Not Hawaii

Brett thought we were going to Hawaii, but we really went to Seattle and the Oregon coast. It was beautiful!
We went to Pike Place Market, which was the bomb. I wish I had one of these down the street.
Fresh fruit and veggies every where. Yum. My favorite were the cherries. The yellow-ish/red-ish ones. One lady has these pretty bunches of lavender. And every time I hear the word lavender, I think of none else... than Black Lavender. And Bobby Light.
Oh Yeah!
Arrrr!
Brett and his buddy/cousin Christian standing in front of the very first Starbucks.
Cheese!
Crude humor... that's how our family rolls.
In Cannon Beach, OR. Doesn't it remind you of The Goonies? Probably because some of it was filmed there.Nate's family reunion was in Lincoln City, OR this year. There were over 100 people there. The fam is getting big!

Things I learned while being in downtown Seattle:
If I moved there, I would have to a) start drinking coffee, probably Starbucks because there are only a hundred million in the downtown area b) start smoking c) bust out my thick-rimmed glasses and wear them. oh and d) be a hippie. Looks like I won't EVER be moving there. But the food was the bomb!

Things I learned while being in Oregon:
a) People love dogs more than humans, b) lots of hotels are pet-friendly. Which is probably why our room smelled like wet dog. I'm pretty sure the people who stayed in our room before us let their smelly wet-ass dog wipe it's smelly wet-ass body all over EVERYTHING. Yum. c) Oregon is cold. COLD. I was wearing a sweatshirt in July. In the middle of the summer. d) Although beautiful, Oregon is not the place to go to the beach. Like I said in c)... Oregon is cold. If you want to go to the beach, go to California, Hawaii or the Caribbean. Where it actually feels like the beach and not the icy Tundra. and e) there were a ton of hippies. Looks like I won't ever be moving there BUT I had the best clam chowder I ever had in my life. Oh yeah!

Where was your family reunion this year?
(Because I need some good ideas, we might be doing the next one)

Observations During My 743 Mile Drive

Brett and I made it to California. Alive. Always a bonus.

We arrived at my parents in 11 hours exactly. Not the longest I've ever driven by myself, but still...

Never seen as many Ford Rangers in my life, as I did on the Indian Reservation. Maybe 50.

Saw a dead cow on the side of the road. Eew.

I'd rather pee on the side of the road than in some dirty gas station bathroom. I don't care who I bare-ass. When you gotta go, you pull the car over on the interstate and freaking go. Even in a blizzard. me=no shame

Brett watched 5 1/2 movies. Wall-E, Kung Fu Panda, Toy Story, Finding Nemo, half of Lady and the Tramp, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

We stopped twice. I forgot to change Brett's diaper both times. I suck.

Wished Nater came with us. Work? What? Not only did we miss him, he usually drives the whole time and I can nap. Bonus.

Thought about In-N-Out the whole time and was excited to eat it for dinner.

Have you ever passed a cop driving on the interstate? As in, gone faster than him because he's going to slow? Try it. I do it all the time. It's quite exhilarating. I lead a wild, wild life.

Lead foot. Thank goodness for the radar detector. Good call Nater who told me to put my .22 handgun under my seat and not in the glove box. What if I got pulled over and had to get in the glove box to get my car registration which my gun was sitting on top of?!? The officer might have pumped my guts full of lead. (Name that movie)

When I was getting sleepy, I had to bust out my air guitar and play a couple tunes and was then good to go. Favorite air guitar song of the day: Tribute by Tenacious D.

Pet peeve: Slow drivers hanging out in the fast lane. Not only is it annoying, it's dangerous. Stay in the slow lane where you belong. Or get on a frontage road at the very least.

Kept myself awake by taking pictures every hour or so. Safely, of course. Here they are. Try and not fall asleep while your looking at them. Which is funny, because it's what kept me awake.


Weather started out good.
Then, I drove through 2 blizzards. That blew. An hour each. But it could have been worse.Rain storms on and off the rest of the way.You can't really tell, but there are about 7 Porches all in a row.
Yummy dinner. I could have eaten two cheeseburgers, but didn't. This is the In-N-Out by my parents. Lucky ducks!Favorite picture of the trip (so far). Don't let the demon eyes fool you. He was actually really pleasant and a good sport. He just sat there loving all his movies and snacks. And I was loving the snacks.

What's the longest you've ever driven by yourself
{or with your kid(s)}?

Driving Four Corners Like I Own It

I've recently been in all 4 states that contribute to the four corners in the last week. I'm tired of driving.
Remember Jess? She got hitched in the SLC temple. And it was so awesome to be there for it.

Even if I had to haul a up the I-15, get there in 22 minutes (from University Parkway in Provo) try and find a parking spot like I was the craziest person at Wal-Mart, run down North Temple in my heels, check in my camera bag, run down the stairs and then back up the stairs, while skipping every other stair, walking in the sealing room so out of breath, that everyone in there can hear me inhaling and exhaling, 10 1/2 seconds before the bride and groom walk in... so totally worth it. I'm so happy for them.
No. I'm not 10 1/2 months pregnant. Just looks like it. Mom, sorry to disappoint.
Aren't they a cute couple?
It was so nice to be there to see one of my dearest friends be sealed to her husband.

The next wedding this Friday? I'm going to give myself at least 30 minutes to get there. Or I'll just try and beat my time. And set a world record.

Thanks Jen, almost forgot. I also passed Elder Russell M. Nelson in the stairway. But this was post ceremony. So I was way more reverent. I was walking down the stairs like a normal human.

At Least I Got To Meet Simon

Okay I didn't. But that would have been awesome.

Lindsey was trying out for American Idol, and I said I'd go with her. We had so much fun. I did not try out. Even just for fun. I don't sing. The End.
The forecast said Hell was going to be really hot, and Arizona was going to be even hotter. Lucky us. When it's 93 degrees at 5 in the morning, you know it's going to be a scorcher! We were a little bit miserable all week.

We filmed for about 2 hours singing Bon Jovi's Wanted Dead or Alive and Get Ready by the Temptations. We even had a choreographed dance that we all did. Over and over. And over. And over. And over. And we said Welcome to Arizona and The Talent is Hotter in Arizona about a hundred million times. Looking cute. How do you wear your hair when you get up at 4 in the morning and have to be there at 5? Like mine. Takes approximately 45 seconds. Go me.
Where's Waldo? Do you see him?
Check out this character.
Here was the group auditions. The whole thing was way different than I was expecting. Randy, Paula and Simon weren't even there. They are like 3 or 4 auditions away. In August.

But I do think we got a bit of camera time. We did have bikini girl sitting in front of us, so that helped. I think I did pretty well with the not picking the nose thing. We'll see come January. Here is Linds at the judges station. She didn't make it through to the next audition, but she does have a beautiful voice regardless. At least that is not her only dream in life. Like every other person there. I think some might have even quit their day jobs thinking they were the next American Idol. Here is bikini girl. And guess what? You guessed it! She made it through to the next round. I guess Lindsey will just have to wear a bikini if she tries out again, because that's all it takes. Or not, because she's not a tramp. Then we went to good ole Vicky's. Brett was being awful and whiny and wanted to try on the bras too. So I just let him put on the damn thing. At least the pictures are funny. And he stopped screaming for 11 whole seconds. Brett's over-the-shoulder boulder holder! And now I have good pictures to put on his wedding video.This was on my drive home. A double rainbow. How cool is that? I've never seen a double before. Have you? It went all the way across the sky. I couldn't get a very good picture because, you know, I had to focus on my driving. This is as good as it gets.And then this was the sunset-ish when I was almost home. So pretty.

The End.

In Telluride...

We went to Telluride, CO this weekend. I've always wanted to go. Well, ever since Tim wrote that song. Nate and his Dad wanted to ride their motorcycles up and make a big loop. So that's what we did. Here was our route, in case you're interested.

We stayed at the Hotel Telluride. It was really cool. Lots of character.
Here was Main Street. I really expected Telluride to be bigger. Main Street was maybe 6 blocks.And I picked up these cute red Spy's. Except I only brought a green shirt to wear on Saturday. I almost felt obligated to tell everyone Merry Christmas as I walked down the street. Almost.And this kid was such a stinker the whole weekend. I almost left him there with the hippies. But I'm not that mean.Brett loves when we blow bubbles with gum. He always tries to eat them.
Some nice, but smelly hippie let Brett pet his little dog. Brett was in heaven. And he actually smiled for about 2 minutes out of the entire weekend.Do you see the house on the cliff between the two waterfalls? No thanks. Not my idea of a dream house.Brett and his Grandpa. He loves his Grandpa.Except the little ess-aych-eye-tee wouldn't smile for any pictures.
Here are the boys on their bikes. Just as happy as a fox in a hen house.Then we stopped in Ouray. Pronounced your-ay. Funny, huh.It was awesome. A tiny little town nestled in the mountains. It kind of reminded me of Switzerland. Okay, it didn't. I haven't been to Switzerland. But the sign called it the Switzerland of America. So it must have some resemblance.There were lots of cool little shops. There was an awesome bead store that I got some fun beads to make jewelry with.

And a great toy store with things you really can't find anywhere. Except that the lady that worked in the toy store obviously hated kids, especially mine, so she did not get my business. Just a scowl and a "Smell ya later" as I walked out the door. I sure showed her.

And then a fun spicy food store that sold a variety of dips and hot sauces. I was a little hungry, and I probably pigged out a little too much at the pretzel and dip station. The guy was getting a little nervous that I was going to eat his entire day's sample. But he sensed I was hungry and gave me some of his trail mix. So thoughtful. So, to re-pay him, I knocked over an entire display of bamboo spoons with my purse. I'm such a great customer.

Telluride and Ouray were so beautiful. Even the drive. I'd recommend it to anyone, if you can stand the hippies. And if you are a hippie? Maybe you should look into moving there. Because it's awesome and you'll totally fit it.