A HOOVER'S VIRGIN

I spent Memorial Day weekend with in Richfield with my parents. Our original plan was to spend Saturday at Bryce Canyon, but due to "inclement weather" we changed to plan B which was to just be lazy and not do much of anything while listening to the rain.

However, my mom had been craving a hamburger from HOOVER's in Marysvale, UT. She has never really been a big fan of red meat, so when I heard that SHE was craving a hamburger, I knew they must really be good. We drove over there for a burger and some "hoover fries" (homemade fries) and I have to say that they are THE BEST HAMBURGERS IN UTAH, maybe even the world. (sorry for any "Five Guys" or "In 'N Out" fans).

On Monday, it had stopped raining and had cleared off, so we decided to head back down to Marysvale. They have a bike/walking trail that parallels the Sevier River. My dad took his bike and my mom and I walked the 6.63 miles. (Yep, I want credit for even the .63) My dad rode past us a couple of times and brought us water. The weather was perfect. It would get a little bit warm and then the sun would go behind the clouds and there would be a nice breeze for a minute or two. The scenery of Big Rock Candy Mountain is beautiful and listening to the rushing river was nice. So other than a couple of blisters it was great. My dad had picked up the truck and met us at the end of the trail.

After burning all of those calories and working up an appetite, we went back to HOOVERS. Although my mom and I split a hamburger and fries, we probably cancelled out all of the calories that we had just burned, but it was worth it!!! YUM.

How I have never known about or been to HOOVERS in the past, I don't know???

MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND

This post is a little belated, but better late than never, right?

On May 9th my sister Debra & her husband Ryan were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple. Not only was it great to have the whole family in town, but it was fabulous to all be in the temple together, including all of Ryan's family. I don't think that my mom could have asked for a better Mother's Day present.

I had been sick all week and hadn't slept for about 4 nights. I still was not feeling great, but was glad that I was able to join in all of the festivities.

My sisters and I (the orginial family) spent all day Friday with my parents shopping, errands, shopping and eating. Saturday was mostly spent at the temple. My dad, Laura and I dropped off Debra & my mom at the temple and then we went over to the conference center to take a tour of the gardens on the roof. Then we went back to the temple to join everyone else. After the temple, we all went to Rodizio Grill for dinner and ate way too much!

Angela & Tom drove back to Idaho on Saturday. Then Sunday morning I went with my parents & Debra to take Laura to the airport to fly back to Oklahoma. After dropping Laura off we went back to Temple Square and attended "Music & The Spoken Word" with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Temple Square Orchestra. Debra also found some time in her busy schedule to squeeze in some more time with her sister. I took off a few hours off at at work on Monday to do some shopping with Debra at the Gateway before she flew home on Tuesday.

MORE ON COMMON SENSE

.....or morons with no common sense.

Maybe this post doesn't have as much to do with common sense as just an observation of the "changing of the times."

One day I might say to my children (if I ever have any, but we'll save that one for a whole separate post), that when I was a child, people could actually do math......without a calculator. Yes, can you believe it!

I love the strange looks I get when I go to check out at a store and my purchase comes to $16.53 but I hand the clerk $22.03 so that I can get $5.50 back. I don't like pennies and I don't like $1's. So I can get rid of some of these and not get any back as change.

However, this really confuses this new generation of kids. They always try to give me back the $2 and just use the $20. All they have to do is punch the number into the cash register and it does the math for them. It tells them exactly how much they should give me back.

Maybe I am the strange one here, and nobody else does this. I don't know??

People don't count money back to you anymore either. They just hand it to you, and half the time you have to pick up your own change out of that dispenser shoot. Maybe they don't know how to count back change or maybe it is just laziness.

PAPER (FABRIC) OR PLASTIC??

First, I just want to say that this post was in no way influenced by "EARTH DAY," nor am I campaigning for any environmental cause. This is strictly an observation that makes me wonder about the common sense of some people.

As I am sure you know, right now there is a big push to buy and reuse fabric grocery bags in place of using so many plastic bags in an attempt to help the envrionment.

I continue to use the plastic sacks. (but I believe that I am still a good person).

Okay so here is what baffles me........

In high school I worked at a grocery store. Before working the customer service/video rental counter, I was a "bagger," and I think I was a pretty good one at that. What I don't understand is ........ if we are using way too many plastic sacks, why is there no effort being made by the store's baggers to use less bags??

I try my very best to help out the baggers by grouping all of my items as I pull them out of my cart. I put all of the produce, cans, boxes, chips, non-food items, etc. together to try and make things easier.
So why is it that..........

• my hamburger buns were in a bag getting smashed with an onion and a bottle of salsa
• there were only 3 items in said bag.
• one bag only had a box of crackers and some cheese in it.
• one bag only had a box of Q-tips in it....I get the whole "don't combine non-food items with food" thing, but I really don't think Q-tips will contaminate a box of Rice-A-Roni??

Are ya kiddin' me??? I could have fit everything that I bought tonight in 1/2 (or less) than the number of bags that I brought home AND I wouldn't have flattened hamburger buns or smashed chips.

MALE VS. FEMALE

There are mainly 3 times in life when I wish I were a man......

CAMPiNG, HAiR & SHOPPiNG

The CAMPiNG part is pretty self-explanatory and mostly has to do with the plumbing differences, but also involves the HAiR issue. Guys can just throw on a hat and look cute. Many girls can also do the hat thing, but not me!! If a guy has hair issues (thinning, bald spots, weird calics, etc) he can just shave it off. I have actually had that hairdo and it is a pretty sweet one as far as maintenance goes, but I don't think that guys really dig bald chics.

As for the SHOPPiNG thing, I spent today in Park City at the outlets and like MOST of my shopping experiences, I found myself walking around, going into EVERY store, trying on MANY clothing items and returning home with not much to show for the 4 hours or so spent. I am trying to do my part to stimulate the economy and am willing to throw money at anyone that will make some clothing items that I want to and can wear.

(**I get ADD with long postings, so I will try to keep this one as short as possible**)

Maybe I am wrong (I don't have a brothers, a husband or any little boys running around), but from how I see it, shopping would be a lot easier and more successful if I were a guy. Aside from small differences, men's styles haven't changed that much, but the styles for women seem to change every season. For starters that means that to be in style, I have to buy a new wardrobe every year. The G's add a whole extra layer of complication to this whole process that I don't think affect the male wardrobe much.

SWiMWeAR--
Aside from the Speedo, guys don't have to worry about exposing too much of themselves to the world in their swimwear. A guy can just grab a pair of board shorts, throw on some flip-flops and is ready for the beach or pool at a moments notice. Ladies, on the other hand, have certain areas in which a razor might be appreciated before being pool ready. It is also a difficult task to find a swimsuit to accomodate my top half without too much hanging out and still fitting everywhere else.

CHURCH CLOTHeS--

I get that guys don't enjoy wearing a tie, but every Sunday morning I wake up....oh how I wish I could just throw on a button up shirt, some pants and pick a tie....any tie. Same outfit, different tie and BAM....next week you have a whole new ensemble.

eVeRYDAY CLOTHeS--

Be it summer or winter, a guy can pair a button up, polo or t-shirt (or a combination) with dress pants, khaki's, jeans or shorts and there you have it. They don't have the following issues to deal with:
--Is this shirt cut too low (would I have to find another shirt to wear under it)?
--Does this shirt have too wide of a neck or go too low in the back?
--Is this skirt too short?
--Are these shorts long enough? and the list goes on......

My last issue for this post is the generational clothing dilema. As a man, most clothing options are the same whether you are 12, 25, 40 or 60. As a female though, it is much different. You can either dress way too young for your age like the high school girls, like your mother, or grandmother. Sometimes it is hard to find anything in between.