Date Night Gone... Wrong?

Do you ever have a day that just doesn't seem to turn out right?? Ugh. We do.

Every Friday Jon and I try to do something specifically together, sort of like a ... date, I guess. Since we spend like EVERY day together on summer break, it's funny that we make such a big deal of our date night. Last week we made plans for tonight to go to the canyons and have tin foil dinners. I got super excited and made yummy food. We even packed up and got on the road early so that we'd have time to cook the dinner and play in the mountains for a while.
Then reality set in. We live FOREVER away from the canyons now. When we finally got to the mouth of the canyon, it was closed for construction. After finding an alternate route, every campsite was either full or a watershed, so no dogs allowed. (Dang that dog.) So we drove to Big Cottonwood Canyon ... but on the way Jon decided that it was probably going to be the same story. So we drove to Flat Iron Mesa Park to cook our food on a grill... it was all full too! So we found a fire pit at Draper Park, built a fire, and ate dinner around 8:30 p.m. THEN the sprinklers nearby came on, forcing us to rush through our meal and get outta there before we got wet.
So date night was a little less than ... romantic. But the food was good and we laughed a little. Even better news though, is that when we got home I logged in to my crazy blog and VOILA!!! My blog spottings are back. A day can't be all bad, right?

I love my friends...

I have a group of friends that is a very unique, hilarious, sometimes bizarre group of people. We met nearly ten years ago at Ricks College when we were studying Print Journalism (or just working for the paper). We're called "Scrollies" because the paper we all slaved away at was called "The Scroll".
Anyway, it's pretty amazing that we became friends then because the only thing we had in common was the paper. It's even more incredible that ten years later we still get together and laugh our heads off. Here's a pic of four of us who got together for dinner at my house. (Me, Hil, Ashlee, Taralyn, and Baby Lily the future Scrollie of America).

I love you girls! You make my life richer, funnier, and all-around better. Hil, we'll miss you much. But now we'll have a chance to see you in Texas!

Holy $&%^$%*&$

Ahhhh! Help help help! I was just playing with a few things on my blog, but because it's WAY past my bedtime, I just erased everything. The cute layout and header that cute friend Mindy did are gone. And so are my "Blog Spottings". What can I do to get them back? Anything? Well, I guess if you want to be on my blog list, leave a comment so I can remember what you blog name is. Man, this is what I get for not going to bed. Grrrr....

Crazy Summer

Hey Y'all! I have been super busy with traveling and meetings for the upcoming school year. But I wanted to blog a bit about my fabulous trips, one of which took me to the far reaches of ... Texas.


About 4 years ago I was completely ready to move to Houston, Texas to (according to my five-year plan) do my student teaching, get a lucrative teaching job, meet a cowboy, and settle down to make cute little babies with accents. Then a crash with a semi truck changed that life plan in an instant. I'm glad it did because Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc down yonder. Oh, and I met Jon and now we're very happy. Anyway, all those memories came back to me late last month.

My school sent seven of us teachers to Austin to be trained on what I am convinced will change the face of education as we know it. I absolutely ate up all the information they shot at us with a firehose. Whoa... my head is still spinning. To counteract the effects of so much information, we "Utahns" had some fun in downtown Austin when we got a chance. My camera died (see the next post) so I didn't get many pictures. They're still coming from my friend Daphne. But I wanted to tell you some fabulous things I discovered there:
1-Everyone is SUPER nice in Texas.
2-Just because they call you ma'am doesn't mean they think you look old. Everyone is ma'am.
3-The weather is absolutely insane. We were battling the inland effects of a hurricane, so I understand it was crazier than normal, but I now know where the phrase "raining cats and dogs" came from. WHOO-EEE!
4-Even when it's not raining in Texas, you feel like you're swimming in the air. It's SO thick. But it did wonders for my skin. (Why do we live in a desert, again??)
5- Sixth Street is the place that absolutely EVERYONE there said to visit. But we forgot to add that we're Mormon and don't drink. It was a street of bars and drugstores. And the occasional museum. Very odd... very NOT us.
6- "Mornin'" is a usual greeting from everyone. Even in the afternoon. Hmmm...
7-I was a nerdy tourist and bought a cowboy hat. I didn't realize it until the last day we were there, but I was the ONLY person I saw the entire time actually wearing one. :(
8 - Tump is a word in Texas. As in: "I tumped yer drink over." So is fixin' and all y'all. And yonder. Good words.
9 - Even at a fast food restaurant they clear the tables for you. And they ask if you want another "coke" even though you didn't actually order "Coke".

10 - Hands down, our favorite place was Rudy's - a BBQ joint run out of a barn. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Now I know what real Creamed Corn is. Oh... delicious. It was a hilarious place with amazing ambience. If you go to Austin, go to Rudy's. Or go there now.
www.rudys.com

OH MY... I just saw that they opened in New Mexico, too. Road trip anyone?? I'm serious.

Mexican Mamas

This is a little bit late, but it's summer, man! Blogs don't hold me down! My best friend Amelia and her sweet mom Nance paid for me and our friend Linda to join them on a cruise to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. It was the ultimate girls' week - we partied hard-core! Actually, we were all enjoying our vacation that we didn't do much more than relax and shop - but what more does a girl really need? I have postponed blogging about this one because my camera died so I can't get the pics off of it yet. And I'm pretty sure I left the charger on the cruise ship. So we're waiting for a new one to come from the eBay fairy. :)
For now I'll just post some pics from the Internet... but I swear we did go there! I absolutely love the ocean, so being surrounded by it for 5 days was just glorious. The weather was gorgeous; the company was even more beautiful. We had so much fun just laughing, sunning ourselves, playing bingo, and eating the most food ever consumed in one week. But why not when you can order one of everything if you like? I loved every minute of it and I can't wait to go back!

The beautiful beach and waterfront shops at Catalina Island.

Catalina Island at night


One of the many vendors in Ensenada - We tried bartering but we're too nice! They love tourists like us, I'm sure.


Viva Mexico! This is the view of the Ensenada Port from our ship... awesome.