Unexpected Bounty

Sarah Joy met up with me Monday after work for racquetball. It's been a long time since she played, but she picked it up fast. I may have hit myself with MY OWN racket three times. Go figure!

 

Today I got to leave work early to attend a temple session at the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple. There were so many people there, that even though we were 40 minutes early, we didn't make it into the 2:30 session and had to wait for the next one at 3:30. Afterward, I ran home to see grandma, ran to Barbara's house to visit with Kim, Karen, and Shauna, then ran to my Primary presidency meeting, convinced them to adjourn a 1/2 hour early, then went for a late dinner at Appleby's with Barbara and her three girls. I barely had a moment to breathe in the whirlwind of running around! That of course meant that when I finally got to sit down and eat, I seriously enjoyed my half of the maple pecan blondie. Yum!

The Wolverine

Grandma has been saying that she wanted to see the new movie, The Wolverine. I told her that I didn't think it was about what she thought it was, but she assured me she had seen the previews and it looked good. Who am I to argue? I took her to the movie Saturday and as we walked in, I tried one more time to warn her it probably wasn't going to be as she expected. She assured me again that she'd see the trailer. What was the first thing she said after the movie? 'Well THAT wasn't what I expected!' I laughed so hard! And may have said something along the lines of I told you so. Her response? 'Well you should have tried to tell me harder!' From her comments about how fit Hugh Jackman looked in the movie, I'm thinking that was her real reason for wanting to see the show... ;-) We stopped off to get some dinner on the way home and it made for a nice outing.

 



A little Nintendo? Yes, please! Jen and Ty were over upstairs with Lori and Cody when I got home and we ended up playing some Tetris and Dr. Mario. Earlier in the day I got my new wii set-up and working so I'm all set!

 

Ari is getting a little braver with her walking and will take about
5-10 steps at a time now plus will change directions as she goes.

I went with Amy Felix to her ward down in Provo. She goes to a hybrid ward of singles 31+ and a family ward. It was very interesting to experience. I don't think I'll go to the Sunday meetings there anymore, but may consider some of the activities.

Oh What Do You Do in the Summertime

Melissa met up with me for racquetball Monday night. She said she hadn't taken a melatonin pill the night before like she had last time so she didn't feel so lethargic and mellow. You could tell on the court! It was a better workout instead of being so one-sided.

 

After I played Tuesday night with Amy on the court, I went over to Dana's house and did a little Just Dance 4 with his kids then spent some time talking with Dana and Deborah. He asked if I was still losing weight because he thought I looked good. I had to tell him no, but that all the exercise was just toning me. Ha! I really wish it was more. Dana's doing good though and has lost 30 pounds.

 

Since Wednesday was the Pioneer Day holiday, I had the day off from work and took grandma to a movie (Now You See Me) and then out to eat. She chose Winger's. On her own. With no prompting from me. It was meant to be! I do love me a good Asphalt Pie and creamy amazing! Sherry wouldn't bring grandma's van back though so grandma had to get in and out of my MINI multiple times. She didn't do too bad! Lori invited me to go bowling with her, Jenica, and co. It was at a place down in Provo that had this rope course up in the air that intrigued me. I may have to go back and try that out.

 

Considering McKenna usually cries when left around people
she doesn't know, I was surprised she was willing to take
pictures with me. I had to get her cute little hat!

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today I had dentist and podiatrist appointments so I took the day off work. I was going to go in to work in the afternoon, but I got a shot in the ankle at the podiatrist's that put my entire foot asleep, and then ten shots in the bottom of my foot. I thought it best to keep it elevated until the feeling came back. Then, while it still didn't have pain, I played racquetball on it tonight. I may regret that come tomorrow...

Eyebrows

A coworker had a blog entry about how to dye your eyebrows. This is something that I didn't even know you could do, let alone think about doing myself! Since I'm up for new things though, when I colored my hair yesterday, I decided to try the eyebrows out at the same time just for fun.

Starting out

 

Darkening up nicely

And the end results? Pretty much the same as they always look.
Maybe I'll have to leave it on longer next time to get a change.

Keeping Busy

Wednesday night, Melissa and I met up at the Rec center to try out a Zumba class. It was my first and last time doing that. At minute 10 I was pretty impressed with myself thinking that racquetball has really helped me be more in shape for these kinds of things. At minute 11 I had sweat pouring down me and I was dying. Too bad there were still almost 45 minutes to go! I made it through okay, but I did have to get a paper towel halfway through to start using as a sweat mop. It was crazy!

 

Thursday I had another fun lunch with my work friend, Rosita. We try to meet up every other week at least. She has just gotten a new job in the General Authority pool and will be moving there at the beginning of August from the Facilities Department. Amy and I played racquetball that night and we played hard! It was an AWESOME game.

 

Friday I had a fun lunch with Kathy Barlow and another work friend (see L? no name mention for you there =D) at Johnny Rockets. Have I mentioned they make a grilled cheese there with FOUR slices of American? I was in creamy goodness heaven. I had a crazy day trying to come up with enough tickets for everyone that night for the MoTab Choir Pioneer Day concert at the Conference Center. I went with the Felix's and we got a bite to eat beforehand at Sawadee's (love me some Orange Chickens! Seriously that's what it is called on the menu), and Hatch's chocolates afterward of course. Jenny and Brett saw Sherry and Leroy there, Lori and Cody went with Jenica and Tyler, and I even got tickets for Jon, Brittany, and Beau. Those ones didn't work out though because he thought I'd meant a concert in American Fork for Steel Days (???), so they didn't make it in time for the concert in Salt Lake since they were in the wrong city. I am now a fan of Nathan Pacheco! He reminded me of Andrea Bocelli but sang one song even better!

 

Saturday was a crazy day. I got up early to call and try and get a racquetball court for me and Amy but they were all full. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I met with my stake Primary presidency ladies and their husbands to go up the canyon to Granite Flats and check out the campsite and hike that the 11 year old Cub scouts will be going on for the Commitment hike in August. Have I mentioned before how awkward it is to go somewhere with just couples? Yeah, that was awesome. We started up the hike with all seven of us. At the second stop where the boys would hear different pre-arranged topics, we lost three of our group to sit down and rest. They'd said ahead of time that this was a challenging hike, but I didn't fully comprehend that until we were on the trail. I was left with the remaining three people - all ones who do Iron Mans and other competitions. At stop 3, I told them to go on without me. They thought I was going back down the trail, but I wanted to go to the top...just not at group speed. It got to the point that I kept saying to myself, I can make it TEN more steps, then pause, pause, breathe, breathe, now-I can make it TEN steps, breathe, breathe. But I made it! The other three people were just starting back down the trail as I got to them so they turned around and went the last little way back to the top with me so we could check out the meadow there all together that would be stop 5 for the boys. Coming back down the trail was so steep, the guy leading us back down slid and almost fell twice. My legs were shaking as we got closer to the bottom, enough that I wasn't quite sure if my legs would hold me all the way to the bottom. But I made it!

 

When I got home from that, I stopped to check-in on grandma and chat, then had to hurry and change (all my clothes were sopping wet from the hike sweat) and then booked it down to Los Hermanos for a late lunch with Karen and Shauna. I picked up lots of Cravings cupcakes on the way home from lunch to share that night back at the house, but...that didn't work out. I guess I'll take them in to work or something on Monday. :-(

 

I saved seats for Jon at Church today. He made it with Brittany and Beau, but a half-hour late. Not the most fun saving a row from people then sitting by myself for 40 minutes (see my previous comment above about the awkwardness of going somewhere with just couples as it also translates to sitting alone when you can't use the usual buffers to make it seem like you don't care-kind of like Samantha in that SATC episode). We had our presidency meeting tonight instead of Tuesday for this week. So glad about that since Wednesday is a holiday and now I can start it early! As I was walking home, Marcel and Edna pulled over to say hi. Edna owed me cookies for covering up something she had done earlier in the day so they had me get in and we went back to their house for cookies and some Rook. Mert and I started out strong but ended up losing when Jen and Ed's last two hands were over 100 each. I'm glad I went though because there was some awkwardness earlier in the day due to the whole no Rocky/Jon situation. Man this turned into a long blog/journal entry!

Still Alive?

Have I mentioned before how odd I think it is that my pulse beats so slow and lightly now? It's 57 this morning and I have to really push to be able to feel it. Yesterday it was at 62. I did three quick laps around the entire building floor to raise my blood pressure and to help me feel better. My blood pressure did raise a bit, but my pulse only went up to 65. It's the oddest thing! When my heart hurts the most though, is when my blood pressure is really low (80's/50's), and my pulse is 105. Glad that hasn't happened this week (yet), or last week!

Green Thumb or Sore Thumb?

Lisa's family came to Church on Sunday as they were in transit between Lake Powell and their home. I had to sneak out of Sacrament after the last speaker so I could make it over to the ward building on 1300 West to visit the 5th ward's Primary with my stake Primary presidency. We were observing the meeting. The kids were super cute!

 

After Church I visited with grandma and read her the email Jenny had sent giving a recap of their family trip to Nauvoo. Grandma really liked it because it reminded her of the route she and Carl took with Deron and the American Fork High School where she acted as a chaperone. She gets teary-eyed whenever we talk about missionaries and she brings it back to my mom being a good missionary. After that I ran with my new visiting teaching partner to the first sister. Another difference from the single's ward? They don't like to keep visits at 1/2 hour. Talk, talk, TALK! Oh my!

 

Today after work and visiting grandma again, I ran to the Rec to play racquetball with Melissa, then as soon as I got home, instead of eating dinner, I trimmed all of the rose bushes and weeded - for almost three hours! My hands are SORE! I think I have a thorn in the pad of my thumb but I can't see it. That counts as pretty good exercise, right? Cody said I could leave the weeds and roses on the grass and he'll just mow them up. Good plan to me!

Bobbles and Bits

Because of some fires in Nevada and Arizona, the sky here in Utah has been very smoky and hazy. It's made for some brilliant sunsets. I didn't quite catch the sun up still in this picture when Amy and I were out for a walk, but the temple still looked beautiful in the pink sky.

 

I wasn't able to exercise Wednesday night because I had too many things planned after work. The tight schedule was compounded when I had to squeeze in a stop at the Allstate office to sign a policy again. That cut out a pop in to see grandma and deliver her mail. I was only going to have time to tell her I couldn't sit down to chat anyway, but still! So, I called her from work instead so she wouldn't wait up. Then drove like crazy to Allstate. I'd contacted Dana multiple times so he had the policy up on screen already and to the signature line. I walked in, signed, and walked out, then drove like crazy again down to Provo. After my appointment there, I met up with Amy for a late dinner at Olive Garden, then stopped at Sweet Tooth Fairy to pick up a cupcake for my visiting teachee's bday (I was very good and didn't even get one for myself!). Then I dropped it off at her house. I got home close to ten and then took some time to search for Jon's scriptures again. No luck still! :-(  That made for a late, jam-packed night. Did I mention the reason why I dropped off a cupcake? When my VT partner made the appointments for this month, this sister can't meet at any time except 1 pm on Mondays. So my partner is going to visit her since I work. I still find this family ward thing VERY strange. Everybody else in my sphere of reference works for a living. And who can't find some time after 5:30 in the evening or anytime on the weekend? This sister apparently...though I should point out she was home when I dropped by in a very quiet house so she really could have met up...

 

Anyway, enough with the rant. I packed a bag yesterday and went to Brittany's after work. It wasn't supposed to rain until today, but it came early. That didn't stop me from swimming in the rain. It feels so good to do those laps! Brittany wasn't feeling well so instead of VM, I watched SYTYCD. Jason DeRoest was sitting behind the judges during the filming. Usually the background was darkened so you couldn't see him, but there was one time I recognized him in his green shirt. I remembered this morning why I liked living in the Avenues. I got up an hour later this morning and got to work at the same time. Ahhhh the difference an extra hour of sleep makes!

 

 

I work with Pres Uchtdorf's son-in-law. He's a director in my department. He exclaimed yesterday that I did something different, like wear more mascara that day. He said it looked good, then got a little embarrassed...probably realizing his comments were a little inappropriate. The conversation ended with him saying it looked good, but it looks good without, and that it looks good however I wear it if I wear it. Made me laugh. Later in the day while we were talking he exclaimed again, you DID do something differently. Your eyelashes are grouped together or something! He has now gotten a lesson on eyelash extensions and as he mentioned before...thinks they look nice. I had to snap a quick picture of them just so I could see what they looked like after he kept mentioning them. Not excessive, right?

 

More Pictures

I have a few more pictures from my tour of Ogden's Union Station. The vaults below the station were VERY cool! I found out after I took a picture in the doorway of one of the vaults, that it was supposed to be the most haunted one there and that all the paranormal groups want to come and take a readings of it. I also got to take a picture of the foundations from the original 1889 building. Just think of all the dead bodies buried back under there! (Not really. Well, that we know of...)

 

 

We got to sit in some of the old cars from the exhibit.

Heading down to the underbelly.

Building foundation.



I also got a picture of us while at Maddox and a picture of the lightning storm that was going on when we drove home afterward. It was hard to take pictures in a moving car at just the right time when the lightning would flash, but I managed to catch a little bit anyway!

 

 

Saturday night Lori and Cody had Jenica and Tyler over for pizza and some Nintendo so I went upstairs to play too. Jon came to Church again on Sunday and I sat with Beau during Primary until Jon and his Jenica were finished meeting with the bishop. I played Tetris again with Lori and Cody that night.

 

Racquetball? Amy and I played Monday night. When we went tonight though, we only got 13 min in of playing before a dispute over who had the court reserved came up. Turns out that Lori used the name Pack on her court at 7 p.m. and it confused the workers so my court at 8 was cancelled. Amy got some free passes for a return time and we went for a walk to the temple instead.

A Few Pics

Here are a few pics from my ice cream date with Tiffany:

 

 

 

We may have gone a little crazy with the camera...

I had to though since Tiffany HATES having her picture

taken, but she was willing to this time! She usually also

hates people and I can count on one hand the number of

times she's spoken to me, but she was all about going out

with me for ice cream and getting her picture taken. I had

to take advantage of it while I could!

 

For the Fourth of July celebration, Amy and I hit out favorite place, WINGER'S!, then watched a little Channing Tatum in White House Down, before capping off the experience with Smart Cookie.

 

Today I got a ride in to work through my van pool, but then Amy and Jen picked me up, we got Amanda at her work in Ogden and I got an insiders tour of the Ogden Union Train Station, and then all headed up to Brigham City to go to Maddox. Love me some steak! Normally I swim on Fridays, but Brittany had to cancel for some family celebrations going on still from the fourth.





Keeping Up

After work on Monday, I played racquetball again-though this time it was with Melissa. I drove straight from the Rec to the Jr. High to see Jeffrey play in his last baseball game of the season. He got a medal afterward that he was pretty proud about. We took the picture to send to grandpa and grandma on their mission.

 

Since it was Tiffany's birthday, we all met up at Dana's house afterward to sing happy birthday and enjoy birthday cupcakes. And in the spirit of me always having to be up and moving now apparently, I then cut off all the old rose tops so new buds can bloom. I finally had to give up when it got too dark to see anymore. Grandma and I talked about it the next day because she said Sherry had noticed the bushes had been trimmed and looked great, but that all the cut-off pieces were left on the ground. I explained it was a conscious choice as it was either cut as much as I could before it got dark, or not cut at all. I went with doing at least some.

 

After chatting with grandma (I try to stop by and see her as soon as I get off work before going to the next thing), I headed to my stake Primary presidency meeting. Even though it's just at Carolyn Mower's house a few houses down the road, I drove so I could drive immediately afterward to the Felix's house so we could go for a bike ride along the Murdoch canal. I got a SHOCK arriving at her house. I did not expect the biker shorts and top, camel backpack, and helmet. I thought we were going for a leisurely ride and didn't expect the female version of Lance Armstrong. I laughed about it (or the biker shorts) the entire ride!

 

Today in honor of the holiday tomorrow and because my van pool didn't want to get stuck in holiday traffic, we left early from the Church Office Building. Yay!!! That was good for me as I ran down to the Allstate office to sign my new life policy, and get ice-cream with Tiffany for her birthday. Then I had to run home again in time for my next racquetball game. I'm feeling much stronger now!

 

Lisa had this picture on her Facebook page
and I fell in love with it! Such a cute idea!