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!

What's up

So, I've been doing my blog reading and decided that I needed to update mine. I also thought it would probably be ok to post something without pictures. I always feel I need to have a picture included in my posts to give it a personal feel. Since it's been FOREVER LONG since I last posted I thought I would give everyone an update.

So, you all saw my new car Scott surprised me with. It's a 2009 Toyota corolla. Our last corolla we had for almost 10 years. It was a great car. It had been through two massive car accidents, both front and back, both not my fault....the last accident that mashed it in really good came from Scott. Let me put it this way, Scott hit ME from behind and pushed the car into an empty highway. We were lucky, but that's a whole other story for another time. Anyway, the car had been through a lot. Our first trip to Oregon was what really did it in. Ever since that trip there has been something jiggling in the front passenger side, under the hood. You'd get into the car and hear, "Jiggle, Jiggggglllee, jig, jig, jiggle." We took it to seven different car shops and everything checked out like aces. It got to the point where Scott just didn't trust the blue little thing any longer and so he went out on a limb and got me something more reliable. I love it! I really never thought I'd ever own a brand new car.

We were FINALLY approved for adoption in March! It took a whole year for the process. The one clincher...we have family living with us. It took forever to get their background checks back. Now we just wait, try to be proactive; "Hey, do you want to keep your baby after you give birth?", and do everything we can to keep ourselves busy.

My sisters are moving away form me. Kelly and Andrew are going to Alabama for school, they will be living in Tuscaloosa, and Kristy and Ryan are off to Case Western (Cleveland, OH) for dental school . It will be so sad to see them go. They are my bestest friends!

Scott and I have been working out religiously after work. We meet at the rec center in West Jordan and work out for about an hour. We swim, lift weights, and run or bike while we watch Oprah. It's been a lot of fun. We enjoy doing it together and I actually look forward to it.

I can't wait to post all our "before" and "after" pictures from our most recent home DIY's. Scott took this week off to build a custom pantry for me. It's been awesome to see him excel in this, and it's been a lot of fun to make this house our home!

On top of preparing for girls camp, planning youth conference, preparing the yard for summer, planning family events before everyone leaves, getting hooked on "Battle Star Galactica", finding time to make a post, and taking care of Scott, that's about it!

Happy Birthday to ME!

That Wallpaper thang!

We decided to do some more upgrades to the house. Around this time of year, Thanks to "The Man", we get little money back from the goverment. Normally we'd throw it back into some debt but we decided to throw a little toward debt and a lot into upgrades. We feel like we deserve it since we work so dang hard. So we decided to paint three rooms upstairs, put in new carpet, and get all new appliances for the Kitchen. I'm very excited about this. Especially since everything in this house is as old as I am. And since we have family living in our basement for free we decided to use what resources we had and put 'um to work. Our first job, take down the hideous wallpaper in the second bedroom. We were able to get three days of work into 8 short hours with their help. Just include a free lunch, drinks, and endless tunes you can sing to and a lot of great things can happen!

Scott and the STEAMER

Our Wallpaper crew

And with all hard work there was bound to be some skin...suprisingly no butt crack, but it was still funny!

Sisters

After the wallpaper came off we had to scrape off all the glue. Yummy!

There was glue snott flying everywhere.

We have more upgrades coming....I'll keep you posted.

FLOORED

I know, I know, you can all pick yourselves off the floor! I made another post, and in the same month no less!

I was so proud of my Valentine I made for Scott this year that I wanted to share. Of course Scott and I share our love all year round so Valentines is just a fun day for me to show some creativity. I didn't want to go over board (we save that for bigger holidays) so I spent a whopping $5 dollars (for supplies and all) on this great gift. Of course when Scott see's the gift he's like, "Oh, that's cute....ok, see you later" but not before I quickly point out that there's something underneath the snowman (diet Coke) and of course he lights up, takes the diet Coke and candy and leaves the cute little snowman for me to deal with. So if you really think about it, I really do it all for me. It brings satisfaction. It's when I have the kids that this stuff will really be fun!

So, anyway, now that you've brushed yourself off and took the time to read, I hope you all have a nice Valentine's Day!

See Ya!

Finally updating....

Well, It's been a while since I've actually been able to sit down and really do some updating on my blog. I've spent the last four hours trying to figure out how to upload videos, post slide shows and add fun features to this blog of mine. I know it's not nearly as cute as some of yours, i'm just excited I finally did something! Anyway, while I was trying things out I decided to post this video I found. It's from our "Jack Johnson" road trip we took when we were in Washington. Enjoy! p.s. the video is not quite up to speed with the music. I think it was a transfer thing.

Sorry guys!!!

First of all, I'm sorry that it's been over a month since I've updated my blog. I'm the biggest slacker. Second, I'm sorry for not keeping up with the "blogging times"! I mean look at all your cute wallpapers and scrapbook layouts. I wish I had time for all of that but I don't. It's been great to finally catch up on everyone's lives!

I admit it's been a little crazy emotionally around here. We got news that a birth mom wanted to place her baby with us. It was the best news of my whole life. A baby was coming. It's like when you first get the news you're pregnant you hesitate in telling anyone in fear something may go wrong. Things were going great. It was to be a private adoption and we had our attorney waiting to send the birth mom papers (she lives in Memphis, TN - Sorry Edith we didn't make it, we will). We finally felt confident. We had been to the temple. We knew this was it. We started to make plans for work, finances and colors for a room. For some reason I just couldn't make myself walk through the baby section of the stores for fear I would jinx the situation. We finally felt good about making this known to close family and friends. That's when it happened. We told family and the next few days after we told family we didn't hear anything from our case worker. I remember it was a Tuesday night. I was extremely emotional. I knew something wasn't right. The next day we got a call form our case worker informing us that the birth mom had gone with another family. The birth mom had placed two previous children with a family in Springville. When she found out she was pregnant she called them right away and asked them if they would take her third. They declined stating they only wanted the two. In the end, they decided to go ahead and take her third child. So that's the story. When I got the call and everything was explained I wasn't mad at anyone. No one had done anything wrong. But it was hard to go through the heartache. We're good though and know that if we keep plugging along we'll be just fine. So there you have it.

Work is good, Young Women's is fantastic and in a big way a saving grace, and Scott and I are enjoying having Kelly and Andrew living with us.

Last week was Kelly's birthday. We decided it would be fun to go and stay the night in Eureka, UT (this is where both my parents are from and where my grandparents and grandma live) It had snowed pretty good up there and we knew Granny Franny needed us to get up there and get some snow off her roof. When we arrived we were pleasantly surprised with how much there really was. We played a little and enjoyed visiting the grandparents.

Birthday cake for breakfast is truly the breakfast of champions!

Scott's favorite breakfast beverage!

Grandma and Grandpa Sanderson's home....look at the roof.

Grandma and Grandpa.

Dad and Grandpa in the backyard after shoveling.

Granny Franny's roof...Holy icicles Batman!

Dad with Eureka in the background (See Brett, this town does exist!)

Scott being my HERO! You dare devil

Can you spot the fence.

Got to love the snow, especially after the storm and the sun is shining!

It's been snowing!

From what I remember it's literally been years since we've had this much snowfall in the month of December. Come to think of it, it's been years since it's snowed substantially weekend to weekend like it has here the past two weeks. It's been so great. It's been feeling a lot like Christmas! The first weekend of snow we received we stayed cozy inside and had a lot of hot chocolate with logs constantly on the fire. This last weekend we had to take advantage so, we played a little. We did some shoveling (which I actually enjoy)..... and then we started to play a little more. I mean, look at the size of those flakes.

and then the next morning when we woke up to even more snow, and it was still falling; We knew it was time, time to really take advantage of this great snow and do something we haven't done in years....Go TUBING!!!

So, We did. And all day Saturday too!

Here we are all decked out in our snow gear.

Ready to take on whatever challenge our tubing experience had to offer!

Just waiting for the tubes to inflate.

We had to bring the four wheelers! I mean come on, you don't want to walk up the hill once you've tubed down. It really wouldn't be fun.

Here the sun is breaking through the fog and clouds. The weather was changing every five minutes. It was beautiful.

Mom and Dad getting in on the action.

Andrew pulling me up on the tube. Scott was taking the picture from his tube.

We all decided to link up. We made it down the first hill, through all the level areas on the mountain and then down the steep hill in one shot. It really paid off to have all the weight and we laughed and almost peed coming down. It was AWESOME!!! We all stayed warm and used muscles we didn't remember we had in a very long time. It was all totally worth it, even if a little pee came out!

P.S. I'm thankful it snowed because it gave me an opportunity to make time to finally blog!

5 Things....

I've been tagged by Edith, so here I go.

5 Things I was doing ten years ago.

1. Writing a missionary
2. Spending almost every night at Primary Children's Hospital
3. Working for Zion's Bank
4. Attending SLCC
5. Yes, eating at Scoops with Edith

5 Things on my To-do list today.

1. Be to work by 7:00 a.m.
2. Prepare a route for our Pennies by the inch drive
3. running on the treadmill
4. looking for ideas for my Christmas tree this year
5. depositing money in the bank

5 songs I know the Lyrics to.

1. Best Deception by Dashboard Confessionals
2. Bubbly by Colbie Caillat
3. Starlight by Muse
4. Better Together by Jack Johnson
5. Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog

5 things I would do if I had a million dollars

1. Fly to Russia or Asia and adopt a child today
2. pay off all my bills and my house
3. Take my mom to Hawaii
4. Buy Scott a new truck
5. invest the rest so I could always have millions

5 things I will never wear again

1. Those side shirt clips
2. Knitted hair bows
3. Layered socks
4. the dress I wore to prom
5. panties

5 Favorite toys

1. My sewing machine
2. My ipod
3. My dad's four wheelers
4. "Friends"
5. Scott

SpOoKY SuCKer fUn

It's holidays like these that really make me anxious to be a mom. I think I drive Scott crazy with some of the "family" oriented things I plan to feel the void of no children. He's never said anything, but I'm sure at these times it seems a little weird to plan a trip to the Zoo, just the two of us, or buy a bag full of skeleton bone suckers! That's right, I was at the store looking for Halloween decorations and stumbled upon these bad boys. Unfortunately, Scott had meetings that night and couldn't join in our bone crushing event but we still had a riot eating up our suckers. Each bone connected to make a cool 20" Skeleton!

An arm....

more limbs...

The head....

The rib cage...

and our sucking paid off. In less then a half hour we had him all put together.

He's not hailing anyone, he's just saying hello. HapPY HaLloWeen!

p.s. and Thanks BJ and Kam, we really enjoyed our spooky weekend with you!

Our 8th Anniversary

On August the 18th we celebrated our 8th anniversary. Since Scott and I are in the market to buy some four wheelers (not in the near future, but some day) Scott decided to surprise me with a romantic weekend up in the Uintas. I LOVE the Uinta mountains.
Friday, when I got home from work Scott, along with the bags he packed, whisked me away to our unknow destination. Of course as we were nearing Kamas I had an idea we were heading up Mirror Lake HWY, but still had no idea of our plans.
We arrived at East fork of the Bear River at a little lodge called Bear River Lodge. The next morning we had a homemade breakfast, and then we were on our way forging through miles and miles of ATV terrain. It was awesome!

It was raining in the morning, but it calmed the dust and made the trip more beautiful.

The Yurt

The Ridge

Lily Lake

Labor Day Weekend

I Know, it's almost been a month since we all celebrated Labor Day. With serving in Young Women's, working full time, and feeding a house full I have limited free time. (although I have been reading Stephanie Meyer books lately) But I've been really anxious to read up on everyones' blogs and then I decided to make time to FINALLY add to my own.

Labor Day weekend was great. First of all, it was an extra day off from medical billing and hair. Second, we had great weather and Kelly and Andrew were with us. (They're living with us and we're loving it)

As part of our Labor Day celebrations, we decided to go up Mirror Lake Hwy (up in the Uintas) and visit one of my favorite places, Provo Falls. We made a day of it. Hiking, picnic, and water fun. Here are a few pictures from our excursion.....This picture doesn't do it justice, it's beautiful, and farther down the falls are steeper.

Here we are being DORKS...Well, really Scott

Andrew decided to scale this steep rock wall. As you can see it was very dangerous

Mom, me, and Kelly

Had to play on the fallen tree

We are getting a glimpse of Mom and Dad fighting over the walking stick



Mom decided to just jump in and do some bum sliding (she didn't tell us that she had been prepared and brought a change of clothes)





Kelly was the next to go...

and if you have Sanderson blood in you, you ARE going to do it!!!

As you can see, the full body entry was rather chilly

too Chilly!

Care takers watching over us!!

Of course, as always, we had a great time.

Hopefully I can make a few entries here on this blog again before October. We'll see.