Just me and my 'Ohana: February 2009

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Happy Birthday Mommy!

Happy Birthday to my mom, Kathy. I hope you had a nice day. Go here for last year's post and pictures. Thanks for all you do for us. I love you mommy!!!

P.S. I found your present...

Sunday, February 22, 2009

I am such a blog slacker and a bad friend. I owe Alicia a post for her birthday weeks ago. Alicia is actually Summer's friend from childhood but she is like one of the family. We call her our surrogate sister. She has been a huge support through a lot of crap that has gone on and she has tolerated a lot of crap from a certain someone that a person shouldn't have to tolerate. And surprisingly enough, she still comes around. Luckily, she is able to "consider the source!" Anyway, here are some things I love about Alicia:

She is funny
She has good advice
She's a good people person
You can call her anytime - just to vent
She's good to be with at a party
She'll never let me live down the "Colorado" era
She can laugh at any bad situation and make you laugh at your own bad situations
She will call people for you and do things you don't dare do yourself
She can totally prepare you for a job interview
She can relate to dealing with "crazy people"
She is a good listener
She will return things to the store when you don't want to do it yourself
She's outgoing and friendly
She can do the heimlich on herself

And, since this is so late, I already know she had a great birthday and an awesome party to boot. Who could ever forget...Bob Dole, Ford Fusion from the failing Ford franchise, and "so nobody will eat them?" Scattegories rocks!!!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Flashback Friday

Remember on February 8, 2009 when I posted a "pay it forward" posting. I remember thinking it was a fun idea and I wanted to be one of the first three to comment on my sister-in-law's post. I happened to be the first one and it was within minutes of her posting, so I therefore thought, it must be fate or for a super important reason or something! Then, I posted mine and got one fellow blogger lady (whom I've never met) to comment and then no one else! Remember that time? Ya, that was awesome. I really felt the love. Yep.I.was.feeling.it!

I remember thinking to myself "Why doesn't anyone else want to participate?" All the other people had people racing to comment on their blogs. I felt the entire gamut of emotions...sad, unloved, rejected, angry, dissed, pathetic. Ya know, the girl that no one thinks of...the one that's easily forgotten. That's me. Takes me back to elementary school wherein I was the last one chosen for every sports event. I was the untalented, uncoordinated, ugly girl with ugly clothes. Yep, I went there. I went to that place. Deep, deep down...and...I cried. Just kidding. I didn't cry, but I wanted to.

I just wonder why? Why is it that my pay it forward didn't work?

I guess I should really look on the bright side of things, ya know, the positive side. Now...I don't have to worry about what to send anyone. Except for my one lady who commented who has yet to give me her address. I don't have to pay it forward cuz there is no one to forward to! Does that still count as paying it forward? I mean if you try and it fails, then you're done, right? You still get the pleasure of feeling good, feeling as if you served, feeling like you made a difference, feeling like you really paid it forward!

Has this happened to anyone else or is this simply reflective of my life?

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Be the ball...and now it's over!

Hudson decided at the last minute (meaning a teensy bit after the sign-up deadline) that he wanted to play basketball this year. I was really surprised because I have been asking him consistently for the last couple of years if he wanted to play and he consistently said no. I only wanted him to play because #1 it doesn't interfere with soccer, #2 he's tall, and #3 all mormon boys play basketball and I didn't want him looking like a tall kid that should play and then doesn't know how to play. Ya know what I mean?

I guess he and some friends had been playing basketball at recess and he decided it was actually fun. Anyway, we got him signed up and he got super lucky to play with his friends from school, Logan and Kaden as well as his longtime friend Josh! We got even more lucky when Josh's dad decided to assistant coach! So, basketball season...we're happy. Soccer this year...not so much! But, I'm trying really hard to be more positive so I will refrain from talking about the soccer fiasco of 08-09! Here are some pictures from basketball and I realize they aren't good.

Now by the time I got these pictures ready to go with this post...basketball season is over! I am so lame! Better late than never...right? That's my motto. They should put it on my headstone. I'll probably be late to heaven...or hell! Okay, focus! Back to the post.

Hudson and his three friends!!!

Hudson shooting a free throw

Josh shooting a free throw

Friday, February 13, 2009

Flashback Friday

This memory takes place in college maybe 1990 or so. I had to take a weights class and I was one of four girls in the entire class. You'd think that'd be cool, right. I mean good odds and all. But, no. No hot guys (in case you were wondering). And after this story you'll see why I was glad there weren't any.
The class took place on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We each doubled up with partners to do the workouts we were required to do. We go to the bench press to do it for the very first time. The other two girls and then myself and my partner. The two girls each take their turns. It's all good. My partner takes her turn. That's good too. I go to take my turn. I lay my little self on the bench and grab hold of the bar with weight on it and push with all my might...grunt...the bar doesn't move! Not only doesn't it move...it doesn't even budge! The teacher takes off the weights. So, we're talking bar only...no weights. (I think it was 40-50 pounds.) I try again with all my might...grunt! The bar still.does.not.move! Then, the teacher says in partial disgust with a hint of snickering, "I'm sorry but you're going to have to use these special weights over here until you work up to benching the bar only." So...I got to start out benching like twenty pounds on the special bars. How humiliating! Not only was I the only person in class that couldn't bench the bar, but I was the only girl that couldn't bench the bar. I felt so stupid and weak and embarrassed. To my credit, I have always been small on top (and large on the bottom) and very, very weak. I have never had any upper body strength at all. So, this was actually no surprise. Also...I was only 19!

Another story from my weights class happened on a Tuesday when our teacher made my partner and I hold weights and do 300...oh ya you read it right...300 calf raises off a step. (Have you ever tried it? Don't.) The next day (was a Wednesday and we didn't have class) I couldn't get out of bed or stand without severe pain in my calves. I could barely walk. It was more like a hobble. The pain was like nothing I had experienced before. I had to pump the advil all day. But, I still got up and hobbled my butt all over campus and attended all my classes. On Thursday when we went back to weights class (with sore calves...still), my partner and I talked about how sore we both were. She was so sore that she didn't even go to school on Wednesday at all! She had to stay in bed all day. I'm gonna wager that the guy didn't know what he was doing. Shouldn't a weights teacher be some type of personal trainer or at least have a degree in exercise science or something like that?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Happy Birthday Papa Bill

Happy Birthday to my daddy! I hope he had a wonderful day! Any birthday is better than last year's birthday wherein he spent a week in the hospital and almost died ON his birthday! So, here's to another year! Love you daddy. Click here for last year's tribute.

I know. I know. Some people (cough...Summer) think it's lame that I am not doing a long birthday post of awesomeness for every person this year. But, let's face it. Unless said people are blogging and doing the other crazy things I'm doing, they can't be having an opinion. Keeping up on everything is hard. Also, I can't get pictures on here fast enough so sometimes blogging is just annoying.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Pay it forward!

I saw this post on my sister-in-law's blog and thought it sounded like fun. When I saw that I had 365 days to actually do it I figured it was totally do-able. Can't wait to make something fun and creative (ha! we'll see how that turns out...don't get too excited)

{The Rules}

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER...Pay it forward!

P.S. If you are one of the first three and don't have a blog to post on I have come up with a wonderful idea. Take the next three friends that call you just to chat and Pay It Forward to them! Then challenge them to do the same :)

Let's help make this a wonderful world to live in and show our friends how much we care for them :)

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Utes were sugarific, baby!!!

We watched the sugar bowl with our favorite Ute fans. This time there were a ton of Marchants. Kyle's three sisters, a brother and sister-in-law, a brother-in-law and some nieces and nephews. Oh ya, Deann, Brianna, Zoe, Austin and the Morgans were there too.

I ran to the grocery store and when I came back, Mikaela had helped the boys do this to their faces. Now that's Ute spirit!

Here's a picture of the food table. We had homemade cafe rio for dinner. Tamra strategically placed the hand sanitizer at the beginning of the table. She had high hopes. I've mentioned before that Tamra and I compliment each other well. I asked her what I could bring to this little shin dig and she, of course, wanted me to bring nothing. I got an idea late in the day to make homemade guacamole because they don't really like avocados at their house and I figured that would be something they wouldn't have. I had no idea what was on the menu and when I arrived she did have guacamole but it was store bought and Austin had complained a tiny bit about it. So, I showed up with the homemade stuff and it complimented her meal well. She went to a lot of work and it was delish!