Midnight Drama

In all the 9 years Scott and I have been married he has occasionally entertained me at night. Not the kind of entertainment you automatically assume I’m talking about, no, the kind that wakes you up suddenly from a deep sleep only to find that your husband is re-creating the game he was playing the night before on the XBOX. (What's funny is he doesn't play that often) There are several occasions in the past that I can bring to mind clear as day. These occurrences happen often and most of the time I have to talk him out of his dream. It makes me laugh right out loud.

Last night was one of these very entertaining moments!

Let me set up the scene: It’s about 3:45 am. I wake up to Scott Yelling quite loud and sudden.

“SAM, SAM (our dog)…..get the h@#* out of the bed!....."GET DOWN”….. (Like a Panther, Scott suddenly flings himself violently to the side of the bed and lays low)


"SH*&!!"

“Men, get back and throw the Sparklers! NOW….. Do it NOW……"

"SH!*!!”

Now this is the point where I realize what’s going on. First of all, Scott never says the word SH@* and he never calls out to any “men” on a regular basis. He’s having another recon dream. I quietly lean over and wait for the drama to continue.

“SH*&! If you don’t throw those sparklers now they’re going to kill us. THROW THEM, THROW THEM! …..How can you call yourself a SOLIDER! You’re nothing but a WORTHLESS PIECE OF..”

And this is where I finally have to wake him up.

“Scott, Scott, are you ok?” (I mean come on, he's just moved like a Panther to duck and cover and he's swearing like a sailor)

“Are you awake?”

******SILENCE******

(Then in a soft and muffled voice) “I’m so embarrassed.” then he slowly gets up off the floor.

“Go back to sleep babe. I don't want anyone to kill you and watch out for those sparklers they might really do some damage!” (Now I’m laughing)

“Well, since I’m up I might as well go to the bathroom.”

And that’s it. That's the end of our midnight drama! Scott makes his way slowly to the bathroom and I lay awake for a couple minutes my heart finally slows down and I fall back to sleep.

Good Bye, We'll miss you!

Kelly and Andrew left for Alabama. It's crazy to think how fast the time goes.

It all started when we came back from our annual 4th of July trip to the Oregon coast. Andrew had just received his BA and was finishing up his summer semester. Before they took off for graduate school where Andrew could get his MA and Kelly could finish up nursing school they decided they should make a pit stop in Utah while waiting to be accepted to graduate school. 10 months later, and after working and saving up they are on their way to Alabama. (The second top school in the nation for sports management -Andrew's forte)
We had a ton of great times. I think I'll be the one to miss them the most. It's been rather hard adjusting to a quite home again. Thanks Kel and Andrew for making this one of the best 10 months of our lives! We love you and wish you the best in everything!

You can find out about their cross-country trip @ http://www.andrewkellymarie.blogspot.com/

Love you guys!! We'll miss you!

8 miles

For the last year my dad has been trying to get us to hike to Dry Lake. This was a childhood summer hike he would make and he wanted to share it with us. Finally, the weekend before Kelly and Andrew had to leave we made the plan.

So, Saturday at 9:30 we started our 1000 ft ascent. We had no idea what we were up against and according to my dad this was a 4 mile hike along the ridge line. Mind you, we were just a mile or so outside of Eureka in Juab county so this was pretty rugged, no one in sight kinda of country. We went straight up the first mountain (my calves were bulging and burning at this point) but once we got to the top we were all looking forward to the ridge line. The first picture below shows our half way mark. If you look at the last ridge in the picture, the one with the snow....yeah, that one, that is where dry lake is. Here, at the half way point is when we started to ask how long this hike really was. 10 hours later, and with no water left we made it back and all in one piece.

The day was perfect. Hiking along the ridge line kept us cool. The wind would come up through the canyon, without it I know we would have all succumbed to heatstroke. Not really, but it was a life saver.

Andrew was the Biologist on the hike. He stopped to take some meat out of the middle of some cactus and got a few needles wedged in his thumb. It was quite the "sticky" situation.

The snow was also a blessing. It's not very often you can stop and cool down in snow in 80 degree weather, on a rugged trail, after already hiking 3 miles, and pulling cactus needles from you hand. What a blast!

Mingling with the local folk.
Our destination...Dry Lake. We were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was. The picture doesn't do it justice. Before we reached the summit and saw the lake, we were discussing what we were expecting when we got there. True, there were no cascading waterfalls, or beautiful blue lagoons to wade in but it came close though, don't you think?

My dad is a mountain goat in disguise. He would have never stopped if weren't for us and all our lung problems. I mean come on who else needs to stop for air when you know you've got 8 miles ahead of you, it's a piece of cake. My mom was also quite amazing!

Proof that maxi pads really are the most bionic bandage out there. Dad fell on a rock pretty hard on the way back. He has a blood condition that lets him bleed forever. Anyway, having a maxi pad around saved the day. We teased him; "So dad, now you can tell everyone at work that you have worn a maxi pad". (giggle, giggle)



When we got back to the truck it was 8:30 pm. We were all so proud of ourselves. We came home, had a nice hot shower and then had the best sleep ever. Thanks dad for allowing us to test our limits, for allowing us to take in the great beauty of the outdoors, and for making another great memory together!

My Weekend Surprise

Saturday afternoon Scott leaned over and asked if I wanted to go to a laser show at the Clark Planetarium. My sister's and their husbands were planning on hanging out that night at our house and so I said, “Can we invite them to come with us?” Scott commented on how nice it would be to do this alone. (We used to go to laser shows at the Hansen Planetarium. One of our favorites to see was the laser “U2” show. It’s back again and Scott wanted to revisit memory lane.) Again I insisted that we invite my sister’s and their husbands to join us. Scott, the good man that he is, gave in to my request but instead of going to the laser show he suggested dinner. I accepted.
Kristy and Ryan showed up to the house around 6:30. We were all getting ready to leave when I noticed that my brown sandals were missing. Now mind you, I had a white pair of sandals on already. I had just noticed as I was putting on my white sandals that I could not place where my brown sandals were. Even though I wasn't planning on wearing the brown sandals I suddenly started to obsess about the sandals and of there whereabouts. I looked downstairs. I looked under the bed. I looked in the garage. It got to the point where everyone was saying, “come on, let’s go, we’ll look for them when we get back.” I finally got in the car. I couldn't stop talking about where the heck my sandals could be. Scott finally turned to me and said, “Calm down. Just let it go and we’ll find them when we get back. I mean come on, they’re just shoes!” So I did, I let it go. But in my mind I still obsessed.

We ate dinner. We had a really great time. We were there for a while talking when Andrew suggested going to Temple Square to see the flowers. I thought it was a great idea. So we all jumped in our cars and took off for Salt Lake. I was talking the whole way into Salt lake (and still obsessing about my blasted sandals) when Scott turned the car into the Little America hotel parking lot.

“What are we doing here?” I said. “This isn’t Temple Square.”

“I know it isn’t. I know how hard mother’s day can be for you so I decided to take you away for the weekend. Church is taken care of. There are no meetings tomorrow and I made arrangements for Young Women’s. There is nothing to worry about. By the way…..Your flippn’ brown sandals are in your luggage in the trunk. The laser show was my ploy to get you down town but since you wouldn’t have it, Andrew swooped in with the Temple square idea. You have come pretty close to having the little things ruin it for you.” (Man alive was that ever true.)

Oh, my word! What a surprise. Not only had the mystery of the missing brown sandals been solved but Scott was whisking me away from a potential heartache.

It was such a nice and relaxing evening. We finished off our stay at the Little America Hotel with a nice Mother’s Day Brunch the following morning. We waited in line at the hotel for about an hour. It was well worth it though. I had endless amounts of crab legs, chocolate dipped strawberries, yummy salads, and delectable desserts. Scott really knows how to take care of me. He always nails it when it comes to surprises!

My Mom!

My mom is so amazing! She is one of my life hero’s! She is an amazing example of what a mother is and should be. She is loving and accepting and full of life and fun. She is my mentor and friend, my confidant and critic. She has given me what I need to become the mom I have always wanted to be. Because of her I know that I can do anything! Thanks mom, you have truly been a blessing in my life.

I Love you mom!