of pennies and we used them to play. These type of games, board and card, were used to help us learn counting and often money lessons were involved, too. My dad didn't play many games, his favorite was probably UNO. He would play Skip-Bo, very rarely and Yahtzee, too. One time we got him to play Yahtzee and he got 4 Yahtzee's in one game. We didn't like him to play that one anymore, LOL! My mother-in-law taught us how to play Screw Your Neighbor (face cards) several years ago and it has become a family favorite with loads of funny stories, but they aren't necessary appropiate family stories, LOL. This game is very similar to Phase10, to give you an idea.


After my dad died, my mom and I, would play one sheet of Yahtzee every night before going to bed. It would take us about an hour. On the night, Steve and I met, in person for the first time, he and I were sitting out on the porch talking and my mom came to ask if we were going to do our nightly Yahtzee. Steve and I went in and played. That tradition continued for quite awhile after that, whether it was just the two of us or with Steve.


I also love to do puzzles. I love word searches, cryptoquotes and sudoku! I love game nights! The slide show is mostly games we have and a couple my cousins have that we all love to play. What are your favorites? I can't decide, I love too many of them! Some I have, some I dont'! As I said before, we have tons of games and we love to play them. Who's game?! BRING IT ON!!!

PB&J

I didn't have the best day and am very tired as I type this up and try to figure out what to blog about for today. So, I kept thinking about different funny things from recent memory and so I decided to call this post "PB&J". I will get to the title later on, but suffice to say right now, I do not like Peanut Buter & Jelly sandwiches. I do not like peanut butter.

Yes, that is a Utah license plate taken on the road with my sometimes fuzzy cell phone camera. Anyway, why original Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is one of my favorite candy bars makes no real sense, except that it doesn't seem to contain REAL peanut butter. It's still one of my favorites, yum, RPBC rocks! I could go on and talk about my favorite candy bars and although that could be a lengthy post by itself, it isn't what I had in mind when the title came to me...PBJ stands for several things, yet none of them are the reason for the title to this post, either. That would be movies, if you watch commercials or seen a certain movie this year, you will get it..right here, right now...if not, well, read on...

My favorite movie of all time is It's A Wonderful Life, but it has to be the one with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed...you know the one, the REAL one! I would have loved to meet Jimmy Stewart and I did cry, a little, when he died. There is something about the movies and the celebrities from his generation that I think has been lost in today's society. I practically still have this movie memorized and some people in my family don't like watching it with me because before I know it, I'm talking along with the movie. My favorite lines happens twice, "I wish I had a million dollars, (click), HOT DOG!" My favorites scene is with Clarence right after he 'saves' George! Classic movie that I can watch any time of year!

I want to keep this short, so I will blog about other favorite movies another time, but the current commercial I referred to above is for the new dvd realease for Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I saw this show twice in the theaters and would have seen it more, if opportunity had presented itself. I am a fan of The King of Queens, where I first saw Kevin James. I have enjoyed some of his other work, like Hitch. Haven't seen the commercials or the movie and wonder how PB&J relates? It's quite simple actually, Pahud says, "Peanut Blart and jelly! What, what, what's up, man?" Somehow, I don't see them adding this to the list above of what PBJ stands for, LOL! Have you seen this movie and what do you think?

Derk's Field Forever

I am a baseball fan, always have been, most likely always will be. In fact, we would love to make the trip around the country one day visiting all the major league ball stadiums. I was lucky enough to find a guy that would love to make this trip together! Growing up in Salt Lake, we have a minor league baseball team which has been owned by several different major league teams. Now it is finally owned by my favorite, the Angels (I will not use their STUPID official name). I could live with Anaheim Angels, for that is the city in which they play, but they don't even play in Los Angeles COUNTY, so please forgive me for about hating their official name! To me, they will always be the California Angels!


Growing up, I was a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. When I was about 10 years old we visited my uncle's house in Anaheim. He was watching a Dodgers game when we arrrived. The adults all migrated out to the patio while I settled in to watch the game on tv. My uncle told me I could change the channel or go out to the patio. I assured him I was fine. The story goes, my mom says, that Uncle Arvid walked out to the patio with his jaw dropped in shock over a girl that loved baseball. The next night they surprised me by taking me to my very first California Angels game. They played the Kansas City Royals and I believe, lost. I was hooked and have been an Angels fan ever since. I have also been to several games and fan appreciation night over the years! Yes, I cried with excitement when they won the World Series in 2002!


Ok, back to the triple A team in Salt Lake. I remember going to several games growing up, especially remember the Trappers, who we watched play in Idaho. I don't remember details now, but my favorite player was known as Jo-Bo (Joseph Beaulac)and his number was 24, which is my favorite number to this day! I love that they are now called the Bees and especially that they are owned by the Angels. I have a few ticket vouchers for this season and look forward to going to a couple of games with my man!


Incidentally, we went to a couple of Orem Owlz games last year, which is also owned by the Angels and had a blast! Even getting evacuated to the McKay events center over a threat of a tornado and it was all Steve's fault, LOL!!! I have yet to attend an Ogden Raptors game. We just don't make it to Ogden that often.


The reason for this post is my distaste of renaming Derk's Field in the first place. I remember being so mad when they changed it to Franklin Covey Field. I finally, sort of, got over that because at least it flowed off the tongue. But, Spring Mobile Ballpark, are you kidding me?! It's so all about the money! When I heard they were announcing a new name, I thought surely it would be after Larry H. Miller who had recently passed away, to honor him. I am so not pleased with this new name....but I will continue to support the Bees, at least as long as they are owned by the Angels...after that, who knows?! LOL! In my mind it will always be Derk's Field and I will continue to roll my eyes at the new name that I won't be using anytime soon!

ALL ABOARD!!!

As many of you know, Steve and I are huge rail fans. Yesterday was the 140th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike. But with it being Mother's Day, I figured I had better take the safe way out and blog about Mother's instead of this tiny bit of history. So, today, I will do a blog about Railroads and their role in our lives. We love living so close to the tracks (2 houses separate us)! Last Saturday was National Train Day, yes it is for real, no kidding, I promise!

Those of us in Utah and many more across the nation and even a few around the world know very well that yesterday was the anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike. On 10 May 1869, the Transcontinental Railroad came together at Promontory Summit in the famous Golden Spike ceremony. Now, I have to be completely honest and say that neither one of us has ever actually been out to this national historical site. We will make that trip one day. Steve says he has no idea where his love of all things trains comes from. Me, well, my dad worked for Kennecott Copper (I would love to tag along with anyone going up to the visitors center) for 30 years and ended his career as an engineer and, well, I was (am) a daddy's girl! In fact, when I was little, I used to think or say that my dad sat on the stairs to eat his lunch, LOL...stairs!

We like to go watch trains, yes, watch trains. This is where we go park somewhere and basically wait around for trains to come by. Especially nice now that Steve has a fancy camera to take some really really good pictures, see below! Sounds boring, right? Well, I used to think the idea was boring, too. I am a multi-tasker and so the thought of just sitting around waiting did not thrill me. In this way, Steve is way more of a rail fan than I ever thought I would be! My solution to this possibly boring situation is reading, writing and now listening to my i-pod. These are great things to be able to do and gives me something, no matter if it is day or night when we decide to just go watch trains! One of the best places to do this is in Salt Lake is called Grants Tower, I jokingly call it Grants Tomb. The reason we like this spot is because pretty much any train that travels through Salt Lake goes through this area. Not far from here is the office for the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway, a small company that I almost had a job with once...Michael, if you are out here, I'm still interested in that position, you know how to get ahold of me! There are several places we like to go watch trains, Steve usually knows where to go whatever time of day it is and we always have a good time just spending time together!

We have taken Amtrak twice. Both only between here and Denver. The first time was when Steve turned his truck in to Werner and there were supposed threats that Amtrak was going to die, so we thought we had better take the opportunity while we could, so we rode Amtrak home. Then, of course, Amtrak didn't die. The following summer part of the track was closed in CO, so we took a round trip to Denver and were able to ride Amtrak through WY. We enjoyed both trips and have hopes to one day take a trip on Amtrak completely around the country. There are several places around the country that have some really nice setups for rail fains, for example, the Golden Spike Tower in NE. We love to incorporate our love of trains into our trips whenever we can, too. There are many railroad excursions all over the place for those interested! We have also been on the Durango/Silverton train, which is an absolutely beautiful ride! We have been on the comedy murder mystery ride at the Heber Valley Railroad, very fun! Of course, we can't forget our very own Union Station in Ogden!

The internet is a place where most anyone can find most anything about everything. Trains are no different. There are even subscription sites like Train Orders where rail fans share stories, pics, videos and such with each other. Steve does subscribe to this site and has made a few friends locally and elsewhere that we look forward to meeting in person someday! I especially like the info on trains move our economy found on the national train day website. Another day trip we are interested in taking is the Cumbres/Toltec in NM.

Well, I have gone on and on, so I will close now with a few of our favorite pics (above) that Steve has taken just since he got his fancy camera:

Taken along 500 W in Salt Lake at exactly 4:08pm, which is the time my dad died exactly 13 years before this was taken, the engineer even blew the horn for us at that exact moment, too! It was quite an interesting moment in time for us that day, which was our 12th wedding anniversary!

Taken outside our house. See, we have a great view of the tracks and we love it! I have no idea what date this was taken, but it is Southern Pacific engine 352, now owned by Union Pacific.

This was taken on 2 May 2009 in part of the Provo rail yard. It is Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) 7552 during a crew change.

This was taken in Llynndyl on 5 Apr 2009. I think this is very close to being our absolute favorite pic, so far. I am certain there are many more to come!

My mom once told one of my great nieces that every time she hears a train whistle, it is Grandpa saying he loves her. I think several of us have taken this to heart and find the sounds of trains, not just the whistles, comforting. Hey, don't knock it, if an angel can get its wings every time a bell rings, anything is possible! Enjoy exploring all the links and leave your own rail interest and/or stories in the comments!

shoutout to SISTERCHICKS everywhere...

Most all of you know my obsession with the Sisterchick books. Well, here we are about a year since my last fix and now you will find Sisterchicks in Wooden Shoes! by Robin Jones Gunn, in stores May 5, 2009! A brief summary: "Summer and Noelle, two pen pals since 4th grade, meet for the first time in the land of tulips and windmills. An abnormal mammogram sends Summer on a quest to fulfill her lifelong wish before she begins the same struggle her mother fought against breast cancer. The story of these two Sisterchicks is brimming with hope and cheer and will bring encouragement for any woman who has faced a fearful future." Sisterchick in Wooden Shoes is sure to be another favorite among us fans, I can hardly wait! I look forward to reading it and you know I will post my review. Above is a preview of the cover and a pic of the amazing author that continues to bring sisterchicks together worldwide! Let me know your thoughts on these amazing books!

MY Steve's birthday....

...yes, Steve is a too common name, thus the necessity to differentiate between our Steves...we have 3 alone in just his immediate family group! But I digress...


Last Saturday (4 Apr) was Steve's birthday and so we headed to Midway to spend the night at the Zermatt Resort. This is a fancy schmancy 4 star resort that is nestled in this small community in the Utah mountains. Where to start....it was a good weekend, overall…

We got up there, got checked in and went exploring. I wanted to find the steakhouse so I could see the prices on the menu...the menu is online, but no prices, so I was expecting the worst. We basically had no money (beyond the ITEX certificates we were using)....but had to eat...we had looked at the bistro menu as we started to explore and decided that if the steakhouse was too much, we'd cancel our reservation and eat at the bistro. We went all around the building we were in and the one next to us...found the pool (nice indoor/outdoor with waterfall hot tub), the spa and the wellness center (mostly a fitness center, very nice, though!)...We found the conference center (there was a national women MBA leadership something or other going on, I thought that was interesting, but didn't get the chance to visit with any of the women, but did get to observe a few while we were there)…oh and a wedding, too. While in the Conference Center, we popped into the business center and used the computers for a few minutes, literally, I was very pleased that he was also pretty much ready to continue exploring when I said I was done with the one thing I needed to do online. We found the gift shop, the bakery/deli and finally the steakhouse, which was outrageously expensive, as expected. Here is the website for the resort itself http://www.zermattresort.com/site/index.html, on there you can view the priceless menu, if you like, http://www.zermattresort.com/site/zermatt-resort/dining/Menus/Schneitter …the salad at the very very bottom was about $30! I guess, overall, it was about what a steakhouse would be...but with only a $20 cert and really no money, it was way too much for us, this trip...they did have a prime rib buffet for $24.95/person BUT nothing on the menu really stuck out for me, so I wasn't really excited about it and didn't have my heart set on eating there.... and so I left the choice up to Steve as it was HIS birthday!

He chose to eat at the bistro, where I enjoyed a very delicious club sandwich on a croissant and he had a very good buffalo burger. We drank water and enjoyed the food and atmosphere and such...it was nice, I think we both liked it a lot! We headed back to the room, but then I realized they hadn't done the complimentary turndown service and I didn't want to be there when they came, so I told Steve (who had no idea we were having the turndown service...I wanted him to feel/see the fanciness in hopes that he will somehow get the idea that we deserves such things) that I wanted to go hang out upstairs for about an hour. Upstairs was a private club/lounge place...they had a pool table and tables setup to play checkers/chess and even backgammon... except that they only had pieces to play chess. I wanted checkers but oh well...SSSSSSOOOOOOOOO, Steve taught me how to play chess!!! Now, I had a friend in junior high try to teach me, but I don't think I cared enough to really learn and I didn't think I really cared now, except that I've sorta wanted to for awhile now because Steve LOVES chess, he has a really nice set or two! Anyone out there up for the challenge of whuppin’ him at chess…let me know, k?! I love you dear, but I think it may be awhile before I can actually beat you at this game! Although, it somehow clicked, I think he did a great job teaching me in just a few minutes and we played 2 games... he won both, but I gave him a run for his money in that both games lasted a long time, he said he was impressed! It was fun!

We went back to the room, watched a bit of tv, after the news we went back to the bistro for dessert. He chose to each get a piece of cake instead of share one piece and he ended up getting his $7 piece free because I told the gal it was his birthday! I love when that happens! They even gave us the choice of milk...skim, 1%, 2%....and had refills on it, too!! At $4/glass, the free refill made us happy! After that, Steve felt a bit icky and we were both tired, so we went to bed, he watched more tv and I watched a bit while reading a bit...then we both fell asleep....We were going to try hitting the pool, but didn't get up early enough...checkout was 11, but I had them give us until noon so I could watch all of morning conference, which I did and I will be blogging on conference talks throughout this next week.

We checked out, went straight to Nephi so I could take Steve to JC Mickelsons (see my blog below, posted last weekend, about MY birthday weekend). Then went to Lynndyl and watched for trains....I mostly read and we talked a tiny bit. It was a nice quiet time from our hectic noisy lives! As we first started to leave Lynndyl, I saw a horse that caught my eye and I thought was pretty, so I was going to take a pic…by the time he backed up and I grabbed the camera, the other (darker) horse got jealous and had to come join the fun and the spotlight, LOL!

From Lynndyl, we then went to his mom's in Nephi and hung there for a couple hours and then came home. It was a lot to do in just about 36 hours, but it was worth it and fun! I am glad he had fun and loved JC Mickelsons, as I knew he would! He took tons of pics and hopefully he will post some of them, at least, on his blog (http://sjbinut.blogspot.com/). This is one of the very very few pics I have taken with his camera and I told him that I got to put this one on my blog:

Happy Birthday, my love....hope you really did enjoy it as much as I did!!!

It's MY Birthday...well, ok, it WAS....

Last weekend was my 38th birthday. I decided to spend it in Mesquite/Las Vegas Nevada! My mom, her friend and I left immediately after Bunco friday night. We got to Mesquite in time to get about 2 hours sleep and headed in to Las Vegas for ALL day saturday. We casino hopped so I could play Bingo and get a bunch of different birthday freebies...silly, I know, but it was way fun. This is my favorite freebie of the day......they were giving these out two years ago, but I was not able to get one for me, although I had gotten one for my sister for her birthday and one for my mom for her birthday! Mom played a little bingo and spent a little time with her friend. We ate dinner at Terrible's casino, Bougainvillea Café and Rotisserie, to be more specific. I enjoyed lemon chicken. We finished the night at the Eastside Cannery, where some nice women took a pic of the three of us...just before we finally headed back to Mesquite for the night....

Sunday, we decided to head back in to Las Vegas for a few hours as Judy, my mom's friend had some slot play left at Arizona Joes...er, Bob's...er, Charlies, ya, that's it....In our trip to Mesquite/Las Vegas a month ago, we found out about the free pics with $1,000,000 at Binions. (This promotion is going until the end of May 2009) I was very interested in this, to add to my visualization board and whatever you want to call my collection of "pics with well-knowns". We each had our pic taken individually, but I was not able to scan my mom's friends pic, but here our ours...

Before heading into Las Vegas for the day, I just had to eat at my favorite restaurant in Mesquite, Panda Garden....yummy Lemon Chicken....YAY! Mom had me take this pic with her camera just outside of there....

Monday, we spent hanging out at Virgin River and Eureka in Mesquite. I played Bingo most of the day. Mom and Judy played a little Bingo, slots and drove around Mesquite, a little. Mom took Judy and showed her the neighborhood I would love to live in, IF we ever ended up living back in Mesquite. I can never remember the name of the neighborhood, but it is right next to the Reber's property. Not only is Bishop Reber the absolute best Bishop I have ever known, their entire family are wonderful examples of being true Christians! We love and miss them all tons!

Tuesday, at long last, it was time to go home...we took our time getting out of Mesquite, stopping in Beaver Dam at the Dam store (next to the Dam bar and Dam Deli and going through the Dam door...you get the idea) to get some AZ lotto tickets and show Judy this "part time tourist trap". We then stopped in Bloomington, just outside St George, at my Uncle Leo's house. He was off to work at the Temple, but we had a pleasant visit with his wife, Aunt Daisy and a hilarious trip down memory lane with my cousin, Les....we continued on our trip, making the usual pit stop/fuel fillup in Fillmore. Then decided to eat at JC Mickelsons (http://www.jcmick.com/) in Nephi. As many of you know, this is a landmark business in the Nephi area. It has moved its location, but has remained a great place to eat. Judy ordered the chili, saying that it was okay as it was from a can. My mom ordered the popcorn shrimp and enjoyed it very much, it was delicious...even as leftovers, Steve said they were "alright". I ordered the BLT and loved it. We walked in and were instantly amazed and such by their newest addition, finding out that they had just reopened the day before our visit. We were lucky to be able to eat there, as we got there right at closing time. They were playing with their new toy and gladly served us. The service was good and I would recommend everyone go to JC Mickelsons for this special treat, good food and great service.....oh, ya, I waited until now to post this because I plan on surprising Steve with a visit there this weekend (his birthday) and didn't want him to figure out the newest addition, pics below...BUT once I take him there, his pics will be wonderful, mine with my fuzzy cell phone camera could never do much of this justice!

To JO: happy birthday!!!

We all go through life with friends. I would think it sad if someone really truly didn't have friends. With that in mind, if you think you don't have friends, you are most definitely WRONG! I would like to take some time today and share a few memories of the bestest friend I have had in my life....and I've gone through several best girl friends that just ended up not really being true friendships.

Fall 2001, my mom decides to do a 30 min free trial thing at a Curves in Salt Lake, where she meets a gal that sells Pampered Chef. At this time, my mom was a massage therapist selling Partylite (as part of my team). They decide to 'trade' shows. This is how I met my bestest friend...and life has never been the same or better!!!

2002: She turned me on to one of my favorite books, Fat!So? (I am about to re-read this book and will do a review in the next few weeks or so) This book and her friendship have gone a very long way in helping me truly love myself, AS I AM!!! You see, we live in a world where I am not accepted mostly because of my flabulousness. Another major problem is that I'm too stinkin' nice for my own good and many in today's society take complete advantage of that....you know who you are!!! Anyway, I digress...when I first read this book, I knew from the start that everyone who ever knew me just had to read this book...so far, only one person besides my bestest friend has read the thing cover to cover. Oh well, I got what I needed from it and that is the most important thing she could have given me! Also, this year was the first of many times that she was there for me when some tough times hit, she's funny that way...always there for her friends and they are very blessed for it, too!!! Thank you!

2003: We went on what would be the first of our road trips...We drove down to Mesa, Arizona and stayed with her friends family. We had a great trip, which included a naked man, speed reading in audio form and being introduced to the great NEW place called Iceberg...LOL!!! We stayed in Mesquite, NV on the way back and little did I know that just a month or so later, my mom would make the decision to move there and then less than two years later my husband and I would move there, as well....and love it!!!

2004: We took another road trip, this time to Riverside, CA. This was a great opportunity for me, as this was my mission field. I was able to take some time on the Sunday we were down there and go visit my favorite ward/area. What an unusual trip with curfews and a visit to Red Lobster that started the thoughts of cows being lined to be chosen much like the lobsters in the tank, LOL! This trip gave me the opportunity to meet more wonderful people that are also friends with this same bestest friend...reminding all that she is wonderful and popular!!!

2005: After helping my mom through her heart surgery and recovery, my bestest friend and I took another trip, this time a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. This was, by far, my favorite of our trips together! I loved the cruise and being spoiled. This trip included visiting the San Diego Temple, riding in a glass bottom boat, and yet another partially naked man!!! Sure wish I could remember his name, or his girlfriends for that matter...they were very nice, I hope they did get married and such...

2006: Now living in Mesquite, my bestest friend made a few trips down to visit, but we didn't have any road trips or monthly visits to our usual place of choice, Red Lobster. During the time I lived in Mesquite, I introduced her to Charmaine's, or as she called it "fancy restaurant".

2007: We had moved up to Lehi, UT and I had a broken arm, so had lots of time on my hands. I was doing several book clubs. It was at this time that she gave me a book called The Total Money Makeover and introduced me to a great man by the name of Dave Ramsey. I have not gotten around to reading this book yet...I struggle with non fiction and keep putting this one off for others...again, I digress...she is still making my life better and transforming things for the good!!!

2008: This is one of the hardest years of my married life. We were both unemployed, albeit for different reasons and in different ways, we struggled a lot on a personal level and with others trying to get the much needed help. This bestest friend of mine was most supportive and understanding of our struggles and issues. We also attend the Total Money Makeover Live Event (where the above picture was taken). I really recommend you listen to or watch Dave. He is on the radio every night, from 7-9pm on 570am (salt lake city, utah) and I understand these are available as podcasts. Also, he is on Fox Business news every week night at 6pm. Good stuff, thanks, Jo!

2009: We, with my mom, took a trip to Mesquite just over a month ago. Always the supportive friend, she hung out and took some much needed down time while mom and I played in the first ever Mesquite Bunco tournament. My friend and I took in a movie, Paul Blart Mall Cop (this movie rocks, I highly recommend it), and ate at Katherine's steakhouse. Charmaine's had recently been closed, so we tried a different "fancy restaurant". We miss Charmaine's, but I would recommend Katherine's, as well.

Ok, now that I've gone through and shared the highlights of this great bestest friend of mine. I want you to keep in mind, all things mentioned DID in fact happen, but I may have mixed up the order of the trips and such. I took the time to do this fun little post as a way to wish my bestest friend a very very happy birthday!!! I send out the great vibes for this to be one of her best birthdays ever and am sure it will happen, how better to celebrate a friday the 13th?! Everyone reading this who knows my bestest friend and has wonderful memories of her, too, please feel free to comment and leave your memories...she'll get around to reading at some point....Oh, and it is too late this year, but I say it has been way too long since we've had a 'naked' man experience, think we need to do a birthday trip or cruise next year, LOL!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO JACOBSEN, make it count...you ARE loved by many!!! Thank you for everything and always being there....Moroni 8:3

Adventures in dating...

I love nothing more than to go out and about. I don't much care what we are doing, usually, I just love going out with Steve! Over the years, he has turned me into a bit of a home body and we don't actually get out much for dates and such! At my most recent job I received a couple of Carmike movie passes along with Goodwood BBQ certificates. In October, I tried to give these away to my cousin-in-law to take my cousin out for her birthday and he refused them basically ordering me and Steve to go out and use them! Hmmm...so I wonder, can I blame him for all this now?! Read on...

We finally got around to going out this last weekend. With only 3 Carmike theaters left in the state of Utah, we chose to go to the one in West Jordan and therefore go to the Goodwood BBQ in Draper. When we left the house, we went to my friend, Lorilee, house. We exchanged Christmas gifts and to give her a birthday gift (a month late)...and to help her with her Christmas presents from other family members. I got her hooked up on some of the same websites I use a lot on her new laptop, it is wonderful to have her on email now and will be great as she learns more and more about the internet and the great blessings that can be found by doing things like genealogy! Steve also helped her learn a tiny bit about her mp3 player and loaded a cd to get her started. She got some great toys to play with! After leaving Lorilee's, we checked our PO Box and took a gift to my mom's friend, Judy in West Valley.

Ok, so now on to our date....we decided to go out to Draper and eat at Goodwood BBQ next. This was our first visit to Goodwood BBQ and we enjoyed the food and the service. You see, the gift certificates I had were technically expired...but there is a little known thing about GCs not supposed to have expiration dates because the company has received the money for them. The manager was very accomodating! Steve had the bacon cheddar burger and I had the smoked turkey sandwich. We laughed at there not being salt at any of the tables, even though it was not needed. We thought the food was delicious, including the BBQ sauce, both of us preffered the sassy over the spicy BBQ sauce.

After leaving there, he had me drive to the Christmas Utah house in Murray. If you have not seen this, you have until this Saturday to check it out in person! It is really cool. For more info: http://www.christmasutah.com/ If you happen to watch some of the videos, they are from past years, but are similar to what they had this year.

Ok, next, we headed back to West Jordan to see Tale of Despereaux. We had seen a couple of reviews from friends about this movie and they said they would NOT recommend it, so, of course, this is the movie Steve chose to see! As I was driving us there, we got off I-15 at 9000s. As you head west towards West Jordan, you go up this hill where the speed limit drops from 50mph to 40mph. I specifically looked at the sign and lowered my speed, this is about 900w. By the time we got to Redwood Road (1700w), a cop was behind us and pulled me over as we turned south on Redwood. He said that at 1400w he clocked me going 51, 52, 53. I told him that I had just slowed down to the 40mph speed limit. In any case, he wrote me a ticket and because you know the cops are just so very nice and do us such favors, he wrote the ticket as me going 45 in a 40. I asked him if he knew about how much this was going to be, he said that it is usually about $90 for every 10 over the speed limit....so I'm guessing $90 will be coming due to the courts in a matter of weeks. I don't agree with him that I was speeding, but I don't have the energy to fight it, so I'm hoping that I can just pay it and not waste my time by making yet another court appearance this year!

Oh, we did make it to the movie and on time, even...Tale of Despereaux! I have seen the commercials and really didn't care one way or the other how soon I saw it, but as it started, I was impressed with the list of well known actors doing the voices: Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Watson, Tracy Ullman, Kevin Kline, William H Macy, Robbie Coltrane, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Shaughnessy, Sigourney Weaver, Bronson Pinchot, etc... I have not read the book, shocking, I know...in fact, I had never even heard of the book before this movie came along. I also usually try not to see a movie without having read the book beforehand. I liked the show. It is a cute story of courage, desires, and luck, imo. I think it is an ok movie for families. I, personally, think that I would not have paid to see this movie, but rather waited until I had read the book and the DVD came out, which is estimated for April 2009, like Twilight. As a matter of response to one of the friends who had previously reviewed this movie, I picked up this trivia on imdb.com: The man made out of fruit and vegetables is a tribute to the artworks of Giuseppe Arcimboldo

So, this adventure in dating had it all, for our boring lives, that is...and turned out way more expensive than any date using free movie passes and gift certificates should have been....but, yes, we did have fun...and I hope to start going out more often!!! Oh and I know I can't blame my cousin-in-law for this night, but a scapegoat would be nice!

Mom's 60th birthday party...

After a stressful day before the party when the catering fell through....my sister came to the rescue...again...she is quite the little hostess with great a looking spread of delicious foods for everyone to eat, although the cake was from Sam's club where the decorators loved working on it so much, they didn't want to give it up...The party was a success, we had about 35 people here giving us a full house and loads of fun! Here are a few pictures that my sister took:

SURPRISE 60th bday party...

Amber is turning 60

Of that she is aware

But we want to surprise her

With all of you there

So the party is a secret

She doesn't it know yet

And if you keep it quiet

A surprise she will get...

Please join us if you can, I know she would love to have everyone she loves there. If you have any question please email or call Tonuah or Rebecca. Please arrive early, we are planning on the big surprise at 5p. Hope to see you there!

WHO: Amber Trujillo

WHAT: SURPRISE Bday Party Open House

HERE:

WHEN: 20 Dec 2008...she is expected about 5pm, so if you want to be here for the SURPRISE, please arrive by 4:30pm and park on 1900 W or west of there on 1835 N.

***PLEASE INVITE ANYONE ELSE YOU KNOW THAT KNOWS AMBER***

(the link on the title of this post leads to the official evite, thank you for keeping this a surprise!!! - good thing my mom stays OFF the computer, huh?!)

twilight

Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

I have seen the show twice, so far, and love it! I tried this quiz a few days ago and it didn't want to work, so here it is now...funny thing is, as I was answering the questions, on several of them, I was thinking that it sounded like Alice!

Bunco, Bunko, Bonco, or Bonko

Whatever you call it or however you spell it....

Thursday night was my first ever at Bunko! I had a blast! This was a very last minute event for my mom and I. Early that afternoon, my sister called me and invited us to be subs that night for her group. My mom has played as a sub a few times before and enjoyed it everytime. As said before, this was my first time. I have had several people try to explain how to play this with not much luck, but it was so very simple once I was there. I ended up with the prize for the last bunko of the night. With everything going on this year and this week, I really needed this night out and am very glad I took the time to spend with my mom, sister and her friends!

This group was all women and did dessert during the halftime break. I understand some groups are couples. Also, that some groups do dinner before and dessert at the half OR just dessert at the end. No matter how it is done, I am competitve and had a great time! This group of women were loads of fun, as usual, there was all types of people there from the overly exuberant to the overly inverted and everything in between! This group had 12, I understand some groups to have 16.

Needless to say, now that I've experienced this night of fun, if anyone ever needs a sub, I'll do what I can to be available...OR better yet, let's get our own little group going!