Gingerbread Houses

On Friday my sister invited us over for our annual gingerbread house making contest. (We actually use graham cracker because they’re more convenient, but you get what I’m saying.) We had a few newbies this year and they always make a couple of rookie mistakes. I have been making gingerbread house for quite some years and if I can be so bold, I would like to share my lessons learned in the art of gingerbread (well graham cracker) house making. First lesson, never make your house to big. A couple of years back my brother attempted to make a very sophisticated house, it turned out looking like a cathedral it was so big, however the problem with making big houses is that you get burnt out to quickly. You spend all your time making the house that when the real important time comes, putting the candy on, you are too tired to finish. So, all your house consist of is graham crackers and frosting. (And really, if there isn’t lots of candy, what is the point of making one at all.) Second lesson and this is the most important one, make sure to get to the candy part as soon as possible. (Hence a small house, you can get to this part faster.) The reason you want to get to the candy part as soon as possible, is because if you wait too long all the good candy is gone. I mean everyone wants to put starburst and peanut butter cups on their house but who really wants to put those gum drop thingies on, not me. Hope this information helps. :-) Happy house making.


The finished product. Mike made a fort and I made a piece of cake.

Santa's Little Helper

My mom used to be a great helper to Santa when it came to the gift giving/receiving part of Christmas. Since she has passed away Christmas has never been quite the same at the Beesley home. This year I get to be Santa’s little helper and I hope to do Santa and my mom proud.

At first it seemed like a daunting task, but the more I prepare for it, the more fun it is becoming. I am also excited that everyone gets to come over to our house. This will be the first time Mike and I have had Christmas with the family here. I made a list and checked it twice and yesterday I went out and did some shopping. I’ve bought gift cards, clothes, some electronics and some great stocking stuffer. I’m going to have brunch too, after we open the presents. For me Christmas is such a special, magical time of year and I hope I can help everyone feel that.

Christmas Concert

I have wanted to go to a Christmas concert this season, so when I got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert featuring The King Singers, I was really excited. I asked some ladies in my neighborhood to come with me and we made a whole night of it with dinner too. We left ourselves plenty of time (so we thought) to drive up town, park and get to our seats. However, when we arrived at the entrance designated on our tickets, they told us it was full and we would have to try to get some seats on the upper level. We rushed upstairs and were the next in line to go in (seriously the next in line) when we were told that there was no more seats available. We were kind of bummed. See, the problem with the tickets were that there were no seat assignments only a section assignment and then you could sit wherever you wanted within that section. The other problem was that they over booked the tickets by a few hundred people, so a bunch of people got turned away. The tickets were free or else I would have been super ticked, but I was with friends and found the situation only semi-annoying. I was a little bugged that we drove all the way up to Salt Lake, just to turn around again, but what do you do. After our rejection at the Conference center we debated upon shopping, bowling or a movie. We ended up at the movie theater. Guess there is always next year for the Christmas Concert.

A Story with a Moral

On Friday I decided to clean my shower. I sprayed it down with Limelite, which is supposed to be good for removing soap scum, and started scrubbing. Well the Limelite wasn’t doing quite the job I wanted, so I poured some Comet with Bleach on it. When I did this it made a hissing sound and some fumes rose up, (which should have been a clue to stop) but I just kept on cleaning. About an hour and a half later, I started having trouble breathing and a pain in my chest. I was home alone and wasn’t planning on going into work that day, but because I didn’t want to die all alone where no one would know what happened to me, I decided to go in. When I got there I told Mike about it and he said if I was worried then I should go into Instacare. That seemed a little much, so I just called Poison Control instead. I told the guy my story and asked him if I was going to die. He said yes I was going to die, but not because of this. :-) He told me in the future, I shouldn’t mix Clorox with anything. The nice thing about it was he told me Poison Control was going to call me the next day, which they did, just to make sure I was ok. Isn’t that nice. So… the moral of this story is: Don’t mix Clorox with other cleaning detergents. However, I’m sure most of you already knew that.

A little about me...

1. What time did you get up this morning? Oh about 10:30 and it isn’t even the weekend...That is my life with no job and no kids. (This is actually turning into a really bad habit.)
2. Diamonds or pearls? Pearls are my birthstone, so I should like them better, but I’m going to have to go with Diamonds, there is just something about how they sparkle.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? Beowulf. I didn’t really think it was that good, but the guys seemed to love it.
4. What is your favorite TV show? I love anything reality, as you may know from previous posts, but I also like The Office, 30 Rock and Criminal Minds.
5. What did you have for breakfast? Kashi cereal. High in protein and fiber. Yum-Yum
6. What is your middle name? Jane
7. What is your favorite cuisine? Mexican or American
8. What foods do you dislike? Onions. (I like them mixed in foods, but not on sandwiches or hamburgers.)
9. Favorite chips? Lays crinkle potato chips.
10. What is your favorite CD at the moment? I don’t know if I have a favorite CD right now, but what’s in my CD player is a book called Hattie Big Sky, which I am really enjoying.
11. What kind of car do you drive? A 2005 Honda Pilot.
12. What is your favorite sandwich? The Caputo from Tony Caputo’s. The Deli is located on 3rd West and 3rd South. If you are every in Salt Lake, you need to stop by and try it. It’s delicious.
13. What characteristics do you despise? Well despise is a strong word, but a characteristics I don’t like is when people don’t RSVP and when people are more than 15 minutes late. (I don’t like being late, but more than 15 minutes is just rude.)
14. What are your favorite clothes? Long shirts and Capri pants. For as long as I live, I will never let these go out of style.
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation? Fiji or Tahiti, one of those cool islands where the water is crystal clear and you can stay in those cool huts over the ocean.
16. Favorite brand of clothing? I don't mind any brand, as long as it fits and looks good.
17. Where would you want to retire? Utah for the summer, maybe Arizona for the winter. I’ll be snow bird.
18. Favorite time of day? I really like the hours between 7:00pm and when I go to bed.
19. Where were you born? Murray, Utah
20. What is your favorite sport to watch? Not a big sports fan. Unless I get invited to a live game I don’t watch sports.
21. Pepsi or Coke? I don’t like Pepsi or Coke, but I prefer Coke products to Pepsi products.
22. Beavers or duck? What???
23. Are you a morning person or a night owl? Night Owl
24. Pedicure or manicure? Pedicure. I love having cute toes.
25. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share? I saved a lot on car insurance…Ha-Ha. Just kidding, no nothing new.
26. What did you want to be when you were little? I don’t remember, probably a mom. 27. What is your best childhood memory? Not having a care in the world.
28. Piercing? Two in each ear, but I only wear earrings in one.
29. Ever been to Africa? No, but it would be cool to go on a safari.
30. Ever been toilet papering? Yes. Good times.
31. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, but it wasn't too bad. I was making a left turn to get on the freeway to go to St. George and I got hit on the front passenger’s side. Everyone was ok, so we just went and got a different car and headed to St. George a couple of hours latter.
32. Favorite day of the week? Our date night, which is Saturday, or any day I get to do something fun.
33. Favorite restaurant? Café Rio
34. Favorite Flower? Roses
35. Favorite ice cream? Mint mixed with oreos and caramel.
36. Favorite fast food restaurant? Apollo Burger
37. How many times did you fail your driver's test? Twice, can you believe it? I promise I’m a really good driver now. :-)
38. From whom did you get your last e-mail? Michelle (my dear friend)
39. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? I would never max out my credit card. I’m too frugal to do that. If someone was holding a gun to my head and told me to max out my credit card it would probably be at Target.
40. Bedtime? Usually around midnight.
41. Last person you went to dinner with? Mike
42. What are you listening to right now? The humming of the computer.
43. What is your favorite color? Green or Blue
44. Last movie you watched: Invisible. I usually just ignore flaws in movies, but this one had too many to count. I give it two thumbs down.

Christmas Lights

At the beginning of December my aunt and cousins invited me to go with them to see the lights at Temple Square. We had a fun filled night of shopping at Ikea, dinner at the Olive Garden and seeing the lights. We froze our buns off, but had lots of fun together.

Sister vs. Elder

So Mike and I have this ongoing bet of whose missionary homecoming talk is better. (Until recently I thought we were going to have to wait until we got to heaven to resolve this.) We both claim to have 1. brought most of the congregation to tears 2. received many, many compliments from ward members and 3. were asked to give the talk numerous times afterwards to different wards in the stake. Mike said he used note card for his talk, so there is no text copy of it. I wrote mine out word for word, so we do have a text copy, but it doesn’t do the talk justice, you can’t hear the emotion or feel the power coming from me while I’m speaking, so we could never be quite sure whose talk was better. However, today while I was looking in my mom’s closet, I found a tape labeled Suzie’s Homecoming Talk. Boy was I excited. I’m going to play it for Mike, so we can once and for all put this to rest. When he hears this talk, he is not going to be able to argue anymore. It has spirituality, comedy, heart-wrenching stories about faith and love, poems, quotes by famous church members and so much more. It is going to be so awesome, oh I can’t wait to rub it in his face.

PS. As I said, a text copy doesn’t do the talk justice but for those of you who are dying to read it, I can send you a copy. :-)

Black Friday

I’ve always heard about this shopping day and thought the people who would get up in the middle of the night to save a few bucks on Christmas presents were crazy, not to mention that these same people have to fight it out amongst other crazy people to be the first in line to get all these great Christmas deals. Little did I know it was actually quite fun and I think I’ll do it again next year. My sister-in-law, Pam invited me to go with her and her sisters. (It’s a family tradition for them.) Pam told me they had studied all the ads and had the whole day planned out of where we would go to find the best deals. At first I was a little hesitant, anyone that knows me, knows I am not a morning person and the idea of waking up at 3:00am to go shopping at Wal-Mart of all places, almost made me pass on the adventure, but I thought what the heck I need to try it at least once. We arrived early so that we could scope out the place and plant ourselves in front of the item we wanted most for when the sale started at 5:00am. There was a big group of us, so we all stood at different items so that one person could grab the item from everybody. I was right next to the item I wanted (I can’t tell you what it was because it is a present for someone who reads this blog) so that when the clock struck 5:00am, I could reach forward and grab it. I only panicked slightly, right at 5:00am when the crowd surged forward and I felt like I was going to be crushed on the floor of Wal-Mart against a cardboard display (that is not how I would like to die) but all was well and I was able to grab a few of the items for myself and those in my party and get out safe and sound. Pam and her sisters have it down to a science, so while everyone was grabbing items another person made there way up to the front of the store to get in line to check out, so that we could rush to our next store. (This experience was all new to me, but for you regular Black Friday shoppers I am sure you are thinking, what an amateur. Don’t worry I’m a quick learner and was ready at the next store.) After Wal-Mart we made our way over to Target. Unlike Wal-Mart though, Target is not open 24 hours, so you had to wait outside in the cold, since I already had my big ticket item, I stayed in my warm car until the store opened. However, when it did I made a mad dash inside. It was crazy, people were jammed packed in the aisles and the toy section, well forget about it, it was insane. Lucky for me, I was headed for the sporting goods section which wasn’t too bad. From Target we went to Smith’s Marketplace where the big shopping item there was socks for 50% off. Surprisingly socks and tights were on my list of things to buy, so I went to town. By the time we checked out it was 8:00am and I was dead tired. I parted ways with Pam and her sisters to go home and take a nap. Next year, I'll have more stamina and join them for the whole day. They didn’t finish until 3:00pm. Some of the other stores they visited were; Bed Bath and Beyond, Sears, Bath and Bodyworks, Shopko, Linens and Things, and I don’t know how many more. I added up my savings and it was over $125.00 and I was only buying for two people. I will definitely be back again next year to join with all the crazy people who shop on Black Friday.


I had a good experience, I just thought this picture was funny.

I got a Job

After staying home for a month, I decided I had too much time on my hands and needed to get out and do something, so I got a job. (I know what you’re thinking and yeah, I probably am crazy.) Anyway, after I made my list of requirements; that it be part time, I get to choose my hours, it's NOT retail and the job site be within 10 miles of our house, I found one that fit the bill, well actually Mike did. The old adage is true; it's not what you know, but who you know, because Mike got me a job working for DSD. It is so much fun to be able to work with him again, though we don’t car pool (his hours aren’t as flexible as mine and really, who wants to start work at 8:00 in the morning, not me) we do get to go to lunch together and I get to give him smooches at his desk when no one is looking.

Dinner Group Dinner

Instead of bringing dinner to us on Tuesday, Cassie invited us and the Barnes Family to dinner at her house. It was a lot of fun to get together, plus she made a delicious dinner. It was also fun to get to know everyone better too. I mean we deliver dinner every week to each other, so it was nice to be able find out more about everybody's family.

Hacking Estate

In May my Grandpa Hacking passed away. My aunt has been diligently working with the attorney to get his estate settled and in mid-October she invited each of the children (I was the representative for the Marilyn H Beesley Family) to attend an estate meeting. We discussed a whole bunch of things and were able to get a lot of questions answered and issues cleared up. It was a great experience to be with my uncle and aunts and to be able to discuss the wonderful legacy my grandpa and grandma left behind. The part I enjoyed the most was dividing up the household items. My aunt is purchasing my grandpa’s house, so a lot of the items will be staying there for us to continue to use and enjoy on our visits out to Vernal, but I was also able to take a few items that I could have at my house. I spent many wonderful days of my life playing in the house and on the farm with my cousins and enjoying the time with my grandma and grandpa. I wanted to be able to have a few items that would always remind me of those special memories. Here are a few of the treasures I picked out.

A Swiss bell from my Grandpa's collection.


Dolls (My Grandma crocheted the dress on the blond doll.)


My Grandma's writing desk.

Spooktacular Halloween Parties

Last weekend Mike and I went to two awesome Halloween parties (I know aren't we popular.) One was a wig party and one was a costume party. They were both lots of fun with socializing, games and yummy treats. The wig party was crazy because it was like you were meeting the same person twice in one night, the first time when they had their wig on and the second time when they took it off. It was really kind-of cool. Mike recycled his wig and used it for the costume party the next night too; he went as a Jamaican man! I went as a ghostbuster mechanic.

Alfredo Lasagna

I have been coming across some really yummy recipes and decided I would like to share them with all of you. I mean who can’t use more delicious recipes. The first one is from my friend, Lindsay Anderson. We went over to their house for dinner on Sunday and the meal was so scrumptious I had to get the recipe, it was Alfredo Lasagna.

2 – 16 oz jars Alfredo sauce
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon oregano
¼ cup finely chopped onion
10 oz Lasagna noodles
1 can artichoke hearts drained and chopped
2 - 4 oz can mushrooms
3 cups cooked chicken chopped (optional)
3 cups mozzarella
8 oz pkg Swiss cheese
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine Alfredo sauce, milk, oregano and onions in a bowl. Spread the mixture in a 9x13 pan. Layer noodles, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, (chicken) and cheese. Add layer of sauce and repeat all layers. Bake for 1 hour.

Girls Weekends Rock!

The Cousins: Angie, Jenn, Sally, Heather, Me and Lindsay

I went on another girls trip to St. George the second weekend of October. (FYI: You can never take too many girls trips. :-)) This time I went with my Beesley cousins. We shopped, layed out by the pool, played games, dined out, talked and talked and talked, went hot tubing, and just had a grand time.

Spooky Halloween Weekend

Mike and I had a fun filled Halloween weekend. On Friday night we went to the annual Beesley fondue/costume party. The food was delicious and those who came in costume looked great. Mariah and Nick didn't dress up, but claimed they were New Zealanders, since they are leaving for the island on Tuesday. (I'll let it slide this time, but if they come home and claim to be New Zealanders after a year long stay, they’re going to have to have better costumes.) Will dressed up as an army general, Rebecca was a Ghostbuster and the rest of us were duds and didn’t dress up at all. On Saturday night we carved pumpkins. I always try to crave a scary face, but I can never get the eyes quite right. Mike carved a Cyclops.

Free at Last

The MAN isn’t holding me down anymore, because I am no longer work for the MAN. :-) In 2002 I began my working career at Back to Basics and as of October 12, 2007, I finished my working career for Back to Basics. (It has yet to be determined if this is the end of my working career in general or if another company will have the privilege to be graced with my good attitude and hard work ethic.) At Back to Basics I started in customer service, transferred into accounting when a position opened up and have been working in sales, which I enjoyed the most, for the past three years. It has been a great company to work for and I'm going to miss it, but not too much, since after all it was a job. I am currently taking it easy at home and enjoying the life of a stay at home wife.

Wedding Bliss

Since the wedding was over a month ago, I thought I would post some pictures of the beautiful bride and handsome groom. The day was great and the dinner/reception was really fun. The Beesley and Barker siblings thoroughly embarrassed both Nick and Mariah during their part of the program, telling funny stories and revealing all the crazy things the other is going to have to learn to love or at least learn to live with. We wish them both much happiness and love throughout their life together.

A week in Paradise

No wonder they call it the rainbow state.

On Saturday Mike and I got home from our week long trip in Hawaii. We spent seven days on the island of Maui and enjoyed lots of fun in the sun. We did anything and everything that was touristy and had a blast. Some of the highlights were: We took a helicopter tour of west Maui and the island of Molokai. The view from up there was awesome, the coast-line and all the waterfalls were so beautiful. We went snorkeling on an excursion to Molokini and Turtle Town, however my favorite part about the whole excursion wasn’t the snorkeling but seeing dolphins. During the ride from Molokini to Turtle Town a pod of dolphins came and was swimming in front of the boat. They were jumping and playing in the water and it was so cool to see them. My favorite snorkeling spot was Kapalua Bay. We saw lots of fish and some sea turtles too. Mike had a great time playing in the ocean and built a rock alter to Neptune. One afternoon we got a couples massage in our room and it was very, very relaxing. If only I could get them to come to my house. One of the days we drove the road to Hana. I think you either really like it or hate it. I really enjoyed it. We had a CD that we listened to and a guide book pointing out all the hot spots. We did some hiking, swimming, jumping through waterfalls, seeing the beautiful beaches and just being with each other. Ahhhhh.


One of our earliest tours, it started at 2:45am, was watching the sunrise at Haleakala and then biking down the volcano. It was cold and rainy at the top of the mountain, but by the time we reached the bottom it was sunny and warm. We attended a Luau which was yummy and entertaining. They featured dancing from each of the different islands in the Pacific. Besides the fire dancing, which was awesome, I really liked the dances from New Zeland.

We ate at some delicious restaurants and had some great sea food. When we weren’t gallivanting around we were taking it easy at the one of the hotel swimming pools or on the beach.

Week in Hawaii

Friday - Flew to Hawaii. My luggage got lost. We ate dinner at Cool Cats Cafe and walked around Front St.
Saturday - Went to a timeshare presentation because they offered us $150 off the excursions we are going on. Hung out at the pool and the beach. Went to a Luau for dinner and entertainment.
Sunday - Drove to Hana (we should have started early). At the beginning of the drive we stopped and went hiking to a pool of water with a waterfall, we went swimming. We stopped at other sights along the way. When we arrived in Hana, we explored the pools and hiked down to the ocean. On the way back to our hotel, we found a yummy place for dinner, Paia Fish Market, where we ate really good fish tacos.
Monday - We explored the Whaler's museum, got massages in our room and spent the rest of the day at Kapalu Bay, where we played in the ocean and went snorkeling.
Tuesday - Helicopter ride, drove to IOA Valley and went to the Sugar Plantation Museum. Hung out at the pool and had the best pizza at BJ's Pizza.
Wednesday - Sunrise at Haleakala. Biked down the Volcano. We went to Black Rock Beach in the afternoon and went snorkeling and touch a sea turtle.
Thursday - Took a boat ride to do some snorkeling. It was overcast, so it was cold. Not a very good day to go snorkeling.
Friday - Flew Home.

The Biggest Loser

You may think I'm "the biggest loser" after I say this, but this show is great. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry (seriously I do every time I watch it.) It's also very inspiring. While watching the show I always feel the need to get up and do something active. Who said TV is making America fat?

Old Lane Get Together

Sarah, Alicia and Me in 1986


I had a final swim party and barbecue for the summer at my dad’s house last Saturday. This time it was a get together with some good friends from “the lane.” I grew up on a dirt lane in Draper. It sounds a little hill-billy and maybe it was, but I had some great times growing up together with the Taft’s, Glenn’s, Pholman’s, Hunsaker’s, etc… “The lane” has since been torn up and town homes now sit where our houses used to be, but we used to play and play for hours together running up and down the lane to each other’s house. We would go bum sliding in the ditch, play in the tree house and sandbox, hunt for grasshoppers in the fields, play kick ball and night games in our yards and lots of other fun that kids do. It was fun to get together and talk with everybody and find out where life has taken them and their families.


Jenni, Jake, Zane, Will, and Me in 1988

My Man!

MY MAN

I got this from Cassie's blog and thought it was fun.
Mike would have a cow if he found out I was posting all this information about him, but since he never reads my blog I should be ok. :-)


My Man:

1. Who is your man? Michael Stephen Slade

2. How long have you been together? 3 years and 1 month

3. Dating/Engaged/Married? Married

4. How old is your man? 28, same as me.

You or your man?

1. Who eats more? Mike. I can skip a meal and be ok, but he needs to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner or he gets too hungry. However, when he is playing computer games he can go a long time without eating.

2. Who said "I love you" first? Mike did.

3. Who weighs more? Mike and it better always stay that way.

4. Who sings better? Mike. However, I really like to sing, I’m just not that good.
5. Who's Older? Mike, by 37 days.

6. Who's smarter? Mike. I have a terrible memory and can't remember anything, so even if I am smarter I can't remember. :-)

7. Who's temper is worse? Definitely Mike. I'm sugar and spice and everything nice.

8. Who does the laundry? Me, but once in a while Mike will do it too.

9. Who does the dishes? Mike is supposed to do them since I cook, but sometimes they are still in the sink long after dinner is over.

10. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do.

11. Who's feet are bigger? Mike's

12. Who's hair is longer? Mine.

13. Who's better with the computer? That would be Mike.

14. Who mows the lawn? Mike does. He takes care of the outside of the house and we both take care of the inside. (I know I got a good thing going.)

15. Who pays the bills? That would be me.

16. Who cooks dinner? I do on Thursday's. But on Monday's Michelle does, Tuesday's Cassie does and Wednesday's Lindsay does. (I just love dinner group.) We eat left over, go out to eat or try to get an invite from one of our parent's on the other three days.

17. Who drives when you are together? Mike always does.

18. Who pays when you go out to dinner? Again, Mike always does.

19. Who's the most stubborn? Mike.

20. Who is the first one to admit when they're wrong? Me.

21. Who’s parents do you see more? That's a toss up. His parents live 15 minutes North of us and my dad lives 15 minutes East of us, so we see all of them a lot.

22. Who kissed who first? Mike kissed me first. I was leaving the next day on a 3 week vacation to China with my family so he had to get a kiss in before I left.

23. Who asked who out? We made a bet and I won, so he had to take me out to dinner. However, I think he knew the answer, but got it wrong on purpose so he could take me out.

24. What did you do? We went out to dinner at Chili's.

25. Who's more sensitive? I am of course. He's a guy, I'm a girl.

26. Who's taller? He is by 6 inches.

27. Who has more friends? I would say we both have about the same amount of friends.

28. Who has more siblings? He has one more sibling than I do. I have 2 brother and 2 sisters. He has 1 sister and 4 brothers. (Note: Mike is the baby of the family.)

29. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I would say I do and I don’t think Mike would disagree. I’m a pretty easy going person, but there are a few things I like to have go my way and I think Mike has learned that things are just easier if he will do what I want.

Ok, now it is your turn to copy and paste the questionnaire. I’d love to learn more about your other half.

10 Year High School Reunion

I attended my 10 Year High School Reunion last night. It was one of those things where I had to go. If I hadn't I would have always wondered what it was like and would have regretted not going. Needless to say after a half an hour of being there, I would have paid someone $50 to take me home. As rude as this may sound, I realized I don’t really care what people from high school are up to. However, give it another 10 years and I will have forgotten what it was like and want to go to the 20 year reunion. I’ll see you then.

A House Full of Toys

Well, maybe I shouldn’t go that far, but definitely more than we had a week ago, which was two stuffed animals. As I've said we don't have any children at our house so I never have had any toys to play with, so when kids do come over they get really, really bored. I finally decided that I needed to break down and go to the store and buy some toys, so last week I went on a little shopping spree and bought some. I purchased a Barbie doll and a My Little Pony (I was so glad to see those were still around), I got some blocks and puzzles and books. One of the best toys, in my opinion, is a city road map I got at Toys R Us. When I was a kid I remember playing cars with my brother on a piece of canvas my mom made with a city and roads drawn on it, so when I saw my friend’s son playing with one at their house I knew I had to get one of those too. (Thanks Michelle) To go along with the road map I had to buy some Hot Wheels cars, a truck and an airplane. I went a little crazy on the Hot Wheels because they were only 99 cents each. I also bought a cute Noah's Ark and Animals set off e-bay, so I think we’re set to entertain at least a couple of kids over at our house now.

High School Musical

I can officially say I’m cool now because I’ve seen High School Musical and High School Musical 2. We are really old fashion at our house because we don’t have cable and can’t keep up with all the hot new shows. However, I have been hearing a lot about these two and how good they are. My friend Michelle, who is a big fan, has the first one on DVD and the second one recorded on Tivo. We took two weekends and watched them while our husbands played WOW. They are both filmed in Utah, which is totally cool, the songs are catchy; I caught myself singing one in the shower the other day and as long as I am being honest, if I were 10 years younger I would think that Zac Efron is kind of cute with his shaggy hair.

Finishing the Basement

After Mike graduated from college in May I gave him the option of either finishing the basement or putting his accounting degree to good use and getting a job. Since he had quit working to go to school full time his last semester, I thought it would be a great time for him to finish our basement. He wasn’t committed to a job and I thought he could finish the basement and save us a little money by having him do the work and then after he finished he would start working again. Well a few months later with only the duct work and a little framing done we decided it would be easier for Mike to get a job and use that money to pay someone to finish the basement. Had I only known how easy and fast it was, I would have hired someone a long time ago to do it. I made a few calls a couple of weeks ago to get some quotes on framing and I found a company that would do it for $20 an hour per person, which to me seemed like a great deal. We set the date and they came out on today. They brought a group of five guys and you know what, they finished framing in one day. It is so awesome, I left for work in the morning and when I came home the basement was framed. I mean all this time I could have had a crew come out and finish it in one day. Oh well… The company also does drywall so you know I’ll be hiring them again soon.

Family Parties

Mike has a big family with lots of nieces and nephews. We don’t have kids and our house isn’t really kid proof, at least not for 19 of them, so we don’t host any at our house. However, I like to contribute to the family so during the summer time I volunteer my dad’s house (he has a swimming pool) for parties. This year we had three of them. And what family party is complete without eating? Correct Answer: They're not, so we always have a BBQ too. We had our final party on Labor Day. The day was nice and hot so the swimming was good, plus my dad’s pool doesn’t have that yucky bacteria in it, so no one had to worry about getting sick. The food was tasty too. We had lots of good stuff like corn on the cob, peach cobbler and homegrown tomatoes and watermelon. It’s so much fun and as we always say, the more we get together the happier we’ll be.

Boutonnieres

My sister is getting married tomorrow and my aunt and cousin are doing all her flowers; the bridal bouquet, the corsages and the boutonnieres. I went over to visit with them and they looked really busy, so I asked if they needed any help. My cousin said yes they did and asked if I would like to learn how to make a boutonniere. I have never put together any type of flower arrangement but thought it would be fun to learn, so I said yes and she taught me how to make one. I actually made a few of them including the one my husband wore for the wedding day and you know what it didn’t even fall apart. I wouldn’t say I’m ready for a wedding, but who knows maybe with a little more practice I might be. (Look out Rebecca.) :-)

(The picture is of one of the boutonnieres I made. Pretty good huh?)

Halloween in August?

I guess it is never too early in the retail market to capitalize on the Holidays. I went into the grocery store today to buy a summer basket and when I went down the seasonal/promotional aisle what did I see; pumpkins, ghost, spiders, tombstones and scary monsters. Gone were the plastic jugs with watermelons on them, cute colorful picnic ware and my summer basket. (I will say this, all the Halloween stuff was sooo cute and I really am excited to decorate, but we are still two whole months away. Let's enjoy September before we jump straight into October.) However, I guess if they have Christmas in July they can do Halloween in August.

Weather Station Clock

We have one of these cool weather station clocks in our house and we love it. Unfortunately it stopped working a while ago. First the outside temperature display stopped showing up. This was ok during the summer time, because everyday I knew it was going to be hot, hot, hot, but now that fall is approaching I’d really like to know the temperature outside so that I can dress and plan my day accordingly. Then a week or two ago the inside temperature display stopped working too, so now our weather station has just turned into a glorified clock, which is super boring, so we are going to buy another one at Costco. (Side note: They are building a new Costco about 10 miles from our house, it's scheduled to be finished Spring 2008. Needless to say we are really excited.)

Yummy Summer Dessert

Mike and I went to a BBQ last night and were in charge of bringing a dessert. I got this yummy ice cream sandwich recipe from a friend and everybody loved it. It’s really easy to make so I thought I would share. Enjoy!

Ice Cream Sandwich Dessert

½ cup fudge topping (warmed)
16 oz cool whip (thawed)
1 small package chocolate pudding
12 oreo cookies (chopped)
12 ice cream sandwiches (unwrapped)

Mix together ½ cup fudge topping, 2 cups cool whip, dry pudding mix and oreo cookies.
Place 4 of the ice cream sandwiches, side-by-side, on a piece of tin foil. Spread the cool whip mixture on top of the ice cream sandwiches. Repeat layers. Top with remaining 4 ice cream sandwiches. Frost the top and sides of the dessert with remaining whipped topping. Freeze at least 4 hours before serving.

The Woes of a Warcraft Widow

It’s a hard life being the wife of a "gamer." My husband loves playing computer games and before he started playing the latest one called World of Warcraft(WOW), I was warned by some girlfriends to NOT under any circumstances let my husband start playing. Did I listen? No. Do I wish I would have? Yes. He plays it all the time. While I was in Europe, he told me he played the game for 30 straight hours, no shower, no sleeping, just a little food and water so that he could keep his strength up to move his fingers across the keyboard. My friend’s husband also plays the game and sometimes he and Mike even play together, so at least we have each other for support. Someday I’ll get my husband back. For those of you whose husbands love computer games and haven’t discovered WOW yet, consider yourself warned.

She sure is a pretty bride!

My sister, Mariah, got her bridal pictures taken last week at the Great Salt Lake and oh my gosh, they turned out gorgeous. She took Rebecca and I as her entourage. We were there to make sure she looked beautiful. We checked her hair to make sure every strand was in place, we held her bouquet and veil when she didn't need them, we fluffed her train to make it look pretty, etc... She looked lovely and the pictures turned out great.

Girl's Camp

I have loved attending girl’s camp ever since I went my first year when I was twelve. This year going as a leader was no different. I loved it! It is such a wonderful experience to be able to reflect on God and my relationship with him, enjoy nature and bond with the girls in our young women group. There were 19 girls and 7 leaders that attended. Our camp director did a great job planning the activities, crafts, food etc… Our camp site was located in a beautiful meadow with the mountains on one side and a river on the other. It was so nice to go to sleep each night to the sound of the river. The morning we left for camp we made a stop at Snowbird first to do some fun activities. We all went on the zip line and alpine slide.
One of my favorite things to do at camp was getting the river. Almost every night it rained, so in the morning the temperature was comfortable, however by the afternoon we were all hot. It was fun to play in the water. The girls taught me a new game called, Little Sally Walker. How the game is played is someone stands in the middle and everyone sings a song about a girl named Sally Walker. The song explains that Sally is walking down the street and doesn’t know what to do, so the person in the middle has to do something. They stand in front of someone else while they are doing it (the girls favorite thing to do in the water was to dunk themselves) and then that person has to repeat it and then it is there turn to be in the middle. I also loved singing camps songs and could even remember most of the words. We did lots of other fun things too like having a water fight, playing games (Mad Gab was a favorite), painting fingernails and I enjoyed lounging around in my lawn chair reading my book, etc…
It was a great experience to be with the girls and each one of them impressed me so much.

And then there were Three (Books that is)

The stars were aligned Monday for the release of Eclipse. I was getting myself all hyped up for the party that night at Barnes and Noble when my friend called me with some awesome news. She had gone into Desert Book to buy some missionary supplies when she saw the book on display. Like a light shining in the darkness, there it was. The store had received their copies that day and was setting them out early. She called and asked me if I wanted her to buy me one. Hello, of course I did. I left work, went straight to my friend’s house to pick up the book and went home and started reading it. I read until it was time to go to the party. I didn't really need to attend the release party since I already had my book, but I still thought it would be fun, so I went with some friends who are twilight junkies like me. The party was tons of fun. Barnes and Noble had some games. We played them all and I won something at every one of them. (I told you the stars were aligned.) First we played Alice Bingo. If you won you had to shout out Alice. I got “Alice” when they called out Italy. Next we played pin the tail on Jacob. The gist of this game was you had three chances to shoot a tart gun and hit a bullseye, which by the way is where his tail would have been. My first shot was too high; the second shot was too low. My third shot, hit the bullseye. I won a cute little stuffed wolf. On the trivia game, I technically missed two questions; however I'm only counting it as one, because I think the girl marked my key incorrectly. She said I missed the question; Which of Edward's sister's doesn't like Bella? I mean who doesn’t know that, it is so obvious. The answer is Rosalie. Anyway I got a cool Edward tattoo for playing. The last game we played was pictionary. I had to draw, Alice, Eclipse, Clock Tower and Florida. After the 4th draw it was tied 2 to 2. My team won with my awesome sketch of Bella's truck. By this time it was approaching midnight, so we got in line to buy the book. There were at least 300 people there, so I was glad we were in the front of the line. We had a lot of hard core fans in our group so we ended up buying eight books. When I got home I read until 3:00 am. I put my day off to good use and nearly finished the book. I'm all done now and can't wait for number four.


Eclipse Groupies

Release of Eclipse

I'm even more excited for the release of Eclipse than I was about the last Harry Potter book. I am counting down the days until 12:01 am on August 7th when I can buy Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer, the third book in the Twilight Series. I have pre-ordered my book from Barnes and Noble and will be attending the Eclipse release party from 10:00pm until Midnight on August 6th. I even took the day off of work on August 7th, so I can sit home all day and read about Edward and Bella. People, these books are AWESOME and if you haven't read them you really should.

Paris

Here is the final installment of our trip to Europe.

Paris was our second stop and my second favorite city. My all time favorite site of the trip was here in Paris too and that was the Palace of Versailles. To get prepared for our trip and to brush up on our French History we rented the movie, Marie Antoinette. Ha-ha (We actually did watch the movie, but I’m not sure how historically accurate it was.) Anyway, Versailles was AWESOME! Pictures and the movies don’t do it justice. The palace sits on over 200 acres and most of it seemed to be landscaped with gardens, fountains and reflecting pools. The Palace was beautiful and so grand and exquisite. It was really interesting to learn about the history. Did you know that in the French Court, the courtiers would come into the King and Queen's bedroom each morning to watch them wake up? That would creep me out to have people watching me wake up but I guess that is part of being royalty, always being in the public eye. We had the chance to take a tour of the palace and walk around the grounds and as I said, it was just beautiful.

Chateau De Versailles
Mariah in the Hall of Mirrors

Rebecca overlooking one of the many gardens

A Statue of Elegance: Do you think I could pass as a beautiful masterpiece?

Some other famous sites we visited were the Cathedral of the Notre Dame. What an amazing building. It took over 200 years to build it. The carvings on the outside of Saint’s and Biblical characters were incredible. The whole church is like one huge masterpiece.

Notre Dame de Paris

Some of the statues of Saint's on the outside of the Cathedral

So Scary! Rebecca and I posing like gargoyles.

We also took a night river cruise down the Seine River, which runs through the heart of Paris, and saw the city all lit up. We passed the Louvre and the Gare d’Orsay, however the best part about the river cruise was seeing the Eiffel Tower. At night the Eiffel Tower is lit up, but ever hour on the hour for 10 minutes it sparkles. It was beautiful.

At the Eiffel Tower

Of course while we were in Paris we went shopping and ate lots of yummy breads and pastries. My favorite being the crepes filled with chocolate, just thinking about them makes my mouth water. They were delicious.

Ode to Harry Potter

Well, the day is finally upon us. At 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 21st the 7th (and final) Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released. I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I am a super big fan of Harry Potter and can’t wait to find out if he defeats the evil Lord Voldermort once and for all. I have seen Harry grow up right before me, from a young boy who knew nothing about magic to a great wizard and it brings a tear to my eye. :-) I have loved the series but am glad this is the final book. There are many things I want to finish before I die and one of them is to find out what happens to Harry Potter, so now I can finally cross this off my list. If you need me this weekend, I’m sorry but I will be immersed in the wonderful world of Harry Potter.