IDAHO HAS MORE THAN JUST POTATOES

Thursday night my mom and I took off and headed north. In December my sister, Angela, and her family moved to Idaho Falls. I had not been up there to visit her yet so my mom and I were going up to spend the weekend.

They have a brand new, beautiful home and 3 of the cutest kids ever. We had a really good time except for the fact that Angela and Dallin were not feeling well most of the time.

My mom and I got there late Thursday night. Friday we packed picnic lunches and went over to the falls (which I just learned are actually a hydroelectric power generator) by the temple. There are grassy areas and picnic tables all around the falls. After lunch we got to have snowcones. Tigersblood is my favorite. YUM!! (It reminds me riding my bike with my dad and sisters over to the Shopko parking lot in Sandy for snowcones). After lunch we went to feed the canadian geese. The kids loved that but we all ended up with duck poop all over our shoes.

Saturday my mom and I took Dallin and Jesika to the Tautphaus Zoo where we saw the baby penguins, watched an Animal Encounters show "around the world in 20 minutes where they told us about a lot of animals from around the world. After the show, the kids were able to touch the different animals and have their pictures taken. Then we went to lunch at McDonald's and then went back to our hotel to take the kids swimming.

Sunday I went to church with Tom and Jesika while my mom stayed home with Angela, Dallin and Bridger. Then our little Idahoan adventure came to an end and it is back to life in the real world.

TO CATCH A BOUQUET

In my last entry I mentioned that my sister just got married making me the last remaining single in my family. Most of my friends are married, as are all of my cousins older than me and several of the younger ones. Anyway, my point is that I think it is about my turn, so I was determined to catch the bouquet this time around (understanding, of course that the whole "catching the bouquet" thing is purely superstition and is not a guarantee). However, I figure that I can use all the help that I can get, superstitious or not.

Let me set the stage...............It was the summer of 1999. I was 22 and had been home from my mission for only a couple of months and my oldest sister was getting married. She and I had it all planned. She was going to toss the bouquet right to me. So bouquet tossing time arrives and there was a whole herd of single gals crowded together just hoping and wishing and wishing and hoping that they would be the lucky catchee, thus increasing their chances for an opportunity to tie the knot, but I had insider information. I was going to be the lucky one that night, or so I thought. In case you hadn't noticed, I am not the tallest person in the world measuring in at 5' nothing on a good day. My sister turned around, wound up, and the bouquet went flying. It was right on track, coming straight towards me when my 14 year-old cousin, Cheryl (who has several inches on me) practically tackled me to secure a nice catch of the bouquet. Needless to say, I was not happy.

Okay, so back to present day 2007...........Cheryl was in London and would not be attending this wedding celebration, however her sister Lindsay was going to be there and is one of the only other singles girls that I knew I had to worry about as competition for said bouquet. We had a family reunion the Monday before the wedding and I had a serious talk with Lindsay about the bouquet tossing. She agreed that although she towers over me, she would let me catch it. So the time came for the "tossing of the bouquet" and they called for all single girls. My cousin Lindsay and I ended up being the only ones up for the toss. I am pleased to report that I am the proud new owner of a beautiful bouquet.

Maybe now after I make a wish upon a star, throw some salt over my shoulder and throw a nickle in a wishing well I might actually meet my prince charming. . . I will keep you posted. ( **Posted** No pun intended).

TWO WEDDINGS AND A BAPTISM

Exciting.. My first official blog post!!
The last two weeks have been super fun. It all started on the 4th of July. My day-off began with me sleeping in, followed by some poolside reading. FABULOUS!! After a couple of hours at my pool I went with my parents to the airport to meet my sister Laura and her family who had just arrived from Oklahoma. From the airport we headed south to the Marriott Residence Inn out in Sandy where we met up with my for other sister Angela and her family who were also in town from Idaho Falls. We couldn't even get to our hotel because Sandy City had blocked off all of the streets surrounding our hotel for the Sandy City parade. We finally convinced some of the police officers to let us through so that we could get to our hotel. After dinner we just walked outside and had fabulous seats for the parade. The kids loved it and collected lots of candy, to their parents dismay. I had to work on Thursday morning, but that afternoon I met my mom and my 3 sisters at the Brickhouse Day Spa & Retreat for an afternoon of pampering.
Friday was the big wedding!! My baby sister, Debra, married Ryan S. Wing on 07-06-07. It was truly the wedding of a princess complete with a tiara and the horse and carriage.
There was the ceremony followed by pictures and ended with the wedding dinner. Friday night after the wedding we (everyone but the newlyweds) drove to Richfield.
Saturday was nasty in Richfield. The whole town was raining ash from the Milford Flat fire and the air was dark and kind of creepy. That afternoon my oldest niece, Halee, was baptized on her 8th birthday. She wanted to do it out here so that more of her family could be there.
Later that night I went to a wedding reception for Cody Quarnberg, a friend from high school. His dad is in the stake presidency with my dad. It was fun to see him. I probably haven't seen him in 10+ years.
I had to come back to SLC Sunday night to work. I left work on Wednesday afternoon to go back to Richfield and spend the rest of the week with my adorable nieces and nephews. Thursday we went swimming at the Salina pool. The kids loved the slide. My dad spent about an hour at the bottom just catching kids. Angela and her kids had to leave on Friday afternoon. On Saturday we took a picnic up the canyon to Monrovian Park and played in the stream. My dad made fishing poles (a stick with some string on it) for the girls and Jarrett loved throwing rocks in and watching them splash. I was nice to be able to cool off a tiny bit. Saturday night my mom and I went to see Harry Potter. (Didn't love it). It is becoming too dark and evil for my liking.
It is sooo much fun to spend time with my family. We have so much fun together.

*****Okay, so I am new at this and I think this entry might have too much unnecessary info that might have made it boring. I will work on this and try to do better next time. *****

READY OR NOT, HERE I COME......

I have finally succumbed to all of the pressure to join the world of bloggers. I have resisted until now knowing that I am not as witty as many of my "blogger friends" whose stories are very entertaining and also fearing that do not have anything exciting to comment on.

My baby sister just got married, followed by my nieces baptism. All of my family was in town for these events, so I figured that now would be a good time to start my blogging. I can probably come up with a few exciting stories and a couple of photos, but after blog #1, the good stories might be few and far between. So here goes nothing. . . . . . . .